StoutStorm: Starring the big dog with facial hair

[royanight]

Intro:
Greetings, Smogonites. As a frequent reader of RMT posts and spectator of the OU meta I decided to try my hand at team construction and competitive play. I have noticed that the metagame is overrun by common themes such as weather, hazards, and the ever-present behemoths such as Genesect and Garchomp. I came across Stoutland, a Pokemon once used in the UU meta who is now employed in OU sand teams. I constructed a team based around sand and this dog with a mustache.

Le Team Construction process

I started with Stoutland as my main attacker. Of course, Stout is nothing without perma-sand, so I included Tyranitar as my weather inducer.

Next I added Genesect. Cliche, yes, but useful in the eradication of physical walls and competing weather inducers alike.

I had some problems with Rain teams and their bulky water-types so Ferrothorn was included. I found it is quite effective at providing defensive purposes and staying power.

I needed a way to clear entry hazards, so I turned to Starmie, who could not only clear hazards but also provide Special attacking prowess as well.

I need a spin blocker to block those attempting to clear hazards set up by Ferro and T-Tar. I tried Gengar, who just wasn't cutting it. I finally went with Chandelure, who was not only stronger, but had more defense (if that's saying anything, considering the frailty of both Pokes) and better coverage options.

However, Chandelure wasn't proving to be any good, so by suggestion, I replaced it with Heatran, who proved to be more useful, especially in the handling of Sun teams.

Le Team

Clifford (Stoutland) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Rush
Adamant Nature 4 HP 252 Atk 252 Spd
~Return
~Wild Charge
~Superpower
~Crunch
Stoutland is my sweeper, usually during late-game when the opposing team is trimmed down in size or when threats are weakened or eliminated. I admit to using a generic set and EV spread because they work. I'm not sure about the item, though; I'm torn between CBand (for power), Life Orb (power without the move lock), or Lum Berry (to shrug off the occasional Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp). I will be testing Stoutland with a Choice Band and Pursuit in lieu of Crunch (to hit switch-outs). I will report my observations in time.

Mr. Bubbles (Tyranitar) @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature 248 HP 40 Atk 110 SpD
~Earthquake
~Stone Edge
~Stealth Rock
~Pursuit
The weather inducer. T-Tar is typically my lead if the opposing side does not have a weather inducer on their side (other than a Sandstorm creator, which contributes to my strategy anyway). EdgeQuake is a very good attack pairing in my opinion, able to hit most threats neutrally or super-effectively. Pursuit is to surprise Psychic and Ghost-types that try to switch out (I'm considering switching it for something to help set-up), while Stealth Rock is for hazard set up. I usually use rocks when I predict a switch or an ineffective attack.

R2-D2 (Genesect) @ Choice Scarf
Hasty Nature 4 Atk 252 SpA 252 Spd
~U-Turn
~Flamethrower
~Ice Beam
~Thunderbolt
Genesect serves the role of the special sweeper. Sect serves to punch holes in the opposing team so that Stoutland can step in later and KO with ease. U-Turn is to maintain momentum or to switch out if Genesect receives an Attack boost from Download. The other three attacks create the paragon of offensive coverage; Fire, Ice, and Electric types cover a large portion of the meta super-effectively.

Farrah (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Impish Nature 252 HP 92 Def 164 SpD
~Thunder Wave
~Power Whip
~Leech Seed
~Spikes
Ferrothorn is my wall Pokemon.. I usually use Stealth Rock (changed to Spikes) for hazard set up. Changed Stealth Rocks to Spikes for a different hazard option. Also, the EV spread is revised, courtesy of Jirachi. I kept Left Overs because I felt the extra recovery is helpful.

Coraline (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
Timid Nature 252 Hp 4 SpA 252 Spd
~Rapid Spin
~Scald
~Psyshock
~Recover
Starmie spins Rocks and Spikes away while hitting switch-ins with Scald and Psyshock. The investment in HP and Recover is to ensure Starmie has staying power. Starmie now has a Timid Nature so it can outpace more threats

I Lava U (Heatran) @ Shed Shell
Calm Nature 252 HP 4 Def 252 SpD
~Protect
~Roar
~Lava Plume
~Earth Power
Replaced the rather irrelevant Chandelure with a more fitting Heatran. Shed Shell is to evade being trapped by the occasional Magnet Pull, Shadow Tag, or Arena Trap (which I don't see much of, so I'm considering forgoing it in lieu of Leftovers). Roar helps rack up hazard damage quite nicely, and the defensive EV build helps with Heat's staying power (not that it stays in long due to the tendency for common threats to switch in).

Le Conclusion

I am welcome to any comments and *constructive* criticism. This team has been fun to make and test and I hope I've created something that has potential.

(Note: I didn't want to make it importable until I am sure the team is perfect. I hope that is okay and within acceptable conduct)

Le Final Glance

 

[Jirachee]

Hi

Try to use Spikes on Ferrothorn instead of Stealth Rock. You already have Tyranitar to set it up and you rarely ever need 2 SR setters. Spikes makes an extremely good alternative, as makes Ferrothorn a deadly weapon against Rain teams; most of them use a lot of Choice Specs'ed Water moves that Ferrothorn is able to tank comfortably, so it can use these opportunities to set up Spikes. With both Spikes and Stealth Rock on the field, it will be very difficult for grounded opponents to be as effective as they usually are as they will be limited to 75% of their health, making them easier to KO. You should also use a different spread on Ferrothorn, as simply maxing out Defense isn't a very good plan for it in BW2. Using a spread of 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD Sassy gives it a lot more Special bulk, allowing it to take much more Special punishment, and since most of the threats that Ferrothorn is able to wall are special anyway, it will allow you to get more Spikes in. A -Speed nature is pretty cool on Ferro as it allows you to move after -Speed Forretress who would try to Rapid Spin your hazards away.

I feel like Starmie's moveset could be improved. While Ice Beam and Thunderbolt grant exceptional coverage, Starmie is too weak to use them as its main attacking move, it usually needs more power coming from its STAB moves to hit hard enough. Since you're running a bulkier set, Scald and Psychic would be much more relevant moves for Starmie to use. Scald allows Starmie to burn some of its common switch ins such as Ferrothorn, while also hitting pretty hard at the same time thanks to STAB. Psychic gives Starmie a weapon against all the Fighting types it's able to check, like Keldeo, Terrakion and Breloom. If Psyshock's more your thing you can use that too. Also, a Modest nature isn't very good, especially without investment; Starmie has such a great Speed tier that you want to take full advantage of it. Use a Timid nature instead, as that way you'll be able to outspeed common threats such as Keldeo and Terrakion that can otherwise ruin your team.

Honestly I don't like Chandelure on your team, it just seems like you randomly thrown it in. Sure, having a spinblocker is cool, but when the two most common spinners are Starmie and Tentacruel, who can OHKO it on the switch using their Water STAB, I don't think you're going to block a lot of Rapid Spins. If anything, Ferrothorn is going to be more useful as a spinblocker thanks to Iron Barbs. If you really want to discourage Rapid Spin usage against your team, you can use Rocky Helmet on Ferrothorn, which will make Spinners take huge amounts to recoil after spinning (especially Life Orb Starmie.) I think that you could use insurance against Sun teams, as while these aren't nearly as good as they used to be in BW1, they are still present and will be able to wreck you if you aren't prepared well enough. Chandelure is not the most difficult Pokemon for sun teams to beat as it's complete Heatran bait. You should try out a Shed Shell Heatran of your own instead of Chandelure. It still provides a neat Fire immunity, but with much more bulk and also the ability to screw up Sun teams as they usually count on Dugtrio to take it out with Arena Trap, however Shed Shell cancels that making it a very difficult thing to remove for Sun teams. Heatran also adds an a better Volcarona check to your team as outside of Sand, nothing can really deal with it effectively, with Stoutland being very slow. Volcarona wrecks everything else on your team at +1. With Heatran, you can Roar it away for more Stealth Rock damage which will be lethal against Volcarona.

That's pretty much it, here's the set you should use:

Heatran

Heatran @ Shed Shell
Flash Fire
Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
~Lava Plume
~Protect
~Roar
~Earth Power

Good luck!

 

[royanight]

Changed the Ev spread and added Spikes on Ferrothorn, changed the nature and attacking moves of Starmie, and replaced Chandelure with the suggested Heatran. I tested Ferro with the Helmet, and I observed that it wasn't being used, so I kept Leftovers because the extra recovery helped more than the damage output. Also, I will be testing Stoutland with other items (Considering CBand for extra offensive power, while also trying Lum Berry in case I run into Breloom or other status inflicters).

Also, I have been having some trouble using Genesect. While it does its job some of the time, it ends up being locked into a bad move most of the time and being KOed on the switch. Should I switch it to a Rock Polish set to remedy this predicament, or change the Pokemon entirely, possibly Garchomp or Terrakion?

Speaking of the suggested Mons, I haven't encountered them at all during my
Showdown testing, and I haven't any idea how well my team handles them (for the most part, I've ran into a lot of Rain, Dual Weather, and DragMag teams, all of which I seem to take care of effectively).