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Hello frens; fancy shop you've got here. I've got a request for something I was working on earlier. Lucario is, I think, still criminally underused considering how powerful he is. I like the idea of pairing him with M-Lop, the beast herself, because Luke targets & weakens the same physical walls, specifically targeting bulky psychics with boosted Crunch.
I figure Celebi helps by countering Scarf Keldeo, absorbing Mach Punches, and luring 'mons like Heatran for the other two to take advantage of. It also alleviates the pressure from most fairies, e.g. tanking a hit from M-Garde & putting it into kill range for the other two. Realistically idk how successful it'll be at passing the SD, so if you think Perish Song is more useful for the sake of always beating CM Fable & other boosters, please change the set.
I've used the PuP / encore set w/ Lopunny & it's really freaking good plus super fun to use. It annihilates late-game when that Slowbro is forced to Slack Off or whatever. I'd like it if you kept PuP Encore but I understand how good Fake Out is, too. Despite the two frail offensive powerhouses that are Luke + Loop, I'm actually looking for a kind of balanced squad with the versatility for different match-ups. Sorry I write a lot, and thank you immensely <3
Hi everyone. I've been testing around a few random Pokemon as of late, and one I've fallen in love with is MixedNape.
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 168 Atk / 132 SpA / 208 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Thunder Punch
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers / Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split / Rest
Being in a rather good speed tier as it is, Infernape can outspeed most of the non-scarfed meta, and is an excellent wall-breaker with pretty good coverage and pure power from the boosted Fist moves and an explosive and sometimes unexpected Fire Blast. Although I am probably a little biased towards Infernape as it is my second favorite Pokemon, I feel like it really does fulfill a solid role as an underrated wall-breaker right now, despite how frail it is (which makes it really not like hazards because hazards + LO recoil is going to be a very short day for Nape). Therefore, to allow it to avoid taking any unnecessary damage, I thought a slow and bulky Pivot would be a very good partner for Infernape. This partner comes in the form of defensive Rotom-W. Not only is Rotom able to tank hits, Will-O-Wisp offensive threats that hinder Infernape's ability to succeed, and then use a slow Volt Switch to get Infernape a safe switch-in to a favorable matchup, Rotom-W and Infernape have very good synergy as they check each other's weaknesses rather well (Rotom resists Water and Flying while it is immune to Ground, most importantly checking priority users in Talonflame, Mega Pinsir, and Azumarill. Infernape also resists Rotom-W's Grass weakness, but switching him into an attack is not very wise).
Hopefully you can make a good team based on this core and thanks for the help ahead of time!
xJownage I agree with some of your points about Trinitrotoluene build up above but the reason why M-Garde is using Will-O-Wisp and not Taunt is so that your team isn't completely floored by every M-Gross + Keldeo build in existence when you already have enough pressure to break common defensive cores. Also some of the changes you suggested although good for certain teambuilding philosophies actually makes it more M-Gross weak. Just thought I would make you aware considering M-Gross' very high relevancy in the meta right now. Again, realize these are all more frameworks than final products and based on builder preferences you're free to change whatever suits your own individual needs. Regardless, fair points you brought up so nice job.
With that being said, update on my end with a couple of teams.
One of the problems with Toxic M-Sableye in catching its usual checks on the switch-ins is that in the end you still lose to them in the case of Char-X and Talonflame primarily. Foul Play gives you the advantage against SD and Dragon Dance sweepers such as the two mentioned previously. Volcarona is the set you provided but with Passho Berry to help ease pressure against Keldeo and Azumarill, two things the core hates. Rotom-Wash is pretty basic as a glue to not get floored by Talonflame, M-Pinsir, and compliments Ferro + Gliscor to put a stop to Lando-T. Gliscor provides some stall-breaking utility against threats like Clefable and provides you 1 of 2 checks to M-Diancie which, which is important to have as M-Diancie demolishes the core you provided in practice. Ferrothorn gives you the second check to M-Diancie along with alleviating pressure from M-Altaria, while setting up rocks and punishing physical attackers with a Rocky Helmet variant, think U-Turn Lando-T, and both Gyarados forms. Latios is hazard clearance and runs a Heal Block variant so your match-up against Double Dance Mega Slowbro and Char-Y isn't complete garbage. There's an original version of this team with Defensive Empoleon > Rotom-W, AV Tangrowth > Ferrothorn, and Calm Mind Latios however I didn't feel comfortable putting that here because that build required more meticulous playing to handle certain checks and counters. Just thought I would make you all aware in case you want to practice with that in theory.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot / Thunder Wave
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
Azelf is better at setting up screens than Espeon is because of a somewhat higher speed tier, ability to stall-break with taunt, and can set up rocks while setting screens as well. It's your standard Azelf screens set so nothing too special. I went Adamant M-Lopunny because team needed a really strong physical attacker that can just punish switch ins much better like Scarf Lando-T, just to give you an idea HJK does about 30% on the switch in factoring in Intimidate boosts. I personally like Quick Attack > Ice Punch because it gives you some extra priority in dire situations against offense however Ice Punch is there to nail Gliscor and Lando-T a bit more effectively and is basic anyways. Azumarill has Knock Off > Waterfall on its Belly Drum set because it turns would be checks in Amoonguss and Ferrothorn into liabilities and is much more spammable before a Belly Drum boost. Thundurus is there to provide some added offensive presence and runs HP Flying to nail M-Venusaur and Breloom which can be annoying for the team. I went with Nasty Plot + 3 attacks to dedicate Thundurus to a wall-breaking role which I felt was more efficient however Thunder Wave is an option just to check set up sweepers like Charizard-X and M-Gyarados. Choice Scarf Tyranitar picks apart the bulky Psychic types that can stomach a hit from the the previous offensive core with Pursuit trapping utility and Fire Blast to help with M-Scizor and Ferrothorn a bit. Jirachi is to give you a way to pass around Paralysis with Body Slam, provide Healing Wish support for a weakened team-mate along with its usual moves of Iron Head and U-Turn.
In my short time playing on the RU suspect ladder there is one thing I realized, M-Pidgeot likes hazard support and as such makes it more potent to face with said support. Also it's really hard to use a core that's primarily offense and using Roost for recovery when both M-Pidgeot and Togekiss need a way to threaten problems to the team and not murder momentum. HP Ground M-Pidgeot is to nail Venutran cores because to be frank the Duggy + Pidgeot thing is seen a mile away and easy to play around where as HP Ground isn't and as such lets you not be so dependent on Dugtrio who has the defenses of a wet piece of toilet paper. Aura Sphere on Togekiss gives you a secondary way to beat Bisharp outside of Keldeo, which can be a problem if it sets up a Swords Dance in your face and Air Slash > Dazzling Gleam is a necessity to stall-break effectively. Dugtrio sets rocks, punishes with Reversal, Sucker Punch to hit weakened scarfers, and an HP IV value for Seismic Toss and to improve its match-up against Chansey. AV Raikou helps with Thundurus and a bit of Charizard-Y which could potentially be problems. Ferrothorn has Shed Shell to mitigate the Magnezone issue to not lose momentum, with Thunder Wave to enhance the builds capabilities against general offense with Spikes support for Keldeo and or M-Pidgeot to clean. Keldeo is pretty standard but its pretty important for the teams matchup against Tyranitar and Weavile primarily. Feel free to fit in Icy Wind there or change whatever you feel like as most of the choices can be switched around to suit needs and preference. Also consider using something like Healing Wish Latias since M-Pidgeot / Latias / Dugtrio is a pretty efficient M-Pidgeot core to begin with and provides some hazard removal in the form of Latias.
Question for those knowledgable about teambuilding (figured this would be a better place than SQSA, but will move if necessary);
Whenever I build teams, I start off with a concept, get 2-3 Pokemon deep, then think of another, 'better' concept and start a new team, only to repeat the process. Any advice for getting on top of this? I have 9 half-finished teams on Showdown at the moment and it's getting kinda ridiculous, I just can't seem to stick with one idea.
Question for those knowledgable about teambuilding (figured this would be a better place than SQSA, but will move if necessary);
Whenever I build teams, I start off with a concept, get 2-3 Pokemon deep, then think of another, 'better' concept and start a new team, only to repeat the process. Any advice for getting on top of this? I have 9 half-finished teams on Showdown at the moment and it's getting kinda ridiculous, I just can't seem to stick with one idea.
Most times I just build around the core and then add general checks to stuff with generic mons unless I want to use something specific or something not really out there like Tangrowth. I can't really speak on the other builders mindset so they would have to respond to that question but I don't go overboard with theory when more likely than not it'll play out different in practice. I either use what I want to use with a general idea of what I would want a certain mon to do or just use what I want and then test it out. Rather not spend an hour or so building one team just from theory alone lol. Just build something, use it, fix it from there. That's my philosophy personally.
xJownage I agree with some of your points about Trinitrotoluene build up above but the reason why M-Garde is using Will-O-Wisp and not Taunt is so that your team isn't completely floored by every M-Gross + Keldeo build in existence when you already have enough pressure to break common defensive cores. Also some of the changes you suggested although good for certain teambuilding philosophies actually makes it more M-Gross weak. Just thought I would make you aware considering M-Gross' very high relevancy in the meta right now. Again, realize these are all more frameworks than final products and based on builder preferences you're free to change whatever suits your own individual needs. Regardless, fair points you brought up so nice job.
With that being said, update on my end with a couple of teams.
One of the problems with Toxic M-Sableye in catching its usual checks on the switch-ins is that in the end you still lose to them in the case of Char-X and Talonflame primarily. Foul Play gives you the advantage against SD and Dragon Dance sweepers such as the two mentioned previously. Volcarona is the set you provided but with Passho Berry to help ease pressure against Keldeo and Azumarill, two things the core hates. Rotom-Wash is pretty basic as a glue to not get floored by Talonflame, M-Pinsir, and compliments Ferro + Gliscor to put a stop to Lando-T. Gliscor provides some stall-breaking utility against threats like Clefable and provides you 1 of 2 checks to M-Diancie which, which is important to have as M-Diancie demolishes the core you provided in practice. Ferrothorn gives you the second check to M-Diancie along with alleviating pressure from M-Altaria, while setting up rocks and punishing physical attackers with a Rocky Helmet variant, think U-Turn Lando-T, and both Gyarados forms. Latios is hazard clearance and runs a Heal Block variant so your match-up against Double Dance Mega Slowbro and Char-Y isn't complete garbage. There's an original version of this team with Defensive Empoleon > Rotom-W, AV Tangrowth > Ferrothorn, and Calm Mind Latios however I didn't feel comfortable putting that here because that build required more meticulous playing to handle certain checks and counters. Just thought I would make you all aware in case you want to practice with that in theory.
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 0 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot / Thunder Wave
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- U-turn
- Healing Wish
Azelf is better at setting up screens than Espeon is because of a somewhat higher speed tier, ability to stall-break with taunt, and can set up rocks while setting screens as well. It's your standard Azelf screens set so nothing too special. I went Adamant M-Lopunny because team needed a really strong physical attacker that can just punish switch ins much better like Scarf Lando-T, just to give you an idea HJK does about 30% on the switch in factoring in Intimidate boosts. I personally like Quick Attack > Ice Punch because it gives you some extra priority in dire situations against offense however Ice Punch is there to nail Gliscor and Lando-T a bit more effectively and is basic anyways. Azumarill has Knock Off > Waterfall on its Belly Drum set because it turns would be checks in Amoonguss and Ferrothorn into liabilities and is much more spammable before a Belly Drum boost. Thundurus is there to provide some added offensive presence and runs HP Flying to nail M-Venusaur and Breloom which can be annoying for the team. I went with Nasty Plot + 3 attacks to dedicate Thundurus to a wall-breaking role which I felt was more efficient however Thunder Wave is an option just to check set up sweepers like Charizard-X and M-Gyarados. Choice Scarf Tyranitar picks apart the bulky Psychic types that can stomach a hit from the the previous offensive core with Pursuit trapping utility and Fire Blast to help with M-Scizor and Ferrothorn a bit. Jirachi is to give you a way to pass around Paralysis with Body Slam, provide Healing Wish support for a weakened team-mate along with its usual moves of Iron Head and U-Turn.
In my short time playing on the RU suspect ladder there is one thing I realized, M-Pidgeot likes hazard support and as such makes it more potent to face with said support. Also it's really hard to use a core that's primarily offense and using Roost for recovery when both M-Pidgeot and Togekiss need a way to threaten problems to the team and not murder momentum. HP Ground M-Pidgeot is to nail Venutran cores because to be frank the Duggy + Pidgeot thing is seen a mile away and easy to play around where as HP Ground isn't and as such lets you not be so dependent on Dugtrio who has the defenses of a wet piece of toilet paper. Aura Sphere on Togekiss gives you a secondary way to beat Bisharp outside of Keldeo, which can be a problem if it sets up a Swords Dance in your face and Air Slash > Dazzling Gleam is a necessity to stall-break effectively. Dugtrio sets rocks, punishes with Reversal, Sucker Punch to hit weakened scarfers, and an HP IV value for Seismic Toss and to improve its match-up against Chansey. AV Raikou helps with Thundurus and a bit of Charizard-Y which could potentially be problems. Ferrothorn has Shed Shell to mitigate the Magnezone issue to not lose momentum, with Thunder Wave to enhance the builds capabilities against general offense with Spikes support for Keldeo and or M-Pidgeot to clean. Keldeo is pretty standard but its pretty important for the teams matchup against Tyranitar and Weavile primarily. Feel free to fit in Icy Wind there or change whatever you feel like as most of the choices can be switched around to suit needs and preference. Also consider using something like Healing Wish Latias since M-Pidgeot / Latias / Dugtrio is a pretty efficient M-Pidgeot core to begin with and provides some hazard removal in the form of Latias.
I've wanted to build a tea with both of these mons for a long time now, so this was a good excuse for me to do so. When I build, the first thing I do is look at the goal of the core I've created and think how, in an actual battle, does the core achieve that goal. In this case, I have two setup sweepers in Houndoom and Toxicroak, and both of them have a few common Pokemon that they either force out or set up on. So to give the an opportunity to do so, I would need to lure in those Pokemon. For Houndoom, Pokemon it can set up on include Clefable, Mega Sableye, Heatran w/o EP, and Mew. For Toxicroak, it can also set up on Clefable, Mega Gyarados, Tyranitar, Bisharp, and also Keldeo (especially with SubCM becoming so popular). Latias seemed like the perfect partner to these Pokemon, since it lures in Ttar, Bisharp, Heatran, and Clefable, which will give plenty of opportunities to set up for Doom and Croak. Healing Wish and Defog support as also really useful, as it prevented Houndoom from being worn down by Rocks and gave each of them a possibility to sweep a second time. Next, I thought the team had trouble with powerful ground types. Scarf Lando and Excadrill in particular looked really annoying. I also wanted to pair Houndoom with another stall breaker since it's a pretty shaky one at best (Chansey can pretty easily beat it with smart playing). And since the only mon that really gives Gliscor trouble on stall is Mega Sableye, it seemed to me that either Houndoom or Gliscor would be able to wear down opposing stall teams effectively. Next the team looked really weak to Dragon types, most notably Latios and Latias. While Houndoom might be able to win 1v1 versus these Pokemon, it absolutely cannot switch in. I also wanted a Pokemon that could take Fair moves more reliably, as well as set up Stealth Rock. Jirachi seemed like a pretty great choice. Gliscor covered its weaknesses to bulky ground types like Landorus-T and Hippowdown, and it supported the sweepers by spreading Paralysis and wish support to Latias since it has no recovery. Finally, the team needed something more substantial for Flying types and Azumaril, since both are rising in popularity. I decided Rotom-W was a great last pick, spreading burns, providing momentum necessary for my sweepers to get in safely, and checking the threats I mentioned before. I know some people used to choose not to run 44 speed on Rotom, but BD Azu is making a comeback, and its only a matter of time before people start running Jolly as well, so I wanted to be safe.
Still working out a few kinks on another team, but I might post it later tonight if I get a chance.
The Mgross weakness is real, but no HO team isn't going to have its weaknesses, and after running into a few on the ladder I feel okay, as it doesn't set up on anything but mega garde unless i choice lock garchomp like an idiot. Gyara can live an attack if bisharp can't kill it, so I am not too afraid, its just something that the team doesn't like. As long as I am careful I can beat it, and the team's two water setup sweepers deter it anyways (since +1 keld almost kills it and if im behind a sub well...). Lant can intimidate it, and beats non-ice punch variants, with scarfchomp beating such variants as well (non-ice punch is becoming much more common on agiligross).
Serperior is on of my favorite Pokemon to use right now, and for good reason. It isn't too difficult to eliminate its checks, with the exception of Heatran, which has always been a pain to wear down, and it has a field day against certain stall teams (ones with Amoonguss can be problematic if you aren't prepared). On the flip side, Lopunny man handles offense. With access to Fake Out and 135 Speed after evolving, Lopunny is an absolute monster. So offensively, they already have decent synergy. Not specific to Pokemon, but to the different general playstyles. But I did notice that the core has some trouble dealing with bird Pokemon. on top of that, neither Lopunny nor Serperior can OHKO the Latis without prior damage or a boost in Serps case. So I thought Choice Scarf Tyranitar would fit well in the next slot. It checks Talonflame and Pinsir, which otherwise force out both Lopunny and Serperior, and can Pursuit trap them if needed. Looking at the core I had so far, I knew that momentum would be incredibly important to maintain, and would make achieving the team's goal much easier. I've used Tornadus-T in the past as a partner to Serperior, as it is one of the best teammates for it imo, and decided it fit in well here. Tornadus checks keldeo, for which I have no switch-ins at the moment (Serperior hates the residual damage from burn), and it also lures in Rotom-W for Serperior, while U-turn provides general momentum and works well with a Pursuit trapper and fast hard hitters like Lopunny and Serperior in general. Next, I wanted something that could not only check Heatran, but take advantage of the fact that it will almost always switch into Serperior. I thought Keldeo worked perfectly here. Keldeo is also a pokemon that pairs very well with Serperior, but also checks Scizor, which absolutely destroys the team so far if Serp gets worn down even a little. Finally, I noticed the team had some issues with Landorus-T, especially Scarf variants. I also lacked Stealth Rock (an unfortunate habit of mine is building teams that work perfectly together, but forgetting Stealth Rock in the process). I thought Offensive Landorus-T fit well here. It provides Stealth Rock, while also being both a secondary bird check and a Lando-T check, should I need it. It also can help buffer the massive weakness most offensive teams naturally have with Metagross, Lopunny, and Gallade, which all give the team some issues even with Lando-T if they carry Ice Punch. Watch out for these Pokemon when playing. It takes smart moves with Lando-T and Tornadus-T's momentum in addition to Lopunny's speed and Tyranitar's trapping abilities to beat a well played Metagross. Other than that, certain Dragon-types can be really difficult to play around since the team lacks any Steels of Fairy types. Although Zard X and Lati are pretty easily dealt with, Mega Altaria can be very problematic if Landorus or Lopunny get too low. Remember, the team is offensive in nature, so you have to carefully calculate your game plan and constantly be thinking about risk vs reward to use it well. Otherwise Pokemon like the ones I just mentioned will blow this team back. But in general, pay smart and this team will be very rewarding.
EDIT: Also, I know I changed the moveset of Lopunny, but it seemed more suited to beating stall and I thought the best part of this pair was that one handled stall and the other offense :/ sorry
EDIT2: It was pointed out to me that Mega Lopunny gives the team a lot of trouble. Admittedly it is a big issue for the team, and if you find that it is too much so, you can change Keldeo to Scarf. The combination of Lando-T and Scarf Keld should be enough to keep it at bay, if not, it will take smart switching and not relying on Ttar too much (it's the only mon on the team that Lop can switch in on). So just be careful.
Offensive DDance Mega Altaria is incredibly strong after a boost or two and is only walled by a small number of Pokemon after a boost (mostly steels and mega venusaur/Amoongus) which are all handled fairly well with SD Talonflame. I feel like the acrobatics set is better than the brave bird set due to the added longevity and sweeping potential added by the lack of recoil. I have attempted building a couple teams around these two but they haven't been as successful as I would have liked and I would really appreciate it if one of you guys could help me out, thanks!
Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- High Jump Kick
- Frustration
- Ice Punch
Gengar is one of my favourite mons. Standard movset for LO gengar. Really good, fast and strong and put pressures on almost every fairy type there is. I have not made a team around Mega-Bunny yet, which surprised me because its really good. Got swept by it yesterday :P. The set is standard, but really powerfull. I made a team some hours ago, but it isnt the team I would pick when I go into a battle. So hopefully you guys can make a good offence/bulky offence team around this core.
Alright...i guess ill post this core ive been working on. Its a balanced core that is made around mixed mega altaria. Normally i go with the physical set but the special set personally is more to my style. The set allows alt to ohko ferrothorn and heatran while still nuking things with hyper voice. The weird spread is so i can outspeed heatran that have small speed investments (which can be nice if they have flash cannon). I chose brave so eq does more damage and this way i still have some bulk. Talonflame works fairly well with mega alt as they have really good offensive synergy Talon also helps deal with things mega alt has trouble with such as scizor which is somthing alt cant stay in on. Should be noted fire blast can be used on a predicted switch. Talon after a sd is capable of leaving tons of holes in the opponents team allowing mega alt to pick them off and talon resists fairy. i was thinking of using a stall breaker talon however (up to you if you wanna change it). Last is suicune Suicune serves as my main switch in to steels and works great with talon. Mega alt eats up the electric type moves and once all grass/water types are gone thanks to talon and alt suicune can finish things off. This core is fairly rough but has potential. Some teammates such as a spinner more physical attackers and hazzard support would be nice. sorry if this is to soon after my last request.
Alright...i guess ill post this core ive been working on. Its a balanced core that is made around mixed mega altaria. Normally i go with the physical set but the special set personally is more to my style. The set allows alt to ohko ferrothorn and heatran while still nuking things with hyper voice. The weird spread is so i can outspeed heatran that have small speed investments (which can be nice if they have flash cannon). I chose brave so eq does more damage and this way i still have some bulk. Talonflame works fairly well with mega alt as they have really good offensive synergy Talon also helps deal with things mega alt has trouble with such as scizor which is somthing alt cant stay in on. Should be noted fire blast can be used on a predicted switch. Talon after a sd is capable of leaving tons of holes in the opponents team allowing mega alt to pick them off and talon resists fairy. i was thinking of using a stall breaker talon however (up to you if you wanna change it). Last is suicune Suicune serves as my main switch in to steels and works great with talon. Mega alt eats up the electric type moves and once all grass/water types are gone thanks to talon and alt suicune can finish things off. This core is fairly rough but has potential. Some teammates such as a spinner more physical attackers and hazzard support would be nice. sorry if this is to soon after my last request.
Small thing, but if you're using mixed altaria a Brave nature is completely illogical since your only physical move is Earthquake just for Heatran, and you have no Atack investment. You dont even need Attack EVs or a neutral attack nature to 2HKO standard Heatran. Also, 150 EVs do not give a full stat point, I dont understand the spread at all. You're much better off using a Modest nature.
ah i kinda rushed with the spread...will have to fix that. as for the nature I just wanted a slightly bigger punch with eq. The speed was the speed creeping heatran as I know some do have a bit of speed and i wanted to outspeed those tran.
Sup guys, its WCAR. Usually I don't do these type of things relying on other people for teams, because most of mine are all personally built or built with the help of a friend. I'm gonna make an exception this time tho, mainly because I've literally been trying out this core for like the last month or so and all the teams I've put the core in is just mediocre at best. I'd like some help please, and try to make the team as offensive, hard hitting as possible.
So I was thinking of a cool new core to try out on HO teams. I brainstormed putting the two strongest knock off users because we all know how spammable that move is, so I wanted to abuse that as much as possible. Interestingly enough, both of these pokemon also get Swords Dance, and with access to strong priority from both of them, they can easily sweep both offensive and defensive teams when given a chance. One can SD and break holes on the opposing team, and later on, the other pokemon can sweep the remains. Another interesting fact is that both these pokemon despise Keldeo, but can form a "tag-team" so to speak where one of them weakens Keldeo to the point where it won't be able to check the other monster. For instance, Keldeo comes in on a +2 Crawdaunt after Stealth Rock damage and takes an aqua jet for around 40-50% of its health before killing Crawdaunt. Then you force Keldeo out and try to set up with Bisharp later on in the game, and if their only Bisharp check is Keldeo and thats already left at 50% from Crawdaunt, its pretty much GG.
Now obviously, this core isn't perfect and has a lot of flaws, so the rest of the team should support them. That's where I'm having trouble so I'm asking you guys for help. Just glancing at their typing, they both share a nasty weakness to fighting, so fighting resists are most definitely needed. Also, even though I mentioned before that the two of them tag team Keldeo, it would still be foolish not to pack a Keldeo switch in, so either of the Latis would probably make a good teammate. Coincidentally, the Latis resist fighting too! And although the two are offensive powerhouses, they're both quite frail so they can't tank hits.
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
Jolly Nature (necessary for Rotom-W)
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Knock Off
- Crabhammer
Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
Thanks if you guys can help me. Again, I'm trying to use it on a heavy offense team, so try and make the team as hard hitting and offensive as possible.
Mega Lopunny is a really cool and good Pokemon, but building around it isnt the easiest task, as a lot checks it. Personally, I am not really a fan of the given set, but against offense it's cool becuase you can pivot out on the incoming Landorus-T or Clefable. To take care of these on the Baton Pass, as well as other Lopunny checks, such as Celebi, Chesnaught, Suicune, Hippowdon, and Gliscor, Life Orb Gengar was added. It is also a great stallbreaker, and most Stall teams struggle to take it on, especially if you manage to pass it a Healing Wish. Next, I added the defensive core of Starmie + Ferrothorn + Hippowdon. Thanks to great defensive synergy, not a lot is capable of breaking through it. Keldeo, Hidden Power Fire Latios, Gliscor, and Stallbreaker Talonflame are some of the Pokemon capable of doing so, though, so Starmie was added. Not only does it check all of these Pokemon, but it also offers greatly appreciated Rapid Spin support. At the moment, the team is looksing really solid, and has no major issues. However, the last slot can fiulfill many roles. For example, running Assault Vest Tornadus-T fixes the minor weakness to Landorus and Gengar, while the option i finally landed on, Unaware Clefable, gives the team a way of reliably beating Mega Gallade and Calm Mind Clefable, whitout having to rely on Gengar, of which is easily worn down. Wish is also really cool for healing Gengar or Lopunny in a pinch, against passive Pokemon such as Hippowdon or Alomomola.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Protect
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Stored Power
- Soft-Boiled
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 188 SpD / 76 Spe
Careful Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Roost
Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Roost
Actually spent quite a long time on this core, as building around it was pretty hard, especially when it has already been used in other successful teams (looking at you ben gay and tokyo tom). However, I am happy with the final result. U-Turn Mienshao + Choice Specs Raikou is great versus balance and stall relying on Pokemon such as Heatran and Chansey to take Raikou on, ad they're easily worn down by Mienshao. Over Jirachi, which was suggested as first, I decided to use Ferrothorn as a Stealth Rock user. It is a huge thorn (you see what i did there I'm just too funny) in offense's side, and it also great versus balanced team of which lack an immunity to Grass moves. However, dealing with Mega Sableye, which is the face of stall teams in the current metagame, is very hard for Ferrothorn. After a couple of Calm Mind boosts, Raikou isn't capable of touching it, either. For that reason, Calm Mind Clefable was added. Acting as a great pivot and check to dangerous threats such as Mega Lopunny, but also a great stallbreaker with Stored Power. To further limit Sableye's ability to threaten the team, and to deal with wallbreakers such as Mega Beedrill, Landorus, and opposing Calm Mind Clefable, specially defensive Gliscor with Swords Dance was added. The duo of Clefable and Gliscor, coupled with Raikou and Mienshao, is hard to deal with for even the bulkiest teams. The last emember of the team, Mega Altaria, was added to handle Mega Charizard X and Mega Gyarados with Substitute defensively, and threaten offensive builds with its strong STAB. All in all, the team turnt out well, and has a really amazing color scheme :O
Talonflame @ Leftovers
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 212 SpD / 48 Spe
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Gyarados + Kyurem-B is surpringsly threatening, and most balanced teams can have a really hard time coming in on either of the threats. Even though the offensive nature of the core may invite to a more offensive playstyle, I decided to take it to my preferred style, which is balance. I added the defensive core of Unaware Clefable and Ferrothorn; these two together are incredibly hard to break through, outside of dedicated wallbreakers, such as Landorus and Mega Charizard Y. I decided to make Clefable Unaware + Calm Mind + Heall Bell rather than Magic Guard + Calm Mind + two attacks, becuase the utility of Heal Bell is incredibly useful against full stall teams. Calm Mind with Unaware is also capable of winning Calm Mind wars versus Magic Guard Clefable and Suicune, which is a nice feat to pack. To deal with the Pokemon capable of breaking through the core, specially defensive Talonflame was added. In additoion to being able to come in on some of the hardest hitting wallbreakers in the metagame, it hits really hard even without investment, and with Swords Dance, is can prove to be a pain for bulkier teams. Thanks to Taunt, you can set up on Alomomola, Heatran without Ancient Power or Stone Edge, defensive Starmie, and Tentacruel, all of which would otherwise force Talonflame out. Lastly, the team desperately needed a was of removing hazards. Having three Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock, and a defensive core reliant on being healthy is no good without a Rapid Spin or Defog user. In the end, after going back and forth between the likes of Latios, Excadrill, and Zapdos, my choice fell on defensive Starmie. It is perhaps the most reliable Rapid Spin user right now, and in bwtewwn Scald burns and hazard damage, not even Mega Sableye is calable of spinblocking it. In addition to spinning it also provides a great switchin to Keldeo and Metagross, both of which can prove to be annoying depending on their sets.
We decided to stick your two requests together, as your cores were very similar. The idea of Diancie backed up by a solid defensive core is really nice, and there is a lot fo room for building. Teh first thing that stands out is the wekness to Clefable and opposing Ferrothorn. But, instead of adding a Heatran, which would force them out, I decided to add a couple of offensive lures, which might end up in a Daincie sweep. The lures of my choice were Adamant Earth Plate Landorus-T, and Hidden Power Fire Latios. These two Pokemon are also incredibly solid outside of luring in Daincie's checks, so I found fitting to run both of them. Latios comes in on Keldeo, Landorus, and Mega Chariard Y, and Landorus-T, even when Adamant, is still a solid switch-in to many physical attackers, such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Charizard X, Mega Gallade, and Mega Beedrill. In addition to this, due to Landorus's poplarity sinking, people are less prepared for it, and pack less Ground-resist in general. I put Stealth Rock on Landorus-T, and changed Sthealth Rock to Spikes on Ferrothorn. This way, you are able to set up rocks versus Mega Sableye teams, as Landorus-T is capable of 2HKOing after just a little bit of damage with the given EV spread. A major problem to the team at the moment is Calm Mind Clefable; even though Landorus-T 2HKOs with Earthquake, its not granted you are able to deal with it. Therefore, I chose to add Dragalge as the final Pokemon. With Adaptability, you are able to 2HKO Clefable through as much as two Calm Mind boosts, while comfortably taking its Moonblasts. I chose to go with its Draco Plate set with Toxic Spikes, due to its ability to pressure stall teams. You still hit plenty hard with Draco Meteor and Sludge Wave, and the added utility I found more valuable than the sheer power Chocie Specs offers. Dragalge is also bulky enough to check wallbreakers such as Gengar and Thundurus, both of which are otherwise annoying n_n
That's actually an extraordinarily interesting team. The first thing I noticed is the lack of Hazard Removal, but then I noticed that a whooping three team members have access to entry hazards, so I presume the idea is to lure the foe into using Defog, which is quite clever as it frees up Roost on Latios. Dragalge is also a cool choice on there as well. I'll be trying out this team in a few hours - thanks!
Assuming you guys don't mind commentary on some of the teams, I thought I'd make a few suggestions on the first two TheEnder
-Clone-'s Lopunny Team
I would definitely replace one of your fillers (BPass/HW) for Ice Punch on Lopunny considering that the team has a hard time against Gliscor on the whole. Taunt Gliscor can be a major annoyance in and of itself and so can SD, as it can PP stall Clefable and you have nothing else for it. Ice Punch at least dents Gliscor and get SpD variants (the most common ones right now) out of the way. Also, Hippowdon is missing its Leftovers and I would run 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD Impish so you can handle Thundurus and LO Gengar with it, the latter being a sort of due to Taunt but at least you can sort of deal with it.
The other major problem with this team is that it's really, really Mega Slowbro weak. I would run Calm Mind over Heal Bell on Clefable in order to take care of this. With this in addition to Gengar, I think it's possible to manage Mega Slowbro. I would absolutely consider Fake Out on Lopunny because it can really help Mega Lopunny in Mega Evolving, which is especially needed as Gengar is a major pain, though you could also run Toxic in order to help more with Slowbro. You pretty much have to run Gyro Ball over Protect on Ferrothorn because you need the kill against Gengar and Mega Gardevoir as well as actually pressuring the Defog from Latios, which you fail to do currently. Some minor notes are 29 HP IVs for Gengar in order to hit the LO number and max Speed on Starmie because there is literally no reason not to outspeed Serperior and Scarf Magnezone as well as tie with Raikou, which has the potential to win or lose you games.
Ninety Nine's Mienshao + Raikou Team
The first thing that jumped out at me with this team is that it's 6-0'd by Jolly SD Talonflame. Another problem looks to be Mega Metagross, which is an issue amplified by the fact that you're running dual Fairies. What I'd do in this case is run Slowbro over Clefable in order to handle these threats and give your team an overall more solid defensive backbone. I don't know that Clefable really does too much for your team other than being obviously a good win condition with Calm Mind, which is nice and all but you need to cover threats and you already have stuff for the things Clefable deals with. It also means that Altaria isn't forced to deal with Zard X, which it doesn't really want to do. I'd make sure to run Toxic so you can cripple Mega Slowbro, which again look to be rather annoying though less so than the previous team due to the sheer power and greater consistency than Gengar which Specs Raikou possesses.
We decided to stick your two requests together, as your cores were very similar. The idea of Diancie backed up by a solid defensive core is really nice, and there is a lot fo room for building. Teh first thing that stands out is the wekness to Clefable and opposing Ferrothorn. But, instead of adding a Heatran, which would force them out, I decided to add a couple of offensive lures, which might end up in a Daincie sweep. The lures of my choice were Adamant Earth Plate Landorus-T, and Hidden Power Fire Latios. These two Pokemon are also incredibly solid outside of luring in Daincie's checks, so I found fitting to run both of them. Latios comes in on Keldeo, Landorus, and Mega Chariard Y, and Landorus-T, even when Adamant, is still a solid switch-in to many physical attackers, such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Charizard X, Mega Gallade, and Mega Beedrill. In addition to this, due to Landorus's poplarity sinking, people are less prepared for it, and pack less Ground-resist in general. I put Stealth Rock on Landorus-T, and changed Sthealth Rock to Spikes on Ferrothorn. This way, you are able to set up rocks versus Mega Sableye teams, as Landorus-T is capable of 2HKOing after just a little bit of damage with the given EV spread. A major problem to the team at the moment is Calm Mind Clefable; even though Landorus-T 2HKOs with Earthquake, its not granted you are able to deal with it. Therefore, I chose to add Dragalge as the final Pokemon. With Adaptability, you are able to 2HKO Clefable through as much as two Calm Mind boosts, while comfortably taking its Moonblasts. I chose to go with its Draco Plate set with Toxic Spikes, due to its ability to pressure stall teams. You still hit plenty hard with Draco Meteor and Sludge Wave, and the added utility I found more valuable than the sheer power Chocie Specs offers. Dragalge is also bulky enough to check wallbreakers such as Gengar and Thundurus, both of which are otherwise annoying n_n
This team is very solid and pretty similar to what I came up with other than the Dragalge. I'll be testing out this set vs stall, I always had a tad bit of trouble building this team around the Time I did (greninja) and stall was an issue for me also. I'll make sure to play with this for a few hours and i'll post my results/ nitpicks :]
Hello, sweet builders, with Rock Head Tyrantrum finally legal I thought about the possibility to use strong rock type attacks in OU(kinda like dragon, water and fight back in bw), few things resists those attacks, scrolling at the Viability Ranking from the most popular choices in ou metagross, bisharp, keldeo, ferrothorn, excadrill, jirachi, hippowdon, magnezone, garchomp, mega gallade, terrakion, and diggersby resists rock, of these Bisharp and Diggersby do not have the bulk to tank powerful rock type moves, Keldeo and Terrakion have problems against Mega Diancie, Hippowdon isn't that much common and Jirachi and Ferrothorn are steel types.
So my idea was to combine two powerful rock type attackers paired with a volturn user, in order to ease entries, while also giving me the upperhand against steel types like Ferrothorn and Scizor.
Tyrantrum (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Head Smash
- Earthquake
- Outrage/filler
- Dragon Claw/filler
Diancie @ Diancite
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 48 Atk / 208 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Protect/ HP Fire
- Earth Power
Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 30 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
The next logical step would be stealth rocks and something that would help me against Excadrill, however Lan-therian makes the team too much water weak so I'm hesitant about it.
Hopefully I can get some help about this, it is always fascinating seeing how other Team Builders think and act.
I obviously started with the original core of M-Altaria and Talonflame. I added Emboar because it's able to beat almost everything that M-Altaria has trouble dealing with, which includes Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Scizor, Bisharp, Heatran, Magnezone. I wanted to try Emboar out because of its newly released Reckless ability and it has worked extremely well in conjunction with Fairy types because of its ability to beat almost all Fairy-type checks. You could possible swap M-Altaria with M-Gardevoir and M-Diancie and still be successful. Emboar was given 220 Speed Evs to outspeed Rotom-Wash and 2HKO it on switches. Adding Emboar allowed me to be able to preserve Talonflame for late-game cleaning. M-Altaria can be an extremely dangerous threat because of its bulk, amazing typing, and ability. Believe me when I tell you that no one will expect you to use Agility since the most common set uses DD. Agility gives M-Altaria all the speed it needs to beat conventional Scarfers and speedy Megas (Lopunny, Alakazam). Next up was Rotom-W, who was added for its ability to check M-Metagross. It's also able to deal with Flying-Spam and it's a great pivot in general. I needed a hazard remover so of course I had to add Latias or Latios. I chose Latias because of Healing Wish, a support option that can be extremely helpful in some situations. Garchomp was added last. It's an excellent reliable hazard lead that's even better with a Lum Berry and Swords Dance. Allowing the team to get off to excellent starts because it can pressure teams early.
Started off with two of my favorite mon's Lopunny and Gengar. Since you wanted an offensive team I gave M-Lopunny Fake Out so it can use it to break potential sashes on common leads like Garchomp and Terrakion and force them out with an impending Ice Punch or High Jump Kick. You can also use it to scout for Scarf Landorus-T's and CM Keldeo, two big threats to the team. Next up was Air Balloon Heatran. The Air Balloon allows it to safely combat Sand Offense and Scarf Landorus-T (one lacking Superpower). It's mainly used for Stealth Rock but it can net a KO or two with proper usage. I chose to use LO Sub-Split Gengar with Sludge Wave + Focus Blast to have something that can reliably deal with defensive teams. I chose Sludge Wave instead of Shadow Ball because Fairy-types (mainly Clefable) were somewhat troublesome to deal with. Next I needed a proven Choice Scarf mon that could reliably revenge kill as well as provide opportunities for a teammate to sweep (mainly BD Azumarill), so Landorus-Therian was chosen. Latios is pretty dangerous when given support. By support I mean when it's surrounded by mon's that can beat its checks (Tyranitar, Bisharp, Clefable, etc). After Lopunny, Heatran, and Gengar beat its checks Latios is able to freely nuke opposing teams with powerful Draco Meteor's. I've given it Roost to recover from residual damage and Hidden Power Fighting to OHKO Bisharp, 2HKO Tyranitar, and KO a weakened Ferrothorn if it needs to. Last is Belly Drum Azumarill, which is probably my favorite mon to use right now because it's so easy to set up and clean with it. When I build offensive teams I try to add a counter lead, this team lacks a dedicated lead but you can attempt to counter lead during team preview to get a jump.
I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to building in the competitive scene, ripping off stereotypical cores like MGallade/Bisharp, but I want to change that by starting from my favorite Poke. I know he's not tier one in OU, but I want to find a good partner/core for Dragonite, and I was wanting to potentially work with a bulkier hitter, hence the max HP/Attack, though maybe I need to invest some in speed due to no DD. It's a simple move set, alternating between SP and fire punch, dependent on whether or not the team needs help dealing with scizor/heatran etc. but open to other suggestions. Looking for a balanced team rather then HO, hence not using a choice band set. If you can help, I'd appreciate any advice!
