Hi! I am Sweep from Pokemon Showdown, here to present a team that I have laddered with since Sleep Clause testing. As some of you know, I am obsessed with Generation 1 fossils. I wanted to build a team featuring a Choice Band Kabutops, which cleans up magnificently late game. However, Pokemon like Groudon, Giratina A and O, Arceus-Water, Arceus-Grass, and to a lesser extent Ferrothorn give Kabutops a lot of problems, so I made a core to help deal with these threats. I also got the chance to try out mons like lead Lum Berry Dialga and liked how it performed on the ladder.
My ladder ranking is good (2162) but that has more to do with the relative weakness of the PS ladder than anything else. Beating up on Chesto-Rest Blaziken and Rain Dance Heatmor gets old and I would like to use this team against better players; but not before it is critiqued to maximize its effectiveness. Arceus-Grass and Palkia are particularly troublesome, though Palkia is itself threatened by all members of my team at the very least.
Dialga @ Lum Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 204 SAtk / 52 Spd / 252 HP (0 attack IV’s)
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Pulse
My lead. Lum Berry deals with Lead Darkrai, except Scarf Darkrai that use Trick turn 1 anticipating Thunder Wave or SR (though those are rare). It also protects me once from random Will-O-Wisps, Thunder Waves, and Sacred Fire burns. The speed is for massive speed creep over base 90’s, in particular Groudon and Ho-Oh. The significant investment in Special Attack allows it to break Ho-Oh’s substitutes with Dragon Pulse. Stealth Rock is mandatory to turn 3HKO’s into 2HKOs, and 2HKO’s into OHKO’s. In particular, Stealth Rock allows Kabutops to kill speedier variants of EKiller almost every time with Low Kick. Fire Blast is to roast Ferrothorn and Forretress, and because Dialga usually leads, its power is not weakened by rain. Dialga is an excellent lead and reliably sets up Stealth Rock for this team (I usually attack with Dragon Pulse if I see a Magic Bouncer). Here’s how I deal with common leads:
Support Groudon: Set up SR, the spam Fire Blast until I am dead. If the opponent is running a Groudon set that is 2HKO’s by Fire Blast, I usually predict the switch-out and use either TWave or Dragon Pulse.
Darkrai: TWave, then set up Stealth Rock. Lum Berry Allows me to aborb sleep once and TWave makes Darkrai virtually useless once it has slept something. Scarf Darkrai, as previously mentioned, are troublesome.
Sash Deoxys-A: I easily live Superpower, so I use Thunder Wave to cripple it then set up SR.
Deoxys-S: Annoying. I use Dragon Pulse turn 1 to scout for Magic Coat or Taunt, then use TWave if my opponent is content to set up hazards. I then set up SR of my own. If my opponent predicts well, Deoxys-S can get 3 hazards up, though if it uses Taunt or Magic Coat on the first turn it will only get up 1.
Support Dialga: I typically win this due to Lum Berry and Thunder Wave unless the opponent runs Aura Sphere.
Specs Kyurem-W: I lose to Draco Meteor.
EP Groudon: I lose to EQ.
Custap Forretress: Not as hard to handle as Deoxys-S. I Fire Blast to bring it down to 1% and let it set up SR. It then will use Spikes or Toxic Spikes after Custap activates, allowing me to set up my own SR and kill it Turn 3. I lose the hazards battle 2-1, but start off with a man advantage. I am usually happy with this scenario.
Kyogre @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252Spd (0 attack IV’s)
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Surf
- Water Spout
This is a monster. Specs Water Spout lures and 2HKO’s Chansey and Ferrothorn, ensuring they cannot switch in safely. All Groudon, even Careful Groudon, will fall to Water Spout as well. Max speed EV’s allow me to deal with Earth Plate Groudon a little better, though 252 Jolly is still an issue for my team. In addition to wallbreaking, Kyogre sets rain for Kabutops to clean up late game and revenge most scarfers. Not even Latias or Grassceus can safely switch in on Ice Beam, though sadly both survive the icy assault (even after SR).
The speed allows me to outrun most Lugia, some Latias, and almost all base 90’s not carrying a Scarf. Modest is vital in killing off Arceus forms with Surf after SR; I would need Hydro Pump to do that with a Timid nature, and I dislike Hydro Pump on Kyogre as this whale needs to stay alive as long as possible for me to win the weather war, and missed are counterproductive to that goal. 0 attack IV’s are almost always useless but Liepard is apparently a thing now on the Ubers ladder so why not.
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 8 SAtk / 252 Spd / 248 Atk
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Iron Head
- Explosion
Genesect is an elite scarfer due to its access to U-Turn and strong movepool. It can check Latios and Latias and revenge-kill Mewtwo after a little prior damage. The limited Special Attack investment is for Dragon Dance Rayquaza, which would otherwise make this team very sad. 8 Special Attack EV’s allow me to always OHKO Rayquaza. Iron Head beats Kyurem-W and often haxes Ghostceus to death.
I greatly prefer Physically based scarf to Specially based, despite Genesect’s great special movepool. Why? I use U-Turn at least 70% of the time, so maximizing the power of its best move is important to me. Explosion hits extremely hard as a suicide move against mons like Ho-Oh and Reshiram, and again Iron Head is not only going to hit CM Arceus hard, but can easily flinch hax them to death (and if not, Kabutops revenges). I have no reason to use Flamethrower in Rain, and Thunder is nice for Skarmory and Omastar but doesn’t really have as much use as you’d think. U-Turn hits Kyogre harder after an Attack boost from Download than Thunder does for example. A Naïve nature allows Genesect to take physical priority better than it would with a Hasty nature. I like this set, though I guess Explosion is situational.
Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Trait: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- V-create
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
Hello there, menace to stall! Rayquaza is a really threatening mon in this meta and can rip apart walls after a SD. Chansey, Giratina, Jirachi, and other mons often found on stall teams are obliterated at +2. Even without a SD boost, Rayquaza hits hard. Rayquaza beats Shaymin-S in two hits after SR with Extremespeed and destroys Ferrothorn with V-Create. I run Adamant Nature over Jolly for the extra power. For example, if I can get a SD boost against an offensive team, I have a chance to kill off Palkia and Kyogre after SR with Extremespeed. The speed loss is unfortunate but I am careful not to send Rayquaza in against fast offensive pokemon so I don’t notice it too much. Dragon Claw is used over Outrage so that I am not locked into a move and therefore easily revenged by scarfers. It cleanly OHKO’s Kingdra, which is a threat to this team (though Dialga and Kyogre can both take a Meteor and kill it if needed).
I could run Mixed Ray over SD with a Naïve nature to help deal with fast offensive Groudon, but the ability to kill off offensive mons like Palkia with a +2 Extremespeed is appealing to me. Earthquake deals with Heatran, but I cannot find room for it. I have Kyogre and Kabutops to kill it anyway.
Kabutops @ Choice Band
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Low Kick
This is a great cleaner so long Rain is up. The ability to outrun scarfers up to Garchomp while hitting extremely hard with STAB and Rain boosted Waterfall makes Kabutops one of the more underrated revenge killers and cleaners in the game. I use Choice Band to better check EKiller, as Low Kick will usually kill faster variants after SR damage. Killing Palkia most of the time after SR (252+ Atk Choice Band Kabutops Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Palkia: 274-324 (85.35 - 100.93%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO) is important too. Aqua Jet is for Terrakion and Blaziken with more than 1 speed boost.
I would really like to try Life Orb with Rapid Spin, but Terrakion becomes a much bigger issue for this team without it and the inability to kill EKiller (which are god damn everywhere)in one shot is unfortunate. Still, even though this team doesn’t need Rapid Spin to function, it’d be nice for my other mons, especially Rayquaza.
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 212 Spd / 252 Atk / 44 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
I really like SD Groundceus. It gives me an immunity to Thunder and an excellent Zekrom check. It can also lure in stuff like Giratina-A and hit it extremely hard with a +2 Earthquake, making a Kabutops clean much easier. The given EV’s maximize Groundceus’s power while allowing it to outrun base 100’s like Palkia. I suppose I could throw in a few more speed EV’s to outrun Thunrdus-T and Garchomp as well but haven’t gotten around to it.
EdgeQuake gives Groundceus a potent combo that hits almost everything hard. Lugia -- after SR -- and especially Ho-Oh hate taking Stone Edge, whereas Earthquake is an extremely powerful STAB move coming off 372 attack and a 20% bonus from Earth Plate. Earthquake outdamages Shadow Claw even on Ghosts, so there is no need to run that weak coverage move to hit Ghostceus and Giratina-A. Groundceus makes this team weaker to Scarf Kyogre and Swift Swimmers, but checks Zekrom, Steelceus lacking Will-O-Wisp, Terrakion, and Electriceus. It also maximizes the value of Kabutops on this team.
Note that the idea of running Groundceus and Kabutops together is not my idea. I shamelessly stole the combo from Prince Brian/Dice and thank him for that.
Grass Arceus, Palkia, Offensive Groudon, and some Kyogre are issues this team has trouble with. Opposing Swift Swimmers are also a problem if Rayquaza is dead, though the only Swift Swimmer that can beat Rayquaza 1-1 (Omastar) is fortunately disposed of by Kabutops. Any suggestions/comments to improve this work-in-progress team would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! I will post an importable soon.
Shout-outs:
Imma Fly: Friends forever.
Dice: Inspiration for this team was created by this user.
Hack+Puregenius: For picking me in UPL. That apparently gets you a shout-out.
Anyone who has contributed an analysis to this site: Thank you for your hard work.
Chillarmy: For recognizing the inherent brilliance of Omastar and Kabutops, especially in Ubers. They suck in OU though.
V4: requested a shout-out.
My ladder ranking is good (2162) but that has more to do with the relative weakness of the PS ladder than anything else. Beating up on Chesto-Rest Blaziken and Rain Dance Heatmor gets old and I would like to use this team against better players; but not before it is critiqued to maximize its effectiveness. Arceus-Grass and Palkia are particularly troublesome, though Palkia is itself threatened by all members of my team at the very least.
Dialga @ Lum Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 204 SAtk / 52 Spd / 252 HP (0 attack IV’s)
Modest Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Pulse
My lead. Lum Berry deals with Lead Darkrai, except Scarf Darkrai that use Trick turn 1 anticipating Thunder Wave or SR (though those are rare). It also protects me once from random Will-O-Wisps, Thunder Waves, and Sacred Fire burns. The speed is for massive speed creep over base 90’s, in particular Groudon and Ho-Oh. The significant investment in Special Attack allows it to break Ho-Oh’s substitutes with Dragon Pulse. Stealth Rock is mandatory to turn 3HKO’s into 2HKOs, and 2HKO’s into OHKO’s. In particular, Stealth Rock allows Kabutops to kill speedier variants of EKiller almost every time with Low Kick. Fire Blast is to roast Ferrothorn and Forretress, and because Dialga usually leads, its power is not weakened by rain. Dialga is an excellent lead and reliably sets up Stealth Rock for this team (I usually attack with Dragon Pulse if I see a Magic Bouncer). Here’s how I deal with common leads:
Support Groudon: Set up SR, the spam Fire Blast until I am dead. If the opponent is running a Groudon set that is 2HKO’s by Fire Blast, I usually predict the switch-out and use either TWave or Dragon Pulse.
Darkrai: TWave, then set up Stealth Rock. Lum Berry Allows me to aborb sleep once and TWave makes Darkrai virtually useless once it has slept something. Scarf Darkrai, as previously mentioned, are troublesome.
Sash Deoxys-A: I easily live Superpower, so I use Thunder Wave to cripple it then set up SR.
Deoxys-S: Annoying. I use Dragon Pulse turn 1 to scout for Magic Coat or Taunt, then use TWave if my opponent is content to set up hazards. I then set up SR of my own. If my opponent predicts well, Deoxys-S can get 3 hazards up, though if it uses Taunt or Magic Coat on the first turn it will only get up 1.
Support Dialga: I typically win this due to Lum Berry and Thunder Wave unless the opponent runs Aura Sphere.
Specs Kyurem-W: I lose to Draco Meteor.
EP Groudon: I lose to EQ.
Custap Forretress: Not as hard to handle as Deoxys-S. I Fire Blast to bring it down to 1% and let it set up SR. It then will use Spikes or Toxic Spikes after Custap activates, allowing me to set up my own SR and kill it Turn 3. I lose the hazards battle 2-1, but start off with a man advantage. I am usually happy with this scenario.
Kyogre @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252Spd (0 attack IV’s)
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Surf
- Water Spout
This is a monster. Specs Water Spout lures and 2HKO’s Chansey and Ferrothorn, ensuring they cannot switch in safely. All Groudon, even Careful Groudon, will fall to Water Spout as well. Max speed EV’s allow me to deal with Earth Plate Groudon a little better, though 252 Jolly is still an issue for my team. In addition to wallbreaking, Kyogre sets rain for Kabutops to clean up late game and revenge most scarfers. Not even Latias or Grassceus can safely switch in on Ice Beam, though sadly both survive the icy assault (even after SR).
The speed allows me to outrun most Lugia, some Latias, and almost all base 90’s not carrying a Scarf. Modest is vital in killing off Arceus forms with Surf after SR; I would need Hydro Pump to do that with a Timid nature, and I dislike Hydro Pump on Kyogre as this whale needs to stay alive as long as possible for me to win the weather war, and missed are counterproductive to that goal. 0 attack IV’s are almost always useless but Liepard is apparently a thing now on the Ubers ladder so why not.
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 8 SAtk / 252 Spd / 248 Atk
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Iron Head
- Explosion
Genesect is an elite scarfer due to its access to U-Turn and strong movepool. It can check Latios and Latias and revenge-kill Mewtwo after a little prior damage. The limited Special Attack investment is for Dragon Dance Rayquaza, which would otherwise make this team very sad. 8 Special Attack EV’s allow me to always OHKO Rayquaza. Iron Head beats Kyurem-W and often haxes Ghostceus to death.
I greatly prefer Physically based scarf to Specially based, despite Genesect’s great special movepool. Why? I use U-Turn at least 70% of the time, so maximizing the power of its best move is important to me. Explosion hits extremely hard as a suicide move against mons like Ho-Oh and Reshiram, and again Iron Head is not only going to hit CM Arceus hard, but can easily flinch hax them to death (and if not, Kabutops revenges). I have no reason to use Flamethrower in Rain, and Thunder is nice for Skarmory and Omastar but doesn’t really have as much use as you’d think. U-Turn hits Kyogre harder after an Attack boost from Download than Thunder does for example. A Naïve nature allows Genesect to take physical priority better than it would with a Hasty nature. I like this set, though I guess Explosion is situational.
Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Trait: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- V-create
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
Hello there, menace to stall! Rayquaza is a really threatening mon in this meta and can rip apart walls after a SD. Chansey, Giratina, Jirachi, and other mons often found on stall teams are obliterated at +2. Even without a SD boost, Rayquaza hits hard. Rayquaza beats Shaymin-S in two hits after SR with Extremespeed and destroys Ferrothorn with V-Create. I run Adamant Nature over Jolly for the extra power. For example, if I can get a SD boost against an offensive team, I have a chance to kill off Palkia and Kyogre after SR with Extremespeed. The speed loss is unfortunate but I am careful not to send Rayquaza in against fast offensive pokemon so I don’t notice it too much. Dragon Claw is used over Outrage so that I am not locked into a move and therefore easily revenged by scarfers. It cleanly OHKO’s Kingdra, which is a threat to this team (though Dialga and Kyogre can both take a Meteor and kill it if needed).
I could run Mixed Ray over SD with a Naïve nature to help deal with fast offensive Groudon, but the ability to kill off offensive mons like Palkia with a +2 Extremespeed is appealing to me. Earthquake deals with Heatran, but I cannot find room for it. I have Kyogre and Kabutops to kill it anyway.
Kabutops @ Choice Band
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Low Kick
This is a great cleaner so long Rain is up. The ability to outrun scarfers up to Garchomp while hitting extremely hard with STAB and Rain boosted Waterfall makes Kabutops one of the more underrated revenge killers and cleaners in the game. I use Choice Band to better check EKiller, as Low Kick will usually kill faster variants after SR damage. Killing Palkia most of the time after SR (252+ Atk Choice Band Kabutops Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Palkia: 274-324 (85.35 - 100.93%) -- 6.25% chance to OHKO) is important too. Aqua Jet is for Terrakion and Blaziken with more than 1 speed boost.
I would really like to try Life Orb with Rapid Spin, but Terrakion becomes a much bigger issue for this team without it and the inability to kill EKiller (which are god damn everywhere)in one shot is unfortunate. Still, even though this team doesn’t need Rapid Spin to function, it’d be nice for my other mons, especially Rayquaza.
Arceus-Ground @ Earth Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 212 Spd / 252 Atk / 44 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Recover
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
I really like SD Groundceus. It gives me an immunity to Thunder and an excellent Zekrom check. It can also lure in stuff like Giratina-A and hit it extremely hard with a +2 Earthquake, making a Kabutops clean much easier. The given EV’s maximize Groundceus’s power while allowing it to outrun base 100’s like Palkia. I suppose I could throw in a few more speed EV’s to outrun Thunrdus-T and Garchomp as well but haven’t gotten around to it.
EdgeQuake gives Groundceus a potent combo that hits almost everything hard. Lugia -- after SR -- and especially Ho-Oh hate taking Stone Edge, whereas Earthquake is an extremely powerful STAB move coming off 372 attack and a 20% bonus from Earth Plate. Earthquake outdamages Shadow Claw even on Ghosts, so there is no need to run that weak coverage move to hit Ghostceus and Giratina-A. Groundceus makes this team weaker to Scarf Kyogre and Swift Swimmers, but checks Zekrom, Steelceus lacking Will-O-Wisp, Terrakion, and Electriceus. It also maximizes the value of Kabutops on this team.
Note that the idea of running Groundceus and Kabutops together is not my idea. I shamelessly stole the combo from Prince Brian/Dice and thank him for that.
Grass Arceus, Palkia, Offensive Groudon, and some Kyogre are issues this team has trouble with. Opposing Swift Swimmers are also a problem if Rayquaza is dead, though the only Swift Swimmer that can beat Rayquaza 1-1 (Omastar) is fortunately disposed of by Kabutops. Any suggestions/comments to improve this work-in-progress team would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! I will post an importable soon.
Shout-outs:
Imma Fly: Friends forever.
Dice: Inspiration for this team was created by this user.
Hack+Puregenius: For picking me in UPL. That apparently gets you a shout-out.
Anyone who has contributed an analysis to this site: Thank you for your hard work.
Chillarmy: For recognizing the inherent brilliance of Omastar and Kabutops, especially in Ubers. They suck in OU though.
V4: requested a shout-out.
