Team Twilight (Peaked #1 on Leader Board)

[Byakuren]

-Introduction-​

Hey guys, this is my first RMT on Smogon and i hope you guys enjoy! So basically when i first started making this team awhile ago i wanted to use a SandStorm team that counters most other SandStorm teams and other weather teams; This team just laughs at non-Weather teams. This team Peaked #1 on Smogon DreamWorld tier at 1434. This team went under many team changes and i'll show you now.

-Team Building Process-​

I wanted to use this as my Stealth Rocker and my Spiker so i have more of a team than just a team with pokemon who sets up entry hazards. Nattorei is probably my favorite lead in this metagame, every time i try to use a team without using it as a lead and a different standard lead i wish i would have my nattorei. It takes hit's really well and can set up entry hazards or come back with a hit that does a deal of damage. I run shedshell so i can lure one of the most scariest thing in DreamWorld out and that is shandera, and once i do that i can just switch into something that can kill it as it locks itself into something. So since i have my lead i now need my core.

So i figured since Burungeru holds up Nattorei's weaknesses very well and same with Nattorei this would work very well. Now i just need something to start up SandStorm and can also take hits like a monster while breaking other weather, and this is Tyranitar one of my favorite pokemon in this metagame. Tyranitar can takes special attacks beyond belief and hit hard back. Next i need a powerful sweeper that has speed and can do a deal of damage.

So i put Doryuuzu because with sandstorm it's one of the fastest pokemon in the game without a scarf, while doing a crapload of damage with or without a Swords Dance up. Then i wanted to use something to take special hits and can set up and sweep at the same time, so i decided to choose Roobushin as it's special def bulk is impressive with the amount of Hp it can have. But after realizing it can't take a +2 doryuuzu's Eq at all times and get a drain punch off or get a mach punch off and kill at +0 attack i decided to make a change.

So i decided to throw in one of the most unlooked pokemon in this Gen, it hits very hard and has a massive priority movepool. Since pokemon that can set up entry hazards on my team was also hurting me i wanted a poke that can spin and could mess up the best heavy hitter in the game, but enough about that i'll go more in detail later. Now on to the scarfer.

Shandera is one the most scariest scarfers in the metagame today because it's ability to trap a pokemon that can totally merk your team and get an auto kill is amazing. It's ability to destroy walls that can stop your team is also very helpful also but if anything that can stop shandera you might want to set up a plan to beat the poke that can beat shandera before you start throwing it out everywhere as a simple double switch can beat it. Now since i been using this team i was getting second thoughts about doryuuzu since i don't need its speed as much i need to since there's a different poke i had my eyes on that can do a huge amount of damage and out speeds the majority of the metagame and can also beat walls at the same time.

So i made randorosu the next spot in the team, it has a decent physical defense stat that can take doryuuzu's hits all day and can still kill doryuuzu even if it has a balloon. Randorosu with a life orb and the ability sand power is probably one of the most scariest hard hitters in this metagame. I think people under look some of these pokes too much. Ok now on to the team.

-First look at the team-

​

Nattorei (M) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 196 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
So here's my lead if not switching up the pokes before the battle starts etc. The Evs are kind of weird because there is more spdef bulk instead of def, the reasoning for that is that theres mostly special attackers that Nattorei comes out onto and that they come in to to attack nattorei. It can live Tyranitars mix Fire Blasts/Flamethrowers like a boss and scarf Genosects Flamethrower. With the shed shell i can switch out on all Magnezones and Shandera to ttar and take hits all day. I also put 0 Speed iv's so the power of Gyro Ball is more hard hitting.

Randorosu (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
So Randorosu's ability to deal a massive amount of power in Sandstorm is really handy. With +2 it can ohko any type of Nattorei in SandStorm same with any other pokemon that can get hit with EQ that doesn't resist like an Celebi or Shaymin. Since Stone Edge also gets the boosted affect in the SandStorm +2 can also ohko a Gliscor regarding it has max def, and spdef Skarmory gets ohko'd also while Def Skarm is a 2hko. I think this thing is far more scarier than a Doryuuzu any day, the power it can put it out is amazing.

Shandera (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
Shandera also puts a pretty good role into this team seeing that it ohko's Offensive Roobushin and Kills Careful Roobushins at 78% or lower. It basically gets atleast one kill in everygame, and one very important kill is breloom seeing that it can do a bunch of damage to my team. I use hp ice for mostly any Garchomp that's not scarf seeing that Garchomp is one poke that is very feared by this team. Shandera also outspeeds Dragonite at +1 and kills if its not 100% due to Multi-Scale. I don't see the big help in HiddenPower Fighting seeing that it can't ohko Tyranitar nor Heatran if not spechs.

Burungeru (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Boil Over
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
Burungeru is pretty helpful seeing that it takes most of my teams weakness's very well. I know the Ev's look kinda well but the mixed ev's work really well. It can take any type of Dracometeor and Recover it off, and take a majority of the physical type pokemon wil-o-wisp/boiling water then recover it off. One thing that can never do anything to this team is Blaziken, I've been seeing a lot of teams really weak to blaziken and burungeru stops it dead in his tracks. Most burungeru's carry Toxic or Taunt, but i rather use Wil-O-Wisp because it hits every Poke for damage unlike toxic. taunt in my opinion isn't too useful for my team seeing that i really have nothing to taunt.

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Crunch
- Sleep Talk
- Curse
Now here comes another really big part of my team, and that is Tyranitar. He takes on any special attacker and takes almost all focus blast's like a man. The ability rest with this Tyranitar helps this team a lot, especially if it gets status'd; Rest also comes into place when your breaking other weather and takes damage, it could just rest up and be fine. Most walls like Bliss, Porygon-2, or any weak Special Attackers you can Start Cursing up and start hitting with Crunch. There's a few reasons why i run crunch instead of payback is because crunch gets more PP than payback and it has a chance to get Defense drops and it also hits harder while in this Gen payback doesn't get max power on switch ins. I use this tar to switch in on Shandera from Nattorei and bluff the pursuit and Crunch it as it stays in.

Hitmontop (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 220 HP / 252 Atk / 36 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Mach Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Rapid Spin
- Fake Out
This right here is probably the most scariest/important thing in my team, if you've ever battled me you should know. Hitmontop goes beast on those teams. I originally just made it to beat Doryuuzu and Shandera but it does massive amount of damage to basically the majority of the metagame. Hitmontop is one of the most under looked pokes in this metagame. I'll show you some statistics.

Hide

Latios-Ohko after rocks with sucker punch.
Doryuuzu-ohko after rocks with Mach punch depending on what kind of ev's it runs but you can always fake out + mach punch.
Shandera-ohko by sucker punch after Rocks.
Latias-ohko after 2 damages to rocks disregarding defense and hp ev's.
Espeon- no doubt ohko'd daily.
Tyranitar-Dealt by mach punch.
Basically a lot of sweepers and things that are faster that are low or semi low Hp can be killed with fake out + mach punch/sucker punch combo.
I'm sure there's much more but i can't think of them atm.

I think you get the idea how much Hitmontop wrecks in this Gen, and it can also pull of late game sweeps with the amount of entry hazards and what not you have.

One potential threat to this team is Garchomp.

I hope you guys enjoyed my first RMT, be sure to Rate, Use, and make tweaks. Thanks a lot and PEACE!​

 

[moonbound]

Pretty cool, I actually used that same hitmontop in gen 4

 

[Jaroda]

Hmm, team is pretty solid. It'd have to be to reach #1 after all right?

Can Hitmontop OHKO Virizion with Mach Punch? Because Virizion is something else that can give more than half your team trouble. Shandera handles it pretty well, but it could have trouble if Overheat doesn't OHKO it after a CM, then you're in trouble.

Giving Landlos HP Ice over Substitute will help a lot with said Garchomp as well as enemy Gliscor and opposing Landlos.

Also, just watch out for Heart of Justice users when using Tyranitar.

Otherwise yeah, I can't think of a whole lot. Good team.

 

[Byakuren]

Hmm, team is pretty solid. It'd have to be to reach #1 after all right?

Can Hitmontop OHKO Virizion with Mach Punch? Because Virizion is something else that can give more than half your team trouble. Shandera handles it pretty well, but it could have trouble if Overheat doesn't OHKO it after a CM, then you're in trouble.

Giving Landlos HP Ice over Substitute will help a lot with said Garchomp as well as enemy Gliscor and opposing Landlos.

Also, just watch out for Heart of Justice users when using Tyranitar.

Otherwise yeah, I can't think of a whole lot. Good team.

Virizion is Birijion right? yea i think i came across 1 out of all my time playing in DreamWorld and i never had trouble lol. Also if you the way my team is built the sub is a much better choice than hp ice trust me. A sub is also better incase someone trys to status me like gliscor with fling or toxic. Sub is a much greater choice. Thanks for your thought i'll keep it in mind.

 

[Jaroda]

Considering you're faster than every possible Gliscor out there, you don't have to worry about protecting yourself from Fling when you can just kill it outright before they use it. So that point is moot. But hey, whatever works for you.

 

[Lick]

how do you handle shed shell skarmory? it can easy setup spikes on 5/6 members of your team, taunt nattorei and tyranitar, and shandera takes huge damage if Stealth rock is in play. yes, i see that you hitmontop carry rapid spin but he dont had recovery so he will be quickly wear down by residual damage too.

i see that you can too have issues with dd salamence and dd ononokosu but i think who you can handled these threats with fake out hitmontop or simply forced them into outrage with randorosu and go to nattorei, luckily all three i mentionated are rare to see.

overall this team is a great team, but only two pokemon had recovery, why you dont try out a wisher over burungeru like vaporeon?

 

[Byakuren]

how do you handle shed shell skarmory? it can easy setup spikes on 5/6 members of your team, taunt nattorei and tyranitar, and shandera takes huge damage if Stealth rock is in play. yes, i see that you hitmontop carry rapid spin but he dont had recovery so he will be quickly wear down by residual damage too.

i see that you can too have issues with dd salamence and dd ononokosu but i think who you can handled these threats with fake out hitmontop or simply forced them into outrage with randorosu and go to nattorei, luckily all three i mentionated are rare to see.

overall this team is a great team, but only two pokemon had recovery, why you dont try out a wisher over burungeru like vaporeon?

Well yea you basically talked for me on the DD dragons part never really had problem with them, and vaporeon can't spin block, it's not as specially bulky as Burungeru and it has about the same amount of hp. Also this team like this gen is more fast past then the last gen. So far i never really needed to stall. It's a very fast past team while being a little stallish. Vaporeon can really wall things as greatly as burungeru can, like Latios and etc. Also vaporeon has to wish then protect to get its hp, which maybe the opponent is smart can easily switch all around the protects and easily out play you. Also buru's ability to have wil-o-wisp is a big help seeing that boiling water doesn't "always" get the burn.

 

[Lord Liam]

Solid looking team overall, I have a small nitpick I'd like to suggest. I'm a huge fan of double-dance Randorosu, utilizing both Swords Dance and Rock Polish to adapt to the situation. Sometimes in order to sweep you need speed, other times you need the pure power to muscle your way through stall. Hope this change works for you!

 

[Byakuren]

Solid looking team overall, I have a small nitpick I'd like to suggest. I'm a huge fan of double-dance Randorosu, utilizing both Swords Dance and Rock Polish to adapt to the situation. Sometimes in order to sweep you need speed, other times you need the pure power to muscle your way through stall. Hope this change works for you!

I lol'd when you said rock polish, not to be mean but rock polish is kind of trash. Plus having two set up moves means your gunna have to take hits from something adding Life orb damage. i rather just have sub and be behind it as long as i can. With my sub up the things that outspeed me are gunna have to come out and break it so that means they have to die and i have nothing to worry about then. Well i mean thats the majority of the time if you know what i mean.

 

[badabing]

Hello there. Time for a late night rate.

@Lord Liam: Balloon Terakion completely outclasses Rand as a double dancer. Outstanding STAB coverage, better speed, more opportunities to setup... Rand usually does best with only one boosting move, so I think the current set is alright. Getting behind a sub offers a nice safety net against frailer threats like Latios trying to switch in on the EQ and outspeed. I'd leave Rand alone. I just had to shut that down.

Congrats on the #1 spot and this appears to be a very solid team. However, you mentioned Garchomp as a threat. Randoruso and Dory could be problematic as well. Basically, anything with a strong EQ can potentially blow a hole through your team because you lack resistances and are solely relying on Rand's immunity. This seems very susceptible to prediction. While you can easily revenge Dory with TechniTop, you have nothing that can immediately switch in and outright counter it. Bronzong patches this weakness up nicely. It has excellent defensive typing that really fits the bill for your team, most importantly walling EdgeQuake and providing a secondary Dragon resist. He also counters Garchomp, never being 2HKOed by Fire Blast. Give Zong SR to free up one of Natt's slots for Leech Seed to give him more longevity because he holds you together against Rain and is already missing out on Lefties recovery. As for who to replace, I'd fit Zong in over your Burungeru because Shandy can "spin-block", emphasis on the quotations, and you can effectively wall the majority of special attackers between Ttar and Natt. You need Shandera to counter CM Virizion and knock the shit out of Roob (after a Bulk Up nothing else can really touch it). A standard defensive set should work just fine.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Bold | Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Stealth Rock / Gyro Ball / Earthquake / Hypnosis

I completely agree Hitmontop has great anti-metagame value right now and is a seriously underrated poke. The priority kills it gets for you seem helpful but not all that necessary due to the fact you can wall nearly all of them. Top is certainly not deadweight, but I think another mon could fill his role as an offensive spinner better and at the same time give you more balance of special attacking. Even though he's not getting much love this gen, give LO Starmie a try. It can revenge a lot of the above mentioned threats and break stall with Psycho Shock.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid | Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Hydro Pump / Thunderbolt / Psycho Shock / Rapid Spin

After making these changes to safeguard against Chomp and the like, I think it would be worthwhile to consider Flamethrower over HP Ice on Shandy for steady Fire STAB.

Good luck with the team.

 

[Byakuren]

Hello there. Time for a late night rate.

@Lord Liam: Balloon Terakion completely outclasses Rand as a double dancer. Outstanding STAB coverage, better speed, more opportunities to setup... Rand usually does best with only one boosting move, so I think the current set is alright. Getting behind a sub offers a nice safety net against frailer threats like Latios trying to switch in on the EQ and outspeed. I'd leave Rand alone. I just had to shut that down.

Congrats on the #1 spot and this appears to be a very solid team. However, you mentioned Garchomp as a threat. Randoruso and Dory could be problematic as well. Basically, anything with a strong EQ can potentially blow a hole through your team because you lack resistances and are solely relying on Rand's immunity. This seems very susceptible to prediction. While you can easily revenge Dory with TechniTop, you have nothing that can immediately switch in and outright counter it. Bronzong patches this weakness up nicely. It has excellent defensive typing that really fits the bill for your team, most importantly walling EdgeQuake and providing a secondary Dragon resist. He also counters Garchomp, never being 2HKOed by Fire Blast. Give Zong SR to free up one of Natt's slots for Leech Seed to give him more longevity because he holds you together against Rain and is already missing out on Lefties recovery. As for who to replace, I'd fit Zong in over your Burungeru because Shandy can "spin-block", emphasis on the quotations, and you can effectively wall the majority of special attackers between Ttar and Natt. You need Shandera to counter CM Virizion and knock the shit out of Roob (after a Bulk Up nothing else can really touch it). A standard defensive set should work just fine.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Bold | Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Stealth Rock / Gyro Ball / Earthquake / Hypnosis

I completely agree Hitmontop has great anti-metagame value right now and is a seriously underrated poke. The priority kills it gets for you seem helpful but not all that necessary due to the fact you can wall nearly all of them. Top is certainly not deadweight, but I think another mon could fill his role as an offensive spinner better and at the same time give you more balance of special attacking. Even though he's not getting much love this gen, give LO Starmie a try. It can revenge a lot of the above mentioned threats and break stall with Psycho Shock.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid | Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd
Hydro Pump / Thunderbolt / Psycho Shock / Rapid Spin

After making these changes to safeguard against Chomp and the like, I think it would be worthwhile to consider Flamethrower over HP Ice on Shandy for steady Fire STAB.

Good luck with the team.

Wow that was seriously the best advice i have ever gotten for my team, i really appreciate it and i'll try it out. thanks man. Although now i have a hole in my team seeing LO blaziken can do a deal of damage.

 

[badabing]

Wow that was seriously the best advice i have ever gotten for my team, i really appreciate it and i'll try it out. thanks man. Although now i have a hole in my team seeing LO blaziken can do a deal of damage.

You could try a more defensively oriented Starmie if Blaziken proves to be a pain in the ass. The spread I suggested isn't taking +2 Hi Jump Kick all that well...

 

[YAYtears]

You know, when I see a hitmontop on my latias, I say "sucker punch", and recover, and set up cms. And then I let sandstorm kill it. So yeah, definitely starmie over hitmontop. Hitmontop still gets its spinning, but its setup bait.

 

[Byakuren]

You know, when I see a hitmontop on my latias, I say "sucker punch", and recover, and set up cms. And then I let sandstorm kill it. So yeah, definitely starmie over hitmontop. Hitmontop still gets its spinning, but its setup bait.

To be honest i have never came across one.