I'm back with another one of these things. Fortunately, it was by choice and not "inspiration" that i decided to build this team. I was getting pretty low on the ladder (about 1250 I think, this far into the test) because of some less-than-stellar team building that I'm actually not too proud of.
So I began by deciding on hyper offense, a style that I've been slowly building confidence in. So I didn't have one particular mon in mind, so I found use in a pokemon that heavily supports the playstyle.
LifeIsRough (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 60 SpD / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
FatChomp is an amazing mon to put in on any offensive team. The chip damage it causes with its item, ability, and rocks turn 3HKOs into 2HKOs and 2HKOs into OHKOs. This thing gets an automatic switch-in to things like Lopunny, Lando-T, Scizor, Talonflame, Bisharp, and Gyarados. It also provides shuffling which is useful for killing off setup mons' boosts, especially Baton Pass. As I said, I think Tank Garchomp is likely to be a staple on my hyper offensive teams from now on. In summary, Garchomp is good for weakening the physical portion of the opponent's team.
checkm8 (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
Bisharp came onto the team for no good reason to be honest. It may be replaced with somethng else, seeing as Scizor has been more reliable. Nevertheless, Bisharp is a monster if you play it right. A lot of the time, it gets underestimated because of its speed, and then, as you'll see in one of my replays, you find Bisharp cleaning up half of your team with Sucker Punch. Although, this set ends up being predictable and easy to counter, like the aforementioned Garchomp. As good as Bisharp is, this is about the only set you can run with it, giving it a pH of about 11.
Supernova (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
I don't find myself using Starmie that much, so this is a refreshing change of pace for me. Rather than running Psyshock, I find it better to have the Bolt-Beam combo for the majority of the metagame. This leaves it a little weak to Conkeldurr, but it could be worse. Hydro Pump is a little scary, seeing as 70 accuracy actually means zero. The calcs definitely work better with Hydro Pump, but perhaps Surf would prove a little more reliable in tense situations. It's also a little useful to absorb status with its Natural Cure. I usually have a problem once an Azumarill sets up a Belly Drum, and having an Aqua Jet resist/ super-effective attack in one pokemon usually stops that sweep. Unfortuantely, the lack of dual STAB leaves Starmie unable to OHKO some of the threats that it could with Psychic/Psyshock. In the end however, Starmie stays at a nice 115 base speed, outpacing Thundurus, Mega Metagross, Latios, Latias, Gengar, and Serperior.
IGNEEL YO (Charizard) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze -> Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
This thing pretty much justifies its place on the team by existing. But for analysis's sake, we'll say that it goes pretty nicely with Starmie, and especially appreciates the spin support. Unfortunately, we can't ban it until it somehow gets Quiver Dance. Its underwhelming 100 base speed with no boosting capabilities leaves it outsped by many a Latios, Keldeo, and Thundurus. I'm having similar problems choosing Fire Blast or Flamethrower, like Starmie with its water STAB. Fortunately, an overconfident Keldeo will stay in as Drought gets activated, allowing Zard to take even Hydro Pump and return a Solarbeam. Again, I'm thinking that this doesn't need much explaining, seeing as this is another basic set.
Once you go (Kyurem-Black) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 112 Atk / 144 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Claw
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
Kyurem-B is here to fill holes in the previous team member's coverage capabilities. It also gives me a faster pokemon to attack with, seeing as most of my team is relatively slow compared to other offensive attackers in the metagame. Kyurem is a amazing mixed attacker, easily surpassing 400 Attack and 300 Special Attack with the EVs given. As this is a hyper offense, I considered Outrage over Dragon Claw, but I wouldn't want to risk becoming locked into Outrage against scary Bullet Punch users. Losing Kyurem may become detrimental, as its one of the fairly bulky pokemon on the team. I use a Hasty nature so it can switch into common dragon resistances (which happen to be more specially oriented) easier. The scarf allows Kyurem to outspeed a Mega Altaria, even at +1, as well. I have Earth Power to give me more type options, which is just one more way to deal decent damage to Diancie, Excadrill, Heatran, and Magnezone. The few scarfed pokemon that do outspeed Kyurem, such as Keldeo, are easily handled by other team members.
Edward (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 20 SpD / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Superpower
Scizor closes the team by providing an option against the monstrous fairies that Bisharp can't quite deal with. Again, here I go with the basic sets. I run 4 Spd on Scizor to outspeed mirror Scizors, which may seem a little strange, but I lack switch-ins other than Charizard, so I might as well get off a little extra damage while I can. Scizor is also one of the few steel types that can pivot out of a bad situation with Magnezone. because of the banded U-turn, I relate its pivoting to the pivoting of a truck. With respectable bulk and defensive typing, along with the strongest U-turn in the metagame, Scizor is able to fill its role on this team, and if it doesn't belong on the field at the time, it can just use a U-turn to make an extra dent in the opponent team. It also does well against Chansey with its Knock Off capabilities. While the Choice Band heavily increases its firepower, sometimes switching Scizor into a Knock Off or Trick may prove beneficial for the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Conclusion:
1. This team is fragile. Some of the pokemon other than Chomp can hardly be called switch-ins. I'm sure that may be a problem with hyper offense in general, but it screws me over sometimes.
2. All HP lost is final. Other than Charizard, no mons have any way for any of them to recover HP. May consider using an Assault Vest Torn-T for a little more recovery option.
3. This team is worn down quickly. The lack of bulk throughout, two Life Orb holders, and lack of recovery-able pokemon make for a team that can't take repeated attacks from the wrong threats. Still, heavily considering AV Tornadus-T to help with this role.
4.
<- This fucker. Other than Zard Y, I have no way to deal sufficient damage to Mega Venusaur. Definitely should switch Bisharp for Torn-T, now that I think about it.
5.
Bisharp itself can clean up my team pretty easily late game.
6.
Charizard X pretty much cleans up my entire team with +1 DD. Requires Bisharp and Garchomp to take down.
7.
Conkeldurr doesn't take super-effective damage from any of my team, but it is still overpowered in most situations. Tornadus-T is actually screaming at me now.
And finally, replays (from the first 10 matches with the team):
Wins:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236047724
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236049739
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236051429
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236053229
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236055992
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236059668
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236061870
Losses:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236064886
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236063227
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236058191
So there we are! This team has been rocketing me through the ladder, and now I'm sitting at high 1400s and will hopefully increase my rank into the top 100, and get my COIL rating up from 2300 to 2700! I wanna make sure I have a voice in this suspect testing! #KeepLandoInOU
So I began by deciding on hyper offense, a style that I've been slowly building confidence in. So I didn't have one particular mon in mind, so I found use in a pokemon that heavily supports the playstyle.
Team Building
I had to begin with one mon that I know would greatly support the rest of the offensive team: Garchomp. Its a really good rocker that has been gaining popularity lately. FatChomp is probably where I'll start hyper offensive team from now on, to be honest.
At this point, I was still unsure of how the team was gonna play out. I decided to use Bisharp because of two reasons. One, because I haven't used it on any teams in a while and it finally caught my interest again. Secondly, I wanted something to check Latis, Sylveon, Gengar, Clefable and other such things that kill Chomp's defensive abilities.
The next step comes with two pokemon at once. I still had yet to establish any kind of core in the team, and Zard Y piqued my interest. Next I decided to add a water mon,seeing as it usually goes pretty nice with fire. As Zard obviously needs spin support, I went with Starmie.
The next thing I noticed is that while Starmie is fast, there isn't much to deal with scarfer mons and the faster dragon types in OU. So I added Kyurem-B, a monstrous mixed scarf variant that can hit pretty much anything where it's weak.
Finally, I saw a threat in Mega Gardevoir and Altaria. These fairies can live Sucker Punch, outspeed, and rip through Bisharp. A CB Scizor sounded like a good idea to close up and handle the threats.
-Meet the Team-
I had to begin with one mon that I know would greatly support the rest of the offensive team: Garchomp. Its a really good rocker that has been gaining popularity lately. FatChomp is probably where I'll start hyper offensive team from now on, to be honest.
At this point, I was still unsure of how the team was gonna play out. I decided to use Bisharp because of two reasons. One, because I haven't used it on any teams in a while and it finally caught my interest again. Secondly, I wanted something to check Latis, Sylveon, Gengar, Clefable and other such things that kill Chomp's defensive abilities.
The next step comes with two pokemon at once. I still had yet to establish any kind of core in the team, and Zard Y piqued my interest. Next I decided to add a water mon,seeing as it usually goes pretty nice with fire. As Zard obviously needs spin support, I went with Starmie.
The next thing I noticed is that while Starmie is fast, there isn't much to deal with scarfer mons and the faster dragon types in OU. So I added Kyurem-B, a monstrous mixed scarf variant that can hit pretty much anything where it's weak.
Finally, I saw a threat in Mega Gardevoir and Altaria. These fairies can live Sucker Punch, outspeed, and rip through Bisharp. A CB Scizor sounded like a good idea to close up and handle the threats.
-Meet the Team-
LifeIsRough (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 60 SpD / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
FatChomp is an amazing mon to put in on any offensive team. The chip damage it causes with its item, ability, and rocks turn 3HKOs into 2HKOs and 2HKOs into OHKOs. This thing gets an automatic switch-in to things like Lopunny, Lando-T, Scizor, Talonflame, Bisharp, and Gyarados. It also provides shuffling which is useful for killing off setup mons' boosts, especially Baton Pass. As I said, I think Tank Garchomp is likely to be a staple on my hyper offensive teams from now on. In summary, Garchomp is good for weakening the physical portion of the opponent's team.
checkm8 (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
Bisharp came onto the team for no good reason to be honest. It may be replaced with somethng else, seeing as Scizor has been more reliable. Nevertheless, Bisharp is a monster if you play it right. A lot of the time, it gets underestimated because of its speed, and then, as you'll see in one of my replays, you find Bisharp cleaning up half of your team with Sucker Punch. Although, this set ends up being predictable and easy to counter, like the aforementioned Garchomp. As good as Bisharp is, this is about the only set you can run with it, giving it a pH of about 11.
Supernova (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
I don't find myself using Starmie that much, so this is a refreshing change of pace for me. Rather than running Psyshock, I find it better to have the Bolt-Beam combo for the majority of the metagame. This leaves it a little weak to Conkeldurr, but it could be worse. Hydro Pump is a little scary, seeing as 70 accuracy actually means zero. The calcs definitely work better with Hydro Pump, but perhaps Surf would prove a little more reliable in tense situations. It's also a little useful to absorb status with its Natural Cure. I usually have a problem once an Azumarill sets up a Belly Drum, and having an Aqua Jet resist/ super-effective attack in one pokemon usually stops that sweep. Unfortuantely, the lack of dual STAB leaves Starmie unable to OHKO some of the threats that it could with Psychic/Psyshock. In the end however, Starmie stays at a nice 115 base speed, outpacing Thundurus, Mega Metagross, Latios, Latias, Gengar, and Serperior.
IGNEEL YO (Charizard) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze -> Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Roost
This thing pretty much justifies its place on the team by existing. But for analysis's sake, we'll say that it goes pretty nicely with Starmie, and especially appreciates the spin support. Unfortunately, we can't ban it until it somehow gets Quiver Dance. Its underwhelming 100 base speed with no boosting capabilities leaves it outsped by many a Latios, Keldeo, and Thundurus. I'm having similar problems choosing Fire Blast or Flamethrower, like Starmie with its water STAB. Fortunately, an overconfident Keldeo will stay in as Drought gets activated, allowing Zard to take even Hydro Pump and return a Solarbeam. Again, I'm thinking that this doesn't need much explaining, seeing as this is another basic set.
Once you go (Kyurem-Black) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 112 Atk / 144 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Claw
- Fusion Bolt
- Earth Power
Kyurem-B is here to fill holes in the previous team member's coverage capabilities. It also gives me a faster pokemon to attack with, seeing as most of my team is relatively slow compared to other offensive attackers in the metagame. Kyurem is a amazing mixed attacker, easily surpassing 400 Attack and 300 Special Attack with the EVs given. As this is a hyper offense, I considered Outrage over Dragon Claw, but I wouldn't want to risk becoming locked into Outrage against scary Bullet Punch users. Losing Kyurem may become detrimental, as its one of the fairly bulky pokemon on the team. I use a Hasty nature so it can switch into common dragon resistances (which happen to be more specially oriented) easier. The scarf allows Kyurem to outspeed a Mega Altaria, even at +1, as well. I have Earth Power to give me more type options, which is just one more way to deal decent damage to Diancie, Excadrill, Heatran, and Magnezone. The few scarfed pokemon that do outspeed Kyurem, such as Keldeo, are easily handled by other team members.
Edward (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 20 SpD / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Superpower
Scizor closes the team by providing an option against the monstrous fairies that Bisharp can't quite deal with. Again, here I go with the basic sets. I run 4 Spd on Scizor to outspeed mirror Scizors, which may seem a little strange, but I lack switch-ins other than Charizard, so I might as well get off a little extra damage while I can. Scizor is also one of the few steel types that can pivot out of a bad situation with Magnezone. because of the banded U-turn, I relate its pivoting to the pivoting of a truck. With respectable bulk and defensive typing, along with the strongest U-turn in the metagame, Scizor is able to fill its role on this team, and if it doesn't belong on the field at the time, it can just use a U-turn to make an extra dent in the opponent team. It also does well against Chansey with its Knock Off capabilities. While the Choice Band heavily increases its firepower, sometimes switching Scizor into a Knock Off or Trick may prove beneficial for the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Conclusion:
1. This team is fragile. Some of the pokemon other than Chomp can hardly be called switch-ins. I'm sure that may be a problem with hyper offense in general, but it screws me over sometimes.
2. All HP lost is final. Other than Charizard, no mons have any way for any of them to recover HP. May consider using an Assault Vest Torn-T for a little more recovery option.
3. This team is worn down quickly. The lack of bulk throughout, two Life Orb holders, and lack of recovery-able pokemon make for a team that can't take repeated attacks from the wrong threats. Still, heavily considering AV Tornadus-T to help with this role.
4.
5.
6.
7.
And finally, replays (from the first 10 matches with the team):
Wins:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236047724
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236049739
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236051429
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236053229
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236055992
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236059668
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236061870
Losses:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236064886
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236063227
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-236058191
So there we are! This team has been rocketing me through the ladder, and now I'm sitting at high 1400s and will hopefully increase my rank into the top 100, and get my COIL rating up from 2300 to 2700! I wanna make sure I have a voice in this suspect testing! #KeepLandoInOU
