The Trappings of Darkness (Peaked #7 on Ladder)

The Trappings of Darkness

By: Finalninja243 and Steelskitty
Hello Smogon, this is finalninja243 along with Steelskitty Some of you may recognize us from PS! as voiced users or fromour on the RMT forums. Anyhow, the basic principle of the team is to use the former uber ( but now-turned BL pokemon), Wobbuffet to create set up opportunities for two of the most dangerous sweepers since their respective releases: Rayquaza and CM Ghostceus. It also features one of the most underated scarfers in the metagame, Dialga. Although this team is still relatively new, it has prevailed against some of the most skilled players of this metagame, including Hack, Sweep, Dice, Blitzlefan, and Hyw. This is probably the last team we will make until the release of X and Y, so go out and give it a try. It'll be obsolete when Gen 6 comes out anyway.

Team at a Glance:

In Depth:



Advenae Agone (Deoxys-Attack) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Naive Nature

- ExtremeSpeed
- Stealth Rock
- Psycho Boost
- Taunt

One of the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, leads in the current metagame, Deoxys-A sets up stealth rocks with relative ease while maintaining offensive pressure for this team. Stealth Rock is the key support move that every team needs, and Deoxys-A can usually get it up reliably. Taunt is a key feature of this Deoxys-A, which allows it to stop lead Dialga and Groudon from getting up rocks of their own. It also provides a fail-safe to Lead Darkrai's Dark Void, while also stopping dangerous sweepers like CM and SD Arceus from attaining boosts to wreck my team. Psycho Boost coming off 459 SpA will leave a sizable dent in anything it touches, while Extremespeed allows it to pick off other leads after they eat a Psycho Boost.

Taunt may look pretty stupid at first glance; it's not like the opponent will bother statusing you with your 50/20/20 Defenses. But it has deeper, underlying purpose: choking first-Pokemon Calm Mind Arceus forms that try to set up on you and sweep your team. Also, assuming you keep Deo-A at 1 HP, Taunt has all sorts of bizarre niche uses lategame. It works.... believe it!


Spectris Rector (Arceus-Ghost) @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature

- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Focus Blast
- Judgment

Certified backup win-condition and S-Rank Sweeper, Arceus-Ghost has been both dangerous and dangerously hard to check since its fateful release in Generation 4. The set itself is bog-standard but oh-so powerful; Calm Mind whenever you're able to, and sweep from there, recovering as needed. This Pokemon provides a spinblocker and handy double-immunity, which is a godsend for HO. This thing is incredibly dangerous, and totally worthy of its high rank on the viablity list.


Caelum Serpente (Rayquaza) @ Life Orb
Trait: Air Lock
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw

- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance

- V-create
The primary win condition of this team, Swords Dance Rayquaza is a menace to behold. Stall usually lacks a way to prevent this thing from leaving huge dents in its cores after it has been set up. Normally, Rayquaza has difficulty setting up the necessary Swords Dance to boost its attack from high to absoutely terrifying levels. Wobbuffet remedies this issue, and the remaining moves help it wreck havoc. Dragon Claw is a reliable, solid STAB move that nails Giratina-A for a guranteed OHKO after a boost. It also makes Rayquaza less susceptible to revenge killing as opposed to Outrage. Extremespeed alloys Rayquaza to beat many faster opponents, with almost guranteed OHKOs on Palkia and Mewtwo after rocks and a boost. Finally, V-Create is Arceus's gift to Rayquaza this generation. With the same base power of STAB Outrage, V-Create is generally a safe move to throw out for massive damage. +2 V-Create even has a 56% chance to OHKO Support Groudon after rocks! V-Create also destroys slower variations of Lugia, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and other Steel types looking to wall this beast. EV's are standard for a sweeper, Adamant over Jolly for the ability to OHKO Palkia and co. after SR with Extremspeed.


Dominus Captionem (Wobbuffet) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 28 HP / 248 Def / 232 SDef
Calm Nature

- Counter
- Encore
- Mirror Coat
- Safeguard
The main star and highlight of our team, Wobbuffet is a Pokemon that is intergral to our success. It not only revenge kills problematic scarfers such as Genesect (not locked into a bug-type move, though this spread takes about 70% from U-turn, meaning that you could even potentially stay in versus Genesect and Counter their switchin) but also provides setup opportunites for both of our sweepers. Counter and Mirror Coat are vital moves for Wobbuffet to kill physical and special attackers alike. Encore is another key feature of Wobbfuffet that allows it to earn a place on our team;it locks opponents into the last move they were using, so mons like Extremekiller Arceus and Rayquaza cannot set up on Wobbuffet. The resulting free turn provides a chance to either set up with Ghostceus or Rayquaza or just bombard the opponent with Kyogre's Choice Specs boosted attacks. Safeguard is used over Destiny Bond to allow Ray and Arceus to set up in the face of Encored Toxic's and Thunder Waves. Leftovers is used over Custap Berry of Focus Sash as, w/o D-Bond, there is no point for a Custap Berry or a Sash. The HP EVs give it a HP number that allows maximum Leftovers recovery, while the rest is poured into its defenses to allow it to take hits from both spectrums effectively. Calm is used over Bold, as specially-biased attackers are more prevalent in the Ubers metagame.


Dator Pluviae (Kyogre) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 88 HP / 252 SAtk / 168 Spd
Modest Nature
- Surf

- Thunder
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam
The infamous Choice Specs Kyogre makes an apperance on our team as a powerful wall-breaker straight from the get-go. It provides a weak check to many specially biased mons, but is mainly used to spam powerful double rain STAB boosted attacks. The moves are generally straightforward, Water Spout to spam early game, Surf for late-game realiability, Thunder for Palkia switch ins as well as other Kyogre. Ice Beam is a move to be used sparingly, as Water Spout/Surf usually does similar damage to Ice Beam as well as the fact that Choice-Lock non-STAB Ice Beam is set-up fodder for many dangerous mons in this metagame. EV's are to outpace 0 Speed Lugia, who can sometimes stall out Surf/Thunder with Roost and Multiscale shenanigans. Max SpA for maximum damage output, the rest go into HP to enhance its overall bulk.


Praefectus Tempore (Dialga) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor

- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Sleep Talk

Here we have what is probably the most little-recognized and underrated Scarfmon in the game, Dialga. It revenge kills Extremekiller Arceus (assuming Ekiller can actually set up versus this team), and is yet another capable lategame cleaner for us. Possessing the same base special attack as Pakia and an impressive speed with the scarf equipped, it's sure to leave a huge dent in the opposition. Draco Meteor doesn't see too much use, but it hits like a nuke when you do end up needing it. Aura Sphere is coverage on the steelmons that infest the Ubers tier, while also mangling a few select threats such as Ekiller and Darkrai. Dragon Pulse is reliable STAB to complement Draco Meteor (very useful for the times when you need to kill a dragon but can't afford the Satk drop), and Sleep Talk turns you into strong sleep fodder and beats Darkrai/Smashpass.

One might question its use over Genesect, though. At first glance, Gene seems like an obviously better Pokemon for this team, as it revenges troubling Calm Mind Arceus forms and deals with Mewtwo better. You do have several advantages over Genesect, though: not only are you much stronger, but you're specially focused, you can switch into U-turns better than your own Genesect ever could, you're a much better lategame cleaner, you can Revenge Extremekiller Arceus without exploding, Dialga provides a Rock resist for this team, and you have an incredibly nice surprise factor.

Replays:
Not our best matches per se, but entertaining nonetheless
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54864020 - Hyw
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-54627467 - Hack He Must
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-53303958 - Steelskitty
http://pokemonshowdown.com/replay/ubers-53135320 - Dice

Shout-Outs:
Thanks to hyw, Blue J, Hack He Must, and Sweep for helping teamtest
Thanks to Asator, who inspired us to create a Wobbaquaza team
Thanks to all of our PS! friends out there, you know who you guys are

Importable:
Advenae Agone (Deoxys-Attack) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- ExtremeSpeed
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Psycho Boost

Spectris Rector (Arceus-Ghost) @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Focus Blast
- Judgment

Caelum Serpente (Rayquaza) @ Life Orb
Trait: Air Lock
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Claw
- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance
- V-create

Dominus Captionem (Wobbuffet) @ Leftovers
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 28 HP / 248 Def / 232 SDef
Calm Nature
- Counter
- Encore
- Mirror Coat
- Safeguard

Dator Pluviae (Kyogre) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 88 HP / 252 SAtk / 168 Spd
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Thunder
- Water Spout
- Ice Beam

Praefectus Tempore (Dialga) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Aura Sphere
- Dragon Pulse
- Sleep Talk
 
Ghostceus kills your team lategame provided no crits occur, maybe get a darkrai in there in place of wobbu? idk, good team though
 

steelskitty

you deserve so much more than this
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Ghostceus kills your team lategame provided no crits occur, maybe get a darkrai in there in place of wobbu? idk, good team though
I'm glad you like the team!

Ghostceus can't really set up on anything barring Scarfalga, which isn't even our primary RKer (Wobbuffett is). I've considered Darkrai in the past, but there just isn't any space for it; the team really needs all of its current members to be successful. Getting rid of Wobbu means that Rayquaza has no chance in hell of setting up, and we'd need to alter the team significantly to make up for the bulk and pokemon-elminating powers it provides. Thanks anyway!
 
Finally your rmt is out...ive been pissing my pants waiting.
The only real problem is that you have no solid ground resist, but idk what to replace. RP Don or SD Groundceus look really threatening. Anyway, great team! No shoutout for me even tho i boosted your confidence by letting you 3-0 me...twice. ;)
 
Change Kyogre to Physically defensive, you're insanely weak to things like offensive groudon and Extremekiller. Cool team, I have a similar one with Physically defensive Kyogre and Mix DD Rayquaza
 

Haruno

Skadi :)
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Ditch taunt on deo-a. Nothing really wants to set up on deo-a in the first place and I can't realistically see someone not immediately attacking it to neutralize the threat, instead use super power to nail ty-tar, dialga, and darkrai leads.

I'll edit this post later with more of a rate once I take a nap. Also f u final. I thought I told you I didn't want to see you wobbquaza team >:(
 

Chicharino

Guest
Hey, Really solid team here. I versed it before back when you still ran EK and Genesect, so I cannot comment as to this particular teams effectiveness. I would however replace Taunt with LowKick to deal with the leads stated above. But you said that it had some uses, so who Knows.

On Dialga, I'd try out Possibly Fire Blast/ Flamethrower over DPulse (though I do realise there are some cases where having Dpulse against two consecutive dragons is favorable, as all three of those moves would thus allow you to OTK Darkrai's that have Prior Scarf Damage, but you do run Rain, so I understand).

I'd go 252 Speed on Ogre, to allow you to Speed Tie with Offensive Groudon, and this would allow your Ogre to beat out those Ho Oh's that run 174 or so speed (Looking at you Hack). There might be few cases where this comes in use, but I'd do it regardless (this also allows you to speed tie with other Modest Specs Ogre that do the same thing).

In most cases, the loss in bulk is not noticeable imo.
(especially now that you've revealed your team, the opp wont have to worry about being outsped or not).

I just feel the few HP EVs are not worth the risk of Outspeeding most other Base 90.

And on a last note, maybe give Ray Ray the remaining for EVs on Def so that Gene gets the Sp.Atk Boost instead of the Attack boost (To prevent a late game Gene Iron Head sweep? Unless you fear the Ice Beam boost).

You could also lower Dialga's Speed EVs to like 196 (enough to outspeed Mewtwo and below, and invest the rest into Def, lets you deal with +2 EK and Outrages better, Dialga beats most other base 90 scarfers one on one as is).

Last but not least. You could try Mold Breaker Exca > Deoxys. It gets Rocks up against those pesky Bouncer teams ;). Also , it deals with Cloyster a bit better. Although +2 Icicle Spear OTKs. Plus, you get the added bonus of being able to potentially Spin away Hazards before it's done for. Excadrill also keeps a bit of offensive pressure as well.

Hope my suggestion made some sense lol
 
Damn things escalated fast. Calm down guys, but Physically Defensive does make sense. However, this leaves you without an immediate wall breaker. But if you keep Specs, you are insanely weak to Don and Arc Ground. Imo, physically defensive Giratini would fit really well on this team, patching up a lot of holes. You could even use a mixed wallbreaker Gira O with a moveset of Draco/D tail/Willo/Sneak. But then it leaves you really ipen to Arc Ghost so idk what to do.
 

steelskitty

you deserve so much more than this
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Past WCoP Champion
Damn things escalated fast. Calm down guys, but Physically Defensive does make sense. However, this leaves you without an immediate wall breaker. But if you keep Specs, you are insanely weak to Don and Arc Ground. Imo, physically defensive Giratini would fit really well on this team, patching up a lot of holes. You could even use a mixed wallbreaker Gira O with a moveset of Draco/D tail/Willo/Sneak. But then it leaves you really ipen to Arc Ghost so idk what to do.
What would we switch for it?
 

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