W.A.R. - Weather Arms Race

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

W.A.R. - Weather Arms Race​

Welcome Smogon to DEMo_Gorgon47's latest RMT. As you can probably see, I have finally surccomed to the ways of the weather war in the B/W metagame. Though unlike most weather orientated teams, my does not rely on weather, and simply utilizes it ravage my opponenets strategy. Also, to avoid being to common, I tried to use Pokemon outside the top 10 (unfortunately Heatran is just to useful to pass by-- though I have considered Chandelure-- and Ttar was forced to join out of necessity.) Not only does thist team use weather to fight weather, but also employs a battalion of anti-weather Pokemon and a F/W/G core ward off opponents. So without further ado, let me show you the team.​

Team Building Process​

So first off I needed a Pokemon that could induce weather while at the same time not being to bog common (looking at you Tar, Toed, Tales). So basically my options came down to Hippowdon and Abamasnow. While Abamasnow was nice for a weather effect that could injure more foes as well as fairing better against the more common weather starters, I felt that its ever-so-common weaknesses and lack of utility moves wasnt worth it. So In its place I chose Hippowdon, who had better bulk, and the utility moves I needed.

Now the weather is up and the war is started. But what is a war without soldiers? So first I looked for a Pokemon that synergized relatively well with Hippowdon, and who also could help fight the war. So with some thought I came to Bulk Up Breloom, which is a favorite set of mine. Despite it not having perfect synergy, it works extremely well against Rain, Sandstorm, and even Hail, as well as Volt-Turn and non-weather teams.​

Now I saw that I had a gaping weakness to Ice attacks, as well as Fire, and to some extent Water (I hate Water attacks.) So I thought to myself: "What type resists all the attacks I am weak to?" Well obviously the answer is a Water-type. So now it came to a matter of picking the Water-type for my team. I immediately thought bulky-water, and then not soon after I thought of Tentacruel. With the ability to set up Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin other hazards away he seemed to be a good fit.

Looking at my team I noticed two things. One, that I had two-thirds of a Fire-Water-Grass core, and that I lacked a Specially Offensive Presence. So to patch up both these holes, Heatran joined the ranks. With Offensive Heatran Sun teams were no longer so threatening, and I could hit hard right off the bat.

Looking, I noticed how I lacked not only a revenge killer, but also I still wanted some more Special Power. So with that, the staple of my team Choice Scarf Latios entered as my aerial support in combat. With Latios, not only did I have an extremely powerful revenge killer, but I also had a Pokemon that had great coverage and could operate in Sun, Rain, Sandstorm, and in regular conditions.

Alright, at this point I came to the pivotal point of the team. I had two walls (Hippowdon and Tentacruel), two tanks (Heatran and Breloom), and a revenge killer (Latios), all that remains is the glue. Here I had a lot of options; I could place a mixed wall for support, but that would leave me offensively lacking, I could put another choice abuser, but I felt that wouldn't provide what I wanted. So I decided I needed an extremely good Set-up sweeper. And immediately my mind came to an old favorite of mine: Double Priority Sword Dance Lucario. With great offensive presence and resistances he can easily set up and wreak havoc. It was a no brainer for him to be the final member of the team, glueing it all together.

After some rounds and suggestions I have updated my team. Tentacruel was nice, as was Hippowdon, but there days were numbered. So after some modifications I have introduced the ever-to-common Tyrantiar and the not-so-common Slowbro to the team.​

And here is my updated team. Please, I would like more suggestions.​

The Team in Detail​

Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Brave
EV's: 252 HP/60 Atk/64 SpA/132 SpD
Moves: Ice Beam, Crunch, Stealth Rock, Fire Blast​

Tyranitar is my weather inducer and Stealth Rock setter-upper. After a suggestion by New World Order I placed this guy on my team. First I had Chopple Berry, but since I didnt seem to use that match, I switched back to Leftovers for recovery. Then Montagua made a suggestion on using his own personal Mixtar set and now it is working great. I now finally think this guy is here for the long haul. **Though if there was some way to include Abamasnow I would try it out**​

Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Heal
Nature: Careful
EV's: 236 HP/ 212 SpD/ 60 Spe
Moves: Bulk Up, Spore, Drain Punch, Seed Bomb​

Breloom is without a doubt one of my favorite Pokemon. Utilizing its extremely unique assets Breloom has proved invaluable on this team. With a very specific but extremely useful set of resistances Breloom can switch in and set up on a number of unboosted NVE special attacks, Spore the switch in, and proceed to Bulk Up. It is not uncommon for Breloom to achieve 2 or 3 Bulk Ups, and by that point my foe is in a really tight spot. Countering Rain and Volt-Turn is just icing on the cake. And when you add in his ability to heal off Sand Storm damage thanks to his ability you got a Pokemon that is darn tough to take down. **If Abamasnow was added in place of Ttar I'd probably switch this guy for Conkledurr**​

Slowbro (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
Nature: Relaxed
EV's: 252 HP/252 Def/ 4 SpA
IV's: 3 Spe, 3 Atk
Moves: Scald, Hidden Power [Electric], Ice Beam, Slack Off​

Slowbro is my new Defensive wall, also suggested by New World Order. With already wonderful coverage in Scald and Ice Beam, HP Electric is just icing on the cake, allowing me to beat Gyarados, who is a huge threat to my team. Slowbro is a much better member to my team, and with it I am able to survive much more threatening foes than before. The IV's simply allow me to outpace -- well outslow really -- Conkledurr and to provide minimal confusion damage while providing the strongest HP Electric I can have.​

Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Modest
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Moves: Fire Blast, Hidde Power [Ice], Earth Power, Flame Charge​

Heatran is the fiery gal of the team, and the final piece of my Fire/Water/Grass core. She serves as my best check to Sun Teams, namely Volcarona and Venasaur, as well as a real threat in general. With sky high Special Attack she is doing real damage. In the Sun after a Flash Fire boost, a Fire Blast from this gal does over 50% to an Evoilite Chansey, so this thing is no pansy. As you can see, I placed Flame Charge in the last spot. While not packing a punch, it is extremely useful to making Heatran a pseudo set-up sweeper. Using Flame Charge on the expected switch could very easily give me the upper hand on a foe that would normally outspeed and KO, giving my team massive boost in momentum. Heatran is a real team player, and patches up many of the holes this team has nicely. Normally I would lower the Attack IVs to 3, but since I run Flame Charge I have to keep them at 31.​

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
IV's: 2 Atk
Moves: Trick, Draco Meteor, Surf, Hidden Power [Fire]​

Here is another one of my favorite Pokemon in the game. With astronical Special Attack and great Speed Latios is a force to be reckoned with. He can also easily function in almost any weather type, making him invaluable to an anti-weather team. Over the battles he has proved to be almost as useful as Breloom has, taking 2nd on the MVP list in most battles. The attack IV's are the same reasoning as for Slowbro.​

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Moves: Close Combat, Bullet Punch, Extreme Speed, Swords Dance​

Lucario again makes his way onto my team, but this time as a much more back seat role. After Tentacruel, I often times find myself not needing Lucario as much, as he is very often over shadowed by Breloom. But that is not to say he has not performed how I wanted him. With Double Priority, Lucario can take down a range of threats that would normally wreck havoc on this team. And after one Swords Dance he is an extremely hard to stop, only truly countered by Jellicent. But overall the main purpose of Lucario is for Priority, which I find to be an invaluable tool in battles. So, if and when one reccomends a replacement for Lucario, make sure it has Priority on it.​

Threat List​

So far I havent found any true counters to this team. The main issue is its lack of recovery, and the time it needs to set up. Also, as everyone on of my Pokemon is designed to be a hard check to a certain type of strategy, if one falls prematurally I have an extremely difficult time navigating around that Pokemons loss. But overall if I play smart this predicament can be avoided.
​

Conclusion​

I really tried to make a team that embraced the trends of the current metagame (weather dominance) while still maintaining the "anti-metagame" vibe that I yern to preserve. And hopefully with a little tweaking this team can prove to be just that. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your critiques =D​

A Final Look​

 

[New World Order]

Hey there, noticed that nobody's responded to your thread, so I'm gonna help you out. Now, the first group of Pokemon that may give your team troubles are fast "occult" Pokemon, such as Alakazam and Gengar, who can outspeed a good portion of your team and dish out powerful blows. Relying on Latios to deal with these guys just doesn't cut it, because it'll either have to eat a Shadow Ball on the way in, or rely on revenge killing. One way to patch this up is to swap Hippowdon for a Chople Berry Tyranitar. That way, you keep your sand and Stealth Rock, but you now have a Pokemon who can scare off Alakazam and Gengar. CM Reuniclus can also come in on either Tentacruel or Lucario, set up, and cause headaches. If you max out Tyranitar's attack, it can still pack enough of a wallop to scare off Reuniclus.

Lucario is your best sweeper, but that also means it's your most vulnerable Pokemon, and could invite the likes of Gyarados and Salamence to come in and cause problems. With the loss of Hippowdon, Terrakion suddenly becomes a formidable threat as well. As you've already stated, Tentacruel is the most replaceable member. Your team doesn't need Toxic Spikes, and while Rapid Spin support is always helpful, you don't actually have any Pokemon that need it. No Stealth Rock weak Pokemon, and only one vulnerable to Toxic Spikes. You could really use a Pokemon to take on these physical specimens. This might sound a little weird, but give Hidden Power Electric Slowbro a try. Run Scald and Ice Beam and you've got all 3 of Gyara, Mence, and Terrak covered. Slowbro has excellent physical bulk, can take their STABs thanks to its typing, and is self sufficient with Regenerator and Slack Off.

GL

TLDR version

Tyranitar>Hippowdon
pros: keep sand, better vs Gengar, Alakazam, Reuniclus etc
cons: can't take on Terrakion and other powerful physical attackers

Slowbro>Tentacruel
pros: can take on the physical specimens of OU, can heal self
cons: no more Rapid Spin, although you don't have any SR weak Pokes

Sets

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Slack Off

 

[Asek]

Nice team
Reading your threat list the lack of recovery part and the fact that Tentacruel IS the weakest link of the team can easily be patched with a single Poke , Perhaps you could consider switching Tentacruel out with a Wish Blissey set? It still has the Specially Defensive presence that Tentacruel has but it also supports the team terrificily. It may be weak to the ubiquitous fighting types in the tier but the amount of support it offers your team is amazing

Hide

Blissey@ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
200 HP/ 252 Def/ 52 SpDef
Nature: Bold (+Def -Atk)
Wish
Protect
Seismic Toss
Thunder Wave

This set patches up your lack of recovery with one poke. If Breloom or Latios are getting worn down by sandstorm, Simply send in Blissey and pass them a Mammoth wish. Seismic toss is to do damage and Thunder Wave lets you cripple sweepers. Blissey could be replace by an Eviolite Chansey with the same set and EV's but the sandstorm damage makes that unappealing.
If you dont like either suggestions NWO's Slowbro suggestion is a good replacement for tentaruel as well.

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Hey guys, thank you for all the suggestions!! Asek, I didnt mean to nerf your suggestions, but I felt that the fighting blocking power of Slowbro and the ability to take on Gyarados was worth it. But thank you for even making the effort to help the team!

All updates are posted and I eagerly await more critiques.

 

[Motagua]

Hey DEMo_Gorgon47, nice to see another RMT of yours. Can´t find an overall weakness considering this is a very well built team with an amazing synergy and it seems to cover most of the threats in OU. My only suggestion would be to use a Mixed Attacker Tyranitar over your current version considering that Gliscor counters 3/6 of your pokemon, while Toxic Stall Gliscor is only countered by Breloom, or Heatran if it still keeps the Air Balloon. The below set was custom-made by me to abuse its great bulk and power. With 252 HP and 132 Sp.Def EVs, Tyranitar has a slight chance to be 2HKO´d by Latios taking 45,05% - 53,47% damage from Specs Surf (Never a 2HKO with Leftovers). 60 Atk EVs are enough to 2HKO 252 HP/252 Def Reuniclus with Crunch and the rest of the EVs goes to Special Attack allowing Tyranitar to OHKO Gliscor with Ice Beam and OHKO Scizor & Forry with Fire Blast. Chople Berry is also a viable option as it will allow Tyranitar to always survive a Focus Blast from TR Reuniclus and hit back with Crunch. In conclusion, this beast still counters fairly well threats like Alakazam, Gengar and Reuniclus, while being able to lure out Gliscor and kill it on the switch-in with Ice Beam and open up for a Lucario sweep. Overall, I hope my rate helps you out and good luck pal, keep the good work :).

Mixed Attacker Tyranitar

Tyranitar (M) @ [Chople Berry] or [Leftovers]
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Atk / 64 SAtk / 132 SDef
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Bumping this thread so I can get more feedback

 

[destinyunknown]

Hey,

This team is pretty solid, but it seems a bit weak to Volcarona, since Heatran can't beat it reliably and it has an easy time coming on most pokemon in your team. To fix this, you could try using Toxic on Heatran, over Flame Charge. Toxic would also allow you to cripple some Lucario counters like Gyarados or Jellicent, that are common Heatran switch-ins. GL!

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Interesting... I'll give a Toxictran a whirl and see how that goes. Thanks for the advice!

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Bump.

I know this team is a bit outdated, but I wanted to use it in the Smogon Frontier. So I dont have to worry about new BW2 threats. So I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has.

Also, is Technician Breloom BW1 or BW2?

 

[CedOmega]

B/W2

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Darn... back to Bulk Up. Anyway, how about some advice on how to make this team more solid?

 

[Electrolyte]

Hey man,

I'm going to propose a different approach to anti-weather- Trick Room. As you said, you only used Sand to counter Rain / Sun / Hail, but what about Sand itself? Terrakion does a number on your team when Slowbro is gone. Gliscor, as Motagua mentioned, as also a huge threat, especially SubSD- even Breloom and Heatran can't counter that set. The key to countering those pokemon is Trick Room- Trick Room allows Slowbro to put some offensive pressure on your opponent, and also lets Breloom and TTar have a much easier time setting up. With Trick Room, the opponent's Volcorona and Gyarados that spent so much time getting to +6 is now outsped and can be OHKO'd by all of your team. Slack Off can go; you don't need very much recovery b/c Regenerator.

I would also suggest some minor changes to some of your pokemon. Heatran needs Roar instead of Flame Charge. This totally erases Volcorona as a threat, and also removes Salamence and other dragons for the threatlist, somewhat. With Trick Room, Flame charge is only going to make you slower. Slowbro also really wants a Bold nature, to decrease it's Atk even more yet still maximize it's defense.

Nice team!

Summary:
Slowbro:
HP Electric ---> Trick Room
Relaxed --->Bold
Heatran
Flame Charge --->Roar

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

If I am using TR on Slowbro, Relaxed is far better as it gives me an even lower speed. But if I get rid of HP Electric, how would Ttar hit Gyarados? But I'll give these sets a whirl.

Anyone else have any ideas? I would love more feedback.