Wow, who'da thought something would actually make me pick up Singles again, huh? Well, anyway with Stage 3 enticing me to use Skymin, I thought I'd give it a shot.
Now, what I did first was take to the ladder with a team I hadn't really used since Latias Suspect test; to my surprise, it actually wasn't half bad. So, after some battles using that team to gather info on the metagame at the time, I made a new team taking what I liked from the old one and some theorymon and, of course, good-ol' trial and error. I thought this would fail, but I was actually pleased with the result. It does, however, have some problems, especially against stall, but this team has, so far, been working pretty well for me, and with your help it could be amazing, so let's
Now, what I did first was take to the ladder with a team I hadn't really used since Latias Suspect test; to my surprise, it actually wasn't half bad. So, after some battles using that team to gather info on the metagame at the time, I made a new team taking what I liked from the old one and some theorymon and, of course, good-ol' trial and error. I thought this would fail, but I was actually pleased with the result. It does, however, have some problems, especially against stall, but this team has, so far, been working pretty well for me, and with your help it could be amazing, so let's
Meet the Team!
Man I love being dramatic.
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Jirachi@Expert Belt
Serene Grace
Jolly-252 Atk, 176 Spd, 80 HP
-Iron Head
-Fire Punch
-U-Turn
-Thunderwave
Alright, let's start with everyone's favorite Starman! I used him on my previous team as a lead and he worked pretty well so I carried him over to this team. Bluffing Choice Scarf isn't hard unless I'm up against, like, an Azelf lead or something but that only happened once and then I can catch the enemy by surprise with Twave or something or escape from a Magnezone before it kills him. He can take a hit and put the hurt on Tyranitar, Scizor, Celebi, and so forth. In addition, he can take a hit from either Latios or Skymin and shut them down with Thunderwave--I used to run Body Slam for Garchomp but it proved to be annoyingly unreliable. He usually scouts by U-Turn first turn unless I'm up against something like a Scarfmin I can just cripple. Doesn't really beat Deoxys-S (don't have to worry about that now), but instead U-Turns out for decent damage while something like Scizor kills it.
Shaymin-S@Expert Belt
Serene Grace
Modest-252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Seed Flare
-Air Slash
-Earth Power
-HP Fire
Probably one of the cutest suspects and my second favorite behind Latias, Skymin acts as my main special sweeper, cleaning up late game. The moveset is standard, only running HP Fire to take down dangerous steels like Bronzong and maybe Skarmory (can't OHKO but I can at least put a huge dent in them) and most of the things I'd use HP Ice on (Garchomp, Latios, other Skymin) already are taken care of by my other moves. Since I absolutely hate Choice Scarf and all this speed tie bullshit, but also because I found she goes down way too fast with LO recoil, I decided on Expert Belt again to bluff Choice Scarf--she loses against other Skymin anyway with HP Fire (I've been thinking of running less speed and more HP because of it) and she outspeeds nearly everything she needs too already, so with Expert Belt she can kill one thing then get a surprise kill on another pokemon that trys to threaten her--Skymin makes most of her cleanup this way.
Dragonite@Leftovers
Inner Focus
Calm-248 HP, 216 Sp. Def, 44 Spd
-Roost
-Heal Bell
-Dragon Pulse
-Fire Blast
I honestly did not think this would work, but support Dragonite nevertheless has found a way to be useful--and I love any chance I can get to use Dragonite over that jerk Salamence. Anyway, she's my main Skymin counter, with a good HP and Sp. Def score as well as immunity to Earth Power, 4x resistance to Seed Flare, and an immunity to flinching from Air Slash (glad more Skymin don't spam HP Ice against this team). Other than that, she functions as my cleric, which is pretty important with Hypnosis Bronzong going around, and will shave off a good amount of HP off of any dragon that switches in with Dragon Pulse. Fire Blast is mainly for eliminating Scizor and 2HKOing other steels like Metagross, Bronzong, and Skarmory maybe as well as dealing with Celebi, although I've been thinking of replacing it with maybe Thunderwave to cripple Heatrans that catch onto the fact that she can't hurt them much.
Scizor@Choice Band
Technician
Adamant-248 HP, 252 Atk, 8 Spd
-Bullet Punch
-U-Turn
-Pursuit
-Superpower
The blandest pokemon on my team (never thought I'd ever say that about one of my favorite pokemon ever behind Farfetch'd and Slowking), Scizor functions mainly to pick off these annoying Skymins, Deoxys, and Garchomp. Usually she U-Turns like crazy since I'm quite paranoid of Magnezone (lose Scizor early game to Magnezone and things become a heckuva lot harder) with Bullet Punch to finish off the problematic ones. Not much to say, really; don't use Pursuit and Superpower much. I'd like to run a version without CB but I don't know what set.
Manaphy@Leftovers
Hydration
Modest-252 HP, 202 Sp. Atk, 56 Spd
-Substitute
-Tail Glow
-Surf
-Ice Beam
Originally, I thought I needed a bulky water with my many fire and ice weaks. I originally ran Starmie but it quite frankly sucked, so I thought, "Why not run Manaphy to get the SEXP?" Anyway, I picked up Manaphy, but it was mostly expendable until I started running a SubTail Glow stallbreaker set at the advice of Syberia, and it's a dramatic improvement. With Sub, Skymin and pretty much everything else can't come in for free, she can block status and Tail Glow up she 101 HP subs, it's great. She's my main switch in to Heatran and Infernape (they never CC against this team for some reason) and my switch in to Latios when I need her to be, like when I predict Surf. Also my switch in to most Gyarados--although she wins, she usually comes out bruised up. All in all, a great pokemon for this team.
Rhyperior@Leftovers
Solid Rock
Impish-244 HP, 184 Def, 80 Sp. Def
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Avalance
-Stealth Rock
Another pokemon I used on my last team, Rhyperior is my main physical tank and answer to Garchomp with Avalanche. It at first looked like she was useless in this metagame, but I soon found her to work well for my team--some of my battles I've lost all because I needlessly sacced her when she was my key to victory! Anyway, with Solid Rock and all the Sandstorm about she makes a great tank and will reliably take down just about any Garchomp. She can also deal with Metagross and DD Latios. Stone Edge and Avalance hurt any Latios and Skymin that try to come in for free--with a little prediction, I can eliminate them entirely. Also takes on Explosion well and random physical attackers. I rarely ever get to use Stealth Rock, though, and I have a bad habit of overtaxing her, and I don't know what to do about that.
Right, so this team is probably obsolete without Deoxys running around, but the idea is to take advantage of this speed- and scarf-crazy metagame with some bulky offense, and so far it has worked well. One thing I've noticed is that it does horribly against stall, with Manaphy really being my only answer. In addition, lead Metagross can be a pain to handle sometimes but that's about it. Any suggestions?
Man I love being dramatic.
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Jirachi@Expert Belt
Serene Grace
Jolly-252 Atk, 176 Spd, 80 HP
-Iron Head
-Fire Punch
-U-Turn
-Thunderwave
Alright, let's start with everyone's favorite Starman! I used him on my previous team as a lead and he worked pretty well so I carried him over to this team. Bluffing Choice Scarf isn't hard unless I'm up against, like, an Azelf lead or something but that only happened once and then I can catch the enemy by surprise with Twave or something or escape from a Magnezone before it kills him. He can take a hit and put the hurt on Tyranitar, Scizor, Celebi, and so forth. In addition, he can take a hit from either Latios or Skymin and shut them down with Thunderwave--I used to run Body Slam for Garchomp but it proved to be annoyingly unreliable. He usually scouts by U-Turn first turn unless I'm up against something like a Scarfmin I can just cripple. Doesn't really beat Deoxys-S (don't have to worry about that now), but instead U-Turns out for decent damage while something like Scizor kills it.
Shaymin-S@Expert Belt
Serene Grace
Modest-252 Sp. Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Seed Flare
-Air Slash
-Earth Power
-HP Fire
Probably one of the cutest suspects and my second favorite behind Latias, Skymin acts as my main special sweeper, cleaning up late game. The moveset is standard, only running HP Fire to take down dangerous steels like Bronzong and maybe Skarmory (can't OHKO but I can at least put a huge dent in them) and most of the things I'd use HP Ice on (Garchomp, Latios, other Skymin) already are taken care of by my other moves. Since I absolutely hate Choice Scarf and all this speed tie bullshit, but also because I found she goes down way too fast with LO recoil, I decided on Expert Belt again to bluff Choice Scarf--she loses against other Skymin anyway with HP Fire (I've been thinking of running less speed and more HP because of it) and she outspeeds nearly everything she needs too already, so with Expert Belt she can kill one thing then get a surprise kill on another pokemon that trys to threaten her--Skymin makes most of her cleanup this way.
Dragonite@Leftovers
Inner Focus
Calm-248 HP, 216 Sp. Def, 44 Spd
-Roost
-Heal Bell
-Dragon Pulse
-Fire Blast
I honestly did not think this would work, but support Dragonite nevertheless has found a way to be useful--and I love any chance I can get to use Dragonite over that jerk Salamence. Anyway, she's my main Skymin counter, with a good HP and Sp. Def score as well as immunity to Earth Power, 4x resistance to Seed Flare, and an immunity to flinching from Air Slash (glad more Skymin don't spam HP Ice against this team). Other than that, she functions as my cleric, which is pretty important with Hypnosis Bronzong going around, and will shave off a good amount of HP off of any dragon that switches in with Dragon Pulse. Fire Blast is mainly for eliminating Scizor and 2HKOing other steels like Metagross, Bronzong, and Skarmory maybe as well as dealing with Celebi, although I've been thinking of replacing it with maybe Thunderwave to cripple Heatrans that catch onto the fact that she can't hurt them much.
Scizor@Choice Band
Technician
Adamant-248 HP, 252 Atk, 8 Spd
-Bullet Punch
-U-Turn
-Pursuit
-Superpower
The blandest pokemon on my team (never thought I'd ever say that about one of my favorite pokemon ever behind Farfetch'd and Slowking), Scizor functions mainly to pick off these annoying Skymins, Deoxys, and Garchomp. Usually she U-Turns like crazy since I'm quite paranoid of Magnezone (lose Scizor early game to Magnezone and things become a heckuva lot harder) with Bullet Punch to finish off the problematic ones. Not much to say, really; don't use Pursuit and Superpower much. I'd like to run a version without CB but I don't know what set.
Manaphy@Leftovers
Hydration
Modest-252 HP, 202 Sp. Atk, 56 Spd
-Substitute
-Tail Glow
-Surf
-Ice Beam
Originally, I thought I needed a bulky water with my many fire and ice weaks. I originally ran Starmie but it quite frankly sucked, so I thought, "Why not run Manaphy to get the SEXP?" Anyway, I picked up Manaphy, but it was mostly expendable until I started running a SubTail Glow stallbreaker set at the advice of Syberia, and it's a dramatic improvement. With Sub, Skymin and pretty much everything else can't come in for free, she can block status and Tail Glow up she 101 HP subs, it's great. She's my main switch in to Heatran and Infernape (they never CC against this team for some reason) and my switch in to Latios when I need her to be, like when I predict Surf. Also my switch in to most Gyarados--although she wins, she usually comes out bruised up. All in all, a great pokemon for this team.
Rhyperior@Leftovers
Solid Rock
Impish-244 HP, 184 Def, 80 Sp. Def
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Avalance
-Stealth Rock
Another pokemon I used on my last team, Rhyperior is my main physical tank and answer to Garchomp with Avalanche. It at first looked like she was useless in this metagame, but I soon found her to work well for my team--some of my battles I've lost all because I needlessly sacced her when she was my key to victory! Anyway, with Solid Rock and all the Sandstorm about she makes a great tank and will reliably take down just about any Garchomp. She can also deal with Metagross and DD Latios. Stone Edge and Avalance hurt any Latios and Skymin that try to come in for free--with a little prediction, I can eliminate them entirely. Also takes on Explosion well and random physical attackers. I rarely ever get to use Stealth Rock, though, and I have a bad habit of overtaxing her, and I don't know what to do about that.
Right, so this team is probably obsolete without Deoxys running around, but the idea is to take advantage of this speed- and scarf-crazy metagame with some bulky offense, and so far it has worked well. One thing I've noticed is that it does horribly against stall, with Manaphy really being my only answer. In addition, lead Metagross can be a pain to handle sometimes but that's about it. Any suggestions?
