Buried Alive~ (OU Standard RMT)

[-Broderick-]

First and foremost: Don't rag on me about the title. I just came up with a random title that was'nt something gay like "Team Kick ur azz" or something of the sort.
Alright, this isn't your standard RMT. I'm going to describe my WHOLE team building process so you see exactly what went through my mind when I made this, so you can then help me more. (If you're nice. ;3)
Right now I'm about 11-4 with this team, which I am NOT satisfied with, I'm a pretty good player. So any help with this team is much appreciated. Let's get started.
~At a glance:

Alright. In my teams, I try to have as many of the following roles filled as I can:
-Lead
-Physical Sweeper
-Special sweeper
-Mixed Sweeper
-Set-up Sweeper
-A pokemon to lay down entry hazards
-Wish Support
-Rapid Spinner
-Screener
-Taunter
-Status
-Revenge Killer/Scarfer
-Late-Game sweeper
-Phazer

Alright, now to fill those roles.

Lead:
For my lead, I automatically wanted Swampert. He is my fave pokemon, and I almost always use him as a lead, seeing as he's so versatile. He'll serve as my Phazer, pokemon to lay down entry hazards (Stealth Rock), as well as my lead.

Physical Sweeper:
Alright, as my physical sweeper, I was thinking either Scizor, Gyarados, Salamence, or possibly Kingdra. I chose Scizor for his resistance to grass in combination with Swampert.

Special Sweeper:
So, for my special sweeper, I was thinking either Magnezone, Heatran, Latias, or Jolteon. Heatran fits the bill with the best special attack, bar Magnezone, of those options, and he's able to pull off numermous sets. He also has the Flash Fire ability, which is great in combination with Scizor.

Mixed Sweeper:
Okay, now I need a Mixed sweeper. The first options that came to mind are MixMence, MixApe, possibly Kingdra. I didn't want to add another ground weakness with Infernape, and I already had good fire-type coverage with Heatran, and I also have a powerful Fighting move on Scizor, so I looked to Salamence. He provides some raw power with Draco Meteor and Outrage, and is able to defeat CM Suicune as it calm minds (Draco Meteor as Cune CM's, then follow up with Outrage and kill it off. After SR damage of course) Kingdra could also provide some good Dragon coverage, but didn't quite have the raw stats that Salamence does, so I chose the former, also for its immunity to ground.

Set-up Sweeper:
Okay. I need a set-up sweeper that I want to center the team around. At first I thought CurseTar, since I have wanted to use him for a long time, but as I got to making my team, I realized that Dragon Dance T-tar is the way to go. Scizor, Heatran, and Swampert can handle other Scizor that threaten his sweep. Tyranitar will also serve as my Late-game sweeper.

Scarfer/Revenge Killer
Alright, I already have a revenge killer in the form of Scizor, but I need an extra spot filled. I think a scarfer would be a good idea, 1: to stop other scarfers, and 2: to stop Swords Dance Lucario, whom would tear this team apart. Gengar seems like a good fit, with Ghost coverage to hit Psychic types like Celebi.

Okay, on this team, I don't have a Taunter, Wish Support, a Rapid Spinner, a Screener, or a Status pokemon, simply because I don't feel I need these on an offensive team. You can tell me otherwise though, and I'll test it. Now it's time to get on to the actual team:

Hippowdon@ Leftovers
Sand Stream
Impish
252 HP / 168 Defense / 88 Special Defense

• Stealth Rock
• Roar
• Slack Off
• Earthquake

Thanks Gangstapenguin for the rate, and helping me decide to change Swampert to Hippowdon. As much as I love Swampy, I think that Hippowdon makes a better physical tanking lead. As much as I love Swampert he just wasn't getting the job done.

Alright, Swampy. As I've said, my favorite pokemon of all time, and he's almost always my lead; for good reason. If he hasn't been Taunted, he almost ALWAYS gets Stealth Rocks up, and he can scout with Protect first if I don't know what the enemy is going to do. This is my own set I've concocted, although not far from the standard set, it does quite a different job. I only have Earthquake on here, because I used to have Ice Beam over the spot of Roar, and it SUCKED. Salamence is not a problem, seeing as I have a ScarfGar, my own Salamence, and a Scizor. I can just Roar it out after I set up rocks, so it then has to take MORE stealth rock damage. Pretty much, any physical pokemon I can't do anything to, I just Roar out. Max/Max for optimal survivability against Salamence and Gyarados. Did I mention he's my Salamence and Gyarados counter? :P

Magnezone@ Choice Scarf
Magnet Pull
Naive
6 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed

• Thunderbolt
• Flash Cannon
• Hidden Power [Fire]
• Signal Beam

I think Magnezone goes over CB Scizor pretty well, after a bit of testing, and has gotten the bug out of the way quite early in the game, paving the way for a T-tar sweep later. Signal Beam is for Celebi and other things, since I was never a fan of Explosion on Magnezone.
Almost standard CB Scizor we got here. I pack 12 EV's in speed to outrun other Scizor with 8 Speed EV's invested. He serves as my revenge killer, and is my only priority on this team. Other than that, not much to say.

Heatran@ Choice Specs
Flash Fire
Modest / Timid
6 HP / 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed

• Overheat
• Hidden Power [Grass]
• Earth Power
• Dragon Pulse

Why I use this: The surprise factor. Really, that's about the only reason I used this in the first place. But, after a few battles, this has really served me well. Specs Modest Overheat is so immensely powerful... Just.. wow. Check out specs overheat vs. Naive Salamence:
Flash Fire Boosted Overheat vs. 6 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 85.20% - 100.00% OHKO after SR or Life Orb Damage.
Anyway, now that the showing off is over, let me explain his moveset: HP Grass is for Swampert, since most Heatran carry HP Ice for Salamence, and it's unexpected. Earth Power is standard, bleh, you know. Dragon Pulse is there because it OHKO's Salamence, with the specs equipped. ( 98.19% - 115.41%) Heatran also serves as a welcome fire resist for Scizor, and after a Flash Fire boost, NOTHING wants to take an Overheat, besides other Flash Fire pokemon. I'm debating whether to go Timid. The extra speed could be very useful, to outspeed Breloom, and the like.

Salamence@ Life Orb
Intimidate
Mild
84 Atk / 212 Special Attack / 212 Speed

• Draco Meteor
• Outrage
• Fire Blast
• Earthquake

Mmk, the new MixMence right here. I have to say, this version is much better than the old one. Anyway, Draco Meteor and Outrage are my main STAB moves, to hit things like Suicune and Vaporeon. This is also my answer to stall teams, who give me SO much trouble. Strangely enough though, Salamence seems like the weakest link in my team, dying so early with Sandstorm going. If somebody can suggest another mixed sweeper that may work with this team, I'll gladly take it into consideration. 212 Speed is to outspeed other MixMence. (I don't like to rely on speed ties)

Gengar@ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Modest
6 HP / 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed

• Shadow Ball
• Focus Blast
• Thunderbolt
• Trick

Gengar: my Scarfer on this team. He's my answer to DDGyarados, as well as Salamence, outspeeding them both after a Dragon Dance, and killing them off with Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball respectively. I could go Timid on this and carry HP Ice, but I went with Modest and Trick in order to 1: hit harder with my main stab, and 2: being able to cripple walls like Blissey, who are a pain in the neck for me, especially when paired with Skarmory. Focus Blast is there for Tyranitar.. if it hits. >.>

Tyranitar@ Life Orb
Sand Stream
Jolly
6 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed

• Dragon Dance
• Stone Edge
• Crunch
• Aqua Tail

Awwww yeah. The star of the show right here baby. T-tar will Bury you Alive. It's that simple. Anyway.. Tyranitar is my main late-game sweeper, whom I bring in after Scizor and Heatran have eliminated T-tar's threats like opposing Scizor, who threaten T-tar's sweep. I know about the whole Babiri Berry thing, and I've tried it... but it just doesn't work for me. Life Orb provides T-tar with the raw power that I love. And besides, even if scizor IS still in the game, I have 3 resistences to Steel. Stone Edge and Crunch are my main STAB moves, and Aqua Tail is there to hit Gliscor and Heatran, as where I could only hit the ladder if I had Eathquake. I don't have Earthquake, or Fire Punch there, because 1: I don't pack Babiri Berry, and 2: Because Crunch and Stone Edge hit the metagame's most common steels: Bronzong, Jirachi, Skarmory, Heatran, Scizor, and Metagross, all for neutral damage.

Alright, thanks for taking the time to read my RMT, and I hope if you've gotten this far you'll leave a reply with your thoughts about my team, or better yet, remedies for the problems it possesses.
Credit to pokemonelite2000.com, and The Bulbapedia for the sprites.

 

[Bogmire]

Props for using specstran. I use one as a lead and its completely ridiculous being able to OHKO gross through occa berry 100% of the time as well as a ton of other leads. now, you don't need dragon pulse on specs tran, all dragons except kingdra (which doesnt take earth power too lightly) are already taking at least 50% from overheat. Give it flamethrower instead, it's a great move for late game sweeping when everything's been weakened. Specstran should definitely be Modest because timid loses a lot of OHKOs and 2HKOs.

Flash Fire Boosted Overheat vs. 6 HP / 0 SpD Salamence: 85.20% - 100.00% OHKO after SR or Life Orb Damage.

What damage calculator are you using? I'm getting 102.42%-120.54% on libelldra which seems about right from my experience.

 

[SlottedPig]

Scizor has 12 EVs to outrun other Scizor, you should instead give it 4 Speed EVs. Why? Well, if the enemy Scizor uses U-Turn, they go before you. This means you know exactly what they switch to and use your own U-Turn.

As noted keep the Modest nature on SpecsTran. SpecsTran knocks off over 50% of Gyarados' health WITHOUT Stealth Rock, and thats not even including Flash Fire. Flamethrower can possibly be used to get the easy 2HKO with Flash Fire, but Heatran doesnt have the slots.

 

[-Broderick-]

Props for using specstran. I use one as a lead and its completely ridiculous being able to OHKO gross through occa berry 100% of the time as well as a ton of other leads. now, you don't need dragon pulse on specs tran, all dragons except kingdra (which doesnt take earth power too lightly) are already taking at least 50% from overheat. Give it flamethrower instead, it's a great move for late game sweeping when everything's been weakened. Specstran should definitely be Modest because timid loses a lot of OHKOs and 2HKOs.



What damage calculator are you using? I'm getting 102.42%-120.54% on libelldra which seems about right from my experience.

I forgot to edit that, I forgot to add EV's to Heatran in the calc... x_x
For some reason it won't let my edit my post anymore. It did at first. >.> And I would change for Flamethrower or Fire Blast, but Heatran isn't meant to late-game sweep. Besides, Dragon Pulse is my only way to hit Latias.

Scizor has 12 EVs to outrun other Scizor, you should instead give it 4 Speed EVs. Why? Well, if the enemy Scizor uses U-Turn, they go before you. This means you know exactly what they switch to and use your own U-Turn.

As noted keep the Modest nature on SpecsTran. SpecsTran knocks off over 50% of Gyarados' health WITHOUT Stealth Rock, and thats not even including Flash Fire. Flamethrower can possibly be used to get the easy 2HKO with Flash Fire, but Heatran doesnt have the slots.

You make a good point with U-turn, but I want it to outrun other Scizor so I can use Superpower on them first, to prevent them from killing me off. Knowing what they switch into is always nice. I'll try that.

 

[musiquev24]

Hello!

Swampert is my favorite pokemon too, but I feel as though one of those support moves could be placed as something else. You're completely helpless against a Flying or Levitating pokemon! I suggest you replace either Roar or Protect with Ice Beam or Surf, so you aren't shut out by taunt (you literally can't do a thing to Taunt Gyara). Your EV spread works just great. If you do choose Ice Beam, and you keep that EV spread, you will NEVER be OHKO'd by a DD Life Orb Salamence Outrage, so hypothetically you could switch in, protect the first hit to have lefties heal the SR damage, then hit back with Ice Beam and KO him.
...Not that its likely that situation will come up, but I thought I'd mention it. The point is, Roar or Protect needs to go.

I also give props for SpecsTran. He hits hard o.o

If you are going to run a DDTar without a Babiri Berry, I would suggest you replace Trick or Focus Blast with Hidden Power Fire on your Gengar. Why? Gengar is total bait for Scizor. A lot of people will initially switch in Scizor to your Gengar, and if they find out you're scarfed they're even more likely to switch in and take you out, to make sure their Salamence/Gyarados can sweep unhindered. Once you know they have Scizor (or if you just feel that they have one on their team), you can predict them coming in and OHKO them with HP Fire. This will make your TTar sweeping much easier.

If you want to replace your MixMence, you could try one of the many bulky versions of Salamence, or a Bulky Dragonite. Unfortunately, all mixed sweepers are going to take a lot of damage, regardless of sandstorm or not, between priority moves, LO damage, and SR damage (especially for Salamence, Gyara, and Dnite).

I do think a Swords Dance Lucario could work in that spot. He shares a lot of the same counters DDTar so if Tyranitar doesn't finish his sweep, Lucario can. I don't know if its the perfect fit on your team as is because it adds another Ground weakness, and he also is more of a late game set-up pokemon, but I thought I would recommend it as he works well with Tyranitar.

I hope some of this information helps!

 

[-Broderick-]

Hello!

Swampert is my favorite pokemon too, but I feel as though one of those support moves could be placed as something else. You're completely helpless against a Flying or Levitating pokemon! I suggest you replace either Roar or Protect with Ice Beam or Surf, so you aren't shut out by taunt (you literally can't do a thing to Taunt Gyara). Your EV spread works just great. If you do choose Ice Beam, and you keep that EV spread, you will NEVER be OHKO'd by a DD Life Orb Salamence Outrage, so hypothetically you could switch in, protect the first hit to have lefties heal the SR damage, then hit back with Ice Beam and KO him.
...Not that its likely that situation will come up, but I thought I'd mention it. The point is, Roar or Protect needs to go.

I also give props for SpecsTran. He hits hard o.o

If you are going to run a DDTar without a Babiri Berry, I would suggest you replace Trick or Focus Blast with Hidden Power Fire on your Gengar. Why? Gengar is total bait for Scizor. A lot of people will initially switch in Scizor to your Gengar, and if they find out you're scarfed they're even more likely to switch in and take you out, to make sure their Salamence/Gyarados can sweep unhindered. Once you know they have Scizor (or if you just feel that they have one on their team), you can predict them coming in and OHKO them with HP Fire. This will make your TTar sweeping much easier.

If you want to replace your MixMence, you could try one of the many bulky versions of Salamence, or a Bulky Dragonite. Unfortunately, all mixed sweepers are going to take a lot of damage, regardless of sandstorm or not, between priority moves, LO Damage, and damage SR (especially for Salamence, Gyara, and Dnite).

I do think a Swords Dance Lucario could work in that spot. He shares a lot of the same counters DDTar so if Tyranitar doesn't finish his sweep, Lucario can. I don't know if its the perfect fit on your team as is because it adds another Ground weakness, and he also is more of a late game set-up pokemon, but I thought I would recommend it as he works well with Tyranitar.

I hope some of this information helps!

Thanks for your post! My other RMT didn't go nearly this well. ;-;
But yeah, about Roar and Protect. I absolutely NEED Roar, since I've found it to be irreplaceable for getting rid of Baton Pass teams, who are seldomly seen, but when they are prevalent, it helps. So yeah, I think I'll get rid of protect. It hasn't been as helpful as I thought.
Although, I don't know that I want to add another set-up sweeper. It's just that, Lucario has some of the same counters T-tar does, so then if I don't take them out BOTH my set-up sweepers are boned. :\

 

[cmurph]

nice team, i just have a little nitpick. your swampert doesn't make a great Gyara counter because so many Gyara carry taunt

 

[-Broderick-]

nice team, i just have a little nitpick. your swampert doesn't make a great Gyara counter because so many Gyara carry taunt

Usually I would protect the first turn to see if they carry Taunt, or if they just Dragon Dance. If they do the ladder, I just Roar them out after they Waterfall me, or DD again. Either way, I'm going to replace protect.

 

[-Broderick-]

I'm gonna go ahead and bump this, since I'd like a few more replies, and maybe some suggestions on pokemon to replace.

 

[Zach]

Dragon Dance Tyranitar is certainly a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately one of the best switch-ins to it is the most common pokemon in the meta:

Scizor can come in on a Dragon Dance or even a +1 Crunch and proceed to OHKO with Bullet Punch.

Give Tyranitar a Babiri Berry and Fire Punch over Aqua Tail. Babiri will allow Tyranitar to take a Bullet Punch and OHKO back with Fire Punch.

 

[-Broderick-]

Dragon Dance Tyranitar is certainly a force to be reckoned with, but unfortunately one of the best switch-ins to it is the most common pokemon in the meta:

Scizor can come in on a Dragon Dance or even a +1 Crunch and proceed to OHKO with Bullet Punch.

Give Tyranitar a Babiri Berry and Fire Punch over Aqua Tail. Babiri will allow Tyranitar to take a Bullet Punch and OHKO back with Fire Punch.

I said in my descriptions, I DON'T WANT BABIRI TYRANITAR. I've tried it before, on wifi and shoddy, and people predict that and go for a u-turn instead, since everybody and their mom has a Babiri Tyranitar on their team. There's a reason I have 3 resists to Bullet Punch. I'm thinking maybe a Magnezone would go well somewhere though, a scarf variant with HP Fire.

 

[gangstapenguin]

You make a good point with U-turn, but I want it to outrun other Scizor so I can use Superpower on them first, to prevent them from killing me off. Knowing what they switch into is always nice. I'll try that.

Superpower is actually another reason to be slower than other scizor. If you are faster, then superpower doesn't OHKO other scizor: doing only 76.24% to 90.07% (591 Atk vs 236 Def & 290 HP (120 Base Power): 215 - 254 (74.14% - 87.59%)) to 32HP 0Def scizor (the least HP recommended on any of the scizor sets in the smogon analysis); KOing just 2.56% of the time with stealth rock. Needless to say it doesn't even come close to killing full HP scizors. However if your scizor goes last it is guaranteed to KO even a 252HP scizor after the defense drop from the other superpower. (591 Atk vs 157 Def & 344 HP (120 Base Power): 323 - 381 (93.90% - 110.76%))

Anyway, on to the actual team. I would recommend switching scizor for a magnezone (which you said would be a good addition). Scizor is a great pokemon, but I see no clear reason for it to be on your team. (please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but you didn't really specify why it was there in the OP other than for revenge killing which gengar does as well...) Magnezone helps further the goal of a tyranitar sweep by killing any choiced scizor that dares to use bullet punch. Salamence and gengar are both pokemon that people love revenge killing with choice band scizor and magnezone can easily take advantage of this fact.

Also, unless you plan on changing your swampert set significantly, I would recommend you replace it with hippowdon, since it does the same job but with better physical defense, attack, and an instant recovery move (although he does have a few more weaknesses and slightly worse special defense). 4/6 of your team is immune to sandstorm (which Tyranitar already creates), and gyarados is easily handled by gengar's thunderbolt. This is really a judgment call (I know how much you like swampert), but I believe that hippowdon does the job better.

Overall this is a good team.

 

[Zach]

I said in my descriptions, I DON'T WANT BABIRI TYRANITAR. I've tried it before, on wifi and shoddy, and people predict that and go for a u-turn instead, since everybody and their mom has a Babiri Tyranitar on their team. There's a reason I have 3 resists to Bullet Punch. I'm thinking maybe a Magnezone would go well somewhere though, a scarf variant with HP Fire.

If you Dragon Dance as Scizor switches in you outspeed and OHKO with Fire Punch either way... but whatever floats your about.

 

[-Broderick-]

Superpower is actually another reason to be slower than other scizor. If you are faster, then superpower doesn't OHKO other scizor: doing only 76.24% to 90.07% (591 Atk vs 236 Def & 290 HP (120 Base Power): 215 - 254 (74.14% - 87.59%)) to 32HP 0Def scizor (the least HP recommended on any of the scizor sets in the smogon analysis); KOing just 2.56% of the time with stealth rock. Needless to say it doesn't even come close to killing full HP scizors. However if your scizor goes last it is guaranteed to KO even a 252HP scizor after the defense drop from the other superpower. (591 Atk vs 157 Def & 344 HP (120 Base Power): 323 - 381 (93.90% - 110.76%))

Anyway, on to the actual team. I would recommend switching scizor for a magnezone (which you said would be a good addition). Scizor is a great pokemon, but I see no clear reason for it to be on your team. (please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but you didn't really specify why it was there in the OP other than for revenge killing which gengar does as well...) Magnezone helps further the goal of a tyranitar sweep by killing any choiced scizor that dares to use bullet punch. Salamence and gengar are both pokemon that people love revenge killing with choice band scizor and magnezone can easily take advantage of this fact.

Also, unless you plan on changing your swampert set significantly, I would recommend you replace it with hippowdon, since it does the same job but with better physical defense, attack, and an instant recovery move (although he does have a few more weaknesses and slightly worse special defense). 4/6 of your team is immune to sandstorm (which Tyranitar already creates), and gyarados is easily handled by gengar's thunderbolt. This is really a judgment call (I know how much you like swampert), but I believe that hippowdon does the job better.

Overall this is a good team.

Thanks for the great rate! Now that I look at my team, Hippowdon does have better physical tanking ability than Swampert, and can survive a grass attack lol. He gets Roar as well... AND a recovery move. I think I'll swtich Swampert for him. And I really only have Scizor there because... he's on most of my teams, and serves as a good priority user. But, he's quite predictable and gets owned by Magnezone. .-.

If you Dragon Dance as Scizor switches in you outspeed and OHKO with Fire Punch either way... but whatever floats your about.

But that's why I don't Dragon Dance up while Scizor is still in the game.

 

[-WiiTrooper-]

You know Tyranitar does survive a BP when at full health so, why don't you swap LO with lefties so that you can ensure you can switch in at full health (lefties will negate the damage taken from the ever so common SR) DD up on their switch 2 scizor and then OHKO scizor.

 

[-Broderick-]

You know Tyranitar does survive a BP when at full health so, why don't you swap LO with lefties so that you can ensure you can switch in at full health (lefties will negate the damage taken from the ever so common SR) DD up on their switch 2 scizor and then OHKO scizor.

I think you people are missing the point... I don't bring in Tyranitar when Scizor is still in the game. That's why I made the addition of Magnezone, to stop Scizor in its tracks in the early game, so Tyranitar can sweep un-hindered later.

 

[-Broderick-]

Lol, been a few days. ._.
The team is coming along great, but I'm gonna go ahead and bump this, if anyone else would like to make a controbution.