Which One's Pink?

mournLoL

A foreword: a name of a PKMN in bold face denotes that it has been chosen over an already-existing PKMN and the team has been changed. A move in bold face denotes that a move in that monster's moveset has been changed, and the same goes for hold items, EVs, IVs, and the like.
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Right. Well, this is going to be my first RMT; if you're wondering about the name, it's because it is an obscure reference to a song. "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd, which, coincidentally, is my Weezing's nickname, boasts the line "By the way, which one's Pink?" I thought since Blissey was pink and she and Weezing composed the core of my team, the name for the team was fitting, even considering the obscurity. :D
Anyway, my team is composed of the following:

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Kypp (Swampert) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Surf
- Roar
Swampert is my lead because it has absolutely excellent typing, aside from against PKMN that are packing grass moves, like Roselia. Even then, though, I can Roar the PKMN in question off the field and lay down SR without sustaining a KO, for the most part. For a while, I'd had trouble with Baton Pass leads like Ninjask, but that was easily remedied with Roar. I haven't seen anyone do anything about the Roar before it happens. The other advantage to Swampert is countering Heatran leads; as it has one 2x and one 4x move against Heatran, I can force a switch without even doing anything and either SR or switch into a sweeper and clear out some of my opponent's team before he's even had a chance to do anything about it.

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Invoke (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Softboiled
- Flamethrower
- Toxic
Blissey is exactly one-half the core of my team. Should I detect any danger from a special sweeper, I switch into this virile young lady and absorb necessary damage, hit her opposition with Toxic and stall it out until the switch with Wish and Softboiled. Since Blissey is specially defensive, nearly the only monsters that switch in on her are physical attackers. I especially like Fighting-types because I can switch into Gengar (which I'll explain later), or if it's anything else, I switch into Weezing, whose description follows:

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Have a Cigar (Weezing) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Pain Split
- Will-o-wisp
The second half of my core, Weezing is a bit of an odd choice, especially over Skarmory, for the OU bracket. However, I strongly believe he fits in better with the rest of my team than Skarmory ever could, mostly for one reason: my sweepers are frail. Will-o-Wisp allows Weezing to spread burn to physical attackers, whom he switches in on regularly. Packing Fire Blast is a plus, especially for Metagross and the like. Thunderbolt comes in handy for any sort of physically-based Flying-type.
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Puff (Salamence) (M) @ Life Orb (?)
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spd
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
- Roost
This is where I need the most help on my team. I'm not a huge Mence fan; he's not won me any battles or even made any gamechanging moves. I had Scizor in this slot originally, but decided that I probably shouldn't keep two physical sweepers on the same team for fear of being walled to hell, which happens quite often. My question, then, would be do I keep Mence for his mixed sweeping capabilites and change his moveset up a bit, find a different sweeper, or change the mixed sweeper out for a different role completely? I'd been playing with the thought of Lucario, but as far as the movesets I've seen on Smogon, there really isn't any set that is truly mixed, regardless of how expansive his movepool is. TL;DR: HALP. D:
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Bang (Gengar) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This is one of my favorite, if not my MOST favorite PKMN; Gengar is a utility threat. He comes in handy for spin blocking, absorbing Fighting-and-Normal-type moves, and most importantly, special sweeping with his outpacing of most of the metagame and noteworthy type coverage in his moveset. Since he is frail, however, I have to wait for the right time to pounce, which under some circumstances is never. Under the right circumstances, however, Gengar is not to be trifled with and he has swept whole teams before and almost always nets at least 1-2 KOs.

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Sextasy (Weavile) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 40 HP/252 Atk/216 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash
- Ice Punch
- Low Kick
Weavile is another invaluable addition to my team as far as damage goes. The strategy that goes with him is to switch in at the right time, preferably for free after a KO on my side of the field, force a switch, get off a Swords Dance, and proceed to do serious damage to my opponent. Weavile has not met an unscarfed PKMN he could not keep up with, and as a result of good prediction and switching on my part, swept entire teams with his physical prowess and good type coverage. He is, however, very frail (and also 2x weak to SR), so I must make sure I'm making the right move and am aware of the potential risks.

My general strategy, in case you couldn't already tell, is to bounce my opponent back and forth between Blissey and Weezing, spread status, Roar away any Baton Passers with Swampert, and find a time for Salamence (ugh), Gengar and/or Weavile to switch in and do damage.

The main questions that remain, then, are:
-What do I do with Salamence's slot? Keep it/change it/what?
-How do I make more room for Gengar and Weavile to switch in, being severely lacking in the bulk department?
-What type coverage am I missing/What OU threats do I not have an answer to? I haven't noticed anything in particular, but a pair of fresh eyes always picks out obvious problems that the creator may have missed.

Also, my rating on Shoddy is about 950 at the moment, and (this is the third-ish time I've changed my team around) I think I end up with about an even win/loss record every day, with a lean towards wins. How is it that I can decrease my losses and capitalize on other teams more efficiently?

...I think that's it. I'm sincerely looking forward to your feedback, and I thank you in advance for any you may give; I'm sorry if this was a bit long. I have many questions. :)
 
I use Protect on WishBliss over Softboiled because Protect scouts for Choiced Pursuits.
This may be just a preference of mine, but I always pack at least one Pursuit user, so that may be something to do with Salamence's slot, or an optional move for Weavile.
That's all the advice I can really give, sorry I can't help you with Weavile/Gengar. I usually avoid sweepers like that altogether because they're so difficult to send out.
 
Hi.

You have a pretty bulky core in Swampert / Blissey / Weezing, so I'm not sure that having Weavile and Gengar make a ton of sense. They're both going to be really hard to switch in without letting something die, and neither one is exactly guaranteed a KO once they're in, so I'd change them up a little bit. I'd suggest going with a Rotom-a over Gengar. By using something like the Sub Charge Beam set, you gain a pretty reliable sweeper that can still switch in every now and then, as well as another way to break stall. I know you really like Gengar, but I don't feel it fits on this team.

Rotom-a @ Leftovers
Timid; 128 HP / 168 SpA / 212 Spe
Charge Beam / Substitute / Shadow Ball / Hidden Power Fighting

So with this set, you basically switch into something you resist and can scare out, and then set up a substitute to see what your opponent does. Charge Beam has a pretty good chance of giving you a boost, and until you get a few boosts or see an easy OHKO this is your main attack. Shadow Ball is your strongest attack, and between that and Hidden Power Fighting has really good coverage. Substitute also allows you to set up on Blissey, which after enough boosts you can 2HKO.

As for Weavile, I'd say at least change the set. It's going to have a hard time getting in as it is, so setting up is going to be even harder. I'd suggest changing it to the Revenge Killer set. However I think it would be a better option to just change it to a Scizor. Scizor can still revenge the main things Weavile does (Dragon-types) as well as being able to trap things with Pursuit. Scizor adds a very much needed Dragon resist to your team, which is why I think it would be a decent choice.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant; 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 Spe
Bullet Punch / U-turn / Pursuit / Superpower

Most of the time with this set, you're just going to want to U-turn to keep momentum / scout / slowly wear down your opponents team. Bullet Punch allows you to revenge kill most things that don't resist it, and Pursuit lets you trap Ghost- and Psychic-types. Superpower is there if you can predict a switch to something like Heatran.


Hope I helped, Good Luck!
 
Thanks a bazillion for the help, guys! :D
Starbuck said:
I use Protect on WishBliss over Softboiled because Protect scouts for Choiced Pursuits.
This may be just a preference of mine, but I always pack at least one Pursuit user, so that may be something to do with Salamence's slot, or an optional move for Weavile.
That's all the advice I can really give, sorry I can't help you with Weavile/Gengar. I usually avoid sweepers like that altogether because they're so difficult to send out.
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Duly noted, and upon further inspection of the team, Weavile and Gengar are looking less and less like they fit in.

Huntofthelion said:
Hi.

You have a pretty bulky core in Swampert / Blissey / Weezing, so I'm not sure that having Weavile and Gengar make a ton of sense. They're both going to be really hard to switch in without letting something die, and neither one is exactly guaranteed a KO once they're in, so I'd change them up a little bit. I'd suggest going with a Rotom-a over Gengar. By using something like the Sub Charge Beam set, you gain a pretty reliable sweeper that can still switch in every now and then, as well as another way to break stall. I know you really like Gengar, but I don't feel it fits on this team.

Rotom-a @ Leftovers
Timid; 128 HP / 168 SpA / 212 Spe
Charge Beam / Substitute / Shadow Ball / Hidden Power Fighting

So with this set, you basically switch into something you resist and can scare out, and then set up a substitute to see what your opponent does. Charge Beam has a pretty good chance of giving you a boost, and until you get a few boosts or see an easy OHKO this is your main attack. Shadow Ball is your strongest attack, and between that and Hidden Power Fighting has really good coverage. Substitute also allows you to set up on Blissey, which after enough boosts you can 2HKO.

As for Weavile, I'd say at least change the set. It's going to have a hard time getting in as it is, so setting up is going to be even harder. I'd suggest changing it to the Revenge Killer set. However I think it would be a better option to just change it to a Scizor. Scizor can still revenge the main things Weavile does (Dragon-types) as well as being able to trap things with Pursuit. Scizor adds a very much needed Dragon resist to your team, which is why I think it would be a decent choice.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant; 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 Spe
Bullet Punch / U-turn / Pursuit / Superpower

Most of the time with this set, you're just going to want to U-turn to keep momentum / scout / slowly wear down your opponents team. Bullet Punch allows you to revenge kill most things that don't resist it, and Pursuit lets you trap Ghost- and Psychic-types. Superpower is there if you can predict a switch to something like Heatran.


Hope I helped, Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Aha! Excellent suggestions; I will most definitely be using both of them. I actually had that particular Scizor on my team at one point, but then foolishly decided that having another purely physical attacker on my team was redundant, and replaced him with Salamence, which still leaves me that dilemma.

I thank you profusely for the replacements, and I'll be adding them to the team shortly.

Now... does anyone have some sort of idea what to do regarding Mence? I feel like something's missing as far as he goes.
 
In my humble opinion just based on my meager knowledge mind you.

I'd say Take out Mence for Sub-Twave Rachi.

Take out Scizor again (since too many shared weaknesses) replace it with flygon probably scarf version since you have no choice users at this point to revenge kill with.

take T-Punch on Flygon instead of Fire blast since blissey and weezing both already have fire type moves so you have a reliable Gyara counter after +1 DD.

And I'd replace gengar with another ghost to cover your fighting neutrality and weakness in blissey (mix ape carrying grass knot really fucks up a lot of your team too) and a spin blocker as well. Dusknoir comes to mind as it has incredible defensive power and it would be immune to fighting type attacks and could neuter any physical threats you get with WOW and dragon kill w/ Ice punch since you aren't running ice beam on your pert.

However thats a lot of defense on your team, and weezing could possibly get removed for something more offensive if you made all these changes and didn't like having so many defense oriented mons.
 
Sorry I haven't posted in a while-- I'm in the process of mixing and matching and playtesting your suggestions. Will post back with results tonight or tomorrow. :D
 
Oh and one more suggestion I have for you mourn that isn't necessarily for this team but it might be interesting to try at some other point or with different suggestions is using Smogons Porygon-Z Mixed Sweeper set..it looks like it'd be really fun and unexpected to use =D
 
Yeah, I actually have hit a Porygon-Z before. Actually, a couple of them. As I recall, I dispatched them fairly easily with either Gengar or Scizor. If I hadn't had two fighting moves on my team, it may have done some serious damage. ;D

EDIT

So I've sort of mixed everyone's suggestions and my own thoughts and playtested it a bit. The team thus far seems to be doing relatively well on the ladder; after a battle of tedium, I was able to take down a stall team of someone rated much higher than me on the Shoddy ladder 5-0. All in all, it's a success. I'll update the OP tomorrow.
 
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