Just a Lonely Grain of Sand in a Weather Metagame (#1 Peak)

[Celestavian]

Hello everyone. I was very happy to see Smogon jump on the PO bandwagon, and started off using it over Beta Server (I still like both though). I started off with my SS team from Beta. It did well, peaking at #75, but when I came to Smogon, it all changed. I was undefeated on the DW OU ladder at the time of posting this, as well as winning a DW OU tourney, and reached #1 quickly and easily. So, for Smogon's first DW RMT, I'm going to share my team, to show how I fight and win the weather war.

Team Building Process

This team was actually a Triples team (which did horrible) that I used in DW OU once on accident, because I didn't set the tier to Triples. I expected to fail, seeing as my strategy was geared towards Triples. It would have Tyranitar induce and use Protect (where Protect originated from), Abagoora use Wide Guard, and Doryuuzu attack. It was specifically designed to counter rain teams, which is probably why it sucked so bad against a non-Rain team.

With Garchomp abusing sand, Latios abusing Specs, and Gengar abusing a Scarf, I rounded out the team. However, choosing power over speed, I ran Adamant and Modest and Modest again, respectively, figuring Speed unimportant. This was a haphazardly thrown together team, and it showed. However, when I used it accidently in DW OU, a true terror was in the works.

​

I replaced Abagoora with Breloom to tackle Doryuuzu and Politoed, replaced Drill Liner and Level Field with Earthquake, gave Garchomp a Jolly nature, and now it has become a #1 team, with a simple strategy. I had always wanted to try using a weather team, but it seemed like too much work keeping the weather going. Funny how some of our greatest successes are created out of sheer accident, no?

Team At A Glance:

In-Depth Analysis​

Gen. Tyrant (Tyranitar) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Crunch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Protect​

Why this Pokemon?​

The all-important weather inducer, the commander of the sand, Gen. Tyrant is like a king in a game of Chess, as in I usually lose if I fail to kill Politoed/Abomasnow/Ninetales first. Three coverage moves and max Attack make it an incredible powerhouse. The Focus Sash is vital, allowing me to beat Focus Blast Borutorusu, Blaziken, Infernape, Terakion, the Deoxys formes, and basically anything else that I hit for SE damage and wields either a sash or a move to beat me. Lum Berry isn't necessary because I'm actually trying to absorb status with Tyranitar. Protect scouts Choiced Pokemon like Ditto and Genosekuto, and racks up weather damage. I used to run Payback over Crunch, but since I can't 2HKO Reuniclus with Payback, I use Crunch now instead. EdgeQuake is only resisted by Breloom and Birijiron, whom I will either absorb the Spore with or just plain switch out, but not after Protecting first. He also functions as an absorber of status, since once the sand is up and enemy inducers are clear, his low Speed makes him almost useless, and I have more powerful sweepers to take its place. Minimum speed ensures my weather gets up after everyone else's. Any Fighting-type can beat it once my sash is broken, but stuff like Blaziken or Infernape I will take out with EQ because they are hard to kill if they set up.

Mixed or even fully special Tyranitar is the big fad these days, and I think that MixTar is silly. Way too low of a special attack stat, and now that everyone expects it, I feel it's effectiveness is reduced. I also wasn't satisfied with CBTar or ScarfTar. So instead, I created this new set that works really well. Perhaps I'll name it HawkTar, or StarTar. Yeah, sounds good.

Col. Latios (Latios) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
Timid Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]​

Why this Pokemon?​

Specs Latios is insanely powerful, ripping through anything that doesn't outspeed it or resist Dragon. The 4 attacking provide good coverage while hitting as many threats for SE damage as possible. I get yelled at for using Psychic over Trick, especially with the danger of being locked into Psychic on a Dark-type. However, Trick would give away the vast majority of my killing power, reducing my Special Attack stat to a mere 359, and so I use a STAB move instead. This isn't going to change. Blissey is 2HKOed by Draco Meteor a lot of the time when she is around the 50% - 60% mark, on the switch of course. A -2 Draco Meteor can still kill anything SE to it. Surf kills Heatran in particular, since it resists my other moves. HP Fire is my best bet against Nattorei and Scizor, OHKOing both in anything but rain. Overall, Latios checkmates slower Pokemon, forcing them to pick a Pokemon to take a massive Draco Meteor or coverage move, and is highly effective.

And now, after losing to the umpteenth non-Scarf Garchomp, I changed Latios' nature to Timid. I really don't like Timid, since it makes me lose a ton of power (from 589 to 530-ish) as well as the OHKO on 252/0 Burungeru, as well as Vaporeon with Draco Meteor and the OHKO on Nattorei with HP Fire. I suppose I don't have a choice though.

Spc. Breloom (Breloom) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spd
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Swords Dance
- Spore

Why this Pokemon?​

Standard Techniloom, with an EV twist. I run a bulkier version, with 132 HP EVs and Leftovers, with enough speed to outrun other bulky Brelooms. What does this accomplish, you might ask? That extra HP won't help me survive +1 SE attacks anytime soon, but it helps with Breloom's role as my anti-weather Pokemon.

Breloom is THE anti-weather Pokemon. Grass/Fighting hits rain teams, Rock- and Ground-type sand abusers, and of course, Doryuuzu, for massive SE damage. It bypasses Swift Swim or Sand Throw with Mach Punch, and kills or heavily wounds physical Kingdra, as LO 252 Attack Outrage OHKOs Breloom 2.17% of the time, while Bullet Seed + Mach Punch dispatches it. Breloom assassinates Politoed, while only fearing a Boil Over burn. Standard Doryuuzu gets mauled and can't do anything back outside of 2HKOing with +2 X-Scissor. Enemy Tyranitar and Hippowdon are also destroyed. The only real threat is Shandera trapping and outspeeding me, Scarfed or not. Many people from here said at first that Poison Heal Breloom > Technician, but they are most definitely wrong.

Sgt. Chomp (Garchomp) (F) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Sand Veil
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Fire Fang

Why this Pokemon?​

Sand Veil SD Yache Garchomp was broken for good reason, and it continues to be awesome even in the new metagame. Setting up an SD and sweeping is the goal here, with Outrage and Earthquake being my dual STABs. Fire Fang is for Skarmory, so I can at least touch it, even though it still doesn't do much unless I am at +4 or +6 or I am facing Specially Defensive Skarmory. This thing lives Ice Beams of all kinds, including +1 Genosekuto's Ice Beam, and the sand hax makes it even harder to kill. Ditto is a horrible sight, taking any SD boosts and my sand hax, while outspeeding me. ScarfChomp is perhaps the biggest threat, since I might think it's just a speed tie and send Latios in to be slaughtered.

Lieut. Dory (Doryuuzu) (F) @ Balloon
Trait: Sand Throw
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Swords Dance

Why this Pokemon?​

The sand menace, in all its glory, makes an appearance. Absurd Speed even without Jolly outspeeds all but Scarfed 127+ Speed Pokemon. Adamant provides more power, at the cost of losing Adamant Balloon Dory vs. Jolly Balloon Dory matchups. Standard set with standard moves, looking to outspeed everything and kill them. EQ is for STAB, Rock slide completes a psuedo-EdgeQuake combo, and X-Scissor hits what EdgeQuake does not. Breloom still poses an awful threat, but I have a lot on my team that can dispatch it. This is the best sweeper in the game, and gets put to good use here.

Cpl. Gengar (Gengar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Why this Pokemon?​

Scarf Gengar is an excellent revenge killer, outspeeding and removing Shandera, the #1 most used threat in DW OU. Outside of that role, he picks off weakened threats, cripples walls, and ambushes Breloom with Sludge Bomb. In addition, Gengar does one thing Shandera can't, and that is outspeeding Timid Ludicolo in the rain and OHKOing it with Sludge Bomb. HP Fire gets a spot because of how popular lead Genesect is. Gengar outspeeds all variants of Genesect the first turn and OHKOes with HP Fire. It also makes me less useless against Ferrothorn if I Trick it my Scarf. Focus Blast is absent because of accuracy issues and my lack of trouble with killing Dory and Blissey. Better yet, I have a 50% chance of removing Ditto, who can be a huge threat. After fussing over Trick on Latios, Trick here is different since its Speed is high enough to function without the Scarf. Last but not least, a Scarfed Pokemon seems required on most great teams, and I chose Gengar for this position.

Wi-Fi Stand In​

Spc. Virizion (Virizion) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]​

The Grass/Fighting typing of Breloom helped me immensely, providing a useful set of resistances against Rain teams, but Gliscor murdered it. However, in Wifi, I decided I needed a grass-type to prevent Ferrothorn and Whimsicott from Leech Seeding me to death, but it had to be able to deal with Gliscor and the FerroCent core. CM Virizion is my answer for those two. This is the standard set, but with Life Orb instead of Leftovers. I feel the recovery of Giga Drain justifies this, along with the fact that Virizion is too weak to do much without it. For example, an LO HP Ice OHKOes Garchomp without a Yache berry, while a regular HP Ice can not.

Threats to my Wellbeing​

This is perhaps the biggest threat, simply because it's bulky, changes the weather, and has the type advantage. Politoed is the harbinger of stuff like Swift Swim Kingdra, Ludicolo, and Kabutops, and rather than list them all as threats, I'm bundling them under Politoed. Breloom and Latios are my best answers, both resisting Water and just plain overpowering it or Sporing it. Scarf variants can mean trouble, and I've seen them enough to irritate me (though I think ScarfToed is a dumb idea). One thing I noticed, is that the only Steel frequently found on rain is Nattorei, which means if it's absent, Latios can fire off Draco meteors that one-shot everything. Even so, just that one weather change can stop a sweep and start one for the opposing team, so it's my top threat.

Packing SE moves to most of my team, this thing can destroy me if it gets faster than Dory, or has Shadow Claw to deal with Latios. If it's Adamant, it needs 3 boosts to beat Dory, while a Jolly needs only 2. Gengar can revenge it in a last ditch effort at +1, but if this is all I have left to revenge it, I most likely lost.

Rock Polish Genosect is a menace, as it outspeeds everything I have, and will most likely have SE moves to all of my team. However, if it fails to grab a Special Attack boost, then a tag team of Tyranitar and Breloom is my best bet, since Tyranitar can live an unboosted Bug Buzz and smash it with Stone Edge. If it didn't die, then it will certainly be in KO range of Breloom. The good news is that it will have a hard time setting up, pretty much only on Breloom fleeing a Flamethrower or a -2 Latios. Once it does set up though, I'm in for a world of hurt.​

Conclusion​

I made this team to combat the other weather teams, and to try and emulate their success. I'm pleased to know that my foray into Triples was not a complete failure entirely, and that I was able to even reach such high ladder spots at all. In 4th gen, the best I could do was a ranking slightly over 1150. I've done well with this, the best team I have ever created. I always wanted to be a somebody in the community, and hope that this team will help me get there. Thanks for reading this DW OU RMT!

 

[The Grand Babido]

Hi, this is an interesting team, and it will be my first rate of any sort of Generation 5 team, so bare with me.

While this does look like a very solid Sandstorm abuse team, I would like to suggest some changes to better help your team. Firstly, Tyranitar. Focus Sash is a bad option as you are running Max HP and the fact that you want to keep your weather inducer alive for as long as possible. This is because you do not want it dying and then something like a rain team to come in and completely destroy you as Politoed is able to summon permanent rain. You claim Breloom checks Rain Dance teams, and that it lives a 0 SpAtk Kingdra Ice Beam, but firstly, who runs 0 SpAtk? and secondly Draco Meteor overpowers Ice Beam completely, so will KO even if the opponent is running 0 SpAtk [210 BP > 190]. I would like you to consider this Tyranitar:

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Modest | Sandstream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpAtk
Stealth Rock / Ice Beam / Fire Blast / Dark Pulse

Now, the reasoning for this Tyranitar is that it works incredibly well at luring in Dory's and Garchomp's counters and removing them. For example, Hippowdon is 2HKOed by an Ice Beam [the reason why you should run Modest, to outrun it], Skarmory and Nattorei are both dealt with via Fire Blast, and things like Roopushin take a truckload from Fire Blast. Breloom comes in and Spores Tyranitar as you wake up and OHKO it. All of these Pokemon are threats to both Dory and Garchomp. Stealth Rock rounds off the set as it really puts so much pressure on your opponent as your fire off powerful attacks from your Pokemon.

Don't use Psychic on Latios, that is baiting Tyranitar to come in and KO. There is pretty much never a time when you would want to Psychic something rather than Draco Meteor it, unless you are up against something like Lucario, which can potentially die to DM + a bit of prior damage. Use Trick, and I know you don't like it. It is definitely worth it though...

Use Hidden Power [Ice] on Gengar and a Timid Nature to let you revenge +1 Salamence and Scarf Chomp. Use that over Sludge Bomb.

Good luck!

 

[Celestavian]

On the subject of Latios sans Trick, I'd like to point something out from the Latios paragraph:

This isn't going to change.

However, you bring up a valid point about Psychic. Thinking back, I have yet to use Psychic on Smogon, so perhaps I should replace it with something that is not Trick.

For Tyranitar, when I made this team, I highly considered using a Special based version to smack counters, but a 403 Attack stat seemed too good to pass up. The lack of special Rock STAB also hurts, and is also why I went with physical Tyranitar.

I knew I forgot something in my RMT, and that is my reasoning for using Focus Sash Tyranitar. Since, unlike on Beta, Wi-Fi Clause is active on DW OU. I can see if Politoed and friends are present and change my strategy accordingly. However, if rain/hail/sun will be absent, Tyranitar's only use becomes a suicide inducer lead. I beat the Deoxys formes, Blaziken leads, Shell Break leads, and any set-up lead that relies on a sash that is not immune. My team does fine without Tyranitar once sand is permenantly up, so I instead use Focus Sash to shut down leads I can OHKO. By extension, this would make Tyranitar a good status absorber, since it is the least important once its purpose is fufilled.

These were some pretty good suggestions, and I want to thank you for taking the time to read my RMT.

 

[Chou Toshio]

First I will congratulate you for your success on the ladder, and say this is a very solid looking team.

That said, I will mention that you have a very noticable weakness to darkrai (well, like pretty much every team). While Focus Sash Tyranitar gives you the edge against enemies like Infernape or Blaziken, you have little repreive from something as simple Dark Void + Substitute Darkrai set. 4 / 6 of your team is hit for super effective by Dark Pulse / Focus Blast as well, with Breloom being your only decent answer.

That said, Breloom is pretty good (assuming you have another sleeping teammate) as it isn't ohko'd by either move and can smash through substitute with Bullet Seed and destroy a non-subbed darkrai with Mach Punch. It does mean you have to be very weary not to lose breloom though, especially in a metagame that will likely be dominated by darkrai. I imagine Shanderaa + Darkrai would be a real problem for your team.

I might consider running Focus Blast on Gengar over Sludge Bomb just as a safety-check against darkrai should breloom fall prematurely.


The other change I would at least consider is Superpower over Earthquake on Tyranitar. I have found Superpower invaluable in this meta, mostly due to Balloon pokemon being everywhere. It'll also let you easily take out other lead tyranitar. It is worth a look anyway. Stone Edge, while powerful, seems to have few specific targets in the lead position, and its lack of accuracy is a real disappointment in the extremely critical first few turns of the match.

 

[Celestavian]

First I will congratulate you for your success on the ladder, and say this is a very solid looking team.

That said, I will mention that you have a very noticable weakness to darkrai (well, like pretty much every team). While Focus Sash Tyranitar gives you the edge against enemies like Infernape or Blaziken, you have little repreive from something as simple Dark Void + Substitute Darkrai set. 4 / 6 of your team is hit for super effective by Dark Pulse / Focus Blast as well, with Breloom being your only decent answer.

That said, Breloom is pretty good (assuming you have another sleeping teammate) as it isn't ohko'd by either move and can smash through substitute with Bullet Seed and destroy a non-subbed darkrai with Mach Punch. It does mean you have to be very weary not to lose breloom though, especially in a metagame that will likely be dominated by darkrai. I imagine Shanderaa + Darkrai would be a real problem for your team.

I might consider running Focus Blast on Gengar over Sludge Bomb just as a safety-check against darkrai should breloom fall prematurely.


The other change I would at least consider is Superpower over Earthquake on Tyranitar. I have found Superpower invaluable in this meta, mostly due to Balloon pokemon being everywhere. It'll also let you easily take out other lead tyranitar. It is worth a look anyway. Stone Edge, while powerful, seems to have few specific targets in the lead position, and its lack of accuracy is a real disappointment in the extremely critical first few turns of the match.

Thanks! Too bad I'm not undefeated on the ladder anymore.

Anyways, I really like your Superpower suggestion, and I think I will use it. However, without EQ, I don't know if I can OHKO Blaziken before it gets too fast for Dory to revenge. As much as I hate Stone Edge, I think I'd be worse off without it, especially if I need to keep Tyranitar alive. All I'll have in the way of STAB is Crunch (which I should replace with Payback) and I don't think of that as pleasant.

I have seen little or Darkrai, and have had even less problems with it. As long as it wastes its Dark Void on Tyranitar, I should be good. I haven't seen it run Sub yet, and neither have I seen it paired with Shandera yet, so I don't know how bad my team fares against them. Doryuuzu can also outspeed and hit hard with X-Scissor (but not OHKO at 100% if it's not boosted, I think) and Focus Blast is even worse than Stone Edge. Focus Blast on Gengar I abstain from for the same reasons, especially since I'm choiced into it. I'll do some more testing against Darkrai.

 

[tobi10]

Congratulations on your ladder success and having such a cool team!

I do not have much to add to the previous rates, except a small tip. I know you do not have problems with Blissey, but still think you should use Psycho Shock on Latios over Psychic. It means that getting the 2HKO on Blissey / Chansey will be easier than before, as she needs to be at 100% to avoid it.

I hope I had helped, good luck on tournaments:)

 

[Chou Toshio]

Oh I was going to mention the above as well. Psycho Shock is definitely a good idea. If you're going to use a psychic move anyway, it would remove a lot of repetition and add more utility to the latios set.

 

[Celestavian]

I've updated the movesets, formatted a lot, added an unfortunately short Team Building Process, and a top three threat list. I'd like some more help with this, as I have been doing less and less well as time goes on.

 

[Wynought]

Not as common, but how do you handle Band/Scarf Mamoswine and Banded Weavile? They look like immediate threats to this team. With Ice Shard, Ice Punch, Brick Break and Stone Edge, they can successfully OHKO/2HKO pretty much everyone on your team. Only Gengar can really save you from them both, but with the residual damage built up from enemy entry hazards and Sandstorm it seems like an unreliable counter.

 

[Celestavian]

Not as common, but how do you handle Band/Scarf Mamoswine and Banded Weavile? They look like immediate threats to this team. With Ice Shard, Ice Punch, Brick Break and Stone Edge, they can successfully OHKO/2HKO pretty much everyone on your team. Only Gengar can really save you from them both, but with the residual damage built up from enemy entry hazards and Sandstorm it seems like an unreliable counter.

Actually, Doryuuzu fears nothing from either if its balloon is intact, as a banded Ice Shard from Adamant 252 Mamo is a 3HKO, and Weavile can't outspeed its X-Scissor. I use banded Mamo on one of my other non-weather theams, and it's awesome, but its underwhelming against Doryuuzu, besides being 2HKOed by unboosted EQ and OHKOing me if my balloon is gone. If that won't work, Yache Chomp can hold its own, but only once and it'll still take huge damage. Either way, I haven't had much trouble with either Mamoswine or Weavile.

Besides that, you're pretty much right, but there's really nothing I could replace to fix it that wouldn't wreck my team synergy. At least they're uncommon.

 

[Saint Ashes]

Fire Fang on Chomp does laughable damage to a defensive Skarmory, I'd recommend swapping it for Fire Blast. Even with a -Sp.Atk nature you are still going to hit Skarmory for 51-61% damage with a Fire Blast, compared with only about 24-29% with Fire Fang. Even with a SD boost, Fire Fang is still only going to be hitting 48-57% against your typical physically defensive Skarmory.

 

[Super Mario Bro]

Fire Fang on Chomp does laughable damage to a defensive Skarmory, I'd recommend swapping it for Fire Blast. Even with a -Sp.Atk nature you are still going to hit Skarmory for 51-61% damage with a Fire Blast, compared with only about 24-29% with Fire Fang. Even with a SD boost, Fire Fang is still only going to be hitting 48-57% against your typical physically defensive Skarmory.

Fire Blast barely hits it harder:

51.5% - 61.1% vs. 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory

Bottom line: Fire Blast is better on ScarfChomp, Fire Fang is better on SD Chomp.

 

[Saint Ashes]

Fire Blast barely hits it harder:

51.5% - 61.1% vs. 252 HP/252 Def Skarmory

Bottom line: Fire Blast is better on ScarfChomp, Fire Fang is better on SD Chomp.

The way I see it, Skarmory can easily come in on a SD and whirlwind you away no problem when you're running Fire Fang (that's what I do with my Skarmory any way)
But if you hit it with a Fire Blast on the switch instead, it won't be able to stay in to Whirlwind.

 

[Celestavian]

The way I see it, Skarmory can easily come in on a SD and whirlwind you away no problem when you're running Fire Fang (that's what I do with my Skarmory any way)
But if you hit it with a Fire Blast on the switch instead, it won't be able to stay in to Whirlwind.

The only reason I keep Fire Fang on it is the chance I have I might be at +4 or +6 when it comes in. Other than that, you're pretty much right.

 

[MissGreen]

The way I see it, Skarmory can easily come in on a SD and whirlwind you away no problem when you're running Fire Fang (that's what I do with my Skarmory any way)
But if you hit it with a Fire Blast on the switch instead, it won't be able to stay in to Whirlwind.

Yeah, well, with Team Preview you wouldn't set up with a Skarmory in the wings, eh?

Also, I haven't played for a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng time, but can't you use Soul Dew now on the Latios instead of Specs? (You probably can't, but still, worth a shot).

 

[Lord Liam]

Awesome team, Hawkstar! I can definitely see the route of success with this team and congratulations on breaking #1. While your team is good, I'm unsure about your lead Tyranitar's set, I think we can make it better. I have been using this set on my Tyranitar for a few weeks now to great success. It retains very solid Specially Defensive capabilities while being able to defeat many common leads and suprise common counters with a scorch (Forry and most Nat sets are OHKOed while Skarmory recieves a guaranteed 2HKO) while keeping the ability to set-up Stealth Rock. (It also breaks the Nattorei / Burungeru core that gives most of your team trouble).


Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Sp.A / 168 Sp.D
Abiltity: Sand Stream
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Fire Blast

Hopefully this aids the team, I can see it doing a lot of good. Good luck with the team!

 

[Celestavian]

Yeah, well, with Team Preview you wouldn't set up with a Skarmory in the wings, eh?

Also, I haven't played for a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng time, but can't you use Soul Dew now on the Latios instead of Specs? (You probably can't, but still, worth a shot).

Soul Dew doesn't even exist in BW yet, and even if so I think the Soul Dew clause is in effect. If not, then I will definitely try it out. Haha.

Awesome team, Hawkstar! I can definitely see the route of success with this team and congratulations on breaking #1. While your team is good, I'm unsure about your lead Tyranitar's set, I think we can make it better. I have been using this set on my Tyranitar for a few weeks now to great success. It retains very solid Specially Defensive capabilities while being able to defeat many common leads and suprise common counters with a scorch (Forry and most Nat sets are OHKOed while Skarmory recieves a guaranteed 2HKO) while keeping the ability to set-up Stealth Rock. (It also breaks the Nattorei / Burungeru core that gives most of your team trouble).


Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Nature: Brave
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Sp.A / 168 Sp.D
Abiltity: Sand Stream
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Fire Blast

Hopefully this aids the team, I can see it doing a lot of good. Good luck with the team!

Breloom destroys, uh, Nattungeru, very easily. Besides that, I think I'll try out this set, but with Ice Beam over Stealth Rock, since I really don't think it's that useful for this team, which OHKOs everything anyway. Plus, I could always use another Pokemon to beat Gliscor, as well as not being walled by Nattorei, so I'll try it out. Thanks!

 

[Battler3797]

No offense but a good rain dance team could easily destroy this il use my team as an example.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3311822#post3311822

Azelf would most likely be faster due to his 252 speed evs and he rain dances and im not sure what happens if a move is used after an ability but i think the move wins so i get rain dance out there and you have to switch twice just to get sandstorm running again plus by the time you switch back into tyranitar i also got a free stealth rock as well. then i could just explode and switch into kingdra who could take out all your pokemon except for gengar. Surfs tyranitar and excluding protect i believe my kingdra would be faster and surf knocks out tyranitar. He then could ice beam both latios and garchomp surf your fifth generation pokemon and signal beam your breloom and if for some reason i am unable to knock out breloom since tyranitar is already knocked out i would switch into bronzong to set up rain dance again then if i have enough hp start setting up reflect/light screen then exploding and switching in ludicolo who could take out your breloom and get a few nice hits in and he will outspeed your pokemon because of swift swim. thenfor gengar if i am not able to knock it out with ludicolo and the rain is still going i can switch in toxicroak who might not be able to beat it in speed but unless he can onhko toxicroak then he would have to survive a sucker punch.

and after all that i still have kabutops who didnt even participate in the battle

 

[Celestavian]

OK, so now that Garchomp is banned, I need a good replacement for it. I chose Garchomp for the bulkiness of it's SDYache set, but I would like a good Ice switch-in, and something that could take Latios's DM's would be nice. Can anyone suggest something to put in Chomp's place? (And yes, I still ladder with this team. I suck at team building and have nothing else D: )

 

[NickiMinaj]

idk ferrothorn

 

[Olijolly]

You're going to have to switch the team structures a bit but bulky SD Scizor is amazing.
ice and dm resistant as well (to a certain extent with spD investment)

oh chomp

 

[Celestavian]

You're going to have to switch the team structures a bit but bulky SD Scizor is amazing.
ice and dm resistant as well (to a certain extent with spD investment)

oh chomp

I had the same idea, and while it worked for a while, as soon as I went up against a rain team, I got steamrolled.

I've realized that nothing can replicate Garchomp's usefulness, so I guess I should replace it with something more resistant to Rain. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Torniron]

Quick nitpick as its 11:02 at night, Why do you have a brave nature on your tyranitar when you have no special attacks?

 

[WiredSushi]

I suggest switching crun for pursuit as even though you lose some power, it will be very helpful.

 

[Paradoxus]

Garchomp is banned now, so I suggest Landorus.