Fire-Water-Grass Core Team (peaked at #61)

drynyl47 · May 20, 2011

OK, so this is my first RMT here in Smogon. I recently made a team with a FWG core, since they cover each other's weaknesses perfectly. I never really intended this team to be used in serious battles but after a few play testings this team actually exceeded my expectations, peaking at #61 in Smogon's server. Anyway without further ado, this is my team:

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Hidden Power Ice
-Roar

Comment: so Heatran is the first Pokemon in my FWG core. EVs and movesets are pretty much basic. I chose Modest over Timid for the extra firepower, and Heatran won't be outrunning many Pokemon with Timid anyway. The 3 attacking moves are for coverage, while Roar forces Volcarona out, which could otherwise pose some problems for my team. With his Air Balloon intact, he could also be a solid check for Dragons and Excadrill.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP, 216 Def, 44 Spe
Nature: Bold
-Scald
-Will-o-Wisp
-Recover
-Taunt

Jellicent is the second member of the FWG core. I originally used Starmie in this slot but issues with Fighting type attacks in my team forced me to switch to Jellicent. And from there things started to look better for my team. The reason why I opted for Scald and Will-o-Wisp together is because my team has currently no real counters for Taunt Gyarados, except for trying to burn it with repeated Scalds. Recover is obviously for recovery, and Taunt stops the opposing Pokemon from setting up.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP, 224 SpA, 32 Spe
Nature: Modest
-Nasty Plot
-Psychic
-Giga Drain
-Hidden Power Fire

Comment: the last member of the FWG core, this slot was actually taken by Shaymin, but Celebi proved to be a lot more effective for my team thanks to its ability to counter Conkeldurr, who was quite troublesome for my team when he wasn't a team member yet (and thanks to Eggbert for suggesting this). Nasty Plot is used to boost Celebi's Sp. Attack to threatening levels, Psychic and Giga Drain are for STABs, and HP Fire is for destroying Ferrothorn and Scizor.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP, 232 Def, 24 Spe
Nature: Impish
-Stealth Rock
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird

Comment: like every other team, this team needs something to stop Dragon types from wrecking havoc, and Skarmory easily fits that role. It also fits well to my team thanks to its Fire type weakness, which can be taken advantage of Heatran. I chose Stealth Rock instead of Spikes because unlike Spikes, SR hits even Flying and levitating Pokemon. Roost is for recovery, Whirlwind is for phazing out set-up sweepers, and Brave Bird is there in case a taunter comes in and shuts down Skarmory's other moves.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Crunch
-Ice Punch
-Stone Edge
-Superpower

Comment: with the Lati twins looming in every corner, every team needs a check for them, and TTar quickly comes to mind. I just love how almost anyone seems surprised every time their fast and hard-hitting sweepers get outspeed by a seemingly slow Tyranitar. Without Choice Scarf, TTar can't reliably counter things like Thundurus and Gengar, since he doesn't like taking Focus Blasts at all. With a Scarf, those two goes down before they can even touch TTar.

Terrakion @ Air Balloon
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Rock Polish
-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge

Comment: Terrakion serves as my mid to late-game sweeper most of the time. IMO he is one of the best sweepers this generation has given us, in fact he already saved me in a lot of close end games already. The two boosting moves give me an option depending on the remaining Pokes my opponent has, while still retaining almost universal coverage with Stone Edge and Close Combat. Air Balloon lets me set up against Pokemon who can't destroy Terrakion with a non Ground type move.

Threats:

Gyarados: Jellicent and Skarmory can wall him, but the Taunter set can be a huge problem. Burning Gyara indirectly with Scald is the only thing I can do to stop it, otherwise it's gonna tear my team apart.

Gengar: Tyranitar can kill him effortlessly, but if he is behind a Substitute, it's either my Crunch is gonna be disabled or he's gonna kill Ttar with Focus Blast.

Reuniclus: Ttar needs a 2HKO to kill it with Crunch, but Reuniclus's Focus Blast is a clean OHKO. The Trick Room set is the most problematic, since I usually have to sacrifice 2, or occasionally even 3, to take him down.

Omastar: to tell you the truth, I have no counters to Shell Smash Omastar at all. Good thing Omastar is rarely used so I don't have to deal with him so often.

So there you go. Please rate my team. Comments, suggestions, and even violent reactions are welcome. XD

Mike Legend · May 20, 2011

you're running roar on heatran to deal with volc but terrakion is taking on volc well already. i'd definitely put stealth rock on heatran in that slot. this would allow skarmory to setup spikes instead, which will prove very useful. i think you could just run ice punch > pursuit on tyranitar. i've been using scarftar a lot and i've rarely ever found a need for pursuit. most of the things you'd pursuit stay in anyway and crunch is generally the better option. ice punch is great for checking landorus and dragons like chomp, and it also helps against virizion who's cm set is quite troublesome for you. reuniclus can be problematic but if you keep skarmory and jellicent healthy you can probably stall it out of trick room turns. otr also doesn't find many places to set up since even skarmory's brave bird is doing a lot and you can ww it out. anyway this is a solid team and gl

drynyl47 · May 20, 2011

Actually the reason I used Roar on Heatran is because I don't want that Air Balloon getting popped early in the game, that intact Air Balloon has saved me so many times in a lot of late games already. But I'll try that and see what happens. As for Ice Punch for TTar, I totally agree. I can't believe I haven't thought of that. I'm definitely replacing Pursuit with Ice Punch. Thanks for the rate. :)

pindigo · May 20, 2011

Like the team, only thing that sort of surprises me is that 4 of your pokemon are running 252 spa/atk 252 spe. With so many attackers, I would recommend you to replace shaymin with ferrothorn. Firstly, it gives you a special wall that you otherwise lack, it forms the great defensive core with jellicent, gives you spikes along with SR, and still has power whip to wall all waters.You may not like that because it slows the pace of your team, but I think it might be something to look at, especially since you have sooo many attackers haha.

drynyl47 · May 21, 2011

I've actually thought of that before. The only concern with that is Ferro would add another Fighting type weakness to my team. If Jellicent is already down Fighting type attacks would destroy more than half of my team. I'm thinking of replacing Terrakion with Landorus to somehow remedy that problem, but I'll lose Fighting-type coverage if I do that. Any thoughts?

Oblivion IX · May 21, 2011

Hello, Drynyl47! This seems like a very solid team that has most of the metagame's biggest threats in check. However, it does have its share of problems. Fighting-types and TR variants of Reuniclus are sure to be a pain, but hopefully this can be remedied to an extent without ruining the good synergy that you have.

The first thing that I suggest is trying a specially defensive Jirachi over Skarmory as it will allow you to handle Reuniclus while also giving you a secondary way of dealing with Lati@s which is always nice. It also helps as when your opponent switches out to an appropriate check/counter they have the high risk of being crippled with paralysis. Of course, you'll want to give Stealth Rock to Heatran so that you still have a form of entry hazards as suggested previously by Fried Rhys. You don't really have to worry about Volcarona as it can't hurt Heatran with HP [Ground] which you'll be immune to as long as your Air Balloon is kept in one piece while you can easily KO with Fire Blast after it takes damage from SR. However, Jellicent would still be a better way of handling it as more often than not you'll want your Air Balloon for something more menacing than Volcarona like Dragon-types. Kind of went off track there, but here's the set.

Jirachi

Landorus seems like a fine addition to the team over Terrakion. While losing your Fighting-type is unwanted I see it working much better for you overall. Your team can handle things like Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Heatran through committee anyways. The following set is a great way of tearing apart the popular Sandstorm teams that are dominating the current metagame while offensive teams will also crumble before its power.

Landorus

Conkeldurr is still a problem, but I don't see much you can do to change that without throwing off the excellent synergy that your team has. Overall, this is a good team and I hope these suggestions help you out. So yeah, good luck.

Eggbert · May 21, 2011

Quick rate: Try a Celebi over Shaymin. With nasty plot it beats non shadow ball Reuniclus easily and with psychic it can counter Conkeldurr very easily.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Modest, 252 Hp / 224 SpA / 32 Spe
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power (Ice)

drynyl47 · May 21, 2011

Oblivion IX said:
Hello, Drynyl47! This seems like a very solid team that has most of the metagame's biggest threats in check. However, it does have its share of problems. Fighting-types and TR variants of Reuniclus are sure to be a pain, but hopefully this can be remedied to an extent without ruining the good synergy that you have.

The first thing that I suggest is trying a specially defensive Jirachi over Skarmory as it will allow you to handle Reuniclus while also giving you a secondary way of dealing with Lati@s which is always nice. It also helps as when your opponent switches out to an appropriate check/counter they have the high risk of being crippled with paralysis. Of course, you'll want to give Stealth Rock to Heatran so that you still have a form of entry hazards as suggested previously by Fried Rhys. You don't really have to worry about Volcarona as it can't hurt Heatran with HP [Ground] which you'll be immune to as long as your Air Balloon is kept in one piece while you can easily KO with Fire Blast after it takes damage from SR. However, Jellicent would still be a better way of handling it as more often than not you'll want your Air Balloon for something more menacing than Volcarona like Dragon-types. Kind of went off track there, but here's the set.

Jirachi

Jirachi @ Leftovers | Careful | 252 HP / 216 SDef | 40 Spd
Iron Head | Body Slam | Wish | Fire Punch

Landorus seems like a fine addition to the team over Terrakion. While losing your Fighting-type is unwanted I see it working much better for you overall. Your team can handle things like Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Heatran through committee anyways. The following set is a great way of tearing apart the popular Sandstorm teams that are dominating the current metagame while offensive teams will also crumble before its power.

Landorus

Landorus @ Life Orb | Naive | 252 Atk / 6 SAtk / 252 Spd
Earthquake | Stone Edge | Hidden Power [Ice] | Rock Polish

Conkeldurr is still a problem, but I don't see much you can do to change that without throwing off the excellent synergy that your team has. Overall, this is a good team and I hope these suggestions help you out. So yeah, good luck.

I actually considered Jirachi over Skarmory before, but without Skarmory I'm gonna have a huge problem with Dragon types, particularly with SD Garchomp. Jellicent walls them to some extent, but he can't really take hits from something like a boosted Outrage. If Heatran's Air Balloon pops before facing Garchomp, it would pretty much be GG for me. But as for Landorus I'm really thinking of using him over Terrakion for some time now, just to cut down my Fighting type weakness. But like you've said, losing that Fighting type coverage could hurt but I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

Eggbert said:
Quick rate: Try a Celebi over Shaymin. With nasty plot it beats non shadow ball Reuniclus easily and with psychic it can counter Conkeldurr very easily.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Modest, 252 Hp / 224 SpA / 32 Spe
- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power (Ice)

This actually sounds good. I'm gonna try this, but I'm changing HP Ice with Fire to deal with Scizor.

Thanks for the rate guys.

drynyl47 · May 22, 2011

BUMP!

So I made a few adjustments on my team and it's working good so far. I changed Shaymin and replaced him with Celebi, which gave me a reason to scare off Conkeldurrs much better than Skarmory. I tried using Landorus over Terrakion, but the absence of a Fighting type attack was really big, so I decided to retain Terrakion. Anyway, I'm really having a hard time taking down enemy Reuniclus, especially Trick Room variants. I'm really thinking of using Jirachi over somebody else (Skarmory?) on my team as suggested by Oblivion IX, but I might lose a check to other threatening Pokemon if I do that. Any suggestions?