Matthew
I love weather; Sun for days
Hi my name is Genny and I like to play pokemon. Ever since the banning of Excadrill and Thundurus the metagame has forced me to reevaluate my playstyle and create a new (better) team. While I previously didn't like using rain teams ever, I had my mind changed when I used Iconic's (I think) rain team that was based around Sharpedo. Sharpedo is an amazing sweeper that I cannot express how easily it cleans up. While this team seems like it would be easily handled by Dragon- and Water-type attacks, I've never once found them to be of any issue.
When creating the team I knew I wanted it to be slightly anti-metagame, and take that as you will. I wanted to use lesser threats while not completely limiting my options as a whole. In the end I decided to go with a few hand-picked pokemon that fulfill very specific needs on the team. In the end it left me with a team that couldn't really switch into hyper powered Dragon- and Water-type attacks. But through learning with this team and adapting I've been able to come through and stop uselessly caring about resists and instead focus on hyper offensive playstyle. There is one specific pokemon (perhaps two) that stand out as odd, but I can assure you that they do in fact serve a purpose.
However this is not a thread to boast about my accomplishments with this team, and instead it is about improving it. While every pokemon on this team is extensively tried and tested, there needs to be some improvement without limiting the team as a whole. I find myself up against the wall against certain pokemon which really should not be of any issue to me. So I come to the Rate My Team section of the forums to hopefully shed some unseen light on my team in hopes of improving it.
@ Choice Specs Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
As one of my main offensive pokemon is Sharpedo I figured that rain support would be completely necessary in helping it sweep. While my team is not completely reliant on rain to win (I do not have to win the weather war in any way, shape, or form); it is certainly helpful for the most part. While rain does increase the already-present Water-type weakness to my team, through Water resisting Water, Rotom-W and Politoed are often useful enough to come in once or twice before being KOed. However losing a pokemon is not always a bad thing, and I've learned to accept that while laddering with this team. I'd rather be down 3-6 with a clean goal that is achievable than being up 6-3 with 5 pokemon almost completely neutered.
I decided to go with Specs Politoed, a personal favorite of mine. I considered Scarf for some time but then decided that if I am to face a Drought or weatherless team I'd rather have my summoner be able to hit as completely hard as it can. Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados, but I was considering switching it to Hidden Power Grass for Gastrodon. A pokemon which causes me endless trouble. Standard moveset and EVs. Politoed is there to sponge the odd Ice-, Water-, and what have you-type attack. I'm not completely reliant on Politoed for this team to work, I just wanted a little bit of support in the weather department.
@ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Low Kick
- Ice Punch
- Night Slash
- Swords Dance
Perhaps one of those pokemon which you may raise an eyebrow in concern over. However let me assure you that Weavile is quite the amazing pokemon. With a little bit of damage on Ferrothorn, a +2 Low Kick will OHKO, not to mention it will also OHKO Heatran. Weavile also has a useful knack of outpacing basically the entire metagame as of present. Physical Jirachi does wall it, however as most Jirachi's are Specially Defensive this meta I can expect to do ~60% with a +2 Night Slash. I just need to force Jirachi in once or twice and then set up and prepare for a sweep. With Stealth Rock down not even Gyarados can stop me with Intimidate (as a +1 Ice Punch will OHKO most variants). Weavile is also extremely useful as it outpaces Lati@s and a few other noticeable threats (such as Gengar and Starmie).
@ Life Orb
Trait: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
The mighty Mamoswine. I normally do not find room on my teams for Stealth Rock, but this time it was an exception. Mamoswine is the pinocle of anti-metagame, and with good reason. As most Lucarios (as of right now) are running Adamant, I have a safe revenge killer if it ever breaks loose. Though NP Lucario can be used, I've been seeing more and more and more Swords Dance Lucario than anything else. Mamoswine, like Weavile, is just here to fuck shit up. Providing useful Electric-type immunities that can help break apart the Scarf Rotom, Band Scizor, Scarf Landorus core that I've been seeing non-stop. Ice Shard is there to pick of weakened foes and Icicle Crash provides a necessary 3HKO against Skarmory (though I have Xatu here to pretty much keep Skarmory and other hazard layers in check).
@ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
- Crunch
I can't decide if my MVP is Sharpedo or if Weavile is. Speed Boost is an extremely potent ability that often sweeps teams on its own. Of course Sharpedo being the glass sword he is fears almost all priority attacks -- thus I can safely scout with Protect whilst my Speed keeps increasing. Sharpedo is a mid- to late-game cleaner, much like Weavile. The choice of which has a more likely chance of sweeping depends on a few factors such as the amount of Steel-types a team has, the amount of priority, and how healthy bulkier pokemon on the opposing team is. Once again a standard moveset, I heard mixpedo has a higher damage output than straight physical, but I'm uneasy splitting up the EVs. I feel if I take them out of Speed I'll lose to important pokemon, but if I take them out of Attack then Crunch and Ice Fang will be of complete no use.
@ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Reflect
- Night Shade
Xatu is an amazing pokemon, to say the least. Flying/Psychic-typing is amazing to have when all three of my main sweepers are weak to Fighting-type attacks. On top of that Reflect provides Sharpedo, Weavile, and Mamoswine the opportunity to switch in an extra time and make a dent or sweep the opposing team. I thought Xatu would be a momentum killer, and to an extent I was right. The inability to hurt Blissey is truly abysmal, but Blissey can't honestly do much to me either. The main selling point of Xatu is that the standard Deoxys-s (psycho boost / superpower / spikes / taunt or SR) can't hurt me. Ferrothorn can't do anything to me either. I thought about the redundancy of running Xatu and having Stealth Rock on Mamoswine; I decided that on the off-chance I do not predict the Stealth Rock user on the team (not hard) and it gets set up on my side, it'd be better to have a back up plan. Xatu is a useful piece of glue to my team, removing it honestly might cause it to entirely collapse upon itself. I could always run a Rapid Spin pokemon (Forretress) to keep hazards off, but that requires coming in, then using a predictable move. I did have a bulky Starmie here before Xatu, and it wasn't very effective --to say the least.
@ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Finally my revenge killer and my normal lead. Rotom-W is everything I could want in a Choice Scarf user. Volt Switch, STAB Drizzle boosted Hydro Pump, and Trick. The only issue, and I mean the only issue, I have with this Rotom is my inability to hurt Gastrodon. I am considering Rotom-C on my team, as it has the same useful resistances that I'd abuse (mainly Water-type attacks), but it comes with a STAB Grass-type move. Albeit that Grass-type move comes with a hefty drawback, but a Grass-type move all the same. Rotom-W is here to keep momentum and put me in more favorable positions. I do hate when I kill something with Volt Switch, as that means I've lost all momentum that I tried so hard to build.
The issues with this team are fairly obvious, but the main issue I cannot develop a solid work-around for is Gastrodon. Gastrodon is everything that is wrong with this team and I cannot find a decent enough change without changing at least half of the team and how it flows together. So if you'd please help I'd appreciate it.
When creating the team I knew I wanted it to be slightly anti-metagame, and take that as you will. I wanted to use lesser threats while not completely limiting my options as a whole. In the end I decided to go with a few hand-picked pokemon that fulfill very specific needs on the team. In the end it left me with a team that couldn't really switch into hyper powered Dragon- and Water-type attacks. But through learning with this team and adapting I've been able to come through and stop uselessly caring about resists and instead focus on hyper offensive playstyle. There is one specific pokemon (perhaps two) that stand out as odd, but I can assure you that they do in fact serve a purpose.
However this is not a thread to boast about my accomplishments with this team, and instead it is about improving it. While every pokemon on this team is extensively tried and tested, there needs to be some improvement without limiting the team as a whole. I find myself up against the wall against certain pokemon which really should not be of any issue to me. So I come to the Rate My Team section of the forums to hopefully shed some unseen light on my team in hopes of improving it.
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
As one of my main offensive pokemon is Sharpedo I figured that rain support would be completely necessary in helping it sweep. While my team is not completely reliant on rain to win (I do not have to win the weather war in any way, shape, or form); it is certainly helpful for the most part. While rain does increase the already-present Water-type weakness to my team, through Water resisting Water, Rotom-W and Politoed are often useful enough to come in once or twice before being KOed. However losing a pokemon is not always a bad thing, and I've learned to accept that while laddering with this team. I'd rather be down 3-6 with a clean goal that is achievable than being up 6-3 with 5 pokemon almost completely neutered.
I decided to go with Specs Politoed, a personal favorite of mine. I considered Scarf for some time but then decided that if I am to face a Drought or weatherless team I'd rather have my summoner be able to hit as completely hard as it can. Hidden Power Electric is for Gyarados, but I was considering switching it to Hidden Power Grass for Gastrodon. A pokemon which causes me endless trouble. Standard moveset and EVs. Politoed is there to sponge the odd Ice-, Water-, and what have you-type attack. I'm not completely reliant on Politoed for this team to work, I just wanted a little bit of support in the weather department.
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Low Kick
- Ice Punch
- Night Slash
- Swords Dance
Perhaps one of those pokemon which you may raise an eyebrow in concern over. However let me assure you that Weavile is quite the amazing pokemon. With a little bit of damage on Ferrothorn, a +2 Low Kick will OHKO, not to mention it will also OHKO Heatran. Weavile also has a useful knack of outpacing basically the entire metagame as of present. Physical Jirachi does wall it, however as most Jirachi's are Specially Defensive this meta I can expect to do ~60% with a +2 Night Slash. I just need to force Jirachi in once or twice and then set up and prepare for a sweep. With Stealth Rock down not even Gyarados can stop me with Intimidate (as a +1 Ice Punch will OHKO most variants). Weavile is also extremely useful as it outpaces Lati@s and a few other noticeable threats (such as Gengar and Starmie).
Trait: Oblivious
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
The mighty Mamoswine. I normally do not find room on my teams for Stealth Rock, but this time it was an exception. Mamoswine is the pinocle of anti-metagame, and with good reason. As most Lucarios (as of right now) are running Adamant, I have a safe revenge killer if it ever breaks loose. Though NP Lucario can be used, I've been seeing more and more and more Swords Dance Lucario than anything else. Mamoswine, like Weavile, is just here to fuck shit up. Providing useful Electric-type immunities that can help break apart the Scarf Rotom, Band Scizor, Scarf Landorus core that I've been seeing non-stop. Ice Shard is there to pick of weakened foes and Icicle Crash provides a necessary 3HKO against Skarmory (though I have Xatu here to pretty much keep Skarmory and other hazard layers in check).
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Ice Fang
- Waterfall
- Crunch
I can't decide if my MVP is Sharpedo or if Weavile is. Speed Boost is an extremely potent ability that often sweeps teams on its own. Of course Sharpedo being the glass sword he is fears almost all priority attacks -- thus I can safely scout with Protect whilst my Speed keeps increasing. Sharpedo is a mid- to late-game cleaner, much like Weavile. The choice of which has a more likely chance of sweeping depends on a few factors such as the amount of Steel-types a team has, the amount of priority, and how healthy bulkier pokemon on the opposing team is. Once again a standard moveset, I heard mixpedo has a higher damage output than straight physical, but I'm uneasy splitting up the EVs. I feel if I take them out of Speed I'll lose to important pokemon, but if I take them out of Attack then Crunch and Ice Fang will be of complete no use.
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Roost
- Reflect
- Night Shade
Xatu is an amazing pokemon, to say the least. Flying/Psychic-typing is amazing to have when all three of my main sweepers are weak to Fighting-type attacks. On top of that Reflect provides Sharpedo, Weavile, and Mamoswine the opportunity to switch in an extra time and make a dent or sweep the opposing team. I thought Xatu would be a momentum killer, and to an extent I was right. The inability to hurt Blissey is truly abysmal, but Blissey can't honestly do much to me either. The main selling point of Xatu is that the standard Deoxys-s (psycho boost / superpower / spikes / taunt or SR) can't hurt me. Ferrothorn can't do anything to me either. I thought about the redundancy of running Xatu and having Stealth Rock on Mamoswine; I decided that on the off-chance I do not predict the Stealth Rock user on the team (not hard) and it gets set up on my side, it'd be better to have a back up plan. Xatu is a useful piece of glue to my team, removing it honestly might cause it to entirely collapse upon itself. I could always run a Rapid Spin pokemon (Forretress) to keep hazards off, but that requires coming in, then using a predictable move. I did have a bulky Starmie here before Xatu, and it wasn't very effective --to say the least.
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Finally my revenge killer and my normal lead. Rotom-W is everything I could want in a Choice Scarf user. Volt Switch, STAB Drizzle boosted Hydro Pump, and Trick. The only issue, and I mean the only issue, I have with this Rotom is my inability to hurt Gastrodon. I am considering Rotom-C on my team, as it has the same useful resistances that I'd abuse (mainly Water-type attacks), but it comes with a STAB Grass-type move. Albeit that Grass-type move comes with a hefty drawback, but a Grass-type move all the same. Rotom-W is here to keep momentum and put me in more favorable positions. I do hate when I kill something with Volt Switch, as that means I've lost all momentum that I tried so hard to build.
The issues with this team are fairly obvious, but the main issue I cannot develop a solid work-around for is Gastrodon. Gastrodon is everything that is wrong with this team and I cannot find a decent enough change without changing at least half of the team and how it flows together. So if you'd please help I'd appreciate it.