Despite what the title says my original intention wasn't just to put all the top threats on a team and make it work. I've put quite a bit of thought into this team and it kind of just ended up this way (they're probably top threats for a reason). I'm hoping it's a well balanced team.
I've play tested them tons and I do alright, probably a majority of my losses are due to getting out predicted or hax. I'm mostly posting here because I feel like the team could use some tweaking and for some reason I'm having a hard time seeing what might be helpful to improve my team.
The Team at a Glance:
The Team Building Process:
First I started with the pair ZapChomp. Synergy, coverage, and they instill fear in opponents.
Next I noticed the gaping Ice weakness as well as the potential problems with Trick Room so I added Tyranitar to deal with those problems as well as various other issues with weather teams. Plus miss hax on Garchomp.
Scarfed Abamasnows would easily sweep my team, Latios and Cress would laugh and destroy them, and priority users are always nice to have so I added Scizor.
My team started to look like a sand team so I considered common sand abusers such as Excadrill and Landorus, Terrakion due to the SpD boost, and other Pokemon who wouldn't get hurt by the passive damage. None of them really fit too well. I don't need any more Ice weaknesses, Rock Slide users, etc.
If there's one type of Pokemon that really were an issue for my current setup it was fighting types. Tyranitar gets destroyed by them and the rest of my team can't really hurt them too well. I started looking at Flying and Psychic types to deal with them and decided on a Togekiss, one of my favorites from Gen IV OU. Follow Me is very useful, it's bulky, it has recovery, and Air Slash which hits hard and has 60% flinch hax.
I started looking at other threats and after deciding against Hitmontop, Latios, and Latias I put Metagross in the last slot since it partners well with Zapdos when I can't use Garchomp. Plus Normal Gem + Explosion was very useful on my Landorus with my team last year.
Hours and hours of playtesting later my team felt just too weak. Metagross felt out of place, Togekiss though helpful seemed to die too often to Rock Slides and felt too slow for me so I decided to replace it with something faster and more powerful. Not wanting to ruin the Tailwind and Fighting type counter which Togekiss was for me I decided on a Tailwind Latios with Psyshock.
Metagross still wasn't too much of a team player for me. Meteor Mash seemed to always miss at key moments, Scizor already has a more powerful Bullet Punch, and he doesn't pair well with anyone who wasn't Latios. So I replaced him with Hitmontop for Intimidate, Fake Out, and Feint support. I'd love to have Wide Guard on this guy as well but not enough room.
A Closer Look at Each Pokemon:
Zapdos @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 140 HP / 82 Def / 252 SAtk / 32 Spd
IVs: 31/10/30/31/31/31
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Detect
Why Zapdos?
Zapdos offers power coverage, and bulk. Synergy is especially great with Garchomp for the famed ZapChomp.
Moves?
Discharge was selected because I don't really have to worry about hitting Garchomp or Metagross which I commonly partner it with.
Heat Wave deals with Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Scizor who would otherwise be a problem for my team.
Hidden Power Ice was selected over Grass due to the high number of Ice weak pokemon that it can kill, especially Garchomp, the Genies, and other Zapdos (with Tailwind support). Grass would be useful for Gastrodon which is currently a pain to deal with on my team.
Item?
Sitrus Berry appears to be the most useful though when I was using a Charti Berry it did save me a couple of times. I'm pretty uncertain which I'll end up using as of now.
EVs?
I like the extra bulk that the extra Defense gives and it allows for much greater survival when faced with Rock Slide (Zapdos's biggest problem).
Garchomp (M) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/31
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Claw
- Protect
Why Garchomp?
Zapdos's partner in crime and the Pokemon on my team which most people view as the biggest threat. Great coverage, fast, and able to shred though many threats.
Moves?
Earthquake and Dargon Claw were selected for SATB and coverage as well as Syngergy with Zapdos and Latios.
I've been going with Rock Slide for now since it's another multi target and hits quite a few pokemon hard.
Crunch might be a viable replacement to deal with otherwise annoying Cresselias and Ghosts, though usually the only two ghosts I see are Jellicent which Discharge can deal with and Garchomp can already hit hard and Chandelure which gets taken care of with Rock Slide.
I've seen a few people use Substitute and I tried it. It's very nice to have in situations, especially when you can predict a Thunder Wave, Spore, or double Protect but the coverage seems to be essential.
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SAtk / 4 SDef / 248 Spd
IVs: 31/30/31/30/31/30 (might change if I remove HP or switch to Ground)
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect
Why Latios?
I originally had a Follow Me Togekiss with Tailwind for support but replaced him with this guy and am glad I did.
Latios works very well with my two earthquake users, outspeeds most anything, and is my hard hitter which can easily take out Fighting and Dragon types.
Moves?
Selecting the moves for him was very difficult for me. I went for Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse since it is more powerful and for the most part consistency doesn't seem to matter since my Latios never lasts too long.
Psyshock is to deal with Fighting types since they'd be a big problem for my team otherwise. I'm not too sure if it is better or worse than Psychic so I'll need to look into that better.
I original had Tailwind was to fully replace Togekiss's role since it's highly useful to outspeed things and is a great counter to other tailwind users.
The big roblem for me here is coverage. Surf would have been useful but would do quite a bit of damage to many of my Pokemon who'd partner with it.
I decided Hidden Power Fire would help improve the coverage and be more important than speed with Tailwind and so far it's played out quite well for me. Hidden Power Ground would additionally be useful however I believe Fire to aid the team better.
Item?
Life Orb was selected over Dragon Gem for slightly more consistency and to boost Psyshock as well as Hidden Power.
Hitmontop (M) @ Eject Button
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/31
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Feint
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
Why Hitmontop?
Intimidate and Fake Out support greatly help the team. He's also a great counter to many of the Pokemon who are weak to fighting types (Tyranitar, Terrakion, Snorlax, etc.). Feint is pretty useful in situations as well.
Moves?
Fake Out for slight extra damage, mind games, flinching Pokemon that would otherwise be a problem, etc.
Feint for preventing Pokemon from protecting and allowing his Partner to KO them.
Close Combat for a powerful SATB.
Sucker Punch for a priority move and taking out those annoying Latis and working well in Trick Room.
I'd love to get Wide Guard on this guy but I really don't see myself being able to function without any of the other 4 moves.
Item?
I've been toying about with different items and Eject Button is the most useful (though quite annoying sometimes). It allows me to Fake Out and use Intimidate twice. Focus Sash might be useful to prevent dying or a Coba/Payapa for the same purpose. I've read on another thread that White Herb is a good idea for negating Close Combat reductions so I might try that out as well.
Scizor (M) @ Occa Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/31
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
- Protect
Why Scizor?
A great partner for Latios and Garchomp. Also a great counter for Latios and Cresselia.
My biggest problem with Scizor is that he dies too easily and gets outspeed by most threats.
Moves?
Bullet Punch for powerful priority.
Bug Bite can take at basically any Psychic type as well as Abomasnow (though Bullet Punch also does a good job with that).
Superpower is nice for Heatran and Tyranitar.
Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/0
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Low Kick
- Protect
Why Tyranitar?
Powerful, Bulky, Slow. The fact that he'll usually set up weather when faced with another weather inducer is always a great plus. It's additionally always nice to have Sandstorm up for the random miss hax Garchomp can get.
Moves?
His Rock Slide packs a punch more than any other double target move on my team, siverly crippling opposing Zapdos.
Crunch deals with Ghosts and makes him a perfect Latios counter.
Low Kick is useful against other Tyranitars as well as Steel/Normal types. I'm not too sure how I'd deal with Regigigas, Chansey, or Snorlax without it.
Things which might be useful but aren't here:
Focus Sash - I considered it on Tyranitar and Scizor but it hasn't made it on them. Since this is probably one of the best items out there for VGC it's somewhat of a shame to not use it.
Tailwind - it counters other Tailwinds, and allows me to beat other fast Pokemon with mine.
Flying Gem + Acrobatics - With tons of Fighting types and other Flying weak Pokemon it would be beneficial to me team to have them.
What I feel like I really struggle with the most is knowing what Pokemon to start with. I don't really have a solid lead pair that I can tell so I just attempt to do the best job possible predicting my opponents lead pair and picking the best possible counters to them. My generic lead pairs are usually Hitmontop and Tyranitar or Zapdos and Garchomp.
Pokemon I have problems with:
Gastrodon
Why?
Ice Beam hurts and I can't do too much back too it. It resists or is immune to all the spread moves except Earthquake. Due to the lack of a grass type move on my team I can't do too much to it.
Ludicolo
Why?
With rain up it outspeeds everyone and I can't manage to to kill it too easily with anyone except Scizor's Bug Bite.
Excadrill
Why?
With sandstorm up (which I try to never run TTar if I see him on the opposing team) he outspeeds and can OHKO a large part of my team. My best way to deal with him is usually to send out Garchomp who can take a hit and return with Earthquake.
I've play tested them tons and I do alright, probably a majority of my losses are due to getting out predicted or hax. I'm mostly posting here because I feel like the team could use some tweaking and for some reason I'm having a hard time seeing what might be helpful to improve my team.
The Team at a Glance:
The Team Building Process:
First I started with the pair ZapChomp. Synergy, coverage, and they instill fear in opponents.
Next I noticed the gaping Ice weakness as well as the potential problems with Trick Room so I added Tyranitar to deal with those problems as well as various other issues with weather teams. Plus miss hax on Garchomp.
Scarfed Abamasnows would easily sweep my team, Latios and Cress would laugh and destroy them, and priority users are always nice to have so I added Scizor.
My team started to look like a sand team so I considered common sand abusers such as Excadrill and Landorus, Terrakion due to the SpD boost, and other Pokemon who wouldn't get hurt by the passive damage. None of them really fit too well. I don't need any more Ice weaknesses, Rock Slide users, etc.
If there's one type of Pokemon that really were an issue for my current setup it was fighting types. Tyranitar gets destroyed by them and the rest of my team can't really hurt them too well. I started looking at Flying and Psychic types to deal with them and decided on a Togekiss, one of my favorites from Gen IV OU. Follow Me is very useful, it's bulky, it has recovery, and Air Slash which hits hard and has 60% flinch hax.
I started looking at other threats and after deciding against Hitmontop, Latios, and Latias I put Metagross in the last slot since it partners well with Zapdos when I can't use Garchomp. Plus Normal Gem + Explosion was very useful on my Landorus with my team last year.
Hours and hours of playtesting later my team felt just too weak. Metagross felt out of place, Togekiss though helpful seemed to die too often to Rock Slides and felt too slow for me so I decided to replace it with something faster and more powerful. Not wanting to ruin the Tailwind and Fighting type counter which Togekiss was for me I decided on a Tailwind Latios with Psyshock.
Metagross still wasn't too much of a team player for me. Meteor Mash seemed to always miss at key moments, Scizor already has a more powerful Bullet Punch, and he doesn't pair well with anyone who wasn't Latios. So I replaced him with Hitmontop for Intimidate, Fake Out, and Feint support. I'd love to have Wide Guard on this guy as well but not enough room.
A Closer Look at Each Pokemon:
Zapdos @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 140 HP / 82 Def / 252 SAtk / 32 Spd
IVs: 31/10/30/31/31/31
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Detect
Why Zapdos?
Zapdos offers power coverage, and bulk. Synergy is especially great with Garchomp for the famed ZapChomp.
Moves?
Discharge was selected because I don't really have to worry about hitting Garchomp or Metagross which I commonly partner it with.
Heat Wave deals with Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Scizor who would otherwise be a problem for my team.
Hidden Power Ice was selected over Grass due to the high number of Ice weak pokemon that it can kill, especially Garchomp, the Genies, and other Zapdos (with Tailwind support). Grass would be useful for Gastrodon which is currently a pain to deal with on my team.
Item?
Sitrus Berry appears to be the most useful though when I was using a Charti Berry it did save me a couple of times. I'm pretty uncertain which I'll end up using as of now.
EVs?
I like the extra bulk that the extra Defense gives and it allows for much greater survival when faced with Rock Slide (Zapdos's biggest problem).
Garchomp (M) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/31
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Claw
- Protect
Why Garchomp?
Zapdos's partner in crime and the Pokemon on my team which most people view as the biggest threat. Great coverage, fast, and able to shred though many threats.
Moves?
Earthquake and Dargon Claw were selected for SATB and coverage as well as Syngergy with Zapdos and Latios.
I've been going with Rock Slide for now since it's another multi target and hits quite a few pokemon hard.
Crunch might be a viable replacement to deal with otherwise annoying Cresselias and Ghosts, though usually the only two ghosts I see are Jellicent which Discharge can deal with and Garchomp can already hit hard and Chandelure which gets taken care of with Rock Slide.
I've seen a few people use Substitute and I tried it. It's very nice to have in situations, especially when you can predict a Thunder Wave, Spore, or double Protect but the coverage seems to be essential.
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 248 SAtk / 4 SDef / 248 Spd
IVs: 31/30/31/30/31/30 (might change if I remove HP or switch to Ground)
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect
Why Latios?
I originally had a Follow Me Togekiss with Tailwind for support but replaced him with this guy and am glad I did.
Latios works very well with my two earthquake users, outspeeds most anything, and is my hard hitter which can easily take out Fighting and Dragon types.
Moves?
Selecting the moves for him was very difficult for me. I went for Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse since it is more powerful and for the most part consistency doesn't seem to matter since my Latios never lasts too long.
Psyshock is to deal with Fighting types since they'd be a big problem for my team otherwise. I'm not too sure if it is better or worse than Psychic so I'll need to look into that better.
I original had Tailwind was to fully replace Togekiss's role since it's highly useful to outspeed things and is a great counter to other tailwind users.
The big roblem for me here is coverage. Surf would have been useful but would do quite a bit of damage to many of my Pokemon who'd partner with it.
I decided Hidden Power Fire would help improve the coverage and be more important than speed with Tailwind and so far it's played out quite well for me. Hidden Power Ground would additionally be useful however I believe Fire to aid the team better.
Item?
Life Orb was selected over Dragon Gem for slightly more consistency and to boost Psyshock as well as Hidden Power.
Hitmontop (M) @ Eject Button
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/31
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Feint
- Close Combat
- Sucker Punch
Why Hitmontop?
Intimidate and Fake Out support greatly help the team. He's also a great counter to many of the Pokemon who are weak to fighting types (Tyranitar, Terrakion, Snorlax, etc.). Feint is pretty useful in situations as well.
Moves?
Fake Out for slight extra damage, mind games, flinching Pokemon that would otherwise be a problem, etc.
Feint for preventing Pokemon from protecting and allowing his Partner to KO them.
Close Combat for a powerful SATB.
Sucker Punch for a priority move and taking out those annoying Latis and working well in Trick Room.
I'd love to get Wide Guard on this guy but I really don't see myself being able to function without any of the other 4 moves.
Item?
I've been toying about with different items and Eject Button is the most useful (though quite annoying sometimes). It allows me to Fake Out and use Intimidate twice. Focus Sash might be useful to prevent dying or a Coba/Payapa for the same purpose. I've read on another thread that White Herb is a good idea for negating Close Combat reductions so I might try that out as well.
Scizor (M) @ Occa Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/31
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
- Protect
Why Scizor?
A great partner for Latios and Garchomp. Also a great counter for Latios and Cresselia.
My biggest problem with Scizor is that he dies too easily and gets outspeed by most threats.
Moves?
Bullet Punch for powerful priority.
Bug Bite can take at basically any Psychic type as well as Abomasnow (though Bullet Punch also does a good job with that).
Superpower is nice for Heatran and Tyranitar.
Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
IVs: 31/31/31/X/31/0
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Low Kick
- Protect
Why Tyranitar?
Powerful, Bulky, Slow. The fact that he'll usually set up weather when faced with another weather inducer is always a great plus. It's additionally always nice to have Sandstorm up for the random miss hax Garchomp can get.
Moves?
His Rock Slide packs a punch more than any other double target move on my team, siverly crippling opposing Zapdos.
Crunch deals with Ghosts and makes him a perfect Latios counter.
Low Kick is useful against other Tyranitars as well as Steel/Normal types. I'm not too sure how I'd deal with Regigigas, Chansey, or Snorlax without it.
Things which might be useful but aren't here:
Focus Sash - I considered it on Tyranitar and Scizor but it hasn't made it on them. Since this is probably one of the best items out there for VGC it's somewhat of a shame to not use it.
Tailwind - it counters other Tailwinds, and allows me to beat other fast Pokemon with mine.
Flying Gem + Acrobatics - With tons of Fighting types and other Flying weak Pokemon it would be beneficial to me team to have them.
What I feel like I really struggle with the most is knowing what Pokemon to start with. I don't really have a solid lead pair that I can tell so I just attempt to do the best job possible predicting my opponents lead pair and picking the best possible counters to them. My generic lead pairs are usually Hitmontop and Tyranitar or Zapdos and Garchomp.
Pokemon I have problems with:
Gastrodon
Why?
Ice Beam hurts and I can't do too much back too it. It resists or is immune to all the spread moves except Earthquake. Due to the lack of a grass type move on my team I can't do too much to it.
Ludicolo
Why?
With rain up it outspeeds everyone and I can't manage to to kill it too easily with anyone except Scizor's Bug Bite.
Excadrill
Why?
With sandstorm up (which I try to never run TTar if I see him on the opposing team) he outspeeds and can OHKO a large part of my team. My best way to deal with him is usually to send out Garchomp who can take a hit and return with Earthquake.
