Quadruple Screens! (HO RMT)

[Romeo32]

Ok, I expanded on my dumb descriptions, this better not get locked.
I've decided to test out a specially based HO team.

At A Glance

Deoxys-D @ Light Clay
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 216Spd /252HP / 20Def / 20SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, - Atk)
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt/Night Shade
Role: Basically all this guy does is set up screens and stealth rocks for my team (the way HO leads usually do). The biggest problem I have with this set is taunt. Most of my other Pokemon can set up without screens, but they make setting up ALOT easier and I need my stealth rocks for breaking multiscale and the occasional focus sash. And although taunt is useful against things like dragon dance dragonite and walls that try to set up hazards, night shade prevents Deoxys-D from being taunt bait and it doesn't mean an automatic loss for me if he's my last Pokemon left.
Reason: Deoxys-D is my leaf if choice for a couple reasons, I'll compare him to the other two common HO leads. Opposed to Azelf, he reaches about the same base speed (I haven't checked yet) and with better bulk he can come back in later to set up screens again. As opposed to Espeon, again he had better bulk but he is also faster. Another reason I like Deoxys-D better than Espeon is taunt, he can taunt slower walls like ferrothorn and forretress to prevent them from setting up hazards, forcing a switch as gyro ball (both of those Pokemon's best offensive moves) won't do much after reflect.

Xatu (M) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
Xatu (M) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Roost
- U-Turn
Role: Xatu is a secondary dual screener. This is a very useful thing to have on my team because once Deoxys-D dies most of my team is practically screwed due to the lack of screens. Xatu also doesn't have to worry about taint because of magic bounce, and once he sets up the screens he can U-Turn out into a sweeper (which is slightly more effective than just switching like Deoxys-D).
Reason: Well for one, he was suggested, but u have justification other than that. I was previously using my srcond slot for an additional sweeper, Alakazam, but he was debunked due to type synergy and just plain frailty. Alakazam may have been a good sweeper, but Xatu plays a much more important role in increasing my team's life span.

Zoroark (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Illusion
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower
Role: Zoroark takes his place as my first sweeper, using nasty plot. Behind dual screens he can usually take one neutral hit or a couple resisted ones, even with how frail he is. With the above moves he gets pretty good coverage, just not enough to merit a expert belt. Zoroark is pretty fast and even with timid nature he packs quite a punch.
Reason: First off, he was suggested, with good justification. For one he is far faster than my previous choice for this slot, Lucario, but he loses a little power because he NEEDS to run timid instead of modest. He also gets better coverage than Lucario, because there is no need to wade a slit with a priority move (not that zoroark gets one other than sucker punch)

Omastar@ Expert Belt
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252Spd / 252SAtk / 4def
Modest Nature ( +SAtk, -Atk)
-Shell Smash
-Surf
-Hidden Power [Grass]
-Ice Beam
Role: Shell smash is arguably the best set up move in the game, and us enhanced by dual screens, making the defense drops less significant (Bullet Punch anyone?). I have expert belt because onasrar get nearly perfect coverage so expert belt is a greater alternative to life orb. Swift swim is also important on this set because when I go up against a rain team, Omadrar will be fast as hell after a shell smash.
Reason: Onadrar is my prefferd shell smasher over Cloyster for two reasons. One: better coverage and Two: swift swim (mentioned above). Also Onadrar had better special attack than cloyster, so he is obviously going to fit better on a SPECIAL hyper offense team.

Latios @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252SAtk / 252Spd
Timid Nature ( +Spd, -Atk )
-Calm Mind
-Dragon Pulse
-HP [Fire]
-Psyshock
Role:As opposed to his bulkier sister, Latias, who u was previously using, Latios requires less set up to sweep, and base 110 SDef isn't anything to scoff at. Latios probably needs a different item, because I'm running into a lit of kings that expert belt doesn't help against, do I may be considering lufe orb or wise glasses to get a constant boost.
Reason: I already said why I prefer him to Latias, bug Latios also is just plain powerful. He usually doesn't have a hard time setting up against special attackers, so he stood out to me ad a great asset to this team that can demolish anything not ready for this set.

Volcarona @ Life Orb
Trait: Flamebody
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252Spd
Timid Nature (+ Spd, -Atk)
-Quiver Dance
-Fiery Dance
-Bug Buzz
-Hidden Power [Ice]
Role: Bringing up the rear is another deadly sweeper, Volcarona, as long as my combination of Deoxys-D's taunt and Xatu's magic bounce prevent stealth rocks, he can come in safely, maybe on something like a scizor, set up a couple quiver dances, and sweep. Fiery dance>fire blast because of the possible special attack raise. And HP [Ice] covers dragons like dragonite and slamence.
Reason: I was previously using a dragonite in this slot, but he didn't fit in a special HO team (head desk). Volcarona gets great bulk behind screens do he can set up several quiver dances before attempting a sweep, making it much easier to sweep compared to dragonite who could usually only get up one dragon dance.

When're there is a change in items/ moves etc it will be in Bold

 

[KorKonT]

Nicely written, but there's no need to get all mad about it. Gosh...

The first order of business is that your type synergy is severely lacking. With three critical weaknesses in dark, dragon, and ghost. With only 1 resistance on each, it is likely that this team is going to have trouble with the likes of fast Ghost-type sweepers, such as Gengar. Because you have no Dragon resist outside of Lucario, Dragonite will surely have a grand ol' time with this team, with you being EASILY swept by almost any dragon with Outrage.

To help this weakness, the solution is to replace one of your Psychic-types. But of course, it needs to handle similar threats and have the same goal. My solution is to try Offensive Quiver Dance Volcarona. Giving you some type synergy in bug and fire, it makes a great Setup Sweeper, as does Alakazam. However, Volcarona has a superior typing for this team that shouldn't be overlooked. I would recommend trying it.

Now I'm not going to specifically tell you to change the team, but in my opinion, fully setup-sweeping teams tend to have lacking potential. Even with Deoxys-D, the team is lacking a defensive backbone, and is worth looking into. Defensive cores such as Volt Switch Rotom-W w/ U-Turn Scizor might be a nice combo to give you some defense and help the setup sweepers gain momentum. It's up to you in the end, of course.

Good Luck with your team! =)

 

[Arcticblast]

Don't use VoltTurn lest you go down in history forever as a VoltTurn-spamming noob.
/opinionated joke critique

If you wish to run Dragonite, I suggest you change your set. As it is now, your Dragonite is outclassed by Salamence, who has higher Speed and Attack along with Intimidate (for those who run it). Dragonite should be using what it has over Salamence - in other words, Extremespeed and/or bulk. Keep the same stats and/or item, but use new moves:
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Fire Punch / Aqua Tail
-Roost / Extremespeed

If you keep Fire Punch, use Roost. Aqua Tail gets great coverage and a solid hit on Heatran though (in fact, with Aqua Tail over Fire Punch you only lose to Ferro, Empoleon and Shedinja), and base 80 priority through Extremespeed is nothing to laugh at. Your team has ways to beat Heatran already.

Lastly, if you like KorKonT's idea to use Volcarona (a great choice), you might want a spinner. Claydol can do everything Deoxys does with the added benefit of learning Rapid Spin, although Claydol isn't much suited to HO. Food for thought.

 

[Adamant Zoroark]

Since this HO team is specially-based, Dragonite doesn't really fit, and since it's HO, Dragonite especially doesn't fit since you have no spinner to guarantee Multiscale stays intact.

First, I've found that Nasty Plot Lucario is simply awful. When I ran Special HO back when Deoxys-S was legal, I had opted to use a Nasty Plot Zoroark and I strongly recommend you do so as well. Zoroark is actually quite good on HO, with screens up you will for sure manage to take out threatening Choice Scarf users like Terrakion before you send it out.

Zoroark (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Illusion
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower

Zoroark is faster than Lucario by a pretty large margin, and speed is very important on HO, far more important than defenses. NP Luke struggles to make up for its mediocre Speed with Vacuum Wave, since too many of the fast sweepers in this metagame (i.e. Dragonite, Latios, Volcarona, Starmie, Alakazam) resist Vacuum Wave. On the other hand, you have 8 turns of dual screens to partially deal with Zoroark's poor defense problem; no priority attacks will OHKO barring a crit behind screens, and even without screens, the only ones that will OHKO are Mach Punch, Vacuum Wave, and Bullet Punch, and the only one of those that is extremely common is Bullet Punch

As I said before, Dragonite doesn't really fit. I would replace it with a Nasty Plot Infernape.

Infernape (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Grass Knot/Hidden Power Ice

With a boost and Stealth Rock on the field, Focus Blast will OHKO Blissey. Obviously Skarmory doesn't stand a chance, due to Fire Blast just happening to get STAB and being super effective. Grass Knot is nice for the waters (in particular Gyarados who will sweep you if it gets a boost), but HP Ice is also nice for beating Dragonite. You can use Vacuum Wave if you really want, but I strongly advise against it.

Alakazam is quite frail, and even with screens most physical attacks will still OHKO or heavily dent it, even resisted ones. I recommend using a second Dual Screener over it. Deoxys-D is good and all, but it isn't Deoxys-S and can't be played as such; most U-turners outspeed it and put a really heavy dent in it, which seriously affects its dual screening potential. Let me introduce you to my favorite dual screener: Xatu.

Xatu (M) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Roost
- U-turn

It cannot be taunted due to Magic Bounce, like Espeon. It also has some nice recovery in Roost, and once you get up your screens, you can U-turn out to one of your sweepers, giving you some nice momentum to work with.

I hope this helped. Good luck!

 

[Romeo32]

Nicely written, but there's no need to get all mad about it. Gosh...

The first order of business is that your type synergy is severely lacking. With three critical weaknesses in dark, dragon, and ghost. With only 1 resistance on each, it is likely that this team is going to have trouble with the likes of fast Ghost-type sweepers, such as Gengar. Because you have no Dragon resist outside of Lucario, Dragonite will surely have a grand ol' time with this team, with you being EASILY swept by almost any dragon with Outrage.

To help this weakness, the solution is to replace one of your Psychic-types. But of course, it needs to handle similar threats and have the same goal. My solution is to try Offensive Quiver Dance Volcarona. Giving you some type synergy in bug and fire, it makes a great Setup Sweeper, as does Alakazam. However, Volcarona has a superior typing for this team that shouldn't be overlooked. I would recommend trying it.

Now I'm not going to specifically tell you to change the team, but in my opinion, fully setup-sweeping teams tend to have lacking potential. Even with Deoxys-D, the team is lacking a defensive backbone, and is worth looking into. Defensive cores such as Volt Switch Rotom-W w/ U-Turn Scizor might be a nice combo to give you some defense and help the setup sweepers gain momentum. It's up to you in the end, of course.

Good Luck with your team! =)

Hmm, I used a Volcarona before, it seemed to work well, it was just those darn stealth rocks... and I guess dragonite does seem odd on here, but I really HATE volt turn

Don't use VoltTurn lest you go down in history forever as a VoltTurn-spamming noob.
/opinionated joke critique

If you wish to run Dragonite, I suggest you change your set. As it is now, your Dragonite is outclassed by Salamence, who has higher Speed and Attack along with Intimidate (for those who run it). Dragonite should be using what it has over Salamence - in other words, Extremespeed and/or bulk. Keep the same stats and/or item, but use new moves:
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Fire Punch / Aqua Tail
-Roost / Extremespeed

If you keep Fire Punch, use Roost. Aqua Tail gets great coverage and a solid hit on Heatran though (in fact, with Aqua Tail over Fire Punch you only lose to Ferro, Empoleon and Shedinja), and base 80 priority through Extremespeed is nothing to laugh at. Your team has ways to beat Heatran already.

Lastly, if you like KorKonT's idea to use Volcarona (a great choice), you might want a spinner. Claydol can do everything Deoxys does with the added benefit of learning Rapid Spin, although Claydol isn't much suited to HO. Food for thought.

Eh, the quote below points out Xatu, and I think he would be more usefull in HO

Since this HO team is specially-based, Dragonite doesn't really fit, and since it's HO, Dragonite especially doesn't fit since you have no spinner to guarantee Multiscale stays intact.

First, I've found that Nasty Plot Lucario is simply awful. When I ran Special HO back when Deoxys-S was legal, I had opted to use a Nasty Plot Zoroark and I strongly recommend you do so as well. Zoroark is actually quite good on HO, with screens up you will for sure manage to take out threatening Choice Scarf users like Terrakion before you send it out.

Zoroark (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Illusion
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower

Zoroark is faster than Lucario by a pretty large margin, and speed is very important on HO, far more important than defenses. NP Luke struggles to make up for its mediocre Speed with Vacuum Wave, since too many of the fast sweepers in this metagame (i.e. Dragonite, Latios, Volcarona, Starmie, Alakazam) resist Vacuum Wave. On the other hand, you have 8 turns of dual screens to partially deal with Zoroark's poor defense problem; no priority attacks will OHKO barring a crit behind screens, and even without screens, the only ones that will OHKO are Mach Punch, Vacuum Wave, and Bullet Punch, and the only one of those that is extremely common is Bullet Punch

As I said before, Dragonite doesn't really fit. I would replace it with a Nasty Plot Infernape.

Infernape (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Grass Knot/Hidden Power Ice

With a boost and Stealth Rock on the field, Focus Blast will OHKO Blissey. Obviously Skarmory doesn't stand a chance, due to Fire Blast just happening to get STAB and being super effective. Grass Knot is nice for the waters (in particular Gyarados who will sweep you if it gets a boost), but HP Ice is also nice for beating Dragonite. You can use Vacuum Wave if you really want, but I strongly advise against it.

Alakazam is quite frail, and even with screens most physical attacks will still OHKO or heavily dent it, even resisted ones. I recommend using a second Dual Screener over it. Deoxys-D is good and all, but it isn't Deoxys-S and can't be played as such; most U-turners outspeed it and put a really heavy dent in it, which seriously affects its dual screening potential. Let me introduce you to my favorite dual screener: Xatu.

Xatu (M) @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Roost
- U-turn

It cannot be taunted due to Magic Bounce, like Espeon. It also has some nice recovery in Roost, and once you get up your screens, you can U-turn out to one of your sweepers, giving you some nice momentum to work with.

I hope this helped. Good luck!

Wow, lots of ideas.
Zoroark is faster, but does he REALLY out speeds scarfs? I'll definitely try him out
3 suggestions to kick dragonite=goodbye, but I'll use Volcarona rather than infernape
2nd dual screener, interesting, it does seem useful, because once Deoxys-D dies most of my guys are screwed (including the new zoroark). Seems viable, I'll try him.

Thanks to everybody!

 

[KorKonT]

I actually think he meant for Xatu to replace Deoxys-D, not for it to be a second. That would waste a slot on your team. Also, I recommend you get a rapid spinner on the team, perhaps Starmie over Dragonite? You might want to see if there's a viable spinner with Stealth Rock, the only one I can think of is Forretress, but there is of course Toxic Spikes Tentacruel. I wouldn't recommend starmie, though, as your team already has 2 psychics(as of recommended changes) and would leave you rather vulnerable to the ever-present Scizor.

Don't use VoltTurn lest you go down in history forever as a VoltTurn-spamming noob.
/opinionated joke critique

Har dee har har

 

[Adamant Zoroark]

I actually think he meant for Xatu to replace Deoxys-D, not for it to be a second. That would waste a slot on your team. Also, I recommend you get a rapid spinner on the team, perhaps Starmie over Dragonite? You might want to see if there's a viable spinner with Stealth Rock, the only one I can think of is Forretress, but there is of course Toxic Spikes Tentacruel. I wouldn't recommend starmie, though, as your team already has 2 psychics(as of recommended changes) and would leave you rather vulnerable to the ever-present Scizor.
Har dee har har

Alakazam is quite frail, and even with screens most physical attacks will still OHKO or heavily dent it, even resisted ones. I recommend using a second Dual Screener over it.

No, I actually meant to suggest him to use Xatu as a secondary Dual Screener. Deoxys-D is not quite the dual screener that Deoxys-S was, yet he still needs a way of getting up guaranteed rocks. Have a nice day.

 

[Romeo32]

Just thought I would throw this out there, with this team on the main PO server this happened:
(15:38:15) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 858/17040 [1181 points / 61 battles]!

Just sayin'

 

[Harsha]

Err, 858 is not that high. Regardless, this is a placeholder for a rate. As of now, is your Deoxys-D not set up bait? I just set up my Terrakion when I see a Deoxys-D and plow through the opponent. With Taunt, you can prevent set ups, so I recommend you try it out because some Pokemon with 101 HP Subs can just wreck after that.

 

[Romeo32]

Err, 858 is not that high. Regardless, this is a placeholder for a rate. As of now, is your Deoxys-D not set up bait? I just set up my Terrakion when I see a Deoxys-D and plow through the opponent. With Taunt, you can prevent set ups, so I recommend you try it out because some Pokemon with 101 HP Subs can just wreck after that.

...compared to my usual rankings in about 3000 it's pretty good

And yes I do prefer taunt over night shade

 

[KorKonT]

This team is rather interesting, so I give you a courtesy bump.

No, I actually meant to suggest him to use Xatu as a secondary Dual Screener. Deoxys-D is not quite the dual screener that Deoxys-S was, yet he still needs a way of getting up guaranteed rocks. Have a nice day.

I still don't see how another dual screen could really help much. With the team very frail, it isn't truly benefiting from dual screens all that much. I would have suggested using something like Espeon over Xatu, or a whole new special attacker, but whatever. The rank shows that its working well enough for him.

 

[Pocket]

Interesting team, Romeo! I especially like the use of Zoroark, which can disguise itself as one of your special sweepers to gain free turns to hit shit hard.

I want to suggest giving offensive Smash Pass Gorebyss a test-drive over Omastar. You lose Omastar's superior physical bulk as well as the Speed to outrun Scarf Rotom-W after a Shell Smash, but in exchange you gain a Pokemon that can baton pass the Smash boosts when Gorebyss is in an undesirable match-up. Latios in particular pairs nicely with Gorebyss, since it resists Electric- and Grass-type moves targeted towards Gorebyss. Latios would greatly appreciate the +2 Speed boost, which would make Latios much harder to revenge kill, especially if the Screens are still up.

Gorebyss

Gorebyss (F) @ White Herb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 8 HP / 252 SAtk / 248 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Shell Smash
- Baton Pass

Also Expert Belt does not aid much in Latios's sweep, since Dragon- and Psychic- has very shitty SUPER EFFECTIVE coverage. Dragon Pulse OHKOs Hydreigon, Latios, Haxorus, and Dragonite after SR anyways, so Expert Belt is really not necessary. Lum Berry or Life Orb will be more helpful on Latios. If he plans to be Gorebyss's recipient, then Lum Berry may be the better choice to prevent status from crippling Salamence on the turn he comes in.

It's a shame that Heatran walls Latios and Volcarona, though, wasting precious Screen turns. I suggest Hidden Power Ground on Volcarona to act as the perfect lure to destroy Heatran after a Quiver Dance. To ensure that Volcarona can still threaten Dragonite and Salamence, go with Fire Blast over Fiery Dance. After Rocks and very little residual damage, Volcarona will OHKO them with +1 LO Fire Blast. If somehow you fear Dragonite surviving Volcarona's fiery assault, setting up Dragon Dance, killing Volcarona at ~70% health, and then Reflect fading just in time for Dragonite to sweep your team, then you may try Sucker Punch on Zoroark for the much useful priority support - make sure to change its nature to Naive, though!

Opposing Volcarona is a major flaw to this team, as it easily sets up on your Dual Screeners. Although you lose considerable bulk, I suggest using Dual Screen Azelf in place of Deoxys-D, for that faster Taunt to even keep Volcarona at bay. For the same reason, I suggest Dual Screen Espeon in place of Xatu, since I believe Speed is essential to get those crucial Screens up.

Azelf & Espeon

Azelf @ Light Clay
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

Espeon @ Light Clay
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Baton Pass
- Psyshock

I hope my rate was helpful. If you still have notable problems, let me know!

 

[blunder]

Hey, Really Cool team you have here! I agree with Pocket that Hidden Power Ground is the way to Go on Volcarona to hit opposing Fire types, Most notably Heatran. Heatran Kind of Plows through your team without it, Being able to take on Latios and Volcarona and having a slim 32% chance to Live an LO Focus Blast from Zoroark. It also outspeeds Omastar and KOs with Earth Power if it hasn't Set up yet. I advise you to maybe look into adding a Terrakion on your team, maybe a set like this--

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack

Terrakion would be helpful in Destroying Blissey as all your Sweepers are Special. This set doesn't have to wield a Choice Scarf, I just find it helpful for things Like Plus 1 Volcarona and things like that. This Thing would also Take on Heatran and CB Tyranitar, Which could do a lot of Damage to this team, Since it can tank a Bug Buzz from Volcarona. I don't know if a Focus Blast from Zoroark will kill it.. Probably. The Team looks good though, and I hope you decide on a good 6th member!