Sticks 'n' Stones
Introduction
Hi RMT people. I originally wasn't going to post this team until after tour but then I realised tour is like 4 weeks away and I'll probably make a new team before then anyway. If I end up wanting to use this in tour anyway I can just get this deleted anyway. I'm kind of dropping singles for a couple of weeks to practice some VGC and sort out some irl stuff, so I decided this would be as good a time as any to post this.
The team is based around supporting a set I theorymonned almost immediately after the Deoxys-S ban - Protect Terrakion. It works on the same principle as MYSTICgar in DPP, scouting what moves my opponent's choiced Pokemon are going to lock themselves into and then reacting accordingly. A lot of the Pokemon that people rely on to revenge-kill Terrakion tend to be choiced in some way (think Scarf Landorus, Scarf Rotom-w, Scarf Terrakion, Band Scizor), and Protect allows me to really mess around with my opponent by effectively preventing them from predicting my switches. If they try to U-turn / Volt switch on me then they have to let something on their team take a LO Close Combat or Stone Edge, which for offensive teams generally means having to sac a pokemon. If they go for the safer move and just try to KO Terrakion, I can just switch out to something to tank the hit. Obviously Expert Belt Landorus, ChestoRest Rotom-w and Iron Plate / Occa Berry Scizor can cause some short term issues but none are big problems for the team at all.
The teambuilding took like 5 mins in a skype call with some help from BKC and the team has remained pretty much the same since except for some minor set changes. I knew I wanted a defensively solid 4 Pokemon core, a Choice Scarfer and then Terrakion. I also knew I wanted Spikes support to really take advantage of all the switching Protect Terrakion causes. I pretty much followed this template of Spiker / Core 2 / Core 3 / Core 4 / Scarf / Terrakion through teambuilding, adding in Heatran, Shaymin, Forretress, Jirachi and Jellicent in that order and then got straight down to testing. I didn't notice the massive Spikes weakness at first but to be completely honest it really hasn't been as big an issue as you'd expect, as Ferrothorn, Forretress and Skarmory don't get many set-up opportunities here unless I play really dumb with Jirachi.
I didn't intend for the intro to be this long; I sort of got carried away. Anyway I'll stop talking about shit that doesn't matter now. Here is the team:
Forretress (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 176 Def / 84 SAtk
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
Analysis
Forretress is a pretty underrated Rapid Spinner, with loads of people opting for Tentacruel for its better mixed bulk and water-typing. However, Spikes support is pretty crucial for the team, so I chose Forretress for the role despite the current prevalence of Magnezone. Spikes are invaluable, hitting common stall Pokemon like opposing Forretress, Jellicent, Quagsire, and Tentacruel, all which Terrakion appreciates weakened as much as possible so as to reduce the need for prediction. Spikes also put a timer on Volt-turn teams, significantly reducing the survivability of key Pokemon such as Scizor and Celebi and discouraging them from U-turning. Rapid Spin support is absolutely necessary for the match-up vs stall, with all 6 Pokemon being hit by Spikes, and both Jellicent and Shaymin being crippled by Toxic Spikes on the field.
Volt Switch is pretty standard on Forretress for escaping Magnezone, but Hidden Power [Ice] isn't nearly as common. I believe Eo Ut Mortus was the pioneer of Hidden Power [Ice] Forretress but I'm not 100% sure, so feel free to correct me on that. Landorus, and the Dragons are huge threats, and Hidden Power [Ice] is a better answer to them than Gyro Ball - Landorus, Haxorus, Salamence and Dragonite are all 2HKOs by Hidden Power [Ice] after Stealth Rock. Gyro Ball, however, fails to 2HKO +0 Spd Haxorus, and is weakened by Intimidate Salamence. Although the team isn't particularly Gliscor-weak, Hidden Power [Ice] acts as some extra insurance against it, and any team with Terrakion appreciates extra damage on Gliscor. Hidden Power [Ice] and Volt Switch also form a very, very weak pseudo-BoltBeam!!
Why not Skarmory or Deoxys-D?
The main reason is their lack of Rapid Spin. Although Skarmory's Ground immunity and reliable recovery, and Deoxys-D's Fighting-resistance makes them arguably better physical walls, the team really needs Rapid Spin support to function. I guess I could replace Forretress with Skarmory or Deo-D, and then put Starmie over Jellicent but then I'm having a much tougher time against stall with my spin-blocker and stall-breaker gone.
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Heatran (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SAtk / 188 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Analysis
Every team needs Stealth Rock support, and Heatran came up against Tyranitar for the role. The main reason for me to go with Heatran was because I was pretty adamant not to use weather. I have around 10 other teams with Terrakion and Tyranitar, and I knew that if I chose Tyranitar again I would probably just end up gradually changing the team over time and it would eventually end up exactly the same as one of those 10 teams. However, Heatran does have some notable advantages over Tyranitar - most importantly its ability to check Scizor. When I started teambuilding around Terrakion, Scizor is the one Pokemon that I wanted to have completely and utterly countered, which is why so many Pokemon on the team are designed to be able to take hits from it and/or OHKO in return. Timid Heatran is able to outspeed all non-scarf Scizor and scorch it with Fire Blast before they can fire off that Superpower. Heatran's 4x Bullet Punch resistance is also very useful alongside Protect Terrakion.
Stealth Rock is obligatory for breaking Dragonite's Multiscale and for keeping Volcarona under check. Although I'm usually all for using the more reliable attack over the high risk:high reward, Flamethrower really doesn't pack the punch Fire Blast does, with the extra power really helping to wear down Rotom-W switch-ins more quickly to help dismantle Volt-Turn cores. Earth Power hits Heatran and, more importantly, Tentacruel pretty hard, and comes in handy in weakening it to KO range for Terrakion's Stone Edge. With Air Balloon and Hidden Power [Ice], Heatran can check most Dragonite variants, and also encourages Scarfed Landorus to U-Turn against Terrakion instead of Earthquaking giving me a free LO Close Combat or Stone Edge on whatever they decide to U-Turn to. 188 Spd EVs allow Heatran to outspeed Adamant Dragonite and Hidden Power [Ice] for a OHKO once multiscale is broken. Max SAtk gives Heatran as much offensive presence as possible, and the remaining 68 EVs are dumped into HP for a little extra bulk.
Why not SDef Heatran?
I'm not a big fan of Specially Defensive Heatran, and it doesn't really fit on this team. With pretty much every Sun team packing Dugtrio, SDef Heatran can't check sun, no matter how much anyone tries to argue the point. Although Heatran's Air Balloon isn't a guaranteed answer to the problem, it is an infinitely better check to Sun teams than SDef Heatran will ever be. The lack of offensive presence SDef Heatran was also a major factor in deciding which set to run; Air Balloon Heatran fares much better against the dragons with Hidden Power [Ice] and a pseudo Ground immunity, whereas the best SDef Heatran can do is Lava Plume and pray for a burn, or Roar them out and force me to rely on something else to beat them 5 turns later.
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Shaymin @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 172 SAtk / 88 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leech Seed
- Seed Flare
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Protect
Analysis
Shaymin was a Pokemon that I really wanted to try out, mainly because I prefer it to Celebi in DPP OU and hadn't really used it that much in BW OU. Smith and I made a team like 5/6 months ago with Shaymin that we both used like twice and then scrapped because it was pretty bad, but I really wanted to use a team that really took abused Shaymin's advantages over Celebi rather than just using Shaymin for the sake of it.
I didn't deliberately set-out to have a Fire / Water / Grass core with this team but it ended up that way. Obviously, Shaymin forms the Grass-type member of the core. The set is pretty much the exact same one I've used extensively in DPP OU, but I realized that instead of using Modest 248 HP / 72 SAtk / 188 Spd I could use the one above and actually get an extra point in SAtk. Other than that, this is a set that most DPP OU players will be familiar with. Shaymin boasts excellent overall bulk reducing the need for significant defensive investment for it to serve a defensive role; 248 HP is all it needs to tank hits thanks to base 100 stats across the board and an excellent set of resistances. Protect is probably the most important move on the set, and is generally the move I'll find myself using most often. Its very good utility, allowing me to gain HP back with Leftovers and Leech Seed but also pretty much preventing Choiced Pokemon from trying to predict my switches, meaning my opponents only really way of gaining momentum is to rely on double switches which Spikes discourages. Leech Seed provides some recovery on top of Leftovers, and works well with Protect. Seed Flare is the STAB move of choice, hitting really hard with the SAtk investment, and is chosen over other options like Giga Drain and Grass Knot for the extra power despite the lowered accuracy and low PP. The SDef drops have also saved my ass on more than one occasion. Hidden Power [Fire] is chosen primarily to OHKO standard Choice Band Scizor, but also dents Skarmory and Forretress and can be used to wear down Ferrothorn and Celebi if I'm short on options. Timid with 88 Spd EVs allow Shaymin to outspeed Adamant Lucario with a few extra points for speed-creeping purposes.
Why not Celebi?
The main reason is Celebi's 4x Bug-type weakness and Dark-type weakness. In a metagame full of U-turn, I've found Celebi to be pretty underwhelming. Although Hidden Power [Fire] variants can deal with most Scizor and Rotom-W, Landorus and Tyranitar cause it some major headaches. Shaymin doesn't share these problems. Due to only a 2x weakness to Bug, Shaymin can shrug off U-turns from Landorus far better than Celebi can, meaning it matches-up far better than Celebi against the current standard teams. However, Celebi does have a couple of traits that I do miss - namely the Fighting-type resistance and access to reliable recovery. Despite this, I believe Shaymin is a far better choice for this team than Celebi is. (Also Shaymin is 1000x cuter <3)
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Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Scald
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Analysis
With Tentacruel being absurdly popular at the moment, I obviously need a Spin-blocker. Gengar was the first ghost that came to mind but it loses a huge chunk of HP to Scald in the rain. Jellicent, therefore, is the obvious choice, with useful immunities to both Rapid Spin and Scald making it an excellent counter to standard Tentacruel. SubToxic Tentacruel kind of screws over this Jellicent but thank god that set isn't too popular. The ridiculous Spd investment was a suggestion by BKC. With 148 Spd EVs, Jellicent can outspeed 8 Spd Heatran (i.e. standard SDef Heatran), preventing it from crippling Jellicent with Toxic. Taunt also stops SDef Heatran from setting up Stealth Rock, which takes a big weight off Forretress' non-existant shoulders by removing the need to spin. This speed also lets Jellicent outspeed standard Skarmory and Tyranitar by an absolutely huge margin, meaning that I'll pretty much never come across a Skarmory or (non-scarf) Tyranitar that will outspeed me.
Jellicent matches up really well against most rain stall teams, with immunities to Rapid Spin and Scald, as well as a fast Taunt to block hazard set-up and random Toxic's from the likes of Politoed. Ferrothorn is generally Rain stall's best answer for stallbreaker Jellicent, and providing I don't miss Will-O-Wisp Jellicent can really put some big dents in my opponents team before I eventually bring-in Terrakion to clean-up the remains. Although Jellicent really hates Toxic Spikes, I generally try to either bring it on 1 layer so as to avoid getting Toxic-poisoned, or just rely on Forretress to spin away Toxic Spikes as most rain stall teams don't have spin-blockers.
Why not another Water-type?
Pretty much for the reason listed above: the ghost typing is what really makes Jellicent so good, and no other Water-type in the game can do what it does (bar Eviolite Frillish, I guess). The Fighting immunity Jellicent brings to the team makes Jellicent a great check to all non-band Terrakion, and also gives me a 100% counter to double priority Lucario which is almost a necessity for any balanced team with Terrakion.
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Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Trick
- Ice Punch
Analysis
Jirachi is one of the most underrated Choice Scarfers at the moment. Scarf Jirachi went from being one of the best and most frustrating revenge-killers in mid-DPP OU to being practically unseen in late-DPP OU and now in BW. Jirachi is blessed with base 100 stats across the board and resists common priority such as Bullet Punch, ExtremeSpeed and Ice Shard, making it a natural choice for a scarfer. The Spd investment hits 261 Spd, enough to outspeed Adamant Dragonite and 1 point for speed creep. The rest of the EVs are loaded into HP and Atk; Adamant Max Atk is required to OHKO Terrakion with Iron Head, as Jolly only deals 88% max and with Terrakion being the huge threat that it is, I don't want to have to rely on a flinch and risk losing Jirachi. You may be thinking "why not just go max atk/spd?", but the bulk comes in useful far more often than speed tends to. Although Jirachi misses out on revenge-killing stuff like Haxorus and Gyarados with this EV spread, these Pokemon don't tend to be too problematic. With 156 HP EVs, Jirachi can pretty comfortably switch in on Outrages and Draco Meteors and retaliate with the appropriate attack. Jirachi's U-turn is pretty weak, but its very useful vs teams that run Magnezone, as I can lure it in and then U-turn straight out into Heatran or Terrakion depending on the situation. Everyone and their mother uses Volt-turn teams nowadays, so I'm pretty sure I shouldn't need to go in-depth about how U-turn works.
Why not another scarfer?
As I said above, resistance to common priority is the main reason. Access to both U-turn and Trick is also really cool, and means Jirachi is very, very rarely dead weight. Unlike Pokemon such as Rotom-W, Jirachi's impressive base speed means it doesn't have to run max speed to be a good revenge-killer, meaning I can invest significantly in HP to give decent overall bulk. Scarf Iron Head is incredibly obnoxious, and I'm sure everyone reading this has had at least one frustrating experience against Iron Head Jirachi.
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Terrakion @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Quick Attack
Analysis
Protect Terrakion is probably my favourite set at the moment. Choice Band Terrakion seems to be all the rage at the moment but I'd take this set over Band any day. Although the drop in power is missed at times, this is made-up for by the ability to switch moves; stall tends to handle Choice Band Terrakion by just randomly trying to guess whether it will Close Combat or Stone Edge and then switch around based on what it locks itself into, so its not hard to imagine how much difficulty stall teams can have against LO Terrakion with hazard support. However, that isn't the real point of the set.
LO Terrakion has very limited list of counters, almost completely restricted to Gliscor, Tangrowth and Slowbro which are handled very well by the other 5 team members. However, Terrakion is pretty prone to revenge-killing by the likes of Choice Scarf Landorus, Choice Scarf Rotom-W, Choice Band Scizor. After noticing that most of the Pokemon people tend to rely on are Choiced, chucking Protect on Terrakion made sense and I immediately got to testing the set. With Protect, I can scout my opponents move to see if they are playing safe or attempting to U-turn or Volt Switch predicting my switch. If they attempt to predict the switch, then something on their team has to take a LO Close Combat or Stone Edge to the face, and their revenge-killer has to take more hazard damage the next time it comes it. Protect really restricts my opponents options, and in a lot of battles I don't even have to attack Scizor because Spikes does all the work for me; all I have to do is Protect with Terrakion to scout the attack and react accordingly.
Quick Attack is mostly filler, and I've experimented with X-Scissor, Earthquake and Swords Dance in its place, but Quick Attack has saved my ass on multiple occasions. 20% HP Scarf Landorus comes in and nothing on my team is healthy enough to take an Earthquake? Quick Attack. HP Ground Volcarona gets up a Quiver Dance? Let LO wear it down and then Quick Attack etc etc you get the idea. Quick Attack is relatively weak, but it provides a solid 25% damage on a wide array of Pokemon that would have otherwise caused me problems in the lategame.
Why not SubSD Terrakion @ Rock Gem?
I really don't like SubSD Terrakion so please don't suggest that I use it. SubSD plays completely differently to this set, often relying on bluffing Choice Scarf early game before setting up late-game, and even then you rarely get a chance to set-up vs most offense teams anyway so you are just left with a pretty weak Terrakion that doesn't really do that much. SubSD Terrakion also doesn't 'beat' Scizor or Landorus anywhere near as convincingly as Protect Terrakion does, as you won't always get a chance to Substitute. Against stall I'd much rather just run Life Orb Terrakion and just 2HKO whatever they try to bring in rather than setting up a Swords Dance and still missing out on KOs because your Close Combat is so weak. I can see the appeal of SubSD but its really just not for me. I prefer the immediate power granted by Life Orb and the ability scout choiced Pokemon throughout the battle without needing a free turn to get a sub up in order to do so.
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Conclusion + Threats
Conkeldurr is an absolutely massive douche. He hits everything hard with Drain Punch and Payback, but he can still be played around. Luckily, few Pokemon on my team give Conkeldurr free set-up, and Taunt Jellicent helps loads to at least slow it down. Shaymin and Heatran can hit it hard with their STAB attacks but then he recovers back a load of HP anyway with Drain Punch. I can Trick Jirachi's Choice Scarf onto it but Conkeldurr tends to be paired with Reuniclus who I really like putting the Scarf onto as well. I have no set plan for beating Conkeldurr, I basically just have to get it to a range where I can KO it with something.
Sun teams can be annoying since Heatran's Air Balloon doesn't stay around for long and as soon as its gone, Dugtrio can come in and ruin my day. Jirachi can take +0 Hidden Power [Fire]s from Venusaur and Ice Punch for damage or Trick to make it easier to play around. Terrakion works against Volcarona that lack Hidden Power [Ground], but those that do have it can be pretty annoying. Between Jellicent, Heatran and Terrakion, Volcarona is pretty well checked, but cholorphyll sweepers + Dugtrio is the main issue here.
Double Dance Terrakion is pretty gay but it pretty much never gets a chance to set-up both SD and RP. If it sets up Sword Dance then Jirachi outspeeds and I can risk the speed tie with Terrakion in a pinch as well. If it Rock Polishes then it doesn't hit Jellicent / Jirachi / Shaymin hard enough to OHKO. Basically I just always play really conservatively with Jirachi if I see Terrakion in team preview. Luckily Double Dance Terrakion isn't common.
Deoxys-D is pretty annoying. Against those teams of like Spiker Deo-D with 5 offensive mons i tend to just lead with Heatran and Fire Blast until it dies, hoping they Taunt turn 1 and praying I don't miss. Forretress doesn't get many chances to spin against those sorts of teams so I just want to minimise the number of hazards they get up in the first place. If I don't see anything in team preview that i need Scarf Jirachi for (which isn't very often at all) I just Trick it a Scarf turn 1 to limit it to Stealth Rock. If they expect the Trick and instead go for Spikes first I can just go to Forretress and start spinning or setting up my own hazards.
