No Scizor, no weather, no Rotoms, Oh my! (An OU RMT)

[Ninelol]

No Scizor, no weather, no Rotoms, Oh my!​

Introduction​

Howdy all I'm Ninelol and this will be my first RMT on Smogon. Since B/W release I mostly fooled around in UU, due to the rampant use of weather and very little variation in teams in OU. Now that the tier looks to be more balance and enjoyable to play in, I thought why not give it a shot! My main goal was to steer clear of weather and the volt turn combo as much as possible with any team I make, so without Further ado, the team !


Team building

The whole process started off with me itching to use two of my favorite gen 3 pokes with surprise burst capabilities.

I wanted to add a strong priority move to my team, that would cover a decent amount of fast threats(Dragon Dancers as my main fear). I ended up deciding on Ice shard, And who better than Mamoswine to use it!

Next I wanted to get a defensive core going, As my team was looking Physical bound I needed to be able to absorb burns. I also didn't want my tanks to be dead weight offensively, and as the team was at this point one needed to lay rocks. I went with two Pokes that have never done me wrong, Rest talk Gyarados, and Specially defensive Heatran.

At this point I needed to sit back and see what was going to poop on my team. One pokemon shined through the rest as it is terribly common, Our buddy Rotom-W. I didn't have a single poke that could switch in with comfort, especially in the rain. So i thought I would patch this weakness with a common rain counter, SS Kingdra!

Alright now that the team was together I could start field tests, For the most part the team was working really well. But game after game I had the same glaring issue. The fastest Poke on my team was a base 100, and that wasn't covering it. Kingdra in the rain was everything I wanted it to be, but in other weather is was dead weight. I had to find a poke that could do what kindra in the rain did all the time. After much testing I reluctantly decided on Scarf Latios.

After some testing Volt-turn and raid were still giving me too much trouble. With some a suggestion from Ningildo I replaced mamoswine with Breloom to cover my Volt-turn and rain weakness, Mamoswine was nice to have but his type coverage wasn't needed and his revenge options were also covered by Latios.

And with that we had the team !

In Depth

Metagross @ Life Orb
[Clear Body] Adamant Nature
236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Hammer Arm
- Bullet Punch

Summery: With this set I wanted to bring back the "My butt hole puckered" feeling you got in 4th gen when you saw the word explosion. Part of a two man Gen 3 wrecking crew, Metagross offers great over all damage With only Chandelure, Jellicent, Shedinja, and Rotom resisting it. With smart playing Metagross is pretty much guaranteed to get 1-2 kills a game. He tends to be a pretty solid anti lead, unless you see one of the mentioned pokes above. Hammer Arm over Earthquake to hit Hit balloons, and Ferrothorn.

I started with a Normal Gem over the Life Orb, but it made his damage outside of explosion lack luster.

Life Orb explosion will still kill most non walls outright if they think they can setup on metagross, And many walls die to meteor mash + explosion. Also while rare, if you get the +1 atk from Meteor Mash, there is pretty much nothing that can take the explosion afterwards. (with rocks in play the combo can K.O.s Physically defensive Skarmory)


Synergy
Ground: Gyarados, Latios, Salamence, Breloom
Fire: Heatran, Latios, Salamence, Gyarados

Salamence @ Lum Berry
[Intimidate] Naive Nature
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

Summery: The second half of my Gen 3 wrecking Crew, His set has change a lot since the team started, From a full SpA Dragon gem Draco Meteor Mix mence, to Physical Draco Plate Moxie cleaner, to the current classic DD mence. I was lacking in overall damage without a setup sweeper, and this guy has filled that niche Nicely. Max speed to get the jump on most scarfs after a boost. More often than not this is who Ends my games.

Synergy
Ice: Heatran, Metagross
Dragon: Heatran, Metagross
Rock: Metagross, Breloom

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
[Poison Heal] Careful Nature
236 HP/ 212 SDef / 60 Spe
- Spore
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Bulk Up

Summery: This guy was Suggested to me by Ningildo to cover my glaring weakness to rain and Volt-turn. He does a very solid Job of it, with decent special bulk he can shrug off many special attacks and set up. Spore support is also always a nice addition to a team. In addition to rain and Volt-turn it gave me a solid answer to Ferrothorn, probably my teams biggest defensive roadblock. Also as a fun side note with the addition to this guy my team was immune to Toxic spikes, so If a team is silly and set them up I can use the free turn on this guy to Boost.

Synergy
Poison: Metagross, Heatran
Psychic: Metagross, Heatran, latios
Ice: Metagross, heatran
Fire: Heatran, Salamence, Latios, Gyarados
Flying: Metagross, Heatran

Heatran @ Leftovers
[Flash Fire] Calm Nature
248 HP/ 100 SDef / 160 Spe
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rocks
- Sunny Day
- Roar

Summery: I don't need to tell you had good Heatran is, I only wish he could run Air Balloon with this set. The 30% chance to Burn on Lava Plume is nice when Physical threats switch in the scare me out. I added Sunny day to the team by suggestion from BTzz, it has helped with my overall rain weakness, as well as made killing Steels that wall my team easier. (Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Bronzong(Rare)) . I run Roar over toxic and Earth power because I don't have Taunt or Trick on my team, so I need an answer to setup. The speed investment is to outrun max speed adamant SD Scizor. My only beef with Heatran is he is a poor Stealth Rock layer, as common rapid spinners all scare him out. Sadly that doesn't change much if I move the rocks to Metagross or Mamoswine. My main switch for WoW and Toxic.

Synergy
Fighting: Salamence, Gyarados, Latios
Ground: Gyarados, Salamence, Latios, Breloom
Water: Gyarados, Salamence, Latios, Breloom

Gyarados @ Leftovers
[Intimidate] Impish Nature
252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 Spe
- Waterfall
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Roar

Summery: MVP of the team! He reminds me of tank Arcanine in UU; Intimidate with great resists and decent bulk makes this guy a beast. Gyarados takes all the status which makes life so much easier. He does a good job of making revenging easier on targets I can't deal with, the main two being Jolly Scared Terrakion and Jolly +1 Spe Haxorus. Roar for the same reason as Heatran, want to be able to switch into setup and stop it. It's also nice to have a Go to Guy when I mispredict a Breloom switch. This guy is a serious road block for any team lacking an electric attack or a STAB Stone Edge.

Synergy
Electricity: Breloom, Latios
Rock: Metagross, Breloom

Latios @ Choice Scarf
[Levitate] Timid Nature
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt

Summery: This is my least favorite Poke to put on my team, but is probably the most important. Without this guy Rotom-W and Terrakion have their way with my team. His coverage choices were under the pretense that I didn't get SR up, having no spin blocker I needed this guy to cover me in the worst case scenarios. Draco meteor/ Surf are for general coverage. Thunderbolt covers Bulky Gyarados which doesn't die to Draco Meteor without rocks. It's also my answer to Skarmory in the rain, as I can't let it take to much time to setup since I don't have a spinner. Hidden Power [Fire] was added over psychic to not get walled by common steels, and to not get torn up by Scizor. Latios survives a Specs Hydro Pump in the rain from Rotom-W and out speeds to take it out with Draco Meteor.
Synergy

I'm Just going to Put Heatran here lol.


Conclusion

That's the Team! While my team is immune to toxic spikes, Spikes still hit half of the team, and two are weak to Stealth Rock. Currently Mamoswine also has his way with my team, and I need to usually fodder a Poke or two to kill it.

Thanks for reading over my RMT, I'm looking for ways to improve the team without resorting to Scizor, Rotom-W and weather. So any Comments and Tips would be Much appreciated !​

 

[Ninelol]

Reserved for Threat list

 

[Ningildo]

Ah, a team attempting to not be standard.
Nice!

Down to business, change your Latios's nature to Timid. The loss in power may not seem worth it until you realize that you will always lose to positive natured base 100's scarfers and higher. Latios would also like Trick or at least Psyshock in order to at least dent Blissey and Chansey a bit (or scare them off). This goes over Psychic.

And if you want to abuse Moxie right, at least use a Scarf set, with the EV's for the offensive stats being the other way around, 252 Atk EV's and 4 Sp Atk EV's. Draco Meteor should then be dropped for Dragon Claw, which helps using a STAB move when getting locked in is unfavorable. If you want to run an Naughty or Naive nature, that is up to you, but Naughty is more favorable as it needs all the power it can get and you have Latios for revenging purposes anyway.

Hide

Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage

And finally, Breloom is a very, very worthwhile consideration. Mainly cause Volt-Turn teams can easily 6-0 this team, as can rain, whereas Breloom eliminates both issues, and has a defensive core to fall back on if faced with issues. Mamoswine can then be replaced, since it's main duty, revenging Dragons, is being done by Latios (among others). The set in particular is its now standard BU set:

Hide

Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Spore

Now what you generally should do now is play safe with Latios until you identify the opposing team's scarfer and work from there. Wear your opponent down and, when you see fit, proceed to clean with Salamence.

I think I still have some more advice in the back of my head, but this will have to do due it being a bit late here and thus, me being tired. Good luck.

 

[AliciaQ]

Having two pokemon weak to SR on a team with no rapid spid or magic bounce seems a bit risky to me. Gyarados in particular won't enjoy being worn down by SR every time it needs to wall something. You may want to replace it with vaporeon, slowbro, or gastrodon. Gastrodon would be my choice as it will somewhat pad your weakness to volt-turn as well. As it is now, rotom-W volt switch into scizor and easily pursuit your latios as you don't carry HP fire.

 

[BTzz]

Hey, cool team. Your team currently has issues with hazards as 2 of you Pokemon are weak to Stealth Rock, and 3 of your pokes are weak to Spikes. This is compounded by the fact that Metagross, Latios and Mamoswine are complete Spike bait for Ferrothorn or Skarmory. There are a couple things you can do to help with this. First off, I suggest using a Bulky Support Gyarados namely becuase it carries Taunt, which means Skarmory and Ferrothorn won't be able to set up as often, but it also spreads paralysis which really helps a MoxieMence sweep. You should also consider using Hidden Power Fire on Latios which also limits Ferrothorn's setup opportunities aganist this team, while also helping with Scizor + Rotom-W cores. I would use HP Fire over Psychic as Choice locked Psychic is terrible, leaving stuff like Tyranitar and Scizor (two common Terrakion partners) free to trap / setup on you. Surf does decent damage versus Terrakion, and you have two other priority attacks to hit it with. Mamoswine should really be using Life Orb, especially on this team, where the extra punch on Ice Shard isn't needed with Scarf Latios. Life Orb allows Mamoswine to abuse its excellent coverage while cutting down to the amount of switching the team needs to do. Lastly, you could give Sunny Day over Protect on Heatran a go. This change would really help with rain teams, as Latios can wall a lot of rain sweepers under sun. Sun also boosts Mence's Fire Blast and Latios' HP Fire. The only drawback is Gyarados' Waterfall is nerfed and some Fire-type weaknesses are doubled. Your team is incredibly anti sun so you don't even need to change weather versus them.

Gyarados | Intimidate | Leftovers
Impish | 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Waterfall | Roar | Taunt | Thunder Wave

Hope this helps!

 

[Superpowerdude]

Latios @ Choice Scarf
[Levitate] Timid Nature
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden power fire
- Psyshock/Trick
- Thunderbolt

thats what i suggest anyway hidden power fire is mandatory if you dont want to be walle completely by Ferrothorn or be easy set up bait for other steel types. Trick or Psyshock both have there special ways of Screwing up Chansey and Blissey. Draco Meteor should stay cause of the damage it does and finally thunderbolt should stay just cause you can at least do something to bulky waters. I know other people have suggested similar things to Latios but i just think this is so important!

Other then that nice team! and it is certainly creative. (unlike mine lol)

 

[Ninelol]

@BTzz, Thanks for the tips! I'm going to give them a go and see how it pans out. Sunny day on Heatran especially.

After more testing I'm definitely putting HP fire on Latios over psychic, As Draco Meteor is doing similar damage to most targets.

@AliciaQ, You're right rock damage was adding up pretty fast, but I don't think I want to switch Gyarados out just yet. I'm going to give the Support set a try and see if that helps out. I did give Vaporeon a thought though as it phazes still and can wish pass to Heatran. You were also right about HP Fire

@Ningildo, Thanks for the tips! I will play test that Salamence and see how it fits in the team!

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

 

[X5Dragon]

You have 4 physical attackers to two special ones, your gonna have to pray you don't run into a sableye or quagsire. Also the SR weakness as well, I suggest a spinner with a special attack punch. If you want you can check the rain dance/rs spin Starmie analysis in the OU section.

Since you already have a steel wall n heatran you can replace Metagross with Starmie.

 

[Ninelol]

A question to people saying I should switch Latios to timid, What threat to the team does it need the speed boost to revenge? I do see Scarf Jirachi giving latios a problem, but the speed boost wouldn't fix it alone. With the Sunny Day idea above and Timid nature it could 2hko Jirachi w/ HP fire b4 it could do the same back w/ Ice punch. But I'm not sure this is a threat enough to warrant the nature change.

Victini has the coverage to cause problems, but does it see much use outside of UU?

I'm not saying the move would be the wrong one, I just need to know why.

 

[Ningildo]

A question to people saying I should switch Latios to timid, What threat to the team does it need the speed boost to revenge? I do see Scarf Jirachi giving latios a problem, but the speed boost wouldn't fix it alone. With the Sunny Day idea above and Timid nature it could 2hko Jirachi w/ HP fire b4 it could do the same back w/ Ice punch. But I'm not sure this is a threat enough to warrant the nature change.

Victini has the coverage to cause problems, but does it see much use outside of UU?

I'm not saying the move would be the wrong one, I just need to know why.

Okay then.

One, if a positive natured Scarfmence shows up, Latios is dead, since you thought you outpaced it. Instead, it Dragon Claws you, gets Latios out of the way, and switches out of Heatran, free of any worry of a revenge kill.
Even if your strategy changes to switch into Heatran the moment Salamence shows up, it will backfire to the occasional DD variant, who now not only outpaces you, but can also switch moves.

Two, should you ever meet a Shell Smash Cloyster (which will probably be with Dual Screen support), it can set up on Mamoswine despite Stone Edge if it has the aforementioned support. From there, nothing will really like taking a hit, as Metagross will probably be down due Explosion, which is the only thing that can take a hit. Now, usually, you would outpace it with a Scarf if you had a Timid nature, but instead, you'll now be wrecked horribly.

And now, finally, Chloro Sweepers. Usually, you'd be able to outpace even Modest Venusaur with a Scarf on Latios and proceed to KO with Psyshock (I don't know if Psychic can KO). Now, however, it can outpace you, and since it already boosted (because this is a revenge kill attempt), can either
use Sleep Powder to get even more boosts or just kill with HP Ice/Sludge Bomb. Victreebel is in the same boat, tho here Timid nature on Latios will outpace Timid Victreebel as well.

There are some more examples, but I have to leave soon, so this will have to do for now.

 

[Ninelol]

Okay then.

One, if a positive natured Scarfmence shows up, Latios is dead, since you thought you outpaced it. Instead, it Dragon Claws you, gets Latios out of the way, and switches out of Heatran, free of any worry of a revenge kill.
Even if your strategy changes to switch into Heatran the moment Salamence shows up, it will backfire to the occasional DD variant, who now not only outpaces you, but can also switch moves.

Two, should you ever meet a Shell Smash Cloyster (which will probably be with Dual Screen support), it can set up on Mamoswine despite Stone Edge if it has the aforementioned support. From there, nothing will really like taking a hit, as Metagross will probably be down due Explosion, which is the only thing that can take a hit. Now, usually, you would outpace it with a Scarf if you had a Timid nature, but instead, you'll now be wrecked horribly.

And now, finally, Chloro Sweepers. Usually, you'd be able to outpace even Modest Venusaur with a Scarf on Latios and proceed to KO with Psyshock (I don't know if Psychic can KO). Now, however, it can outpace you, and since it already boosted (because this is a revenge kill attempt), can either
use Sleep Powder to get even more boosts or just kill with HP Ice/Sludge Bomb. Victreebel is in the same boat, tho here Timid nature on Latios will outpace Timid Victreebel as well.

There are some more examples, but I have to leave soon, so this will have to do for now.

Thank you sir, this is exactly what I needed. With this post I feel more comfortable making the change, as Shell Smash Cloyster is a big threat to this team.

Salamence sets as a whole get revenged by Mamoswine, as it stands no chance vs Ice Shard. But with this change I would now have a backup in case Mamo was taken down.

Chlorophyll sweepers are for the Most part handled by Mamoswine and Heatran, but recently I changed Mamoswine to life Orb, so now he can't guarantee a revenge on Venusaur who Earthquakes Heatran. As it would need to take two turn of life orb recoil to be Ice Sharded. Latios will cover this hole nicely. Thanks for bring this one up as I didn't get a chance to Look at Calcs last night on the Mamoswine change.

Thanks for the posts again, as they are helping a lot. As some threats I haven't been seeing and it will be nice to be prepared when I do.

 

[Nova]

Hi Ninelol

First off, interesting team you have here, I really like the offensive playstyle. Now looking at your team, I can see it being threatened greatly by Voltturn. Currently, your only “safe” switch in for Rotom-W is Latios but he can easily Volt Switch out and trap you with Tyranitar. To cover this weakness, I agree with Ningildo in replacing Mamoswine with Specially Defensive Bulk Up Breloom with an EV spread of 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd with a Careful nature, allowing you to outspeed uninvested Heatrans and bulky Politoeds (we actually discussed this on IRC last night). Breloom resists both of Rotom-W’s STABs, can’t be Will-o-Wisped after its Toxic Orb activates, and beats Scizor/Landorus after a few Bulk Ups. Breloom is also great in allowing your team to handle Rain Stall as he is immune to burns from Scald and obviously has Poison Heal for Toxic. The benefits of a Spore user are well-known, giving you a 100% accurate Sleep move to cripple one of your opponent’s threats. Another reason you should use this Breloom is for Life Orb Starmie who also currently threatens your team. Due to the high Special Defense investment, a Super Effective Ice Beam from Starmie does 73.12-85.62%, allowing Breloom to survive the OHKO and retaliate with Seed Bomb. Breloom also gives you at least one Pokemon who carries a resistance to Stealth Rock. Mamoswine is your most replaceable Pokemon as you already have Scarf Latios to revenge kill Dragons.

Now for some other changes. A Timid nature is recommended over Modest nature on Latios because not only does it allow you to outspeed Scarfed Jirachi, but also Scarfed Terrakion who could otherwise do a number to your team with its Fighting/Rock type STABs. As previously mentioned, Timid Scarf Latios outspeeds +2 Cloyster while Modest does not. Timid also speed ties with other Scarf Latios packing Hidden Power Fire so in a 1v1 situation, it would be a 50/50 chance rather than you always being outsped. Another suggestion I have is changing Salamence’s EV spread to 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd. This investment in Attack allows you to take better advantage of Moxie boosts while Draco Meteor and Fire Blast still allow you to take out Gliscor and Skarmory respectively due to their low Special Defense stats. You can also try a Draco Plate over Dragon Gem to have a consistent 20% boost on Outrage and Draco Meteor while being able to bluff a Choice Scarf as that is what most people expect Moxie Mence to be using.

Hope I helped and good luck with your team!


Set:

Hide

Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Spore
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

tl;dr

Hide

Mamoswine ----> Bulk Up Breloom
Modest Nature on Latios ----> Timid
Salamence's EV spread ----> 252 Atk / 4SAtk / 252 Spd with a Naive Nature
Dragon Gem on Salamence ----> Draco Plate

 

[Ninelol]

Hi Ninelol

First off, interesting team you have here, I really like the offensive playstyle. Now looking at your team, I can see it being threatened greatly by Voltturn. Currently, your only “safe” switch in for Rotom-W is Latios but he can easily Volt Switch out and trap you with Tyranitar. To cover this weakness, I agree with Ningildo in replacing Mamoswine with Specially Defensive Bulk Up Breloom with an EV spread of 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd with a Careful nature, allowing you to outspeed uninvested Heatrans and bulky Politoeds (we actually discussed this on IRC last night). Breloom resists both of Rotom-W’s STABs, can’t be Will-o-Wisped after its Toxic Orb activates, and beats Scizor/Landorus after a few Bulk Ups. Breloom is also great in allowing your team to handle Rain Stall as he is immune to burns from Scald and obviously has Poison Heal for Toxic. The benefits of a Spore user are well-known, giving you a 100% accurate Sleep move to cripple one of your opponent’s threats. Another reason you should use this Breloom is for Life Orb Starmie who also currently threatens your team. Due to the high Special Defense investment, a Super Effective Ice Beam from Starmie does 73.12-85.62%, allowing Breloom to survive the OHKO and retaliate with Seed Bomb. Breloom also gives you at least one Pokemon who carries a resistance to Stealth Rock. Mamoswine is your most replaceable Pokemon as you already have Scarf Latios to revenge kill Dragons.

Now for some other changes. A Timid nature is recommended over Modest nature on Latios because not only does it allow you to outspeed Scarfed Jirachi, but also Scarfed Terrakion who could otherwise do a number to your team with its Fighting/Rock type STABs. As previously mentioned, Timid Scarf Latios outspeeds +2 Cloyster while Modest does not. Timid also speed ties with other Scarf Latios packing Hidden Power Fire so in a 1v1 situation, it would be a 50/50 chance rather than you always being outsped. Another suggestion I have is changing Salamence’s EV spread to 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd. This investment in Attack allows you to take better advantage of Moxie boosts while Draco Meteor and Fire Blast still allow you to take out Gliscor and Skarmory respectively due to their low Special Defense stats. You can also try a Draco Plate over Dragon Gem to have a consistent 20% boost on Outrage and Draco Meteor while being able to bluff a Choice Scarf as that is what most people expect Moxie Mence to be using.

Hope I helped and good luck with your team!


Set:

Hide

Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Spore
- Drain Punch
- Seed Bomb

tl;dr

Hide

Mamoswine ----> Bulk Up Breloom
Modest Nature on Latios ----> Timid
Salamence's EV spread ----> 252 Atk / 4SAtk / 252 Spd with a Naive Nature
Dragon Gem on Salamence ----> Draco Plate

Thanks for the help sir! I'm giving the Breloom a shot. I also switched Salamence to the mentioned set and really like it. The Draco Plate over the dragon gem helps So much on his outrage and most of the time when the Dragon gem was used I felt like it was pure overkill.

The sunny day change to Heatran is also staying as it lets me stay in against a lot of slower threats and get rocks up.

Latios is timid now, But i'm going to add Psyschock over Surf for coverage with Breloom on the team, the same set Superpowerdude recommended earlier !

 

[Bruno Magno]

This team is extremely similar to the one i used 15 days ago. I'd recomment an Expert Belt > Life Orb on Mamoswine, and, as long as you carry Psyshock on Latios, Ice Punch > Hammer Arm on Metagross to avoid getting stalled by Dragonite and Gliscor. I don't like a defensive Gyarados at all, so you may change it for a Dragon Dance Intimidate variant, so that you can dance on weakened foes while they switch. I don't know how many 1HKO's you can get with Draco Plate on Salamence, but i'd carry Dragon Claw > Outrage. Still very powerful (as much as Fire Blast taking the STAB into account), gets boosts by Moxie, and if you misspredict you can switch attack easily rather than being locked. These were my 2 cents, hope i helped :)

 

[Shurtugal]

and the volt turn combo as much as possible with any team I make, so
Introduction​

Howdy all I'm Ninelol and this will be my first RMT on Smogon. Since B/W release I mostly fooled around in UU, due to the rampant use of weather and very little variation in teams in OU. Now that the tier looks to be more balance and enjoyable to play in, I thought why not give it a shot! My main goal was to steer clear of weather without Further ado, the team !​

Welcome to the world of Pkmn BW OU! I sure hope I can help you and your team become the best it can be!

Team building​

The whole process started off with me itching to use two of my favorite gen 3 pokes with surprise burst capabilities.​

I wanted to add a strong priority move to my team, that would cover a decent amount of fast threats(Dragon Dancers as my main fear). I ended up deciding on Ice shard, And who better than Mamoswine to use it!​

Salamence and Metagross, an old, but solid core!

Next I wanted to get a defensive core going, As my team was looking Physical bound I needed to be able to absorb burns. I also didn't want my tanks to be dead weight offensively, and as the team was at this point one needed to lay rocks. I went with two Pokes that have never done me wrong, Rest talk Gyarados, and Specially defensive Heatran.​

At this point I needed to sit back and see what was going to poop on my team. One pokemon shined through the rest as it is terribly common, Our buddy Rotom-W. I didn't have a single poke that could switch in with comfort, especially in the rain. So i thought I would patch this weakness with a common rain counter, SS Kingdra!​

Alright now that the team was together I could start field tests, For the most part the team was working really well. But game after game I had the same glaring issue. The fastest Poke on my team was a base 100, and that wasn't covering it. Kingdra in the rain was everything I wanted it to be, but in other weather is was dead weight. I had to find a poke that could do what kindra in the rain did all the time. After much testing I reluctantly decided on Scarf Latios.​

And with that I had the team!​

In Depth​

Metagross @ Normal Gem
[Clear Body] Adamant Nature
236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
- Explosion
- Meteor Mash
- Hammer Arm
- Bullet Punch​

Comments: I am really liking this set! However, I feel that Politoed and Ninetales really thwart you. They both can run protect on defensive sets (bye bye explosion) while they can OHKO on all their offensive sets. I really would lead off with something else, but since your team is based around Metagross and Mence, I really want to perserve it. I would lead off with your Sunny Day Heatran instead, as it cockblocks weather, and leading with Metagross is fine against sand. Heatran allows you to get rocks up and such. Just a side note, I am sure you probably do that, but since I see this in the lead slot just wanted to say. I like the set, no changes really needed at all. A few minor things though, like you could try out a Life Orb over Normal Gem for power in your other attacks if you wanted. Just a suggestion.​

Salamence @ Draco Plate
[Moxie] Naive Nature
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake​

Comments: First off, do not go with the suggested ScarfMence. You already have ScarfLatios and making Salamence scarf is really redundant. I would use Dragon Dance over Draco Meteor. I know you lose hitting physical walls on the special side, but Fire Blast hits most of them, and with Moxie, your physical attack can hit any non-steel wall for the OHKO for the most part. Dragon Dance is a fantastic attack, as it gives you a speed boost and power boost, which help you sweep. As for some minor changes, if you want to keep the Draco Plate very badly, I suggest you run Dragon Claw over Outrage, as that confusion would ruin your sweep. However, if your flexible, I would go for Lum Berry over Draco Plate and keep Outrage for busting through walls. Those last fixes are based of preferences, but I feel that Dragon Dance is mandatory for you to change.​

Summery: The second half of my wall breaking combo, Salamence comes in early and dies early. This guy can tear through unprepared teams. Even against prepared teams he can walk away with a few K.O.'s. Running Draco Plate over life orb makes life a little harder against some Pokes, but the surprise factor makes up for it over all. A few downsides to this spread are, Fire Blast only does 66.47%-79.3% to Scizor in the rain ; It also only does 35.23%-42.05% to Ferrothorn in the rain as well. Salamance's Job on the team has changed to semi wall breaker / late game cleaner.​

Knock out Ploitoed quick and set up Sunny Day with Heatran and you should be fine (since it forces Scizor + Ferrothorn out, even in rain.)​

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
[Snow Cloak] Jolly Nature
4 HP/ 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Icicle Spear​

Comments: I don't feel superpower is nessassery, as that is only to get rid of balloon steel types, when your Heatran hits most of them. Opposing Heatran could be a problem, except they're not, you got Gyarados and a million fire resists. Might want to use Stone Edge instead. It forces you out, but ultimately, this thing isn't a set up Pokemon so it doesn't mind switching out too much. Hazards are a bit of a problem, and LO isn't helping, so you might want to try Choice Band instead since it will probably only hit dragons and steel types and switch out otherwise, ect. Banded hits hard and rips holes everywhere. Beats LO's recoil and stuff, and for the most part Mamoswine doesn't need to switch up attacks due to being forced out one too many times anyways. YOu need some prediction skills to predict steel types to take an ice attack, but thats it really.

I am also in support of the switch of Mamoswine to BU Breloom since ScarfLatios revenge's most dragons anyways. BUt if your keen on keeping Mamo, make the changes above.

Heatran @ Leftovers
[Flash Fire] Calm Nature
248 HP/ 100 SDef / 160 Spe
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rocks
- Sunny Day
- Roar​

Comments: Nice set and has nice synergy with the team. WoW or Toxic are always a good option over roar if you feel you need them, but other than that, this doesn't need any changes.

Summery: I don't need to tell you had good Heatran is, I only wish he could run Air Balloon with this set. The 30% chance to Burn on Lava Plume is nice when Physical threats switch in the scare me out. I added Sunny day to the team by suggestion from BTzz, it has helped with my overall rain weakness, as well as made killing Steels that wall my team easier. (Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Bronzong(Rare)) . I run Roar over toxic and Earth power because I don't have Taunt or Trick on my team, so I need an answer to setup. The speed investment is to outrun max speed adamant SD Scizor. My only beef with Heatran is he is a poor Stealth Rock layer, as common rapid spinners all scare him out. Sadly that doesn't change much if I move the rocks to Metagross or Mamoswine. My main switch for WoW and Toxic.​

Synergy
Fighting: Salamence, Gyarados, Latios
Ground: Gyarados, Salamence, Latios
Water: Gyarados, Salamence, Latios​

Gyarados @ Leftovers
[Intimidate] Impish Nature
252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 Spe
- Waterfall
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Roar​

Comments: Nice synergy with Heatran when walling! Since this thing has roar, either Heatan or Gyara can swap Roar for something else. Such as T-Wave on Gyara, which is always a nice move for crippling, or Draogn Tail. Doesn't need too many changes all together.​

Conclusion​

That's the Team! I want to try to patch up my weakness to Rain teams and my lower my reliance on Latios, he is the glue on the team which isn't a bad thing but, if he dies I can get swept my many common threats. I chose to not use a spinner as Gyarados can survive without it as long as he isn't switching into Stone Edges and Salamance has to burn out early to keep my teams momentum going.​

Draogn Dance on Salamence can help fix rain problems, and Sunny Day Heatran is good too. Just try to get Poli out quickly, and then switch Heatran onto the the rain's steel type or Tornadus and sunny day as they switch out and you should be fine. If you want, you could use Offensive Latias over Latios b/c Latias has nice special bulk, but you do lose speed and some power which is why its a suggestion instead of a "you should change" thing. Anyways, GL with your team!​

Thanks for reading over my RMT, I'm looking for ways to improve the team without resorting to Scizor, Rotom-W and weather. So any Comments and Tips would be Much appreciated !​

 

[Shurtugal]

A question to people saying I should switch Latios to timid, What threat to the team does it need the speed boost to revenge? I do see Scarf Jirachi giving latios a problem, but the speed boost wouldn't fix it alone. With the Sunny Day idea above and Timid nature it could 2hko Jirachi w/ HP fire b4 it could do the same back w/ Ice punch. But I'm not sure this is a threat enough to warrant the nature change.

Victini has the coverage to cause problems, but does it see much use outside of UU?

I'm not saying the move would be the wrong one, I just need to know why.

Timid Latios w/ HP Fire outspeed Chlorophyl Vena w/ modest. Vena doesn't usually carry max speed, and Vena will find itself OHKO'ed by sun-boosted HP Fire, which is always nice since you need all the checks you can get for them. Also, timid also allows you to outpace +1 DD Dragons that otherwise outspeed scarf modest Latios (at least, i think +1 Salamence outspeeds Scarf/Modest Latios. Not sure about DNite.) It also outspeeds ScarfMence, as w/o timid it outspeeds you.

Sorry for double post, just saw this when I was reading.

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Woah, ok, this team looks alike the one I made not to long ago, glad to see than I'm not the only one using certain pokes. My question is how fo you take care of SubDD Gyarados? Because it looks like you have serious issues if it sets up. For this issue, I recommend replacing Latios with Life Orb Latias. With pretty nice bulk she can prevent immediately threaten Gyarados. Make sure Latias has Thunderbolt on her and you will be sitting pretty. Also, despite losing out on outspeeding Venasuar, you still have Mamoswine's Ice Shard to help out.

Now this will leave you without a revenge killer, so I recommend using Choice Scarf on your Salamence.

Now I notice you use Explosion on your Metagross. While that is retro, it isnt as practical these days. And running Normal Gem means you lose out on Leftovers recovery. So I say remove Explosion and replace it with Ice Punch. This provides you with great coverage. Next replace Normal Gem with Leftovers; This little bit of recovery and turn 2HKO into 3HKO while you can KO in return within that spare turn. And the bonus of retaining Bullet Punch means priority can help shave off that last 15% off foes.

Hope this helped! Sorry if I repeated some suggestions or said anything that you deem unhelpful. I just felt obligated to rate because it is so similiar to my team. Have fun and good luck!!!

 

[Ninelol]

Thanks for all the tips everyone, I'm in a rush but I wanted to update a little. I've been testing out the BU Breloom over Mamoswine. I generally like it, the one glaring issue I have now is Mamoswine walks all over my team. Life orb/expert belt/ focus sash Mamo doesn't even have to worry about predictions as my only pokes that can outpace it are weak to Ice Shard.

I was thinking about putting Life orb on Metagross to make his bullet punch be more of a revenge option.

I'm fine if they try to switch it in, as if it takes some residual damage I can usually handle it, and Choice band is also pretty easy to deal with as long as I don't make a bad switch.

 

[The QWAZ]

Life orb is definatly a good choice over normal gem, another idea for metagross is the very powerful agilgross
Metagross@ life orb
Evs 252atk/240spe/16hp
-agilty
-earthquake
-meteor mash
- thunder punch/ zen headbutt
This set is a fantastic set up sweper which you seem to be lacking, the first 3 moves are obviouse but the last two are up to personal prefernce thunder punch beats gyrados and slowbro, while zen heatbutt beats rotom down. Ice punch isnt needed as the dragons and gliscor are trashed by meteor mash.
Hope i helped

 

[Ninelol]

Team has been updated. I'm looking to take roar off either Gyarados or Heatran, replacing them with taunt, thunderwave, toxic, or WoW. My current vote is for Taunt on Gyarados, as it will help vs some setup still and will slow down entry hazards. WoW looks nice as I'm weak to Mamoswine, but I don't have the speed to utilize it, and I'd rather hit it with a Lava Plume on the switch anyways.

Any suggestions on this ?

 

[DEMo_Gorgon47]

Hey again, I see you want to update Gyarados. Here is the Defensive Gyarados I run:

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Def/8 Spe
Moves: Dragon Tail, Taunt, Thunder Wave, Waterfall

Despite losing out on Rest and Sleep Talk you make up for it by not only having a damaging phazing move, but also having moves (Taunt and T-wave) that can cripple set up sweepers. And I found that even with Rocks on the field, Gyarados is bulky enough to survive many attacks and recover off the damage using Leftovers stalling

 

[Ninelol]

Hey again, I see you want to update Gyarados. Here is the Defensive Gyarados I run:

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Def/8 Spe
Moves: Dragon Tail, Taunt, Thunder Wave, Waterfall

Despite losing out on Rest and Sleep Talk you make up for it by not only having a damaging phazing move, but also having moves (Taunt and T-wave) that can cripple set up sweepers. And I found that even with Rocks on the field, Gyarados is bulky enough to survive many attacks and recover off the damage using Leftovers stalling

Thanks! I'll give this a try!

 

[BKC]

With two Stealth Rock weak mons, and two phazers, you could really benefit from running a Forretress. It gets rid of your opponent's SR, which helps out Salamence and Gyarados's longevity a ton, while laying down Spikes, making your Heatran and Gyarados's Roar a lot more deadly. I'd drop Metagross, since he and Forret have similar typing and therefore your synergy will remain mostly the same. Spikes / Rapid Spin / Toxic Spikes or Gyro Ball / Volt Switch is the ideal moveset, with an EV spread of 252 HP / 16 Defense / 240 Sp. Defense and a Relaxed nature, holding Leftovers [or Shed Shell if you decide on both Toxic Spikes and Gyro Ball, leaving no room for Volt Switch - you've gotta escape from Magnezone somehow].

 

[Ninelol]

With two Stealth Rock weak mons, and two phazers, you could really benefit from running a Forretress. It gets rid of your opponent's SR, which helps out Salamence and Gyarados's longevity a ton, while laying down Spikes, making your Heatran and Gyarados's Roar a lot more deadly. I'd drop Metagross, since he and Forret have similar typing and therefore your synergy will remain mostly the same. Spikes / Rapid Spin / Toxic Spikes or Gyro Ball / Volt Switch is the ideal moveset, with an EV spread of 252 HP / 16 Defense / 240 Sp. Defense and a Relaxed nature, holding Leftovers [or Shed Shell if you decide on both Toxic Spikes and Gyro Ball, leaving no room for Volt Switch - you've gotta escape from Magnezone somehow].

I was mulling over adding Forretress to the team, he reminds me of my favorite troll face poke Bronzong. If I did add him do you think it would be a good idea to change Gyarados to a bulky DD variant so it could still a defensive pivot but help make up for the damage loss?