Gypsy Bard

[-Sparkbeat-]

Hey everyone, Contrail (Lunatic Lies atm :( ) here with my first Smogon RMT. I've been noticing everyone doing rmt's based on songs, albums, or artists they like, so I decided to hop on the band wagon. This team was inspired by my favorite remix of one of the favorite songs, Gypsy Bard (The Living Tombstone Remix) - Sherclop Pones. It was also inspired by my search for a replacement Deoxys-D who can set up both spikes and stealth rocks (go eat a rock terrakion :/). I also wanted to have a way to get rid of weather, and be able to handle every weather inducer reasonably well, so the battle becomes a level weatherless playing field. So without further ado, the team.

Team Building Process

Hide

The main inspiration for the team. I needed a hazard setter to lead off and get as many hazards up as possible. The dream is to get full set up, but all I need is rocks and 1 layer of spikes. He does this job pretty darn well, not as good as DeoD, but good enough for me. Forretress over Ferrothorn for 2 big things: Sturdy and not having a fighting weakness.

To have hazards you need a spinblocker, and I prefer Gengar over Jellicent for this job. Gengar also performs another important role, as you'll see later.

I needed someone to handle gengar's weaknesses, and I wanted a weather check, especially against sun teams who I always seem to be weak to with my other teams. I've also been wanting to try this set.

I needed priority and someone who can hit gastrodon and other special walls. Also helps against SpD Rotom-W.

I wanted a good offensive core, and these two fit into the team, and have a lot of the same checks and counters, as well as sharing an ice weakness. mainly here to overpower opponents and just smash through things.

When you're rife with devastation
There's a simple explanation:
You're a toymaker's creation
Trapped inside a crystal ball

Crystal Ball (Forretress) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Volt Switch
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin



At first I had a Dexoys-D like suicide lead with a custap berry, but Electrolyte suggested I go for a set focused more on survival since he also handles many threats to the team, including Mamoswine and Cloyster. It also helps that he gained volt switch, so I can keep momentum. Spikes for his entry hazard, rapid spin to help my Pokemon without recovery stay alive, Gyro Ball to have some offense against Mamoswine, Cloyster, Terrakion etc. Volt Switch to allow me to keep momentum after getting hazards or to escape Magnezone.



And whichever way he tilts it
Know that we must be resilient
We won't let them break our spirits
As we sing this silly song

Spirits (Gengar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I needed a spin blocker, and I felt Gengar would better fit the flow of this team. I first found this set from McDanger's RMT, and while I was testing out and playing around with his team, this guy really shown. The surprise on some people's faces of this guy outspeeding their starmies, scarf lando's, and scarfmence's is priceless. EV's give me max speed and power. Shadow Ball for STAB, Focus Blast for steels, HP Ice for dragons, and Trick for walls or pokemon trying to set up. I'm debating putting Thunder on him over trick since I don't use it much, and Thunder will make dealing with toad easier.



When I was a little filly,
A galloping blaze overtook my city
So they shipped me off to the orphanage.
Said, "ditch those roots if you wanna fit in"

Galloping Blaze (Heatran) (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
- Stealth Rock

My sun and all around weather counter. At first, I thought this guy was very overrated, and outclassed by other sets. But, now after using him myself, I realize he earns his pay (figuratively). He not only demolishes sun, but once I've worn down and gotten rid of the opponents toad or ttar, this guy comes in, sets up a sunny day, and puts a dent in their team and strategy. EV's make him fast and powerful. Sunny Day for removing the opponents weather and screwing up toed on the switch in. Fire Blast as a strong STAB (I'm considering trying Magma Storm for trapping, but I dislike the accuracy), Solarbeam for Toed, Ttar, etc., HP ice for dragons. Air balloon makes him harder to ko for certain pokes, and keeps spikes damage away till he gets hit. Stealth Rock over HP Ice since I now need them on someone other than Forretress, and I have Gengar to revenge kill dragons, and Landorus and Latias if needed.



So I dug one thousand holes
And cut a rug with orphan foals
Memories are blurred, and their faces are obscured,
But I still, know the words to this song

1000 Holes (Breloom) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore

I decided I needed a powerful priority user, and breloom's spore really appealed to me. It also helps that Gengar and Heatran do well against Celebi, and Gengar can beat the Lati@s and other dragons. Breloom helps Tran and Gengar by getting rid of Special walls such as the Blobs and Gastrodon. EV's are standard as usual. Low Sweep over SD because it makes breloom counter list SO much smaller, especially with rocks and spikes damage. Also, Brelooms main priority isn't sweeping. It's what the name says, making holes in the opponents team. Mach punch for prio, bullet seed for waters and grounds, and spore for slower pokes that breloom can force out next turn or neutralize.



When you've bungled all your bangles
And your loved ones have been mangled
Listen to the jingle jangle
Of my gypsy tambourine

Bungled Bangles (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish

The first part of my main offensive core, Landorus sure does "bungle" the opponents "bangles" (oh dear lord that was bad x_x). I've never been able to have much success with landorus in the past, but thats because the teams I've used it on haven't been centered around it. It was there to complement another attacker, and the other attackers weren't complementing it well. In this team, Lando really shines. Gengar and Breloom can take down Jellicent. Breloom gets toad. Mamoswine gets worn down pretty quickly, but an still cause problems if the opponent predicts well. EV's are for max special power, nature doesn't weaken my u-turn. EP for an amazing STAB, focus blast for ferro and friends, hp ice for dragons, and I decided to use u-turn over Substitute and Rock Polish. I found I wasn't needing to use Rock polish much, and it was just wasting a move slot. I contemplated using Substitute, but this team enjoys momentum, and only likes to risk losing it for recovery or weather disruption. U-turn gives me momentum AND something to hits the annoying SpecD Celebi on the switch.



'Cause these chords are hypnotizing
And the whole world's harmonizing
So please children stop your crying
And just sing along with me

Harmonizing (Latias) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Recover

The second part of the offensive core is imo the best weather counter in today's meta. The only thing holding back Latias is Tyranitar, but that will sadly never change. Latias absolutely wrecks rain teams by being able to counter many of its top threats. It became even better once Tornadus-T was banned since it no longer feared u-turn spam or hurricane spam if you're running the offensive set. Landorus handles Jirachi, Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and SpecD Heatran for latias while Latias helps get rid of Blissey, Gastrodon, Gyarados, and Rotom-W for Landorus. Standard EV's for the LO Attacking set. Draco Meteor to smash stuff, Psyshock for Special walls and Tentacruel, Surf for Heatran and Mamoswine when i have enough HP to survive an Ice Shard. Recover to make sure I last a while, and can heal off Hydro Pump and Secret Sword damage.

Threat List and Importable

Hide

Cloyster - If it gets a shell smash, and it runs Ice Shard then its GG for me. My best and probably only way of 100% beating this guy is to keep Crystal Ball alive then hit him hard with gyro ball. If he doesn't run ice shard, he becomes much easier to handle, since breloom and I believe gengar can revenge kill him with priority and by outspeeding, respectively.

Dragonite - The DD set is the only mildly troublesome one. I usually have to sack something, then bring in Gengar to revenge kill with HP ice.

Gyarados - Same as Dragonite, but revenge killing it is much harder, and its dual STAB's can really hurt my team. I usually just have to whittle its health down until I can revenge kill it with a combo of breloom mach punch and gengar shadow ball., so this guy is a biggie.

Haxorus - Same a Dragonite

Infernape - No matter who he switches in on, he can put me in a tight spot. Luckily, he gets worn down pretty fast can can be revenge killed by breloom and gengar. The reason this guy is annoying is because no one can switch into all his attacks. Latias can do so to an extent, but she doesn't like taking u-turns.

Keldeo - Specs Keldeo in Rain can be annoying, especially if the opponent does a good job of whittling down Latias. Can be revenged by breloom when weak and gengar when weak. The scarf set can also be annoying.

Lati@s - Ones that run Draco and Surf can be annoying, but they're revenge killed by Gengar.

Mamoswine - Another big threat. If it runs Jolly in outspeeds breloom with ice shard. I gengar's been weakened it falls to ice shard. Gengar also usually has to rely on Focus Miss to KO. Nothing can switch into it safely, which makes him even more annoying. Same strategy as for Cloyster, preserve Forretress.

Politoed - Can be annoying to ko, scarf set can be annoying since it outspeeds heatran sunny day, and can ko lando and loom with ice beam. Just whittle it down with hazards, and strong STAB's like Draco Meteor.

Starmie - Is hard to switch into, but they usually have a whole in the set. He becomes easier to handle once I know the moveset, but I usually rely on revenge killing it with Gengar.

Tyranitar - Easy to revenge kill, but he can stomp two key parts of the team, one being my main revenge killer.

Volcarona - Its gg for me if it has HP ground/rock. All it has to do is get 1 qd and it can ohko my entire team. I usually just have to preserve forretress, then devote the game to ko'ing their spinner. The I get rocks and whatever else I can up. hopefully those hazards then bring it into KO range of breloom's mach punch or gengar's shadow ball. If it runs the bulky roost set, it becomes much easier to handle with Sunny Day tran's fire blast. I can also try to trick a scarf onto it to decrease its versatility.

Here's an importable btw:

Crystal Ball (Forretress) (M) @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Explosion

Spirits (Gengar) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Galloping Blaze (Heatran) (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
- Hidden Power [Ice]

1000 Holes (Breloom) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore

Bungled Bangles (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Harmonizing (Latias) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: 
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Recover

Note - Gengar, Latias, and Heatran all have 0 Atk IVs. Forretress has 0 Spd IVs. Landorus's IV spread is 30/31/30/31/31/31

That's all for the team, thanks for reading!​

 

[Revontheus]

Hey Lunatic Lies,

Great team you have there, I'm doing my first rate so I won't suggest any big change, only some changes in EV's and Moves.

To start, you're using a Custap berry Forretress with 2 attacks, so in order to activate the berry in an easier way I suggest moving the Def EV's into Attack and changing it to a Brave nature so you have more firepower. Maybe you can also change it to a Skarmory to better replace the role of Deo-D.

Next you can move the HP EV's in Gengar to Sp.def so when you switch in on SR you lose less health. Same with Heatran and Breloom and Latias.

Hope I helped, even if it's only a little bit.
Good luck with your team!

 

[inanimate blob]

In addition to those ^ remarks, I would also recommend Swords Dance over Low Sweep. After a Spore, Breloom gets a great chance to boost up - and let me tell you from experience, most Pokémon don't want to take a +2 Technician Mach Punch or Bullet Punch.

 

[-Sparkbeat-]

Hey Lunatic Lies,

Great team you have there, I'm doing my first rate so I won't suggest any big change, only some changes in EV's and Moves.

To start, you're using a Custap berry Forretress with 2 attacks, so in order to activate the berry in an easier way I suggest moving the Def EV's into Attack and changing it to a Brave nature so you have more firepower. Maybe you can also change it to a Skarmory to better replace the role of Deo-D.

Next you can move the HP EV's in Gengar to Sp.def so when you switch in on SR you lose less health. Same with Heatran and Breloom and Latias.

Hope I helped, even if it's only a little bit.
Good luck with your team!

Yeah, I agree with you on the ev's, I just kinda threw them in there tbh x_x. The reason I chose Forretress over Skarmory is because sometimes I want him to be a suicide lead, but sometimes I need him to counter 2 big threats to the team (Cloyster and Mamoswine). I'll probably run some calc's to see how many ev's I want to move to Attack, because I want to make sure he can take CC's from Terrakion and Eq's from Mamoswine reasonably well.

Calcs done, and yeah I think I will change his EV's and nature to brave, since it will help him handle Cloyster and he will still be able to beat Terrakion and Mamoswine. Thanks for the rate!

In addition to those ^ remarks, I would also recommend Swords Dance over Low Sweep. After a Spore, Breloom gets a great chance to boost up - and let me tell you from experience, most Pokémon don't want to take a +2 Technician Mach Punch or Bullet Punch.

The reason i have Low Sweep instead of SD is because I tried both, and Low Sweep worked better for Breloom's role in the team. The thing I love about Low Sweep is that it makes normal Breloom counters like Latios less scary, since I can KO Latios on the switch with a combo of Low Sweep + Bullet Seed. Really, the only thing I'm willing to change on Breloom is possibly the item. I've been thinking of trying a Fighting Gem to make Low Sweeping the switch in's work even better. Back to SD, when i had it on Breloom, I found it wasn't doing much, since I wasn't doing much Mach Punch sweeping with Breloom. I just found Low Sweep to more useful.

 

[Electrolyte]

Hey, I got your request ^^

This team is pretty unique, nice! However, I do see some big holes in your defensive synergy that I'd like to patch up. Ice types and pokemon with Ice type coverage moves can deal a lot of damage to your team. LO Mamoswine, Cloyster, and Low Kick Weavile all go relatively uncountered, since you play Forretress so recklessly and Heatran is offensive. Pokemon like Alakazam or Thundurus-T who have fast powerful attacks and Ice type coverage can also dent this team, or at least prevent its offense from working. Stall teams might also be problematic as your team lacks recovery options, and is worn down by status / sand quite easily due to the fact that you have 3 LO pokemon.

I definitely think changing Forretress's set would help you overcome those problems.

Forretress @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef Relaxed
Spikes / Rapid Spin / Gyro Ball / Volt Switch

You can use Forretress as a hazard setter, but it covers too many offensive opponents for you to be safe using it as a suicide lead. Forretress is your only answer to Ice types such as Mamoswine or Weavile, yet if you sack it early you'll lose the ability to check those pokemon. For this reason, I suggest you use the bulky set. This set trades in some power for a lot more defensive bulk- letting you easily take care of physical threats. It also trades in Custap for Lefties so that it lasts longer- letting it switch in later and setup more hazards. Leftovers also lets it heal itself back to Sturdy for extra walling. Another thing Bulky Forretress has over your current one is Rapid Spin- which lets you clear away hazards on your own side so that your already recovery-lacking team doesn't need to sustain more damage, and increases the amount of times your LO sweepers can attack. The only thing Forretress has over Skarmory is Rapid Spin- so you should take advantage of that. Finally, it has Volt Switch, which lets you pivot from being the lead and maintain decent momentum. Relaxed and Gyro Ball gives you max defense and a small boost in fire power.

However, this Forretress lacks Stealth Rock. Also, your team might still find it troubling to handle powerful special attackers or pokemon with Fire type coverage. You also lack a way to phaze out setup sweepers and counter Stall. To help with all of this, I suggest you try Specially Defensive Heatran instead of your current one.

Heatran @ Leftovers
252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpDef / Calm
Stealth Rock / Roar / Lava Plume / Sunny Day

Specially Defensive Heatran would help you a lot by sponging powerful special attacks such as Specs Draco or LO Psychic. Because of its awesome typing, it can also easily wall Sun teams and even some Sand sweepers too. Leftovers allows it to switch in frequently to handle pokemon like Ferrothorn, Forretress, or Scizor. It supplies Stealth Rock, which, as you know, is extremely vital to the success of all teams by wearing down Flying, Bug, and Fire types. Its Roar would also be extremely valuable at removing setup sweepers as well as phazing to promote hazard damage. Roar also allows you to temporarily remove a troublesome threat or mess up your opponent's synergy. Lava Plume is a great STAB move that also has a nice burn chance so physical attackers aren't so keen to switch in. Sunny Day is in the last slot because it's a nice way to defeat weather and you're already experienced at using it. However, other moves such as Toxic or Hidden Power Ice, one to stall walls and another to hit Dragons, can be used instead.

This is more of an optional change, but you can definitely try Rock Polish instead of U-Turn on Lando and shift the 4 evs to Def. Rock Polish is an awesome setup move that lets Landorus boost its speed and outspeed many opponents such as Terrakion, Dragons, or speed sweepers like Venasaur or Stoutland. The speed makes Lando much harder to stop, effectively increasing its offensive potential.

Good luck!

 

[-Sparkbeat-]

^ I was able to test some today and yesterday with these changes, and the forretress changes helped a lot with keeping more momentum while forcing out threats. I'll be changing the OP to include this set. As for Heatran, the extra special bulk didn't help much nor did it hinder me much. The only difference I could really tell was that Politoed became more annoying to take down, especially when paired with Ferrothorn. I will also be putting rock polish on Landorus.

As I've been getting higher on the ladder, I've noticed that teams with Specs Toad / Scarf Keldeo are extremely annoying to deal with since they can wear down latias, and no one else can beat keldeo in rain. I will be trying out ways to fix this. If you have any suggestions please leave them!

 

[deadflame]

I would consider...

Very nice team you've got there. I like it. I'm not really going to tweak it too bad, so here's my only suggestion. You say you have some troubles with Keldeo and Politoed at times. In addition, you probably don't want to lose your Grass Type attacker. So, to meet a middle ground here, I would suggest Celebi. There are a couple of good sets you could use, but for your team, I would either go with Specially Defensive, or Nasty Plot. I'm leaning more towards Specially Defensive, as it frequently carries U-Turn to get out of trouble, while still maintaining a decent offensive presence. You could also use a Life Orb Celebi with 3 attacks plus Recover. In any case, Celebi is a very good answer to Pokemon like Keldeo and Politoed, and can perhaps even handle Cloyster and Mammoswine, though a +2 Ice Shard will still KO. I hope I helped.

 

[-Sparkbeat-]

Very nice team you've got there. I like it. I'm not really going to tweak it too bad, so here's my only suggestion. You say you have some troubles with Keldeo and Politoed at times. In addition, you probably don't want to lose your Grass Type attacker. So, to meet a middle ground here, I would suggest Celebi. There are a couple of good sets you could use, but for your team, I would either go with Specially Defensive, or Nasty Plot. I'm leaning more towards Specially Defensive, as it frequently carries U-Turn to get out of trouble, while still maintaining a decent offensive presence. You could also use a Life Orb Celebi with 3 attacks plus Recover. In any case, Celebi is a very good answer to Pokemon like Keldeo and Politoed, and can perhaps even handle Cloyster and Mammoswine, though a +2 Ice Shard will still KO. I hope I helped.

I've actually been testing SDef Celebi out. Atm I'm running a set of Giga Drain / Recover / Baton Pass(because i don't want another Poke to be Pursuit bait) / Stealth Rock. Still testing it out, so no changes are set in stone yet.