The Leviathan
Why I Built This Team
This is my attempt at making a consistently viable, if a bit standard OU team. After playing gimmicky ass teams for too long, I had to go back to the basics as my brain was thinking too hard about the team-building process. So I started playing standard rain offense, but after that became incredibly boring, I decided to actually go back to the drawing board and make a new team from scratch. Out of that experience was born The Leviathan which I named for no reason at all. If you have to know, I named it out of the idea that this team would be like a humongous beast: crushing everything in its path slowly and methodically.
The Team Building Process
I was definitely gonna play stall since it's my favorite playstyle, so I decided to base my team around one of my favorite stall pokemon: Gliscor. So he was going to be my first team member.
Since this was gonna be stall, I needed a way to inflict damage every turn. Yeah, that means Toxic or weather. And since Gliscor is immune to Sand I decided to use that weather. And since this is stall, in went Hippowdon.
Looking at my team so far, I was laughably weak to water and ice. So I decided to throw in Rotom-W.
Now looking at my team, I was hilariously weak to grass, so in went Heatran.
I also wanted another way to inflict residual damage other than Sand. This meant Toxic Spikes, 'cuz poison does that. I also wanted a Grass type though to cover most of my bases, so in went Roserade.
I was pretty sure that most of my bases were covered, so I decided to run a Choice Scarfer, but I wanted a poke that actually used the Sand. From previous experience, Stoutland inflicts a shit ton of damage and is actually fast, so in went Stoutland.
My team was complete!
Team Descriptions
Scorpina (Gliscor) (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Scorpina is a boss! He's the key player in the whole team, since he's the main staller as well as the physical tank. Once I get my hazards up, I can switch into Scorpina and stall out my opponent for days on end. His EV's and nature are standard, while his moveset is slightly weird. I opted for two attacks and no Toxic, because it's the rest of the team's goal to poison everything in sight, while Glisocr's only job is to stall. With the two attacks, Gliscor pretty much has excellent coverage, hitting things at least neutrally if not super effectively.
Hippo (Hippowdon) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
Hippowdon is my weather starter and he's damn good at his job. I chose him over Tyranitar because A. this is a stall team and B. Support Tyranitar sucks compared to Hippowdon. I opted for the Mixed Wall Hippowdon in order for him to take hits better, and it's the best variant, giving him prolonged survivability. His job in this team is to basically get Stealth Rocks up and tank any hits. To be honest, the weather isn't mandatory as long as I'm able to poison everything, so winning the weather isn't my main goal in battle.
Rotom-W (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 232 SDef / 28 SAtk / 248 HP
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is my main counter to rain teams, and it's an important part of my team. Since my team is stall, I forsake power and momentum in order to fulfill my goal, which is stalling. But Rotom-W completely forgoes that concept with Volt Switch, an excellent move that basically gives me free momentum. It's also one of the best counters out there for rain teams. Rotom-W's EV's are standard to the Bulky Attacker set and so is the moveset. The only weird move is probably Thunder Wave. I decided to forgo WoW because I mainly used it to nail Tyranitar on the head. But seeing as how I welcome sand and I have Hippowdon and Gliscor to tank physical hits, I decided to use Thunder Wave instead. T-Wave is also infinitely more annoying to sweepers as they have to deal with the speed drop and the chance of paralysis.
Heat (Heatran) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Roar
- Toxic
Btw, he's supposed to be spitting out fire, not eating it up. I used to actually have Ferrothorn in this spot in order to set up Spikes. That was, until I realized what an incredibly annoying thing Steel types were. They can't be poisoned and are immune to Sand. Because of this, I added Heatran to the team. He's been a good change because I get to nail Steel types and he carries Toxic which I can use to nail Flying types like Lati@s and Latios. He also gives me a nice Dragon resist as well as being a pretty effective phazer with Roar. The EV's give him max SDef because he's probably going to die from a decent physical Ground move anyway and his only worth is in SDef.
Rose (Roserade) (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 40 SDef / 96 Spd
Calm Nature
- Toxic Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Rest
At first I was skeptical about the use of Roserade. Why use Roserade when there's a thing called Celebi? The only reason why I tried Roserade in the first place was because of Toxic Spikes. I needed a poke who could use the move and would preferably be a grass type. At first I did try Tentacruel, but it was a generally inferior option outside of rain since it lacked a reliable way to recover health. In this, Rose excels with Rest and Natural Cure. It's also in this way that she makes the perfect status absorber. Besides, Toxic Spikes is so important to my game plan that I absolutely needed them. I decided to use the UU Spikes EV spread for Roserade since the OU tier evolved to become more specially based ever since rain was made real. It's actually pretty damn effective and I'm happy to say that I enjoy using Roserade.
Stout (Stoutland) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Superpower
- Ice Fang
- Crunch
Stoutland has proven itself to be the second MVP of the team besides Gliscor. He's my Plan B. Besides being really fast in Sand due to his ability, equipped with a Choice Band, Stoutland becomes incredibly powerful. While he's not exactly the OHKO'er, he's perfect as a revenge killer as he can take out almost any weakened poke. Besides all that, Return is the perfect neutral coverage and hits like a ram if you don't have the resist. Late game, a Choice Banded Stoutland becomes the perfect sweeper with Return, forming my Plan B in case my Gliscor couldn't stall out the opponent. The EV's reflect Stoutland's goal, to be fast and powerful. Oh yeah, the epic pic shows Fire Fang, not Stoutland on fire.
The Game Plan
So now it's time to discuss the game plans that I use to achieve victory for me and my 'mons. I have Plan A and Plan B, and in case they fail, I use something called improvisation. Hopefully, the Plans would have worked so that it wouldn't need to come to that. Anyway, the early game for both Plans are the same, making it easier for me to interchangeably use one Plan or the other.
Early Game: In the early game my plan is relatively simple: set up Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes as early as possible. Then try to force some switches so that most if not all of my opponent's team is poisoned and took some damage from hazards. Of course, if there's a spinner on the opponent's team, my priority would be to take it out as soon as possible. But even more important than taking out the spinner would be killing the steel type. That is my main priority if I do see my opponent with a steel type. Steel types are so fucking annoying, resistant to poison and Sand. But once the Steel type is gone, I can walk all over my opponent's team. Also during the early game, I should have the Toxic Orb for Gliscor activated, although this isn't exactly mandatory. After this stage, I choose either Plan A or Plan B to use.
Plan A: Mid Game: In the mid game of Plan A, I should have been able to scout of some of my opponent's movesets and determine their sets. This allows me to take a glimpse of their EV's. This is important as it allows me to choose which plan to use accordingly. If I find the opponent to use blazing fast Pokemon that my Stoutland can't outspeed, I use Plan A. This involves Gliscor finding the soonest opportunity to switch in safely and start stalling. Used effectively, Gliscor can stall out the opponent until most of their 'mons die from poison overload or Sandstream.
Late Game: The late game of Plan A is similar to mid game's. Just keep stalling with Gliscor. Of course, if I mispredicted and Gliscor died, I mop up the mess with Stoutland or stall out the rest of my opponent's pokemon with the rest of my team.
Plan B: Mid Game: xD Plan B is crazy simple. I normally use this plan against stall teams or balanced teams. During this stage of the game I basically just keep switching and inflicting damage with my pokes. Done correctly, my opponent's 'mons will have taken quite a number.
Late Game: After most of my opponent's 'mons are weakened, I think everyone recalls how I praised Stoutland's offensive power. This would be the correct time for the dog to sweep.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading this wall of text! I would like suggestions for this team. Also, feel free to hate, rate, and steal the team. Again, thank you!
