9.81: Stronger Than Gravity

[LyingVision]

What's up guys! This is my second RMT post ever, and I'm excited to share this new team. It's Pokebank OU, and it consists of Ferrothorn, Gliscor, Slowbro, Conkeldurr, Alakazam, and (Mega)Gyarados. You can imagine that the point of this team is to eventually set up with Slowbro, Alakazam, Conkeldurr, or Gyarados. Ferrothorn and Gliscor are defensive walls and can each dish out some damage when necessary. Without further ado, the in-depth presentation:

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs:252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
-Leech Seed
-Spikes
-Stealth Rock
-Gyro Ball

This guy is a freakin' tank. Every time I teambuild, he always comes to mind as he does so many things so well. I'll usually bring him out on a physical attack that isn't fire, and watch the opponent take RockyBarb damage. From there, it's very easy to either set up a Leech Seed to force a switch or just sap health, or I can set up hazards. This is not the kind of team where setting up hazards is an absolute necessary, but sometimes when I know they can't do anything to Ferrothorn I'll just go right ahead and set up Stealth Rock and Spikes for extra damage. Gyro Ball deals a lot more damage than you'd expect, and is very useful just to get attacking damage with this guy (from experience, this does A LOT to gengar after you can live any of its attacks).

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
-Protect
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Earthquake

Another wall. An amazing one at that. Gliscor always pisses me off, so I thought I'd give it a whirl on my team. Poison Heal is broken on this little guy and you can stall for days. Protect is there to either aid in the stalling process, scout, or guarantee Toxic Orb's activation. Substitute is to create a mindset of hopeless for the opponent. But really, once Gliscor is behind a sub it goes to work. Toxic stalling for days or earthquake spamming, you name it. It's really hard to get past. Earthquake is a coverage move that works nicely, and Gliscor's decent attack stat allows it to sometimes deal a sizeable amount of damage.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
-Calm Mind
-Scald
-Slack Off
-Toxic / (Psychic)

Slowbro is quickly beginning to be one of my favorite competitive pokemon. It's a great special wall with physical potential, and it gets slack off and Regenerator which makes it seem immortal sometimes. This particular set is more of a special defensive wall, but as you can see I added Psychic perhaps instead of Toxic if you wanted to go more offensive with it. It's hard to say, since Gliscor already carries Toxic and Alakazam hits hard with Psychic. Nonetheless, either option is a good choice (I'm currently running Toxic and it works very well for me). Slowbro can also take its fair share of physical attacks and can easily force a switch while it either heals or sets up a Calm Mind which can be VERY dangerous, as it can be an immortal Scald spammer.

Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
-Protect
-Mach Punch
-Power-Up Punch
-Ice Punch

I think this is the weakest of the sets on my team, but Conkeldurr is in no way weak. His MASSIVE attack boosted by Guts and STAB has wrecked entire teams before. Yes, he's very unappealingly slow, but two words: Mach. Punch. Mach Punch is a godsend on this buff dude and it allows him to be a sweeper and revenge-killer. The set I'm running now does not carry Bulk Up. Instead, I have protect and Power-Up Punch, which I'm not sure is the greatest decision, but it's been working. I figure Protect can scout or activate Flame Orb, while I can use Power-Up Punch as my setup move. Ice Punch is for coverage on pesky dragons and ground types (erhrmm Gliscor *cough*).

Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
-Calm Mind
-Psychic / (Psychock)
-Focus Blast
-Shadow Ball

Alakazam kicks ass. He does. With him, you have a guaranteed hard special hit on anything you want, and a lot of times you can get a free Calm Mind up and proceed to sweep. Yes, he is hindered by priority attacks once his sash has been used, but Alakazam is an excellent revenge-killer and sweeper when you can predict the switch and attack/set up.

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Moxie / Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake

The Mega of the team. This Mega has tons of potential. It's simultaneously bulky and a freakin' cannon. Gyarados, for me, is a late-game sweeper. I almost never bring him out until the end of the match, and he proceeds to wreak havoc on the opponent's team. If you can get a Dragon Dance up, his mega-bulkiness will do work while your attacking moves do work. If he doesn't outspeed at that point, he's bulky enough to take a few hits. Also, with Mold Breaker, he has incredible coverage. If you can revenge-kill with him and get the Moxie boost, that's even better. All in all, a great Mega addition to the team and an excellent late-game sweeper.


THREAT LIST:
Volcarona
(IN PROGRESS)

This team is another poke-lovechild of mine, and I'm proud of it. I think it could be tweaked to improve effectiveness though. I'm very open to any suggestion you think of (especially with possibly a replacement for Ferrothorn or Conkeldurr's set). If you can think of threats, that helps all of us with the tweaking process as well. Thank you for reading and helping, I do appreciate it!

SHOWDOWN REPLAYS COMING SOON

 

[Seven Lions]

You have a bit of a problem with VoltTurn cores that I've seen to start running rampant whether it's the old classic Scizor + Rotom-W or Intimidate Mega-Manectric + Landorus-T. In the first duo, ScarfRotom can have it's way with a good portion of the team with WoW / Hydro Pump / Volt Switch while Scizor can clean shop with Bullet Punch and U-turn when it can. The only thing you really have stopping it is Ferrothorn which is cripped by Trick or smashed with a Superpower from Scizor.

In the latter core, Mega-Manectric can wreck shop by itself with it's great coverage and speed. That alone can OHKO 5/6 of your team, well 4/6 if Alakazam's sash is intact and Conkeldurr, but nonetheless, it can weaken said Pokemon with Volt Switch.

Now to remedy this, I recommend switching out Slowbro. It's slow and just asking to get smashed by repeated U-turns and Volt Switches while it desperately attempts to Slack Off all damage. Yes it's physically bulky but you already have that covered with Gliscor who can take repeated abuse from Landorus-T and Scizor to an extent although Mega-Scizor can prove to be problematic. Just a nitpick, I'd recommend Knock Off > Earthquake as it's buff is well received and works well in tandem with Toxic. You however lose a reliable way to defeat Mixed Pivot Aegislash if you predict wrong with Gyarados.

I recommend replacing Slowbro with perhaps Latios. It can take repeated abuse from Rotom-W while recovering it off and has a spammable Draco Meteor that dents anything that doesn't resist it. You lack a revenge killer so maybe Scarf Latios may fit best on this team.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power Fire
- Psyshock
- Memento / Trick


Memento allows you the opportunity to open up a sweeping opportunity for Mega-Gyarados when Latios has done all it's could although I typically use it on non-Choice sets. Trick however allows you to cripple walls that may be problematic for the team.


You do have an issue with Scarf Genesect which is popular in the metagame and have an even bigger issue against Expert Belt Genesect although not as common. Expert Belt Genesect wrecks house in the same matter as Mega-Manectric does with it's amazing coverage while Scarf does it in the same manner although with the inability to switch moves. To combat this I recommend adding something like Heatran to the mix with can also help shore up a weakness to Talonflame. You could go with SR Heatran and add protect to Ferrothorn for added recovery or go say Flame Charge or just Attacker Heatran. Choice is yours.

Quick Edit: If you don't like the Scarf on Latios, just slap it on Heatran and swap Trick / Memento for Recover.

Goodluck.

 

[LyingVision]

You have a bit of a problem with VoltTurn cores that I've seen to start running rampant whether it's the old classic Scizor + Rotom-W or Intimidate Mega-Manectric + Landorus-T. In the first duo, ScarfRotom can have it's way with a good portion of the team with WoW / Hydro Pump / Volt Switch while Scizor can clean shop with Bullet Punch and U-turn when it can. The only thing you really have stopping it is Ferrothorn which is cripped by Trick or smashed with a Superpower from Scizor.

In the latter core, Mega-Manectric can wreck shop by itself with it's great coverage and speed. That alone can OHKO 5/6 of your team, well 4/6 if Alakazam's sash is intact and Conkeldurr, but nonetheless, it can weaken said Pokemon with Volt Switch.

Now to remedy this, I recommend switching out Slowbro. It's slow and just asking to get smashed by repeated U-turns and Volt Switches while it desperately attempts to Slack Off all damage. Yes it's physically bulky but you already have that covered with Gliscor who can take repeated abuse from Landorus-T and Scizor to an extent although Mega-Scizor can prove to be problematic. Just a nitpick, I'd recommend Knock Off > Earthquake as it's buff is well received and works well in tandem with Toxic. You however lose a reliable way to defeat Mixed Pivot Aegislash if you predict wrong with Gyarados.

I recommend replacing Slowbro with perhaps Latios. It can take repeated abuse from Rotom-W while recovering it off and has a spammable Draco Meteor that dents anything that doesn't resist it. You lack a revenge killer so maybe Scarf Latios may fit best on this team.

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power Fire
- Psyshock
- Memento / Trick


Memento allows you the opportunity to open up a sweeping opportunity for Mega-Gyarados when Latios has done all it's could although I typically use it on non-Choice sets. Trick however allows you to cripple walls that may be problematic for the team.


You do have an issue with Scarf Genesect which is popular in the metagame and have an even bigger issue against Expert Belt Genesect although not as common. Expert Belt Genesect wrecks house in the same matter as Mega-Manectric does with it's amazing coverage while Scarf does it in the same manner although with the inability to switch moves. To combat this I recommend adding something like Heatran to the mix with can also help shore up a weakness to Talonflame. You could go with SR Heatran and add protect to Ferrothorn for added recovery or go say Flame Charge or just Attacker Heatran. Choice is yours.

Quick Edit: If you don't like the Scarf on Latios, just slap it on Heatran and swap Trick / Memento for Recover.

Goodluck.

Thank you for the suggestion, I'm trying it out now. I'm wondering if I should maybe try Latias instead of Latios or running Assault Vest on either of the two to compensate for the lost Sp. Def wall.

Anyways, here is a replay of a battle with the team with the Latios addition:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/pokebankoubeta-71272038

 

[Seven Lions]

I actually did not think of Assault Vest. If you feel like you need the extra special bulk, by all means go ahead but something like Greninja could do some damage to team with lack of speed although Conkeldurr checks it. I wouldn't be too worried just because of a random Chandelure however as Alakazam beats non-scarf variants I believe and you can play around choiced ones, especially with hazards.