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I really wasn't planning on doing a RMT for this team but out of sheer boredom from winter break I decided to post this to get a bit of advice for my team.
Offensive teams are really my preference. Since the days of DPP, I've leaned more towards that because of the fast paced nature of the matches. As opposed to DPP where I ran more bulky offense, this offense team is based on the core of Volcarona and Kartana and it strives to wear the opponent down with strong breakers until I can clean with either Volcarona, Kartana or Gyarados. I've revised this team a bunch, but I can't really make improvements at this point so I'll leave it to you to figure out how to make my team better.
Since a ton of people post songs that signify their teams, I based this team off of Led Zeppelin's epic track "In The Light". It's off of their 1975 album Physical Graffiti, and it closes off the first season of Mindhunters on Netflix (Great show if you haven't seen it). Check it out below.
I started of around the core of Volcarona and Kartana. Other than just being a cool mon, Kartana provides crucial Defog support for Volc and gives me a check to certain bulky waters Volcarona has issues with. Volcarona in return can switch into bulky grasses and steels that Kartana hates and use them as set up bait.
My next addition was the add Specs Koko. Specs Thunderbolt when combined with Kartana's Knock Off can overwhelm Heatrans that try to wall this core, and U-Turn gives them free entry to Tangrowths and other other grasses and grounds that try to switch in. After I got that I wanted to add Landorus-T for another U-turner, rocker, and because-well- why not at this point?
Mega Gyarados was added next because I wanted another set up sweeper that can disrupt stall teams and capitalize on rain teams. Mega Gyara also gives me a switch in to choiced locked psychic moves from Lele which I have a lot of issues with.
Last but not least I added Toxapex to give me a sturdier swich in for Ash Greninja and company, while also setting up Toxic Spikes to wear down certain mons that are tough for my team to handle.
Liger (Landorus-Therian) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Landorus-Therian, the standard lead. Landorus-T does so many things that are valuable that it's almost at a point where if you don't use it you're at an immediate disadvantage. This Lando is more or less standard. Earthquake for a consistent STAB attack, Stealth Rock for hazard chip, and U-Turn for momentum and Hidden Power Ice in conjunction with Yache Berry lets me beat opposing standard leads. Yache also is great to bandaid check Tapu Kokos who may give my team trouble.
I run more Defense on this Landorus than normal to better check Zygarde, especially since I'm not running Lefties, but Weakness Policy sets still fuck me over. The defensive utility that Lando provides along with Toxapex gives me a solid backbone to fall back against when dealing with many of the metagame's major threats.
Choppa (Kartana) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Defog
Scarf Kartana has always been a great pokemon, but it got a lot better with the introduction of knock off to it's movepool. Knock Off hits many of the pokemon that can switch in easily and gets rid of their useful items, and has a nice secondary benefit of identifying Z moves so I can better scout sets. Leaf Blade, while not the best coverage wise, gives me a strong stab move to blow through bulky waters that can wall Gyarados and Volcarona. Secret Sword improves my matchup against Ferrothorn and steel types, but I'm considering running Smart Strike to hit Tapu Bulu easier. That's a bit of stretch admittedly though. Defog is simply one of the best moves in the game, and with 2 rock weak sweepers, it's basically mandatory on this team to have something that can remove SR.
Kartana serves as my first breaker since it's already dumb strong, and with beast boost letting it snowball easily it more often than not serves as my cleaner against teams after Volcarona, Koko and Gyarados do their jobs. One of the best things that Kartana does though is bait in things that can be used as set up fodder for Volcarona. Anything that likes taking a Leaf Blade doesn't really like a +1 Shattered Psyche or Fire Blast.
Watts (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Specs Koko is a set that I didn't really appreciate originally but it has 1000% shown its worth. It has become the real powerhouse of the team, breaking through a lot of common defensive cores and pivoting in my other breakers so they can wreak havoc.
Thunderbolt is my bread and butter for this set, dealing a lot of damage to pokemon that try to sponge Koko's attacks like Heatran and Tangrowths that had their Vests knocked off. U-Turn is used over Volt Switch so I don't lose all my momentum to ground types like offensive Landorus or Excadrill. It gives me nice chip damage against a lot of mons that try to switch in and can potentially put those mons in range of attacks from the rest of my team. Hidden Power Ice slices through most grounds that think they can absorb a Thunderbolt, and Dazzling Gleam is a safe option to smack the other random pokemon that can switch into both, and it OHKO's Zygarde, Kyurem-B and Latios after Stealth Rock.
Scarface (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Taunt
Gyarados was needed because I needed something that can sponge strong psychic attacks, is resistant to fire, dark & ground attacks. Gyarados is that guy. Taunt keeps it status free for the most part, with the only real issue being Scald. But that move is broken as fuck anyway so whatever. Stall crumbles to Mega Gyarados because outside of scald burns and Counter Skarmory, theres not a lot of counterplay to this. Mold Breaker does some cool things like break through Magic Bounce so I can taunt Sableye and ignore Unaware so I can slam Quagsire and Clefable with my stab moves.
I've toyed with the idea of adding different coverage options over Waterfall, such as Ice Fang to hit Mega Venusaur, but I always end up going back to Waterfall because it gives me a consistent move pre Mega Evolution. Plus rain teams hate taking a boosted +1 Waterfall back at them, especially Swampert.
Anita (Volcarona) (F) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
The star of the show, Volcarona. The standard set breaks through a ton of pokemon in the current metagame, only really fearing Tyranitar. However, a Bug Buzz does around 60% unboosted so unless its a scarf set that has fallen out of favor, I can bust through T-Tar on the second switch in. Shattered Psyche busts through Pex like its nothing, and breaks through a lot of shit that Fire Blast and Bug Buzz have trouble getting through. Flame Body is chosen over Swarm because random burns are cluuuuuuuuuutch.
Volcarona is what every other pokemon on this team works to get sweep, but it ends up playing more like another breaker for the rest of the team. Punching holes and capitalizing on holes that were punched.
Kora (Toxapex) @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes / Toxic
Toxapex along with Landorus-T combine to make a decent defensive core that can check a broad spectrum of threats in the metagame. Scald and Haze helps me stop a lot of physical attackers that try to set up such as Hawlucha which can be a problem for a lot of archtypes. Recover improves my longevity, and along with Toxic Spikes, I can stall out a lot of grounded pokemon with it. I chose Toxic Spikes over Toxic to get more chip against certain pokemon on stall and balanced teams, and a lot of times Toxapex doesn't get the chance to use Toxic on these threats.
Toxapex is more or less a standard set, but Payapa berry eases the matchup against opposing Volcarona's, giving me a guaranteed Haze. From there, if I choose to run Toxic I can potentially stall it out, but it is admittedly situational.
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I really wasn't planning on doing a RMT for this team but out of sheer boredom from winter break I decided to post this to get a bit of advice for my team.
Offensive teams are really my preference. Since the days of DPP, I've leaned more towards that because of the fast paced nature of the matches. As opposed to DPP where I ran more bulky offense, this offense team is based on the core of Volcarona and Kartana and it strives to wear the opponent down with strong breakers until I can clean with either Volcarona, Kartana or Gyarados. I've revised this team a bunch, but I can't really make improvements at this point so I'll leave it to you to figure out how to make my team better.
Since a ton of people post songs that signify their teams, I based this team off of Led Zeppelin's epic track "In The Light". It's off of their 1975 album Physical Graffiti, and it closes off the first season of Mindhunters on Netflix (Great show if you haven't seen it). Check it out below.
I started of around the core of Volcarona and Kartana. Other than just being a cool mon, Kartana provides crucial Defog support for Volc and gives me a check to certain bulky waters Volcarona has issues with. Volcarona in return can switch into bulky grasses and steels that Kartana hates and use them as set up bait.
My next addition was the add Specs Koko. Specs Thunderbolt when combined with Kartana's Knock Off can overwhelm Heatrans that try to wall this core, and U-Turn gives them free entry to Tangrowths and other other grasses and grounds that try to switch in. After I got that I wanted to add Landorus-T for another U-turner, rocker, and because-well- why not at this point?
Mega Gyarados was added next because I wanted another set up sweeper that can disrupt stall teams and capitalize on rain teams. Mega Gyara also gives me a switch in to choiced locked psychic moves from Lele which I have a lot of issues with.
Last but not least I added Toxapex to give me a sturdier swich in for Ash Greninja and company, while also setting up Toxic Spikes to wear down certain mons that are tough for my team to handle.
Liger (Landorus-Therian) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Landorus-Therian, the standard lead. Landorus-T does so many things that are valuable that it's almost at a point where if you don't use it you're at an immediate disadvantage. This Lando is more or less standard. Earthquake for a consistent STAB attack, Stealth Rock for hazard chip, and U-Turn for momentum and Hidden Power Ice in conjunction with Yache Berry lets me beat opposing standard leads. Yache also is great to bandaid check Tapu Kokos who may give my team trouble.
I run more Defense on this Landorus than normal to better check Zygarde, especially since I'm not running Lefties, but Weakness Policy sets still fuck me over. The defensive utility that Lando provides along with Toxapex gives me a solid backbone to fall back against when dealing with many of the metagame's major threats.
Choppa (Kartana) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Defog
Scarf Kartana has always been a great pokemon, but it got a lot better with the introduction of knock off to it's movepool. Knock Off hits many of the pokemon that can switch in easily and gets rid of their useful items, and has a nice secondary benefit of identifying Z moves so I can better scout sets. Leaf Blade, while not the best coverage wise, gives me a strong stab move to blow through bulky waters that can wall Gyarados and Volcarona. Secret Sword improves my matchup against Ferrothorn and steel types, but I'm considering running Smart Strike to hit Tapu Bulu easier. That's a bit of stretch admittedly though. Defog is simply one of the best moves in the game, and with 2 rock weak sweepers, it's basically mandatory on this team to have something that can remove SR.
Kartana serves as my first breaker since it's already dumb strong, and with beast boost letting it snowball easily it more often than not serves as my cleaner against teams after Volcarona, Koko and Gyarados do their jobs. One of the best things that Kartana does though is bait in things that can be used as set up fodder for Volcarona. Anything that likes taking a Leaf Blade doesn't really like a +1 Shattered Psyche or Fire Blast.
Watts (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Specs Koko is a set that I didn't really appreciate originally but it has 1000% shown its worth. It has become the real powerhouse of the team, breaking through a lot of common defensive cores and pivoting in my other breakers so they can wreak havoc.
Thunderbolt is my bread and butter for this set, dealing a lot of damage to pokemon that try to sponge Koko's attacks like Heatran and Tangrowths that had their Vests knocked off. U-Turn is used over Volt Switch so I don't lose all my momentum to ground types like offensive Landorus or Excadrill. It gives me nice chip damage against a lot of mons that try to switch in and can potentially put those mons in range of attacks from the rest of my team. Hidden Power Ice slices through most grounds that think they can absorb a Thunderbolt, and Dazzling Gleam is a safe option to smack the other random pokemon that can switch into both, and it OHKO's Zygarde, Kyurem-B and Latios after Stealth Rock.
Scarface (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Taunt
Gyarados was needed because I needed something that can sponge strong psychic attacks, is resistant to fire, dark & ground attacks. Gyarados is that guy. Taunt keeps it status free for the most part, with the only real issue being Scald. But that move is broken as fuck anyway so whatever. Stall crumbles to Mega Gyarados because outside of scald burns and Counter Skarmory, theres not a lot of counterplay to this. Mold Breaker does some cool things like break through Magic Bounce so I can taunt Sableye and ignore Unaware so I can slam Quagsire and Clefable with my stab moves.
I've toyed with the idea of adding different coverage options over Waterfall, such as Ice Fang to hit Mega Venusaur, but I always end up going back to Waterfall because it gives me a consistent move pre Mega Evolution. Plus rain teams hate taking a boosted +1 Waterfall back at them, especially Swampert.
Anita (Volcarona) (F) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
The star of the show, Volcarona. The standard set breaks through a ton of pokemon in the current metagame, only really fearing Tyranitar. However, a Bug Buzz does around 60% unboosted so unless its a scarf set that has fallen out of favor, I can bust through T-Tar on the second switch in. Shattered Psyche busts through Pex like its nothing, and breaks through a lot of shit that Fire Blast and Bug Buzz have trouble getting through. Flame Body is chosen over Swarm because random burns are cluuuuuuuuuutch.
Volcarona is what every other pokemon on this team works to get sweep, but it ends up playing more like another breaker for the rest of the team. Punching holes and capitalizing on holes that were punched.
Kora (Toxapex) @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes / Toxic
Toxapex along with Landorus-T combine to make a decent defensive core that can check a broad spectrum of threats in the metagame. Scald and Haze helps me stop a lot of physical attackers that try to set up such as Hawlucha which can be a problem for a lot of archtypes. Recover improves my longevity, and along with Toxic Spikes, I can stall out a lot of grounded pokemon with it. I chose Toxic Spikes over Toxic to get more chip against certain pokemon on stall and balanced teams, and a lot of times Toxapex doesn't get the chance to use Toxic on these threats.
Toxapex is more or less a standard set, but Payapa berry eases the matchup against opposing Volcarona's, giving me a guaranteed Haze. From there, if I choose to run Toxic I can potentially stall it out, but it is admittedly situational.
Anita (Volcarona) (F) @ Psychium Z
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
Choppa (Kartana) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Defog
Watts (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Liger (Landorus-Therian) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Scarface (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Taunt
Kora (Toxapex) @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic
Choppa (Kartana) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Defog
Watts (Tapu Koko) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Liger (Landorus-Therian) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Scarface (Gyarados-Mega) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Taunt
Kora (Toxapex) @ Payapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes
Threatlist:
Tapu Lele - Tapu Lele is the biggest threat to my team, nothing here can switch into a boosted Psychic. Matchups against Psyspam are even worst because of the compounded weakness to Alakazam.
Tapu Bulu - SD Bulu can cause serious issues for my team, especially if it runs Stone Edge.
Gyarados - Opposing Gyaradoses can break through Toxapex with either Taunt or Earthquake, leaving me having to fish for Scald burns.
