A 50-50 TEAM

[Xboy]

Hi, so I've been battling on showdown for a while with this team... not that it's bad, but my win/loss percentage is quite the same, and I've even beaten ubers with this team... I'll just give a brisk preview.
***CHANGES MADE ARE IN (BRACKETS)***



Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / (232 Def / 24 Spd)
Impish Nature (+def -spa)
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Drill Peck

the physical wall from gen2 still remains a good choice, especially with it's impressive synergies with my other steel types... 40 speed allows me to whirlwind away other pokemon trying to setup...

However, common attacks aimed at it are more specially based...


Heatran
M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature(+sdef -atk)
- lava plume
- Earth Power
- Torment
- Protect

the infamous tormentran with a necessary twist: earth power... I've tried substitute and it's of no help to be honest.... more focus is given to sdef as i already have a physical wall... I commonly switch it into an advantageous pokemon and 'torment' as it switches out on heatran's counter... 'protect' prevents it from taking attack and 'lava plume' provides burn for physical sweepers..

Just like with skarmory, heatran has problems with the attacks aimed at it... most are physical!


Metagross
@ Iron Plate
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- ThunderPunch


Bulky Meta acts both as a part physical wall and phy sweeper... the item is really a headache. I can't choice as it ruins meteor mash+bullet combo in times of need, and it's STABs are strong against only one type, so an iron plate actually helps to pack some punch, but I want to change it into something more reliable...

It can resist an earthquake to some measure and use mash+bullet combe to knock out those who are not physically based... but Burn kind of destroys it, so I've tried using the 'brn healing berry', then i encounter paralysis and etc...


Latios
(M) @ (Life orb)
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- (recover)
- (Psyshock)

One of my special sweepers... of course, one would think of 'choicing' it, but with the availability of pursuit, it signals death-roll when locked into psychic... sometimes it's my last poke standing, but can sweep if necessary... choice would ruin this ability.. still, I would prefer a better item..


Thundurus T

@ choice scarf
Trait: volt absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- U-turn
- (focus blast)
- Hidden Power [Ice]

another special sweeper.. had zapdos, which is sometimes the better option in terms of bulk and late-game stand-offs, but scarfing allows u-turn to be used when in doubt and it's spA stat lets me rip opponents..


Swampert
(M) @ Quick Claw
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Stone Edge

If this pokemon doesn't surprise or seem to threaten you, it's item will... thinking of using dragonite, salamence or garchomp setting up for easy sweep?.. once quick claw or aka 'pain in the ass' activates, and I ice punch your dragons/celebi or make your jaw drop, you focus more on cursing me rather than the battle itself... Jk, it's like my team, a 50-50 item... swampert's bulk let's it take 1 or 2 hits and return with maybe one supereffective shot, but activated quick claw helps... I'm open to Better options here..


SYNERGIES

Skarmory:
fire- heatran, latios, swampert
electric- thundurus, latios, swampert

Heatran:
ground- skarmory, latios, thundurus
fighting- latios, thundurus
water- latios

Metagross:
ground- skarmory, latios, thundurus
fire- heatran, latios, swampert

Latios:
dragon- heatran, meta, skarmory
dark- heatran, skarmory
bug- heatran, skarmory, thundurus
ice- heatran, metagross

thundurus:
rock- metagross, swampert
ice- heatran, metagross

swampert:
grass- ALL OF THE ABOVE!




MAIN PROBLEMS

Rotom W usually walls me, and I know it's abilities as i used to have it instead of heatran... and stall teams also give me a headache... so as any other trainer does, I need some help, in terms of advice, suggestions, criticism..

Thank You.

 

[Prinz]

Hello!

First of all, as you already said, your team has some problem against Rotom-W. To solve this weakness, I'd use Gastrodon replacing Swampert. It walls completely Rotom-W and it has also Recover to do Swamper's job better. I'd a EV spread of 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD with a moveset of Earthquake, Scald, Recover and Toxic, with Sassy nature and with Leftovers of course. Then, on your Heatran Torment is a very useless move because it hasn't Protect and Substitute to stall the opposing pokèmon so I suggest you to use Toxic instead of Torment which can help you against Chansey, Blissey, bulky Water-type pokèmon like Jellicent and in general against stall teams. Finallly, I'd change Latios' set a bit. If you have problem against stall team, you can try to use Psyshock > Psychic because it would help a lot vs. Chansey, Blissey and vs. special walls in general. Also, I suggest you to use Life Orb replacing Wise Glasses to hit harder and to use Recover replacing Hidden Power Fire. Recover allows Latios to keep alive more time so it's a very useful move, otherwise steel-types don't seem a problem for this team since you have Heatran and Gastrodon so Latios can lack Hidden Power Fire.

Good luck!

 

[Dr Ciel]

Hello.

Nice balance of offensive and defensive Pokemon you have here, so kudos to you. Anyways, there are some devastatin flaws that this team has unfortunately, and hopefully my rate will help this team improve and most importantly, iron out those flaws. With that said, let's get to the rate shall we? Alright, first and foremost, your Skarmory does not have any reliable recovery and it is going to get worn down by hazards and be easily defeated, so I recommend running Roost over Stealth Rock on it. Roost gives you a reliable recovery move and gives Skarmory more staying power. Staying on Skarmory, I would recommend changing his EV spread to one of 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe over your current spread. The aftermentioned spread allows Skarmory to take hard hits while Speed creeping come common OU threats. Moving on, I would like to suggest running Stealth Rock and Toxic over your current choices of Torment and Earth Power. Heatrans great base defenses make it an excellent Stealth Rock setter and Toxic helps cripple many threats, such as Volcarona and Latias. On Thundurus-T, you should be running Volt Switch and Focus Blast over U-Turn and Grass Knot. Volt Switch gives you an excellent STAB move to switch out quickly and act accordingly while Focus Blast hits Tyranitar, Heatran and others hard. Finally, I agree with Alexanders suggestion of Gastrodon over Swampert, as it completely counters Rotom-W and can cripple it with Toxic. Well, that's all i have to say for now. I hope my advice helped. Have fun and good luck in your future endeavours!​

Gastrodon

Gastrodon @ Leftovers Lv. 100 -- Storm Drain

Nature: Calm - EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef​

- Toxic
- Recover
- Earth Power
- Scald

TL;DR

• Skarmory

  

  :​
• Stealth Rock -> Roost​
• 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Spd -> 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe​

• Heatran
  
  : Torment & Earth Power -> Stealth Rock & Toxic

• Thundurus-T

  

  : U-Turn & Grass Knot -> Volt Switch & Focus Blast​

• Swampert

  

  --------------> Gastrodon

  

~Dr Ciel~ (The doctor is OUT)​

 

[Shurtugal]

Hello!

You seem new and this team has way too many issues to actually make pokemon changes, so I'm going to help you out with your sets and hopefully you'll grow as a player! :)

Latios doesn't want Wise Glasses. It's doing literally, nothing. I would run Expert Belt to bluff those Scarf / Specs variants imo. I would also replace Psychic for Psyshock for the sake of hitting Blissey and Sand Terrakion, as well as rare CM Keldeo, a hell of a lot harder. I would use Stealth Rock over Stone Edge on Swampert (and give Skarmory Roost over SR), and then I'd replace Quick Claw for that appealing Leftovers. I would replace Thunder Punch for Agility on Metagross since you don't really need the 75 BP coverage and Agility opens up more speed oppurtunity.

Um, Latios should be able to beat Rotom-W so I don't know what you are even talking about XD.

Good Luck
~ Shurtugal ~​

 

[Xboy]

WOW!.. Thanks to all of you for your advice and I appreciate it a lot.. I have also considered some of the changes you guys talked about, but didn't post them so that you don't get biased.. I'm definitely making those changes. However, I've tried some of your other advice and although they seem individually helpful, they just don't work with the team as a whole... I'll list them per pokemon..

SKARMORY:
The common reply I was expecting was right, 'roost over stealth rock'... The main problem with this is that none of my other pokemon can use stealthr. effectively.. I'll come to why stealth rock on This particular heatran isn't possible.. Secondly, skarmory's weaknesses are fire and electric, and two of my pokemon are immune to them.. I prefer to eliminate the opponent's rapid spinner early on, so I don't find a healing move on skar all too necessary.. Then comes the secondary effect of roost: removing skar's flying type... believe it or not, I've taken out quite a few unsuspecting roost users using earthquake... although it is a shaky strategy, I'll change to roost if I find healing very necessary in future.. But I'm changing to the EV spread


HEATRAN:
I can see most of you are not understanding the importance of tormentran.. first, I need earth power to take out opposing heatran or chandelure, otherwise i'm either trick or taunt fodder.. 'torment' itself is the main move of the team.. as the opponent switches to heatran's counter, I use torment, followed by protect... So, if the opponent is 'choiced' he has no option but to switch out, and reveal their moveset... stealth rock can't replace a move here in my opinion...


METAGROSS:
Agiligross requires speed investment, which means I lose the tanking abilities against some 'non-banded, or orbed' physical supereffective moves... thunderpunch is the trump card against intimidate gyarados or unsuspecting rain sweepers... It's weird no one has talked about it's item instead...

LATIOS:
I can see many problems regarding latios, and I'll change those... I didn't notice it has recover..(lol).. so I'll work with Life orb and change HP-fire... As well as Psyshock for psychic..


THUNDURUS:
volt swicth over U-turn is not wise, I can't switch out of a ground type switch in and be locked, gifting my opponent to set up as easily.. But I will change grass knot to focus blast...


SWAMPERT:
The thing about swampert is, I've tried both quagsire and gastrodon.. although quagsire can sweep after a few curse set up, it falls to special attacks... gastrodon seems a better option, but then I lose a physical attacker, and gastrodon can be tricked into toxic and disabled completely.. Stone edge enables me to get the 'quake-edge' combo... only few pokemon resist both the moves... I'm going for expert belt instead of quick claw if it fails to work smoothly in the future...