A King of Kings

MetaGross66

MetaGross66

Kingdra_by_pokemon_master.jpg


A King of Kings
------
437.png
|
380.png
|
130.png
|
230.png
|
462.png
|
385.png





437.png

Bronzong @ Macho Brace
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/84 Atk/80 Def/92 SDef
Sassy nature
- Stealth Rock
- Trick
- Explosion
- Gyro Ball
---
Bronzong is…well, Bronzong. It is the reliable lead of early DP, and can still play up to his reputation having taken the #1 spot in the war of leads for many months past. The fall of Hypnosis’ accuracy struck an enormous blow to his usage, though. Hypnosis doesn’t change anything when he got a new toy as Platinum was released: Trick. This brings back his ability to toy with the opponent’s mind, while reliably bringing Stealth Rocks to play helping the rest of its teammates sweep.

The item of choice was Macho Brace because it halves his pathetic speed unlike Lagging Tail and doesn’t take away his levitate ability like Iron Ball (which is cool for those Rotom-A) making it so that anything sitting at or above 186 speed gets hit by a 150 Base Power STAB Gyro Ball. Furthermore, he can trick his item onto the opposition to get some leftovers recovery or toy with the opponent’s mind even more helping Magnezone outspeed those Heatran it desperately wants to as well. Halving the speed of things such as Heatran and Infernape that love switching in on him really makes them easier to deal with. When Bronzong is done, he can go out with a bang making the opposition lose any momentum they might have gained. In all, Bronzong is a real team player and really helps take those dangerous Dragon attacks for the team.

380.png

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
---
Latias was the second member to join this team forming a formidable defensive and offensive synergetic relationship with Bronzong allowing me to get the early offensive approach in a match quite simply. This Latias is a little different from the normal one, though; let me explain: it needed Roost for recovery, Dragon Pulse for STAB, and two other moves. My choices were Calm Mind, Grass Knot, Hidden Power, Thunderbolt, and Surf. I went with Calm Mind and Surf in the beginning. After testing the team, I got hurt badly by a Gyarados and so I figured Latias was the only Pokemon it was able to set up on. I settled with Thunderbolt and never looked back. It simply works.

The EV spread and item are pretty straightforward. Max speed and max Special attack to get the most out of her offensive capabilities while still retaining defensive properties in the ability to switch moves and gain health each turn rather than lose it. Latias also becomes the first member of my core.


130.png

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/80 Def/176 SDef
Careful nature
- Waterfall
- Roar
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
---
Gyarados is the third member pairing up nicely with Kingdra to weaken its counters. It also functions well with Magnezone type-wise, and Latias who has issues with status. Its water typing allows it to come in relatively easy on the top threats of OU; namely Infernape, Heatran, some Lucario, Gliscor…just about anything not carrying an electric attack. It also boasts an impressive 100 base Special Defense stat giving it the ability to act as a reliable mixed tank with Intimidate. Waterfall comes as a reliable STAB move for Gyarados, while Stone Edge prevents major threats like Salamence and opposing Gyarados from setting up on it. Roar can do the same however, and allow Gyarados to act as a scout, but SR won't be hurting Celebi and Vaporeon as much as Stone Edge would. Nevertheless, it is still an option that I'm currently using.

A Rest-Talking Gyarados was chosen over the other variants for three reasons: I needed a way to scare off things Kingdra would scare off without actually revealing it, while at the same time sport the ability to heal off the damage and absorb status. Specially Defensive Rest-Talk Gyarados fit the bill perfectly not being 2KOed by a Heatran’s Fire Blast after Stealth Rock damage unlike Offensive Gyarados. It can even survive a standard Rotom-A's Thunderbolt assuming no previous damage has occurred which is astounding for something that is 4x weak to an Electric attack.

Quite frankly, I’m surprised this Gyarados hasn’t caught on when Jabba first introduced it. It works wonders on this team. Its synergy with the team as a whole is impeccable, to boot.


462.png

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature
- Thunder Wave
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Substitute
---
Magnezone is the final member of my Latias-Gyarados-Magnezone core. It traps those Steels that get in Latias’s and Gyarados’s way. It can then hide behind a Substitute if the opponent is choice locked into a Steel move (Jirachi and Scizor). This can easily give me 2 kills in a match. I don’t run explosion because I have a great switch in for Blissey in Gyarados. I figured I’d rather get more coverage and run Flash Cannon to hit those Latias and Tyranitar that come in to absorb a Thunderbolt. Hidden Power Grass lets me combat Swampert while Thunderbolt harms all the other bulky waters.

Magnezone’s ability to trap Steels is valuable, as Kingdra’s biggest enemy is Skarmory. Sure, it may run Shed Shell sometimes (coward), but remember, there is a rising number of those that are Specially Defensive and Latias can surprise them with a Thunderbolt which is a 2KO. This also gives me a way to handle Scizor and Jirachi while luring Swampert to get killed.


230.png

Kingdra @ Haban Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 80 HP/116 Atk/176 SDef/136 Spd
Jolly nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- Substitute
---
Kingdra is oft-overlooked in favor of the other OU Dragons, but that shouldn’t be so. It only sports one weakness being Dragon and that can easily play to my advantage with a Haban Berry. Kingdra often has issues with status and Choice Scarfed Dragons like Latias and Flygon. With a Haban berry, this is no more. Kingdra can easily come in on a Vaporeon or anything with a weak neutral attack for that matter (lots of stuff). Then, it can Substitute on the incoming Toxic, or Dragon Dance if you are aware the opponent is hiding a revenge killer. This is where Haban Berry comes in allowing an extra Dragon Dance and likely, a sweep as very little is stopping Kingdra at +2 Speed and Attack. Leftovers is completely viable as an option for the item. I have tried both, and prefer Haban Berry for those annoying Dragons, though.

Timid Choice Scarf Latias' Draco Meteor: 57.2% - 67.5% (enough to survive after using Substitute and maybe after SR)
Modest Choice Scarf Latias' Draco Meteor: 62.7% - 74.3% (enough to survive after using Substitute)
Jolly Kingdra's +2 Outrage vs Scarf Latias: 202.6% - 238.4%

Flygon:
Jolly Choice Scarf Flygon's Outrage: 55% - 65% (enough to survive after using Substitute and maybe after SR)
Adamant Choice Scarf Flygon's Outrage: 60.1% - 71.4% (enough to survive after using Substitute and maybe after SR)
Jolly Kingdra's +2 Outrage vs Scarf Flygon: 222.5% - 262.3%

I outspeed both at +2 and KO them. It’s amazing how something as durable and potentially powerful as Kingdra found its spot in low-mid OU when it can do major damage with proper support. With that, I need something to exploit that mess Kingdra can create.


385.png

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature
- U-turn
- Ice Punch
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
---
Of course Jirachi would be the one to clean up. He provides a nice revenge killer and late game sweeper in one. Iron Head flinches near anything to death with its 60% chance of happening so it was a must. I noticed I had no Lucario check outside of Gyarados who wasn’t as reliable due to Stone Edge so Fire Punch was a must. I then looked at how vulnerable Gyarados is to Salamence when it is asleep as there is a 33% chance I will actually damage it. I didn’t want to rely on a 33% chance and so gave Jirachi Ice Punch. U-turn was a must to escape Magnezone. It also helps in the early stages allowing me to scout for things like Heatran so I can exploit them later on with Kingdra or Latias.

Jirachi is the all in one Pokemon and holds the team together. By revenge killing several threats it becomes easier for the core to handle opposing teams and furthers the goal of achieving a Kingdra sweep (or at least mini sweep before Outrage confuses me).

Conclusion​
The team has been doing amazing and rose my CRE to a good 1480 under the alias Arcanus breaking the slump I had after retiring my last team. It's still scoring 5-0s and 6-0s, too which obviously shows it can go farther. I'm probably going to keep laddering with it, but in my spare time, since my break is over. :pirate:

Oh, and no threat list. I figured I'd give myself and all of you raters a break after the last RMT. :)

A special thanks to​

Seth Vilo for the Kingdra EV spread which can be explained in greater detail over here​
 
I got your PM, so I guess now's a good time to get back into RMTing!

This is a cool team, and I like the touches of creativity that aren't 100% gimmicky. My only issue comes when you play a stall or other defensive style team. You don't really have anything that preforms well against stall, and without a rapid spinner your team will eventually get worn down. I think a few simple changes can help with that, but also just improve your team in general.

First off is Gyarados, I think Roar over Stone Edge is a better choice. You're still preventing them from setting up (unless it's a Taunt Gyarados but you can revenge it so I don't think it's a big deal.) Roar will allow you to scout through your opponents team as well as slowly wear them down with Stealth Rock. This will also help slightly (though admittedly not much I just think it's worth mentioning) against stall by making your Gyarados harder to phaze. Sleep Talk doesn't carry the negative priority of the other phazing moves so you'll be able to get out of being phazed 33% of the time.

Next is another slight change that I feel can benefit you a lot. Switch Flash Cannon for Explosion on Magnezone, so it isn't completely walled by Blissey. If you can take out Blissey you shouldn't have too much problem wearing your opponent down, and Flash Cannon doesn't give you a lot more coverage. With this I would change Timid to Naive, so that you can do more damage to Blissey and other things you'd want to explode on.

One last change I'd like to make is giving Jirachi Trick over Ice Punch. You have Bronzong to check Salamence pretty reliably, and he has a very hard time setting up on you as it is. If worse comes to worse you can still beat it with Iron Head. Trick lets you play some games with your opponent, crippling most walls and things like CurseLax and CroCune, which could give you some issues if they managed to get set up.

That's all I've got for now, kind of in a rush so I'll have to check back to see if I missed anything. Good Luck!
 
Thanks for the rates! :)

I'll definitely consider Roar as it does prevent them from setting up on me which is what I wanted. Stone Edge prevents Taunt from ruining me, though, which I have been seeing more of from Gyarados. It also lets me hurt bulky waters and Celebi which is Gyarados's job. It helps weaken them quicker than SR would, but it's definitely worth considering for Crocune (which Magnezone hurts anyway).

As for Explosion over Flash Cannon, I figured someone would suggest that and wanted to be able to harm Latias and Tyranitar without killing myself, as Magnezone plays a huge role for the team taking out the Steels that would otherwise wall me. Gyarados beats Blissey for me.

Bronzong can't really take repeated Dragon attacks with no recovery. He also dies pretty early, usually with Explosion. If I do use Trick I usually end up with a choice item (from those scarfzones and scarftrans) or Leftovers so those Pokemon aren't of much trouble. I've been having more trouble with CMrachi. Wish variants usually get hit by a crit as they lack Substitute and try to set up on my Magnezone. Substitute variants are the bane of this team. I'd consider Trick if I didn't already have Bronzong hold it. Ice Punch makes sure I get the KO on it at +1 instead of relying on Iron Head which is pretty reliable, but not when you have to win a speed tie and you can't outright OHKO the thing.

In all, defensive teams haven't been that troublesome. As long as I can dispose of Skarmory (Magnezone and Latias do that), Kingdra is sweeping, as there are lots of opportunities for it to set up when up against a defensive team. It's mainly Semi-Stall with Jirachi and that's all I was able to find threatening in the time I used this.
 
hey,great team there,i cant see any big weakness on that,just s small weakness to DD gyarados with waterfall,stone edge and earthquake(kind rare) has stone edge will do heavy damage to latias and ohko your gyarados after DD and earthquake will destroy jirachi,magnezone and kingdra to a extend,you could just try thunderpunch instead of u-turn on your jirachi,he is manly used for revenge killing so u-turn will rarely be used,and t-punch will clean the ground with the enemy gyarados (btw,jirachi locked into fire punch is the perfect setup bait for gyarados) and not really much more,your team is so good at the moment i cant find any more weakness,if i DO find one i will tell you,good luck and great team!
 
Well this is cool! Maybe I will start un-lurking...

I like the team a lot! The fact that you're using a RestTalk Gyarados on it instantly adds cool points in my mind. Not to mention the Bronzong. Cool points there too. On RestTalk Gyarados' that I've run, over Stone Edge I run Dragon Dance, simply making Gyarados a terrifying sweeper that can heal itself. More counters are increased in danger for it that way, like Vaporeon, though...

I do agree with Lucalibur about the slight DD Gyarados weakness, with the fastest thing being Jirachi, and she can't do all that much back. Latias, however, makes a fairly good switch-in to it on the turn it Dances - it can take a good bit of what Gyarados throws at it and proceed to Thunderbolt:

Vs Latias:
+1 Waterfall: 37.7% - 44.7%
+1 Stone Edge: 63.2% - 74.5%
+1 Ice Fang: 82.1% - 97.4%

So Stealth Rock will be your enemy there.

Being unable to think of anything else, I'm out. Thanks for mentioning me, BTW! I was surprised. Lol! XD

EDIT:

One thing:

It [Gyarados] can even survive a standard Rotom-A's Thunderbolt assuming no previous damage has occurred which is astounding for something that is 4x weak to an Electric attack.
Click to expand...

That's 83.2% - 98.5% from a standard Defensive Rotom-H. Just highlighting the part that says "no previous damage", including the ever-common, over-hyped Stealth Rock. You probably knew that yourself, but I'm just making sure. Better safe then sorry, right? =)
 
Thanks! They're there for a reason. ;)

The team used to be Gyarados weak until I made that change on Latias. It really helps knowing it can't set up on anything now. Bronzong switches in and Explodes or Tricks. Kingdra can survive a +1 EQ and revenge with Outrage if needed. Latias thunderbolts. Magnezone, too, but I'll likely switch to Latias as most Gyarados can't touch it. Jirachi can Iron Head a weakened one, but otherwise, that's where it's setting up and so I'll usually switch to Latias via U-turn if I'm not using Iron Head. My Gyarados threatens a Stone Edge, too. There are a number of ways to beat it, oddly, but I see where you guys see the weakness despite my experiences with it being hard to remember as they are hardly any threat.

U-turn on Jirachi is my only method of scouting after Bronzong of course, and so I really need it. I also hate getting my only revenge killer trapped by Magnezone and then losing to something like Lucario. -_-

Oh, and that's exactly what I meant. Thanks for mentioning that anyway. I was going to post the calc (impressive by the way), but I decided not to. ;)

Any other rates?
 
Hey dude, got your PM!

This looks like a very well constructed team. I don't see any stand out weaknesses, but there are a couple things you can change to improve its performance. I agree with others who have said that Roar is the superior option on Gyarados. Stone Edge is unreliable, and does not help against Calm Minders such as Suicune who could otherwise be pretty problematic if it sets up. Roar can pHaze Suicune out, and also racks up Stealth Rock damage. Stone Edge does quite forgettable damage to Vaporeon and Celebi anyway, and a costly miss against a Salamence could spell doom.

Flash Cannon is of little use on Magnezone. Yes, it does hit Tyranitar harder than Thunderbolt, but won't even finish it off after it comes into a Thunderbolt, meaning Magnezone will often have to take an attack. A better fourth move on Magnezone, would be Thunder Wave. Thunder Wave slows down the foe making it more difficult for them to revenge kill Kingdra. Latias is a common switch into Magnezone, as with just Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass, it won't be taking too much damage. With Thunder Wave, you prevent say a Scarf Latias from revenge killing Kingdra. Another option is Charge Beam, which can give you a huge amount of power if you have trapped a Jirachi or Scizor locked into a resisted move. This gives you ample time to Charge Beam and boost your Special Attack sky high.

Especially if you are using Thunder Wave on Magnezone, Haban Berry on Kingdra should be replaced with a Lum Berry. I find Lum Berry a whole lot more useful, curing confusion to giving you another Dragon Dance as the foe tries to status you. A lot more Pokemon will be trying to paralyze or burn you than will be throwing lethal Dragon-type attacks at ya'.

Lastly, replacing U-turn on Jirachi with ThunderPunch gives you a way to revenge kill Gyarados. You mention how U-turn saves you from Magnezone, but most of the time Magnezone will only come in if you already locked into another move, meaning you are trapped anyway. You could also use Trick if you are having trouble with SkarmBliss and other stall combos. Good luck!
 
If you guys really insist on me trying out Roar on Gyarados I will. The T-wave and Lum berry combo is interesting, and would make my whole team "immune" to Toxic Spikes for the time being, however, if anything, I'd use Leftovers. It really helps when you see Rotom 3KO because of it (might be the standard EV spread, not sure). Anyway, I can try it out and see how it goes. I'd really prefer not to rely on Latias switching in on Magnezone, though, because the Scarf variant can't touch it either so I doubt it would switch in... Oh, and Flash cannon 2KOs 252 HP/6 SDef Tyranitar with SR so it's hardly a worry. I Substitute as it comes in revealing its set (if it's faster it's scarf or DD), and then can fire off 2 Flash Cannons at the slower one and hit the faster on the switch next opportunity I get.

Thunder Punch isn't really up for recommendation when Gyarados doesn't bother me much. I find U-turn more useful for escaping Magnezone, as it may switch in after I Iron Head, but they'll likely have revealed it by then through Bronzong who attracts them. I can then try to get rid of it mainly by using Jirachi as a lure and switching in my Latias via U-turn to Surf it as it struggles to beat me without Explosion or Flash Cannon.
 
Hi, I got your PM

This team seems really nice and judging by its success and all the other rates, it doesn't need that many changes. I can only offer a few suggestions:

First, Flash Cannon doesnt seem to fulfill a good purpose on Magnezone, you already have Jirachi to deal with it and it can be difficult to predict around; it also only 2HKOs it, meaning you'll often get hit before you take it down. I suggest either going with Thunder Wave or Magnet Rise to deal with the steel types with Earthquake.


Also, your team looks like it may have some trouble when DD Gyara sets up, so to fix this I'd change Ice Punch on Jirachi to Thunderpunch, since Bronzong handles Mence and other dragons fairly well. If all else fails, you can always Iron Head Mence to death.

Gl with the team!
 
Thanks for the rate! :)

I'll definitely switch to thunder wave now as I'm having trouble utilizing Haban berry with entry hazards everywhere. For maximum efficiency, a Spinner is necessary and I probably should have realized that after looking at the calcs. It was only activated twice when I used it (didn't know dragon attacks were that rare) and once it got killed by hax. The other, it was weakened enough for the dragon attack to break through Haban Berry. I'm definitely switching to leftovers now. Flash Cannon really is useful, though, and I noticed that I use it more than HP Grass....Without HP Grass, though, I'm walled by Swampert. Any good EV spread recommendation for Kingdra?
 
Depends how bulky you want kingdra to be and what you want it to outspeed. Since you'll be paralyzing things, maybe a spread of 252 Atk/ 252 Spd/ 4 HP would work unless you need more bulk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top