A VGC team for Athens

[Otterz]

Hello. This is my first year in competitive battling and second in VGC. How could I have been not competitive but in VGC? I have no idea but let us ignore that for now. Moving on to the team. It started as a rain team with the usual such as Politoed, Ludicolo, Kingdra, Thundurus, Hitmontop and Toxicroak. This team just didn't work for me and I simply didn't like how I set it up. It gradually got changed and changed until it became this, what you are now here to rate.

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Hitmontop
Adamant - Life Orb - Technician

HP 252/Atk 252/Spe 4

~ Fake Out
~ Detect * Wide Guard
~ Mach Punch
~ Sucker Punch

Hitmontop is more often than not my lead because of its powerful and useful Fake Out under Life Orb and Technician. Mach Punch is its STAB move which also gains power from the effects of Technician. Mach Punch's priority also lets me have little worry about getting an attack in a bad situation. Sucker Punch is there for coverage and to hit Cresselia as well as Latios for super effective damage. Wide Guard is for rain teams with their overused Surf as well as Discharges and Rock slides coming my way. The 252 EVs in HP are to ensure that Hitmontop stays on the field long enough to put some dents in the foe's team. This is also a drawback because of the lack of Spe EVs which make Hitmontop 2nd in a speed contest with other Fake Out users including other Hitmontops which would normally be a speed tie.





Tyranitar
Adamant - Rock Gem * Focus Sash - Sand Stream

HP 252/Atk 252/SpD 4

~ Rock Slide
~ Stone Edge * Low Kick
~ Crunch
~ Protect

Tyranitar is used for its ability to set up sandstorms to mess with weather and its capabilities as a bulky attacking lead. Rock Slide is its main rock type STAB move that can hit both of its opponents and for extra damage at the start of the battle with help from rock gem. Low Kick is for mirror match ups and generally heavy pokes such as Metagross. Crunch is for its Dark type STAB move and to take care of leading Psychic types for Hitmontop as well as the occasional Ghost type. Protect is for stalling with sandstorm or immunity to its partner's spread move.




Latios
Timid - Dragon Gem - Levitate

HP 4/SpA 248/SpD 4/Spe 252

~ Draco Meteor
~ HP Fire
~ Thunderbolt
~ Protect * Tailwind

Latios is my special attacker and fastest Pokemon on the team. Draco Meteor is somewhat like Explosion for Latios and with Dragon Gem it is a OHKO on a handful of Pokemon in the current VGC metagame. Thunderbolt is for hitting water types and flying super effectively along with the common Politoed. Tailwind is here for out speeding deadly Pokemon such as Weavile and Latios. Hidden Power Fire is a great coverage move for this set which hits Abomasnow and Ferrothorn for quite the amount. With the coverage from HP Fire it might be great but this drops Latios' Speed and SpA IVs down to thirty which makes Latios vulnerable to other Latios' Dragon type attacks.




Amoonguss
Calm - Occa Berry - Effect Spore

HP 252/Def 4/SpD 252

~ Spore
~ Rage Powder
~ Protect
~ Giga Drain

* Will be edited later. *




Zapdos
Modest - Yache Berry - Pressure

HP 140/SpA 252/Spe 116

~ Thunderbolt
~ Tailwind
~ HP Grass
~ Heat Wave

* Will be edited later. *




Rhyperior
Brave - Ground Gem - Lightningrod

[IV Spe-0] HP 252/Atk 252/SpD 4

~ Earthquake
~ Megahorn
~ Rock Slide
~ Protect

Rhyperior is just simply my massive attacker to manipulate Trick Room teams to my advantage.



Weaknesses
After battling with this team on Pokemon Online for awhile (VGC '12 style of course) I have identified so drawbacks and weaknesses in this team. Latios' 30 speed IV is a major loss when opponents Latios come out making it inevitable that Latios is going down. Scizor and Gastrodon also effectively wall my team until I get Latios out(Scizor), but there is no solution for Gastrodon besides taking it down slowly.

* Zapdos can take down both of these.

Thanks for reading this and rating my team it will help alot! :D

 

[muffinhead]

hi, ill try to help you with your team :D
how in the world did you start off with rain and move to sand? xD
anyways, this team looks pretty solid, but i caught some things that could give it trouble.

first off, your team is extremely offensive. this isnt a bad thing, it just means that in order to win, you have to be extremely careful about rain, hail, and trick room teams.

your team has a ton of spread moves. it is also weak to many common spread moves. i suggest giving hitmontop wide guard instead of detect. this is mostly a preference choice, and if you prefer detect still, thats ok. wide guard will allow your hitmontop to stay alive while excadrill EQs, thundurus discharges, or an enemy abomasnow uses blizzard. try some speed EVs here to make sure you can wide guard before another hitmontop uses fake out.

tyranitar needs to lose stone edge, especially if you are using a rock gem. i think in general a chople berry or focus sash would work best, for living common fighting attacks. if you decide on chople berry, excadrill can use life orb or a gem. low kick could work over stone edge,for mirror matchups. it also gives you a way to hit fighting mons.

hp fire is good on latios for taking out scizor, abomasnow, and other mons. the lower speed iv is a shame, but i think its necessary. if other latios become a problem, throw substitute over protect or thunderbolt (d gem d meteor does more to water mons) so that you can lead with hitmontop + latios, force the protects, and set up a sub. sub on latios will also help against opposing hitmontop, who can really give sand teams a hard time.

the same thing goes for thundurus. i recommend removing thunder and instead adding subtitute or grass knot. substitute helps to cheat tr out of a couple of turns among other things, while grass knot can really help with gastrodon. if that does not appeal to you, try thunderbolt / hp flying or ice / thunder wave / protect. this set does the same job as the other one, but thunder wave can help more against swift swimmers and enemy latios. thunderbolt does more damage against metagross than discharge. if you lead with latios ttar against a metagross, your thundurus needs to deal some damage to it. hp fire will not always be enough, and excadrill might not get a free switch in.

Rhyperior is just simply my massive attacker to manipulate Trick Room teams to my advantage.

oh god i do this all the time hahaha

try using solid rock on rhyperior (especially if you use tbolt or twave on anything). hitmontop is the only thing scared of zapdos / electric attacks, and the added bulk will help against fighting, steel, and ground mons.

you have motivated me to make a sand team *__*

good luck :D

 

[Otterz]

Thanks for the rate, I'm new to this community as well as the competitive Pokemon atmosphere so I think I could learn as much as I can.

Changes:

Hitmontop: Detect to Wide Guard

Latios: Protect to Substitute

Tyranitar: Stone Edge to Low Kick
Rock Gem to Focus Sash

Excadrill: Unchanged

Rhyperior: Lightningrod to Solid Rock

Thundurus: Thunder to Grass Knot

After a couple of battles I decided to switch Thundurus to Zapdos for more of a defensive edge.


Zapdos:
Modest - Yache Berry - Pressure


INSERT PIC OF A FRIED CHICKEN HERE


HP 140/SpA 252/Spe 116

~ Thunderbolt
~ Heat Wave
~ Detect
~ HP Grass

 

[GARCHOMPZILLA]

pretty but common weaknesses (theyll get you all too often, I've learned). also why not put earthquake on hitmontop? I would suggest a staller or something with a grass attac for gastrodon and something that doesnt take so many of the same weaknesses as your ther pokemon. maybe scizor or cresselia.

 

[Otterz]

This team has changed a lot since this post and the members are now:

Hitmontop, Tyranitar, Amoonguss, Latios, Zapdos and Rhyperior

 

[PokeMaster366]

This team has changed a lot since this post and the members are now:

Hitmontop, Tyranitar, Amoonguss, Latios, Zapdos and Rhyperior

If that's the case, can you PLEASE change the OP so it includes bios of those new members and we know what to say to help your new team?