Introduction:
Adeptus Astartes (Warhammer 40k reference, if you aren't in the know) is the most effective team I have ever built, and is very fun to play. Today it brought me up to 1400 conservative rating estimate on shoddy, which is pretty good for me. This team focuses on mixing a few of my favorite OU pokemon and mixing them with less-used pokemon with unconventional movesets structured around beating the metagame. It's got a lot of nasty surprises that most people don't see coming, and a strong base that allows it to recover when they do. It's by no means perfect, but losses are almost never due to a team that outright counters it due to composition.
At a glance:
Through the looking glass:
Iron Fist - Hitmonlee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Limber
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVS: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset:
- Close Combat [High damage STAB]
- Fake Out [Breaking those sashes, priority in late game]
- Rapid Spin [No stealth rocks for you.]
- Sucker Punch [Because Gengar is a silly goose, and priority is good.]
Oh, hitmonlee, where would I be without you? This is my favorite lead, it has a great number of uses, and kills things wonderfully. On aerodactyl, I fake out to break the sash, then finish with a close combat. They get rocks up, and I rapid spin their rocks out on the new pokemon. If it's a rotom forme, I swap to heracross. If it's gengar, I sucker punch and pray they aren't rubbing a sub or hypnosis set. They almost always aren't. Goodbye, gengar. Another common lead, azelf, is interesting to fight. I break sash with fake out, then sucker punch or rapid spin. Sucker punch kills an azelf trying to take me out then set up rocks. Rapid spins takes care of rocks. Azelf running rocks and screens is a problem. Most common bulky leads like metagross and swampert don't get rocks out, kill me, but get revenged killed and rocks never get put down. This beats infernape, unless it starts with fake out as well. It also laughs at the occasional tyranitar, empoleon, or mamoswine lead.
If I end up switching due to a rotom, gyarados, or salamence (Rotom -> heracross, gyarados --> latias, salamence --> suicune) Hitmonlee also has played a pivitol role in late game, unlike many leads in common play. His ability, limber allows him to absorb twaves from porygon 2, or blissey easily. Fake out + sucker punch has also proved useful countless times for revenge kills on something with a few DDs up its sleeve. All aside, hitmonlee hits really bloody hard with STAB CC. I've swept an entire team with him before without ever switching. Not a good team, but it was basically a gengar and a number of frail/weak to fighting pokemon. I also beat a garchomp with him while fighting someone who challenged me. Hitmonlee has gotten me an amazing amount of kills for a pokemon designed to deny stealth rocks.
Salamander - Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
EVs: 252 HP, 52 Attack, 28 Speed, 176 Special Attack
Moveset:
- Draco Meteor [Generic high-end STAB]
- Flamethrower [Takes care of steels, primarily.]
- Focus Punch [For heatran, and those normal types.]
- Substitute [Cornerstone of the
Dragoboah is the second of my personal innovations that takes its rightful place on this team. This set resembles Tyraniboah in a number of ways, although it doesn't quite make the "magical" 101 HP substitutes, it has never lost me a battle due to this fault. Swap dragonite in on something very slow intent on using a status move, a choice user stuck on something dragonite will find irrelevant, or something that's common sets are unable to harm dragonite. While they switch or attack you, pop up a substitute. Loads of people will switch to a scarfed dragon type, heatran, or any number of other things this beast can destroy. Ice shard users will not enjoy a focus punch. That blissey that tried to paralyze you will not enjoy it either. Show latias why dragonite is OU with a draco meteor to the face. Very few pokemon are able to shrug off draco meteor, flamethrower, and focus punch, and those ones are only able to due so because of extremely high defenses. Dragonite rarely fails to kill at least a single pokemon, and commonly takes two or three before he goes down or is forced to switch. This is also the best scizor counter I have ever seen. If some scizor user thinks he's all that and tries to bullet punch you, show him a flamethrower. Dragonite can tank an SD'd swords dance bullet punch after stealth rock damage. He can also take 2 choice banded bullet punches. This guy laughs at almost anything scizor can throw at it. Generally, his biggest counters are bulky waters that can sustain a draco meteor. Lefties also generally allow him to get back much of what he lost setting up a substitute. His EVs were shameless ripped from Tyraniboah and could definitely be better. The set works wonders, but any suggestions are always appreciated.
Blood Angel - Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset:
- Draco Meteor [Insane STAB damage]
- Surf [Coverage - Heatran, Tyranitar, etc]
- Thunderbolt [Coverage - Gyarados, also provides a spammable attack]
- Trick [For special walls]
Latias hits like a truck and kills anything the other members of the team can't kill with supereffectives. STAB draco meteor with choice specs will crush anything that doesn't resist it and isn't blissey. Latias is my principle gyarados counter, and is very important, with gyarados being such a common switch-in to my hitmonlee. Latias is often used for finishing off weakened teams, or just punching the holes I need to remove another pokemon's counter. Trick means very little can switch into Latias if I predict correctly. Latias is often pursuit bait, but this has never really bothered me. She has usually done her job, once something comes in to finish me off. Pursuit also makes a wonderful place for suicune to grab a calm mind, or for dragonite to substitute. Latias is hardly anything new and original, but she is a necessary part of my team that has gotten me a number of kills and has paved the way for a victory with a well-placed meteor.
Mjollnir - Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset:
- Thunderbolt [Heavy STAB damage]
- Shadow Ball [Killing fast ghosts that outspeed most of my team]
- Signal Beam [Because Jolteon has a limited movepool, and tyranitar and celebi are filthy pirate hookers.]
- Baton Pass [Getting out of there, easing prediction.]
Jolteon is a newer addition to my team and has proven itself in nearly every battle it has been in. Thunderbolt alone kills a number of things and has a fine role in finishing off weakened teams alongside latias. Shadow Ball and Signal Beam add nice coverage that helps in a few areas my team is weak in, mainly against ghosts. Jolteon has great synergy with suicune and willingly absorbs any electric moves prior to a sufficient number of calm minds. Jolteon also tends to attract earth moves, which can make for a great set-up on dragonite. Particularly things coming from a scarfed or banded flygon. Baton pass seems odd on a choice set, but is very good if you're anticipating a switch to something Jolteon will not fare well against, or if you're stuck in chain switching with conditions in your opponent's favor. This can easily lead to a pursuit coming from heracross. Even when not using a scarf variant, jolteon is blisteringly fast and can be a very potent revenge killer. He also handles opposing latias quite well. It is worth noting that jolteon (Mjollnir) is the only pokemon on my team not named after a chapter of space marines from Warhammer 40k. Can't say I don't love Thor's mighty hammer, though.
Black Templar - Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Attack, 160 Speed, 96 HP
Moveset:
- Close Combat [Heavy stab move]
- Megahorn [Another heavy stab for those psychic buggers]
- Pursuit [For latias & rotom formes, primarily]
- Stone Edge [Flying types]
Heracross seems to have taken a great fall in popularity in recent times, and I have no idea why. He is a very potent counter to any rotom forme not toting overheat. With guts, heracross makes for a fearsome status absorber that can ruin the day of anything unfortunate enough to burn it. Heracross is also fairly bulky and can switch into hits in order to kill what needs to be killed. Heracross can kill just about anything lacking enormous physical defense, so long as it gets a hit or two in. I don't know why, but it seems heracross often gets the last blow in the game. His wide movepool make him a terrifying switch-in to slower pokemon. Heracross is mainly there for dealing with rotom switch-ins to hitmonlee, and taking care of dark/ice types that threaten the dragons. Unfortunately, he also occasionally becomes set-up bait for something like salamence, if I'm stuck on any move other than stone edge.
Space Wolf - Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Special Attack
Moveset:
- Surf [STAB damage]
- Ice Beam [Salamence, dragons looking to set up on a crocune]
- Calm Mind [Becoming a terrifying and bulky monster]
- Roar [Removing stat boosts from opponents]
Suicune is overused beyond belief, and is very broken in my opinion. After a calm mind or two, even extremely potent electric attacks will barely faze this wolf, while its surfs will decimate the opponent. Suicune does an astonishing amount of killing for something meant to take damage. It can take basically any of the generic physical punishment in the game, and special attacks like celebi's grass knot, or latias's thunderbolt will not kill it, as suicune kills the sender with an ice beam. The reason I don't run crocune on this set is that it serves as a perfect (assuming no ridiculous crits) counter to salamence, whose DD sets can probably sweep much of my team if suicune were to drop ice beam. It also lets me at least hurt vaporeon. I'm sure you're all familiar with how powerful a force suicune is by this point. :)
Threat List:
Defensive Threats:
*Most threatening are listed in bold.*
Blissey - All variants but those with ice beam are taken out by dragonite. Those without flamethrower don't have a prayer against heracross. Hitmonlee also works wonders against variants with t-wave.
Bronzong - Might get stealth rocks up as a lead if it can sleep hitmonlee. Later game variants seem to get set up on by dragonite. Probably can't take spammed choice moves for any length of time.
Celebi - Hilariously, suicune usually kills these with ice beam, due to a calm mind. Heracross kills, assuming no psychic. Also often set-up for dragonite assuming no HP ice.
Cresselia - Generally can outlast her, or kill with megahorn from heracross or shadow balls from jolteon.
Donphan - Ice shard scares away dragonite. Latias can kill with surf, suicune sets up on it, heracross can probably kill it with CB stabs.
Dusknoir - This can be a pain, but many variants are status or pain-split based, which dragonite laughs at. Jolteon can shadow ball, heracross can shadow ball it.
Forretress - Owned by dragonite. Latias and jolteon can also kill it.
Gliscor - One of the biggest problems my team has. I usually end up killing it with an ice beam from suicune, or a draco meteor from latias. Any suggestions on how to deal with this bugger? He's really a pain to fight with anything other than latias/suicune.
Gyarados - Countered by latias in almost every case, non DD'd gyarados dies to jolteon easily. Heracross can also throw rocks at it. The largest threat to my lead.
Hippowdon - Kill it with surf from latias/suicune. Spamming heavy attacks works too, as it is fairly weak whena attacking most of my team.
Jirachi - Really only that bad when it gets flinch hacks going. Tricks are generally fine, since I can switch to my own choice and attack while they switch. Dragonite can fare well if he's alive, since he can't be flinched.
Rotom-A - Anything not carrying overheat gets owned by heracross. Jolteon can kill this with shadow ball. Latias's draco meteors hit it as hard as anything else.
Skarmory - Flamethrower from dragonite, thunderbolt from latias or jolteon. Ice beam from suicune.
Snorlax - Heracross can close combat, dragonite can focus punch if it switches in on my substitute. Hitmonlee scoffs at the notion of paralysis from body slam. Suicune roars if it somehow manages to get off a bunch of curses. A good candidate for trick, if it's into spamming curse.
Suicune - I generally rely on thunderbolts to kill suicune. Heracross can also come through with powerful stabbed moves.
Swampert - Sort of an annoying lead. Suicune can usually set up on this guy. Big hits from heracross will easily down any swampert that gets in my way, without being vulnerable to equal punishment.
Tentacruel - Tentacruel dies to thunderbolts from latias and jolteon.
Tyranitar - Tyranitar can become a serious problem if it's running EQ/stone edge/fire punch/dragon dance. Suicune can roar DDs off if they aren't too high, and often kills it. If it hasn't DDed, heracross and hitmonlee make solid counters. Generally is a problem late in the game when suicune is dead and it comes in on jolteon's thunderbolt or something. Choice variants usually get set up on by dragonite after pursuiting latias.
Vaporeon - Obviously a pain in the ass, but when isn't vaporeon? It still dies to thunderbolts.
Zapdos - Latias doesn't seem to have problems with zapdos. Another thing that seems to like to come in after suicune has CMed a bit and dies to ice beam.
Offensive Threats:
Azelf - Requires a bit of prediction if it's a lead. Nothing more satisfying than sucker punching it after a fake out on hitmonlee, though. Psychic weakness this! Damage variants seem to get outsped by jolteon and shadow balled.
Breloom - Depending on the set, I've seen hitmonlee take this guy out by outspeeding. Latias and dragonite can take this guy on easily enough. Also had suicune outspeed and ice beam them a bunch.
Dragonite - Suicune can take just about anything he does and ice beam for a kill. Latias outspeeds and draco meteors if it hasn't DDed. It gets killed by my own dragonite if it switches in while I substitute.
Dugtrio - Only really poses a threat to jolteon, but not much can be done about that. That scenario just lets dragonite set up.
Electivire - Dangerous if it gets a boost off. Seems like the one time it did, I killed it with heracross. I rarely see these in the first place, so I might be missing something.
Gallade - Gallade is awfully slow. Most of my team will outspeed and kill it. Jolteon's shadow ball comes to mind.
Gengar - Hitmonlee kills so many of these switch-ins. It's sad, really. Sub sets are a pain for him, though. Jolteon can outspeed and shadow ball. Heracross can kill with pursuit on most sets.
Gyarados - Utterly dominated by latias. Often comes in on suicune and taunts me. I CM on the switch and by the time it has a DD up, it's at half health. Gyarados doesn't really threaten suicune.
Heatran - Hitmonlee loves seeing this guy lead! He can kill it if he's still alive with his sash. Most try to come in on dragonite while I sub following an opponents scizor pursuiting my latias. In this scenario, it gets focus punched and dies. I often see this coming in on jolteon to earth power, which is fine, because of my flier and levitater.
Heracross - Flamethrower from dragonite, Draco meteor from latias tends to clear these out. Most run a choice and just come down to me switching, then setting up.
Infernape - Fake out infernape lead beats hitmonlee, usually. Most variants get laughed at by the dragons, and suicune. Really, grass knot doesn't do much after a calm mind. He doesn't really scare anything other than heracross, anyway.
Jolteon - Jolteon seems to almost always turn into a match of pokemon launching powerful neutral moves in my experience. I usually win these contests or almost kill it and finish with a fake out from hitmonlee. Latias can take choiced versions stuck on tbolt, but dies if they predict and shadow ball or signal beam.
Latias - Killed after a CM by suicune, generally. I've finished these off with sucker punch as well. That's risky, since they can use that time to calm mind or recover, however. Sometimes come down to a speed tie with my own latias. Also kill this when it switches into dragonite as he substitutes.
Kingdra - Suicune can handle it alright. Heracross is also sturdy enough to usually survive a blow and return fire. One of those fast things I'll send in hitmonlee to kill if he finished the opening with full health. Focus sash ruins fast set up pokes like this.
Lucario - Suicune doesn't take much from luc. Dragonite can kill it with flamethrower and take any attacks other than ice punch. Heracross fares well. Hitmonlee can kill if he survived opening with full health. Most of my team just isn't frail enough to get killed by the SD extremespeed method.
Machamp - Confusion luck aside, dragonite takes everything most sets carry quite well. Another thing that finishes of something, then takes a specced/banded move in the face and dies.
Magnezone - Obnoxious. Another thing dragonite can take. I love it when they try to paralyze him as he subs. Latias can generally take its attacks due to dragon resisting and kill it with surf.
Mamoswine - Gets owned by close combat as a lead, gets owned by focus punch if it switches into dragonite as he substitutes. Doesn't hit anything that hard other than jolteon. Jolteon usually get switched for latias and that dodges the EQ due to levitate. It can't handle a draco meteor as well as I can handle an ice shard.
Metagross - Annoying lead, generally kills hitmonlee, doesn't get rocks down, gets revenge killed. A sweeper variant would probably die to neutral choiced attacks, or dragonite's flamethrower.
Porygon-Z - One of those things that comes in on dragonite as he substitutes and dies to punch. Also gets beaten by hitmonlee if he survives the opening unscathed (aerodactyl and azelf generally lead to this, and are both very common, in case you're wondering why my hitmonlee has full health late in the game)
Salamence - Basically any salamence will be tanked by suicune for two attacks, then die to an ice beam. Thing that switches into dragonite as he subs #20. If it hasn't got a scarf or DD, latias will kill with draco meteor. Can become a major problem if suicune is dead and it gets a DD off.
Scizor - Dragonite eats scizor alive. Suicune can take anything scizor throws at it. Once again, most of my team is sturdy enough to not be overly concerned with priority moves. Even squishy little jolteon resists steel moves.
Starmie - Heracross usually pursuits this, or it gets killed by someone's thunderbolts. Seems like hitmonlee's sucker punch also did it in.
Togekiss - Thunderbolts, ice beams. Really only scares heracross. Hitmonlee does heavy damage with close combat, due to Togekiss being part normal and really quite slow.
Tyranitar - Tyranitar can become a serious problem if it's running EQ/stone edge/fire punch/dragon dance. Suicune can roar DDs off if they aren't too high, and often kills it. If it hasn't DDed, heracross and hitmonlee make solid counters. Generally is a problem late in the game when suicune is dead and it comes in on jolteon's thunderbolt or something. Choice variants usually get set up on by dragonite after pursuiting latias.
Weavile - Scares latias and dragonite, but once again falls prey to switching into a dragonite substitute and getting focus punched. Really not a big deal to anything other than the dragons.
Yanmega - If it gets some speed boosts under its belt, it could be a problem. I have a feeling jolteon would be able to take hits and kill it. Suicune killed it with ice beam, the last time I saw a yanmega around.
Zapdos - Latias doesn't seem to have problems with zapdos. Another thing that seems to like to come in after suicune has CMed a bit and dies to ice beam.
I hope you enjoy rating the team as much as I did building it and playing it.
Thanks to http://arkeis.com/pokemonfactory.htm for images of my team.
Adeptus Astartes (Warhammer 40k reference, if you aren't in the know) is the most effective team I have ever built, and is very fun to play. Today it brought me up to 1400 conservative rating estimate on shoddy, which is pretty good for me. This team focuses on mixing a few of my favorite OU pokemon and mixing them with less-used pokemon with unconventional movesets structured around beating the metagame. It's got a lot of nasty surprises that most people don't see coming, and a strong base that allows it to recover when they do. It's by no means perfect, but losses are almost never due to a team that outright counters it due to composition.
At a glance:
Through the looking glass:
Iron Fist - Hitmonlee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Limber
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVS: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset:
- Close Combat [High damage STAB]
- Fake Out [Breaking those sashes, priority in late game]
- Rapid Spin [No stealth rocks for you.]
- Sucker Punch [Because Gengar is a silly goose, and priority is good.]
Oh, hitmonlee, where would I be without you? This is my favorite lead, it has a great number of uses, and kills things wonderfully. On aerodactyl, I fake out to break the sash, then finish with a close combat. They get rocks up, and I rapid spin their rocks out on the new pokemon. If it's a rotom forme, I swap to heracross. If it's gengar, I sucker punch and pray they aren't rubbing a sub or hypnosis set. They almost always aren't. Goodbye, gengar. Another common lead, azelf, is interesting to fight. I break sash with fake out, then sucker punch or rapid spin. Sucker punch kills an azelf trying to take me out then set up rocks. Rapid spins takes care of rocks. Azelf running rocks and screens is a problem. Most common bulky leads like metagross and swampert don't get rocks out, kill me, but get revenged killed and rocks never get put down. This beats infernape, unless it starts with fake out as well. It also laughs at the occasional tyranitar, empoleon, or mamoswine lead.
If I end up switching due to a rotom, gyarados, or salamence (Rotom -> heracross, gyarados --> latias, salamence --> suicune) Hitmonlee also has played a pivitol role in late game, unlike many leads in common play. His ability, limber allows him to absorb twaves from porygon 2, or blissey easily. Fake out + sucker punch has also proved useful countless times for revenge kills on something with a few DDs up its sleeve. All aside, hitmonlee hits really bloody hard with STAB CC. I've swept an entire team with him before without ever switching. Not a good team, but it was basically a gengar and a number of frail/weak to fighting pokemon. I also beat a garchomp with him while fighting someone who challenged me. Hitmonlee has gotten me an amazing amount of kills for a pokemon designed to deny stealth rocks.
Salamander - Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
EVs: 252 HP, 52 Attack, 28 Speed, 176 Special Attack
Moveset:
- Draco Meteor [Generic high-end STAB]
- Flamethrower [Takes care of steels, primarily.]
- Focus Punch [For heatran, and those normal types.]
- Substitute [Cornerstone of the
Dragoboah is the second of my personal innovations that takes its rightful place on this team. This set resembles Tyraniboah in a number of ways, although it doesn't quite make the "magical" 101 HP substitutes, it has never lost me a battle due to this fault. Swap dragonite in on something very slow intent on using a status move, a choice user stuck on something dragonite will find irrelevant, or something that's common sets are unable to harm dragonite. While they switch or attack you, pop up a substitute. Loads of people will switch to a scarfed dragon type, heatran, or any number of other things this beast can destroy. Ice shard users will not enjoy a focus punch. That blissey that tried to paralyze you will not enjoy it either. Show latias why dragonite is OU with a draco meteor to the face. Very few pokemon are able to shrug off draco meteor, flamethrower, and focus punch, and those ones are only able to due so because of extremely high defenses. Dragonite rarely fails to kill at least a single pokemon, and commonly takes two or three before he goes down or is forced to switch. This is also the best scizor counter I have ever seen. If some scizor user thinks he's all that and tries to bullet punch you, show him a flamethrower. Dragonite can tank an SD'd swords dance bullet punch after stealth rock damage. He can also take 2 choice banded bullet punches. This guy laughs at almost anything scizor can throw at it. Generally, his biggest counters are bulky waters that can sustain a draco meteor. Lefties also generally allow him to get back much of what he lost setting up a substitute. His EVs were shameless ripped from Tyraniboah and could definitely be better. The set works wonders, but any suggestions are always appreciated.
Blood Angel - Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset:
- Draco Meteor [Insane STAB damage]
- Surf [Coverage - Heatran, Tyranitar, etc]
- Thunderbolt [Coverage - Gyarados, also provides a spammable attack]
- Trick [For special walls]
Latias hits like a truck and kills anything the other members of the team can't kill with supereffectives. STAB draco meteor with choice specs will crush anything that doesn't resist it and isn't blissey. Latias is my principle gyarados counter, and is very important, with gyarados being such a common switch-in to my hitmonlee. Latias is often used for finishing off weakened teams, or just punching the holes I need to remove another pokemon's counter. Trick means very little can switch into Latias if I predict correctly. Latias is often pursuit bait, but this has never really bothered me. She has usually done her job, once something comes in to finish me off. Pursuit also makes a wonderful place for suicune to grab a calm mind, or for dragonite to substitute. Latias is hardly anything new and original, but she is a necessary part of my team that has gotten me a number of kills and has paved the way for a victory with a well-placed meteor.
Mjollnir - Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moveset:
- Thunderbolt [Heavy STAB damage]
- Shadow Ball [Killing fast ghosts that outspeed most of my team]
- Signal Beam [Because Jolteon has a limited movepool, and tyranitar and celebi are filthy pirate hookers.]
- Baton Pass [Getting out of there, easing prediction.]
Jolteon is a newer addition to my team and has proven itself in nearly every battle it has been in. Thunderbolt alone kills a number of things and has a fine role in finishing off weakened teams alongside latias. Shadow Ball and Signal Beam add nice coverage that helps in a few areas my team is weak in, mainly against ghosts. Jolteon has great synergy with suicune and willingly absorbs any electric moves prior to a sufficient number of calm minds. Jolteon also tends to attract earth moves, which can make for a great set-up on dragonite. Particularly things coming from a scarfed or banded flygon. Baton pass seems odd on a choice set, but is very good if you're anticipating a switch to something Jolteon will not fare well against, or if you're stuck in chain switching with conditions in your opponent's favor. This can easily lead to a pursuit coming from heracross. Even when not using a scarf variant, jolteon is blisteringly fast and can be a very potent revenge killer. He also handles opposing latias quite well. It is worth noting that jolteon (Mjollnir) is the only pokemon on my team not named after a chapter of space marines from Warhammer 40k. Can't say I don't love Thor's mighty hammer, though.
Black Templar - Heracross @ Choice Band
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Attack, 160 Speed, 96 HP
Moveset:
- Close Combat [Heavy stab move]
- Megahorn [Another heavy stab for those psychic buggers]
- Pursuit [For latias & rotom formes, primarily]
- Stone Edge [Flying types]
Heracross seems to have taken a great fall in popularity in recent times, and I have no idea why. He is a very potent counter to any rotom forme not toting overheat. With guts, heracross makes for a fearsome status absorber that can ruin the day of anything unfortunate enough to burn it. Heracross is also fairly bulky and can switch into hits in order to kill what needs to be killed. Heracross can kill just about anything lacking enormous physical defense, so long as it gets a hit or two in. I don't know why, but it seems heracross often gets the last blow in the game. His wide movepool make him a terrifying switch-in to slower pokemon. Heracross is mainly there for dealing with rotom switch-ins to hitmonlee, and taking care of dark/ice types that threaten the dragons. Unfortunately, he also occasionally becomes set-up bait for something like salamence, if I'm stuck on any move other than stone edge.
Space Wolf - Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Special Attack
Moveset:
- Surf [STAB damage]
- Ice Beam [Salamence, dragons looking to set up on a crocune]
- Calm Mind [Becoming a terrifying and bulky monster]
- Roar [Removing stat boosts from opponents]
Suicune is overused beyond belief, and is very broken in my opinion. After a calm mind or two, even extremely potent electric attacks will barely faze this wolf, while its surfs will decimate the opponent. Suicune does an astonishing amount of killing for something meant to take damage. It can take basically any of the generic physical punishment in the game, and special attacks like celebi's grass knot, or latias's thunderbolt will not kill it, as suicune kills the sender with an ice beam. The reason I don't run crocune on this set is that it serves as a perfect (assuming no ridiculous crits) counter to salamence, whose DD sets can probably sweep much of my team if suicune were to drop ice beam. It also lets me at least hurt vaporeon. I'm sure you're all familiar with how powerful a force suicune is by this point. :)
Threat List:
Defensive Threats:
*Most threatening are listed in bold.*
Offensive Threats:
I hope you enjoy rating the team as much as I did building it and playing it.
Thanks to http://arkeis.com/pokemonfactory.htm for images of my team.
