An old Lucario team

[Otterpaw]

Hello, there. I don’t have a huge amount to say as an introduction, but this is a team that I made with the great help of Articanus back around January. It served me well back then, and I was surprised around a month ago when I whipped it out, and it still fit in pretty well with the metagame. I used it for a little while then, but now, with the banning of mence, I feel it’s time to retire this team.

It might help to read this in reverse order, because that’s how I built it. Jirachi, Gyarados, and Lucario are the core of the team. Jirachi and Gyarados were picked with Lucario in mind. Likewise, Salamence and rotom-F were picked with all three of the core in mind. Aerodactyl was because of the weakness of my team with Mence and Gyara removed.

Aerodactyl (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 74 HP/252 Atk/184 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Aerodactyl is a pretty uncommon lead, and for good reason too. It doesn’t have a very good level of survivability, and it’s pretty important to maximize the efficiency of your team. Another big downfall to it is the omnipresent choice users, which shut it down completely. However, it does to the utmost the job I planned out for it to do. Get rocks up and prevent rocks from the opposing team at all costs.

Aerodactyl usually dies, but when it doesn’t, it can serve me very well as a remover of those pesky electric types such as Zapdos and Jolteon, which otherwise have a field-day with this team once I lose Rotom.

How it fares against common leads:

Azelf: Taunt, SR, switch to Rotom if I’m still alive. If Azelf switches into a scarfer (Jirachi), I switch out Rotom if I got rocks up. Otherwise I sac aero for rocks.

Metagross: Taunt, switch to Rotom. Rocks help me, but opposing rocks can devastate my team early game.

Swampert / Roserade: taunt, SR, switch to Gyarados if I’m not dead.

Heatran: Taunt, SR, switch. They likely switch as well.

Infernape/anti-leads: SR, switch

Other Aerodactyl: Taunt, SR or rock slide

Salamence (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 Atk/252 Spe/240 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spe, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stone Edge

Salamence is my one of two revengers. Unlike in a lot of teams, Salamence is probably one of my least used pokemon. He works well all around, and was a great addition to round out the team, but I often find him to be used a lot less than the rest of my team.

The function he performs, and he does so very well, is to clean up pokemon that could normally sweep after a specific member of my team falls. For example, without mence, once gyara’s gone, Swampert kills me. My only choice then is to throw in lucario. Even so, +2 CC only does around 75% of Swampert’s health. Therefore the job that mence usually gets stuck with is DM’ing pert, falling to an ice beam, then cleaning up with Jirachi or rotom. This is especially important for when pert is saved for late-game.

Rotom-f @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk/6 Def/252 Spe
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Blizzard
- Trick

Rotom is a catch-all revenge killer. It gets pretty much everything for me, and has excellent synergy with Gyarados. I opted for blizzard over overheat so that I could remove flygon and mence after a DD. It’s coverage is moderately similar to overheat as well, removing breloom and other grass types without thought. Trick is great for blissey (once I’ve scouted it out, of course), but even so, most of my team kills blissey anyway.

Gyarados (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Taunt

This Gyarados is the offensive variant (obviously), but I usually play it in a more defensive way. Usually he makes his appearance early in the match, so I scout with waterfall for Jolteon or scarf rotom. It takes a good chunk out of their health, and if I haven’t revealed it yet, now’s the time for my own rotom. Otherwise, if I can, I’ll sac aero for a free switch-in. I’ll usually DD later in the game once I know the opponent has no scarfers left.

I chose taunt to help remove celebi, which can do whatever it wants on Jirachi and rotom when it’s locked into T-bolt. It also keeps Swampert from coming back in and trying for rocks again.

Gyarados also removes Lucario’s two biggest menaces; Gliscor and Infernape. It also, as I said, takes care of celebi nice and neatly for luke.

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/6 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spe, -SDef)
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Thunderbolt

Expert belt Jirachi catches a lot of people off guard. It’s primary use before the banning of mence was killing mix-mence. Mence comes in, and Jirachi outspeeds and OHKO’s with a quick ice punch. It’s also pretty great for all-around killing everything. Fire punch takes care of Scizor, Magnezone, and other Jirachi. T-bolt for Gyarados, Skarm, and Starmie. Ice punch deals with Togekiss and dragons. Iron head for almost anything it outspeeds, tricking the opponent into sending in one of the above.
Unfortunately, Jirachi looses pretty terribly to Heatran, Infernape, and other fire types, which makes Gyarados a great partner

Lucario (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch

Lucario takes care of my endgame very well. The shucca berry usually means 2 SD’s; one on the switch, and one on an earthquake. Then, +4 extreemespeed can rip through their team. If a gengar or rotom made it through the rest of my team, however, it’s gg for me. Ice punch handily takes care of gliscor, but I find that I rarely use it, so crunch would probably be better.

Threat List
Breloom
- killed by Gyarados, Salamence, and Rotom.
Celebi
- Same as above.
Dugtrio
- Can take out a good bit of my team, but Jirachi can remove it with an ice punch if Jirachi’s at full health, and it’s easily revenged.
Electivire
- causes a bit of trouble, but Rotom can usually handle it.
Empoleon
- I handle it with Gyarados. It subs, I switch and taunt. I can also kill it with rotom
Flygon
- Again, rotom, Gyarados, or Lucario if I’m desperate
Gengar
- Rotom or Aerodactyl
Gliscor
- Jirachi, Lucario, or Gyara
Gyarados
- Rotom, Aerodactyl, or Jirachi
Heatran
- Gyarados, Rotom if I lost Gyara. Mence can remove it if it’s locked into a move.
Infernape
- +2 luke always kills, otherwise, Gyarados scares it away pretty well.
Jirachi
- My Jirachi, Rotom, and Salamence
Kingdra
- Rotom and Mence
Lucario
- Gyarados, Jirachi, and mence
Machamp
- Gyarados and mence
Magnezone
- Jirachi and mence
Mamoswine
- Jirachi and Gyara
Metagross
- Jirachi and Rotom
Porygon-Z
- Rotom, +1/1 Gyara, and lucario
Roserade
- Rotom, Mence, Jirachi, Gyara, Lucario
Rotom (All Forms)
- My Rotom, and I wear it down on switches.
Scizor
- everything but Aero and Luke
Snorlax
- Luke, Gyara, Jirachi
Starmie
- Jirachi, Luke, Rotom
Suicune
- Rotom, Mence, Luke
Togekiss
- Jirachi, Gyara, Luke
Tyranitar
- Jirachi, Gyara
Weavile
- Gyara, Jirachi
Zapdos
- Rotom, Aero, Luke
Blissey
- Killed by all physical members of my team.
Bronzong
- Jirachi, Luke, and Gyara
Heatran
- Gyarados, Salamence
Hippowdon
- Mence, Gyarados, Rotom
Shaymin
- Gyarados, Mence, Jirachi
Skarmory
-Jirachi, Rotom
Slowbro
- Rotom, Jirachi
Spiritomb
- I just beat it until it dies
Starmie
- It hurts a lot. I usually sac something and revenge with Rotom or Lucario
Suicune
- Hit it until it rests, switch to luke, CC, X-speed
Swampert
- Gyarados, Mence
Togekiss
- Jirachi, Gyara, Rotom
Vaporeon
- Luke can set up on a surf (~60% damage) and CC for the kill. Rotom also can kill.
Walrein
- basically the same as vappy, only add in Jirachi’s iron head, then T-bolt at the appropriate time.

 

[tawp64]

Aerodactyl is one of the most common leads ever.

Uhhh, most of your poke's evs are screwed up. SPD stands for special defense and SPE stands for speed. Most who lack speed evs have full special defense, so fix that.

Anyways, Rotom could be better off as rotom-h and then instead of overheat give it HP:Ice. Why? Well, no scizor or jirachi will stay in against it, and every flygon and salamence will stay in. Then you do an HP:Ice and they die. Blizzards accuracy is in the toilet, so don't worry about that. Oh yeah, and switch it's HP evs into SP.A for more power. And the speed evs stuff as i said earlier.

Mixmence speed ties with Jirachi, so a scarf would be more helpful in your case.

Lucario is too nimble for bulky ground earthquakes, even with shuca berry. So replace that with life orb and then your good. (P.S. I like steadfast! Everyone says inner focus but always keep steadfast!)

Okay, so DDance Tyranitar can be a threat to your team if it gets in on your rotom, so immediately switch to scarfachi and iron head it to death.

Hope I helped with the team!

 

[Alexa888]

This was posted half a hour ago, yet Mence has been Uber for nearly a week.

A simple replacement would be Dragonite:

MixNite@Life Orb
112 Atk / 196 SpA / 200 Spe - Mild
Draco Metoer
Fire Blast
Superpower
Roost / HP Grass

Breaks the same walls as Mence, but slighlty bulkier. HP Grass is only there for Swampert who gives your team trouble, but Roost is arguably the better option.

 

[Otterpaw]

Thanks for the replies!

Anyway, the last time I played this team I didn't see many aero leads. It was mostly metagross, azelf, and swampert.

I exported the teams from shoddy, which uses Spd and SDef. I'll fix it anyway.

I like the idea for rotom. I'll switch that out. It does 90+% for Dnite, so with SR I don't really need the extra SpA Ev's. I do some extra calcs anyway.

A scarf is better for taking mence, but the expert belt is much better for clean-up. I tried a scarf on it once, but it didn't work out.

The point of this luke it to take to EQ and then CC/X-speed the ground type to death. It survives flygon, swampert, and gliscor. Gliscor, however, I ice punch. Though usually I don't need to deal with it.

Again, +1 DDtar does 87.5% - 103.2% to Luke, so if I sac something I have a good chance of killing it. Even so, if I haven't revealed the belt, who's going to stay in with that on a Jirachi?

Dnite works, but it doesn't have the same effect as mence. I also felt that after a year it was about time to retire this team.

 

[Arsqe]

Cool team, Aerodactyl is a common lead so yeah you might to fix that. But something you'd might want to fix on the Aerodactyl are the EVs, Aerodactyl is a suicide lead no point to but HP EVs onto it since it wouldn't make a difference when added, no bulk on it. So fixing the EVs you'd might want to make it simple and put it on to 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe. Salamence is now uber and since this is a old team you'd might want to update on the current Pokemon from what I see is the best Pokemon that can work decently to fit on Mixmence is Life Orbed Mix Flygon what it provides is all the moves Salamence could learn on a usual Mixmence set plus quite a high speed. So if you just want to try it out here's the set (Just if you thought: I didn't recommend Dragonite because it doesn't have the high amount of speed you might be looking for)

Flygon @ Life Orb
Nature: Naive
EVs: 80 Atk / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Moveset: Draco Meteor, Roost, Earthquake, Fire Blast

On the current Rotom Appliance you're using you probably want to change Blizzard reason being Hail isn't a popular Weather and you currently don't have it on your team so it's 70% acc which isn't well plus Sand Storm is quite common so when added it decreases into 50% acc. So you can opt into Hidden Power Ice which provides KOs on most Dragons namely Dragonite or Flygon. On Lucario as you said Ice punch is rarely used and reason being only on Gliscor so if I were you I'd change it into Crunch so you can focus on Ghosts and Psychic types. Plus Shuca isn't a good item to putting on something as fragile as Lucario so what I'd probably do is change it into the common item for SD Lucario which is Life orb which provides more power that you'll probably need for some positons.

Offensive threats: From what I see and as said above Dragon Dancing Tyranitar wrecks havoc on your team so something small you could probably do is replace Expert Belt From Jirachi into Choice Scarf so you'll be able to outspeed and Iron Head it out of the match.

 

[nygerman]

Gliscor outspeeds Lucario. If you want to have a chance, run jolly. I don't know when you post this, buy Mence is banned. Blizzard is unreliable as it misses often. Stone of Mence is useless as 80% accuracy isn't worth it and Draco Meteor does more then a super effective stone edge. I recommend roost because you have life orb damage and SR is popular. Although you should get rid of Mence

A nice replacement for mence,Flygon @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk/176Spe/80 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spe, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Blast/ Thunderpunch

I recommend a Flygon because it has the same speed as Mence. I suggested 252 Atk instead of SpA because I find Flygon needs more attack. Fire Blast 2HKOs Skamory regardless and OHKOs forretress and Scizor with 80 evs and life orb. 176 Speed is just enough to outrun anything slower than a +95 base speed. Draco Meteor does around 56% to Rotom and Outrage does around the same. But Draco Meteor won't get you locked. Thunderpunch is useful for taking down gyarados, who can really sweep your team after one DD. EQ can obvious kill jirachi with no evs after Rocks. Waterfall breaks down lucario and seriously damages Rotom and Rotom can't really do anything with 252 HP. I recommend you put the evs into SpA. Your only hope really is you switch gyarados in to intimidate it and sarcriface it for Rachi.

 

[Otterpaw]

Thanks for the advice. If I use the team again, I'll use an offensive mixnite (DM, flamethrower, superpower, X-speed).

I know mence is uber, but I'm not updating this team. It worked best with salamence, so I thought it good to preserve it in it's peak condition.

I'm saying again, the belt on Jirachi saves me in a lot of bad situations. I've tried the scarf on it as well, it's not as good for this team.

The 252 HP on rotom are probably a mistake. If not, I have no idea what I was thinking. I've already responded to a comment about switching out blizzard.

Stone edge is great on mence. It lets me run through Gyara, and provides me a tool once my SpA is down.