Antiquity Themed team
----------------------
I have used this theme team in order to climp to the top15 of the OU ladder, though I want to get some suggestions from you in order to fill some weak holes that this team has shown.
This team was made just before the Platinum updates,and I didnt get the proper chance to give it a real laddering shot after Platinum was out. I came across it recently, at which point this team was edited to fit in today's metagame.
I'd like to mention that the nicks of the pokemon come solely from my friends in Antiquity. The RMT will be long as I will go in depth on each pokemon, so lets move on shall we?
Sky Salt (Tyranitar) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Superpower
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Stealth Rock
---
Tyranitar gets the sandstorm and SR down which are essential for my team to function well. Originally he was also added here because of sheer unpredictability(not so much after this post) that serves as a checkmate by killing certain leads with Super effective moves.
-Speed and Flamethrower come into aid against most Scizors, should it U-turn,Superpower or set up he finds himself back into the pokeball. Also dents Skarmory,Forretress, Metagross and Bronzong hard.
-Dark pulse is his obligatory STAB, ohko's Azelf, and hits harder than Crunch on pokemon that usually lead such as Hippowdon, Swampert and Gliscor. 20% flinch rate is nothing to underastimate especially when the said pokemon try to set up or predict Ttar. Also with Dark Pulse Ttar doesnt mind if Rotom WoWisp's him.
-Superpower covers typing really well, getting some OHKOs in the likes of opposing CB Ttars, hits Blissey and Heatran with a very respectable 305 att stat. Sometimes I prefer EQ, due to the fact that it OHKOs lead Infernapes and Heatran, but Heatran wont stay on Ttar and Infernape beats me anyway if it carries fake out and I dont have any business staying on him in any other occasion.
-The last slot used to be Ice beam, but I found myself in need of SR(against the likes of Salamence, Gyarados and Zapdos) and Ttar has the chances to lay it down with the switches it causes. Besides Ice beam, I have also thoughts of testing HP grass for Swampert and Hippowdon leads.
Naive because Ttars are generally expected to be slow. Outspeeds defensive Gyarados, adamant Scizor and gets some suprising hits on slow Celebi and Zapdos, perhaps the hit that will flinch them to KO range with Dark pulse.
-> Tyranitar is named Sky Salt because of the same artist I have known in the community.
Astamatitos (Scizor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/60 Def/16 Spd/180 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- U-turn
---
Scizor but not your typical Scizor. Its defensive oriented as I pick to use his typing and resistances in my team rather than a CBVersion.
With the defensive Evs it takes hits like a pro. HP fire from Celebi doesnt OHKO this guy, neither does it care from unboosted neutral hits. Non hp fire Gengar and Latias counter.
-Bullet punch is a must to keep in check faster threats. I have no business using SDance early game, and before you comment on using both SD and U-turn, none expects this Scizor to pull up a SDance after they have seen it U-Turn though I almost never SD, unless this is my last planned alive pokemon.
-His main job is to come in and take a non fire hit, then pass to the appropriate faster counter. This guy likes to Roost and U-turn a lot holding the team together. Most importantly, lategame it can use his defensive spread and set up on walls with impunity and proceed to clear out with Bullet punch.
There were occasions where my Scizor had cleared out stall teams completely, simply because the opponent lacked a Fire move. Now most important reason i keep and abuse U-turn is because usually people go to Heatran or Magnezone so in many occasions the U-turn leads to my next pokemon, Dugtrio.
-> Scizor is named after Astamatitos, a great friend and battler of mine who I have known and played with since i can remember.
Broth3r (Dugtrio) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk/44 Def/212 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Night Slash
---
Dugtrio is the check to things that would otherwise 6-0 my team. Keeps Infernape and Heatran out of the chance of killing more than one pokemon. Adding to that, the speed provided outspeeds even +1 speed 328 pokemon, possitive 100 nature Scarfed Pokemon.
-Earthquake is essential as a STAB, so is Stone edge for hitting Flying foes. Night Slash because of Gengar and Rotom. Aerial Ace is solely used for Breloom and Heracross and OHKOs both. I could swap this for something better but it doesnt have much other options tbh.
-This Dugtrio outspeeds the biggest threat of my team, Choice Scarf Heatran and its the main reason I have Scarfed this. When Heatran kills something(usually Ttar as after I lay SR i will switch him on any Heatran after) Dugtrio revenge kills.
-The defense provided is for taking an unboosted LO extremespeed from Lucario who i trap often.
Dugtrio is also the reason I now have SR on Tyranitar, as either Gyarados and Salamence set up a DD once I revenge kill something. On the DD turn I go to either Lucario or Scizor and fire a priority move, thats enough for Dugtrio to come back to scare or kill with SE. Of course with SR and Sand down they can only do this set up on EQ once since my team has 2 priority ssers.
-> Dugtrio is 3 headed, they are like brothers. It reminds me of my friend,named Broth3r which we have spent hours in defferent online games together.
Taylor (Lucario) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed
---
Lucario is still in my opinion the most threatening physical force. He is here for pure beat down. This is the standard SD set, with Ice punch over Crunch because I prefer it to hit Gliscor and Zapdos for Super Effective than Rotom.
-Max speed also ensures that I will at least tie with other Lucario's in the worst case scenario, and things like Suicune and Mamoswine have just wasted their EVs to get up to max speed since i still outspeed them and get my hit in.
-The general plan is that after I have Revenge killed their Fire pokemon, I still have 2 pokemon that are now almost uncounterable to their team because of the lack of many fire pokemon in OU.
Its especially important to say that in most of my matches this doesnt need the SD to clear, thats why I have thoughts of the SD slot and what I could put there.I dont really need Crunch and Stone Edge will only hit Gyarados.
-> Lucario is tough, just like Taylor, one of my good old pokemon "rivals"(since the NB days)
Mofo (Shaymin) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/180 Spd/76 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Rest
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
---
Shaymin is my personal favorite from all the team. Its very underrated as its usually considered that its a lesser Celebi, but this teams proves exactly that its not.
-Shaymin finds easily his way into the battlefield in the faces of Water and Ground pokemon, which will run rampard to stop all the above posted pokemon.
-Its speed lets it get all the Super Effective hits on its slower opponents. It adds yet another weakness to fire, but it can remedy this as it carries Earth Power which shuts down every non Choiced Heatran, and hits Metagross and the now slower Lucario for Super Effective.
-Hp ice is selected because of Salamence, if its not +speed nature I kill it without losing any HP beforehand. Rest lets Shaymin recover the damage and status off, and it can switch out way easier than Celebi because of no weakness on Pursuit.
-Seed flare is the main attack and hits every water and not resisting pokemon with an 180 stab move.(something Celebi cant do). If Shaymin survives till lategame, Seed flare's spec def drops usually turn the tide of the match by providing KOs to his other 2 moves on pokemon like Celebi.
I'd like to have some more Sp attack to abuse Seed Flare more, but then without max HP I wouldnt be able to switch in Rotoms and Gengars(something Celebi cant do ;)) and fend them off.
->This Shaymin is named Mofo, an expert on wifi. Hell, he is the one that traded me a legit shiny shaymin from the 08 movie, this is the best contribute I can give back to him.
Sparks (Rotom-w) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/72 Def/88 Spd/96 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Discharge
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
---
Finally Rotom-W is what sums up the team. A needed Fighting and Ground immunity, Rotom is the first pokemon that will pop up after Tyranitar, either this or Shaymin. Its essentially important to increase his lifespan because of its defensive role so I gave him Rest and Sleep talk.
-If you noticed its modest. The stat of that sp attack is 297, enough to make pokemon that take neutral from rotom think twice about switching in since not only it will fend them off, but also Discharge sports a 30% paralysis, which can be game breaking to the lets say DD ttar that just switched in.
-Also, the biggest reason of that sp attack is Zapdos. I haven't got another counter and the sp defensive variants outstall no sp att Rotoms. This is not the case though, with the paralysis chance backed up by my sp attack and rest talk set.
Ttar Rotom's biggest problem, takes 20% from Discharge. 230 speed, is because of Adamant Scizor. I definetely dont want it to SD then X Scissor me, or be faster and pursuit me, ect. seeing as this is my non CB scizor counter as well.
-> Rotom-W's name comes from Sparks who since the old times I have been a mentor to, and I have now seen him grow into a potent battler.
Weaknesses
-------------------
-I have found myself in very tight spots when the opponent has kept Heatran back and I have revealed Dugtrio early. Thats why I always try to hide Dugtrio and only use it lategame where he clears out many set up attempts.
-Latias with HP Fire is a big problem as I will need to sacrafise something most of the times to get her with priority attacks.
-Jirachi is very annoying if he gets enough Flinches on Rotom as it can kill anything in my team. If i can get in at least a Discharge then Dugtrio revenge kills, any other occasion it survives EQ and then kills whatever is left with SE attacks.
I'd like some feedback on what I can change to improve the team further.
Edits:
-----------------
Changes
-------------
-I have changed Tyranitar's item to Babiri berry.
-I have changed the HP Ice to HP Fire on Shaymin.
-I have taken of 60 Evs from Scizor's Sp defense and added them to Attack. Still takes Hp fire from Celebi. I have changed his item from Leftovers into Life Orb. Finally, I added Quick Attack over SD since I want to execute the Dual Priority combo on the likes of DD Gyarados,Infernape, Zapdos and Jolteon without worrying about Steel resistances.
Testing:
----------
Hp electric over SD on Lucario
----------------------
I have used this theme team in order to climp to the top15 of the OU ladder, though I want to get some suggestions from you in order to fill some weak holes that this team has shown.
This team was made just before the Platinum updates,and I didnt get the proper chance to give it a real laddering shot after Platinum was out. I came across it recently, at which point this team was edited to fit in today's metagame.
I'd like to mention that the nicks of the pokemon come solely from my friends in Antiquity. The RMT will be long as I will go in depth on each pokemon, so lets move on shall we?
Sky Salt (Tyranitar) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Superpower
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Stealth Rock
---
Tyranitar gets the sandstorm and SR down which are essential for my team to function well. Originally he was also added here because of sheer unpredictability(not so much after this post) that serves as a checkmate by killing certain leads with Super effective moves.
-Speed and Flamethrower come into aid against most Scizors, should it U-turn,Superpower or set up he finds himself back into the pokeball. Also dents Skarmory,Forretress, Metagross and Bronzong hard.
-Dark pulse is his obligatory STAB, ohko's Azelf, and hits harder than Crunch on pokemon that usually lead such as Hippowdon, Swampert and Gliscor. 20% flinch rate is nothing to underastimate especially when the said pokemon try to set up or predict Ttar. Also with Dark Pulse Ttar doesnt mind if Rotom WoWisp's him.
-Superpower covers typing really well, getting some OHKOs in the likes of opposing CB Ttars, hits Blissey and Heatran with a very respectable 305 att stat. Sometimes I prefer EQ, due to the fact that it OHKOs lead Infernapes and Heatran, but Heatran wont stay on Ttar and Infernape beats me anyway if it carries fake out and I dont have any business staying on him in any other occasion.
-The last slot used to be Ice beam, but I found myself in need of SR(against the likes of Salamence, Gyarados and Zapdos) and Ttar has the chances to lay it down with the switches it causes. Besides Ice beam, I have also thoughts of testing HP grass for Swampert and Hippowdon leads.
Naive because Ttars are generally expected to be slow. Outspeeds defensive Gyarados, adamant Scizor and gets some suprising hits on slow Celebi and Zapdos, perhaps the hit that will flinch them to KO range with Dark pulse.
-> Tyranitar is named Sky Salt because of the same artist I have known in the community.
Astamatitos (Scizor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/60 Def/16 Spd/180 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- U-turn
---
Scizor but not your typical Scizor. Its defensive oriented as I pick to use his typing and resistances in my team rather than a CBVersion.
With the defensive Evs it takes hits like a pro. HP fire from Celebi doesnt OHKO this guy, neither does it care from unboosted neutral hits. Non hp fire Gengar and Latias counter.
-Bullet punch is a must to keep in check faster threats. I have no business using SDance early game, and before you comment on using both SD and U-turn, none expects this Scizor to pull up a SDance after they have seen it U-Turn though I almost never SD, unless this is my last planned alive pokemon.
-His main job is to come in and take a non fire hit, then pass to the appropriate faster counter. This guy likes to Roost and U-turn a lot holding the team together. Most importantly, lategame it can use his defensive spread and set up on walls with impunity and proceed to clear out with Bullet punch.
There were occasions where my Scizor had cleared out stall teams completely, simply because the opponent lacked a Fire move. Now most important reason i keep and abuse U-turn is because usually people go to Heatran or Magnezone so in many occasions the U-turn leads to my next pokemon, Dugtrio.
-> Scizor is named after Astamatitos, a great friend and battler of mine who I have known and played with since i can remember.
Broth3r (Dugtrio) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk/44 Def/212 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Night Slash
---
Dugtrio is the check to things that would otherwise 6-0 my team. Keeps Infernape and Heatran out of the chance of killing more than one pokemon. Adding to that, the speed provided outspeeds even +1 speed 328 pokemon, possitive 100 nature Scarfed Pokemon.
-Earthquake is essential as a STAB, so is Stone edge for hitting Flying foes. Night Slash because of Gengar and Rotom. Aerial Ace is solely used for Breloom and Heracross and OHKOs both. I could swap this for something better but it doesnt have much other options tbh.
-This Dugtrio outspeeds the biggest threat of my team, Choice Scarf Heatran and its the main reason I have Scarfed this. When Heatran kills something(usually Ttar as after I lay SR i will switch him on any Heatran after) Dugtrio revenge kills.
-The defense provided is for taking an unboosted LO extremespeed from Lucario who i trap often.
Dugtrio is also the reason I now have SR on Tyranitar, as either Gyarados and Salamence set up a DD once I revenge kill something. On the DD turn I go to either Lucario or Scizor and fire a priority move, thats enough for Dugtrio to come back to scare or kill with SE. Of course with SR and Sand down they can only do this set up on EQ once since my team has 2 priority ssers.
-> Dugtrio is 3 headed, they are like brothers. It reminds me of my friend,named Broth3r which we have spent hours in defferent online games together.
Taylor (Lucario) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed
---
Lucario is still in my opinion the most threatening physical force. He is here for pure beat down. This is the standard SD set, with Ice punch over Crunch because I prefer it to hit Gliscor and Zapdos for Super Effective than Rotom.
-Max speed also ensures that I will at least tie with other Lucario's in the worst case scenario, and things like Suicune and Mamoswine have just wasted their EVs to get up to max speed since i still outspeed them and get my hit in.
-The general plan is that after I have Revenge killed their Fire pokemon, I still have 2 pokemon that are now almost uncounterable to their team because of the lack of many fire pokemon in OU.
Its especially important to say that in most of my matches this doesnt need the SD to clear, thats why I have thoughts of the SD slot and what I could put there.I dont really need Crunch and Stone Edge will only hit Gyarados.
-> Lucario is tough, just like Taylor, one of my good old pokemon "rivals"(since the NB days)
Mofo (Shaymin) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/180 Spd/76 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Rest
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
---
Shaymin is my personal favorite from all the team. Its very underrated as its usually considered that its a lesser Celebi, but this teams proves exactly that its not.
-Shaymin finds easily his way into the battlefield in the faces of Water and Ground pokemon, which will run rampard to stop all the above posted pokemon.
-Its speed lets it get all the Super Effective hits on its slower opponents. It adds yet another weakness to fire, but it can remedy this as it carries Earth Power which shuts down every non Choiced Heatran, and hits Metagross and the now slower Lucario for Super Effective.
-Hp ice is selected because of Salamence, if its not +speed nature I kill it without losing any HP beforehand. Rest lets Shaymin recover the damage and status off, and it can switch out way easier than Celebi because of no weakness on Pursuit.
-Seed flare is the main attack and hits every water and not resisting pokemon with an 180 stab move.(something Celebi cant do). If Shaymin survives till lategame, Seed flare's spec def drops usually turn the tide of the match by providing KOs to his other 2 moves on pokemon like Celebi.
I'd like to have some more Sp attack to abuse Seed Flare more, but then without max HP I wouldnt be able to switch in Rotoms and Gengars(something Celebi cant do ;)) and fend them off.
->This Shaymin is named Mofo, an expert on wifi. Hell, he is the one that traded me a legit shiny shaymin from the 08 movie, this is the best contribute I can give back to him.
Sparks (Rotom-w) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/72 Def/88 Spd/96 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Discharge
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
---
Finally Rotom-W is what sums up the team. A needed Fighting and Ground immunity, Rotom is the first pokemon that will pop up after Tyranitar, either this or Shaymin. Its essentially important to increase his lifespan because of its defensive role so I gave him Rest and Sleep talk.
-If you noticed its modest. The stat of that sp attack is 297, enough to make pokemon that take neutral from rotom think twice about switching in since not only it will fend them off, but also Discharge sports a 30% paralysis, which can be game breaking to the lets say DD ttar that just switched in.
-Also, the biggest reason of that sp attack is Zapdos. I haven't got another counter and the sp defensive variants outstall no sp att Rotoms. This is not the case though, with the paralysis chance backed up by my sp attack and rest talk set.
Ttar Rotom's biggest problem, takes 20% from Discharge. 230 speed, is because of Adamant Scizor. I definetely dont want it to SD then X Scissor me, or be faster and pursuit me, ect. seeing as this is my non CB scizor counter as well.
-> Rotom-W's name comes from Sparks who since the old times I have been a mentor to, and I have now seen him grow into a potent battler.
Weaknesses
-------------------
-I have found myself in very tight spots when the opponent has kept Heatran back and I have revealed Dugtrio early. Thats why I always try to hide Dugtrio and only use it lategame where he clears out many set up attempts.
-Latias with HP Fire is a big problem as I will need to sacrafise something most of the times to get her with priority attacks.
-Jirachi is very annoying if he gets enough Flinches on Rotom as it can kill anything in my team. If i can get in at least a Discharge then Dugtrio revenge kills, any other occasion it survives EQ and then kills whatever is left with SE attacks.
I'd like some feedback on what I can change to improve the team further.
Edits:
-----------------
Changes
-------------
-I have changed Tyranitar's item to Babiri berry.
-I have changed the HP Ice to HP Fire on Shaymin.
-I have taken of 60 Evs from Scizor's Sp defense and added them to Attack. Still takes Hp fire from Celebi. I have changed his item from Leftovers into Life Orb. Finally, I added Quick Attack over SD since I want to execute the Dual Priority combo on the likes of DD Gyarados,Infernape, Zapdos and Jolteon without worrying about Steel resistances.
Testing:
----------
Hp electric over SD on Lucario
