After some years of only playing pokemon for the story line. I finally decided to get into the meta, since December I've been just using fun/random pokes on teams to get familiar with threats and common pokes. After a period of testing I decided to build a real team myself. I only really get to get two showdown battles a day or so but I'm currently at around 1500ish and rising. As far as my team goes, I decided to build a rock abuse team. So alas....
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earth Power
The first poke in this "rock abuse" team is heatran. As he sets up the rocks for the team to break potential sashes and multiscales. The idea of heatran was because during my learning period, I discovered I hate talonflame. However, with no def investment but max hp talonflame, mawile, gardevoir(without hp ground), and many other threats have a problem with this heatran. The amazing typing give me a great wall and leftovers provide recovery which is useful after taking a hit from the -6 roar. I contemplate running air balloon but later mons make up for that. The ability flash fire prevent the spread of will o wisp and is standard. The evs and moves are pretty standard as well, so more useful spreads will be cherished.
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
This gyarados is the perfect teammate to heatran. Earthquake meant to OHKO heatran give this mon a free switch. While it can take special water moves with max hp and base 100 spdef. The nature and ev spreads maximize its dragon tailing potential to rack up rock damage along with the intimidate. Along side dragon tail, waterfall gives this mon a respectable STAB. The Gyaradosite is mainly because after testing I had no switch in to AV conk but now knock off is nerfed and unmega'd I resist drain/mach punch. This along side the intimidate makes it a counter to conk because I've never seen thunder punch conk and im not sure he learns it. Once threats ground/fighting threats are out the way, I can mega to receive a boost to my defensive capabilities and added power. Rest is my only way to recover but proved quite effective and sleep talk can potentially dragon tail on slower mons without taking damage.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
Rotom-w is always a problem and I wanted a switch in to potential will o's and hydros and I wanted a poke for obvious spore situations. I intially went with venusaur but without the mega the damage output just wasn't there. While venusaur's recovery was great, I ultimately decided to run roserade. The black sludge I felt was the best item on a defensive poke and natural cure is for will o's from rotom. Leech seed works great is a hard switch from rotom is inevitable. Toxic Spikes works great with my roar/dragon tail tandem, sludge bomb is great when I see an annoying fairy in the team preview(mainly clefable) and the potentially poison is great. Giga Drain is for rotom/gastro/quasire and suchs and on low hp pokes to give roserade longer durability.
Weavile @ Black Glasses
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Ice Punch
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
With a pretty defensive team so far, I knew some power must be added. I experimented with a lot of pokes and none seemed satisfying. I was looking for a potential powerhouse and oddly enough from the titans in the OU list I decided on weavile. Base 126 Atk/ 125 Speed makes him the perfect revenge killer.
Ice punch provides a powerful STAB and along side a even more powerful STAB knock off provides great coverage itself. Ice Shard is great for scarf mons for out prioritizing pokes with like quick attack mega pinsir. The ice coverage is crucial for the dragons roaming around. The last move I didn't really know whether to run low kick or low sweep. With ttar being a bigger threat to my team I decided to run low kick. Jolly is make sure greninja/noivern/most talonflames and such dont outspeed. I chose black glasses to potentially bluff the choice band and to avoid the life orb recoil. With ice punch/shard usually OHKOing its target and knock off used on switches for neutral damage I chose to give knock off the power boost. A great late game cleaning up mon after my roar/dragon tail shenanigans.
Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
With my team gyarados, weavile, and later on thundurus on my team. I knew rocks were a problem. I couldn't run defog even though gliscor/mandi/ and scizor better syngerizes with my team because rocks are crucial for my team so I had to look for a spinner. Donphan seemed like the best fit as thunder moves directed to gyarados give me a free switch. A donphan without leftys just isnt right and the evs and impish nature are just there to assure I can spin away those pesky rocks. Earthquake is a must, while fire fang give me a second poke with fire because scizors with superpower scares away heatran and gives another option besides gyarados. I should probably run calcs to 2HKO those bulky defogging scizors running and figure out a more optimal spread for my donphan. I experimented with rocks/ play rough/ and ice shard but all seemed really ineffective or extremely weak(ice shard) so I ultimately decided to run knock off. This is great for bulky flying types so think they can avoid damage from earthquake and end up losing their leftys. Knocking out items proves to be extremely helping and at times can win games even with weak damage outputs.
Thundurus @ ??????
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 sAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Finally, the last poke I wanted a special wall breaker. Once again I auditioned plenty of pokes but none seemed to fit the bill. I tried out this prankster mon and it seemed to do more than just break walls. I have run just about every item from life orb to leftovers but have yet to come across a successful item. Timid, max speed, max satk are pretty standard and self explanatory. Taunt works great with prankster for sableyes and klefkis who think they can have fun. It's also useful for walls like blissey who think they can recover in my face, mandi's who want to defog and many other situations. Thunderbolt over volt switch because I wanted the power but I could easily be using the wrong move here. Hidden power Ice is to give me another ice coverage move in cases that chomps think they can freely switch in. The last move focus blast was actually put in because of a loss I had where excadrill walled my thundurus, I rarely used it since but with no more viable fighting moves on my team excluding the low kick from weavile which is situational I felt this is more useful then a nasty plot or another move would be.
The movesets/ev spreads are quite generic but being new to the meta, it's the best way to learn. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm open to any constructive criticism. I don't mind taking out mons for the sake of team so please be free to reply. EV spreads will be extremely useful and mentioning of mons that wreck my team!
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Earth Power
The first poke in this "rock abuse" team is heatran. As he sets up the rocks for the team to break potential sashes and multiscales. The idea of heatran was because during my learning period, I discovered I hate talonflame. However, with no def investment but max hp talonflame, mawile, gardevoir(without hp ground), and many other threats have a problem with this heatran. The amazing typing give me a great wall and leftovers provide recovery which is useful after taking a hit from the -6 roar. I contemplate running air balloon but later mons make up for that. The ability flash fire prevent the spread of will o wisp and is standard. The evs and moves are pretty standard as well, so more useful spreads will be cherished.
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
This gyarados is the perfect teammate to heatran. Earthquake meant to OHKO heatran give this mon a free switch. While it can take special water moves with max hp and base 100 spdef. The nature and ev spreads maximize its dragon tailing potential to rack up rock damage along with the intimidate. Along side dragon tail, waterfall gives this mon a respectable STAB. The Gyaradosite is mainly because after testing I had no switch in to AV conk but now knock off is nerfed and unmega'd I resist drain/mach punch. This along side the intimidate makes it a counter to conk because I've never seen thunder punch conk and im not sure he learns it. Once threats ground/fighting threats are out the way, I can mega to receive a boost to my defensive capabilities and added power. Rest is my only way to recover but proved quite effective and sleep talk can potentially dragon tail on slower mons without taking damage.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Toxic Spikes
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
Rotom-w is always a problem and I wanted a switch in to potential will o's and hydros and I wanted a poke for obvious spore situations. I intially went with venusaur but without the mega the damage output just wasn't there. While venusaur's recovery was great, I ultimately decided to run roserade. The black sludge I felt was the best item on a defensive poke and natural cure is for will o's from rotom. Leech seed works great is a hard switch from rotom is inevitable. Toxic Spikes works great with my roar/dragon tail tandem, sludge bomb is great when I see an annoying fairy in the team preview(mainly clefable) and the potentially poison is great. Giga Drain is for rotom/gastro/quasire and suchs and on low hp pokes to give roserade longer durability.
Weavile @ Black Glasses
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Ice Punch
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
With a pretty defensive team so far, I knew some power must be added. I experimented with a lot of pokes and none seemed satisfying. I was looking for a potential powerhouse and oddly enough from the titans in the OU list I decided on weavile. Base 126 Atk/ 125 Speed makes him the perfect revenge killer.
Ice punch provides a powerful STAB and along side a even more powerful STAB knock off provides great coverage itself. Ice Shard is great for scarf mons for out prioritizing pokes with like quick attack mega pinsir. The ice coverage is crucial for the dragons roaming around. The last move I didn't really know whether to run low kick or low sweep. With ttar being a bigger threat to my team I decided to run low kick. Jolly is make sure greninja/noivern/most talonflames and such dont outspeed. I chose black glasses to potentially bluff the choice band and to avoid the life orb recoil. With ice punch/shard usually OHKOing its target and knock off used on switches for neutral damage I chose to give knock off the power boost. A great late game cleaning up mon after my roar/dragon tail shenanigans.
Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
With my team gyarados, weavile, and later on thundurus on my team. I knew rocks were a problem. I couldn't run defog even though gliscor/mandi/ and scizor better syngerizes with my team because rocks are crucial for my team so I had to look for a spinner. Donphan seemed like the best fit as thunder moves directed to gyarados give me a free switch. A donphan without leftys just isnt right and the evs and impish nature are just there to assure I can spin away those pesky rocks. Earthquake is a must, while fire fang give me a second poke with fire because scizors with superpower scares away heatran and gives another option besides gyarados. I should probably run calcs to 2HKO those bulky defogging scizors running and figure out a more optimal spread for my donphan. I experimented with rocks/ play rough/ and ice shard but all seemed really ineffective or extremely weak(ice shard) so I ultimately decided to run knock off. This is great for bulky flying types so think they can avoid damage from earthquake and end up losing their leftys. Knocking out items proves to be extremely helping and at times can win games even with weak damage outputs.
Thundurus @ ??????
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 HP / 252 sAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Taunt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Finally, the last poke I wanted a special wall breaker. Once again I auditioned plenty of pokes but none seemed to fit the bill. I tried out this prankster mon and it seemed to do more than just break walls. I have run just about every item from life orb to leftovers but have yet to come across a successful item. Timid, max speed, max satk are pretty standard and self explanatory. Taunt works great with prankster for sableyes and klefkis who think they can have fun. It's also useful for walls like blissey who think they can recover in my face, mandi's who want to defog and many other situations. Thunderbolt over volt switch because I wanted the power but I could easily be using the wrong move here. Hidden power Ice is to give me another ice coverage move in cases that chomps think they can freely switch in. The last move focus blast was actually put in because of a loss I had where excadrill walled my thundurus, I rarely used it since but with no more viable fighting moves on my team excluding the low kick from weavile which is situational I felt this is more useful then a nasty plot or another move would be.
The movesets/ev spreads are quite generic but being new to the meta, it's the best way to learn. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I'm open to any constructive criticism. I don't mind taking out mons for the sake of team so please be free to reply. EV spreads will be extremely useful and mentioning of mons that wreck my team!
