Apes, Dragons, & Washing Machines OH MY! [Peaked 1900]

[Usatoday]

Introduction
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Hello all and welcome to what I believe is my fourth team here on smogon, now the team itself started when I got sick of using special Landorus since it just utterly hates and refuses to work for me. So instead I utilized a tried and true set being the expert belt Landorus with sand force and the team just sort of blossomed from there. Now the team is pretty much your standard sand team except that Infernape isn't too common a sight on sand teams but lets get into the team shall we?
Team Preview

Team Building Process

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Obviously my first member for the team was landorus and with it I remembered mixed results from months ago when physical landorus was absolutely everywhere this being that it couldn't touch things such as specially defensive hippowdon and skarmory.

The next pokemon to join the team had to be able to take down the nuisances to landorus mainly being balloon heatran, skarmory, ferrothorn, mamoswine, and hippowdon. So since the pair had been common staples in the BW1 metagame I figured i may as well abuse them in BW2. However Rotom-Wash lacked the ability to two hit ko a ferrothorn until I discovered the joy of hidden power fire Rotom Wash. Its so unexpected which is what makes it so perfect.

The next pokemon to join the core was one that could help dispatch of steel types as well as round out my volt turn core that was forming, I also happened to want a scarfer that could do very decent damage to terrakion and starmie; I found my infernape this way, with base 108 speed the same as terrakion it is enough to outspeed all that is necessary with a chioce scarf equipped to infernape while pounding out the kinks rotom had with some steel types.

The next member to join was the dragon of the team as pretty much everyone should run one since the coverage they carry is absolutely amazing. Now I had originally considered a bulky tanking latias in this spot however the team seemed to like offensive pressure more then just pure stalling purposes, so I chose her brother Latios who I had been meaning to use and had honestly forgotten the damage output this thing can give to someone. It also gave a nice offensive pivot switch into Keldeo so I can figure out the set it was running.

With Landorus being physical and benefiting from the sand I figured I may as well run sand to help to support Landorus, so the obvious choice was tyranitar a pokemon that could deal with gengar and lati@s with the combo of pursuit and crunch. Now I also realized that I relied on Infernape to deal with a lot of fast pokemon so I threw in a choice banded stoutland to hit hard from the physical side as well as help clear the way for latios or Landorus and having the steel types gone didn't seem to hurt stoutland's heart any.

In Depth Analysis
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Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
0 Spd IVs
Brave Nature

Stealth Rock

Superpower

Crunch

Pursuit
First up on the list we have Tyranitar a pokemon that has been on the overused scene since generation two when it was first released, however in generation III tyranitar got something that would make it one of the most sought after pokemon to use in the game, Sand Stream. This ability gives landorus the equivalent of a Life orb boost without the negative side effects and gives stoutland double the speed it would normally have. However this is not the sole reason to abuse tyranitar as it possesses some of the best traits one can ask for within the game, one of which is the best counter to Lati@s in the game thanks to the boost it gets via sand stream and with access to pursuit it can trap not only latios and latias but gengar as well something that with a sub up can be extremely annoying. Pursuit is also very handy in breaking the balloons off of heatran for landorus to kill them later as well as for choiced pokemon. Crunch is there more for jellicent than anything else as with only pursuit I do pathetic damage, it also is handy for latias spamming roost to outstall me as well as for sub disable gengar so that they can disable crunch but not pursuit. Superpower I really put there because I was getting pissed off at other tyranitar leads, and more importantly heatran leads who my original fire blast tyranitar couldn't touch. So I revised the spread so that max attack to hurt ferrothorn, heatran, and tyranitar as hard as possible, with the only drawback being the reduction in attack and defense. Finally I have the most important hazard in the game being stealth rock which allows my team which thrives on forcing switches and prediction to hurt pokemon such as volcarona as hard as I can while I also deter Ninetales and Politoad from switching in often. Otherwise if I wasn't running stealth rock I'd slap a choice band on tyranitar. Finally the Brave nature and zero speed ivs to ensure that my sand is going up as opposed to rain or hail.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature

Hidden Power [Fire]

Psyshock

Draco Meteor

Recover
Next off is Latios everyone's favorite special dragon, with the ability to hit like a freight train and the coverage it has it's easy to see why this thing was Uber for the last two generations. However Latios misses its soul dew but Life orb is not that bad of a fit for it boosting its attacks by 30% for the small price of 10% of ones health which is easily recovered off. This is my initial switch in to politoed and keldeo as I prefer offense to defense on this team utterly destroying my opponent with a draco meteor is the reason why this thing has gained a soft spot in my heart. Draco meteor specifically lets me hit dragonite, salamence, ninetales, politoed, and haxorus. Psyshock is there for two reasons the first being to break the sub of a toxicroak as well as damage defensive tentacruel who hope to sponge a draco meteor, and secondly so that I can nail blissey for some more power. Now life orb in the sand racks up 16% every turn meaning that it doesn't take long for latios to die, however I really like the power it provides now here is my question should I try out an expert belt, or wise glasses instead?
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Landorus (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature

Hidden Power [Ice]

Earthquake

U-turn

Stone Edge

Next up is our main man that the team is built around with sand force and stab earthquake hits a 195 base power doing over fifty percent that doesn't resist or is immune to it. Earthquake in particular hits forretress, ferrothorn, blissey, jellicent, and scizor. All of which are two to three hit ko'd and the ones with reliable recovery are lacking a way to sponge to of these babies. Stone edge is there mainly for dragonite, volcarona, and more importantly rotom wash which seems to be the impervious troll to landorus nowadays being a solid two hit ko with stone edge. U-Turn is for the few grass types that are viable within the overused tier mainly being celebi and amoonguss providing for an escape option on Landorus. Finally there is hidden power ice for a few reasons a.) it provides for a solid way to get rid of gliscor which is ex troll to landorus, b.) provide a more accurate option for hitting salamence, and dragonite, and finally c.) To help bluff that I'm the special set. The beauty of this set is the fact that the instant people see a physical attack U-Turn most likely they automatically assume that it's the classic scarf set if they've been playing long enough.

Rotom-W @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
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EVs: 192 HP / 92 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature

Volt Switch

Hydro Pump

Hidden Power [Fire]

Pain Split
Now the spread may seem weird however it's effective at what it does hidden power fire is there as a fore mentioned to hit ferrothorn which I deem to be a pain in the ass for this team and it allows me to not have to waste hydro pumps on forretress just to kill it. It also allows me to not be stalled out by specially defensive skarmory when they roost on my predicted volt switch. I run just enough speed to outspeed jolly breloom which is also a key reason to run hidden power fire. Pain split should be fairly evident as it allows for rotom wash to switch in on things such as scarf politoed and pain split off the damage they do as they switch out to ferrothorn or what they have to take an electric attack. Expert belt also allows for me to bluff being a choiced rotom more specifically a choice scarf variant with the damage i dole out. Hydro pump allows for an unbelievably powerful stab move that can hit just about anything in the tier hard bar amoonguss. Finally there is volt switch to keep the momentum going in my favor and also hitting politoed for some pretty decent damage.
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Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature

Flare Blitz

Close Combat

U-turn

Hidden Power [Ice]
Now every team needs a choice scarfer and infernape seemed to fit the bill quite well being able to absorb any attack that ninetales throws at it which is what makes infernape better than tyranitar as a switch in aka it won't get burned by a will o wisp. Close combat the obvious stab move that allows me to absolutely demolish heatran, opposing tyranitar, and adamant natured stoutland. Flare Blitz is there for two pokemon amoonguss which I find atrociously annoying so being able to fry it with a flare blitz is quite satisfactory as many infernape carry overheat which does a pitiful 61% to specially defensive amoonguss, and secondly to fry the sunny bug itself volcarona as infernape quad resists bug buzz and resists fiery dance. Finally if you notice from the rest of the team I have barely anything to hit a dragon danced dragonite or scarf salamence besides stoutland so infernape acts as a back up check to dragonite and salamence.
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Stoutland (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature

Return

Ice Fang

Superpower

Wild Charge
Stoutland is pulling up the team with its incredible speed that allows me to outspeed scarf terrakion or keldeo with the given effort values, as I deem scarf latios as not a problem given I carry the best counter to it tyranitar. Return should be the obvious stab that nets incredible ohko's and some very decent two hit ko's with prior damage on the enemy. Ice fang allows me to hit salamence, dragonite, gliscor, and celebi. Superpower is mainly for terrakion, ferrothorn, and tyranitar. Finally there is wild charge to two hit ko defensive politoed, hit tornadus, and finally to hit the ever loving nuisance of keldeo.

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Team In Action
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Importable

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Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Recover

Landorus (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

Rotom-W @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 192 HP / 92 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Pain Split

Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Stoutland (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Ice Fang
- Superpower
- Wild Charge

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey Usatoday, really nice sand team you have here. You have really nice defensive synergy combined with numerous offensive threats to keep pressure on the opponent so good job there. However, when sand is not up you are vulnerable to many threats on both sun and rain teams including Scarf Keldeo, Venusaur, and Scarfed dragons in general. These all either speed tie or outspeed everything on your team outside of sand and can do huge damage to your team. For example, Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump in the rain deals 47.75-56.05% to Rotom-W, which is a guaranteed 2hko after SR. Latios faces the same fate, taking 44.7 - 52.64%. Venusaur also can 2hko everything on your team with Latios taking 49 - 57.94% from Sludge Bomb.

For these reasons I suggest that you change your Latios to a Latias, and make your Rotom-W a specially defensive set. While, you do lose out on some offensive firepower, being able to sponge some hits before changing your weather back with Tyranitar will be much appreciated. Latias for example has just enough more special bulk to make sure that Venusaur's Sludge Bomb has less than a 50% chance to 2hko and that Keldeo's Hydro Pump has less than a 25% chance to 2hko after SR damage. You can keep the same EV's and moveset on Latias as well.

On top of the added bulk, changing Rotom-W's set allows you to run Thunder Wave, which will help neutralize the impact of opposing sweepers and help you keep up your weather for a longer time making your Stoutland more useful later on in the match. It will also help Infernape avoid speed ties with the musketeers and will give Landorus a little more breathing room as well.

Lastly, just as a nitpick, I would run Stone Edge over Superpower on your Tyranitar. This will really put some nice damage on incoming Politoed and Ninetales, and it is really important for your team to get as much damage done as possible to weather starters early on.

Hopefully you find all of my suggestions useful. Here are the sets and good luck with the team!

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Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Calm nature
248 hp/ 28 spA/ 232 spD
Hydro Pump
Volt Switch
Pain Split
Thunder Wave

 

[ganj4lF]

Hi, I think I just found you on the ladder, so I came here to drop some advices!

First of all, I agree with MCBarret on your weakness to Water moves. His suggestions seem reasonable, since you really need a way to reliably sponge Hydro Pumps and Secret Swords from the likes of Politoed and Keldeo. I'd suggest a slightly bulkier Latias set, using 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe, to further improve your resilience against Rain.

The second observation I'd like to do is that I don't like your TTar set. I would fully invest in Attack only in a Choice Band set, where you really need the power. Doing so without a boosting item gives up a valuable chunk of bulk while not achieving much besides hitting a tad harder on the switch (and you will set up SR a lot of times, so...). If you want to keep TTat as your SR setter, I'd suggest a more standard spread of 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD Sassy, that gives you much more resilience and vastly improves your ability to deal with Lati@s, since you're no more 2HKO'd from Surf by Specs Latios. However, another suggestion could be to remove Tyranitar and use a Specially Defensive Hippowdon; while you'd lose the trapping ability and the monstruous special bulk of TTar, you'd gain reliable recovery, you would not be troubled by Dugtrio anymore (which is a big improvement, since your Stoutland is useless otherwise) and would gain a great mixed wall that can take many attacks and Slack Off in their face. Oh, and it's resistant to hazards and can set up SR, too.

Hippo

Hippowdon @ Leftovers | Sand Stream
Impish | 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

Another little thing: if you want to keep using HP Ice on Infernape, you'll probably want a Naive / Hasty nature instead of a Jolly one. An alternative is to run Stone Edge, that hits Dragons too, and Volcarona much harder; you'd lose coverage on those Ground / Flying types, but I guess you're better to U-Turn out anyway if you predict them to switch in.

Hope it was useful. Good luck.

 

[Usatoday]

Hey Usatoday, really nice sand team you have here. You have really nice defensive synergy combined with numerous offensive threats to keep pressure on the opponent so good job there. However, when sand is not up you are vulnerable to many threats on both sun and rain teams including Scarf Keldeo, Venusaur, and Scarfed dragons in general. These all either speed tie or outspeed everything on your team outside of sand and can do huge damage to your team. For example, Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump in the rain deals 47.75-56.05% to Rotom-W, which is a guaranteed 2hko after SR. Latios faces the same fate, taking 44.7 - 52.64%. Venusaur also can 2hko everything on your team with Latios taking 49 - 57.94% from Sludge Bomb.

For these reasons I suggest that you change your Latios to a Latias, and make your Rotom-W a specially defensive set. While, you do lose out on some offensive firepower, being able to sponge some hits before changing your weather back with Tyranitar will be much appreciated. Latias for example has just enough more special bulk to make sure that Venusaur's Sludge Bomb has less than a 50% chance to 2hko and that Keldeo's Hydro Pump has less than a 25% chance to 2hko after SR damage. You can keep the same EV's and moveset on Latias as well.

On top of the added bulk, changing Rotom-W's set allows you to run Thunder Wave, which will help neutralize the impact of opposing sweepers and help you keep up your weather for a longer time making your Stoutland more useful later on in the match. It will also help Infernape avoid speed ties with the musketeers and will give Landorus a little more breathing room as well.

Lastly, just as a nitpick, I would run Stone Edge over Superpower on your Tyranitar. This will really put some nice damage on incoming Politoed and Ninetales, and it is really important for your team to get as much damage done as possible to weather starters early on.

Hopefully you find all of my suggestions useful. Here are the sets and good luck with the team!

Hide

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Calm nature
248 hp/ 28 spA/ 232 spD
Hydro Pump
Volt Switch
Pain Split
Thunder Wave

Hey there McBarrett Your suggestions seem quite good however I would not run rotom wash as specially defensive i would first try a more offensively based set before that however latias seems like a perfect idea for this team and I will make sure to try that out also venusaur assuming the run modest which 99% do infernape will outspeed everytime.

Hi, I think I just found you on the ladder, so I came here to drop some advices!

First of all, I agree with MCBarret on your weakness to Water moves. His suggestions seem reasonable, since you really need a way to reliably sponge Hydro Pumps and Secret Swords from the likes of Politoed and Keldeo. I'd suggest a slightly bulkier Latias set, using 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe, to further improve your resilience against Rain.

The second observation I'd like to do is that I don't like your TTar set. I would fully invest in Attack only in a Choice Band set, where you really need the power. Doing so without a boosting item gives up a valuable chunk of bulk while not achieving much besides hitting a tad harder on the switch (and you will set up SR a lot of times, so...). If you want to keep TTat as your SR setter, I'd suggest a more standard spread of 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD Sassy, that gives you much more resilience and vastly improves your ability to deal with Lati@s, since you're no more 2HKO'd from Surf by Specs Latios. However, another suggestion could be to remove Tyranitar and use a Specially Defensive Hippowdon; while you'd lose the trapping ability and the monstruous special bulk of TTar, you'd gain reliable recovery, you would not be troubled by Dugtrio anymore (which is a big improvement, since your Stoutland is useless otherwise) and would gain a great mixed wall that can take many attacks and Slack Off in their face. Oh, and it's resistant to hazards and can set up SR, too.

Hippo

Hippowdon @ Leftovers | Sand Stream
Impish | 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind

Another little thing: if you want to keep using HP Ice on Infernape, you'll probably want a Naive / Hasty nature instead of a Jolly one. An alternative is to run Stone Edge, that hits Dragons too, and Volcarona much harder; you'd lose coverage on those Ground / Flying types, but I guess you're better to U-Turn out anyway if you predict them to switch in.

Hope it was useful. Good luck.

Hoppo for me seems a little stupid to add here as one of tyranitars niches is to pursuit trap lati@s so they aren't threats to the team as with hippo I sacrifice this for what reliable recovery? but to go onto your suggestion of stone edge on ape it hits too little for me as you can't imagine how many people switch their landorus therian and gliscor into infernape. The specially defensive and latias sets thought i will try

 

[GerMoj]

Really nice team pal, but it is quiet fragile against stall teams. I suggest running Fire Blast on Tyrano as you can get Skarmory, Forretres and Ferrothorn. This way you can prevent them from setting hazards, giving infernape more longevity as he won't like being spiked. Superpower is quite redundant because every teammate can take on opposing Tars.

Also Latias would fit better in a LO stand as she can take better a sorpresive priority attack.

Bronzong although rare can switch in, resist any attack and retaliate or trick room, so a defensive Rotom is suggested in order to weaken him and leave him weak enough for any other team member to get him. This way you can also get opposing Scarfed Landorus locked in a Special Attack. Besides that, really liked your team even though I'm a defensive player.

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey Usatoday,

I tested out your team for myself a little bit and it really is pretty good at keeping up offensive pressure on the opponent. I actually found using your Rotom-W set to be very effective so I would now recommend keeping that. I think with a specially defensive Ttar set like the one ganj4IF suggested and the switch to Latias you'll have enough special bulk to take on rain a little better. And just a heads up, as far as I know, Timid with 180 speed Ev's is pretty standard now thanks to Lavos Spawn's Simulation of a Drought RMT so I would be weary of bringing ape in on Venusaur in the sun. Anyways good work on the team, and good luck going forward.​

 

[Leftiez]

Hi There.
First, I noticed a weakness, I explain you: you possess Latios Life Orb, but with him you can be violated by several pokemon like Thundurus-T, Landorus, Venusaur, Keldeo because Latios hasn't a very good bulk it can die easily on Hidden Power Ice of Thundurus-T@LO and Landorus@LO sheer Force (252 + SpA Life Orb Thundurus - T Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Latios)(: 221-260 (73.42 - 63.24%) - guaranteed 2HKO), then normally Latios is a good counter for Venusaur but in your team it is not enough because you hasn't pokemon for kill him if Latios died, then generally Venusaur has Sleep Powder, and Latios is 3HKO by Solar Beam, with a few chances you can sleep for 2 rounds, then even with Tyranitar you can't do anything if the opponent has Sunny Days, I noticed also that Latios is your only counter for Keldeo but if the opponent has Keldeo Spec you are in a big problem, because it is 2HKO by Hydropump, then generally Keldeo Spec is played with the rain, and the opponent can anticipate and use HP Ice or Icy Wind, I suggest you Latias@LO 252Spe/252 Atkspe/ 4 HP on Latios, Latias is better than Latios for your team, it can tank easily Keldeo Spec (252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 117-138 (38.74 - 43.69%) - guaranteed 3HKO) and it can tank easily Venusaur also because it is 4HKO by Solar Beam, then even if it is weak against Hidden Power Ice it can come on Landorus because if the opponent uses Rock Polish you can kill it after with Surf because it can't kill you with Hidden Power Ice and if it uses Hidden power Ice directly you can recover because the opponent can not take the risk of letting a pokemon die needlessly, same thing for Thundurus-T.

Now your only counter is Volcarona, you can't do anything against him after a Quiver Dance, it can set up easily on your team, even with Rotom-W because it can be OHKO by Bug Buzz after the Stealth Rocks, (+ 1 252 SpA Volcarona Bug Buzz vs. 192 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W)(: 214-253 (74.04 - 87.15%) - guaranteed 2HKO), then the opponent can also use a other Quiver Dance to outspeed Stoutland and Infernape because Rotom can't kill Volcarona with Hydropump, after it can finish your team without a problem, I suggest you Rotom specially defensive, 252 HP/216 SpeDef / 42 AtkSpe, with this spread you can tank a Bug Buzz of Volcarona modest after 2 quiver Dance and you can also 2HKO him with Hydropump, (+ 2 252 SpA Volcarona Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 216 + SpD Rotom-W: 214-253 (70.39 - 83.22%) - guaranteed 2HKO), then I put some Ev's en Atk spe for your Hidden Power Fire.

If you want to keep using HP Ice on Infernape, you'll probably want a Naive / Hasty nature instead of a Jolly one.

Hope I Helped and good luck with your Team.

~Leftiez