Introduction
How's it going, Smogon! I don't believe any of you would know me at all, as I haven't been active for about 8 years and even then I would never post often. I have one RMT under my belt (feel free to look at the team here if you want to go down memory lane), so making another one is pretty big for me. Long story short, I grew up playing Pokemon with my best friend and our many matches brought us to the competitive scene (and to Smogon)! I've been testing this team out in Ranked Single Battles online and I've finally hit a wall on the Ultra Ball Tier.
Basically, I could not live with my own failure. And where did that bring me? Back to you all.
The building process was simple until maybe the very end. I wanted to build around Tyranitar. Excadrill, being the perfect partner. Grimmsnarl ended up rounding out that core for me and Gyarados, Arcanine, and Rotom-Mow gave me some synergy. It's a fun team that has gotten me far, but I feel that it is predictable given the popularity of the pokemon on the team. I myself, am not the best battler out there and know I've made some choices that would make onlookers scratch their heads.
Here we go.
The Team in Depth
Kaiju (Tyranitar) (F) w/ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 60 HP / 252 Atk/ 196 Spe
Adamant Nature
Rock Slide
Crunch
Superpower
Protect
It feels so good to not just have Tyranitar on the team but build around him. Looking back it looks like I've picked the moves off of the bulky attacker set for doubles formats (I think I've done the same for a few of the others too.). There was a purpose for this specific EV spread, though it escapes me. Anyways! Standard dual STABs and fighting move. Given Tyranitar's many weaknesses, I try not to switch in just to take advantage of the Weakness Policy. If I do, it's after Grimmsnarl has put up the necessary screens to benefit from those and get the additional special defense boost from the sand. With those in play, I am more comfortable going to work.
Underminer (Excadrill) (M) w/ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Earthquake
Ironhead
Rock Slide
Protect
We all know how scary Excaldrill can be and it would be a disservice to separate Tyranitar from his favorite partner. Moves pulled from the doubles format again! Mandatory dual STABs and Rock Slide for extra damage. I don't know if it's pure luck or what, but I have not come across many (if any!) entry hazards or binding moves so I passed on Rapid Spin. Especially with TTar being so kind to give Excadrill a speed boost already. Even though I love Focus Sash, I don't feel like I've gotten to take advantage of it much. Half the time I'm surprised that I have it. So Leftovers may be the move. Also switching protect to the ever-useful Swords Dance.
Stiltskin (Grimmsnarl) (M) w/ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SpD
Impish Nature
Spirit Break
Taunt
Light Screen
Reflect
While Tyranitar and Excadrill are best friends, Grimmsnarl is the friend that makes everything better and looks after them to make sure that they don't do anything crazy. They both share a lot of weaknesses and having Grimm set up eight turns of screens has saved many a match for me (most of my wins came from having him get things started). Without him, I've noticed how fragile my team is capable of being. Taunt is perfect for catching setup pokemon like Shuckle, Toxapex, or Mimikyu off guard. Though I have failed on others like Whimsicott and have gotten a Moonblast to the face. It's a gamble, but I prefer it over Thunder Wave. Spirit Break for neutral damage on most types.
Dinraal (Gyarados) (M) w/ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Waterfall
Bounce
Power Whip
Dragon Dance
Gyarados is such a good pokemon. As Dynamaxing is not banned in the rank battles on Sword and Shield, he is still sitting with the same recommended moves prior to the ban. Dragon Dance, Power Whip, and Waterfall are basically mandatory. But, I have my opinions about Bounce. It definitely was amazing to have for obvious reasons before. But it was only viable when Dynamaxing. Even then you're not always going to be able to or want to. This was just a long-winded way of me saying that I'm switching it for Earthquake. I just had to talk myself through it, everyone.
Shoto (Arcanine) (M) w/ Aguav Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
Flamethrower
Snarl
Roar
Protect
Arcanine was of a personal pick for me as he was my favorite fire pokemon from my R/B/Y days and later used competitively in FR/LG. Definitely happy to have him when I need to take care of any steel and grass types. Or remove all the work done by someone who has been boosting stats with Roar. But there are definitely times where I feel like another pokemon could not just be a better fit, but carry that fire move and do better with it. STAB or not!
Razr (Rotom-M) w/ Sitrus Bery
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 228 Def/ 20 SpD
Modest Nature
Leaf Storm
Volt Switch
Will-O Wisp
Protect
Named after the first cellphone I owned, Rotom-M is here to take care of most of the water type pokemon in the metagame. Especially his twin brother, Rotom-W. Leaf Storm is such a hard-hitting move, and it's great to be able to Volt Switch out to keep the momentum going and undo the harshly lowered attack. Will-O Wisp, (a move Arcanine used to carry before I felt it was redundant) to bring the physical attackers and...Protect. Alright, at this point there are four pokemon on my team running protect so it's clear I was creating this team for doubles at first. Thunderbolt might be put in place of Protect.
Threats
I hate Durant. "That's a nice Grimmsnarl you've got there" USES IRON HEAD. "Excadrill and Tyranitar?" USES SUPERPOWER. "What's Gyarados up to?" USES THUNDER FANG. "Oh no, not Arcanine!" USES STONE EDGE. It's usually paired with a pokemon that knows Tailwind. This one pokemon checks most of my team. At this point Rotom has packed it's bags.
Pretty scary as well. Hydreigon can be pretty versatile. With moves like Flash Cannon, Flamethrower, and Draco Meteor. He's fast too! Grimmsnarl is the only one with the STAB move that does 4X damage in Spirit Break, but that's not enough.
Corviknight and Ferrorthorn. Being that they don't have to worry about Excadrill's Earthquake like Aegeslash or Bisharp would and Arcanine being their ONLY check, they can be annoying. Swords dance on Excadrill can alleviate some of the pain.
Although not common, Snorlax made me wish I had a fighting type pokemon to deal with him. It would also help with Bisharp.
I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I was fighting a Clefable with Excadrill and could not take it down with Iron Head. It is so much work to take this pokemon down.
Probably won't be as much of a problem any longer with Rotom running Thunderbolt. Excadrill also struggled to try to take Toxapex down with Earthquake.
Really, just a minor annoyance. The only time I yearn for Mold Breaker Excadrill.
Lastly, (some?) dragons! I don't find myself worrying about the Dragapults and Duraludons, but I do want to outspeed Dracovish to avoid the massive damage from Fishious Rend. And Kommo-O (though I have been lucky enough to not come across one yet), will give me the same problems that a Durant or Hydreigon would with the moves that it comes with. Again, Grimmsnarl carries the STAB fairy move, but being fast and strong is not his job.
Conclusion
So here we are at the end. Creating this RMT has really helped, as I've found myself thinking about changes already. The main goals are coverage while covering as many weaknesses as possible. Finding pokemon that could do some or any of the jobs that these pokemon do, better. And at the end of it all, having a fun team that is capable of some surprises.
Looking forward to what you all think and open to any and all suggestions. Thanks and I'll be seeing you around!
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