Bahrag Queens

[Crona]

I haven't made a Gen V RMT in a long time @_@
Mainly because I've still been trying to learn the metagame well and then BW2 threw me for a loop. Anyway here I am to bring a team I've been tweaking with for a few weeks based off a silly idea of mine. The whole thing's based on me wanting to use Lanturn in OU... yeah that doesn't sound great does it... Anyway, the first partner I chose for Lanturn was Tornadus-T, which seemed pretty big in OU. While thinking about this for a few days, Genesect just so happened to show up and began its destruction by being on nearly any team you see. With these three in mind, I created a Volt-Turn team (oh great)

The team name comes from Genesect's and Lanturn's names, Gahdok and Cahdok, which are named for the Bahrag, the queens of the Bohrok in the Bionicle storyline (I realize the redundancy in the name as "Bahrag" implies "queen", but Bahrag Queens sounds nicer). These two become stronger the closer they are to each other, and due to involving Bionicle, I named each of the other 4 after Rahi.

Teambuilding Process:

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These were the first three I wanted to begin with. With Lanturn sticking well with both, I can use two of the biggest threats of the metagame, as well as have one general answer to opposing threats, such as Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T. The whole team is based around supporting these three.

I added Politoed because Genesect, Lanturn, and Tornadus-T all appreciate rain. I use defensive Politoed so that it can at least last awhile until I remove the opposing weather.

I honestly don't remember my actual thought process here, but I know I practically threw on the last two slots to try and test it quickly. Mamoswine for rocks, and Skarmory for Spikes, as well as another Ground-type immunity.

With Mamoswine and Skarmory having a hard time in battle, I changed the two out for Landorus-T and Ferrothorn, who fulfill the exact roles with hazards that they replaced. Landorus-T also adds into the Volt-Turn more.

After being defeated by hazards over and over, I decided to switch over to Forretress to spin and set up Spikes. Forretress adds another Volt Switch, making 5 out of 6 members Volt-Turning. Forretress ends up supporting much better than Ferrothorn did, and forms a neat core with Landorus-T.

Ghekula (Politoed) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast​

After trying the defensive set, I preferred what Rockstar suggested and went with Specs Politoed. Defensive can last awhile but with weathers, I like to punch holes in opposing leads, especially on a team lacking Wish support. Instead of being threatened by Ferrothorn without burning it, I can surprise it with a Focus Blast, which 2HKOs if I remember correctly. As for opposing weathers, I'm not sure on calcs but I'm pretty damn sure that not one of them will enjoy switching into any move (Ninetales and Tyranitar should be worried already, I think; Ninetales can't take Water forever and Tyranitar wouldn't enjoy burns from Scald).

Gahdok (Genesect) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam​

Genesect is an absolute monster when you're not prepared for it (I had the pleasure of being swept by a +1 Genesect using Bug Buzz because it 2HKO'd just about anything I had, since Ferrothorn was in place of Forretress). Even with Timid, +1 U-turn hurts if unresisted, and if the thing has +1 Sp. Atk, it can bring the pain. Originally I had Flamethrower and switched over to HP Ground, and then went to Bug Buzz when it was pointed out that Heatran is scared of most of my team anyway. Genesect smacks down hard with +1 Thunders, so hard that I hardly go for Ice Beam sometimes even when I see Dragon-types against me. The 4 Sp. Def EVs is to throw off opposing Genesects switching in, so they get the Attack boost. Genesect is my main check to Mamoswine, which can tear apart half my team since it is mostly slow.

Cahdok (Lanturn) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 144 HP / 100 Def / 76 SAtk / 188 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Heal Bell​

To be honest, I had no clue at first what to do with Lanturn besides Volt Switch and Heal Bell. Heal Bell I needed because my teams are often plagued by status and need it to go away. I thought of using a unique ResTalk set with Volt Switch over Scald/Discharge, but I figured I needed Water STAB. I originally used Surf and Thunder Wave, but then Chimpakt suggested Lanturn use Scald and Toxic. Since Politoed no longer has Scald, I figured it'd be a good idea. Toxic also REALLY helps against some common switch-ins for Lanturn, like Gastrodon or Latias, two common problems for Volt-Turn. The EVs were originally to get decent bulk (avoid the 2HKO from opposing SpecsToed), but the Sp. Atk was calc'd to OHKO Landorus-T on the switch with Surf, and with Scald being weaker, I'm not sure what to run.

Gukko (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Grass Knot
- Superpower​

Oh my, this thing's speed. I couldn't believe it when I saw it, something so fast. Tornadus-T's blinding speed almost makes it a requirement to have neutral priority or a Choice Scarf, because it will just continue to outspeed anything without. Although it lacks the absolute devastation its normal forme has, Tornadus-T makes up for it by just outspeeding and still hitting hard, while still remaining in a fight with good health, thanks to Regenerator. Although it has Focus Blast for the special side, it is greatly inaccurate, and Superpower hits what it needs to harder. The standard T-tar is OHKO'd by Superpower, and not even Scarftar can hope to outspeed. Hurricane's STAB hits hard for only base 110 Sp. Atk, with rain making that accuracy spot-on. Grass Knot was suggested a few times since HP Ice didn't do much for me anyway, and that's a great change for me. Gastrodon can still cause problems sometimes, but Tornadus-T can take it down with Grass Knot. Jellicent is also hit hard by Grass Knot.

Muaka (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 184 Spd / 184 Atk
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock​

Landorus-T has been extremely helpful for me in this metagame, because things like Terrakion seem to thrive even more here. The EVs here are to retain the same bulk while being able to outspeed Breloom (that's what I had in mind, at least). This results in a loss in power, but this is better than what I had before (thanks imanalt). Originally I had HP Ice on this as well, and replaced that because 4 out of 5 members already had either HP Ice or Ice Beam. Plus, I figured Landorus-T may like having a little more Sp. Def (I'd run Naughty so that HP Ice wasn't weakened). I did try Dugtrio from bubbly's suggestion, but it seems my personal taste doesn't match, or it doesn't support as well with all the other changes. It ended up doing less for me than I had hoped (or I'm just playing it wrong, lol)

Hoi (Forretress) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 184 SDef / 72 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch​

Oh dear lord I love this Forretress so much. The HP Ice Forretress set is just so amazingly unique and useful. It may have a pitifully weak BoltBeam combo, but being able to 2HKO most Dragons is beautiful. Volt Switch gave Forretress priority over other spinners, and being able to do what it does... beautiful. It helps keep this Volt-Turn chain alive with spinning, and contributes itself with its own switch. Spikes to stack up against the opposing team to wear them down quicker. While the standard HP Ice Forretress is physically defensive, due to my inclusion of Landorus-T, the team forms a decent core between Landorus-T and Forretress, due to Intimidate. Thus, I invested in Sp. Def, which allows it to take some Scalds in rain, and maybe some other special hits.




Importable:

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Ghekula (Politoed) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast

Gahdok (Genesect) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Thunder
- Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam

Cahdok (Lanturn) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 144 HP / 100 Def / 76 SAtk / 188 SDef
Calm Nature
- Volt Switch
- Scald
- Toxic
- Heal Bell

Gukko (Tornadus-Therian) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Grass Knot
- Superpower

Muaka (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 140 HP / 184 Atk / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Hoi (Forretress) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 72 SAtk / 184 SDef
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch

Thanks to imanalt for helping me out with the EVs on this team.

Some things I notice when battling is that this team's got trouble with Sun teams in general. It's also been pointed that Spore/SD Breloom can be a pain in the ass unless I play around it. I've also had a few qualms with Scarf Terrakion, but that's only when Landorus-T was worn down too much.

EDIT: Due to changes, I am not sure on these matchups, though I'd assume the same. I haven't been able to play the same teams I did with the older version.

 

[bubbly]

Hey Crona, I've been told I have to rate this so here I am :) This is actually a really strong team, but it does have a couple of issues. Like you said, Sun teams and Scarf Terrakion can cause you problems, but in addition Gastrodon (who literally walls your entire team) and some offensive Water types such as Scarfed Keldeo are also threats (there's also some random stuff such as DDMoxie Salamence which can practically sweep you clean if it gets a boost - so just be careful not to lock Genesect into Bug Buzz if you see one).

Okay, so the most significant change I think you should make is to run a Focus Sash Dugtrio instead of your Landorus. This gives you a much, much easier time against all weathers, but especially Sun; in addition, it traps most of the things which counter Tornadus and Genesect, such as Heatran and SpDef Jirachi. Having Forretress makes it really easy to maintain the Focus Sash; finally, Dugtrio traps a lot of the common Stealth Rock users, so if you play right you often won't need to Spin at all.

Something else you might like to try, although this is much more of a preference thing than a clear improvement, would be to run a mixed defenses Amoonguss over Lanturn and then some form of Jirachi (SubCM is the most popular for this type of team, most other movesets would be fine so long as they have enough bulk to check Tornadus) in place of Genesect. This change doesn't hurt you defensively at all, but helps a lot against Gastrodon and most Fighting types (Breloom, Keldeo, Terrakion, Conkeldurr), as well as giving you some nice overall extra bulk.

Hope you like my suggestions! Again, nice rain team, and good luck :)

 

[Asek]

Hey,

Cool team Crona, I like the use of 2 theirans in the 1 team here. As said by bubbly, Gastrodon can annoy your team for days, with the abilty to endlessly get free switch ins on your Lanturn, and potentially pick up a Storm Drain boost and really do a number on your team from there. The increasingly popular specs set can really dent your team hard, and the old defensive set can spread status misery throughout the team. Also of note is that Ferrothorn can set up hazards and wall against a fair amount of your team, and is definitely something your team can't take lightly

OK, first off to give you a way around Gastrodon I suggest Grass Knot > HP [ICE] on Tornadus. Since most Gastrodon can comfortably survive Hurricane's, Tornadus is helping itself and the team out by gaining Grass Knot, Which lets you use Lanturn a lot more freely. HP [ICE] isn't as good as Grass Knot on Tornadus as a SFE hit from it still wont be out-damaging a neutral STAB Hurricane, and the targets it 4X SFE hits will be getting belted hard enough by Hurricane anyway, and in terms of overall coverage it doesn't offer that much as well.

Finally, try out Focus Blast > Ice Beam on Politoed. This gives you a way to handily hit Ferrothorn, who will otherwise be switching in and constantly setting up hazards on your current set. Your team seems to struggle against Ferrothorn at the moment, and even with Politoeds lack of investment you should still do some sizable damage to Ferrothorn. Although you lose the ability to SFE grass types, Focus Blast hits them neutrally, and the only target you lose the ability to do damage to his Celebi, who doesn't threaten this team much at all.

GL with the team

 

[Crona]

Thanks Asek and bubbly!
I went ahead and put Dugtrio on the team, changed HP Ice to Grass Knot on Torn-T, and changed Ice Beam to Focus Blast on Politoed. I'm going to test those today.

Also I really need to find smaller pictures.

 

[-Rockstar-]

Hey there, really good Rain team here, Its really nice to see you used Lanturn because it's a great Pokemon to use at the moment, I also used it on a few of my teams and it worked it out great. Now on to the rate, like others have already mentioned, you look kinda weak to gastrodon, to fix this I would suggest you replace your current Politoed Set with a Specs Politoed which in my opinion is the best set Politoed can use at the moment seeing as it can OHKO/2HKO almost the entire Overused Tier on it's own with the right move, it will also do you really well vs Gastrodon which switches into Toed alot to get a free Storm Drain boost but a Specs Hidden power Grass does about 80% to Gastrodon making it alot easy for you to finish off with Politoed or another member of your team, aside from beating Gastrodon, Specs Politoed is just a great member to have seeing the amount of damage it can do. Now moving on I would suggest you change your Lanturn's last two moves from Thunder Wave and heal bell to Rest and Sleep Talk, this will give you a great status absorber and also makes Lanturn last much longer making it much more of a a task to take down.Now speaking of Lanturn I'd replace Surf with Scald so you get a nice 30% burn chance which is always cool to have and burning stuff like incoming Tyranitar and Ferrothorn is sweet.

Sets

Politoed @ Choice Specs | Drizzle
Modest| 248 HP / 252 SAtk / 8 Spe
Hydro Pump| Ice Beam | Focus Blast | Hidden Power[Grass]

Good Luck!

 

[chimpact]

I would definitely give Lanturn Scald and Toxic over Surf and T-wave. I know you said a lot of common switch-ins don't like T-wave, but im not sure what would really switch in to a lanturn. The pokemon that immediately come to my mind that would switch into it would be Gastrodon, Ferrothorn, Tentacruel, Amoongus, Rotom, Thundurus-T, Chansey. Only Rotom would really be hurt by paralysis. Scald and toxic allows you to hurt those above pokemon and allows you teammates to better handle them later in the game.

Additionally I agree with replacing Grass Knot with HP Ice. HP Ice is just gonna hit the pokemon you are hitting with hurricane just a little bit harder.

 

[Crona]

Thanks guys!
I actually was thinking about Specs Politoed for awhile, because it's a personal favorite of mine, and I do very well with it compared to the defensive set. I think I'll go ahead and try it, Rockstar.

I think I'll go with Chimpakt's suggestions for Lanturn. ResTalk sounds nice but I honestly don't trust it this generation unless it's using Heal Bell with it, and then I get pretty restricted in the moveslots. Scald+Toxic, though, allows me to poison those Pokemon annoying the hell out of my team with their bulk or just to wear them down quicker. Scald's also probably more useful at this point, to burn stuff like Ferrothorn.

Tomorrow hopefully I can get these changes in, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to try them out @.@

 

[Crona]

I think I can do this once?

uh
bump