Short History
Hello to all who take the time to read my RMT and I hope you will also take the time to right a response below. This is the first RMT that I've done here although I've been lurking on Smogon for a little over a year.
I've played or at least been interested in competitive battling now for a little over 5 years (got into the competitive end when R/S/E was out), although I have been playing competitive, strategy/team based games for a long time (around 12 years) so I'm not new to many of the ideas and concepts that shape the competitive environment.
At a Glance
Building the Team
To start with, I have always loved Nidoking, Dragonite, and Scyther(Scizor in GSC days) and since Draggy and Nido both got new toys this gen, I figured I would base a team around my favorites to really showcase what they can do.
With Dragonite being my primary finisher, I really wanted to make sure I had a way to reliably get rid of rocks. I also noticed that the edgequake combo can nail 2 members already for SE damage and the other 2 are hit neutral and are not known for their bulk so I wanted something that can resist that combo, I also wanted to spread some status around. So I ended up adding Starmie and Breloom.
As I only had one more spot in my team, I noticed that I had been putting together a team that has a strong offensive presence, forces quite a bit of switching, and has a lot of resistances in it. Not wanting to lose my offensive presence, I wanted something that could sweep on the special side, and also force switches for free set up opportunities. I added Latios.
Hello to all who take the time to read my RMT and I hope you will also take the time to right a response below. This is the first RMT that I've done here although I've been lurking on Smogon for a little over a year.
I've played or at least been interested in competitive battling now for a little over 5 years (got into the competitive end when R/S/E was out), although I have been playing competitive, strategy/team based games for a long time (around 12 years) so I'm not new to many of the ideas and concepts that shape the competitive environment.
At a Glance
Building the Team
To start with, I have always loved Nidoking, Dragonite, and Scyther(Scizor in GSC days) and since Draggy and Nido both got new toys this gen, I figured I would base a team around my favorites to really showcase what they can do.
With Dragonite being my primary finisher, I really wanted to make sure I had a way to reliably get rid of rocks. I also noticed that the edgequake combo can nail 2 members already for SE damage and the other 2 are hit neutral and are not known for their bulk so I wanted something that can resist that combo, I also wanted to spread some status around. So I ended up adding Starmie and Breloom.
As I only had one more spot in my team, I noticed that I had been putting together a team that has a strong offensive presence, forces quite a bit of switching, and has a lot of resistances in it. Not wanting to lose my offensive presence, I wanted something that could sweep on the special side, and also force switches for free set up opportunities. I added Latios.
Behind the Mons
Nidoking @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Power
EVs: 252 SpA | 252 Spe | 4 Hp
Nature: Modest
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Nidoking has 2 main roles on my team. The first role he has is to punch holes into the opponent by forcing switches and hitting whatever comes in hard (often for SE damage with decent prediction). The second role is as water/ground bait for Dragonite/Breloom/Latias to switch in and mess the opponent up.
Let's face it, Nidoking is not a common sight at all, and I play this up to it's absolute highest degree. Many people have no idea what to expect when Nidoking comes in across from them. Likewise, they do know he's ground type and this causes a lot of dragon and flying switches into him. So how do I do this? Bring Nidoking in on something that is almost certain to switch out. If they have a flyer/levitator I will usually pick whatever attack will hit that for SE damage, and most often I score a nice 1-2 KOs. Nidoking also provides me an electric/toxic immunity which will force a lot of walls out as they become unable to cripple Nidoking, so Nido does serve as a pseudo status absorber.
Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Hp | 52 Atk | 136 SpD | 68 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Roost
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
Dragonite is the centerpiece of this team, and has been a long standing favorite pokemon of mine since RBY days. If you ever see me, you can 100% count on this guy coming down to face you at some point.
The EV spread here is actually fairly specific. 252 hp gives Dragonite maximum bulk and buffs up it's subs. 68 spe EVs with a Jolly natures lets Dragonite outrun all positive natured base 110 pokemon after 1 dance. 136 SpD puts Dragonite at 270 SpD (I like even numbers), and the rest went to attack to give a little extra power to his attacks.
This Dragonite actually plays like a staller. To put it simply, if you outspeed it, it can't kill you, period (unless your name is cloister and you like to whore up icicle spear). Alternating sub and roost will PP stall out any stone edges, and it will also force LO recoil on anything that tries to play around this strategy. sub > sub > roost ensures that Multiscale stays active, and let me tell you very honestly, there is very little that will take Dragonite down below 50% with multiscale active, allowing you to roost-stall as well. Why people insist on running the standard 252 atk/252 spe dragonite I will never know. It's not at all uncommon for me to get 2-4 boosts with dragon dance and then just outright sweep.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Hp | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Recover / Ice Beam / Psy Shock
- Thunderbolt
Starmie is pretty standard for rapid spinning.
I play Starmie conservatively while still allowing it to maintain a strong offensive presence. Normally I won't bring Starmie down until after their SRer is gone so I can get rid of rocks for good. I do however use Starmie to bait pursuits and scarfers (who will identify themselves when they come in to revenge). I'm debating on swapping out Recover for dual STAB or Ice Beam for bolt-beam coverage. Kind of up in the air on this one since starmie doesn't get a lot of use out of recover.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Hp | 252 Atk | 4 SpD
Nature: Adamant
- U-Turn
- Pursuit
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
Pretty standard, although I opted for 252 Hp EVs rather than anything in speed to maximize bulk. It allows Scizor the ability to take just enough hits and let him keep doing his thing.
Forces a lot of switches, keeps momentum in my favor with U-Turn, smacks his common switch-ins hard with a predicted Superpower. Mainly used as my anti-sweep in tandem with Breloom to prevent sash users from ruining my day.
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA | 252 Spe | 4 Hp
Nature: Timid
- Recover
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
Latios is the key to my special-side offense with Dragon and Water boasting full neutral coverage on everything bar Empoleon.
I was originally using the specs variant with modest nature, but I found that it just didn't do enough for my team. It worked well in softening the enemy, but the inability to switch attacks and lack of hazard support meant that I wanted something with staying power and the ability to sweep mid-late game if necessary. I toyed with leftovers + psy shock over LO + recover, but in the end the power boost from LO proved to be essential without hazard support. I haven't really been disappointed by Latios yet. Many people are used to seeing the scarf/specs version, so the calm mind variant takes a lot of people by surprise and creates mistakes.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 172 Hp | 252 Atk | 84 Def
Nature: Adamant
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Seed Bomb
172 hp EVs because 304 hp is a poison heal number, 252 Atk because wrecking shit is cool, 84 Def because it adds to the physical bulk, and since I brought along Breloom to help guard against edge-quake the added bulk made sense.
Breloom puts stuff to sleep, dances on the switch and starts smacking away with priority. It also blocks status with Starmie while maintaining an offensive presence. Other than that it's true purpose is to come in and scare off edgequakers while putting something to sleep. It also helps tremendously vs rain teams. Overall I enjoy using Breloom but it seems to be the weak link on my team, so it's the one I've been most interested in replacing although I'm not entirely sure what I would replace it with.
Wrapping Up
I've been able to play this team a bit more today, and I have noticed that bounce gyara sweeps me if I don't already have draggy at +1 or near full health. I would like a bit of help patching up the gyara weakness, and some suggestions on a potential SRer that would fit well with the team.
Threats
I'm going to avoid going through an extensive poke by poke threat list since I feel that's a rather bad way to address teams. Generally speaking there shouldn't really ever be 1 single pokemon that can 6-0 your team, and you wouldn't get very far if there was. So I'll address overall themes as threats.
Sun Teams: I only played one sun team and it was a fairly easy win. I have 2 fire weaks and 1 grass weak (which are the most common attacking types for sun) while boasting 3 fire resists, and 2 grass resists. It's a team effort mostly, but once heatran is taken down dragonite can usually come in, set up on and finish a sun team.
Rain Teams: Played a few rain teams, it's heavily in my favor from what I've played, despite having 4 ice weak mons. Generally speaking, Scizor gets a lot of action with U turns and Superpowers here. Breloom also helps to really tip the scales in this match since there aren't too many things in most rain teams that will come in on Breloom readily. Dragonite again is usually key in stalling out their dragon counter with sub + roost and then setting up and sweeping.
Sand Teams: I played only two sand teams so far. I know scizor and breloom are some pretty serious threats for most sand teams, and Nidoking has actually done an outstanding job of punching holes in their team. It lures in earthquakes as well, generally giving me a free switch-in.
Hyper Offense: Probably one of the harder match ups, but still manageable with good prediction. This match really focuses around juggling Scizor and Nidoking and Starmie due to their many resists and good synergy. This creates a lot of switches, and was the primary reason that I went with hydro pump on Starmie. Once their scarfers are down Dragonite sets up for the win.
Stall: Not very difficult, 2 status absorbers plus a SubNite that will cause massive fits of frustration for most walls. Starmie outspeeds and OHKO/2HKO all the common spin blockers, and needless to say Starmie is pretty key in this match up. It requires careful play, but if I can spin the rocks after their SRer is gone and Dragonite is alive the victory is usually mine. Most frustrating match up so far.
Balanced: Easy to beat in most cases. Nidoking again has been front and center in dismantling these teams. They often function by juggling resistances around, and Nidoking can score SE damage on almost everything, while maintaining neutral coverage on all. Once main threats are gone, it is once again Dragonite set-up fodder.
Trick Room: Haven't played, have no idea, but I do pack priority and it's not exactly like I rely on being faster to win anyway. I suppose it would be priority predicting from Breloom + Scizor as well as juggling resistances.
Please let me know what you think and thank you for reading!
I've been able to play this team a bit more today, and I have noticed that bounce gyara sweeps me if I don't already have draggy at +1 or near full health. I would like a bit of help patching up the gyara weakness, and some suggestions on a potential SRer that would fit well with the team.
Threats
I'm going to avoid going through an extensive poke by poke threat list since I feel that's a rather bad way to address teams. Generally speaking there shouldn't really ever be 1 single pokemon that can 6-0 your team, and you wouldn't get very far if there was. So I'll address overall themes as threats.
Sun Teams: I only played one sun team and it was a fairly easy win. I have 2 fire weaks and 1 grass weak (which are the most common attacking types for sun) while boasting 3 fire resists, and 2 grass resists. It's a team effort mostly, but once heatran is taken down dragonite can usually come in, set up on and finish a sun team.
Rain Teams: Played a few rain teams, it's heavily in my favor from what I've played, despite having 4 ice weak mons. Generally speaking, Scizor gets a lot of action with U turns and Superpowers here. Breloom also helps to really tip the scales in this match since there aren't too many things in most rain teams that will come in on Breloom readily. Dragonite again is usually key in stalling out their dragon counter with sub + roost and then setting up and sweeping.
Sand Teams: I played only two sand teams so far. I know scizor and breloom are some pretty serious threats for most sand teams, and Nidoking has actually done an outstanding job of punching holes in their team. It lures in earthquakes as well, generally giving me a free switch-in.
Hyper Offense: Probably one of the harder match ups, but still manageable with good prediction. This match really focuses around juggling Scizor and Nidoking and Starmie due to their many resists and good synergy. This creates a lot of switches, and was the primary reason that I went with hydro pump on Starmie. Once their scarfers are down Dragonite sets up for the win.
Stall: Not very difficult, 2 status absorbers plus a SubNite that will cause massive fits of frustration for most walls. Starmie outspeeds and OHKO/2HKO all the common spin blockers, and needless to say Starmie is pretty key in this match up. It requires careful play, but if I can spin the rocks after their SRer is gone and Dragonite is alive the victory is usually mine. Most frustrating match up so far.
Balanced: Easy to beat in most cases. Nidoking again has been front and center in dismantling these teams. They often function by juggling resistances around, and Nidoking can score SE damage on almost everything, while maintaining neutral coverage on all. Once main threats are gone, it is once again Dragonite set-up fodder.
Trick Room: Haven't played, have no idea, but I do pack priority and it's not exactly like I rely on being faster to win anyway. I suppose it would be priority predicting from Breloom + Scizor as well as juggling resistances.
Please let me know what you think and thank you for reading!
