I usually play SemiStall but I wanted to play Bulky Offense. This team got a cre of 1563 or so which isn't really that amazing but it's good for me I guess. It's kind of retired but I thought I could get some last minute criticism in case I ever decide to use it again. This team uses 4 sweepers who are able to wear away at each others counters, paving a sweep for one of them. I encountered a lot of problems with Zapdos (pretty much any variant), Latias (metagross handles it but gets worn down pretty quickly), Heatran (only like suicune and mence can take a lo fire blast, and he outspeeds a lot of my team), Infernape (with hp ice) and Blissey (with ice beam and seismic toss, since it can ko gliscor and mence and wear away at gross) in particular, but I could often play around those threats. Anyways, here's the team!
Gliscor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
Originally this was an aerodactyl who did pretty much the same things but he wasn't around late game where as gliscor was. His only advantage besides greater speed was that a surprising amount of people would just bring in scizor and bullet punch which was cool because then I could trap them with magnezone. Anyways taunt still prevents leads from setting up sr, although it only works against slower ones. U-turn is really cool because it allows me to break the sashes of azelf and aerodactyl (which is particularly helpful in azelf's case, since azelf can be quite the pain to this team). Earthquake is the obvious STAB move and is good for lucario or pretty much anything with low defense or which is weak to ground. Stealth rock is pretty obvious since it's important that pokemon like mence don't get to switch in for free (ddmence probably won't beat me but mixmence can put huge dents in my team with draco meteor so i can't allow it to switch in as much as it wants) and it also secures many ohkos/2hkos. I run max speed for other gliscors, since he has enough bulk as is and it's nice to outspeed and taunt most gliscors before they can do the same to me. I've never ran gliscor without roost before (I never even considered it previously), but I've actually found only a few times where I missed it. Type-wise gliscor's also a nice asset to the team, since he can take ground attacks which trouble me! Unfortunately he can't really take fire blasts but I can't have everything. Also having another revenge option to life orb heatran (or any heatran) is extremely helpful, since I have nothing that really wants to switch into a lo fire blast. Finally he's a pretty great counter to ddtar and can beat subroost zapdos (roar variants are a pain because jirachi can't set up on them). I'm not going to include one of those lists of what I do against the top 10 leads or whatever because what I do versus most leads generally depends on who I'm playing/how I feel at the moment.
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Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
Mence was one of the first pokemon i put on the team, because his counters are relatively easy to lure out and KO, and even with them still in play he can still deal quite a bit of damage to the opponents team. I didn't bother to run fire blast because magnezone can trap skarmory (unfortunately most run shed shell), and it can also be handled by jirachi and gliscor. I later realized that it would actually be pretty helpful but then decided against replacing roost because it has also been very helpful and mence will often sweep even without fire blast (plus skarmory's never really given me trouble). Earthquake + Outrage hits everything bar skarmory, bronzong and shedinja (shedinja's actually quite a pain for this team, luckily I've only seen one). Dragon dance is the obvious boosting move, which makes mence extremely powerful, although I think the speed boost is more important because it means you either need scizor or a pokemon with 100+ base speed and a scarf (100 if you're content with attempting to win a speed tie). This means one of the only ways to beat salamence is to lure it into an outrage so that it can be revenged by a steel type (even if it's resisted a +1 outrage will still do quite a bit to most steels). This made it tempting to run dragon claw (confusion is a pain too!), but the raw power of outrage prevailed since I often don't even need a boost to sweep if faster threats and steels are gone/weakened. Jolly + max speed is needed to tie with things like scarf jirachi and flygon after a boost, and mence still has plenty of power. Life orb only makes his power more ridiculous, as it nearly doubles his attack after a dd. Roost is nice since it lets me set up on weak attackers and I've also had some situations where I need to recover health mid-sweep! Finally, salamence can also help me play around physical sweepers with intimidate.
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Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Explosion
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Magnezone is a pretty cool asset to the team because he takes out steels that trouble mence as well as being a great revenge killer! He's pretty fast with a scarf and max speed (although I only wish he could outspeed lo starmie and azelf v_v). It's really nice to be able to have a revenge killing option for latias via explosion (flash cannon can do a chunk if it hasn't cmed), and I've found that often latias won't even switch out since substitute magnezone is a lot more popular. It's also nice if I'm facing stall and I bring him in on gyara or something because they generally switch to blissey and I'm free to explode (although I don't usually explode the first time around; rotom is another common switch in to predicted thunderbolts). I chose hidden power [fire] over ice or grass because I like being able to take out scizor and forry in one hit (forry constantly sets up spikes if you use thunderbolt on it, and it doesn't ko scizor which is a problem when you're double switching into it). Flash cannon and thunderbolt are the obvious stabs. I ran max special attack because magnezone isn't really that bulky (so there wasn't much point in putting evs into his hp/defenses) and I like the power. Anyways he's pretty cool because he takes out scizor, who troubles mence, skarmory, who troubles mence and gross, forry, who troubles mence and gross and is just a bitch spinning my spikes, and scarf jirachi too (it's pretty cool when they switch into mence and I switch directly to magnezone, trap and ko them, and then later sweep with mence).
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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 76 HP/180 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot
Jirachi was the second pokemon I added to the team, after mence. I thought "what walls does mence have trouble with?" The answer was steels and bulky waters. This set doesn't really lure out steels, but I have magnezone. Bulky waters on the other hand quickly fall prey to it. Off the top of my head the two most problematic bulky waters for mence are swampert and suicune- they're the only ones who can take a hit at +1. Jirachi lures out and beats swampert with grass knot (swampert beats most calm mind sets), and while it doesn't lure out suicune, it does usually beat it one on one. Grass Knot is also nice for like ttar and hippowdon and just bulky waters/grounds/rocks in general. Psychic is the basic stab move, and it's also a nice option to revenge kill machamp (this team doesn't really have problems with machamp but he's still a pain). HP Fire is actually really cool since one really common switch in to cm jirachi is scizor (I don't really know why.... they generally just try and get some damage on them with U-turn I guess) and they're ohko'd by HP fire. Jirachi is pretty valuable to this team because rotom can be really annoying, and Jirachi can set up on most variants. I run 180 speed because 176 is the standard but HP Fire subtracts one! Having another pokemon who is walled by blissey really sucks though.
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Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/176 Def/80 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Suicune is nice because it makes a good sweeper and he's pretty bulky as well. He's my primary counter to ddmence/ddgyarados since he can take a hit from either and ohko/2hko with ice beam or hidden power [electric] respectively. I like him because he has good synergy with metagross- they share some counters, and counter some of each other's counters, ie they both weaken rotom-a opening up a sweep for one of them, and suicune can set up on bulky grounds which trouble metagross where as metagross can set up on blissey who wall suicune. It's incredibly easy to get a calm mind because of his bulk and after one or two calm minds he's hitting incredibly hard. I tend to play somewhat suicidally with him (I rarely switch out of rotom, for example). The EV spread I kind of made up and there's probably a better one out there but I wanted to be able to take a hit from a +1 mence while still having some offensive power. I ran leftovers over life orb because life orb messes with his bulk too much and he ends up dying way too quickly. Surprisingly few people realize I have 3 attacks until they've seen everything- I've had people switch mence or gyara in on me as I cm. He can sometimes beat latias in a calm mind war which is cool because metagross isn't always around. After a calm mind he's pretty hard to break through with physical or special attacks; often stab thunderbolts from the likes of magnezone and rotom won't even 2hko. He's also my closest thing to a heatran or infernape "counter", and is my primary switch into both of them.
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Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
Metagross is the teams fourth and final sweeper. I run LO because he hits extremely hard with it (he can 2hko defensive rotom with zen headbutt). Zen Headbutt/Meteor Mash provides a nice stab combination, with earthquake hitting the steels (bar skarmory and zong) who resist his stabs. He's one of my best switch-ins to blissey (fuck t-wave variants), since he can use their switch to set up an agility. The EV spread was ripped from the analysis- I guess it's a good one, but if there's a better one tell me. Adamant nature since I'm fast enough after an agility. He's really helpful, being my primary latias check as well as being able to revenge mence locked into outrage (actually pretty much anything locked into outrage!). He's a fantastic late game sweeper, especially if the opponents team is weakened. Unfortunately he does add another ground/fire weakness to the team but that can generally be played around.
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Anyways that's about it!
Thanks for reading.
Gliscor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
Originally this was an aerodactyl who did pretty much the same things but he wasn't around late game where as gliscor was. His only advantage besides greater speed was that a surprising amount of people would just bring in scizor and bullet punch which was cool because then I could trap them with magnezone. Anyways taunt still prevents leads from setting up sr, although it only works against slower ones. U-turn is really cool because it allows me to break the sashes of azelf and aerodactyl (which is particularly helpful in azelf's case, since azelf can be quite the pain to this team). Earthquake is the obvious STAB move and is good for lucario or pretty much anything with low defense or which is weak to ground. Stealth rock is pretty obvious since it's important that pokemon like mence don't get to switch in for free (ddmence probably won't beat me but mixmence can put huge dents in my team with draco meteor so i can't allow it to switch in as much as it wants) and it also secures many ohkos/2hkos. I run max speed for other gliscors, since he has enough bulk as is and it's nice to outspeed and taunt most gliscors before they can do the same to me. I've never ran gliscor without roost before (I never even considered it previously), but I've actually found only a few times where I missed it. Type-wise gliscor's also a nice asset to the team, since he can take ground attacks which trouble me! Unfortunately he can't really take fire blasts but I can't have everything. Also having another revenge option to life orb heatran (or any heatran) is extremely helpful, since I have nothing that really wants to switch into a lo fire blast. Finally he's a pretty great counter to ddtar and can beat subroost zapdos (roar variants are a pain because jirachi can't set up on them). I'm not going to include one of those lists of what I do against the top 10 leads or whatever because what I do versus most leads generally depends on who I'm playing/how I feel at the moment.
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Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
Mence was one of the first pokemon i put on the team, because his counters are relatively easy to lure out and KO, and even with them still in play he can still deal quite a bit of damage to the opponents team. I didn't bother to run fire blast because magnezone can trap skarmory (unfortunately most run shed shell), and it can also be handled by jirachi and gliscor. I later realized that it would actually be pretty helpful but then decided against replacing roost because it has also been very helpful and mence will often sweep even without fire blast (plus skarmory's never really given me trouble). Earthquake + Outrage hits everything bar skarmory, bronzong and shedinja (shedinja's actually quite a pain for this team, luckily I've only seen one). Dragon dance is the obvious boosting move, which makes mence extremely powerful, although I think the speed boost is more important because it means you either need scizor or a pokemon with 100+ base speed and a scarf (100 if you're content with attempting to win a speed tie). This means one of the only ways to beat salamence is to lure it into an outrage so that it can be revenged by a steel type (even if it's resisted a +1 outrage will still do quite a bit to most steels). This made it tempting to run dragon claw (confusion is a pain too!), but the raw power of outrage prevailed since I often don't even need a boost to sweep if faster threats and steels are gone/weakened. Jolly + max speed is needed to tie with things like scarf jirachi and flygon after a boost, and mence still has plenty of power. Life orb only makes his power more ridiculous, as it nearly doubles his attack after a dd. Roost is nice since it lets me set up on weak attackers and I've also had some situations where I need to recover health mid-sweep! Finally, salamence can also help me play around physical sweepers with intimidate.
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Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Explosion
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Magnezone is a pretty cool asset to the team because he takes out steels that trouble mence as well as being a great revenge killer! He's pretty fast with a scarf and max speed (although I only wish he could outspeed lo starmie and azelf v_v). It's really nice to be able to have a revenge killing option for latias via explosion (flash cannon can do a chunk if it hasn't cmed), and I've found that often latias won't even switch out since substitute magnezone is a lot more popular. It's also nice if I'm facing stall and I bring him in on gyara or something because they generally switch to blissey and I'm free to explode (although I don't usually explode the first time around; rotom is another common switch in to predicted thunderbolts). I chose hidden power [fire] over ice or grass because I like being able to take out scizor and forry in one hit (forry constantly sets up spikes if you use thunderbolt on it, and it doesn't ko scizor which is a problem when you're double switching into it). Flash cannon and thunderbolt are the obvious stabs. I ran max special attack because magnezone isn't really that bulky (so there wasn't much point in putting evs into his hp/defenses) and I like the power. Anyways he's pretty cool because he takes out scizor, who troubles mence, skarmory, who troubles mence and gross, forry, who troubles mence and gross and is just a bitch spinning my spikes, and scarf jirachi too (it's pretty cool when they switch into mence and I switch directly to magnezone, trap and ko them, and then later sweep with mence).
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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 76 HP/180 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot
Jirachi was the second pokemon I added to the team, after mence. I thought "what walls does mence have trouble with?" The answer was steels and bulky waters. This set doesn't really lure out steels, but I have magnezone. Bulky waters on the other hand quickly fall prey to it. Off the top of my head the two most problematic bulky waters for mence are swampert and suicune- they're the only ones who can take a hit at +1. Jirachi lures out and beats swampert with grass knot (swampert beats most calm mind sets), and while it doesn't lure out suicune, it does usually beat it one on one. Grass Knot is also nice for like ttar and hippowdon and just bulky waters/grounds/rocks in general. Psychic is the basic stab move, and it's also a nice option to revenge kill machamp (this team doesn't really have problems with machamp but he's still a pain). HP Fire is actually really cool since one really common switch in to cm jirachi is scizor (I don't really know why.... they generally just try and get some damage on them with U-turn I guess) and they're ohko'd by HP fire. Jirachi is pretty valuable to this team because rotom can be really annoying, and Jirachi can set up on most variants. I run 180 speed because 176 is the standard but HP Fire subtracts one! Having another pokemon who is walled by blissey really sucks though.
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Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/176 Def/80 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Suicune is nice because it makes a good sweeper and he's pretty bulky as well. He's my primary counter to ddmence/ddgyarados since he can take a hit from either and ohko/2hko with ice beam or hidden power [electric] respectively. I like him because he has good synergy with metagross- they share some counters, and counter some of each other's counters, ie they both weaken rotom-a opening up a sweep for one of them, and suicune can set up on bulky grounds which trouble metagross where as metagross can set up on blissey who wall suicune. It's incredibly easy to get a calm mind because of his bulk and after one or two calm minds he's hitting incredibly hard. I tend to play somewhat suicidally with him (I rarely switch out of rotom, for example). The EV spread I kind of made up and there's probably a better one out there but I wanted to be able to take a hit from a +1 mence while still having some offensive power. I ran leftovers over life orb because life orb messes with his bulk too much and he ends up dying way too quickly. Surprisingly few people realize I have 3 attacks until they've seen everything- I've had people switch mence or gyara in on me as I cm. He can sometimes beat latias in a calm mind war which is cool because metagross isn't always around. After a calm mind he's pretty hard to break through with physical or special attacks; often stab thunderbolts from the likes of magnezone and rotom won't even 2hko. He's also my closest thing to a heatran or infernape "counter", and is my primary switch into both of them.
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Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
Metagross is the teams fourth and final sweeper. I run LO because he hits extremely hard with it (he can 2hko defensive rotom with zen headbutt). Zen Headbutt/Meteor Mash provides a nice stab combination, with earthquake hitting the steels (bar skarmory and zong) who resist his stabs. He's one of my best switch-ins to blissey (fuck t-wave variants), since he can use their switch to set up an agility. The EV spread was ripped from the analysis- I guess it's a good one, but if there's a better one tell me. Adamant nature since I'm fast enough after an agility. He's really helpful, being my primary latias check as well as being able to revenge mence locked into outrage (actually pretty much anything locked into outrage!). He's a fantastic late game sweeper, especially if the opponents team is weakened. Unfortunately he does add another ground/fire weakness to the team but that can generally be played around.
---
Anyways that's about it!
Thanks for reading.
