Hey everybody! Welcome to my first RMT thread on Smogon. I've been testing this team out for a couple of days now, and since it's had some amazing success, I thought I'd share it with everybody.
One thing I really enjoy doing with teams is using bulky set-up sweepers. This team emphasizes this a lot, which was my intent. So when I found a way to get some of my favourite bulky and set-up sweepers to work together, I decided to perfect the details and make this team:
In-Depth:
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Trick
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
Jirachi is one of my favourite leads to use. It can do basically the same job as the standard lead Jirachi: able to 2HKO lots of common fast leads, and 60% of the time do so without them getting rocks up; and crippling slower leads with tricking them Choice Scarf. But in this set, I chose to have Thunder Wave instead of Stealth Rocks. Why? Because, when I was testing, I found that I barely ever got rocks up with Jirachi- and there were far more scenarios when crippling faster switch-ins would be far more beneficial to me.
Thunder Wave isn't always predicted on this set, which makes it easier to cripple my opponents. After tricking slow leads a useless Choice Scarf, they're likely to switch into a faster counter to me, and they'll be switching right into a Thunder Wave. And from there, I can U-Turn away to the appropriate counter. The majority of the time I U-Turn out to Swampert, who can then get rocks up for my team.
The beauty of this is that I can also switch in for Iron Heading later on in the game, and with the blessing named Serene Grace, I can flinch hax a lot of my mid-game opponents to death.
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Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Avalanche
Swampert works well for a few things on this team. I based my set off of the Curse set, with a few modifications to the moveset. I have Stealth Rock as the final move, mainly so Swampert can switch in right after Jirachi and get the job done.
Swampert, when used later on in the game, provides some of the needed bulk for my team. There are a lot of foes that this can switch into, since it resists a great deal of weaknesses the rest of my team has. It provides good synergy with Heatran, since the two of them can switch on each others' weaknesses, and set up when switches are forced.
One of the things I love about this set is that it's never completely obvious to my opponent what kind of set I'm running. Stealth Rock can generally confuse them, giving me the advantage. This generally makes it easier for me to set up and KO some of the threats that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to KO.
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Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP/220 Spd/32 SAtk/12 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Torment
- Protect
- Lava Plume
This is undeniably an amazing set for Heatran. Setting up a sub for Heatran is generally an easy job, since it forces a lot of switches. From there, I can work this absolute wonder that can potentially rip through an entire team if it's unprepared. For anybody who doesn't know how TormentTran works: I set up my sub as they switch into their Heatran counter. From there, I use torment on them while they break my sub. Chances are they only have one move that can break my sub, so next turn I'm free to set up another. After that I can alternate between Protect on their move that breaks my sub, and Lava Plume on their other move, to get some damage on them and 30% burn rate.
This set for Heatran generally does very well by itself. The few Pokémon that can counter this set can be dealt with by my other team members- mainly Swampert and Gyarados. But if they can KO the threats to this beast, it can come back in, set up, and potentially ruin the rest of their team.
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Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP/72 Atk/96 Def/184 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
Gyarados is such an amazing Pokémon. It's able to find itself on any kind of team and do wonders in all of them. Lucky for me, it works just as well in this team as it would in any other. Since there's a weakness to EQ on half my team, Gyarados can safely switch in many scenarios. From there, it's free to do what it does best- Dance up and sweep.
The reason the Bulky set works well is that I generally don't have to fear the weaker attacks thrown at Gyara that I would for a non-bulky set; any others I would almost always have a safe switch, probably named Heatran or Swampert, allowing them to set up.
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Rotom-W @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/100 Def/100 Sp/56Spd
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Discharge
-Shadow Ball
Rotom is another one of those amazingly versatile Pokémon. But I switched this set to the dual-screener, who offers better support for my bulky sweepers than the previous set had. So far it has been working out quite well, so I'm going to be staying with this particular set.
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Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Thunderpunch
It's undeniable that the Agility variant of Metagross is an absolute powerhouse. That's why I decided to use it as my late-game cleanup for this team. Any counters to this will have likely been significantly weakened- making it even easier for Metagross to wreck through any remainders of my opponent's team.
I chose to use Thunderpunch for my 4th move slot, since it's the easiest way for me to deal with bulky water types. Assuming I can get rocks set up by Swamert before I set-up with Gross, I will generally have an easy time KOing them.
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So there you guys have it! Thanks for reading etc., and I hope I can get some good suggestions for this team.
One thing I really enjoy doing with teams is using bulky set-up sweepers. This team emphasizes this a lot, which was my intent. So when I found a way to get some of my favourite bulky and set-up sweepers to work together, I decided to perfect the details and make this team:
tl;dr:
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In-Depth:
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Trick
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave
Jirachi is one of my favourite leads to use. It can do basically the same job as the standard lead Jirachi: able to 2HKO lots of common fast leads, and 60% of the time do so without them getting rocks up; and crippling slower leads with tricking them Choice Scarf. But in this set, I chose to have Thunder Wave instead of Stealth Rocks. Why? Because, when I was testing, I found that I barely ever got rocks up with Jirachi- and there were far more scenarios when crippling faster switch-ins would be far more beneficial to me.
Thunder Wave isn't always predicted on this set, which makes it easier to cripple my opponents. After tricking slow leads a useless Choice Scarf, they're likely to switch into a faster counter to me, and they'll be switching right into a Thunder Wave. And from there, I can U-Turn away to the appropriate counter. The majority of the time I U-Turn out to Swampert, who can then get rocks up for my team.
The beauty of this is that I can also switch in for Iron Heading later on in the game, and with the blessing named Serene Grace, I can flinch hax a lot of my mid-game opponents to death.
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Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/40 Def/216 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Avalanche
Swampert works well for a few things on this team. I based my set off of the Curse set, with a few modifications to the moveset. I have Stealth Rock as the final move, mainly so Swampert can switch in right after Jirachi and get the job done.
Swampert, when used later on in the game, provides some of the needed bulk for my team. There are a lot of foes that this can switch into, since it resists a great deal of weaknesses the rest of my team has. It provides good synergy with Heatran, since the two of them can switch on each others' weaknesses, and set up when switches are forced.
One of the things I love about this set is that it's never completely obvious to my opponent what kind of set I'm running. Stealth Rock can generally confuse them, giving me the advantage. This generally makes it easier for me to set up and KO some of the threats that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to KO.
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Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP/220 Spd/32 SAtk/12 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Torment
- Protect
- Lava Plume
This is undeniably an amazing set for Heatran. Setting up a sub for Heatran is generally an easy job, since it forces a lot of switches. From there, I can work this absolute wonder that can potentially rip through an entire team if it's unprepared. For anybody who doesn't know how TormentTran works: I set up my sub as they switch into their Heatran counter. From there, I use torment on them while they break my sub. Chances are they only have one move that can break my sub, so next turn I'm free to set up another. After that I can alternate between Protect on their move that breaks my sub, and Lava Plume on their other move, to get some damage on them and 30% burn rate.
This set for Heatran generally does very well by itself. The few Pokémon that can counter this set can be dealt with by my other team members- mainly Swampert and Gyarados. But if they can KO the threats to this beast, it can come back in, set up, and potentially ruin the rest of their team.
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Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP/72 Atk/96 Def/184 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
Gyarados is such an amazing Pokémon. It's able to find itself on any kind of team and do wonders in all of them. Lucky for me, it works just as well in this team as it would in any other. Since there's a weakness to EQ on half my team, Gyarados can safely switch in many scenarios. From there, it's free to do what it does best- Dance up and sweep.
The reason the Bulky set works well is that I generally don't have to fear the weaker attacks thrown at Gyara that I would for a non-bulky set; any others I would almost always have a safe switch, probably named Heatran or Swampert, allowing them to set up.
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Rotom-W @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/100 Def/100 Sp/56Spd
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Discharge
-Shadow Ball
Rotom is another one of those amazingly versatile Pokémon. But I switched this set to the dual-screener, who offers better support for my bulky sweepers than the previous set had. So far it has been working out quite well, so I'm going to be staying with this particular set.
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Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Thunderpunch
It's undeniable that the Agility variant of Metagross is an absolute powerhouse. That's why I decided to use it as my late-game cleanup for this team. Any counters to this will have likely been significantly weakened- making it even easier for Metagross to wreck through any remainders of my opponent's team.
I chose to use Thunderpunch for my 4th move slot, since it's the easiest way for me to deal with bulky water types. Assuming I can get rocks set up by Swamert before I set-up with Gross, I will generally have an easy time KOing them.
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So there you guys have it! Thanks for reading etc., and I hope I can get some good suggestions for this team.
