Introduction
My first foray into Competitive Pokemon happened around the time of the Mence/Latias ban, and so I've always wanted to know just what was it like spamming Draco Meteors with Specs Latias in the DPP meta. As such, this team originally started off as a Draco spam team, with Lead Dragonite / Kingdra / Latias taking turns clicking Draco after Draco. It was mildly successful (peaked around 1500 on the ladder), but the team had some glaring issues; I had a lot of trouble dealing with Rachi, Blissey, and bulky waters with recovery that could tank the shower of Draco Meteors. Eventually, I replaced Dragonite with Infernape to add a fire STAB for Rachi, extra insurance vs. Blissey, and some much needed speed to the team. I also got rid of the cheesy band Heracross set I had been using and replaced it with a much more sane pick in Lucario.
With that, the team looked a lot less kooky and a bit more solid, and so the team was complete. Yeah, nothing unique here. Sorry!
The main goal of this team is to bust open holes into the opponent's team, trading down with favourable trades, and eventually generating enough offensive momentum to break through with any of its offensive threats. With that out of the way, let's take a look at the team:
The Team
Infernape @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fake Out
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot
Infernape is a no-nonsense offensive lead that generates pressure right from the get-go. Fake Out is an obvious choice for breaking sashes, and despite its shaky accuracy Fire Blast is necessary to deal massive damage, especially when in Blaze. Close Combat is there for a secondary STAB and Grass Knot rounds out the set, letting me surprise Swampert and deal heavy damage to Suicune, who is a major threat to this team. Stealth Rock is omitted because Ape would almost always rather be attacking than spending a turn getting rocks up, and Bronzong is so reliable at getting them up anyways. Against Ape's losing matchups like Hippowdon or the rare Aerodactyl, I'm able to pivot safely into Bronzong.
Generally speaking, I like to preserve Infernape if possible, keeping it in the back as a wallbreaker / late game cleaner should the need arise. However, winning the lead matchup is priority #1, and as long as it has inflicted some type of damage onto the opposing team, I'm usually fine letting it go.
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Atk / 112 Def
Brave Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion
Bronzong serves as a bulky pivot and is a real glue Pokemon for this team. Stealth Rock is an obvious choice to take advantage of all the free turns that he generates, and the Brave Nature and Atk EVs lets him smack fast offensive pokemon extremely hard with Gyro Ball, keeping up the offense. Explosion is a solid panic button that allows this team to get out of some sticky situations against Dragon Dancers, which this team otherwise struggles with due to its lack of a fast scarfer It also lets me just trade down in general. And while a little shaky, Zong is also my team's best answer to Jirachi, tanking hits and allowing me to get back momentum against most sets.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
Kingdra is a Pokemon that I never truly appreciated until the early days of Gen 5, where Specs Kingdra was running rampant, outspeeding the whole metagame and decimating teams with its strong rain + specs boosted Hydros and Surfs. While this set is not quite as scary, it still serves as a strong wallbreaker, breaking holes into the enemy team if given the chance to setup rain, which it often gets to given its amazing typing and decent bulk. It's also my best answer against fire types, and lets my pivot into waters without putting Latias at risk to Pursuit.
176 Speed EVs allows Kingdra to
To be honest, Kingdra's slot is the one that I'm the most iffy about. It fulfills the role of offensive water decently, and destroys / serves as a win-con against certain matchups, but in other matchups it often falls short and is usually relegated to being a sacc / clicking one Surf before fainting. The matchups where it does do well in feels a little win-more, unnecessarily skewing matchups that I was probably already favoured in.
Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
I started really getting into Competitive Pokemon right after the Mence/Latias ban, so I've always felt like I missed out on abusing Latias's immensely powerful Draco Meteors. Thankfully, the powers that be decided that it was due to a retest, and I must say, using Specs Latias is just as fun as my younger self thought it would be. Draco Meteor is obligatory for the massive damage it can cause, making Latias incredibly difficult to switch into, and Dragon Pulse is a nice secondary move that's deceptively powerful while being 100% accurate and having no drawback. Surf is necessary for hitting stuff like Heatran/Ttar and grounds-types without having to resort to Draco, and Thunderbolt is there to take on bulky waters who give this team a massive headache when played well.
I've considered moving some Speed EVs into bulk to help tank hits better, but getting the tie on Gengar / opposing Latias has been gamewinning. Trick is also an option to help improve the matchup against stall, but having two fighting types means this team is usually more than capable of taking advantage of Blissey / Clefable.
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Pursuit
ScarfTtar is another tool that I'd heard about from the pre-Salamence/Latias days as the primary Latias check. Now that Latias is back (and Dugtrio is banned), I decided to bust out this old relic again, and man it does not disappoint. Pursuit is invaluable, allowing me to eliminate Ghosts/Psychics and trade down to a favourable endgame where Lucario is in a prime position to sweep. Crunch is necessary to force 50-50 mind games with stuff like bulky Rotom-A. Earthquake > Superpower to take out weakened Rachi, and also doubles as a way to take out SD Luke. Stone Edge is the rock STAB move of choice, as the added power is necessary to threaten Zapdos / Bulky Gyara.
Unfortunately, locking into Pursuit means that Ttar often becomes setup bait for some problematic Pokemon, and with a scarf equipped its offenses are a little lacking. However, its unparalleled ability to take out Latias / Rotom-A / Gengar makes it hard to find a suitable replacement for this dark and edgy dino-dude.
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Thunder Punch / Crunch / Stone Edge
Burn... the amount of teams that are unprepared for this absolue unit despite it being the year of our lord 2020 is insane. Luke is able to take advantage of choiced dragon (Latias / Flygon) and dark (Ttar) moves, setup a Swords Dance, and proceed to cleave its way through teams. I like to play Luke fairly aggressively early on, getting it in via double switches, trading LO recoil to get off a strong hit, and luring in Ghosts/Psychics for Ttar to trap in the process.
Thunder Punch is the coverage move of choice here, mainly because it allows me to fry bulky Gyara, which this team otherwise has trouble breaking. Not being able to touch Rotom-A at all is of course annoying, which is why Crunch is slashed on the set (and is actually what I used for most of my ladder run). However, given how capable Ttar is at removing Rotom-A, and given how annoying Gyara is otherwise, I think having Thunder Punch is worth it. Stone Edge is a move that I've theorymonned, but haven't run because of it's shaky accuracy. I can see it being useful, covering both Gyara and Bulky Zapdos while also hitting Rotom-A, but I just haven't had enough reason to use it.
Major Threats
In an earlier version of this team, I ran a Banded Heracross with Megahorn / Close Combat / Sleep Talk just to take advantage of Breloom, but the benefits that Luke brought to the table were too much that I made the switch. With Luke > Hera, Breloom is now a massive threat to this team. This thing heavily punishes Bronzong / Ttar and is basically guaranteed to put a Poke out of commission for the whole game thanks to spore. Mach Punch makes it even more of a threat, as it is able to threaten Ttar and Lucario if it isn't in range of Extremespeed. Unfortunately, I really don't think there's an easy band-aid solution to patch up this team's Breloom weakness, and in games I end up just having to play around it.
One DD = GG if Bronzong is weakened. Once Bronzong is down, Rocks + Sand Chip + Priority is the only real way to deal with these threats, so I'm doubly screwed if the DDer in question is holding Leftovers or I don't have rocks up. Kingdra can take a hit from Gyara at least, and Draco + ExtremeSpeed with Luke will kill, but with Draco Miss and Gyara holding Leftovers, if I don't have sand up the odds are still not great. To be honest, DD Gyara running Ice Fang is the main reason why I'm considering moving Speed EVs from Latias into bulk.
Ttar is probably the scariest of the bunch; he's able to setup on my Scarf Ttar, resist all my priority, is immune to sandstorm, and destroys my entire team. Thankfully rather rare.
Bulky Waters with recovery are the absolute worst. The only Pokemon on this team that have the firepower to take out these mons are Luke and Latias; Luke I'd like to keep healthy in the back for a late game sweep, and Latias has to lock herself into Thunderbolt, which makes for the most free Ttar switch ever. Infernape can do a sizable amount to Suicune with Grass Knot, but that usually comes at the cost of his life. I generally have to Boom on these threats which is really awkward, since Bronzong is my main defensive pivot, and if the opponent predicts the Boom correctly I have even less options.
Conclusion
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! I had a real blast piloting this team and it really reminded me of my Shoddy Battle days. I have fond memories of theorycrafting teams at school and coming home after to test those teams on the ladder and let off steam. Looking back, I have to admit I didn't really know what I was doing back then, but it was fun nonetheless. Hitting #1 on the ladder has been a long-term goal of mine for... about a decade *shudders*, and while the Gen 4 ladder may not be as competitive as it was back when DPP was the main gen, as a casual battler I'm still pretty proud of this achievement. I think I'm done for a while, but who knows when I'll get the itch to ladder and teambuild again.
While it ended up turning into a pretty cookie cutter offense team, I'm happy I was able to take it this far. However, it's definitely not without its flaws and could use some fine tuning. Hopefully someone can take some of the concepts presented in this team and put them to good use.
