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What's up Ruins of Alph, I'm a longtime BW player who keeps losing track of what's being done for the generation, and I'm too old to retain all of this information in my memory.
There was a lack of a thread like this one, where people could post their teams / sets for others to use / discuss.
What differentiates this thread from the sample teams one is that the teams you will find here might be a little more experimental, or teams that don't fit into the "sample teams" category for whatever reason.
When posting a team, please add a short description about how it is supposed to function. A couple of lines will be more than enough to explain people what the teams' goals are, and what to be careful when using it.
It is also a place where you can post sets, and other relevant stuff about BW. The only other RoA threads about sets encompasses all old gens, and it's a bit outdated / abandoned at the moment.
This thread will act as a central hub for all things BW, since information is scattered all over the place and it's mixed in with tournaments threads / other generations' threads.
Show this thread to someone who would like to delve deeper into BW, and make sure to contribute! Sharing your teams goes a long way into keeping interest in the generation alive, as well as just being helpful to your fellow gamers.
Here are some of the teams I've been using a lot in the past months. Some of my friends have also been running these teams, with some small adjustments. These are all extensively tested and work very well. You might have seen them in assorted Classic, CPL, and PPL games.
This team is all about getting up SR + Spikes, then attacking endlessly. Rest Jellicent is a fun little tech that completely stops Tentacruel from getting off any spin, as well as letting you always wall Politoed, no matter what set they are running. Yes, it can be a huge momentum sink, but with Ditto + CB Mach Punch you will be fine against everything.
Jirachi is the main glue of the team and is the Pokémon you should send in when you don't know what to do, which doesn't happen often. Sandstorm on Garchomp is to make the matchup against Sun and some Rain teams easier, but you can run Substitute + Salac Berry if you prefer. Or any other move really, it's mostly filler.
This is one of my favorite teams I have had the pleasure to pilot in the past months. I can't pinpoint why exactly, it's one of those cases where "it just works".
EQ + HP Ice Forretress is excellent at dealing with a lot of current threats (it's ok vs these Excadrill + Landorus teams), and if you burn Ferrothorn it even wins the 1v1 against it. The Volcarona set can be played around and sometimes I really feel the lack of Giga Drain, so you can run that over Bug Buzz.
Other than that, there's not much to say really, since the rest of the team is so standard. Wing Attack on Gliscor is for Breloom obviously as that's my only reliable switchin.
Another team I really like, although it hasn't seen as much usage due to me running out of tournaments to play and not being that interested in laddering lately. The BW Discord was talking about SubTect Excadrill and thought I'd give it a spin. This is the version I came up with that I like the most, although there are some glaring issues (namely my laziness in building).
For example, Excadrill could definitely use a slightly bulkier spread so that burned Ferrothorn doesn't always break its substitute with Power Whip. The Latias set might also get a yikes from an user or two, but as long as it works they are going to have to deal with it.
Encore on Alakazam was the best filler I could think of, and it has saved me a couple of times, but as always BW teams are quite flexible in their moveslots, so don't be afraid to experiment with other ideas. Thunder Wave could be good to help with revengekilling certain threats, since the team isn't exactly fast and I do not have a scarfer, but that's the price to pay with this type of build.
You could run Choice Scarf on Landorus-T, but I hate that set so much I'd rather play without a scarfer. Feel free to make it scarf though. Knock Off removes Skarmory's Rocky Helmet to make Excadrill not utterly useless vs it.
I have a couple other teams that I will add in the next few days.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rock Polish
This team, which is probably my favorite, evolved from a team I lazily threw together for fun that involved using Specs Keldeo and Band Terrakion (Orginal 6 were ) together to mindlessly click moves and hope for a win. At some point I saw someone using a Magnezone + Landorus-T and I thought i could transform the 6 into something similiar that would work well. I was always a big fan of Rock Polish Landorus, so I ended up changing the team, by dropping Amoongus for Celebi, and Terrakion for Magnezone originally and the team worked to a degree. Latios was eventually added over Keldeo to get what I have now. The basic idea behind it is to abuse Baton pass on Celebi and U-turn on Scizor to lure in Steels to be trapped by Magnezone or Tyranitar who Lando can generate a free turn to set up on. The 6 are good, but to be fair in the current meta isnt nice to Sp Def Scizor and Rp Lando. I found that the team is also very momentum heavy so one bad turn and it will just break down. The Celebi set here has been changed a lot, and to be quite honest, so far I think the NP pass works the best (anyone got a better suggest LMK). Celebi's Baton Pass and better recovery made it a better fit then Amoongus, and does give me a better switch in on Rotom-Wash (Celebi don't give a fuck about a burn). Different versions of Landorus-Therian could work as well like Double Dance Landorus-Therian guess. I did cheese a game for fun and ran Lando-T as a Special Attacker.
2) Gengar Wisp + Psychic Spam
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 188 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Rock Slide
I was talking with Lasse on disc, and he mentioned that Gengar only had one role in BW: come in, sub, burn dark types, then die. That made sense to me, so I thought why not try that. Idea here was simple, as I stated, burn stuff with Gengar then nuke your opponent with Specs Latios and clean with Alakazam. The team looks a bit like standard a Sand (Tar + Ferro + Landorus/Gliscor) just I dont have Rotom-W who seems to be a must have on any half way decent sand team now. I didn't think my final product was to terrible, but I found with this team, it could be extremely aggrevating since it relies on Will o' Miss to hit and Focus Miss to hit.
I have recently been toying with a CM Latias team + Spike stack since Scizor seems to be dead atm. so far I found that its just easier to use reunclus tho, but if anyone has any CM Latias ideas, share them up please.
EDIT: For grammer, I'll add more or post more later with some of my worse unique ideas.
This set can be used in place of specs latios on teams that may want a bit sturdier of a water resist while still hitting hard. Latias is way more easily trappable than latios, hence why hp fight is here. TTar's are much more likely to switch in on a latias than a latios, and they usually don't expect specs hp fighting to the dome. To my knowledge their is no way to calculate 2hko's with resist berries, so i will show second attack calcs with different rolls on the chople berry hit.
Tyranitar switches in on rocks. 252 SpA Choice Specs Latias Hidden Power Fighting vs. 156 HP / 252 SpD Chople Berry Tyranitar in Sand: 108-128 (28.4 - 33.6%) after rocks
(Mid roll on first hit) 252 SpA Choice Specs Latias Hidden Power Fighting vs. 156 HP / 252 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 216-256 (56.8 - 67.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
(Absolute Lowest roll on first hit) 252 SpA Choice Specs Latias Hidden Power Fighting vs. 156 HP / 252 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 216-256 (56.8 - 67.3%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Pretty neat set,(basically any slight chip will always result in 2hko. And if they are running beam tar with 48 spatk then this of course only helps the percentages) but it has multiple caveats, such as always being outsped by opposing specs lati due to hp fight's Iv's, only having draco as stab, among others. However, I think it could have some niche usage on a very select team. Other moves over roost could have merit but I think roost is best for keeping lati healthy and being a better resist (the whole reason to use this very niche set)
Also may add some other cool teams/sets at a later time or in another post
brings it closer to a traditional SD set and allows you to hit hard without a boost, creep however much you need for opposing loom and skarm (or just use max speed if you want lol), 3 attacks can also work with a different ev spread and something over sd
Ferrothorn @ Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Power Whip
gives rain teams less vulnerability to terrak and such, can lure in keld, evs to live 2 band kyub outrage from max
Thundurus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 32 HP / 48 SpA / 252 SpD / 176 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
- Volt Switch
mostly a hole filler for rain but obviously not the best, avoids specs torn 2HKO and outruns adamant scarf landot
ground-type scarfers on weatherless can benefit from sandstorm to counter opposing weather (namely sun where if you bring a mag you can't remove their weather and cress sits on you)
i never figured out a good item for mamo and this can help fill gaps in counterplay for offensive teams. adamant has a place now that heatrans aren't timid and tentacruels are 285+ speed anyway
any combo of eq and meteors can 2hko spdef tar after rocks, however you are walled by fat stuff with recover like jellicent or something
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]/ Signal Beam
- Knock Off
zam forces a lot of switches, can lure in chans or rachi or stuff for psyspam if you don't miss encore or that fourth attack
Tyranitar @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 156 HP / 72 Atk / 244 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Stealth Rock
this tar does specifically two things: 1) keep its health up for trapping latios, and 2) stay out of the range where +1 volc can kill it. it does this to the detriment of everything else so this is very situational and not recommended on most teams, only use this with a good zam torn thundy and focus blast reun answer
ohkos ferro and skarm at +2 and does like 70 to jira in rain, scarfchomp and scarflati can't revenge it, ice shard is useful even unboosted for guys like torn and thundy, sucks v keld
Here are a couple more teams. They are way more experimental than my previous ones but they still work fine. However, they require a bit more consideration when using them, and some have downright unplayable matchups (such is life). I still love them though.
This team is incredibly fun to play. Or rather, it's fun to watch people struggle against this Dragonite. There are some instant X matchups like Skarmory + Gastrodon, but I couldn't manage to fit a Magnezone in anywhere, as Jirachi is needed for Latios and other big bad dragons, which Magnezone isn't very good at dealing with.
There are probably better ways to use this concept (and maybe pass Substitute with Vaporeon instead of Aqua Ring which is a bit of a meme), so if anyone wants to try their hand at it, be my guest, and pm me your results.
Sun is a playstyle that few people want to use in 2020, and I kind of understand them. It's so hard to play, and it's also hard to find a Sun team that works consitently. There are always big issues you are facing when using this playstyle, especially when you don't run Xatu like in this one. Leech Seed Ferro for example is obnoxious to face, as are some Heatran sets, and if you can't easily keep SR off your field then you're in big trouble.
Nevertheless, I find Sun teams quite fun to play. This is the classic structure, but you can go for a more offensive archetype like the one BKC was using on the ladder a couple of months ago (I believe it's in one of his YT ladder videos), with Pokémon like Darmanitan and Victini, whose STABs in sun are pretty much impossible to tank unless you are Heatran.
I think this is a good thread not only for teams and sets which are unique for showcasing, but as you said new players don't really have BW resources and the few they do might not tell them the existence of certain sets which are pretty much considered canon (even if not "standard"). So I will list some here. Again, if you invented the set PM me and I will credit you
Most BW sources say Tenta should be Bold, but Calm is also viable to augment your Steel type vs Latios (who normally doesn't run a Psychic move), be able to better take Specs Keld, and give it better chances vs Torn. Sludge Bomb is an anti-Loom tech but you have to forego a crucial slot. On weatherless stall Toxic or Knock Off+ Toxic Spikes can also be viable
Politoed @ Leftovers
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Protect
- Encore
- Toxic/ Refresh/ filler
Most BW analyses also recommend Bold for Defensive Toed, but this also exists. Largely the same goal as Tenta above- be able to take Latios Meteor and Torn Hurricane in a pinch, but also Rain teams can find themselves hard-pressed for a slot to defend against Reun and max SpDef+ Encore mitigates the risk of eating Thunder when you come in to Encore it on CM or Recover or HP Ice.
EDIT- It turns out this is BKC's set, and he also mentions how it handily beats Zam which Rain teams hate, and Rotom-W's Volt Switch does not much to it.
In a number of difference discussions with people about BW recently, it was noted that the Reuniclus sets on the Smogdex have not been updated to reflect changes to the meta and what people run.
Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Psychic / Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Calm Mind
- Recover
For suggested sets, Psychic/Psyshock + Focus Blast is still the recommendation, with the only mention of Thunder showing up in the Other Options category. Even on non-rain teams, Thunder is still a viable option, as it carries the same accuracy as Focus Blast and hits common switchins like Jirachi just as hard, while carrying a chance to para. HP Ice is the other tech option that provides Reuniclus with the well-rounded Bolt-Beam coverage, ensuring you aren't walled by mons like Gliscor. As neither of these options are super intuitive for new players, nor are they really brought up in the suggested sets, I felt it was worth a mention in this thread.
Let's talk sets. What should I look for, as a new player, when adding a Pokémon onto my team? Are Smogon's analyses updated? Is there some new development that I don't know about?
Latios' analysis has been revamped recently and it's very good, so if you want to run Latios go read it. When building a team you need a way to address Latios, while when building a team with Latios...well you don't really need to think much about it, the Pokémon is so strong that it works by itself without needing any type of support really.
You can't go wrong by using Tyranitar on your team. You use this when you want to have your own Sand and don't want to face boosted Rain moves, and when you need to protect yourself from the assault of Psychic Types. The analysis, while a bit dated, is still good, although consider running 88 Attack EVs with a positive nature if your team doesn't have any other way of dealing with Reuniclus.
Much like Latios, adding a Ferrothorn on your team is generally a good idea, as it offers a lot of utility and defense that works well vs a lot of the metagame. The most common set is the Stealth Rock / Spikes / Knock Off / STAB one, with the stab varying between Gyro Ball or Power Whip depending on its allies. Other sets who run only 1 hazard are also great, so try them out!
The analysis isn't very recent, and it shows mostly in the suggested moveset. As far as EVs spreads go, there are 3 main spreads that players tend to cycle through when using Ferrothorn, all of them run max HP EVs and a lot of Special Defense EVs.
The amount of Defense EVs is what changes, sometimes they'll be as many as 88 with an Impish / Relaxed nature, sometimes they will drop to 48, sometimes to 8, and sometimes people will run no Defense EVs whatsoever.
Landorus is extremely versatile, which might make it a bit more confusing to a newbie. When adding a Landorus to your team, consider what you are trying to accomplish: do you need a sturdy blanket check to physical threats like Garchomp? Then go for a defensive set. Do you want to pair it with a strong lategame cleaner? Then you might be interested in running a Swords Dance set. Do you want Landorus to be your cleaner? Rock Polish is right up your alley. Choice Scarf is also a popular set that offers good value thanks to its Spikes immunity coupled with Intimidate and U-Turn.
The sky is the limit when you use Landorus. If you are new though, and are unsure on how to approach teambuilding, my suggestion is to start with a simple 252 HP / 168 Defense and 88 Speed Landorus with a Lax nature, with the following moveset: Stealth Rock, U-Turn, Earthquake, and HP Ice.
This will help you understand how people try to deal with it, while offering a sturdy wall that gives you a lot of room for errors since it checks so much stuff by itself, while still being hard to switch into. Once you have done it, you will be able to craft the ideal Landorus set for your next team.
As far as Landorus' analysis goes, it's a bit old judging by the user who wrote it, however it is decent enough for anyone who is just starting out with the generation. It's hard to write a comprehensive analysis for a Pokémon with so many options.
Landorus is extremely versatile, which might make it a bit more confusing to a newbie. When adding a Landorus to your team, consider what you are trying to accomplish: do you need a sturdy blanket check to physical threats like Garchomp? Then go for a defensive set. Do you want to pair it with a strong lategame cleaner? Then you might be interested in running a Swords Dance set. Do you want Landorus to be your cleaner? Rock Polish is right up your alley. Choice Scarf is also a popular set that offers good value thanks to its Spikes immunity coupled with Intimidate and U-Turn.
The sky is the limit when you use Landorus. If you are new though, and are unsure on how to approach teambuilding, my suggestion is to start with a simple 252 HP / 168 Defense and 88 Speed Landorus with a Lax nature, with the following moveset: Stealth Rock, U-Turn, Earthquake, and HP Ice.
This will help you understand how people try to deal with it, while offering a sturdy wall that gives you a lot of room for errors since it checks so much stuff by itself, while still being hard to switch into. Once you have done it, you will be able to craft the ideal Landorus set for your next team.
As far as Landorus' analysis goes, it's a bit old judging by the user who wrote it, however it is decent enough for anyone who is just starting out with the generation. It's hard to write a comprehensive analysis for a Pokémon with so many options.
Since you mentioned Landorus-Therian and his versatility, I think it proper to leave the various spreads I have stolen acquired from various players and teams (most are from the RoA samples). Definately not every possible example of Lando's spreads though. If any of the spreads are incorrectly credited please PM me and I'll credit you for your work.
The spreads can be modified to make Lando fat and slow or fast and powerful, able to accomodate for a host of roles and situations.
The simple 252 isn't a bad thing. Here Finch maxed
power + gem to smash walls then sweep.
If paired with the right team Smack down Lando is viable
letting him hit Rotom-W and Skarmory with Smack down.
Substitute is necessary to help get a free smack down on
opponents who would otherwise KO you.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 228 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Smack Down
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Rock Polish Lando spreads all look to have enough speed to
outrun Scarf Latios after the RP boost and then max attacking power
Landorus-Therian @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 68 SpA / 188 Spe
Naughty Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish
Similiar to the RP set, this one looks to outspeed scarf lati
at 2+ and have enough bulk to get off one SD before sweeping.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 72 Def / 188 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
Very little speed and all bulk help this set becomes a great Physical wall
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 228 Def / 8 SpA / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
Similiarly to smack down, this set maximizes power
to take full advantage of Gravity and EQ spam through opponents.
Back with more "I'm new to the gen and I would like to build a team" resources!
I analyzed the S mons last time, this time I'm going over a couple of the A+ mons, who honestly aren't in S just because we can't have too many mons in it lol.
Breloom's analysis is outdated, so don't rely too much on it. When do you run Breloom? Either when you are looking for a powerful breaker and are confident in your prediction skills / feel like you can get it in safely more than 2-3 times over the course of a match and fire off a powerful CB attack, or when you want a powerful breaker that is hard to deal with thanks to its immunity to passive damage.
You can decide to either run Substitute + Protect + Focus Punch + Seed Bomb, which is very hard to stop, but also offers almost no defensive utility whatsoever, or opt for a sturdier Specially Defensive Breloom with Bulk Up, or even Swords Dance. What made Breloom so good was the fact that people realized that Facade is exceptional at dealing heavy damage to most of Breloom's common switchins like Latios, Thundurus-T, and even Amoonguss.
Breloom is an excellent choice if you feel like you need a breaker immune to passive damage (Poison Heal is a great ability to have), and also want some defensive utility. Breloom brings some nice resistances to the table, and with 236 HP EVs (for the Poison Heal number) and max Special Defense helps your team check a bunch of dangerous threats like Thundurus-T and Rotom-W, while still being a fearsome offensive presence.
I don't have any specific suggestion for this fellow. Try out all of its sets and see which one you like the most. From there, see if you can fit one onto a team, and how people tend to deal with it.
Excadrill's analysis has been updated in the last month or so, and it has everything you need to get started with using this mon. I'd argue that Excadrill should raise to S in the VR, but that's a discussion for another topic. The biggest takeaway for me when I used Excadrill was to not overrely on it as a spinner, because while it is quite hard to spinblock per se, it has some issues against Spikes users, especially Rocky Helmet Skarmory, but Leech Seed Ferrothorn is also a huge annoyance to keeping Spikes off your field.
Regardless, Excadrill is an excellent addition to most teams, thanks to how powerful it is in the metagame. If you are a new player my suggestion is to try out the Specially Defensive set first and foremost, and to avoid the Choice Scarf set in general as I don't think it's very good unless it is in some very specific teams.
So recently I decided to try bringing back hail to the spotlight. Is it a good archetype in this metagame? Not really. But it didn't stop me from trying!
As a lot of you may know, the biggest issue with hail is that there is no good way to cover all its major weaknesses including hazards while still pressuring the opponent. I think the popularity of Excadrill is passively helping hail by making some hazards setters like Skarmory less prevalent. It is also an excellent addition to hail since it can be both a setter and spinner without being as passive as Forretress. Sure there is a couple of pokemon that can punch through this such as some Brelooms but as long as this team keeps up the offensive, it can hold its own.
Seeing as another variation of this set was posted here, I figured that I might as well post it. I've been using venoshock instead of sludge on tentacruel lately. The main point of sludge (besides shamelessly fishing for poison) is to hit ph loom, which normally walls, but due to ph venoshock does significantly more damage, blowing through spdef sets quicker, and ohkoing subpunch to boot.
0 SpA Tentacruel Venoshock (130 BP) vs. 236 HP / 236+ SpD Breloom: 234-276 (73.1 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after toxic damage
0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 236 HP / 236+ SpD Breloom: 162-192 (50.6 - 60%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after toxic damage
0 SpA Tentacruel Venoshock (130 BP) vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Breloom: 354-416 (110.6 - 130%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Tentacruel Sludge Bomb vs. 236 HP / 0 SpD Breloom: 242-288 (75.6 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after toxic damage
Here's a pretty unique take on cm reuni that's featured on certain psyspam teams. The idea is to retain the ability to chip/cripple ttar and exca with focus while still being able to snipe chomp for zam as well as checking gliscor defensively, so that you don't have to crutch on zam/latios. Another big benefit of this set is that it frees up zam so that you can use hp fire to nail steels more reliably, which can make your moveset a lot more offensively consistent in conjunction with gk (still keeping focus blast though).
I'm not a hugely experienced BW player, but I had a decent run in the most recent BW cup and spent quite a bit of time building and coming up with ideas for my recent playoffs matches. I didn't get to use nearly all of them, but maybe someone more experienced in the tier can take some of these ideas and improve them or do something cool with them.
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Force EVs: 32 HP / 56 Atk / 228 SpD / 192 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
The SubTect Excadrill I used on the team I built for my match vs McMeghan. The EVs lined up pretty perfectly for the team I was using, but I think a spread like this could be applied elsewhere. 32 HP hits a Substitute number so you can sub an extra time from full, and the SpD EVs mean that uninvested Amoonguss (I think it also covers a bit of additional investment) cannot break Excadrill's sub with Giga Drain, which often was tremendous in test games. SpD Excadrill is a dope buffer regardless for stuff like Latios, Alakazam, etc.
A pretty crazy Salamence set that I wanted to use on a rain offense, primarily to lure Ferrothorn and have almost perfect odds to OHKO with a +1 Fighting Gem Brick Break after rocks. Hydro Pump mauls Landorus in rain and also enables Salamence to pick off weakened Thundurus without having to lock into Outrage as well as devastate Excadrill without having to click Brick Break, among other targets. Naive nature is solid as an alternative, as +1 Brick Break still does a tremendous amount of damage to Ferrothorn and even has some odds to OHKO (albeit low ones), but I wanted to try to afford Adamant to maximize its OHKO potential. I practiced a decent amount with this and it did quite well, but maybe the surprise value inflated its results. Regardless, this set is a ton of fun.
Volcarona + Seismitoad Sand
I really wanted to try a Volcarona sand with a ton of hazard control in an attempt to maximize Volcarona's sweeping potential, so I paired it with Tyranitar, Excadrill, and Xatu to start. Xatu saw some use in BW cup on sands, and I was inspired by that idea. I then considered Seismitoad and really liked its synergy with Volcarona, enabling this team tremendously vs rain and Rotom-Wash while doing a decent job at patching up a lot of other holes. Seismitoad + Xatu is also a really nice core to help mitigate Keldeo issues to the point where I genuinely considered running Protect on Tyranitar to maximize this potential. Scarf Latios rounds out the team to drastically improve the DragMag matchup, which also has Ice Beam to surprise Gliscor. This team can struggle a lot vs opposing Excadrill, Garchomp, and some variants of Landorus-Therian, and it likely faces issues dealing with certain other types of offensive pressure, but it was really fun to build and it held its own in a lot of matchups. I think there's definitely potential for improving this team as well.
Most of the above teams are proof that Terrak destroys queso lol also it's so hard to write a post when you only have a phone
As some more common sets are being posted above I suppose I should post some which are already main sets. I'm splitting this post to four parts: established meta sets, some more techs I use (again PM me if you invented it), some EVs I use since everybody is posting theirs, and some basic synergies new players can use.
Kills Ferro in Rain, allows you to change weather when you kill the opponent's Toad, and Balloon+ Magnet Rise allows you to trap Exca. Modest is preferred for the big chance to OHKO Ferro in Sun but Timid can be used to Magnet Rise on slower Exca should your Balloon break beforehand. I got this from Finch's post in the old gen techs thread
Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 104 HP / 164 Def / 140 SpA / 100 Spe (if you need to conserve EVs 24 HP / 200 Def does the same thing)
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Agility/ Focus Blast
- Substitute
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
I got this from the SPL XI discussion thread but I changed the EVs lol but basically Def EVs prevent Ferro Gyros and Rachi BSlams from breaking your Subs and chipping you. Use with TSpikes Tenta lol tho this is relatively splashable
Bronzong himself is rare in BW but if you ever see it it will probably use this. Skill Swap+ Toxic fucks with Reun, Glis, and Loom, and allows escape from Zone. It also fucks with Natural Cure users lol
Another one from the Underrated Sets thread, if you can deal with opposing fat Psychic types Recover on TR Reun is usually better than a third coverage move
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 244 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Flying]
The uptick of PHeal Loom has seen more Water-types running HP Fly, so if one of them magically gets in front of you you know what's up (hell I think even Toed uses this sometimes). Also, note that fat Rotom-W nowadays try to outslow each other to Volt Switch after the opposing one
I was unsatisfied with how hard Hurricane hit in Rain so this kills Def Tenta at +2
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Earth Power
- Magma Storm
- Sunny Day
- Solar Beam
Not my set but I forgot who made this. This catches fat waters like Slowbro or Jellicent or Gastro/Seismi or Defensive Toed on switchin and assassinates them.
For teams that have no way to punish opposing Scarf Lando-T U-turns, Naive+SpAtt EVs allow you to have the highest chance to outspeed and kill their Scarf Lando-T (bkc gave me the idea to use 84 EVs, has 81.3% chance of killing from max other - spdef lando but its not often useful).
Always lives Specs Latios Meteor from max, forcing them to Surf or Trick (admittedly eating Trick can be bad) while the remaining EVs outrun Adamant max speed Zor.
241 speed outruns two things: Adamant Band Loom, and every SpDef Gliscor that want to outrun Adamant Band Loom by one point
Basic synergies
+
Very simple- rotom burns ferro, then exca can spin on it without fearing whip. Jelli mew and gengar can also do similar
Sr + magnet rise or poison heal
Fat exca almost always invalidates Sr rachi, so a Mon that can either trap it (zone) or turn it into free turns (loom) is always helpful
Band + jolly scarf or
Either your opponent's lando can take cb kion hits, in which case it won't be jolly, or it can, in which case your own ground type scarfer can outspeed it
+
The presence of starmie on your team means you don't have to use Rapid Spin on exca, making it an awesome offensive mon. In Sand it can run sand force subtect or protect sd, in rain it can run Mold Breaker subsd. Maybe xatu can work over mie idk
+
zf abused this last spl, basically zor handles latios reun and some grass types without cancelling rain which can impede an Agility thundy sweep
Tailwind + any cb user
P self explanatory
Refresh +
Refresh allows politoed to participate in scald burn wars so tenta doesn't have to
I may have missed a lot of stuff here, so I will update this post when I think of them. I only post techs that I have tried, so until I have used 4 attacks aqua jet lo keld or counter skarm or something it won't show up here
will sharpedo ever be S rank? no. does it require a lot of support? yes. is it an absolute blast to play with? absolutely. sharpedo is actually stupid strong under rain and can beat a lot of the top pokemon with these three moves.
S Rank:
Latios - folds to crunch
Tyranitar - loses to waterfall, though sand is a problem
Ferrothorn - hard walls shark
Landorus-Therian - dies to waterfall
A Rank:
A+
Breloom - dies to zen headbutt
Excadrill - dies to waterfall
Keldeo - dies to zen headbutt
Politoed - bulky sets check shark but it can be worn down
Rotom-Wash - takes 50+ from crunch
Garchomp - the rough skin chip is annoying, but it takes a LOT from waterfall in rain
A
Thundurus-Therian - dies to waterfall
Tentacruel - dies to zen headbutt
Heatran - dies to waterfall
Jirachi - can take one waterfall under rain
Reuniclus - crunch
Magnezone - dies with a bit of chip
Alakazam - loses if sash is broken and can get cheesed with a flinch
Gliscor - dies
A-
Skarmory - one of the harder stops but can be 2hkoed after rocks in rain
Terrakion - dies
Dragonite - beats shark with espeed
Mamoswine - can pick off shark at low HP but dies otherwise
Kyurem-Black - beats shark
look, its nothing amazing and it requires entry hazard support and chip on some mons from teammates to be effective. that said, its a fun mon that can match up really well against a lot of teams out there.
@ leftovers
I love lefties sr lando since it's excellent at keeping up rocks against spindrill while posing a huge threat in its own right with eq/hpice/uturn while hanging around for a while thanks to passive recovery and spikes immunity. nothing like a free u-turn on the sand-affected rotom. evs in defense and speed, you don't even need to invest in its offenses; it's naturally, effortlessly going to threaten a lot of common teams. for example, it absolutely tears up those balance teams that go "boy I would sure be fucked if that lando could switch moves but since I have protect on heatran gliscor and excadrill I'm just fine." the only "true" check to it is skarm, and skarm is not being used very much because it's so awful against rain.
as an aside, scarf lando is, in fact, the worst. necessary evil at times, and sure it's "good" but it can feel like such a complete waste of such a dangerous poke.
other offensive ground-types benefit from skarm's suckitude: exca, mamo, sd glisc (both poison heal and flying gem acrobatics; the former is under the radar and the latter is completely forgotten (and admittedly harder to fit on a team) but both are menacing), and of course garchomp, who is criminally underused - again, skarm is the only "true" check to its stab combination, so it can let loose with an sd set without having any trouble fitting sr/sub/second dragon stab (not having to choose between dclaw and outrage is amazing). all its item choices are great, but I specifically like the classic yache berry set, which has the huge benefit of making it a thundurus-t check.
@ grass gem
it is ridiculously difficult to switch into this forgotten monster. tran's hard enough to deal with as is for sand teams, but they can generally dance around it with a water, keeping their lati/ground/ttar away from it (as they very well want to). however, rain kind of just shrugs it off, especially with politoed running refresh. with this set, heatran gets in on ferrothorn/amoonguss/breloom (making it excellent alongside rotom-wash, who also seizes momentum back against grounds) and gets a ko on that would-be water check. against sand, this means the next time it gets in it's gonna land a magma storm on something that really doesn't want to be switching into it. (side note, run modest! give yourself that chance at a ko on gliscor with rocks up!) against rain, well, weather war won.
1. thunder wave
2. max attack
3. earthquake
ttar doesn't switch into alakazam and latios anyway, and extra spdef doesn't help in the 1v1 there. what does help is twave, which ensures that even if ttar doesn't beat the pokemon it's checking, that pokemon is easy pickings for your other guys. this is safer against zam, as pursuit is such a free move since it brings it to the sash anyway, meaning they stay in every time, while latios sometimes has the gall to switch out. of course, fitting twave can be a hassle, so that brings us to max attack. like I said, extra spdef doesn't help in those 1v1s and often feels wasted. extra attack gives it more use: most crucially, really smashing reuniclus. it also is more secure against a staying-in latios with pursuit. finally, earthquake is a good alternative to superpower; hitting tentacruel super effectively is invaluable. it has some nice other uses (heatran/toxicroak, especially tran) but tenta is the main reason - we all know how tight those sand vs. rain battles can be, and that matchup is often crucial.
@ aqua jet
dice's protect keld is excellent, and often only needs 3 moves, so I tried some other stuff like roar. aqua jet was without question the best of the bunch, simply because breaking zam's sash/picking off a 1 hp zam is as game-changing as it gets. incredibly helpful in sand-on-sand games.
@ lots of speed with night shade
ever since I started going superfast on jellicent I haven't looked back. no more ttar speed creep wars - you will outspeed and willowisp it, enabling your psychic teammates. also crucial is how the matchup changes against the eternal pain in the ass, rotom, who you actually threaten with night shade (remember its low hp stat) once it's been chipped with rocks/burn, and being able to outspeed it means that it is on a surprisingly fast timer
@ choice scarf
specs is always great, but I think this set is better overall, as it lets you use lati as more than just a battering ram to be sacrificed against ttar. you need something else to do that, but in return, you get a poke that seals the deal lategame like nothing else. not only do you not have to run scarf lando and thus run a more threatening set on it, you don't have to worry about getting cleaned up by scarfchomp/keld once your lando/specslati respectively have been chipped. no nonsense against opposing scarf lando either obviously. the security against alakazam is amazing as well since you can actually take a hit from it!
@ dragon gem, calm mind/draco meteor/surf/recover
every single latios out there is choiced, which makes calm mind on the opponent's protect all the more devastating. drops immense damage if not a ko on tyranitar and solos a lot of rain since ferro doesn't run gyro/leech (needs both hazards, needs knock for other ferro, wants power whip to actually hit tenta/exca).
@ worry seed
if rocks are on a different poke, ws ferro is worth it. utterly ruins breloom switchins, can help against glisc, messes with reuniclus (rain can use tspikes tenta while sand is sand, especially since ferro will knock reun's lefties off) and can even let it escape from magnezone.
@ substitute + protect
both sub and protect are seriously good on tenta, but you'll often miss the one you don't have. since jellicent got (mostly) knocked out of the meta by sand force excadrill, that's no longer a problem, and you can dominate ferrothorn/everything with ease. these two together are ridiculous: they, in conjunction with rapid spin's massive pp, allow you to actually stall out cm reuniclus 1-on-1.
@ dragon gem, dragon dance/outrage/earthquake/dragon claw
scarf's immediate speed is admittedly very nice in dragmag slugfests against opposing latios, but I love this set because it makes scarflando rue its existence. the gem pushes through whatever wall, giving it the moxie boost and allowing mence to continue its rampage. having two dragon stabs is wonderful.
I don't actually think I've ever posted about this topic on the forums, but many people know about my love for Omastar in BW OU and I figured that I might as well make a post about it. I'm going to preface this post by saying that omastar is a very niche setup sweeper that wants some specific circumstances to be able to sweep, but it's still a fun option to try out if nothing else.
Weak Armor is usually used alongside air balloon to turn most of the tier's grounds into setup bait, particularly the choice-locked ones. Alongside solid coverage in pump + beam + hp grass this set has incredible sweeping potential against sand teams. Once ferro is trapped by zone, omastar absolutely being able to rip apart the latios/lando/ttar/etc type teams that it's usually featured on. Omastar also performs admirably against other subsets of sand, such as the rising breloom and amoonguss teams that are floating around, but it's very important to note that you absolutely need something that can break alakazam's sash when facing it, and that you need a weak armor boost in addition to shell smash to outspeed scarf latios. This set struggles mightily against rain, struggling to break past tent and not being able to setup on basically anything, but it can potentially net a kill or two in the lategame if aggressively bluffing swift swim against the genies or other major rain threats.
Swift Swim is used on niche offensive teams, usually with water gem, in an effort to counterteam rain. Swift swim omastar terrorizes rain teams, forcing out offensive threats such as torn and thundy as well as constantly threatening to sweep if ever given an opportunity to setup. Shell smash when combined with swift swim allows omastar to outspeed the pivotal scarf latios and blow through rain teams unencumbered. With water gem, omastar can muscle through tentacruel, which the weak armor set traditionally struggles with. Similarly, it can ohko some less used threats on rain, most notably scizor, which applies a lot more pressure against rain teams. Obviously, this set also has some potential against sand teams, but without the speed boost from weak armor it's left outsped by virtually every sand scarfer and easily revenge killed as a result.
This is a pretty old Hail Team I built during my tutoring lessons, phosphor was a good tutor and thanks to him I did learn the teambuilding basics in BW, I dont have many stuff to say about this Hail, it was more an exercise in building, Abomasnow w enough Speed to outrun Rotom-Wash and huge SpAtk invest for Blizzard Spam, Kyurem-Black is good because it hits like a truck, Heatran here for steels like Jirachi and Scizor, Scizor traps Latis and have priority for the team which is always good, Starmie for Rapin Spin and Reflect Type let me 1v1 Ferrothorn while Landorus-T with bulk for Terrakion and it outspeeds Excadrill Scarf as well.
My inspiration for this team was an old team IDM was using in PO Ladder many years ago, that team was a Baton Pass consisting of Azelf Lead + Whimsicott + Cottonee + Mew + Espeon and win, not sure if that was the structure but that team was winning almost every game xd, I took the idea and transformed it to Azelf Screens lead, Whimsicott locks Pokemon with Encore or Memento or just support for the team to let make a clean setup under Screens, Mew set up Stealth Rocks and Explosion to take a kill, while Garchomp setup with Substitute + SD or Thundurus Dual Dance, Azelf and Whim are here to help Omastar make Shell Smash and win, this team is basically cheese and I dont recommend use it in tournaments unless u want to fish Match Up.
Jynx Rain - Jhonx
This rain is old, I just wanted to abuse of Jynx because it can make some good sweeps, sadly this team dont work anymore because Sleep got banned in BW, but it was really fun make opponent's Pokemon sleep and setup Substitute Nasty Plot and start spamming Ice Beam, with Dry Skin Jynx was able to pp stall or toxic stall stuff too, showing this one because it was my first rain in BW tier.
Will post my actual metagame teams tomorrow with more time, I have updated stuff to show, teams with success on Tournaments.
Finally decided to not be lazy got time to imput some of my wacky builds here.
Posting 10 very cool teams so you can have a good laugh with your friends.
Although funny they are NOT meme teams as i have tour wins with everyone of them.
Really easy to use if you have already mananged a team with Magic Guard spam before. The only twist here is that we have a Clefable > Alakazam! This tech take almost everyone off guard as LO Fable is a very nuclear breaker in the meta (sample teams have almost no switch to this). Specs Lati because is broken and Scarf Ttar because Scarf Lando is meh.
Classic JelliSkar sand combo and again with Scarf Ttar because the thing is good. ChainChomp as an initial balance breaker and support gliscor to glue the team. Sweeper Scizor is a very nice adition to this since almost everyne will play thinking in a CB variant hereand he is a fenomenal cleaner.
CB Chomp is a very old school tech (around 2011 I think?) and one that have a lot of potential in this more bulk meta we are seeing. It also helps a lot that even Adamant it outspeed Jolly Excadrill. The rest of the team are very standart with just a few techs to help some Rain MUs.
I know that this lock like a meme team but this one really work! Barrier Zone is a cool and flame set that catches a lot of players off guard (and normally lead to a lot of rages). Pair this with a Toxis Spikes structure with a Subs Gyara and Lord Arceus need to have mercy with your oponent soul. Note that Magnezone survives 1 Focus Miss from standart Thundy spreads (your worst MU to face).
This is a team that i love to use. Hydreigon is so underrated in this meta as he can fire off insanely powerfull Specs DMs and be not punished by a pursuit like our Lati friend. This team resolves around that, grab momentum .with slow VoltTurn and smash with Hyd. Easy, simple, efective.
SPL Subs Kazam
This is a team that was cooked with the help of my friend Alexander. for the spl semis. Team was made to make sure that LO Alaka have momentum to set a Sub and grab kills. Because of that you play diferently with it and most of the time you can make nasty surprises in the game.
Everyone that see this Toxicrak says "wtf, why this is using Thunder Punch?". Well, to be fair, croak is already a very MU fishing mon so I took a step foreward and added another MU Fish to it. Outside of that the team is relatively standart. The Exca EVs is for him to outspeed Adamant Mamoswine as it shredd the team otherwise.
This is a bizarre one. It started as a lame joke team because it was made to just laught at the Hantsuki unwinable bw list (offensive toad, rain volca, latias, celebi all in one messy team). I have 0 expectations with it and then i got a record of 11-2 in bw untours... I still think it is a bad team but somehow it win games so...
Beware that this is NOT an easy team to use as you are very Spikes weak however you compensate it with brute force. +Atk LO Terrak have ZERO switchs in the meta. Play smart with it and never gives free Spikes momentum with this team.
Just a brainless agro offensive team. Set hazards, pivot around with VoltTurn and grab kills with LO Mie and Lati. Volcarona because the moth is broken and have potential to win alone if oponent lacks Heatran, Dragonite or Chansey.
I'm kinda back from the dead, cool if I do a dump of some teams? Here are explanations for them and the importables. These are solely for providing some more teams to the Smogon community. Genuinely enjoy teambuilding in Gen 5 and my goal is to check mark as many threats as possible and make the optimal team. I'm going to list my best Weatherless and Weather teams, hope they help to the new lads.
This was a real fun one. Porygon2 is Trump's loyal wall an incredibly great wall still being viable due to the Eviolite, boasting Trick Room as it reverses the turn order, generally allowing gyro balls and benefiting slow pokemon but boasting incredible power so they can sweep. Thunder Wave is just annoying in P2's set, with the order reversed the team can clean up the hot mess. Vaporeon is here to provide Wish support to Porygon2 and the rest of the team members and keep them in the game, and then Scrafty sets up while Celebi, Latios and other Psychic types struggle greatly to beat him, but is still outclassed by other Fighting types which could OHKO it with STAB moves.
As it stands, the goal of this team is to defeat the opponent as quickly as possible. Ferrothorn can be a check to many water types, but the team suffers from not having Ground resist as Garchomp could cripple Tentacruel and become roasted by Jolteon/Raikou. Tentacruel can Toxic pokemon excluding Steel types and these 3 water types possess powerful Scald/Aqua Jet/Waterfall etc. Specs Moltres is an underrated beast, can 6-0 mono-steel teams and is a great check to Breloom, roasting them as if they were being scorched inside an oven. Ferro provides Entry Hazard support and Tentacruel rapid spins adjacent entry hazards out of the field, preserving Moltres, Azurmarill and Protecting Latios from stealth rock, which is our only hopes to protect the team and prep some extra salt on the opponent's team.
Genuinely my personal favorite. One of my favorite successful homemade BW OU teams but not overly solid, having 2 Generation 2 Pokemon and 4 Generation 1 Pokemon aprox, showing that the changes Gen 5 brought to these Pokemon can be incredibly threatening in the rain. The huge problem with this team is that it doesn't have a Stealth Rock setter! This is probably the only team I have listed with only a rapid spinner, and is missing out on the passive damage. Dragonite and Moltres boast STAB hurricane OHKOing Toxic Orb and SubPunch Breloom. Cloyster and Celebi are physical and special setup sweepers, Cloyster acts as a multi-hit sweeper becoming even more threatening with Skill Link in the fray. Politoad and Tentacruel are Heatran checks but they can't outspeed Heatran when it's scarfed. Feel free to use it on the ladder and test it!
This is a quick Sandstorm team I've made, as it goes use Skarm to set up entry hazards then try to keep them in the game by switching to an adjacent Pokemon on team. Skarm is our only hope that can prevent other Pokemon like Sableye from taunting Skarm, and keep him in the game and not waste turns switching front to back. Tyranitar is a Latios check and boasts Superpower to combat other types, Excadrill is the rapid spinner of the team, Amoonguss and RotomWash are our walls and last but not least, Landorus is the pivot helping the team gain momentum and win the game.
A typical BW OU sun team that took me probably 5 minutes to build. As it goes either bring in Rhypherior or Heatran to set up Stealth Rock, switch to Ninetales and summon the sun and begin the weather war. Venusaur and Ninetales possess Solarbeam, having incredible power in sun and removing the 2-turn charging move, bringing it to 1 turn. Latias is here for defensive synergy and abusing Hidden Power fire with her colossal Special stats, boosting it even more with the Fire Gem. Banded Snorlax may be slow, but it's a beast. Banded Lax has Return and Fire Punch STAB decimating adjacent threats, crippling the team and winning the game. Prepare for some hate, you just abused the power of the sun.
It's obvious that this team needed a way to set entry hazards, kill problematic Steel Types, rapid spin entry hazards and keep the team safe to win the game. Magnezone including Hidden Power Fire in its arsenal along with sunny day boosts fire type moves incredulously, being able to destabilize walls like Ferrothorn and kill U-Turn users like Scizor. However, Heatran is the only Steel type who is not affected by Fire type moves in this team, but has a 4x Ground weakness which is why it boasts Air Balloon, to stay safe and set up the entry hazards the team needs as it is the DragMag team's lead. Switch into Magnezone, spam broken dragons, win.
Can't believe I'm still updating this post haha. To be fair, I think this is a more solid version of the sandstorm balance above. In my view Hippowdon is a better weather inducer because 1. its colossal defense stats being able to tank outrages and other physical moves. 2. Can use whirlwind and is a better entry hazard setter without being SD baited and killed like TTar normally would, and 3. STAB Earthquake and has Slack Off, being able to tank and shrug off the hits from physical teams. Scizor is a godsend for this team due to the fact that it has Pursuit STAB destabilizing Latios and other Psychic threats. These 2 U-Turn and Volt Switch (RotomW) members help the team gain momentum without having to predict the opponent's move. Excadrill with Sand Force provides a powerful check to many teams, Latios provides offensive support by punching holes into the opposing foe's team, and Amoonguss was added to this team to help fix the Keldeo weakness. I'll grab a replay later...
What's up fellow BW lovers, I haven't posted in a while because I was busy carrying my noob team en WCoP. Last time I analyzed Breloom and Excadrill, so I'm going to keep going down the Viability Rankings.
Keldeo's analysis has been revamped recently and it's very good, go read it. Generally speaking, I find Keldeo a relatively stable Pokémon: it offers a lot of positive traits like a decent bulk, okay typing, and powerful STABs, but the drawbacks keep it in check. Namely, its Speed tier (being slower than Latios hurts), and the poor coverage options (you are confined to STABs + Hidden Power + Icy Wind for offensive moves). When I use Keldeo I am looking either for a Pokémon that is good at breaking down specific cores / teams to help another Pokémon shine, or for one that can clean up once it's counters have been dealt with (Amoonguss and Jellicent for the most part).
If you are new and want to try Keldeo out, I suggest to start with the Choice Specs set, since it is easy to use, it can tank a hit or two, and it can show you both how powerful Keldeo is, and how its weaknesses work. The Choice Scarf set is also very good, but it requires more specific team support, so I'd avoid it as a newbie.
Politoed's analysis is...ancient. Do not rely on it. Most Politoed nowadays run defensive sets: max HP with a lot of Defense, some max it, some prefer a little Special Defense to better tank some moves (ie: Alakazam's Psychic), it is up for preference really, Speed EVs are also an option if you want to Toxic Jellicent or Refresh against it.
You can mix and match the moves on the set, with Scald being the only one you will see 100% of the times. The other slots will be a mixture of Toxic, Encore, Refresh, Protect, and Ice Beam. The set I've seen the most recently is the Scald / Encore / Refresh / Protect one, which might look a little weird, but realistically you aren't going to Toxic what you want to with Politoed, and Refresh is great to keep Politoed healthy vs bulkier Sand teams.
The other sets aren't used as much, but they still pop up from time to time. Specs has almost disappeared, but I think it's still viable on some teams, while Scarf is still a bit popular especially on more offensive Rain teams. Scarf Toed is decent against a lot of offensive teams who don't have strong Water resists and rarely have more than 2 mons that are faster than it (and these mons can't switch into it anyway).
Want to use Politoed? Go with the Defensive set, start with Toxic Scald Protect Refresh and see if you like it. Encore is excellent but requires more prediction, so if you are new you should go with the set that is easier to pilot.
Rotom-W's analysis is also ancient, but to be honest Rotom hasn't changed one bit since then, although some of the options mentioned there aren't a thing anymore. Rotom's sets are actually rather easy to guess for the most part.
Usually it's Specially Defensive on sand, and offensive on rain. That's it really. Of course you might still find the occasional Scarf Rotom, or versions with HP Fire (especially if you are playing against Caetano) or even HP Ice, but for the most part the two standard sets are the ones you will face 99% of the times.
Rotom offers a lot of utility to teams, Volt Switch is a powerful momentum move, especially when paired with the combination of Will-o-Wisp and Hydro Pump, which make it hard for Ground types to justify coming in to block the Volt Switch. Additionally, Rotom is immune to Spikes and offers a lot of useful resistances / immunities, especially to Water and Ground. Plus, it is very annoying for most teams, spreading burn and volting out of threats relatively easily.
Rotom also pairs well with Spikes, as it beats every Ground immune in the tier bar the latwins, who don't really want to come onto a Volt Switch, as Rotom is oftentimes paired with Tyranitar, making it easy to pursuit them.
As a new player you should try out the Specially Defensive set and you'll see how easy it is to use, and why it is such a valuable asset to a lot of teams. People don't really use the 28 Special Attack EVs anymore and go Max HP and Special Defense, especially since the main reason to use them (killing Thundurus-T after Stealth Rock damage) doesn't apply anymore, as Thundurus has for the most part switched to bulkier EVs spread to better deal with Breloom.
Most Politoed nowadays run defensive sets: max HP with a lot of Defense, some max it, some prefer a little Special Defense to better tank some moves (ie: Alakazam's Psychic), it is up for preference really, Speed EVs are also an option if you want to Toxic Jellicent or Refresh against it.
Small nitpick but Specially Defensive Politoed is also fantastic for munching zam hits helping against latios and a lot of other miscellaneous defensive uses that come up clutch in various situations
+ magnet rise 
@ dragon gem, dragon dance/outrage/earthquake/dragon claw
