BW OU- Keldeo's Bag of Tricks

PimpDitto

PimpDitto

Introduction​
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Hey everyone, this is my very first RMT ever and so far I have had success using it. I built this team to be versatile and to be able to function in almost all weathers and to be able to take on many different types of teams. What I like about it is that almost every pokemon can fulfill different roles depending on the situation, nothing is really forced to just be a sweeper or just be a Choice Band/Specs Nuke. Nothing is perfect and I since I am new to Smogon I would like to get as much feedback as possible, so please fire away!

The Team​

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Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 200 HP/64 Att/244 Def
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Landorus serves as a bulky-offensive pivot and his utility is incredible. I typically lead with him to either set up Rocks or to U- turn out and gain momentum to start off. He can switch in to almost any physical attack due to Intimidate, excellent typing, and EV spread. He is an excellent counter to set up physical sweepers and he can dish out a hefty amount of damage even without too much Att investment. Landorus is a great counter for almost any Choice Banded attacker as long as it isn't a supereffective hit, as he can come in drop their attack and then U-turn out on the switch or stay in and do some pretty good damage.

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Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
- Softboiled
- Toxic

This is pretty much the standard Blissey set. I chose to use minimal investment in Defense in order to make her an unbreakable Special Wall. Heal Bell is a life saver for my team, not much appreciates status and Blissey also serves as a status absorber. I use Blissey a lot, due to her incredible bulk I can bring her in on literally any predicted special attack and have her tank it. However if I mispredict it spells the end of her and I am not sure I like her being that fragile. I have played around with a few different sets and I think this could be one area to improve the team. I have been thinking of switching to Chansey but I am not sure if losing the leftovers recovery would be too big of a hit.

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Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP/252 Def/ 32 SpD
Impish Nature
-Spikes
-Brave Bird
- Roost
- Whirlwind

I have a standard SkarmBliss core here essentially. I use him as my physical wall as well as to set up spikes. Because I have a reliable way to set up Rocks with Landorus I was able to free up a spot for Brave Bird to avoid being Taunt bait. Skarmory's Brave Bird is surprisingly powerful and I can take people off guard who don't expect a solid hit to their pokemon. And with leftovers and Roost I really don't have to worry about the recoil. I have experimented with a few different EV spreads as well and have even thought about putting a Rocky Helmet on instead of Leftovers.

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Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Att/4 SpA/ 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Salamence serves as a revenge killer, but mainly he is my ideal win condition. If an opponent isn't paying attention and doesn't notice that he doesn't possess Intimidate I can normally take them unawares and hit them with the Scarf. I try to eliminate all opposing steel types or severely damage cripple them to set up for a Dragon Claw sweep, but I run Outrage in case a little extra damage is needed to start the sweep. If I can get 1 KO that is normally the match, nothing besides a Steel type wants to take a Dragon Claw from Salamence let alone a boosted one. Fire Blast is an excellent surprise for Steel types on the switch and Earthquake is as well.

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Keldeo @ Expert Belt
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA/4 SpD/252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power Electric (Non-negotiable due to me having an actual Keldeo with it for WiFi)

Here is where the surprises start kicking in. The Expert Belt allows me to bluff a Choice Specs set or a Choice Scarf set if the opponent switches. Normally Keldeo forces a lot of switches, so Icy Wind is a perfect move to cripple the switch in. Due to Keldeo's impressive coverage it can either decide to take out the switch or switch out to further bluff a Choice set. It serves as my main wall breaker, and it isn't uncommon for it to score 2 or 3 KOs mostly due to confusion.

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Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/4 SpA/252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Roost
- Psyshock

She runs a typical Calm Mind set here and she makes a great partner for Keldeo. She can come into many different attacks and either get up a free Calm Mind on the switch or Roost up depending on how hard she got hit. She can win almost any Calm Mind war due to Psyshock and her natural Bulk. Many people underestimate her because of Latios's greater raw power but I've found that she has greater overall versatility and use. I have considered running Thunder/Thunderbolt to help with Rain instead of Psyshock but I think Psyshock is a necessary move to defeat Special Walls.

Conclusion​

So there is my team for now. A few weakness I know I have are Rain teams and Hail teams. The team isn't crippled playing against them but I do struggle a bit more. Also although I don't have too many weakness to entry hazards I lack a Spinner, which would be helpful due to Salamence's Rock weakness. Any feedback would be amazing, thank you :)
 
Hello, your team might have a bit of trouble dealing with rain because there are a variety of switch ins to Blissey such as Ferrothorn, Toxicroak, and Tentacruel which don't fear anything your Blissey has to offer, and can proceed to set up entry hazards or sweep. And because you are running a balanced type of offense, running a Skarmbliss core might disrupt your offensive flow. The skarmbliss combo has gotten less dominant over time due to the power creep, and there are a variety of different cores you could choose to help your team against these kinds of threats without having to settle for skarmbliss. Skarmbliss does have its advantages in this generation -- don't get me wrong. One of which being that it makes one of the best defensive responses to Landorus-I, who is notorious for being able to take out large portions of many teams.

I'd keep Skarmory because it helps keep pokemon like Toxicroak and Mamoswine in check, but if you really needed a spinner, Tentacruel is a decent spinner who helps you out a lot against rain teams by abusing rain itself, while being able to Rapid Spin and lay out Toxic Spikes, which CM Latias loves because it makes beating Blissey so much easier. You could try it out over Blissey if you wanted the spinner + some extra entry hazards while being able to deal with Rain better. You might be a bit more weak to Thundurus-T in the process, but luckily you have Latias to help you out with that, as Calm Mind Latias helps check Thundurus-T quite nicely; also, you have softer checks like Keldeo and Salamence if the worst comes to worst.

Heal Bell/Aromatherapy really isn't necessary on your team, although it is nice. Things like Rotom can annoy you with a burn, but it ultimately doesn't mean much if you switch Latias in on the WoW -- it just means that you have to Recover more frequently. It doesn't hinder your ability to sweep as much as it possibly could.

One thing I'd really watch out for is Psyshock Alakazam. It's immune to entry hazards, carries Sash, and can pick off members of your team with Psyshock/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast/HP Fire because it is faster than most of your team and can pretty much 2HKO everything. You can play around it by tanking a hit with Landorus or Latias then picking it off with Salamence which works, but you should just be cautious of it should it pop up.

Tentacruel@Black Sludge
Bold 252 HP/236 Def/20 Spe
Scald/(Protect/Substitute)/Rapid Spin/Toxic Spikes

The choice between Protect and Sub is up to you, really. Protect usually works better in the rain and can scout for choiced users, while sub is better when predicting switches so you can get a free turn to do whatever.

Good luck with your team, hope I gave you some ideas as to what you can do with it. =)
 
Plus said:
I'd keep Skarmory because it helps keep pokemon like Toxicroak and Mamoswine in check, but if you really needed a spinner, Tentacruel is a decent spinner who helps you out a lot against rain teams by abusing rain itself, while being able to Rapid Spin and lay out Toxic Spikes, which CM Latias loves because it makes beating Blissey so much easier. You could try it out over Blissey if you wanted the spinner + some extra entry hazards while being able to deal with Rain better. You might be a bit more weak to Thundurus-T in the process, but luckily you have Latias to help you out with that, as Calm Mind Latias helps check Thundurus-T quite nicely; also, you have softer checks like Keldeo and Salamence if the worst comes to worst.

Heal Bell/Aromatherapy really isn't necessary on your team, although it is nice. Things like Rotom can annoy you with a burn, but it ultimately doesn't mean much if you switch Latias in on the WoW -- it just means that you have to Recover more frequently. It doesn't hinder your ability to sweep as much as it possibly could.

Tentacruel@Black Sludge
Bold 252 HP/236 Def/20 Spe
Scald/(Protect/Substitute)/Rapid Spin/Toxic Spikes

The choice between Protect and Sub is up to you, really. Protect usually works better in the rain and can scout for choiced users, while sub is better when predicting switches so you can get a free turn to do whatever.

Good luck with your team, hope I gave you some ideas as to what you can do with it. =)
Click to expand...

Hey thank you so much for your input. I had considered running a Tentacruel or a Starmie as a spinner, but I think you are right Tentacruel could help out a lot. I think I will definitely play around with it to see how it goes. I will say I think I might miss the special wall though. Latias can function as a special wall slightly, but like you pointed out Landorus-I is a constant threat and it is amazing to be able to deal with it right now.

Thank you a lot and I will definitely try out Tentacruel :)
 
Here is my bump.

I would really appreciate any feedback at all. Most of my sets aren't unique I know but I think as a whole my team has a different structure than a lot of people's and I would love any comments, critiques, praise, suggestions.
 
Hey PimpDitto, cool team. Expert Belt Keldeo is a dangerous Pokémon, and can normally wreck its counters when they think they have it locked into an unfavorable move.

Unfortunately, Hidden Power Electric really takes away from that potential, since the main reason to use that move is to revenge +1 Gyarados and yours isn't Scarfed this means that Lati@s and Celebi can still beat you. I would suggest you switch to HP Bug, but to do that you would have to settle for playing on a simulator instead of on WiFi, which it seems like you are reluctant to do. Specs Latios in general is a problem for your team, Life Orb even more so since you have to Predict just right with Blissey and Skarmory or it'll take one out with Psyshock or Hidden Power Fire, respectively. Additionally, I an see your team having trouble beating Ferrothorn, since Ebelt Secret Sword isn't a OHKO and it can hit you hard back with Power Whip, taking out your win condition. Another issue is that Blissey completely shuts down your momentum. Skarmory has its uses since your team definitely appreciates Spikes support and something that can Whirlwind out setup sweepers. Blissey, on the other hand, doesn't bring much to the table. It can get rid of random T-waves, Scald burns, and Toxics that hit your Pokémon thanks to Heal Bell, but that isn't all that important, since you should be able to play around those anyway. Finally, you are a bit weak to Agility Thundurus-T, with Blissey being the only thing that can stop it, and Modest Life Orb has a good chance to 2HKO with a bit of prior damage.

One Pokémon in particular seems to help you with all your problems. I would switch Blissey for SDef Chople Tyranitar. Tyranitar makes an excellent special wall in place of Blissey, but also provides much-needed offensive presence to your team as well. It handles Latios and Latias that might otherwise cause your team problems, but unlike Blissey, it can easily trap and kill them with Pursuit, whereas there wasn't anything preventing Lati@s from just switching out of Blissey if they predict wrong. Chople Berry allows Tyranitar to both bluff a choice item and survive Focus Blast from Agility Thundurus-T. This gives you extra insurance against it should it find a way to set up. Tyranitar can also destroy Ferrothorn with Fire Blast since people will most likely thing you're a Choice Band set when you lack Leftovers recovery and are paired with Keldeo. Since you already have Stealth Rock on Landorus-T, that leaves a spot open for Stone Edge, which can let you revenge kill Volcarona, which can't OHKO you even at +1 and could otherwise have been a major problem for your team in the sun (can beat Blissey with a Rest set).

Hope I was able to help! Good luck with the team!


Set

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Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Atk
Sassy Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast

 
@Halcyon That seems like an awesome idea. I do agree with the problem that Blissey robs me of momentum, you hit the nail on the head. I have a feeling Tyranitar will be an awesome addition to the team, especially since it allows me to better mess up opponent's weather. I'm excited to try it out.
 
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