I'm still relatively new to competitive pokemon, it has only been since the introduction of Heart Gold and Soul Silver, and this is my second RMT. I started off with a pokemon which I suppose is a gimmick: Agility Lucario. But it is the only pokemon that veers away from what is generally recommended and suspected of that poke. I would prefer that when rating this team not to change any pokes as it took me quite a while to find a team that actually manages to have almost perfect synergy both defensively and offensively. I'd just like to add that I have only had about 20 battles with this team on shoddy (until it stopped working for me, but easy to repair so I'll get back on it tomorrow) , and apart from an untimely crit and against a team which completely outpredicted and outplayed me (I'll admit) I won all of them (unless you discount one in which a person said they had to leave just as it was apparent I would win).
Basic Strategy
Lucario comes in early in the game on something it can force out, agility and kills its counters as well as probably another poke (if not more) to reveal their team and way of dealing with lucario. If they haven't already done so Swampert and Scizor start scouting the opponents team (coming in on a move that would kill Luke). Once this has been done send in my bulky sweeper that best suits the opponents team and sweep. Usually the match is over my now but if its not I will sack my least valuable poke at that time to get Cresselia back in, if you haven't already guessed Cress will Lunar Dance to spell the end on the game. Cresselia will often be switching in to reset up screens before it Lunar Dances.
Synergy
As you can see this team boasts two resistances/immunities for every type, bar flying for which there are no weaknesses either and electric for which there is 1 immunity (but that kind of counts as two considering its an immunity and swampert is so reliable). This team also boasts no more than two weaknesses to one type, in fact only two types are supereffective against more than one poke, both types have three resistances and aren't that common in the metagame. I'd also like to mention that I had a Bronzong over Cresselia which looked better on this but in fact Cresselia's weaknesses make it just as much of an asset as I can easily switch in lucario on most, especially dark and bug. Finally only 1 poke is weak to stealth rock (by far and away the most common entry hazard) and only two are susceptible to toxic spikes, but only two are immune to spikes (but that is the least common and haven't encountered them with this team as of yet).
The Team at a Glance:
Team in Detail:
Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
~Stealth Rock
~Earthquake
~Ice Beam
~Roar
As I've previously mentioned i consider Swampert to be the most reliable pokemon on this team. It almost always manages to do it's job. The only thing Swampert has trouble with is sleeping leads. I often let Swampert take the sleep as sleep clause helps me regain the momentum quite easily and it is rare that Swampert doesn't get a chance to exhaust sleep or become death fodder which this team appreciates. Other than that Swampert is pretty much perfect. I don't know why but faster leads hardly ever taunt, meaning stealth rock is easy to get up. Earthquake is nowadays a necessity on leads with Metagross, Heatran, Jirachi, Tyranitar, Mamoswine and Infernape bravely leaping to the front of the team. Ice Beam hits the anti-leads that are omnipresent in the metagame. Roar allows me to run through teams and formulate plans accordingly. It is surprising how many times I have revealed 3 or 4 pokemon, killing one and sustaining barely any damage against the myriad of Swampert weak teams.
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Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP/252 Atk/12 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~U-turn
~Bullet Punch
~Superpower
~Pursuit
Scizor's position, believe it or not, was actually very hard to place on this team. This post was first taken up by a wallbreaking Kingdra, then a Psycho Shifting Latias, a CS/Trick Rotom-A, a RestTalk Rotom-A and finally Scizor (I'm sure I missed out one but oh well). This symbolizes how difficult it was to place Scizor (or just my reluctancy to follow the crowd). This team was the first team I'd ever used this Scizor on and it is ridiculous how many people overlook it because it is easy to play around. That's only true if you are not out-predicted, which is easy if swampert has gone through the opposition's team. Those of you with a keen eye may have noticed the slightly tweaked EV spread, I did that because of the prevelance of Scizor and will make sure a win is not down to luck (unless of course they've done the same). I know the chances are rare but I did actually end up in a match where my Scizor faced another, mine had 6% health, theirs had 7% and I won purely because of the EV investment. So even if you throw statistics at me which suggest that you are right I will not listen (however stubborn that may make me seem).
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Cresselia (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/148 Def/68 Spd/40 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
~Reflect
~Light Screen
~Lunar Dance
~Thunder Wave
Cresselia is, arguably, the core of this team, and I don't think it would work without her. First of all she provides the screens which prevent Choice Band Flygon's Outrage from 2HKOing Lucario (in fact it's most likely a 4HKO even with stealth rock). Secondly she can Thunder Wave to cripple the extremely fast pokes that even Lucario can't outspeed after an agility (although very rare) and also helps my bulky sweepers if Lucario is unduly killed, though with the way this team is planned that will hopefully be very unlikely. And finally, although I've only used this once, Cresselia's party piece: Lunar Dance. I think it has already been explained but the chance to heal Lucario so that it serves as both an Early game cleaner and a late game sweeper (finally the name of the RMT should make sense; if you hadn't already guessed). Cresselia also does well at being weak to types that lucario resists, and mostly 4x resists. Finally Cresselia works as a wall, of sorts, to fighting types not named heracross who is actually set-up bait for Luke as it will generally be choice locked and Luke will have protect. Finally it may seem as though Cresselia only really is here for Lucario, and so what? The team is based around him.
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Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 68 HP/252 Atk/188 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~Agility
~Close Combat
~Ice Punch
~Crunch
Those of you that noticed that Lucario is male have realised that not only women do the cleaning and sweeping. This Lucario, in my mind, is not a gimmick as it has a specific role which it executes perfectly, those who claim that this is a gimmick do so to defend them losing the battle. The given EVs let it outspeed Max Speed, Timid (as both are special attackers) base 110 speed pokemon with a scarf; namely Gengar and Latias, the rest is pumped into HP for no real reason besides added (for want of a better word) bulk, so if anybody has any good suggestions I am more than welcome. This set easily disposes of Lucario's normal counters Gliscor, Salamence and Gengar are easily destroyed. But, physical walls become a pain, and Hippowdon is a nightmare (hence Scizor was once a wallbreaking Kingdra) but, having only faced one once I've deemed this Lucario's qualities (on this team) better than any other pokemon. I was contemplating switching Crunch with Thunderpunch to hit Gyarados, but I prefer the Fighting-Dark combination to Boltbeam (especially seeing as Suicune boasts that anyway). I think, seeing as I based a team around what is essentially a gimmick, it is needless to say that Lucario is (possibly) my favourite pokemon. I'd just like to say that this Lucario once fainted 6 of my opponents pokemon in a match to win me the game 5-0 (Dragonite was Death Fodder)
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Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 172 HP/216 Spd/120 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
~Calm Mind
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Hidden Power [Electric]
Once this is on the field it is either very late game, or the opposition means that the odds are stacked against Suicune winning the game for me. Rather than talk about how Suicune's moveset covers many threats I want to first mention it's offensive synergy with Dragonite. Suicune has probably the second best attacking type as its STAB whilst Dragonite has the first (though that is definiely arguable). Also Suicune has the almost perfect Boltbeam combination which is extremely reliable and useful whilst Dragonite has the most reliable move in the game (and is the only poke to have it on this team bar Swampert). Don't worry I won't be repeating that with Dragonite's description. The spread is designed to be bulky to complement Lucario's frailty and loves the dual screens to get a personal maximum of 4 CMs and sweep the sluggish team that has been left in Lucario's wake. Suicune is the only pokemon with a special attack (excluding Swampert's Ice Beam) and is invaluable in that respect. Suicune deals with the threats that you may have been counting up until now, most notably is Gyarados and Hippowdon. Btw I must, in one point in my life have the hair in that Suicune pic^^ (yes I am male).
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Dragonite (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 224 HP/84 Atk/200 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~Dragon Dance
~Outrage
~Earthquake
~Roost
Typical Bulky DDNite. Before any of you say 'DDMence with a bulkier spread is better on this team' I would like to say that you have obviously never played with this team. Salamence, while maybe outclassing dragonite on the offensive side is completely demolished in the race for bulkiness. With that addressed I would now like to explain why I chose a Lum Berry with Roost over Leftovers with Heal Bell when I have Cresselia ready to Lunar Dance is that I don't want to have to switch in Cresselia just to heal Dragonite. It is different with Lucario as his cleaning will eventually come to an end with life orb and with a lot of 2HKOs when swords dance is missing. OK, with that done lets assess the positives behind lightscreen vaporeon does 40-47% with ice beam, which is further halved by using roost (another reason to have it). Outrage is there as if people do bring anything to Dragonite it is never susceptible to dragon attacks so earthquake is the best option, so I can generally only start outraging once the opponent is down to the last two pokes. Also, Lum Berry should be taken into account as well meaning I have 4 outrages minimum (another argument for it).
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Threats List:
(Caps Lock means I see them as a threat, so does a shiny sprite)
The threat list is from here
Final Words
Thank you for reading all of this as I spent a long time trying to make it not only as explicit as possible but also clear, easy and enjoyable to read. Please take into consideration everything I have mentioned in this RMT before posting suggestions, it is easy to tell when people don't. Also, the obvious tactic of the team is not something that has to be followed and if undone by the opponent two bulky sweepers can often bring me back into the match. I kind of pride myself on spelling and grammar but I haven't (as of yet) proofread the RMT so there may be many; on that note I haven't spelled favourite and colour wrongly in this RMT it's just that I'm English. Edits will be in the colour of the pokemon it addresses or in bold, depending on my mood and the visibility of that colour.
Final Glance:
