Courage, Wisdom and Power (Standard OU)

[nintes]

At a glance

Hi everyone, long-time lurker, short term member. This the team that I am currently running. It is my most successful team (I'm currently at exactly 1300 on PO, as smogon was/is down), however I know that it can much be improved.

This team focus is on trying to screw up the opponents strategy. See for yourself.

In depth

@ leftovers
Ability:Levitate
Ev's: 4 hp, 252 spA, 252 spe
Nature: Timid (-atk, +spe)

Hydro pump
Thunderbolt
Hidden power (fire)
Trick
Scarf Rotom-W has also been excellent. I finally have a reliable revenge killer. He also has good synergy with jirachi, both offensive and defensive. Grass is resisted by jirachi, ground and fire are resisted by rotom-w. But the revenge killing is his main job. Salamence and him work to try and soften up the opposing team, leaving jirachi or reuniclus to clean up. An excellent suggestion.

@ toxic orb
Ability: Poison heal
Evs:252 hp, 4 atk, 252 def
Nature: Impish (-spA, +def)

Toxic
Protect
Earthquake
Ice fang
Gliscor was pretty much thrown on the team near the end of the team building process as a check for excadrill, and has performed a surprisingly good job. Besides from excadrill, he also checks conkelldurr, terakion, scizor, mence and many others who would otherwise give this team a lot of trouble. Gliscor job is really to stop the above pokes killing me, and to get a bit of residual damage going against certain foes as well. His toxics' are very key as well. Often a tactic that I use is just to use toxic a lot and see what it hits. It is not uncommon to nail a key member of the opponents team in this fashion. I chose a very defensive spread and moveset for gliscor as he is the only physical wall on the team, and so needed soak up as much physical punishment as possible. Fling wouldn't have worked on such a defensive spread, as toxic is his main source of damage. Ice fang replaces facade, with good results.

@ leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Evs: 252 hp, 4 spA, 252 spD
Nature: Sassy (-spe, +spD)

Stealth rock
Stone edge
Crunch
Flamethrower
Tyranitar is my stealth rocker and special sponge all in one. If anyone can suggest a better stealth rocker for this team, than that would be very welcome. Aside from that, I chose stone edge over crunch as it does more damage against more things. Crunch has been much more effective, as gliscor and frieds hardly ever switch in. It also provides a reliable STAB when I don't want to risk stone edge. and flamethrower roasts away unsuspecting scizor. This scizor baiting and killing is actually quite a big deal, as otherwise I would struggle to kill it (gliscor might mange it eventually, but if it has roost...). Apart from that, his sand stream allows me to beat sun, which I would otherwise struggle to do.

@ life orb
Ability: Intimdate
Evs:80 atk, 252 spA, 176 spe
Nature: Rash (-spD, +spA)

Draco meteor
Brick break
Roost
Flamethrower
This salamence is so much better than the old one. The immediate power and versatility allow it to be a much for effective wallbreaker. The insane power from both sides of the spectrum is very effective. Blissey, T-Tar, Ferrothorn, Gliscor all fall with ridiculous ease. Another great suggestion.

@ life orb
Ability: Magic guard
Evs:252 hp, 4 def, 252 spA 0 spe Iv's
Nature: Quiet (-spe, +spA)

Trick room
Psychic
Shadow ball
Focus Blast
Trick room reuniclus is my weapon agaisnt offensive teams. Its great bulk almost always allows it to set up a trick room, and then it can "outslow" and KO most pokemon on a heavily offensive team. This is reuniclus' only purpose. Trick room is obvious. Psychic was chosen over psycho shock as otherwise it allowed gliscor to stall me, conkeldurr to beat me and did just generally less damage to everybody. Blissey isn't an enormous problem anyway. Shadow ball hits lati@s, other reuniclus and otherwise is just a general coverage move. Focus blast is obligatory and OHKOs T-Tar, which is nice. Not a lot to say about his moves. After reuniclus has done his dirty work, most offensive teams are severely damaged.

@leftovers
Ability: Serene grace
Evs: 252 hp, 4 spA, 252 spe
Nature: Timid (-atk, +spe)

Substitute
Calm mind
Thunderbolt
Flash cannon
And finally, jirachi, my weapon against stall teams. SubCM jirachi is insanely good against stall teams. Due its fantastic bulk, most defensive pokemon cannot break jirachi's subs, allowing to boost up. Not even blissey can stop her. Flash cannons spDef drops happen surprisingly regularly thanks to serene grace and allow her to break down walls that she would otherwise be unable to. Ferrothorn, blissey, Lati@s all fall to flash cannon, and jellicent can't break the subs and gets nailed with thunderbolt. The only defensive poke that can really stop it is hippowdon, and only if it has roar. A stall teams nightmare.

 

[Ada]

I like the premise of the team (and the title) but I don’t see how you incorporate it onto its members (or how the title relates to the team)….

The first suggestion I’d like to make is to try out Dragonite in place of Salamence. In particular, the parashuffling Dragonite set. Dragonite has better defensive synergy with Jirachi due to greater bulk and access to Multiscale. It can also support it by spreading paralysis and residual damage, which can help in setting up or sweeping.

Also, you should change the Gliscor set, it’s a bit outdated. The standard set has Swords Dance and Ice Fang in place of Toxic and Facade. Swords Dance has great utility in that it allows you to beat certain Pokemon, like Conkeldurr, much more easily and act as a back-up sweeper if the need arises. Ice Fang, on the other hand, provides you with greater coverage (technically the best, if every single dual-type combination existed) and the chance to flinch and/or freeze your opponents. Ice Fang works well with Dragonite since it covers the Ground-types that are immune to Thunder Wave.

Finally, consider using Rotom-W over Virizion. It forms a triad with Gliscor and Jirachi that has excellent synergy when used together and allows them to switch into attacks destined for one another. It also provides you with a solid check against rain teams, being able to use the weather to its own advantage.

Here are the sets mentioned:

Dragonite

name: Parashuffler
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Roost
move 4: Dragon Tail
ability: Multiscale
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe

Gliscor

name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Fang / Facade
move 4: Taunt / Protect
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe

Rotom-W

name: Choice
move 1: Volt Switch / Thunderbolt
move 2: Hydro Pump
move 3: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Choice Scarf is better since it allows you to outspeed Thundurus, who would otherwise be a threat to the team.

 

[waterwarrior]

-I came for Zelda references, but didn't see one... At least name Virizion Link >.>
-I disagree with Ada. Multiscale is screwed up by the sandstorm, as Leftovers doesn't give you any health after SS damage.
-although it is true that the Gliscor set is outdated, it still has that surprise factor in the fact that the set you run has been forgotten about, so if it works for you keep using it
-I see Rotom-W as a replacement for Reuniclus, as it is a strong special attacker and can Trick a Scarf to a wall as well. It can also use Rain against the opponent if s/he brings it as Ada said. It also has great defensive and offensive synergy with Virizion

 

[zahariel]

Without the STAB boost on those pokes with Flamethrower, you're not gonna have the cojones to take out Ferro. Trade the accuracy for the power boost and go with Fire Blast. I personally think Reuniclus is a waste of this team as well, so replace it with some priority like CB Scizor or Conkeldurr.

 

[nintes]

Sorry, i forgot to nickname them.

Virizion=courage
Tyranitar=power
Jirachi=wisdom


@Ada
-I agree with waterwarrior about Dnite, though thx anyway
-As for gliscor, i'll keep the spread, but ice fang is a good idea, thx
-I'll definitely try rotom out

@waterwarrior
-as both you and Ada suggested rotom-w, i'll try it out

@fried rhys
-If i put scarf rotom on, I won't need the chople berry
-I will put crunch on, thx
-Thanks for the mixmence set, i couldn't find/remember it anywhere
-i'll try scizor over jirachi, although gliscor already does a fairly good job of checking those threats