Cruel Angel's Thesis

Wishy

Wishy

Intro: Another team, hopefully better than the last! Try to catch the 'theme' of the team. It's not that hard, I assure you! It's not all out offensive, but it doesn't rely on stall or super defenses either. A good balanced mixed, but I'd like to get an outside opinion because it's easy for one to look over simple problems, and it's nice to see how others can help improve. Without further babbling...

At a glance:
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In depth:

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Sandalphon (Metagross) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion / Earthquake
- Trick

I tried to associate the angels' name with the pokemon, but none really fit well with Metagross :<. Anyways, I used to hate conventional leads until I used this. It's funny how Stealth Rock-addicted battlers have gotten nowadays. 9 times out of 10, Heatran will Stealth Rock instead of trying to kill Metagross, thus trick works wonders! When they switch out, I set up my own rocks. Trick's usefulness doesn't stop there, as that Focus Sash I took from Azelf can end up on Salamence, whose Life Orb pumps up my explosion to eliminate Forretress (True story). Items play such a critical role in battle, so being able to mess with them is fun. Explosion takes out threats who I feel are going to be greater threats down the road (Or Zapdos died...) and for walls who are getting in the way.
Edit: Trying Earthquake over Explosion just to be able to actually attack with more than just Meteor Mash, as now I can actually hit Lucario SE.

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Iruel (Porygon2) @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/42 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Toxic

Much like Iruel, Porygon2 can adapt to destroy threats. Gyarados and Salamence counter, and pseudo-dual-statuser. I run Toxic to cripple bulky waters that can be a bit problematic, such as Vaporeon and Swampert. Trace is such a great ability, and can be such an annoyance. My second status absorber (sorta), as long as it can Trace a Natural Cure from Blissey or Celebi.

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Sachiel (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk/84 Spd/174 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Aqua Tail / Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit

Ok so Sachiel may not work here either, but they kinda look the same and Sachiel sounds so badass. I love using CBTar, amazingly destructive and commonly takes out 1-3 pokemon per battle. I said this before, but Tyranitar is naturally slow so I don't care about it's speed. Instead, I decided to give it some extra bulk. It can take STAB Thunderbolts better, being able to kill Jolteon easily (Who is KO'd by Pursuit) and take care of Zapdos. Celebi? Gone. Rotom-A? Eh, no problem. Blissey? Pfft. Though he welcomes Scizor and Lucario in, the sheer raw damage Tyranitar can cause is amazing.
Edit: Trying Earthquake to nail Lucario on the switch in, but I do like hitting bulky grounds trying to stop me as most are 2HKO'd, I believe. Testing a faster and bulkier EV spread thanks to NightFalcon.

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Arael (Latias) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 100 HP/158 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Dragon Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Surf

Angel of the Birds, and the only feminine angel name (Well aside from Eve and Lilith). I don't know where I got the EVs from, or whether or not they are standard but they work. Early game, used to scout out Scizors (via double switch) but HP Fire can KO a Scizor, while it is not able to KO back with Bullet Punch (barring Stealth Rock damage). Great mid-late game sweeping potential, once Tyranitar and Scizor are dead and gone. Able to pick off remainder of my opponent's team after they have been harassed and weakened.
Edit: Dragon Pulse gives Latias another STAB that has more PP, and doesn't lower her SAtk 2 stages, also HP Fire means 30 Speed IVs, so Latias is a bit behind the game compared to other Latias', but it sure has its uses.

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Zeruel (Machamp) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 108 HP/144 Atk/252 Def/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Payback
- Dynamicpunch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

The Angel of Strength, and Arm of God (Arms in this case). Machamp is pretty awesome, I just wish he could take neutral hits a bit better. ResTalk can be a bit crappy, but it saves Dynamicpunch's PP, and gives Machamp greater longevity and status-absorption. Scares off Blissey, and Tyranitar. Also, Lucario have fled from the might of this thing's Dynamicpunch. I usually scout with Payback to nail any ghosts trying to get a free switch. I guess I'm a bit Gengar weak, and while Machamp can't really switch in to Gengar's attacks, Machamp can nail Gengar coming in.
Edit: Bulkier EV spread, meaning I wont be forced to rest earlier thanks to Tyranitar's Stone Edge, thanks to XxBlueCleric.xX.

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Ramiel (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/220 Def/38 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Angel of Thunder. Zapdos provides a handy-dandy Fighting resist, as well as a Lucario, Scizor, and Metagross counter who otherwise can walk all over my team. Swampert can also be a pain, so I decided to run HP Grass to deal with him. Though it can 2HKO Zapdos with Ice Beam, Zapdos will 2HKO Swampy first. Stealth Rock weak does bring down it's usefulness, Zapdos is a great addition to this team which enjoys the resists it brings to the table.

Final look:

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Outro:

And that's that! Deep, extensive criticism and comments are more than welcome!
(Changes in bold).
 
Looks good, but why do you use LO Latias? Use CM-Latias. Its so annoying, for your oppenent. And machamp, Leftovers Machamp, like this one?:

Champ
@lefties
252Hp/252Att/6Spe
~Dynamicpunch
~Payback
~SE
~Bulkup

Combined with Latias and Metagross, its just godly. Or you can use CS-Maggy.
 
Nice team.

The Only possible problem I see is SD Lucario, but Machamp and Latias handle him (to an extent). He can OHKO both of them after SD, however.
 
Bananasplit said:
Looks good, but why do you use LO Latias? Use CM-Latias. Its so annoying, for your oppenent. And machamp, Leftovers Machamp, like this one?:

Champ
@lefties
252Hp/252Att/6Spe
~Dynamicpunch
~Payback
~SE
~Bulkup

Combined with Latias and Metagross, its just godly. Or you can use CS-Maggy.
Click to expand...

I felt like switching it up a bit for this team, and having a more all-out attacker instead of a stat-upper. With ResTalk Champ, he can live longer and provides status absorption.

@WarriorPrince: Yeah, Lucario can be a bit a threat especially if Zapdos is taken out, +2 ExtremeSpeed will rip my team apart, and he can outspeed Tyranitar and KO with Close Combat, my 'last resort' option is blowing him up with 'Gross. I also had some difficulty with Tyranitar, namely CBTar. Machamp was 2HKO'd by Stone Edge, but he only became a larger threat because my only other Rock-resist is Metagross (Who happened to be dead). Nothing on my team likes CB STAB Stone Edge coming from Tyranitar lol... Maybe Gliscor > Zapdos to handle this problem? Though Gliscor isn't too amazing at taken down Scizor.
 
This is actually a really solid and great team, I would definitely not change up members (Definitely no to Gliscor > Zapdos on this team)

You definitely do not have a CB Tar weakness. Machamp is one of the best answers. Most powerful Choice attackers don't have perfect switch-ins. You just have to outpredict them for the most part. Metagross makes an awesome switch in. AND Machamp can easily take Crunch and Earthquakes.
If you're still concerned about CB Tar, then go with the 108 HP/144 Atk/252 Def/4 Spe spread.

I really don't see Rotom working on this team. What'll you put it over? Besides, Zapdos is the best Scizor counter. Machamp + Metagross is more than enough Tyranitar insurance anyways.

SD Lucario isn't a problem as long as Zapdos is around. BUT Lucario CAN run Jolly and 6-0 you. I don't feel Trick AND Explosion is necessary on Gross. You could forego Explosion or Trick to slap Earthquake on there are beat Jolly Lucario, but w/e, Jolly Lucario w/ stone edge to beat Zapdos IS fairly uncommon.

Lastly, this team covers basically all the big offensive threats you are likely to face AND has CB Tar against Stall. Overall, I think this team is really great and each member helps out with countering something crucial.

Nice job!
 
XxBlueCleric.xX said:
This is actually a really solid and great team, I would definitely not change up members (Definitely no to Gliscor > Zapdos on this team)

You definitely do not have a CB Tar weakness. Machamp is one of the best answers. Most powerful Choice attackers don't have perfect switch-ins. You just have to outpredict them for the most part. Metagross makes an awesome switch in. AND Machamp can easily take Crunch and Earthquakes.
If you're still concerned about CB Tar, then go with the 108 HP/144 Atk/252 Def/4 Spe spread.

I really don't see Rotom working on this team. What'll you put it over? Besides, Zapdos is the best Scizor counter. Machamp + Metagross is more than enough Tyranitar insurance anyways.

SD Lucario isn't a problem as long as Zapdos is around. BUT Lucario CAN run Jolly and 6-0 you. I don't feel Trick AND Explosion is necessary on Gross. You could forego Explosion or Trick to slap Earthquake on there are beat Jolly Lucario, but w/e, Jolly Lucario w/ stone edge to beat Zapdos IS fairly uncommon.

Lastly, this team covers basically all the big offensive threats you are likely to face AND has CB Tar against Stall. Overall, I think this team is really great and each member helps out with countering something crucial.

Nice job!
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I recently changed Explosion -> Earthquake on Metagross (Have yet to actually battle...) and may test that bulkier Machamp spread, see if it fares better or not.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions! Much appreciated!
 
This is a great team, very solid, the only thing I might suggest is putting a little bit of Speed on Machamp to outspeed Skarmory, who can do some major damage with Brave Bird (or Drill Peck, if you will). I've used Rest/Talk Machamp before, and I can tell you firsthand that Skarmory gives it some problems. On the other hand, if you outspeed and confuse it with Dynamicpunch, things look much better for you. Standard Skarmory is 2HKOed/3HKOed (40.22 - 47.23 % w/ Dynamicpunch), and confusion off early gives a lot of help.
 
Your pokemon are too defensively EVed for how offensive you want this team.

Switch the EVs on Tyranitar to 252 Attack,84 Speed, 174 Sp.Def. This outspeeds Skarmory allowing you to Stone edge him before he Roosts, so you can kill him if he switches into the first Stone edge. This also allows good survival against Sp.Atk's while also getting decent speed. I would also say to drop Aqua Tail for Earthquake to hit incoming Lucario's harder and really, OHKO them. Aqua Tail can be useful but only if you don't have useful counters for the likes of Hippowdon and the rare Donphan's, but you have Zapdos and Latias which seems like enough to take them down.

If you want to be more offense oriented then drop Leftovers for Life Orb on Zapdos considering that Roost virtually negates Life Orb recoil. Also take out some Defense EVs and put them into Speed considering Zapdos has good speed for being a Pokemon who also has good Defenses.

Scarf Metagross would seem more useful if you had more attack moves. Obviously you trick first hand but if instead you try to Stealth Rock, that's pretty useless and just seems stupid. Of course he is supposed to be a suicide lead considering you only have 1 real useful attack move. I would say drop Scarf for Choice Band possibly considering that Choice Band seems to be able to cripple some better than Scarf. CB also gives explosion a lot more kick and will let you kill even some of the sturdier Pokemon who resist Explosion such as Tyranitar,Lucario,Bronzong,Heatran,etc.

Machamp is decent as a status absorber considering you run all Evs that aren't attack in HP, but I still don't like the idea of him being a primary status absorber mainly because if you switch into a Hypnosis it will become potentially obvious, making your opponent guess like crazy is the best strategy and to switch Machamp straight into Hypnosis just makes them not even have to guess, really. Dark/Fighting is good coverage and Payback can nail Rotom,Cress,etc decently.

Latias I have a few criticisms. Hidden Power Fire is useless basically. If you're using it just to beat Scizor then you have enough of a problem with Scizor to use HP Fire for specifically him then you need to correct something somewhere. Draco Meteor is a good move coupled with Life Orb and all that but as far as using it throughout a whole battle it's a bit more annoying and sometimnes difficult especially with low PP amount and possible Pressure pokemon switch-ins there making you lose 2 PP instead of 1. Dragon Pulse is more useful overall and is still good coverage.

Other than that I'm pretty sure that's it. Yeah WoT I know :).
 
NightFalcon said:
Your pokemon are too defensively EVed for how offensive you want this team.

Switch the EVs on Tyranitar to 252 Attack,84 Speed, 174 Sp.Def. This outspeeds Skarmory allowing you to Stone edge him before he Roosts, so you can kill him if he switches into the first Stone edge. This also allows good survival against Sp.Atk's while also getting decent speed. I would also say to drop Aqua Tail for Earthquake to hit incoming Lucario's harder and really, OHKO them. Aqua Tail can be useful but only if you don't have useful counters for the likes of Hippowdon and the rare Donphan's, but you have Zapdos and Latias which seems like enough to take them down.

If you want to be more offense oriented then drop Leftovers for Life Orb on Zapdos considering that Roost virtually negates Life Orb recoil. Also take out some Defense EVs and put them into Speed considering Zapdos has good speed for being a Pokemon who also has good Defenses.

Scarf Metagross would seem more useful if you had more attack moves. Obviously you trick first hand but if instead you try to Stealth Rock, that's pretty useless and just seems stupid. Of course he is supposed to be a suicide lead considering you only have 1 real useful attack move. I would say drop Scarf for Choice Band possibly considering that Choice Band seems to be able to cripple some better than Scarf. CB also gives explosion a lot more kick and will let you kill even some of the sturdier Pokemon who resist Explosion such as Tyranitar,Lucario,Bronzong,Heatran,etc.

Machamp is decent as a status absorber considering you run all Evs that aren't attack in HP, but I still don't like the idea of him being a primary status absorber mainly because if you switch into a Hypnosis it will become potentially obvious, making your opponent guess like crazy is the best strategy and to switch Machamp straight into Hypnosis just makes them not even have to guess, really. Dark/Fighting is good coverage and Payback can nail Rotom,Cress,etc decently.

Latias I have a few criticisms. Hidden Power Fire is useless basically. If you're using it just to beat Scizor then you have enough of a problem with Scizor to use HP Fire for specifically him then you need to correct something somewhere. Draco Meteor is a good move coupled with Life Orb and all that but as far as using it throughout a whole battle it's a bit more annoying and sometimnes difficult especially with low PP amount and possible Pressure pokemon switch-ins there making you lose 2 PP instead of 1. Dragon Pulse is more useful overall and is still good coverage.

Other than that I'm pretty sure that's it. Yeah WoT I know :).
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Trying out the Tyranitar EV spread, and I guess Earthquake provides better insurance against Lucario and the only 2 pokemon I miss out would be Hippowdon and Gliscor which I might miss but we'll see.

Choice Band cripples some better, but overall Choice Scarf is the better option. I'd much rather give Swampert and Hippowdon and Choice Scarf that Choice Band, which they could find helpful.

@Machamp thing: Well I am a bit more subtle than that :P. Hypnosis doesn't get very much use nowadays due to the accuracy drop anyways.

I used it mainly to pick off Scizor asap, as U-Turn can be oh so annoying and Latias is a Scizor magnet. Yes outside of that it can be a bit useless aside from hitting Metagross maybe. I'll definitely try out Dragon Pulse.

Thanks !

(Bump)
 
Sorry if this has already been said... I noticed there is sorta a Heracross weak in your team, particularly of the Scarf variety.

I admit that Machamp is a huge counter... but even Zapdos falls to Stone Edge... Do you even have any problems with it?
 
Kabuto Mushi said:
Sorry if this has already been said... I noticed there is sorta a Heracross weak in your team, particularly of the Scarf variety.

I admit that Machamp is a huge counter... but even Zapdos falls to Stone Edge... Do you even have any problems with it?
Click to expand...

I've never actually run into one before, at all. :s
 
If you want to absorb status on porygon2, magic coat is a beast for that.

That's all I have for this team xD nice work

Edit: Do you really have enough coverage for special threats though?
 
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