Hey guys, this is zdrup, a once decent BW RU player. A few days ago I decided I wanted to get back to RU and, unlike every other time, I actually decided to start playing the tier again building a team (everyone that knows me knows I usually just pick something from this forum to see what works in other tiers and, only after that, I build something). I know Moltres has always been a great poke but, after reading some posts on the RU forum threads, I decided I'd build a team around Pangoro to see if it was as broken as everyone was saying. For what it's worth (nothing xD), the team got me reqs and got to #1 with 35-2 on the ladder.
Thanks to Mili for the Pangoro set suggestion and Lunar Dance on Cresselia! And to all the portuguese room in PS for the support xD
Teambuilding Process
Pangoro @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
Ok so first poke is Pangoro. I used Jolly with 192 Spe to outspeed 8 Spe EVs Golbat and Modest Clawitzer and what aimed to outspeed them too (turns out Golbats always run more than that but I actually appreciated outspeeding Clawitzer so I didn't change it). The only other choice was the ability one because they were all somewhat useful for the job. I ended up going with Mold Breaker to get past Quagsire. The set works exacly as it's supposed to but, even though the team was built around it, it didn't end up being the star of the show.
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Good old Slowking comes back. Scald is obvious so I'm not gonna bother explaining it, Fire Blast was chosen over Psyshock mostly to hit Durant and Thunder Wave aids Pangoro in its job. Slowking is very important here because, as you can see, I have 0 Hurricane resists (well, Cress can take hits but still), which means Slowking should be played very carefully, otherwise Moltres is troublesome. It also allows you to pivot around LO Clawitzer, another dangerous poke to the team until it's paralyzed.
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Stun Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
Amoonguss forms the Regen core with Slowking and helps in spreading paralysis. And I actually ended up using Stun Spore more often than Spore here because it usually seemed more helpful in the long run. 4 Spe EVs just to speed creep other Amoonguss.
zdrup (Emboar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Protect
Remember how this team was build around SD Lum Pangoro and that was going to sweep everything and stuff? Nope, this was the star of the show most of the times. It's my Doublade and Houndoom counter and all around "hard hitter" of the team. Even with almost 0 Attack investment, Flare Blitz and Superpower still hit pretty hard and Will-O-Wisp is sometimes really useful (burned almost all Alomomolas I faced xD). Protect helps with burn damage and also with scouting Scarf Moltres.
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Cobalion ended up being the "something fast" I needed in case the plan didn't work, as well as the SR user. This set isn't really made to sweep and it usually didn't do it but it's still very useful to switch into Drapion and it hits relatively hard with Close Combat, with the occasional Justified boost. It can pressure the now most common Defogger and Spinner, which is a cool feature as well.
Mili (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 44 SpD / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
Last but not least, space duck! At this point, I needed an overall bulky poke to sponge hits and paralyze more stuff. About the EVs, the main difference is in the 128 Spe to outspeed Jolly Max Speed Pangoro and creep a bit more. Moonblast to KO Pangoro and do decent damage to other Fighting-types (except Cobalion). The only possible surprise here is Lunar Dance but it helped a few times, especially by bringing Emboar back to life late-game and save me from the incoming Doublade sweep (it had more niche uses but this one happened more often).
Here are some replays of the team, with me being wegiwrgbiygbwuy:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211168620 (vs stall)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211216656 (vs another SD Lum Pangoro, featuring my amazing way of beating Sub CM Cresselia: stalling it...)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211373573 (SD Cobalion being useful, with the help of a 50/50)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211385604 (vs other stall with paralysis being useful - this was also my 3rd and final battle with Tehy)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211388782 (vs SD Musketeers, final battle for reqs)
And here's the importable. The main threats are non-choiced Durant and LO Clawitzer. Probably LO Moltres as well as a well played Fletchlinder due to the lack of Flying resists. If you wanna use the team, please keep the names of Emboar and Cresselia. Thanks!
Thanks to Mili for the Pangoro set suggestion and Lunar Dance on Cresselia! And to all the portuguese room in PS for the support xD
Teambuilding Process
Ok so you already know the star of the show is Pangoro. Now I asked Mili, a great lower tiers player which set was better in his opinion, CB or SD. He told me SD with Lum Berry was great because it could easily break apart stall teams.
The thing is I've never liked pokes that work very well against some playstyles but absolutely suck vs others. And this set seemed way too slow to do something vs offense, especially because there are a ton of things in offense that ohko it so I needed something to slow them down: paralysis support. This support had to come from something able to switch into these threats and take at least two hits so I decided I'd go with one of my two favourites from bw, Slowking and its fellow partner, Amoonguss.
At this point, Mili said my team was getting too weak to durant so I had to do something about that. While lurking a bit, I'd seen posts about defensive Emboar and really laughed about them. However, this time I thought I probably could try it out for a change and I now feel like a retard by laughing at it...
Now we all know theory is one thing, practise is another. The plan might be to paralyze everything and sweep with Pangoro but sometimes it's not possible. Therefore I wanted something fast that could act as a secondary win condition. I also needed SR at this point so Cobalion it is!
Now, the team looked very well in general but I wanted an all around check to many pokes that could take some pressure off the paralyzers and Cresselia was imo the best poke for the job.
The thing is I've never liked pokes that work very well against some playstyles but absolutely suck vs others. And this set seemed way too slow to do something vs offense, especially because there are a ton of things in offense that ohko it so I needed something to slow them down: paralysis support. This support had to come from something able to switch into these threats and take at least two hits so I decided I'd go with one of my two favourites from bw, Slowking and its fellow partner, Amoonguss.
At this point, Mili said my team was getting too weak to durant so I had to do something about that. While lurking a bit, I'd seen posts about defensive Emboar and really laughed about them. However, this time I thought I probably could try it out for a change and I now feel like a retard by laughing at it...
Now we all know theory is one thing, practise is another. The plan might be to paralyze everything and sweep with Pangoro but sometimes it's not possible. Therefore I wanted something fast that could act as a secondary win condition. I also needed SR at this point so Cobalion it is!
Now, the team looked very well in general but I wanted an all around check to many pokes that could take some pressure off the paralyzers and Cresselia was imo the best poke for the job.
Pangoro @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
Ok so first poke is Pangoro. I used Jolly with 192 Spe to outspeed 8 Spe EVs Golbat and Modest Clawitzer and what aimed to outspeed them too (turns out Golbats always run more than that but I actually appreciated outspeeding Clawitzer so I didn't change it). The only other choice was the ability one because they were all somewhat useful for the job. I ended up going with Mold Breaker to get past Quagsire. The set works exacly as it's supposed to but, even though the team was built around it, it didn't end up being the star of the show.
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Good old Slowking comes back. Scald is obvious so I'm not gonna bother explaining it, Fire Blast was chosen over Psyshock mostly to hit Durant and Thunder Wave aids Pangoro in its job. Slowking is very important here because, as you can see, I have 0 Hurricane resists (well, Cress can take hits but still), which means Slowking should be played very carefully, otherwise Moltres is troublesome. It also allows you to pivot around LO Clawitzer, another dangerous poke to the team until it's paralyzed.
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Stun Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
Amoonguss forms the Regen core with Slowking and helps in spreading paralysis. And I actually ended up using Stun Spore more often than Spore here because it usually seemed more helpful in the long run. 4 Spe EVs just to speed creep other Amoonguss.
zdrup (Emboar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Protect
Remember how this team was build around SD Lum Pangoro and that was going to sweep everything and stuff? Nope, this was the star of the show most of the times. It's my Doublade and Houndoom counter and all around "hard hitter" of the team. Even with almost 0 Attack investment, Flare Blitz and Superpower still hit pretty hard and Will-O-Wisp is sometimes really useful (burned almost all Alomomolas I faced xD). Protect helps with burn damage and also with scouting Scarf Moltres.
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Cobalion ended up being the "something fast" I needed in case the plan didn't work, as well as the SR user. This set isn't really made to sweep and it usually didn't do it but it's still very useful to switch into Drapion and it hits relatively hard with Close Combat, with the occasional Justified boost. It can pressure the now most common Defogger and Spinner, which is a cool feature as well.
Mili (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 44 SpD / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
Last but not least, space duck! At this point, I needed an overall bulky poke to sponge hits and paralyze more stuff. About the EVs, the main difference is in the 128 Spe to outspeed Jolly Max Speed Pangoro and creep a bit more. Moonblast to KO Pangoro and do decent damage to other Fighting-types (except Cobalion). The only possible surprise here is Lunar Dance but it helped a few times, especially by bringing Emboar back to life late-game and save me from the incoming Doublade sweep (it had more niche uses but this one happened more often).
Here are some replays of the team, with me being wegiwrgbiygbwuy:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211168620 (vs stall)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211216656 (vs another SD Lum Pangoro, featuring my amazing way of beating Sub CM Cresselia: stalling it...)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211373573 (SD Cobalion being useful, with the help of a 50/50)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211385604 (vs other stall with paralysis being useful - this was also my 3rd and final battle with Tehy)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-211388782 (vs SD Musketeers, final battle for reqs)
And here's the importable. The main threats are non-choiced Durant and LO Clawitzer. Probably LO Moltres as well as a well played Fletchlinder due to the lack of Flying resists. If you wanna use the team, please keep the names of Emboar and Cresselia. Thanks!
Pangoro @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Stun Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
zdrup (Emboar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Protect
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Mili (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 44 SpD / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch
- Gunk Shot
Slowking @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Fire Blast
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Stun Spore
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
zdrup (Emboar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Protect
Cobalion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Mili (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 44 SpD / 128 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
- Moonlight
- Lunar Dance
Last edited:
