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Other Dedicated Leads
- Thread starter Jojobobo
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Its less trolly than using it late game because early game, the Band Chomp counter will be, ya know, alive. You are only hurting yourself by doing that.
I totally see what you're saying. Everyone has a different play style. I just like knocking out a couple my opponent's pokemon early. It's hard for them to react, and sometimes I KO 3 or 4 before they can KO my 1 Nidoking.
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lol, that's the point of being trollish. I would be using an HO x10 team that would never work but is fun to use with everything Choiced. Of course you're right if I would be playing seriously, but that's the point of
If you are feeling trollish to put CB Garchomop that early in HO you are trolling yourself. You purposefully put your Garchomop early when it's counter is almost surely alive, which basically means you are sacing a potential threat to the oppenente team. You are anti-trolling by doing this unless the opposing player is an idiot, as it makes them feel good to have removed a threat so easily.
Tl:dr You are making the oppenent feel good and think you are dumb
I actually love running Terrakion with focus sash as my lead. It has access to a fast taunt and stealth rocks. It also scares away some common leads like Tyranitar or Ferrothorn for fear of being KO'ed with Close Combat. After it helps setup rocks, Terrakion is just great at beating down walls with its 2 STAB attacks (Close Combat and Stone Edge)
I've had a lot of success with Crustle as a lead. It's bulky, has fantastic defensive typing, gets Sturdy, and has the STABs to severely hurt any Espeon/Xatu/Absol hoping to come in on the obvious attempt at getting Stealth Rocks up.
I've been using specs jolteon a lot lately, start playing volt switch mind games turn 1. If no ground type, volt switch ALL DAY
when i'm feeling trollish, im not playing seriously and i dont care about my score or whatever, i just want to have some good laughs as sometimes, CB garchomp and HO x10 team wrecks some face. I don't know why you're getting so hyped over this argument when I was just joking around and kidding. xD and my HO x10 team is filled w/ all choiced 'mons that are either seriously overpowered or seriously underpowered but are fun to use. the point of a joke team is to not play seriously.
I've been using Vivillon as a lead lately. With a ~97% accurate sleep move, and stab Hurricane/Bug Buzz, something is going to sleep. No Grass type would like being hit by one of those. Magic Bouncers all lose to Bug Buzz. And with something asleep or dead, that's usually enough to push momentum in my favor. Especially if I manage to eliminate/sleep their largest threat early.
Vivillon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Hurricane
- Bug Buzz
EV's are fairly self explanatory. Max speed/Timid is necessary to outspeed as many things as possible for the initial sleep powder (or to kill them, in the case of a bouncer/grass type). Sash because it dies to just about everything otherwise. (Fighting/Grass/Ground moves hardly/don't affect it, but I've seen it die to other resists even due to its frailty)
Vivillon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Hurricane
- Bug Buzz
EV's are fairly self explanatory. Max speed/Timid is necessary to outspeed as many things as possible for the initial sleep powder (or to kill them, in the case of a bouncer/grass type). Sash because it dies to just about everything otherwise. (Fighting/Grass/Ground moves hardly/don't affect it, but I've seen it die to other resists even due to its frailty)
Clearly our definitions of "trolling" are very different. I thought you were trying to say I like to troll people by blitzkreiging someone when they can actually defend themselves, which makes no sense. and i thought you were referring to a serious team, bot a joke team
I like to run scarfed Rotom-H as a dedicated ANTI-lead. It opposes most other leads, is immune to burn and paralysis, absolutely SCREWS Klefki if he attempts to stay in for a turn, can Trick Choice scarf on a lead, absolutely ruining it and preventing it from easily setting up hazards, can piss off with volt-switch if threatened, and has oven mitts. OVEN MITTS!!!
Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk/4SDef/252Spd
Modest
-Volt Switch
-Will-O-Wisp
-Trick
-Overheat
EDIT: Just read the rest of the thread. Good to see other people are fans of the heat-meister!
Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk/4SDef/252Spd
Modest
-Volt Switch
-Will-O-Wisp
-Trick
-Overheat
EDIT: Just read the rest of the thread. Good to see other people are fans of the heat-meister!
I've personally had a great deal of success with an Adamant Thick Fat Mamoswine equipped with Life Orb. I am able to throw up Stealth Rock as a first move and then immediately begin attacking in a manner that has caught a great deal of people off guard. Granted, there are some issues in facing leads like Wash-Rotom but this has been a glaring issue... yet.
IMO leaving a spot on your team for a dedicated lead is a wasted slot unless your doing a HO team, where Deo-S or very occasionally Sash + SR Chomp / terrak are usable. By having a 'dedicated lead' with the advent of team preview you are really setting yourself up to be counterled by one of the opponents 6 pokemon as he will more than likely have an answer for your lead. Best thing to do is take advantage of the fact that you can choose your lead after seeing the opponenets team, as well as establish what you need to get rid of / what pokemon on your team are most important and which pokemon the opposition will most likely lead with. This information should help you gather which of your pokemon can lead with the lowest risk and matchs up best with the majority of the oppositions lead choices. There are so many things that can help you make an advised descision on what to lead with that by locking yourself into a 'dedicated' lead off of a HO team you are immediatly putting yourself at a disadvantage
Ugh, Scarf Toaster is a nightmare lead to face. It's one of the harshest immediate punishers of mis-prediction, and it outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame bar Deoxys-S. Unless you lead with Scarf Jolly Mold Breaker Excadrill, Scarf Toaster's pretty much guaranteed to screw over at least one of your Pokémon.
If it makes no sense, why would I be saying it? Then obviously the only other explanation would be that I'm joking around and not being serious.
On another note, I find myself liking Lead Smeargle a lot more. He can send an opponent's 'mon to sleep and set up hazards at the same time, and I use him as a phazer w/ Whirlwind so that he also serves as a utility 'mon. Also, it's incredibly easy to predict the grass type switch in and run Talonflame in order to royally screw over anyone by switching that in so that I get a free SD. Also, Smeargle doesn't need to come out first turn at all, but can come out later on in the game as needed. He's too powerful!
Lead Smeargle is incredibly easy to shut down. Any Pokémon that outspeeds Smeargle (273 is not hard to outspeed) and packs Substitute or Taunt turns Smeargle into complete setup bait. I used to run a lead-capable Gliscor with just enough speed investment to outrun Smeargle. Opponents would salivate at the idea of shutting down Gliscor's Poison Heal by hitting it with Spore first, since Gliscor usually only hit 264 speed, but Gliscor would block Spore with Substitute, Fling its Toxic Orb into their counter, and mow it down with Earthquake + Acrobatics.
Yeah, that happens sometimes, but you can also preserve Smeargle until mid game where its Spore capabilities become that much greater as by that time, I should have made destroying its counter something to keep in mind. But once counters are all gone and its Focus Sash is still intact (as it was never brought in), Spore can be used, putting something to sleep, and you get SR or Sticky Web up next turn. Of course less optimal than first turn set up everything Smeargle and its not being used for its role, a lead, but the mid to late game Spore are what make me like Smeargle, as by that time, losing one pokemon can just completely tip the balance of the battle.
Faster Substitutes, yes, do shut down Smeargle. Taunt, on the other hand, can be a different story. Smart players will only run two hazards and Magic Coat, predict the Taunt, and bounce it right back at you.
I don't really have a dedicated lead anymore but I remember I used to lead with an all-out attacking suicide DNite with a life orb. It usually netted me 2-3 kills a game before it died.
I personally would run Oblivious (wich now protects from Taunt) and Focus sash: you get your rocks the first turn, then Endeavor anything slower than you if you activated the sash the turn before. Otherwise, you can simply spam Earthquake or go faster with Ice Shard. It typing makes Mamo even immune to weather damage, the only able to do that. So i'd run:
Mamoswine Focus sash
Trait: oblivious
Nature: jolly
Evs: 252 atk, 252 spe, 4 HP
Moves:
-stealth rock
-endeavor
-ice shard
-earthquake
Having faced this set and seen it destroy my unprepared team in a ranked Wi Fi 3v3, I can confirm that it is a bitch.
My life partner lead/scout is Ambipom. I use it pretty straight forward: Fake out, Return, Brick Break and U-Turn. Although I should run him with Taunt instead of Brick Break to cripple pranksters and trap setters.
I'd love to use my recently trained Furfrou as lead, too. And spread some paraflinch love everywhere. (Thunder Wave, Headbutt, Roar, Rest @ Chesto Berry)
I'd love to use my recently trained Furfrou as lead, too. And spread some paraflinch love everywhere. (Thunder Wave, Headbutt, Roar, Rest @ Chesto Berry)
Dedicated leads died with team preview, thankfully. Nostalgia for 4th gen aside, the idea of starting every game with either Aerodactyl, Swampert or Azelf every game to get up SR and die while hoping your opponent's choice of the three didn't beat yours was kinda silly and kinda stale.
The only 90% reliable lead in 5th gen I found was Focus Sash Lead Breloom, which works nowhere near as well this gen due to changed Spore and sleep mechanics. People have mentioned lead Galvantula, but even that isn't used as a guaranteed lead, depending on the number of your opponent's Levitators and flyers.
If someone has a team comp so reliable that they can afford to have a slot dedicated to leading, I'd love to try it out, however.
The only 90% reliable lead in 5th gen I found was Focus Sash Lead Breloom, which works nowhere near as well this gen due to changed Spore and sleep mechanics. People have mentioned lead Galvantula, but even that isn't used as a guaranteed lead, depending on the number of your opponent's Levitators and flyers.
If someone has a team comp so reliable that they can afford to have a slot dedicated to leading, I'd love to try it out, however.
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