Diamond team of old

[Shadowhunt]

Ah...well, my last team when I played Pokemon, massacred the metagame for its time. I want to know exactly how my old team would fare against the current metagame. I have, of course, tested it extensively, but I am seeking advice to see if things must be changed to better suit the needs of the current Metagame.

Team at a glance:

I switched Breloom and an SD sub Garchomp around often.Yes, yes I know that the team has Garchomp and Skarmbliss. Know that this was my primary team shortly when Diamond came out, and rate it as how it would do in the current OU Metagame.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Adamant
Intimidate
156 HP / 108 Atk / 100 Def / 144 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake
-Waterfall
-Taunt

I seem to have the habit of choosing bulky waters as my lead from all the way back in the ADV gen. Anyway, Bulkydos threatens the opponent early on, and most likely later on, with Dragon Dance/taunt. Is wasunimaginably fun to taunt a walling Pokemon such as forry or Umbreon as I got free DDs in. After 3 DDs, I can sweep an entire team. 'Nuff said.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Adamant
Poison Heal
252 atk/252 spd/6HP
-Focus Punch
-Seed Bomb
-Sub
-Spore

Breloom is the most annoying pokemon to fight on the planet, save Blissey or some other walls. After I spore you, I sub, after I sub, I proceed to whittle down your team with Fpunch and SB, laughing as you try to break my stalling victory. Breloom also functions as a status absorber, hence the Toxic Orb Poison heal ability. Heals twice as much as lefties does...a true breakthrough in Brelooms ability and a personal favorite.

Gengar @ Life orb
Timid
Levitate
252 sp atk/252 spd/6 HP
-Focus Blast
-Shadow Ball
-Hypnosis
-Tbolt

Gengar was a great choice for me in a special sweeper, with many resistances and such a varied movepool, as well has a high speed stat. Gengar puts the hurt on anything that does not resist it, 1-2HKOing anything that does not. Focus Blast is indeed a 2HKO on most Blissey. STAB Shadow Ball 2HKOs spdef Dusknoir.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Quiet
Sand Stream
252 HP / 52 Atk / 176 SpA / 28 Spe
-Thunder Bolt
-Dark Pulse
-Focus Punch
-Sub

Tyraniboah was a huge threat back in ADV. It still is now. After a sub, Seismic Toss from Bliss fails to break it, and I can proceed to 2HKO it with Fpunch. Dark Pulse OHKOs most Ghosts, and Tbolt is for Gya and other waters.

Blissey @ Leftovers
Bold
Natural Cure
(Forget the EV spread, but 252 HP/ max or close to max def is a definite, with the rest into sp atk)
-T-Wave
-Seismic Toss
-Ice Beam
-Softboiled

Blissey is the most fearsome special wall in the game, though she may not look like it. There no pure special attacker that Blissey cannot switch into and cripple, save for a few Choice specced variants and those with Life Orbed/ specced Focus Blast. T-wave cripples sweepers, Stoss helps to slowly kill pokes during a stall, IB OHKOs most Dragons not using Yache Berry, and SB for a recovery move. This thing packs over 700 HP and over 300 sp def. Quite the wall.

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Impish
Sturdy
252 def/252 HP/6 atk
-Drill Peck
-Roar
-Roost
-Stealth Rock

Ahh, Skarmory. Physical wall wise, Skarm is my favorite, being the only flying type physical wall in game in the OU tierm as far as I know. Skarm packs more than 400 defense, decent attack, and great HP. Drill peck for a STAB move that puts the hurt on fight types and bug/grass, OHKOing Hera easily. Roar for phazing pokes who think they can set up on skarm, Roost for instant healing, and obviously, Skarm sets up SR.

That's the old team. Rate away!:D Phew, that took quite awhile.>_>

 

[Havak]

Your team might not fair too badly in the Platinum metagame by the looks of things, but there are a number of Pokémon that may cause you some discomfert.

- Metagross
- Scizor
- Latias
- Possibly Salamence too.

Metagross instantly looked like the biggest threat, as the Agility version has seen some usage again. Once it can execute an Agility, your team is a bit open, and with enough prior damage you're definitely not stopping one with ThunderPunch, Meteor Mash and whatever other move it may pack. CB Gross is a worry, but that can dent most teams anyway.

Scizor isn't as much of a problem for you as you have Skarmory and Gyarados, but the Swords Dance one could give you some problems as after a Swords Dance it can 2HKO Skarmory with Superpower, while the rest of your party other than Gyarados is easy pickings for Bullet Punch / Superpower.

Latias with Calm Mind, Refresh, Recover and Dragon Pulse could be a problem too. You don't have much of a hope stopping it with Blissey and Tyranitar is using special attacks so can't be relied upon. You can Roar it away with Skarmory but once it's the last Pokémon it'll be very hard to stop without strong super effective physical attacks. Gengar is a bit of a risky switch-in and if Latias is Calm Minding it could be problematic as you might not be able to KO in time.

Salamence can just be a problem to most teams, Dragon Dance or Mixed, or Scarved, they're all dangerous. But as long as you predict correctly you should be okay.

Anyway, I don't see why you're going with Hypnosis on Gengar when you have Spore on Breloom. The sleep may be more predictable coming from Breloom, but you're getting the same effect in the end really. You could try Will-O-Wisp to hamper incoming Scizor or Metagross.

Also, Swords Dance Infernape with ThunderPunch (or Stone Edge) is another threat to you, while it's a bit rare. But you can constantly revenge kill this with Gengar.

There aren't too many noticable problems with the team, just be weary of the threat of Trick from things like Jirachi or Rotom.

 

[Chou Toshio]

I have used a lot of similar pokemon in DP and platinum metagames, and here is what I would tell you:

-Gyarados: Overall, the bulky set just cannot compare to the performance of the LO sweeper, and today's LO sweeper is all out 252 atk, 252 speed 4 hp, LO. Bulkydos just does not hit hard enough, and the bulk it packs means little when the majority of enemy pokes will be setups themselves like Azelf, Aero and Metagross.

Stone Edge is pretty much a must, because salamence and other Gyarados just love coming in, and in all honest your team is not tough enough to play guessing games trying to switch into them. Earthquake is still huge on Gyara though, more important than ever with Jirachi and Metagross being some of the most common leads.

Therefore, a more effective lead gyara looks like this:
Gyara
Adamant/Jolly
252 ATK 252 speed 4 hp
@LO
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Taunt

Dragon Dance is rarely needed in the early game anyway, and no one will be easily allowing you to pull it off-- take your risk with it if you want, it can be useful on occasion. If you are going to get rid of something, get rid of earthquake for it. Overall though, I wouldn't recommend it on leaddos.

When you see an Azelf (and 90% of other leads), attack IMMEDIATELY. After Azelf sets up SR (or taunts you), IMMEDIATELY switch to boah. 90% of the time they will explode, and leave you with a nice 6-5 lead (though you'll be fighting SR). You also have a good shot of finishing them off with sand damage if they used taunt first turn. If they try to psychic Gyarados, you'll be getting a free switch and sub up for your boah.

When facing Metagross, Earthquake is the safest option (or waterfall I guess). Taunt can prevent SR which would be useful, but there is a good chance Metagross could trick Scarf onto you leaving you stuck in Taunt. :/

Breloom-- As great a poke as it ever was.

Gengar-- Hypnosis is very meh now. :/ I wouldn't use it except as a desparation move. It just won't bring enough success to be relied on. Also, keep in mind that Careful Tyranitar/Scizor are used by a lot of the top players, and Gengar will be taken down by them with fair ease, so don't expect it to pull off a whole lot for you.

Tyraniboah-- Boah (or at least Substitute-Tyranitar) is a really good poke, and people seriously underestimate it. IMO, it's got to change from its past form though. Flamethrower > Thunderbolt is almost a given. Steel types are everywhere, and they love switching into you-- as does breloom. Having a fire attack is pretty much necessary for Tyraniboah now. Fire Blast gives you much better damage out-put, but I don't like having hard-earned subs wasted on possible misses, so Flamethrower it is for me. You also have like, zero chance of beating today's bulky water types even if you have thunderbolt so that's pretty moot . . . Also, Quiet is not the ideal nature.

Modest > Quiet
Brave > Quiet

Modest Tyraniboah can 2hko blissey with focus punch. Quiet Boah cannot 1hko, so that's moot. With 76 speed EVs, Modest also out-runs scizor and metagross if they don't run speed. It gets 180 evs for sp. ATK, so it is still hitting harder than Quiet on the special side. This is important especially because a lot of scizor try to u-turn against you.

Overall, Ice Beam performs better than focus punch, allowing ttar to hit salamence, zapdos, gliscor, hippowdon and donphan. If you worry about bulky waters, toxic can be used. Overall Modest with Dark Pulse / Flamethrower / Ice Beam / Sub is optimal though.

Brave or even Adamant boah is of course, extremely useful because it can use Crunch to take out Latias. Brave is also statistically superior to Quiet. Overall though, I'd rather go with Brave and Flamethrower than Adamant with Fire Punch. Brave with Cruch / Focus Punch (or Ice Beam) / Flamethrower / Sub is optimal.

Skarm-Bliss-- never been a fan of them outside of pure stall, but it could work . . .