Dragons and Steels? I Laugh at You!

Chaos[ZR]

Are you tired of a meta game littered with Dragons and Steels? Personally, I am so I've set out to create a team that can defeat Dragons and Steels without resorting to using Dragons and Steels. It seems to me like we have forgotten about strong walls and have instead opted to run resistances instead. I've set out to prove that people don't need to use Dragons and Steels to counter Dragons and Steels. There are other ways to do it. So now, the team at a glance.

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At first glance, my team doesn't look very effective. Even I can see that and I designed the team. So, I'm going to go over the team building process which will give you a look inside my head and let you see exactly why I chose each Pokemon. Feel free to skip this part.

Team Building

I started off by looking at the types that my team was supposed to be able to counter; Dragons and Steels. They are weak to Ice, Ground, Fire, Fighting respectively. This meant that I was going to need some kind of combination of the four to effectively take down opposing Dragons and Steels. Immediately Mamoswine popped into my head. With his dual stabs covering both Dragons and Steels he seemed like the perfect fit. Now, I need a Fire type. At first glance, Infernape seemed like a great fit. Again, his dual stabs offer great coverage in terms of Steel killing.

With my offensive front created, it was time to come up with a solid defense. The two biggest threats were going to be Draco Meteor from Choice Specs Latias and Outrage from Salamence. To counter Latias, I decided to simply run the strongest special wall in the game, Blissey. She does a nice job at sponging up any Draco Meteors that I might see. The next threat, Salamence was a bit trickier to counter. Stab Outrage is almost impossible to stop without using a Steel to counter it so I was going to need something whose specific purpose on the team is to switch into Outrages. That Pokemon is Ambipom. Why? Honestly, I don't know. But Ambipom is a great fit on this team and you'll see why later on in the descriptions. Once Salamence is locked into an Outrage, he's easy pickings for Mamoswine.

Now that the Dragons are taken care of, I had to figure out a way to combat opposing Steel types, mainly Scizor and Metagross. Rotom-A make great swich-ins to Steel types so I immediately put one on the team. I wanted some extra insurance against Scizor, so I decided to run a Gyarados as well.

So that left me with a team that looked something like this.

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Now let's take a closer look.

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Ambipom @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
252 Atk | 4 Def | 252 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Fake Out
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Double Hit
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Role: Ambipom has several roles on this team and it is really the glue that holds my entire team together. Ambipom makes a great lead. He breaks sashes, and Taunts Stealth Rock leads. Ambipom also does a great job at drawing Steel Pokemon out so that I can take care of them. It doesn't end there though. Ambipom makes a great revenge killer with Fake Out + Double Hit. But, the Ambipom's main role on this team is to switch into Outrages so that Mamoswine can get the revenge kill.

Moveset: Fake Out is for obvious reasons. When used along with Double Hit, I can revenge kill a wide variety of Pokes as well as getting rid of annoying sub users. Taunt lets me prevent support moves and U-tun lets me scout for Steels.

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Mamoswine @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Cloak
252 Atk | 4 Def | 252 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Superpower
- Ice Shard
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Role: Mamoswine is the real start of this team. My strategy with Mamo is to bring it in on a severely weakened foe and Ice Shard it making my opponent think that I am Banded. Then I can surprise my opponent later on in the game by out speeding them with my Scarf. ScarfMamo can out speed so many threats in the metagame including max speed ScarfTran.

Moveset: Earthquake is for obvious reasons. Ice Fang is my most powerful Ice attack and lets me take down Flyers and Dragons. Superpower gives me added coverage on Steels, namely Bronzong. Ice Shard is my main form of revenge killing Dragons and it helps to deceive my opponent into thinking that I am Banded.

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Blissey@ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
252 Def | 120 SpA | 136 SpD
Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Flamethrower
- Protect
- Toxic
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Role: Blissey is my main switch in to Draco Meteor and she does a great job absorbing them. She also serves as an all purpose switch in to special sweepers and can stall most of them out.

Moveset: This is the basic Toxic stalling moveset. The only difference is I prefer Softboiled over Wish because I like having the instant recovery as opposed to having to Protect to recover. This helps to prevent people from out predicting me. Heatran gives this moveset problems but Gyarados can take on Heatran head to head.

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Rotom-c @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
252 HP | 120 Def | 136 SpD
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Will-o-wisp
- Discharge
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Role: Rotom is my switch in to Scizors and other offensive Steel types. Rotom is also my status absorber and can really stay in battles for a long time with Rest. Rotom cripples physical sweepers with WoW and special sweepers with Discharge if i get lucky. The reason that I'm running Rotom-c over the other formes is to try and fool my opponent into thinking that I carry Leaf Storm because bulky waters give my team some problems.

Moveset: I've already pretty much explained this in the description of Rotom's role. Rest and Sleep Talk allow me to absorb status for the rest of my team and help with survivability. WoW lets me cripple physical sweepers and Discharge lets me counter Gyarados and prevents me from being crippled by Taunt.

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Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
156 HP | 108 Atk | 100 Def | 144 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
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Role: Gyarados gives me more protection against Scizor and gives my team some offensive capabilities as well. Gyarados also helps me to cover Heatran and easily turns Heatran into set up fodder.

Moveset: Taunt is such an underrated move. It helps Gyarados to set up so easily. I run Earthquake so I can have added coverage against Steel types. I feel that Stone Edge isn't as effective because it doesn't really help me all that much against Gyarados' normal switch ins.

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Infernape @ Expert Belt
Ability: Blaze
64 Atk | 252 SpA | 192 Spe
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
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Role: Infernape started off as my late game sweeper but I find that I like bringing him in whenever I get a chance to. That's why I run Expert Belt over Life Orb. I like to keep Infernape alive as long as possible and Life Orb doesn't really let me do that. Once my opponent's team has been significantly weakened throughout the game Infernape can come in and finish things off with his amazing type coverage.

Moveset: Everybody should know this moveset. I run both Grass Knot and Hidden Power [Ice] to give myself as much coverage as possible.

rate/hate/steal!

Special thanks to my friend Diarago who helped me with this team.
 
I see potential issues with an offensive LO Gyarados, but other than that, this is one of the better teams I've seen of late, and doesn't resort to the same tired strategies to win.
Reminds me something of my current team.
 
This is the best team I've seen in a while.

Most of the common threats of this metagame are easily taken care of with your team...besides Gyarados, like Synral said. Be wary of Gyarados, because after a DDance or two, your Rotom won't stand much of a chance.
 
Ambipom should have Return over Double Hit. Including STAB and Technician, it only has 4.5 less bass power than Double Hit. You cannot afford a miss with Double Hit on such a frail pokemon. The only reason to use Double Hit would be to break Substitutes, which is only needed for Ninjask and Anti-Lead Machamp.

However, you need Stealth Rock on your team. It is crucial for punishing your opponent for switching pokemon, especially Salamence and Gyarados. I would recommend replacing Ambipom with Lead Metagross. Metagross has Stealth Rock and Bullet Punch for those dam sashes. It makes a far better switch in to Salamence's Outrage than Ambipom, and it can then proceed to use, depending on the scenario, Meteor Mash, Bullet Punch, or Explosion.

Blissey should have Wish instead of Softboiled. She already has Protect to synergize with Wish, so she still has reliable recovery for herself, but now also the whole team.

I would like to see some examples of where Earthquake is more useful than Stone Edge on a Gyarados with only two attacking moves. Stone Edge gives better type coverage; few Pokémon resist both Waterfall and Stone Edge, and it is needed to prevent enemy Salamence, Gyarados and Zapdos from ruining your fun. The main example I can think of is Scarf Jirachi, who would probably use U-turn early in the game, unless your opponent is certain that you don't have Magnezone. If you think it will Thunderpunch, send in Mamoswine. Note that Earthquake will never OHKO Jirachi. Jolteon and Electivire still take a lot of damage from Waterfall, and the latter is always OHKOed by +1 Waterfall if SR is in play.

Life Orb is needed on Infernape. Pokémon that switch-in on Infernape are very likely to not be hit super-effective by the incoming attack. Without Life Orb, you miss some very important 2HKOs like with Flamethrower on max/min Rotom-A and Dusknoir (the latter is always 2HKOed with Stealth Rock). And it's not like that the recoil will be doing much to a pokemon who is already extremely frail and vulnerable to many OHKO threats.
 
This thing started off with a great plan. Mamo and ape makes sense in this metagame, and I think in terms of the team building mindset, you have the right idea.

However, I think you fell off in execution. Are you seriously using ambipom as a lead just as death fodder? Your specialist switch in to outrage is something that dies to it, wtf? Why do you need something specific as death fodder, makes no sense to me. Mence will probably be used mid-late game anyways, so by that time, you'll have something that's dented enough to be used as death fodder anyways, or at least something you don't need anymore since you've seen and dented your opponent's team.

I seriously hope you didn't just build this team to avoid the mainstream style of play. I've noticed that you have no dragon, no steel and no SR. The first one's fine, the latter two... not that much. Steel is the only type in the game that resists dragon, and that's a fact. You're forcing yourself to sacrifice something everytime there's a physical dragon move... that's just not good.

Furthermore, have you noticed that you have no rock resist? What's gonna switch into CB tar's stone edge? Heck, what's gonna switch into CB tar's crunch? Ape resists it but still takes a massive chunck out of its health. Sand storm and SR doens't help. Yes, I'm assuming SR damage because ambipom only stops the opponent using SR on the first turn.

I think the simplest fix is to replace ambipom with lead metagross. Honestly, I don't see ambipom doing that much anyways. Who's gonna try and set up on an ambipom lead? Just hit it. It's not like ambipom's crappy stab can do much in return either. Metagross @ leftovers with bullet punch, SR, EQ and explosion seems to work best.

I would persoonally want another dark resist but I don't want to touch ape or mamo. You'll have to catch the t-tar switch with your own switch to stay ahead. Good luck.
 
What is the most used physical dragon move though? I'm pretty sure it's outrage. Most Dragons carry it. Bringing a Steel in to absorb the Outrage is fine but I feel that while Outrage may be a Dragon's most powerful weapon, it's also its downfall. By bringing in a Pokemon that will easily be taken down by an Outrage and then bringing in Mamoswine to Ice Shard it while it is trapped, I can insure that I take it down. That was my thinking, anyway. If I bring in a Steel than I risk the Outrage ending and then not being able to take down the Dragon while it's trapped.

I know how effective Stealth Rock can be but it wasn't exactly a priority for this team and I don't really have any place for it. So far in my testing there have been a few times when I wished that I had SR but for the most part I've been able to manage fine without it.
 
Well if you're really that bothered about killing it in one Outrage then you can always give Metagross Ice Punch, perhaps over Explosion.

But then, saying that, Explosion will still OHKO any of the Dragons anyway and will be a good check against any other setup.

Are you also aware of the fact that your Mamoswine doesn't even have a 100% OHKO on Salamence anyway? It does between 95.2 - 113.3 % - only a 74% OHKO (I know it may have a LO but you've always got to expect the worst in these situations, so Leftovers versions can beat you out), which means that you'll have lost 2 members to Salamence, and then what? The only way you can slow it then is by hoping that Outrage only lasts 2 turns, in which case it may hit itself in confusion, or you have to switch Gyarados in to Intimidate and take a load of damage.

Also, you fail to take into account the prospect of Yache Berry Salamence. I know both of these items seem less used, but only 59% of Salamence used Life Orb last month, so that means 41% of Salamence have you beaten in one way or another.

Lead Metagross seems to be the best way to safeguard yourself against these threats. I'm aware that you don't want to use Dragon or Steel types, but it's a necessary evil unfortunately.

Add that to the fact that Ambipom does little more than stopping SR being set up on turn one (meaning Swampert can easily switch back in on Blissey and set up later on) and the points for Metagross stack up more than in his favour.
 
Some suggestions for this team:

Switch your lead to Swampert. This gives you a Pokemon who can take an unboosted Outrage as well as a Stealth Rock user.

On Mamo, Ice Fang is never really a good attack. Stone Edge gives better coverage. I am worried that your attack is going to suffer too much from not carrying a Band/LO, however. Maybe Expert Belt to make them think you are banded, so they switch a Flygon/Salamence in after an EQ and suffer an unexpected Ice Shard.

Blissey I'm not really liking. Yes, you can take a Specs Draco Meteor, but what do you do against 1-attack CM Lati? With Refresh/Safeguard/Sub, she'll laugh at your attempts to Toxic and repeatedly CM up until her Dragon Pulse can take out every member of your team. I'd suggest a Porygon2 as a counter to Salamence and Gyarados, as well as a good switch-in on Heatran, Vaporeon, Jolteon, and sometimes Flygon.

Rotom feels like it should be a more offensive Scarfed variety. Scarfed Rotom-H annihilates steels like Scizor and Lucario with a powerful overheat, has a powerful Thunderbolt to take down bulky waters (besides Swampert), and HP Ice OHKOs MixMence and CB Flygon. Trick in the last slot gives you the ability to shut down CM Lati and other CM/Curse users, as well as common switch-ins like Blissey, Snorlax, and CB Pursuiters (though this often results in your death, it gives you a free turn to set up with Gyarados).

Gyarados needs Stone Edge for coverage. Otherwise opposing Gyarados and Salamence give you a lot of trouble, easily shrugging off a +1 -1 Waterfall, Dancing up themselves, and then KOing you with Stone Edge/Outrage of their own.

All-out attacking Mixape has good coverage, but I'm afraid he doesn't cut it 100% in the current meta. Latias is one of the more common Dragons and takes like a 3HKO from HP Ice while outspeeding and setting up CMs or just annihilating you. Consider Scarfed Infernape with max Attack/Speed EVs, U-Turn, Close Combat, Stone Edge, and Flare Blitz. This can revenge +1 Salamence and Scarfed Flygon, while taking huge chunks out of the common Lati switch-in with U-Turn.
 
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