Dragoon Knights
Salutations. This is the second RMT I’ve posted on smogon with my first one being in gen IV. I can be found floating around on the somgon ladder, using PK’s Enter the Dragon, a Mono Dragon and a Hail Stall team along with this one. In any case this is a double dragon team, hence the team name. I also wanted to use my favorite pokes, because if I just went and picked only what wins I might do well but I wouldn’t have as much fun playing. I’ve been playing and tweaking this team for a while and have had moderate success with it, which is fine considering I play for fun. However I would still like to increase my win rate and the team has a few real issues which I’ll outline in the threats section.
At a Glance:
,
,
,
,
,
Team building process:
.
In depth:
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Timid 252 SpA/ 252 Spe/ 4 Hp
Draco Meteor
Fire Blast
Dark Pulse
Focus miss Blast
Why this mon: I’ve always liked dragons. Hydreigon is my favorite fifth gen dragon hands down. I use Hydreigon as lead because he can put pressure on opposing teams right off the bat. I went with Focus miss over U-turn to hit Ttar leads harder. I’ve only run across a few that run superpower so I don’t really worry about staying in and whacking them. If my opponent happens to be running an offensive set I can generally OK it. Its also nice for taking out ferro plus tran combos. Heatran switches in for a flash fire boost and gets hammered. Makes me smile. Dark pulse is to kill lati@s and jelly plus the flinch is nice. Fire Blast to melt stuff and Draco Meteor needs no explanation. Hydreigon often plays the role of main attacker and has served me very well. I picked scarf so that I can revenge kill other dragons. Scarf has saved me from Latios and Haxorus so many times its not funny.
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Multiscale
Adamant 252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 4 SpD
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Extreme Speed
Why this mon: Dragonite has been my favorite since pokemon came out. I’ve never built a team without him and I’m not starting now. I’ve tried multiple sets here, the Mix set was fun, CB was also nice and bulky DD was cool. The only problem with those sets is weakness to status. Lum DD gets around that. Many times people try to burn me on my DD and I simply cure it. Seriously this set is stupidly easy to set up, it also causes a large number of ragequits. I can also bluff the popular CB set by using Extreme speed to pick off weakened stuff. I went with Earthquake because I hate jirachi in the rain. Outrage because I have lum to cure confusion and the power loss with Dragon Claw is noticeable. Dragonite isn’t picky about when he sets up in a game because I can always set up my other sweeper.
Brongzong @ Leftovers
Levitate
Sassy 252 Hp/ 84 Atk/ 80 Def/ 92 SpD
Speed IV: 2
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Gyro Ball
Hidden Power Ice
Why this mon: It’s a bell. Ok, it also serves as a solid defensive poke that can deal with a large number of threats. Gliscor, Excadrill (banned) and numerous others. Also sponges ice beams all day long, even without recovery. I didn’t change anything from the standard smogon set because its been so effective for me. Zong is really my type of pokemon, a bulky attacker. Zong is also my first switch into physical attackers. I have considered something like psychic over gyro ball but I don’t think it would really be worth it.
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Levitate
Modest 252 SpA/ 252 Spe/ 4 Def
Volt Switch
Thunderbolt
Flash Cannon
Hidden Power Fire
Why this mon: To trap and kill steels that would wall my sweeps. To be completely honest tho nite and Hydreigon can often wear down and kill steels. So maggy often ends up as dead weight. I’ve really considered replacing him. But every time I do I run into skarm or ferro or both. :evan: Its proven to be basically pointless vs scizor who just U-turns out. I’ve tried to solve this by using specs to drastically increase the power of the set. Specs Tbolt messes up a lot of stuff and is a good surprise. Modest for moar power! Scarf has proved basically pointless because I end to outspeed what I need to anyway. Sadly, this is really the most replaceable member of my team.
Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Magic Guard
Bold 252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Calm Mind
Recover
Psychock
Shadow Ball
Why this mon: Renuiclus servers two roles for this team. Hes something of a wall because I enjoy recover stalling things that are poisoned. He is also my second set up sweeper. I’ve thought about TR set here but fear it would hurt the rest of my team. Psyshock to kill blissey. It also lets me win Calm Mind wars with other pokes. Shadow Ball is to kill other Renuiclus who are threat to my team. The evil teddy bear works well because, like nite, its easy to set up. Simply doesn’t care about residual damage and lefties + recover means it doesn’t die.
Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Rain Dish
Bold 252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Rapid Spin
Protect
Scald
Toxic Spikes
Why this mon: I used a SD set in third gen and loved it. When I decided I really needed a spinner this was the first one that came to mind. The best part is that it can also set up my favorite hazard, toxic spikes. Rain stall can come down to who can kill the other players Tentacruel and keep T spikes first. Scald’s burn is nice while protect is for scouting purposes and netting some extra recovery. I know about the whole black leftovers > black sludge argument. I just haven’t seen it make a difference besides I can always switch in Reuniculs who doesn’t care about poison.
Threats: Red – High, Orange – Moderate, Black – Low
I’m only going to list what have given me the most trouble as there are so many different threats in this game.
Pokes:
Play styles:
I’m sure there are more but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.
Anyway that’s my team. Thoughts? I don’t have an issue mixing tiers, save for Ubers.
Salutations. This is the second RMT I’ve posted on smogon with my first one being in gen IV. I can be found floating around on the somgon ladder, using PK’s Enter the Dragon, a Mono Dragon and a Hail Stall team along with this one. In any case this is a double dragon team, hence the team name. I also wanted to use my favorite pokes, because if I just went and picked only what wins I might do well but I wouldn’t have as much fun playing. I’ve been playing and tweaking this team for a while and have had moderate success with it, which is fine considering I play for fun. However I would still like to increase my win rate and the team has a few real issues which I’ll outline in the threats section.
At a Glance:
Team building process:
I started out by deciding I wanted to double dragon, so I picked my favorite dragons from gen I and gen V:
,
Seeing as I had two dragons I needed something that could switch into ice and dragon attacks for them and set up entry hazards. Bronzong was the perfect fit, at the time it also handled excadrill and gliscor nicely. Plus it looks like a giant bell, so cool. This was really the poke that convinced me to start playing gen IV. I liked the design that much.
,
,
It was around this point that looked back at my forth gen team and remembered how much fun it was to have two set up sweepers, Toward the end of forth gen I was running Lum DDnite and loved it so I used that set here, the second is a fifth gen mon Reuniclus, the teddy bear.
,
,
,
I took one look at my team and saw a serious issue with scizor. That led to Maggy being placed in the team. He was part of my Ttar, nite, zone core last gen so he went in here.
,
,
,
,
This last slot switched around so much its ridiculous. I’ve tried, spirtomb, eelectross, gastrodon and a half dozen others. I had a lot of success with tomb but found eventually that I would really like toxic spikes and a spinner to abuse nite’s multiscale. This time I went to a third gen favorite, tentacruel.
,
,
,
,
,
.
That’s how the team stands currently
Seeing as I had two dragons I needed something that could switch into ice and dragon attacks for them and set up entry hazards. Bronzong was the perfect fit, at the time it also handled excadrill and gliscor nicely. Plus it looks like a giant bell, so cool. This was really the poke that convinced me to start playing gen IV. I liked the design that much.
It was around this point that looked back at my forth gen team and remembered how much fun it was to have two set up sweepers, Toward the end of forth gen I was running Lum DDnite and loved it so I used that set here, the second is a fifth gen mon Reuniclus, the teddy bear.
I took one look at my team and saw a serious issue with scizor. That led to Maggy being placed in the team. He was part of my Ttar, nite, zone core last gen so he went in here.
This last slot switched around so much its ridiculous. I’ve tried, spirtomb, eelectross, gastrodon and a half dozen others. I had a lot of success with tomb but found eventually that I would really like toxic spikes and a spinner to abuse nite’s multiscale. This time I went to a third gen favorite, tentacruel.
That’s how the team stands currently
In depth:
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Timid 252 SpA/ 252 Spe/ 4 Hp
Draco Meteor
Fire Blast
Dark Pulse
Focus miss Blast
Why this mon: I’ve always liked dragons. Hydreigon is my favorite fifth gen dragon hands down. I use Hydreigon as lead because he can put pressure on opposing teams right off the bat. I went with Focus miss over U-turn to hit Ttar leads harder. I’ve only run across a few that run superpower so I don’t really worry about staying in and whacking them. If my opponent happens to be running an offensive set I can generally OK it. Its also nice for taking out ferro plus tran combos. Heatran switches in for a flash fire boost and gets hammered. Makes me smile. Dark pulse is to kill lati@s and jelly plus the flinch is nice. Fire Blast to melt stuff and Draco Meteor needs no explanation. Hydreigon often plays the role of main attacker and has served me very well. I picked scarf so that I can revenge kill other dragons. Scarf has saved me from Latios and Haxorus so many times its not funny.
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Multiscale
Adamant 252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 4 SpD
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Extreme Speed
Why this mon: Dragonite has been my favorite since pokemon came out. I’ve never built a team without him and I’m not starting now. I’ve tried multiple sets here, the Mix set was fun, CB was also nice and bulky DD was cool. The only problem with those sets is weakness to status. Lum DD gets around that. Many times people try to burn me on my DD and I simply cure it. Seriously this set is stupidly easy to set up, it also causes a large number of ragequits. I can also bluff the popular CB set by using Extreme speed to pick off weakened stuff. I went with Earthquake because I hate jirachi in the rain. Outrage because I have lum to cure confusion and the power loss with Dragon Claw is noticeable. Dragonite isn’t picky about when he sets up in a game because I can always set up my other sweeper.
Brongzong @ Leftovers
Levitate
Sassy 252 Hp/ 84 Atk/ 80 Def/ 92 SpD
Speed IV: 2
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Gyro Ball
Hidden Power Ice
Why this mon: It’s a bell. Ok, it also serves as a solid defensive poke that can deal with a large number of threats. Gliscor, Excadrill (banned) and numerous others. Also sponges ice beams all day long, even without recovery. I didn’t change anything from the standard smogon set because its been so effective for me. Zong is really my type of pokemon, a bulky attacker. Zong is also my first switch into physical attackers. I have considered something like psychic over gyro ball but I don’t think it would really be worth it.
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Levitate
Modest 252 SpA/ 252 Spe/ 4 Def
Volt Switch
Thunderbolt
Flash Cannon
Hidden Power Fire
Why this mon: To trap and kill steels that would wall my sweeps. To be completely honest tho nite and Hydreigon can often wear down and kill steels. So maggy often ends up as dead weight. I’ve really considered replacing him. But every time I do I run into skarm or ferro or both. :evan: Its proven to be basically pointless vs scizor who just U-turns out. I’ve tried to solve this by using specs to drastically increase the power of the set. Specs Tbolt messes up a lot of stuff and is a good surprise. Modest for moar power! Scarf has proved basically pointless because I end to outspeed what I need to anyway. Sadly, this is really the most replaceable member of my team.
Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Magic Guard
Bold 252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Calm Mind
Recover
Psychock
Shadow Ball
Why this mon: Renuiclus servers two roles for this team. Hes something of a wall because I enjoy recover stalling things that are poisoned. He is also my second set up sweeper. I’ve thought about TR set here but fear it would hurt the rest of my team. Psyshock to kill blissey. It also lets me win Calm Mind wars with other pokes. Shadow Ball is to kill other Renuiclus who are threat to my team. The evil teddy bear works well because, like nite, its easy to set up. Simply doesn’t care about residual damage and lefties + recover means it doesn’t die.
Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Rain Dish
Bold 252 Hp/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
Rapid Spin
Protect
Scald
Toxic Spikes
Why this mon: I used a SD set in third gen and loved it. When I decided I really needed a spinner this was the first one that came to mind. The best part is that it can also set up my favorite hazard, toxic spikes. Rain stall can come down to who can kill the other players Tentacruel and keep T spikes first. Scald’s burn is nice while protect is for scouting purposes and netting some extra recovery. I know about the whole black leftovers > black sludge argument. I just haven’t seen it make a difference besides I can always switch in Reuniculs who doesn’t care about poison.
Threats: Red – High, Orange – Moderate, Black – Low
I’m only going to list what have given me the most trouble as there are so many different threats in this game.
Pokes:
Latios – The scarf set. It’s a terror, I really have no idea why more people don’t use scarf dragons. I need to keep nite healthy and try to wear it down into extreme speed range.
Latias – Calm Mind set. Arguably more dangerous than her brother. She’s just a nightmare. If it’s the sub version I haven’t figured out a way to kill it without reuniclus and if it has roar it trolls reuniclus.
Scizor – CB U-turn messes up my team pretty good. Swords dance I can generally deal with, although I found a Jolly one that out sped me once.
Quagsire – It doesn’t really kill me but its difficult to take down, particularly the Stockpile set with toxic as I lack a phaser.
Latias – Calm Mind set. Arguably more dangerous than her brother. She’s just a nightmare. If it’s the sub version I haven’t figured out a way to kill it without reuniclus and if it has roar it trolls reuniclus.
Scizor – CB U-turn messes up my team pretty good. Swords dance I can generally deal with, although I found a Jolly one that out sped me once.
Quagsire – It doesn’t really kill me but its difficult to take down, particularly the Stockpile set with toxic as I lack a phaser.
Play styles:
Hyper Offense: Can generally get around this by sacrificing a few members to get hazards off the field and abusing multiscale to set up.
Bulky Offense andBalance: I blended the two colors on purpose. These are by far my favorite games to play. They can often go either way and feature last ditch comebacks.
Stall: These are games I generally lose because I can’t get rid of their last poke. Its really a hazard war where Tentacruel and Reuniculs play key roles. Sometimes I have to sacrifice members to break down their defensive cores.
Rain: This is really a toss up. One team completely wipes out the other. Nite, Renuiculs and Tentacruel are all important.
Sand: These can be tough but I figured out how to play against sand a while ago. Zong is extremely important for stopping key players and Hydreigon often gets the most kills. This can be where Maggy shines, dealing with Skarm, ferro and other steel threats.
Sun: I have two steels, they really don’t like fire. Many mons on sun teams also carry random HP Ice to kill dragons. Sometimes I can overpower them, especially if they send out volocrona early. Getting SR up is my top priority, even if that means Zong bites the dust in the process.
Bulky Offense andBalance: I blended the two colors on purpose. These are by far my favorite games to play. They can often go either way and feature last ditch comebacks.
Stall: These are games I generally lose because I can’t get rid of their last poke. Its really a hazard war where Tentacruel and Reuniculs play key roles. Sometimes I have to sacrifice members to break down their defensive cores.
Rain: This is really a toss up. One team completely wipes out the other. Nite, Renuiculs and Tentacruel are all important.
Sand: These can be tough but I figured out how to play against sand a while ago. Zong is extremely important for stopping key players and Hydreigon often gets the most kills. This can be where Maggy shines, dealing with Skarm, ferro and other steel threats.
Sun: I have two steels, they really don’t like fire. Many mons on sun teams also carry random HP Ice to kill dragons. Sometimes I can overpower them, especially if they send out volocrona early. Getting SR up is my top priority, even if that means Zong bites the dust in the process.
I’m sure there are more but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.
Anyway that’s my team. Thoughts? I don’t have an issue mixing tiers, save for Ubers.
