Dream Boat Dixon presents; A Box of Love (First RMT)

[Dream Boat Dixon]

I'm a long time smogon user, though I very very rarely ever post on the forums. Lately I've been using one set team, rather than just mixing around to see what works. It seems to be doing fairly well for itself. But I would still like to know what I can improve on. So any and all criticisms welcome... Though feel free to say something postive, you know, if you're feeling crazy!

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A little about my Team; Gallade is my lead and is set out to be a pain to other leads and usually takes out 1 or 2 pokemon (Personal best of 4). Gliscor, Lanturn and Vaporeon are my defensive core. They cover each others weaknesses, barring grass, which is resisted by both my sweepers. Gliscors immunities to ground and electric make it very useful when I need to keep something alive. It also works well in succession with Vaporeon, if my opponent knows about Lanturn. A good example would be against Electivire. Which would have moves to counter all three, but prediction is a huge pain. I sometimes chain switch as a solid way to bring in my sweepers, who both resist my defenses only weakness. Shaymin comes in on grass attacks incredibly easily and can take off a huge amount with Choice Specs Seed Flare. The same goes for Scizor, who scares aware foes which usually gives me a free set up.

Lead: Gallade w/ Focus Sash
Adamant 56HP / 252ATK / 200SPE
- Shadow Sneak
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Close Combat

By far my most valuable pokemon. If I use him correctly, and I have managed to do this a couple of times, I can take out half of my opponents team. Pretty simple strategy, taunt what's slow. Here's looking at you Bronzong! For faster, frailer leads, Close Combat followed by Shadow Sneak. Aerodactyl is my favourite opposing lead to come across with this set. They never expect Shadow Sneak. Fake out users give Gallade a nice speed boost, making it even more dangerous and increasing the viability of Destiny Bond. Crobat however is a pain, it's faster and resists what my attacks are. So I just usually switch to keep my FS intact.

Physical Wall: Gliscor w/ Leftovers
Impish 252HP / 40DEF / 216SPE
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

An amazing physical wall, can and has survived Explosions. As my lead doesn't have room, or the ability to set up stealth rocks, I needed something sturdy that could set safely set them up, while having some handy resistances. Sand Veil is Gliscors ability, meaning that if Tyranitar or Hippowdon happen to create some ruckus then it's only going to benefit Gliscor.

Special Attacker: Shaymin w/ Choice Specs
Mild (Event Shaymin, so settling was to be made) 6HP / 252 SpATK 252 / SPE
- Psychic
- Air Slash
- Earth Power
- Seed Flare

This little thing is surprisingly hard to take down, and can destroy with Seed Flare. Seed Flare, Earth Power and Psychics add-on effects are incredibly beneficial to the rest of the team also, making Lanturns and Vaporeons attacks hit harder, while they sponge up justice. Not to mention those also making its own attacks more powerful. I chose Psychic over HP Fire/Ice, because as I mentioned, it's an event Shaymin, so I really have to work with what I got. HP Fire/Ice was sadly not one of the things I did get. Psychic is only really useful if I happen to encounter a Gengar. Shaymin is easy to bring in from either Lanturn or Vaporeon if i expect a Grass Knot, or anything similar.

Special Wall: Lanturn w/ Leftovers
Calm 40HP / 136SpATK / 252 SpDEF / 80SPE
- Thunderwave
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Thunderbolt

While obviously this is no Blissey, but with a electric immunity and a quadruple resistance to steel (Scizor!!) it's not something to over look. Thunderwave can make huge threats into mild annoyances. Negating speed boosts and allowing Lanturn to take down many threatening things like Dragon Dancers as most of them are crippled by Ice and Thunder. Lanturn works well with Gliscor and Vaporeon. Healing from the electrical attacks fire at Vaporeon, making it more viable for later sponging.

Physical Attacker: Scizor w/ Life Orb
Adamant 248HP / 252ATK / 8SPE
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- X-Scissor

Shock! There is a Scizor in my team. The sheer annoyance that came from fighting rival Scizors made me go out to get one... I am glad I did. I run the Choice Band spread, on the Swords Dance move set. This is for added bulk and survivability while I set up as all other priority moves aren't going to be able to do much against Scizor. This thing is a monster and if I ever manage to get more than one SD then everything dies.

General Wall: Vaporeon w/ Lum Berry
Bold 128HP / 252DEF / 128 SpDEF
- Aqua Ring
- Acid Armor
- Baton Pass
- Surf

This may seem like an odd thing to have on a team like this, but it's handy as bulky waters are, it can sponge up water attacks to heal and is my best way to counter Scizorz. Acid Armor means Scizor can't touch Vaporeon and surf generally gets a 2HKO. Baton pass is there to aid Scizor and Shaymin with there sweeps, increasing Scizors survivability with Aqua Ring (reducing LO recoil) and giving Shaymin essentially leftovers to work with.


All abilities are as you would expect.

 

[shark puncher]

Your team needs a lot of work and lanturn/shaymin ARE viable in OU but not the way you're using them. Your team has very poor synergy and is easily taken down by multiple threats in the OU metagame but the good thing about this is that im here to help you fix that.

First thing;

LO scizor doesn't really do all that well without SD boosts which is probably one of the only preferable things you can have on a scizor instead of CB and you aren't using it.

Instead of suggesting the standard CBscizor set ill suggest a nice bulky CB scizor i have that takes special hits a lot easier in order to make pursuit trapping/scouting/and revenge killing a lot easier.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician
252 Atk / 72 HP / 8 Spe / 176 Sp Def
Adamant (+ Atk, - Sp Atk)
- Bullet punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Scizor is a secondary check against fragile offensive Pokemon such as Weavile thanks to its Technician and Choice Band boosted Bullet Punch. Scizor acts as a safety blanket against Dragon Dance Salamence as well should it manage to set up amidst the sea of attacks. This set was done by Awesome A IIRC And i cannot Find the post he made about this set so I'll try to explain them the best I can do myself. 252 Atk is standard and should be run on most CB scizor sets unless you're trying to focus on a more defensive set. 8 spe Is standard/obvious as well and beats 0 Spe vappy, U-turn deals some big damage. 176 Sp def hits a jump point, and 72 HP is filler. 252 Atk is nice to revenge kill DDmence who this team is very weak to as standard DDmence can survive a bullet punch from your scizor factoring in SR damage which your team doesn't even have which makes it even worse. Scizor is a steel type and you want him to be able to take some hits like dragon pulses or surfs from CM latias who usually run surf/dragon pulse/CM/recover and KO it with u-turn/pursuit.

Next thing on your team that i noticed was bad was that your vappy was pretty much just passing to scizor and it doesn't really have synergy+scizor doesn't really need the boosts with a bulky CB set. This team could use some wish passing and really benefit from it so i suggest using the standard wish passing set and throw on hp electric to counter gyara as lanturn is easily KO'd by a +1 EQ from standard DDgyara.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 6 Spe
Bold (+ Def, - Atk)
-Hidden power Electric
-Surf
-Protect
-Wish

First thing i put hp electric on so you can beat +1 or +2 gyara, come in on a waterfall then either scare it off or hp electric it to death. This set may seem weak to blissey but when they send blissey out that's the perfect time to wish pass to your team and spread some healing. 252 HP is standard and absorbs fire attacks like a beast. 252 Def is also standard and with bold/protect/wish you can REALLY stall things like infernape. It beats ape most of the time as well as annoys +1/+2 gyara if you choose to use hp electric, but toxic still annoys and stalls it to death. 6 Speed is there to outspeed other vappy just for hitting them first but isn't really needed as they'll probably toxic you but seeing as how hp electric is more common you will hp electric 0 spe vappys first then just stall them trying to hp electric you. Surf is just the standard STAB and protect/wish/hp electric i already explained.

Like i said before Gallade isn't the greatest of leads not being able to taunt fast enough and easily beat by many other common leads. An Azelf would do a much nicer job being one of the fastest taunt leads bar aerodactyl and can easily set up SR/Beat other leads. Azelf is the number one used lead for a reason. This team doesn't really need dual screens support as you aren't really setting up with anything and a lot of your pokemon are decently bulky so they don't really need it.

Azelf @ Focus sash
4 Atk / 252 Sp atk / 252 Spe
Naive (+ Spe, - Sp def)
Levitate
- Fire blast
- Taunt
- Explosion
- Stealth rock

This thing is the definition of a suicide lead. Psychic doesn't really do much as it has pretty terrible coverage and fire blast is enough to take out common leads. You can explode on anything that resists Fire blast. Taunt helps beat slower leads like pert who can try to set up SR and fail miserably once they get taunted. Stealth rock is a must in today's metagame as it turns 2HKOs into OHKOs and like i mentioned before also helps things like scizor revenge mence much much easier. Explosion is just for finishing and blowing up on things, which can be very helpful as you can revenge something that could possibly be a threat to the team late game if azelf is still alive. You can 2HKO bronzong with fire blast as well as metagross if it's not running bullet punch and has an occa berry. Lumgross lead is appearing more and more which makes this lead even better as you can taunt gross then fire blast it.

Your team is very gyara weak so i suggest replacing lanturn with a scarfmie to revenge +1 gyara/+1 mence.

Starmie @ Choice scarf
Modest (+ Sp atk, - Atk)
Natural cure
252 Sp atk / 252 spe / 6 hp
-Thunderbolt
-Hydro pump
-Ice beam
-Trick/Grass knot/Rapid spin

Scarfmie is possibly one of the best revenge killers in the game being able to KO +1 mence and +1 gyara who are both giant threats to today's metagames and if you have a team that's weak to either you can simply fix it by putting scarfmie in. Modest was picked over timid as 328 sp atk is preferred over 299 for revenge killing purposes especially since your speed will be boosted to an insane 493. Hydro pump is there so you can 2HKO scizor switch ins who try and pursuit trap you on an ice beam/tbolt. Boltbeam is the almost fully unresisted combo so i don't think i have to explain that. The last spot is either grass knot for hitting pert harder or the very unseen quagsire who resists Hydro pump and thunderbolt completely. Natural cure over illuminate so you can also absorb status. Rapid spin is also a possibility but isn't really needed as you have nothing that is really weak to SR atm.

After that your final team would be Azelf / Scizor / Vappy / Starmie so i have to work on your shaymin and gliscor. Gliscor isn't really needed unless you're trying to check luke which i understand but if you wanna do that then you need to run this spread;

Gliscor @ Leftovers
252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly (+ Spe, - Sp atk)
Sand veil
-Earthquake
-Roost
-Knock off
-Taunt

This can work as a luke check better then yours can. 216 spe jolly outruns jolly luke by 2 points. Jolly luke = 306, Jolly Gliscor = 308. EQ is the main STAB/Move to wear the opponents health down unless they resist it, and Roost is there for stalling/obvious reasons. Knock off gliscor really does a great job as it can really cripple scarfers/cb'ers/stallers/etc. +2 jolly luke can BARELY 2HKO this with e-speed and rocks on the field which is what the defense/hp evs are there for. One great thing about gliscor is it can still be a great defensive wall with only a bit of defense put into it, and a lot of HP.
Gliscor can take care of things like CB scizor being able to knock off their CB then take barely anything from the attacks. Taunt is there for ruining things like DDmence that try to set up on you. He can still take weaker non stab SE attacks, and is fast enough to even deal with some slower things that may be weak to EQ.

Your team would now be Azelf / Gliscor / Scizor / Starmie / Vappy but you really only have one sweeper as starmie is a revenge killer. Something nice to put into a team like yours would be an SD lucario who can work very nicely as all of lukes threats are taken down by other things on the team and luke IS technically one of the BEST late game sweepers you can possibly have. He takes advantage of SR too being able to OHKO standard mence with a +2 e-speed factoring in damage from rocks.

Lucario @ Life orb
Inner Focus
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 6 Def
Adamant (+ Atk, - Sp atk)
-Close combat
-Crunch
- Swords dance
- Extremespeed

Luke is the best late game sweeper and works nicely as gliscor takes out opposing luke, and starmie/vappy help take out gliscor/hippo and other things that threaten luke sweeps. Starmie also takes out zappy who can ruin a luke sweep. Adamant/crunch is the best option as you can 2HKO dusknoir after a swords dance and even the bulkiest rotom after an SD. Close combat is the main stab and is extremely powerful/has great coverage. Come in on something like a CBtar crunch and SD then sweep. Easy. 252 Atk / 252 spe is standard and running jolly with ice punch is kinda pointless as most gliscor/zappy are ev'd to survive a +2 jolly ice punch or ev'd to outspeed jolly luke and survive a +2 e-speed which means they can beat you. Most gliscor/Zappy don't run any attack/sp atk investment which means you can survive an EQ/Tbolt and 2HKO them; though. I put 6 def in instead of 6 hp so you can take less LO recoil. Inner focus is standard for beating haxrachi but you can vouch for steadfast to actually make it so you take boosts from getting flinched.

Well now your team would be Azelf / Lucario / Gliscor / Vappy / Scizor / Starmie and to me it looks pretty decent. I hope this helped and you can pm me if you need any more help on the team.

GL.

 

[Dream Boat Dixon]

I appreciate the help though some of it confused me... I do have a stealth rock user and Scizor does use Swords Dance... So that kinda makes some of what you were saying there confusing...

I'll admit Vaporeons presence is somewhat mismatched, so I will definitely take that on board and give it a test run.

I have tried out ALOT of various leads, and personally, Gallade has been the best I've used. It is the most effective and has never taken out at least one thing.

I have a Lucario with that spread and move pool already, so I'll start using it more often. I used to use it, but opted for Swords Dance Scizor over it, because I found it rather frail.

 

[shark puncher]

You didnt have SD on scizor before i posted which means you just edited it in and when saying you didn't have an SR user i meant no SR lead and sometimes gliscor can be taken out before it has the chance to set up SR.

Also i was talking about while i was rating going through your team and adding stuff getting rid of SR on gliscor and just putting it on azelf thats when you didn't have SR.

That might have been your experience but tbh azelf and many other leads just do the job much better.

If you did indeed have SD on scizor then that's my mistake but even if you did you still had no insurance against like +1 or +2 mence which you do with CB scizor. But i couldve sworn you didnt have it on there.

The top 3 used leads are

1.Azelf
2.Metagross
3.Jirachi

And when getting a lead you should try to pick something that beats most other common leads easily, with not much difficulty which gallade really doesn't do.

Either way test some of my suggestions out; then i'll be willing to debate if you don't need to switch something out.

 

[Dream Boat Dixon]

I promise you, Swords Dance was always there. I even mention it a lot in the general thread, usually whenever Scizor was mentioned. So I don't mean to sound rude, but that is your bad there.

I will try out some of your ideas, namely Vaporeon. I'll need to play through my game again to get another Azelf, which is partly why I'm reluctant to change.