Hello fellow smogonites. Thank for taking the time to read this RMT I have placed in front of you. As with any RMT I write up, I give a back story on myself just to give people a glimpse of my skill level, my achievements and my preferences when dealing with a certain metagame. I myself have played since the start of the BW OU metagame's conception. I have been through the Excadrill era, the Thundurus era and everything in between. I have experimented with a multitude of different teams and strategies and I have two teams currently sitting in the top 5 on two respective server's (Was Last month that I peaked on both server's and on two different alts so there probably not top 5 anymore). However, Dream World has quickly become my favourite tier BY FAR. This team was top 5 last month on PBC and is currently sitting around 1300 (Just started) on the PO main server. What draws me to the Dream World in particular is that is reminds me of Ubers in the fact that it is so offensive with so many prominent easy to use threats, yet predictable and takes a knowledge of the metagame itself to know what certain threats are and how to deal with them. It obviously is not as super offensive and power threatening as Ubers but it is by far the closest tier to it. So enough of my rambling on about this, I have split this RMT into 3 parts. The ever so obvious how I built the team, the RMT of the Pokemon themselves and the general playstyle and how the team works as a core and why its my preferred team of choice. The only difference between a normal RMT is that instead of the normal picture by picture description of what has changed and what the final product is, it will just be one description split into singular parts, I.E. Phase I, Phase II etc. And we are off...
Phase I
The team at this point was largely in efficient. I started off with my favourite style in a rain team, but I went back to my largely inexperienced roots of slapping Politoed on with 2-3 Abusers, and Ferrothorn, with support. The problem at this point is that it lacked synergy. The team consisted of Politoed, Gengar, Keldeo, Deoxys-S, Ferrothorn and Jirachi.
Problems already surrounding this:
-The defensive core of Jirachi and Ferrothorn was largely inefficient in the fact that it was dismantled by Banded Terrakion especially when Jirachi was the one taking the first hit.
-I had almost no real Physical Threat to this team so Pokemon like Chansey were consistently stalling me and caused a lot of losses in the process.
-I took no time at all in this phase in making the team which was one of the largest reasons of its minimal success
Some changes were definitely needed....
Phase II
Now obviously with revisions the team was a little more successful. I replaced Deoxys-S with A dancing DNITE because it had little to no synergy and usually finds its place on Sand teams and HO offensive teams rather than Rain Teams where it reaps little to no benefits. Dragonite gave me a physical presence in which I was lacking, but now to unlock Dragonite's Godly powers, I was forced to run a spinner... Out goes Gengar, in comes Tentacruel. It worked for a while but more notable problems arose.
-Needing to invest in a spinner made me lack the support for the real prominent Sweeper on the team in Keldeo.
-The teams Defensive core was still lacking and I took more of a look at the team offensively rather than defensively.
-I had immense problems with Sand Teams once Keldeo went down, and Chomp/Excadrill could just come in, set up and sweep.
-Tentacruel proved to be a liability in this more often than Sandstorm *Ahem* I mean Tyranitar infested metagame...
So this sent me into the final phase of the team..
Phase 3
This is quite obviously the most successful period of the team, and the current team at hand. I came to the realization that the defensive core needed a way to combat Terrakion but also lay Hazards and stop other prominent threats in the process. Tentacruel as stated earlier, was a liability. So I swapped him out for the best possible counter to Terrakion ; SLOWBRO. Slowbro at this point was a revelation for the team. It is an absolute tank, with built in recovery and a recovery move. It serves as the teams check to physical threats and slows down pokes for the sweepers to set up. So with Tentacruel gone, Dragonite lost its luster a bit, and I realized I lacked a physical fighting threat. In comes the beast of DW, TECHNILOOM. Its a monster to say the least. Cripples things it switches into, to either set up or build momentum while packing an insane punch with LO, STAB, Technician boosted Mach Punch, and even more with Bullet Seed.... There's only one thing this team lacked: A way to boost momentum early game and a scarf revenge killer. So I turned to the most popular scarfer in the tier in Genesect. Who wouldn't want a scarfer that gets a free +1 in either attacking stats with an insanely good special movepool and a possible+1 STAB U-Turn for scouting? The day this thing gets released..... *Shivers*
The Team at a glance....
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Ice Beam
Lo and behold the Pokemon that lets this team's offensive prowess function. That goes without saying though. Politoed is a known nuissance in both DW and standard OU. I still can't get out of my head why you would want to run an Offensive Politoed only for it to get walled by Ferrothorn and a reliance on a non STAB 70 accuracy move... Anyways, while playing with rain in the earlier stages of the BW and white metagame I realized that the weather war was a test of Bulk, power and most importantly sheer versatility. Tyranitar fits all this criteria sadly... But here's a set that gives Politoed loads of bulk, and serves IMO the best set to win the weather war, especially against Sand Teams. The EVS are to maximize Physical Bulk to tank hits when needed. The set is annoying to face, hence why I chose it. Scald cripples Scizor and the likes, Toxic is for Toxistalling Pokes I know can't harm Politoed, Protect aids the Toxistall and Ice Beam is for good coverage and destroys Garchomp, Landorus and the likes.
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
Remember the ending of the phase section about the rambling of Genesect's benefits? Yea... It still applies and will always will. Genesect is the immense love child of Rotom-W and Scizor, giving it amazing Special Coverage and a STAB powerful U-Turn. He is the most popular scarfer in the tier for a good reason. EVERY SUCCESSFUL TEAM RUNS GENESECT. Its honestly one of the major rules to DW players. Genesect is the teams initial offensive momentum and switch momentum AND revenge killer.. WOOH, that took a while to say. He serves as a huge deterrent to opposing teams and opens holes in opposing teams for revenge kills later on. This is as standard as can get for a Scarf Set. The EVs are to get the most out of its amazing special movepool, and U-Turn is obligatory with a 50-50 chance of boosting U-Turns power off a switch. BoltBeam+Flamethrower screams amazing coverage. The team would fall apart without him.
Keldeo @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
Dear Gamefreak, I would like a water based special sweeper that isn't walled by Chansey and with a +2 OHKO's basically every resistance to water... MY DREAMS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED. Keldeo is a monster. Heck, that's an understatement. It steals games like almost nothing else in the tier. Getting up a simple +1 in the rain screams DAMAGE! Like the awe defining power of this things Hydro Pump is insane. The EVs are common for a Poke of its Speed and SP attack. Calm Mind as the boosting move that turns Keldeo into an offensive behemoth, Secret Sword destroys dedicated Special Wells, especially Blissey and Chansey who think they can wall Keldeo and HP Ghost gives uncontested coverage while hitting anything Ghost or Psychic related for super effective damage. Guess I found my replacement for Thundurus on my rain team....
Slowbro (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
You see that face? Yea, it laughs at Terrakion. Slowbro is another major component to this team's success that it has lamented itself in to the team and will probably never leave. It cripples Physically based pokemon, it slows down threats for me to set up on and has immense recovery that is unmatched. It forms an amazing core with Ferrothorn, covering both of Ferrothorns weaknesses and stops Terrakion amazingly. The EVs give it amazing physical Bulk while also letting it pack a punch with its attacks. I used to laugh at people using Slowbro in OU, let alone DW... Now I laugh as I wall there Terrakions :D
Breloom (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bullet Seed
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Spore
I still shiver at the team preview when I see Breloom. I know that its going to cripple something. But for the time being and in the near future I will abuse it. Techniloom, much like Genesect is a poster boy for the Dream World. When you think of Dream World you think of this. I chose this as my physical sweeper because it also has the added benefit of having its Fire weakness completely eliminated. For the set, I went for Jolly over Adamant because I want to be able to outspeed and cripple certain pokes with Spore more reliably and at +2 and LO the power loss from Adamant is rarely missed at all. The most important move on this set by far is Spore. It cripples and is 100% accurate making Breloom annoying to play against for anyone. Mach Punch is AMAZING with STAB+LO+Technician and lets Breloom acts a reliable revenge kill, keen to Scizor but has a better type advantage because Fighting hits far more types than Steel. Swords Dance turns Breloom from a mildy threatening revenge killer into a behemoth ready to sweep on a whim. Breloom has more than filled the role of Dragonite on the team.
p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
MWAHHAHAHA. Yes, my Steel balls are bigger than yours <3 Ferrothorn has been considered a staple on Rain teams since the conception of the playstyle. It both counters opposing Rain teams and benefits from the rain. It effectively has 1 weakness rain and the bulk to make use and not get OHKO'd by much. It helps combat Dragonite in the rain and will slow it down and cripple it for good. It is the best Spike user in the game and has access to Stealth Rock... What a god given movepool for such an amazing support Pokemon. It slows any threat down, much like Slowbro but also has a 120 BP STAB move that doesn't make it setup fodder. Ferrothorn completes the teams defensive core and is the main backbone of the team that it has to fall back on when an imposing sweep is in the process.
The Playstyle:
The team varies depending on the opponent's team. If I am facing Sand, or opposing Rain, nine times out of ten I will lead with Genesect to get the momentum going. Anything else I will lead with Politoed. The team functions as a machine. A defensive core that compliments the offensive core, and an offensive core that pulls sweeps out of the arse.
Roles on the team:
Politoed - The rain starter, the reason I made the team (Rain) and the most obvious Staple when making a rain team. In particular the team doesn't suffer a lot without the rain, but always benefits when it is up.
Genesect - As stated many times, Momentum gainer, Scouter, Revenge killer and an important Poke both in the team and in the metagame as a whole.
Keldeo - The sweeper on the team that literally benefits off the rain itself. You let this thing set up a boost or 2 and say goodbye to at least half your team, more often than not though a 6 Poke Sweep. The rain turns this thing from a good sweeper to a suspect warranting poke. With its imminent release on the horizon don't be surprised if it has a huge effect on what dominates the metagame.
Slowbro - The physical defensive backbone that cripples faster Pokemon and Burns physical threats to make them set up fodder. It goes to show, after scurrying the depths of UU for a while, the metagame will change and Slowbro has adapted very well.
Breloom - The Physical sweeper, that brings a physical fighting move, Sleep inducing prominence and immense sweeping capabilites all in one. It has the added benefit of having its glaring fire weakness eliminated.
Ferrothorn - The once Number 1 most used Poke in Standard still poses a threat to most sweepers and will not heed way to lay Hazards and further propel this team to ladder prominence. Stops Specs Latios, Dancing DNITE, Scarf Chomp, Physical TTar (Banded/Scarf). The list goes on.
Well, that's my RMT. Comments and Rates are appreciated!
Side Note: I will be going for 1500 rating on PO with this team. Already at 1300. :)
Phase I
The team at this point was largely in efficient. I started off with my favourite style in a rain team, but I went back to my largely inexperienced roots of slapping Politoed on with 2-3 Abusers, and Ferrothorn, with support. The problem at this point is that it lacked synergy. The team consisted of Politoed, Gengar, Keldeo, Deoxys-S, Ferrothorn and Jirachi.
Problems already surrounding this:
-The defensive core of Jirachi and Ferrothorn was largely inefficient in the fact that it was dismantled by Banded Terrakion especially when Jirachi was the one taking the first hit.
-I had almost no real Physical Threat to this team so Pokemon like Chansey were consistently stalling me and caused a lot of losses in the process.
-I took no time at all in this phase in making the team which was one of the largest reasons of its minimal success
Some changes were definitely needed....
Phase II
Now obviously with revisions the team was a little more successful. I replaced Deoxys-S with A dancing DNITE because it had little to no synergy and usually finds its place on Sand teams and HO offensive teams rather than Rain Teams where it reaps little to no benefits. Dragonite gave me a physical presence in which I was lacking, but now to unlock Dragonite's Godly powers, I was forced to run a spinner... Out goes Gengar, in comes Tentacruel. It worked for a while but more notable problems arose.
-Needing to invest in a spinner made me lack the support for the real prominent Sweeper on the team in Keldeo.
-The teams Defensive core was still lacking and I took more of a look at the team offensively rather than defensively.
-I had immense problems with Sand Teams once Keldeo went down, and Chomp/Excadrill could just come in, set up and sweep.
-Tentacruel proved to be a liability in this more often than Sandstorm *Ahem* I mean Tyranitar infested metagame...
So this sent me into the final phase of the team..
Phase 3
This is quite obviously the most successful period of the team, and the current team at hand. I came to the realization that the defensive core needed a way to combat Terrakion but also lay Hazards and stop other prominent threats in the process. Tentacruel as stated earlier, was a liability. So I swapped him out for the best possible counter to Terrakion ; SLOWBRO. Slowbro at this point was a revelation for the team. It is an absolute tank, with built in recovery and a recovery move. It serves as the teams check to physical threats and slows down pokes for the sweepers to set up. So with Tentacruel gone, Dragonite lost its luster a bit, and I realized I lacked a physical fighting threat. In comes the beast of DW, TECHNILOOM. Its a monster to say the least. Cripples things it switches into, to either set up or build momentum while packing an insane punch with LO, STAB, Technician boosted Mach Punch, and even more with Bullet Seed.... There's only one thing this team lacked: A way to boost momentum early game and a scarf revenge killer. So I turned to the most popular scarfer in the tier in Genesect. Who wouldn't want a scarfer that gets a free +1 in either attacking stats with an insanely good special movepool and a possible+1 STAB U-Turn for scouting? The day this thing gets released..... *Shivers*
The Team at a glance....
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Ice Beam
Lo and behold the Pokemon that lets this team's offensive prowess function. That goes without saying though. Politoed is a known nuissance in both DW and standard OU. I still can't get out of my head why you would want to run an Offensive Politoed only for it to get walled by Ferrothorn and a reliance on a non STAB 70 accuracy move... Anyways, while playing with rain in the earlier stages of the BW and white metagame I realized that the weather war was a test of Bulk, power and most importantly sheer versatility. Tyranitar fits all this criteria sadly... But here's a set that gives Politoed loads of bulk, and serves IMO the best set to win the weather war, especially against Sand Teams. The EVS are to maximize Physical Bulk to tank hits when needed. The set is annoying to face, hence why I chose it. Scald cripples Scizor and the likes, Toxic is for Toxistalling Pokes I know can't harm Politoed, Protect aids the Toxistall and Ice Beam is for good coverage and destroys Garchomp, Landorus and the likes.
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- U-turn
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
Remember the ending of the phase section about the rambling of Genesect's benefits? Yea... It still applies and will always will. Genesect is the immense love child of Rotom-W and Scizor, giving it amazing Special Coverage and a STAB powerful U-Turn. He is the most popular scarfer in the tier for a good reason. EVERY SUCCESSFUL TEAM RUNS GENESECT. Its honestly one of the major rules to DW players. Genesect is the teams initial offensive momentum and switch momentum AND revenge killer.. WOOH, that took a while to say. He serves as a huge deterrent to opposing teams and opens holes in opposing teams for revenge kills later on. This is as standard as can get for a Scarf Set. The EVs are to get the most out of its amazing special movepool, and U-Turn is obligatory with a 50-50 chance of boosting U-Turns power off a switch. BoltBeam+Flamethrower screams amazing coverage. The team would fall apart without him.
Keldeo @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
Dear Gamefreak, I would like a water based special sweeper that isn't walled by Chansey and with a +2 OHKO's basically every resistance to water... MY DREAMS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED. Keldeo is a monster. Heck, that's an understatement. It steals games like almost nothing else in the tier. Getting up a simple +1 in the rain screams DAMAGE! Like the awe defining power of this things Hydro Pump is insane. The EVs are common for a Poke of its Speed and SP attack. Calm Mind as the boosting move that turns Keldeo into an offensive behemoth, Secret Sword destroys dedicated Special Wells, especially Blissey and Chansey who think they can wall Keldeo and HP Ghost gives uncontested coverage while hitting anything Ghost or Psychic related for super effective damage. Guess I found my replacement for Thundurus on my rain team....
Slowbro (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Thunder Wave
- Psychic
You see that face? Yea, it laughs at Terrakion. Slowbro is another major component to this team's success that it has lamented itself in to the team and will probably never leave. It cripples Physically based pokemon, it slows down threats for me to set up on and has immense recovery that is unmatched. It forms an amazing core with Ferrothorn, covering both of Ferrothorns weaknesses and stops Terrakion amazingly. The EVs give it amazing physical Bulk while also letting it pack a punch with its attacks. I used to laugh at people using Slowbro in OU, let alone DW... Now I laugh as I wall there Terrakions :D
Breloom (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bullet Seed
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Spore
I still shiver at the team preview when I see Breloom. I know that its going to cripple something. But for the time being and in the near future I will abuse it. Techniloom, much like Genesect is a poster boy for the Dream World. When you think of Dream World you think of this. I chose this as my physical sweeper because it also has the added benefit of having its Fire weakness completely eliminated. For the set, I went for Jolly over Adamant because I want to be able to outspeed and cripple certain pokes with Spore more reliably and at +2 and LO the power loss from Adamant is rarely missed at all. The most important move on this set by far is Spore. It cripples and is 100% accurate making Breloom annoying to play against for anyone. Mach Punch is AMAZING with STAB+LO+Technician and lets Breloom acts a reliable revenge kill, keen to Scizor but has a better type advantage because Fighting hits far more types than Steel. Swords Dance turns Breloom from a mildy threatening revenge killer into a behemoth ready to sweep on a whim. Breloom has more than filled the role of Dragonite on the team.
p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; } Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
MWAHHAHAHA. Yes, my Steel balls are bigger than yours <3 Ferrothorn has been considered a staple on Rain teams since the conception of the playstyle. It both counters opposing Rain teams and benefits from the rain. It effectively has 1 weakness rain and the bulk to make use and not get OHKO'd by much. It helps combat Dragonite in the rain and will slow it down and cripple it for good. It is the best Spike user in the game and has access to Stealth Rock... What a god given movepool for such an amazing support Pokemon. It slows any threat down, much like Slowbro but also has a 120 BP STAB move that doesn't make it setup fodder. Ferrothorn completes the teams defensive core and is the main backbone of the team that it has to fall back on when an imposing sweep is in the process.
The Playstyle:
The team varies depending on the opponent's team. If I am facing Sand, or opposing Rain, nine times out of ten I will lead with Genesect to get the momentum going. Anything else I will lead with Politoed. The team functions as a machine. A defensive core that compliments the offensive core, and an offensive core that pulls sweeps out of the arse.
Roles on the team:
Politoed - The rain starter, the reason I made the team (Rain) and the most obvious Staple when making a rain team. In particular the team doesn't suffer a lot without the rain, but always benefits when it is up.
Genesect - As stated many times, Momentum gainer, Scouter, Revenge killer and an important Poke both in the team and in the metagame as a whole.
Keldeo - The sweeper on the team that literally benefits off the rain itself. You let this thing set up a boost or 2 and say goodbye to at least half your team, more often than not though a 6 Poke Sweep. The rain turns this thing from a good sweeper to a suspect warranting poke. With its imminent release on the horizon don't be surprised if it has a huge effect on what dominates the metagame.
Slowbro - The physical defensive backbone that cripples faster Pokemon and Burns physical threats to make them set up fodder. It goes to show, after scurrying the depths of UU for a while, the metagame will change and Slowbro has adapted very well.
Breloom - The Physical sweeper, that brings a physical fighting move, Sleep inducing prominence and immense sweeping capabilites all in one. It has the added benefit of having its glaring fire weakness eliminated.
Ferrothorn - The once Number 1 most used Poke in Standard still poses a threat to most sweepers and will not heed way to lay Hazards and further propel this team to ladder prominence. Stops Specs Latios, Dancing DNITE, Scarf Chomp, Physical TTar (Banded/Scarf). The list goes on.
Well, that's my RMT. Comments and Rates are appreciated!
Side Note: I will be going for 1500 rating on PO with this team. Already at 1300. :)
