Hello everyone, this is my very first RMT. It's a balanced team, whose original intention was to be a team that would make significant use of my favorite mon, Infernape, as well as being suited to my particular playstyle that being clicking u-turn every time I feel uncomfortable predicting a switch. So without further ado, lets get into the teambuilding process:
Jokes aside, my playstyle often involves a lot of pivoting, and a frail mon like infernape appreciates a safe switch or a slow U-turn to help bring it in. Tornadus-T and Scizor seemed like easy choices because of this. Slowbro seemed like a good choice because it checked a lot of the mons that Torn-t and Scizor couldn't handle, as well as having regenerator to help it switch in more often. I ran a bulky defog Mega-Scizor at this point because I felt that Scizor was mostly going to serve as a pivot.
I noticed that the team so far had a large weakness to Electric types, no win condition, and lacked offensive power in general. A CM Latios set seemed to fit the bill for what my team needed.
Now seemed like a good time to add why I made this team in the first place. Infernape does a lot for this team. It gives it a wallbreaker, priority to make up for the lack of scarfers/revenge-killers, and something to handle steelswhich I may or may not have made this team weak to on purpose. I've also found that Infernape makes a good offensive core alongside Latios, as it beats many of its checks and counters.
To understand why the hell I would ever add non-mega suicide lead Diance to this team you need to understand what was going through my head at the time. This was the last in a long series of teambuilding failures (this being the one that wasn't) that alongside their other flaws, were ALL weak to Mega-Houndoom. This thing had me f**king traumatized. I thought I needed a hard counter to it that also filled the team's lack of rocks setters, and so this abomination was born. This is the stage where I began battle testing the team.
Battle testing helped expose some minor flaws in the team. In the entirety of the testing Latios literally never got to set up. Not even once. It was too busy roosting off the damage it just took from an oncoming electric attack. It got 1 free turn AT MOST. Scizor however, had too many free/relatively safe turns to defog and more, so naturally I switched their roles. Latios became a defogger and Scizor became an SD sweeper. I decided to keep U-turn and the bulky spread on Scizor since I want it to still be able to switch in to many things and keep the momentum going. Anyways, Bullet Punch alone is enough to sweep most of the time. I switched u-turn on infernape for Gunk Shot, because Azu was one of infernape's biggest switch-ins, and because fairies gave my team a little trouble. Finally, I got over my fear of Houndooms and switched Dancie with specially defensive Heatran. This helped to deal with my team's weakness to Char-Y, Scizor, and Talonflame. This is the stage that the RMT was posted in.
I took Albacore's suggestion of adding Clefable to the team to patch up a few weaknesses. A lot of the things that Heatran dealt with were taken out by some of my other mons anyway. I also took fleggumfl's suggestion of changing Slowbro's item from a mega stone to a Colbur Berry. Infernape got a few nitpicky adjustments made to it when I realized it had a -Def nature instead of a -SpD one.
The Current
Version
With a little advice from Celticpride the Torn-T<Raikou change ended up going through. This team is pretty much completed now, and I don't think I need to make any changes other than a few nitpicks that I might make after battle testing. Really grateful for the help guys! n_n
IN DEPTH:
Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- U-turn
AV Tornadus-T is one of the best pivots in the tier in my opinion. If I'm going to make a team that's going to use the role of pivot so much, I'm going to need something of this caliber. Not much to see here, just the standard set. Hurricane for STAB, Focus blast for coverage(chosen over Heat Wave because I have 2 fire mons on the team), Knock off for crippling some item dependent mons, and U-turn for scouting and momentum.
Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 224 SpA / 32 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Raikou is a great blanket check to many things my team has trouble with, and forms a great VoltTurn core alongside Scizor. The lack of Regenerator hurts, but the amount of threats it checks makes it worth it. Thunderbolt for generic STAB, Volt Switch generates momentum and hurts more than Torn-T's U-turn, HP Ice is for bopping things like Lando-T and Chomp on the switch-in, and Shadow ball is for threatening the likes of Gengar and the Lati twins.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
Standard Defog spread with SD instead of Defog. Scizor appreciates the extra bulk for all the switching in it's going to do. Its attack is massive even when un-invested and Bullet Punch alone wrecks weakened teams. SD for late game cleaning, Roost for the all important survivability, BP for priority and its main form of attack, and U-turn for scouting and keeping the momentum going.
Slowbro @Slowbronite Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Slowbro's main role on this team is to absorb many physical attacks. What is the most common one? Knock Off. Holding a Colbur Berry instead of leftovers offers a resistance to said move. I've always found that Regenerator+Slack Off was enough to keep it fairly healthy anyway. On to the moveset: Scald because it's a must on bulky waters, Psychic over Fire blast because I have enough fire moves on this team, Thunder Wave for Mega-Charizard X and for various other fast attackers, and Slack Off for obvious reasons.
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost
Latios offers offensive prowess as well as an electric resist to my team, as stated before. It also serves to clear hazards. Draco Meteor to DropADraco™, Psyshock to serve as general STAB as well as hitting more specially defensive mons, Defog to clear hazards, and Roost to help it survive the countless electric moves it'll be taking as well as its own life orb recoil.
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs:156 Atk / 100 SpA / 252 Spe
160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- Gunk Shot
Infernape has good synergy with Latios and takes care of mons like Bisharp, Heatran, and Ferrothorn that may otherwise give this team trouble. It also serves as a great wallbreaker. Close Combat and Fire Blast are a powerful STAB combination that can be used to hit a mon on its weaker defensive end. Mach Punch is for priority to revenge kill and to finish off faster mons that have switched in to one of Infernape's powerful STABs, and Gunk Shot is to lure in fairies and at least put a massive dent in them.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 192 SpD / 68 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
Standard Sp.D Heatran with Stone Edge to better deal with Char-Y and Talon. It also fills some my team's weaknesses as stated above. Lava Plume for STAB and fishing for burns, Toxic for breaking down bulkier mons, Stone Edge over Ancient Power because it nets some OHKOs that it does not, and Stealth Rock for hazard support.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
Clefable checks a lot of the mons that gave the last version of this team trouble, like M-Gyarados. Unlike Heatran, it has recovery and puts a dead stop to a lot of set up sweepers, while still being able to put up Stealth Rocks. Moonblast is STAB, Moonlight for recovery(Softboiled is illegal w/ Unaware I believe), Stealth Rock for hazard support, and Fire Blast to kill off a lot of steel mons that give this thing trouble.
CHANGES BEING CONSIDERED
Offensive support Latias > Life Orb Latios
Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
Latios does a lot of swithing in, and although its special bulk is by no means bad, it is inferior to that of Latias. The extra bulk could help my team with electric types that the Lati of the team is supposed to check. However, Latios possesses 57 more Sp.A than that of his sister, and that loss of power could be crucial. Furthermore, because Raikou is now implemented into the team, the extra bulk on the Lati probably won't be needed as much.
SCARY THINGS
Unlike most electric types, Latios can't switch in to Raikou because it carries Shadow Ball. My team also lacks things check it other than my own Raikou.
I can't believe I missed this. Thundy is able to cripple Latios with T-wave or just straight up kill it with knock off. Knock off also threatens Raikou.
Mega-Gyarados does a number on this team, as my only method of killing it after it sets up is basically trying to play around it. I can either weaken it to mach punch range or get Slowbro to T-wave it.
Jokes aside, my playstyle often involves a lot of pivoting, and a frail mon like infernape appreciates a safe switch or a slow U-turn to help bring it in. Tornadus-T and Scizor seemed like easy choices because of this. Slowbro seemed like a good choice because it checked a lot of the mons that Torn-t and Scizor couldn't handle, as well as having regenerator to help it switch in more often. I ran a bulky defog Mega-Scizor at this point because I felt that Scizor was mostly going to serve as a pivot.
I noticed that the team so far had a large weakness to Electric types, no win condition, and lacked offensive power in general. A CM Latios set seemed to fit the bill for what my team needed.
Now seemed like a good time to add why I made this team in the first place. Infernape does a lot for this team. It gives it a wallbreaker, priority to make up for the lack of scarfers/revenge-killers, and something to handle steels
To understand why the hell I would ever add non-mega suicide lead Diance to this team you need to understand what was going through my head at the time. This was the last in a long series of teambuilding failures (this being the one that wasn't) that alongside their other flaws, were ALL weak to Mega-Houndoom. This thing had me f**king traumatized. I thought I needed a hard counter to it that also filled the team's lack of rocks setters, and so this abomination was born. This is the stage where I began battle testing the team.
Battle testing helped expose some minor flaws in the team. In the entirety of the testing Latios literally never got to set up. Not even once. It was too busy roosting off the damage it just took from an oncoming electric attack. It got 1 free turn AT MOST. Scizor however, had too many free/relatively safe turns to defog and more, so naturally I switched their roles. Latios became a defogger and Scizor became an SD sweeper. I decided to keep U-turn and the bulky spread on Scizor since I want it to still be able to switch in to many things and keep the momentum going. Anyways, Bullet Punch alone is enough to sweep most of the time. I switched u-turn on infernape for Gunk Shot, because Azu was one of infernape's biggest switch-ins, and because fairies gave my team a little trouble. Finally, I got over my fear of Houndooms and switched Dancie with specially defensive Heatran. This helped to deal with my team's weakness to Char-Y, Scizor, and Talonflame. This is the stage that the RMT was posted in.
I took Albacore's suggestion of adding Clefable to the team to patch up a few weaknesses. A lot of the things that Heatran dealt with were taken out by some of my other mons anyway. I also took fleggumfl's suggestion of changing Slowbro's item from a mega stone to a Colbur Berry. Infernape got a few nitpicky adjustments made to it when I realized it had a -Def nature instead of a -SpD one.
The Current
Version
With a little advice from Celticpride the Torn-T<Raikou change ended up going through. This team is pretty much completed now, and I don't think I need to make any changes other than a few nitpicks that I might make after battle testing. Really grateful for the help guys! n_n
IN DEPTH:
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 132 HP / 160 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 224 SpA / 32 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Raikou is a great blanket check to many things my team has trouble with, and forms a great VoltTurn core alongside Scizor. The lack of Regenerator hurts, but the amount of threats it checks makes it worth it. Thunderbolt for generic STAB, Volt Switch generates momentum and hurts more than Torn-T's U-turn, HP Ice is for bopping things like Lando-T and Chomp on the switch-in, and Shadow ball is for threatening the likes of Gengar and the Lati twins.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
Slowbro @
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs:
160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- Gunk Shot
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 192 SpD / 68 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
Clefable checks a lot of the mons that gave the last version of this team trouble, like M-Gyarados. Unlike Heatran, it has recovery and puts a dead stop to a lot of set up sweepers, while still being able to put up Stealth Rocks. Moonblast is STAB, Moonlight for recovery(Softboiled is illegal w/ Unaware I believe), Stealth Rock for hazard support, and Fire Blast to kill off a lot of steel mons that give this thing trouble.
CHANGES BEING CONSIDERED
Offensive support Latias > Life Orb Latios
Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
Latios does a lot of swithing in, and although its special bulk is by no means bad, it is inferior to that of Latias. The extra bulk could help my team with electric types that the Lati of the team is supposed to check. However, Latios possesses 57 more Sp.A than that of his sister, and that loss of power could be crucial. Furthermore, because Raikou is now implemented into the team, the extra bulk on the Lati probably won't be needed as much.
SCARY THINGS
Unlike most electric types, Latios can't switch in to Raikou because it carries Shadow Ball. My team also lacks things check it other than my own Raikou.
I can't believe I missed this. Thundy is able to cripple Latios with T-wave or just straight up kill it with knock off. Knock off also threatens Raikou.
Mega-Gyarados does a number on this team, as my only method of killing it after it sets up is basically trying to play around it. I can either weaken it to mach punch range or get Slowbro to T-wave it.
Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 224 SpA / 32 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
Slowbro @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- Gunk Shot
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 224 SpA / 32 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Shadow Ball
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
Slowbro @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Defog
- Roost
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- Gunk Shot
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 SpD
Calm Nature
- Moonblast
- Moonlight
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
Thanks for taking the time to read this! If you feel like using this team yourself, go right ahead. n_n
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