Hello everyone reading this, (If anyone is) this is my first RMT in a while, about a year since my last one. Anyways, the point is I created a new team after being out of competitive battling for about a year as well. I went on shoddybattle and decided I should see what the metagame looks like at the moment, so basically now all I saw was leads such as Azelf, Swampert, ect… and sometimes even Machamp. I also noticed that the main sweepers were now Scizor, Salamence, and Gyarados on the Physical side. On the special side, I noticed Calm mind Jirachi, PetayaSub Empoleon, and also Heatran. So I was thinking to myself what could I do to make sure that most of these pokemon are countered. That’s when I thought about Rampardos.
Team Building Process:
Rampardos, I knew I wanted to build a team around Rampardos who, according to me, does not get the attention it very well deserves. I looked at the movesets for Rampardos but couldn't decide which one to get so I realised that he wasn't really that fast and he is pretty frail so I decided to go with the Choice Scarf Set. The thing is, I wasn't happy about the move choices so I changed it up a bit which I will discuss at a later time.
When looking at my options for a lead, I didn't want to pick a pokemon that most people would expect; therefore already be prepared for, so I decided to make Rampardos my lead. I tested him out as a lead a couple of times and realized nearly his only bad matchup would be against swampert and I also noticed that they usually just go for the earthquake or predict a switch and go for the Stealth Rocks which don't bother my team too much. I needed a pokemon that could avoid earthquake as well as OHKO swampert back. I was looking at some of my choices such as Infernape with Grass Knot but then I realized it could get hit with earthquake and it would possibly OHKO the infernape so I threw that idea out the window and decided to go for a ghost type. I chose Rotom-S. Some of you may be thinking, why Rotom-s? Well because it can OHKO with Hidden Power Grass, it has great Sp.Atk and is pretty bulky. I, once again couldn't decide on a moveset so I went with a Trick Specs which I will discuss later.
(I know this is normal Rotom but I couldn't find a sprite of Rotom-s)
As you can see from the title of this RMT, I kinda wanted to make my team a bit different from the norm. For the next poke, I decided on Vaporeon because it is a great Gyarados counter, it has amazing HP, and because of it's great Sp.Atk (which I wanted to take advantage of). I went with not a specs but a Scarf Vaporeon mainly just because I wanted to add an element of surprise. I will discuss more on this later.
I know that from what you can see so far, my team is all choiced, but don't worry my next poke is something that most people wouldn't dare to slap a choice item on, Miltank. I decided to chose miltank because it is extremely bulky, has access to Heal Bell, It's own healing move and because it was a pain to beat in the 2nd Generation of pokemon and I like to make people suffer by remembering...elMiltank. Nahh, I'm just kidding but the reason I wanted Miltank is because I needed something to heal status and because of it's amazing ability, Scrappy. Scrappy makes it so no matter what happens, you can hit ghost types with Normal or fighting type moves. I also picked Miltank because I need something to take care of other ghost types who use Shadow Ball against my Rotom-s.
So far in my team, I noticed that I needed something that can take care of Scizor who is probably the most popular pokemon in the OU metagame as of now. I was looking over some fire types and realized mainly the only one that stood out the most was heatran but I didn't need another poke weak to ground so I went with a pokemon from UU because I thought I needed to add something that is great Special wise. I chose my personal favorite starter, Sceptile.(Until Black and White comes out of course, then it's Tsutaaja) I decided to go for sceptile because he can come in against scizor, outspeed and HP Fire it to ashes. Another reason why I chose Sceptile is because of it's fantastic diversity.
As of now, I thought my team was finished and I was ready to get on that ladder and pwn some n00bs. I was wrong, I added in quickly a Empoleon and went on the ladder only to realize that I had a weakness to DDMence. I went over my options for a bulky steel type but only found pokemon that didn't really fit my team well until I found Jirachi which caught my eye as soon as I had my mouse cursor on the back button. I tested him out and it seemed to work pretty well, countering DDmence, coming in on an outrage after +1 then OHKOing back with an Ice Punch. I decided to keep Jirachi so here is my team!!
Rampardos@ Choice Scarf
EVs: 252Atk 252Spe 4HP
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Mold Breaker
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Superpower
-Crunch
My reason for picking Rampardos as a lead is that I've noticed with a choice scarf, he can almost 100% of the time, k.o. their lead and even if they do get up a set of rocks, it doesn't really hurt my team that much. Honestly I beleive that if some people realise there are other good leads other than Azelf, Aerodactyl, and swampert, they would see the power that is Rampardos. The reason why I chose earthquake is because it is a very powerfull attack that takes care of Heatran leads. I chose Stone Edge because it is a powerful stab move with the only downfall being it's accuracy and PP. Stone Edge also takes care of Gyarados leads who for some reason try to Taunt me. To be honest, I don't really know why I have Superpower there, I've used it like once out of 50 matches. Crunch is there to get those needed kills on the Azelf leads which I outspeed about 85% of the time while they taunt me for some reason then I bring them to their sash and k.o. next turn.
Rotom-s@ Choice Specs
EVs: 252SpA 252Spe 4SpD
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
-Trick
-Shadow Ball
-Air Slash
-Hidden Power[Grass]
The reason why I chose a rotom forme instead of something else is because I needed something to block earthquake, block Rapid Spin, and also cripple my opponent and Rotom seemed to fit the bill. I put trick on here incase a blissey decided it wanted to be cool and switch into me to take one of my attacks while I just give it choice specs and go into my Rampardos or Miltank to set up rocks. Shadow Ball is there for STAB Air Slash for grass types and HP Grass for swampert and other bulky waters.
Vaporeon@ Choice Scarf
EVs:252Spe 252SpA 4HP
Nature: Modest
Ability: Water Absorb
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Signal Beam
-Hidden Power[Electric]
The reason why I went with Choice Scarf instead of Specs is because I think Vaporeon is strong enough already and Specs would just be overkill in my opinion. Surf is put onto this moveset for obvious reasons, STAB, high base power. Ice beam is there to hopefully revenge a DDMence or other dragon types that could threaten my team. Signal beam is there to handle Celebi and other bulky grass types. Hidden Power [Electric] is there to dispose of Gyarados. So far on this team I noticed that the extra speed only did something for me in like 20/50 matches and I was considering specs but I'm not sure, if someone can give me some reasons as to why specs is better than Scarf for Vaporeon, I will change it.
Miltank@ Leftovers
EVs:252HP 224Atk 32Spe
Nature: Impish
Ability: Scrappy
-Heal Bell
-Milk Drink
-Body Slam
-Stealth Rocks
When deciding to chose Miltank I knew I needed something to heal status and set up rocks I was thinking about Celebi but I never really liked it much so I went with the Tank. Heal Bell is there for healing my team's status, Milk Drink is for survivability, Body slam is preferred over return for me because I don't think that extra damage is better than getting a chance to paralyz a few of their pokemon. I needed Stealth rocks on this team so I just added it in. I prefer Scrappy instead of Thick Fat because If the opponent has a ghost type then I pretty much have to switch therefore letting my opponent set up a sub or set up with Nasty Plot or something.
Scpetile@ Life Orb
Evs:252SpA 252Spe 4HP
Nature: Timid
Ability: Overgrow
-Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power [Fire]
-Dragon Pulse
-Focus Blast
Sceptile did really well in every match that I played, usually scoring about 1-2 kills per game and if it didn't get a kill it's because Focus Blast likes to be a jerk and miss 2 times in a row. Leaf Storm is on the moveset because of STAB and it is really strong if I get Overgrow, like I mean really strong. Hidden Power [Fire] is there to take care of the Scizors who are running around like a chicken without it's head.(Sorry for the mental image) Dragon Pulse is to take care of those pesky Dragon types. Focus Blast is just flat out, a jerk since I once had it miss every single time... in a row... but yeah, it is there to take out most empoleon that don't carry Ice beam, and other pokemon that could threaten my chances of winning.
Jirachi@ Expert Belt
EVs: 252Atk 252Spe 4SpA
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Serene Grace
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch
-Grass Knot
-Iron Head
When I was picking Jirachi, I only picked it because it could come in on a resisted Bullet Punch from Scizor and OHKO it. after playing with it for a while, I realized that most people have atleast 1-2 pokemon on their team that can easily dispose of Jirachi in one hit, that is why I am willing to change this pokemon. Anyways, fire punch is there to get rid of Scizor as quickly as possible, Ice Punch is there for Mence and other Dragons, Grass knot is there for Swampert and other Bulky waters and Iron head is there mainly for STAB and to piss people off. :P
Thanks for reading this RMT and I hope you could please give me a rating from 1-10 and also please suggest any and all changes you'd make to this team to make it better, but please don't suggest I change my lead because I won't.
Team Building Process:
Rampardos, I knew I wanted to build a team around Rampardos who, according to me, does not get the attention it very well deserves. I looked at the movesets for Rampardos but couldn't decide which one to get so I realised that he wasn't really that fast and he is pretty frail so I decided to go with the Choice Scarf Set. The thing is, I wasn't happy about the move choices so I changed it up a bit which I will discuss at a later time.
When looking at my options for a lead, I didn't want to pick a pokemon that most people would expect; therefore already be prepared for, so I decided to make Rampardos my lead. I tested him out as a lead a couple of times and realized nearly his only bad matchup would be against swampert and I also noticed that they usually just go for the earthquake or predict a switch and go for the Stealth Rocks which don't bother my team too much. I needed a pokemon that could avoid earthquake as well as OHKO swampert back. I was looking at some of my choices such as Infernape with Grass Knot but then I realized it could get hit with earthquake and it would possibly OHKO the infernape so I threw that idea out the window and decided to go for a ghost type. I chose Rotom-S. Some of you may be thinking, why Rotom-s? Well because it can OHKO with Hidden Power Grass, it has great Sp.Atk and is pretty bulky. I, once again couldn't decide on a moveset so I went with a Trick Specs which I will discuss later.
As you can see from the title of this RMT, I kinda wanted to make my team a bit different from the norm. For the next poke, I decided on Vaporeon because it is a great Gyarados counter, it has amazing HP, and because of it's great Sp.Atk (which I wanted to take advantage of). I went with not a specs but a Scarf Vaporeon mainly just because I wanted to add an element of surprise. I will discuss more on this later.
I know that from what you can see so far, my team is all choiced, but don't worry my next poke is something that most people wouldn't dare to slap a choice item on, Miltank. I decided to chose miltank because it is extremely bulky, has access to Heal Bell, It's own healing move and because it was a pain to beat in the 2nd Generation of pokemon and I like to make people suffer by remembering...elMiltank. Nahh, I'm just kidding but the reason I wanted Miltank is because I needed something to heal status and because of it's amazing ability, Scrappy. Scrappy makes it so no matter what happens, you can hit ghost types with Normal or fighting type moves. I also picked Miltank because I need something to take care of other ghost types who use Shadow Ball against my Rotom-s.
So far in my team, I noticed that I needed something that can take care of Scizor who is probably the most popular pokemon in the OU metagame as of now. I was looking over some fire types and realized mainly the only one that stood out the most was heatran but I didn't need another poke weak to ground so I went with a pokemon from UU because I thought I needed to add something that is great Special wise. I chose my personal favorite starter, Sceptile.(Until Black and White comes out of course, then it's Tsutaaja) I decided to go for sceptile because he can come in against scizor, outspeed and HP Fire it to ashes. Another reason why I chose Sceptile is because of it's fantastic diversity.
As of now, I thought my team was finished and I was ready to get on that ladder and pwn some n00bs. I was wrong, I added in quickly a Empoleon and went on the ladder only to realize that I had a weakness to DDMence. I went over my options for a bulky steel type but only found pokemon that didn't really fit my team well until I found Jirachi which caught my eye as soon as I had my mouse cursor on the back button. I tested him out and it seemed to work pretty well, countering DDmence, coming in on an outrage after +1 then OHKOing back with an Ice Punch. I decided to keep Jirachi so here is my team!!
Rampardos@ Choice Scarf
EVs: 252Atk 252Spe 4HP
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Mold Breaker
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Superpower
-Crunch
My reason for picking Rampardos as a lead is that I've noticed with a choice scarf, he can almost 100% of the time, k.o. their lead and even if they do get up a set of rocks, it doesn't really hurt my team that much. Honestly I beleive that if some people realise there are other good leads other than Azelf, Aerodactyl, and swampert, they would see the power that is Rampardos. The reason why I chose earthquake is because it is a very powerfull attack that takes care of Heatran leads. I chose Stone Edge because it is a powerful stab move with the only downfall being it's accuracy and PP. Stone Edge also takes care of Gyarados leads who for some reason try to Taunt me. To be honest, I don't really know why I have Superpower there, I've used it like once out of 50 matches. Crunch is there to get those needed kills on the Azelf leads which I outspeed about 85% of the time while they taunt me for some reason then I bring them to their sash and k.o. next turn.
Rotom-s@ Choice Specs
EVs: 252SpA 252Spe 4SpD
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
-Trick
-Shadow Ball
-Air Slash
-Hidden Power[Grass]
The reason why I chose a rotom forme instead of something else is because I needed something to block earthquake, block Rapid Spin, and also cripple my opponent and Rotom seemed to fit the bill. I put trick on here incase a blissey decided it wanted to be cool and switch into me to take one of my attacks while I just give it choice specs and go into my Rampardos or Miltank to set up rocks. Shadow Ball is there for STAB Air Slash for grass types and HP Grass for swampert and other bulky waters.
Vaporeon@ Choice Scarf
EVs:252Spe 252SpA 4HP
Nature: Modest
Ability: Water Absorb
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Signal Beam
-Hidden Power[Electric]
The reason why I went with Choice Scarf instead of Specs is because I think Vaporeon is strong enough already and Specs would just be overkill in my opinion. Surf is put onto this moveset for obvious reasons, STAB, high base power. Ice beam is there to hopefully revenge a DDMence or other dragon types that could threaten my team. Signal beam is there to handle Celebi and other bulky grass types. Hidden Power [Electric] is there to dispose of Gyarados. So far on this team I noticed that the extra speed only did something for me in like 20/50 matches and I was considering specs but I'm not sure, if someone can give me some reasons as to why specs is better than Scarf for Vaporeon, I will change it.
Miltank@ Leftovers
EVs:252HP 224Atk 32Spe
Nature: Impish
Ability: Scrappy
-Heal Bell
-Milk Drink
-Body Slam
-Stealth Rocks
When deciding to chose Miltank I knew I needed something to heal status and set up rocks I was thinking about Celebi but I never really liked it much so I went with the Tank. Heal Bell is there for healing my team's status, Milk Drink is for survivability, Body slam is preferred over return for me because I don't think that extra damage is better than getting a chance to paralyz a few of their pokemon. I needed Stealth rocks on this team so I just added it in. I prefer Scrappy instead of Thick Fat because If the opponent has a ghost type then I pretty much have to switch therefore letting my opponent set up a sub or set up with Nasty Plot or something.
Scpetile@ Life Orb
Evs:252SpA 252Spe 4HP
Nature: Timid
Ability: Overgrow
-Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power [Fire]
-Dragon Pulse
-Focus Blast
Sceptile did really well in every match that I played, usually scoring about 1-2 kills per game and if it didn't get a kill it's because Focus Blast likes to be a jerk and miss 2 times in a row. Leaf Storm is on the moveset because of STAB and it is really strong if I get Overgrow, like I mean really strong. Hidden Power [Fire] is there to take care of the Scizors who are running around like a chicken without it's head.(Sorry for the mental image) Dragon Pulse is to take care of those pesky Dragon types. Focus Blast is just flat out, a jerk since I once had it miss every single time... in a row... but yeah, it is there to take out most empoleon that don't carry Ice beam, and other pokemon that could threaten my chances of winning.
Jirachi@ Expert Belt
EVs: 252Atk 252Spe 4SpA
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Serene Grace
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch
-Grass Knot
-Iron Head
When I was picking Jirachi, I only picked it because it could come in on a resisted Bullet Punch from Scizor and OHKO it. after playing with it for a while, I realized that most people have atleast 1-2 pokemon on their team that can easily dispose of Jirachi in one hit, that is why I am willing to change this pokemon. Anyways, fire punch is there to get rid of Scizor as quickly as possible, Ice Punch is there for Mence and other Dragons, Grass knot is there for Swampert and other Bulky waters and Iron head is there mainly for STAB and to piss people off. :P
Thanks for reading this RMT and I hope you could please give me a rating from 1-10 and also please suggest any and all changes you'd make to this team to make it better, but please don't suggest I change my lead because I won't.
