Dusknoir Bulky Offense Gravity
I am a rather casual (and somewhat newish) competitive player but I managed to scrap a team together that peaked at 1360 on the gen 4 OU ladder, and it has typically hovered around 1250-1300. The team is a rather bulky mostly offensive gravity team. I wanted to use dusknoir in a team, so I started researching for ideas, and I saw that dusknoir has a unique niche in gravity teams. For those who don't know, gravity is a move that, for 5 turns, ground immunities are removed, the accuracy of moves is strongly boosted (technically evasion is lowered but same idea), and spikes and toxic spikes hit ground-immune pokemon. The idea fascinated me, so I got to work, and the end result was a bulky team that abuses low accuracy moves, which are perfectly accurate under gravity, and earthquake and earth power hitting all targets.
Teambuilding
Dusknoir is a bulky ghost type who can set gravity, so we need team members to compliment him and use the benefits he brings
Jirachi is a fantastic lead in general, who gets access to gravity, which isn't too difficult.
To fill out the gravity users, I added starmie and metagross. Both pokemon are very versatile, and can use and abuse quite gravity nicely.
To round off the team, I then added some pokemon who can function well outside gravity, but thrive even more in it, which shaymin and swampert fit the bill here perfectly. I experimented with a great number of pokemon in the spot swampert now occupies, including tentacruel, kabutops and latias, but swampert ended up providing the most upside.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Gravity
- Thunder
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
The ever versatile and sometimes very annoying Jirachi leads this team. It has a slightly different moveset than most Jirachi would run however. Stealth Rock and Gravity are givens, but I use Thunder instead of body slam because under gravity it gains perfect accuracy, has the same paralysis chance as body slam, and has a neat surprise factor for opponents. It also allows Jirachi to get around physical walls, and deal good damage to targets weak to electric. The evs are put in health and speed to ensure that Jirachi can get multiple moves off at the start of the match, and it is bulky enough to come back in more times during a match and set up gravity of mess around with Thunder. I actually don't find myself using iron head too much, but it is a nice emergency option, especially to let Jirachi recover health with leftovers. This lead struggles against Azelf lead, but functions just fine against most other leads. Earthquake carrying leads tend to use stealth rocks first, giving me a turn to set rocks myself or set up gravity.
Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 68 Atk / 188 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Gravity
- Will-O-Wisp
- Earthquake
- Pain Split
Dusknoir plays the role of bulky support on this team, in the form of Will-O-Wisp or Gravity. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers, helps against stall, and can help against opponents with a lot of offensive momentum. It also has perfect accuracy under gravity. Gravity is obvious here, and dusknoir has enough staying power to use it a couple times throughout a battle. Pain split gives dusknoir a means of recovery. Earthquake is my choice for the last spot, as it gives dusknoir a good move that is enhanced by Gravity, and it can sometimes surprise opponents. I tried replacing pain split and earthquake with shadow sneak and dynamic punch, and giving dusknoir an attack and health ev spread, but dynamic punch is still not completely reliable even in gravity, and is abysmal outside it. The lack of recovery was also strongly felt. The strange evs do have a purpose. 68 attack evs with an adamant nature ensure a OHKO on heatran looking to switch in on Will-O-Wisp, as well as ensuring earthquake hits decently in general, allowing dusknoir to act as a soft check to fire types, which this team hates. The remaining evs are put in defense and special defense to maximize bulk while minimizing health, allowing pain split to deal solid damage in addition to keeping dusknoir alive. Dusknoir can also act as a thunder wave absorber if needed.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Gravity
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Blizzard
Starmie is the big guns of this team. The idea is simple: starmie switches in after either a death on my side, or a passive move like spikes, or even a resisted attack if needed, but starmie doesn't like that option as much, as it is rather frail. Then starmie either sets up gravity on a switch, or if it is already up of the situation calls for attacking, starmie spams its powerful moves. Under Gravity, Hydro Pump, Thunder and Blizzard all get perfect accuracy. The evs allow starmie to be botha potent sweeper and wallbreaker simultaneously. Life Orb furthers the damage output. Starmie can often take down two or even three enemy pokemon before dying. It is usually too frail to switch in multiple times in a fight. I messed around with ice beam over blizzard, to give starmie a reliable move should gravity not be up, but starmie needs to power of blizzard to destroy latias and hydro pump is usually sufficient even if gravity isn't up as a reliable move. On a side note, blizzard and thunder get perfect accuracy in hail and rain respectively, and the gravity accuracy boost mostly offsets the accuracy penalties in a sandstorm.
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Gravity
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
Metagross is the fourth and last gravity setter on this team, providing a physical attacker that complements starmie's special offense. Metagross's bulk and typing allows him to set up gravity rather easily, and then with maximum attack, can use meteor mash with worrying about a bad miss, and earthquake without worry of a flying or levitating switch in. Bullet punch rounds off the set, allowing metagross to bypass his lower speed to clean up after an initial hit. Metagross prefers leftovers to a life orb to keep him around longer. Life orb bullet punches also would wear him down. Steel and ground provide great coverage under gravity, and this metagross is designed to abuse that to the full.
Shaymin @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rest
Shaymin is the first pokemon on this team that doesn't know gravity. Shaymin is prehaps the most reliable pokemon on this team, because it can function well outside of gravity, but it becomes very deadly inside it. Seed flare hits most things hard, and doesn't miss in gravity. If it scores a special defense drop, shaymin can break through special walls as well. Earth power is a nice coverage move that hits everything under gravity. Hidden power fire OHKOes Scizor and can put breloom in trouble. Rest allows shaymin to recovers its health and thanks to natural cure, switch back into battle again. The evs allow shaymin to be a fast sweeper. It has enough bulk to take a hit as well. Its grass typing also gives me a switch in to opponents who use ground moves hoping to abuse my gravity, as well as providing a water and electric resistance, moves most of my other pokemon don't really resist.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Ice Punch
Swampert was my pick for the last member of this team. I realized I didn't have a ground type on my offensive gravity team (a little embarrassing), but swampert fixes that. I mentioned above that my team hates fire: 3 mons are weak, and the one resist in starmie doesn't really take the fire blasts well. Swampert provides a great switch in into infernape and heatran (without hidden power grass). He can then abuse earthquake and a perfectly accurate stone edge and aqua tail, while using his bulk to stay alive and switch in on threats multiple times a match. Ice punch rounds off the set to hit dragons and breloom that switch in and provide a reliable move for when gravity is down.
I also said above that I tried using kabutops, latias and tentacruel in swampert's place. Latias ran thunder wave, wish, protect and surf, but this proved too passive (or I was bad at using it). Latias also loses her ground immunity in gravity, and also didn't really have any way to abuse gravity herself. Kabutops ran rapid spin, waterfall, stone edge and aqua jet, and while not completely unsuccessful, the fire types in OU generally had counters for him, limiting his role too much. Tentacruel was the best competition, with a set of rapid spin, toxic spikes, blizzard and hydro pump. He even has the advantage of besting breloom, which swampert rarely does. He proved a bit too passive, as even blizzard and hydro pump were a bit weak, and he often made me lose momentum despite great utility (I could have also just played him badly). My laptop won't allow me to properly format replays for some reason, so unfortunately I can't put any here.
Counters
Breloom
Prehaps the single biggest counter to this team. It resists the powerful water, electric and ground moves my team uses as primary attacks. Starmie can have difficulty creating an opportunity to blizzard it, due to a seed bomb weakness. Natural cure on starmie and shaymin are my best answers to spore, and these aren't particularly great since he can just spore the switch in. Metagross can hit it hard with meteor mash, but I can usually expect to have a pokemon asleep at the very least.
Gengar
Gengar is faster than all of my pokemon and hits hard. These sort of pokemon aren't an issue if I have a resist to their STAB, but with two weaknesses, and four neutralities, Gengar is often going to take down a pokemon. If I have gravity up and a healthy ground type attack user, then I can get rid of it, but if gravity isn't up Gengar can quickly snowball kills on my team.
Infernape
Infernape, like Gengar, is fast and powerful. I have a good counter in swampert, and a decent counter in starmie, but U--turn variants can rack up damage on my team, and it constantly forces switches on my end.
Flygon
Flygon has a good typing against my team, and has levitate, which, while gravity negates, is annoying outside of gravity. Choice scarf variants force me to gamble whether or not I'm faster than it, and its earthquakes are only resisted by shaymin. Dusknoir can will-o-wisp it, but it will almost always u-turn into a counter in that situation.
Sandstorm
Sandstorm teams are interesting to play with this team: on the one hand, my earthquakes will strike every rock and steel for super effective damage, but on the other hand, gravity is absolutely essential to have up, as thunder and blizzard have a pitiful 50% accuracy without it, and this allows me to exploit their increased likely hood of using flying types and leviatators as ground move counters.
With that that concludes the RMT, all feedback is greatly appreciated.
Dusknoir is a bulky ghost type who can set gravity, so we need team members to compliment him and use the benefits he brings
Jirachi is a fantastic lead in general, who gets access to gravity, which isn't too difficult.
To fill out the gravity users, I added starmie and metagross. Both pokemon are very versatile, and can use and abuse quite gravity nicely.
To round off the team, I then added some pokemon who can function well outside gravity, but thrive even more in it, which shaymin and swampert fit the bill here perfectly. I experimented with a great number of pokemon in the spot swampert now occupies, including tentacruel, kabutops and latias, but swampert ended up providing the most upside.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Gravity
- Thunder
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
The ever versatile and sometimes very annoying Jirachi leads this team. It has a slightly different moveset than most Jirachi would run however. Stealth Rock and Gravity are givens, but I use Thunder instead of body slam because under gravity it gains perfect accuracy, has the same paralysis chance as body slam, and has a neat surprise factor for opponents. It also allows Jirachi to get around physical walls, and deal good damage to targets weak to electric. The evs are put in health and speed to ensure that Jirachi can get multiple moves off at the start of the match, and it is bulky enough to come back in more times during a match and set up gravity of mess around with Thunder. I actually don't find myself using iron head too much, but it is a nice emergency option, especially to let Jirachi recover health with leftovers. This lead struggles against Azelf lead, but functions just fine against most other leads. Earthquake carrying leads tend to use stealth rocks first, giving me a turn to set rocks myself or set up gravity.
Dusknoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 68 Atk / 188 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Gravity
- Will-O-Wisp
- Earthquake
- Pain Split
Dusknoir plays the role of bulky support on this team, in the form of Will-O-Wisp or Gravity. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers, helps against stall, and can help against opponents with a lot of offensive momentum. It also has perfect accuracy under gravity. Gravity is obvious here, and dusknoir has enough staying power to use it a couple times throughout a battle. Pain split gives dusknoir a means of recovery. Earthquake is my choice for the last spot, as it gives dusknoir a good move that is enhanced by Gravity, and it can sometimes surprise opponents. I tried replacing pain split and earthquake with shadow sneak and dynamic punch, and giving dusknoir an attack and health ev spread, but dynamic punch is still not completely reliable even in gravity, and is abysmal outside it. The lack of recovery was also strongly felt. The strange evs do have a purpose. 68 attack evs with an adamant nature ensure a OHKO on heatran looking to switch in on Will-O-Wisp, as well as ensuring earthquake hits decently in general, allowing dusknoir to act as a soft check to fire types, which this team hates. The remaining evs are put in defense and special defense to maximize bulk while minimizing health, allowing pain split to deal solid damage in addition to keeping dusknoir alive. Dusknoir can also act as a thunder wave absorber if needed.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Gravity
- Thunder
- Hydro Pump
- Blizzard
Starmie is the big guns of this team. The idea is simple: starmie switches in after either a death on my side, or a passive move like spikes, or even a resisted attack if needed, but starmie doesn't like that option as much, as it is rather frail. Then starmie either sets up gravity on a switch, or if it is already up of the situation calls for attacking, starmie spams its powerful moves. Under Gravity, Hydro Pump, Thunder and Blizzard all get perfect accuracy. The evs allow starmie to be botha potent sweeper and wallbreaker simultaneously. Life Orb furthers the damage output. Starmie can often take down two or even three enemy pokemon before dying. It is usually too frail to switch in multiple times in a fight. I messed around with ice beam over blizzard, to give starmie a reliable move should gravity not be up, but starmie needs to power of blizzard to destroy latias and hydro pump is usually sufficient even if gravity isn't up as a reliable move. On a side note, blizzard and thunder get perfect accuracy in hail and rain respectively, and the gravity accuracy boost mostly offsets the accuracy penalties in a sandstorm.
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Gravity
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
Metagross is the fourth and last gravity setter on this team, providing a physical attacker that complements starmie's special offense. Metagross's bulk and typing allows him to set up gravity rather easily, and then with maximum attack, can use meteor mash with worrying about a bad miss, and earthquake without worry of a flying or levitating switch in. Bullet punch rounds off the set, allowing metagross to bypass his lower speed to clean up after an initial hit. Metagross prefers leftovers to a life orb to keep him around longer. Life orb bullet punches also would wear him down. Steel and ground provide great coverage under gravity, and this metagross is designed to abuse that to the full.
Shaymin @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rest
Shaymin is the first pokemon on this team that doesn't know gravity. Shaymin is prehaps the most reliable pokemon on this team, because it can function well outside of gravity, but it becomes very deadly inside it. Seed flare hits most things hard, and doesn't miss in gravity. If it scores a special defense drop, shaymin can break through special walls as well. Earth power is a nice coverage move that hits everything under gravity. Hidden power fire OHKOes Scizor and can put breloom in trouble. Rest allows shaymin to recovers its health and thanks to natural cure, switch back into battle again. The evs allow shaymin to be a fast sweeper. It has enough bulk to take a hit as well. Its grass typing also gives me a switch in to opponents who use ground moves hoping to abuse my gravity, as well as providing a water and electric resistance, moves most of my other pokemon don't really resist.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Ice Punch
Swampert was my pick for the last member of this team. I realized I didn't have a ground type on my offensive gravity team (a little embarrassing), but swampert fixes that. I mentioned above that my team hates fire: 3 mons are weak, and the one resist in starmie doesn't really take the fire blasts well. Swampert provides a great switch in into infernape and heatran (without hidden power grass). He can then abuse earthquake and a perfectly accurate stone edge and aqua tail, while using his bulk to stay alive and switch in on threats multiple times a match. Ice punch rounds off the set to hit dragons and breloom that switch in and provide a reliable move for when gravity is down.
I also said above that I tried using kabutops, latias and tentacruel in swampert's place. Latias ran thunder wave, wish, protect and surf, but this proved too passive (or I was bad at using it). Latias also loses her ground immunity in gravity, and also didn't really have any way to abuse gravity herself. Kabutops ran rapid spin, waterfall, stone edge and aqua jet, and while not completely unsuccessful, the fire types in OU generally had counters for him, limiting his role too much. Tentacruel was the best competition, with a set of rapid spin, toxic spikes, blizzard and hydro pump. He even has the advantage of besting breloom, which swampert rarely does. He proved a bit too passive, as even blizzard and hydro pump were a bit weak, and he often made me lose momentum despite great utility (I could have also just played him badly). My laptop won't allow me to properly format replays for some reason, so unfortunately I can't put any here.
Counters
Breloom
Prehaps the single biggest counter to this team. It resists the powerful water, electric and ground moves my team uses as primary attacks. Starmie can have difficulty creating an opportunity to blizzard it, due to a seed bomb weakness. Natural cure on starmie and shaymin are my best answers to spore, and these aren't particularly great since he can just spore the switch in. Metagross can hit it hard with meteor mash, but I can usually expect to have a pokemon asleep at the very least.
Gengar
Gengar is faster than all of my pokemon and hits hard. These sort of pokemon aren't an issue if I have a resist to their STAB, but with two weaknesses, and four neutralities, Gengar is often going to take down a pokemon. If I have gravity up and a healthy ground type attack user, then I can get rid of it, but if gravity isn't up Gengar can quickly snowball kills on my team.
Infernape
Infernape, like Gengar, is fast and powerful. I have a good counter in swampert, and a decent counter in starmie, but U--turn variants can rack up damage on my team, and it constantly forces switches on my end.
Flygon
Flygon has a good typing against my team, and has levitate, which, while gravity negates, is annoying outside of gravity. Choice scarf variants force me to gamble whether or not I'm faster than it, and its earthquakes are only resisted by shaymin. Dusknoir can will-o-wisp it, but it will almost always u-turn into a counter in that situation.
Sandstorm
Sandstorm teams are interesting to play with this team: on the one hand, my earthquakes will strike every rock and steel for super effective damage, but on the other hand, gravity is absolutely essential to have up, as thunder and blizzard have a pitiful 50% accuracy without it, and this allows me to exploit their increased likely hood of using flying types and leviatators as ground move counters.
With that that concludes the RMT, all feedback is greatly appreciated.
could function well as a way of punishing those. And of course, stone edge can't miss in gravity either, which is also very nice. I don't know what I would replace with 