Gary
Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
Blue: Comments made by Gary2346
Red: Comments made by Halcyon of Light
Hey guys! Welcome to my (technically) fourth Rate My Team! I had just finished posting my King K. Rool team when Gary2346 asked me to do a collaboration with him. Well obviously I was gonna say yes. Who could say no to that pretty face? When I asked him what he wanted to build the team around, he immediately told me that he was adamant we use Toxicroak. This surprised me, since Gary hates weather teams, but I have no problem building them. I've used Toxicroak a few times in the past, and he's always been really good when I have, but I knew that with the two of us working on this team, it would blow all of my others out of the water. Rain teams are usually no trouble at all. Politoed, Tentacruel, Ferrothorn, and then three filler 'mons and you're done! But no, not this time. This time we decided it was more important to focus on Toxicroak's specific weaknesses as well as his assets to see which team members would be best (you know, how you're SUPPOSED to make teams). first we had to decide specifically which Toxicroak set to use. Bulk Up has given me trouble in the past (a few of my teams are pretty weak to it), so that was tempting. But I just couldn't deny the sheer power of the Swords Dance set. Beating things like Jirachi (which Toxicroak can't beat even at +2), Jellicent, Lucario, etc. were our top priority. Another nifty thing Toxicroak brought our team was a practical immunity to Keldeo as well as other Hydro Pump spammers. Our friend Don Honchkrorleone wouldn't stop suggesting Sharpedo, so we told him to fuck off...but then we realized that with something to reliably deal with Keldeo and Breloom, Sharpedo could actually do work! Plus, it took care of Jellicent. It could punch holes in the opponents teams if we needed it to, or it could wait until the late-game and sweep with its decent coverage. Plus, since we had Toxicroak, we could run Ice Fang over Zen Headbutt! What a nifty little core we found! Anyway, I'm rambling. The team has been pretty successful. I went 21-0 before losing cause I missed two Thunders in a row outside of rain and peaked at number 60 on the OU ladder as TheHOL. Gary also had some great success, getting to 17-0 himself. Well, we just can't get enough of posting on this forum, so we decided we would share our Feast of the Bullfrogs with the rest of you! Enjoy!Kermit ( Politoed) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song
Politoed, Politoed, Politoed. Honestly, what can be said about this thing that hasn't already been said a million times? Politoed is absolutely necessary to the team. Using Toxicroak or Sharpedo without rain is like making a team with only four Pokémon. The question was not whetherto use Politoed, rather which Politoed to use. At first, Specs seemed the most appealing, since we were planning for this to be a completely offensive team at first. After a while, though, it became clear that we needed some defensive Pokémon to fall back on. Defensive Politoed is a great utility 'mon. It singlehandedly deals with most setup Pokémon thanks to Perish Song. Things like BU Toxicroak, Sub DD Gyarados, Sub CM Latias, and many others are forced to switch out, stopping their sweeps cold. Toxic puts a timer on defensive Pokémon like Jellicent and Rotom-W that might give our sweepers trouble. It also wears down weather starters, especially Ninetales, which hates having poison damage on top of SR. This is especially important because our team struggles to win against sun if we lose the weather war. Protect is useful for scouting choice-locked Pokémon as well as getting extra leftovers recovery which might let Politoed live an extra hit or survive another SR switch-in. Scald is one of the most broken moves in the game. An effectively 120 base power attack with a 30% chance to burn is just too good to pass up. Any Pokémon that switches into Politoed has to be wary of Scald in case they get burned and NO Pokémon wants to be burned. Gary might not like Politoed, but I absolutely do. The team would fall apart if it weren't for him, and not just because of Drizzle either.
Venom (Toxicroak) @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 228 Spd / 28 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch
Toxicroak is an interesting Pokémon. There are a few Pokémon who can use Life Orb and not take any damage from it. Things like Alakazam, Nidoking, Darmanitan, and the late Landorus have shown us just how good Life Orb can be when the user takes no recoil from it. However, only one Pokémon in OU can use Life Orb and actually gain health at the end of the turn. With max attack, an Adamant nature, Life Orb, and a Swords Dance boost, teams had better be careful or they will feel the sting of Toxicroak's weird hand-horn things. When looking at a team to make sure a sweep is possible, Toxicroak is also unusual in that only Pokémon in a certain speed tier are dangerous, and they're mostly considered pretty slow by normal standards. Keldeo, Terrakion, Lati@s, Alakazam, Starmie, Jolteon, Thundurus-T, Salamence, Gengar, and other faster threats either can't touch Toxicroak, or are easily handled with Sucker Punch at +2 (sometimes after Rocks), whereas slower things like Ferrothorn, Tentacruel, Adamant Dragonite, Breloom, non-invested Landorus-T, Tyranitar, and others are setup bait. It's only things like Lucario, Infernape, Mamoswine, and Ninetales that give our favorite poison frog trouble. Anyway, we chose Drain Punch over Cross Chop for the reliability and the extra healing, which is crazy helpful since Toxicroak isn't the bulkiest of Pokémon out there. It's a great fighting STAB move that OHKOs Ferrothorn at +2, which would otherwise be a pretty annoying threat to the team. Sucker Punch lets it KO Lati@s and Starmie even without a boost, and they always seem to forget that it runs it, which is no skin off my nose! Finally, Ice Punch lets it kill Breloom, Landorus-T, and Dragonite, as well as nailing Gengar on the switch (plus, I will admit, the freeze chance is always nice). The EVs let us outspeed Jolly Breloom, which is helpful to have gone so Sharpedo can have his day in the Smaug (Garchomp) @ Salac Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
I always knew Garchomp was an amazing Pokémon, but I had never used the Sub Salac set before. I have never been more impressed by a Pokémon before. I also don't think I've ever had a Pokémon cause more forfeits without actually doing anything. I will admit that it does have some trouble setting up at first If Garchomp has the chance to set up to +2 behind a sub, prepare to have something die. Even worse if he gets to +2/+1 behind a sub. At that point, almost nothing can survive a Garchomp rampage. Part of what makes this set effective is that people don't know it exists. Rotom-W will almost always try to Will-O-Wisp when I send in Garchomp, only to be disappointed when I Sub up at get a free Swords Dance boost and then fish for Hydro Pump misses. Outrage and Earthquake make a deadly combination as only Skarmory and Bronzong escape with minimal damage done to them. At +2, though, they'll take quite a bit more than they would have wanted.
F-16 (Latias) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Trick
Latias is easily one of the most useful Pokémon in the tier right now. If only it weren't for that pesky weakness to dark...oh well. This slot was originally an Expert Belt Thundurus-T, but we needed something that could somewhat reliably check Venusaur if we somehow lost the weather war. After that we tried LO Offensive Latias, which was doing pretty well, but we noticed the team still had some trouble with certain bulkier Pokémon like Ferrothorn, and our Scarfer was (in my opinion) unreliable and didn't fit the team very well. We still wanted something bulky to help with sun teams, but we decided to change Latias into a Choice Scarf set. I think it does much better than the LO set. It has better survivability because it doesn't have to take constant LO damage, and it also is faster than Modest Venusaur (which apparently people STILL run) so it can take on sun teams much more reliably. However, the main selling point has to be the ability to Trick a Scarf onto the many walls that try to come in on predicted Psyshocks or Draco Meteors. Plus, nobody expects Latias to be Scarfed, so the surprise factor is really helpful in making sure we can cripple the walls we need to. The moves themselves are pretty cut and dry. Draco Meteor for awesome STAB, Psyshock to revenge kill Keldeo, Breloom, and other Fighting types, and finally Surf to hit Heatran and weakened Tyranitar on the switch.
Highlander (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Thunder
- Wish
Jirachi and Politoed are probably the only Pokémon on the team that isn't an underrated set/Pokémon. Nope, Jirachi is about as standard as they come. We needed something to set up Stealth Rock and tank Draco Meteors/Outrages. Well, our little Wish Maker does that and more. Because we're running a rain team, Jirachi has the luxury of being able to use the powerful Thunder instead of Body Slam. Though it can't paralyze things like Garchomp and Thundurus-T anymore, it can hit much harder and reliably deal with things like Scizor locked into Bullet Punch and the like. The ability to spread paralysis is huge, especially since it means that Toxicroak won't have to rely on Sucker Punch as much, Garchomp can set up more easily, and Sharpedo won't have to waste a turn on Protect to set up. Even Jirachi itself can flinch-hax things to death with a little bit of luck, and as we all know, 70%=100% when Jirachi is on the field. Another awesome benefit of running Jirachi is that it can pass wishes to the rest of the team in a pinch. Wishing and then switching into Toxicroak on a predicted Water move or a switch can turn entire games around. Same goes for Politoed, which needs to win the weather war for our team to be effective and really appreciates being given over half its health back if it's in a pinch. Jirachi is essentially the defensive backbone of the team, and the team would be lost without it.Don (Sharpedo) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Protect
If this team weren't based around Toxicroak, the title of this RMT would definitely be something shark related. Sharpedo is an absolute monster and is definitely one of the more underrated Pokémon out there. The team's ass has been saved so many times by a late-game Sharpedo sweep it's not even funny. With decent attack and an ability that constantly increases its speed, Sharpedo is a force to be reckoned with. There was some question about whether to use the mixed set or the physical one. Eventually, we settled on the physical one since the idea of splitting Sharpedo offensive potential was very unappealing. It needs fully invested attack to get the job done. Life Orb is necessary to make sure he has as much attacking power as possible. Waterfall is a great reliable STAB and has great synergy with Speed Boost since it means after two turns we have a 20% chance to flinch the entire metagame. Crunch is its secondary STAB and helps hit things like Lati@s, Alakazam with its Sash broken, Reuniclus, Starmie, Gengar, and Jellicent for a ton of damage (mostly OHKOs too). We chose Ice Fang as the last move over something like Zen Headbutt because Toxicroak already takes care of Keldeo for us, and we needed something that could take out Dragons more reliably. It also lets Sharpedo OHKO Landorus-T even after the attack drop and outside of the rain. Protect is useful since it gives us a guaranteed boost in speed, and if we can kill something before they send in their Scarfed Pokémon, or attack on the switch, it makes sure we can out-speed them on the next turn and take out their revenge killer. People need to know just how powerful Sharpedo can really be. After everything else has been weakened sufficiently, Sharpedo comes in and makes sure the opponent's Pokémon are sleeping with the fishes tonight.
A lot of the time, people put a big emphasis on how well a team functions and how it handles the top threats of the metagame. One aspect of playing Pokémon that I think is often forgotten is simply having fun with it and enjoying yourself when you use it. This is one of the most fun teams I have ever made. I mean, we use all sorts of underrated sets and Pokémon from Toxicroak to Sharpedo, from Sub Salac Garchomp to Scarf Latias, there are plenty of interesting new elements in this team for me to try out, and it's been a blast. In particular, I love Toxicroak and Sharpedo. Both of these Pokémon have insane sweeping potential, and I think they deserve a lot more usage than they get. Obviously they're both very rain-dependent, but it's honestly worth it. Anyway, I'd like to thank Gary2346 for asking me to do a collaboration and Don Honchkrorleone for giving us the idea to use Sharpedo. We've had great success with the team and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do! Thanks for your time!
Code:
Name (Politoed) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Protect
- Perish Song
Name (Garchomp) (M) @ Salac Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
Name (Latias) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
- Trick
Name (Toxicroak) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 228 Spd / 28 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch
Name (Jirachi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SDef / 20 Spd
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Thunder
- Wish
Name (Sharpedo) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Ice Fang
- Protect
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