Hey There.
After all of this time being on Smogon and playing Shoddy, this is my first RMT. Normally when I make a team, I usually never try to improve it after it has hit the inevitable wall. That's not important, though. This team is my main focus.
At a Glance
Scyther (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
~ Aerial Ace
~ U-turn
~ Quick Attack
~ Brick Break
To start, I'm not a fan of suicide leads, and I'm not a fan on something who's life mission is to set up entry hazards and prove no purpose later. I suppose "anti-leads" are what I prefer, and although Scyther is not technically an anti-lead, he gives me momentum from the beginning.
EVs: Standard Choice Band spread. Jolly and Max speed to tie with other base 105s (Mismagius) and outspeed anything trying to pass high base speed neutral natured Pokemon. Max attack for killing things!!!
Moves: Aerial Ace for STAB+Technician. U-turn is great for scouting and is usually what I use first. Quick Attack is for weakened late-gamers, and Brick Break is for coverage, although I hardly ever use it.
Vs. Other Leads: Even though he's not a traditional lead, here's what I plan to do.
Ambipom: Always Switch to Spiritomb to take the Fake Out.
Uxie: I'll usually U-turn to Claydol to take a T-wave or to spin away its rocks. If it tricks me a Scarf, I go to Slaking to Pursuit trap it. Sometimes I'll go to 'tomb.
Mesprit: Same as Uxie for the most part.
Omastar: Straight up U-turn to either Magmortar or Claydol.
Cloyester: They usually like to Ice Shard, but I go to Claydol as I kill it faster with Earth Power.
Spiritomb: U-turn to my own Spiritomb.
Electrode: I don't face these often, but usually they're on RD teams, which are hard to stop for me. I switch to Claydol or Spiritomb.
Kabutops: U-turn to Claydol because they try to Stone Edge.
I know I didn't cover a lot of leads, but the basic idea is Scyther usually U-turns or switches.
Late Game: Despite being a lead, Scyther will usually stick around for the whole game. He works like a utility much like Scizor. Claydol's spinning is important to make Scyther a constant scout.
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP/4 SAtk/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
~ Surf
~ Toxic
~ Refresh
~ Perish Song
Yes, this is a Politoed. Probably outclassed by pretty much every bulky water there is in UU. It turns out, Politoed is my initial switch in to bulky waters. What sets him apart is his prized Perish Song. It is, in my opinion, the best phazing move in the game. It hits through Subs, stops CMers and Cursers, cuts many sweeper's time short, and a guaranteed kill on their final Pokemon.
EVs: Max out his Special Defense and HP for highest walling ability, but even after that, he still can't take too much of a beating, even from the special side, due to no instant recover.
Moves: Surf for a STAB'd attack, Toxic is to poison other bulky waters, Refresh is to cure the Toxic other bulky may inflict on me, and Perish Song is, well, the only reason I'm using Politoed.
Other: The thing that breaks my heart the most about Politoed is it's lack of recovery and unimpressive defenses for a wall. I wouldn't mind him leaving, and I've considered Altaria due to it's ability to Perish Song, but that would give me more Ice weaknesses, which would make me have to replace Claydol. Maybe with Blastoise? Help!
Claydol @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/144 Def/112 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
~ Rapid Spin
~ Stealth Rock
~ Earth Power
~ Shadow Ball
The second part of my completely underwhelming "defensive" core. He's here because he can Spin and set up rocks. That's about it.
EVs: Max HP for bulk, the defense is to take a beating from select physical Pokemon, and to take pursuit a little better. The Special attack to power up Claydol's chosen moves to hit what he needs to.
Moves: Rapid Spin to spin and Stealth Rock for the sake of Stealth Rock. Earth Power for STAB and is great for Claydol to combat Registeels. Shadow Ball is for the obvious Ghost switch-ins.
Other: Yeah, along with Politoed, they're not very hard to take down. I need a Spinner to take his place if that were to happen. Stealth Rock isn't completely necessary, but it's nice.
Slaking (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Truant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ Earthquake
~ Return
~ Pursuit
~ Fire Punch
Oh boy. Slaking. Remember earlier when I talked about momentum with Scyther? Well, Slaking usually stops it, which is probably counterproductive. Anyway, his massive attack and ability to kill damn near everything is what attracted me to him in the first place, but as any Pokemon player knows, Truant is one of the worst abilities in the game and is the single reason why Slaking gets no love. The fact that I have a Perish Song user is probably one of the reasons why using Slaking hasn't totally fucked me. In fact, I can't recall any situation where Slaking has been the reason why a sweeper got to set up and proceed to sweep me. He usually gets at least one kill in the game, and his power is so great, he can take down many problem Pokemon. Another thing about Slaking is his gigantic bulk, which makes him a revenge killer of sorts. A lot of the time he can survive boosted STAB attacks and retaliate with the appropriate move. This used to be Scarfking, but that didn't work out so well..
EVs: Max attack with adamant for absolute destruction. Max speed to outspeed things who may forget that Slaking does in fact possess 100 base speed.
Moves: Return for STAB kills many Pokemon. Many. Earthquake maims steel types, Pursuit is for trapping, and Fire Punch, well, Fire Punch's only use has seemed to be catching Rotoms and Mismagius on the switch. In that case, Shadow Claw would do more, but Pursuit is nice. I'm not really sure about this.
Other: Yes, I wouldn't mind if Slaking were to be replaced. Matching his bulk and power will be tough. Tauros comes to mind with Intimidate, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a normal-type. Just something powerful with possibly a little bulk. Suggestions?
Magmortar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 16 Atk/240 Spd/252 SAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd, -Def)
~ Flamethrower
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power [Grass]
~ Earthquake
Magmortar is lovely. Thunderbolt is the envy of fire types everywhere, and coupled with base 125 Special Attack and a Passable 95 Attack, I picked out a mixed set. Now, the standard mixed set usually runs Cross Chop. You know, to get Clefables and Chanseys, but the thing is, I have other things that can deal with those two, and I hardly ever found myself using it. I decided on Earthquake to attack other fire-types, namely Blaziken and Houndoom.
EVs: 240 speed and Hasty is for downright outrunning any positive base 80s and even 81s (Milotic...) Max Special Attack and the rest goes into attack.
Moves: Flamethrower for a reliable STAB, but sometimes it's not strong enough. May replace with Fire Blast. Thunderbolt is to catch those pesky bulky waters. Now, I chose HP Grass over Ice particularly to get Rhyperior. Many Rhyperiors like to switch in, expecting to not get KO'd by HP Ice. Getting the odd Gastrodon and Quagsire is also nice. Earthquake is specifically for Fire types, because Cross Chop didn't really do much. Flamethrower can put a good dent in some Clefables, anyway.
Other: Magmortar does what he's supposed to do. Many things fall at the feet of him. I don't really have much to say
Spiritomb (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
~ Calm Mind
~ Dark Pulse
Last but not least, this gal. It's astounding how many teams come unprepared for an eventually immortal Spiritomb. Toxic? Rest it off. Physical attacks? She's bulky enough. Critical Hits? Well...
EVs: Max HP and Defense for physical bulk. Her Special side will be raised anyway.
Moves: Rest to heal, Sleep Talk to stay active, Calm Mind to boost, and Dark Pulse is the better STAB as nothing is immune to it.
Other: There's not really much else to say. This is a great Pokemon. Sometimes Spiritomb dies a lot earlier than I'd want, so maybe I should fix that. As in, not let it die so early, as it's my only chance for a set-up sweep.
Some Last Words
Yes, I am fully aware of the imperfection of the team. It may seem that many threats flat out sweep me, but I usually have the ability to play around them (except maybe SD Sceptile..) Rain Dance teams are a problem, but what can you do.
Anyway, if you didn't notice, Politoed, Claydol, and Slaking are the ones that I am open to suggestion. I would love something else with Perish Song to replace Politoed and something with Rapid Spin to replace Claydol. Also, something without Truant to replace Slaking. I really need some help!
Let's see these guys one last time!
