Fire Fighting. An amazing offensive typing indicated by the banned (Mega) Blaziken, but can it also work for another starter? I’ve constructed this team with an underrated core in Volcarona and Nasty Plot Mixed Infernape. The main thing going for it is that you’re essentially playing with parallel sweepers who can usually eliminate each other’s counters from the game, ensuring that either or can manage to sweep late game. With Infernape’s unique access to Grass Knot, it can allow Volcarona to get past things it normally wouldn’t, such as Jellicent, Dragonite, and Gyarados in one set, with the ability to still threaten the likes of the pink blobs and Heatran. Due to the opinion of most battlers assuming that Infernape is outclassed by many other sweepers, I am usually successful in wallbreaking past things that I normally wouldn’t even touch.
TEAMBUILDING PROCESS:
With Nasty Plot Infernape and HP Rock Volcarona already explained as to why they are on the team, they share a huge Sticky Web weakness while the latter has SR problems, as well as checking problems like bulky waters whilst having huge offensive pressure by making sure few can switch in by dealing a ton of damage on the switch in. With all of these requirements met, I have decided to use Rapid Spin Starmie, specifically 3 attacks Rapid Spin Starmie. It provides me with the famous Bolt Beam coverage which allows me to 2hko bulky waters such as Vaporeon or Jellicent with Thunderbolt, and any dragons/grass mon's like Garchomp don't like taking an Ice Beam to the face.
With these three Pokemon now in the team, a weakness that stands out is Rotom-W, and the lack of a reliable sledge hammer for water types or anything that resists Fire and Fighting. This where Latios comes in, he does all of the above with LO Draco Meteor or even Psyshock, as well as some Pokemon with good versatility and can, with proper predictions, easily clean up. I pack recover to make sure such a beast can't be LO stalled, and to make pursuit trapping a little bit harder. If you're wondering why I picked Latios over LO Latias, it's as simple as I crave more damage and I don't need the defensive boosts provided by Latias.
After realizing that I had problems to certain psychic types, (Latias, Latios, and Jellicent) I've decided to get myself a pursuit trapper to help with that, preferably scarf because we lack one and the extra speed boost would greatly help due to the fact that the Lati@s have a base speed of 110. I decided for the moment that Scarf TTar would help, because it can
take at least 1 hit from all three of them, and while it might have a hard time with Jellicent, compared to other scarfed pursuit trappers, he handles the situation way better than others.
For the last slot, I needed 2 things. The first of which being an SR user, the second of wish is someone who can check threats like DD Dragonite, Physical Mega Lucario, and to an incredibly lesser extent, Terrakion and Scizor. For this reason, I realized that Landorus-T fits this role perfectly thanks to Intimidate and the ability to run SR. It can easily be used to force Dragon Dancing Pokemon in general (minus Kingdra but who uses Kingdra lol) and murder the dancer with HP Ice or set up SR THEN go for it, either way works. It has a strong STAB with EQ thanks to it's high base attack stat, and since his intimidate forces switches, U-Turn can be used to say "nope" and either bring a counter/check and if Ape or Volc checks one of them welp free set up time!
Team has all 6 mons, so I did a helpful thing and I playtested it, and I noticed Analytic Starmie and Greninja can completely stomp this team ESPECIALLY THE LATTER, since I had nothing that could outspeed it nor did I have any priority. What I needed to do was simple, get another scarf user that could handle the two mons, and that was basically only Scizor lol. Scizor's base stats are high enough that it can still manage to ohko the necessary threats that TTar could, minus Jellicent, and as well as these two Pokemon. Jellicent gets wrecked by an on-switch T-Bolt from Starmie and Latios does a CLEAN 80% with Draco Meteor to physically defensive Jellicent so a Draco+Psyshock should do the trick, especially with rocks up.
Alright I explained why and what the purposes are in the teambuilding section I'm just doing tl;dr's from here on out.
Olympus (Infernape) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
If double switching on the right time or abusing U-Turn to let him go in safely, Ape can easily set up on anything that would usually have troubles with Volcarona such as Scizor, Heatran, and Blissey, while CC screws with special tanks pre +2 and is just a middle finger to Blissey and Heatran as it OHKO's them no problem. Nasty Plot punishes people for being predictable by allowing it to get +2 Fire Blasts and Grass Knots for free, i.e a low health Vaporeon protecting after wish or switching Ape out on Scizor forcing Scizor to switch out allowing you to set up. Grass Knot is there for Jellicent and the likes and it's also 100% accurate so gl dodging it 20% health Excadrill lmao.
Cinderella (Volcarona) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Volcarona can use the sledge hammering given by the rest of the team to get in on a Pokemon that can't do much to it like Ferro without T-Wave, Scizor, etc. and just have a grand old time using Fiery Dance and Bug Buzz's decent coverage allowing it to kill all steels minus Heatran and Empoleon and Bug Buzz screws anything that resists fire but not bug because STAB and higher base power, while HP Rock is to screw with scarf Mence, Dragonite after SR damage, and most fire types minus Ape with Stone Edge and Heatran to sweep easily. You can replace Flame Body with Swarm, but I generally don't get low enough for Swarm range to be useful because you shouldn't be setting up at risks that you'll get so low, and burning Mega Lucario/Scizor/Dragonite/anything with physical priority is incredibly nice because it hinders them for the rest of the match.
:) (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
Good coverage, has the much needed rapid spin so that way Volc can switch in on stuff without getting half of it's health gone lol, and it helps with Sticky Web because Ape and Volcarona don't like getting their speed lower because it means more can shut them down. Starmie's 115 speed allows it to outspeed potent threats like Gengar, Lati@s, and all 108 fighting types. Analytic screws anything on switch-in and scarfers that can't get past through it's decent bulk.
X (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: null Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Recover
Sledge hammer for things that Ape and Volc can't handle like bulky waters, as well as basically anything not fairy, Chansey/Blissey, and Ferrothorn. Draco Meteor hurts anything that doesn't resist/isn't immune to it. Psyshock screws over Sp.D oriented mon's like Clefable and Sp.D Jelli because of STAB and Latios' massive Sp.A stat. Surf is mostly filler but it's nice for Excadrill and Skarm who can take the rest of it's hits. Latios also checks Rotom-W, which is a huge plus due to the fact that scarf Rotom-W can be a pain in the ass to deal with.
Sonic2Slow (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- U-Turn
- Superpower
Scarfer for Greninja, Lati@s, and Starmie, as well as kills anything that's low thanks to good base attack stat and Technician boosted Pursuit. Bullet Punch is nice for Tornadus or anything low with priority despite being Jolly Scarf. U-Turn brings momentum and safe switching so Ape/Volc can come in safely, while Superpower is mandatory as it destroys Greninja before it can hurt you and the rest of your team while dealing with basically every steel minus Aegislash and Skarmory.
Landorus (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Couldn't think of a nickname lol. Has SR, which as you all know is the best move in the game because constant damage upon switching out who doesn't like that lol? Has U-Turn for safe switching out into sweepers such as Ape or Volc. Prevents Dragonite, Physical Lucario, Terrakion, and Talonflame from setting up and sweeping because he murders them all before they can sweep thanks to Intimidate's reducing allowing Landorus to take neutral hits ranging from 40%-70% depending on which of those mon's hit me. Also Landorus-T's EV's are weird because why does it need speed it's relaxed lol.
TEAMBUILDING PROCESS:
With Nasty Plot Infernape and HP Rock Volcarona already explained as to why they are on the team, they share a huge Sticky Web weakness while the latter has SR problems, as well as checking problems like bulky waters whilst having huge offensive pressure by making sure few can switch in by dealing a ton of damage on the switch in. With all of these requirements met, I have decided to use Rapid Spin Starmie, specifically 3 attacks Rapid Spin Starmie. It provides me with the famous Bolt Beam coverage which allows me to 2hko bulky waters such as Vaporeon or Jellicent with Thunderbolt, and any dragons/grass mon's like Garchomp don't like taking an Ice Beam to the face.
With these three Pokemon now in the team, a weakness that stands out is Rotom-W, and the lack of a reliable sledge hammer for water types or anything that resists Fire and Fighting. This where Latios comes in, he does all of the above with LO Draco Meteor or even Psyshock, as well as some Pokemon with good versatility and can, with proper predictions, easily clean up. I pack recover to make sure such a beast can't be LO stalled, and to make pursuit trapping a little bit harder. If you're wondering why I picked Latios over LO Latias, it's as simple as I crave more damage and I don't need the defensive boosts provided by Latias.
After realizing that I had problems to certain psychic types, (Latias, Latios, and Jellicent) I've decided to get myself a pursuit trapper to help with that, preferably scarf because we lack one and the extra speed boost would greatly help due to the fact that the Lati@s have a base speed of 110. I decided for the moment that Scarf TTar would help, because it can
take at least 1 hit from all three of them, and while it might have a hard time with Jellicent, compared to other scarfed pursuit trappers, he handles the situation way better than others.
For the last slot, I needed 2 things. The first of which being an SR user, the second of wish is someone who can check threats like DD Dragonite, Physical Mega Lucario, and to an incredibly lesser extent, Terrakion and Scizor. For this reason, I realized that Landorus-T fits this role perfectly thanks to Intimidate and the ability to run SR. It can easily be used to force Dragon Dancing Pokemon in general (minus Kingdra but who uses Kingdra lol) and murder the dancer with HP Ice or set up SR THEN go for it, either way works. It has a strong STAB with EQ thanks to it's high base attack stat, and since his intimidate forces switches, U-Turn can be used to say "nope" and either bring a counter/check and if Ape or Volc checks one of them welp free set up time!
Team has all 6 mons, so I did a helpful thing and I playtested it, and I noticed Analytic Starmie and Greninja can completely stomp this team ESPECIALLY THE LATTER, since I had nothing that could outspeed it nor did I have any priority. What I needed to do was simple, get another scarf user that could handle the two mons, and that was basically only Scizor lol. Scizor's base stats are high enough that it can still manage to ohko the necessary threats that TTar could, minus Jellicent, and as well as these two Pokemon. Jellicent gets wrecked by an on-switch T-Bolt from Starmie and Latios does a CLEAN 80% with Draco Meteor to physically defensive Jellicent so a Draco+Psyshock should do the trick, especially with rocks up.
Alright I explained why and what the purposes are in the teambuilding section I'm just doing tl;dr's from here on out.
Olympus (Infernape) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
If double switching on the right time or abusing U-Turn to let him go in safely, Ape can easily set up on anything that would usually have troubles with Volcarona such as Scizor, Heatran, and Blissey, while CC screws with special tanks pre +2 and is just a middle finger to Blissey and Heatran as it OHKO's them no problem. Nasty Plot punishes people for being predictable by allowing it to get +2 Fire Blasts and Grass Knots for free, i.e a low health Vaporeon protecting after wish or switching Ape out on Scizor forcing Scizor to switch out allowing you to set up. Grass Knot is there for Jellicent and the likes and it's also 100% accurate so gl dodging it 20% health Excadrill lmao.
Cinderella (Volcarona) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Hidden Power [Rock]
Volcarona can use the sledge hammering given by the rest of the team to get in on a Pokemon that can't do much to it like Ferro without T-Wave, Scizor, etc. and just have a grand old time using Fiery Dance and Bug Buzz's decent coverage allowing it to kill all steels minus Heatran and Empoleon and Bug Buzz screws anything that resists fire but not bug because STAB and higher base power, while HP Rock is to screw with scarf Mence, Dragonite after SR damage, and most fire types minus Ape with Stone Edge and Heatran to sweep easily. You can replace Flame Body with Swarm, but I generally don't get low enough for Swarm range to be useful because you shouldn't be setting up at risks that you'll get so low, and burning Mega Lucario/Scizor/Dragonite/anything with physical priority is incredibly nice because it hinders them for the rest of the match.
:) (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
Good coverage, has the much needed rapid spin so that way Volc can switch in on stuff without getting half of it's health gone lol, and it helps with Sticky Web because Ape and Volcarona don't like getting their speed lower because it means more can shut them down. Starmie's 115 speed allows it to outspeed potent threats like Gengar, Lati@s, and all 108 fighting types. Analytic screws anything on switch-in and scarfers that can't get past through it's decent bulk.
X (Latios) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
IVs: null Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Recover
Sledge hammer for things that Ape and Volc can't handle like bulky waters, as well as basically anything not fairy, Chansey/Blissey, and Ferrothorn. Draco Meteor hurts anything that doesn't resist/isn't immune to it. Psyshock screws over Sp.D oriented mon's like Clefable and Sp.D Jelli because of STAB and Latios' massive Sp.A stat. Surf is mostly filler but it's nice for Excadrill and Skarm who can take the rest of it's hits. Latios also checks Rotom-W, which is a huge plus due to the fact that scarf Rotom-W can be a pain in the ass to deal with.
Sonic2Slow (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- U-Turn
- Superpower
Scarfer for Greninja, Lati@s, and Starmie, as well as kills anything that's low thanks to good base attack stat and Technician boosted Pursuit. Bullet Punch is nice for Tornadus or anything low with priority despite being Jolly Scarf. U-Turn brings momentum and safe switching so Ape/Volc can come in safely, while Superpower is mandatory as it destroys Greninja before it can hurt you and the rest of your team while dealing with basically every steel minus Aegislash and Skarmory.
Landorus (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 168 Def / 92 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Couldn't think of a nickname lol. Has SR, which as you all know is the best move in the game because constant damage upon switching out who doesn't like that lol? Has U-Turn for safe switching out into sweepers such as Ape or Volc. Prevents Dragonite, Physical Lucario, Terrakion, and Talonflame from setting up and sweeping because he murders them all before they can sweep thanks to Intimidate's reducing allowing Landorus to take neutral hits ranging from 40%-70% depending on which of those mon's hit me. Also Landorus-T's EV's are weird because why does it need speed it's relaxed lol.
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