TEAM AT A GLANCE
Hi guys,
Even if I’ve been around on the site lurking for a long time this is my first attempt at a gen V RMT. I’ve built this team thinking about offense. I like to put constant pressure on my opponent: if he never gets a chance to set up for a sweep, use a recovery move on his walls and can just rely on his revenge killer to stop you, he won’t be probably able to threaten you. I also like to switch a lot just to force my opponent to switch too and rack up more damage with entry hazards. The first thing you will notice is that I don’t have a rapid spinner in my team. This is because I prefer not letting my opponent set up their entry hazards than having to spin them away losing my offensive momentum (the fact that none of my pokemon is weak to rocks helps too).
This said I just want to know if you can improve my team removing some weaknesses I haven’t noticed. I’ve had problems especially with versatile special attackers such as gengar: he can scare hydreigon and tyranitar with focus blast, skarmory and jellicent with thunderbolt, infernape is just too frail and I usually end up sacrificing something to revenge kill with garchomp.
Also, I’m not using Dream World unreleased abilities.
Changes in red
Infernape @ Life orb
Naïve ( + Spe, - SpD )
252 Atk / 24 SpA / 232 Spe
Blaze
- Close combat
- Overheat
- Mach punch
- U-turn
This is not the usual Infernape lead we all have become accustomed to in gen 4. To be honest I once had this in another spot but since I’ve switched it to the lead position it has rarely let me down. His main role is to scare the enemy, preventing him to set up rocks either by making him flee or by plainly killing him, and then just U-turn out to scout and be ready to come back in late game to finish weakened foes. The fact that most opponents predict the traditional fake out + stealth rock combo just helps Infernape to cripple badly the incoming opponent, putting him in mach punch KO range. The moves are taken from the physical mixape set. Close combat is self explanatory; mach punch helps to finish weakened foes; overheat even with small evs investment can do the job properly, hitting occasional skarmory, metagross and nattorei leads, while the SpA drop doesn’t bother me since I’ll be switching a lot with U-turn. U-turn is maybe my favourite move on infernape. No one lures in Starmie, Latios, and Latias like Infernape, thus U-turning them as they come in to soak up a hit is hilarious, as well as painful (for them). It also helps me to scout in mid-game until it comes out when the battle is almost over to finish weakened pokemons.
Skarmory @ Shed shell
Impish ( + Def, - SpA )
252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Keen eye
- Stealth rock
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
On an offensive team like mine entry hazards are always welcome. That’s where my skarmory comes into play. The specially defensive iron bird can get in on almost everything abusing his excellent typing and his natural physical bulk. On this multiple surf can’t do anything memorable, draco meteors take away very little health and it continuously spikes the field and phaze opponents. He usually comes in on an earthquake aimed at infernape or a dragon/ ice move aimed at my dragons and then proceeds to set up entry hazards to make sure that many 2HKOs become OHKOs. He can also come in on an enemy trying to boost his stats, take the hit and then phaze it away, racking up more passive damage. The moves are almost self explanatory with whirlwind being my phazing utility, stealth rock and spikes, and finally roost as a reliable recovery move, useful sometimes also for removing my flying type with slower foes.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Calm ( + SpD, - Atk )
252 Hp / 172 SpD / 84 Spe
Water absorb
- Boiling water
- Recover
- Will-o-wisp
- Ice beam
When you finally get all layers of entry hazards up the last thing you want to see is your opponent spinning them away. So here’s the pink blob. She’s my reliable spin blocker, abusing her natural bulk and excellent typing to come in on almost everything receiving little damage and blocking those nasty rapid spinners. She’s also a useful tool to take water attacks aimed at infernape and recover health with water absorb, take ice beams aimed at my dragons and fighting moves at hydreigon and tyranitar. The fact that my opponent will try to take her down with dark type moves gives tyranitar a chance to get in and set up. Boiling water is my main attacking tool, getting stab while that 30% burning chance has sometimes proved to be crucial. Will-o-wisp covers the weaker of her defenses and also cripples many opponents that otherwise will prevent my sweepers to do their job. Recover is a reliable recovery move. I’ve chosen ice beam for my last move slot to catch incoming dragons off-guard, while they think they can come and set up.
Latios @ Choice specs
Timid ( + Spe, - Atk )
4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Levitate
- Draco meteor
- Dragon pulse
- HP fire
- Trick
Ok, so Latios has taken Hydreigon's place to soften up my weakness to Techniloom. His job is quite similar to Hydreigon's one: get in, spam a draco meteor and kill something. With trick it can also sripple a wall, get (hopefully) leftovers so that I end up with a powerful recovering sweeper. Dragon pulse is the conservative option and hp fire takes flamethrower's place.
Tyranitar @ Babiri berry
Jolly ( + Spe, - SpA )
4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sand stream
- Dragon dance
- Stone edge
- Crunch
- Fire punch
It seems that tyranitar happy dancing time is over. This can’t be farther from the truth. Tyranitar is one of the most destructive sweepers in the game and its stat distribution is flawless. Speed is the only real issue and that’s where dragon dance comes into play. With crunch, stone edge and fire punch most pokemon are easily cleaned up once this bad boy sets up. You could think that it never gets a chance to pull out a dance and I thought it too but I was surprised by how many people are unprepared for this. He can get in on physical hits abusing his bulk and rock typing, while on the special side the sandstorm assures I won’t be hit badly. I usually switch him in on ice beams aimed at the dragons or thunderbolts aimed at skarm and jellicent. Then my opponent sends out his tyranitar counter only to see tyranitar outspeed it after a dance and clean up almost every other pokemon he sends out. Even nattorei, bronzong and skarmory can’t stop me considering fire punch. The only real issue is scizor and his nasty bullet punch but babiri berry assures I can take the hit and then retaliate with fire punch. Tyranitar is maybe the key member of this team, getting usually one or two kills per match, and sometimes even more.
Garchomp @ Choice scarf
Naïve ( + Spe, - SpD )
4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Sand veil
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Stone edge
- Fire blast
Garchomp is finally back. The environment is no more so favorable to him but he can still do his job properly if given a chance. This is my revenge killer and has saved my ass in more than an occasion. Pretty much anything that could cause trouble to my team is easily taken out by this land shark, even if sometimes I have to sacrifice something to make him work properly. He usually comes in on electric attacks aimed at jellicent or skarmory and then starts to attack. I use outrage if I think that my opponent is predicting an earthquake, and viceversa. Fire blast betters my coverage and is useful for hitting skarmory and nattorei. Stone edge is my answer to gyarados ( and salamence and dragonite if I don’t want to be locked with outrage). Sand veil in tandem with tyranitar’s sand stream gets me a useful evasiveness boost.
Thanks to all the raters and forgive me for my English
