First RMT: Gyaravire Attempt

CaptainKnots

Hello Smogon community, this is my first ever post on these forums. After a relatively long hiatus from the game, I finally caved and bought Black. It definitely brought back some memories of competitive battling, so I wanted to get back into that with some friends (the last time we played was 3rd gen, so it’s been a while). For my first team, I decided I wanted to try to implement my favorite pokemon (Gyarados) in an interesting way. Electivire is a beast with a Motor Drive boost, and Gyarados draws in loads of electric attacks. So, onto the team:

The Lead/Physical Wall: Gliscor

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP, 184 Def, 72 Spe
Nature: Impish [+Def, -SpA]
- Roost
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
The best physical wall on the team, Gliscor has favorable matchups against a lot of top threats such as Excadrill and Conkeldurr, but I needed a dedicated wall, not another sweeper, so that, in my opinion, merits Roost and Taunt over Swords Dance and Protect. I’m not a big fan of using Dream World abilities, so I went for Sand Veil and Leftovers to get a few missed attacks against the ever-prevalent sandstorm teams.
Water: Milotic, Gyarados, Hydreigon. Ice: Milotic, Magmortar

The Special Wall/Bulky Water: Milotic

Milotic @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP, 164 SpD, 88 Def
Nature: Calm [+SpD, -Atk]
- Surf
- Toxic
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
Ah yes, my favorite Gen 3 pokemon, Milotic. In my opinion, one of the most underrated special walls out there. Milotic can come in on basically any special attack, and rest off the damage, boosting its own defense as well with Marvel Scale. A terrific defensive partner to Gliscor, as it takes the Ice-type attacks aimed at Gliscor while he takes the Electric-type attacks from Milotic. These 2 provide the team with a solid defensive core.
Grass: Magmortar, Hydreigon. Electric: Gliscor, Electivire, Hydreigon

The Game-Ending Sweeper: Gyarados

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate (Hopefully Moxie if I can acquire a Dream World version)
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Nature: Adamant [+Atk, -SpA]
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Bounce
The late-game sweeper of them all, Gyarados is a complete monster of a sweeper. Opting for a full offense set gives Gyarados nearly unmatched sweeping power, especially once his counters have been removed. An excellent partner to Electivire, giving me an excellent sweeping core.
Rock: None (this is somewhere I see a weakness), Electric: Gliscor, Electivire

The Coverage Specialist: Electivire

Electivire @ Expert Belt
Ability: Motor Drive
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Nature: Jolly [+Spe, -SpA]
- Wild Charge
- Cross Chop
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
A fantastic coverage set, Electivire hits every pokemon in the game for at least neutral damage. The raw power of Wild Charge makes it our go to attack, with the others giving us terrific coverage across the board. I’m debating if I should make this a mixed set, but currently I’m loving the raw power of a max Atk EV Wild Charge.
Ground: Gyarados, Hydreigon, Milotic

The Raw-Damage Special Sweeper: Hydreigon

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Nature: Modest [+SpA, -Atk]
- Draco Meteor/Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
This set is all about raw power. Stabbed Draco Meteor coming off a Specs base 125 SpA leaves a large dent in anything that doesn’t flat out resist it, and Flamethrower is for those steel types that do. Dark Pulse is a secondary Stab that is the only attack I have to hit Ghost-types for super effective damage, and Surf is just an overall strong attack. Not sure about whether or not to switch Draco Meteor for Dragon Pulse.
Ice: Magmortar, Gliscor. Dragon: None (another weakness this team has), Fighting: Gliscor, Gyarados. Bug: Magmortar, Gliscor, Gyarados

The Revenge Killer/Type Filler: Magmortar

Magmortar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Nature: Modest [+SpA, -Atk]
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic?
This is the pokemon I’m having serious doubts on. I picked him mainly because I love the DP 3rd evolutions of old pokemon (see a pattern here?), but he is just an underperforming pokemon. At this point I’m considering Infernape to be a strong backup Scarfer, or a Banded Metagross to cover the Rock and Dragon weaknesses and give me a strong priority attack.
Ground: Gliscor, Gyarados, Hydreigon. Water: Milotic, Gyarados, Hydreigon. Rock: None

So, there’s the team. It’s in a very early stage, so feel free to completely take it apart (except for Gyarados, I just can’t let him go xD).

One nitpick I have is please don’t recommend any legendaries not readily available in Black and White (so no Celebi, Jirachi, Landorus, etc.) as I want this team to be simple to obtain. Thanks again.
 
Decent all around really... It covers alot of types but can easily be tooken down by A clean sweep T-tar wit Trick Room. (Fire Punch, Earthquake, Aqua Tail, and Outrage)
 
The problem with using Gyaravire in 5th gen OU is... Rotom-W. It's the primary user of Electric attacks in the tier, it can also take any of Electivire's common attacks and burn it with Will o Wisp to render it useless. If the opponent sees Gyaravire in Team Preview, they're going to know which move to use when Gyarados switches out, and even if they mess up and use Volt Change, unless it's Choiced they can still follow up with Will o Wisp. Needless to say, Rotom-W also destroys Gyarados thanks to its good bulk, excellent typing and STAB that can OHKO even bulky sets.

Personally, I'd use Virizion instead of Electivire. With a Calm Mind set, it can come in on Rotom-W with impunity and get free boosts. At +1 SpD, it's not even 2HKO'd by most Ice attacks, letting you easily heal off the damage with a boosted Giga Drain. It takes the Electric attacks that Gyarados lures in all day (and thanks to its Fighting sub-type, also the Rock ones) and can take advantage of the situation better than Electivire, imo. In addition, opponents generally won't make a connection between Gyarados and Virizion in Team Preview and are thus likely going to be less prepared for Virizion when it comes out. The Gyarizion core can also attack effectively from both ends of the spectrum, has great mutual coverage and has a much cooler name too. :)

Also, I'd swap Hydreigon for Latios imo. You already have a great user of Fire attacks in Magmortar, and Latios has MUCH better speed for a Specs user. Its Draco Meteor also hits a little harder than Hydreigon's, and you can use coverage moves like Psychic, Psyshock, Ice Beam or Thunderbolt in place of Dark Pulse. HP Fire can be used if you desperately want a Fire attack, and Trick is also available as an option to screw up opponents like Chansey and Ferrothorn. Draco Meteor is also better for a Specs user than Dragon Pulse since it hits harder over two turns (140 + 70 > 90 + 90) and if you're staying in any longer than two turns, you're doing it wrong. :P

On the other hand, if you decide to swap Magmortar for something else then by all means keep Hydreigon, Fire Blast is NICE.
 
Quite unique!
I like how you use some really underrated pokemon. However, I would recommend just a few things:

1. Just as GtM said,Eletivire is too obvious. Breloom could be a more offensive option though. It can spore rotom-w on the switch-in, and if toxic heal activates, you are immune to statuses. A set should look like this. Also, your team is walled by Gastrodon.

All out attacker
Breloom@Toxic Orb
4hp/252Atk/252Spd
Jolly/Adamant
-spore
-stone edge
-mach punch/Sky uppercut
-seed bomb

2. Your team is quite weak to TR Reuniclus, as the only pokemon who can stand up to it is Milotic. Not even specs-dark pulse kills it if it runs some Sdef. Therefore, I recommend Chandelure over Magmortar as a revenge killer. I use Chandelure on my rain team and he still hits like a monster truck. With Chandelure and Hydreigon, you can now take down some bulky psychics.

Hope I helped!!
 
I love how you set up your team, but the thing that screams out to me is Bounce on Gyarados.

Now in the actual game, that works great. STAB and everything.
But the thing is, in player vs. player, Thunder and Gust and Twister and all sorts of moves hit you on that first turn that you're in the air- OR they take the time to swap out to a less favorable matchup for you. Bounce is sooo cool- but not for PvP.

Also, I didn't think of Wild Charge on my Electivire- I might have to debate it vs. thunder in my own case- but for your own, perhaps you might consider using a Naive nature instead, which would let you go crazy with a mixed set. Only reasons I use Thunder over physical electric are that it has a very high base power and the fact that it punishes Rain Dance hard. 100% accuracy.

So I hope these thoughts do you some good. :)
 
Interesting choices. But one question springs to mind: Is this for singles or doubles?

The only fear I have, is that if the battle takes a turn for the worst, you may have to place two pokemon with the same weakness on the field. With the prevalence of Surf and Earthquake users, there may be problems.

Hope this wasn't to redundant!
 
Wow, loads of replies! Thanks for all the rates guys, I'll try to give solid answers to each of you:

@GtM: That was a big concern for me about choosing Electivire, whether it would be too obbvious of a strategy. I like the Virizion suggestion a lot: especially since it gives a sweeping partner that attacks from the opposite side of the spectrum.

Latios is another solid option, and if I ever manage to obtain him, I think it's a very strong addition. I'll definitely be looking into that.

@KyogreBlue: I like the idea of Breloom, but I think Virizion has the advantage of being a special attacker, so I'm thinking of trying that out first. However, Breloom is a strong addition for sure if I, for some reason, don't really like Virizion. Virizion also gives me options against Gastrodon, like you said. Thanks for the rate!

Chandelure was a pokemon I really wanted to use, and it's typing definitely fits with the team nicely, especially if I include Virizion to cover my Rock weakness.

@Medioc: I agree completely. The only thing is, I'm not quite sure what I want to replace it with. Taunt is an option, but that implies a more bulky set, which I wouldn't mind running if that's the better play.

Mixed Electivire was originally in the list, but I felt as though it lacked the power from Electivire's strong physical Attack stat, which, in a metagame, that as I understand it, is littered with brutally strong attackers, I felt like I needed to maximize his power to keep up. Maybe that right there shows me that I need to find a different sweeper.

@pbjlw: This is for singles, since, like you said, the team would be destroyed in doubles.

Thanks for the rates everyone, I'll definitely keep all your suggestions in mind!
 
I would say that a good move for an aggro-dos would be to run Earthquake for Moxie OR if you want Intimidate, Thunder Wave. Moxie with E-quake gives you at least neutral hit on pretty much everything (if not super effective). That's my thought on it.

On Electivire, I think you can do fine with a physical Electivire, and physical sweeping is quite effective- though Gyarados can help with that- if you wanted a special sweeper, Gengar, Alakazam or Reuniclus are all monstrous special attackers. It's really up to you- I hope you find what fits you best!
 
So, after some games on PO, I have some testing results (using Virizion and Latios):

Virizion is a decent Gyarados partner, but more often than not it draws in ice-attacks, and Gyarados has trouble surviving boosted ice attacks. So, I'm thinking bulky Gyarados might be a tad better, transforming this team into a more bulky offense style.

Latios did fine with Life Orb after I switched from Choice Specs, so good suggestion on that one.

Magmortar was a great surprise factor against a lot of teams, more often that not giving me 2 KOs when they switch in a sweeper of their own. An interesting inclusion, I wonder how a Mixed Scarfed Infernape would be in his place.

Gliscor NEEDs Swords Dance, otherwise he's simply walled by too many pokemon. A Swords Dance/Taunt/Earthquake/Ice Fang set is what I'm going to be testing now, I'll get back to you with some results.

One last thing: what do you guys think about Empoleon over Milotic? RestTalk seems to be past it's prime, and Empoleon has a nice type coverage with the rest of the team.
 
I don't really see what Magmortar is adding to your team. It seems as if you put him on the team just for the sake of having Magmortar and Electivire on the same team. As well, your team is ripped apart by Specs Latios, I suggest dropping Magmortar for Specially Defensive Jirachi, which would also give you a way to heal residual damage on Gyarados.
 
You could have some bother with Thundurus if it sets up a Nasty Plot, perhaps put a Choice Scarf on Electivire as your team lacks speed overall anyway.
Also I suggest slashing Surf on Milotic for Scald to provide you with double status, it can provide for a nasty burn for the likes of Scizor and other Physical Attackers that switch in on you,

And I agree with the point that Magmortar does nothing for your team in my opinion it just provides another weakness, I think you've just put it on as a filler or something but I don't know what you need it for
 
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