first rmt: semistall

[3M1N3M]

at a glance

hi, im eminem and this is my first rmt. i prefer gen 4 to gen 5 cause weather wars suck…anyways ive been going to the po server to watch gen 4 battles and i got the idea to use subroost zapdos. this is a team built around making sure he does his usual antimeta antics. its done alright, peaking at #20 on the po leaderboard, but it definetly could be better. all rates are appreciated.

Dragonite (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed


originally i had standard antilead nite, but i was completely destroyed by lead machamp. i was watching this guy battle one day and he was using a cb nite lead to great effect, so i tried it and have had no regrets. this thing hits like an absolute truck. example: it 2hkos max hp/max defense hippowdon with outrage. eq will ohko even shuca berry heatran. the only problem i have with it is that it is revenged too easily, but with good comes bad i guess. against azelf leads ill usually switch right to tran cause they like to carry cb ice punch. ice attacks go to tran and milo. dragon attacks go to tran.

Heatran (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
- Earth Power


first part of my fwg core. before i changed shuca to chople, a well played physmix ape tore me apart. i never found myself needing shuca anyways, since i always switched to milo vs other tran. now i can live cc and earth power the ape back in the face. chople also helps against lucario trying to grab a free sd. the moveset is standard. water attacks go to dnite, rade, and milo. fighting attacks go to zapdos and rotom (rade is too frail on the physical side). ground attacks go to dnite, zapdos, and rotom.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Roost
- Toxic / Roar
- Thunderbolt

zapdos is probs the #1 antimeta poke right now, as most fwg teams cant touch him while theyre slowly toxic+pressure stalled to their death. i cant tell you how many times ive won just because of him. im not very good with evs so i just used max hp/max spe but if someone could recommend a better spread thatd be great. gameplan: get in on an earthquake from scarfgon (who i swear is on 99% of teams), set up a sub, and stall. i cant poison the #1 poke in usage, tran, but its not getting past me unless its spdef, because pressure cuts fire blast down to 4 pp. ive experimented with roar > toxic and it does real well, beating defensive mons like pert and spdef tran to the phaze, which has saved my ass a lot. zap also checks offensive cune pretty well. ice attacks go to tran and milo. rock attacks dont go to anyone…i hate tyranitar.

Roserade (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Spikes
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Rest


second part of my fwg core. rade comes in on waters+blissey that threaten tran (bar gyara) to set up spikes. they make zap even more deadly, especially if i happen to be using roar over toxic. with gk and hp fire, i threaten all common spinners (no-one uses tentacruel). rest+natural cure is awesome. this set is really effective against stall. with rest i can PP stall opposing subroost zap pretty effectively. again, im not good with evs so i just maxed hp and spdef. fire attacks go to tran, milo and dnite. ice attacks go to tran and milo. flying attacks go to tran, zapdos and rotom. psychic attacks go to tran.

Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Haze / Hidden Power [Electric]
- Recover


third part of my fwg core. stole this set from bkc’s as the palaces burn team and its fucking amazing. milotic tanks hits like a champ and is able to recover the damage off in one turn, screw you vaporeon. dragon pulse is so it can act as my mixnite check while simultaneously hitting kingdra, whos chestorest set is really dangerous to this team. it only manages to do around 40% though, which is why i have haze as the main option; without hp electric i become really weak to dd taunt gyara tho, seeing as my only check is scarftom…i wish dragon tail existed in 4th gen. electric attacks go to roserade and rotom. grass attacks go to dnite, tran, rade and zapdos.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Hydro Pump
- Trick

a spike stacking team’s obligatory spinblocker. scarftom is also my revenge killer vs shit like dd nite, np / sd ape, sd luke etc. trick really fucks up blissey, making it that much easier for zapdos to stall it out. trick also saves my ass vs curselax/crocune. hpump wards off ttar switchins, and tbolt is obligatory stab. hp ice saves me vs +1 dd nite and its a decent emergency check to grass types.


thats the team, please leave me some feedback

 

[BKC]

Since you’re running a team based on hazards, you should be attempting to set them up at the beginning of a match. So, I recommend moving your Heatran to the lead slot. Try a Life Orb anti-lead; it’ll let you retain the OHKO on Machamp that Dragonite had, while simultaneously setting up Stealth Rock. With Spikes on the field, this set also acts as a fantastic stallbreaker.

Heatran @ Life Orb | Modest | EVs: 144 HP / 252 SpA / 28 SpD / 84 Spe
Stealth Rock | Overheat | Hidden Power [Grass] | Taunt

Taunt may seem odd but it’ll prevent Blissey from healing after coming into Stealth Rock+Spikes+Overheat, which will help you gradually break it down. As for EVs: max SpA is obvious. 84 Speed outruns 8 Speed Rotom-A, an common Pokemon on stall teams. 144 HP provides the highest possible Life Orb number, and the remaining EVs go into SpD to bolster your ability to tank whatever attack you’re going to be switching in on.

Now, on to the threats that this team will struggle with. Choice Band Tyranitar can 6-0 you with very little effort by simply spamming powerful Stone Edges. Once it comes in, something is going to die. Chesto Rest Kingdra or DD Gyarados are also threatening, depending on which Milotic set you run – dropping Haze leaves you open to Kingdra, dropping HP Electric means that your sole Gyara check is Scarf Rotom, which isn’t exactly reliable due to its lack of bulk and Pursuit weakness.

To alleviate these issues, I recommend switching Dragonite for a Hitmontop. Even though it’s not very common in OU, it works excellently on this team. It hard counters Tyranitar thanks to Intimidate, high physical bulk, and resistance to both STABs. With some help from Intimidate spam, your Milotic will be able to force ChestoRest Kingdra into wasting its Chesto Berry, so on the turn you know it will Rest, you can send in Hitmontop to beat it down with a couple of Close Combats. The last reason Top is a great fit for this team is because it has an unblockable Rapid Spin thanks to Foresight – this will really help out your Zapdos. Plus, in conjunction with LO Tran, SpikesRade, and TrickScarf Rotom, you will have nearly no trouble with stall teams.

Hitmontop @ Leftovers | Impish | EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Foresight | Rapid Spin | Close Combat | Rest

That fixes your team’s main weaknesses, so I’ll just nitpick some things now. HP Electric should now be used over Haze on Milotic for obvious reasons. Consider trying Energy Ball over Grass Knot and Aromatherapy over Rest on Roserade; E-Ball lets you counter Substitute Rotom-A, whose light weight means that Grass Knot would do minimal damage. Aromatherapy works extremely well in conjunction with Hitmontop’s Rest, and it’ll help if Milotic walks into an unexpected Toxic. Lastly, try running a spread of 252 HP | 48 SpA | 208 Spe on Rotom. This will let you tank anti-ghost hits from the likes of Starmie and Forretress while outrunning +1 Jolly Dragonite. The lack of SpA investment isn’t a huge loss with hazard support. With these changes I think your team looks extremely solid, good luck!

 

[3M1N3M]

losing nite's raw power will suck but itll prolly be worth it to get more coverage on ttar. zapdos not having to deal with sr will also be great. ty for the rate

 

[Eternal]

Replace Milotic's Dragon Pulse move for Ice Beam. Ice Beam does more damage (and often OHKO) to threats like Dragonite, Flygon, Gliscor. Not only that, Ice Beam also does crucial amount of damage to Pokemon that love to switch in on Milotic like Breloom, Celebi, Zapdos, Shaymin, Roserade, etc. So there are a lot of reasons to have Ice Beam over Dragon Pulse. Ice Beam is even more powerful with 95 base power compared to Dragon Pulse which has 90.

Next, replace Heatran's Chople Berry for Shuca Berry. You said you don't find yourself using Shuca Berry berry, but if you bulkied it up a bit more Heatran to Heatran @ Shuca Berry + Naive + 252 HP / 64 Def / 56 SpAtk / 136 Speed, then the Shuca Berry will be much more useful and Heatran a much better SR supporter.


As a lead, we want Heatran to work efficiently against other common leads. So lets see how well Heatran would perform against them.

Azelf - Heatran completely walls Azelf and is to 2HKO it with Fire Blast.
Metagross - Although many Metagross carry Occa Berry, Heatran is able to Stealth Rock and take Earthquake damage with Shuca berry. With 252 HP EVs and 68 Def EVs.
Swampert - Heatran can do the same to Swampert with 252 HP EVs and 28 Def EVs.
Infernape - Heatran needs max HP and Def EVs in order to live a Close Combat from lead Infernapes. Better not to stay in.

With the speed EVs, you're able to out speed the following Pokemon:
- Agility Metagross (w/ 210 Speed)
- Max Speed Scizors (w/ 230 Speed)
- Jolly Tyranitars (w/ 244 Speed)
- Agility Empoleons (w/ 215 Speed)
- Magnezone (w/ 215 Speed)
- Bold Suicune (w/ 210 Speed)
- Brelooms (w/ 229 Speed)
- Bold Celebis (w/ 246 Speed)

You're able to take a Earthquake (unlike before) from Metagross, Tyranitar, Flygon, Swampert, and many other Pokemon and be able to freely set up SR and explode later.

Instead of using that CB Dragonite lead. Why not use a more efficient anti-lead set? It will also help against beating stall teams which your team seems to have problems against. Here's the set:

Dragonite @ Life Orb -- Inner Focus
Nature: Quiet - EVs: 232 Atk / 252 SpAtk / 24 Speed
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- Roost
- Draco Meteor

- Needs 316 SpAtk stat to 2HKO Lead Swampert with Draco Meteor.
- Needs Max SpAtk in order to maximize OHKO on Jirachi lead with Fire Blast.
- Needs Max SpAtk in order to maxmize OHKO on Bulky Gyaradow with Draco Meteor and SR damage.
- Needs Max SpAtk in order to maximize OHKO on Rotom-A with Draco Meteor and SR damage.
- Needs Max Atk in order to always OHKO Bold Blissey with Superpower and SR damage.

Keep Toxic on Substitute Zapdos and keep Haze for Milotic. They're going to be very important. Haze will allow you to phaze off threats like CM Suicune, then you can easily switch to Zapdos, Roserade, or Rotom-W to finish unboosted Suicune off.

Good luck.

 

[MysticClaydol]

Frankly, I have little to suggest but it would be in you best interest to consider Toxic Spikes on Roserade and giving Zapdos HP Ice. This will make stalling easier by getting off a Toxic right as a Pokemon switches in and Hidden Power Ice can stop a lot of OU tnreats to Zapdos cold like Gliscor and Flygon, Flygon is notorious for running Stone Edge aswell so KOing him from behind a Sub helps. If Roserade doesn't want Toxic Spikes, replacing Milotic with Tentacruel can give you the same results. The underlying ground weakness may be offputting but Dragonite and Zapdos are immune to Ground so hope I helped :D

 

[Eternal]

Frankly, I have little to suggest but it would be in you best interest to consider Toxic Spikes on Roserade and giving Zapdos HP Ice. This will make stalling easier by getting off a Toxic right as a Pokemon switches in and Hidden Power Ice can stop a lot of OU tnreats to Zapdos cold like Gliscor and Flygon, Flygon is notorious for running Stone Edge aswell so KOing him from behind a Sub helps. If Roserade doesn't want Toxic Spikes, replacing Milotic with Tentacruel can give you the same results. The underlying ground weakness may be offputting but Dragonite and Zapdos are immune to Ground so hope I helped :D

Toxic Spikes are way too easily absorbed in the Gen 4 OU metagame and not as threatening as Spikes. Zapdos is one of the best Toxic staller in Gen 4 OU. You don't really need to sacrifice losing Spikes for Toxic Spikes. While having both Spikes and Toxic Spikes is illegal on Roserade. And Zapdos doesn't need HP Ice for threats like Dragonite and Flygon when Milotic with Ice Beam and Scarf Rotom-W with HP Ice can both handle them. Substitute + Toxic stalling is much more effective on Zapdos.