Flare's Angels (peaked #1)

[FlareBlitz]

Introduction

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is it. I have finally decided to post my go-to bulky offense team for the past 4 metagames or so.

This team has consistently been in the top 5 on the leaderboard, and peaked at 1789 CRE during the metagame immediately after Froslass and Raikou were booted. I've been using it on and off since then, and now, given that Heracross is down and that I haven't been playing a whole lot anyway, I've finally decided to retire it

This is going to be a very text-heavy RMT. I will go very in-depth into how this team works and how each member should be played, as well as threats it has some issues with.

Team Building Process


When making this team, I knew I absolutely wanted Arcanine in it. If you guys didn't know, Arcanine is my favorite Pokemon and luckily it happens to be a very good one in UU, so I use it on all my serious teams. I decided to go with a Choice Band set using an Adamant nature and Flash Fire.

After that, I knew I needed something to deal with all the bulky waters and bulky Rock types that Arcanine would inevitably attract. I wanted this to be a fairly offensive team, so I chose a Specs Sceptile for its resistance to Ground and Water-type attacks, and its ability to put some serious holes into things with Leaf Storm.

At this point I was trying to decide on a Water type to complete the FWG core, but I was stuck between Feraligatr and Azumarill, so I decided to focus on some other team slots and come back to that later. I needed a lead, obviously. I am a firm believer in early-game Stealth Rock, but I hate suicide leads, so I knew I was going to go for a bulky stealth rock lead. I didn't want to go with Rhyperior, Regirock, or Uxie because this team really hates spikes (I'll get to this later), so I went with Mesprit, which has the power to ohko all common spikers (at the time, sash qwilfish wasn't very common) while also being able to consistently set up Stealth Rock against pretty much any non-Taunt lead.

Now that I had a lead, I needed to be able to deal with Pokemon the lead has issues with. Mespirit is given major issues by Spiritomb, Ambipom, Registeel, Houndoom, Chansey, and Clefable. Arcanine and Sceptile could both handle Houndoom in a pinch, and every other Pokemon on that list was covered by one single, amazing member of this team: Choice Band Rhyperior.

My team was shaping up fairly well at this point. Unfortunately, Rhyperior brought it with another weakness to Milotic and Venusaur, one of which Sceptile/Arcanine have trouble with. Finding a Pokemon who can handle both is rare...but find one I did. Toxicroak, with its cool typing and fantastic ability, handles Milotic very well and can take Venusaur in a pinch (after I sac Mesprit to sleep, usually). Swords Dance Toxicroak also had great offensive synergy with Rhyperior, as they tended to lure the same checks and counters; Rhyperior could rip apart Weezing, Tangrowth, and Slowbro for Croak to clean up, and vice versa.

I now had a lead, great offensive synergy and defensive synergy, and still had a slot left. The first thing I noticed was that fast, powerful special attackers like Alakazam and Nasty Plot Mismagius could give me some issues if the opponent plays properly. Swellow and Scyther were also problems if I mispredicted the U-Turn and sent Rhyperior in to eat pointless damage. Additionally, I had major issues with speed boosting sweepers once Mesprit was down and the team was softened up, so I decided I wanted a bulky Pokemon with priority and possibly status. I was considering CB Azumarill in the slot just to troll with 4 choice users when I realized that I could really do with a Spinblocker, and that Spiritomb was pretty much idea for dealing with the threats I had issues with. I couldn't Choice it unfortunately, so I just went with a bulky set with leftovers.

Post-Playtest

Playtesting for this team went very smoothly. One thing I quickly discovered was that having three choice users really screwed me with hazard-stacking teams, so I changed up Sceptile's set into a Life Orb SubSeed variant (yeah yeah I'll explain it in the next section) and turned Rhyperior into a Substitute variant. I then finally switched Arcanine to a Jolly nature after being Air Flinched for the last time. After that, I didn't need to make many changes, and this team has pretty much been at its final form for the past half-year or so!

An Intimate Acquaintance

Misty (Genderless, but definitely all woman in...spirit)
Leftovers
Modest
208 HP/244 SpA/56 Spe

-Psychic
-Thunderbolt/Grass Knot
-Stealth Rock
-Thunder Wave

Mesprit is a fantastic lead, because it is nearly as bulky as Uxie while being far more capable offensively. This is a set you won't find on the Mesprit analysis because that shit is really outdated, but it's one of Mesprit's best options.

The HP EVs let Mesprit hit a Leftovers number, the Spe EVs let it outrun max speed Modest Omastar and most Milotic/defensive Venusaur, and the SpA investment lets it hit very hard indeed. Mesprit matches up extremely well with every lead barring Ambipom, Spiritomb, and random Pursuit, and it can get up Stealth Rock against basically everything except Taunters (note: surviving a Scyther's CB U-Turn is pro). Often, I just get up Stealth Rock and switch out unless the opponent has something I really want to paralyze (like lead Moltres) because Mesprit makes a really great makeshift check to things like DD Feraligatr and Toxicroak, and also serves as sleep fodder for Venusaur. I also love that Mesprit lures in Registeel, because it's a great opportunity to get in Rhyperior virtually for free and start doing some major damage.

Rei (heart as hard as solid rock, but she's still my girl)
Leftovers
Adamant
88 HP/252 Atk/168 Spe

-Earthquake
-Rock Blast
-Megahorn
-Substitute

Rhyperior is such a fantastic Pokemon, and it fits particularly well on this team because otherwise Normal-types like Tauros and Kanghaskhan pretty easily rip me a new one. It gets a lot of switch in opportunities against Pokemon that try and wall Sceptile and Mesprit, while luring and doing tons of damage to Pokemon that may try and wall Toxicroak and Arcanine. A real team player.

The EVs are fairly straightforward. I like my rhyperior to be fast because of all the speed creeping base 50s and 60s, max Atk is obvious, and the rest into HP. Now, I don't have enough HP to create 404 subs, but thankfully the people I play on the ladder are usually competent enough to not SToss a Subperior. Rhyperior brings in Milotic likes vinegar brings in flies (clever joke here for those in the know), which lets Toxicroak and Sceptile set up very easily indeed.

Roxi (poison lips)
Leftovers
Jolly
56 HP/200 Atk/252 Spe

-Swords Dance
-Low Kick
-Ice Punch
-Sucker Punch

Toxicroak was a massively underrated Pokemon when I made this team, and I am glad it has grown to achieve some of the recognition it deserves. Its stats don't suggest it, but it has amazing survivability when played properly (switching it into U-Turns causes a lot of hilarious rage) and it hits very hard indeed after a boost. The moves are chosen because they get amazing coverage and give Croak a strong priority attack to deal with would-be revenge killers, and the EVs are my own, created to eliminate the chances of being 3hko'd by a defensive Milotic's ice beam and 2hko'd by an offensive Milotic's, while also maximizing Leftovers and Rain recovery (which has saved my ass countless times), and I avoided dropping speed just because I hate missing speed ties with other Toxicroak and random Nidoking, and I need heavy investment to ensure I outrun Magmortar anyway so there's not a lot of point in not running max. Therefore, the HP EVs come out of attack...the difference has been minor, in my experience.

Toxicroak has some issues with Spiritomb and Weezing, who constantly try to burn it...of course, that's just an open invitation for the star player to come in!

Autumn (the fiery redhead)
Choice Band
Jolly
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe

-Flare Blitz
-ExtremeSpeed
-Thunder Fang
-Morning Sun

Unlike Toxicroak, everyone knows exactly how amazing Arcanine is...and amazing she is. If I manage to grab a Flash Fire boost, which is likely with all the fire attacks flying at Sceptile and Toxicroak, very little in the tier is safe. Hell, I've 2hko'd offensive Rhyperior with a boosted Flare Blitz before, and Milotic folds to it too. Even without a boost, it can take out Donphan and Weezing and other physical walls with consumate ease, while Thunder Fang really ruins the day of Milotics who try to get in for free. ExtremeSpeed is really what makes this set though; it is a very strong priority attack that can take out frail sweepers and clean up weakened teams at the drop of a hat.

There's not a lot more I can say about this baby. Standard sweeper spread, and basically its three good physical moves and a healing move in case I want to scout a switch without taking SR damage or pointless FB recoil. It works, and it's been my MVP more times than I can really count.

Scarlett (she pulls off the lipstick)
Life Orb
Timid
4 Def/252 SpA/252 Spe

-Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Substitute
-Leech Seed

I don't know anyone else who uses this set, which is a damn shame because it is amazing. Substitute + Life Orb might seem odd, but the fact is that Life Orb helps SubSeed Sceptile immensely. Most importantly, it can now 2hko Venusaur switch-ins all the time, regardless of whether it has Leftovers or not, as well as doing substantially more damage to predicted defensive Venusaur switch-ins, 2hkoing Houndoom with Leaf Storm, and lots more. The recoil isn't an issue because Sceptile invites so many switch-ins to Registeel, Chansey, Drapion, etc so it can seed them, recover HP, and switch to a counter. And unlike the Leftovers variant, it's not nearly as troubled by Clefable.

I run Timid and max speed because I love the utility it has against intelligent players who preserve late-game sweepers like Ambipom and Tauros. Life Orb also makes revenging these a cinch.

Sanaki (token goth)
Leftovers
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/4 SpD

-Shadow Sneak
-Pursuit
-Sucker Punch
-Will-O-Wisp

Spiritomb checks a wide variety of threats, from special-offense powerhouses like Nasty Plot Mismagius and Alakazam to physical attackers like Torterra, Rhyperior, and Swellow. It is a very effective redundant check to quite a few other Pokemon too, letting me beat them even if their dedicated counters are down (such as Scyther if Rhyperior went down). It has saved me from sweeps quite a few times.
EVs are fairly obvious. The moves allow Spiritomb to play plenty of mindgames with the opponent, and prediction skill pretty heavily affects how useful it is. Unfortunately, this Spiritomb is setup bait for a lot of Pokemon, the most dangerous of them by far being Moltres...although I can somewhat handle Moltres if I'm better than my opponent by Sucker Punching before Spiritomb goes down and leaving Moltres in SR kill range. Besides that, there's not a lot to say. Spiritomb is the most replaceable member of my team, but still not THAT replaceable just because without her I've faced embarrasing sweeps from Mismagius and Alakazam and Scyther countless times...

I guess she's also kind of pretty. For an unholy collection of undead spirits.

Okay that's all for now. This is my RMT and I hope you enjoyed it!

TAKE A BOW LADIES

 

[shrang]

Great team. I absolutely love CB Arcanine, that thing is so good. One potential problem I can see you encountering is SubRoost Moltres, since Rhyperior is the only one that can really destroy it when behind a Sub, and if I see Rhyp come into Moltres, I sure as hell ain't staying in. Specially defensive Clefable is not a bad choice (With Encore/Thunder Wave/SToss/Softboiled), if it becomes troublesome, but it shouldn't really.

Anyway, I'd switch Morning Sun with HP Grass on Arcanine just so you bust up those Rhyperiors thinking they have a free switch. Choiced Morning Sun isn't particularly nice, especially when you're losing 25% of that with the next switch-in anyway.

EDIT: Tomb is up now, let's read on.

 

[FlareBlitz]

Yeah sorry about Tomb...like I said...it's late >_<

SubRoost Moltres, and Moltres in general, does give this team issues. I usually rely on keeping rocks down and chasing it away with Arcanine until it dies.

Thanks for the rate, but I can't really replace anything with Clefable, since every single thing on my team plays an extremely important role. If you can find something that still occupies the same niche as something else while handling my team's issues better I would consider it :)

 

[Heysup]

This is going to sound dumb to you because you probably never considered this due to shoddy, but what about using CB/LO Entei over Arcanine? It does basically the same shit but actually checks Moltres effectively.

The only other thing I'd recommend is using maybe LO Synthesis Sceptile (with Synthesis / Focus Blast over SubSeed) and some sort of Azumarill so that you're less fucked by a good Moltres user (LIKE ME).

This is an amazing team as it is, so don't feel the need to change it. Arcanine checks Moltres as long as you keep SR up, so feel free to ignore my changes. Keep on rockin' in the free world man.

5 stars...oh sorry i mean I LUVDISC this thread ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

[Bluewind]

Omg you finally posted a team, and with Setha the amish slut s2

I don't have much to say, team is beautiful, so I'll just nitpick. The only concern I have with this team is that the standart Stall core of Weezing/Spiritomb/Milotic can be somewhat mean to you, especially on the hands of a good player. Of course, it doesn't automatically shut your team down, but after some unfortunate predictions with Arcanine you might find yourself strggling to deal with Weezing because outside of doggy, none of your other pokés besides Mesprit (who'll probably be pursuited out) can deal with it accordingly. With that said, I'd consider Stone Edge (deals some very high damage to Spiritomb, something stall players like to rely on to get Croaky). It also allows you to catch those smartass Moltres attempting to switch in and to beat SpDef Arcanine, who gives your team a really hard time when paired with Milotic.

That's pretty much it, good luck man (also, you literally broke my heart by not naming Sceptile Setha and Spiritomb Tiki =/)

PS: Spiritombs lacks an item =X

 

[Folgorio]

hi flare blitz.

this is a nice team and stuff. anyway the first thing i noticed was that this team has a p. huge rhyperior weakness since both sub and RP can be REALLY annoying from what i see. anyway i dont really know to fix it w/o changing too much of your team but maybe trying hp grass LO arcanine to at least not let rhyperior set up on him might be a start(even though i know you despise it). but arguably the more practical change would be to add an azumarril or milotic over someone since both help check rhyperior pretty well and also helps your absurd moltres weakness. i wouldnt really know where to fit this at all except maybe doing something weird like changing your tomb to a lead then adding sr on rhyperior and removing mesprit but thats probably a bad idea. so maybe simply using azumarril over toxicroak/rhyperior is your best bet but idk. hope i helped i guess

 

[Upstart]

Simply an amazing team. I can only really say that maybe test HP grass over morning sun on arcanine

 

[(makeup)]

This is a phenominal team, but I would just like to point out one thing. Mixed Nasty Plot Houndoom, the standard bread-and-butter hound dog, can set up on Spiritomb and sweep any Arcanine-less team. Without Arcanine, Houndoom resists all your priorty and kills like...everything. I would suggest. Maybe you can use Rock Polish Rhyperior or something, idk.

Excellent team, extremely solid and looks very successful.

 

[Nas]

I owe you a rate so,

I remember playing this team with my Swellow + Moltres Spikestacking team and needless to say, it gave you quite a bit of grief. Moltres + Swellow or even just Moltres is hell for your team to face, due to your lack of bulky water / special sponge. Swellow can U-Turn all day on Rhyperior and Spiritomb and provide endless opportunities for Moltres to rip apart your team, but luckily there is an easy (and expected) fix. I would like to suggest using a specially defensive Milotic with 252 Hp / 176 Def / 80 SpDef with a Calm nature and a moveset of Surf / Hidden Power [Grass] / Haze / Recover. I'd suggest replacing Spiritomb, as it seems to be your least valuable member and Milotic deals with Missy and Zam fairly well anyways, not to mention she gives you a much needed Rhyperior counter as well. Also, in case you don't remember, Spiritomb was unable to prevent Donphan spinning away your rocks due to EQ 2HKO'ing, so you're not losing much as far as spinblocking goes either. Other problems I see (Azu setting up a sub when Mesprit has eaten a Pursuit) are all covered by using Milo as well.

Overall pretty solid team...for an American.

 

[Cherub Agent]

I agree with Heysup's suggestion of using Entei over Arcanine, if only for the reason that it has stone edge. Awesome team though. If you decide to keep arcanine, is 25% recovery really worth it? (keeping SR in mind)

 

[franky]

only thing i can say is try out adamant 4 hp / 252 atk / 252 spe with lo on arcanine. you'll nearly achieve the same results as cb but with the ability to freely use attacks so nothing absolutely sets up on this this. the evident problem apparently are bulky speed boosters who can take priority such as torterra and especially feraligatr. (dd chesto rest can hurt as well). with a little residual damage, thunder fang arcanine can honestly 2hko milotic as it switches in. the speed lets you beat base 80s. i realize this team is centered around cb arcanine but just try out lo maybe you'll get better results. good luck (this is assuming you dont use it in hera metagame anymore, but if you do jolly + lo is prolly the better choice!)

 

[Nails]

one thing that no one has said yet is consider dropping shadow sneak/sucker punch for pain split on tomb. it's fairly redundant coverage, with the only exception i can see being fighting types... who are still hit as hard by sucker punch. submons could be more of an issue... but they'd still set up their sub on shadow sneak anyways (priority, ect). pain split has the obvious benefit of increasing survivability. just my 2 cents, great team!

now to luvdisc this thread

 

[FlareBlitz]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys :)

As I mentioned in the teambuilding process, I did consider Azumarill over Spiritomb, and there are a few variants of this team I have tested with that change. I've tested a lot of variants of this team over time, and the most successful changes by far have been:

Leafeon instead of Sceptile
Jynx instead of Sceptile
Ninetales instead of Arcanine

All of those changes helped with some of the things my team has trouble with, but this has ultimately been the most successful iteration, despite its weaknesses.

To deal with Azumarill/[bulky water] over Spiritomb in specific, the primary issue I ran into whenever that happened was the inability to deal with Life Orb NP Mismagius, the inability to deal with CM Alakazam, a more pronounced weakness to Toxicroak, and some Hitmonlee issues. Azumarill can handle many of these in a pinch, but its ability to check them was simply not as consistent across situations as Spiritomb, which is why I chose to RMT the iteration of the team with Spiritomb present.

And the primary issue I have with replacing CB with LO on Arcanine is that it loses out on many kills with ExtremeSpeed. Just from memory, Alakazam, Swellow, and Houndoom now escape KOs. Going Adamant would make up somewhat for the power difference, but that would significantly open up my team to Moltres. I have definitely wished I had HP Grass sometimes though, and I haven't tried that at all just because I don't like lowering Arcanine's defenses, but I'll give it a shot.

But again, thank you for the suggestions.

 

[franky]

attempt to work around that lo still imo it will help you a lot. if moltres becomes the problem swap stone edge > ice punch on toxicroak to lure and nail it for ohko (venu takes a bit from +2 cross chop, plus arcanine and mesprit to an extent checks it). thunder fang still hurts it while you survive air slash and i believe thunder fang + extremespeed ohkos it.

 

[PK Gaming]

Arcanine is your favorite pokemon?
Also... yeah the fact that this teams's been good for 4 periods is a testament to how good it is. My only suggestion is to consider running more speed on Mesprit. Bulk is nice, but try to outspeed Timid lead Focus Sash Omastar (Who will otherwise get 2 layers on you) It's a pretty insignificant one, but I could help your team since it doesn't really appreciate hazards.

Edit: You mention using Leafeon... why not go back to him? You gain a useful lure to Moltres / you can KO with DE at half. His superior bulk means he can switch into predicted Earthquakes and force out Rhyperior, and he has good synergy with Rhyperior.

Aside from that, I can't really say much else. Awesome team flare!

Hide

Arcanine is your favorite pokemon?

 

[doomvendingmachine]

Just minor, but you have 516 evs in mesprit. =/

 

[FlareBlitz]

Haha, Franky, I was looking through my old, ancient RMT and you made the same exact suggestion to me about putting LO on Arcanine :)

Pk, Leafeon did really help with my Moltres issues and paired nicely with Arcanine, but Sceptile brings an incredibly useful amount of speed to my team. I had some Tauros/Scyther/LO Missy issues without Sceptile, which I decided were more detrimental than a Moltres weakness (although during the Moltres-heavy Lass meta I did use Leafeon). Your suggestion about letting Mesprit outrun max Spe Timid Omastar is a good one, and the only reason Mesprit isn't that fast is because I stopped using this team before it really became popular. Thanks for the post :)

Doom, thanks for that catch. I did this mostly from memory, and I forgot that I couldn't run max SpA anymore since I recently upped the Spe on Mesprit...

 

[Upstart]

Wow I didn't realize how similar my team team is to yours. I guess great minds think alike. Jk. Anyway I already commented to say how great the team is; but as our teams are similar I was wondering how you handle opposing HP Grass Arcanine and take Choice Specs Leaf Storms from sceptile?

 

[FlareBlitz]

Good questions. For Specs Sceptile, I usually sac something that's weak and then Pursuit it with Spiritomb. If I'm feeling ballsy I'll go to Toxicroak (this is where those HP EVs help). But yes, it hits very hard and it can hurt my team a lot, only good thing is it really cannot get in on anything at all (except Spiritomb, who wins anyway if it's at full health).
My own Arcanine handles opposing Arcanine fine usually, if not I usually just use Toxicroak because people are stupid and don't run +Spe on their Arcanine. Usually though they try to bring Arcanine in on Sceptile and get seeded and then killed with LO Leaf Storm.

 

[Banedon]

I'm not the best team rater around but I do concur with Heysup about using LO + 3 attacks Sceptile instead of LO Subseed Sceptile. The set you're currently using doesn't really trouble specially defensive Clefable, and its healing is quite unreliable. LO + 3 attacks would beat Clefable, beat Registeel as well (49% chance though), dent Drapion harder (you stay in to Leech Seed Drapion? That's really brave @_@) and can instantly recover 50% health when it needs to. It can't threaten Chansey anymore, but you already have strong answers to Chansey.

Also like others have pointed out there's a Moltres weakness in this team. Here I think RT.'s suggestion for Milotic is a good one. You mention some problems, but I think they can all be handled. LO + NP Mismagius can be revenged by Sceptile (if you keep the Timid nature) at worst, while Toxicroak can potentially kill it with Sucker Punch as well. If you use Azumarill instead of Milotic, Aqua Jet can also deal with it. CM Alakazam is a worry, but specially defensive Milotic survives +1 LO Grass Knot and Arcanine can revenge. For the other issues you mention, Toxicroak is checked by Arcanine. Hitmonlee is a problem, but you could choose Intimidate instead of Flash Fire since you now have a strong fire resist. I'd go with LO Arcanine and use Morning Sun more, but that could just be my playstyle.

If you want to keep Spiritomb, you could also drop Rhyperior. Some lost synergy then but Tauros and Kangaskhan are both walled / checked by (what else? lol ...) Milotic, while Spiritomb can switch in on non-scrappy normal attacks and burn. Other normal sweepers like Curse Miltank can be beaten by Milotic's Haze if you run it, or Toxicroak's Low Kick. Bit surprised you didn't mention the deadliest normal sweeper, Swellow, but you write that Spiritomb checks Swellow (although it didn't for me @_@) so that shouldn't be a problem.

Good luck on team, and congrats on making #1 :)