.hack//Offence RMT

[ChocolateTeapot]

Hi all,

This is my first post though I've been lurking around for some time. I put this team together for a story I was writing, almost by accident I started tuning it for OU and its been quite successful. I thought I'd expose it to the experts at smogon to see how it measures up.

I've called the team .hack because all of their nicknames are taken from the various types of Malware that can be used to attack people PCs. Apologise for fans of the anime, but I couldn't resist the title - it was too good. Hopefully you'll still stay here and rate.

Teambuilding Process

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I started off the team by starting off with a fairly common fire/water/grass core:

The idea was to run a balanced core with a defensive Starmie which could guarantee there'd be no hazards on the field to facilitate a Volcarona sweep. I wanted the team to be mostly offence focused so I wanted a single pokemon to round off defence with Starmie and I came across Porygon2. This thing is a total defensive behemoth taking the massive Dragon attacks in OU and retaliate with super-effective attacks. The final two were a Stealth Rock setter and revenge killer in the forms of Garchomp and Weavile

This is when I started testing the team and it became clear that, while Weavile was awesome, I was using it for priority and pursuit which is done far better by Scizor, which was my first pokemon substitution

Next came weather-proofing the team. After testing, I started to notice a fire/sun weakness since resists from Garchomp and Starmie didn't seem enough. Volcarona is great in the sun, but isn't a defence against sun sweepers even though I was running HP [Rock]. I substituted Volcarona in for a Choice Specs Heartran and the team got a lot sturdier. Since I didn't have Volcarona any more, I switched Starmie to an attacking variant since spinning wasn't so important now and it helped against Rain teams.

The team looked good like this but through further testing I was finding that without the bulkier Starmie the team had a fighting weakness. I noticed Chandelure would patch this up and, in general, have great synergy with the rest of the team. Thus stands the latest and most successful incarnation of the team.

Current Team

In summary:

In depth:
1. Trojan

Garchomp (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Sash Chomp makes a great lead and is not necessarily what people are expecting to face straight off. In practice a lot of time this Garchomp will almost play like a suicide lead: get rocks up and then do as much damage as possible before going down, which can normally leave me one or two pokemon up since Garchomp matches up well against weather starters who aren't Hippowdon and hazard setters since Fire Blast will catch out Skarmory/Forretress who might think he's running with Swords Dance. the idea is to get the hazard setters out of the way so when Starmie spins, its for good.

He's called trojan because he can carry so many sets that people will think they know what he is and then he'll surprise them. Much like a Trojan Horse attack when you download one program and really its another.




2. Worm

Starmie @ Expert Belt
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin

Offensive Starmie is a great check to the fighting types which plague the team as well as removing hazards. This is pretty self explanatory, Psyshock is almost exclusively for Keldeo since dragons can be covered by Porygon, Scizor and Garchomp so Ice Beam isn't missed. In general Starmie works out as MVP when facing Rain Teams also, so much so that I'm considering running Thunder just to capitalize on the number of opponents who run rain. Initial item here was Life Orb, but I found the HP loss was difficult if trying to switch Starmie in a lot.

Worm viruses replicate themselves endlessly so since Starmie can rejuvenate itself endlessly it makes sense. It made a little more sense when this was a defensive Starmie who had recover, so maybe I need a new nickname, suggestions?




3. Virus

Breloom (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Swords Dance
- Spore

This Breloom is a bit controversial, I'm running a Jolly nature to be able to outspeed as much as I can to get an initial Spore/SD off. This guy is a monster as a late game sweeper as long as a few key pokemon who resist its stabs are gone, notably Dragonite, Salamence and the Lati twins but the team is deliberately built to remove these threats. I'm toying with the idea of switching his item to be a focus sash and leading with him instead of Garchomp. I've tested this out and Sash Breloom is a beast but it means that I lack a boosting sweeper to the mid/late game which is not ideal. This guy is the second of my rain trump cards since he loves to beat the pokemon that love rain teams.

I've said Breloom was a straight up virus because he can disable other pokemon with spore, increase his strength with Swords Dance and then proceed to take an entire team (system) down.




4. Root Kit

Chandelure (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Trick

Choice Scarf Chandelure is a massively underrated threat and not enough people prepare for it. This not only allows it to beat normal checks like Starmie and Gengar who aren't expecting it to be scarfed and think they can win. It gets plenty of opportunity to switch in on fire moves aimed at Scizor or Breloom, fighting moves aimed at Porygon2 and even ice moves against Garchomp. Chandelure synergizes crazily well with the team. I'm using Trick instead of the Hidden Power [Fighting] recommended by Smogon because Chandelure has no business trying to take on Tyranitar but Trick is great to allow me to switch moves later on in the match or to cripple something that hates having its item taken. I'm considering removing Trick for maybe Psychic or HP[Rock] to help Chandelure to check Conkeldurr or Volcarona respectively but then it will lose the ability to cripple the special walls that switch into it like Chansey.

Its important to remember here that Chandelure's Fire Blast hits like a truck unboosted so the power boost from a Life Orb/Choice Specs isn't really missed. This Chandelure can double job between being a revenge killer and a great late game cleaner once everything that can counter it are gone.

I've said Chandelure is like a root kit, mainly because she forces some very specific switches to is very easy to predict what the opponent will do next. Additionally, with Trick she can force the opponent into a single move.



5. Bot

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Bold Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Toxic
- Recover

Porygon2 is the defensive centre of the team, taking on a abundance of threats and hard hits and then retaliating with something Super Effective or Toxic. I pulled this from an old Trick Room team I'd been trialing. I'm using Thunderbolt of Discharge because the paralysis isn't guaranteed with Discharge and you miss the extra power, especially against something like Skarmory. There's not much else you can say about this, except to say how consistently underestimated it is. Trace is definitely the ability of choice because it puts a hard stop to Heatran, Vaporeon and Jellicent by stealing their abilities. Its also very useful (and amusing) to clear yourself of status by switching into Chansey while its trying to toxic something, tracing Natural Cure, and healing on the way out.

Porygon2 was really the inspiration for my RMT nickname theme since there are so many times that it'll switch in on Poison Heal Gliscor or Heatran and just spoil their plans. Exactly the same way a bots can initate denial of service attacks to totally spoil someone's planned internet browsing.




6. Spyware

Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit

So standard the set really doesn't need explanation. On this team its primarily used to cause problems to sandstorm teams and as a bit of extra priority to take down fast things like Alakazam which other members of the team will struggle to do. He's also the team's only real answer to Reuniclus and provides general steel type resistances. On this team scizor is a jack-of-all trades used to muscle through pokemon whose main counter on the team has been weakened or taken out. Scizor is also a great Reuniclus counter and the team desperately needed one of those.

So-called spyware because that's often what she'll do: scout to see what people's counters are, oftentimes to both Scizor and Breloom, reveling strategies and sets.




Wrap Up

Threats
The team copes with a lot of things well but there are a couple of pokemon which are real threats:

• Volcarona: if rocks are not still up I struggle to break Volc, best chance is to use Chandelure whose Fire Blasts are Neutral and will wall if not carry HP Ground/Rock otherwise I have to hope that P2 can weather the storm until Toxic takes its toll
• Landorus: Can be beaten by P2 tracing Sheer Force and using Ice Beam, but requires P2 at full health Starmie is OK too, but completely anhilated by Rock Polish Sets
• Bronzong: Can't do much to P2, but in turn P2 must try to wear down with T-bolt, Chandelure is a shakey check because of Earthquake, normally just try to wear this down over time as it switches in

Last Word
Overall the team plays like an offensive/bulky offence team with plenty of defencive synergy to revenge or even switch in on each other's counters for free. The normaly playbook is to identify their hazard setter, nullify it using Garchomp, spin with Starmie all the while doing as much damage as possible and then use the other four guys to take apart what's left of the opposing team. I'm open to any and all suggestions of substituting moves or pokemon completely. Thanks for taking the time to read all this, I hope you've enjoyed my first rmt.

Recap

Importable

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Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Trait: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Bold Nature
- Ice Beam
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Recover

Starmie @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin

Garchomp (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Breloom (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Swords Dance
- Spore

Chandelure (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Trick

Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit

 

[Erico9001]

Hi, you have a nice team. The pokemon seem to compliment each other well. I hope I can be a help to you and this team.

Now I've tested it a bit and it does very well. Here are the stats I got, the one loss was from my unfamiliarity of how to check a speed-boosting Yanmega with it, and a large amount of hax with hypnosis from the opponent.

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I notice in your description for Porygon2 you are running thunderbolt, while in the export you are running discharge. I'm going to assume you are using Discharge, as this is what I would recommend. I also notice your description says Starmie is using expert belt while in the export you are doing life orb. I would recommend life orb for its additional damage against neutral opponenets.

Volcarona and Landorus are very threatening to this team, as you said. Mamoswine could pose an issue, since Breloom, your ground resistance, is weak to ice, Starmie is Ohko'd by Earthquake after stealth rock, and Porygon2, despite its bulk, cant switch in to an Earthquake and recover off Superpower with stealth rock or any previous damage, but with the right predicts it can be countered. Conkeldurr and Terrakion could raise issue, with payback, stone edge, and X-Scissor to counter Starmie and Chandelure, the best two counters to powerful fighting types. Although, Terrakion could be countered with bullet punch from Scizor.

Your team can counter Bronzong, I think you're using the wrong strategy. Countering Bronzong with Porygon2 is dangerous, since in OU Bronzong carries toxic about 30% of the time, and if Bronzong is carrying light screen, this strategy won't work. So instead, I would do an immediate switch to Scizor, whose U-Turn does a 42.6 - 50.59% against it. Bronzong may switch, seeing at best it can get a 5hko with earthquake, which would throw momentum in your favor. If he does not switch, you could go to breloom and spore it, or skip the spore and just get a swords dance in, so that you can take it out with mach punch.

The predicts I was talking about for countering mamoswine are if predicting an ice attack, go to Starmie and hydro pump, and if ground, go breloom to take the hit, then go starmie and hydro pump.

You also have the tools to counter Volcarona, outside of Chandelure. Volcarona only uses hp ground 12% of the time, so Chandelure will work most of the time. An alternative would be to Toxic stall it with Porygon2. To do this, switch porygon2 in on a quiver dance, toxic it, and then spam recover. The OU defensive duck set does risk a 33% chance to be 2hkod by +1 life orb volcarona, which is why I run a set that balances def and spdef at 265 with
EVs: 252 HP / 60 SDef / 196 Def
Calm Nature
On this team where I use this he's my only check to Volcarona, so I can afford the stronger hits from physical attackers.

Landorus-I is so tough to counter; enough that he's being suspected. Unfortunately, I don't really think I can suggest a change to the team to be able to counter it that would not drastically change the team and its purpose. However, I can offer a strategy I have thought of for countering it. You could theoretically switch to porygon2 to tank the damage from landorus's primary attack (likely earth power), then switch to chandelure to gain immunity from the obvious focus blast, then outspeed his likely Earth Power with your Fire Blast (given he won't switch out, expecting to ohko you with earth power), to 100% Ohko Landorus with previous stealth rock or life orb damage.
252+ SpA Chandelure Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Landorus: 280-330 (87.77 - 103.44%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

After re-reading, I think giving chandelure psychic may be worth trying out to better check conkeldurr. When testing the team out I handled walls pretty easily, never using trick. But it's your call, both moves are useful for their own reasons.

I feel the focus sash on Garchomp is unneeded. Garchomp gets the chance for a lot more Ohko's with a life orb. It also allows him to fair as a counter to Forretress in the rain.
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ferrothorn: 130-154 (36.93 - 43.75%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Life Orb Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ferrothorn: 169-200 (48.01 - 56.81%) -- 91.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

I was going to recommend replacing rapid spin with ice beam, but then I realized the importance of removing stealth rock with the large role the chandelure plays on this team.

So that's it. I have to commend you on creating a powerful, weatherless, balanced, ou team. I love the synergy between the pokemon as well as the use of the commonly underestimated porygon2. I also like the use of some lower usage pokemon. I hope I helped, gl!