Hazards Immunity! (Bulky Offense Team)

[Diablix]

Hi everybody. I used a team which I found pretty good, allowing me to reach good rankings in both Smogon and PO ladders. It really suffered Sandstorm teams, lacking any true counter for a scarfed Landorus and that was pretty much doomed against an Hippowdon or a Gliscor once Latios was KOed.
Plus I was bored with all those entry hazards, which were a real pain even with a rapid spinner.. so many times my Volcarona would have sweeped the team if it weren't for those damn stealth rocks!

Thus I tried to rebuild it from scratch, trying to build something that can simply ignore the hazards, instead of trying to removing them, but taking the cue from my old team. The result is something that lacks any big weakness (at least until now I never found something that completely walled me or that sweeped my team with ease), but I feel there's room for improvements, as it doesn't satisfy me completely.

Team Building Process

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I used to have a Tentacruel as a Rapid Spinner, but spinning away entry hazards is easier said than done. Unfortunately it makes you waste 3 turns (switch in, rapid spin, switch out), and against a very good stall player your rapid spinner won't last long enough to continuously protect you. So my goal was to build a team immune to Toxic Spikes, with no weaknesses to Stealth Rock and with as many flying/levitating pokèmon as possible. This way I can simply ignore Stealth Rock and focus on KOing the opponent before hazards KO mine.

The backbone of my team. I found him to be the archetype of a Bulky Sweeper, a true force of nature which is completely unstoppable once you don't have any counter to face him. Even if he's not immune to Toxic Spikes, Guts allows him to reach 600+ Attack when he's poisoned, which is something that most monsters simply can't resist. Drain Punch also gives the possibility to heal while doing serious damage, greatly boosting his staying power without wasting turns.

Of course fast or very bulky Psychic sweepers are Conkeldurr's bane. The best partner would probably be a Choice Scarf Tyranitar, which can safely check most OU Psychic, but Tyranitar means Sandstorm, and I prefer not to have a weather team. So I feel that Latios is a better partner for Conkeldurr, since not only he can safely switch into any Psychic/Psyshock, but he's also a terribly powerful Special Attacker with perfect coverage and he can hurt badly anything that our muscle beast can't.

I'm a big fan of Volcarona, in a metagame without Stealth Rock it's one of the best sweeper out there, so I immediately spotted that after a Quiver Dance both Conkeldurr and Latios are doomed. Here's where Heatran comes: very good typing, good support movepool and two powerful moves with pretty interesting side effects.

Now that I've added a specially defensive Heatran I need someone with very good physical bulk. Who best than Gliscor which resists two of Heatran's weaknesses? With Taunt he becomes a good Stallbreaker, messing around with Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Blissey, which are always a pain, no matter how many counters you have for them.

I do really like bulky sweepers like Conkeldurr and Heatran, but sometimes you need a full blast reckless killer. Life Orb + Swords Dance Scizor is the way to go. His moveset has virtual perfect neutral coverage (only Gyarados resists him, as far as I remember) and with 6xx Attack + Life Orb + Technician a Bullet Punch is something that even Physical Walls won't like.

It's clear that I don't have anyone that can easily handle a Gyarados who already did a Dragon Dance. In addition to that, Latios is the only one resisting water type attacks, which given the abundance of permanent rain teams are quite common. My first idea was to add a scarfed Rotom, but he would be far to frail to sponge water attacks for the whole match. So I used a fairly uncommon mixed wall rotom, which seems so to work fine. For this role I also considered other Bulky Waters like Jellicent, Tentacruel and Suicune, but Levitate gives the washing machine give some very useful immunities.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Calm Nature ( +SDef / -Atk )
EVs: 248 Hp / 100 SDef / 160 Spd
Lava Plume
Earth Power
Stealth Rock
Roar
​

Analysis: Quite standard Specially Defensive Heatran. He sets up Stealth Rock and cripples the opponent with burns and roaring them to stack up SR damage. Even without EVs Heatran Special Attack is high enough to deal a good amount of damage, in addition to the possibility of burning the foe or lowering its Special Defense.

PROS: Stealth Rock. Bulky Special Attacker. Flash Fire. Toxic Spikes immunity. Roar.
CONS: Earthquake and permanent rain are big and very frequent issues.

Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
Adamant Nature ( +Atk / -SAtk )
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Atk / 116 SDef / 4 Spd
Mach Punch
Drain Punch
Payback
Bulk Up
​

Analysis: Standard Bulk Up Conkeldurr. The purpose is to build the perfect team around him. If I manage to defeat his counters I already know I've won. With just one Bulk Up of advantage it's often possible to kill usual counters (like Gyarados without Taunt or a Landorus without a Sandstorm), let alone Pokèmon which are weak or Neutral to fightind moves. He's simply the backbone of this team.

PROS: Amazing power with good bulk, especially after one Bulk Up. Resistance to Stealth Rock. Can heal himself while dealing tons of damage. Guts+Drain Punch makes it hard to stop him with statuses.
CONS: Slow.

Latios @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Timid Nature ( +Spd / -Atk)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Dragon Pulse
Surf
Hidden Power [Fire]
Calm Mind​

Analysis: Yes, I know, it's a moveset more apt for his sister. The fact is that I simply do not like Draco Meteor on a pure Special Sweeper, it often forces you to switch out when you would benefit from staying in the field. And with all those scarfed U-turners and Pursuit users it's a suicide. But it's also true that you don't always have time to set up, and an unboosted Dragon Pulse from Latios is not something that can be taken with too much ease...
Dragon Pulse for STAB, Surf for dealing with Gliscors, Hippowdons and to 2HKO weakened Tyranitar when switching in. Hidden Power Fire for dealing with Scizors, Ferrothorns and Skarmorys.
So why using Calm Mind? Because Latios is already one of the fastest Pokémon in the tier and with a Calm Mind in the right moment against a weakened team he can tear it apart, if not win the match by himself.

PROS: Very good coverage. Fast. Very high Special Attack. Immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes.
CONS: Physically Frail. Weakness to U-Turn and Pursuit.

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Adamant Nature ( +Atk / -SAtk )
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite
Superpower
Swords Dance
​

Analysis: Full blast sweeping Scizor. Both Conkeldurr and Latios work best with weakened teams, when they have the chance to set up and sweep defenseless Pokémon. And here's where Scizor comes into play, with a simple strategy: sheer power. Its main purpose is to prepare the opponent team to be sweeped by Conkeldurr and Latios, but it also serves the role of revenge killing eventual outraging dragons.

PROS: Amazing power. Very powerful priority in Bullet Punch. Immunity to Toxic Spikes.
CONS: Frail. Slow when Bullet Punch is not a viable option.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Impish Nature ( +Def / - SAtk)
EVs: 248 Hp / 188 Def / 72 Spd
Earthquake
Ice Fang
Taunt
Protect
​

Analysis: This is one of those cases where you feel that it doesn't matter which moveset you choose, you always fall short in covering everything you'd want. Earthquake is for STAB (and Jirachi), Ice Fang for enemy Gliscors, Landorus and Dragons. Taunt to annoy Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Blissey and many other walls. Toxic would have been really helpful, but I preferred Protect for scouting and healing with the orb, since Rotom already has Toxic.

PROS: Very sturdy. Immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Once Poisoned is immune to all status.
CONS: Low Special Defense. 4x Weakness to Ice. Lacks offensive power.

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Bold Nature ( +Def / -Atk)
EVs: 192 Hp / 76 Def / 240 SDef
Hydro Pump
Hidden Power [Ice]
Thunderbolt
Toxic
​

Analysis: As I said in the Team Building Process section, it's main role is to sponge physical and special water attacks for the whole match. In addition is capable of switching in and scarying away any Gyarados. I'm not pretty sure on Thunderbolt, though: Thunder has a lot more power and a better paralysis chance but without rain is not really reliable, while against a sun team is almost useless; Discharge though gives him better paralysis chance, but a the cost of some power, which can make the difference considering I did NOT spend any EV on his Special Attack. HP Ice is for dragons and grass types, while Toxic is for crippling bulky water/ground types and Volcarona before he Quiver Dances too much.

PROS: Leftovers and EVs give him enough staying power. Counters Gyarados and finishes weakened Starmies and Slowkings that switch in against Conkeldurr. Takes at bay double STAB water attacks against rain teams. Also helps with Volcarona. Levitate.
CONS: Too few HP and no true recovery move to be a really good wall. Hydro Pump isn't reliable enough.



And that's all for now. As soon as I'll have some more spare time I'll write a full threat list.

Thanks in advance for any comment.. and be harsh! Otherwise you won't help enough ;)

 

[ariq2kpokemanz]

thats a great team u got there although a dnite with earthquake will pwn ur team. i recommend a terrakion over conkeldurr. this will give u a 3 pokes weak 2 water so replace heatran with a special wall which isnt weak 2 water. so maybe use a blissey. Now u need a fire type so use a hydreigon over latios. other than that its a great team. hope i helped

 

[steel dragons]

First of all, you have a great team concept here. I'll be sure to make this sort of team sometime (not weak to hazards / immune to toxic spikes) Here's my rate:

As you said before, Dragons and Landorus can trouble this team. You do have ways of dealing with them though. You have Rotom-W to counter Landorus, and Gliscor to counter most Dragons. While not that common, Kingdra can be a major threat to your team, as it can set up a dance on most of this team, barring Latios and Conkeldurr. I'm not sure what I would really replace on your team to deal with it (if you want to do that), but its not that common, so just be careful.

Some bulky water Pokemon (I'm thinking of Gastrodon and Quagsire) can threaten a large portion of this team as well. I might consider putting Toxic on Gliscor or Rotom-W, in place of Taunt and Pain Split respectively, to deal with them.

To better deal with Dragons and Landorus, you could consider scarfing Latios, and replacing Rotom-W with Latias, Latias being the sweeper. Scarfed Latios outspeeds just about every Dragon at +1 speed, and Latias has many of the same resistences and immunities as Rotom-W, with mostly better defensive stats overall, and a better recovery move than Rotom-W as well. Also, Heatran and Scizor both resist all of Latios/Latias' weaknesses. While looking at smogon's page for Latios, I also noticed that Latios' (and Latias' really) three main counters are Scizor, Tyranitar, and Blissey are all dealt with well by other members of your team. Also, your team does well in general against other Steel types. In terms of the three Pokemon that would be weak to Ice moves, you could probably predict around their moves, and Mamoswine, the best Pokemon that can use Ice Shard, easily falls to Scizor and Conkeldurr's priority moves. If you really want Latios to be your sweeper, you could have Latias be your scarfer, but that doesn't make too much sense (as scarfing Latias sort of wastes its defensive potental). Sure, adding Latias in place of Rotom-W will make you more vulnerable to Water types, but with solid prediction, you can get around that. Latias, as you know, is also immune to spikes / toxic spikes, and only takes normal damage from stealth rocks, so it fits your criteria.

In regards to ariq2k...'s comment, A Dragonite with Earthquake / Dragon move could threaten your team barring Gliscor, but a Dragonite with Waterfall / Dragon move could be very deadly, as it hits all Pokemon for neutral damage at worst. That Dragonite is sort of like what I said about Kingdra, in that the Dragon / Water combo threatens most of your team. Also, Blissey doesn't really fit into this type of team I would think, and Hydreigon is not a fire type.

I hope that I helped you with my rate. Even without the changes though, this is still a good team.

 

[Diablix]

Some bulky water Pokemon (I'm thinking of Gastrodon and Quagsire) can threaten a large portion of this team as well. I might consider putting Toxic on Gliscor or Rotom-W, in place of Taunt and Pain Split respectively, to deal with them.

Reading this I noticed that just before posting it I made some last minute changes with the team and now I don't have anyone with Roar, which was originally thought for Heatran. I believe I'll give Toxic to Rotom-W and Roar to Heatran.

To better deal with Dragons and Landorus, you could consider scarfing Latios, and replacing Rotom-W with Latias, Latias being the sweeper.

It's a good idea, giving Tbolt instead of Calm Mind to Latios I would also deal with many water type more easily. The problem is that now I'm weak to HP Earth Volcarona. If he boosts himself with a Quiver Dance not even a Draco Meteor + Bullet Punch combo will suffice to put him to sleep

Replacing Rotom with

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Calm Nature
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SAtk
Dragon Pulse
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Roost

Would probably fix all the holes in Pokémon still to counter, but he would become weak to stealth rock hence to stall teams. It's also true that stall teams don't run a Volcarona...

Don't know, I need to think more about that. Good Idea though, just need to find a counter for Hidden Power earth Volcarona without Rotom

but a Dragonite with Waterfall / Dragon move could be very deadly, as it hits all Pokemon for neutral damage at worst. That Dragonite is sort of like what I said about Kingdra, in that the Dragon / Water combo threatens most of your team.

I believe you're right, when I thought this team it I noticed a weakness to Gyarados, but Waterfall DNite and Kindgra are pretty much similar, even if with slightly different typing. Kingdra scares me less than the other two, though, since he's not resistant to Fighting moves and Conkeldurr is tough enough to endure a waterfall while healing himself with Drain Punch. Of course bad luck with flinches could screw everything...