''How did that happen??''- Rising to The Top with a team you do not see everyday...

[SGod]

Hello there, I am SGod, and as some of you may recall, I posted a RMT topic here near from 2 months ago. Needless to say, that team was great, but it's play style was unoriginal and stale for me. With that said, this team offers a whole new style of play which suits my tastes, also surprising opponents here and there with its 'unorthodoxy' style of play.

The Team:

In depth look at said team:

Pokemon: Crobat
Hold Item: Wide Lens
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Speed, 180 Attack, 76 HP
Moves:
Hypnosis
Super Fang
U-Turn
Roost

Crobat is my loyal lead, while it cannot Stealth Rock, it is the fastest sleep inducer around, with that said, it greatly helps my team strategy, rendering one Pokemon useless from the start. But, how do I get away without the opponent using Stealth Rock with the likes of Aerodactyl and weakening my Pokemon? Easy, after I sleep them away, I use U.turn to break their Focus Sashes and then killing them off with another member of my team. I have to be careful with Aerodactyl, though, as both of them have the same speed.

Pokemon: Zapdos
Hold Item: Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Ability: Pressure
Evs: 248 HP, 136 Defense, 86 Sp. Attack, 36 Speed
Moves:
Thunderbolt
Agility
Hidden Power Grass
Baton Pass

Zapdos is the most common Pokemon I summon after Crobat has done it's job, I have to say Zapdos goal is clear, that is to Baton Pass it's Agility while the lead is still asleep. If the other Pokemon does wake up, I'll just have to fend it off with T-Bolt or HP Grass. And with Agility, little next to nothing will be able to outspeed this guy. It can also survive a Salamence's Outrage AFTER it has Dragon Danced, which comes as really convenient. Who does Zapdos BP Agility to? There are 2 options, I'll list them shortly:

Pokemon: Arcanine
Hold Item: Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moves:
Flare Blitz
Morning Sun
Will-o-Wisp
Extreemespeed

Haha, nobody sees this guy coming at all, with Will-O-Wisp and Morning Sun, Arcanine can stall the likes of Swampert and Salamence all day long while they die a slow and painful death. Flare Blitz and ExtreemeSpeed still serve as my attacking weapons, as they are very powerful and effective. Arcanine has saved my life against heavy attackers like Rhyperior from owning my arse off.

Pokemon: Metagross
Hold Item: Leftovers
Nature: Impish
Ability: Clear Body
Evs: 220 HP, 200 Defense, 90 Speed
Moves:
Meteor Mash
Explosion
Earthquake
Stealth Rock

Ahh Metagross, my big, blue metallic friend. After receiving a single Agility, this beast outspeeds every Pokemon not holding a Choice Scarf or named Ninjask. Apart from attacking, Metagross also takes physical hits easily, thus becoming the perfect Pokemon to use Stealth Rock on my team. Explosion lets me get rid of those pesky threats that usually try to set on me. (Like Salamence or Gyarados)

Pokemon: Starmie
Hold Item: Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 216 Speed, 156 Defense, 136 HP.
Moves:
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Rapid Spin
Recover

Why did I pick a Rapid Spinning Starmie, you ask? That is because 3 of my most important Pokemon are weak to Stealth Rock, and that is not good at all. And nobody does the work better than Starmie in my opinion, not only can it take hits on the physical side, but also pack quite a punch. Ice Beam gets rid of my Salamence and Gliscor problems, surviving a Dragon Claw or Earthquake even after Salamence has DDed. Recover is there in case Starmie gets hurt and helps me against Scizor if I fail to get rid of it quickly.

Pokemon: Flygon
Hold Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Attack,252 Speed, 4 HP
Moves:
Earthquake
Outrage
Fire Blast
U-Turn

Last but not least, Flygon. This guy is the revenge killer of the team, performing it's job swiftly. Has the perfect match along with Metagross, each of them resisting their weaknesses. Also, along with Crobat, both can perform a series of annoying U-turns against Pokemon like Umbreon who want to trap me and fail miserably. It also works for scouting counters. Fire Blast is there for Forretress or Skarmory, which often come thinking they can wall me.



So there it is, it may seem like a gimmicky team to you, but together, this team has reached the mid 1500 rating on Shoddy. The basic strategy is not only fun to perform, but also original and effective.

 

[SGod]

Yellow: This means said Pokemon can be tricky to get rid off, but nothing too big.
Red: This means said Pokemon can obliberate my whole team if I fail to play correctly against it.
My Lead Vs. other common leads:

Aerodactyl: Since it speed ties with my Crobat, it's 50-50%, it can either put the rocks up, or obliberate me with Rock Slide. I always try to put it to sleep and then U-turn to Zapdos for it to finish the job with Thunderbolt. (Focus Sash is broken with U-turn)

Azelf: Crobat puts it to sleep quickly and I U-turn back and forth between him and Flygon, completely obliberating Azelf AND giving me a chance to sleep another Pokemon again. It's a piece of cake, really.

Metagross: Lum Berry variants can be a pain in the ass, so I normally sleep it twice (He does his job putting up the rocks, but I can also complete my own job, too.) If they are not Lum Berry, I sleep it, use Super Fang on it, and Zapdos finishes the job with T.Bolt.

Jirachi : Why, thank you Inner Focus, with that, Jirachi has no chance at Iron Heading me to death and falls asleep. If it passes the Trick on me, DAMN. I have no way of knowing what is it going to do...

Infernape: Haha, this thing dies horribly against Crobat, Fake out will not flinch thanks to Inner Focus and I will be able to sleep this guy easily. Job done.

Bronzong: Sleep, Super Fang, Zapdos, job done. Doesn't even stand a chance at doing anything.

Skarmory: Same as Bronzong, completely inmobilized right from the start.

Forretress: Suffers the same fate as Skarmory.

Swampert: Err.... Can't really do much at all when it falls asleep right from the start and gets owned by Zapdos.

Ninjask: Thank God nobody plays with this guy as a lead anymore, my Crobat cannot deal with it and every other Pokemon in my team falls to Substitute... Worrying...Arcanine is the only one able to attack it with Extreemespeed..

Breloom: Not fast enough to make Crobat falls asleep and receives the taste of it's own medicine. Also falls to the U.turn combo between Crobat and Flygon.

Heatran: Falls asleep to Hypnosys, receives Super Fang and Zapdos T.Bolts it to death.

Tyranitar: If it has Lum Berry I use Hypnosys twice and then procceed to use the double U.turn combo.






:Now, for the threat list:

Scizor: Any variant of Scizor falls down to Arcanine and Zapdos easily, while Choice Banders get beaten down by Starmie and Metagross and the other 2 mentioned above depending on the move they are locked in. (Most of the time BP, anyways.)

Salamence: Salamence gets owned by Starmie if it doesn't have Outrage AND has a Dragon Dance under it's sleeve, any other attack Starmie can survive., otherwise I'll have to go to Metagross and Explode or use Zapdos and zap it with Thunderbolt.

Lucario: Starmie survives a Extreemespeed or Close Combat even after Swords Dance, so does Zapdos and Metagross . And all of them can OHKO it with their respective attacks. Only Zapdos I believe fails to KO with TBolt.

Tyranitar: Flygon can KO with Earthquake, Metagross can kill it off with Meteor Mash, and if both fail to beat it, Starmie can finish the job with Hydro Pump, this is almost never the case, though. Crobat and Flygon can do the U.Turn combo too. (T-Tar will try to Stone Edge Crobat and Aqua tail if it has it on Flygon. Usually I will not start this off with Flygon as it may use Stone Edge on it.)

Latias: Metagross can get rid off all variants of Latias (Well, at least the offensive ones) with a single Meteor Mash (Considering SR damage) while Flygon can defeat non-Scarfers with Outrage. Starmie can beat it too considering it does not have Draco Meteor.

Gyarados: Metagross can use Explosion to beat it and Zapdos can survive Waterfall (even after 2 Dragon Dances) and Ice Fang (After 1 DD). Flygon can get a 2 Hit KO when the rocks are up.

Skarmory: Arcanine can kill it with Flare Blitz, Zapdos can zap it with T.Bolt, Flygon can use Fire Blast (Considering it has less than 60% HP left) and Starmie can use Hydro Pump.

Blissey: I can't say I have seen many Blisseys (surprisingly) but to my knowledge, Metagross beats it with Meteor Mash, Flygon can beat it with Outrage and Arcanine can use Flare Blitz on it.

Kingdra: Metagross can just explode on it, Flygon can use Outrage on it (Considering it only has 1 Dragon Dance/ it's raining. If you combine those 2, I can't do anything to it with 'Gon.)

Suicune: It cannot wreck my whole team, but it can leave holes on it. While I can scare it off with Zapdos, my only hope to OHKO it is to explode with Metagross. If it is asleep, I can wear it off with Flygon's Outrage.

Ludicolo: Considering it is raining, even then my Flygon can OHKO with Outrage and Metagross can explode on it while surviving the Surf.

Machamp: Flygon can KO it with Outrage, Zapdos can zap it to death with Thunderbolt (Survives 2 Ice Punches, IIRC) and Metagross can explode on it/ use Meteor Mash. Starmie can use Hydro Pump considering it does not have Payback and Arcanine can just cripple it with Will-o-Wisp.

Flygon: They are very easy to predict, so I can just switch accordingly on it's attacks and use them to my advantage. Metagross can survive one Earthquake and fend it off with Meteor Mash/Explosion. My own Flygon can scare it off if it is trapped on any move other than Dragon Claw/Outrage. And my Starmie survives all of it's attacks and finishes it with Ice Beam. And once again, if it is Outraging, Arcanine can cripple it with Will-o-Wisp-

Metagross: It all depends on what kind of Meta is it. If it is Agiligross, my Flygon can outspeed it even after that and kill it with Earthquake. Choice Banders fall to Flygon, my own Metagross, Starmie (To a certain extent) and Arcanine.

Starmie: Flygon can kill every variant of this except the Choice Scarf one. Metagross can beat every one of them with Earthquake or Explosion. Zapdos can survive an Ice Beam (Unless it has Specs or have had received damage from the rocks) and beat it with T.Bolt.

Zapdos: Metagross can survive any of it's attacks and explode on it, while Flygon, and Starmie can beat it with Ice Beam considering SR is up. Arcanine can survive any of it's attacks and is able to fend it off with Flare Blitz.

Rotom and it's formes: Arcanine and Flygon can beat it with their respective strongest moves. While Zapdos can somehow beat it with T.Bolt it ends up hurt a lot.

Dusknoir: Arcanine can beat it off with Flare Blitz, Zapdos can T.Bolt it to oblivion. Metagross and Flygon can kill it too but certainly do not like getting Will-o-Wisped.

Magnezone: My Metagross can survive any of it's attacks and destroy it with Earthquake, otherwise I can use Earthquake/Fire Blast with Flygon and Arcanine is able to beat it with Flare Blitz.

Gliscor: Starmie destroys it with Ice Beam, Metagross can Explode on it.
And if the time is right Arcanine can cripple it with Will-o-Wisp.

Honchcrow: Arcanine can survive Sucker Punch/ Drill peck and use Flare Blitz to kill it. Zapdos can survive Sucker Punch and zap it with T.Bolt. Metagross/ Flygon do the same with their respective STABS.

Empoleon: Empoleon and Starmie wall each other, what with each resisting their own attacks. But if I don't do this, I'll have to sacrifice Flygon/Metagross to beat it. If it does not have the time to use Ability though, I can beat him with Zapdos, Flygon, and Metagross.

Gengar: Flygon can use Outrage on it, while Metagross and Arcanine can survive one Shadow Ball each and destroy it with their respective STABs.

Heatran: Flygon can kill it with Earthquake, Starmie can use Hydro Pump and kill it. While Metagross can survive Lava Plume from a neutral natured Sp.Atk Heatran and destroy it with EQ.

Celebi: Crobat and Flygon can once again use their U.Turn combo and fend it off with ease. (Crobat receives the Leaf Storm/Grass STAB.) Metagross can explode on it, Starmie can use Ice Beam if it has less than half it's health left, and Arcanine can use Flare Blitz to destroy it.

Snorlax: Metagross can blow up on this guy and some other one finishes the job. Or alternatively, Arcanine uses Flare Blitz on it to beat him slowly.

Heracross: Flygon beats it with Outrage/Fire Blast, Metagross crushes it with Meteor Mash/Explosion, and Arcanine just uses Flare Blitz on it.

Vaporeon: Zapdos beats it with T.Bolt, and Metagross can just explode on it. Flygon can beat it too if it has less than 50% of it's HP left.

Jolteon: Metagross can survive T.Bolt and use EQ to beat it, Flygon can also use EQ on it, and Arcanine can kill it with Flare Blitz, too.

Weavile: Arcanine can take a Night Slash and then procceed to cripple it with Will-o-Wisp. After receiving SR damage, Zapdos can survive an Ice Punch and kill it with T.Bolt. Metagross can take any of it's attacks and kill it with Meteor Mash.

 

[Life]

You seem to be operating under the wrong assumption that your opponents are stupid (ie using Fake Out vs Crobat).

Hypnosis is only 66% accurate with Wide Lense; a lot of lead runs Lum Berry and is capable of heavily damaging/1HKOing Crobat. After the first miss/or Lum Berry activation, the opposing pokemon will switch out to a sleep talker.

Your team lacks overall bulk and recovery moves in general, while not being overly offensive (ie lacking DD, Nasty Plot, or SD)

 

[SGod]

No, not at all. Infernape does not even stand a chance against Crobat even if it didn't choose Fake out from the start. And most people expect Taunting Crobat as a lead anyway. And are you sure Wide Lens only boosts 6% accuracy on Hypnosys? I could have sworn it was 10%....

And yes, I did notice the overall lack of set-up, but I tried the set-up strategy before, and it didn't work too well, what with me having to switch every 2 turns because of a Pokemon checking on me, which is why set-up is not an option. (I only set up a bit, but that is because the other Pokemon is asleep.)

 

[ARandomDude]

Wide lens boosts by 10% meaning that its 60% gets 10% of 60% added on it (which is 6%).

Next, I would seriously reconsider Arcanine, who here gets walled by plenty of stuff, most notably Swampert. I would use SD Lucario, who appreciates the Agility boost, wrecks tons of stuff, and has great natural synergy with Zapdos.

You will also have some problem taking out Gyarados, with a moveset of DD+Waterfall+Stone Edge+EQ, who can set up on Starmie or Flygon locked into EQ. Change Ice Beam on Starmie to Thunderbolt, because between Zapdos and Flygon, and maybe Crobat, you can handle Salamence more easily.

 

[Delko]

Hello

As a fan of unorthodox teams myself I just had to rate this ^^

On crobat I suggest Leftovers instead of Wide Lens.
I do agree with Hypnosis here, because like you said most leads to expect Taunt from Crobat and Hypnosis is a nice alternative. There aren't to many leads with Lum Berry these days. Machamp and Metagross might carry it although Metagross is carrying Occa berry regulary.

On Arcanine I think Intimidate might be better since you don't have any pokemon who is sure to lure out fire moves (eg. Scizor). While the Atk drop from Intimidate might help in some occasions. If you want to chance Thunderfang I think Morning Sun is a good alternative to keep Arcanine nice and healthy.

I suggest an Adamant (Jolly might work too) nature on Metagross since you say it's job is not only to set up Stealth Rocks but actually to sweep. So I think the extra power only benefits him. If you are faster and you can KO your opponent, there is no real need for those defense EV's right? I also suggest a more offensive EV's spread: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe.

If you are using Flygon as a reveng killer I suggest a Jolly nature to outspeed a +1 Salamence who could cause some trouble.

Hope this helped!

 

[SGod]

Hey Delko, were you playing Shoddy just now? I could have sworn I played someone with your username about 15 minutes ago, but then again I may have misread the username.

Anyways, I will take ARandomDude's advice and use Lucario over Arcanine, it's only for the best. Anyways for Lucario, I will be using the SD set. Which move would you reccomend out of Ice Punch, Stone Edge, and Crunch? I'm leaning for Crunch because I can't defeat Rotom easily at all, but then again I may be wrong. (Tested Lucario, he did not work at all with my team, haha, guess I'll stay with Arcanine.)

As for Metagross, I guess I'll only change the nature of it, I like his physical resistance a lot, always comes in handy. And I'll leave Flygon the same, it's not worth to lose lots of Attack points for one Pokemon. (Which can be taked care by Lucario/Metagross.)

 

[Pollux-Castor]

Lucario has always been too slow for Crunch. I would use Stone Edge as he can actually outspeed the defensive Zapdos. Ice Punch if you see yourself having more problems with Flygon.

Delko's suggestion was right. Something you might never expect from Arcanine is the ability to actually stall out Swampert, and he can do it with Will-O-Wisp and Morning Sun, even better if you find a way to come in with Intimidate (switch in on Ice Beam or something).

Both options are cool, I prefer Arcanine because he makes your team further away from the same old stuff and isn't expected. Crunch is also an option on Arcanine.

 

[SGod]

Okay, so the suggested moveset would be this?

Pokemon: Arcanine
Hold Item: Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Moves
Morning Sun
Will-o-Wisp
Extreemespeed
Flare Blitz?

 

[zaaps1]

You mention Super Fang a few times with dealing with leads. Now Super Fang cuts a target's HP in half, correct? So if you Super Fanged, then U-Turned, then Thunderbolted, you used 3 turns to kill off a lead.

However, couldn't you U-Turn, then Bolt twice to achieve the same effect? Still a 3-turn kill.

Or is there something I'm missing?

 

[SGod]

Super Fang is more reliable in a sense, you know how non-fixed damage moves can vary in terms of power? (Lets say, a Lucario uses Ice Punch against...say Hippowdon? Now, we know that Ice Punch has 75 Base Power, but there is a Random Number Generator (RNG) that determines the final damage. With said RNG, the amount of HP Hippowdon will lose may go from 55%-62%. This situation is hypothetical and is not what the Hippo would take from Lucario haha.)

That is why, many times, if I use 2 T.Bolts and 1 U.Turn, there is a chance that the other Pokemon will be left alive, with little HP, but still alive, this chance is completely disregarded if I use Super Fang, is that clear?

 

[iShedinja]

No glaring weaknesses.. But anyways! Your best bet to stopping ninjask is to add taunt on your Crobat set. Since Hypnosis and taunt is illegal on the bat, what about having taunt over hypnosis? You can then give crobat leftovers. Also, more and more leads are running a lum berry, so yeah. You can taunt through a sub, iirc.

If you don't want to change crobat, then your only viable other option would be adding roar on Zapdos.


Hope I helped!

-iShedinja

 

[Lucalibur]

just a small nitckpick,with negative nature,no life orb fire blast from flygon can miss the 2hko on skarmory,changing to naught nature and puting the 4 evs in special atack should help with that

 

[SGod]

Oh yeahh that was dumb from my part haha. I'll be changing the nature to Naughty right away.

 

[SGod]

Thank you very much, dmatthews, I appreciate what you say. Yes, as I said in the first post, my other team was very good, but didn't differ very much at all with other teams I battled at the time, and it's play style was nothing new to the Battling community, and is overdone. My old team was this:

Aerodactyl
Salamence
Starmie
Milotic
Magnezone
Gyarados

5 smogon sets there, what, the hell. The only one I liked playing with in this team was Milotic. The other 5, well, I have seen how they play so many times, it just became boring very quickly to play with that team. But with this team, I toyed around with the Pokemon's movesets and stats, and have created this, a style of play the common player does not see everyday. Original, effective, AND fun to play. What else could I ask for?

Haha I will stop rambling here that is just the backstory of the team.

 

[XxJohny2haixX]

Hi, got your PM <3

First off good job using BL / UU pokes on your team. As I looked into the team I saw that you have a Scizor problem. Your two "safest" switch ins are weak to Stealth Rock, and Arcanine's recovery is reduced by Sand Storm. Therefore I would recommend using the physically defensive version of Zapdos. I do understand however that It'll impede on Metagross' ability to sweep however.

@Leftovers
Bold : Pressure
EV: 248 HP / 228 Def / 32 Spe
~Thunderbolt
~Heat Wave
~Roost
~Hidden Power Grass / Ice
​

This version of Zapdos will stay around for some time. Despite it's SR weakness. And also takes a good amount of punishment from Scizor, Lucario and various other fighters. However if you don't want to take my advice I recoomend changing Metagroos' moveset, since it's sweeping you dont want a extra moveslot given to SR.
​

@Life Orb
Adamant : --
EV: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 132 Spe
~Metoer Mash
~Earthquake
~Explosion
~Zen Headbutt / Ice Punch
​

Zen Headbutt serves as a way to hit Rotom, which with the first three moves either dont hit, or barely does any damage. Ice Punch also serves to hit Gliscor whom you can take down with explosion which would KO yourself as well.

hope this helps, gl


​

 

[zaaps1]

Super Fang is more reliable in a sense, you know how non-fixed damage moves can vary in terms of power? (Lets say, a Lucario uses Ice Punch against...say Hippowdon? Now, we know that Ice Punch has 75 Base Power, but there is a Random Number Generator (RNG) that determines the final damage. With said RNG, the amount of HP Hippowdon will lose may go from 55%-62%. This situation is hypothetical and is not what the Hippo would take from Lucario haha.)

That is why, many times, if I use 2 T.Bolts and 1 U.Turn, there is a chance that the other Pokemon will be left alive, with little HP, but still alive, this chance is completely disregarded if I use Super Fang, is that clear?

Point made.

However, with Smogon's new calculator, you should run a few calculations with the common leads and see if you have the risk of not KOing after 2 thunderbolts. If you can confirm that you do not have this risk, or have this risk on only a small number or unconventional leads, then it is probably better to replace Super Fang with something more functional or useful.

 

[Rook]

I would seriously suggest changing Hypnosis to Taunt on Crobat. It has 66% accuracy. That is definitely no reliable. You say you can easily beat all leads with Hypnosis (besides Ninjask), so you must be one very lucky man. Taunt has a 100% chance for them to not get Stealth Rock up, as long as they are slower. This is a lot better chance than 2/3, and Crobat can come in later to Taunt if needed.

Second - consider giving Starmie Thunderbolt over Ice Beam. I don't really see what Ice Beam is doing for you. It does help your Gliscor problem, but not so much Salamence. If you try to switch in, he'll just OHKO with Draco Meteor. While it's not guaranteed to use Draco Meteor, many players use it right off the bat, simply because of its destructive power. It obviously doesn't help your DDMence problem, as that variant outspeeds and OHKOs easily. While Gliscor is a problem, an even bigger one is Gyarados. With no Thunderbolt on Starmie, he can very easily sweep your team with Waterfall/Stone Edge/Earthquake. Metagross is very shaky, as with either Spikes or some previous damage he's OHKO'd by Earthquake. By replacing Ice Beam with Thunderbolt, you now have a much more reliable counter (you don't want to sacrifice a whole pokemon the instance you see Gyarados. If it's RestTalk or something (basically not meant to sweep right away), then they can switch to Rotom-A, and your down one pokemon. With Thunderbolt, it can't just switch out and sweep later) to Gyarados. If you don't want to do this, you can also replace a move on Flygon for Thunderpunch.

Also, I'm curious - I looked at your threat list, and you mention Metagross a lot. How does it manage to stay alive while still countering so many threats?

 

[SGod]

Because Metagross can survive 1/2 Physical or Special attacks and explode on pesky threats like Salamence or Gyarados, but if he is not there to do his job, I can use another Pokemon to beat whatever I am dealing with. That is why I have Suicune as a little worrying threat, as only Metagross can OHKO and survive one of it's attacks too.

As for Gyarados, Zapdos can survive a 1 DD Gyarados as long as it does not carry Stone Edge, Metagross survives anything Gyarados throws at it and Explodes, and if that is not an option. Flygon comes in and uses Outrage on it. None of my Pokemon can learn Ice moves not in the form of HP Ice other than Starmie, and that is why Starmie has IB over T.Bolt.

AND as for Crobat, hmmm, you may be right about that one, but it's convenient to have the lead asleep while my other Pokemon kill them off.

 

[ShreyasPokemon]

So I have been looking and saw how your lead works against many other leads. In my opinion your putting your lead to chance with hypnosis. Gambling is not the best strategy in games although it works at times. What would you do if hypnosis misses? Crobat, as I look at it, is pretty fragile and can go down against pokemon that get lucky. Pokemon can awake in one turn as it happened to me and cost the match. Bronzong is a nice threat when hypnosis misses. Gyro Ball will attack Crobats easily and stab will hurt Crobat alot more. Taunt will work nicely well in the spot of hypnosis as it can avoid the Rocks and any other set up.

 

[Rook]

AND as for Crobat, hmmm, you may be right about that one, but it's convenient to have the lead asleep while my other Pokemon kill them off.

As the poster above me said, Hypnosis really bases your outcome against the opponent's lead on luck. You don't only want to win 2/3 of the time. taunt is a much more reliable way to help beat other common leads. But for some reason, you seem to assume that Hypnosis will hit every single time. It won't - it only has 66% accuracy. That's the reason why Hypnosis isn't popular anymore. Hypnosis will not help you win consistently, it instead bases your match-up on hitting with a move, and if they have Lum, hitting them twice. The worst part is, you also think that they will stay in, letting you do whatever you want (stat-up, kill them). Really, I think if you switch to Taunt you'll be able to do a lot better against the opponent's leads.

What can your Zapdos setup on anyway? No smart opponent will ever stay in while sleeping. Chances are, they'll switch to something else while you Crobat U-turns. What do you do from there if Zapdos can't setup. Because I have trouble believing Hypnosis will always hit, the opponent will always stay in, you setup with Zapdos and stuff. What's your back-up plan?

I think you must have done something wrong with you calculations with Zapdos. First you say it can survive a +1 Outrage from LO Salamence. This is False, as it actually does minimum 109%. Zapdos is guaranteed to not survive. Also, you say Zapdos can survive a +1 Ice Fang from Gyarados. In fact, it does a minimum of 75.7%, an easy OHKO with Stealth Rock. While you do have a Rapid Spinner, it won't always be able to get its job done before Gyarados sweeps. Last, +2 Waterfall from Gyarados does 93.2% - 109.7% - again, very easy OHKO with Stealth Rock in play. If you count on Starmie to Rapid Spin every game, don't. With things like Rotom-A, Scizor, and Salamence running around, you'll have a hard time getting in.

Have you considered putting HP Grass somewhere on Arcanine, like over Will-O-Wisp (or something else)? HP Grass helps you sweep better, as it beats Swampert. Also Will-O-Wisp doesn't go very well on a sweeper, mostly becuase you're most likely going to get passed speed once. Having Swampert eliminated is actually a big deal for your team, as only Zapdos can kill it. All of your other pokemon can't beat it. You might say "I can just Explode", but Exploding really isn't the best decision. If you switch metagross into Swampert, people are probably going to think you'll use Explosion, and promptly switch. 95% of teams have something that can take that; be it Scizor, Jirachi, Rotom-A, or Heatran. Therefore, only Zapdos can take it out, but I wouldn't rely on that either, as it will probably die due to damage taken from Baton Passing, switching into Stealth Rock, taking Bullet Punches. it doesn't even have Roost. Basically, small damage will add up very quickly, and Zapdos will die. Then Swampert can do a lot of damage to your team. If you put HP Grass on Arcanine (doesn't have to be over Will-O-Wisp) this can lure in Swampert and, while not OHKOing, weaken him enough so he can't wall later in the match. If you go with this, also change your nature to Naughty.

 

[SGod]

Well, if I got rid of Hypnosis, what other attack would replace it? I considered options, and didn't come up with a conclusion, instead, I want to replace Super Fang for Taunt, that way I can stop SR, Ninjask, and maybe even Sleep the other lead. I never use Super Fang anyway. How does that sound?

As for Swampert, I never really have had any problems beating it, because it is mostly used as a lead, in which case I can just U.Turn to Zapdos and use HP Grass on it.