HYPERMAG
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Hello let me first start off with a introduction about myself, followed by the explanation of how this team came to be. I came into competitive pokes right at the end of fourth gen astounded by how much more their was to Pokemon and came to the realization of how much I enjoyed it. As gen five started and I first started battling I was as I'm sure many of you were, well bad. Never the less I never gave up and just learned through trial and error. I used all sorts of team to some success, ranging from Sun to Full Stall I had fun with it. Now as 5th gen has panned out I grew sort of frustrated by how the meta-game was turning out, namely because of all the weather. Weather in general just cheesed me off as nearly every battle I ran into was rain or sand and became just to much that I went down into UU for a while. After laddering on PO Top 100 UU I grew bored and came to the conclusion that I wanted to play OU.
Team Building Process
Now to play in OU I needed to form a team that could combat weather, as well as combat the ever popular voltturn. When I started this team Hyper offence was becoming the rave so I had to keep that in mind and try not to emulate that way either. By which I mean suicide Azelf leads and what not. Now another thing I had to consider, also being one unorthodox and probably down right stupid was the fact I diddnt want to use legandary's. Things like Mew, Celebi, Terrikion, stuff like that I just always felt they never should be allowed to be used. Just sort of my own silly crutch that I use when it comes to team building. Now the other thing I considered was I wanted pure and unadulterated offence, no F**king around. Basically I just wanted to attack, attack, attack all the time there was no time for rocks or spikes or to wall pokemon the object is to faint their pokemon before yours so why beat around the bush. My initial attempt of the team was basically a make up of the 2 most common types in OU and the best types in all of pokemon, Steel and Dragon. To my surprise it worked and I ran with it. 3 dragons 3 steels, what a concept. One hits like no other completely dominating all Pokemon, the other can sponge and absorb anything you can imagine. With these 2 types I could counter all that I wanted to in OU especially weather, the whole goal I wanted to accomplish. So the first team looked a little something like this.
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This team had moderate success. Luke was there to beat up TTar and other steels and to clear the way for my dragons, in addition to his priority which is so useful since I have no weather. Scizor was again more priority and my bulky set up sweeper. Metagross was more bulk and priority. Haxorus well is Haxorus it wrecks stuff up. Overall the team was accomplishing what I wanted but there was some obviours shortcomings that hindered this team. Hydreigon while unique and effective and DNight while amazing were both to slow and I felt were holding me back. With that in mind I had to break one of my rules and pick up a legendary. To knock down 2 birds with 1 stone I got rid of DNight for Mence and Hydreigon was canned for one of the Eon twins.
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With Latios at the helm as my special attacker I never looked back as it just decimated everything. Also with a Scarf MoxieMence it added the much needed speed and revenge killer I so desperately needed. With more battles, again which led to more success the team however was still lacking one thing. It just seemed I couldn't sweep effectively as I could of as opposing steels were to much for Lucario and my dragons to handle and I knew exactly what had to happened.
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Metagross was dropped for Magnezone. With Zone's ability to trap steels it was a godsend for this team as it allowed for easier sweeps for the whole team. Magnezone not only could trap steels but pull its weight and sweep on its own with sub charge beam. With that, the team I felt was complete. Though with every thing in life there is always room for improvement.
The Team
Latios @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk )
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Fire
- Surf
Latios is honestly the glue that holds everything together and also is my lead about 90% of the time. Latios is so versatile and threatening that it causes a lot of switches and also baits my opponent into simple mind games. Now I took advantage of Latios movepool and choose the moves that would give weather teams and all of OU the most headache. Draco is standard as most of you know that if you dont resist it you gonna get messed up. Thunderbolt might seem strange as I think the norm is Psychic. However with the popularity of rain teams and skarm being a big counter to my team it was mandatory. Again T-Bolt is so effective against rain teams. Basic opening to a game. Latios vs Politoed. I T-Bolt he Ice Beams he switches thinking I'm choiced and goes into Jolteon or Thunderous. BOOM they get slammed from the sky by a Draco Meteor. Combined with expert belt Latios is just so dang good, not sure why you dont see it more. Than Surf to help with my extreme Terrikion, Hippowdon weakness . I tried a life orb 4 attacks set but than there goes the unpredictability and my opponent can act accordingly. Overall Latios is beast.
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SpA )
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Ice Punch
- Extreme Speed
Lucario one of the pokemon on my team who has been through it all since the beginning of this team. I went with a traditional physical attacker as it OHKO's TTar off the bat, is a clean 2HKO on specially defensive toed and also is run of my ways on crushing every steel type I see, namely Ferro and Rachi and Heatran. Luc again is another cog in the machine it can outright sweep if your unprepared as it is so under rated and can knock out them weaken foes with priority. The ev's are standard 252 252 in attack and speed with life orb for mo damage and jolly nature so I can outspeed faster gliscor variants as wells as neutral base 100s. CC is for stab and just demolishes everything. Ice punch again for dragons, Therions, and gliscor. Espeed to round out the set for that extra priorty. In all I love this pokemon and is a solid addition to this team and helps in every battle.
Scizor @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 32 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bug Bite
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
Now onto Scizor who is perhaps the king of OU and is also one of my favorite pokemon. The set is pretty standard, bulky swords dance is what I use and it works wonders. Scizor role is another set up sweeper, a psuedo-wall, and another form of priority for this team. Ev spread is little odd but still works as its there for that bulk so I can sweep and sponge hits than 252 is put into attack with a adamant nature. Move set is standard, Bug Bite and Bullet Punch for STABS and technician. Swords Dance and Roost complete the set for set up and reliable recovery accordingly. Scizor again has many uses and has been on pretty much every team I have ever conceived as it is just so good after a +2 that it OHKO's nearly eveything hit neutrally by bullet punch bar a few exceptions like Conkeldurr and Gliscor but again those are both swiftly 2HKO easy.
Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 128 Atk / 124 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake
Next is Mence the monster from gen 4 comes back to wreck OU like it should. What else is their to say about Mence amazing stats, amazing STAB and amazing movepool. It really did deserve to go Uber last gen, yet with the power creep this gen and the speed of the metagame it can nestle down here in OU and still put up shop. I have a basic Scarf Moxie Mence which is my revenge killer and late game sweeper if there is anything left IMO. Now I know the EV's and the move set look odd but follow me on this. Draco and the added special attack are there for variety reasons. One in case I get burned, Mence is not completely useless. Another is for surprise factor. People see Draco from Mence their than like "oh ok he is all special", they act accordingly. Next time they see Mence bang out of now where Im hitting from the physical side. Outrade, EQ and Fire Blast are the standard bread butter for the rest of the set and a plus speed nature so I can speed tie other Mence and other base 100's. With Mence I get a wall breaker, revenge killer and late game cleaner. Again you guessed it is another pokemon that puts in work every match.
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Substitute
Now on to my trapper and basic room cleaner, because as soon as your steels go down your probably going to get swept. Magnezone is pretty straight forward, trap steels and kill them. I have a very simple and standard 252 252 EV spread in special attack and speed with a modest nature for extra power. You can dump the other 4 EVs in whatever. The move set again is to allow versatility so not only I can trap and kill I can maybe knockout another pokemon or two while behind a sub. Charge Beam is obvious for boosting. HP Fire for steels, and Flash Cannon for things like TTar, Gliscor and even dragons or what ever else I can hit neutrally. The last addition to this team proved to be the most vital as it really allowed the potential of this team to shine.
Haxorus (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Dual Chop
Last but definitely not least we have Haxorus. My last set up sweeper and perhaps my hardest hitter. The EVs are standard 252 252 in Attack and speed respectively, the other 4 can be put in w/e. Now the move set might be strange but it does exactly what I need it to for this team. DD for boosting obviously, Outrage for STAB, EQ for coverage and with Mold Breaker helps me nail things like Gengar, Rotom and other annoying pokemon with levitate. Now on to Dual Chop again I don't need more coverage as usually when this thing comes in steels are out of the way. Besides after plus 1 most steels after taking 2 outrages are going to be easily revenged by the rest of the team so Dual Chop makes since for these reasons. Any pokemon I think has a sash is negated and they get taken out, pokemon who are behind a sub and it really does wonders to baton pass teams. As usually I'll DD up, get spored by smeargle, recover from lum berry and proceed to dual chop than sweep. Honestly dual chop I think should be used so much more as its so useful. I have tried Super Power but again I like the ability to knock out sashes and whatnot. The final verdict on Haxorus is that your supposed to hit like a truck as much as possible.
Threats
Now In terms of threats I'm not about to list every pokemon in OU. Also every team has huge threats no team doesn't have threats if some one says there team does not have any, that's a lie. Basically if I don't list it I do not consider it a threat. [pimg]667[/pimg]Volcarona Since I do not run rocks or spikes this thing can come in at full health and really tear into me. Usually I have to send in Mence right away and Outrage than send one of priority users if it has a QD up. If their bulky roost or rest ones I'm screwed this and the next pokemon are the single most threatening to this team.
[pimg]455[/pimg]Because I have no water or grass moves this thing is a pain to take down. The best course of action is to Draco with Lati or swords dance up with Scizor or crit it or something because I honestly dont have a good answer usually. Thankfully its not common.
[pimg]677[/pimg] Its new and hard to beat. But if I can get some damage on it with Mence, Latios or Haxorus I can usually revenge it with a ESpeed from Luc
[pimg]669[/pimg]Its Terrakion what else is their to say.
[pimg]680[/pimg]Again probably cause its new. Figure out the set, act smart make it get locked in Ice Beam trap and kill with Zone.
[pimg]623[/pimg][pimg]94[/pimg]Ghost types in general can be a pain especially for Luke but can be handled correctly with a mixture of Mence, Scizor and Latios.
Conclusion
So there is the team. I have had a lot of fun, using it I feel like I blended Hyper Offence into a whole new extreme as just attack and dont worry about the consequences. Just the pressure is always on you have no time for rocks or anything of the sort no stall, no status just continue inflicting that damage. As always suggestions are always welcome and even on the rate my team portion you can mention how I can improve the layout or whatever. Thank You Smogon.Also as a update this team has peaked at #4 on Pokemon Showdown ladder Thank You Joeyboy for the Surf suggestion on Latios
DDAY
