I'M BACK BABY!

[animenagai]

Yep, that's right. Anime's back in business! I stopped playing right when PT got released, so I'm a bit behind. This is my first team back, so any help would be appreciated.

Team at a glance:

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Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion
---

Standard scarftran. it's a bit similar to rotom, but i like having a few scarfers on my team. The best defense is a good revenge killer. This is out of the analysis page too, but personally, I like modest with max sp.atk and speed. Only reason i'm running naive is because i don't have the legal IV's for HP ice :D. I don't really care if I lose to other heatrans, this isn't my heatran counter.

Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
---

One of the 2 new pokes I wanted to try out. This thing counters quite a few threats for me such as lucario, mamo, gyara and scizor. Scarf to outrun everything without a scarf as well as gyara adter a DD (I think). I really love this thing. Only problem is that this thing is supreme bait for CBtar. My team sorta needs this thing, so that would hurt. Considering swapping trick for WOW or T-wave.

Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 208 HP/252 Atk/48 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Superpower
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
---

Yeah, pt toy no. 2 had to be this thing. This was straight out of the peer edit, so maybe it needs some fixing up. not too sure about the speed EV's.

Snorlax (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Return
- Superpower
- Sleep Talk
---

This is an old friend of mine. One of the only true counters left for gengar and this guy seriously packs a punch. Maybe I should've put the EV's in Sp.Def rather than HP. Anyways, this thing can take sleep and punish pretty much anything that switches in. I laugh at the lucarios that come in only to get crippled themselves.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/62 Def/196 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Grass Knot
- Thunder Wave
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
---

Fruit salad yummy yummy~~ Celebi has taken a hit in pt with scizor and heatrans running rampant. That's why i have t-wave though. Celebi here plays a niche role for the likes of swampert and anything that I may have problems with such as salamence. T-wave makes this set work.

Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 Atk/176 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Flamethrower
- Draco Meteor
- Brick Break
- Roost
---

It was the last slot on the team, I didn't see any major weaknesses so I figured I'll bring in a big offensive threat. Toymence/mixmence to me is still the hardest thing to wall in the game. I know mence has outrage now, but honestly, I don't really care for this set. 2hko's pretty much everything.

OK, that's my team. It completely laughs at toxic spikes, so that's good. I don't have any spike support myself though. I'm a bit concerned about T-tar, though it's not like I can't deal with it at all. Any comments are welcome .

edit: I made some changes. Heatran's now my lead and it should do decently. I changed scizor's EV's just because i don't see the point in putting that much effort into outrunning other scizors, especially when i can't hit it at SE. Snorlax is now sp.def based.

edit 2: I took on board all of caelum's advice. Celebi has now dropped heal bell for SR, snorlax now has superpower and rotom now runs 252 speed EV's.

 

[13blue101]

Get rid of U-turn on scizor. You don't want to waste those dances if something like a Cress or Celebi comes in. X-Scissor is way better. So you're using naive because you don't have the IVs for hp ice on a modest Tran (just for clarification)? Everything else looks solid.

 

[animenagai]

yep, i rather use modest, but i don't know the IV's for HP ice. i do know them for naive :P (it's in the analysis).

i've been wondering about scizor myself. x scissor does make sense. any other opinions on this?

 

[Klavier]

I personally use Roost over U-turn on my own Scizor. I've found that U-turn is pretty much redundant on non-Banded variants.

X-Scissor if you think you can do with the extra power. Roost deals with Life Orb recoil and damage if you keep it in for more than a couple of turns.

 

[Olimarman]

Yeah, roost on scizor makes scizor stay in the game for a while. Your only reason for needing speed EVs on him is for outspeeding other scizors, but the majority of it should be on hp. Maybe 24 speed EVs. Max attack BP will always
1 hit gengar, so you don't need snorlax to focus around countering gengar. Maybe a punch over crunch?

 

[Stallion]

Don't have much time to do a complete rate, but U-Turn isn't very good on non-choiced Scizor's in my experience. Most people have a roosting Scizor weakness these days once they lose their Zapdos/Heatran, so its great lategame. Aside from that, I wouldn't lead Rotom (it was my first Platinum lead too :D) due to the fact that Tyranitar is a top 5 lead. If you really want it there, I guess fit Will-O-Wisp in somewhere but maybe a lead ScarfTran for all those suicide leads. Cool team Nagai :D

 

[dizzleman22_main!]

Sigh run 224 Speed Jolly on Scizor, then you outspeed Max Jolly TTar, thats my opinion. Looks pretty solid-one thing is that you might want TWave/WoW on Rotom, so after Tricking onto something, you can cripple more stuff. Maybe good old Cripple/Double Status
like:
Rotom-h @ Leftovers
Bold
Levitate
252 Hp/200 SpA/58 Def
-WoW/Thunder Wave
-Thunder Wave/Thunderbolt/Overheat
-Trick
-Shadow Ball/Thunderbolt
If you run a set like this, dont run 2 electric moves. I would probably run TWave Overheat Trick and Shadow Ball.
or maybe WoW Twave Shadow Ball Trick. Yeah, that sounds right. this is a sponaneous set, so im not entirely sure how you'll like it. It works good for me :P hope you cna make it work.

 

[panamaxis]

I recommend pursuit over sleep talk on snorlax to eliminate gengar and starmie (psychic and ghosts in general). Consider earthpower or hidden power fire over heal bell to deal with heatran and scizor respectively (two common switches into celebi. (Make sure they are t-waved first). If you plan on using hp fire you'll need nearly max sp. attack to get a guaranteed KO on max hp scizor IIRC, which is why i would recommend earthpower if you don't use heal bell (you always have heatran and salamence for scizor and snorlax can't touch heatran without EQ.

@ Drizzleman, leftovers + trick isn't a good idea, unless you meant leftovers to be choice scarf.

 

[Caelum]

Not a full rate since I'm lazy (sorry anime)

I see a problem with physical Salamence. With Intimidate and so many fire / grass moves it can switch in quite a few times. DD Salamence is particularly disturbing. You can force it to go into an Outrage but when everything on your team is 2HKO'd by a DD Life Orb Outrage with Stealth Rock and they are outrun by it that isn't very useful. Celebi is your best response by hitting it with a Thunder Wave, but it is OHKO'd 100% of the time after Stealth Rock. You an try and play the Intimidate game with your own Salamence but that is extremely risky (as I'm sure you know). CB Salamence is similarly a problem since it can repeatedly switch in quite easily and have fun. No Stealth Rock on the field is dangerous.

Your team doesn't particularly mind Toxic or Burn and paralysis is usually used by things like Blissey or Celebi and you have Snorlax to take the paralysis. I just don't see the need for Heal Bell on Celebi. I'd honestly replace it with Stealth Rock. This will help with your DD Outrage Salamence problem significantly. With Stealth Rock, Life Orb, and Bullet Punch you will have enough security against Salamence.

I see CB T-Tar weakness (edit: and I see you realized it yourself now). It can Pursuit Rotom-h and nothing really comes in on a CB Stone Edge at all (even Celebi takes ~74%). The real problem is that T-Tar comes in will ease to the majority of your team. I don't want to change this team too much, but let's put Superpower over Fire Punch on your CB Snorlax. If your opponent has a Tyranitar, you will likely be able to lure it to switch into Snorlax. As of now, T-Tar switches in for free on Lax (unless you burn it with Fire Punch lol). So predict the switch in and Superpower it to death. This will also allow you to actually do something to Heatran, hits Lucario switch ins harder, still does ~ 60% to max HP Scizor. You already have more than enough coverage to take out things like Jirachi , Bronzong, Skarmory (which fire punch does jack shit too) and Metagross so I see no loss for dropping Fire Punch. If you play intelligently, which from what I've seen you do, this should significantly reduce your problems with CB Tyranitar, and indirectly a CB Rhyperior weakness lol.

Nitpicky things. On the note of Heatran I would probably keep it plus Speed natured since you need it as a secondary check to Skymin. +Speed Scraftran + Bull.Punch Scizor is fine for Skymin. Now, on Rotom-h. Do those HP EVs do anything in particular? I'm guessing probably not. Rotom-h has a unique base 86 Speed and a Modest Choice Scarf Rotom can outrun Adamant Choice Scarf Heracross (see where I'm going ??). Outside of Rotom-h you have very little that switches into a well played Heracross (yeah, you have Mence for Intimidate but Close Combats + Stealth Rock wear it down fast, and Stone Edge is obviously trouble). Also, you are outrun 1 point by Jolly Choice Scarf Honckrow. Granted it's rare, but it's one point so you mine as well bump the Speed up. Particularly considering that your team is pretty weak to Scarf Honckrow w/ Superpower. Additionally, rarely do Scarf Honckrow carry Sucker Punch so you are usually safe to go for the T-Bolt. I see no reason why you wouldn't attempt to outrun Adamant Scarf Cross and Jolly Scarf Krow. You can come in on them stuck on Night Slash, possibly lure the opponent to staying in, and then Overheat it or Thunderbolt them. Modest Choice Scarf Rotom-h requires 248 Speed EVs to outrun maximum Speed Adamant Choice Scarf Heracross. Well, at that point, you mine as well just max Speed to at least Speed tie with other Scarf Rotoms. This can also be a somewhat decent check against Adamant DD Kingdra. (although you have Celebi, but having more than one check is never a bad thing!).

Anyway, nice team Anime, hope I helped if only a small amount.

Shiny Snorlax is the best Pokemon in the game =D.

Edit 2: Reorganize your Pokes order. It confused me whether you were leading with Rotom-h or Heatran :/. I figured it out eventually.

 

[animenagai]

That's not a full rate Caelum?! My gosh it looks pretty full to me :D. Thanks for the advice man. I've been wondering about celebi and SR myself, same for snorlax (though i thought i'll put in EQ because i didn't know it had superpower now :D), this is enough for me to make the change.

Yikes, I did NOT see that DDmence weakness. Maybe I should switch my own salamence for something else, like my boy mamoswine or something. I wouldn't like that triple fire weak though. I guess I'll survive right now with SR. THe fact that it's the 3rd most used poke in the game makes me anxious though.

Anyways, thanks for the rates!

 

[Ash Borer]

superpower is a little fucked on sd scizor. If you fire off an sd and want to sweep superpower will kill your sweep.

attack and defense are scizors biggest assests. Brick break is your best bet.

 

[dizzleman22_main!]

Yeah, Porky, i totally agree with you, i run brick break too, it works wonders.

 

[RaikouLover]

I'm suggesting a change for your salamence:

Salamence @ Life Ob
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Naive
EVs: 80 Atk / 176 Spe / 252 SpA
*Draco Meteor
*Outrage
*Earthquake
*Flamethrower

The new mixmence. Just...fucks...shit...up. Notice the extra speed. This lets you pose a sweeping threat even after you Draco Meteor something.