Hi, everyone! I'm Ferrerothorn, a generally groovy person, and a rampant lover of both nut-based confection and Grass/Steel Pokémon.
Been a longtime lurker and Shoddy/PSer since before most of you were in preschool, but this is my first (public) RMT. Mostly breaking my silence because I feel I need some help for once - maybe I'm just gettin' old, but I'm not adjusting to the ORAS OU metagame as much as I'd like. Ah well.
I peaked at 1601 with this team, which I doubt I'll surpass easily unless I quit my job and go pro, so I might as well share my tales with you all.
For as long as it's been viable, I loved Stall teams. The cool, calculating precision and elegant game plans felt much more refined and credible than hack 'n' slash, "conkers" offense. Ever since the introduction of crazy-strong Megas in PoXY, however, and the diminishing applicability of weather, Stall doesn't really feel possible any more, so I've tried to adapt with the times into Quickstall. Without further hesitation, this is "Jelly Babies"; built around five bulky pivots, one lategame cleaner, and a high percentage of squishiness.
=======
Sableye "Jelly Baby" @ Sablenite
Bold. 248 HP / 252 Defense / 8 Speed
~Snarl/Shadow Ball
~Will-O-Wisp
~Calm Mind
~Recover
Mega Sableye. What can I say about this wonderful little guy that hasn't been said already?
When I heard in the ORAS leaks that Mableye was "a Stall Mega", I squealed like the little girl I really am. Mableye, as it turns out, is in fact no way a Stall Mega, instead playing like a utility and anti-enemy's-utility at the same time. Kind of reminds me of Fidgit if you ever played ye olde dayes CAP.
The number of things that Sableye counters and sets up on in the mid- and late-game is hilarious; as varied and motley a crew as Lead Garchomps, Chansey, Heracrosses and Pinsirs, Mallade, and Ferrothorn, so the moveset is quite a Swiss Army knife to reflect this.
I'm in the process of debating Snarl over Shadow Ball - with it, Mableye becomes a stellar answer to the omnipresent defensive Rotom-W, who can no longer do anything meaningful even with Hydro Pump, and it's hard to switch in anything that'll solidly 2HKO Sableye. Snarl also has the benefit of making defensive Clefable's Moonblast a 3HKO on the switchin; probably the biggest selling point outwith nerfing Rotom-W. Snarl, however, is too weak to really sweep with - even at +4 or +5 SpA, it's a little daunting that not much is 2HKOd. For that reason I stick Shadow Ball on now and then, and immediately regret it when the fat fairy and wearisome washer tear me a spare orifice.
WoW, CM and Recover are hardly surprises on Sableye so I won't spend ages justifying them. Will say though that a priority burn is a deadly weapon against almost everything - even special attackers don't appreciate losing 12.5% HP a turn. If I see a team relies heavily on Physicals, I won't Mega right away, just to keep Prankster.
The EVs look a little odd, so here goes - max Defense helps round out bulk and check a whole host of Megas and sweepers. HP isn't maxed for residual damage-rounding reasons, and I put two points in Speed - the first one to guarantee the Speed win against Ferrothorns, the second one to guarantee the outspeed against other Mega Sableye who do the same, to win the CM war!
Not to mention I outspeed the soon-to-be-banned threat that is "4 Speed Modest Specs Torkoal", woo.
God, I love having two Pokémon in one.
=======
Heatran "Bombchu" @ Leftovers
Calm. 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpDef
~Lava Plume
~Will-O-Wisp
~Roar
~Stealth Rock
Ach, c'mon, this set was old when Ash's mom was still a young boy. Do I really have to explain it?
Alright, here goes. As an obligatory Talonflame check, I pack some (BAN ME PLEASE) love. Heatran's probably not as effective as he used to be, since I feel the game's shifting towards stupidly high physical presence instead of a more balanced and weather-based style. Nevertheless, Heatran is drafted in as a Talonflame check (whom I find a large pain on every team I make) and does a nice job of dissuading Mega Charizard Y from coming in, and the typing gives me loads of time to set up Rocks.
Heatran's actually a surprisingly good switchin against the likes of Rotom-W, too, as a predicted Will-O turns the tables in my favour considerably; the likes of uninvested Scalds slide off Heatran the way that jam ripples up a chainsaw. He can take a Hydro Pump from Defensive Rotom if he really needs to. That's cool, right?
I chose Will-O-Wisp over the common Toxic since I don't feel Stally teams are a problem for me to face - Sableye makes sure of that! I'd rather cripple sweepers with some Wisp as they come in, and it's served me very well. Roar comes in useful against occasional cocky Volcaronas, and can force Mega Charizard X out of play on a DD, sometimes, if they think I'll switch to avoid a Quake.
I bet Heatran listens to George Michael. Because he's a Careless Wisper, you know.
=======
Tentacruel "Fripp" @ Black Sludge
Calm. 224 HP / 252 SpDef / 32 Speed. Liquid Ooze.
~Scald
~Acid Spray
~Rapid Spin
~Toxic
What's wet and wiggly and says "How do you do?" 28 times? Two Tentacruels shaking hands.
As a slightly hipsterish choice, I bring the jelly to the party as another utility Pokémon. Back in DPPt, Tentacruel rose to OU as the unofficial third member of SkarmBliss cores to counter Infernape, but I totally didn't get it at the time. Couldn't figure out how to use them properly, and I dumped them back on the beach, all frustrated. :C
Fourteen hands up, I admit I was wrong - this thing's great. If you want a Spinner more initially durable than Starmie, and bulkier than Excadrill, then give this guy a look-in!
Tentacruel has an unusual niché in Acid Spray, actually, and it's far from the gimmick it sounds. Your opponent will *very* quickly want to switch to avoid the halved Special Defense drops so they don't die to Scald, but in doing so, they'll take Hazard damage, which this team is quite excellent at setting up.
32 Speed lets me get the nip on Adamant Bisharp and Jolly 'Tar, to both of whom a Scald can be ruinous. Since Tentacruel's very average at best at taking physical attacks, I considered maxing her beautiful SpDef ahead of HP. Thus far, I'm not disappointed.
For a host of non-performance-related reasons, I've found myself doubting Tentacruel's spot on this team a number of times - after all, the EV spread is more or less duplicated by Heatran, and my team isn't so hazard-weak that Rapid Spin is a necessity. But I'll be damned if Tentacruel isn't the most amazing Keldeo counter ever, and is as close to a Greninja "counter" as you can really get.
A question I'm asked all the time - "Why Toxic and not Toxic Spikes?"
The answer's simple. Too much stuff is either immune to TS, or removes it easily, to the extent that it's a burden to carry TS for the specific situations when the opponent has (a) No Poisons, (b) No SpinFoggers, and (c) has more than one Pokémon who desperately needs Poisoned for me to win.
Stall teams, against whom Toxic Spikes ought to have the highest output, tend to fall apart as soon as they lose one key wall, and plain ol' Toxic can grant me that, but with the bonus of hitting Gyarados, Mandibuzz, Rotoms, and the Lati@s twins on the switchin. So there.
If Tentacruel's taught me anything, it's to go into battle well armed.
...I'll just let that one sink in. ^_^
=======
Ferrothorn "Rhayader" @ Leftovers
Careful. 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpDef.
~Power Whip
~Leech Seed
~Spikes
~Protect
Q: Why did the Ferrothorn cross the road?
A: He didn't. He's far too slow.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't think of a single Pokémon who consistently gets used on *so* many teams despite being a total one-trick pony. Erm, one-trick durian.
Really, every set since BW1 is (STAB attack)/(Entry Hazard)/Leech Seed/(Protect or status), and yet way too many people ragequit when he leaps out the Poké ball and does his cute little durian face thing, like they never saw it coming. I think that kind of "resilience to the times" is cool.
Ferrothorn serves as my panic button to many threats. Practically every Pokémon in the game is walled by Ferrothorn if they lack a certain coverage move, and so every fight he pulls his not-inconsiderable weight, settin' up Spikes and poking overeager sweepers. I find Power Whip the more desirable of the two canonical attacks, as it hits Rotom-Wash nicely. In case you hadn't noticed, Rotom-W is a very common benchmark for me to base things on. Spikes is carried over Stealth Rock since I have it already, and if I can set up a layer of each hazard concurrently, then the opponent has to pull some serious black magic out of their hat to claw back a win.
Ferrothorn tag-teams with Tentacruel as my Greninja counter (has anyone *ever* used Extrasensory and HPF on Greninja concurrently? They can both survive one of each, anyway). Also checked with a high reliability are Tyranitar, Bisharp, Mega Lopunny (who faces a Jump Kick checkmate with Protect), most Mega Altaria, and just about every Water type not named Keldeo.
That kind of versatility isn't easy to find.
Okay, okay, one more joke. What do you call a retired Ferrothorn?
A HAS BEAN
ITS FUNNY BECAUSE HE'S A PLANT
=======
Landorus-T "Nyan" @ Choice Scarf
Jolly. 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Speed.
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~Superpower
~U-Turn
Meow meow, mo'fo.
Gosh bloomin' darn Mega Charizard X, since every team ever crumbles like a meringue at midday if you don't have a solid, solid check to MCX in your arsenal. Charizard X seems like the strongest candidate for a ban to me out of everything we have left - every single "good" team I've looked at has to dedicate a slot to antiChar; if that doesn't scream "0MG BAN PL0X" I don't know what does. But since I don't much fancy an infraction for speculation, I'll save that rant for another time.
Lando-T has been a top-o'-the-usage Pokémon for a few months now, and is fast becoming the MVP of this team too. As a generic check to 95% of the (dominant) physical metagame, a corresponding 95% of plays are:
>Switch in and Intimidate
>Use U-Turn
>Forget that the PS timer is waiting on me to pick a Pokémon
>Sit back and watch while I win momentum
And I like that because algorithms are easy to remember. :)
As I recall, 232+ Speed gets the jump on Choice Scarf Excadrill, as well as the crucial Adamant Zard +1. The rest's easy - the Defense helps take Talonflame after Intimidate, to whom you can't have too many checks. Earthquake's the obligatory STAB- it achieves the nice benchmark of 1HKOing Greninja, which is a pretty good benchmark for most Scarfers to think about. I picked Rock Slide over Stone Edge, since everything I'd want to hit with SEjj is KOed by a Rock Slide anyway, but with some nice extra accuracy. Anything else, I'd probably be U-Turning against...
Lastly, in Superpower's slot, I toyed with both Knock Off and Explosion, but Knock Off is a weaksauce option to be Choiced into, which causes too many momentum-yanking switches in the foe's favour, and Explosion's so laughably bad I just never used it. Generally, if I'm Choiced into another move and at low HP, I won't think to switch out, un-Choice myself, switch back in later and blow up - you'd rather just die for a safe switch, amirite?
Nah; Superpower's the move for me. Donking Myarados and Manitar at +1 (and a ton of other stuff besides) is the way to be.
I'd totally be a cat person IRL if I could find a cat with a beard like Landorus's.
=======
Diggersby "Baldrick" @ Life Orb
Adamant. 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Speed. Huge Power.
~Return
~Earthquake
~Quick Attack
~Swords Dance
Nyaahhh, what's up, Doc?
My second hipsterish choice comes in Diggersby, who's plain odd, but I like him. Diggersby sees infrequent use in conventional OU, but makes the charts in the 1760+ rankings. I found that quite interesting, so wanted to give him a shot - and generally, I'm not disappointed. Plays a lot like a faster Azumarill, actually. Comparable power, and a similar idea about priority moves (Aqua Jet vs Quick Attack). Having the Speed to outpace Rotom-W along with Breloom, Meracross, Bisharp and every common bulky thing is just plain nice, and the STAB combo of Earthquake and Return makes wallbreaking easy.
This being a kind of offensive Quickstall team, I usually try to save Diggersby to the end of the game, when walls are chipped down to the 50% range, and hopefully most priority users are dead.
In a pinch - again, after a little prior damage - Diggersby is my revenge killer for Mega Zards, and can put opponents on the back foot when they expect me to play defensively.
Diggersby's downfall, though, comes from his eternal vulnerability to priority moves. Ice Shard, Aqua Jet and Mach Punch are more common than the contents of Kim Kardashian's bottom drawer, and they're all Super Effective on him (I mean the moves are Super Effective, not the contents of her drawer are). Worse yet, Talonflame's Brave Bird is a frequent 1HKO unless they're that crappy bulky build. All these dependencies a la "kill this first, then I can sweep" harm Diggerby's credibility.
Interestingly, Diggersby has literally no way of touching Gengar, either, but I'm loathe to change any of the moves to reflect this. The "power 'n' speed" balance that Ret/EQ/QA offer is too versatile and powerful against the majority of lategame scenarios. Can't find a combination of new toys that matches it.
=======
So there we have it. That's my odd squad, and I've had some pretty great games with them so far, but feel I'm missing that little extra jazzy sparkle.
I'll edit-link some replays in real soon, because I hear replays are fashionable these days. But my laptop's about to run out of battery...
=======
An Ode to Threatlists:
I dread that you've read to the end of my thread. Without any jest, it's a pretty sure bet that below are some threats, a test above the rest. At my behest; what changes are best, to steal their last breath and deal them a death?
~Life Orb Excadrill is awful to face; his damage is crazy, and I can't keep up pace.
His Earthquake can two-hit all but my cat, so if Lando-T's down...well, that's that.
Although Sable can burn it with a brisk Will-O-Wisp, I perish the thought if the status should miss.
Got a suggestion? Then I'm yours for the taking, because Excadrill sweeps are very frustrating.
~Against Talonflame you'll never get far, without Heatran, Rotom, or Tyranitar.
Trouble is brewing if Heatran gets weak, my team cannot handle the Brave Bird's beak.
You'd think that with Steath Rock it'd be less unfair, but I can't prevent *all* the threats from the air.
Got a suggestion? My heart, it is breaking - because Talonflame sweeps are very frustrating.
~Charizard beckons a battle so vile - how come they've not gone the same way as Mawile?
Predicting an X and revealing a Y, I'm certain my switchin is fated to die.
Landorus plus Y equals Landorus dead, and Heatran needs X like a hole in the head.
Got a suggestion for Zard penetrating? Because Charizard sweeps are very frustrating.
It has to be said, these make me see red. Anything to suggest? Please be my guest.
=======
Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did playing (and writing)! Suggestions welcome, to squeeze this team a few spots further up the ladder.
Mwah~ x
- Ferrerothorn.
Been a longtime lurker and Shoddy/PSer since before most of you were in preschool, but this is my first (public) RMT. Mostly breaking my silence because I feel I need some help for once - maybe I'm just gettin' old, but I'm not adjusting to the ORAS OU metagame as much as I'd like. Ah well.
I peaked at 1601 with this team, which I doubt I'll surpass easily unless I quit my job and go pro, so I might as well share my tales with you all.
For as long as it's been viable, I loved Stall teams. The cool, calculating precision and elegant game plans felt much more refined and credible than hack 'n' slash, "conkers" offense. Ever since the introduction of crazy-strong Megas in PoXY, however, and the diminishing applicability of weather, Stall doesn't really feel possible any more, so I've tried to adapt with the times into Quickstall. Without further hesitation, this is "Jelly Babies"; built around five bulky pivots, one lategame cleaner, and a high percentage of squishiness.
=======
Sableye "Jelly Baby" @ Sablenite
Bold. 248 HP / 252 Defense / 8 Speed
~Snarl/Shadow Ball
~Will-O-Wisp
~Calm Mind
~Recover
Mega Sableye. What can I say about this wonderful little guy that hasn't been said already?
When I heard in the ORAS leaks that Mableye was "a Stall Mega", I squealed like the little girl I really am. Mableye, as it turns out, is in fact no way a Stall Mega, instead playing like a utility and anti-enemy's-utility at the same time. Kind of reminds me of Fidgit if you ever played ye olde dayes CAP.
The number of things that Sableye counters and sets up on in the mid- and late-game is hilarious; as varied and motley a crew as Lead Garchomps, Chansey, Heracrosses and Pinsirs, Mallade, and Ferrothorn, so the moveset is quite a Swiss Army knife to reflect this.
I'm in the process of debating Snarl over Shadow Ball - with it, Mableye becomes a stellar answer to the omnipresent defensive Rotom-W, who can no longer do anything meaningful even with Hydro Pump, and it's hard to switch in anything that'll solidly 2HKO Sableye. Snarl also has the benefit of making defensive Clefable's Moonblast a 3HKO on the switchin; probably the biggest selling point outwith nerfing Rotom-W. Snarl, however, is too weak to really sweep with - even at +4 or +5 SpA, it's a little daunting that not much is 2HKOd. For that reason I stick Shadow Ball on now and then, and immediately regret it when the fat fairy and wearisome washer tear me a spare orifice.
WoW, CM and Recover are hardly surprises on Sableye so I won't spend ages justifying them. Will say though that a priority burn is a deadly weapon against almost everything - even special attackers don't appreciate losing 12.5% HP a turn. If I see a team relies heavily on Physicals, I won't Mega right away, just to keep Prankster.
The EVs look a little odd, so here goes - max Defense helps round out bulk and check a whole host of Megas and sweepers. HP isn't maxed for residual damage-rounding reasons, and I put two points in Speed - the first one to guarantee the Speed win against Ferrothorns, the second one to guarantee the outspeed against other Mega Sableye who do the same, to win the CM war!
Not to mention I outspeed the soon-to-be-banned threat that is "4 Speed Modest Specs Torkoal", woo.
God, I love having two Pokémon in one.
=======
Heatran "Bombchu" @ Leftovers
Calm. 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpDef
~Lava Plume
~Will-O-Wisp
~Roar
~Stealth Rock
Ach, c'mon, this set was old when Ash's mom was still a young boy. Do I really have to explain it?
Alright, here goes. As an obligatory Talonflame check, I pack some (BAN ME PLEASE) love. Heatran's probably not as effective as he used to be, since I feel the game's shifting towards stupidly high physical presence instead of a more balanced and weather-based style. Nevertheless, Heatran is drafted in as a Talonflame check (whom I find a large pain on every team I make) and does a nice job of dissuading Mega Charizard Y from coming in, and the typing gives me loads of time to set up Rocks.
Heatran's actually a surprisingly good switchin against the likes of Rotom-W, too, as a predicted Will-O turns the tables in my favour considerably; the likes of uninvested Scalds slide off Heatran the way that jam ripples up a chainsaw. He can take a Hydro Pump from Defensive Rotom if he really needs to. That's cool, right?
I chose Will-O-Wisp over the common Toxic since I don't feel Stally teams are a problem for me to face - Sableye makes sure of that! I'd rather cripple sweepers with some Wisp as they come in, and it's served me very well. Roar comes in useful against occasional cocky Volcaronas, and can force Mega Charizard X out of play on a DD, sometimes, if they think I'll switch to avoid a Quake.
I bet Heatran listens to George Michael. Because he's a Careless Wisper, you know.
=======
Tentacruel "Fripp" @ Black Sludge
Calm. 224 HP / 252 SpDef / 32 Speed. Liquid Ooze.
~Scald
~Acid Spray
~Rapid Spin
~Toxic
What's wet and wiggly and says "How do you do?" 28 times? Two Tentacruels shaking hands.
As a slightly hipsterish choice, I bring the jelly to the party as another utility Pokémon. Back in DPPt, Tentacruel rose to OU as the unofficial third member of SkarmBliss cores to counter Infernape, but I totally didn't get it at the time. Couldn't figure out how to use them properly, and I dumped them back on the beach, all frustrated. :C
Fourteen hands up, I admit I was wrong - this thing's great. If you want a Spinner more initially durable than Starmie, and bulkier than Excadrill, then give this guy a look-in!
Tentacruel has an unusual niché in Acid Spray, actually, and it's far from the gimmick it sounds. Your opponent will *very* quickly want to switch to avoid the halved Special Defense drops so they don't die to Scald, but in doing so, they'll take Hazard damage, which this team is quite excellent at setting up.
32 Speed lets me get the nip on Adamant Bisharp and Jolly 'Tar, to both of whom a Scald can be ruinous. Since Tentacruel's very average at best at taking physical attacks, I considered maxing her beautiful SpDef ahead of HP. Thus far, I'm not disappointed.
For a host of non-performance-related reasons, I've found myself doubting Tentacruel's spot on this team a number of times - after all, the EV spread is more or less duplicated by Heatran, and my team isn't so hazard-weak that Rapid Spin is a necessity. But I'll be damned if Tentacruel isn't the most amazing Keldeo counter ever, and is as close to a Greninja "counter" as you can really get.
A question I'm asked all the time - "Why Toxic and not Toxic Spikes?"
The answer's simple. Too much stuff is either immune to TS, or removes it easily, to the extent that it's a burden to carry TS for the specific situations when the opponent has (a) No Poisons, (b) No SpinFoggers, and (c) has more than one Pokémon who desperately needs Poisoned for me to win.
Stall teams, against whom Toxic Spikes ought to have the highest output, tend to fall apart as soon as they lose one key wall, and plain ol' Toxic can grant me that, but with the bonus of hitting Gyarados, Mandibuzz, Rotoms, and the Lati@s twins on the switchin. So there.
If Tentacruel's taught me anything, it's to go into battle well armed.
...I'll just let that one sink in. ^_^
=======
Ferrothorn "Rhayader" @ Leftovers
Careful. 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpDef.
~Power Whip
~Leech Seed
~Spikes
~Protect
Q: Why did the Ferrothorn cross the road?
A: He didn't. He's far too slow.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't think of a single Pokémon who consistently gets used on *so* many teams despite being a total one-trick pony. Erm, one-trick durian.
Really, every set since BW1 is (STAB attack)/(Entry Hazard)/Leech Seed/(Protect or status), and yet way too many people ragequit when he leaps out the Poké ball and does his cute little durian face thing, like they never saw it coming. I think that kind of "resilience to the times" is cool.
Ferrothorn serves as my panic button to many threats. Practically every Pokémon in the game is walled by Ferrothorn if they lack a certain coverage move, and so every fight he pulls his not-inconsiderable weight, settin' up Spikes and poking overeager sweepers. I find Power Whip the more desirable of the two canonical attacks, as it hits Rotom-Wash nicely. In case you hadn't noticed, Rotom-W is a very common benchmark for me to base things on. Spikes is carried over Stealth Rock since I have it already, and if I can set up a layer of each hazard concurrently, then the opponent has to pull some serious black magic out of their hat to claw back a win.
Ferrothorn tag-teams with Tentacruel as my Greninja counter (has anyone *ever* used Extrasensory and HPF on Greninja concurrently? They can both survive one of each, anyway). Also checked with a high reliability are Tyranitar, Bisharp, Mega Lopunny (who faces a Jump Kick checkmate with Protect), most Mega Altaria, and just about every Water type not named Keldeo.
That kind of versatility isn't easy to find.
Okay, okay, one more joke. What do you call a retired Ferrothorn?
A HAS BEAN
ITS FUNNY BECAUSE HE'S A PLANT
=======
Landorus-T "Nyan" @ Choice Scarf
Jolly. 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Speed.
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~Superpower
~U-Turn
Meow meow, mo'fo.
Gosh bloomin' darn Mega Charizard X, since every team ever crumbles like a meringue at midday if you don't have a solid, solid check to MCX in your arsenal. Charizard X seems like the strongest candidate for a ban to me out of everything we have left - every single "good" team I've looked at has to dedicate a slot to antiChar; if that doesn't scream "0MG BAN PL0X" I don't know what does. But since I don't much fancy an infraction for speculation, I'll save that rant for another time.
Lando-T has been a top-o'-the-usage Pokémon for a few months now, and is fast becoming the MVP of this team too. As a generic check to 95% of the (dominant) physical metagame, a corresponding 95% of plays are:
>Switch in and Intimidate
>Use U-Turn
>Forget that the PS timer is waiting on me to pick a Pokémon
>Sit back and watch while I win momentum
And I like that because algorithms are easy to remember. :)
As I recall, 232+ Speed gets the jump on Choice Scarf Excadrill, as well as the crucial Adamant Zard +1. The rest's easy - the Defense helps take Talonflame after Intimidate, to whom you can't have too many checks. Earthquake's the obligatory STAB- it achieves the nice benchmark of 1HKOing Greninja, which is a pretty good benchmark for most Scarfers to think about. I picked Rock Slide over Stone Edge, since everything I'd want to hit with SEjj is KOed by a Rock Slide anyway, but with some nice extra accuracy. Anything else, I'd probably be U-Turning against...
Lastly, in Superpower's slot, I toyed with both Knock Off and Explosion, but Knock Off is a weaksauce option to be Choiced into, which causes too many momentum-yanking switches in the foe's favour, and Explosion's so laughably bad I just never used it. Generally, if I'm Choiced into another move and at low HP, I won't think to switch out, un-Choice myself, switch back in later and blow up - you'd rather just die for a safe switch, amirite?
Nah; Superpower's the move for me. Donking Myarados and Manitar at +1 (and a ton of other stuff besides) is the way to be.
I'd totally be a cat person IRL if I could find a cat with a beard like Landorus's.
=======
Diggersby "Baldrick" @ Life Orb
Adamant. 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Speed. Huge Power.
~Return
~Earthquake
~Quick Attack
~Swords Dance
Nyaahhh, what's up, Doc?
My second hipsterish choice comes in Diggersby, who's plain odd, but I like him. Diggersby sees infrequent use in conventional OU, but makes the charts in the 1760+ rankings. I found that quite interesting, so wanted to give him a shot - and generally, I'm not disappointed. Plays a lot like a faster Azumarill, actually. Comparable power, and a similar idea about priority moves (Aqua Jet vs Quick Attack). Having the Speed to outpace Rotom-W along with Breloom, Meracross, Bisharp and every common bulky thing is just plain nice, and the STAB combo of Earthquake and Return makes wallbreaking easy.
This being a kind of offensive Quickstall team, I usually try to save Diggersby to the end of the game, when walls are chipped down to the 50% range, and hopefully most priority users are dead.
In a pinch - again, after a little prior damage - Diggersby is my revenge killer for Mega Zards, and can put opponents on the back foot when they expect me to play defensively.
Diggersby's downfall, though, comes from his eternal vulnerability to priority moves. Ice Shard, Aqua Jet and Mach Punch are more common than the contents of Kim Kardashian's bottom drawer, and they're all Super Effective on him (I mean the moves are Super Effective, not the contents of her drawer are). Worse yet, Talonflame's Brave Bird is a frequent 1HKO unless they're that crappy bulky build. All these dependencies a la "kill this first, then I can sweep" harm Diggerby's credibility.
Interestingly, Diggersby has literally no way of touching Gengar, either, but I'm loathe to change any of the moves to reflect this. The "power 'n' speed" balance that Ret/EQ/QA offer is too versatile and powerful against the majority of lategame scenarios. Can't find a combination of new toys that matches it.
=======
So there we have it. That's my odd squad, and I've had some pretty great games with them so far, but feel I'm missing that little extra jazzy sparkle.
I'll edit-link some replays in real soon, because I hear replays are fashionable these days. But my laptop's about to run out of battery...
=======
An Ode to Threatlists:
I dread that you've read to the end of my thread. Without any jest, it's a pretty sure bet that below are some threats, a test above the rest. At my behest; what changes are best, to steal their last breath and deal them a death?
~Life Orb Excadrill is awful to face; his damage is crazy, and I can't keep up pace.
His Earthquake can two-hit all but my cat, so if Lando-T's down...well, that's that.
Although Sable can burn it with a brisk Will-O-Wisp, I perish the thought if the status should miss.
Got a suggestion? Then I'm yours for the taking, because Excadrill sweeps are very frustrating.
~Against Talonflame you'll never get far, without Heatran, Rotom, or Tyranitar.
Trouble is brewing if Heatran gets weak, my team cannot handle the Brave Bird's beak.
You'd think that with Steath Rock it'd be less unfair, but I can't prevent *all* the threats from the air.
Got a suggestion? My heart, it is breaking - because Talonflame sweeps are very frustrating.
~Charizard beckons a battle so vile - how come they've not gone the same way as Mawile?
Predicting an X and revealing a Y, I'm certain my switchin is fated to die.
Landorus plus Y equals Landorus dead, and Heatran needs X like a hole in the head.
Got a suggestion for Zard penetrating? Because Charizard sweeps are very frustrating.
It has to be said, these make me see red. Anything to suggest? Please be my guest.
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Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did playing (and writing)! Suggestions welcome, to squeeze this team a few spots further up the ladder.
Mwah~ x
- Ferrerothorn.
