I’ve been noodling around at about 1250 CRE for a while on two different alts ("andhow" and "deport mencia") trying dud team after dud team. I tried out some semi stall and full stall, until I realized that I severely need to work on my teambuilding skills and strategy, and therefore decided to write a heavy offense team, which depends almost solely on teambuilding and long-term strat. I find that I enjoy heavy offense more than stall, and win more reliably with it.
I like the general tempo and core of this team, so I plan to use it to ladder for a while, with the eventual goal of reaching the leaderboard (crazy I know. A man can dream, can’t he?). My main problem in the past has been poor teambuilding, which is why I want to focus on getting a solid, reliable team I can win with. Therefore, any criticism is welcome.
All nicknames are from Pulp Fiction, because it's a great movie.
Strategy: Heavy Offense
The progression of the game is very simple. Here’s how it goes:
1. Early Game
-Set up screens. Easy peasy.
-Kingdra sets up under screens, does as much damage as possible, eliminates bulky waters
2. Mid Game
-Dragonite, Infernape, and Jirachi maintain offensive pressure while breaking defenses
3. Late Game
-Terrordactyl cleans up.
-additionally, Dragonite and Infernape aid with their priority if still alive.
The Lead
Azelf @ Light Clay **Mia Wallace*
Timid, 252 HP 252 Spe
Levitate, Genderless
-Taunt
-Explosion
-Reflect
-Light Screen
This is a standard dual screen lead. His job is to set up at least one screen to make Kingdra’s initial stat-up easier. It’s not imaginative, and I’m very willing to consider some more creative options here, but I wanted a dual screener, since it makes my strategy much more viable, and Zelf is unrivaled when it comes to screening.
He walks all over slower SR leads like Metagross, Heatran and Swampert. When presented with one of these, he taunts, then sets up.
There are three main issues with Azelf- Trickscarf leads (like Starmie, Jirachi, and other Azelf), Machamp with Payback, and other Screen and Standard Azelf leads. For trickscarfers, since my team is comprised completely of setup sweeper, I usually Reflect, take the scarf, then switch to a sweeper who’s not Kingdra (people like to be tricky and trick the light clay back onto Kingdra, removing his chesto. I hate that. ) and start setting up. For Machamp, I Reflect, take the payback, then explode. Other Azelfs are a problem, since Taunting will often lead to U-turn wrecking me without getting screens up. I usually just Reflect, hope I win the speed tie, see what set they’re running and react accordingly.
Moves:
No explanation required. Taunt because it helps me set up, dual screens because they’re dual screens, and explode to explode.
Strategy
Priority 1: Set up screens
Priority 2: Transition smoothly to Kingdra, either via Explosion or on a resist.
Priority 3: Stay alive to set up screens again.
The Early Game Momentum Shift
Kingdra @ Chesto Berry **Vincent Vega**
Adamant, 144 HP, 160 Atk, 164 Spe, 42 SpD
Swift Swim, Female
-Dragon Dance
-Rest
-Waterfall
-Outrage
Chesto Rest Kingdra is an amazing force in the metagame. Mence and Latias walked all over Kingdra in Standard, since they all outspeed him and pwned him, but in this metagame Kingdra shines. Kingdra loves coming in under screens, since his fantastic typing means he will be take lots of neutral and resisted hits.
Keeping in mind whether or not the opponent has priority or not, I’ll dance 3 – 4 times (more than 4 is unnecessary, less than 3 is fine but loses a few OHKOs.) I rest, get instant healing, and sweep away. When people see me dancing, they’ll send in their Cune, Vappy, or Pert to absorb my waterfalls, not expecting me to keep setting up. This means Kingdra usually ends up muscling his way through the opponent’s bulky waters. The loss of their bulky water early-game is often devastating, especially to otherwise dragon-weak teams.
Moveset:
DDance to stat up. Rest to heal and activate Chesto. Waterfall and Outrage are amazing dual STAB to smash stuff with.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Kill/weaken bulky waters
Priority 2: Gain early-game momentum using ChestoRest’s surprise factor
Priority 3: Get at least 2 Kos.
Props to Atticus for making this up.
The Heavy Sweeper
Dragonite @ Lum Berry **Jules Winnfield**
Adamant, 252 Atk 252 Spe
Inner Focus, Female
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Extremespeed
With Menca and Latias gone, Dragonite is an unparalleled physical force. He’s amazingly bulky, and usually ends up muscling his way past a large part of the opponent’s team, if not sweeping them entirely.
He enjoys being teamed up with Kingdra, since Kingdra’s earlygame rampage will have 1. Probably killed the bulky waters that Nite doesn’t like, and 2. Killed/Weakened/Scouted the team’s dedicated dragon counters, such as Scarf Flygon or Jirachi. (Quick note:
Dragonite holds Lum berry for a very specific reason: I never switch him in on status, because that would waste his sweeping potential. I switch him in on a resist or a weak attack, then dance. If the other team tries to status me, I get a free setup or attack to kill their counter. In a best case scenario, however, I will setup , outrage, end my rampage, become confused, then heal my confusion with Lum which allows me to deal with the switchin either by Outraging again or using a coverage move. Lum can essentially extend Nite’s life incredibly long by expanding 2-3 turns of Outrage to 4-6 turns. Which tends to be devastating.
Moveset:
Dance to setup. Outrage to Outrage. Earthquake to deal with steels. Extremespeed to deal with counters with priority or scarf switchins—it does a sizable chunk to Flygon and even Scizor, making the next sweeper’s job easier.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Get at least 2-3 Kos.
Priority 2: Completely eliminate remaining bulky waters/steel
The Mid-Late Game Sword Dancer
Infernape @ Life Orb **Pumpkin**
Jolly, 252 Atk 252 Spe
Blaze, Female
-Swords Dance
-Flare Blitz
-Close Combat
-Mach Punch
Infernape is a great anti-metagame sweeper. It usually comes in after a poke dies, hopefully something nice like a ScarfTar Pursuit. Half the time I don’t end up using Swords Dance, but in those cases he usually makes an impression anyway. I’m open for suggestions here, but Infernape generally does a god job. He comes in handy late game when a Mach Punch is necessary to clean up weakened priority users.
Sometimes he’ll just die to Scarfgon earthquake, but he’ll get in a Mach Punch beforehand and lock him on EQ, allowing Nite to set up like a boss. If he outrages, in comes Jirachi. He’s also good at luring in Rotom and sufficing himself to Flare Blitz the toaster, which weakens him for further sweeps.
Moveset:
Swords Dance to set up. Flare Blitz over any special option because Swords Dance boosts it to crazy-high levels. Close Combat because duh. Mach punch for priority.
Strategy:
Sweep.
The Special Sweeper
Jirachi @ Life Orb **Honey Bunny**
Timid, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spe
Serene Grace, Genderless
-Calm Mind
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic
-HP Ground
The lone special sweeper on the team, HP Ground Superachi is a great all-around sweeper, especially against other offensive teams (Kingdra, Dragonite, and Ape have stall pretty much covered). Setup is simple: CM once, then sweep. He seldom has time to CM again, but if the opponent makes a mistake, it’s nice to get in another.
Jirachi is great all-around, but I’m running this specific set to do one thing: Kill the #1 most used pokemon. Heatran is a really common switchin to Jirachi, and Timid allows Jirachi to outspeed any heatran (even scarf, I believe) and KO with HP Ground, even with a CM boost. He would be worth it to my team even if this was all he was useful for. But he’s generally a good fast sweeper.
Moveset:
Calm Mind to set up. Psychic for stab and a 20% (serene grace) chance for a SDef drop, which helps break up defensive counters. Thunderbolt for coverage, HP ground to rape Heatran. And magnezone, I guess.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Kill Heatran
Priority 2: General sweep. I count him a success if he gets 2 KOs or 1 strategic kill.
The Cleaner
Aerodactyl @ Life Orb **The Wolf**
Jolly, 252 Atk 252 Spe
Pressure, Female
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Roost
-Taunt
Aero is a great fast lategame cleaner. He outspeeds practically everything, especially when Jolly, and doesn’t really mind the lack of real attacking power since most of his major counters will have been weakened by the time he comes out. He hates Scizor, the bug will hopefully be dead by this time.
Playing him is simple: I bring him out on a KO, and attack with EQ/Stone Edge until the other team is dead, roosting and taunting based on prediction.
I’m open to suggestions here, too, because I dislike having Stone Edge on a lategame sweeper (I’ve lost a few matches due to accuracy fails.) I had a Specs Jolteon here for a while, but I dislike choice on offensive teams due to the switches it requires.
Moveset:
Earthquake and Stone Edge provide awesome coverage. Roost to heal. Taunt to break up walls.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Finish em off.
Well there it is. Any comments are welcome: I’m specifically looking for threats that will become more significant as I begin to ladder more aggressively, as I plan to ladder pretty regularly with this team or a variant of it.
I like the general tempo and core of this team, so I plan to use it to ladder for a while, with the eventual goal of reaching the leaderboard (crazy I know. A man can dream, can’t he?). My main problem in the past has been poor teambuilding, which is why I want to focus on getting a solid, reliable team I can win with. Therefore, any criticism is welcome.
All nicknames are from Pulp Fiction, because it's a great movie.
Strategy: Heavy Offense
The progression of the game is very simple. Here’s how it goes:
1. Early Game
-Set up screens. Easy peasy.
-Kingdra sets up under screens, does as much damage as possible, eliminates bulky waters
2. Mid Game
-Dragonite, Infernape, and Jirachi maintain offensive pressure while breaking defenses
3. Late Game
-Terrordactyl cleans up.
-additionally, Dragonite and Infernape aid with their priority if still alive.
The Lead
Azelf @ Light Clay **Mia Wallace*
Timid, 252 HP 252 Spe
Levitate, Genderless
-Taunt
-Explosion
-Reflect
-Light Screen
This is a standard dual screen lead. His job is to set up at least one screen to make Kingdra’s initial stat-up easier. It’s not imaginative, and I’m very willing to consider some more creative options here, but I wanted a dual screener, since it makes my strategy much more viable, and Zelf is unrivaled when it comes to screening.
He walks all over slower SR leads like Metagross, Heatran and Swampert. When presented with one of these, he taunts, then sets up.
There are three main issues with Azelf- Trickscarf leads (like Starmie, Jirachi, and other Azelf), Machamp with Payback, and other Screen and Standard Azelf leads. For trickscarfers, since my team is comprised completely of setup sweeper, I usually Reflect, take the scarf, then switch to a sweeper who’s not Kingdra (people like to be tricky and trick the light clay back onto Kingdra, removing his chesto. I hate that. ) and start setting up. For Machamp, I Reflect, take the payback, then explode. Other Azelfs are a problem, since Taunting will often lead to U-turn wrecking me without getting screens up. I usually just Reflect, hope I win the speed tie, see what set they’re running and react accordingly.
Moves:
No explanation required. Taunt because it helps me set up, dual screens because they’re dual screens, and explode to explode.
Strategy
Priority 1: Set up screens
Priority 2: Transition smoothly to Kingdra, either via Explosion or on a resist.
Priority 3: Stay alive to set up screens again.
The Early Game Momentum Shift
Kingdra @ Chesto Berry **Vincent Vega**
Adamant, 144 HP, 160 Atk, 164 Spe, 42 SpD
Swift Swim, Female
-Dragon Dance
-Rest
-Waterfall
-Outrage
Chesto Rest Kingdra is an amazing force in the metagame. Mence and Latias walked all over Kingdra in Standard, since they all outspeed him and pwned him, but in this metagame Kingdra shines. Kingdra loves coming in under screens, since his fantastic typing means he will be take lots of neutral and resisted hits.
Keeping in mind whether or not the opponent has priority or not, I’ll dance 3 – 4 times (more than 4 is unnecessary, less than 3 is fine but loses a few OHKOs.) I rest, get instant healing, and sweep away. When people see me dancing, they’ll send in their Cune, Vappy, or Pert to absorb my waterfalls, not expecting me to keep setting up. This means Kingdra usually ends up muscling his way through the opponent’s bulky waters. The loss of their bulky water early-game is often devastating, especially to otherwise dragon-weak teams.
Moveset:
DDance to stat up. Rest to heal and activate Chesto. Waterfall and Outrage are amazing dual STAB to smash stuff with.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Kill/weaken bulky waters
Priority 2: Gain early-game momentum using ChestoRest’s surprise factor
Priority 3: Get at least 2 Kos.
Props to Atticus for making this up.
The Heavy Sweeper
Dragonite @ Lum Berry **Jules Winnfield**
Adamant, 252 Atk 252 Spe
Inner Focus, Female
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Extremespeed
With Menca and Latias gone, Dragonite is an unparalleled physical force. He’s amazingly bulky, and usually ends up muscling his way past a large part of the opponent’s team, if not sweeping them entirely.
He enjoys being teamed up with Kingdra, since Kingdra’s earlygame rampage will have 1. Probably killed the bulky waters that Nite doesn’t like, and 2. Killed/Weakened/Scouted the team’s dedicated dragon counters, such as Scarf Flygon or Jirachi. (Quick note:
Dragonite holds Lum berry for a very specific reason: I never switch him in on status, because that would waste his sweeping potential. I switch him in on a resist or a weak attack, then dance. If the other team tries to status me, I get a free setup or attack to kill their counter. In a best case scenario, however, I will setup , outrage, end my rampage, become confused, then heal my confusion with Lum which allows me to deal with the switchin either by Outraging again or using a coverage move. Lum can essentially extend Nite’s life incredibly long by expanding 2-3 turns of Outrage to 4-6 turns. Which tends to be devastating.
Moveset:
Dance to setup. Outrage to Outrage. Earthquake to deal with steels. Extremespeed to deal with counters with priority or scarf switchins—it does a sizable chunk to Flygon and even Scizor, making the next sweeper’s job easier.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Get at least 2-3 Kos.
Priority 2: Completely eliminate remaining bulky waters/steel
The Mid-Late Game Sword Dancer
Infernape @ Life Orb **Pumpkin**
Jolly, 252 Atk 252 Spe
Blaze, Female
-Swords Dance
-Flare Blitz
-Close Combat
-Mach Punch
Infernape is a great anti-metagame sweeper. It usually comes in after a poke dies, hopefully something nice like a ScarfTar Pursuit. Half the time I don’t end up using Swords Dance, but in those cases he usually makes an impression anyway. I’m open for suggestions here, but Infernape generally does a god job. He comes in handy late game when a Mach Punch is necessary to clean up weakened priority users.
Sometimes he’ll just die to Scarfgon earthquake, but he’ll get in a Mach Punch beforehand and lock him on EQ, allowing Nite to set up like a boss. If he outrages, in comes Jirachi. He’s also good at luring in Rotom and sufficing himself to Flare Blitz the toaster, which weakens him for further sweeps.
Moveset:
Swords Dance to set up. Flare Blitz over any special option because Swords Dance boosts it to crazy-high levels. Close Combat because duh. Mach punch for priority.
Strategy:
Sweep.
The Special Sweeper
Jirachi @ Life Orb **Honey Bunny**
Timid, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spe
Serene Grace, Genderless
-Calm Mind
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic
-HP Ground
The lone special sweeper on the team, HP Ground Superachi is a great all-around sweeper, especially against other offensive teams (Kingdra, Dragonite, and Ape have stall pretty much covered). Setup is simple: CM once, then sweep. He seldom has time to CM again, but if the opponent makes a mistake, it’s nice to get in another.
Jirachi is great all-around, but I’m running this specific set to do one thing: Kill the #1 most used pokemon. Heatran is a really common switchin to Jirachi, and Timid allows Jirachi to outspeed any heatran (even scarf, I believe) and KO with HP Ground, even with a CM boost. He would be worth it to my team even if this was all he was useful for. But he’s generally a good fast sweeper.
Moveset:
Calm Mind to set up. Psychic for stab and a 20% (serene grace) chance for a SDef drop, which helps break up defensive counters. Thunderbolt for coverage, HP ground to rape Heatran. And magnezone, I guess.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Kill Heatran
Priority 2: General sweep. I count him a success if he gets 2 KOs or 1 strategic kill.
The Cleaner
Aerodactyl @ Life Orb **The Wolf**
Jolly, 252 Atk 252 Spe
Pressure, Female
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Roost
-Taunt
Aero is a great fast lategame cleaner. He outspeeds practically everything, especially when Jolly, and doesn’t really mind the lack of real attacking power since most of his major counters will have been weakened by the time he comes out. He hates Scizor, the bug will hopefully be dead by this time.
Playing him is simple: I bring him out on a KO, and attack with EQ/Stone Edge until the other team is dead, roosting and taunting based on prediction.
I’m open to suggestions here, too, because I dislike having Stone Edge on a lategame sweeper (I’ve lost a few matches due to accuracy fails.) I had a Specs Jolteon here for a while, but I dislike choice on offensive teams due to the switches it requires.
Moveset:
Earthquake and Stone Edge provide awesome coverage. Roost to heal. Taunt to break up walls.
Strategy:
Priority 1: Finish em off.
Well there it is. Any comments are welcome: I’m specifically looking for threats that will become more significant as I begin to ladder more aggressively, as I plan to ladder pretty regularly with this team or a variant of it.
