What's up Smogon? Chew here with another team I've been messing around with on showdown. I basically wanted to make a new team but was sick of the popular megas that are rampaging OU right now. We need some diversity in our teams. I purposefully told myself NOT to use TankChomp or Landorus-T or Mega Lopunny like a little bitch. That said, I basically got my ass handed to me by Mega Gyarados and said to myself "hey you don't see many of those around." So here we are, friends. Here we are.
M-Gayarados was up first as he was the star of the team.
Next I needed a switch-in to fighting mons, so Slowbro was the obvious choice.
I needed a stealth rocker, and one who resisted fairy was a bonus. He also soaks dark and grass attacks aimed at Slowbro and Mega Gyarados.
Next I wanted a spinner and one who could keep fairies at bay. Scarf Excadrill fit the bill here.
Gyarados has a problem dealing with bulky waters, so Serperior was my special wallbreaker of choice.
This last slot was basically filler, but I wanted something who could threaten Mega Venusaur. Unfortunately, in tesing, this team was way too weak to electric and to ground types like sand rush E-Drill and Lando-T. To remedy this I made these changes:
Zapdos became my defogger of choice, giving me a ground immunity and fighting resist and giving me a back-up soft check to Keldeo and the like. Gengar gave me both a ground and fighting immunity and gives the team a little more speed control, and is my best bet against Lati@s and dragons.
This became the final squad, and is the team I'm presenting to you today =]
The Squad
--->
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate ---> Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Alright, I wanted to build my team around this guy, Mega Gyarados, as I'd never built a Gyarados team and immo he's a better dragon dancer than Charizard-X, whom Gyarados wonderfully counters. I've opted for max speed and attack, with jolly, and even though he has pretty poor speed stat, one D-dance puts him in the 400s, and his attack stat is 409 without a boost. What this means is with just one boost he's absolutely terrifying. He's my late game sweeper, coming in once it's checks are cleared and if he starts to boost then he can really rip through walls.
Moveset:
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Since his main weaknesses are electric, fighting and fairy, I've tried to create a team that addresses these weaknesses as well as ticking off threats on the threat list. For the first weakness, fighting, there was a mon I was pretty scared of due to it's speed tier: Lopunny. For that reason, I decided to go with defensive Slowbro. It switches in wonderfully to any fighting type attack and can threaten out Mega Lopunny and Keldeo, two of the biggest fighting threats in the OU tier. Because it's going to be switching in to physical aimed fighting attacks, I went with a fully defensive EV spread with bold nature to soak as much as I can. Leftovers and Regenerator let Slowbro pivot amazing well, allowing him to switch in many times over the course of a match.
Moveset:
Moveset:
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 100 SpA / 160 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Moving on, I needed to look at getting a spinner/defogger for this team. I toyed with a lot of mons on this slot, going from Defog Togekiss to Scarf Excadrill to Mandibuzz and finally settling on Zapdos. While not having an electric resist does harm this team somewhat, Zapdos is a fantastic defogger. Being weak to SR is a drawback, but most defoggers in OU have this problem, and he has the added bonus of resisting fighting and having a ground immunity which I really needed. I went with slightly specially defensive for this guy, with 252 HP, 160 Sp.Def and 100 Sp.Att and a calm nature. What this allows Zap to do is ensure he 2hkos Tank Chomp and defensive Lando-T, and is great as a soft check to the water and flying mons running around like Keldeo, Thundurus-T, Talonflame, other Mega Gyarados' that I come across.
Moveset:
Serperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
With the backbone of my team sorted (mega, tanks and defogger) I started to look at what sort of things Gyarados couldn't break through, and I realised he has some trouble against bulky water types (except Slowbro, as I have crunch) and mons like Slowbro, Rotom-W and keldeo are so popular it can't hurt to have a check for them. Plus, my team needed some speed control AND Serperior gives me a second win-con with his boosting chance. Finally, he works alongside Gengar to pressure dragons, as they're the only two with super effective moves against them. Serperior's wallbreaking potential is absolutely devesating; I love it when they switch Ferrothorn into me to tank the leaf storm but die to a +2 Hidden Power Fire 1 turn later. I usually lead with this guy since there are usually no drawbacks to opening with him, fake out users aside.
Moveset:
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind
- Energy Ball
In a final bid to keep fighting mons off my precious gayarados, and to keep the ever popular and fucking annoying Lando-T off my team, Gengar came in as my fighting/ground check. Originally this slot was T-flame but I was far too weak to electric to keep him up, and I already have a physical wall breaker. Gengar has mad strength, and with icy wind/dazzling gleam (might use gleam for Sableye and Mega Altaria, since it can't hit me with anything on the return/EQ set) it keeps dragons off my team too, which is nice. It makes a great revenge killer and is the team's best answer to Lati@s if Gyarados goes down. (Although, one D-dance and one crunch later...) Anyway, Gengar really just rounds off the team's weakness and has no liability being on the team since it packs such a fantastic punch. It's also my resident fairy sweeper with that massively powerful sludge wave.
Moveset:
Conclusion
So, there's the team. Hopefully I've explained it thoroughly enough! Chip in with your 2 cents and see if we can get this team into the higher parts of the ladder! If you've got suggestions, it would be great if they were replacements for the roles already fulfilled by mons, i.e. a better spinner/defogger than Zapdos or a better special wallbreaker than Serperior. On a final note, let me know what you think of the formatting, as I've done something I've not done before on an RMT and that's typing it into Word and copy/pasting it over. There were like 17-1800 words in the main body, so it's quite a lot to get stuck into.
Alright, I'm ready for the criticism! Bring it on.
Peace!
-MaChew94
M-Gayarados was up first as he was the star of the team.
Next I needed a switch-in to fighting mons, so Slowbro was the obvious choice.
I needed a stealth rocker, and one who resisted fairy was a bonus. He also soaks dark and grass attacks aimed at Slowbro and Mega Gyarados.
Next I wanted a spinner and one who could keep fairies at bay. Scarf Excadrill fit the bill here.
Gyarados has a problem dealing with bulky waters, so Serperior was my special wallbreaker of choice.
This last slot was basically filler, but I wanted something who could threaten Mega Venusaur. Unfortunately, in tesing, this team was way too weak to electric and to ground types like sand rush E-Drill and Lando-T. To remedy this I made these changes:
Zapdos became my defogger of choice, giving me a ground immunity and fighting resist and giving me a back-up soft check to Keldeo and the like. Gengar gave me both a ground and fighting immunity and gives the team a little more speed control, and is my best bet against Lati@s and dragons.
This became the final squad, and is the team I'm presenting to you today =]
The Squad
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate ---> Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Alright, I wanted to build my team around this guy, Mega Gyarados, as I'd never built a Gyarados team and immo he's a better dragon dancer than Charizard-X, whom Gyarados wonderfully counters. I've opted for max speed and attack, with jolly, and even though he has pretty poor speed stat, one D-dance puts him in the 400s, and his attack stat is 409 without a boost. What this means is with just one boost he's absolutely terrifying. He's my late game sweeper, coming in once it's checks are cleared and if he starts to boost then he can really rip through walls.
Moveset:
- Dragon Dance: Obviously, lets him set-up and sweep. He only really needs one to get going, but the more the merrier!
- Waterfall: Strong, reliable STAB. At +1 I can ohko Mega Diancie, Tyranitar in the sand, 2hko Mega Charizard-Y after tanking anything it can do and outspeeding, essentially anything weak to water. It also deals great chip damage.
- Crunch: Again, strong, reliable STAB. It decimates anything weak to dark, smashing through seemingly defensive walls such as Slowbro and Mew and deals decent damage to everything that doesn't resist it like Sableye, though I have to be careful of burns from the latter two. It's also great against Mega Gallade and Mega Medicham, since I outspeed both and KO.
- Earthquake: Substitute or EQ were in competition for the last slot, but I decided I'd like to hit Rotom-W and Gengar as well as pressure Charizard-X and generally be a nuisance with great coverage. Incidentally, it also kils Mega Manectric at +1 even through intimdate and outspeeds, which is surprising to all the Mega Mane users I've faced with this team.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psyshock
- Toxic
Since his main weaknesses are electric, fighting and fairy, I've tried to create a team that addresses these weaknesses as well as ticking off threats on the threat list. For the first weakness, fighting, there was a mon I was pretty scared of due to it's speed tier: Lopunny. For that reason, I decided to go with defensive Slowbro. It switches in wonderfully to any fighting type attack and can threaten out Mega Lopunny and Keldeo, two of the biggest fighting threats in the OU tier. Because it's going to be switching in to physical aimed fighting attacks, I went with a fully defensive EV spread with bold nature to soak as much as I can. Leftovers and Regenerator let Slowbro pivot amazing well, allowing him to switch in many times over the course of a match.
Moveset:
- Scald: Obviously, it's his best STAB water attack, hitting decently hard for a tank but also giving me a chance to spread burns, often winning me games due to burning threats or difficult tanks that I can't normally beat.
- Psyshock: Again, strong STAB that allows Slowbro to pivot into fighting threats so well. Also great for neutral damage on the switch.
- Slack Off: Perfect for Slowbro, the combination of regenerator, leftovers and slack let him basically just do what he wants.
- Toxic: This have won games for me too; the chance to toxic key threats such as a +4 Mega Charizard-X. Yeah, it happened once, but I got over it, using Toxic and my tanks to wear him down.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Rock Slide
- Earth Power
Now I needed someone who could deal with electric attacks and set rocks for me. Here you'd be thinking Lando-T or Garchomp, but no, I went with Heatran, who has the lovely bonus of resisting fairies, being my best steel check since Gyarados finds it hard to break through them, and who can deal with the odd Thunderbolt thrown it's way. I went full Sp.Def but put 20 points into speed rather than HP so I can outspeed other defensive Heatrans and kill with earth power, running a calm nature. Tran is a great defensive pivot, albeit without recovery, he just walls a lot of things incredibly well. He also pairs with Slowbro to form the defensive bird-counter backbone of the team.Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Rock Slide
- Earth Power
Moveset:
- Stealth Rock: Obviously, rocks are key to almost any team as they turn 2hkos into ohkos and are usually really easy to set up.
- Lava Plume: Great STAB attack for Tran with a handy 30% burn chance means I can basically spam this with no drawbacks (unless there's an enemy Tran or Mega Houndoom with flash fire).
- Rock Slide: I really needed something that could handle Talonflame, and alongisde Slowbro, Tran does this really well but only when carrying rock slide, since Sp.Def Talonflames are so common. This also lets me chip away at Thundurus' not carriyng focus blast, though usually lava plume is better in this case; RS works best on fire birds.
- Earth Power: I needed to not get walled by Heatran, ironically, so I opted for a slight increase in speed to just ensure I outspeed defensive Tran variants and KO with earth power. This is especially great since if they see me rock they assume I'm a fully defensive variant.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 100 SpA / 160 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Moveset:
- Defog: Obviously, the reason I chose Zapdos. It ensures I keep hazards off the field which is fairly important as both Zapdos and Gyarados are weak to SR.
- Roost: allows it to stay healthy; usually it has enough bulk to be able to get a roost up, but it's there if I need it.
- Thunderbolt: Brilliant move with no drawbacks, unless I spot a ground type on their team. Though it's not the end of the world if I do use it, I tend to just switch out if they send in their ground.
- HP Ice: This is here for when I correctly predict the switch to their ground type, and as mentioned above it can 2hko many ground type threats.
Serperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
With the backbone of my team sorted (mega, tanks and defogger) I started to look at what sort of things Gyarados couldn't break through, and I realised he has some trouble against bulky water types (except Slowbro, as I have crunch) and mons like Slowbro, Rotom-W and keldeo are so popular it can't hurt to have a check for them. Plus, my team needed some speed control AND Serperior gives me a second win-con with his boosting chance. Finally, he works alongside Gengar to pressure dragons, as they're the only two with super effective moves against them. Serperior's wallbreaking potential is absolutely devesating; I love it when they switch Ferrothorn into me to tank the leaf storm but die to a +2 Hidden Power Fire 1 turn later. I usually lead with this guy since there are usually no drawbacks to opening with him, fake out users aside.
Moveset:
- Leaf Storm: Oh, god. The combination of contary and leaf storm are what make this mon so disgusting. 130 base power off a decent special attack stat with a +2 boost to that stat right after is why Serp is one many OU teams; there are basically no drawbacks to using him as long as you have birds and Venusaur checks.
- Giga drain: For when I need to finish someone off reliably (Leaf Storm has 90% accuracy) or just need some recovery, giga drain is a fantastic source of both damage and healing, and combined with leftovers means my frail Serperior can actually stay in for a long time.
- Dragon Pulse: Yeah this is just a coverage move, really, and it doesn't hit too hard. Sadly, Serp needs to be +4 to be able to kill a Latios with one. Still, it does work in that it chips it down enough for it be in kill range of it's own life orb. That's a last resort though, but Dragon Pulse does come in handy for neutral damage.
- Hidden Power Fire: Woe betide trainers who send in Ferrothorn to this guy; his HP fire is enough to KO at +2. While not resisting Bullet Punch, at +2 it also kills Mega Scizor and goes on to kill Magnezone after stealth rock damage too. Seeing as it's so easy to get to +2 on Serp, it basically means he's my premier steel killer, and seeing as there are so many steel types running around like Klefki, Jirachi, (who by the way are 2hkos at +2) it's a fantastic way to net some easy kills.
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind
- Energy Ball
Moveset:
- Shadow Ball: The reason I picked Gengar, other than the obvious weaknesses and resists is because his shadow ball hits so so hard, even neutrally, 2hkoing Skarmory and other random mons like that. It's also the best move to use on Lando-T, since even scarf lando has to use stone edge twice to KO gengar, and it's unreliable.
- Sludge Wave: Again, the strongest STAB move he can learn. It's used for switch-ins that don't predict it and is used against fairies: it outspeeds and 2hkos mega Diancie, and also Sylveon and Clefable, three of the most common fairies in OU.
- Icy Wind: This is used for dragons and ground types since it has the cool bonus of always being critical. However, on further inspection, I think dazzling gleam is better here as it hits fighting types, still hits dragon types and can threaten out Mega Sableye, and I have shadow ball for ground mons.
- Energy Ball: Honestly this is just filler. I'm thinking of slapping psychic on there so I don't get walled by Mega Venusaur. I know a lot of gengars run focus blast but I hate the unreliability of it and besides I have answers to steel/rock types.
Conclusion
So, there's the team. Hopefully I've explained it thoroughly enough! Chip in with your 2 cents and see if we can get this team into the higher parts of the ladder! If you've got suggestions, it would be great if they were replacements for the roles already fulfilled by mons, i.e. a better spinner/defogger than Zapdos or a better special wallbreaker than Serperior. On a final note, let me know what you think of the formatting, as I've done something I've not done before on an RMT and that's typing it into Word and copy/pasting it over. There were like 17-1800 words in the main body, so it's quite a lot to get stuck into.
Alright, I'm ready for the criticism! Bring it on.
Peace!
-MaChew94
