Sup everybody, this is my first time posting a RMT, hoping it goes well. As you may have inferred from the thread title, this team is based around taking advantage of everyone's most hated foe, random chance, and making it work in my favor. This team specifically focuses on paralysis, confusion, and flinching...with a couple brightpowders thrown in for good measure.
The team's gone through quite a few changes, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I've arrived at. When I started this team, it had six paralysis inducers, four confuse ray users, and two serene grace pokemon; I quickly found this to be overkill and tuned it down accordingly.
Anyway, after a fair bit of tweaking and some field work, here's what I've come up with for the team a friend of mine has taken to calling Team Trollface.jpg (a fitting name, I think):
______________________________________________The team's gone through quite a few changes, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I've arrived at. When I started this team, it had six paralysis inducers, four confuse ray users, and two serene grace pokemon; I quickly found this to be overkill and tuned it down accordingly.
Anyway, after a fair bit of tweaking and some field work, here's what I've come up with for the team a friend of mine has taken to calling Team Trollface.jpg (a fitting name, I think):
The Team at a Glance
Not much to say from a glance. A pretty standard looking team with a couple of OU staples, but this one operates a bit differently than what you'd expect. Overall, I decided to sacrifice speed to gain some extra defense, hoping to let Lady Luck handle most of my problems. My favorite thing about this team is that it offers me extra opportunities to bypass my threats. It may not hit as hard as some other teams, but that is no reason to count it out. With paralysis in place, that DD Salamence suddenly doesn't seem so scary. And sure, Scizor might hit like a wrecking ball, but not when his attacks miss over half the time.
And hey, even if I don't win, I should be able to piss off my opponent a good bit.
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The Team in Depth
Dairy
Miltank @ Leftovers
Ability: Scrappy
Careful (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
252 HP, 26 Atk, 60 Def, 172 SpDef
-Body Slam
-Stealth Rock
-Milk Drink
-Heal Bell
A somewhat unorthodox lead, but there's nothing wrong with being different. This was the last member of my team to gain a spot, but she's worked out pretty well so far. Being that my team is so heavily focused on confusion and paralysis, I anticipate a lot of switching. That's why one thing I really wanted to have on my team was a stealth rock user, but I wasn't willing to give up a moveslot on Metagross. Now, there are literally dozens of other stealth rock leads I could have gone with, but I few things drew me to Miltank. With body slam, she has a means of inducing paralysis, particularly to ground types and pokes with motor drive/volt absorb. And the fact that she has access to heal bell was just icing on the cake. She also lends me a much needed ghost immunity.
The EV spread isn't exactly standard, but I think it works well for my purposes. Speed investment wasn't that important to me since paralysis will hopefully be spread around. With the given SpDef investment, natural physical bulkiness, and access to an instant recovery move (plus decent speed to make use of it), she doesn't fear much. Infernape can be a pain in the ass, but I can always just switch out to Rotom to neutralize fake-out or close combat. For faster sleep-inducing leads, I can switch to either Rotom or Gallade, using the brightpowder to drop the foe's accuracy another ten percent. If my counter does end up going to sleep, I can always pick off the sleep inducer and have Dairy revive her comrade with heal bell. For faster taunt leads, I have no problem throwing a couple body slams at my foe, possibly even picking up paralysis along the way. I opted to go with scrappy over thick fat since I only had one attack and didn't want to worry about ghosts.
The moveset isn't exactly creative, but I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Geist
Rotom-H @ Brightpowder
Ability: Levitate
Modest (+SpAtk, -Atk)
210 HP, 204 SpAtk, 96 Spd
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Thunder Wave
-Confuse Ray
Rotom gained a spot on my team early on, partly because I used this same guy in my playthrough in Platinum. I've always loved this moveset on Rotom, given that his STAB attacks offer such fantastic natural coverage together. The only things that resist Electric+Ghost are Magnezone, Steelix, Cacturne, Shiftry, and Dialga. Barring Dialga, they all fear a super-effective overheat, so the toaster oven seemed to be a natural choice of appliance.
Rotom fits nicely on this team, since it can do many things at once. It counters many of my common threats, hits everyone else hard with its dual STAB attacks, blocks rapid spinners from removing my stealth rock, and utilizes its great typing and defenses to pull off the t-wave+confuse ray combination. While a somewhat idealized scenario, if my enemy is both confused and paralyzed, the brightpowder kicks the evasiveness up and gives my opponent a mere 30% chance of attacking.
Again, I decided to lay off the speed EVs and throw a little extra into HP.
Star
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Modest (+SpAtk, -Atk)
196 HP, 16 Def, 198 SpAtk, 16 SpDef, 84 Spd
-Surf
-Rapid Spin
-Confuse Ray
-Recover
Starmie was another poke I had in mind from the early going, but I had trouble settling on a moveset. I originally considered Starmie because it had access to t-wave and confuse ray. Then I wasn't sure how to complement its STAB hydro pump. A STAB psychic? Thunderbolt? Grass knot? Ice beam? Then I thought about what else Starmie could do. Rapid spin gets rid of entry hazards and goes well with the slight stally feel to my team. Then I thought, "Do I really need another t-waver?" And what about recover? In the extremely hard-hitting, fast-paced metagame of D/P/Pt, recovery moves are only really useful on pokes with sufficient bulk. However, with luck on my side, I should have plenty of opportunities to get in a free turn of recover. Anyway, long story short, I ended up with one attack (surf for its better accuracy and PP), but it seems to work pretty well. Water has good natural coverage, and I can always fire confuse ray at anything that tries to stand in my way. With recover, leftovers, natural cure, and evasion abuse via c-ray/t-wave, this Starmie can be a real terror to try to take down.
The EVs listed allow for both attacking power and good overall defenses. Even with a small amount of speed EVs, Starmie is still pretty damn fast. Good defense is necessary to come in and remove entry hazards. And being that my wish supporter (Togekiss) is weak to rock, getting that rapid spin off can make the difference between a win and a loss.
Spartacus
Gallade @ Brightpowder
Ability: Steadfast
Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk)
106 HP, 252 Atk, 152 Spd
-Close Combat
-Zen Headbutt
-Thunder Wave
-Confuse Ray
Gallade was yet another poke that I lumped on my team solely for the fact that he could use both t-wave and c-ray, but he's performed his role well since his introduction. He hits hard, has surprisingly good SpDef, and is fast enough to annoy the opponent with status.
One thing I like about Gallade is that he has an enormous movepool. While my moveset might seem straightforward, the opponent will still have to do some guesswork as I might be packing stone edge, night slash, or an array of other troublesome things. If I bring him in early in the game, the opponent may also be wary of some other form of status (hypnosis, will-o-wisp). Fighting+Psychic might not be the most desirable combo, but being that both attacks are backed by STAB, they do the job just fine (on everything except Spiritomb, anyway). I opted for zen headbutt over night slash or psycho cut since I get the added flinch rate. When you add in a 20% flinch rate to the paralysis, confusion, and brightpowder, that's just plain rage-inducing.
I decided to invest a bit more into this guy's speed since he's not as willing to take a hit as some of his teammates. The added speed often allows him to score a quick KO or stop a foe in its tracks with status.
This is the one poke I've considered replacing, but I can't seem to find anything that fits as nicely on this team as Gallade. I'd still like the replacement to have either t-wave, c-ray, or both. A pursuit user might be a useful addition. Of course, I could just dump zen headbutt in favor of night slash.
Hershey
Togekiss @ Razor Fang
Ability: Serene Grace
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
252 HP, 96 Def, 66 SpAtk, 96 SpDef
-Air Slash
-Aura Sphere
-Thunder Wave
-Wish
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good picture of a shiny Togekiss to use here, so I had to make due with the regular one. Anyway, she puts the hax in this hax team. Togekiss is the star of this team (other than Starmie), around which everything else is built. There are so many things I love about this poke I don't know where to begin.
First off, let's look at the EVs. Defense oriented to complement her great natural defenses with some SpAtk EVs to give the attacks a little extra kick. With her great defenses, Hershey can stand defiantly against even super-effective attacks, counter back with t-wave, and flinch the foe into submission. You'd be surprised by how many common threats that simple combination can take out. Air slash and aura sphere provide great coverage together, and with the razor fang, they both have chances to flinch the opponent. Speaking of the razor fang, I'm still not entirely sure of how it works in conjunction with air slash. Both smogon's and bulbapedia's entries say it offers an additional 10% flinch rate, but I've heard some people claim otherwise. And I'm not sure how it works with serene grace, either. If serene grace doubles the 10% bonus, then air slash would have an effective flinch rate of 80%. If that isn't hax, then I don't know what is. And even without that boost, 70% is nothing to scoff at.
Roost is the usual recommended option for healing in this moveset, but I like Wish more for a few reasons. The most obvious is that it allows Togekiss to heal her teammates. The second is that if paralysis is in place (which it should be), and assuming the opponent doesn't use a priority move, then their chance of attacking is either 22.5% or 15%, depending on whether serene grace doubles the razor fang (also considering that air slash actually hits). And if the enemy is still confused, they may as well not even bother trying. This makes air slash into a sort of makeshift protect, which of course goes hand in hand with wish as a form of healing. While not as dependable as protect, air slash does have its advantages; namely, being able to attack and protect yourself at the same time. As for its means of paralysis, I've been thinking about switching t-wave with body slam or secret power. Still not sure about that.
Even with a small amount of SpAtk EVs, this thing is no joke. If paralysis has been sufficiently spread around, this girl can sweep an entire team without even giving a chance for retaliation.
Quadraxis
Metagross @ Expert Belt
Ability: Clear Body
Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk)
148 HP, 252 Atk, 110 SpDef
-Iron Head
-Zen Headbutt
-Earthquake
-Ice Punch
This final role was originally filled by Jirachi, who was being used as a mixed attacker and additional wish support. Jirachi worked well enough, but I found that even with all the hax, I was severely lacking a dominant attacking force. That's where Metagross came in. This thing hits like a tank and has the defenses to match. And being that speed is often Metagross' weak point, he benefits greatly from paralysis support.
As a mid-late game cleaner, Quadraxis performs admirably. With the given four attacks, it can deal super-effective damage to 11 of the 17 types, utilizing that expert belt to dish out several swift OHKOs. And with stealth rock support, its role becomes even easier. Plus he gets dual STAB attacks, both with a chance of flinching, adding even more to the theme of annoyance.
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Threats
Threats
Well, that's the team. I really don't have much in mind for a concluding statement, so I'll now try to go over some common threats/problems I may run into.
Main Threats
No individual pokemans in this section, but just things in general to watch out for. All of the below things really mess up my gameplan, but I haven't found any one of them to be a surefire counter to my team, and each can be handled if approached correctly.
Main Threats
No individual pokemans in this section, but just things in general to watch out for. All of the below things really mess up my gameplan, but I haven't found any one of them to be a surefire counter to my team, and each can be handled if approached correctly.
- Ground Types -Ground types absorb t-wave, but other than that they don't pose much of a threat. With two ground immunities and only one weakness, I can still knock them out the old fashioned way. Starmie makes a good all purpose counter here, plus ground types are typically slow, opening the door for Togekiss to flinch them out of the game. Plus confusion is still a handy tool.
- Pokes with Motor Drive/Volt Absorb/Limber - This one isn't encountered as often as the above, but can be even more troublesome. In the event I encounter this, I can usually rely on my pokemons' defenses to take hits and strike back accordingly. The problem with this, of course, is I risk losing vital parts of my team in the process. Metagross doesn't enjoy taking powerful thunderbolts/thunderpunches from electric types, but is bulky enough to take a hit or two, then counter back with earthquake. Rotom is also a good counter, and Miltank occasionally gets a lucky paralysis with body slam. Again, confusion is very helpful.
- Priority Attackers -Well yeah, these guys suck. However, paralysis and confusion often make my opponents miss in addition to slowing them down, so that helps. I usually only encounter 1 or 2 priority attackers at most, anyway, so I can just predict, take the hits, and hit back accordingly.
- Clerics - DAMN YOU, CELEBI! Obviously, clerics erase all of my hard work in a single turn. But once I'm done wiping the tears from my eyes, I'm usually able to recover and start over. That cleric has to take time to switch in and use heal bell/aromatherapy, turns which I can be using to beat the crap out of it. If it's a slow cleric, there's also a small chance that Togekiss can flinch it out without allowing it to heal its teammates at all.
- Trick Room Teams - Being that my team is designed to counter the fast-paced metagame by way slowing it down, a trick room team is basically a perfect answer to my plan. And since I have no priority attackers myself, this becomes a major problem. However, trick room pokes are usually incredibly slow to begin with, so paralyzing them probably wouldn't make much of a difference, but will give me a 25% chance at a free turn.
- Rest + Sleep Talk - Even though they're no longer paralyzed, they only have a 67% chance to get a good move off if rest is in their arsenal. Oh wait, did I say 67%? I meant 33% - once again, confusion comes in quite handy.
- Pursuit Users - This has nothing to do with being a hax team. I just don't have any dark resistances. Will have to tread lightly around pursuiters.
- Substitute Users - Obviously, substitute gives users a quick and easy way to bypass my best efforts to apply the hax. However, draining 25% of their health with stealth rock in play puts them in range of a KO from even weak attackers once the sub is broken.
- Lum Berries - Um...yeah, I don't really have a counter for this one. Lum berries suck, so I just hope that I don't run into them too often.
Individual Threats
Here's a list of common threats that I stole from another thread. More problematic threats are highlighted in red.
Azelf - Rotom makes a solid counter. Also, good prediction can help me here. Azelf can cause some damage, but if I manage to get a t-wave in, it becomes much more manageable.
Blissey - If it's a cleric, then it could be a problem. But other than that, I have three physical attackers and a cleric of my own so Blissey doesn't worry me too much.
Breloom - Bring it on. Two psychic attackers and a flying attacker.
Bronzong - While I may not have anyone to deal a lot of damage at once to a levitating Bronzong, I can always just chip away at it with paralysis/confusion in place. However, trick room is a problem.
Celebi - Three different pokes that deal super effective damge, but Celebi is bulky enough to take their hits and heal the status of its teammates or recover off the damage. With a bit of luck, I can still paraflinch it to death, though.
Cresselia - Rotom can smack her around with shadow ball, but outside of that, she walls me fairly well. However, this is yet another instance of t-wave/c-ray giving me a way around a standard threat.
Donphan - Meh, it's a ground type but just about anyone on my team can handle it.
Dragonite - Well, it can't be flinched, so that sucks. However, Metagross can always come in and punch him in the face. Just gotta watch out for fire punch and earthquake.
Dugtrio - A good revenge killer against my team, but he's not too powerful, so I don't care that much. Starmie is the best counter, but Rotom, Togekiss, and Miltank also come to mind.
Dusknoir - Can wall me quite well, can set up trick room, and hits half of my team with super-effective STAB ghost attacks. Miltank laughs at it, though. She can heal herself of burns, too.
Electivire - If I accidentally hand him a speed boost, he can really cause me problems. Rotom can take him on and usually live to tell about it. Metagross can handle him pretty well, but will have to watch out for earthquake.
Forretress - Even though I have no fire, Togekiss can toss Forretress around all day with air slash/aura sphere.
Gallade - Metagross can pick on Gallade's lower defensive stat and knock it out with iron head. Togekiss can take him down without issue if he lacks stone edge. And even if he does have it, Togekiss is bulky enough to take the hit.
Gengar - Another huge problem. Life Orb Gengar can damn near sweep my team if given the opportunity. Of course, if I can paralyze him he's a goner. Metagross can usually take a hit and knock him out with zen headbutt.
Gliscor - Starmie. Also, Metagross can survive a non-boosted earthquake and answer with ice punch.
Gyarados - Rotom or anybody with paralysis stops Gyarados dead in its tracks.
Heatran - Starmie. Gallade and Togekiss can make good counters, as well.
Heracross - Prediction is my best asset here. He might get a Guts boost from paralysis, but that also makes him slow enough to knock out without question. Togekiss should be able to survive a stone edge and finish Heracross off with air slash. Rotom resists both of his STABs. Metagross can take a hit and zen headbutt back.
Hippowdon - Slow ground type. 'Nuff said.
Infernape - Smart prediction beats this guy. T-wave to slow him down, pyshic and water attacks to take him out.
Jirachi - Well it kind of depends on what moveset it's running. Once again, paralysis + confusion is a huge help.
Jolteon - As I said before, electric and ghost attacks are usually disastrous for my team. And Jolteon just happens to often carry both of those. Volt Absorb also sucks. However, he's pretty frail, so as long as I can hit it once or twice I should be able to take it down.
Kingdra - No reason I shouldn't be able to paralyze/confuse/flinch any Kingdra I come across.
Latias - Absorbs most of my attacks and often carries something to rid itself of status (safeguard, refresh, psycho shift). However, Metagross can usually counter her quite well.
Lucario - Flinching isn't going to work here, but luckily I carry two fighting attacks and a ground attack. Bullet punch variants can cause me problems, but I don't see too many of those around.
Machamp - Psychic attacks.
Magnezone - Gallade. And if Magnezone doesn't magnet rise on me, Metagross.
Mamoswine - Starmie, possibly Togekiss if I can get him locked into something other than an ice attack.
Metagross - Togekiss can flinch it, my own Metagross can hit it with earthquake, and hax works well here.
Porygon-Z - Gallade, Togekiss, Metagross. Porygon-Z may deal heavy damage, but this is just another case of having to correctly utilize my status effects.
Rotom-A - One of my biggest threats. Ghost + Electric absolutely destroys my team. If I can paralyze him, he becomes much easier to handle. Also, Miltank makes a surprisingly good counter.
Salamence - Metagross. Or anyone that can land a t-wave on him.
Scizor - I lack the fire to take him down fast, don't have a phazer, and am bothered by priority attacks. However, I have a couple steel resists and means of bypassing his resistances. Plus, I can still hit him with status.
Skarmory - Basically a non-factor. I may have to switch around to find something with which to take it down, but Skarm isn't causing me any problems.
Snorlax - Since I lack a phazer, this could be a problem. Especially if he has rest. But even still, Gallade tears him apart, Togekiss can flinch him down into range of finishing him with an aura sphere, and I'll have plenty of opportunity to confuse him.
Starmie - Natural Cure can be a problem, but stealth rock eventually takes its toll when you switch out too much. Rotom is a good counter, too.
Suicune - With only one water resist and no phazer, my best bet against Croccune is to confuse it and try flinching it. That should at least buy me a few free turns to take it out.
Swampert - I would have thought that Swampert would be more of a problem, but he's not. I've faced several Swamperts in Shoddy and have been able to handle all of them. Miltank, Rotom, and (to a lesser extent) Togekiss can deal well with Pert.
Tentacruel - Ground and psychic weaknesses, vulnerability to status.
Togekiss - Rotom. Also, since I use a Togekiss myself, I know exactly how disheartening it is to get hit with paralysis.
Tyranitar - I have two dark weaknesses and no resist, so that kind of blows. However, Gallade handles him easily, and Starmie, Togekiss, and Metagross can deal heavy damage to him.
Vaporeon - Hax it to death, basically. Also, Rotom.
Weavile - I can knock it on its ass with fighting and steel attacks, but the problem is not getting knocked on my own ass first. Hitting it with status is a big help.
Yanmega- Togekiss. Also, Metagross, Rotom and Miltank can hold their own.
Zapdos - Rotom and Gallade can take its hits and paralyze it, but Zapdos can still cause more than a bit of damage to my team. Only Metagross can deal super-effective damage, but needs to watch out for heat wave.
Here's a list of common threats that I stole from another thread. More problematic threats are highlighted in red.
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So, that's my team. I think I put enough analysis into it to keep the mods off my back. Have at it, gentlemen.
