Latios + DDNite Dragon Offence

[Iceblade157]

This is based roughly off of my old rain team, and was even a rain team before Dragonite came in. It took me quite a while to figure out which Pokemon to replace, especially when I decided to remove Politoed for Dragonite, increasing the offensive capability of this team and overall synergy. Without further ado, here's my team:


Team Building:

Hide

Truth be told, I was a little lost when I first started. I didn't know what to make the team around, or into, as I am generally horrible at coming up with ideas for team building, and I wanted an original team this time. However, I did know, that I wanted Latios on my team. For some reason, I have developed an absolute fetish for him (cough cough) after I watched a movie in which he appeared in.

I don't have a very good history for creativity. Often what I "discover" on my own turns out to have already been discovered long ago >_>. A few months after I started competitive battling in 4th gen, I had discovered that Scizor had really great type synergy with Dragons, as did many steels. I implemented a Dragons + Steels team, thinking my team creative, but unfortunately, others before me have already come upon it. Nevertheless, Scizor has served me well, and even up until now. Scizor also has perfect type synergy with Latios, so I decided to use both and give them a spin. The two also nicely covered each others' threats. A well timed switch lets Latios escape Tyranitar's pursuit, or anybody else's pursuit as well. Scizor covered Ice types, though rare, posed some degree of Problem for Latios and other team members. He also covered Reuniclius, which would have otherwise been deadly. Since I was using Scizor, and Latios gained a powerful surf from rain, I decided to also use Politoed.

Rotom-Wash and Scizor come almost hand in hand with the infamous Volt-Turn combo, which I also happened to have used before its mainstreamness, but instead, with Gliscor and Rotom-W on my old rain team created earlier this year in June. Additionally, Rotom-W has only a single weakness: Grass, which is nicely covered on both physical and special spectrums by Latios and Scizor. Additionally, Rotom-W can function as a late game sweeper, when the remainder of my opponent's team is weakened, STAB Hydropump in rain does a lot to anything that doesn't resist it. Even Ferrothorns with low health should think twice before switching in.

Ferrothorn in rain is just about the most annoying thing out there unless you have a Super Effective move at your disposal. Ferrothorn can take almost any hit, having great resistances to some of the most common attacks in the game, namely Dragon spamming, and retaliating by laying down layers of spikes or pitching rocks into the air. There's not much to say about this guy. We've all seen him, all had frustrating moments with him, but hey, he's effective. Enter Ferrothorn and its whoriness.

Politoed / Latios / Ferrothorn / Rotom-W / Scizor was a pretty solid rain core that can have both an offensive momentum and defensive momentum. However, because Ferrothorn can't Rapid Spin, though we can clearly see Ferroseed spinning away, stall teams severely hampers this team. A spinner was a must for this team to not only function, but excel (by my standards). I added Tentacruel, having had previous experience with him. Toxic Spikes is a nice perk that allows me to cut down the lifespan of other weather starters, gradually weakening them... bit by bit... A rain boosted Scald was also nice, and Ice beam lets me put pressure on pokemon, namely Dragons, that are weak to it.

At this point, I had a pretty good team (by my standards, once again). It was fun to play with, and best of all, I was SOMEWHAT ORIGINAL!!!111!! However, my perfectionism eventually got to me and I became frustrated with the fact that:

1. I didn't have a solid Volcarona check
2. I didn't have a solid Dnite check, though every member was able to put pressure on Dnite
3. I didn't have a solid Celebi check. If a Celebi got a nasty plot, GG.

Getting 6-0'd by a Celebi one day was the last straw. I first considered Terrakion with X-scissor. Terrakion also provided excellent team synergy with Latios offensively, both effectively checking (most) of each others' counters. Truth be told, I forget why my final result looked the way it was. I think it was because I wanted to try a double-dragon offense. However, with enough support, I am willing to pick up Terrakion again.

I think I remember why I dropped Terrakion now! Stone Edge was missing every other turn, and I've lost battles because of it. Damn it, Game Freak! Next time I'm using Rock Slide D:<
Anyways, Dragonite was the next candidate, who also checked Volcarona, fellow Dragonites, and Celebi's not carrying HP Ice, in which case Scizor can easily beat them. So far, I have to say, I am rather pleased with my results.

Now it is your turn to review and give feed back.

Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed
- Dragon Dance

Dragonite is simply a beast, it's hard to describe him well. Let's just put it at "amazing", no, "wonderful". Thanks to spin support, he is literally guaranteed one turn of Dragon Dance, out pacing almost every single Pokemon that isn't carrying a Choice Scarf, and slam them with base 134 Attack. Dragonite is also the physical side of my Double Rainb- Dragon Offense. He is capable of handling things like Tyranitar (who would be in Latios's KO range after), Ferrothorn, and other things that give Latios a headache.

---

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Recover

Latios looks damn sexy, and he is. Base 130 Special Attack with one of the most powerful moves in the game coupled with base 110 speed allowing him to outspeed a huge number of Pokemon naturally, plus the fact that he looks like a super special awesome jet are all factors in his awesomeness. As I mentioned earlier, Dragonite handles Ferrothorn, as I don't have HP Fire on Latios. Personally, I can't live with the speed drop that comes with HP Fire, though it would have saved me on many occasions, and made me lose on many other occasions. With a large majority of Lati@s and Gengars, the other base 110 fellows, running HP Fire, Latios can easily win a gamble most of the time with them.

Edit: I took your suggestions and tried Recover, and it yielded very nice results. I added this with Life Orb to both hit hard and recover, and so far it's worked out really well. Thanks guys!

---

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

By now you've probably realized that I'm a speed freak. Scizor is no exception. 24 Speed EV's lets it not only outspeed every other CB Scizor out there, but also allows him to live with 7 HP after 8 Rocks switch-ins, mimicking the 248 HP Distribution. U-turn gives me switch advantage, and hurts anything that doesn't resist it. Bullet Punch for awesome priority that killed so many ice types in 4th gen. Super Power for over all round off, and Pursuit for trapping opposing Latioses or Pokemon that are being pussies and running away from Scizor.

---

Ferrothorn (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes

Ferrothorn makes up the physical defensive staple of the team. Its job is to... well... be Ferrothorn and torment people. Rocks and Spikes are self explanatory. Thunderwave helps lower the opposing Pokemon's speed, which allows Scizor to U-turn more effectively and take less hits, and also grants me that oh so wonderful and timely Parahax. Powerwhip rounds off his moveset, giving him lots of fire power as well. If I can nail a Magnezone on the switch with Thunderwave, I may be able to kill it :D

---

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunder
- Rapid Spin
- Psyshock

Starmie was suggested to me by Snorlaxe, and has worked pretty well so far helping my team keep offensive momentum, while providing spinner support. Starmie is also nice in that it can also abuse rain to a full extent, and dish out Hydro Pump and Thunders as it pleases. Psyshock lets me check Virizions and Brelooms along with Latios, as both presents huge threats to rain.




---

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Washing machines are amazing. Not only do they use witchcraft to give you a mind controlling scarf and extract from you an apple core, they also dance around with devious smiles on their faces. Rotom-W completes the Volt-turn offensive momentum core that supports Dragonite and Latios. Hydropump covers everything else. Trick helps ruin EvoChancey coming in, and HP Ice helps against dragons.

 

[Snorlaxe]

have you ever considered running recover on latios? latios is a key member of your team from what i can see, so prolonging its lifespan is definitely a good thing. i think you should replace thunderbolt, as your other team members handle gyarados and water-types better than they handle blissey (who is taken out by psyshock).

i hate replacing pokemon on great teams, but i just dont see what tentacruel is doing for your team. your team doesnt take advantage of toxic spikes in the least (with the small exception of ferrothorn), and tentacruel is mostly just slowing down your team's offensive tempo. i do think that rapid spin is extremely important for your team, however, so im going to suggest that you run a starmie in that slot instead. try a set of rapid spin, hydro pump, thunderbolt, and recover, an ev spread of 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe with a timid nature, and leftovers as the item. if you want to play a more offensive starmie set, you can replace recover with ice beam, and replace leftovers with life orb. however, i recommend you stick with a more conservative build.

with tentacruel gone, you may want to consider a more balanced defensive ev spread on ferrothorn. try a spread of 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD and an impish nature. however, if you would rather continue to use your current spread, by all means do so; this is a purely optional suggestion that im just throwing out there.

awesome team, and good luck man! :D

 

[Joeyboy]

Hey cool team dude, unfortunately I've got to be getting on the road in a minute so I won't be able to give a proper rate.

One thing I noticed you could do was to run Hidden Power Fire on Latios. It could be used over Thunderbolt. With Expert Belt you could bluff Specs/Scarf and when your opponent switches in their steel poke' you could roast them with Hidden Power Fire. Be aware though that with Hidden Power Fire comes a one speed drop so you will lose the speed tie to other Latios who don't run HP Fire; I believe it is worth it though.

Good Luck!

 

[Tomahawk]

Swords Dance Toxicroak is pretty much the only major threat I could find, being able to set up on Scizor locked in Superpower or Pursuit, Ferrothorn, Tentacruel, or Rotom-W locked in something, and set up a Swords Dance. After that, he can proceed to damage your team pretty badly. Dragonite is KOed by Ice Punch, Latios gets Sucker Punched with priority for the KO, Scizor can Bullet Punch but it doesn't KO (barely) and Toxicroak can Cross Chop to OHKO back, while Dry Skin saves him. Ferrothorn falls to Cross Chop, while Tentacruel can't do anything but Ice Beam so Toxicroak can just set up on him to OHKO with a +6 Cross Chop. Finally, Rotom-W falls to a +2 Sucker Punch after Stealth Rock damage.

This can be fixed rather easily though. Changing Latios to a Specs variant with Trick lets Latios use Trick while Toxicroak Sucker Punches which then does nothing, locking him in a useless move, and forcing him out. A moveset of Draco Meteor / Psyshock / Surf / Trick @ Choice Specs would work well.

Good luck!

 

[NatGeo]

Hey,

I definitely support Recover over Thunderbolt on Latios, as everything that it hits primarily (Jellicent mostly), is taken care of by a timely switch to Rotom-W. With Recover Latios now has a bit of longevity, allowing it to stay on the field longer and pave the way for Dragonite. I also don't really get Tentacruel, since as already pointed out Toxic Spikes don't do much for this team. I support Snorlaxe's suggestion of Starmie. However, the switch will leave you a bit more open to some offensive Pokemon who take advantage of Starmie, chief of these TR Reuniclus. A quick fix would be to run a more specially defensive spread on Scizor. As an aside it also gives you a further check to the Latis. Hope this rate helped and good luck!

 

[SillySod]

Quick question about the choices on the dragons...
- why expert belt and lum berry? (do you not find yourself lacking killing power? I run life orbs to help ensure 1-hit kills with both pokes)
- does dragon claw hit hard enough to be a satisfying alternative to outrage?
- it looks like opposing steels could potentially give you a problem if they can get past dragonite, how do you deal with them?

Oh, and who leads - dragonite?

 

[Iceblade157]

Sorry about the late response, guys!

@Snorlaxe: I'll test both recover on Latios and adding in Starmie later today and update it soon, as I'm relatively busy at the moment.

@Joeyboy: HP Fire :/ I don't like it too much, but I'm willing to give it a try.

@Tomahawk: Specs Latios? I'll test it later, but the good thing about Expert Belt is that I can bluff choice and net kills and injure lots of Pokemon.

@Zurish: I personally don't find Specially Defensive Scizor very appealing as it loses lots of killing power, but I'll give it a try.

@SillySod: Lum Berry on Dnite allows him to Dance one more time than usual. I will be replacing Expert Belt with Life Orb when I test Recover on Latios. Expert Belt generally served as a bluff for choice, and as I mentioned earlier, lets me net kills on many Pokemon, and severely injure Pokemon such as Dragonite that come in on me thinking that I'm locked in. I also forget why I have Dragon Claw instead of Outrage, LOL. I'll give outrage a spin later and see how it works out. Dragon Claw does have the main perk in that I won't be locked in. And yes, steels will give me some problems, especially Ferrothorns. Lastly, Rotom-W is usually my lead.