What can I say here? I've been experimenting with different kinds of teams in BW - stall, sun, rain, crap, whatever - and never did too well, never got up a stockpile of wins, never kept a team for more than two weeks because of that, and never decided what style of play I actually liked. But this is different. Meanwhile, as BW2 rolled around, I found that Landorus-T was to my liking. Underrated, not as fast as it could be, maybe even worse than its Incarnate counterpart, but I loved it. The number of switches it could cause by just switching in can border on ridiculous, and I intended to use that to my advantage. So it was decided, Landorus-T, some entry hazards, and what would eventually become a team of numerous interlocking cores.
Teambuilding;
As I said, Landorus-T was my starting point. I liked the power, liked the moves, liked the force that it bought whenever it switched in. Some people say that it's too slow to be any spectacular good, and that Tornadus and Thundurus were given more to use, but I disagree - though it's a prediction-heavy Pokémon, if used correctly it can be devastating.
Of course weather would be the next step, that was obvious. I'd heard good things about Landorus-T under rain, so I thought that I should try it out. I know how damaging losing the weather war to anything else can be, and sun seems to have been the bane of most of my teams. Between these two, they should be able to do well in keeping the skies clouded over.
What team is without a good Dragon-type right now? Having seen that Haxorus gained Aqua Tail from BW2 move tutors, I'd very much wanted to test it out under rain, having only used Haxorus a handful of times at the start of the generation. Being able to do decent damage to Pokémon such as Skarmory - a Pokémon that can usually stop Haxorus - straight off the bat, it's a great way of applying offensive pressure alongside the other hart-hitter of the team.
This is where the cores start to come into play, and it's with a fairly typical, but still good, one. Obviously, Magnezone is there to clear Steel-types out of the way for Haxorus to come in and do its work. With a rain team, I knew that Ferrothorn would most likely give me a little trouble (which indeed it does), however Hidden Power [Fire] should still be at least a 2HKO on standard sets, even with this weather active. Other than that, Magnezone forms a VoltTurn core with Landorus, with actually decent synergy between them - Landorus can take Ground-type and Fighting-type attacks and even aid in weakening Scizor if needs be, while Magnezone can take Ice-type attacks and any neutral Grass-type attacks too.
Carrying on with adding cores into the team, Rotom-W was added. Ground-type immunity - always good to have. Synergising well with Landorus-T and Magnezone, as well as adding to their VoltTurn shenanigans. I opted for a Scarfed set here, noticing that the team actually lacked Speed with all the members being on the slow side.
The final team member brings something that I realised was much-needed - Rapid Spin. Another Steel-type for the resistance to Dragon-types that every team should be carrying, even though it does put a bit of a damper on any momentum that I may have gained. As tempting as it was, I decided to go against using a set with Volt Switch on it, and went for Hidden Power [Ice] instead, which has paid off - surprise KOs on Salamences are entertaining.
At a glance;
In-depth;
Politoed ♀ @ Leftovers
Drizzle | Bold (+Def, -Atk)
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef | 0 Atk
Scald | Toxic | Perish | Protect
Yep, pretty obvious. For a rain team, it needs Politoed, and I'd wanted to test this set out. While this was supposed to be a predominantly offensive team, I never like using offensive weather inducers - they seem too easy to kill off, even if they're quick - so I decided to try this, knowing that Terrakion was going to be a trouble, even with Landorus-T. With the EVs, it can survive Jolly Terrakion's Close Combat with it doing only a maximum of 51%, and then OHKO with Scald. If it can survive that, then I'm sure there's a lot more it can survive also.
So yeah, the EVs and nature and moves are very obvious, and the 0 Atk IVs minimise any confusion damage - the same on every Pokémon I have without a physical attack.
Rotom-W Genderless @ Choice Scarf
Levitate | Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd | 2 Atk | 30 Def
Volt Switch | Hydro Pump | Hidden Power [Ice] | Trick
The first of my VoltTurning Pokémon, and probably the only semi-fast Pokémon on the team. Working with Landorus mainly, Rotom can hit hard and fast with STAB Hydro Pump, being powerful enough in rain to OHKO Pokémon such as Heatran, and also work to gradually wear the opponent down with VoltTurn-induced switching and rage. Hidden Power [Ice] to do good damage to any Dragon-types, Trick to break Chansey, Blissey or anything else overly defensive.
As I was insistent on there being a good number of cores in the team, Rotom forms cores with both Landorus and Magnezone, keeping up the momentum for the whole team, and forcing the opponent to switch a lot to keep up.
Forretress ♀ @ Leftovers
Sturdy | Relaxed (+Def, -Spd)
252 HP / 176 Def / 36 SpAtk / 44 SpDef | 30 Spd
Stealth Rock | Rapid Spin | Gyro Ball | Hidden Power [Ice]
The team needed a Rapid Spinner, definitely and obviously, so I chose Forretress for this job. The Dragon-type resistance I think is needed, as I don't see Magnezone tanking any powerful hits any time soon. The EVs are intended to maximise Forretress' defensive stats, while still being able to do moderate damage to Pokémon such as Salamence, which can't OHKO with Fire Blast in the rain anyway - if I switch into an Outrage, I can take those hits while doing ~30% to it for a couple of turns, which is good.
Stealth Rock seemed like the only entry hazard that I needed and wanted for this team. It being an offensive team, three turns to get Spikes up to its full potential seemed like too much, and the same story with Toxic Spikes, so Stealth Rock does well, hitting everything that switches in, breaking Multiscale, etc.
Magnezone Genderless @ Leftovers
Magnet Pull | Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
36 HP / 252 SpAtk / 220 Spd | 2 Atk | 30 SpAtk | 30 Spd
Substitute | Thunder | Volt Switch | Hidden Power [Fire]
With me relying pretty heavily on being able to punch holes in the opponent's team with mainly Haxorus, having a Pokémon to clear away Steel-types seemed like a good idea, even if Haxorus does have Earthquake. In a choice between Magnezone and Magneton, Magnezone wins out for me in this case especially - the extra power is definitely needed to still do a respectable amount of damage with Hidden Power [Fire] under rain. One-on-one against Ferrothorn, possibly the main source of most of my team's problems, Magnezone can win as long as I'm able to keep my Sub up - if it manages to somehow Leech Seed me, then I have to switch out. Hidden Power [Fire] still does a respectable ~50% to it under rain, with it unable to break my subs with a couple of Power Whips, so that essentially becomes a non-issue (unless I run into a Bulldoze set).
Jirachi's a huge problem for this team - one which Magnezone can do little-to-nothing to fix. If I already have a Sub up, then that's a free Thunder - if it paralyses, great. If it doesn't, I need to switch out immediately. Most of the time after KOing a Steel-type, it can get off a free Thunder or Volt Switch due to having a Sub still intact, which can come in handy a lot of the time.
Haxorus ♀ @ Lum Berry
Mold Breaker | Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk)
36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spd
Dragon Dance | Outrage | Earthquake | Aqua Tail
I must say, I'm not actually 100% satisfied with how Haxorus seems to be doing on this team at all. Sometimes it's the star pupil, sometimes it just sits in the corner licking the wall - it's far too variable. I know what I'd like to replace this with - a certain Dragon/Ground-type - but let's not talk about that at all. Yet.
As I mentioned, Jirachi poses a threat to many members of the team, and I don't exactly have many answers for it. This, however, is one of them, being able to shrug off one paralysis, boost up, and then hopefully KO with Earthquake, but there's never any promise of that - again, too variable. Sometimes I OHKO boosted, sometimes I don't and it ruins me.
I actually do switch between Jolly and Adamant natures, but I do prefer being able to hit harder right off the bat, even though the loss of Speed can hurt sometimes (quite a bit).
Out of the whole team, probably the most easiest to replace, and the member that I can't say I'll miss if it goes. It's done well, but not great, sadly.
Landorus Therian ♂ @ Choice Band
Intimidate | Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk)
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
U-Turn | Earthquake | Superpower | Stone Edge
This thing hits like a truck. Full of trucks. Made of old Nokias. Choice Band lets it easily clear 600 Attack, and the relatively low Speed stat of 281 doesn't matter when you're able to predict the switches that it inevitably will force. Switching it into any of your opponent's physical Pokémon is just satisfying, and then nailing whatever they send out with a superpowered move is even more so. There are definitely things to look out for, though. Mixed sets on anything would most likely do a lot of damage here, and I've been making sure to be very careful around Pokémon like Tyranitar - I never know which are carrying Ice Beam and which aren't - but overall, it works amazingly well, especially with the VoltTurn strategy that this team uses.
Normally I'd attempt to show some impressive damage calcs, but come on. 640 Attack. Really, guys. It's just immense.
Conclusion;
So that's the whole team. It's done so well for me so far, but I know that there are improvements that can be made, and I would very much like to hear what some of you have to say about it. I think I have a good thing going here for once, which is why I'm sharing it now.
As I mentioned, Jirachi is a huge threat to this team - if I don't manage to predict it switching in or what moves it's going to use (which is more than a little likely), it's going to do some serious damage, and, of course, I don't want that at all. Who would?
Changes that I'm considering making are dropping Haxorus for something else - most likely another physically offensive Dragon-type - and I've been seriously considering testing out a Genesect somewhere in there too, being hugely impressed last time I used it in DW.
But anyway, I'll just hand it over to whoever want to rate the team now. At least you guys know what you're doing. Thanks very much for reading.
Importable;
Code:
Politoed (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Perish Song
- Protect
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
Forretress (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 36 SAtk / 44 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
Haxorus (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail
Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
