Little Drummer Boy (OU)

[butterfingers158]

Hello again smogon! I hope I'm not breaking any rules posting another RMT so soon, but my other one is dead anyways, and I think I can tweak that team by myself now. So I'm now going to present my new team, which I've used for the past couple days and could definately use some help on.

Overview:

Team Building:

As you possibly guessed from the title, this team revolves around belly drum charizard. So he's where I started. Many of you will think I'm crazy for using this guy, but he really is a great pokemon, and one of my favorites. He's more than capable of sweeping with the right support.

Then I thought about what troubles charizard. First thing that came to mind was stealth rock. They are a huge factor in charizard being stuck in NU. So I picked aerodactyl to lead, as he is probably the best stealth rock blocking lead.

Charizard likes having as much residual damage as possible, and I needed a rapid spinner to get rid of rocks if they got them up. Forretress seemed like the perfect pokemon to do the job of setting up spikes and rapid spinning their rocks away.

Next thing I thought of as a problem was priority attacks. The most common user of priority is obviously scizor, so I added a choice scarfed magnezone to counter him.

Next on my list of problems was swampert. Swampert walls charizard pretty well, and the threat of being roared out is never good. I also needed a spin blocker. Rotom-C fit the bill of both swamper counter and spin blocker, while also supporting the team with will-o-wisp.

Finally, gyrados came to mind. While rotom and magnezone do a decent job of countering him, I also decided that my team needed some recovery. Wish vaporeon with HP electric was added to both counter gyrados and pass around healing. Not to mention it is an all around good wall.

And so the team was finished. It has done me proud so far, but I would love to improve it.

THE TEAM

Aerodactyl (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt

Lead aerodactyl are great for keeping rocks off the field and getting my own up. I tend to be less suicidal with him if I can, he can be handy later on in the match. Depending on their lead, I'll taunt, set up rocks, or attack. Earthquake is great against heatran leads, delivering a 1HKO or 2HKO(if shucca berry). Rock slide over stone edge for accuracy mostly, and for flinch chance. As I said, I keep him alive if I can, taunt is a godsend against stall teams.
How he helps Charizard: Sets up rocks and keeps them from doing the same. Not much else to say.

​

Charizard (M) @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Belly Drum
- Fire Punch
- Substitute
- Thunderpunch

The star of the team. This guy is just insane with the proper set up. After a belly drum, his attack reaches 1068(if my calculations are correct, which I'm pretty sure they are). I bring him in on something he'll scare off, or that can't do much in return. Substitute, belly drum, and the salac boost kicks in, bringing his speed to 492. Then it's time to sweep with blaze boosted fire punch, and thunder punch(mostly used on suicune/gyrados/kingdra, but I'm up for suggestions on replacements). Some damage calcs if you'd like (I use this calculator : http://deathquake.awardspace.com/tools/damcalc.html#fac )

Fire Punch (minimum damage roll used for all calcs):

vs most Salamence( 0 hp/0 def) neutral def nature, Intimidate factored in:
Damage: 288
Remaining HP: 43
1HKO w/ stealth rock, guarenteed

vs standard Hippowdon (252 hp/168 def) positive def nature:
Damage: 372
Remaining HP: 48

Not 1HKO w/ stealth rock, but on average roll, is 1HKO w/ rocks. Is 1HKO if I have any spikes up.

vs Swampert (252 hp/252 def) positive def nature:
Damage: 210
Remaining HP: 194

2HKO with rocks or any spikes up, hopefully this guy will be gone anyways. If my sub is still up I can beat him.

vs Blissey (252 hp/252 def) positive def nature:
Damage: 991
Remaining HP: -277

This guy laughs at Blissey

vs Tyranitar (252 hp/0 def) neutral def nature:
Damage: 252
Remaining: 152

Tyranitar is a problem. Can win if my sub is up when he comes in.

You get the idea. He hits hard.

How he helps Charizard: He is Charizard, and he just does his thing, and does it well.

Forretress (M) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/112 Atk/144 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
- Payback

The other entry hazard user of the team. Sets up his spikes to hurt them on the switch. He's also the rapid spin user of the team, keeping those nasty stealth rocks off of charizard. This guy comes in easily on cb scizor, outrage using dragons, and more. Gyro ball for a fairly powerful STAB attack, payback to take out the ghosts trying to stop rapid spin. Shed shell so he can escape magnezone to fight another day.
How he helps Charizard: Extra residual damage is always appreciated, and charizard cannot be used if rocks are in play(unless I somehow manage to get him a wish on the switch in).

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
- Signal Beam
- Flash Cannon

This guy is all around great. Huge number of resistances let him switch in and take out whatever is bothering me. Choice Scarf solves his speed issue. HP Fire so he 1HKO's scizor, preventing him from possibly u turning out. Thunderbolt for STAB. Signal beam does huge damage to physics, and if they happen to switch to a ground type expecting T-bolt, they'll take the hit. Confusion chance is also handy. Flash Cannon is another STAB, and the possible special defence drop is useful. I'm thinking explosion might want to go on here somewhere, but I'm torn on what to ditch for it.
How he helps Charizard: He eliminates threats, especailly scizor, who KO's Charizard with bullet punch if the sub is down. All around useful switch in, and a lot of people don't expect the scarf set.

Rotom-c @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
- Will-o-wisp
- Shadow Ball

A rotom form is always welcome on a team, and this defensive one is no slouch. He's my main swampert counter and my spin blocker. Thunderbolt for STAB, though I'm considering Discharge for the paralysis. Leaf Storm to give swampert a nasty surprise. Will-o-wisp cripples physical pokemon, and is all around useful. Shadow Ball is another STAB move which hits other ghosts hard. With this spread, he usually survives switching out of one pursuit.
How he helps Charizard: Eliminates Swampert, one of the best counters for my Charizard. Blocks rapid spin, since residual damage always helps the sweep. Cripples opposing physical sweepers with Will-o-wisp, possibly giving Charizard a chance to set up.

Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/68 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Protect
- Surf
- Wish

Defensive Vaporeon is a huge part of my team. He walls many physical attacks, and shuts down DD Gyrados. His Wish passing is the only form of healing I have, and is invaluable if I use it right. While he probably won't win me the game on his own, his contributions are a huge part of my success. Also probably my best Heatran counter.
How he helps Charizard: Wish passing helps everyone, but especially Charizard. If I'm stuck and have to bring Charizard in on rocks, passing him a wish nullifies the problem.

Known Problems:
-Blissey walls me pretty well until Charizard gets up and running.
-Salamence is an issue, those Draco Meteors hurt. The DD set can set up on many of my pokemon.

 

[Bloo]

I'm bumping this thread for the user who made it since he's no longer in violation of rule #13.

 

[butterfingers158]

bump. 600 views and no rates? Please, I really need the help.

 

[Madray]

Okay. Good try but it can definitely improve:
First of all, you lack a Pokemon that can take hits on the special side. Gengar destroys the team, OHKOing and 2HKOing everything on your team. Magnezone can't really take it on because it will probably not OHKO Gengar with TBolt while it can KO back with Focus Blast. Choice Scarf is even harder to deal with. Latias also destroys it comfortably, since it can take hits on the special side with ease and score easy KO's on your team with Draco Meteor, T-Bolt and Surf. Set-up sweepers like Gyarados, T-tar and Salamence really ruin it too, because you lack somehing like a revenge killer or phazer to keep them at bay. So you need a revenge killer or phazer and something that can take on special sweepers like the aforementioned. Scizor is a good choice because it is able to trap Gengar and Latias with Pursuit and get T-Tar with Bullet Punch, so try this instead of Forretress (Stealth Rock is enough for Bellyzard most of the times):

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EV's: 248 HP/252 Att/ 8 Spe
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit

I also recommend putting a Choice Scarf on Rotom-C in order to be able to take on Gyarados easily even after a DD. The moveset should become this:
Rotom-c @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
- Trick (for Blissey, allows Charizard to set up)
- Shadow Ball

Since you now have a Gyarados counter, swap HP Electric on Vaporeon for Ice Beam to take on Dragons. If you really feel that you need a spinner for obvious reasons (it's not absolutely necessary cause Aerodactyl usually stops the other leads), just post it and I'll try to help you.

 

[butterfingers158]

I'll for sure try out scizor and the scarf rotom, I've used both before(albeit it was rotom-h) with good success.

I really do feel like its good to have a spinner though, as sometimes the lead isn't the rock user. I'm thinking I'd use starmie, but I'm not sure who I'd replace with it.

 

[Madray]

No.. Starmie has no use to your team, Water, Electric and Ice coverage is existing and makes four pokemon weak to Electric-moves. Something immune to electricity like Donphan or Claydol would be better. Those can also set up rocks so you can even change your lead to one of those. I personally prefer Donphan because of Ice Shard:

Donphan @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 52 HP/252 Att/204 Def
Nature: Adamant(+Att, -SpA)
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock

Use this as a lead if you don't want to replace Magnezone. If you feel that it will be KO'ed easily as a lead, swap Magnezone for it and use another lead.. maybe an Anti-Lead (Scizor is already countered adequately by Rotom-C).