Hello, my name is Andrew, or GP. I have attended two VGC events so far, Washington DC'11, and Philladelphia'12. You may know me for a previously made an RMT titled "I want free byes! - An Autumn Friendly/October VGC'13 RMT" In this past article, it is shown that I used some obscure Pokemon that are kind of underused in the VGC metagame, like Marowak, and Musharna. And then I got tons of comments saying why don't you use Cresselia, and Musharna can't do it's job better. Well I kind of agree, the reason I chose Musharna is because it has Telepathy, which saves me a lot of damage against due to Marowak's Earthquake, and Zapdos' Discharge. And in reality the only one that can affect Cresselia is Discharge. After experiencing most of the Autumn Friendly with this team, I've come to this current record.
51-19-8, with an average rating in the 1720's to the 1760's.
Well this team,
Marowak - 152 HP/ 252 Atk/ 104 SpDef
Ability: Battle Armor
Nature: Brave
Item: Thick Club
Brick Break
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Protect
Marowak relies on Trick Room support, so it's move pool corresponds to it's TR sweeper characteristics. Brick Break supplies it with the only high powered fighting type move it has access to. Low Kick is banned. Brick Break is useful for hitting T-Tar for major damage, as well as being able to break down opposing screens. Earthquake is it's STAB move which just destroys almost anything it touches. Rock Slide is useful for trying to get Hax, for getting super-effective damage against flying types which is handy, or for taking out both opponents that are in the yellow, that don't resist. The Protect is standard scouting/defensive play. This set is really handy because Earthquake does not affect Musharna, or Zapdos.
Musharna - 252 HP/ 116 Def/ 24 SpAtk/ 116 SpDef
Ability: Telepathy
Nature: Relaxed
Item: Mental Herb
Trick Room
Psychic
Helping Hand
Light Screen
Musharna, Musharna. Simple status setter-upper. Trick Room, is the name of the game, I feel that it needs no explanation. Psychic is good in case Musharna has that chance to take out a weak mon with not very much HP left. Helping Hand Earthquake on Marowak, somebody better call a doctor because Cresselia and friends have just fainted! Light Screen provides extra special bulk, but I can't really find a safe time to use it over Helping Hand, so some advice would be appreciated.
Hariyama - 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
Item: Toxic Orb
Fake Out
Close Combat
Ice Punch
Protect
Fake Out is real handy to potentially stop those very rare OHKO'ers to Musharna, or to stall while Toxic Orb kicks in. I chose Toxic Orb over, Flame Orb because I don't think Hariyama will last more than three turns so the smaller the damage the better. Close Combat deals so much damage with Guts, and Chople Berry T-Tar ain't no problem. Ice Punch is good for mons like Garchomp or Latios while providing a OHKO for Garchomp, and almost always the same for Latios. Protect is there for previous reasons.
Zapdos - 12 HP/ 244 SpAtk/ 252 Speed
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest
Item: Electric Gem
HP Ice
Discharge
Heat Wave
Protect
Zapdos provides good type coverage, as does much of this team. HP is good for mons like Garchomp, Latios, etc. Discharge is great with Electric Gem to do some major damage, and help against Rain. Plus with a Musharna's Helping Hand and Telepathy it does about 75% damage to even the bulkiest of mons. Heat Wave really helps if Trick Room wears off and theres a Ferrothorn that can't wait to Power Whip Marowak, or Jellicent. Protect is there for previous reasons. I hate Rain, and an Electric Gem Discharge helps with that.
Jellicent - 252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 SpAtk
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Quiet
Item: Sitrus Berry
Trick Room
Water Spout
Shadow Ball
Protect
Ah, my major counter to Rain. Jellicent helps with providing anti swift swim help, in the form of Trick Room. Water Spout does an additional 50%, so it's best for me to use that only if the mons are Scizor or Thundurus (assuming Jellicent has a reasonable amount of HP left) Shadow Ball is it's secondary STAB move which is good for the resistors of water. Sitrus Berry, helps restore HP, as well as the power of Water Spout. Then Water Absorb can also restore HP, and it pretty much functions as a major Rain counter, but it can also work outside of rain to.
Volcarona - 4 HP/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 Speed
Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Timid
Item: Focus Sash
Bug Buzz
Heat Wave
Quiver Dance
Protect
Taking some great advice, I changed Rage Powder to Quiver Dance. It works well when predicting a switch, but I must be sure that I will not put TR back up. Volcarona can also work in TR to, but not very well, one of the few times I can think that it would be good will be to Bug Buzz Latios. Then Heat Wave provides good STAB fire coverage, and Protect is Protect.
can easily outplay teams with a ranking of 1650 or below, but I'm having trouble with higher ranked teams. This was confirmed when JRank thrashed me, and I did'nt fare much better against ΩDonut. So, I'm looking for advice on how to fix this team, below is an incomplete RMT, with three mons that have worked quite well in contributing to my wins, and I think I should keep them on my team.
Marowak - 152 HP | 252 Atk | 104 SpDef
@ Thick Club
Ability: Battle Armor
Nature: Brave
~Brick Break
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~Protect
As stated above Marowak contributed greatly to my wins dealing great damage with a Helping Hand boosted Earthquake. Brick Break also caught several opponent's off guard, it was never used to break a screen, but it helps when it can't nail down Earthquake, and this OHKO's Hydreigon with Helping Hand. Rock Slide is useful for a flinch under TR conditions, and is used for hitting flying types, like Gliscor. With Helping Hand boost it OHKO's birds with reasonable defenses, but it leaves bulky birds alive. Protect is always useful under the right conditions. This is the only Pokemon I have who is not RNG'd. It's Iv's are 31, 31, 31, 31, 10, 20.
Zapdos - 12 HP | 244 SpAtk | 252 Speed
@ Electric Gem
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest
~Hidden Power (Ice)
~Discharge
~Heat Wave
~Protect
Zapdos was a great team player, sometimes even in Trick Room. I mainly used DisQuake to rattle opponets, and OHKO both of them. With Musharna Helping Hand boosted HP was enough to OHKO Hydreigon, and most of the time, Latios. Heat Wave was used for super-effective damage, or for a spread move when I did'nt want to hit Jellicent with Discharge. Protect came in play once in a while, but no nearly as much as Hariyama, or Marowak.
Hariyama - 252 HP | 252 Atk | 4 Def
@ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
~Fake Out
~Close Combat
~Ice Punch
~Protect
Hariyama was perhaps the MVP of my old team. While Musharna set up Trick Room, (With extra protection from Mental Herb.) Hariyama used Fake Out, or Protect to stall while Trick Room kicked in, and while Flame Orb kicked in. Guts Close Combat, was an amazing move, and with Helping Hand, has no trouble OHKOing any Metagross. Ice Punch was also a cool thing to have since it OHKO'd Garchomp, and with Helping Hand, OHKO'd almost anything weak. Protect as said before, was used for strategy purposes.
Crawdaunt - 100 HP | 252 Atk | 24 Def | 132 SpDef
@ Dark Gem
Ability: Adapatability
Nature: Brave
~Crabhammer
~Crunch
~Superpower
~Protect
Crawdaunt's purpose on my team is to be another powerful Trick Room attacker. Adaptability helps to deal more damage on top of it's already great 120 Attack. As for it's Ev spread, I obviously gave 252 into attack to deal as much damage as possible, while the rest is just for general bulk. Crabhammer takes advantage of it's ability, and so does Crunch, which deals much more damage cause of Dark Gem. Superpower gives it another type choice, and does pretty well of covering the Fighting type on this team. I don't believe Protect needs an explanation.
Dusclops - 228 HP | 128 Def | 152 SpDef
@ Eviolite
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Relaxed
~Trick Room
~Night Shade
~Helping Hand
~Confuse Ray/Protect
This is my main Trick Room setter. When you use Dusclops, you always think of Eviolite, so that explains it's item. Night Shade is it's other move, if I have no need to use any of it's other moves. Helping Hand fills the void of loosing Musharna, while offering a bulkier Pokemon to set up Trick Room that is resistant to Fake Out. That is one reason why I use Dusclops over Cresselia. Another reason is that with Eviolite it's defenses are bulkier. I also have Confuse Ray to use the confusion strategy, and Protect for general VGC strategy. So which do you think I should use?
Other Options:
I have picked out some Pokemon that I was thinking of using on this team, I have tested these Pokemon on RM, and they all give me different results. So here they are:
6th Slot:
Reuniclus - 120 HP | 116 Def | 252 SpAtk | 20 SpDef
@ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Quiet
~Trick Room
~Psyshock
~Hidden Power (Fire)
~Protect
Reuniclus has two jobs. 1.) To be a secondary provider of Trick Room. 2.) To be a Special Attacker in Trick Room. So based on that explanation, you can see why Trick Room is there. Psyshock over Psychic is to deal with Hitmontop, since it's common, and it has higher special defense, than defense. While being almost as powerful as Psychic. Hidden Power is to give this team some fire coverage besides Heat Wave, and I figured that I had enough Fighting coverage with Brick Break, Superpower, and Close Combat. Then Protect is there as why it's always there.
Ferrothorn - 120 HP | 112 Def | 200 Atk | 76 SpDef
@ Occa Berry/Leftovers/Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Sassy
~Leech Seed
~Power Whip
~Swagger/Double Team
~Protect
Ferrothorn's goal is to be as annoying as possible. Leech Seed slowly saps away at opponent's HP, driving them to madness while restoring Ferrothorn's hard to take away HP. Power Whip is meant to deal with Rain, or as just a general attacking move, since rain is'nt as common as it used to be. This third moveslot is where I decided to get a little creative. I contemplated using Thunder Wave, but then that would be counter-productive in Trick Room, so then I looked at it's movepool, and I did'nt want a second attacking move, so I came up with these two options. Swagger, and Double Team. Swagger would be on the more offensive side, while Double Team would be more on the defensive side. I'm really torn on which one to choose, help would be much appreciated.
So, with these two I'm not sure which path to choose, offense or defense, what do you guys think?
51-19-8, with an average rating in the 1720's to the 1760's.
Well this team,
Marowak - 152 HP/ 252 Atk/ 104 SpDef
Ability: Battle Armor
Nature: Brave
Item: Thick Club
Brick Break
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Protect
Marowak relies on Trick Room support, so it's move pool corresponds to it's TR sweeper characteristics. Brick Break supplies it with the only high powered fighting type move it has access to. Low Kick is banned. Brick Break is useful for hitting T-Tar for major damage, as well as being able to break down opposing screens. Earthquake is it's STAB move which just destroys almost anything it touches. Rock Slide is useful for trying to get Hax, for getting super-effective damage against flying types which is handy, or for taking out both opponents that are in the yellow, that don't resist. The Protect is standard scouting/defensive play. This set is really handy because Earthquake does not affect Musharna, or Zapdos.
Musharna - 252 HP/ 116 Def/ 24 SpAtk/ 116 SpDef
Ability: Telepathy
Nature: Relaxed
Item: Mental Herb
Trick Room
Psychic
Helping Hand
Light Screen
Musharna, Musharna. Simple status setter-upper. Trick Room, is the name of the game, I feel that it needs no explanation. Psychic is good in case Musharna has that chance to take out a weak mon with not very much HP left. Helping Hand Earthquake on Marowak, somebody better call a doctor because Cresselia and friends have just fainted! Light Screen provides extra special bulk, but I can't really find a safe time to use it over Helping Hand, so some advice would be appreciated.
Hariyama - 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
Item: Toxic Orb
Fake Out
Close Combat
Ice Punch
Protect
Fake Out is real handy to potentially stop those very rare OHKO'ers to Musharna, or to stall while Toxic Orb kicks in. I chose Toxic Orb over, Flame Orb because I don't think Hariyama will last more than three turns so the smaller the damage the better. Close Combat deals so much damage with Guts, and Chople Berry T-Tar ain't no problem. Ice Punch is good for mons like Garchomp or Latios while providing a OHKO for Garchomp, and almost always the same for Latios. Protect is there for previous reasons.
Zapdos - 12 HP/ 244 SpAtk/ 252 Speed
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest
Item: Electric Gem
HP Ice
Discharge
Heat Wave
Protect
Zapdos provides good type coverage, as does much of this team. HP is good for mons like Garchomp, Latios, etc. Discharge is great with Electric Gem to do some major damage, and help against Rain. Plus with a Musharna's Helping Hand and Telepathy it does about 75% damage to even the bulkiest of mons. Heat Wave really helps if Trick Room wears off and theres a Ferrothorn that can't wait to Power Whip Marowak, or Jellicent. Protect is there for previous reasons. I hate Rain, and an Electric Gem Discharge helps with that.
Jellicent - 252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 SpAtk
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Quiet
Item: Sitrus Berry
Trick Room
Water Spout
Shadow Ball
Protect
Ah, my major counter to Rain. Jellicent helps with providing anti swift swim help, in the form of Trick Room. Water Spout does an additional 50%, so it's best for me to use that only if the mons are Scizor or Thundurus (assuming Jellicent has a reasonable amount of HP left) Shadow Ball is it's secondary STAB move which is good for the resistors of water. Sitrus Berry, helps restore HP, as well as the power of Water Spout. Then Water Absorb can also restore HP, and it pretty much functions as a major Rain counter, but it can also work outside of rain to.
Volcarona - 4 HP/ 252 SpAtk/ 252 Speed
Ability: Flame Body
Nature: Timid
Item: Focus Sash
Bug Buzz
Heat Wave
Quiver Dance
Protect
Taking some great advice, I changed Rage Powder to Quiver Dance. It works well when predicting a switch, but I must be sure that I will not put TR back up. Volcarona can also work in TR to, but not very well, one of the few times I can think that it would be good will be to Bug Buzz Latios. Then Heat Wave provides good STAB fire coverage, and Protect is Protect.
Marowak - 152 HP | 252 Atk | 104 SpDef
@ Thick Club
Ability: Battle Armor
Nature: Brave
~Brick Break
~Earthquake
~Rock Slide
~Protect
As stated above Marowak contributed greatly to my wins dealing great damage with a Helping Hand boosted Earthquake. Brick Break also caught several opponent's off guard, it was never used to break a screen, but it helps when it can't nail down Earthquake, and this OHKO's Hydreigon with Helping Hand. Rock Slide is useful for a flinch under TR conditions, and is used for hitting flying types, like Gliscor. With Helping Hand boost it OHKO's birds with reasonable defenses, but it leaves bulky birds alive. Protect is always useful under the right conditions. This is the only Pokemon I have who is not RNG'd. It's Iv's are 31, 31, 31, 31, 10, 20.
Zapdos - 12 HP | 244 SpAtk | 252 Speed
@ Electric Gem
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Modest
~Hidden Power (Ice)
~Discharge
~Heat Wave
~Protect
Zapdos was a great team player, sometimes even in Trick Room. I mainly used DisQuake to rattle opponets, and OHKO both of them. With Musharna Helping Hand boosted HP was enough to OHKO Hydreigon, and most of the time, Latios. Heat Wave was used for super-effective damage, or for a spread move when I did'nt want to hit Jellicent with Discharge. Protect came in play once in a while, but no nearly as much as Hariyama, or Marowak.
Hariyama - 252 HP | 252 Atk | 4 Def
@ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Nature: Brave
~Fake Out
~Close Combat
~Ice Punch
~Protect
Hariyama was perhaps the MVP of my old team. While Musharna set up Trick Room, (With extra protection from Mental Herb.) Hariyama used Fake Out, or Protect to stall while Trick Room kicked in, and while Flame Orb kicked in. Guts Close Combat, was an amazing move, and with Helping Hand, has no trouble OHKOing any Metagross. Ice Punch was also a cool thing to have since it OHKO'd Garchomp, and with Helping Hand, OHKO'd almost anything weak. Protect as said before, was used for strategy purposes.
Crawdaunt - 100 HP | 252 Atk | 24 Def | 132 SpDef
@ Dark Gem
Ability: Adapatability
Nature: Brave
~Crabhammer
~Crunch
~Superpower
~Protect
Crawdaunt's purpose on my team is to be another powerful Trick Room attacker. Adaptability helps to deal more damage on top of it's already great 120 Attack. As for it's Ev spread, I obviously gave 252 into attack to deal as much damage as possible, while the rest is just for general bulk. Crabhammer takes advantage of it's ability, and so does Crunch, which deals much more damage cause of Dark Gem. Superpower gives it another type choice, and does pretty well of covering the Fighting type on this team. I don't believe Protect needs an explanation.
Dusclops - 228 HP | 128 Def | 152 SpDef
@ Eviolite
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Relaxed
~Trick Room
~Night Shade
~Helping Hand
~Confuse Ray/Protect
This is my main Trick Room setter. When you use Dusclops, you always think of Eviolite, so that explains it's item. Night Shade is it's other move, if I have no need to use any of it's other moves. Helping Hand fills the void of loosing Musharna, while offering a bulkier Pokemon to set up Trick Room that is resistant to Fake Out. That is one reason why I use Dusclops over Cresselia. Another reason is that with Eviolite it's defenses are bulkier. I also have Confuse Ray to use the confusion strategy, and Protect for general VGC strategy. So which do you think I should use?
Other Options:
I have picked out some Pokemon that I was thinking of using on this team, I have tested these Pokemon on RM, and they all give me different results. So here they are:
6th Slot:
Reuniclus - 120 HP | 116 Def | 252 SpAtk | 20 SpDef
@ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Quiet
~Trick Room
~Psyshock
~Hidden Power (Fire)
~Protect
Reuniclus has two jobs. 1.) To be a secondary provider of Trick Room. 2.) To be a Special Attacker in Trick Room. So based on that explanation, you can see why Trick Room is there. Psyshock over Psychic is to deal with Hitmontop, since it's common, and it has higher special defense, than defense. While being almost as powerful as Psychic. Hidden Power is to give this team some fire coverage besides Heat Wave, and I figured that I had enough Fighting coverage with Brick Break, Superpower, and Close Combat. Then Protect is there as why it's always there.
Ferrothorn - 120 HP | 112 Def | 200 Atk | 76 SpDef
@ Occa Berry/Leftovers/Chople Berry
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Sassy
~Leech Seed
~Power Whip
~Swagger/Double Team
~Protect
Ferrothorn's goal is to be as annoying as possible. Leech Seed slowly saps away at opponent's HP, driving them to madness while restoring Ferrothorn's hard to take away HP. Power Whip is meant to deal with Rain, or as just a general attacking move, since rain is'nt as common as it used to be. This third moveslot is where I decided to get a little creative. I contemplated using Thunder Wave, but then that would be counter-productive in Trick Room, so then I looked at it's movepool, and I did'nt want a second attacking move, so I came up with these two options. Swagger, and Double Team. Swagger would be on the more offensive side, while Double Team would be more on the defensive side. I'm really torn on which one to choose, help would be much appreciated.
So, with these two I'm not sure which path to choose, offense or defense, what do you guys think?
