lucario screen and sweep

[aerosol]

At a glance

Detailed look

THE LEAD

​

aerodactyl @ focus sash
Nature: jolly
EV: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

-stealth rock
-taunt
-earthquake
-rock slide

i went through a decent amount of leads before finally deciding on aerodactyl. basically i want to ensure that i get rocks out and decided that aerodactyl has the speed to do it and focus sash pretty much guarantees that this gets done. he also has the option to taunt to prevent others setting up rocks. he is definitely a suicide lead and i don't really expect him to survive to long after setting up rocks. the other main lead i considered was azelf along with metagross (figured that was just too much steel).

THE BAIT/BACKUP SWEEPER

Scizor @ Choice Band
Nature: adamant
Ability: technician
EV: 248 HP/ 252 Atk / 8 Spe

-U-turn
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit

Scizor would probably be played immediately after the lead assuming he's not switching into certain death. his main purpose on the team is to ensure that lucario's foes are taken care of before he is sent out. once someone new switched in u-turn out and let someone else do the dirty work. he would also serve as a decent backup sweeper to clean up whatever the rest of my team couldn't. also makes a great revenge killer bullet punch.

THE STAR

Lucario @ life orb
Nature: jolly
Ability: inner focus
EV: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

-swords dance
-Close Combat
-ExtremeSpeed
-crunch

The whole team built around this guy. he's got a pretty straightforward swords dance move set and support from magnazone to pull it off. close combat for its raw power, extremespeed for revenge kills, and crunch to take care of everything else. i went back and forth a little on having an adamant or jolly nature but in the end decided i'd rather ensure that i can outspeed other pokemon such as impish gliscor or jolly gyarados. life orb as the held item for that little extra oomph.

BODYGUARD #1

salamance @ life orb
nature: rash
EV: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe

-draco meteor
-brick break.
-flamethrower
-roost

Here to make sure lucario is able to get his job done and take out his main offenses. one of two options to be u-turned in by scizor. i went with the mixmence set particularly for draco meteor which can easily take out many of lucario's counters. brick break is there to break screens and prevent stalls. flamethrower to take out steel and roost to ensure that he will last a while.

BODYGUARD #2

Starmie @ expert belt
Nature: timid
Ability: natural cure
EV: 4 hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

-surf
-ice beam
-thunderbolt
-grass knot

the second option for scizor to u-turn is starmie. he has great type coverage. originally went with choice scarf on him but decided i wanted the better type coverage and didn't want to be bound to one move. surf is his main offensive move since it has STAB. everything else can be used when it has type effectiveness. Timid is the obvious choice for nature with the choice scarf giving it that much more speed.

THE SUPPORT

Magnezone @ light clay
Nature: relaxed
EV: 252 HP / 96 Def / 162 SpD

-reflect
-light screen
-thunderbolt
-explosion

went through a couple of screeners but ended up with magnezone mainly because of a gyarados weakness that my team had. he takes care of that with thunderbolt for an offensive move. otherwise his main purpose is to set up screens and explode giving lucario time to set up a few swords dances. the EV's given to him are to ensure that he doesn't get OHKO by a Timid Heatran's Fire Blast or Timid Gengar's Focus Blast. Along with that they also prevent being 2HKOed by an Adamant Jirachi's Fire Punch and will never be OHKOed by a standard Bronzong's Earthquake

 

[Ontop]

I'm far to lazy to do a rate now but i can always say that Grass knot >> Psyhcic should be considered to hit Swampert and co, and what do really Psyhcic do for you atm?

 

[Nas]

Hey Aerosol,

I'm going to suggest you use Rotom-A as your Screener. Rotom has a much easier time setting up screens than Magnezone, and with Pain Split he can come in multiple times in the match to set up. It seems to me that your team can have troubles taking on Scizor, Lucario, Gyarados, and Agiligross, and I can tell you that this Rotom will help significantly against all of them. The moveset I'm thinking about is Reflect/Light Screen/Discharge/Pain Split with 252 Hp/68 Def/188 Spe and a Timid nature. The speed EVs give you a speed stat of 280, which is enough to outspeed Adamant Lucario and either Discharge it or set up a Reflect before it can attack you. Adamant Gyarados is also outsped and OHKO'd by Discharge.

I really dislike Aerodactyl as a lead, mainly because it can't do anything other than set up SR. After looking over your team I found you to be somewhat weak to HP Fire Latias, Heatran, and Rotom (especially scarf ones) so I'd at least consider using a bulkier lead that can deal with these threats, perhaps a specially defensive Tyranitar. You can run Pursuit to ensure that Latias and Scarf Rotom won't be giving Lucario any trouble. The leads that normally beat Tyranitar (Metagross, Jirachi, Swampert) are set up bait for Rotom, which will allow you to get up both screens right from the beginning of the match.

I would like to see a more defensive Starmie in place of the current set you run. The reason for this is that Starmie is your main counter to big threats like Heatran, Infernape, and Gyarados, but without any recovery you'll only be able to take one or two hits before you die. 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe and a moveset of Surf/Thunderbolt/Recover/Rapid Spin is what I think you should change it to. Removing Stealth Rocks from your field will be beneficial as you'll be able to bring in Salamence repeatedly without having to worry about taking 25% damage each time.

Hope this rate helped :)

 

[Huntofthelion]

Hi.

Your team seems centered around a Lucario sweep, but you aren't really doing anything to put yourself in a position to do that. For starters you really don't need Dual Screens on this team, as you only have one Pokemon using a set-up move and it seems like a waste of a Pokemon on it. I'd change Magnezone out for a Choice Scarf Rotom-a, for two reasons. The first one is obviously to give you a better revenge killer, as well as a general check to things like opposing Lucario and Gyarados. The second reason is that Rotom-a provides Lucario with more chances to come in and set-up. It draws the Dark-type attacks that Lucario loves to set-up on, along with being able to Trick one of you opponents Pokemon, locking it into one move that hopefully Lucario can easily come in on.

Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Timid; 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Thunderbolt / Shadow Ball / Overheat / Trick

Standard Scarf-Rotom, it's pretty simple to use. Thunderbolt is your main STAB attack, and it lets you easily revenge Gyarados, even after a Dragon Dance. Shadow Ball is your secondary STAB, and it lets you revenge opposing Rotom-a as well as Latias. Overheat is to get a guaranteed OHKO on Lucario, as well as making it easy to revenge any Steel-types bar Heatran.

Next up on the agenda is to find a way to lure and kill Pokemon that counter Lucario. Pokemon like Gliscor and Hippowdon shouldn't really be coming in on any of your Pokemon, so when Lucario is ready to sweep chances are your opponents counter to him is still at decent health. To fix that I'd like to change your Salamence to a Tyranitar. Tyranitar can still function as a Mixed Sweeper to help you break stall, but it has the added bonus of being able to bluff a choice item to draw Pokemon such as Gliscor in, only to nail them with an Ice Beam.

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt
Naive; 48 Atk / 252 SpA / 208 Spe
Ice Beam / Flamethrower / Pursuit / Superpower

This is a standard MixTar, with Pursuit over Crunch to help you bluff a little bit better (you can opt for Crunch if you want, but I think the chance at trapping Rotom-a and Gengar for Lucario is pretty well worth the power drop). Expert Belt lets you bluff a Choice Item, which is what lulls Gliscor and the others into a false sense of security. Ice Beam lets you deal with the most common switch-ins, while Flamethrower will let you eliminate Steel-types and provides decent coverage. Superpower lets you KO Blissey, which will really come in handy against stall teams.

Next I'd like to change Starmie. Since it's your only Water-type resist, I'd prefer if it lived a little longer. You could just add recover onto it's move set, but I'd prefer to change it to a CroCune. Suicune is going to last a lot longer than Starmie, which lets it repeatedly check Pokemon like Heatran who currently give you a bit of an issue. This particular Suicune can also help against stall, since as long as it's the last Pokemon most stall teams will struggle to eliminate it.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Bold; 252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 SpD
Surf / Calm Mind / Rest / Sleep Talk

Standard set again, Rest and Sleep Talk help increase your survivability so that you can keep it around as long as you need it. When it looks like you have an opening, Calm Mind away and sweep. Once your opponents Water resists are gone this is going to be a hard Pokemon to stop.

Last two changes are pretty minor. Change Crunch on Lucario for Stone Edge, since Tyranitar is hopefully wearing down your opponents Ghost-types anyway. Lastly, you don't need a fast Taunt lead anymore since you no longer have anything SR weak. Change Aero to a bulkier lead, such as Metagross or Heatran.

That's all, hope I helped!

 

[Squirrel.]

I just think that using a Aerodactyl is just a waste of a lead, if you want to gurantee rocks and maybe put a hole in a team run taunt azlef much better and can acually do some damage to some of the current leads people are using.