(Having image issues. I know everyone like pictures, but mine aren't uploading properly -_-)
Howdy smogonites! I'm h34d4ch3, and I'm here with team Lucaroark.
Lucaroark was built on as a gimmick originally; both are supposed to be the sleek, semi-rare humanoids of their versions. Either way, both are really frail, and don't necessarily add up on paper competitively, since luke resists rock, and that hurts zoro's illusion (not to mention they have in fact detrimental defensive synergy). But with the proper support, this otherwise counter-productive pairing can work wonders.
The idea behind this team is to get Zoroark to trick an opponents mon a choice specs, thus allowing Lucario to set up on them. It's much harder said than done, and the other members play extremely key roles as well. The team rotates between two cores; jellicent-landorus, and hydreigon-lucario. Zoroark is intended to die early, hitting hard and tricking someone early on. Skarmory is actually a suicide lead, but by putting it in last place, lures in a few counters for zoroark to skewer. You start off by playing mind games with zoro and skarm, midgame should be centered on chipping the opponent down through jellicent and landorus forcing switches, and the end result should be luke or hydreigon sweeping. Enjoy.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
Lucario has to be conserved as much as possible. He provides so many key roles, and it cannot be emphasized enough to preserve him. Once he's gone, I have to almost play defensively.
Still, if the strategy is pulled off right, Lucario can sweep teams. The idea is to get zoroark to be disguised as lucario, and trick his counters a choice specs, or simply KO them. But even without Zoroark support, lucario handles just fine. Skarmory usually gets a few layers off hazards set up, which means at certain times, lucario can just start spamming e-speed without a swords dance (although these opportunities are rare).
Still, the key to using him here is to almost never use him until late game. He's needed to revenge things, as I don't have another mon running priority.
Skarmory (M) @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Drill Peck
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
Skarmory is a suicide lead. After deo-d got banned, this guy was the next best thing. He lays hazards down almost effortlessly. If I send him in at full health, he's almost guaranteed to get stealth rock and a layer of spikes. With the speed and attack Ev's, he can outspeed breloom and KO with drill peck.
Skarmory also pairs up fairly well with zoroark, since skarm tends to invite -things like starmie, forretress, and thunderus-t, all getting nailed hard be zoroark. Still, skarm is meant to be sacrificed early on, so when an opportunity to set up comes, don't think twice.
Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic/ Wilo wisp
- Recover
- Ice Beam
Jellicent is my spinblocker. I only get one opportuinty for hazards, so conserving them is one of my main concerns, since luke won't be able to kill things like latias w/out them. Outside of that, jelli just takes water and fighting moves and helps counter stall with toxic. I've been running wilo wisp lately though, so I can cripple tyranitar when he's trying to pursuit me. I need jellicent for keldeo.
Zoroark (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Illusion
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
This guy is so good. I finally got the hang of using him, and I can't put him down. Anyways, just like skarm, he's probly going to die early on. The idea is to disguise yourself as lucario (but often as jellicent or skarm too), and either trick or KO counters. He doesn't always KO things, but he can weaken them greatly, and they will probably wind up being dead meat in the long run, getting killed by luke's e-speed. Almost all Lucario's counters are inconvenieced by choice specs, and those who aren't don't like hydreigon. Specs Zoroark can be played a variety of ways, and almost all are beneficial here.
Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide
I needed another revenge killer besides luke, but stuff like terakion was still bothering me. The solution was landorus-t here. People don't expext scarf too often, so it's easy for me to scout with u-turn, also taking into account that intimidate and his general offensive presence forces things out. His intimidate and u-turn also makes it that much easier to switch luke and zoro in, as well as allow jellicent to wall much better. Knock off is here because it can cripple things with life orb, and help luke out that way. Also, HP ice wasn't really working out too well, and just became set up fodder when gliscor made the obvious switch out.
Hydreigon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Substitute
- Flamethrower/ Earth power
- Dark Pulse
- Superpower
Hydreigon may be reside in an awkward speed tier, and have a fighting weakness just like lucario, but the cover each others counters exceptionally well. Hydreigon can break stall down without breaking a sweat, while lucario takes on offense a whole lot better, although if the need arises, substitute allows hydreigon to do the same.
Hydreigon kills things like heatran, celebii, jellicent, slowbro, the list goes on. If it's slower, it's gonna die to hydreigon most of the time. Substitute allows me to almost set up on these guys, and then take out another offensive mon while still behind it. Dark pulse I find is much more useful that dragon pulse because it secures a KO on certain jellicent after SR. The flinching helps it certain situations too. Superpower is needed to take care of chansey and blissey should Lucario have died prematurely. Flamethrower is there for scizor, although I'm seriously considering earthquake/earthpower in that slot, since he's literally the only thing I need flamethrower for, and flamethrower gets nerfed in the rain, and the rest of my team handles scizor pretty well.
Former members:
Gardevoir (F) @ choice scarf
Trait: Trace
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SAtk/ 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
-Psyshock
-Focus Blast
-Trick
-Thunderbolt
Her uses were limited to tricking another pokemon and checking venusaur in the sun, and that was it. The tricking helped, but between hydreigon, luke, and hazards, venusaur isn't much of a threat. Switched out for Landorus-T
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Evs: 4 HP/ 252 Satk/ 252 Spd
-Psychock
-Dragon Pulse
-Recover
-Reflect type
Worked pretty well for a time, but I hydreigon pulled more weight by countering all of luke's counters, instead of just taking resisted hits. Only useful for helping against Keldeo here.
This team has been working for me pretty well, but there are still a few things that I have issues with.
The biggest issue is with weather. Sand force landorus in the sand, sawsbuck (not venusaur) in the sun, and hydration vaporeon and tentacruel in the rain are the biggest issues. This team is weatherless, so I can't really adress what gives them immediate power, and using hard counters to them opens my team up to other threats.
Outside the usual weatherless complaints, amoongus is always annoying, especially in rain. Sub disable gengar is trouble here, and I have to play really smart to get arround him.
Howdy smogonites! I'm h34d4ch3, and I'm here with team Lucaroark.
Lucaroark was built on as a gimmick originally; both are supposed to be the sleek, semi-rare humanoids of their versions. Either way, both are really frail, and don't necessarily add up on paper competitively, since luke resists rock, and that hurts zoro's illusion (not to mention they have in fact detrimental defensive synergy). But with the proper support, this otherwise counter-productive pairing can work wonders.
The idea behind this team is to get Zoroark to trick an opponents mon a choice specs, thus allowing Lucario to set up on them. It's much harder said than done, and the other members play extremely key roles as well. The team rotates between two cores; jellicent-landorus, and hydreigon-lucario. Zoroark is intended to die early, hitting hard and tricking someone early on. Skarmory is actually a suicide lead, but by putting it in last place, lures in a few counters for zoroark to skewer. You start off by playing mind games with zoro and skarm, midgame should be centered on chipping the opponent down through jellicent and landorus forcing switches, and the end result should be luke or hydreigon sweeping. Enjoy.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
Lucario has to be conserved as much as possible. He provides so many key roles, and it cannot be emphasized enough to preserve him. Once he's gone, I have to almost play defensively.
Still, if the strategy is pulled off right, Lucario can sweep teams. The idea is to get zoroark to be disguised as lucario, and trick his counters a choice specs, or simply KO them. But even without Zoroark support, lucario handles just fine. Skarmory usually gets a few layers off hazards set up, which means at certain times, lucario can just start spamming e-speed without a swords dance (although these opportunities are rare).
Still, the key to using him here is to almost never use him until late game. He's needed to revenge things, as I don't have another mon running priority.
Skarmory (M) @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Drill Peck
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
Skarmory is a suicide lead. After deo-d got banned, this guy was the next best thing. He lays hazards down almost effortlessly. If I send him in at full health, he's almost guaranteed to get stealth rock and a layer of spikes. With the speed and attack Ev's, he can outspeed breloom and KO with drill peck.
Skarmory also pairs up fairly well with zoroark, since skarm tends to invite -things like starmie, forretress, and thunderus-t, all getting nailed hard be zoroark. Still, skarm is meant to be sacrificed early on, so when an opportunity to set up comes, don't think twice.
Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic/ Wilo wisp
- Recover
- Ice Beam
Jellicent is my spinblocker. I only get one opportuinty for hazards, so conserving them is one of my main concerns, since luke won't be able to kill things like latias w/out them. Outside of that, jelli just takes water and fighting moves and helps counter stall with toxic. I've been running wilo wisp lately though, so I can cripple tyranitar when he's trying to pursuit me. I need jellicent for keldeo.
Zoroark (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Illusion
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
This guy is so good. I finally got the hang of using him, and I can't put him down. Anyways, just like skarm, he's probly going to die early on. The idea is to disguise yourself as lucario (but often as jellicent or skarm too), and either trick or KO counters. He doesn't always KO things, but he can weaken them greatly, and they will probably wind up being dead meat in the long run, getting killed by luke's e-speed. Almost all Lucario's counters are inconvenieced by choice specs, and those who aren't don't like hydreigon. Specs Zoroark can be played a variety of ways, and almost all are beneficial here.
Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide
I needed another revenge killer besides luke, but stuff like terakion was still bothering me. The solution was landorus-t here. People don't expext scarf too often, so it's easy for me to scout with u-turn, also taking into account that intimidate and his general offensive presence forces things out. His intimidate and u-turn also makes it that much easier to switch luke and zoro in, as well as allow jellicent to wall much better. Knock off is here because it can cripple things with life orb, and help luke out that way. Also, HP ice wasn't really working out too well, and just became set up fodder when gliscor made the obvious switch out.
Hydreigon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Substitute
- Flamethrower/ Earth power
- Dark Pulse
- Superpower
Hydreigon may be reside in an awkward speed tier, and have a fighting weakness just like lucario, but the cover each others counters exceptionally well. Hydreigon can break stall down without breaking a sweat, while lucario takes on offense a whole lot better, although if the need arises, substitute allows hydreigon to do the same.
Hydreigon kills things like heatran, celebii, jellicent, slowbro, the list goes on. If it's slower, it's gonna die to hydreigon most of the time. Substitute allows me to almost set up on these guys, and then take out another offensive mon while still behind it. Dark pulse I find is much more useful that dragon pulse because it secures a KO on certain jellicent after SR. The flinching helps it certain situations too. Superpower is needed to take care of chansey and blissey should Lucario have died prematurely. Flamethrower is there for scizor, although I'm seriously considering earthquake/earthpower in that slot, since he's literally the only thing I need flamethrower for, and flamethrower gets nerfed in the rain, and the rest of my team handles scizor pretty well.
Former members:
Gardevoir (F) @ choice scarf
Trait: Trace
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SAtk/ 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
-Psyshock
-Focus Blast
-Trick
-Thunderbolt
Her uses were limited to tricking another pokemon and checking venusaur in the sun, and that was it. The tricking helped, but between hydreigon, luke, and hazards, venusaur isn't much of a threat. Switched out for Landorus-T
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Evs: 4 HP/ 252 Satk/ 252 Spd
-Psychock
-Dragon Pulse
-Recover
-Reflect type
Worked pretty well for a time, but I hydreigon pulled more weight by countering all of luke's counters, instead of just taking resisted hits. Only useful for helping against Keldeo here.
This team has been working for me pretty well, but there are still a few things that I have issues with.
The biggest issue is with weather. Sand force landorus in the sand, sawsbuck (not venusaur) in the sun, and hydration vaporeon and tentacruel in the rain are the biggest issues. This team is weatherless, so I can't really adress what gives them immediate power, and using hard counters to them opens my team up to other threats.
Outside the usual weatherless complaints, amoongus is always annoying, especially in rain. Sub disable gengar is trouble here, and I have to play really smart to get arround him.