Music Sounds Better With You
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Introduction
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Hey there everyone, it's me Moutemoute and welcome back for a brand new RMT on Smogon. It's been about 7 months since my last RMT and I decided to make another one on a recent team I made which has worked really well on the ladder. It's a pretty straightforward Entry Hazards HO with some cool things within it. I hope you'll like it !
Teambuilding Process
Spikes Froslass and Stealth Rock Krookodile are mandatory staples in most HO in the current metagame so it was pretty obvious that I would need this two for my team. Both of them are doing great to set Entry Hazards and thanks to their access to Taunt, they can prevent the opponent to use Defog which is always useful and it allows them to fullfil their function.
Then I decided to add two great Sweepers : SD LO Scizor and SD LO Mimikyu. Those two paired really well together. On one side Scizor is able to pressure Steel-types like Cobalion, Mega-Steelix or Mega-Aggron thanks to Superpower which open doors for its teammate while Mimikyu is able to lure Quagsire thanks to Wood Hammer which allows Scizor to pressure Stall teams once Quagsire has been removed. Both of them enjoy Spikes and Stealth Rock support.
Mega-Sharpedo is undoubtedly the best Mega Evolution for Spikes HO because Entry Hazards can easily wear down its checks. Mega-Sharpedo is also able to weaken Cobalion thanks to Earthquake which helps both Scizor and Mimikyu. Mega-Sharpedo can also pressure Quagsire & Pyukumuku for Scizor which is great. Overall, Mega-Sharpedo has an excellent synergy with its teammates.
Last but not least, I decided to add to the team a Nasty Plot Firium Z Infernape because it brings an excellent breaker to the team which was able to pressure Steel-types even more. Even if the team was pretty effective at that time, I though I could improve it even more..
.. and that's why I decided to replace Nasty Plot Infernape for a Calm Mind Latias. I opted for a CM Psyshock + BoltBeam Latias because I needed those extra coverage and I didn't want to go with the well known CM Dragonium Z + Recover/HP Fire. I have two versions of this team, one with Z-Psyshock and one with Z-Thunderbolt. Both of them are great and each one provides better MU vs some threats. For example Electrium Z is great vs other Spikes HO because you can weaken Sharpedo when it uses Protect but it also provide a nice way to pressure Scizor.
Team in-depth
Froslass
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def • 252 SpA • 252 Spe
Moves: Spikes • Taunt • Destiny Bond • Icy Wind
Froslass is most of the time the dedicated suicide lead of the team which only has one goal : to set as much layer of Spikes as possible and to prevent the opponent to get rid of them with Taunt + its Ghost-type. Destiny Bond can be used sometimes to remove a dedicated threat (which may be offensive or defensive). I opted for an offensive EVs spread because Froslass doesn't have a great Bulk and I prefer being able to hit a little bit harder with Icy Wind rather than being able to take less damages from the opponent's Pokemon. This allows Froslass to be able to 2HKO Krookodile for instance.
Krookodile
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk • 4 SpD • 252 Spe
Moves: Stealth Rock • Taunt • Earthquake • Knock Off
Krookodile is the other Suicide Lead of the squad. It has the same kind of goal as Froslass i.e: set Stealth Rock and prevent Defog thanks to Taunt. Thanks to Knock Off, Krookodile can also bother some bulky Pokemon like Gligar or get rid of Leftovers / Rocky Helmet on Alomomola. Earthquake is its best STAB and a solid way to pressure some well known Rapid Spinner and Defogger like Tentacruel or Empoleon.
Scizor
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP • 252 Atk • 8 SpD • 176 Spe
Moves: Swords Dance • Bullet Punch • Quick Attack • Superpower
Scizor is a major threat in my team thanks to its dual priority : Bullet Punch & Quick Attack, which allow it to pressure many Pokemon after a Swords Dance. Quick Attack is particularly deadly since it allows Scizor to punish some common checks to Bullet Punch such as Mega-Manectric, Zeraora, Rotom-Heat or Mega-Sharpedo. Superpower is mainly there to pressure Steel-types for its teammates. EVs spread allows Scizor to outspeed Adamant Crawdaunt and everything below. I decided to opt for 72 HP + 8 SpD and not 80 HP because it allows Scizor to have 299 HP which means it takes less recoil with its Life Orb (29 HP recoil instead of 30).
Mimikyu
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk • 4 SpD • 252 Spe
Moves: Swords Dance • Shadow Sneak • Play Rough • Wood Hammer
Wood Hammer Mimikyu is probably the spiciest Pokemon in the team. Wood Hammer is an insanely good lure for Quagsire and a guaranteed OHKO on it. I do believe that this is an actual viable move since Shadow Claw is a pretty bad STAB with its lack of power. If Mimikyu managed to lure Quagsire, it open doors for Scizor and allows it to be really nasty vs Stall teams. Mimikyu can also act as a spin blocker if needed which is always useful for a Spikes HO. Disguise is a perfect ability for HO and it gives to Mimikyu an unique niche by being able to virtually check any offensive threat like Mega-Sharpedo, Mega-Altaria, Terrakion or Latias.
Mega-Sharpedo
Item: Sharpedonite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Strong Jaw (Speed Boost before Mega Evolution)
EVs: 252 Atk • 4 SpD • 252 Spe
Moves: Protect • Crunch • Earthquake • Ice Fang
Mega-Sharpedo is the Mega Evolution of my team and a beast when Entry Hazards are up on the opponent's field. Thanks to them, it can change a whole game and clean the opponent's team. Protect is mandatory for being able to benefit of its ability Speed Boost before it use its Mega Evolution. Crunch is its best STAB and benefits from the STAB and its ability Strong Jaw. It allows Mega-Sharpedo to pressure bulky Pokemon with Spikes support. Earthquake is a great coverage for Mega-Sharpedo and allows it to pressure some of its checks like Mega-Manectric, Cobalion or Klefki. Last but not least, Ice Fang brings even more coverage to Mega-Sharpedo but also a way to OHKO Hydreigon with Stealth Rock support.
Latias
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Item: Electrium Z / Psychium Z
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def • 252 SpA • 252 Spe
Moves: Calm Mind • Psyshock • Thunderbolt • Ice Beam
Latias is the last Pokemon of the squad and another interesting pick on Spikes HO. Thanks to its great movepool, Latias is pretty hard to switch-into which means the opponent often has to check its check (even Muk-Alola has to be careful once Entry Hazards are up since +1 Devastating Drake could catch it out of guard). Electrium Z is the more useful than Psychium Z but both of them have their own niche. Psyshock is nice to pressure Blissey while Thunderbolt + Ice Beam has a great coverage and allows Latias to pressure Water-types such as Tentacruel, Empoleon, Alomomola etc..
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def • 252 SpA • 252 Spe
Moves: Spikes • Taunt • Destiny Bond • Icy Wind
Froslass is most of the time the dedicated suicide lead of the team which only has one goal : to set as much layer of Spikes as possible and to prevent the opponent to get rid of them with Taunt + its Ghost-type. Destiny Bond can be used sometimes to remove a dedicated threat (which may be offensive or defensive). I opted for an offensive EVs spread because Froslass doesn't have a great Bulk and I prefer being able to hit a little bit harder with Icy Wind rather than being able to take less damages from the opponent's Pokemon. This allows Froslass to be able to 2HKO Krookodile for instance.
Krookodile
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk • 4 SpD • 252 Spe
Moves: Stealth Rock • Taunt • Earthquake • Knock Off
Krookodile is the other Suicide Lead of the squad. It has the same kind of goal as Froslass i.e: set Stealth Rock and prevent Defog thanks to Taunt. Thanks to Knock Off, Krookodile can also bother some bulky Pokemon like Gligar or get rid of Leftovers / Rocky Helmet on Alomomola. Earthquake is its best STAB and a solid way to pressure some well known Rapid Spinner and Defogger like Tentacruel or Empoleon.
Scizor
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP • 252 Atk • 8 SpD • 176 Spe
Moves: Swords Dance • Bullet Punch • Quick Attack • Superpower
Scizor is a major threat in my team thanks to its dual priority : Bullet Punch & Quick Attack, which allow it to pressure many Pokemon after a Swords Dance. Quick Attack is particularly deadly since it allows Scizor to punish some common checks to Bullet Punch such as Mega-Manectric, Zeraora, Rotom-Heat or Mega-Sharpedo. Superpower is mainly there to pressure Steel-types for its teammates. EVs spread allows Scizor to outspeed Adamant Crawdaunt and everything below. I decided to opt for 72 HP + 8 SpD and not 80 HP because it allows Scizor to have 299 HP which means it takes less recoil with its Life Orb (29 HP recoil instead of 30).
Mimikyu
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk • 4 SpD • 252 Spe
Moves: Swords Dance • Shadow Sneak • Play Rough • Wood Hammer
Wood Hammer Mimikyu is probably the spiciest Pokemon in the team. Wood Hammer is an insanely good lure for Quagsire and a guaranteed OHKO on it. I do believe that this is an actual viable move since Shadow Claw is a pretty bad STAB with its lack of power. If Mimikyu managed to lure Quagsire, it open doors for Scizor and allows it to be really nasty vs Stall teams. Mimikyu can also act as a spin blocker if needed which is always useful for a Spikes HO. Disguise is a perfect ability for HO and it gives to Mimikyu an unique niche by being able to virtually check any offensive threat like Mega-Sharpedo, Mega-Altaria, Terrakion or Latias.
Mega-Sharpedo
Item: Sharpedonite
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Strong Jaw (Speed Boost before Mega Evolution)
EVs: 252 Atk • 4 SpD • 252 Spe
Moves: Protect • Crunch • Earthquake • Ice Fang
Mega-Sharpedo is the Mega Evolution of my team and a beast when Entry Hazards are up on the opponent's field. Thanks to them, it can change a whole game and clean the opponent's team. Protect is mandatory for being able to benefit of its ability Speed Boost before it use its Mega Evolution. Crunch is its best STAB and benefits from the STAB and its ability Strong Jaw. It allows Mega-Sharpedo to pressure bulky Pokemon with Spikes support. Earthquake is a great coverage for Mega-Sharpedo and allows it to pressure some of its checks like Mega-Manectric, Cobalion or Klefki. Last but not least, Ice Fang brings even more coverage to Mega-Sharpedo but also a way to OHKO Hydreigon with Stealth Rock support.
Latias
Item: Electrium Z / Psychium Z
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def • 252 SpA • 252 Spe
Moves: Calm Mind • Psyshock • Thunderbolt • Ice Beam
Latias is the last Pokemon of the squad and another interesting pick on Spikes HO. Thanks to its great movepool, Latias is pretty hard to switch-into which means the opponent often has to check its check (even Muk-Alola has to be careful once Entry Hazards are up since +1 Devastating Drake could catch it out of guard). Electrium Z is the more useful than Psychium Z but both of them have their own niche. Psyshock is nice to pressure Blissey while Thunderbolt + Ice Beam has a great coverage and allows Latias to pressure Water-types such as Tentacruel, Empoleon, Alomomola etc..
Threats
Thanks to its STABs, Moltres is able to pressure every single Pokemon in my team. Since my Mimikyu isn't Ghostium Z, it can't revenge kill it which means I need to pressure it with Stealth Rock. Latias can check it to a certain extent but overall it's a annoying Pokemon to deal with.
Curse Mega-Steelix is a pain to handle in late game. With that in mind, I need to pressure it a lot with Entry Hazards and Superpower Scizor because if I failed to do it, it will be able to smack most of my Pokemon with Earthquake and Gyro Ball.
SD Scizor can be a threat if I let it uses Swords Dance. Most of the time, I need to use my own SD Scizor or Crunch with Mega-Sharpedo to be able to deal with it. Electrium Z Latias can be good to weaken it if it hasn't setup yet.
Mega-Sharpedo is able to outspeed all my Pokemon after one Speed Boost and it can OHKO most of my Pokemon. Fortunately, as long as Mimikyu has its Disguise, it can revenge kill it with ease.
Like SD Scizor, SD Bisharp can be a threat if it manages to setup with Swords Dance. +2 Sucker Punch hits super hard and Mega-Sharpedo struggles to handle it especially if there is too much Entry Hazards on my side of the field. Mimikyu can revenge kill it if it's weakened but it's still a prime threat for the team.
Replays and peak
Shoutouts and conlusion
• Jaajgko, Hurtadoo, BeTheShadow, Dragonflo, S poi re, Bouki, His, Brumirage and Mapplle : The french family !
• Dlanyer, Alumn, Repu, Mitsuki, Flare, Iyarito, Alpha, Hubriz and TMan87 : The translations project family !
• All the users I have forgotten like Kink who is always kind to me or ehT.. can't remember all of them... sorry <o<
Like I said last time : shoutout to everyone who took the time to read this RMT ! I hope you liked it. Lately, I struggled a lot to build effective teams so I'm pretty proud of this one and it's a good compendium of what the Underused HO looks like at the moment. Once again, thanks for reading me and may be soon for a brand new RMT, take care !
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