New Light is a team I first built in mid 2021, and have gradually optimised over the last year, and yes, that is a Base Rotom you're looking at. This isn't a joke.
People in the BW community know me as a bit of an Alakazam obsessive, and there is some truth in that. I really like how Alakazam is an all-in-one revenge killer and win condition, how much that opens up the teambuilder, and how feasible it is to build Alakazam teams that feel no residual damage pressure. Its just a comfort zone for me. This team started out as a standard Alakazam Sand / PsySpikes team like a hundred others I've built before, utilising Latios to bait and weaken Alakazam's few counters - Tyranitar, Jirachi, Scizor, and Skarmory. This offensive core naturally appreciates Spikes + Iron Barbs support from Ferrothorn to accelerate the weakening of these counters, and then the obvious additions of a Ground-type Stealth Rocker / pivot and a classic Support Tyranitar. Hundreds of players have built BW teams with these exact 5 Pokemon varying only slightly in EV spread, item, and coverage choices. Natural 6th slot options are the likes of Rotom-Wash and Reuniclus, while I have personally used Magnezone extensively.
This archetype was dominant for a long stretch of 2020, but in early 2021 players found ways to exploit the structure by resurrecting a classic weatherless offense team affectionately known as Smurf - this "counter-style" stacks multiple priority-using (Breloom, Scizor) and speed-boosting sweepers (Volcarona, Dragonite) to quickly overload Alakazam, supported by Rapid Spin Starmie. Later innovations such as Ice Gem Cloyster looked to further punish this playstyle. Ever since, this type of Alakazam offense has felt somewhat of a liability.
As such, I aimed to build an Alakazam team that could overcome some of these weaknesses. The most obvious place to start was to introduce a spinblocker in the 6th slot as a way to deny Rapid Spin and therefore limit the threat of Volcarona and Dragonite in particular, but also interfere with Excadrill / Tentacruel strategies. Ferrothorn with Jellicent has always stunk of anti-synergy to me and opens a significant Spikes weakness so I turned to less obvious Ghosts, with Trick Black Sludge Gengar emerging as a prime candidate. The idea was basically just that Gengar helps cripple some Alakazam checks, but if you ever come under threat of your hazards being spun then you can just sacrifice Gengar to Starmie/Tentacruel/Excadrill to keep hazards up and then get Alakazam in for free revenge kill / momentum. In a lot of games, that one-time spin denial was sufficient to take an advantage opponents couldn't claw back. Whilst this worked really well vs Starmie and Tentacruel, which Alakazam really easily revenge kills / forces out on the follow-up turn, it was less straightforward for Excadrill - if it takes down Gengar on the switch-in, it is often able to survive a follow up Alakazam Focus Blast, Spin hazards, and then momentum was drained, not even considering in the chance of Focus Blast misses. I felt like there were huge gains to be made if I could establish a way to force Excadrill to get weakened without being able to Spin, therefore bringing it into range of teammates and winning the hazard game in the longer-term.
This is when I stumbled across Base Forme Rotom. As an Electric / Ghost-type with Levitate, Rotom is immune to or resists the entire moveset of standard Sand Force Excadrill and is, weirdly, the most reliable anti-Excadrill spinblocker in Generation 5. In some ways, it is surprising to me that Base Forme Rotom has not seen prior usage in BW OU (to the best of my knowledge), considering its obvious metagame-relevant traits along with the fact that only one generation prior, Electric / Ghost Rotom-appliances are the metagame-standard spinblockers. Of course, Base Forme Rotom lacks access to the DPP appliance's individual coverage and also has to make do with a paltry 50 / 77 / 77 defensive stat spread compared to the appliance's 50 / 107 / 107, so the cross-generation comparison isn't direct. However, what the Base Forme lacks in coverage and defenses it makes up for in Speed, with a 91 base stat getting the crucial jump on Excadrill. This enabled BKC and I to design a Base Forme Rotom set for BW OU that could irritate Excadrill to no end - EVd to tank Sand Force Iron Heads, wearing Rocky Helmet, possessing a fast Will-o-Wisp, and survivability in Pain Split to leech from Drill's mammoth HP stat. Rotom's benefits aren't limited to blocking Excadrill either; like the Gengar described prior it can still be used sacrificially in fast-paced games vs Starmie for a crucial one-time spinblock; its defensive traits push back against Scizor, Landorus-T, Gliscor, and other U-turners; and offensively it puts some pressure on Skarmory and BWs wealth of bulky Waters.
The result is hands-down, my favourite Alakazam team from all those I have built in the 3 years since returning to Pokemon, and considering my sky-high Alakazam usage that really is saying a lot. With that excessive introduction out of the way, here's New Light.
Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 100 Def / 144 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Thunder Wave
The team starts off with fairly standard support Tyranitar. Its most important job is to set up Sand which stops the likes of Keldeo, Thundurus-T, Tentacruel, Cresselia from functioning in their favoured weathers, whilst also putting offensive threats including Volcarona, Breloom, Cloyster, and Dragonite on a timer. Secondary to this, Tyranitar serves as the team's primary check/counter to the myriad offensive Psychic types in the tier - Latios, Alakazam, and Reuniclus - which it handles with combinations of Crunch, Pursuit, or Thunder Wave.
The only remotely interesting part of this Tyranitar is the EV spread. The recommended spread for support Tyranitar is somewhere in the territory of 248 HP / 88+ Atk / 172 SDef, which guarantees the 2HKO on CM Reuniclus with Crunch and then focuses on maximising special bulk. Whilst this spread is a safe go-to option for most teams, I needed to stretch my EVs a little bit further with Tyranitar to make up for some of the team's issues, which means giving up Tyranitar's 100% odds to beat Reuniclus 1v1 in order to fulfill multiple other roles at ~95%. Specifically, this team has no Ice resist meaning that Pokemon including Mamoswine, Cloyster, and some variants of Kyurem-B can be incredibly annoying; I decided to invest more into Tyranitar's physical defense in order to optimise MUs against these Pokemon as much as was reasonable. The 248 HP / 100 Def investment gives Tyranitar a 15/16 chance to survive an Adamant Mamoswine Earthquake (74.9 - 88.3%) and +2 Adamant Cloyster Icicle Spear (75.6 - 90.5% without Ice Gem) after Stealth Rock damage. It is for these two Pokemon, primarily, that Superpower is selected over Earthquake as Tyranitar's coverage option. In combination with another check in Ferrothorn, this is just about enough to deny Mamoswine and Cloyster from flatly sweeping the team clean if they come in on Gliscor, helping a bit to overcome an inherent weakness of this archetype. In order to find the EVs to hit this defensive benchmark, concessions were made in Tyranitar's offenses, reducing the Atk investment down from 88+ to 16+, though in practice these EVs are rarely missed. Considering crit and Def drop chances, investing so much Atk for that Reuniclus calc can feel like overkill. The 16+ Atk benchmark gives an in-calculator 85.5% chance to 2HKO Reuniclus, but with the luck factor the true chance is closer to 91%. Add in additional complexities such as, Reuniclus often dropping a handful of Def EVs for SDef / Spe, or the chance it gets its Leftovers removed by Ferrothorn Knock Off, and 16+ Tyranitar is comfortable enough as a Reuniclus check whilst using the leftover EVs to patch up other issues.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
One of the most reliable Rockers in the tier - specially defensive Gliscor. This thing is pretty difficult to outright OHKO on the first turn so its really just Mamoswine, Specs Keldeo, and dedicated Taunt leads that are preventing your set-up early game. Beyond that role, Gliscor is a fantastic pivot with a combination of excellent defensive typing, status immunity, and access to U-turn helping its teammates get into the game safely.
The spread here is specially defensive dictated mostly by metagame trends. Long story short is that being able act as a pivot against Latios (and therefore preserve Ferrothorn / Tyranitar HP), Politoed, Tentacruel, Hidden Power [Ice] Landorus-T / Alakazam, and so on, is more important than being a hard, hard Terrakion answer. Max / Max Gliscor is often maligned as "its a bad use of HP EVs cos of Poison Heal numbers" blah blah but this spread survives Starmie Ice Beam from full 15/16 times and always takes a +1 Volcarona Fire Blast after Stealth Rock - these are big calcs in the weatherless match-up. Having Rotom on this team also means that this Gliscor rarely needs to go toe-to-toe with Sand Force Excadrill, further reducing the need for physical bulk. Ever since Finchinator first started running 26 Speed IV U-turn Gliscor back in SPL 2021, the negative creep war has gone on and now reached its natural conclusion - outright minimum speed! The main benefit is just outslowing Gliscor and Politoed so that partners don't risk Scald burns, but an additional perk is underspeeding uninvested Skarmory by a single point, preventing Gliscor from giving away free Roosts - a big deal for Alakazam win-cons. Wasn't my invention but I'll happily steal.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 196 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Knock Off
Like Gliscor above, there's not too much interesting to say about Ferrothorn. Steel-type Spiker that also role compresses into a bulky Water check, which is why its used here over Skarmory. Spikes + Psychics go hand in hand as so many of their checks are grounded - Tyranitar, Jirachi, Scizor, bulky waters. Further to this, Ferrothorn's Iron Barbs help to punish those checks that utilise contact moves and is particularly useful at putting a timer on Scarfed U-turners which are otherwise annoying for Alakazam.
The set is really standard - the only decision that needs to be made with Ferrothorn is what move goes in that tech slot between Gyro Ball / Thunder Wave / Endeavor / Worry Seed / Leech Seed / Toxic / Sandstorm / Explosion. For me, Gyro Ball looked like the most obvious option for handling Dragonite, Latios, Kyurem, Sub Thundurus-T, chipping Volcarona for an extra 35%, and not needing to risk Power Whip accuracy vs Sub Mamoswine.
Rotom @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 144 HP / 132 Def / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Pain Split
Him. Rotom draws comments from opponents / spectators like nothing else I've ever used, the entire spectrum ranging from "do you need someone show you how to switch formes" to "wait, how do you have that ELO with Ghost Rotom?" I love this little lightbulb guy.
The first 3 members of the team were all about setting up the defensive synergy of the team and getting hazards up, which describes the opening phase of most games. Entering into the midgame is where Rotom begins to thrive. For so many teams, beating the offensive pairing of Latios + Alakazam comes down to 1) removing hazards so that their defensive checks aren't chipped (e.g. rain teams via Tentacruel, certain sands via Excadrill) or 2) removing hazards to allow strong counterstyle mons like Volcarona and Dragonite. Rotom stuffs these plans, keeps hazards up like nothing else I've ever used in BW, and therefore acts as one of Alakazam's greatest partners.
The plan vs each spinner is a bit different - note that Rotom being knocked out is an expected part of all workflows:
- The early game plan surrounds getting up Stealth Rock with Gliscor, normally against a lead such as Garchomp or Breloom. From there, you slow U-turn out and deal with whatever is in front of you. At some point in the game, Starmie is going to need to remove hazards, at which point you can either predict around a bit or just go straight Rotom. Even if Rotom goes down to an Analytic Hydro Pump on the switch-in, thats fine, you have a free revenge kill with Alakazam (needs like SR and 1 turn of sand chip). If Starmie Rapid Spins as Rotom comes in, even better, as its EVd to survive one non-analytic Starmie after Stealth Rock so you can Volt Switch in front of it.
- Easy. Rain teams are inherently super bad against Latios and Alakazam and require Spikes to be off the field to have a fighting chance. Rotom comes in on Tentacruel, and generally you're perfectly happy to sacrifice it in this situation as it lets you go freely into Alakazam, which OHKOs Tentacruel with Psyshock. Even if they switch out, SR and likely Spikes are up, and rain teams can't contend with that. Assuming Rotom does manage to come in undamaged on a Rapid Spin, then you survive the follow up Scald and get a slower Volt Switch out (most Tentacruel run ~ 8 points faster), straight into Alakazam but now having saved a sac in Rotom.
- Rotom's favourite match-up. Sand Force Iron Head does hurt (36.8 - 43.3%) but every time Excadrill tries it, it needs to take hazard damage on the switch in and then Rocky Helmet damage the following turn. 232+ Speed investment puts Rotom a point faster than Jolly Excadrill, making the following Will-o-Wisp completely free. Defensive benchmarks with the remaining EVs are few and far between, so this spread just aims to make sure you'll generally live a second Iron Head if Will-o-Wisp misses, especially if Jolly. Like with Starmie and Tentacruel, the aim with Rotom is never to spinblock forever, but the idea is that any Excadrill that does brute-force its way through Rotom is going to be so weakened that its easy pickings for Latios or Alakazam - without Rotom chipping Excadrill, these two sweepers can fall short of revenge killing by themselves, therefore giving away a turn to spin.
Lets be clear - Rotom is not a good Pokemon by any stretch, but its literally the only Pokemon that could do the job I was looking for - deny Rapid Spin Excadrill and ensure that if Excadrill does remove it, its in range for revenge killing by an offensive Psychic. As such, the moveset is dialed-in to maximise its very limited niche(s) and I don't believe there is much room to deviate. Will-o-Wisp is essential for the Excadrill match-up and also means Rotom isn't complete deadweight in other match-ups, as it is always available to cripple a Scizor, Breloom, Mamoswine, Jirachi, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Tyranitar. Rocky Helmet goes hand in hand with this, passively crippling Pokemon especially punishing Scarfed U-turners. Volt Switch gives Rotom a little bit of pivot functionality in a whole host of situations and is particularly big if Rotom gets in on a Rapid Spin vs Starmie/Tentacruel - you'll live the next attack, get Alakazam in for free on a slower Volt Switch and get to keep Rotom as a sac for later. Hidden Power [Ice] makes the most of Rotom's typing as a Landorus-T and Gliscor answer, and occasionally catches greedy Lum Dragonite's looking for a set-up chance. Pain Split then gives Rotom some semblance of survivability,
Latios (M) @ White Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 12 Def / 252 SpA / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
Latios is the first of two Psychic types on the team. Its the best offensive Pokemon in the game, it forces progress, makes specific Pokemon take Spike damage and therefore too weak to counter Alakazam, its speed tier makes it a pinch revenge killer, yada yada. You know Latios.
The set here is the standard for Colbur Berry Latios, but I don't normally use Colbur Berry on this team. In testing over the last year I've just found fewer and fewer interactions where Colbur comes into play, and there are entire match-ups where its a useless item. Sure, Colbur is great for forcing Tyranitar to take unexpected damage, but I began to utilise an alternate option that takes a similar approach with some different upsides - White Herb. Credit to Undorian for this one - he pitched it in BW discord back in November and I've been using it on and off since!
White Herb Latios looks like a noob set but it actually does a lot of cool stuff. Basically, it undoes the -2 SAtk drop on the first Draco Meteor, which can be a really clutch way of forcing damage on specially defensive Steel-types want to switch in on DM to weaken your follow-up coverage attack - see Heatran, Skarmory, Excadrill, and Ferrothorn. White Herb terrifies these switch-ins, as the Draco Meteor drop is cancelled and they now fear a restored power, super-effective attack on the following turn. White Herb is also incredibly strong in situations where players sacrifice a weakened Pokemon in order to take advantage of a -2 Latios on the next turn, a prime example being Smurf teams sacrificing lead Garchomp to then get SD or Pursuit Scizor in safely. In this match-up, White Herb Latios is an utter terror that cannot be easily abused, often guaranteeing 2 KOs. Situations where opponents try to scout Latios by using a slow Recover in front of it (Reuniclus, Gastrodon, Jellicent) - White Herb can punish this hard. Against Rain teams, where Colbur would be useless, White Herb Latios can be incredibly difficult to pivot around and also denies Pokemon such as SubCM Jirachi from getting free set-up opportunities when they come in on DM. Even in Sand MUs where Colbur is at its strongest, oftentimes White Herb can play a similar role by forcing Tyranitar to take additional damage (e.g. if they sac a Pokemon then go to Tyranitar to Pursuit, they need to take one +0 Draco Meteor, whereas Colbur Latios would force them to take one -2 DM and another -4 DM).
Colbur still has its great upsides, being especially good if Latios wants to evade ScarfTar, but for this faster paced team the threat of immediate damage in the early game makes White Herb my favourite option.
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Last but not least, my favourite BW Pokemon, all in one revenge-killer, sweeper, win condition. The entire gameplan builds to this thing at the end of the day - early hazards to chip down the grounded checks and counters, block any spinning attempts, force KOs with Latios until only scraps are left to get picked off by base 120 Speed, Magic Guard sweeper. Textbook BW.
Moveset wise, I think a lot of things can be justified. My personal preference is Psyshock over Psychic for guaranteed KO on Timid Tentacruel, with the calcs vs boosted Volcarona, Keldeo, Terrakion also being important. Signal Beam and Hidden Power [Ice] are the coverage options of choice on this 6. Signal Beam hits Starmie for KO after minimal chip damage, and also importantly dents Reuniclus and serves as a way to remove weakened Tyranitar - Shadow Ball or Grass Knot are justifiable in its place but I really think this slot needs to be something to hit Starmie. Hidden Power [Ice] pairs well with Psyshock because without Psychic you otherwise can't hit Landorus-T hard at all. Biggest miss with this set right now is Gastrodon, but generally you can keep hazards up against it and burn it so Focus Blast / Latios Draco Meteors shouldn't make it too much of a roadblock.
Cloyster - it says a lot when I need to use physically defensive Tyranitar just to have a chance against this! In all seriousness, its a bad MU but not unwinnable, generally it'll set up on Gliscor and you need to pick something to burn Ice Gem. From there Ferrothorn tanks Icicle Spear or Tyranitar can be relied upon in a pinch.
Mamoswine - like above, scary Ice-type. Really just need to stop it from getting free Substitutes, and then its normally ok.
Heatran - Most variants of Hidden Power [Ice] Heatran are a bit annoying. White Herb Latios can often force it to take damage that it doesn't want to in the mid-game but yea its a bit of a pain.
Aerodactyl - Click [X]. Aerodactyl plans are few and far between, thankfully the regular DEdge / EQ sets can't hit Rotom at all but still, it denies early Rocks and is always paired with Cloyster + Volcarona - this is probably the toughest MU of all!
So thats the team, I've tested a lot of variations of this 6 and the version here is as close to "final" as I've come - its been a real ride. Honestly this is a really fun team to use, one of my favourite takes on PsySpikes in BW and every match-up feels at least playable if not favourable. Hope somebody reading this gets as much enjoyment from messing around with this as I have!
The key is to really to bear in mind that the team is offensively driven, despite having the fattest, slowest Gliscor known to man. The aim should really be to get Stealth Rock and at least 1 Spike up in the opening handful of turns, and taking every opportunity to engage in Spike trades if the opportunity comes up - it almost certainly hurts your opponent more than you. Following that, the goal is to start putting damage on defensive Steels and Tyranitar in order to work towards an Alakazam sweep in the endgame, using Gliscor and Rotom as a pivot to get Latios in repeatedly. If you need to block Rapid Spin, don't be afraid to lose Rotom just so long as you've chipped the spinner into Alakazam range; teams are generally so weak to Alakazam with SR + Spike up that a single spin denial feels like it wins the game most of the time. Biggest things to be aware of are Tyranitar's HP, as its so important for opposing Psychics + weakening Rain. Really important to keep Latios healthy vs Rain otherwise you quickly become at risk of losing to Scarf Keldeo.
Replays (will update as I find new/old ones)
vs
Here
People in the BW community know me as a bit of an Alakazam obsessive, and there is some truth in that. I really like how Alakazam is an all-in-one revenge killer and win condition, how much that opens up the teambuilder, and how feasible it is to build Alakazam teams that feel no residual damage pressure. Its just a comfort zone for me. This team started out as a standard Alakazam Sand / PsySpikes team like a hundred others I've built before, utilising Latios to bait and weaken Alakazam's few counters - Tyranitar, Jirachi, Scizor, and Skarmory. This offensive core naturally appreciates Spikes + Iron Barbs support from Ferrothorn to accelerate the weakening of these counters, and then the obvious additions of a Ground-type Stealth Rocker / pivot and a classic Support Tyranitar. Hundreds of players have built BW teams with these exact 5 Pokemon varying only slightly in EV spread, item, and coverage choices. Natural 6th slot options are the likes of Rotom-Wash and Reuniclus, while I have personally used Magnezone extensively.
This archetype was dominant for a long stretch of 2020, but in early 2021 players found ways to exploit the structure by resurrecting a classic weatherless offense team affectionately known as Smurf - this "counter-style" stacks multiple priority-using (Breloom, Scizor) and speed-boosting sweepers (Volcarona, Dragonite) to quickly overload Alakazam, supported by Rapid Spin Starmie. Later innovations such as Ice Gem Cloyster looked to further punish this playstyle. Ever since, this type of Alakazam offense has felt somewhat of a liability.
As such, I aimed to build an Alakazam team that could overcome some of these weaknesses. The most obvious place to start was to introduce a spinblocker in the 6th slot as a way to deny Rapid Spin and therefore limit the threat of Volcarona and Dragonite in particular, but also interfere with Excadrill / Tentacruel strategies. Ferrothorn with Jellicent has always stunk of anti-synergy to me and opens a significant Spikes weakness so I turned to less obvious Ghosts, with Trick Black Sludge Gengar emerging as a prime candidate. The idea was basically just that Gengar helps cripple some Alakazam checks, but if you ever come under threat of your hazards being spun then you can just sacrifice Gengar to Starmie/Tentacruel/Excadrill to keep hazards up and then get Alakazam in for free revenge kill / momentum. In a lot of games, that one-time spin denial was sufficient to take an advantage opponents couldn't claw back. Whilst this worked really well vs Starmie and Tentacruel, which Alakazam really easily revenge kills / forces out on the follow-up turn, it was less straightforward for Excadrill - if it takes down Gengar on the switch-in, it is often able to survive a follow up Alakazam Focus Blast, Spin hazards, and then momentum was drained, not even considering in the chance of Focus Blast misses. I felt like there were huge gains to be made if I could establish a way to force Excadrill to get weakened without being able to Spin, therefore bringing it into range of teammates and winning the hazard game in the longer-term.
This is when I stumbled across Base Forme Rotom. As an Electric / Ghost-type with Levitate, Rotom is immune to or resists the entire moveset of standard Sand Force Excadrill and is, weirdly, the most reliable anti-Excadrill spinblocker in Generation 5. In some ways, it is surprising to me that Base Forme Rotom has not seen prior usage in BW OU (to the best of my knowledge), considering its obvious metagame-relevant traits along with the fact that only one generation prior, Electric / Ghost Rotom-appliances are the metagame-standard spinblockers. Of course, Base Forme Rotom lacks access to the DPP appliance's individual coverage and also has to make do with a paltry 50 / 77 / 77 defensive stat spread compared to the appliance's 50 / 107 / 107, so the cross-generation comparison isn't direct. However, what the Base Forme lacks in coverage and defenses it makes up for in Speed, with a 91 base stat getting the crucial jump on Excadrill. This enabled BKC and I to design a Base Forme Rotom set for BW OU that could irritate Excadrill to no end - EVd to tank Sand Force Iron Heads, wearing Rocky Helmet, possessing a fast Will-o-Wisp, and survivability in Pain Split to leech from Drill's mammoth HP stat. Rotom's benefits aren't limited to blocking Excadrill either; like the Gengar described prior it can still be used sacrificially in fast-paced games vs Starmie for a crucial one-time spinblock; its defensive traits push back against Scizor, Landorus-T, Gliscor, and other U-turners; and offensively it puts some pressure on Skarmory and BWs wealth of bulky Waters.
The result is hands-down, my favourite Alakazam team from all those I have built in the 3 years since returning to Pokemon, and considering my sky-high Alakazam usage that really is saying a lot. With that excessive introduction out of the way, here's New Light.
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Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 100 Def / 144 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Thunder Wave
The team starts off with fairly standard support Tyranitar. Its most important job is to set up Sand which stops the likes of Keldeo, Thundurus-T, Tentacruel, Cresselia from functioning in their favoured weathers, whilst also putting offensive threats including Volcarona, Breloom, Cloyster, and Dragonite on a timer. Secondary to this, Tyranitar serves as the team's primary check/counter to the myriad offensive Psychic types in the tier - Latios, Alakazam, and Reuniclus - which it handles with combinations of Crunch, Pursuit, or Thunder Wave.
The only remotely interesting part of this Tyranitar is the EV spread. The recommended spread for support Tyranitar is somewhere in the territory of 248 HP / 88+ Atk / 172 SDef, which guarantees the 2HKO on CM Reuniclus with Crunch and then focuses on maximising special bulk. Whilst this spread is a safe go-to option for most teams, I needed to stretch my EVs a little bit further with Tyranitar to make up for some of the team's issues, which means giving up Tyranitar's 100% odds to beat Reuniclus 1v1 in order to fulfill multiple other roles at ~95%. Specifically, this team has no Ice resist meaning that Pokemon including Mamoswine, Cloyster, and some variants of Kyurem-B can be incredibly annoying; I decided to invest more into Tyranitar's physical defense in order to optimise MUs against these Pokemon as much as was reasonable. The 248 HP / 100 Def investment gives Tyranitar a 15/16 chance to survive an Adamant Mamoswine Earthquake (74.9 - 88.3%) and +2 Adamant Cloyster Icicle Spear (75.6 - 90.5% without Ice Gem) after Stealth Rock damage. It is for these two Pokemon, primarily, that Superpower is selected over Earthquake as Tyranitar's coverage option. In combination with another check in Ferrothorn, this is just about enough to deny Mamoswine and Cloyster from flatly sweeping the team clean if they come in on Gliscor, helping a bit to overcome an inherent weakness of this archetype. In order to find the EVs to hit this defensive benchmark, concessions were made in Tyranitar's offenses, reducing the Atk investment down from 88+ to 16+, though in practice these EVs are rarely missed. Considering crit and Def drop chances, investing so much Atk for that Reuniclus calc can feel like overkill. The 16+ Atk benchmark gives an in-calculator 85.5% chance to 2HKO Reuniclus, but with the luck factor the true chance is closer to 91%. Add in additional complexities such as, Reuniclus often dropping a handful of Def EVs for SDef / Spe, or the chance it gets its Leftovers removed by Ferrothorn Knock Off, and 16+ Tyranitar is comfortable enough as a Reuniclus check whilst using the leftover EVs to patch up other issues.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
One of the most reliable Rockers in the tier - specially defensive Gliscor. This thing is pretty difficult to outright OHKO on the first turn so its really just Mamoswine, Specs Keldeo, and dedicated Taunt leads that are preventing your set-up early game. Beyond that role, Gliscor is a fantastic pivot with a combination of excellent defensive typing, status immunity, and access to U-turn helping its teammates get into the game safely.
The spread here is specially defensive dictated mostly by metagame trends. Long story short is that being able act as a pivot against Latios (and therefore preserve Ferrothorn / Tyranitar HP), Politoed, Tentacruel, Hidden Power [Ice] Landorus-T / Alakazam, and so on, is more important than being a hard, hard Terrakion answer. Max / Max Gliscor is often maligned as "its a bad use of HP EVs cos of Poison Heal numbers" blah blah but this spread survives Starmie Ice Beam from full 15/16 times and always takes a +1 Volcarona Fire Blast after Stealth Rock - these are big calcs in the weatherless match-up. Having Rotom on this team also means that this Gliscor rarely needs to go toe-to-toe with Sand Force Excadrill, further reducing the need for physical bulk. Ever since Finchinator first started running 26 Speed IV U-turn Gliscor back in SPL 2021, the negative creep war has gone on and now reached its natural conclusion - outright minimum speed! The main benefit is just outslowing Gliscor and Politoed so that partners don't risk Scald burns, but an additional perk is underspeeding uninvested Skarmory by a single point, preventing Gliscor from giving away free Roosts - a big deal for Alakazam win-cons. Wasn't my invention but I'll happily steal.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 196 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
- Knock Off
Like Gliscor above, there's not too much interesting to say about Ferrothorn. Steel-type Spiker that also role compresses into a bulky Water check, which is why its used here over Skarmory. Spikes + Psychics go hand in hand as so many of their checks are grounded - Tyranitar, Jirachi, Scizor, bulky waters. Further to this, Ferrothorn's Iron Barbs help to punish those checks that utilise contact moves and is particularly useful at putting a timer on Scarfed U-turners which are otherwise annoying for Alakazam.
The set is really standard - the only decision that needs to be made with Ferrothorn is what move goes in that tech slot between Gyro Ball / Thunder Wave / Endeavor / Worry Seed / Leech Seed / Toxic / Sandstorm / Explosion. For me, Gyro Ball looked like the most obvious option for handling Dragonite, Latios, Kyurem, Sub Thundurus-T, chipping Volcarona for an extra 35%, and not needing to risk Power Whip accuracy vs Sub Mamoswine.
Rotom @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 144 HP / 132 Def / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Pain Split
Him. Rotom draws comments from opponents / spectators like nothing else I've ever used, the entire spectrum ranging from "do you need someone show you how to switch formes" to "wait, how do you have that ELO with Ghost Rotom?" I love this little lightbulb guy.
The first 3 members of the team were all about setting up the defensive synergy of the team and getting hazards up, which describes the opening phase of most games. Entering into the midgame is where Rotom begins to thrive. For so many teams, beating the offensive pairing of Latios + Alakazam comes down to 1) removing hazards so that their defensive checks aren't chipped (e.g. rain teams via Tentacruel, certain sands via Excadrill) or 2) removing hazards to allow strong counterstyle mons like Volcarona and Dragonite. Rotom stuffs these plans, keeps hazards up like nothing else I've ever used in BW, and therefore acts as one of Alakazam's greatest partners.
The plan vs each spinner is a bit different - note that Rotom being knocked out is an expected part of all workflows:
- The early game plan surrounds getting up Stealth Rock with Gliscor, normally against a lead such as Garchomp or Breloom. From there, you slow U-turn out and deal with whatever is in front of you. At some point in the game, Starmie is going to need to remove hazards, at which point you can either predict around a bit or just go straight Rotom. Even if Rotom goes down to an Analytic Hydro Pump on the switch-in, thats fine, you have a free revenge kill with Alakazam (needs like SR and 1 turn of sand chip). If Starmie Rapid Spins as Rotom comes in, even better, as its EVd to survive one non-analytic Starmie after Stealth Rock so you can Volt Switch in front of it. - Easy. Rain teams are inherently super bad against Latios and Alakazam and require Spikes to be off the field to have a fighting chance. Rotom comes in on Tentacruel, and generally you're perfectly happy to sacrifice it in this situation as it lets you go freely into Alakazam, which OHKOs Tentacruel with Psyshock. Even if they switch out, SR and likely Spikes are up, and rain teams can't contend with that. Assuming Rotom does manage to come in undamaged on a Rapid Spin, then you survive the follow up Scald and get a slower Volt Switch out (most Tentacruel run ~ 8 points faster), straight into Alakazam but now having saved a sac in Rotom. - Rotom's favourite match-up. Sand Force Iron Head does hurt (36.8 - 43.3%) but every time Excadrill tries it, it needs to take hazard damage on the switch in and then Rocky Helmet damage the following turn. 232+ Speed investment puts Rotom a point faster than Jolly Excadrill, making the following Will-o-Wisp completely free. Defensive benchmarks with the remaining EVs are few and far between, so this spread just aims to make sure you'll generally live a second Iron Head if Will-o-Wisp misses, especially if Jolly. Like with Starmie and Tentacruel, the aim with Rotom is never to spinblock forever, but the idea is that any Excadrill that does brute-force its way through Rotom is going to be so weakened that its easy pickings for Latios or Alakazam - without Rotom chipping Excadrill, these two sweepers can fall short of revenge killing by themselves, therefore giving away a turn to spin.Lets be clear - Rotom is not a good Pokemon by any stretch, but its literally the only Pokemon that could do the job I was looking for - deny Rapid Spin Excadrill and ensure that if Excadrill does remove it, its in range for revenge killing by an offensive Psychic. As such, the moveset is dialed-in to maximise its very limited niche(s) and I don't believe there is much room to deviate. Will-o-Wisp is essential for the Excadrill match-up and also means Rotom isn't complete deadweight in other match-ups, as it is always available to cripple a Scizor, Breloom, Mamoswine, Jirachi, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Tyranitar. Rocky Helmet goes hand in hand with this, passively crippling Pokemon especially punishing Scarfed U-turners. Volt Switch gives Rotom a little bit of pivot functionality in a whole host of situations and is particularly big if Rotom gets in on a Rapid Spin vs Starmie/Tentacruel - you'll live the next attack, get Alakazam in for free on a slower Volt Switch and get to keep Rotom as a sac for later. Hidden Power [Ice] makes the most of Rotom's typing as a Landorus-T and Gliscor answer, and occasionally catches greedy Lum Dragonite's looking for a set-up chance. Pain Split then gives Rotom some semblance of survivability,
Latios (M) @ White Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 12 Def / 252 SpA / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
Latios is the first of two Psychic types on the team. Its the best offensive Pokemon in the game, it forces progress, makes specific Pokemon take Spike damage and therefore too weak to counter Alakazam, its speed tier makes it a pinch revenge killer, yada yada. You know Latios.
The set here is the standard for Colbur Berry Latios, but I don't normally use Colbur Berry on this team. In testing over the last year I've just found fewer and fewer interactions where Colbur comes into play, and there are entire match-ups where its a useless item. Sure, Colbur is great for forcing Tyranitar to take unexpected damage, but I began to utilise an alternate option that takes a similar approach with some different upsides - White Herb. Credit to Undorian for this one - he pitched it in BW discord back in November and I've been using it on and off since!
White Herb Latios looks like a noob set but it actually does a lot of cool stuff. Basically, it undoes the -2 SAtk drop on the first Draco Meteor, which can be a really clutch way of forcing damage on specially defensive Steel-types want to switch in on DM to weaken your follow-up coverage attack - see Heatran, Skarmory, Excadrill, and Ferrothorn. White Herb terrifies these switch-ins, as the Draco Meteor drop is cancelled and they now fear a restored power, super-effective attack on the following turn. White Herb is also incredibly strong in situations where players sacrifice a weakened Pokemon in order to take advantage of a -2 Latios on the next turn, a prime example being Smurf teams sacrificing lead Garchomp to then get SD or Pursuit Scizor in safely. In this match-up, White Herb Latios is an utter terror that cannot be easily abused, often guaranteeing 2 KOs. Situations where opponents try to scout Latios by using a slow Recover in front of it (Reuniclus, Gastrodon, Jellicent) - White Herb can punish this hard. Against Rain teams, where Colbur would be useless, White Herb Latios can be incredibly difficult to pivot around and also denies Pokemon such as SubCM Jirachi from getting free set-up opportunities when they come in on DM. Even in Sand MUs where Colbur is at its strongest, oftentimes White Herb can play a similar role by forcing Tyranitar to take additional damage (e.g. if they sac a Pokemon then go to Tyranitar to Pursuit, they need to take one +0 Draco Meteor, whereas Colbur Latios would force them to take one -2 DM and another -4 DM).
Colbur still has its great upsides, being especially good if Latios wants to evade ScarfTar, but for this faster paced team the threat of immediate damage in the early game makes White Herb my favourite option.
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Last but not least, my favourite BW Pokemon, all in one revenge-killer, sweeper, win condition. The entire gameplan builds to this thing at the end of the day - early hazards to chip down the grounded checks and counters, block any spinning attempts, force KOs with Latios until only scraps are left to get picked off by base 120 Speed, Magic Guard sweeper. Textbook BW.
Moveset wise, I think a lot of things can be justified. My personal preference is Psyshock over Psychic for guaranteed KO on Timid Tentacruel, with the calcs vs boosted Volcarona, Keldeo, Terrakion also being important. Signal Beam and Hidden Power [Ice] are the coverage options of choice on this 6. Signal Beam hits Starmie for KO after minimal chip damage, and also importantly dents Reuniclus and serves as a way to remove weakened Tyranitar - Shadow Ball or Grass Knot are justifiable in its place but I really think this slot needs to be something to hit Starmie. Hidden Power [Ice] pairs well with Psyshock because without Psychic you otherwise can't hit Landorus-T hard at all. Biggest miss with this set right now is Gastrodon, but generally you can keep hazards up against it and burn it so Focus Blast / Latios Draco Meteors shouldn't make it too much of a roadblock.
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Threatlist-
Cloyster - it says a lot when I need to use physically defensive Tyranitar just to have a chance against this! In all seriousness, its a bad MU but not unwinnable, generally it'll set up on Gliscor and you need to pick something to burn Ice Gem. From there Ferrothorn tanks Icicle Spear or Tyranitar can be relied upon in a pinch. Mamoswine - like above, scary Ice-type. Really just need to stop it from getting free Substitutes, and then its normally ok. Heatran - Most variants of Hidden Power [Ice] Heatran are a bit annoying. White Herb Latios can often force it to take damage that it doesn't want to in the mid-game but yea its a bit of a pain. Aerodactyl - Click [X]. Aerodactyl plans are few and far between, thankfully the regular DEdge / EQ sets can't hit Rotom at all but still, it denies early Rocks and is always paired with Cloyster + Volcarona - this is probably the toughest MU of all!--
Conclusion-
So thats the team, I've tested a lot of variations of this 6 and the version here is as close to "final" as I've come - its been a real ride. Honestly this is a really fun team to use, one of my favourite takes on PsySpikes in BW and every match-up feels at least playable if not favourable. Hope somebody reading this gets as much enjoyment from messing around with this as I have!
The key is to really to bear in mind that the team is offensively driven, despite having the fattest, slowest Gliscor known to man. The aim should really be to get Stealth Rock and at least 1 Spike up in the opening handful of turns, and taking every opportunity to engage in Spike trades if the opportunity comes up - it almost certainly hurts your opponent more than you. Following that, the goal is to start putting damage on defensive Steels and Tyranitar in order to work towards an Alakazam sweep in the endgame, using Gliscor and Rotom as a pivot to get Latios in repeatedly. If you need to block Rapid Spin, don't be afraid to lose Rotom just so long as you've chipped the spinner into Alakazam range; teams are generally so weak to Alakazam with SR + Spike up that a single spin denial feels like it wins the game most of the time. Biggest things to be aware of are Tyranitar's HP, as its so important for opposing Psychics + weakening Rain. Really important to keep Latios healthy vs Rain otherwise you quickly become at risk of losing to Scarf Keldeo.
Replays (will update as I find new/old ones)
vs
Here
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