Major changes to the Metagame in April-May:
- Scarf Tyranitar is the standard Tyranitar set
- Magicarp is the 7th most used lead in Ubers
- Latias was made Uber
In OU basically the rise in scarf tar has lead to many changes in the Metagame, such as a rise Machamp, Scizor and walls e.g. Skarmory and Gliscor. While a fall in Rotom/Latias, obviously this is mainly due to scarf-tar, and shows that people are becoming much more wary of him. This also means the Metagame is becoming more bulky again.
Magicarp was seriously the 7th most used lead in Ubers this mounth. He was someone's brilliant idea of an april fools joke, where a group of people used lead magicarp in matches and then quit (I think to prove that sorting tier’s by usage was flawed).
Latias is now uber, so my team needs to change around, all suggestions are welcome. But more importantly, this is gonna have a huge affect on the metagame. Latias' role on many teams just can't be filled by another pokemon and means team's are going to be completely different.
Thought Process:
Now from this it’s clear to see that taking advantage of scarf-tar is going to be an effective strategy in this new metagame shift. Skarmory can provide spikes, which limit the times that Tyranitar and Scizor can switch in. Lucario 4 times resist both of Tyranitar’s stab attacks. Lucario also appreciates the fall in Rotom usage. So I centred my team on these two pokemon:
The next choice was obviously a spin blocker, someone who can scare off the 3 OU rapid spinners: Starmie, Forretress and Tentacruel, and fry magicarp if he moved down to OU. Obviously Rotom-H:
I was thinking of weaknesses and resistances, and I decided a dragon would really suit the team. I wanted to be attacking on the special side and at first I used specs-mence, but then I realised Latias was just a better version as she isn't weak to SR:
I wanted someone who can draw in Gliscor and possibly take it out. Obviously someone who can take special hits was on my mind and after a lot of thinking, Tyranitar filled this role very nicely:
Now the final member took ages to fit in to the team, I had been using mix Tyranitar as a lead previously (fairly unsuccessfully, I will add). I wanted SR, I wanted a ground type to absorb thunder-wave and resist fire would also be good. But I had never liked leading with a wall, however in the end I used swampert, and realised it was perfect for the team:
I came up with the concept of this team about 5 weeks ago, getting the right team members and testing it out etc has taken it’s time. At one point I nearly scraped it. But I kept trying, and in the end I think I’ve got the right team members, the right move sets and I’m now happy with the team and I feel I can put it up for rating.
Oh no, it's a Lucario counter ... April fools!
Changes in Blue:
Changes in Blue:
Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Speed
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Speed)
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
Swampert is probably the most reliable stealth rocker in the game. His main niche as a lead is that he is one of the few leads that can be used mid/late game, due his great bulk and awesome typing. As with most teams, it took ages to get the right lead, a lot of play-testing and I decided a bulky lead was the way to go. I chose a female gender as most people don't bother changing the gender and so they will take advantage of the male's by using rivalry or using attract. I chose roar thanks to snorlaxe's suggestion becuase it helps rack up spikes damage. Here is what I do against the top ten OU leads (for April):
Swampert helps Lucario sweep by setting up stealth rock which aids any sweeper and makes Zapdos, Salamence and Gyrados less of a threat. He can also take on scarf Heatran and Magnezone who threaten Lucario.
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Skarmory (F) @ Shed shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/252 SDef/4 speed
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Skarmory has great synergy with Swampert making it very easy for me to get both hazards up early in a match. I chose special defensive Skarmory, as I found I was switching her into a lot of draco meteors. I’m using an impish nature, as she can take advantage of her many resistances and set up spikes while taking hits from the physical or special side. Skarmory can also phaze quite effectively and keep threats like cursealax and crocune at bay until the end of the match, as well as racking up spike damage with the move whirlwind.
Skarmory helps Lucario by setting up spikes, which means after a sword dance he can OHKO physical walls like the mighty Hippowdon. Skarmory can also whirlwind to rack up hazard damage on salamence, gyrados, zapdos, Scizor and Tyranitar so that an SD boosted extreme speed will take them out.
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Rotom-h @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 sp.atk/ 44 defence/212 speed
Timid nature (+Speed, -Atk)
- Wil o wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Pain Split
The teams reserve member. I generally keep Rotom hidden until the late game, as he is my back up pokemon. His ghost type is very useful to the team. Firstly, he can block rapid spin, and due to his offensive spread, this is not crucial as my entry hazards are set up by bulky pokemon, so they can easily set them up again. He also is immune to dynamic punch from the now popular Machamp. He can also draw in heatran. The ev's let me outspeed gyrados after a dragon dance. Wil o wisp is there for Tyranitar and scizor trying to pursuit me. Although scarf-tar is still a problem. Pain split offers some form of recovery.
Rotom-H helps Lucario by blocking rapid spin, and is semi-pursuit bait, which makes it easier for Lucario to set up.
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Latias (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Speed/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Speed, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Trick
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
This is my zero skill Latias. If they are gonna die to surf, use surf because it's super effective on tyranitar. If they are gonna switch use Dracco meteor, why? because they are obviously going to a counter, and a neautral Dracco meteor does more than a super effective surf, and I'm gonna switch out of the counter, as they are likely gonna take me on. So unless they are going to Heatran or Skarmory, dracco meteor is more powerful for hitting and running. Trick is there for late game stat uppers such as Jirachi and Suicune, it also helpful for crippling walls, making it easier for lucario to set up. To show the power of this Latias' dracco meteor here are some calculations (although I've recently found there is confusion between where the item boost goes slightly affecting the result):
Dracco meteor vs standard smogon 252hp/252defence Bold Blissey:
36% - 43% with 3 layers of spikes and stealth rock adding another 37.5% damage. Leftovers is cancelled out by sandstorm.
73.5% - 80.5% in one turn of damage. The budding mathematician's out there will notice there is a chance for a 2hko, if I get near max damage both times. At the very least Blissey is forced to softboil up = a free switch to tyranitar.
Dracco meteor vs Max Hp tyranitar:
56% - 66% with stealth rock and 1 layer of spikes this is a garunteed 2HKO. With 3 layers of spikes + SR this is a chance to OHKO
Dracco meteor vs 248 hp Scizor:
59% - 69% so with stealth rock it's a garunteed 2hko (minimum of 101%) just makes the 2hko.
So it's not really pursuit bait, unlike scarf latias who they switch in on with ease. It’s also useful on a primarily physical team, to have some monstrous sp.atk to smash through physical walls. Dragon pulse is used over trick, because Rotom-H has trick and dragon pulse can be used to sweep. Thunderbolt OHKO’s Gyrados who likes to set up on Swampert and Skarmory. Choice specs latias can also beat any calm mind Suicune set 1 vs 1, even if it calm minds on the switch, by spamming thunderbolt. It also OHKO's Gyrados' pre-evolution Magicarp and after his recent success in Ubers, this could be very useful if people realise his potential in OU.
Latias is very useful on a sandstorm team, as she resists: water, grass, fire, ground, fighting etc. Which are all attacks aimed at steel, rock and ground types, which enables her to force many switches and rack up more entry hazard damage. Don’t suggest scarf Latias to me, it is the biggest pile of pursuit bait in the metagame.
Latias helps Lucario sweep by having great defensive synergy with him. She also helps him set up as she is pursuit bait, and she draws in special walls like blissey.
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Tyranitar (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/152 Atk/28 Speed/76 SAtk
Brave nature (+Atk, -Speed)
- Substitute
- Ice Beam
- Focus Punch
- Payback
This set took me ages to come up with. I needed a pokemon that can draw in Gliscor. I had tried choice band aqua tail, but I wanted to switch attacks and I wanted to take advantage of the turn of a switch. I tried DD Tyranitar with some success, but it wasn’t bulky enough for my team needs I needed a set that could set up and take out Gliscor. Setting up was important to me, as I wanted to take advantage of early game pursuit users and lucario/DD-tar would just get walled early in the match.
The idea of using Tyranitar Boah came to me when I remembered an old RMT, and in the comments someone said: "don’t have 88 sp.def on Hippowdon that is for Tyranitar Boah’s ice beam, but Boah is dead in this offensive metagame." That was when banded Tyranitar was used loads and 2hkoed Hippowdon with aqua tail. But now Scarf Tyranitar is the main set, and Hippowdon/Gliscor are happy to switch in.
The rise in scarf-tar means my old Boah from diamond and pearl is back. He takes advantage of the switches scarf Tyranitar forces, and he can take on the walls that like to switch in. This also makes a great switch into mystic gengar for a "revenge Kill" gengar protects, while I sub up, and then I'm safe to payback for the OHKO.
Now the confusing ev’s: 252 hp means I have 101 substitutes, which means blissey can’t break them and it’s a lefties numbers. 76 sp.atk 2hko’s Hippowdon after 2 spikes+ 1 SR and 2 leftovers, it also guarantees the OHKO on Gliscor and means Gliscor can’t roost stall it. 28 speed ev’s will let me out-speed Blissey, so I can sub up before it gets status on me. The rest are dumped into attack to make focus punch and payback deadly. I chose payback over crunch for the OHKO on celebi after 2 spikes + 1 SR and sandstorm cancels out lefties.
He helps Lucario by drawing in Gliscor and Hippowdon and taken them out, as they are the two biggest defensive threats to Luke. He also draws in Scizor and forces spikes damage on it. This is the MVP of the team, once I had back the knack of using Boah, and tricks for keeping a sub up, this guy just dominates. Once he gets a sub up, he causes damage. I supose his nickname Sub-DD-Tar doesn't help the opponent when they try to counter him lol.
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Lucario (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Crunch
- Extremespeed
Lucario is also my priority revenge killer, and I have discovered that threats like non scarf Heatran won’t switch out as everyone fears the sword dance. This means I can easily KO them. The fear of a Lucario sweep essentially gives him the ability shadow tag, which is very useful for taking out a troublesome pokemon.
Obviously his primary use on this team is too sweep, and after my bulky team has drawn in and taken out threats to Lucario, I can then take advantage of my pursuit weak team, and set up for a sweep. I chose crunch for type coverage, accuracy and taking on Celebi who my team does not handle as well as other walls.
Why is Lucario is the perfect sweeper for this team? Because this team lures out and wears down his top OU counters:
Bulky Walls:
Faster Threats:
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Well, this is the end of my RMT
Thanks for reading and please rate:
Thanks for reading and please rate:
