Gen 4 OU - Metal Sound Zapdos Spikes Offense

YouMeAndRNG

YouMeAndRNG

I thought the idea of metal sound on Zapdos was fun if not a bit gimmicky and I wanted to see if it was viable. I think the way I have it set up now forces me into some uncomfortable situations (i.e. it has to run HP Ice for dragons but DDTar gets some free set-up) but it can be a potent wrecking ball. Overall I think this team is missing something defensively but it is improved from where I started. I'm looking for advice on where to improve. Roles/sets are as follows:

Lucario @ Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Bullet Punch
- Crunch
- Ice Punch

It's been a while since I've run a lead Lucario set but Adamant puts it in the best position to punish early rocks and wreck opposing anti-leads (2HKO on Lead-Machamp is fairly certain if it can break confusion). Sash puts in the work to let Lucario come in late game as death/status fodder or potentially stop a sweep if the sash is maintained without hazards (i.e. opponent switches turn 1). Crunch is a fun 4th slot to catch ghosts coming in expecting e-speed. Generally performs well as a stand-alone mon but doesn't provide any defensive utility and synergy is low.

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Spikes
- Shadow Ball
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Roserade has a pretty absurd special attack stat when running Modest. Unfortunately, it can't run Leaf Storm and Spikes on the same set, and Spikes on this team enables some other mons (Dnite/Zapdos) to bypass the need for power boosting to deal serious damage. I'm kind of forced into HP Ice because of Dnite, otherwise ground would be a nice option to catch non-scarf heatran. Shadow ball is thrown on because otherwise the rotom family is a bit frustrating to deal with (particularly rest-talk) but it is probably the most switchable of those moves (different offensive utility or support in the form of aromatherapy/stun spore could be options).

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Atk / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Lava Plume
- Explosion

SpDef Heatran gets up rocks, keeps Jirachi at bay, and booms on opposing threats. Heatran also prevents the aforementioned rotom from causing problems. I needed a mon to get up rocks and prevent choice scarf/specs Heatran from blasting through my team and the fire immunity is therefore appreciated. I had some issues KO'ing things on the boom so I threw in a couple attack IVs, though really I could be more precise with this allocation. The rest is thrown into SpDef which gives me the luxury of booming/surviving some boosted super effective threats.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Metal Sound
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Roost

Zapdos is one of my favorite mons and I thought metal sound was an interesting concept to blitz opposing special walls (Heatran, Clef, and Tyranitar don't particularly care for 70%+ thunderbolts). The goal is that metal sound either forces the opponent out and subjects the incoming mon to hazard damage, or Zapdos catches a check coming in with a metal sound and then cleans up after hazards. Max investment into speed allows Zapdos to become a problem for non-invested Jirachi. I think the trade-off from Modest (which does extra but doesn't exceed any KO thresholds that Timid + MS doesn't already) is worthwhile for the speed confidence. Roost is kind of integral to longevity, but it does limit versatility. I also experimented with HP Flying/Fighting but ultimately Zapdos likes the psudo bolt-beam coverage.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunderbolt
- Reflect
- Pain Split

Rotom-W provides good defensive synergy with the team (ground immunity, spread burns, reflect can mitigate risk of wisp missing and let others set-up if switches occur). I'm also a fan of defensive rotom in general. I do wonder if Wisp is necessary/worth the risk but I'm not sure what else is worth running. Hydro could let it bother Tyranitar a bit more, but I don't know if the utility is worthwhile. I really love reflect here because its generally disruptive to a lot of physical offense.

Dragonite @ Leftovers
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 SpA / 204 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Agility
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast

I like running agility sets in general because in most cases they are unexpected (i.e. most set-up dragonite run DDance). Maybe its a bit silly to invest fully in attack when 2/3 of the moveset are special, but the endgame is to click outrage on unresistant mons weakened by hazards. I run enough speed IVs to out-speed scarf flygon and then invest the rest in SpA. I needed something offensive that also could set-up on fire, fighting, or ground mons and dragonite seemed to fit well here (otherwise infernape kind of cleans house).

Results have been mixed, though losses have helped me tinker with IVs/item sets to be a bit more threat specific. Hyper offense has seemed to tear through me but half of the team avoids spikes, and 6/6 are immune to t-spikes. Any advice is appreciated.
 
Cool idea using MS Zapdos as it is essentially like a Nasty Plot boost against the Pokemon Zapdos is facing. However I have three immediate suggestions:

flygon.png


1. CS Flygon > Dragonite

Scarf Flygon provides speed insurance versus hyper offensive teams that you mention can tear through you. Also with spikes support you may be able to get away with running Dragon Claw over Outrage to avoid the lock and getting set up on. However Outrage may also be worth it to clean late game with the entry hazard support. Also the U-turn can be used for scouting and a good pivot (for example incoming Skarmory's can be sent straight to Zapdos, or bulky waters can be sent to Roserade/Zapdos). Another benefit is that this avoids having two SR weak mons on your team without spin support.

lifeorb.png


2. LO Rotom over what you currently have

I think this has good synergy with your Zapdos in that Zapdos can dent special walls like Clef/Tar/Tran so that LO Rotom can easily KO them if they are still around but at a lower health. It also still does well against all Rapid Spinners except maybe offensive Starmie. However you can play mind games by switching to Flygon and then U-turn on it back to Rotom to absorb the spin. Tbolt/Sball/Hpump/Split would probably work.

lumberry.png


3. Lum > Lefties on Zapdos may be worth testing

This allows Zapdos to avoid the status from Clefable and put more pressure on it. Since Clefable is immune to entry hazards, it will never be able to be KO'd at -2 from full health and can still status. This also gives the insurance that Zapdos won't be ruined by a para in general (not only against Clefable but also against like Jirachi/Latias [see below calc] who typically carry para-moves). You still have Roost to heal.

I want to go through a typical battle scenario where Lum would be useful:

----

Turn I: Flygon U-turns to Zapdos on incoming Skarmory

Turn II: Zapdos uses Metal Sound, anticipating the switch. An opposing Latias comes in and takes the Sp. Def drop

Turn III: Zapdos uses HP Ice which does 65.3 - 76.9% to standard defensive Latias (-2 252/0 since they tend to invest physically). Latias uses Thunder Wave but the Lum cures it.

Turn IV: Latias is now in a tough position as it is forced to switch out or still be outsped and KO'd

----

Also Blissey still seems to be an annoyance for this team as the Boom on your Heatran seems to be the best way to bait and eliminate it. Aside from that you have Lucario who isn't guaranteed to be around mid/late game and nothing else. Luckily they aren't too common these days.
 
Last edited:
One more idea just came to me:

Roar > Protect on Heatran

This allows Heatran to abuse switches and rack up more entry hazard damage on important Pokemon like Tyranitar to help it get into range for a -2 Thunderbolt from Zapdos later on in the match (Tar's are common switch-ins to Trans so Roar-ing it out immediately is a good strat). Another option would be to replace SR with Roar (so you don't lose the utility of Protect) and then replace Lucario with an SR lead like Metagross which essentially accomplishes the same as your current Lucario. This is a set that I have had a good amount of success with:

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion

Another good option on this Metagross is Custap so that it can be preserved for a late-game Boom, however Lum is hard to pass up for its ability to stop annoying status leads.

One last thought. Drop Natural Cure on Roserade so that it can absorb Sleep versus Loom so you can switch to Zapdos/Rotom easier.

Matches:

Very first match with the team - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2165272239-4a3as1jpczq89n20pfdhqhufkfysnkypw
Next match overcame Blissey - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2165273325
3 in a row - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2165275869-c6xwb0es6qkvvno3f8zslg1bpetu4j6pw
4 in a row - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2165277451-1rro310b5fwc2tnxauo921zyrf51w9zpw
5 in a row - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2165278576-cde2cjvuen2wxxjbgtogjpovo6epq64pw
Finally a loss (close one) - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2165281183-clyb3j6vs6mmgn3cwhxjvilghyj1xiopw

Interestingly I never had the chance to actually use Metal Sound in all six matches.

Good match - https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-2169052590
 
Last edited:
Haha you might have had the last one there if you kept the heatran alive too. I do have some concern that metal sound is tough to justify use but I also haven't ran into many stall based teams to use it on. I'm kind of burnt on Metagross leads but I do love the idea of roar on Heatran.
 
One more change, I recommend using this Roserade (the one from my Special Offense RMT that peaked the PS leaderboard) -

Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 188 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Stun Spore

Mainly for three reasons:
1. The focus on Sp.Def bulk allows it to easily set-up on special targets such as Rotoms, bulky waters with weaker Ice Beams, etc...
2. The HP fire allows it to deter Forretress more, which can hurt our own Rotom with Payback.
3. I noticed Infernape is still quite dangerous to the team (even with Flygon). Stun Spore can be used on a predictive switch to cripple it so that Zapdos and Rotom can outsped and KO it without eating a powerful Fire Blast. Also this now provides a good opportunity to para Gengars which can outspeed Zapdos, Rotom, and Heatran otherwise. SS acc sucks tho

Lastly I noticed the Lum on Zap can feign a Choice item (seen here where I think he thought I was locked into HP Ice after KO-ing Gliscor, so he sent in his Gyarados thinking he safe). Also here on the Flygon I think nvm I used MS prior so it was impossible to be Choiced.

Another edit: I've realized that the team is destroyed by Weavile once Metagross is gone (a fairly common scenario). In this case perhaps switching Flygon with Scarf Jirachi could be beneficial. The extra Rock resist is appreciated as well versus Tar Stone Edge's. Actually its kind of a toss-up between Flygon and Jirachi since Flygon covers Infernapes. Since Napes are more common I'd stick with Flygon.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top