[OU Monotype] Darkstorm

jbozz1217 · Jun 7, 2014

Hello all! Before anyone is confused and asks, this is a monotype team, meant to be played competitively in the OU Monotype Tier. I do not intend to play competitively with this team in Standard OU, despite that my track record at times suggests that I should ;).

If this is not in the right place, please let me know. It doesn't seem like there is necessarily an appropriate place to post OU Monotype RMTs. But there should be! Also, does anyone know if there is an OU Monotype Threat List somewhere?

First Glance:

Overall, the team plays in a balanced manner, naturally with aspects of stall brought to you by Mandibuzz and Sableye. Generally I have some issues with momentum, as my last 3 pokemon all don't want to be switched in to strong attacks.

HydroPumpMe (Tyranitar) @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Once I started using Mega Tyranitar and realized the incredible damage that he can deal, I made the interesting decision to change his nature and remove all attack EVs. Tyranitar still nets tons of OHKOs, and of course all the important ones—mostly from Stone Edge. In fact, I find that Tyranitar is most useful against Bug, Fire, and Flying teams. In these cases, he doesn't need more power to kill them. He needs more Bulk in order to live longer and kill more things.
Stealth Rock is an absolute staple for this team simply to deal with the bug weakness. Tyranitar can usually take out Forretress or Armaldo, which usually means the rocks are there to stay.
I used to run Crunch over Earthquake, but I started to have a lot of issues with Steel Teams and felt that Crunch wasn't super useful in most cases anyway. Earthquake is good for Heatran.
I'm definitely open to changing things up a bit, but please do calculations before suggesting!

Annoying (Sableye) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 152 SDef / 12 Spd
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Foul Play
- Taunt

The most important Pokemon for any Mono Dark Team, in my opinion. In case you are unfamiliar, Sableye comes in and burns a physical attacker, thus rendering them nearly useless. Taunt anyone who tries to set up, and recover off any damage. Attack when necessary. Avoid Heatran.
I've had a few different sets in the past, most notably one with Knock Off over Foul Play. Basically I need something on the team that has Foul Play, so since Mandibuzz has Brave Bird, I gave Sableye Foul Play. The two need to work together.
I have gone through a ton of EV spreads here. Many Sableye users like to max Special Defense, but I don't prefer that because then many physical attackers can do a lot of damage on the switch-in. Or, for those physical attackers I cannot burn (Guts users and Fire types), I want to be able to survive so I can at least do some damage.

Dead End (Mandibuzz) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 68 Def / 192 SDef
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost
- Toxic

One of the best walls in the whole game, for sure. Providing me a key neutrality to both Fighting and Bug, Mandibuzz can switch in easily (careful of Stealth Rock) on many attacks.
Brave Bird > Foul Play choice was very hard. But the flying stab on this team just helps against Fighting and Bug Monos to an incredible extent. Mandibuzz does not fear Keldeo, Infernape, Volcarona, and even sometimes Conkeldurr—all pokemon that otherwise give this team some huge problems.
Toxic in the last spot is what I find to be most useful, especially against water monos or bulkier pokemon in general. Defog is a must-have here, since I run Focus Sash on Bisharp and want Mandibuzz to be able to switch in without hazard damage.
Once again I do not remember exactly what calculation these EVs came from here (maybe I'll redo/check these two pokemon sometime soon), but it likely had something to do with surviving special hits from Keldeo and Infernape, while having enough defense to PP Stall Terrakion's Stone Edge. I honestly find that maximum defense on Mandibuzz is overkill, and the special defense is good so that I can take hits that would otherwise kill Tyranitar.

uGonDie (Greninja) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- Shadow Sneak
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
- Extrasensory

Probably the source of some of my most difficult decisions. The only thing that I haven't changed every day for the past month is the EV Spread and Ability, because those are a given.
Greninja functions in Gen6 as Hydreigon functioned for me back in Gen5. Generally hit-and-run playstyle with a bunch of different coverage moves to take out anything that comes my way.
Firstly, the item. I used to use Life Orb, but with the occasional entry hazards and sandstorm damage, it just killed me way too fast. I'm a fan of Greninja with Choice Items, but I already have one choice user on the team and I really prefer not to have to switch so much. Also, the strategy in the next bullet explains why choice doesn't work too great. So Expert Belt is the only option. I enjoy it because I get to pretend I have Specs (or Scarf, which is now super popular).
On to the moveset. So, here's the thing. I'd use 10 moves if I could, but I can't. Extrasensory is imperative for my success against Fighting Monos. Greninja basically outspeeds anything without a scarf (or priority) and can do some serious damage with Extrasensory, and then survive their STAB Fighting move due to the new resistance. Grass Knot helps immensely because if you've ever known Dark Monos well, you'd know they have trouble with Water because of a general lack of Electric/Grass coverage moves. Ice Beam is for coverage and I love it. I generally treat Ice Beam as my main STAB, since I do not run a Water move.
Why no Surf or Hydro Pump, you ask? Because I need Shadow Sneak. Firstly, Shadow Sneak gives me a priority move that helps net a couple good kills here and there when a threat is severely weakened. Secondly, I get to play mind games and be immune to fighting moves, most notably Mach Punch and Drain Punch. Since Greninja is faster than anything using Mach Punch, I use Shadow Sneak the first turn. Mach Punches misses. Now the second turn if they use Mach Punch again it will miss since I'm stilly Ghost-type. If they don't use Mach Punch, I attack first with Extrasensory and kill them. It's a pretty good strategy and it works. Otherwise, I'd come in after Conkeldurr kills something and then he would use Mach Punch and potentially OHKO. Not worth it.

Spiny (Bisharp) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Knock Off

After Sableye I would say that Bisharp is the most important Pokemon to have on Mono Dark. I don't have too much to say about him but the pure power is incredibly helpful.
I love having a Focus Sash because then I don't need to worry about boosted attacks that might OHKO from opponents that outspeed. There are few things that a combination of Knock Off + Sucker Punch do not kill.
Iron Head is obviously for the fairies. The good thing is that many fairies are on the slower side, so this EV spread actually outspeeds them. Another reason why Focus Sash helps is because Bisharp can come in on Mega Gardevoir, take the Hyper Voice with 1HP left, and then OHKO with Iron Head—and that's usually the fastest Pokemon on a Fairy team, I suppose.
I've seen people suggest Brick Break over Knock Off or Swords Dance. I don't really use SD much. Not sure if Brick Break is really worth it though. Maybe if I didn't have Superpower on Krookodile.

Omnomnom (Krookodile) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide
- Superpower

Such a beast. The best Choice Scarf user and revenge killer that Dark has imo. Never underestimate the power of a +1 Knock Off from Krookodile.
Usually I use him to force switches or clean up at the end of a match. If I predict an Electric move on Mandibuzz or Greninja I will usually switch to Krookodile to maintain momentum, and then hit something with Knock Off before I switch out again. Earthquake and Knock Off provide decent coverage and obviously STAB. Rock Slide is for flying types and bugs, or for picking off something with low HP when a bug or flying type might come out next (since I'm choice locked and don't want to use EQ). Superpower is a move that I pretty much only use against Normal- or Ice-type Pokemon, or a Steel-type with a Balloon.
I'm not really fond of any other move choices over Superpower, and it is helpful sometimes, especially with Moxie.

In closing, I've been working on this team for a very long time. I have found that with Mono Dark, the concern is that there is no one team that can counter all of its weaknesses. You just have to do the best you can do and make some choices. If I had a dollar for every time I wished Mandibuzz had Foul Play or Greninja had Surf, I'd be rich. However, I'd be wishing for Brave Bird or Shadow Sneak if the situation were reversed (and I've been there too).

Please support arguments with calculations where appropriate and offer suggestions for re-distributing EVs instead of saying that you just don't like what's there.

Tyranitar EVs (is the SpDef overkill?)
Tyranitar moveset: Earthquake (is it useful against enough pokemon? Does Crunch or Pursuit give me an edge that I haven't evaluated?)
Mandibuzz moveset: Brave Bird and Toxic (are these the best moves to use? Keep in mind the other Pokemon on my team. E.g., for teams that have Umbreon, Mandibuzz doesn't really need Toxic—Foul Play either for that matter)
Mandibuzz EVs (should they not be this balanced?)
Sableye EVs (should they not be this balanced?)
Greninja moveset: I don't have much to say here, I think it's pretty much set but I'm open to suggestions or thoughts.
Krookodile: Should I use something else? I have used Umbreon in his place before, which helps free up moves on Sableye and Mandibuzz (since Umbreon can run Foul Play and Toxic) but really lacks offensive power and utility against most teams that don't involve tons of bulky pokemon. I've also tried Honchkrow, which worked similarly except didn't have the Electric immunity and is both slower and more frail.
I still have HUGE problems with Steel Monos and Water Monos. This might be from the general lack of neutral/super effective coverage I have for those teams. Heatran can come in on WoW and Sableye can't do anything. If I predict and switch then attack, then they switch again, it just doesn't end. Basically I just can't kill Empoleon, and Aegislash still gives too many problems.

Post a link to a list and I will include it all here!

Vs. Mono Bug (hyper offense, no spinner)
Vs. Mono Bug (typical team, Mega Pinsir, Scarf Heracross)

Vs. Mono Fighting (tough but no huge issues)
Vs. Mono Fighting (tough but no huge issues)
Vs. Mono Steel (completely destroyed me, help!!)
Vs. Mono Steel (how I sometimes win against steel)

Vs. Mono Water (example of how I get owned by water)
Vs. Mono Ground (the problems I have with Gliscor... doesn't everyone?)

Thank you for your help!

Uberlox · Jun 8, 2014

Not too much to say because, quite frankly, this team is fantastic to say the least. Provides lots of coverage against other mono teams, great balance, strong sweepers, heavy walls and hard hitting tanks.
Only a few suggestions:

Shadow Sneak is a great move when used right. The EV spread on greninja doesn't really allow shadow sneak to release its full potential. I suggest devoting maybe 50 or so EVS to attack rather than special attack. Really its just personal preference when it comes to what you use most and whether or not its worth it.
Personally, with the typing of the moves on protean greninja, I think it would work best with naive rather than hasty. Generally speaking I think that it would fall victim to more physical than special moves, so naive could function better on it.
Lastly, your EV spread on sableye is kind of odd. Would you mind explaining why that works best? Your spread is very wall like, but with its low stats I dont see what it can really wall. However, the moveset on it is fantastic, very bulky, helps recover and deals out quite a hit.

I dont know if you have much of a problem with being outsped due to only having a few sweepers, but i can see from the pokemon that a team with that great of bulk doesnt really need too much speed. Overall, AWESOME monodark team, would love to see some replays if you could get some.

jbozz1217 · Jun 8, 2014

Uberlox said:
Not too much to say because, quite frankly, this team is fantastic to say the least. Provides lots of coverage against other mono teams, great balance, strong sweepers, heavy walls and hard hitting tanks.
Only a few suggestions:

Shadow Sneak is a great move when used right. The EV spread on greninja doesn't really allow shadow sneak to release its full potential. I suggest devoting maybe 50 or so EVS to attack rather than special attack. Really its just personal preference when it comes to what you use most and whether or not its worth it.

Personally, with the typing of the moves on protean greninja, I think it would work best with naive rather than hasty. Generally speaking I think that it would fall victim to more physical than special moves, so naive could function better on it.

Lastly, your EV spread on sableye is kind of odd. Would you mind explaining why that works best? Your spread is very wall like, but with its low stats I dont see what it can really wall. However, the moveset on it is fantastic, very bulky, helps recover and deals out quite a hit.

I dont know if you have much of a problem with being outsped due to only having a few sweepers, but i can see from the pokemon that a team with that great of bulk doesnt really need too much speed. Overall, AWESOME monodark team, would love to see some replays if you could get some.

Thank you for a wonderful rate! I may try that with Greninja's EVs. I'd have to do some calcs first-- I still want to get all the kills I need with Ice Beam! What makes you think he'd fall victim to more physical moves? That may be right, I should pay attention to that. Honestly he probably isn't surviving much anyway... Glad you like him though!

Sableye's EVs make it so the standard Aegislash's Shadow Ball does enough damage so that Shadow Sneak doesn't kill Sableye right after. This way I can switch into Shadow Ball without dying (unless crit) and then survive Shadow Sneak, and lastly fight back with Foul Play, which would OHKO after stance change. I also really like mixed Sableye in general. Having no special defense proves to be very useless, and having max special defense doesn't let him switch into powerful physical moves. Mandibuzz can switch into those physical moves, but doesn't really have much to dish out, and would eventually just PP Stall or die.

In general I have not had a problem with speed at all! Sucker Punch helps a lot, and also the focus sash on Bisharp so that speed doesn't really matter, I can still get a hit off. Generally most things that outspeed bisharp are frail enough to die to a powerful stab move and then sucker punch. Krookodile is an excellent scarfer and truly outspeeds almost anything, and has excellent coverage now that Steel doesn't resist Dark.

Uberlox · Jun 9, 2014

jbozz1217 said:
Thank you for a wonderful rate! I may try that with Greninja's EVs. I'd have to do some calcs first-- I still want to get all the kills I need with Ice Beam! What makes you think he'd fall victim to more physical moves? That may be right, I should pay attention to that. Honestly he probably isn't surviving much anyway... Glad you like him though!

Sableye's EVs make it so the standard Aegislash's Shadow Ball does enough damage so that Shadow Sneak doesn't kill Sableye right after. This way I can switch into Shadow Ball without dying (unless crit) and then survive Shadow Sneak, and lastly fight back with Foul Play, which would OHKO after stance change. I also really like mixed Sableye in general. Having no special defense proves to be very useless, and having max special defense doesn't let him switch into powerful physical moves. Mandibuzz can switch into those physical moves, but doesn't really have much to dish out, and would eventually just PP Stall or die.

In general I have not had a problem with speed at all! Sucker Punch helps a lot, and also the focus sash on Bisharp so that speed doesn't really matter, I can still get a hit off. Generally most things that outspeed bisharp are frail enough to die to a powerful stab move and then sucker punch. Krookodile is an excellent scarfer and truly outspeeds almost anything, and has excellent coverage now that Steel doesn't resist Dark.

From his typings (Ghost, Ice, Water, Extrasensory) This makes him weak to: Aegislash, The zards, Ferrothron, alakazam, Bisharp, the list goes on. But yes, in my opinion there are more physical threats than special.

Wow, very well thought out EV spread on sableye, nice work.

Oh alright, then yeah, that bisharp can certainly deal out quite the hit and take a few with that set, looks great.

jbozz1217 · Jun 9, 2014

Uberlox said:
From his typings (Ghost, Ice, Water, Extrasensory) This makes him weak to: Aegislash, The zards, Ferrothron, alakazam, Bisharp, the list goes on. But yes, in my opinion there are more physical threats than special.

Wow, very well thought out EV spread on sableye, nice work.

Oh alright, then yeah, that bisharp can certainly deal out quite the hit and take a few with that set, looks great.

Okay thanks I'll look into that! And I added a "Replays" section of my first post where I will put my successes and failures that are representative of the team's performance. :)

jbozz1217 · Jun 29, 2014

Bump! Uploaded a full list of a bunch of replays. Will get some more Water and Fairy replays when I can, as those are some that I have big problems with. But just thought it would make it more complete to see (and also think it would be nice to just keep them here for reference!)