Overview
Well, this is my first RMT at Smogon and this is also my first real Platinum metagame team outside of a Baton Pass one. After using Baton Pass teams for a while, I've gotten seriously tired of them. So, I decided to make a "normal OU team," which I've noticed a lot of people have (Meh, OU is so unoriginal these days. It's like every battle I fight I can look at an RMT on here and see their teams pretty much all over. :P Stupid RMT-stealing noobs.). Well, after using this team for a little bit over a week with minimal loses and a couple really fun matches, I decided to keep this for the summer and see how far I get until the whole OU-UU voting thing changes the metagame...again (P.S. I'm looking forward to recording usage of this team on Shoddy, but I need camera advice. What program should I use that's free to record my shoddy matches and still get a good video feed?). So without further adeu, here is Team Resistance Rampage.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 236 HP/64 Atk/92 Spd/116 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
This is my gimmicky Anti-Suicide Lead Salamence. I know, it's really wierd. However, it gets the job done. Salamence handles the likes of Azelf and Heatran who often set up Stealth Rock and then explode on this Mence lead. If they try to use an attack, my SDef pretty much negates what attacks they have. Most Lead Azelf and Heatran only use attacks that aren't too effective against Mence, so I can get the advantage fast.
You might be asking yourself already, "Why is he using Protect on Salamence?" Well, I thought it was crazy at first, loosing coverage. However, it's all together worth it. First turn, suicide lead sets up the rocks and I use Dragon Dance. Second turn, they get scared (meh, they have a sash anyways so might as well kill me) of my high speed and attack, and use Explosion. Unfortunatly, I then use Protect. I am already starting with one DD boost and I'm at full health. If they switch in a counter, I'm set to check what I'm dealing with using Protect. If I need to switch out, I will. If not, DD sweep! >:D
Sadly, this Mence is really only an advantage over suicide leads. Pokemon such as Hippowdon (which seems to be seeing less usage lately) and Swampert can prove tricky to kill. Usually, I send in Breloom or Rotom-c to remove these threats. Salamence then gets bogged down by Stealth Rock with is almost always used right off the bat with these leads. More testing will be needed, but this is a very special member of the team to me. :3 Salamence is beast!
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Empoleon @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 12 HP/232 Spd/252 SAtk/12 SDef
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility
- Substitute
- Surf
- Ice Beam
Empoleon has proven himself to be a phenominal late-game sweeper. Because I was building a team based on Resistances, I pretty much automatically put him in. I had used him before as a reciever of Baton Passes for that reason. But pretty fast, I started using this beastly set that seems to be gaining popularity very quickly.
Thanks to his huge list of resistences, he can come in on many of my teams counters and begin his special-sweeping rampage. Blissey is easily removed early on if I just switch this in on a Choice Scarfed Pokemon running a highly ineffective move like Ice Beam or Iron Head, and then going into Breloom, who counters pretty quickly the incoming Blissey trying to stop Empoleon from killing off their team.
Nothing much else to say about Empoleon. His two moves give decent cover for Pokemon who usual wait until the end of the game to come out. Substitute can also terminate the chance that an opponent like Salamence will Dragon Dance again in fear of being hammered by Ice Beam.
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Breloom @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Spore
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb
This little mushroom head has saved me many many times from sure death. A quick Spore knocks stall (primarily) teams out cold during the end game in situtation like a 2-2 battle. Empoleon then gets a good chance of setting up, so he's pretty useful. A fast Stone Edge also saves me from threats like Salamence and Gyarados who try to DD on other Pokemon.
Well, he's pretty much a standard Scarfed poke, but his access to Spore is, like I said, very good. However, like many Scarfed Pokemon, Breloom is ESPECIALLY vurnerable to Intimidate. If they catch on that he's a Scarfer, it could mean game over if the team I'm facing has a DDancer left. Other than switching in Swampert to take the hit or Rotom-c coming in to be the quicker Scarf menace, I'm vulnerable to that.
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Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 40 HP/216 Def/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Confuse Ray
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Lanturn is quite a threat to some teams if they're unprepared. Thunder Wave stops some Pokemon from sweeping period, which is nice. Also help Empoleon set up on the cripple Scarfer that tried to switch in on the charged fishy. Confuse Ray also help Lanturn be my Scizor counter, which can force people into making their Scizor primarily use Bullet Punch in fear of being KOd before they can attack again. Latias is also countered by this bulky beast.
Lanturn, like Empoleon, has several resistances and also has access to the ability Volt Absorb. This is VERY useful when fighting Zapdos or Jolteon who try to beat down Empoleon before it can attack. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt also help through the BoltBeam coverage combo.
As for the weakness issue, I really don't worry about it. I only have one other Grass weakness, and even then it's a fairly uncommon attack type outside of Celebi and all my other pokemon resist it. Earthquake and Earth Power are always a threat, but I have Rotom-c and Breloom to beat down those pokemon. Swampert can also come in to stall them out.
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Rotom-c @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/224 Spd/34 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
This is quickly becoming my favorite Scarf pokemon. Since most people expect this Rotom form to be carrying Leaf Storm, I use that to my advantage. Common switches into this form on a Leaf Storm are Gyarados, Zapdos, and Scizor. With this moveset, I'm virtually immune to all of those Pokemon smashing me. I have Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt to have a pokemon with a generally strong Dual-STAB sweeping ability, especially with the Scarf tricked off of me.
Thunder Wave can also really help me beat Pokemon that I couldn't get to because I was too slow. Breloom, even with a scarf, is still kinda slow and doesn't outspeed some Pokemon who boost their speed, unlike Rotom-c. That said, it can also kill the Dragon Dancers that I hate so much.
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Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/52 Atk/216 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
And finally, Swampert. I always hated him, but with this new team he serves a role I'm not that used to using on a team, yet. He can absorb status. Although I lack someone to use Rocks on this team, I kinda like the Rest Talking Swampert better. He is especially useful when taking down those really annoying Status spammers, although he is already immune from TWave due to his Ground typing.
He also is a decent part of my team due to his lack of weaknesses and bulkiness. his resistances also come in handy at times, especially with sweepers running rampant, these days. However, I'll gladly take suggestion for another Pokemon and another moveset because I don't like using Swampert naturally. Not my thing. :P
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Closing Words
So, yeah. That's my team. In all, this team covers a large multitude of resistences. Please rate and comment to help me make it even better. :] Thanks!
[[ Resistance List and Threat List Coming Soon ]]
