Power of the Dancers

[Darth Meanie]

This is a new team I came up with after getting frustrated with my stall team being neither effective nor original. They're all the same in Platinum. So I came up with a team based around the idea of setting up a DDmence sweep.

MAGNUM (Salamence) (M) @ Life Orb
EVs: 120 HP/252 Atk/136 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Outrage

The Pokemon was nothing out of the ordinary. Salamence is a reliable killing machine, and was my perfect late game ace. You all know how he works

I needed to come up with some new Pokemon to support it though. My first idea was that I use Magnezone to beat the hell out of any steels so I could pulverize everything with a DD'd Outrage, but Magnezone, despite having good synergy with Salamence, just couldn't cover what I wanted and his weaknesses were too bad. The only thing I thought I could depend on him beating was Skarmory, and he already had that dealt with. Eventually I came up with something else to use.

THUNDERBIRD (Zapdos) @ Expert Belt
EVs: 252 HP/208 Spd/50 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Roost
- Thunderbolt

My midgame Pokemon, this avian was designed to beat around the bulky waters and steels who want to mess with Salamence. What Salamence counter doesn't fear this thing. All of the sets I found for Zapdos were either defensively based or offensively based, and nothing was the middle ground I was looking for. Despite my lack of skill when it comes to writing sets, I find this one does pretty well. The moves give impeccable coverage, blasting Bronzong, Heatran, Skarmory, Metagross and others to a bloody pulp. Expert Belt lets me take advantage of the large variety of Super Effective hits without sacrificing HP, while Roost lets me completely change my weaknesses and become even more threatening when my opponent switches.

I do need help tweaking the EV spread; I don't OHKO Heatran and I'm not sure what speed to shoot for.

I also wanted another Pokemon to laugh in the faces of bulky waters. For that I chose:

BLITZKRIEG (Kingdra) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 40 HP/252 Atk/216 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Substitute
- Waterfall

A monster that does, basically the same thing that Salamence does but with completely different coverage. No one expects two dancing dragons, and the abilitity to set up in the face of bulky waters made him a great addition to my team. The added HP effort values were fairly arbitrary, at 301 HP. If someone has a better number too shoot for to give extra bulk, please share!

This thing has been able to get off far more dragon dances than Salamence ever does with his better resistances, and can either stop a bulky water in its tracks or attempt a mid game sweep to soften the enemy team up for Salamence.

Next I wanted a good lead. Someone who could let these three pokemon tear it up. I chose:

SENTINEL (Alakazam) (F) @ Light Clay
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP/216 Spd/40 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Encore
- Light Screen
- Psychic
- Reflect

Outspeeds Azelf, Immune to Flinch from Fake Out, encores any stealth rocks or fake outs, and sets up the screens. Reflect first almost invariably. Survives Scarfgar Shadow Ball and KO's with psychic before Light Screen, and CB Ttar Pursuit after Reflect. Sets up for my dancers perfectly.

The team was good, but had a slight rock, ice, and dragon weakness.

GUARDIAN (Bronzong) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/86 Atk/80 Def/92 SDef
Sassy nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Hypnosis
- Earthquake

Fairly standard, but I've been thinking about replacing Hypnosis with Explosion to take out some threats. In fact, I'm certain I should do that unless you can tell me otherwise.

Finally I needed a tank that could frustrate my opponents and threaten some of those flyers.

TITAN (Machamp) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dynamicpunch
- Rest
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk

ReSTalk Machamp puts a big hurting on unboosted Gyarados and Salamence as well as hit a lot of threats with its fantastic STAB move. Fairly standard, if unexpected, and so far hasn't been as useful as I would like; the Pokemon I am most willing to drop.

THREATS:

A Skymin can whack me around pretty hard, especially if I don't have Light Screen up. My best bet is for Bronzong to Gyro Ball it or Zapdos's Heat Wave.

Dragon Dance Tyranitar can take out two of my Pokemon if I let it get a sub up.

After playtesting I haven't run into anything alone that really whacks my team except for leads such as Ninjask or Scarf Skymin that can take out 'Zam before he gets the screens up.

 

[13blue101]

try a trick zam for the lead.
psychic, focus blast, shaddow ball, trick with choice specs. he hits hard as hell and can trick over the choice to a wall or lead since they mostly carry focus sash.

give zong the screens over hypnosis and earthquake. he has the bulk to get both up screens while lay down the ever important rocks.

you dont hav a sturdy revenge killer. try lucario over champ since you said you would like to drop him. he still can hit both gyara and mence really hard with a stone edge which nobody see coming.
go jolly to outspeed 252spe adamant mences with cc, espeed, sd, stone edge with a life orb.
you loose a good amount of power but he gives you a sturdy revenge killer which is pretty much what this metagame is all about now.

oh and two more notes: you get style points for usind kingdra over a gyarados and u normally put the pokes in the order in which they would appear in battle. i.e. leads at the front, late game sweeper at the end, mid game set up poke in the middle.

 

[Scofield]

This team has a major specs jolt weakness. You have nothing that can switch in and not be ohkoed nor anything to revenge it with. I hate to say it, but two dragon dancers here might be a tad repetitive. I think pert or mamo would work well over one of them.

 

[Darth Meanie]

try a trick zam for the lead.
psychic, focus blast, shaddow ball, trick with choice specs. he hits hard as hell and can trick over the choice to a wall or lead since they mostly carry focus sash.

give zong the screens over hypnosis and earthquake. he has the bulk to get both up screens while lay down the ever important rocks.

you dont hav a sturdy revenge killer. try lucario over champ since you said you would like to drop him. he still can hit both gyara and mence really hard with a stone edge which nobody see coming.
go jolly to outspeed 252spe adamant mences with cc, espeed, sd, stone edge with a life orb.
you loose a good amount of power but he gives you a sturdy revenge killer which is pretty much what this metagame is all about now.

oh and two more notes: you get style points for usind kingdra over a gyarados and u normally put the pokes in the order in which they would appear in battle. i.e. leads at the front, late game sweeper at the end, mid game set up poke in the middle.

I'll consider the lead change, but Alakazam can usually set up the screens and isn't vulnerable to taunt, as well as packing the surprise factor.

Lucario over Machamp w/ Stone Edge will definitely help this team, that'll work great.

I would still like some help on the EV spreads for Zapdos, Kingdra, and Bronzong.