Prologue's End (Peaked #48)

[False Sense]

Prologue's End

Introduction

​

Hello, members of Smogon, and welcome to my final RMT of the 5th generation! With the release of Pokemon X and Y coming up in just a few weeks, I decided I should make one final RMT before the new generation is released. But what could I do for my final project? I considered basing a team around several underrated threats, but ultimately I decided the best way to end the 5th generation would be the same way I began it; a team based around Lucario. When I was first getting into competitive battling and Smogon in general (and thus, was a complete noob), I made my first RMT based around Swords Dance Lucario. Really, it wasn't that good. So why not take the same basic idea and improve upon it, updating it and adapting it for the current metagame in the process? And so, this team was born, and I've been quite pleased with the results, especially considering that this team allowed me to make my first notable peak on the Pokemon Showdown ladder, at #48. Not too bad for someone terrible at laddering.

So, here's my RMT, an end to the prologue that was 5th gen. We're moving on to an entirely new metagame soon, one that promises to be radically different from this one. For now though, let's take one last look at the BW metagame.

The Team

​

Team Building Process

As I stated before, I wanted to center this team around Swords Dance Lucario, an extremely dangerous sweeper that can easily rip teams to shreds once its counters are removed.

Since I was basically remaking my first RMT, I decided to try pairing up Lucario with Latias to recreate the classic Laticario core my original team was based on. I figured a Life Orb Tank set would work well in this case, absorbing hits while also punching holes in teams.

For the next teammate, I decided to go with Choice Scarf Salamence, serving as both the team's revenge killer as well as another sweeper that has fantastic synergy with Lucario.

At this point I had a pretty solid offensive core, and since I wanted this team to be balanced, I needed to start working on a defensive core for the team. I noticed that the teammates I had at this point may have trouble breaking past bulky pokemon like Landorus-T, Skarmory, and Jirachi. The core could break past them with some clever play, but I wanted a little more insurance. I figured the best way to get rid of these threats would be some kind of lure, but I still needed a defensive backbone. Specially Defensive Tyranitar with a mixed moveset met my needs quite nicely.

With Tyranitar providing Stealth Rock support, I thought it would be nice to fit in some Spikes support as well, since Lucario and Salamence absolutely LOVE having it. Ferrothorn provides that quite nicely, especially since it can wear down foes even further with Leech Seed and Iron Barbs.

So I had a pretty big weakness to Fighting types at this point, so I needed something to handle those. Since I already had Ferrothorn, I figured I might as well complete the Ferrocent core with Jellicent, one of my favorite defensive pokemon in the metagame.

After a few matches, there was a somewhat major problem with the team I noticed; Latias was just worn down far too quickly due to Sandstorm and Life Orb damage. In addition, I wasn't really using her that much in battle. Her abilities for checking Sun and Rain went somewhat wasted with Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Jellicent already on the team. I decided to get rid of Latias and give Focus Sash Alakazam a try instead, since it always caused me a lot of trouble in the past. I was quite pleased with the results.

As some raters have pointed out, my team was a bit weak to physical attackers and had some trouble with breaking through certain walls like Hippowdon and Landorus-T, both of which were significant obstacles in Lucario's path. Seeing as I already had Alakazam to handle sweepers, I decided to go with the idea originally suggested by Remedy to replace Salamence with an offensive pivot Landorus-T. I also changed Tyranitar's set a little, also based on Remedy's suggestion.

Individual Analysis

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt

Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 168 SAtk / 95 SDef
Sassy Nature
-Pursuit
-Fire Blast
-Superpower
-Toxic
​

For those of you who know me or my style of team building well, you probably know that I tend to avoid using weather in my teams. I'm very much a weatherless purist, preferring to find alternative ways to work around weather other than just abusing weather yourself. Now, for the first time ever in my history of 5th gen OU, I'm using a form of weather. Sandstorm, provided by Tyranitar, to be exact. So why am I doing this? Just for the sake of it, I suppose. That, and the kind of support I needed on the team is the kind that really only Tyranitar can provide. Serving as a Specially Defensive wall, a wall breaker, and weather starter, Tyranitar does a lot for this team.

I've changed the set up a bit since Landorus-T was brought into the team. Tyranitar still has mostly the same basic functions, but has a more offensive leaning than before due to its Expert Belt and EVs. Pursuit takes the place of Crunch for the purpose of trapping and eliminating Psychics that can be potentially troublesome for the team. Fire Blast is still a powerful weapon against Steel types like Skarmory. Superpower gives Tyranitar a way of hitting specific pokemon like Heatran and opposing Tyranitar for good amounts of damage, although at the cost of offensive and defensive power. Toxic is a rather interesting move Remedy suggested specifically for this team, giving Tyranitar the ability to cripple threats, Hippowdon being the most important target, that could otherwise be problematic for Tyranitar and the rest of the team.

________________________

Landorus-T @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Atk / 88 Spe
Naive Nature
-Earthquake
-U-Turn
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Stealth Rock
​

Since physical attackers could be a bit painful for my team to handle at times, I've added Landorus-T onto the team to patch up those issues. Naturally, Landorus-T fits in quite nicely, as one would expect from such an excellent pokemon. Landorus-T gives me quite a few things my team appreciates, such as a reliable answer to numerous physical attackers, a pivot into other teammates (quite useful for Lucario), a powerful attacker, and a Stealth Rock user all in one.

In regards to its moveset and EVs, it's nothing unusual. Earthquake is the go-to STAB for any ground-type, and coming off of Landorus-T's naturally high attack power, it packs quite a punch. U-Turn is an excellent move for scouting, easing prediction, and getting teammates in safely. Hidden Power Ice is great for doing massive damage to all those dragons that Landorus-T will often be Intimidating, and is also useful for opposing Landorus-T's and Gliscors. Stealth Rock, again, requires very little explanation. It racks up damage and makes sweeping teams all the easier.
​

________________________

Lucario @ Life Orb

Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
-Close Combat
-ExtremeSpeed
-Bullet Punch
-Swords Dance
​

Finally, we come to the main star of the team, Lucario. To be fair, I wouldn't call him the MVP, but he is the one the team was built around, and thus finds quite easy to get the support he needs to sweep teams. Speaking of that, he can do so quite easily given the chance, which is the main reason why I built the team around him. Thanks to that nasty priority it has, it's very hard to stop without a strong physical wall to check it. Even if it hasn't set up, it can abuse its priority late game to finish off weakened teams, or break through walls that think Lucario will give them a free turn with Swords Dance.

This set and EVs are fairly basic, for the most part. Swords Dance is the obligatory set-up move that boosts Lucario's attack power through the roof. Close Combat is Lucario's main STAB attack, which easily OHKO's most pokemon that don't resist it. ExtremeSpeed is the definitely the most important move on this set, though. The ability to strike before even other priority moves is an incredible blessing for Lucario, and makes it really difficult to stop if it sets up. For the final moveslot, I've opted to go for Bullet Punch for the alternative priority when Extremespeed won't cut it. In other words, it's for things like Terrakion and Gengar, which can usually stop a Lucario sweep cold and are just annoying threats in general. Bullet Punch takes care of them quite nicely.

________________________

Alakazam @ Focus Sash

Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Psyshock
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Encore
​

As I said in the Team Building section, Alakazam is the replacement for Latias on this team. Why? Mostly because Latias didn't provide much utility for the team as it was. Sandstorm especially was annoying for it, since bar the use of Leftovers (significantly decreasing its offensive ability), it would be worn down extremely quick. I decided to give Focus Sash Alakazam a try instead, since with Magic Guard it was completely immune to the residual damage of Sandstorm, could serve as a failsafe against sweepers thanks to Focus Sash, and just be a general threat that could open up holes in teams and possibly sweep late game. Naturally, it does all those roles brilliantly.

The moveset I'm using here is actually a bit different from the standard. Psyshock is obvious, giving Alakazam a good STAB that lets it hit Specially Defensive walls (and more specific threats like Terrakion in Sand) hard. Focus Blast, though inaccurate, does massive damage to Steel, Rock, and Dark types, which is pretty helpful for the team. Hidden Power Ice replaced Hidden Power Fire to help get through Landorus-T's and the like, as well as protecting the team against Dragon sweeps. Encore is probably the most interesting move on this set. Its main purpose if basically to completely mess up anything using a non-attacking move and turn it into total set up bait/death fodder. It creates free turns and forces switches, which my team can take great advantage of. Its also a nice way of stopping rare but annoying threats like SubToxic Gliscor or Sigilyph cold. It's an underrated option that I think could use a bit more credit.

________________________

Jellicent @ Leftovers

Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 104 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Bold Nature
-Scald
-Taunt
-Recover
-Will-O-Wisp
​

Here is one of my all time favorite defensive sets in OU. Why? Because nothing can kill this thing. Short of a very powerful super-effective STAB (Tyranitar's Crunch or Thundurus-T's Thunderbolt, for example), it's very difficult to actually break through this thing. In fact, it has actually served as my win condition in several matches. Some teams, once certain teammates are removed, find themselves without the strength needed to kill Jellicent. That's just one of the reasons Jellicent is awesome.

The moveset here is basically standard fare. Scald is the obvious STAB attack for any bulky water, since that chance of burn makes it very risky to switch directly into Jellicent. Taunt is arguably the best move on this set. The ability to shut down opposing walls or set up sweepers is an incredible ability. Recover is Jellicent's main form of recovery, which is very important since Sandstorm negates its Leftovers. Will-o-Wisp gives Jellicent a more reliable way of burning things, making it all the harder to actually take down with physical attacks. Now, the EVs on this set might need some explaining. Basically, the Speed EVs make Jellicent into the bane of all walls. It lets it outspeed several common walls like Politoed and Skarmory and shut them down with Taunt, giving Jellicent a free turn to fire off a Will-o-Wisp or switch to another teammate. Outspeeding defensive Politoed in particular makes it an excellent check for it, since any Politoed without Toxic struggles to leave a dent on Jellicent. Such a brilliant pokemon.

________________________

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers

Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Relaxed Nature
-Power Whip
-Spikes
-Leech Seed
-Thunder Wave
​

I'll admit, I was never too fond of Ferrothorn when I had used it before. I don't really know why, it just never appealed to me. Perhaps I was just using it wrong. In any case, I've found it works great on this team. It serves as a great mixed wall and good team supporter, providing the Spikes that my sweepers can't get enough of. It's really a master at racking up residual damage on opponents, which is exactly what my team needs.

There's a lot of variations that Ferrothorn's moveset can have, but this one is pretty basic. Power Whip is its main STAB attack, and actually, it hits pretty hard. It is a 120 base power attack with STAB after all, and a lot of people tend to underestimate that. Spikes is one of the best moves Ferrothorn can use, since the amount of damage it can cause teams is incredible, especially if they need to switch constantly. Leech Seed is Ferrothorn's main form of recovery, since unfortunately it lacks a recovery move. That being said, Leech Seed is a good move for racking up further residual damage and forcing switches. Thunder Wave is a nice support move that Ferrothorn (for whatever reason) gets, and is great for crippling sweepers that Jellicent's Will-O-Wisp won't be helpful on, and making them that much more manageable later on.

Core Analysis

Offensive Core
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The main offensive backbone of this team consists of the trio of Lucario, Tyranitar, and Alakazam. Their main goal, of course, is to beat down teams so that Lucario can pull off a sweep. Now that Tyranitar is more offensive in nature, its role on the team is more geared to breaking down walls rather than doing the actual walling. Thanks to its great coverage and Pursuit, Tyranitar finds it easy to trap and kill pokemon that could otherwise be troubling for Lucario, and whatever it can't outright kill, it can usually cripple with Toxic. Alakazam aids in securing sweeps both by using its powerful attacks to punch holes and by using Encore, locking foes into moves that can grant free turns. Interestingly, this core is also very anti-sweeping due to the nature of its members. Lucario has priority and Alakazam has its Focus Sash to guarantee its survival. Between the two of them, pulling off a successful sweep against this team can be rather difficult.

Defensive Core
​

Landorus-T, Jellicent, and Ferrothorn form the defensive backbone of the team, easily taking hits from numerous threats and crippling them in return. Jellicent absorbs Water, Fighting, and Fire attacks, Ferrothorn tanks Grass, Water, Electric, and Dragon attacks, and Landorus-T shrugs off Ground, Fighting, and physical attacks in general. Aside from taking hits, their main purpose is to support the offensive core of the team with their various utilities. Landorus-T's Stealth Rocks and powerful attacks, Jellicent's Taunts and burns, and Ferrothorn's Spikes and Paralysis, all come together to wear down teams to the point of being very easy pickings. In fact, the amount of residual damage this core can cause is quite impressive. Between Sandstorm, Stealth Rocks, burns, Spikes, Iron Barbs, U-Turns, and Leech Seed, opponents can get low on health very quickly. Alternatively, should the offensive core be unable to sweep through teams, it can at least cause enough damage to teams to the point where they lack the means of breaking through the defensive core, giving me another win condition.

Conclusion

Well, that's it then. That's my final 5th gen RMT. Hopefully I can make some nice RMT's once the 6th gen metagame stabilizes. For now, I hope you enjoyed reading through this RMT. If you have any ideas for how to improve this team, I'd very much appreciate the feedback.

Until next time, then.​

 

[Dr Ciel]

Hey, nice team

Hi, False Sense, I got your request, so here I am to help you with your team. The team looks really solid at first glance, great use of Lucario & an odd, but seemingly effective set of Encore Alakazam, very well done, kudos to you. However, I do see quite a bit of threats that can overwhelm you, should they be played correctly, & hopefully I can point them out & help your team improve somewhat. With all that said & done, let's get on to my rate. The first threat to your team I see is, funnily enough, Alakazam. Now Alakazam, (The ones with Focus Sash & HP Ice) can absolutely rip through your team, either One-hitting or 2-hitting everything, bar Jellicent, which can't do much back anyway. To help remedy this situation, I would like to recommend running a Special Defensive Jirachi over your current Ferrothorn. Now Jirachi provides a lot of support for your team. For example, Jirachi provides vital Wish support to your entire team, which both Lucario & Salamence both enjoy, since they'll be switching into Stealth Rocks & Spikes quite a bit, & you having no spinner could be a problem there. Besides, one layer of Stealth Rock & one free SD is just enough for Lucario to absolutely destroy the opposition. I would also recommend that you run Shadow Ball somewhere on your Jellicent, preferably over Will-O-Wisp. Shadow Ball helps Jellicent not be smashed into the ground by Reuniclus, which by the way, is a huge threat to your team & it also gives you a move to hit Latias & Latios with. Finally, I would suggest running Sassy over Careful on your Tyranitar. With Careful, you're basically lowering fun & your Special Attack, which is no good at all. Well, that's all I have to say for now. I hope my advice helped. Have fun & good luck with your team!

Jirachi

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Wish
- U-Turn

tl;dr

Ferrothorn

---------------------------------> Special Defensive Jirachi

Jellicent

: Will-O-Wisp -> Shadow Ball

Tyranitar

: Careful -> Sassy

~Dr Ciel

 

[False Sense]

Thanks for the rate, Dr Ciel!

So one at a time. First off, Jirachi. That's a rather interesting idea, and I'll admit I've never considered that. That would provide me a nice answer to psychics and give me some nice team support. My main concern with that though is that losing Ferrothorn would do. For one, my team really appreciates the Spikes support it provides, since it racks up huge damage and eases sweeping. Ferrothorn also provides me with a resistance to Electric, among others, that helps greatly against threats like Rotom-W. Another thing is that Ferrothorn is neutral to Ground. This is rather important since, thanks to Ferrothorn's great defenses, it can take a few Earthquakes for the team that could otherwise hurt. Yes, Salamence is immune to it, but it being an offensive Choiced pokemon, it's not the most ideal switch in. And I'll be honest, I've never exactly had troubles with Psychic before. Focus Sash Alakazam can be troublesome just because of how difficult it is to KO, but it can never destroy my entire team. Most other Psychics are easily dealt with by Tyranitar. I'll give Jirachi a try, but I'm curious as to whether or not the payoff is worth the sacrifice.

Shadow Ball over Will-o-Wisp... Now, Shadow Ball would be a nice utility for handling Psychics and Ghosts, but that comes at the cost of Will-o-Wisp, which leaves my team much more vulnerable to physical attackers than before. I actually used to run Toxic over Will-o-Wisp early on, but I found that physical attackers were too much of a pain without a reliable way of burning them. Scald is nice and all with that burn chance, but that's really much more of something to threaten with rather than relying on. If I want to dissuade a physical attacker from coming in while still doing damage to something, I'll use Scald. If my life depends on burning a specific threat before it kills me, I'd want to use Will-o-Wisp. Again, like Jirachi, I'm concerned with the holes that would open up in exchange for handling something else better.

Finally, Sassy over Careful Tyranitar. Actually, that's a typo. You're right, it should be Sassy. My fault entirely, thank you for pointing that out.

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey False Sense, thanks for the request!

So this team is really quite solid and your cores work together quite well so I'll be focusing more on movesets. Looking at your team, I can see both Landorus-T and Jellicent being a pain to break through. While you do have some insurance against both, and they can both be worn down over the course of the match (more so Landorus) I think you should be focusing on eliminating them a bit more since they can both put a stop to a Lucario sweep. So to help with these I would first suggest changing Hidden Power Fire to Hidden Power Ice on Alakazam. You already have a good amount of Fire Type Coverage on this team and I don't see things like Ferrothorn or Scizor being too much of a threat to this team. Even SD Scizor isn't too much of a problem because Focus Blast is doing a nice chunk anyways and Lucario can take a Bullet Punch and revenge KO. Plus you can revenge KO Dragons without having to bring out Salamence too early which is nice. Next, to deal with opposing Jellicent, I would recommend using Shadow Ball over Scald on Jellicent. While this isn't optimal under most circumstances, taking out opposing Jellicent should definitely be a top priority for your team and this helps you to do so much easier. Plus, by replacing Scald instead of Will-o-Wisp you can retain a more reliable chance to Burn things like Tyranitar and Scizor which is always nice.

Hopefully my suggestions helped! Let me know how it works and good job with the team!

 

[False Sense]

Thanks for the rate, MCBarrett!

As I've mentioned in the section on Alakazam, Hidden Power Fire is really more of a choice made out of personal experiences than anything else. I guess I just had a little too much bad luck with Scizors without it. But, to be fair, I think I was running Toxic on Jellicent at the time as well. As such, I'm open to changing it to something more suited for the teams purpose. HP Ice does sound like the logical choice for a moveslot, as threats like Landorus-T do tend to be problematic for the team if I'm not careful. Tyranitar makes a good lure for it, but having something a little more reliable to deal with that sort of thing would be nice. There was actually a battle I had with a high ranked person on Showdown (I think it was qSeasons?) where I might have sweeped with Alakazam if I had HP Ice to kill a Landorus-T. So yes, I think that change would work out fine in the long run.

Shadow Ball is a bit trickier, as you might imagine. Replacing Scald on a moveset should have some good reasoning behind it, due to it being just such a good move. That being said, you have provided some good reasons. Shadow Ball, as both you and Dr Ciel have pointed out, would help me deal with opposing Jellicents (one of Lucario's main counters) and Psychic types that could prove otherwise threatening. And since I already have Will-o-Wisp, I don't necessarily need Scald for its burns. My biggest concern with the change is losing out on the Water Stab that Scald provides, which is quite helpful against threats like Heatran, Hippowdon, and Landorus-T (the last two are particularly noteworthy). Not being able to hit those with one of my most frequently used team members is a tad worrisome. Still, Shadow Ball does come with its own set of benefits. I'll give both of your suggestions a try and report back once I have. Again, thanks for the rate!

 

[False Sense]

Updated with moveset change. Alakazam now carries Hidden Power Ice as suggested by MCBarret. I would greatly appreciate more rates, as I want to make this team the best it can be.

 

[swwaaggeerr]

something to keep in mind on lucario
bullet punch-gengar,terrakion
ice punch-celebi, landy t, gliscor, dragonite..
ice punch is a bit more useful for common lucaro switchins but its all up to preference

alakazam shud hav shadow ball over hp ice or encore. i wud take out encore but u lik the move even though shadow ball is way to huge to not hav in general

i like surf over scald on jelli since it threatens rain a bit mor and if u wana burn somtin u can juss use will o wisp anyway

mayb protect/gyro ball wud b a better option over twave on ferro as ur offensive core is alredy very fast and gyro wud help u agaisnt a lot of threats especially dragons while protect wud increase longetivity and scouting by a lot.

 

[Reymedy]

Okay, since you requested the rate (even though I don't like rating after another TR)... and since I have nothing else to rate...
There we go :

So, the team is around a Luke. What I think is totally needed when you play Luke is to play a Pursuit bait pokemon. Alakazam can play this role. Still, there are some defensive walls you need to focus on, like Hippowdon, Gliscor, Landorus-T... What is annoying about Lucario is that a ton of crap actually checks him even at +2. Keldeo can take an Espeed and kill you, Chomp can do it too, Gyarados can take a +2 CC after SR and kill you after the def drop...

I like the fact that you have Spikes support, since it helps with a lot of the threats I mentionned. However, I don't feel like you really deal with Hippowdon, I feel like he could sit there and be a nuisance because you don't have for instance Breloom, or something of the sort to take advantage from that situation. I really don't think that Alakazam can even threaten him, even with HP Ice, and it's not like Alakazam could switch in.

So, to me the threats are :

Hide

- Breloom in your #1 threat in my opinion. Not only you offer him MANY set-up possibilities (Jellicent/Ferrothorn/Tyranitar) to cast a Spore, but on top of that you can't take his attacks too well. Your best chance to take a couple of hits is Mence... Honnestly if the guy against you plays carefully with his Breloom, he has an instant big win condition, right from a 6v6 situation, that you won't be able to stop easily.

- AcroZor is also a big threat. Because like Breloom, you got a lot of slow pokemons and of pokemons afraid of him. If he gets the SD, he will end the game. Acrobatics deals with Jellicent, Bullet Punch takes care of Ttar/Mence/Alak and Superpower will crush Ferrothorn and Lucario. Actually Luca's CC has a nice chance of killing the 0 HP version, but if he invested in HP, then he will live a hit.

- Mamoswine is another big threat. Ttar gets killed, Lucario can't kill it with Bullet Punch (unless he's at +2), Ferrothorn won't enjoy a Superpower, Mence gets stoped cold, Alak will fear the Ice Shard. Finally, Jellicent won't like switching in on EQ (easy 2HKO), so it's pretty hard to play around that big pig.

- Double Dance Landorus-T, because it could easily get a boost on a switch, and manage to kill Ferrothorn 1v1 (like, if he SD on the switch). You don't have anything, bar Alakazam, who can kill it in one hit.

- Sheer Force Conkeldurr O.o

- OTRK Reuniclus could sweep you absolutly cleanly.

- Garchomp with FireBlast, because as I said, you can't switch in Alakazam like yolo, because you need him to live twice (L O L). So, Alakazam is supposed to check a lot of stuff, but to check them, you'll probably need to let something die before... which is meh.

On top of that, I would like to increase your "kill hippo" power, and not make you any weaker to crap like Rotom-W (because you're kinda his bitch already, he can WoW Ferrothorn and piss everybody off in your team).

The change part of the rate will be lame, because I built so many sand teams like that that everything looks lame and already done over a thousand times :

- Change that Mence for a Landorus-T Pivot. I don't feel like your Mence is doing anything at all and when I read your description, this feeling gets stronger. Your Landorus-T should carry HP Ice.

- With SR on Landorus-T, you could change a bit that Ttar set. Give him Pursuit, it's really important, because Latios with HP Fire is threatening and you need it out of the way by all means. You should try to give him EBelt. I believe Superpower/Pursuit/FireBlast form a core, but I also REALLY like the idea of a Toxic in the set as last move, because it would help against Hippow/Lando WHILE also crippling Volcaronas/Keldeo and such thinking they're safe because you look locked into something (that's why EBelt is cool). 248 HP / 168 SpA, some in SpD/Atk, and a Sassy Nature.

These are the main changes.
Now obviously a lot of weaknesses remain unchanged (Mamoswine, Conkeldurr, Reuniclus mainly) but to fix them I'd need to change the team way "deeper" and I don't really want to do it, especially given how "uncommon" those are (and because Mamoswine can't switch in too much either).
I don't think you need a Scarfer since you have Alakazam.

I hope that I helped, it looks like a sucky rate because I point a lot of weaknesses that I don't fix, but I believe that at this point what you'll win thanks to new changes will be lost somewhere else. I tried to stick to the most "efficient", changes.
Though, you can try to improve it yourself, but you'll need to relift the a part of the team, the Jellicent/Alakazam is a bit lacklusting in my opinion.

Good luck with your team.

 

[malefic]

luc has always been one of my favorites and it's nice to see a team built around it. anyway, i shall weigh in:
(cross-referencing remedy)
offensively, breloom stands out as the key threat to the team. a well-played sashloom/fighting gem breloom can grab momentum early-mid game and perhaps take the game from there; your only answer to it is mence but not really as mence isnt a pokemon you want to be switching in mid-game to sponge hits. also note that 5/6 of your team members are grounded, which means powerful eqs from the likes of lando-t and -especially- chomp can really push the team around.
defensively, a well-played skarmory can be a huge headache - and btw this team doesnt have an actual way to deal with custapskarm leads too, which means you fare poorer against HO teams than you should.

suggestions:
get an offensive pivot landorus-t, as remedy said, but i disagree with replacing mence. mence is a great endgame sweeper and to me, really anchors the team in that it gives the team a win condition and allows for a structured gameplan to be built. i would recommend replacing ttar instead - think of it as replacing your sr setter over anything else. ttar is going to die setting up sr most times anyway; lando-t has far more longevity and will function as an excellent pivot, helping the team immensely against the aforementioned breloom + ground weaknesses. having stab eq on your team is also great to force switches and soften up stuff midgame. your team doesnt benefit much from sand anyway, at best you lack up some largely negligible residual damage on the opponent, while that same sandstorm damage negates jelli's lefties recovery and chips away at mence. in your team's context, ttar is just too slow, has too many weaknesses and is bait for opportunistic sweepers like loom and rp/dubdance terrak.

if i were you, i would also replace zam with a bulky attacker rotom-w to allow the team to stand up better against (acro)zor, round out the team's typing, and allow for more opportunities to bring in ferro or luc, both pokemon that greatly appreciate being brought in safely by volt-turn rather than being dry-switched into. you aren't really losing anything in zam - the way i see it, you don't need zam as you have a scarfer (kinda the inverse of how remedy sees it), and looking at your current team composition, ScizTom volt-turn really tears the team up, whereas with lando and rotom-w you can do a little volt-turning of your own. rotom-w also patches up a vulnerability to gyara, and is guaranteed to limit custapskarm to 1 layer of hazards.

anyway, good luck. :)

 

[GeneralMLD]

Shadow Ball for Alakazam counters many opposing psychics/ghosts. IMO, it seems essential for any psychic to have if they can learn it.

 

[Subject 18]

Hey False Sense, I got your request.

The structue of the team as it looks now it fairly solid and doesn't really leave you weak to many things. Like Remedy and Papraxis have mentioned Breloom is the notable threat to this team. As you really only have Salamence to keep it in check who will get worn down pretty quickly with Rocks, sand and Breloom's attacks.

The best way to deal with this issue is to replace Salamence with Landorus-T. The offensive pivot set works perfectly for you. I don't really agree with replacing Tyranitar for it as I see you being pretty sun weak without Tyranitar's presence on the team.

With that change you can probably Tyranitar's set to a scarf set to successfully trap Lati@s and Celebi.

I don't know how I really feel about the Alakazam and Jellicent combination it leaves you pretty open to being pursuit trapped by Tyranitar. However this gives you more chances of setting up with Luke. You could change this one of those two but it's not really a major issue.

I hope this helped though it probably wasn't much as Remedy, MCBarret and others have point out most of what needs to be changed.

Good luck with the team!

Edit: wrote this on my phone so that explains why it's so bland. :/

 

[False Sense]

Thanks for the rates everyone! It's nice to see that this team is getting some good feedback!

Now, it seems like the big thing everyone is suggesting is to put a Landorus-T on the team, preferably over Salamence, and perhaps adjusting a few sets (Tyranitar in particular) to compensate for the change. I'm not really against the idea, actually. While I certainly would miss Salamence's abilities as a complementary sweeper to Lucario and a revenge killer, I think that having a good physically defensive wall and a pivot would be quite helpful for the team, giving me a better check to some of those nasty physical sweepers and an easier way of maintaining momentum against opposing teams without resorting to pure prediction. Of course, that sort of change would probably lead to Tyranitar being changed to a Scarf set or something similar, but that works out fine. I'll certainly give those changes a try, but unfortunately, with X and Y coming up in just a few days, this might be the end for this team and generation. I'll see if I can get in some battles with the suggestions before that. Anyway, thanks for all the rates!

 

[Reymedy]

Okay so to sum up, you sended a request to three raters sunday, only to reply to these future rates "Hey I'm sorry, I'm out of cares for this gen and for your rates".

Hurr durr

(it takes time to rate, and I could have rated people needing it, instead of stuffing your rmt with another useless rate)

 

[False Sense]

Okay so to sum up, you sended a request to three raters sunday, only to reply to these future rates "Hey I'm sorry, I'm out of cares for this gen and for your rates".

Hurr durr

(it takes time to rate, and I could have rated people needing it, instead of stuffing your rmt with another useless rate)

I'm sorry if I offended you, I honestly didn't mean it in that sort of way. I just wasn't sure if I would have the proper time to test out some of these rates due to a rather large amount of outside work that came up recently. I realize the amount of effort you all have put into trying to improve my team, and I am very grateful for all the ideas you all have suggested. Again, I will do my best to make time for testing out your suggestions. Sorry if I made it sound like I don't care at all. I think you all have made some wonderful suggestions that deserve some recognition.

 

[False Sense]

Final update. With the arrival of X and Y in just a few hours, the 5th generation is finally coming to a close. Because of that, it seems best to close up on this team. Again, thanks to everyone who provided rates and feedback and helped this team grow. So, finally, here's the last update for the team.

-Offensive Pivot Landorus-T has replaced Salamence, as suggested by Remedy, Parapraxis, and Subject 18.

-Tyranitar's moveset has been altered to Remedy's suggestion of Pursuit/FireBlast/Superpower/Toxic