Proudly Posting a RMT

[Oxypad]

"My approach towards building a balanced team."

Featuring some original movesets that are sensible.

At a mother f*cking glance...

Each member of the team meets at least 1 of the 2 criteria that I made up back when I was playing Advance, and they are:

• The poke has to be immune to Spikes.
• The poke has to be immune to sandstorm.

This was due to the fact of how frequently Spikes and Tyranitar were used, and I typically liked (and still do like) to have 3 out of the 6 fly or levitate.

D/P brought some more dehibilitating things for teams to work around without using over-specialized moves/pokes. So, with regard to some of those and my team...

• (Major) None of the members have a 2X or 4X weakness to Stealth Rock; (in other words, there are no Rock weaknesses. More importantly, and the way I like to look at it, is that there are 3 Rock resists that barely mind Stealth Rock.)
• (Major) Only one member is affected by Toxic Spikes; (but it can Rest.)
• (Minor) There are no Ice types, so every poke would take damage from hail; (Not too much of an issue. It is something to mention, even though Sandstorm teams are far more common than Hail teams. I don't care anyway since Ice types suck. Plus I'm using Tyranitar to change the weather when the opportunity arises.)

Some people may be thinking that having a Rapid Spinner would lessen the need for such stringent criteria. I would have to disagree. My theory is that Rapid Spin is not suitable on most teams. First of all, Ghosts block the removal of any entry hazards put down. OK so...let's imagine that a Ghost was absent for argument's sake. It would get predictable to just keep sending in your Spinner every time against, most notably, Skarmory / Hippowdon. The opponent can start predicting that and outsmart with a switch of their own. Both Hippowdon and Skarmory have recovery moves, so they'll be around awhile to keep trying to Spike/SR. Moreover, they typically have phazing moves. What I foresee happening is that if the cycle continues, then during the course of the battle there will come a point where there will be at least 1 layer of Spikes down or, even worse this generation, Stealth Rock down, and your Spinner's not in. Random phazing can then potentially wreak any rhythm you or I have for removing the entry hazards, and, by then, the damage is already done more often than not.

My theory is that I'd like to be able to switch freely and not have Stealth Rock dictate what I should switch in. (I ain't no bitch to Stealth Rock!) I'm going to accept the fact that it's not entirely worth it to have a Rapid Spinner, and so I must deal with entry hazards as they come, but make sound judgments and predictions. Everyone must do this. The first thing I or anyone else can do is still build a team to minimize harm from them while still being balanced -- with special concern going to the most used, and arguably the most dangerous one, Stealth Rock. Toxic Spikes suck too, of course. My team does not have a cleric. It is a telegraphable move anyway on mostly sub-par pokemon that don't meet my standards.

Onto the movesets/spreads/items...you'll love my lengthy explanations...

Weezing (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/4 Spd/38 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Taunt
- Pain Split
- Thunderbolt
---
Weezing relegated to UU...what's up with that? This gas sack gets in the way of plenty of OU sweepers. Will-o-wisp to threaten physical bastards mainly. It's also my only status attack on the team. Taunt is real nifty on slower leads, and it works through Subs so it can still pester Gliscor or what not. Pain Split is good to get its health back up. It doesn't work through Subs, as I realized that when up against Breloom. Thunderbolt to universally dent common switch-ins and to cover Gyarados.

Flygon (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 18 HP/252 Atk/240 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Fire Punch
---
Raw power. Punches through shit when a Choice Scarf variant just wouldn't. Enough speed to beat Jolly Heracross. 305 HP is odd so that's good if I ever have to bring him in 17 times if Stealth Rock's down (dead on the 17th time). Hey it beats Salamence only being able to come in 4 times. Flygon lets loose with STAB Outrage and EQ most of the time. That's about it.

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/72 Def/160 Spd/10 SAtk/16 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Recover
- Roar
- Refresh
- Dragon Pulse
---
Glorious. At first I wanted Reflect in there too, but realized I wouldn't have room for an attack. The other 3 moves that begin with "R" are really crucial. Latias is a sturdy phazer of special and physical pokes. I've used it to phaze Metagross with +2 speed, and it gets the jump on Lucario that try to Swords Dance up against it. Refresh makes Latias less at risk to status from assholes like Zapdos, Blissey, and Celebi. It switches in no problem and can scout that way.

Latias forms a defensive core with Empoleon, if nobody knew. Any attack that would hit Empoleon for neutral or super effective damage, Latias resists or is immune to, and vice versa (I think). In fact, it might be that way with Latias and Registeel (pure Steel) as well.

Empoleon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 236 HP/132 Def/14 Spd/128 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Stealth Rock
- Sleep Talk
---
I like to pair it with Latias. This bugger is capable of taking LO EQ from Salamence at full health. Therefore, Ice Beam goes with Surf for coverage. Decent Stealth Rock user. More than capable Sleep Talker, though I hate to rely on that. Eh...it serves the opponent right for having to use sleep moves in the first place. For example, if Breloom leads against my Weezing, I just go to Empoleon to take the sleep, and then I'll normally switch back. Makes Milotic's hypnosis useless...that sort of thing. Contends as something that Gengar can't OHKO and Specs Mence can't 2HKO.

Second most expendable member of the team, I feel, after Tyranitar. Usually it's the first to die. I feel like I can be reckless with it since it has so many resistances or something. :D

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/176 Spd/62 SAtk/20 SDef
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
---
Jirachi ya. I elected to make it a special sweeper with Substitute. Pretty simple. Will give Blissey a run for its money with sandstorm active. I read up on this guy from the analysis. Customized the EVs. 280 Speed a must.

Tyranitar (M) @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 162 HP/64 Atk/252 Spd/32 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rest
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
---
Please don't tell me to go the Curse route. I'm fully aware of how potent it can be. Instead, I made this up. The speed boosts from Dragon Dance are too useful, so Curse is out of the question. Chesto Rest is something no one really expects, and can allow me to net another Dragon Dance sometimes. Tyranitar provides a cool Dark resist and hinders/damages the destructive Pokemon that aren't immune to sandstorm. I don't see this working without Chesto + Rest, since it's designed to switch into Rotom. Getting rid of a burn or Toxic from Toxic Spikes is neat.

381 HP is fine by me. Adamant with max speed to hit 331 speed after one DD. If I'm lucky, that'll outspeed some Infernape if Latias isn't around anymore to wall it. I feel like Tyranitar is the most expendable poke on the team. It does what I want it to do, but I know the prevalence of Close Combat and Bullet Punch make it hard to set up. Burn support from Weezing on things like Swampert is helpful, however.

Done. Rate or comment, please.

 

[Shizzle]

Jirachi Psychic>Flash cannon, steel doesnt hit much at all, resisted by fire, water, electirc, steel (might have missed a few).

I see quite a large mixape weakness, HP [Ice] covers latias and flygon (latias can wall but), Fire move (special), takes care of weezing, jirachi, and CC takes down ttar and empoleon. Im sure empoleon and latias can counter, but will take damage in the process.

Psychic on jirachi would help with this.

 

[greg3064]

Alright... if Lead Weezing is working for you, then fine.

I'd say to throw the rest of those HP EVs on Flygon into Speed. You're going to want them to tie other neutral base 100s and switching into SR 17 times won't help you exceptionally much more than 16. If it really matters go with 252Atk/4Def/252Spd and that keeps your HP odd anyway. I'd consider Jolly, as neutral 100 base without a Scarf isn't very fast and you're already banded to give you plenty of power.

Would you care to explain the EVs a bit on Latias? You may as well throw the SAtk/SDef EVs into Defense, unless they have some purpose.

For Empoleon, Stealth Rock is never good on a Sleep Talker, since you can only set it up once and all subsequent uses will fail. Go with Rest if anything since you're going to want it if you're taking Earthquakes from Mence, and it makes Sleep Talk viable against teams without Spore/Hypnosis etc.

Jirachi looks fine. Is there any reason for Flash Cannon > Psychic, though?

Tyranitar is a little odd. I'd really suggest going with standard DDTar if you want to make use of DD, or standard CurseTar if you want to make use of Rest. I know one lacks recovery and the other lacks speed, but it isn't really effective thrown into one.

Overall, the team is fairly conservative. It's fairly balanced, but it's leaning towards defense, and that doesn't really execute a strategy, which tends to get you nowhere.