Rate My Paralysis Team

Zoran

Zoran

I'm new to Smogon, but I've lurked here for months and play on the Smogon Shoddy server pretty regularly. Out of a desire to shut down the offensive teams that are so prevalent in the current metagame, I decided to try a team designed to slow down the opposition so that I could destroy fragile sweepers quickly. To that end, I came up with this team.

Parahax Team v.1.1

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Weavile @ Focus Sash
Pressure
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Hasty (+Spe, -Def)
~Fake Out
~Taunt
~Counter
~Night Slash

Anti-Lead Weavile. This guy works wonders at shutting down Azelf, Bronzong, and Gengar, three of the four most common leads in August. Azelf dies to Night Slash after Fake Out; Bronzong can be Taunted, if I predict Stealth Rock/Hypnosis, or Countered if I expect a Gyro Ball (it's usually a toss-up); and Gengar is usually beaten with Night Slash. As an extra benefit, if Weavile manages to stop Azelf and Bronzong, the opponent often never gets Stealth Rock up, so I can switch Weavile back in to absorb a sleep move or the like.

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Togekiss @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
252 HP / 240 Def / 16 SpD
Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
~Thunder Wave
~Air Slash
~Aura Sphere
~Roost

The first of my three paralyzers, Togekiss takes a hit or two, paralyzes, and then Roosts off the damage, at which point it can begin using Air Slash. Aura Sphere is a useful backup to hit Heatran, Magnezone, and other steels. With this EV spread, it takes physical and special hits about equally well, which is important for being able to take on mixed threats and fire off a Body Slam.

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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serene Grace
252 HP / 40 Atk / 96 Def / 120 SpD
Impish (+Def, -SpA)
~Body Slam
~Stealth Rock
~Wish
~Zen Headbutt

My other Serene Grace abuser. Jirachi isn't as good as Togekiss at paraflinch, but it is better at taking down annoying special walls (I have had success taking down Blisseys with this thing). The EVs allow for a OHKO on 4 HP / 0 Def Heracross, and the defensive spread once again provides more opportunities to paralyze. Unfortunately, this set is completely walled by Spiritomb, but I can switch in any of my other defensive pokemon on that without much risk. Stealth Rock is good for general utility, but it rarely gets used. I'm contemplating switching it for either Reflect or another attacking move (Thunder?)

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Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Water Absorb
224 HP / 216 Def / 68 SpA
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
~Wish
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Roar

Vaporeon doesn't really advance the paralysis theme, but it does stop a number of threats: Heatran, Salamence (Life Orb 252 EV +SpA Draco Meteor is a 3HKO, as is Life Orb 252 EV +Atk Earthquake. If Vaporeon switches in on a Dragon Dance, Salamence has no way to kill it short of a critical hit with Earthquake or Dragon Claw, even with three layers of spikes down. Ice Beam is an obvious OHKO), Infernape, Gyarados, Suicune, and more. And in the late game, when most everything on the opponent's team is hopefully paralyzed, Vaporeon cleans up well.

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Zapdos @ Leftovers
Pressure
252 HP / 164 Def / 36 Spe / 56 SpD
Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
~Thunder Wave
~Roost
~Thunderbolt
~Hidden Power Ice

This Zapdos works wonders for my team. It can Thunder Wave just about any threat, because almost everything immune to Thunder Wave fears Hidden Power (Swampert is a notable exception.) Pressure, coupled with Roost, then defeats almost any Pokemon trying to bring down Zapdos with Stone Edge, Ice Punch, or Ice Beam. When full paralysis sets in, Zapdos gets a free turn to attack, so it can fire off a Thunderbolt or Hidden Power as appropriate. With 36 Spe EVs, Zapdos hits 245 Speed, just enough to outspeed Jolly Tyranitar and things looking to outspeed it with 244.

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Gallade @ Life Orb
Steadfast
44 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 192 Spe
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
~Swords Dance
~Close Combat
~Stone Edge
~Shadow Sneak

Gallade comes in late and cleans up. 192 Spe EVs (244 Speed) to outspeed and OHKO Jolly Tyranitar; the remaining 64 are split between HP and Def to provide optimal switch-in ability. Gallade can come in on a Gengar's Thunderbolt, Hidden Power Ice, or Focus Blast and OHKO with Shadow Sneak. Close Combat is for STAB, and Stone Edge for coverage.


Well, there's the team. It has performed rather well on Shoddy, garnering a roughly ~70% win rate. The team has noticeable issues with teams with a cleric (usually Blissey or Celebi). Gallade can come in on either of those and set up, but that doesn't stop the imminent Aromatherapy or Heal Bell.

Threat List:

Tyranitar: Tyranitar is problematic; Weavile can attempt to Taunt or Counter leads, but not both. It won't switch in on Gallade, but I have no switch-ins that don't take heavy damage from at least one of its common attacks. If it gets paralyzed, though, it's easy enough to handle with Zapdos.

Mamoswine: Mamoswine is my other big problem, since aside from Gallade (ha!) only Vaporeon cannot be hit super-effectively. Any suggestions on how to deal with him?

Gyarados: Vaporeon can switch in, and Gyarados certainly won't come in on Zapdos or any of my paralyzing attacks.

Infernape: Vaporeon can switch in and threaten with Surf; Togekiss only really fears Stone Edge and Thunderpunch, and Zapdos only Stone Edge.

Electivire: May switch in on Thunder Wave or Thunder Bolt from Zapdos, getting a Motor Drive boost, or into Vaporeon. It's scary, but Zapdos can stall it out of Ice Punch PP, rendering it ineffectual.

Heracross: A Guts boost is not scary at all. Both Togekiss and Jirachi OHKO.

Salamence: Vaporeon and Jirachi are solid switches into a Draco Meteor. Jirachi fears a fire move or Earthquake, but Togekiss can take either of those easily after the Sp. Attack drop.

Gengar: Weavile scares it off, if it can get in. Zapdos has a decent shot at stopping it, using Thunder Wave and then Roost. Gallade can come in on anything but Shadow Ball and kill with Shadow Sneak.

Machamp: If it's a lead, Weavile Fakes Out and Counters, hopefully without dying to Dynamic-Punch induced confusion. Otherwise, it has no way of getting past Zapdos, barring a critical hit or substantial luck with confusion.

Lucario: The SD set is largely walled by Zapdos, except when it carries Stone Edge or Hidden Power Ice, which are fortunately not the most popular moves at present. Specsluke isn't especially threatening to any of my walls, since any of them can take a hit to scout for moves and then get healed up later by Wish, if necessary.

Deoxys-e: Paralysis absolutely cripples it. Without its speed, Deoxys-E is worthless.

Heatran: Vaporeon absorbs every special attack. I can throw Weavile or Jirachi at a possible Explosion.

Metagross: Can't really do much to Zapdos; Ice Punch and Rock Slide lose PP quickly against Pressure.

I believe that covers most of the major offensive threats.


Any suggestions/criticisms/comments are welcome.

Edit: Fixed some move naming mistakes. Updated some information in the threat list.
 
So is Body Slam. :/ I agree though, as Secret Power got more PP and the BP is insignificant. More PP will help you out a lot against ResTalkers in general, and some Pokémon with Natural Cure, especially Blissey.

I would've given Celebi a try in favor of Zapdos. Its Reflect prevent you from being royally screwed by Lucario if Stealth Rock is on the field, and I think it may cause some more trouble then what you give it credit for. Zapdos is a real bad excuse of a counter. Celebi is also a great user of TWave. I run 252 HP / 180 Def / 76 Spe and Timid nature on my own Celebi, and haven't yet had any trouble with Lucario or what-so-ever. Considering you don't run HP Electric on your Vaporeon, Celebi would give you a great answer against Gyarados. Just a suggestion, though, as I don't have anything else to add. It's a quite solid team, good job. :)
 
I agree about Secret Power, and have switched it in for Body Slam on Togekiss. I'm keeping Body Slam on Jirachi for now, though, as I find the extra strength more useful there.

I will playtest a version of this team that uses Celebi. You're right in that Zapdos as a reliable counter for Lucario is a little bit suspect, but the only move it immediately fears is the less common Stone Edge, unless it switches into Hidden Power Ice.
 
I really like this team and no Garchomp just makes it better. Gyarados and Gengar are both problems though. 2 Wishers are not necessary so I suggest you replace Wish on Jirachi with Reflect/Light Screen.

HP Electric on Vaporoen over Roar takes care of Gyarados much better so you should try that.

The main problem with Gengar is you dont have a sleep absorber. You should make Zapdos a Rest/Sleep Talk set instead. Zapdos is still very important for beating Togekiss and Yanmega (so replacing it with Celebi gets you swept by them). It serves to absorb other status also which the other members of your team can't do too well. I don't find Lucario too much of a problem if you don't have anything that can be OHKOd by it too easily.

As I said, with no Garchomp you are fine with Thunderwave on Togekiss since its much more reliable for a paralysis.

Any reason Weavile is Hasty? If not change it to Jolly.
 
Ryo said:
I really like this team and no Garchomp just makes it better. Gyarados and Gengar are both problems though. 2 Wishers are not necessary so I suggest you replace Wish on Jirachi with Reflect/Light Screen.

One of the screens would be a great utility move, but I'm not sure taking Wish off is a great idea. Without recovery, can't stall out other walls as well, and two sources of team healing can prove useful when they each cover totally different threats.

HP Electric on Vaporeon over Roar takes care of Gyarados much better so you should try that.

Roar is useful for beating things like CM Suicune, which can otherwise tear through much of my team, so dropping it is tough. I might get rid of Ice Beam for HP Electric, but then I lose the ability to stop Dragons and will have no options against Celebi and team-support versions of Roserade.

The main problem with Gengar is you dont have a sleep absorber. You should make Zapdos a Rest/Sleep Talk set instead. Zapdos is still very important for beating Togekiss and Yanmega (so replacing it with Celebi gets you swept by them). It serves to absorb other status also which the other members of your team can't do too well. I don't find Lucario too much of a problem if you don't have anything that can be OHKOd by it too easily.

If I can manage to keep Weavile at 1HP, it makes a wonderful sleep absorber. A more reliable solution would be good, yes, but Roost is critical on Zapdos; the ability to make Ice and Rock attacks neutral simply makes him much more effective at stopping a wide array of physical threats, especially things like Machamp. I agree that Zapdos is important against Yanmega and Togekiss; I had much greater difficulty with them in my few games with my team with Celebi.

As I said, with no Garchomp you are fine with Thunderwave on Togekiss since its much more reliable for a paralysis.

I'll be sure to give it a try; that will help a little with dealing with Gengar, too. I suppose Body Slam should stay on Jirachi for the extra coverage and the ability to paralyze Ground-types that might switch in on it.

Any reason Weavile is Hasty? If not change it to Jolly.

A -Def nature makes Counter more effective.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments, guys!
 
You have real issues with Mamoswine. A max attack LO EQ is a 2HKO on Vaporeon, and Stone Edge 2HKO's Zapdos (who can't do much back). I would ditch Wish on Jirachi for Reflect, and consider adding Protect on Vaporeon over Roar. Since you are paralyzing the majority of the opponents team, Roar seems unnecessary, as you simply just want to hit hard with Gallade in the end.
 
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