Retirement Gen IV Team

FinalLegendZero

Greetings. A while ago, I posted an RMT in these forums. Since that time, I have been lurking in the shadows, calibrating my team on my own. It has been a long and arduous journey, and has required me to scrap my team and start anew on more than one occasion, but in time, I crafted what I thought was my deadliest 4th Gen OU team.

...Then I made the switch from Shoddy Battle to PO, and discovered that the metagame has evolved without me, and my team no longer functioned as well as I thought it would. Several scrapped teams later, and I have finally created a team that is capable of competing in today's metagame, and I'm proud to keep it as my retirement team. It isn't perfect, but its wins far outnumber its losses. Plus, it's beaten Texas Cloverleaf's team without excessive hax, so that must count for something.


Raikou@Lum Berry
Rash Nature
EVs: 4HP/252SpA/252Spe
Moves:
-Thunderbolt
-Extremespeed
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Extrasensory

Yes, I use a BL pokemon on my team. Raikou may no longer be the insurmountable force he was in 3rd gen, but he still has the stats and movepool to be a brutal attacking lead. A Rash nature may seem like an odd choice, but it allows Raikou to have enough power to get the kills he needs while holding a Lum Berry. Besides, Raikou can still outspeed base 100 pokemon and below, so it isn't a huge loss. The drop in Special Defense isn't much of a problem, as Raikou still has enough bulk to survive any special attack an enemy lead is likely to carry, bar a Heatran Overheat or Life Orb Infernape Fire Blast.

Thunderbolt is Raikou's main attack, knocking most fast, frail leads to the point that Extremespeed will finish them off. Hidden Power Ice primarily lets Raikou deal with lead Dragonite and Gliscor, but I also use it when the enemy goes with lead Starmie, to catch them on the switch to a Ground-type. Extrasensory, when coupled with Lum Berry, allows Raikou to come out on top against lead Machamp and Choice Scarf Breloom.It also lets Raikou pick off Gengar, provided Raikou is at full health.

Only three common leads can best Raikou: Earthquake Metagross, Life Orb Infernape, and Swampert. Against Metagross, I usually keep Raikou out. If Metagross carries Meteor Mash instead of Earthquake, it can't OHKO Raikou without exploding. Even if it does carry Earthquake, it needs to use it immediately, as it faces a 2HKO from Raikou's Thunderbolt. Against LO Infernape and Swampert, however, I need to switch off the top.


Swampert@Leftovers
Relaxed Nature
EVs: 248HP/216Def/44SpD
Moves:
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Ice Beam
-Roar

With Raikou as my lead, I needed someone to lay down Stealth Rock, and standard Swampert delivers. Swampert may have the weakest offensive stats on my team, but its bulk, typing, and movepool allow it to counter several threats. Swampert can come in on just about any move that Heatran or Tyranitar is likely to have and threaten an Earthquake (though some Heatran ruin this plan with Hidden Power Grass), while Ice Beam stops Flygon cold.Roar allows Swampert to phaze out just about every setup sweeper out there, except Taunt Gyarados and SD Lucario. Speaking of Taunt Gyarados...


Gyarados@Leftovers
Jolly Nature
EVs: 156HP/184Atk/168Spe
Moves:
Dragon Dance
Taunt
Waterfall
Stone Edge

Gyarados might not have the bulk of other Water-types out there, but after it's given a chance to set up, it's nearly unstoppable. Taunt allows Gyarados to set up on Swampert and Skarmory, who are able to take any of Gyarados' attacks and phaze it out, but cannot threaten it otherwise (unless Swampert gets lucky and freezes it...). Waterfall and Stone Edge give great neutral coverage. The only pokemon that resist Water/Rock in the OU are Empoleon and Breloom. Most Empoleon depend on Substitute and Agility, both of which are shut down by Taunt, and while Breloom may be able to outmuscle Gyarados, Gyara can still Taunt it to allow the rest of my team to take it out without fear of Focus Punch or Spore.

My EVs probably have you scratching your head, as they don't appear on any of Gyara's standard sets. Let me explain. I started with a standard Bulky DD set. Then I calculated that with 168 EVs into Speed and a Jolly nature, Gyara could outrun Timid Jolteon after a Dragon Dance. The leftover EVs, as well as the EVs in Defense, were then dropped into Attack. With 184 EVs, Gyarados' Attack reaches 332, which is only two points behind what it would be if Gyara were Adamant with 72 EVs, and allows Gyarados to OHKO Jolteon after one Dragon Dance. The main point of the Defense EVs were to allow Gyarados to beat Quick Attack Scizor, and who uses them anymore?


Heatran@Leftovers
Timid Nature
EVs: 4HP/252Spa/252Spe
Moves:
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Hidden Power (Electric)
Substitute

Heatran is my favorite Fire-type, and SubTran is my favorite variant of Heatran. Heatran forces countless switches, which gives it countless opportunities to set up a Substitute. This eliminates the need to predict which move to use, and allows Heatran to deliver a parting shot to Flygon and Starmie before switching out. Fire Blast is Heatran's main attack. Even without a Flash Fire boost, a resisted Fire Blast hits as hard as a neutral Base 90 move. Earth Power is essentially mandatory on Heatran, as other Heatran walls this set all day without it. I chose Hidden Power Electric over Grass or Dragon Pulse as it guarantees Heatran's victory over Gyarados when behind a sub. Offensive Gyara breaks the sub while Heatran OHKOs, RestTalk Gyara is outsped and 2HKOed, and Bulky Gyara is outsped and OHKOed with Stealth Rocks.


Shaymin@Choice Scarf
Timid Nature
EVs: 4HP/252SpA/252Spe
Moves:
Seed Flare
Earth Power
Hidden Power (Ice)
Psychic

It is said that Starmie perfectly counters the standard FWG core. This is true...until Scarf Shaymin takes the field. With Heatran running a Sub set, I needed a revenge killer, and Shaymin delivers. Seed Flare hits extremely hard, and its chance to shred the target's Special Defense can make even Blissey cringe. Earth Power stops most Steel-types, including Heatran, in their tracks. Hidden Power Ice lets Shaymin fight other Grass-types, including other Shaymin. Psychic is mainly for Gengar.


Tyranitar@Lum Berry
Jolly Nature
EVs: 4HP/252Atk/252Spe
Moves:
Dragon Dance
Stone Edge
Crunch
Earthquake

Tyranitar is my late-game sweeper, but it is sometimes needed to counter Zapdos. A single Dragon Dance gives Tyranitar the speed of a Scarfer, the power of a Bander, and the ability to switch moves. Tyranitar's bulk often allows him to set up multiple Dances on a weakened team, at which point there is almost no stopping it. Rock, Ground, and Dark gives Tyranitar nearly perfect coverage, resisted only by Breloom. Lum Berry allows Tyranitar to set up on defensive Rotom-A if needed.

There's my final team. All rates and reviews are appreciated.
 
Grass types will really wreck your team. Swampert and Raikou are two safe bets for Life Orb Shaymin / Celebi to switch in and start launching off powerful grass attacks. Heatran is outsped and taken out with earthpower while your own Shaymin isn't quite strong enough to bring them down, especially bulky versions.

To fix this, I'd run shuca and stealth rock on Heatran. You can still take down Gyara with Hp elec (you will be faster than most Gyara and if not they will just try to DD on you anyway) and now you can check earth power grass types with ease. Swampert can be switched to a choice banded version for the surprise factor. It can also check Flygon, Gyarados, Tyranitar, and Heatran as well while OHKOing Starmie and pretty much wrecking everything with waterfall that doesn't resist it. Besides Shaymin who is necessary for revenge killing, mixpert is to slow and weak for your team.
 
Sup I got the message! I agree with Eggbert in that ShucaTran would be better in this particular instance for reasons he has already explained, so I wont delve into that. Anyways because you rely so heavily upon FWG for defensive synergy on this team, you're going to have some problems with- you know, stuff that beats that. Mixed dragons are really what concern me, like LO Flygon or Dragonite. You have nothing that enjoys eating a DM except Heatran, who clearly isn't stopping them from doing anything. Shaymin can force them out but will have to operate on surprise value, as you really have nothing to switch her into. Rarer Kingdra sets, like Specs or RD, will invariably cause you massive problems, especially if you predict wrong against specs. It also seems like full stall eats you for lunch- you have nothing that will break standard stall cores and your entire team is either susceptible to spikes or weak to SR, not to mention that Swampert is Forry's best friend.

Anyways I think a CM Jirachi would help you out a lot! By running max speed and something along the lines of Calm Mind / Wish / Psychic / Thunderbolt, you outrun all of the aforementioned dragons (except Kingdra in the rain but it you play smart with t-tar this can be circumvented) and give yourself another steel type to work with. In addition, Jirachi is a great stall breaker once you can eliminate your opponents Hippo or T-tar. I would put this over Raikou- you have many other Pokemon that can serve as leads and he doesnt seem to be doing much. Swampert or Heatran could both work in the lead position fine, or even T-tar with Ice Punch over Crunch and a Shuca Berry (I have been 6-0d by this set in the lead position in tournament play without my opponent ever switching because I relied on scarf flygon to stop dd tar and assumed a lead tar was mixed, it works). Anyways gl!
 
Thanks for the rates!

Since the general concensus is that I should go with Shuca Heatran and Banded Swampert, I'll definitely try those out. I can see Swampert being a great counter to SubRoost Zapdos with the Band set in addition to everything Eggbert suggested.

I like the idea of a Tyranitar anti-lead; the sandstorm would clear out sash-users in one turn, and Gyarados can deal with leads that Tyranitar can't (though I'll probably have to switch it to the standard bulky set to deal with Machamp). Since the suggested Jirachi is a Wish+Calm Minder, I assume that I should use a Bold nature and allocate the non-Speed EVs to HP to increase Jirachi's bulk.

I'm going to wait until I've tested these ideas before I officially update this team, but so far it all sounds good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top