Right Beneath Your Skin
After returning to competetive play, i've had a dose of real life, college has driven my battling, and more importantly, team building skills down, recently. After having a tendancy to play Balance/Offence due to there reliability, I decided to work on a hyper offence team, my favorite type of play style (that I am still yet to get to grips with).
This team has taken many forms over the past week and half, although my team building process with only include my current team, simply because I made so many abrupt, useless and unorthadox changes in such short periods of time, it seems useless to include them.
My current team completely dominated... at least it did for about 2 days, untill something happened, either I was losing my edge, people were learning how to handle hyper offence, or some components of the team simply do not work, and that is the purpose of this RMT, as any other would be, to fix these problems.
Team Building Process
First step to a Hyper Offence team for me would to decide weather I am opening with dual screens, or entry hazards. I tested both options with a range of pokemon: Deoxys-S, Deoxys-D, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Roserade, Latias, Espeon... the list goes on. In the end, I decided to use Dual Screen Latios... yes, Latios, that is not a typo but don't worry. The Latios I am using is one suggested by my friend Makaveli, and it works brilliantly, the detail will be within the team itself.
After this, I needed somewhere to begin, in this case I chose Conkeldurr, simply because whenever I do use him on a team, he ALWAYS proves his worth as a brilliant Physical Sweeper with plenty of sweeping potential. He also works as a brilliant sand check ( aside from Gliscor ).
Now I needed something that synergises with Conkeldurr offensively, to take on those he cannot, namingly Gliscor and Skarmory to an extent. After alot of controversy about a particular pokemon being broken, I decided to abuse it while I can, and put its power to the test, as it handles the before mentioned pokemon. This leaves us with Thundurus.
At this point, I realised that I lacked a pokemon capable of attacking right off the bat, as the previous sweepers are both set-up sweepers, one pokemon that has always achieved this reliably, and a personal favorite, is Gengar. Sub 3 Attack Gengar works brilliantly as a late game sweeper, and if he manages to get a sub up on a switch or status, he pretty much garuntees you a kill or two, perhaps even a sweep if you opponent is unprepared.
After looking back at my team, I saw I lacked any outstanding speed, meaning any Sand Rush/Chlorophyll Sweepers can completely take advantage of this. This meant I needed either Agility or Dragon Dance, and I decided... why not have both? Here I brought in Haxorus, and Lucario. Haxorus has insane power, and if you allow him to set up, its a very likely sweep. Agility Lucario fills in the last spot, the beauty of this is that after a single Agility, he can outspeed Sand Rush Excadrill and proceed to OHKO, alongside increasing my reliability in countering other walls such as Gliscor, and even gives my a safe option to take on an opposing Reuniclus.
Up Close and Personal
Latios (M) @ Light Clay
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Memento
- Draco Meteor
This might seem slightly unusual to use Latios for such a role, but trust me its all for good reason. Latios carries decent bulk alongside a respectable set of resists, making him a notable dual screener, what sets him apart from the rest are a combination of two things, this access to Memento, and his speed.
The purpose of dual screens is obvious, however memento may not be so much so. The reason for carrying memento is so that after I have gotten up my screens ( and assuming I have taken some form of relative damage, maybe even dented my foe with Draco Meteor ) I can memento my foe, if of course he is an offensive threat ( no point in doing it to a ferrothorn ). By doing so, it drops my opponents Atk and SPAtk by 2 stages each, also giving me a free switch, and the ability to scout my opponent.
The beauty of this is that after Memento(ing) my opponent, and getting my free switch, say for example, into Thundurus, my opponents pokemon is now rendered useless, practically forcing him to switch, and by him doing so, I get a free turn to use Nasty Plot, thus allowing me to perform an early sweep.
Conkeldurr (M) @ Flame Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Payback
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Payback
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
Conkeldurr's set is a typical one, aside from the Flame Orb, as leftovers are the more common choice at the moment. As a member of a HO team, I want to hit as hard as I can, as soon as I can. Sure, this limits my survivability, but who cares if it brings a couple of my opponents pokemon down with me. Thanks to the Guts boost, Conkeldurr is rediculously strong even after a single Bulk Up (also allowing him to tank hits well, meaning Drain Punch may be able to compensate for the burn damage) allowing him to leave huge dents with even Mach Punch.
My other reason behind using Flame Orb over leftovers is a simple one... Thunder Wave. Anyone who have come across a Jirachi, Blissey, or Ferrothorn etc. know how annoying this is, being burnt from turn one, allows me to avoid missing vital turns due to hax.
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
This is your typical 3 attack life orb Thundurus, whom of which is argued to be broken, and who wouldnt say this after being swept completely after a single Nasty Plot. This set abuses his offensive capabilities, by giving him his infamous BoltBeam coverage, with his insane Life Orb boosted SPAtk stat, whilst throwing in Grass Knot too, allowing him to 2HKO ( OHKO after a single NP ) his only real counter, Gastrodon.
Setting up to sweep with this guy is easy, I usually just force a switch with Latios, however there is an easier way. Thanks to CB Scizor being as popular as it is, it will not be a surprise to face him numerous times, this is a good thing however, and Thunderus can comfortably switch into a CB locked Bullet Punch and proceed to set up too, giving him another easy reliable way to set up.
Thundurus has proved to be indispensible to the team, his speed and insane power, along with even better coverage, makes him a force to be reckoned with.
Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Giga Drain
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Giga Drain
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
This is a fairly unusual set that I have played around with, it has been unstable at times due to the lack of HP [Ice] although this is commonly compensated for. There have been 2 types of Gengar I absolutely love, SubSplit, and 4 Attack Gengar.
I had a tendancy to use 4 Attack Gengar ( the set as above with HP[Ice] over Substitute ) as it KOed near enough anything after decent hazard damage, however lack of hazards made this unreliable. The other set I used, SubSplit, was insane, if he got a free turn to set up a sub, you might as well have said goodbye to two of your pokemon, even without having to use Pain Split. Due to this I wanted a Sub 3 Attack set, with the coverage of the SubSplit set, however boasting Giga Drain, as my 4 attack Gengar always does, as it gives me a reliable answer to Rotom-W, Gatrodon, and the likes.
Granted this set is unstable, however it has prevailed from time to time, although I am not too keen on carrying it on much further unless I replace the set. In the meantime I need to find someone who can do what he does, just preferably better.
Haxorus (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
Trait: Mold Breaker
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
Yes this is Dual Dance Haxorus. No I am not high.
I have been critesized for this in the past, but firstly think, EQ + Brick Break = poor coverage combination. Sure, it hits those like balooned steels, or Skarmory, but after being able to set up a DD on your opponents switch (which is usually the case) taking a status due to Lum, or taking a hit, setting up a SD, brings Haxorus' attack stat over 1000, with a near 500 Speed stat, meaning that STAB Outrage is going to rip a hole in even Skarmory.
Having a choice between DD and SD also allows me to handle particular teams, SD for the more stallish, and DD for more offensive, just use it alike you would a dual set up Terrakion.
I have been considering using a slightly more bulky set to ensure my stat boosts, to 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd, please leave your views on this.
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 16 HP / 252 SAtk / 240 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Agility
- Aura Sphere
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dark Pulse
Trait: Steadfast
EVs: 16 HP / 252 SAtk / 240 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Agility
- Aura Sphere
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dark Pulse
Once again an unusual set, specially offensive Agility Lucario. Lucario firstly prvides me with a reliable back up counter to certain threats, he can KO Gliscor and other x4 Weak with HP[Ice], he has Dark Pulse to handle Psychics such as Reuniclus, and STAB Aura Sphere, allowing him to outspeed Excadrill in sand (After an Agility) and OHKO with Aura Sphere.
Lucario makes a great late game cleaner, and dont ask me why its special instead of physical, I just tried it, and it worked, it fit in better than physical Agility Lucario for whatever reason, and due to that I just stuck with it.
Lucario does unfortunately have a couple of walls, due to it lacking Nasty Plot, special walls such as Chansey annoy it, however this is bound to happen every once in a while, although it has proven that a lack of a good wallbreaker on this team has cost if a couple of games.
Original (Mixed)
Importable
Physical Varient
Importable
-Varient Movesets & In-Depth In Progress-
Whats next?
Next for me would be to try out a couple of changes these include:
-A bulkier Haxorus spread
-Physical Life Orb Deoxys-S
-SD Scizor
-BulkyDos
Tried and tested
-Full Physical Sweepers:
SD Virizion > Gengar
SD Infernape > Thundurus
Physical Lucario > Special Lucario
Each of these individual pokemonwere brilliant, and definately proved there power. Unfortunately both my teams defensive, and more importantly offensive synergy plummeted. Due to having 4 Fighting STABS, and very little variation, this team was easilly walled, if full physical is the way to go, this definately isnt the way to do it.
-Choice Band Conkeldurr
-Choice Scarf Gengar
-Choice Scarf Gengar
Both of these pokemon worked, but it was only situational. Simply put, there Flame Orb and Life Orb sets respectively worked much better, and so i'm sticking with these for now.
Hopefully this list will grow and allow my team to improve, alongside my skill with Hyper offence.
Issues/Threats
Issues/Threats
The following are reffering to my Full-Physical varient
(Latios/Conkeldurr/Haxorus/Infernape/Deoxys-S/Scizor)
(Latios/Conkeldurr/Haxorus/Infernape/Deoxys-S/Scizor)
-Vaporeon
-Skarmory
My only real threats are physical walls, notably bulky waters and Skarmory. I dont have real counter to Vaporeon, I just hope that he doesnt get burn hax from scald and just slowly wear it down. For skarmory its essentially the same thing with Deoxys-S Fire Punch, although if Infernape is still alive, its normally not a problem.
I thank you all for reading this, and I look forward to hearing any constructive critique.
