Rinse and Repeat (OU RMT)

[Run]

My old team kept me around 1450 when I played any kind of consistently shortly after platinum release. After getting a decent warstory out of it I realized that its now lacking in the current metagame. Instead of tweaking the team I decided to start fresh with a few ideas I had been working on. I wanted a team with a very solid mid-game that was good at scouting so I could set up for a late-game choice sweeper. So lets take a look at what I came up with.

My first decision was to put together my core, my mid-game players I think I've got myself a very synergistic pair here that accomplishes the goal nicely, I haven't had any problems with these two as long as my prediction holds.

Jirachi the Fool
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 80 Sp.Atk / 176 Spe
Nature: Hasty (+Spe, -Def)
-Iron Head
-Ice Punch
-Thunder
-U-Turn

Scarfgon
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 80 Sp.Atk / 176 Spe
Nature: Naughty (+Atk, -Sp.Def)
-Earthquake
-Outrage
-U-Turn
-Fire Blast

These two make a great pair. They cover each others weaknesses extremely well with Water, Ghost, Dark, and Fighting being the only types neutral to both. They can both afford to switch in on rocks several times. And their attacks compliment each other as well. Jirachi is immune to toxic while Flygon immune to thunderwave making them a great team to scout out a Blissey's moveset.

Flygon is pretty standard so I won't go into much detail with him.

Jirachi the Fool is my own custom creation. Its fared extremely well and rarely lets me down. It does rely on hax quite a bit but I minimize the risk with good prediction. I catch a lot of Heatran and bulky waters switching in with Thunder and neuter them with paralysis when it kicks in. Ice Punch is for revenging outraging dragons, and my EVs outspeed mixmence so if I see LO damage I'll keep Jirachi in the next go around (who with leftovers most assume won't be faster) and take them down. U-Turn is for better scouting and U-Turn chains with Flygon, dealing upwards 65% on defensive celebi, and escaping Magnezone. While the set seems kinda gimmicky I've found that its remains extremely viable even after the entire moveset is revealed. Depspite its hax lust, its a very reliable set.

Very little will convince me to change these two, but theres always a chance I've missed something.

Next I wanted to Figure out a late-game duo, two pokes that can be really difficult to handle on their own that if I can remove a few threats will run through the rest of the team with ease. Here's my late-game pair.

Specskou
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Pressue
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Sp.Atk / 216 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Thunderbolt
-Shadowball
-Extrasensory
-HP Fighting

Bulky Gyarados
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 108 Atk / 100 Def / 144 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Taunt

This pair also comes with some handy synergy, but its rarely capitalized on because I attempt to eliminate counters before bringing them in.

Raikou is the main late-game sweeper that I try not to show until its too late. This makes Specs the superior choice in item. I scout early, find what I need to eliminate and work though those so that I can hopefully come in and thunderbolt through the rest of the team with ease. Extrasensory is fairly useless and is filler, I think I've used it once. HP Fighting is for when I'm having trouble with late-game Tyranitar who almost always switches in on me if I haven't already taken it out. After tyranitar is gone, reset and thunderbolt to victory. The given EVs and Nature outspeed max speed Latias, dumped the rest into HP. I have been feeling like I might want to forgo the speed and get more attack power in by changing the nature because unless its already set up, only Latias Draco Meteor has a chance to 1HKO and I should be taking Latias out early with Jirachi/Flygon.

Gyarados sees a lot more mid-game play than Raikou does, but is often the final nail in the coffin if my opponent makes 1 bad move. Taunt is a saving grace is numerous situations stopping phazers and statusers that like to come in. After 1 or 2 DD's Bulkydos becomes neigh unstoppable save for a few threats that are hopefully already eliminated before I set up.

It took me the longest time to come up with my final two pokemon. The first thing I wanted to do was figure out how to draw out the counters to my late-game sweepers and start dealing with them while luring my opponent into a false sense of security. Here's what I got:

Rinse and Repeat Rotom
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp.Atk / 4 Spe
Nature: Modest
-Thunderbolt
-Shadowball
-Thunder Wave
-Hydro Pump

What I wanted to do was start drawing out pokemon to deal with, paralyze them, and handle them whatever way I think is best. Rotom is very bulky and is almost never 1HKOed by most anything except for the most powerful attacks, giving me time to Thunder Wave and decide what to do next. If I can keep Rotom around long enough, he can cripple a large portion of the other team, and when they feel the victory of taking it out in the end, they will find all of their Raikou counters dead or crippled.

Finally I need a lead, I've messed with a few things, and this is definitely my weakest link, but is fairly reliable in doing its job.

Lead Empoleon
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Sp.Atk / 80 Def / 92 Spe
Nature: Lax (+Def, -Sp.Def)
-Aqua Jet
-Surf
-Stealth Rock
-Roar

I kinda twisted and molded these EVs quite a bit trying to get something that fit a couple things. First I wanted enough speed to outspeed Metagross whose EQ can potentially 1HKO me, I perfer to get rocks down and switch out to Rotom here because theres absolutely nothing Meta can do to Rotom. I feel like im often laking in power though as its rare to 2HKO Azelf with Surf + Aqua Jet. Roar is a necessity for phazing pokemon that somehow got in on my other pokes and started setting up. Empoleon gets used as a wannabe status absorber mid-game if I'm not sure what to expect or know something is coming but don't have a better option to take it. Empoleon is easily the most expendible and letting him take one for the team is normally the best idea as having Jirachi or Flygon crippled can comepletely screw up my game.

The whole team:

As I said, the main idea is to bring out Raikou and Gyarados Counters and set up for an easy late-game sweep. Jirachi and Flygon also tend to end the game themselves if the makeup of the opponents team calls for it. Really all the pokemon except my lead are complete rockstars in my book but may need a tweak here or there.

The only glaring weakness I've found to this team is Subseed Breloom. I can get around it but it takes a lot of effort and sacrifice. I have to let someone get put to sleep (hopefully empoleon), switch to gyarados to taunt, then get to Rotom and hopefully kill it before taunt wears off. It's a very round-about way of dealing with 1 pokemon but normally if I can handle Breloom quickly I'll finish the match without problems. If they switch out, I just make it as hard for Breloom to come back in as possible by keeping the pressure high and not leaving in slow members of the team.

I don't like not having a real status absorber, but at least ive got 2 steels and a ground which works well enough most of the time. The team can be fairly susceptable to gimmick sets that have odd statuses I'm not expecting because paralysis and burn ruin Jirachi, Flygon, and Gyarados.

I tinkered with Heatran as a lead but found I opened myself up for a lot of setups that way. Perhaps Swampert might make a better lead? This is where you all come in. Hopefully a better lead is in my future or at least a few tweaks for dealing with Breloom.

Since starting up again with this team I increased my rank from what had deteriorated from not playing and testing bad lines to 1300 up to about 1480 now, which seems to be limited only by the amount of time I play. Thanks for any advice you guys can give.

 

[haunter]

If you need the paralysis with Jirachi and you don't want to rely on thunder wave, consider body slam over thunder: I don't really see its usefulness and you're losing Jirachi's excellent bulkyness. You may use a jolly nature and this spread: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe, replacing thunder with body slam.
Also, consider fire punch over u-turn so you'll be able to revenge kill both SD Lucario and Scizor. Gyarados is a good switch into both, but stealth rock and possibly sandstorm will limit its durability, so you could be in troubles if they set up a SD on a Raikou locked into extrasensory or shadow ball.

Obviously fix the nature on Empoleon: a calm nature seems fine. And give it ice beam over aqua jet, so you'll be able to counter Latias effectively.

Rotom wants at least 88 Spe EVs to outspeed even max speed Scizor (and finish it before it can pursuit you). I would also consider W-o-W over thunder wave just to cripple TTar and the aforementioned Scizor.

Oh, I forgot to mention that unless there's a specific reason to use Raikou, specs-Jolteon would be a good replacement for it being able to outspeed adamant Gyarados even after a DD while also providing perfect synergy with your own Gyarados. I've noticed that Gyarados may give you troubles if it gets the chance to DD.

Your team is quite solid. Good luck!

 

[Xephyr]

Jolteon can be used over Raikou. While Jolteon has 5 less special attack, his speed makes up for it by outspeeding nearly anything and still hitting with just as powerful damage. Also, it can learn Signal Beam, a move that's much more useful than Extrasensory since it can OHKO Celebi. He also absorbs electric attacks for healing rather than just taking them like Raikou does.

That Jirachi cries for Body Slam over Thunder and Fire Punch over Ice Punch. You shouldn't have too much trouble with dragons as Flygon easily revenge kills almost every one of them with a speedy Outrage.

 

[Eternal]

Scarfing Jirachi and giving it Body Slam instead of Thunder would be a better idea.

Instead of using SR/Roaring Empoleon, you can using Swampert. It covers more Pokemons and more bulkier.

 

[locopoke]

This looks like an interesting team and as of now it looks pretty solid, but I feel there are some things that need fixing.

First of all, you must add a description to Raikou or else this thread may get locked.

Anyway, onto the team! Lead Empoleon is alright, but as Arin suggested, I too feel that Swampert would do a much better job as a Stealth Rocking lead. He's bulkier and the fact that he has only one weakness makes him a great Pokemon to use, especially in this metagame. The moveset I'd suggest using is as follows:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpA
Moveset:
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Stealth Rock / Roar / Protect

As for the moveset, I feel that Surf is the better choice over Hydro Pump. Hydro Pump may deal better damage to common Swampert switch-ins such as Skarmory, but the low accuracy can screw you over at times (believe me, I know >_<), and depending on the situation, your opponent may be able to take advantage of the low PP of Hydro Pump. The next decision to be made is whether to have Stealth Rock, Roar or Protect as your last move. As Protect can be good for scouting on the first turn and Roar is good for shuffling around your opponent's Pokemon, I think what you want (and need) is a lead with Stealth Rock, so that's what I suggest using. Empoleon may be better than Swampert at certain times, but I can guarentee that overall Swampert is generally the better choice.

The next Pokemon that I think needs to be mentioned is your Raikou. I really don't see why you would use Spec'd Raikou over Spec'd Jolteon. Jolteon has the superior ability and much better Speed. I don't think losing Raikou's bulkyness will be much of a problem, as I can safely say that Jolteon will generally work much better, especially because of the fact that it can absorb Electric attacks that are aimed at your Gyarados, the two of them make a great combination. Also not to mention that Baton Pass on SpecsJolt gives it great scouting abilties and will help you set up Gyarados much more easily.

The only other suggestion that I have for you is to change your Gyarados to a RestTalk Gyarados with Dragon Dance since that is usually the best choice for a Gyara/Jolteon strategy, but that's pretty much up to you, as your Gyarados works fine as it is.

I have nothing else to say, nice team but consider my suggestions, as they will help improve it. ^_^

 

[Run]

Don't know why I didn't think of Specs Jolteon... It will actually end up hitting harder than Raikou because I have the speed to keep Latias in check without the +speed nature Raikou needs. I'm not sure about giving up the bulk as Raikou does take a SD Extreemspeed from Lucario after SR and lives to tell the tale whereas Jolteon is done. But I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

I'll also give Swampert a shot but will more than likely stick with Ice Beam/EQ/SR/Roar. I don't need to hit really hard but I do want a phazer and SR. I used swampert on my old team and probably didnt consider him because I was trying to learn new pokes.

Fire punch isn't going in as I don't have a need for it, scizor doesn't threaten anyone on my line except Rotom and maybe a weakened Flygon. While Flygon does handle Dragons with Outrage, I also risk getting locked in and revenged myself, also Flygon loses to DD Mence if it gets set up. If Flygon goes down to an Outrage, I perfer the extra backup, even if it is highly situational.

I'm a little on the fence with Thunder vs. Body Slam. I definitely see the merits of Body Slam, but Thunder has some things I like. It allows me to keep electric attacks coming to clear the way for Raikou/Jolteon if Rotom goes down early, and also deals with Suicune who otherwise could give me a hard time, (tho with Swampert might do a tad better). There are some good reasons to keep a special attack in there, especially a strong one, but it would be nice to have a little more reliability to paralyze even if I'm giving up the ability to sweep a team with just Jirachi. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for the comments and I'll let you know how the changes play out in testing.

 

[haunter]

If you're keeping Raikou just because of Lucario's ES, then don't keep it: a +2 life orb'd ES from the said Lucario does 85.20% - 100.00% to your Raikou which means an OHKO on average with SR on the field.