Rise!

[Delko]

In-depth Look:

Alright, it's been a year since I made an RMT and I wanted to try out Smogon's "new forum-stuff", so here's a team I've been having a blast with lately n_n
I nicknamed the pokemon after Skillet's new album "Rise" which released last week, so feel free to check that one out too.

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At first sight, the line-up looks really defensive, with a random Latios thrown on it, but looks can be deceiving. The team is actually based around, and this is no joke, offensive Blissey. I encountered that pokemon on the ladder while practicing for the WCOP and I remember that set giving my team a whole lot of trouble. In fact, I was so intrigued I was willing to make a team around it myself. The first version of the team turned out quite trollish to be honest, as it also used Sub 3 Attacks Politoed, Life Orb Hurricane SubSeed Whimsicott, DD Latios and Air Balloon SD Toxicroak, although still utilizing the infamous “SkarmBliss core”:

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It was fun, but then I actually wanted to add some more competitive value so I tried more “standard stuff”. Whimsicott and Toxicroak got replaced by a couple of pokemon including Donphan, Terrakion, Breloom, Tornadus, Hydreigon, Zapdos, Tentacruel, Landorus-T etc. I finally ended up with the later two, thus the final version of the team was created:

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In-depth Look:

Madness (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Softboiled
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

Laugh all you want, but I’m actually quite fond of this set. At first, the offensive Blissey set I was using was a simple set of Ice Beam, Thunder, Stealth Rock, Softboiled (Modest nature, 252 SAtk), but later on I changed her to a Calm Mind variant because ironically, it’s a great check against certain defensive cores that gave me trouble (Slowbro-Amoongus-Heatran for example). Don’t get me wrong, Blissey still acts as a special wall with her great natural bulk, but now she also packs some offensive capabilities (and a great surprise value). I was working on a EV-spread for a long time; at one point I even ran the old school “Fast-Blissey” spread to outrun everything up to 8 Spe Scizor, but I found out that to be a waste (lacking Fire Blast/ Flamethrower) of bulk, so I just went with an easy standard spread. Ice Beam and Thunder give the almost unresisted BoltBeam coverage and the 30% paralysis chance is nice too (Thunderbolt is an option, but this is a Rain team so might as well take advantage).

Rise (Latios) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick

I love Choice Specs Latios; it’s usually my lead as it breaks holes in opposing teams with relative ease. Other then that, it’s a great pokemon to double switch to as well. Latios puts a lot of pressure on special walls, killing them or weakening them enough to prepare a Blissey sweep (never thought I was going to say that, lol) Trick is mainly for Chansey, Gastrodon and specially defensive Jirachi, who are arguably the biggest threat to Blissey (defensively-speaking). And as a last added bonus Latios lures out pokes that make perfect set-up bait for Landorus-T, whom we’ll talk about later.

Believe (Politoed) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Psychic

Choice Scarf Politoed is an excellent late-game sweeper, especially when hazards are involved. Scald might seem a bit weird though, and the only reason it’s used is because of the chance to burn early game (especially against Ferrothorn who are annoying against this team), and burning special walls makes it easier for Blissey. It’s only slightly weaker then Surf (I don’t like using Hydro Pump because of it’s low accuracy / PP anyway) and when Rain-boosted it’s still a powerful move. Ice Beam is obviously for Dragon-types and certain Grass pokemon and Psychic is useful against Keldeo and Toxicroak as they also have the potential to become threats. Changed Perish Song to Encore to have a more immediate answer to set-up sweepers. It can also lock a wall into a weak move and allow my own sweepers to set up.

Salvation (Skarmory) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 244 SDef / 248 HP / 16 Spd
Calm Nature
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Skarmory does what Skarmory does best, laying down hazards, and phaze the opponent’s team around with Whirlwind, weakening them in the process. This set doesn’t really need much explanation but since I’m using both Stealth Rock and Spikes, I’m lacking an offensive move in Brave Bird (or Drill Peck or whatever) and this sucks sometimes unfortunately. Rocky Helmet is pretty nifty and slowly kills U-Turn pokes that try to VoltTurn around my team, and it also acts kills low-on-health spinners, letting Skarmory act as some sort of a “semi-spinblocker”. I run a little bit more speed then the usual set, as it allows me to win in mirror matches. Skarmory is now specially defensive after Jimbon pointed out the weakness I had to LO or CM (Psyshock) Lati@s. This allows Skarmory to take Draco Meteors and Psyshocks alike with relative ease. She also carries Taunt over Spikes now to help against Ferrothorn, opposing Skarmory etc.

Alive (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Acid Spray
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Giga Drain

My team isn’t that weak to hazards, so the fact that Tentacruel can Rapid Spin is an added bonus. The main reason he is used is because he makes it easier for me to handle stuff like Keldeo, Breloom and SD Scizor. Similar to Politoed, Scald is used for its chance to inflict a burn, crippling special walls. Rain Dish coupled with Protect makes sure the health stays up. Sludge Bomb and the added speed is to keep the aforementioned Breloom in place as well as finishing the likes of Celebi, Rotom-W etc, should they be on low enough health. Sometimes I consider running Toxic (Spikes) over Sludge Bomb though, to help against Gastrodon and Jellicent so I use both. Changed Tentacruel to a more offensive variant, with which I have had great results. Acid Spray + Hydro Pump hurts nearly everything very hard, and Giga Drain provides some recovery and is useful against the likes of Gastrodon and Jellicent (especially after a -2 from Acid Spray). I could consider Life Orb here for more power, but the recovery from Black Sludge is appreciated, and it also "fakes" a defensive set more easily.

Psycho (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 180 Spd / 72 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rock Polish

Landorus is the only physical based pokemon on my team and acts as a back-up sweeper in case Blissey fails. There were actually a lot of pokemon I tried in its place first; starting with Toxicroak to Breloom to Terrakion. His bulk (/Intimidate) is the reason Landorus-T was preferred, allowing him to set up on a lot of stuff that the others just couldn’t (immunity to Thunder Wave was a plus too). Running the double boosting sets turns Landorus-T is a very situational sweeper, SD’ing up against slower, bulkier teams, while a Rock Polish is usually enough to plow through faster, offensive teams. Stone Edge and Earthquake for the QuakEdge combination to give Landorus-T the best possible coverage. Landorus-T now runs Jimbon's slightly faster and bulkier set, allowing it to outspeed Venusaur in the Sun at +2 for example.

Conclusion:

Alright, that's it! The team can handle most threats but "classic Rain threats" can still be a bit of a problem; Jellicent, Gastrodon, Rotom-W, CM Latias, Celebi, Ferrothorn etc. I got them covered, but a good player will always find a way to abuse them to the fullest.
Thanks for reading this RMT and feel free to leave a comment if you so desire. There's also an import version some posts bellow for those who want to try it out.

 

[Tyranical]

Hey Delko,
I haven't seen CM Blissey in a while and I think it's pretty cool that you are using it in such an offensive meta game. Anyway I think you have a bit of a problem with DD Gyarados. Skarmory won't enjoy taking a +2 superpower or a +1 rain boosted waterfall. It may attempt to set up on Blissey and get surprised with Thunder (which I imagine is very funny) but its still an issue . Maybe you could run HP electric on toed over Perish song? Gyarados Isn't to common so it's just a precautionary change I reccomend. Anyway cool team you got there and hood luck in your endeavors!

 

[Neliel]

hey delko, are you sure that set works? imo half of the metagame beats that set, trick users, psychic types with psyshock, ss keldeo, anything with a decent bulk and attack (ttar, scizor, jirachi, ferrothorn, any dragon/fight), so i dont know if its really worth it.. anyway i wont touch that set but ill focus on the rest!

So, looking at your team, you seems to focus on offense more than defense, so i guess you could also change your tentacruel set in something more offensive. A set i used for a while is Hydro pump / Acid spray / Rapid spin / Ice beam or sludge bomb with an offensive spread (timid max speed max sp. atk). It works good because none expects tentacruel to be offensive, even more when they see the leftovers, but with acid spray you can drop the special defense of everything that will switch into it and then spam hydro pump. The reason im saying this is that i dont think spinning is that vital here, afterall you have no stealth rock weak and 3 guys are immune to spikes... anyway the choice between ice beam and sludge bomb is your, with ice beam you beat dragon types while sludge bomb catches rotom-w.

the other thing i would try is dragon pulse over psyshock. psyshock in the specs set doesnt do much, only catching blissey (but you have trick for that) and very situational sweeper like calm mind keldeo, but draco meteor does enough even at +1. psyshock its too risky to use every time you will face a tyranitar, so i always find dragon pulse to be more effective to do consistent damage.
I also find the lack of brave bird on skarmory a bad thing, say you are against a breloom and you cant kill it... also skarmory wont find so many turns to setup sr and spikes unless your opponent is dumb, anyway the only solution would be to put stealth rock on blissey but its not possible so.. gl with your team!

 

[Lohgock]

Hey man, cool team you have there, especially because of the theme. The new album is amazing, especially since Jen sings a lot more.
Not much to suggest, you could maybe try Timid 96 Speed on Tentacruel to speedcreep Mamoswine which can really do work against you.

 

[Delko]

Yes Lohgock, I like the album a lot too, it's so much different then "Awake" though, but good nonetheless n_n
I have Skarmory which walls Mamoswine for days, but more Speed on Tentacruel isn't too bad I guess. Thanks for the suggestion.

Neliel, I like the idea of a more offensive moveset for Tentacruel actually. Definitely something to look into a bit further, thanks for this suggestion!

And The Tyranitar, Gyarados is indeed somewhat annoying and requires a full health Skarmory or Intimidate + Skarmory to handle. HP Electric is an option, but even more situational then Perish Song. It's best get those Rocks up quick :p

 

[dcae]

Hey! This is quite an interesting team you have! I've never seen offensive Blissey before, and it sounds like an interesting idea, albeit it probably needs tons of support. Moving on to the team. First thing I notice is a lack of spinblocker while you are running Spikes + Stealth Rock. In my opinion, this isn't the most optimal situation because a spinner easily spins against your team and renders your efforts worthless essentially. I think running Brave Bird > Spikes is more preferable because you won't be Taunt bait and you can deal some damage, and even KO threats like Breloom. Now, looking at your Tentacruel and since you want to make a more offensive set of it, I must warn that at the moment, Tentacruel is your best mon to take Keldeo attacks. Going more offensive could result Keldeo being able to weaken it and Latios to then really hurt your team. If that isn't a major concern, than I would back the offensive set that Neliel proposed, but with Sludge Bomb over Ice Beam to be able to hit Keldeo and other Water types, especially bulkier ones like Rotom-W. Also, a final suggestion I would make is to test out Life Orb > Leftovers on Landorus-T. From my experience, even with that huge Atk, Landorus-T with just a Rock Polish can find it a bit hard to break through teams. I know you like the bulky offense aspect of it, but I think testing out the Life Orb can't hurt just for the added power while sacrificing a bit of its great survivability. Overall this is a really original team, and I hope I helped!

 

[Jimbon]

Hi Delko,

This is a really interesting team here, but there are some things I could see as problematic. One of the biggest threats to this team seems to be variants of Latias, whether it be Calm Mind or Life Orb. Calm Mind sets can get in for free against Latios or Politoed locked into the wrong move while Blissey isn't winning a Calm Mind war against it if it carries Psyshock. Life Orb sets with Psyshock look even scarier, especially when hazards are up as Blissey can't reliably switch in and Tentacruel can't spin safely either. To help with this, I'd strongly recommend changing your Skarmory set to a specially defensive build with an EV spread of 248 HP / 244 SDef / 16 Spe with a Calm Nature -- this can act as a buffer for pretty much every variant of Latias, as you can take Draco Meteors much easier now with your investment while Calm Mind variants will have a lot more trouble breaking through Skarmory and will need considerable boosts to do so. I'd also consider dropping either Spikes or Stealth Rock [whatever you value more] in place of Taunt on Skarmory. Taunt helps with a lot of your problems, primarily stopping Ferrothorn and Latias setting up, as well as stopping Skarmory being turned into setup fodder due to the lack of Brave Bird / Drill Peck. Brave Bird is also an option here if you don't think Taunt is the right choice.

Also, a small change more than anything, I'd recommend altering your Landorus-T's EV spread slightly. I think a spread of 72 HP / 4 Def / 252 Atk / 180 Spe would benefit you a little more. When playing with a Rain Team, one of your hardest match-ups is going to be against Sun Teams, especially those carrying pesky Chlorophyll abusers. This EV spread grants you a little more bulk than your current one, while providing you with a little extra speed so you can outspeed everything up to Venusaur in the Sun after +2, arguably the most threatening Chlorophyll abuser [even more so thanks to Blissey's lack of Special Defense investment and your best bet in Latios]. The lack of power here really isn't that notable here, but if you feel it is you can go ahead and try out Life Orb / Muscle Band variants etc -- more of an optional change.

Honestly this team is very well built, and I feel like some of your biggest problems can be avoided through smart play, however an alternative option to all of the above would be to try out something like Specially Defensive Politoed + Choice Scarf Scizor > Choice Scarf Politoed + Double Dance Landorus. It provides you with an additional Gyarados / Toxicroak check in Politoed, a buffer for special hits Blissey can't tank while being able to whittle down Gastrodon and Jellicent with Toxic. Choice Scarf Scizor provides you with an answer for Lati@s, all variants of Gengar, Focus Sash Alakazam, Celebi and lures in Ferrothorn easily for chip damage early game. This is all just theorymon however, this team looks solid and like fun to use -- I hope these changes help you out.

Good luck!

 

[Vert]

Cool Team!

It's nice to see CM Blissey and I've used it in Ubers, it's a nemace there. This team has a hard time getting past Latias, to a higher extent, Latios, which means that your team has no defense against it. You should try an Offensive Tentacruel like the others pointed out, due to it being able to hit Pokemon you struggle with, but I am not going to be so picky about, since the others mentioned it. The team has some problems with Celebi, SubSalac Terrakion, Choice Scarf Garchomp, and Alakazam, so you should definetly try to take a faster approach considering how slow the team is. Try out a Choice Scarf Scizor to avoid these messes since the fast Pursuit, U-turn, and Bullet Punch utility would be great to avoid the screw up 'mons. Starmie also is a problem, and in general anything with Psyshock is problem making Choice Scarf Scizor a perfect fit. Obviously, you'd want to fit this over Tentacruel, since you have no Stealth Rock weak 'mons or Landorus-T. I don't know wher to put it so it's your choice.

I'd like to see a faster variant of Tentacruel since it's important to outpace Breloom for such a Breloom weak team since Landorus-T can't take Bullet Seed from the Choice Band set and Swords Dance set to well. This is 108 Spe to outpace Jolly Breloom. Since Politoed won't need a Choice Scarf, try using Choice Specs on it because it's pro and follows up with extreme wall-breaking power. Focus Blast seems to be the better option, since I don't see what Psychic is hitting other than Toxicorak and Venasaur, both which this team doesn't care about, and hitting Ferrothorn and Tyranitar is always nice. Teams most likely won't be able to take both Politoed and Latios at once, so this would complement Choice Scarf Scizor completely. Finally, this team hates Taunt, a lot. Since this team loves the hazards, you should use the Custap Berry Lead variant Skarmory over your current one. Now, that you have a solid base, Calm Mind Blissey doesn't have to worry about those pesky Psyshock and Fighting-types.

Hope I could help! n_n

Summary of Changes

• Tentacruel
  • Run 108 Spe EVs
• Politoed
  • Choice Specs > Choice Scarf
  • Focus Blast > Psychic
• Fit a Choice Scarf Scizor in there somewhere

Scizor | Choice Scarf | Technician
Jolly | 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe | Max IVs
U-turn | Pursuit | Bullet Punch | Superpower

• Skarmory
  • Custap Berry > Leftovers
  • Taunt > Roost
  • Brave Bird > Whirlwind

EDIT: Jimbon Ninja'd Me

 

[Delko]

Alright, thanks for the suggestions guys, they were really helpful. I've updated the team with the changes:

* Skarmory is now specially defensive and carries Taunt > Spikes;
* Landorus-T is running Jimbon's spread (which I assume has a Jolly nature?);
* Tentacruel is an offensive version, one I like a lot;
* and Politoed has received Encore > Perish song to help against the likes of SubDD Gyarados etc.

EDIT: here's an export version of the team, in case someone wants to try it out:

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Rise (Latios) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick

Believe (Politoed) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 8 HP / 252 SAtk / 248 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Psychic

Salvation (Skarmory) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 244 SDef / 16 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Madness (Blissey) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Calm Mind
- Thunder
- Ice Beam

Psycho (Landorus-T) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 180 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Alive (Tentacruel) (M) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain
- Rapid Spin
- Acid Spray

 

[Reymedy]

Screw me, I wrote a freaking long (and amazing) rate that went to dust (because I closed smogon).

So I'll try to write again everything shortly. Basically the team works well, I think Lando-T shines a lot in here, and I wanted to point out that Jimbon's spread goes with an Adamant Nature to hit 263 Speed. But with 180 Speed, you only tie with the classic Venusaur spread since they also try to get that 326 spot (Scarf Latios hits 325). So you should give to him, just a bit more. I like more bulk aswell on my Lando-T DD but well, I'll explain it later. I didnt find Blissey particularly useful, but it could work against Stall teams.

Moving on directly to the weaknesses :

- Jirachi because Psychock, and your Landorus-T isn't really bulky (he won't like it if your opponent plays around Jirachi).

- Mamoswine because Skarmory gets 2HKO 60% of the time after SR by Icycle Crash. Terrakion is also hard to switch in. You can revenge kill them both decently though (unless Scarf Terrak, which could be an issue).

- Keldeo, EBelt or Specs with godlike prediction could be really threatening given the poor bulk of your Tentacruel at the moment. You can still revenge kill it decently well or set-up (like baiting the Fighting move if EBelt with Bliss, then going to Toed, Encore for Lando-T or something like that).

- Kyurem-B with IceB/Fusion Bolt. BoltBeam got insane coverage, and Blissey wont be able to take physical hits well. He can Sub on many of your pokemons.

- Rotom-W is a bitch, as always. Tios won't like WoW/Volt-Switch. Bliss can get deeply bothered by Pain Split and then Volt-Switching to a physical attacker.

Okay so, I think Tenta/Skarm are probably the weak side of your team. I find Skarm redundant with Lando-T most of the time, and with SpD+DD sets I'm afraid of the "Okay, I wall that Terrak... oh wait I don't". In fact, I really feel like you don't need Tentacruel, and something better could fit here. I'm not sure about changing Skarm since when I played I found him really useful. But that Terrak needs to handled (especially when you got Bliss). So I'll try to find a solution while not changing Skarm.
For Tentacruel, let's see what we could do.

The changes :

- First, I'd like you to try a bulkier Landorus-T spread. The classic one is to me the 200HP/120Atk/188Spe but I'd you to try a 248HP/52Atk/92Def/116Spe. You outspeed any Jirachi/Mence Scarf with the second spread, but you don't outspeed at +2 Terrak/Keldeo Scarf with a +Spe Nature. However given the nature of your team, I feel like you could take advantage if you know that your opponent will be lock in HPump/SE (no one will predict you to switch in this situation). You never get 2HKO'd by Terrak CB, Jirachi's Psychock will do jack shit to you.

- The second change is "harder" to do, simply because I can't fix everything with that change but well.. I'd like you to try a Ferrothorn instead of Tentacruel. With GyroBall/PowerWhip/StealthRock/Rest and a Chesto Berry. This Ferrothorn is never killed by a Specs Keldeo Secret Sword and can deal nice damages with Power Whip. He deals nicely with Rotom-W, and provides you with SR (so you can put Spikes on Skarm). He can also greatly help against Breloom, since you can hit him after being Spored (or just set SR). Gyro Ball does a nice chunk to him, and Gyro Ball + SR + Rock Helmet (let's say you switch to Skarm) should allow you to kill Loomy. You could drop the Rocky Helmet for Leftovers however, and I STRONGLY suggest that. You need to have Leftovers to correctly deal with stuff like Gengar, Latias LO, Alakazam and especially Landorus Sheer Force (252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 244+ SpD Skarmory: 183-217 (54.95 - 65.16%)). The most important thing anyway is to bring Loomy in the Landorus-T KO range.
You also totally patch the Kyurem-B weakness, Terrakion Scarf can't OHKO this guy and gets killed, which mean that you get another last resort check. You check Mamoswine aswell. It makes you "weaker" to Jirachi, but if your Landorus-T is bulkier, you shouldnt be too worried about it.
I'd go for a physically defensive spread of 248HP/16Atk/228Def/16SpD.
You could go for Leftovers (or Rocky Helmet, Ferro makes a freaking good pseudo Spin Blocker like that) and TWave over Rest, nathing can come safely then ! But giving up Gyro Ball seems a bad idea to me.

That's it, I was explaining better the "weaknesses+analysis" part of the rate in the previous and lost post, but well.. :[
I hope I helped and good luck with your team.

TL;DR :
Landorus-T => Bulkier Spread
Ferrothorn over Tentacruel

(On another note, I liked the idea of trying a Slowbro somewhere... couldnt find where ... but I'm sure you could try a weatherless version of that team with Slowbro over Toed and probably a couple of changes to make the team stand together without Rain).

 

[Leftiez]

Hey Delko.
I love much your team, Offensive Blissey is just a very good idea, it makes me think to the 3th Gen ahah, I can't really rate your team because it seems correct, but I notice a big Weakness to Mamoswine, you has skärm but you do not have Brave Bird, you are forced to use "Whirlwind", it can do a lot of damage and if the opponent has Icicle Crash it can Flinch easily, I find it is too frail and you possess a Specially Defensive spread, I suggest you put Bronzong "252 HP/132 Def/124 Spedef/Sassy" "HP Stealth-Gyroball-ice rock/Toxic gold EQ" Skarmory, Bronzong is a very good pokemon for your team, it easily does the job of Skarmory but it can also come easily on Mamoswine and then I noticed that Alakazam/Landorus-i/Kyurem-B and Jirachi could do much damage but with Bronzong are no longer a problem. Nice team and Good luck, I hope i Helped ;)