ORAS OU RMT - been a long time.

[Turbanator]

Hi Smogon,

Last time I played Pokemon competitively was in 2009, DP days. I've been watching vids and playing some PS. Would appreciate your critique on the team I'm playing around with.

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

This Grachomp is my lead pretty much all the time. Sets up SR and aims to Dragon Tail opponents out. Some teams struggle against it especially with the Rocky Helmet/Rough Skin combination. Sometimes I end up sacking it just to get a good chunk of damage for Bisharp to clean up. I run Fire Blast to 2HKO Skarm and other steal types that try to stay in after they set up their own rocks.

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head

This is my dedicated physical sweeper, at least one of them. I run Life Orb instead of Black Glasses for fairy type walls and to hit harder with my strongest STAB move. One concern I have about this guy is that he seems to be very predictable. The SD set provides the strongest sweeping potential, but I wonder how an Adamant set with Blackglasses with Low Kick/Taunt would do.

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Defog
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere

This is a utility set with Defog and Thunder Wave being crucial for setting up and sweeping against faster opponents. Its nice that it resists Spikes/Toxic Spikes when it comes in, but this is one of the Pokemon who I can see maybe being swapped for something else. Even though the Air Slash Para crit hax has been around since I was last playing, I don't like to have to resort to 3 paraflinches to take something out. Aura Sphere is there to surprise dark/steel types that think they can get a free switch in.

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic

Unaware is something that I have great success with. Quagsire does so well against setup Clefable, Azumaril and co. Toxic is there to wear big bulky water types down, EQ for coverage, Scald for burn and STAB. Recover is staple.

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 244 HP / 216 Def / 48 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Knock Off

HP Fire for dealing with Ferro and even Bisharp. I chose to run Knock Off + Sleep Powder over Synthesis mainly because of Regenerator. I run it to deal with Whimsicot, Breloom and Ferro, and it checks a few physical threats in the meta.

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Roost

I realize this is a set that might seem like it doesn't know what it wants to do. A defensive boosted nature with max attack? What? I played around with both common sets with Zard X and this set gives me the ability to take hits better and actually make use of roost. Without the Atk ev's it just feels like I'm not doing enough damage.



This team wins if it keeps hazards off for Charizard, or kills counters/checks to Bisharp. The biggest concern is getting swept by fast special sweepers who Quagsire cannot do anything about. In fact, Quagsire is such a strong pillar for this team that when it does, I usually have to play offensively and find a way to set up. Its lacking on the specially defensive side, and it doesn't help that my hazard control is weak to SR and removes my own as well.

The obvious problems, and there are many. Thats why I'm posting here lol.
Serperior hits me so hard its kind of sad. Unless I can get my Togekiss in on it for free, or Thunder Wave it, its a serious threat to the team.

Diancie-Mega/Gardevoier-Mega I pretty much lose if Bisharp isn't out and has some SD's up or Charizard isn't on a sweep with some DD's behind it. In general, fast special sweepers give me trouble, like NP Thundurus.

Rain Dance Kingdra I struggle against weather in general, but I have no switch ins to Swift Swim Kingdra and have to wait for rain is over switching between Quagsire, Tangrowth and Bisharp hoping to predict the right resist.

Sub/Stall Gliscor I am unable to break Gliscor who has defensive investment, sets a sub and then proceed to toxic stall me. My only water attacks are on Quagsire, who's Scald is not enough to break the sub/roost/toxic heal.

Common Threats

Azumarill: Tangrowth, Quagsire
Bisharp: Quagsire, Tangrowth
Breloom: Tangrowth
Charizard-Mega-X: Quagsire
Charizard-Mega-Y: No direct counter, Bisharp is a good switch in since Y usually comes in late in a game. If I have rocks Sucker Punch is an easy OHKO.
Dragonite: Quagsire
Excadrill: Quagsire, Tangrowth
Garchomp: Quagsire, Tangrowth(not really lol)
Garchomp-Mega: No direct counter
Gardevoir-Mega: No direct counter
Gengar: Togekiss?
Gliscor: No direct counter
Heatran: Quagsire, struggles against Chomp and Zard
Heracross-Mega: Quagsire (After rocks, without rocks it sometimes sweeps me)
Jirachi: Togekiss, Bisharp
Keldeo: Togekiss, Quagsire, Tangrowth
Landorus-Therian: Quagsire, Garchomp
Latias: Bisharp checks it
Latias-Mega: Bisharp checks it
Latios: Bisharp checks it
Latios-Mega: Bisharp checks it
Lopunny-Mega: Quagsire, Tangrowth, Togekiss
Magnezone: No direct counter, can play around it easily due to poor coverage
Manaphy: No direct counter, can play around it
Manectric-Mega: Troublesome.
Medicham-Mega: Troublesome.
Metagross-Mega: Quagsire, Tangrowth.
Pinsir-Mega: Quagsire.
Raikou: No direct counter, but can play around it.
Rotom-Wash: Tangrowth.
Sableye-Mega: ???
Scizor-Mega: Quagsire.
Serperior: No direct counter.
Skarmory: Quagsire, Garchomp
Slowbro: Tangrowth, offensive Slowbro can 2HKO with Ice Beam though
Slowbro-Mega: Yeah....
Starmie: Tangrowth, Bisharp
Talonflame: Quagsire
Thundurus: NP is my end.
Tornadus-Therian: I can't switch into it, but Bisharp cleans up :s?
Tyranitar: Quagsire, Tangrowth
Tyranitar-Mega: Quagsire, Tangrowth
Venusair-Mega: No direct counter
Volcanion: Tangrowth/Quagsire, I have to out predict it
Weavile: Quagsire

 

[zbr]

hello there! so your team is giving off a serious semi stall-esque vibe. which is kinda why you lose to common anti stall mons like serp / mega diancie / mega garde / glis / mega cham / craw daunt and if you noticed, if your opponent is running something crazy like powerbeam hp ice tran, you're pretty screwed. looking at your team, i'm assuming that the focal point of the team is around zard x + bish and hoping to win by pressuring opponents into unfavorable positions by walling them and playing the long grind game with them using fatter mons. overall, your team is pretty cool and good for a semi stall team but im sure that i can provide some suggestions that can help you improve your team , synergy wise , as well as your overall bulk and wallability of the team.

im sure that it isn't just me but i have something against running rocks weak defoggers on a semi stall team. and that is further worsened by the fact that our defogger here doesn't carry any form of reliable recovery which is a huge nono. your team is something that requires not only hazard to be gone but also hazards to stay up on your opponent's side of the field so my first suggestion here is to run a sturdier defogger in the form of lefties spdef skarm over togekiss. this change opens up a lot of options for you. for starter, it means that you are now much less serp / diancie / gard weak since serp is forced to hp fire you which you can outplay and diancie and garde are dealt with by iron head. defog + taunt allows you more options when you're dealing with stall teams.

my next suggestion is one that definitely helps your team on the spdef side as well as providing you with a strong sturdy cleric as well as providing you a probable win con. this change is to run magic guard cm + heal bell clef over bisharp. yes i understand that bisharp is probably one of the main way your team cleans up weakened offensive teams but that's what zard does. furthermore, this is a more bulkier balanced semi-stall variant so sharp may not be absolutely beneficially in the long run of games since there will definitely be a lot of times where you need to grind games out. heal bell clef helps you with statuses that annoy you like toxic'd quag / zard / tang and even burnt skarms. magic guard itself enables it to be a status absorber but having heal bell there can be quite helpful to your team in the long run. CM helps provide another wincon as well as help you break teams that rely on slowbro as their zard x switch ins.

lastly, i have some minor ev changes for you: first off, running 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 Spe with an impish nature + wisp and eq over dd dclawon your zard, gives your zard a lot more utility than it currently has now. wisp helps burn it's physical switch ins like lando-t , chomp and the ev spread allows you to outpace adamant drill , jolly msciz and bish while eq helps you deal with random trans that like to come in predicting your wisp. if you feel uncomfortable having no set up moves on your zard, you can still run dd over wisp just that now your zard has much less utility than it did before. you can also opt for toxic over fire blast on tankchomp so that you can deal with bulky waters that like to switch in easily. hopefully my suggestions help you climb up the ladder more and improve your team so that it rectifies some of the weaknesses that are present. good luck and have fun in the game! /cheers/

sets

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Earthquake

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Calm Nature
- Heal Bell
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Defog
- Iron Head
- Roost
- Taunt

 

[Turbanator]

hello there! so your team is giving off a serious semi stall-esque vibe. which is kinda why you lose to common anti stall mons like serp / mega diancie / mega garde / glis / mega cham / craw daunt and if you noticed, if your opponent is running something crazy like powerbeam hp ice tran, you're pretty screwed. looking at your team, i'm assuming that the focal point of the team is around zard x + bish and hoping to win by pressuring opponents into unfavorable positions by walling them and playing the long grind game with them using fatter mons. overall, your team is pretty cool and good for a semi stall team but im sure that i can provide some suggestions that can help you improve your team , synergy wise , as well as your overall bulk and wallability of the team.

im sure that it isn't just me but i have something against running rocks weak defoggers on a semi stall team. and that is further worsened by the fact that our defogger here doesn't carry any form of reliable recovery which is a huge nono. your team is something that requires not only hazard to be gone but also hazards to stay up on your opponent's side of the field so my first suggestion here is to run a sturdier defogger in the form of lefties spdef skarm over togekiss. this change opens up a lot of options for you. for starter, it means that you are now much less serp / diancie / gard weak since serp is forced to hp fire you which you can outplay and diancie and garde are dealt with by iron head. defog + taunt allows you more options when you're dealing with stall teams.

my next suggestion is one that definitely helps your team on the spdef side as well as providing you with a strong sturdy cleric as well as providing you a probable win con. this change is to run magic guard cm + heal bell clef over bisharp. yes i understand that bisharp is probably one of the main way your team cleans up weakened offensive teams but that's what zard does. furthermore, this is a more bulkier balanced semi-stall variant so sharp may not be absolutely beneficially in the long run of games since there will definitely be a lot of times where you need to grind games out. heal bell clef helps you with statuses that annoy you like toxic'd quag / zard / tang and even burnt skarms. magic guard itself enables it to be a status absorber but having heal bell there can be quite helpful to your team in the long run. CM helps provide another wincon as well as help you break teams that rely on slowbro as their zard x switch ins.

lastly, i have some minor ev changes for you: first off, running 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 Spe with an impish nature + wisp and eq over dd dclawon your zard, gives your zard a lot more utility than it currently has now. wisp helps burn it's physical switch ins like lando-t , chomp and the ev spread allows you to outpace adamant drill , jolly msciz and bish while eq helps you deal with random trans that like to come in predicting your wisp. if you feel uncomfortable having no set up moves on your zard, you can still run dd over wisp just that now your zard has much less utility than it did before. you can also opt for toxic over fire blast on tankchomp so that you can deal with bulky waters that like to switch in easily. hopefully my suggestions help you climb up the ladder more and improve your team so that it rectifies some of the weaknesses that are present. good luck and have fun in the game! /cheers/

sets

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 100 Def / 160 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Earthquake

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SpD
Calm Nature
- Heal Bell
- Soft-Boiled
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 200 Def / 60 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Defog
- Iron Head
- Roost
- Taunt

Hi Zbr,

Thanks so much for your post. I appreciate the feedback.
Firstly the team isn't really semi-stall. I never go into stall battles if I can help it. The main way I play, as you said, is by having residual damage on things. Knock Off on switch ins. SR damage. T-wave to slow down faster things. Toxic to allow Zard to OHKO. I don't really have walls, but more support/utility mons to allow my two attackers to get the kills. That's why Zard has the 252 attack evs + DD. A common play against Lando for example, after the SR and it getting Dragon Tailed, is me predicting it switching back in, and getting Defiant boost for Bisharp who can then sweep. Really the whole team serves two Pokemon and two routes for sweeping. But I suppose, the meta-game has moved away from dedicated walls and more tanky/speedy mons to check/retaliate. So I do apologize for the rather old school nature of this team :P I used to run Wish/Protect Vaporeon and Blissey haha.

With all that being said, I definitely like that Skarm set over the one I'm running now for Togekiss. And dropping Bisharp isn't taboo for me or anything. I'll try the changes you recommended because I think the bulky nature of the team with your changes is pretty hawt =)
I will try adding the Skarm alone and modifying the set on Zard, and I'll also do a team with all your changes.
I'll let you know how it goes. Again thanks for your feedback. <3

EDIT:
Okay. So I've done all the changes mentioned above.
The best combination seems to add skarm and clef, but to keep zard on DD, otherwise the team lacks any sort of punch. It cannot finish teams off and ends up getting stalled out.