[RMT] Its good... but not quite there.

[YTP]

I suck at intros so I'll just say this team has been pretty decent. It got me to the semis of the tour today until Earthworm decided that I had enough joy and crushed me. So please rate!

At a Glance

I made this team out of boredom at church =P. It actually did really well when I got home to test it. The biggest weakness is stall (As Earthworm pointed out if you watched our battle). Oh and don't ask about the nicknames.

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EFIEAFEOFAFE (Swampert) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 SAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Cool lead. Swampert is one of the most reliable pokes in the game of pokemon. Usually using those bulky stats and great resistances to great effect. With only one weakness, grass, I can usually find an appropriate time to set up my Stealth Rocks. After that I can usually attack or Roar away the opposition. Swampert's great typing also means that I can use him to counter some big threats in the OU metagame. Such as Tyranitar, Salamence (to an extent), Jolteon and Zapdos. With the great coverage given from Ice Beam and Earthquake I can usually score a super effective hit on my opponent. It would be nice to utilize Hydro Pump or Surf in the last slot but I feel that Roar and sometimes even Protect are much more beneficial to Swampert and the team in general.

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FLEOAFLOLOL (Rotom-h) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt
- Overheat

Pretty much keeps my opponent from spinning away this teams hard work. Rest/Sleep talk was pretty mandatory here as I have no wish support. Thanks to Rotoms great typing he also makes an effective counter against some threats. Namely Lucario, Gyarados and Scizor. Lucario is a pain though if it has Crunch. Latias can come in and reflect up. Thunderbolt/Overheath lets him counter the stuff he needs to and beat all of the spinners. Rotom serves as my last line of defense against Suicune. I can usually keep it out of the way until late game where I can crush it with TBolt. I'm considering Vashta's SubWisp set to beat Lucario but then I lose my gyarados counter and that isn't worth it imo.


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WAFJEFOFE (Latias) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 148 HP/252 Spd/108 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Reflect
- Dragon Pulse

The first of my offensive core. Latias serves as bait for Scizor / Tyranitar. Once they come in they almost always Pursuit. This allows me to switch in Lucario after a reflect and most of the time sweep. Calm Mind allows Latias to boost her Special Attack and Special Defense stat and also prepare for a possible sweep once Lucario has scared the steel types away. Recover allows Latias to stall out Seismic Toss Blissey and Ice Beam Blissey (Much less of a threat). Latias also counters Infernape really well. The EVs given allow me to 2HKO Blissey at +6... and if Latias gets that many boosts then it usually spells GG for my opponent since no non steel type can take this hit except Bulky TTar.
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BIGEIFJAOE (Tyranitar) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/40 Atk/216 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

This is the big guy that has saved me time and time again. CBTar is the best pokemon in Platinum... yeah I said it. He is a great counter to all of the special threats in Platinum even CM Refresh Latias, which is something Blissey can't do, he poses a huge threat to a weakened team and he also can eliminate a great deal of pokemon just out of them running. Earthquake allows me to put down Heatran and friends and is cool to use against Lucario looking for a free swords dance. Crunch is the tool against Zapdos as it can't be PP Stalled as easily as Stone Edge. Pursuit allows me to catch fleeing pokes and usually kill them since odds are... if they are fleeing they dont want to meet TTars powerful moves.
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EOFAJIFOAEFJIAJ (Lucario) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Extremespeed

This is my main sweeper and finisher. He generally comes in later in the match when everything is weakened by Spikes, Stealth Rock and Sandstorm. Then stuff takes hits from my other members so its pretty grim for my opponent when they see this guy out. He even one me a match today and saved me from getting 6-0d by Earthworm x_x. Swords Dance allows me to boost my attack high enough to pretty much OHKO everything with Extremespeed if they have taken some damage. Close Combat is killing everything that doesn't resist it. Crunch beats up slower rotom formes.
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SPIMEIAMOEG (Skarmory) (M) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/64 Atk/176 Def/16 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind

This is the pokemon that I started the team with. I wanted to try to keep the momentum on my side of the battle for the entire match. Meaning I wanted to dictate how the match went. Skarmory is a perfect pokemon for this. Skarmory can usually slow down most offensive teams and hurt their switchins with Spikes and Whirlwind. I'm most likely gonna replace Brave Bird with Drill peck because of the loss of HP and not having Leftovers. Thats another thing I wanted to bring up. Skarmory can usually lure in my opponents Magnezone which means less danger for Lucario later in the match. Skarmory is just a cool pokemon to have.
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Plz rate. My main weaknesses are SD Luke with crunch, DDMence and sometimes LO Gyarados.

 

[rtc3]

First off let me say that I think this is a solid team. I'd normally tell you to replace Skarm with something else though, due to the fact that in general Skarm isn't as useful on balanced teams such as this one. However, since you did mention building this team around Skarm, I won't say anything lol.

Now then, you mention SDLuke, DDMence, LO Gyara, and even Stall as your biggest weaknesses. I'd suggest replacing your ResTalk rotom for a bulky Scarf set:

Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/42 Def/216 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Trick
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat

This rotom can switch in on a Jolly Gyara DD/Luke SD, and outspeed and KO with TB/Overheat, respectively. It can even help you handle stall better, if you manage to trick the scarf onto an important wall such as Blissey. It would also function as your main revenger, since I've noticed that aside from Luke's priority, you don't really have one. Despite the lack of recovery, I think this scarf set will be more beneficial to you than your current rotom set.

As for Salamence, I guess Mixmence can be revenged rather easily with Latias, but DD is another story. You do have what is considered a decent check in Pert, since as long as he has relatively high health, he can come in on the DD, take an Outrage and KO back with IB. If worst comes to worst however, I guess you can Lure an Outrage as you switch to Skarmory, and Roar that meddlesome Mence away. Provided you have SR up, Mence should be less of a threat after 1-3 more switchins.

 

[familyguyman]

I could see DDTar doing some mean things to you but I think you could survive him long term.

Nasty Plot Azelf could also do some hurt but Latias is a good stop to that.

I don't see many weaknesses here since you have well defined roles and powerful pokemon. I could see some DDers messing you up since you lack solid revenge killing but your resistance coverage is impeccable so that's a small weakness.


As for stall, I'd give Swampert Hydro Pump somewhere to beat down Hippowdon leads. I don't know if Reflect on Latias is truly needed and perhaps could be replaced by Surf for the type coverage and ability to crack down on Skarmory. I think the offense lost by Lucario having an easier time is more than replaced by Surf.

Alternatively, I'd recommend at least one of Rotom or Latias have a Scarf just in case.

A final idea is to drop Rocks on Swampert for Hydro Pump and give Skarmory the entry hazard of your choice.


To break stall, you're going to have to drop some of your defense for the pop required but personally, I don't think it's totally needed.

 

[haunter]

You definitely have problems with Lucario: a TTar locked into pursuit is a guaranteed SD boost for it, and after a SD it can ohko your whole team barring the chance that you win a speed tie with your own Lucario.
You need something to counter or, at least, revenge kill it.
I believe that you could replace Skarmory with a bulky Gyarados:

Gyarados@leftovers
nature: adamant
EVs: 156 HP / 108 Atk / 100 Def / 144 Spe
-dragon dance
-waterfall
-stone edge
-taunt

Replacing Skarmory you'll only lose the spikes support, but that would be a good deal in my opinion because you'll earn a sure counter to Lucario and another check for Infernape (should you lose Latias during the match).
Most of the threats that Skarmory counters are already countered by Swampert and Rotom (read: Scizor, Metagross, TTar, Rhyperior an so on). The only exception would be scarf-Flygon, but Swampert can take an outrage and ohko back with ice beam.

Besides the Lucario weakness, you have a very solid team.

I would only consider replacing overheat with W-o-W on Rotom: with W-o-W TTar will think twice before switching in to pursuit you to death. W-o-W also cripples Scizor and Metagross, as well as any other physical sweeper not named Heracross.

Good luck!

 

[YTP]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't have much time so I'll reply later. Keep on rating!

 

[Dormin]

I'm going to have to disagree with the Bulky Gyara suggestion over Skarmory. It is not really a sure-fire counter to Lucario with the stealth rock weakness and the fact that a lot of Lucario run Stone Edge over Ice Punch or Crunch (especially because a lot of the mindless masses see Stone Edge listed as the first move in the analysis and therefore use it as their first choice). Infernape is a similar story with even an unboosted LO Grass Knot/Stone Edge doing a lot of damage to Gyara.

To remedy your Luke problem, I concur with Pineapple's suggestion of a Scarved Rotom-h. This not only gives you another weapon against stall via trick, but it gives you some potential pursuit bait for setting up Lucario.

I am surprised that stall is such a problem for this team. By my reckoning a CBtar and SD Lucario should be more than enough to take stall. With trick you now have another option if you are really that afraid of it.

Really solid looking team by the way. With the small change to Rotom-h, you should have enough tools to have a good chance against any team. All you really need is to practice with the team. I don't want to assume too much though because semis in the tour is a pretty impressive feat. Good job and good luck in the future!

PS: Earthworm gets to all of us eventually