RMT: Team Trifecto (peaked top 150)

Team Trifecto



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About the team:


This team is an attempt to systemise balanced offence, which seems to be the dominant playstyle at the moment. It's hard to blame anyone, since sandstorm dominates hyper offence through Excadrill's extreme speed, and stall has already been observed to be progressively harder and harder to pull off. The return of hard-hitting, but slow, boosting tanks like Conkeldurr and Reuniclus have also tilted the metagame in the direction of balanced offence.

However, Team Trifecto has neither of them. Instead, it focuses on another facet of balanced offence: having several supporters take out and cripple threats to the main offensive machine. The titular three parts are the three sides of the team: Scouts, Tanks and Heavies. These will be discussed in detail later. With the exception of Celebi, Team Trifecto is completely immune to Toxic Spikes, and as a bonus, doesn't break item clause!

Countering every single threat is impossible, and the team has several exploitable weaknesses which it cannot cover. Despite that, I feel that it is my best shot for a team so far, and with good reason: it's gotten into the top 200 of the Pokemon Online server and counting at 1357 points. For many of you, it's not quite impressive, but it certainly is high enough to be considered decent.
Pokemon Online server said:
(15:31:12) +RankingBot: Your rank in Wifi is 148/40305
So, enough with the introduction and on with the team! This RMT even has rainbow section dividers!

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Part One: Scouts

The main goal of scouting, as said by Lord Baden-Powell, is "to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities."
Okay, screw Wikipedia.

The scouts of this team serve to hop in and out on with U-turn, keeping my momentum intact. Thus, they have resistances to common attacks in order to switch in with ease as transition pokemon after single or double KOs. Sometimes, repeatedly swapping between the two with U-turn can wear down a conservative opponent, and takes care of annoyers like all variants of Reuniclus and Whimsicott. With the advent of Team Preview in Wifi, U-turning to reveal the opponent's pokemon is completely obsolete. However, the general usefulness of a free switch-in can never be voided.

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Judge Man (Landorus) (M) @ Choice Scarf


Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Description
Landorus is a perfect scout (he even has a SCARF), and also functions as a pretty darn good revenge killer. 101 Speed with a Jolly Nature outspeeds Volcarona, Salamence, Jirachi, and Flygon, which all commonly function best at +1 speed. Furthermore, all Haxorus and Hydreigon are too slow even with a scarf to kill Landorus. The relative ease of spamming Earthquake makes it a decent "win condition" pokemon to fall back on. With its high speed, it serves me well as a starter to get the game going.

The only move that needs explanation is Hidden Power Ice. Despite being a little on the weak side, it enables me to beat Salamence and Garchomp without resorting to Outrage. Well, almost. Garchomp is deceptively bulky, but I'm sure an Outrage would kill it. However, Outrage makes me useless should the opponent switch in a Lucario or even Gyarados. Choices, Choices...

Synergy
: Rotom-W, Celebi, Salamence
: Scizor, Rotom-W, Lucario

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Red Star (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band


Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Atk / 108 SDef / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Quick Attack
- Superpower

Description
Scizor: what more can I say! This is about the same set as I used in my previous RMT: The Order Of The Phoenix. It's overused, but it works extremely well. With Bullet Punch, it serves as my secondary revenge killer, and U-turn is my only sure insurance against Reuniclus. Quick Attack is strange, but with the given EVs and Stealth Rock down, Volcarona is swiftly KOed. It also 2HKOs Jolteon and does a good number on Infernape, both who resist Bullet Punch. Either way, I never find much use for Pursuit.

The EVs are a little odd, but they guarantee a 2HKO on Volcarona without rocks and a OHKO without. They resemble the Uber Scizor EVs in some respect, still giving it insane power on its priority and decent special bulk: in this meta, 248/0/0 Scizor just ain't cutting it no more. The reduced Attack makes it compulsory to have the Choice Band on, since Iron Plate Swords Dance just doesn't pack the initial punch I require for a heavy scout.

Synergy
: Rotom-W, Salamence

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Part 2: Tanks

Utility is the name of the game in this part of the team. They provide key resistances, and important side effects (Rotom-W's burn and Celebi's Stealth Rock). Normally, they come in in all stages of the game, but Rotom-W sees more use in the first half and Celebi sees more use in the second half. Despite being the defensive facet of Team Trifecto, these pokemon are more than capable of hitting hard, Rotom with its STAB Hydro Pump and Celebi with its Leaf Storm. Of course, they are the only pokemon on my team with recovery to enable multiple switch-ins. Lastly, the rest of my team detests bulky waters with a passion, and it's no surprise that between my two tanks, every single bulky water up to specially defensive Vaporeon and Slowking is covered.

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Sanyo (Rotom-W) @ Leftovers


Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

Description
Rotom-W: on most good teams since the typing change. Aside from Ferrothorn, Rotom-W possesses one of the most amazing set of resistances and weaknesses ever. Hence, it's hard to imagine this team without it. Rotom is a primarily physical wall, and I try to keep it away from stuff like Jolteon when possible, but if needed I can call on it to take a STAB Hurricane to the face from Tornadrus in rain. My set is a little unusual: max HP and Def misses out on a lot of power but enables it to check Excadrill in the sand lacking Return, as +2 X-scissor doesn't KO it at full health. Hydro Pump is a clean OHKO if I pray really hard and it hits. Similiarly, it shuts down Tyranitar and Hippowdon, along with Gliscor (watch out for Fling, but bonus points if you burn it on the switch). Thunderbolt is for Gyarados, and a reliable 100% accuracy move to finish off weak pokemon. Will-O-Wisp is for Ferrothorn, as its Power Whips are a lot more manageable at half attack. Super effective, it does around 30% when Ferrothorn is burned, which is just about the most it can do to my team. Hidden Power Fire would be nice, but Will-o-Wisp is also a good arbitrary move to throw about since all bulky waters save Milotic think burn is the second worst thing to Toxic poison, and the incoming pokemon will rarely be a ballsy Heatran or Infernape. Thankfully, Blaziken is banned as it previously 2HKO'd with High Jump Kick. Nasty, eh?

Synergy
: Scizor, Celebi, Lucario, Salamence

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Iceberg (Celebi) @ Life Orb


Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Psychic
- Leaf Storm

Description
This is a variant of the onsite Tinkerbell set, which uses its "just enough" bulk and "just enough" Special Attack to make a set which is simultaneously bulky and powerful. Leaf Storm takes down anything weak to it, and several things that aren't as well. Tyranitar goes down, Suicune at +1 Special Defence goes down, and even Gliscor goes down as well unless it has a significant bit of special defence pumped into it. Life Orb ensures those kills.

Psychic is perhaps the best move on this set: with max SAtk and a Life Orb it has a clean shot at KOing all Conkeldurr, although max HP/max SDef ones have a fair chance of surviving with a sliver of health left.

Stealth Rock is as important as always, but since Celebi usually comes out late-game when it's too late to effectively set up Stealth Rock, but whenever I see a Hippowdon or Swampert early in the game, I try. Still, I sometimes get it down too late to stop a Volcarona and Scizor no longer KOs with Quick Attack.

Synergy
: Rotom-W, Salamence
: Scizor, Rotom-W, Lucario
: Rotom-W
: Scizor, Lucario
: Landorus, Scizor, Lucario, Salamence
: Scizor, Lucario
: Scizor, Lucario

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Part 3: Heavies

The main offensive core, the driving force of a win, the massive turret you build on the battlefield that takes a while to set up but when it does, it's pretty much game over, no matter what you call it, these are the heavies. They can reach unbelievable power, but only through prior setup. As such, I play them late in the game to guarantee a win condition. When I'm in a tough match and I'm down to practically nothing but these two that I've been saving for the last, it's usually a make-or-break situation where despite the disadvantage I still have a chance to smash through the opponent and regain the game for me. With that I present to you the final phase of my balanced offence, and the last two pokemon on my team.

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Yong Chun (Lucario) (F) @ Air Balloon


Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Vacuum Wave
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball

Description
Lucario is mostly a late-game cleanup pokemon, since Vacuum Wave isn't the most powerful priority around and Lucario's stuck at a decent-but-not-nearly-there 279 speed. It's enough to take down weakened opponents whether they are worn down by burn, entry hazards, or general damage taken from my scouting. Despite being slow, it can take on most walls that impend Salamence like Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Scarf Zoroark, and Gliscor (needs to be those really physical defensive ones that counter Excadrill). The Air Balloon makes it a last-ditch check for Excadrill as well, and a timely Nasty Plot as it breaks my balloon can turn the tables and win the game for me. I've seen no difference between Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball in the last slot, except that the flinch from Dark Pulse is extremely helpful at times.

I've considered using an Agility Lucario at times when I run into stuff like specially defensive Gliscor and faster Dragons, but the power drop is not beneficial. Relying on Salamence as the main power source also puts a lot of pressure on a Stealth Rock-weak pokemon, hence the Nasty Plot set.

Synergy
: Rotom-W, Salamence
: Landorus, Celebi, Salamence
: Landorus, Rotom-W, Celebi, Salamence

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Motherlord (Salamence) (F) @ Lum Berry


Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 236 Atk / 20 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Description
The Motherlord of them all, Salamence wins most of the games that I play. The mixed DD set works wonders, gaining fast initial speed and ploughing its way through whole teams with Outrage. A Lum Berry avoids untimely status, but I'd prefer it be left intact when I set up to cure Outrage's confusion. That way, at least four pokemon are going to die once I eliminate steel-types, which is quite easy considering I run Landorus, Lucario and Fire Blast. The EVs enable a kill on most Skarmory with Fire Blast, and as much speed as possible to outrun the Gen V dragons before a Dragon Dance. It's come in useful more often than not.

Naive and Hasty are both equally good natures, but I figured Hasty would be better since Salamence has Intimidate to compensate for its lowered defence. Not using Naive also helps Salamence in taking Surfs from bulky waters like Jellicent. Lastly, Intimidate was chosen over Moxie because it makes Salamence a counter to Swords Dance Lucario and Infernape without Stone Edge, and Moxie is illegal with Outrage. I need the sheer power of Outrage as soon as possible, I already have Dragon Dance to boost my attack to sufficient levels, and Moxie in general sucks.

Synergy
: Scizor, Lucario
: Scizor, Rotom-W, Lucario
: Lucario

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Conclusion

And that's the last of the team. It looks solid, but is weak to several things. Firstly, any form of Latios completely tears my team apart. Scizor's Bullet Punch can hurt, and so can Landorus' U-turn, but my two scouts aren't going to be taking Surfs for a prolonged period. My water resists would be great except that they can't do a thing to Calm Mind Latios. Hence...

Latios said:
"They should call you Ben Jonson, because you just got VOLPWNED."
Another thing is rain. Thunder hurts everybody except for Celebi and Landorus, which is okay except for the fact that Landorus dies to any decent water attack in rain, and Celebi, despite being bulky enough to come in again and again, can't find the time to use Recover as a result. This is more of a fault of rain itself than my team, though, unless I do something radical like swapping Rotom-W for Lanturn.

The lack of Rock resists aside from Lucario is worrying, but it rarely poses a problem since Scizor and Landorus take down the biggest user of fast Rock-type attacks, Terrakion. Rotom-W can also take stray Stone Edges from Tyranitar and threaten it with a burn before lazily healing up with Pain Split. Also, miss.

Lastly, sun is a beast. I have nothing that can take down a Venusaur at full health, and normally have to rely on a combination of Landorus (pray that Venusaur is mixed and can be outsped by base 101 speed with a Choice Scarf) and Scizor's Bullet Punch. Celebi comes close, but dies to a +2 Sludge Bomb or super-effective Hidden Power Ice or Fire.

As of possible replacements, currently I'm testing Latios over Salamence. Due to having too much Choice users I'm considering a Calm Mind variant over LK's Choice Specs one, but I'll be giving both a shot. Thanks!

That's all, and thanks for reading! Credits to Bulbapedia for the sprites. Animated sprites take a long time to load on a smartphone, especially on a slow internet connection, so taking them out along with not centralising the text is an effort to make this RMT as mobile-friendly as possible.

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Exportable
Nickname (Landorus) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Nickname (Rotom-W) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

Nickname (Celebi) @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Recover
- Psychic
- Leaf Storm

Nickname (Lucario) (F) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Vacuum Wave
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball

Nickname (Salamence) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 236 Atk / 20 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Nickname (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 144 Atk / 108 SDef / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Quick Attack
- Superpower


A Last Look

Fuck backsprites.




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Threat List, or stuff I didn't mention in the OP

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Latios and Latias: Very Bad

Sheer power, and my two steel types have no recovery moves. The only way is to Bullet Punch with Scizor, unless the opponent thinks Landorus is one of those non-scarfed sand offense types. Latias can be arguably worse since most of them are bulky and not only do I have no safe switchin, a max defence CM Latias is surprisingly hard to kill on the physical side.

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DD Scrafty: Not too bad

With its good coverage moves and power of High Jump Kick, Scrafty can pose a huge threat to my team. Like LK said, a set of DD/HJK/Crunch/Ice Punch will 2HKO every member. Luckily they're not too common, but it's scary enough. The few that I've faced were further down the ladder, and tried to boost in front of Celebi and Scizor. Celebi killed with Leaf Storm, Scizor killed with either Superpower, or dealt heavy damage with U-turn and swapped to Landorus to net the final blow. If it does set up safely however, I think Landorus and Lucario's Vacuum Wave together can gurantee the KO.

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Virizion: Very Bad

All Calm Mind variants are a bitch. Scizor is the only sure check, but when taken prior damage it doesn't survive a Focus Blast. Still, most good Virizion users switch out when they face a Scizor, meaning that Virizion should die during Salamence's final rampage. At the very most, Celebi can kill it with Psychic, and a low-health Scizor and Landorus can tag up to kill it with Bullet Punch + U-turn, maybe with another U-turn for luck.

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Your team is good.

I haven't used PO in a while because the pokemon pages aren't up or the OU/UU tiers...but i decided to use this team in PO and it tested pretty well.

Garchomp is a problem, like always.But overall the team is good and i think i'll use this one from now on.

Yes, i do lack creativity but who cares.
 
Yeah, Chomp sucks, but I end up burning it or finishing it off with Bullet Punch most times. Sand Veil's a bitch though.
 
From what I can see here, you're extremely status-weak. Bulky/Wall mons such as Tangrowth, Slowbro, Morubareru (only somewhat compared to others), other Celebi, even Blissey can all wreck your team if switched in properly. Hence I believe you're quite weak to stall and balanced despite TSpikes immunity, since you have no real wall breakers other than Mence, who requires set-up, and Landos, who is choice-locked and only carries a weak HP Ice.

A very acute problem lies in Slowbro. He can come in on all but Celebi and Rotom-W, status any incomers, or kill everyone except Rotom with an Ice Beam or Flamethrower, which are common moves to carry. If either of your two tanks gets too worn down or tricked a choice item, he has free reign, and either way can keep coming in to plague you for the rest of the match due to Regeneration. That all combined with his rise in popularity spells doom for your team.

Another poke you can have a lot of trouble with again is Azumarill. CB versions usually run max HP and Attack, and are very bulky, and can easily maim any one of your members except, again, Rotom...but if he is gone, you will have a lot to answer for.

I know you mentioned being able to outspeed Sazandora, but despite that you can be in for a world of pain if the user is a good predicter with elemental moves. Even if they aren't, Sazzy can still Draco Meteor your team to death, as Scizor and Luke can only come in for so long. You're weak to any special attacker with fire and ice attacks in general, even more so if they carry TBolt or Thunder to deal with Rotom. Genosekuto and Latios are prime examples, to name a few.

Overall, I recommend you consider replacing either Celebi or Rotom with a good poke that can wall special attacks or phaze or even cleric, like Dragonite. It might slow down your momentum, but at least it would give you a reliable counter to some of the above threats. Although he adds another ice weakness to your team, with Miracle Scale and Roost, he can survive for a long time. He can use Dragon Tail and Heal Bell (illegal to use both at once, however...), maintains TSpikes immunity, can run several powerful attacks like Hurricane, Fire Blast, Outrage, Earthquake, Ice Beam, TBolt, etc. to help counter more problem pokes, status, and more. I've got no particular set in mind, sorry, but I'm sure you could figure something out.

Have a good 'un~
 
Yeah, status hurts quite a bit. Azumarill isn't actually much of a problem since unless if I expect an Ice Punch (see: vs. Landorus), Celebi is the superior switch-in to Azumarill. Leaf Storm OHKOs it, of course. Slowbro is a problem but at the very worst Celebi can survive Ice Beam or Flamethrower with a considerable amount of health left and fire off Leaf Storm.

Weakness to stall: Salamence is my main answer to it, but Slowbro needs to be gone since it can't be OHKOed by anything it carries even at +1. If Slowbro can be eliminated by Celebi, Rotom and Scizor, Salamence can afford to be statused once to Dragon Dance up and likely break enough holes for Lucario to clean up.

Rotom-W could use a more balanced spread, instead of replacing it outright. That's where the problem is, I can't think of any decent defensive benchmarks to hit. Celebi cannot be replaced though, since no other Grass type can beat Conkeldurr and set down Stealth Rocks at the same time.

tl;dr, a new spread for Rotom would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much for the rate!

Threat list coming a little later than expected, probably Tuesday.
 
Threats
  1. Calm Mind Virizion
  2. Dragon Dance Scrafty

Hey min min, this seems to be a great team, just two threats that you will find troublesome. Virizion can come in on Landorus's Earthquake or Stone Edge, as well Rotom-W, set-up a Calm Mind and be able to take down your team members with boosted Giga Drain / Focus Blast / Hidden Power Ice. Scizor and Celebi are the only ones that can do decent amounts of damage before going down. Scizor takes 70% minimum from +1 Focus Blast, so if it's at full health it can put in a dent with U-turn whereas Celebi can survive the 2HKO with +1 HP Ice without Stealth Rock up and do heavy damage with Psychic. However if these two have taken prior damage, chances are they will be brought down and the rest of the team will be swept. Scrafty can come in on Landorus's Stone Edge and Celebi at -2 after Leaf Storm recoil, set-up Dragon Dance and proceed to bring down your team with boosted Hi Jump Kick, Crunch, and Ice Punch. Landorus will be the only 'mon capable of outspeeding Scrafty after the boost, but will fail to KO it with any of its attacks. Rotom-W needs to be at full health again and can't really switch in, as it is 2HKOed by Scrafty's Hi Jump Kick, taking up to 85%.

Solutions:

  • Solution A: Choice Specs Latios over Lucario or Salamence
Now I know with this change I am changing your primary offense core, but it is a beneficial change. Firstly, Latios brings you a solid check to Calm Mind Virizion thanks to Psycho Shock. Next, if you decide to replace Salamence with Latios, you will find that Latios and Lucario make a great offensive pair due to some good reasons. Firstly, they have perfect Defensive synergy, resisting each other's weaknesses perfectly. Second, is the offensive synergy they share; Latios is able to lure in and 2HKO Blissey with Psycho Shock, which is Nasty Plot Lucario's main roadblock, especially on Stall teams. With Blissey removed on Stall teams, Lucario will find it easier to rip through said stall team. Latios also attracts Tyranitar and things like CB Pursuit Scizor which could possibly give Lucario the opportunity to switch in and set-up. Again, you could choose to try Latios over Lucario, and still have good synergy with Salamence. Here you have one dragon to hit hard from the Special side of the attacking spectrum, and one dragon to hit hard from the Physical side of the attacking spectrum. Salamence has problems with things like Hippowdon, Gliscor, bulky Steel types which can wall its Outrage such as Bronzong. KOing these 'mons or at least weakening them with powerful Draco Meteor and Surf will allow Salamence to rip through the opposition. All in all, a solid addition the team no matter who you choose to replace.
  • Solution B: Hammer Arm over Hidden Power Ice on Landorus
With Latios on the team, you will find revenge killing Garchomp to be a not so difficult job thanks to the abnormally powerful Draco Meteor. For this reason, Hidden Power Ice becomes somewhat unnecessary on Landorus, and I think you'll get more use out of Hammer Arm. Now, at a glance Hammer Arm may seem like a bad idea due to the Speed drop. However, since Landorus is a hit and run Pokemon anyway, where it switches in, revenges something and switches out, it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Hammer Arm is able to do bucket loads of damage to DD Scrafty, making it a lot more manageable for your team to face.


Movesets:


Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Hidden Power Fire
- Psycho Shock


So to summarize:
  • Choice Specs Latios > Salamence / Lucario (preferably Salamence)
  • Hammer Arm > Hidden Power Ice on Landorus

GL
 
Wow. I came to rate like you asked, but LK stood me up word for word, right down to the hide tags, and I can't seem to find much else that your team would need. XD

Well, GL with the team, and sorry I couldn't get here sooner. :(
 
bump to support the latios w/ psycho shock suggestion. it takes care of cm virizion and spec DM is much stronger and versatile than mence's DD+OR.

Keep HP[ice] on landorus though, the scarfed ice coverage is very useful against dnite/mence/dragons in general. while hammer arm barely kos garchomp, and then sets your speed back.

not sure why rotom W is so bulky though. the standard set of hp124/252spatk/128spe is good enough. why pass up the STAB hydro pumps- especially against rain teams, where you have two steel types and three ice weak.
 

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