RMT - Welcome to the Show [OU]

[Agammemnon]

Hi, and welcome to my team, Welcome to the Show ! :)
I recently made it, and it threw me to 1302 in OU ladder, and 1527 in Suspect ladder.
Also, I begin in team-making, so every help is welcome :)
Oh and.. Sorry if my english sometimes fails, but I'm french and young ! :)

TEAM AT A GLANCE


HOW I HAVE CHOSEN THEM

First, I needed a lead to explode common leads, and to sweep through the opponent team. I needed something fast (Faster than Breloom, Smeargle and modest Azelf.) Looking through Pokemon list, I found something perfect


Okay, I have my lead. Now, I need a major threat to make my opponent flee. If that thing could improve itself, it would be even better... Okay here it is. Gyarados is perfect for it.


Now, I need something resistant, very bulky in fact, and who can absorb electric moves, because both Starmie and Gyarados are weak to it. I did not want Electivire or Jolteon, but something ground-typed, because when I switch Gyarados off, my opponent oftens does an Earthquake. This pokemon also needed to put on some Stealth rocks, which are very important to every team. I think that my perfect one is Swampert. It can also roars. \o/


Now, I need a Revenge killer, covering much things. The fastest would be the best, and it would be fine that it hits on special, because Swampert and Gyarados hit both on physical. Gengar is the best thing I could find, because it'll absorb every normal (Endeavor, hi) or Fighting moves, and it levitates, so... Hi :D


Okay, it's time for a wonderful Wallbreaker, who can hit very hard on physical. I think that you've all guessed who I am talking about. Hello Salamence! :)


The team is almost finished, but I still need a late-game sweeper, and something with a priority move, who is very resistant to Grass, and resistant to dragon moves. Oh yeah I know.. Obviously, Scizor ! :)



A CLOSER LOOK TO EACH ONE

SayHiOrICrushYa (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Surf
- Rapid Spin

Here is my lead, the fantastic Starmie. It does not look very powerful, but if you think that, then you're wrong.
First, I've tried to put Recover but it hasn't the time of using it.
I've also tried Rapid Spin, but I prefer the 4-offensive slots version.
Ice Beam destroy Dragons, Gliscor and ground-typed.
Grass Knot is here for Swampert who oftens come to me, and when I know that my opponent is using Jolteon and Electivire while I'm fighting a Water-type.
Surf is here, and not Hydropump cause I'm really unlucky. It 3HKOs every Zong and Jirachi, regardless of EVs and Leftovers, because it does around 45% damage.
Thunderbolt allows Starmie to outspeed Gyarados even after a DD, and kills Skarmory too :)
Life orb is obvious, to hit harder :)

Wrath (Gyarados) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 60 HP/252 Atk/198 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Stone Edge replace my old Ice Fang, even if its accuracy is sucky. The main move is Waterfall. After a single DD, Gyarados outspeeds much things, and Waterfall is deadly (+ flinching powaaaa). Earthquake allows me to hit things resistant to water, or Electric-typed things, like Magnezone :)
Lum Berry surprises my opponent.
Often, I switch into Gyarados, and do a DD when my opponent comes in with Blissey. He thunderwaves me, Lum berry cures it and I do a second DD. Then, a waterfall OHKOes the naughty pink horror :)

Crusher (Swampert) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpA
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
This Swampert is my tank and occasionally a marvellous physical sweeper, resistant and who hits strong. Ice punch is here again for dragons, Gliscor, Breloom, Hippowdown... :)
As I was told, Ice beam is far more effective than Ice punch, because of Intimidation, and because guys which are fearing Ice are physically resistant.
My swampert absorbs Electric aimed to Starmie or Gyarados, and puts on Stealth Rock. Also, I have to be careful to grass moves aimed to Starmie...
Roar is here to make DD-Gyarados or Calm Minders get off, and Earthquake hits hard :) This is such a bulky version, made to be resistant.

Belphegor (Gengar) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Explosion
- Trick
My lovely, nasty, horrible, awesome Revenge Killer, GENGAR.
This is really a living (huh ? xD) disaster.
I choose not to use Focus blast, because of it's stupid accuracy.
Thunderbolt hits flying things nastily, Shadow Ball is stabbed and hurts very well.
Trick pisses off stallers and Improvers :)
Explosion is my little gift. Gengar pulls Blissey out of where it's hidden, so the first time I do not know it and I do a Shadow Ball, because sometimes my opponent expects me to Explode, and I kill his own Gengar. If he switches to Blissey, the second or third time I explode, taking down the horrible pink monster with me :)
With a scarf, max EVs and Positive nature, it's faster than anything and outspeeds most other Gengar, punishing them with a Shadow ball ! :)

GraveFiller (Salamence) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Fang

A pure monster, destroying everything on its path. After a single Dragon Dance, it hits 600 Atk, and that's... interesting, huh?
This is a pure physical version, hitting hard iron guys with Fire fang, Earthquake hits other things, and Outrage is here when I'm low-life.
Although, I have to be careful to Ice Shard from a Mamoswine or a Scarfer.
I prefer this physical version to the common MixMence that everyone is using, because it's less known. It's also not walled by Blissey :)

Agammemnon (Scizor) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/ 76 Atk / 172 SpDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Brick break
- Swords Dance

- Roost
​

Finally, a living god, I've named... Scizor.
When most people use the choice band version, I prefer to use Swords-Dance one. I find it far more effective.
As I was told, I replaced X-Scissor and superpower by Brick Break and Roost.
Roost give me more bulkiness, and Brick break seems better than Superpower for long fights :')
Moreover, I changed EVs to a bulky Scizor, making him less "lego-like" [LOL I TICKLED HIM AND HE WAS DEAD]



Here we are!

WEAKNESSES TIME

As you can see, I have 3 ground immunities, so it is 3 spikes/toxic spikes ownage. (Gengar is not counted, because of Levitate)
I also have 1 normal and fighting immunity, and it's Gengar, which can revenge kill those who can't it him :D
I also have several 400% weaknesses... oO
Electric is aimed to Swampert
Fire is aimed to... Well, it's aimed to everyone but Salamence and Scizor
Ice is aimed to Starmie / Scizor
Grass is aimed to Scizor or Salamence, per case.
Well, thoses weaknesses are not really a problem !

You can see that I have 28 single resistances, and only 12 single weaknesses :)


CONCLUSION

This is a very reliable team, which can handle many things.
I have Stealth Rock, Roar, and 3 improvers.
My real problem are Weather-base teams, that's why I'm hesitating to replace Gyarados or Salamence by a nasty Rain-Dancer Kingdra, to counter Sandstorm and to weaken Moonlight. :)
Well I'm open to all your advices, it's time to RMT ! :)


PS : In a nutshell, we can easily say that it is a purely offensive team, and everyone have to think about this sentence :
NO FEAR, NO PITY, NO REMORSE
CRUSH YOUR OPPONENT
​

 

[Agammemnon]

LEADER TEST

In this part, I'll explain how Starmie is a great leader :)
Here is how I play against the top 10 leaders.

Azelf : 2HKO by Surf. If it is a Tricker, I now have a Scarfer Starmie, well that's okay :D If he U-turns, He's dented anyways. Starmie is faster than most Azelfs, and ties with Timid one :)

Metagross : Surf 2HKO him, while Meteor Smash 2HKO Starmie (3HKO sometimes) and Starmie is faster than Gross. AgiliGross is not a problem because during Agility turn, I surf :) Plus, Meteor smash + Bullet punch does not kill me ! With 2 LO hits, after 1 Meteor Smash + Bullet punch I'm still alive (6% i think remembering.)

Jirachi : Surf 2 or 3HKO him, depending on its bulkiness. Tricker gives me a trick so it's not a problem :)
He can't really hurt me. If it's a calm minder, I switch to Swampert and roars him.

Swampert : Grass Knot. Next

Aerodactyl : My Starmie is purely aggressive so I do not fear taunt. Aerodactyl are always wearing a Focus sash, and Surf does about 117% damage, so I put them to 1HP. The only way to kill me by Aerodactyl is Rock Slide x2, which does me around 55% damage.

Infernape : Surf. Next.

Hippowdon : Surf or Ice Beam 2HKO him, while he can't really hurt me. Next.

Ninjask : If he protects then substitutes to baton pass, I can not really hurt him, so I just kill substitutes to pression him :) Then I hurt the baton passed guy.

Bronzong : Surf 3HKOs him, and the only way for him to kill me is to explode.

Roserade : Well, I fear grass moves, and my Ice beam usually does 92-93% to him, so my Starmie dies, and Scizor finishes Roserade. If he sleeps me, that's good, because of Natural cure !

OFFENSIVE THREAT LIST

Instead of doing a long annoying list, I'll list only things that send me in trouble :)
And some Top-Tier that I needed to explain.

Celebi: Scizor litterally explodes him with X-Scissor or Bullet punch after a SD. Gengar shadow balls him or burns him, Starmie freezes him, Salamence burns him... Yeah, the well-known monster-like Celebi isn't a matter :D

Flygon: This thing with U-turn is horrible... Luckily I have many Ice moves, so it's not really a problem :D

Gyarados: Yes, Gyarados is such a monster, but I have several Electric moves, and I can haze him. Moreover, he takes 25% on Stealth Rocks, so the only problem is a Taunter Gyarados, but i'll kill him with Gengar :)

Heatran: ScarfTran gives me hard time, because Gengar can't really OHKO him...

Infernape: Water everywhere, do you really wanna play, Infernape ? :')

Kingdra: If it rains, I'm a a dark hell. If it does not rain, Salamence takes care of it, Outrageing it ^_^

Latias: Latias is faster than Salamence (Versions I saw in fact...) but does not scare me at all. When I'm on Salamence and they switch to Latias, I quickly go on Swampert to Ice punch it, or on Scizor to SD :)

Rotom-A: Because I have no rapid spinner, he can't make me cry :D Also, Gengar kills him with Shadow Ball (2HKO for the bulkiest versions) and he can't really hurt me if I anticipate.

Scizor: Salamence crushes him, like Gengar does. I have to be careful of Choice banders, because they OHKO Gengar... Also, my opponent often switches in Scizor on Starmie, and Surf does around 70% damage, so I take my Scizor on, I so a SD, and I finish him ^_^

Tyranitar: Bullet punch, Surf, Waterfall, Eartquake... next !

Weavile: Bullet punch, next !

Yanmega: I have to be careful of Tinted lens Choice specser version, because I can't really safely switch in, but I can easily takes him down : in fact, he only dents one of my pokes before dying in horrible pain !

Zapdos: I hate him, he counters me very well... Heat waves kills Scizor, HP Ice kills Salamence, and HP Grass kills Swampert... Thunderbolt kills Gyarados, so yeah that is bad... My only reliable way to kill him is to Ice beam from Starmie or Ice punch from Swampert if Zapdos isn't HP Grass...


DEFENSIVE THREAT LIST


Blissey: This ugly thing counters Starmie, and mid-counters Gengar... In fact, Salamence, Scizor, Swampert and Gyarados are physical, so they burst him ! If I can't take it down because of SkarmBliss, after several switches I explode on him with Gengar, so Blissey isn't really a problem to me. More, he allows me to DD or to SD, thx to Lum Berry !

Bronzong: Fire Fang, HP Fire, Superpower... Okay, cya guy :)

Cresselia: Scizor X-Scissor him and Gengar Shadow Balls him, oki :)

Dusknoir: Shadow Ball; next. And Dusknoir isn't that resistant, so after one DD, he's 2HKO by Salamence or Gyara !

Forretress: Hp Fire from Gengar is curiously inexpected, and throws him into a grave ! =) He also gives me the opportunity to SD with Scizor during his Spike-time :) His explosion doesn't kill Scizor, and a 3SD Bullet punch kills everything or nearly ^^''

Gliscor: Ice Beam, Ice punch, next. He's not a problem to me =)

Gyarados: After a single DD, Gengar is still faster, so I can easy destroy him with Thunderbolt. My Gyarados is weak to him because of lack of Rock move, but I don't like 80 accuracy T_T

Hippowdon: He's very bulky, but with many Ice moves and Water moves, well... cya guy ^^

Shaymin: Oh hello ya ! with my profusion of Ice and Fire moves, he's really not a problem :)

Skarmory: Okay, this guy is hurt by Fire and Thunder... Starmie has fire, Gengar has Thunder AND Fire, Salamence has Fire... Next ^_^

Tentacruel: This bulky water is killed by Salamence, Swampert, Starmie, Gengar.. Yep.

Umbreon: I just have to X-Scissor on him : even the Curser version gets killed :)

Vaporeon: Gengar 2HKOs him, like Salamence after a DD, and after a SD Scizor 2HKO him with X-Scissor.

 

[Agammemnon]

Bump ! (RMT please)

 

[Tarquin]

I ran basically this team, with a few moveset and EV changes, a while back so I think I am well qualified to help :)

It seems like a wasted opportunity to me, using LO Starmie as a lead without rapid spin, especially as you are using 2 stealth rock weak sweepers! I also think that hidden power fire is a bit wasted on this Gengar. Lo Gengar uses HP fire to kill Scizor that attempt to pursuit or switch in on it, but with scarf gengar you can't switch moves and it is likely you will be stuck in another move that you just used to kill a sweeper. I suggest Focus Blast in that slot, as it provides a nice final resort against Tyranitar and Lucario and it is excellent if you predict a switch in from Scizor or Tyranitar, 2HKOing the first and 1HKOing the latter.

Finally, if you are running timid nature, the highest speed to you need to outrun is 495, which is the speed that rain dance Kingdra run to outrun +1 Salamence and Flygon. I suggest running 498 or so speed and putting the rest into attack, allowing you to hurt Blissey more effectively with explosion. It could make all the difference.

I believe the extra power from Life Orb or Iron Plate will be of more use to you on Scizor than Lum Berry. The main pokemon that will try and burn you is Rotom, who Scizor can't really damage much even without the burn, so yeah, try Iron Plate (fakes a choice band, so thats useful) or Life Orb.

Beware your lack of a flying resistance, Choice Scarf Togekiss can do a number on this team. Only Gengar outspeeds, so if it dies to Tyranitar or Scizor, you can be flinchhaxed to death. You also have no reliable switch in to scarf Togekiss anyway.

 

[Agammemnon]

I'm really not going to change my Scizor's item :)
Try it and you'll see the light !:D
Also, I really need to change Gyarados as everyone knows and counters him...
I was thinking about Kingdra or Latias, but I don't know...
The very-maximized speed on Gengar allows me to outspeed other Gengar and revenge-kill them, but yeah that's nice, i'll run 498 =)
You are purposing to remove something from Starmie to have Rapid spin ; If I remove Grass Knot, I'm weak to Swampert, how do you suggest to kill him ? ^^'
Focus blast stupid accuracy is 70, and it's really bad I think ; I'll always be missing it ^^'
Maybe it would be good, instead of HP Fire, to run Trick, so I'll have a tricker for Blissey and so, and after this, Gengar will still be a very good Sweeper :)
Then I run max speed ^_^
?

 

[res0gd01]

Replace Gyara with this:

Heatran@Choice Scarf
Rash Nature
252 Spe/252 Sp Att/4 Hp

~ Fire Blast / Flamethrower
~ Earth Power
~ Explosion
~ Dragon Pulse / Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice

When a pokemon aims a Fire move at Scizor, switch into Heatran and begin to sweep. This is very effective as this combination of Ground/Dragon/Fire is resisted by no type.

 

[joshe]

This team is very similar to Time to Breed? - Tarquin, but, in a sense has a much different goal. What i'm going to do in this rate, is to make the team fully centered around DD-Salamence and SD-Scizor sweep. But First, I'll work on fixing some moveset issues. Having Starmie as a lead, what its job is: to make sure the opponent doesn't have Stealth Rock on the field. Some leads like Metagross, Bronzong, and Jirachi will get Stealth Rock, while you 2HKO/3HKO them, meaning Starmie hasn't done its job of keeping Stealth Rock off the field for its teammates. What I suggest you do with Starmie's moveset is replace Thunderbolt with Rapid Spin. Thunderbolt is largely unneeded, as Surf easily 2HKOs Skarmory doing upwards of 80%, and many Gyarados are Ev'd to outspeed all Starmie after a Dragon Dance meaning you'll get smacked pretty hard either way. Also, Gyarados really doesn't have any business on this team, only truly being able to set up on Gyarados, as a Grass Knot from Starmie 2HKO's Gyarados provided Stealth Rock is in play (299 Atk vs 236 Def & 331 HP (120 Base Power): 141 - 167 (42.60% - 50.45%)), Swampert can Roar it away, and Gengar can always revenge-kill it. Also, with no Stealth Rock, Gyarados and Salamence are free to switch in unhampered, wrecking the opposing team with hard hitting attacks.

On Gyarados, I don't see why you have 198 Speed Evs (247 before a Dragon Dance, and 370 After a Dragon Dance) which nothing hits. You are inbetween outspeeding base 115's like Starmie and Azelf, and base 120's like Alakazam, all when running a +speed nature. It takes 204 Speed Evs to outspeed Alakazam, and only 184 speed evs to outspeed base 115's after a Dragon Dance. So essentially only running 184 speed evs is the best option in this case, making the spread 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe. I also really want you to consider putting Stone Edge over Ice Fang, for the simple reason of giving Gyarados basically zero set up time, making it a minimal threat. I know its accuracy is rather disappointing, and Ice Fang does more to threats like Salamence, Flygon, and Dragonite, but i simply suggest you give it one more shot, as the reward can really outweigh the risk.

Swamperts evs need to be changed. With those evs, you run the risk of being OHKOed by a +1 Life Orb Adamant Outrage coming from Salamence. With your current evs, Salamence can do: 88.53% - 104.24% with a +1 Outrage, a 66.67% chance to OHKO it with SR in play, and 20.51% chance to OHKO under normal conditions, which isn't good. A simple fix to this is to change Swamperts evs to: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def, while also changing Ice Punch to Ice Beam, and a Relaxed nature. The only reason you'd use Ice Punch over Ice Beam would be to do more damage to Latias which you can just roar out anyway. Ice Beam is needed for the OHKO on Salamence also, provided you have Stealth Rock in play, while if you run Ice Punch, you run the risk of getting intimidated (-1 attack) lowering your attack enough so you can't OHKO it. You also do more to Hippowdon and Gliscor.

One minor little nitpick on Gengar; don't run HP-Fire on it, as you'll lose speed ties with opposing Scarf Gengar and Scarf Latias. Instead, run either Focus Blast or Trick on it, to destroy opposing Tyranitar and/or to ruin Blissey with a Scarf. I'd also suggest you keep max speed on it since you run Timid, for the reason to hit those opposing scarfers that can and will trouble you.

Finally on Scizor, I suggest you make him a little more bulky, and use Roost and Brick Break over Superpower and X-Scissor, with the spread: 252 HP / 76 Atk/ 176 SpD / 4 Spe. This will make it a much bulkier late game sweeper, and will mainly allow you to get a few more Swords Dances in, making even a resisted Bullet Punch a hard thing to take. Steel and Fighting also have the best coverage out of the three, and you still get 346 Attack, and at +4 you 2HKO Min Hp/Min Def Gyarados, which isn't a hard feat considering you have Roost to heal off 50% of your damage, and a Lum Berry to prevent Status, making Scizor an amazing sweeper for this team.

Good Luck!

 

[Agammemnon]

First, thank you Joshe for this analysis :)
You gimme proofs for removing Starmie's Thunderbolt. It's right that I've been missing Rapid Spin, per case on Aerodactyl with Focus Sash =)

About Swampert, it's right. First when I was reading you telling me to change Ice punch (physical) to Ice Beam (special) I was quite confused, but now I know that it's pretty intelligent because of Intimidation. Also it'll make EQ less powerful but no prob :)
More, as you say Hippowdon and Gliscor are physical walls, so hitting them on Special is intelligent :)

I must say that I've never really studied Gyarados EV spread like you did.
In fact Gyarados annoys me. Yes he's powerful, but he's also weak to SS, and if Starmie dies I'm weak to middle-game SS.

About Gengar, yes I kept max speed and I put Trick to ruin Blissey or a Calm Minder Latias, or so. Also, I noticed that my Gengar is OHKOd by Rotom-A while I do it around 88% damage :s
That's quite annoying.

For Scizor, that's okay, but won't other Scizors destroy me ?
Also, this spread will allow me to resist one Blissey's Flamethrower, right ? :)

I'll test it, thanks much


EDIT : Roost is awesome.

I've also noticed that I'm stuck on Zapdos :s

 

[Tarquin]

I created that EV Spread for Gyarados, so I can explain the weirdness :) 198 Speed Evs are there to outspeed a +1 base 100 speed pokemon, such as scarf Flygon and Salamence, after 2 Dragon Dances. I felt it was a Utility worth shaving some HP Evs off for, as often after I absorbed the opponents paralysis from a Celebi or Blissey, they might resort to Flygon, which I then outsped. See? =)

I know Focus Blast's accuracy is shakey, but I really think having that last 70% to end a Lucario or Tyranitar sweep helps, and if you know suspect they are packing a CB Ttar, it really does throw them off balance if you OHKO them with Focus Blast as they switch in on a predicted Shadow Ball. Even if it misses in this situation, the opponent now knows you are locked in Focus Blast and will likely switch out, saving Gengar while scouting it's counter.

The key to stopping Gyarados being easily Countered is to save it for late game. However, you are using Scizor for a late game sweeper, while you are using Gyarados for early game damage and pressure. I would therefore suggest replacing it with a BulkyGyara, who finds switching in during the early game much easier and can take on a wider variety of threats.

I still don't get the Lum Berry on Scizor, but you have the experience on that issue xD

I would think carefully about replacing Thunderbolt with Rapid Spin, as Empoleon leads are on the rise and are uncounterable with H.Pump / Ice Beam / Grass Knot. However, you can still 2HKO Swampert with Hydro Pump, so Grass knot is not essential. Thunderbolt also makes Starmie a more effective midgame sweeper.

 

[Agammemnon]

What do you suggest to make Gyarados bulkier ? Sleeptalker ?

Starmie is okay even if I have not used Thunderbolt yet. Gengar pisses off Blissey with Trick, so that change is fine too.
My Scizor does not hit as hard as previously, but Roost pisses off other Scizors too.
My real problem is that Gyarados which isn't so useful atm =)

 

[Tarquin]

Bulky Gyara is actually a set lol, here it is

Gyarados @ Leftovers / Wacan Berry
Intimidate
Adamant
144 Spe / 108 Hp / 100 Def / 152 Atk
-Dragon Dance
-Taunt
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge / Earthquake / Return

As you can see by the Evs, this Gyarados has more bulky to play with, making it more effective in the early game, when the opponent still has all healthy pokemon. Taunt allows it to not only handle weaker sweepers but also Tanks, such as Skarmory, Blissey, Swampert, Suicune and such who would try and status or set up on you, as when you taunt them, they can only attack, while you set up Dragon Dance in preparation for a sweep.

The last attack slot is very variable. If you want Gyarados to handle dragons and flyers, keep stone edge, as it really is best for that. However, if you need to handle grounded steels, choose Earthquake. If you just want a hard hitting move that will hit pokemon that resist waterfall for neutral, choose return, which hits hard with 102 Power :)

As for Gengar, explosion is there to beat Blissey anyway isn't it? I think trick is overkill.

Good Luck with the team :)

 

[Agammemnon]

As said previously, it seems that Stone Edge is an important move, not to be walled by Dragons or things like that :)
I'll try this bulky thing Gyarados :D

And for Gengar, it can trick a Blissey and still explode on someone else :)

Thanks for your answer