Well I've been playing this team for a good while now, and it's definitely pretty good, but it also definitely has some flaws, so I'm really looking forward to getting some advice from you guys.
Well, here's the birth of the concept:
It all started with this guy. I had been trying him on a few different teams, and I'd been running mostly choice sets, because that's all anybody does with Haxorus with his horrible defenses and all. And he makes a nice choice sweeper as a compliment to a team, but the only way Haxorus could be the dominant sweeper he has the potential to be, he couldn't have that trade off of speed for attack or vice versa, plus the being locked into one move thing. So the true conception of the idea was when I realized that if I had something set up dual screens right at the beginning, then switched in Haxorus, he could take a hit or two to give him time to dragon dance, and it would make him a true force to be reckoned with.
So obviously I needed a dual screener. I tried a bunch of things at first, trying quick ones like Espeon, and also bulky ones like Bronzong. I eventually settled on Bronzong because he could last longer in the match, and put up the screens again if the match started to drag on. Also the access to stealth rock was a big factor.
At this point I was looking for a good sweeper, with a boosting move to take advantage of the screens, to compliment Haxorus, and I'm extremely happy with Scrafty in this role. He is the bane of sandstorm teams and I very rarely lose to them with this team. His shed skin ability makes him great against pokemon that'll try to stall the team out with status, and his great offensive typing makes him a force that the opposing team will really have to gameplan around.
Next order of business was a special sweeper that could come in and handle some physical walls that the team might run into, as well as being a powerful asset in itself (again the boosting move is a big factor, because it plays to the teams design). Infernape was great in this role, because with nasty plot it is a deadly special sweeper (hits 614 spatk after one use). Also it has an element of surprise to it, because a lot of people expect the more common physical set out of it, so it'll cause them to leave things in battle they shouldn't against this variety of Infernape.
At this stage, I was having a lot of trouble against physically defensive steel types like Ferrothorn and Skarmory. You'd think Infernape would solve the problem, but it was obvious what I was trying to do when I switched him in, and the opponent would just play around him. So I put a pokemon in that would directly address this threat which was the cause of over half the games I was losing. Magnezone will make it so that those steel types can't switch out and elminate them quite easily with either thunderbolt or hp fire. After that one of my sweepers is usually able to do the job quite nicely.
I know I said before that I was trying to decide between a quick screener and a bulky screener, but eventually decided I needed both. One screener just did not last the whole match unless I make a clean sweep the first time through, which doesn't really happen against good battlers (although it happens plenty against bad ones).
As you can see in the comments below the suggestion to add Terrakion over scrafty was made and it's working well so I decided to update.
It all started with this guy. I had been trying him on a few different teams, and I'd been running mostly choice sets, because that's all anybody does with Haxorus with his horrible defenses and all. And he makes a nice choice sweeper as a compliment to a team, but the only way Haxorus could be the dominant sweeper he has the potential to be, he couldn't have that trade off of speed for attack or vice versa, plus the being locked into one move thing. So the true conception of the idea was when I realized that if I had something set up dual screens right at the beginning, then switched in Haxorus, he could take a hit or two to give him time to dragon dance, and it would make him a true force to be reckoned with.
So obviously I needed a dual screener. I tried a bunch of things at first, trying quick ones like Espeon, and also bulky ones like Bronzong. I eventually settled on Bronzong because he could last longer in the match, and put up the screens again if the match started to drag on. Also the access to stealth rock was a big factor.
At this point I was looking for a good sweeper, with a boosting move to take advantage of the screens, to compliment Haxorus, and I'm extremely happy with Scrafty in this role. He is the bane of sandstorm teams and I very rarely lose to them with this team. His shed skin ability makes him great against pokemon that'll try to stall the team out with status, and his great offensive typing makes him a force that the opposing team will really have to gameplan around.
Next order of business was a special sweeper that could come in and handle some physical walls that the team might run into, as well as being a powerful asset in itself (again the boosting move is a big factor, because it plays to the teams design). Infernape was great in this role, because with nasty plot it is a deadly special sweeper (hits 614 spatk after one use). Also it has an element of surprise to it, because a lot of people expect the more common physical set out of it, so it'll cause them to leave things in battle they shouldn't against this variety of Infernape.
At this stage, I was having a lot of trouble against physically defensive steel types like Ferrothorn and Skarmory. You'd think Infernape would solve the problem, but it was obvious what I was trying to do when I switched him in, and the opponent would just play around him. So I put a pokemon in that would directly address this threat which was the cause of over half the games I was losing. Magnezone will make it so that those steel types can't switch out and elminate them quite easily with either thunderbolt or hp fire. After that one of my sweepers is usually able to do the job quite nicely.
I know I said before that I was trying to decide between a quick screener and a bulky screener, but eventually decided I needed both. One screener just did not last the whole match unless I make a clean sweep the first time through, which doesn't really happen against good battlers (although it happens plenty against bad ones).
As you can see in the comments below the suggestion to add Terrakion over scrafty was made and it's working well so I decided to update.
Starmie@Light Clay
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 speed/252SpAtk/4 Def
Moves:
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Ice Beam
-Surf
Starmie is usually my lead, although sometimes I'll use Bronzong if it's obvious it'd have an easier time setting me up. Starmie's speed allow is to get either reflect or light screen up before the opponent moves, so if I can guess if they're going to use physical or special, Starmie will usually survive the first turn. Also natural cure is great for when opponents try to status it, because as soon as its done screening it can switch out and be rid of the status. Ice beam and surf provide decent coverage by themselves, so Starmie can also be an overlooked offensive weapon in itself. However Starmie's primary function is still to set up screens. Starmies main issues are grass or electric types that can take it out even with one of the screens up.
Terrakion@Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Def
Moves:
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-X-Scissor
-Rock Slide
Right now I've only played about seven or eight matches using Terrakion, but I can already tell he fills the role better than Scrafty. Terrakion achieves similar things that Scrafty does, albeit in a completely different style. Now instead of setting up a straight sweep through sandstorm teams and the likes, I just switch Terrakion in and out and take them out one by one. A bit more complex, but also more effective. Also he takes care of things like defensive Gyrados and enemy Terrakions which gave me trouble before. The only drawback was the lack of an ice move, which Scrafty had in Ice Punch, that gave him a nice OHKO on things like Gliscor and Landorus, as well as Dragon types. However I remedied this by replaceing Thunderbolt on Starmie with Ice beam, which doesn't hurt the team too much at all because it's offensive role on the team isn't very big.
Haxorus@Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Def
Moves:
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
Haxorus is the staple of this team. After one Dragon Dance its attack and speed are already high enough to viabley sweep a team. Outrage is absurdly powerful and can 2HKO a lot of steel types, if not come close. Brick Break and Earthquake are both used for coverage, or if I don't want to get locked into Outrage just yet. Lum Berry is there in an ideal world to clear Outrage's confusion one time. However, it is often used to allow Haxorus to get a DD under its belt in the face of status inflicters. Hax really needs the support of screens to set up, or else it will often be KOd before it gets to DD once. It also needs to watch out for things like Skarmory and other physically defensive steel types that can wall it, and in Skarmory's case whirlwind it away.
Update: Now using double dancer, and it's working better, for exactly the reasons Snorlaxe thought it would (see comments)
Bronzong@Light Clay
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/152 Atk/96 SpDef/8 Def
IVs: Spe 0
Moves:
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Stealth Rock
-Gyro Ball
Like I said in the team building section, one screener just wasn't cutting it. Bronzong brings a whole different dynamic to the table than Starmie does, even though their main purpose is the same. Bronzong can come in and take moves it resists with ease, and then set up its screens (this requires considerabley more prediction than Starmie, because you need to guess what they'll switch in due to Bronzongs abysmal speed). Under the duel screens, powerful fire moves are really the only thing that are going to take this thing down. Stealth Rock is also on there, if I can see that they're team is going to have a weakness to it, but otherwise I like to bring in my sweeper with as many turns of screens as I can. Gyro Ball is on it so that it has some means of offense, and so that it can take down boosting sweepers that insist on staying in until they can boost their attacks to take down Bronzong.
Magnezone@Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP/252 SpAtk/ 220 Spe
Moves:
-Thunderbolt
-Charge Beam
-Hp Fire
-Substitute
Magnezone was put onto this team as a direct counter to one of its previously glaring weaknesses. And that was physically deffensive steel types such as Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Jirachi, and Scizor. But especially Skarmory. Its Magnet Pull ability lets it trap these steel types and in Scizor and Skarmory's case, hit them for super effective damage right away and get them out of the picture. But in Ferrothorn and Jirachi's case, I can sustitute to block status, and then take their offensive attacks with ease whilst using charge beam to boost my special attack, and set up a little Magnezone sweep. Or at least put a good dent in whatever earthquaker they switch in while I have a substitute.
Infernape@Life Orb
Nature: Timid
Ability: Blaze
EVs:252 spAtk/252 Spe/4 Def
Moves:
-Flamethrower
-Focus Blast
-Grass Knot
-Nasty Plot
I love how versitle Infernape is. I've used him on more than one team before as a physical attacker, and now I'm using him as a special attacker, which he is just as good at. It also has the nice element of surprise. I chose Flamethrower over Fireblast because the extra power is frankly uneccesary with nasty plot. Flamethrower pretty much OHKOs everything that doesn't resist it sans blissey and chansey after a nasty plot. Grass knot is a nice complementary move to hit water/ground types super hard (and unexpectedly) as well as get neutral hits on things that resist both fire and fighting. Infernape can be a deadly sweeper late game, once those Pokemon that outspeed it have been eleminated. It is fragile, especially with Life Orb, so it needs to be used smartly, but it is a huge asset to the team.
Well there you have it, please critique, I'll consider all of it. Thanks!
