Serenity

[Theodor]

Serenity

Hi there, guys! As you can see I’m a new and this is my very first “serious” RTM. It took me a while to come up with this team, actually. I’ve tried different types of teams before using this one (especially Weather ones) and different strategy (especially stall) but after a while I started to create my own concept of team and this is the result. To be honest I’m having so much fun playing with this team and even if I’m still learning to use it I think I’m on the right track to create a good balanced team. Anyway, here’s the team! Sorry for my bad English by the way, I’m Italian.

So, the basic concept of this team is to spread paralysis (at least 2-3 Pokémon) to gain an advantage not only in Speed but also in term of setting up more easily thanks to the chance for the victim to be fully paralyzed (which happens ¼ of the time). This goal is usually accomplished by the defensive core Gyarados/ Jirachi. However I realized in no time that paralyze every Pokémon was not only very difficult but also useless most of the times (since in OU there are many slow powerhouses). So I added Heatran to my team, who provides Toxic support and a good 30% rate to get a burn with Lava Plume. The rest of the team consist of bulky and in a certain way “self-sufficient” Pokémon that after a few turns of set-up they can tear apart the opponent team. That’s the plan; now let’s have a look at the team in the detail.
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Gyarados (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Thunder Wave
- Roar
- Taunt
- Waterfall
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Seriously, this little girl is great. First off, she has Intimidate, which is a great help against Dragon Dance or Swords Dance users. She has got 95 / 79 / 100 base defensive stats and a pretty good defensive typing (resistances to Fire-, Bug-, Ground-, Water-, Fighting- and Steel-type attacks against 2 weaknesses). The EVs make her a great physical wall, alongside Gliscor. Every move is extremely necessary in this team. With this moveset, in fact, Gyarados provides paralysis and Taunt support; she becomes a great phazer with a solid STAB attack in Waterfall. Taunt is crucial to prevent entry hazards, which I have no way to eliminate otherwise. Actually when I use her I almost always get at least 2 T- Wave because she’s expected to use a more offensive moveset. You can feel the lack of a spinner but the presence of Wish somehow hinders that.
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Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 56 Atk / 216 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Seed Bomb
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
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Breloom is a monster. If played correctly he’s sure to achieve at least one kill. After a few Thunder Wave I’m pretty sure to get a safe Substitute after a few try waiting for the free turn to set up, task which is made easier by Poison Heal. At that point I just spam Focus Punch. What is great about Breloom is that not only he’s a Spore spreader, but a sort of Choice Band- not-locked user, because of the monstrous power provided by Focus Punch. The EVs are the same of the SubSeed set, actually, because I want him to be the most durable possible. Seed Bomb is necessary to hit Rotom-W and other bulky Water types, as Leech Seed is not very accurate; I’ve realized to have few opportunities to use it anyway. What is fun about using Breloom in this team is that many times my opponent happens to switch to an already statused Pokémon, thinking to regain momentum preventing a Spore. Thus, what really happens is that multiple paralysis actually helps dramatically Breloom to set up.
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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
- Wish
- Protect
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Jirachi is the first special wall, with its great typing and base stats. The EVs and moveset are pretty standard (Specially Defensive). Jirachi forms a defensive core with Gyarados, who by the way protect it from Fire and Ground attacks. Jirachi provides Wish support, very much appreciated by both Gyarados and Heatran, who lack their own form of recovery while still being able to check a few threats with his Iron Head and Serene Grace. Protect is useful to scout the moves of the opposing team while also keeping Jirachi healthy alongside Wish. I use Body Slam over Thunder Wave for two reasons: first of all it is effective against Ground-type Pokémon which usually switch into Jirachi. On the other hand, it cannot be Taunted.
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Heatran (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Toxic
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When I decided to use Breloom, I realized that, in order to cover his various weaknesses I had to use Heatran. Fortunately she proved to be useful not only to Breloom but to the whole team. As I said before, I realized that paralysis had to be used alongside burn and poison. Of course, I need to be really careful, and that requires also a certain dose of prediction. Anyway, even this set is pretty standard, since Heatran is the second special wall of my team, while also providing Stealth Rock support, the only entry hazard you’ll see in this team and pretty much necessary to stall out various threats (like Salamence and Dragonite). Also, Heatran can afford to take a hit and Toxic the casual wall with her great mixed bulk.
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Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Protect
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I really love Gliscor. He’s my second physical wall while also acting as a bulky sweeper. Gliscor will recover 1/8 of its maximum HP at the end of every turn after Toxic Orb is activated. This does not only provide a great form of recovery with a "double" Leftovers, but he also acts as a status absorber. I usually set up on Spikers like Skarmory to get some free Swords Dance after a Taunt from Gyarados. If the opponent switch with a counter (like Latios) I can get a free Ice Fang, which, added to Stealth Rock damage helps to wear him down while I switch to Jirachi. Actually Gliscor is so useful that I usually use him pretty much in every part of the game, depending on the situation. Of course, what I want to do is activate his Toxic Orb early-game, which it’s not too difficult with some intelligent playing.
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Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Hardy Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
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Reuniclus is here as my second bulky sweeper, this time specialized on the special side. She’s so good that after some team support can win games by herself. Her ability, Magic Guard is simply the best ability in the game and is a great help against stall. Her checks are actually few and far between and they are all pretty much covered by the rest of the team. Scizor is outspeeded and obliterated by Heatran; Tyranitar can be checked by Gyarados or Jirachi, depending on the set; Jirachi itself can be severally weakened by Heatran (better with a burn); Slowbro is more difficult to counter because I need to switch to Breloom safely but after a Spore (or a Thunder Wave) I can Seed Bomb him. When she manages to get a few Calm Mind she’s very difficoult to counter, so you could say that the real goal of this team is to clean up the way for Reuniclus and occasionally Gliscor.
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As I said before, this team lack a rapid spinner. This was because of the fact that I hate both Forretress and Starmie. Forretress was too much defensive (I’ve seen him especially in stall teams) while Starmie can’t use Recover while sacrificing coverage, while I can’t use both him and Reuniclus. To compensate that, I used Flying types and Steel types and three status absorber, to minimize the impact of Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock (which isn’t suffered by Jirachi, my Wish user).

So this is my team. I hope I was clear enough. If I missed something or something isn’t clear or incorrect (both conceptually and grammatically) please tell me and I’ll edit the post. Thank you very much for your attention.​

 

[destinyunknown]

This team is pretty solid but it seems like it would have a lot of trouble with Rain teams, especially if they carry Rotom-W, as you have no way of stopping specially-oriented Water attackers, since your Breloom has no bulk. To fix this issue without lowering the effectiveness of your team against stall (as a bulkier Breloom would), you could try Virizion over Breloom. Virizion provides you with a Rotom-W and general Rain teams counter, and it can also act as a lure for Reuniclus counters, like Jirachi or Scizor. Here's the set:

Virizion@Leftovers | Justified
Timid Nature | 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Calm Mind / Focus Blast / Giga Drain / Hidden Power Ice

Good Luck!

 

[DatOddish]

Just a little thing, you forgot to change Reuniclus' nature to Bold. And you might want to try Psyshock over Psychic, it is kinda personal preference but hitting a bit harder against Blissey/Chansey right away and winning most Calm Mind wars is always nice.

 

[NatGeo]

Hey, pretty solid team. I think that this team actually is pretty weak to rain, since water-type attacks can plow through most of you team members, and some attackers like LO Starmie and Rotom-W have moves to get past Gyarados, your only resist. Starmie in particular is a huge nuisance because it takes out every member of your team in one shot with a (common) moveset of Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam. VoltTurn seems like a smaller annoyance but one nonetheless, since as stated before, most of your team is weak to Rotom-W, especially in the rain; Scizor only compounds this since it can take advantage of the holes Rotom-W and other Pokemon like Expert Belt Landorus will make in this team. As an aside, quite a few VoltTurn teams contain Celebi as a component, rendering Breloom almost useless in some matches.

This is all pretty simply fixed. Bulk Up Breloom over your current set fixes all of the aforementioned problems really well, since with heavy investment in Special Defense, Breloom can take both Scizor and Rotom-W any day of the week. This extra Special Defense investment also helps you tank attacks from things like Specs Politoed and LO Starmie easily, allowing you to sleep them and either set up or hit the incoming opposition with Seed Bomb / Drain Punch. In fixing your weakness to rain, you also polish up the anti-weather core you have going in Gliscor / Breloom / Heatran. Lastly, Bulk Up Breloom gives this team a bit more offensive presence, since you now have an extra setup sweeper that can still function as a wall when need be, just like Gliscor does right now.

set

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal | Careful nature
236 HP / 212 SpD / 60 Spe
Spore / Bulk Up / Seed Bomb / Drain Punch

Also, do you think you might want a Bold nature on reuniclus as opposed to hardy? :P

hope this rate helped, gl!

 

[AB2]

Hey, cool team. At a first glance it seems that you are sort of weak to certain types of weather teams. Sun teams are probably the most threatening right now. To be honest, although you have Heatran it is not the most amazing stop to sun on its own. I think that going an alternate route such as replacing reuniclus for something like hippowdon would do the trick. Hippowdon is a pretty underrated pkmn right now. It has the ability to provide a good way to combat sun based teams as it is not dugtrio bait whatsoever. At the moment, I think that reuniclus is definitely the weakest link on this team, and although paralysis helps it to a certain extent it won't help you win a lot of games. Hippowdon and reuniclus check some of the same threats as it is, so it won't be much of a problem. Since you run stealth rock on heatran, Hippowdon can pack something like roar / ice fang / slack off / earthquake, 252 hp / 252 spdef / 6 def with an impish nature, leftovers. Whirlwind is an interesting option over roar as it is legal without stealth rock, and gives you the ability to phaze through baton pass teams.

Although your team is built around the use of paralysis, I don't really think that you are abusing it to the fullest. You have a few twave / body slam users, but your team does not necessarily benefit from it that much. This is why you may want to test an acrobat + flight gem gliscor over your current version. If you decide to work hippowdon onto this team, then flight gem gliscor becomes extremely annoying with paralysis. Gliscor still doesn't lose its ability to switch into some physical threats with this set. Also, you will have the ability to lure in stuff like rotom-w, which is excellent to remove against this team. I'd try out a set with substitute / swords dance / acrobatics / earthquake, adamant or jolly nature, max speed and attack, with a flying gem. I'd encourage you to try out something like a scarf jirachi over your current version. Although you have most threats covered, jirachi will help you versus miscellaneous 'mons such as starmie which actually may become an issue if your opponent is packing rain. I'd try a set of thunderpunch / ice punch / iron head / trick. You still check reuniclus and gengar with that set, but now you can beat stuff like dragonite, non scarf terrakion, and starmie too. If you really don't want to give up a paralysis user on this team, I guess you could try twave celebi over breloom or something, but that may be too many changes. It's up to you really, gl!

 

[Honus]

Hi this is a cool team, although I highly suggest running a Calm Mind+Roar Latias over your Heatran and shifting Stealth Rock to Jirachi. Latias is almost as adept at Heatran is at countering sun teams [if not better since it isn't trapped by Dugtrio] and you don't need to worry about Volcarona since you have Gyarados and Stealth Rock and Latias can just set up and phaze out all the other sun threats and tank their hits with ease. Your typing and special defense is something that almost every sun abuser save like CB Ape with U-Turn can't get past and if the opponent lacks a user of Sleep Powder, you can use this to your advantage and just sweep them with Calm Mind or at least punch a hole to the point where they're powerless to stop you. The reason I'm suggesting Latias over your Heatran is because it's also a pretty good counter to offensive rain, namely Rotom-W and Jolteon, which can pretty much just take this team down by spamming HP Ice/Hydro Pump and Thunder attacks, which can be especially threatening to your main special wall Jirachi in tandem and with hazards. Breloom is decent at countering rain, but it's pretty shaky considering it's weak to Ice Beam and isn't extremely bulky even with an investment. Latias has great special defense, speed and access to Calm Mind, allowing it to counter both sun and rain teams with ease, and with Breloom in tandem, you shouldn't have any trouble against offensive Rain. Latias also gives you a hard counter to another count to Virizion and Rotom-W, which could potentially be threatening to your team if they are stacked with other Pokemon in an effort to break cores [such as SD Virizion+CB Dragonite] and also grants you a somewhat speedy Pokemon that can revenge kill stuff like Mienshao, Infernape, etc.

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Roar
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse

Change Summary:

Jirachi:
Protect-> Stealth Rock

oh and AB2's suggestions are fantastic

 

[San_Pellegrino]

hey.

a lot of the suggestions made here are justified, and deserve to be tried, so i'm just going to put out a little bit of minor advice. 244 hp on gliscor gives you a poison heal recovery number so you get the maximum healing, and gives you some more EVs to play with to put in def. if you take AB2's suggestions, gyarados, who I think is the integral pokemon in your defense against sand becomes a lot more suspectible, and becomes crippled with SS damage and lack of Wish healing from Jirachi. using a bulk up breloom like natgeo said and dualing that with the hippowdon and acro-gliscor change AB2 proposed (and for their reasons) might bring you into a much appreciated middling space between the options you've been given. something you could try is using air balloon on heatran without changing any sets. i got this idea from draco malfoy, and it does wonders against sun based teams, avoiding the much hated trap dugtrio.

hopefully this helped, gl.