ShadowSpeedRider89's first ever...R-M-T!!

ShadowSpeedRider89

I've been thinking about using a team like this in competitive battling for a while now, and I want to know how it stacks up. This is the first full team I've designed, so what do you guys think? Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

**Changes are marked between two *'s**

**
482.png

Azelf @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Timid Nature: 252 Speed/200 Attack/52 Special Defense
Trick
Zen Headbutt
Explosion
U-Turn

I figured that, with the removal of Umbreon, the team could use a good lead. Tricking a Choice Scarf onto an opponent who can't benefit from it never hurts, right? That's what this lead is all about - Tricking the item, probably causing a switch, Zen Headbutting a Pokemon weak to Psychic and Exploding when things look bad. U-Turn is there to not only switch out if he still can, but to bring in Tentacruel so he can do his thing.**


dpmfa026.png

Raichu @ Focus Sash
Static
Timid Nature: 252 Sp. Attack/252 Speed/4 Defense
Nasty Plot
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power (Ice)
**Grass Knot**

What can I say? I love Pikachu and Raichu, and couldn’t exactly think of an effective Pikachu slot for this team. The point of this set is mainly to be a late game sweeper, using Nasty Plot when I know I’ll be faster than the opponent or on the switch. Focus Sash guarantees the use of Nasty Plot, and its three attacks provide
good coverage (as good of coverage as three moves could give Raichu, anyway.) **At the suggestion of forum member Chinese Dood, Grass Knot is replacing Focus Blast, and I like the reasons behind his suggestion. It's more accurate and hits Bulky Waters and many common Pokemon for decent damage (barring Magnezone.)


212-m.png

Scizor @ Life Orb
Technician
Adamant Nature: 252 HP / 76 Attack / 180 Special Defense
Bullet Punch
Swords Dance
Roost
**Brick Break**

Scizor got a new offensive toys to take advantage of in Platinum: the great priority move in Bullet Punch. Like many Scizor users, I wanted to take advantage of Bullet Punch's potential power in this set, which I feel that it does quite well. ^^ Roost is there to minimize the Life Orb's side effect, while Swords Dance boosts his attacking power. **Brick Break is replacing Superpower because, though having a lower base power, it takes down Reflects and Light screens, in addition to not lowering Scizor's stats after each use, allowing for consistent power.**

**
073-m.png

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Liquid Ooze
Calm Nature: 172 HP/90 Special Attack/178 Special Defense/36 Speed
Surf
Rapid Spin
Toxic Spikes
Ice Beam/Sludge Bomb

That's right folks, I replaced both Donphan and Bibarel with this guy. An entry hazard creater/clearer (the Donphan part) while having it's water typing and great stats to work with. Works really well with my newly added Azelf lead - Azelf would U-Turn into this guy, who would prompltly set up Toxic Spikes and remove any hazard on my side of the field. Surf is there for STAB, which happens to help against threats like Infernape (barring Thunderpunch), Heatran (barring Earth Power) and many Rock/Ground types. I can't decide between Ice Beam or Sludge Bomb though. Ice Beam hits Skymin and Dragons harder, but Sludge Bomb can help it nail other Water types like Milotic. What do you guys think?**


dpmfa373.png

Salamence @ Life Orb
Intimidate
Hasty Nature: 252 Speed/150 Attack/106 Special Attack
Outrage
Roost
Flamethrower
Earthquake

MixMence + Outrage = Awesome…’nuff said. Outrage is it’s newest toy from Platinum, and it’s well deserved seeing as it’s the last of the main dragons to gain access to Outrage in the first place. Flamethrower hits Ice types that would normally take Salamence down and levitating steel types, while Earthquake hits the non-levitating steels, Infernape and many other Pokemon for significant damage. Roost helps shrug off passive Life Orb damage, and provides survivability when Salamence needs it.

dpmfb145.png

**Zapdos @ Leftovers
Pressure
Timid nature: 252 HP/ 80 Defense/ 176 Speed
Thunderbolt
HeatWave
Roost
Substitute

This was suggested by forum member Rag, and I have to say, it fills a nice role in the team that I completely forgot about. Earthquake immunity is always nice to have. :D Roost, Substitute and Leftovers provide stalling alongside Pressure, and Thunderbolt is there for STAB. Heat Wave helps take care of Lucario and other Steels (if Salamence goes down) and Ice types. Foretress, Skarmory, Scizor, Skymin and Mamoswine are also things that Zapdos can help take down. Thanks again Rag!**


As I said, this is my very first team, and I know it’s got some weaknesses. Choice Scarf Heatran/Heracross/Lucario will complicate things, as will most physical walls once Raichu is out of the picture. Any suggestions regarding any part of this team are welcome and appreciated. I would prefer that Raichu not be replaced, but if many people think that he should be, replacement suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
About Donphan. No earthquake is stupid. The "bulky waters" your talking about, well lets see

Eearthquake Basepower: 150
Seedbomb Basepower: 160

So basically, the ONLY thing seedbomb is more effective on is swampert. Not worth it if you ask me.

About Raichu, I don't see it being that great of a lead, maybe a late gamer like you said yourself.

And just my opinion some may say it works, I don't know if superpower is so smart on a scizor who your making bulky, along with it eating away your SD boost.
 
Just some minor adjustmants:

Yeah, Raichu without a Scarf is an ineffective lead, especially with TTar and SRUturn azelf.

You have a pretty big SDLuke weak, to fix this use Earthquake over Seed Bomb on Donphan.
 
Raichu had always been intended to be a late game sweeper - I know how fragile the little mouse is, but I can't avoid using him. ^^ I had hoped that Umbreon would be my lead of sorts, but if people suggest better ones I'm all for considering it.

@darkartisan and speedwobbles: I see what you guys mean...Earthquake, STAB and no super effective damage does more than Seed Bomb WITH super effective calculated in there (except for the case of Swampert.) I'll probably make that change. Since you guys both made the suggestion (and trust me, I'm really happy you guys did,) would you happen to have any ideas for a new bulky water antigen? Raichu can only do so much, and is basically walled by the likes of Swampert and Gastrodon...

@speedwabbles: I put superpower on Scizor because it seemed like the only space I had for a powerful, physical fighting attack to get rid of Blissey, Snorlax, Regice and the like. The defense loss and the constant need to Swords Dance is probably not in Scizor's best interest, now that I think about it...the only question is, what to replace it with, and then how to find a fighting attack to knock the aforementioned pokemon out?

I'm loving the advice so far - keep it coming! It's all appreciated! :D
 
Umbreon is quite stupid to bring into a team with such a big Lucario weakness. Lucario got a 120% free switch on ANY version of Umbreon, and trust me, your Donphan will seriously struggle taking a SD Close Combat from a Lucario (which by the way is more powerful then a Ice Punch). Your Donphan is your only solution for a lot of threats such as Tyranitar and Scizor, and is probably going to switch in a couple of turns to Rapid Spin and such. There is now way Donphan is going to stay at 100% throughout a game without any form of recovery, and with that said, you got to be at 100% to have a slight chance to survive a hit. So for starters, I would replace Umbreon for a Zapdos of a kind. With Timid nature, 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe and Heat Wave you're a pretty decent switch-in on Lucario, as you're going to be faster everytime. Zapdos is also quite a good switch-in on Scizor and Skymin. I like to run Thunderbolt / Heat Wave / Substitute / Roost on my Zapdos, as a some sort of a "counter"-set. With Substitute you can easily waste Skymins Seed Flare due Pressure, and Heat Wave allow you to OHKO them both. In addition, Mamoswine isn't going to pose a threat either, nor get a free switch.

Zapdos isn't going to help you all that much with Heatran though, as you're 2HKOd by Fire Blast, althrough you're capable of stalling it if it were to switch in on you. However, did you consider running CurseResTalk on your Bibarel? With Careful nature, 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD you should be capable of taking a couple of hits from Heatran, and you're going to scare it away with Aqua Tail. In addition, Rest and Sleep Talk allow you heal and switch in continuously on Heatran, and still boost your stats with Curse. It would ruin your coverage though, and personally I would rather try the same set on a Swampert to allow you to deal with Metagross more efficient. On a side note, giving Salamence a more bulky EV-spread and Roost > Flamethrower allow you to have a backup plan against all the above-mentioned Pokémon, and that's pretty great.

About the Cresselia-weak you're talking.. Well, you don't really have one. Scizor is a pretty solid counter, so you should really worry about her. :)

I really hope you'll take some of my suggestions into consideration, and good luck with your team!
 
For Scizor:
After one Swords Dance and with Life Orb, Brick Break OHKOs Bold Max Def Max HP Blissey 100% of the time, so you won't need super power for that (and Bullet Punch 2HKOs). Well, you're right about Skarmory I guess, since Brick Break is only 2HKO (after 1 SD). If you predict correctly, Skarmory can't switch in safely to roar you out anyway though. Having a Defense Drop from Superpower isn't that great on Scizor either of course. Well, your choice.

For Raichu:
I personally would go with Grass Knot on the last slot instead of Focus Blast because 1)of low accuracy and 2)your team is a bit swampert weak right now, as you noted yourself kinda. Grass Knot (in combination with boltbeam) has the same neutral coverage as Focus Blast, other than Magnezone

For Umbreon:
It doesn't seem to me that your Umbreon set would work very well. Umbreon isn't exactly a powerful attacker, so Sucker Punch wouldn't do a lot unless it's super effective and against something fairly weak... Spite would only really work if it's a choiced pokemon, but really, let's say you're switching umbreon in on a choiced pokemon. If the choiced pokemon can't KO Umbreon with its move it'll switch out to something that can before you can mean look. So it just doesn't seem like it will work. Also, if the mean looked pokemon actually can't kill you easily, but it has stat up moves, then Umbreon can't really do anything either since not even Sucker Punch will work. It just seems like an easy pokemon for your opponent to set up on. well, if you want to keep umbreon and mean look, I'd suggest you replace Spite with Toxic, since that would actually prevent your opponent from setting up a lot, and Protect works well with Toxic too.
 
Wow! This is all some sweet advice! I definitely will take some of this to heart! :D I'll make the changes later, though, because I have class in a couple of minutes. ^^

@Chinese Dood: If Grass Knot has that kind of effect for Raichu, I'll make the switch. It'll hit most bulky waters hard, and the likes of Tyranitar (along with other heavy Rock or Ground types.) I do like the fact that you were trying to keep Umbreon in there (as I love the little guy to pieces ^^) but, for the case of this particular team, I think I'm going to take Rag's advice and replace it with a defensive sort of Zapdos.

@Rag: You've convinced me on Zapdos! ^^ I'll make slight changes to Salamence's EV spread, but in terms of the "Roost > Flamethrower" comment...it already has both. XD Do you mean having a DD Life Orb Mence? I just want some clarification on that. In regard to the Swampert you proposed...would you have Earthquake or Aqua Tail on it? I'd assume Earthquake because you mentioned an easier time dealing with Metagross, but if it does happen to pack Magnet Rise these days...and what about other levitators? I'll probably make the swtich, but again, I just want a little bit of clarification so I can see how it'll fit compared to Bibarel's fit right now (for filling essentially the same role. ^^)

Thanks for the help everyone! Keep it coming!
 
24 Hour bump. Replaced Bibarel and Donphan with Azelf and Tentacruel, adding a cooperation aspect to the team. Also, more of a cosmetic thing, I updated the sprites with Platinum Sprites where applicable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top