Introduction
Hey everyone. This is Ehrmantraut here with my first RMT. It's a simple team that I've done pretty well with, going 14-3 in my first tests with this team, and 13-2 (?) with a different team, but same core. Anyway, the goal of the team is simple. Wear the opposing team down with a Celetran core until an opportunity to set Garchomp up and sweep. A premise I had with this core was to be difficult for sun and rain teams to deal with.
Team Building Process
I started out with this core. These 3 have just about perfect synergy with each other, covering for all weaknesses that the 3 may have. In fact, with just Celetran, the only type that isn't resisted is rock which is just phenomenal.
Added Garchomp, because it's Garchomp and it's great no matter what.
Since my team involves switching a lot to cover for each others weaknesses, I needed a spinner. I learned this hard on my old team with the same core, when built up hazards ended up wearing me down time and time again. Forretress works great here, with it's lone fire weakness covered 3 times over.
And last but not least, I needed a scarfer. Sorry Keldeo, Terrakion has way better coverage than you.
At a Glance
Garchomp (M) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
Unlike most teams, this one didn't start with it's MVP. Initially, I intended for the team to star with Kingdra but Garchomp ended up outperforming Kingdra, which is a statement to how good the thing is. The way this works, is Garchomp poses a huge threat offensively so it forces a lot of switches to something safe that can tank an attack, like Ferrothorn. From there, I sub up and Ferrothorn can do little but launch attacks. Starting there, I can either SD or start attacking, depending on what is coming out. This is a great set only shut down by Skarmory and faster dragons (The Latis, basically.)
I went with a Yache Berry because it's extra security since Ice attacks are so popular, but I'm considering replacing it with Leftovers for more staying power, however since everyone switches out to something with an Ice attack for Garchomp, a Yache Berry is security that I won't be forced to switch right away. Finally, Dragon Claw over Outrage because I need to be able to switch to EQ for Steel types.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SDef / 16 Spd
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Perish Song
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
Latios. Latias. Keldeo. Tentacruel. Politoed. Breloom. The list goes on and on and on, the amount of prominent threats that can't touch specially defensive Celebi is incredible. Perish Song is my wallbreaking move that allows me to stop things like Espeon from spamming Calm Minds, Baton Pass teams, etc. Using both STABs in tandem with Recover in order to nail both water types and fighting types, while having better staying power.
All in all - Blissey should no longer be used. I used to think Blissey was great, but that was before I found out about specially defensive Celebi.
Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
The first thing that comes to mind here is, Toxic on an offensive Heatran set? It's needed for one reason and one reason only: Jellicent. I can only deal with Jellicent by poisoning it and stalling with Celebi, or going out to Garchomp earlier than I want to. So taking Jellicent's scalds and retaliating with Toxic is one of my only ways to deal with Jellicent since Celebi's Giga Drain and Kingdra's HP Electric (I'll get to that later) don't do much to it. It works nicely, since Jellicent loves coming in on Heatrans, and then gets crippled by Toxic.
Otherwise, the set is self explanatory. Air Balloon and HP Ice allow me to deal with Salamence, Garchomp, Dragonite and Landorus-T once per game. Earth Power and Lava Plume are coverage moves, though I've considered replacing Lava Plume with Flamethrower for the extra damage in exchange for burn hax.
In conclusion, Heatran covers for Celebi's weaknesses and Kingdra's weaknesses, and can be a huge pain to Sun teams along with Kingdra. I never find myself making a team without adding Heatran, because it's just so good and would be the most used pokemon in OU if it wasn't for Drizzle.
Kingdra (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Electric]
The former MVP of this team, the one I had in mind when I was first trying to make this team. Rain Dance on Kingdra is for eliminating the opposing weather, and making Kingdra impossible to outspeed without a scarf. So from there, I have the 2 stabs and HP Electric to deal with opposing water types, but I've considered replacing it with Ice Beam, not so sure. Or, I may be replacing Dragon Pulse with Ice Beam since I rarely find myself going for Dragon Pulse over Surf. Didn't invest in speed because after rain is up, Kingdra is already outspeeding the fastest non-scarfed pokemon in OU, Jolteon so the remaining EVs went to HP instead.
Kingdra could go physical, but loses out on Dragon STAB, slight power from Surf -> Waterfall and I already have a physical dragon in Garchomp.
Life Orb is needed on Kingdra because base 95 SPA is underwhelming by today's standards. Apart from that, Kingdra is one of the best, if not the best offensive rain counters, should be used more.
Forretress (F) @ Custap Berry Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
This set is basically hazard control, using a Custap Berry to be able to use one more move after Forretress lands in hot water. Or sometimes, especially with sun teams I'll usually just use Forretress as a suicide lead. Gyro Ball is because I dislike using pokemon with no attacking moves whatsoever. There's really no explanation needed here, apart from the fact that I may replace Spikes with Toxic Spikes because Jellicent exists.
Terrakion @ Choice Scarf Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
With the rise of Keldeo, Terrakion has become forgotten as Gen 5 comes to a close. There are a few reasons I chose Terrakion over Keldeo. 1 is, Terrakion is a lot harder to wall than Keldeo, since you never really know at first glance just what set Terrakion uses. They require different strategies to play around, while with Keldeo it's just a matter of what Hidden Power the thing has. Secondly, I already have Water STAB with Kingdra. Third is, coverage. Water and Fighting only go so far compared to Rock and Fighting. X-Scissor is necessary on Terrakion to do damage to Celebi, the Latis and Alakazam, who normally love coming in on Terrakion. One thing I've considered is changing Jolly to Adamant as X-Scissor has done underwhelming damage to said threats, but I risk losing critical battles with +Speed scarfers. Terrakion is a great revenge killer and late game sweeper, as long as Stone Edge doesn't miss (spoiler warning: it will)
Conclusion
So that's my team. I'd like criticism and comments on it to rough out the edges, I've bolded what I'm thinking about changing. Thanks for reading.
Hey everyone. This is Ehrmantraut here with my first RMT. It's a simple team that I've done pretty well with, going 14-3 in my first tests with this team, and 13-2 (?) with a different team, but same core. Anyway, the goal of the team is simple. Wear the opposing team down with a Celetran core until an opportunity to set Garchomp up and sweep. A premise I had with this core was to be difficult for sun and rain teams to deal with.
Team Building Process
I started out with this core. These 3 have just about perfect synergy with each other, covering for all weaknesses that the 3 may have. In fact, with just Celetran, the only type that isn't resisted is rock which is just phenomenal.
Added Garchomp, because it's Garchomp and it's great no matter what.
Since my team involves switching a lot to cover for each others weaknesses, I needed a spinner. I learned this hard on my old team with the same core, when built up hazards ended up wearing me down time and time again. Forretress works great here, with it's lone fire weakness covered 3 times over.
And last but not least, I needed a scarfer. Sorry Keldeo, Terrakion has way better coverage than you.
At a Glance
Garchomp (M) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
Unlike most teams, this one didn't start with it's MVP. Initially, I intended for the team to star with Kingdra but Garchomp ended up outperforming Kingdra, which is a statement to how good the thing is. The way this works, is Garchomp poses a huge threat offensively so it forces a lot of switches to something safe that can tank an attack, like Ferrothorn. From there, I sub up and Ferrothorn can do little but launch attacks. Starting there, I can either SD or start attacking, depending on what is coming out. This is a great set only shut down by Skarmory and faster dragons (The Latis, basically.)
I went with a Yache Berry because it's extra security since Ice attacks are so popular, but I'm considering replacing it with Leftovers for more staying power, however since everyone switches out to something with an Ice attack for Garchomp, a Yache Berry is security that I won't be forced to switch right away. Finally, Dragon Claw over Outrage because I need to be able to switch to EQ for Steel types.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SDef / 16 Spd
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Perish Song
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
Latios. Latias. Keldeo. Tentacruel. Politoed. Breloom. The list goes on and on and on, the amount of prominent threats that can't touch specially defensive Celebi is incredible. Perish Song is my wallbreaking move that allows me to stop things like Espeon from spamming Calm Minds, Baton Pass teams, etc. Using both STABs in tandem with Recover in order to nail both water types and fighting types, while having better staying power.
All in all - Blissey should no longer be used. I used to think Blissey was great, but that was before I found out about specially defensive Celebi.
Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Toxic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
- Flamethrower
The first thing that comes to mind here is, Toxic on an offensive Heatran set? It's needed for one reason and one reason only: Jellicent. I can only deal with Jellicent by poisoning it and stalling with Celebi, or going out to Garchomp earlier than I want to. So taking Jellicent's scalds and retaliating with Toxic is one of my only ways to deal with Jellicent since Celebi's Giga Drain and Kingdra's HP Electric (I'll get to that later) don't do much to it. It works nicely, since Jellicent loves coming in on Heatrans, and then gets crippled by Toxic.
Otherwise, the set is self explanatory. Air Balloon and HP Ice allow me to deal with Salamence, Garchomp, Dragonite and Landorus-T once per game. Earth Power and Lava Plume are coverage moves, though I've considered replacing Lava Plume with Flamethrower for the extra damage in exchange for burn hax.
In conclusion, Heatran covers for Celebi's weaknesses and Kingdra's weaknesses, and can be a huge pain to Sun teams along with Kingdra. I never find myself making a team without adding Heatran, because it's just so good and would be the most used pokemon in OU if it wasn't for Drizzle.
Kingdra (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Electric]
The former MVP of this team, the one I had in mind when I was first trying to make this team. Rain Dance on Kingdra is for eliminating the opposing weather, and making Kingdra impossible to outspeed without a scarf. So from there, I have the 2 stabs and HP Electric to deal with opposing water types, but I've considered replacing it with Ice Beam, not so sure. Or, I may be replacing Dragon Pulse with Ice Beam since I rarely find myself going for Dragon Pulse over Surf. Didn't invest in speed because after rain is up, Kingdra is already outspeeding the fastest non-scarfed pokemon in OU, Jolteon so the remaining EVs went to HP instead.
Kingdra could go physical, but loses out on Dragon STAB, slight power from Surf -> Waterfall and I already have a physical dragon in Garchomp.
Life Orb is needed on Kingdra because base 95 SPA is underwhelming by today's standards. Apart from that, Kingdra is one of the best, if not the best offensive rain counters, should be used more.
Forretress (F) @ Custap Berry Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
This set is basically hazard control, using a Custap Berry to be able to use one more move after Forretress lands in hot water. Or sometimes, especially with sun teams I'll usually just use Forretress as a suicide lead. Gyro Ball is because I dislike using pokemon with no attacking moves whatsoever. There's really no explanation needed here, apart from the fact that I may replace Spikes with Toxic Spikes because Jellicent exists.
Terrakion @ Choice Scarf Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
With the rise of Keldeo, Terrakion has become forgotten as Gen 5 comes to a close. There are a few reasons I chose Terrakion over Keldeo. 1 is, Terrakion is a lot harder to wall than Keldeo, since you never really know at first glance just what set Terrakion uses. They require different strategies to play around, while with Keldeo it's just a matter of what Hidden Power the thing has. Secondly, I already have Water STAB with Kingdra. Third is, coverage. Water and Fighting only go so far compared to Rock and Fighting. X-Scissor is necessary on Terrakion to do damage to Celebi, the Latis and Alakazam, who normally love coming in on Terrakion. One thing I've considered is changing Jolly to Adamant as X-Scissor has done underwhelming damage to said threats, but I risk losing critical battles with +Speed scarfers. Terrakion is a great revenge killer and late game sweeper, as long as Stone Edge doesn't miss (spoiler warning: it will)
Conclusion
So that's my team. I'd like criticism and comments on it to rough out the edges, I've bolded what I'm thinking about changing. Thanks for reading.
coming soon, maybe
