So I recently discovered the wonder of Breloom. Along with my favorite gen V pokemon, Excadrill, I've earned a much higher rating than I've ever had before in any gen (which, admittedly, isn't saying much).
Here's my team.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
224 HP, 252 Atk, 32 Spe
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Stealth Rock
-Pursuit
I've been working on a good Tyranitar set for a while, and I think I found one. Tyranitar's most important job is to set up Sandstorm; if he's done that, and the opponent doesn't have a Ninetales or Politoed to change it back, then he's free to work on killing. My Tyranitar is EV'd to survive any Specs Politoed Hydro Pump in the sand, and OHKO back with Stone Edge. Just to be clear, Tyranitar isn't often my lead - I just put him there to fool people. He draws in certain leads that I can deal with with other team members, but most importantly, he draws in Politoed - and then kills it. Since he's slow, his sand will always replace Politoed's rain, which is nice.
People don't seem to expect CBTar in this metagame, which definitely works to my advantage here. Spamming Stone Edges is great, and although a choiced Stealth Rock is generally a bad idea, I only use it early-game when the enemy has a surefire Tyranitar counter that I would have switched out of anyways. I am looking for a more reliable Stealth Rocker, but I'm not going to replace Tyranitar with one.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
236 HP, 252 Def, 20 Spe
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Spore
-Focus Punch
What a beast! Breloom is really, really annoying for other players to face. I had no idea before I started using him just how effective he can be. I don't think I can describe it to you, either - try him out sometime, and you'll see for yourself.
Besides the standard reasons that Breloom is amazing - Spore, Poison Heal for double Leftovers recovery and status immunity, and badass STAB Focus Punch - Breloom boasts a really useful QuakeSlide resistance. I think the best evidence of how useful that is is in Breloom's ability to deal with Excadrill. Running the calcs for my Excadrill - max speed, Jolly - he will survive a +2 Earthquake twice, factoring in Poison Heal (which means it has to have activated already and Breloom has to be at full-ish health). More realistically, Breloom can switch in on Rock Slide, take an Earthquake, and then Spore and Focus Punch Excadrill or the switch-in.
More often than not, I end up leading with Breloom. He gets a Sub up as the enemy uses whatever entry hazards they've got - I'll Rapid Spin them away later - and then plays with the enemy team until he's forced out. The only common situations where he won't get a kill are against a Reuniclus (immune to Leech Seed), Latios (unless Breloom starts with a Sub and Leech Seeds on the switch), Gliscor (again, unless Breloom starts with a Sub and Leech Seeds on the switch), or Specs Politoed (I hate that thing), and even then, he can Spore something if I don't want to save it for later.
Oh yeah, one more thing: if Poison Heal is active and you've Leech Seeded somebody with at least as much HP as you, you'll be regenerating more HP per turn than you can spend on a Substitute. Basically, Breloom is the best.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
248 HP, 252 Atk, 8 Spe
-Bullet Punch
-U-Turn
-Superpower
-Pursuit
This is a standard Choice Band Scizor, a set I've been in love with since it came out. Its biggest benefit is probably the ability to take down dragons consistently, but Bullet Punch is great for finishing enemies off, while U-Turn is great for knocking enemies into KO range. Superpower surprises things like Magnezone and Heatran. I've actually been using Superpower more and more often. People never seem to expect it.
I don't think I've ever used Pursuit - any suggestions? Scizor has great type synergy with my team; he's able to deal with Dragon, Psychic, Bug, Steel, Ghost attacks and hit most of their users for good damage. Most importantly, though, he provides consistent priority damage, to handle lots of scary things that could otherwise sweep my team - Shell Smash Cloyster, Dragons if I can bait an Outrage, low-health Lati@s, all that good stuff.
Scizor might be predictable, but even in predicted situations, he can put enemies in a checkmate situation. Low-health sweeper with a bunch of boosts? Nobody's gonna switch that out. Scizor puts it down. U-Turn attacks are some of the most fun win-win situations you can get, if Scizor's got a good matchup against the enemy currently out. The enemy switches out to a Scizor counter? You do some nice damage and get to bring in a fresh counter. The enemy stays in? It takes a bunch of damage and hits Scizor with a weak attack, and then a fresh pokemon is here, ready to finish it off.
Excadrill @ Balloon
Ability: Sand Throw
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
My late-game sweeper, pretty much kills everything in the metagame. He'll be banned eventually, but until he does, he's a staple on all my teams. This specific Excadrill has some quirks. Jolly with max speed means I'll at least tie with all opposing Excadrill, who I can often defeat because of my Balloon, as well as boosting my speed outside sandstorm. With Swords Dance, I never seem to need the extra power from Adamant anyways.
My Excadrill runs the nice combo of a Balloon and Rapid Spin. He's got a 4x resistance to SR, but Spikes can really hurt him - unless he's floating on a balloon! Oftentimes I'll just let Nattorei set up Spikes while my Breloom sets up a Sub, and come in with Excadrill as soon as Breloom is forced out so I can Rapid Spin. Overall an amazing sweeper, stopped only by Gliscor, Hippowdon, and a few others, all of which the rest of my team can take care of.
Landlos @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Power
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
-Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-HP Ice
Landlos is a new addition to the team. Sand Power makes his attacks ridiculously strong, and since his coverage matches Excadrill's, he'll often draw out and wound Excadrill's counters early in the game. This Landlos is also set up to take down the standard Gliscor with a single HP Ice. Landlos is fast enough to deal with base 100 speedsters, which are still pretty common in today's metagame. He also gives my team a needed ground immunity, and serves as a backup Excadrill counter. He also handles Conkeldurr pretty well, although my first resort on Conkeldurr is usually a Spore from Breloom.
Ideally, I'd have a Choice Scarf Landlos here, but there's no way to EV one for killing Gliscor while retaining good physical power. Instead, I'm running Rock Polish, which seems to work pretty well.
Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Trick
Replacing Chandelure as a fighting- and fire-resist, Starmie plays the role of a revenge killer. Its Ice Beam is enough to handle most dragons after they boost up, its Surf helps with +1 Urugamosu and Heatran, and Thunderbolt is mostly for Gyarados, although it has its uses for pokemon like Vaporeon and Politoed too.
I'm considering replacing Trick with another move, maybe Rapid Spin, but I'm not sure.
Well, that's my team. Working on an updated threat list.
Here's my team.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
224 HP, 252 Atk, 32 Spe
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Stealth Rock
-Pursuit
I've been working on a good Tyranitar set for a while, and I think I found one. Tyranitar's most important job is to set up Sandstorm; if he's done that, and the opponent doesn't have a Ninetales or Politoed to change it back, then he's free to work on killing. My Tyranitar is EV'd to survive any Specs Politoed Hydro Pump in the sand, and OHKO back with Stone Edge. Just to be clear, Tyranitar isn't often my lead - I just put him there to fool people. He draws in certain leads that I can deal with with other team members, but most importantly, he draws in Politoed - and then kills it. Since he's slow, his sand will always replace Politoed's rain, which is nice.
People don't seem to expect CBTar in this metagame, which definitely works to my advantage here. Spamming Stone Edges is great, and although a choiced Stealth Rock is generally a bad idea, I only use it early-game when the enemy has a surefire Tyranitar counter that I would have switched out of anyways. I am looking for a more reliable Stealth Rocker, but I'm not going to replace Tyranitar with one.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
236 HP, 252 Def, 20 Spe
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Spore
-Focus Punch
What a beast! Breloom is really, really annoying for other players to face. I had no idea before I started using him just how effective he can be. I don't think I can describe it to you, either - try him out sometime, and you'll see for yourself.
Besides the standard reasons that Breloom is amazing - Spore, Poison Heal for double Leftovers recovery and status immunity, and badass STAB Focus Punch - Breloom boasts a really useful QuakeSlide resistance. I think the best evidence of how useful that is is in Breloom's ability to deal with Excadrill. Running the calcs for my Excadrill - max speed, Jolly - he will survive a +2 Earthquake twice, factoring in Poison Heal (which means it has to have activated already and Breloom has to be at full-ish health). More realistically, Breloom can switch in on Rock Slide, take an Earthquake, and then Spore and Focus Punch Excadrill or the switch-in.
More often than not, I end up leading with Breloom. He gets a Sub up as the enemy uses whatever entry hazards they've got - I'll Rapid Spin them away later - and then plays with the enemy team until he's forced out. The only common situations where he won't get a kill are against a Reuniclus (immune to Leech Seed), Latios (unless Breloom starts with a Sub and Leech Seeds on the switch), Gliscor (again, unless Breloom starts with a Sub and Leech Seeds on the switch), or Specs Politoed (I hate that thing), and even then, he can Spore something if I don't want to save it for later.
Oh yeah, one more thing: if Poison Heal is active and you've Leech Seeded somebody with at least as much HP as you, you'll be regenerating more HP per turn than you can spend on a Substitute. Basically, Breloom is the best.
Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
248 HP, 252 Atk, 8 Spe
-Bullet Punch
-U-Turn
-Superpower
-Pursuit
This is a standard Choice Band Scizor, a set I've been in love with since it came out. Its biggest benefit is probably the ability to take down dragons consistently, but Bullet Punch is great for finishing enemies off, while U-Turn is great for knocking enemies into KO range. Superpower surprises things like Magnezone and Heatran. I've actually been using Superpower more and more often. People never seem to expect it.
I don't think I've ever used Pursuit - any suggestions? Scizor has great type synergy with my team; he's able to deal with Dragon, Psychic, Bug, Steel, Ghost attacks and hit most of their users for good damage. Most importantly, though, he provides consistent priority damage, to handle lots of scary things that could otherwise sweep my team - Shell Smash Cloyster, Dragons if I can bait an Outrage, low-health Lati@s, all that good stuff.
Scizor might be predictable, but even in predicted situations, he can put enemies in a checkmate situation. Low-health sweeper with a bunch of boosts? Nobody's gonna switch that out. Scizor puts it down. U-Turn attacks are some of the most fun win-win situations you can get, if Scizor's got a good matchup against the enemy currently out. The enemy switches out to a Scizor counter? You do some nice damage and get to bring in a fresh counter. The enemy stays in? It takes a bunch of damage and hits Scizor with a weak attack, and then a fresh pokemon is here, ready to finish it off.
Excadrill @ Balloon
Ability: Sand Throw
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
252 Atk, 4 Def, 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Rapid Spin
My late-game sweeper, pretty much kills everything in the metagame. He'll be banned eventually, but until he does, he's a staple on all my teams. This specific Excadrill has some quirks. Jolly with max speed means I'll at least tie with all opposing Excadrill, who I can often defeat because of my Balloon, as well as boosting my speed outside sandstorm. With Swords Dance, I never seem to need the extra power from Adamant anyways.
My Excadrill runs the nice combo of a Balloon and Rapid Spin. He's got a 4x resistance to SR, but Spikes can really hurt him - unless he's floating on a balloon! Oftentimes I'll just let Nattorei set up Spikes while my Breloom sets up a Sub, and come in with Excadrill as soon as Breloom is forced out so I can Rapid Spin. Overall an amazing sweeper, stopped only by Gliscor, Hippowdon, and a few others, all of which the rest of my team can take care of.
Landlos @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Power
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spe
-Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-HP Ice
Landlos is a new addition to the team. Sand Power makes his attacks ridiculously strong, and since his coverage matches Excadrill's, he'll often draw out and wound Excadrill's counters early in the game. This Landlos is also set up to take down the standard Gliscor with a single HP Ice. Landlos is fast enough to deal with base 100 speedsters, which are still pretty common in today's metagame. He also gives my team a needed ground immunity, and serves as a backup Excadrill counter. He also handles Conkeldurr pretty well, although my first resort on Conkeldurr is usually a Spore from Breloom.
Ideally, I'd have a Choice Scarf Landlos here, but there's no way to EV one for killing Gliscor while retaining good physical power. Instead, I'm running Rock Polish, which seems to work pretty well.
Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
4 HP, 252 SpA, 252 Spe
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Trick
Replacing Chandelure as a fighting- and fire-resist, Starmie plays the role of a revenge killer. Its Ice Beam is enough to handle most dragons after they boost up, its Surf helps with +1 Urugamosu and Heatran, and Thunderbolt is mostly for Gyarados, although it has its uses for pokemon like Vaporeon and Politoed too.
I'm considering replacing Trick with another move, maybe Rapid Spin, but I'm not sure.
Well, that's my team. Working on an updated threat list.
Conclusion:
I'm very happy with this team, and I've gotten happier with it as it went through a bunch of changes. I'm thinking about building this team on my DS just because it works so well for me, but I recognize that it's got some serious flaws and humbly ask the Smogon community for some advice. Thanks for reading, and good luck in all your matches!
