Solid Team

[EroticoJorge91]

Welcome to my team, I started this by looking at pokemon that I liked. So I started with

Entei @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- ExtremeSpeed
- Stone Edge
- Bite
Entei was always one of my favorite pokes, he was never all that great (I'm a fan of coverage) but he is powerful with a nice amount of bulk. So i decided to give him a generic moveset, I felt having adamant over jolly for Extremespeed was a no-brainer, and why not slap a Choice Band on there for more firepower. Entei is great for taking out many threats in RU such as Cofagrigus, Gallade, Sceptile, and more. Extremespeed is 10x more useful because of the teams extensive use of hazards. Bite is for damaging Slowking if he is below 50%.

So after deciding Entei will be on the team, I KNEW that I would need a spinner, which lead to my next choice:

Kabutops @ Life Orb
Trait: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Stone Edge
- Rapid Spin
Kabutops for me if often hit-or-miss. His typing just leaves him open. Kabutops is good when he can survive a hit though, once he uses SD and also gets his weak armor boost, he is nearly unstoppable, until that is his LO kills him. I mostly use him as a sweeper and will spin anything away whenever a weak pokemon comes in. To be honest I try to avoid using Kabutops because my history with Stone Edge makes me punch many babies (Rock Slide makes me just as angry).

So now I have an offensive core setup, I just need a grass type. Well, I wanted to have a team with lots of entry hazards, so why not use:

Roselia @ Eviolite
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 164 SDef / 96 Def
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Rest
Roselia is one of my favorite members of this team. I can switch in on almost anything special-based (minus moltres mostly) and get a layer up or heal a little with Giga Drain. Eviolite makes it incredibly bulky, and it still has decent SpA. The defense EVs really help add to the bulk, I haven't tried 252 SDef, but I don't think it would be worth it. Lastly, I have rest to abuse natural cure, and bring it back with full HP.

So now that I have a nice theme of fire/water/grass, I figured I would move onto a good Stealth Rocker. I have a nice SDef wall, so now it's time for a Def wall. Who better to use than the beastliest beast of them all:

Rhydon @ Eviolite
Trait: Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Megahorn
Rhydon coupled with Eviolite just refuses to die, he rarely doesn't get his rocks off. He can take hits that make the other players say "WHAT" or "WHOA". It seriously happens. Megahorn is extremely useful and surprisingly gets some kills. He joined the team with my intention of just taking a hit or two and putting up Stealth Rocks, but he will take hits for days.

So now I have all the hazards needed, time for someone else to help "take out the trash", I also wanted to have someone to block spin blockers, at first I was thinking Misdreavus, but then I realized that there is a pokemon with better stats, and two STABs. This leaves us with our spinblocker/sweeper:

Rotom @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Pain Split
Rotom is a great sweeper, the substitute is very helpful for sweeping pokemon, I get up a sub whenever the opponent is switching out, then start firing off attacks with reckless abandon, whenever I get low health, Pain Split back up. Life Orb for extra fire power.

That leaves us with one more pokemon, I have a few sweepers, I have a few walls. I couldn't think of who to use for the last poke, which led me to the forums. I found an uncommon but well known set:

Druddigon @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Glare
- Dragon Tail
- Dragon Claw
Druddigon's objective was to hopefully get up a sub, para, then shuffle to the next. I found this set slightly effective, yet it was walled to no end by cryogonal. It was great to wall the basic Water/Grass/Fire/Electric types, but it's ice weakness and the amount of cryogonal was just too much.

Druddigons faults lead us to the next choice:

Munchlax @ Eviolite
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 76 HP / 200 Def / 232 SDef
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Whirlwind
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Munchlax is awesome in RU. He can take hits like a boss, and para's most poke's while doing decent damage. he whirlwinds out people that have setup or are setting up during sleep talkers.


This team is currently ranked #8 on Pokemon Showdown. I feel it has potential to be even better. My biggest threats right now are Whimsicott (I usually just try to use Rotom and get up a sub before the leech seed or stun spore) and Cryogonal (I have munchlax now which is helpful, but Rotom is useless against cryogonal).

- Sorry for a quick ending, but i'm pressed for time.

Any comments positive/negative welcome.
Thanks in advance :)

 

[jake]

hey there,

i'm not the most comfortable with RU, but this team hasn't had any rates so i guess i'll give it a go. this team is weak to a lot of prominent threats in the RU metagame. specifically, opposing sd kabutops will decimate this team after only a bit of residual damage on everything. you also give it a guaranteed set-up opportunity every time entei comes in. sd feraligatr works in very much the same fashion and there's next to nothing you can do to stop it except hope that rotom lives an aqua jet (it will not most of the time after SR). you also have to hope that the incredibly unreliable munchlax can deal with both nidoqueen and moltres, since druddigon is actually 2hkoed by both after SR.

to prevent entei from being complete set-up bait for kabutops and every other water-type sd user, you should consider swapping out cb for leftovers and using will-o-wisp > bite. you lose a bit of power, but the ability to switch moves / burn kabutops or feraligatr on the switch-in is a godsend for your team and greatly helps out your weakness to them. i think you should also test slowking > druddigon; it spreads paralysis just as well and checks almost every special attacker in RU, while also having access to several forms of reliable recovery and better overall bulk. it's also not bothered by anything but a random toxic from cryogonal. i think you should also test out choice scarf rotom instead of subsplit, as you can trick cryogonal and force it to lock into ice beam or rapid spin and deal with it accordingly. it also helps you greatly with sigilyph and the like, especially since sigi just runs through your team otherwise.

summary

leftovers and will-o-wisp > cb and bite on entei

slowking > druddigon

slowking @ leftovers | regenerator
calm nature (+spd, -atk) | 252 hp / 4 def / 252 spd
scald / psyshock / slack off / thunder wave or toxic

choice scarf rotom > your current set

rotom @ choice scarf | levitate
timid nature (+spd, -atk) | 4 hp / 252 spa / 252 spe
volt switch / shadow ball / trick / will-o-wisp or thunderbolt

hope i gave you some stuff to think about and that i might've helped your team a bit

 

[Incon]

Hi there, EroticoJorge91. Welcome to Smogon! I would suggest removing Druddigon from your RMT, because if i read it correctly it is not on your team. Its pretty confusing because i thought you had 7 mons on the team lol. So i will be giving you are rate assuming Druddigon isnt on the team.

I completely agree with Zebraiken about Entei. It will definitely help you against your Kabutops problem for the reasons he already outlined. I also second the notion of Choice Scarf Rotom as well, as it will be of great use to you for the reasons Zeb mentioned. You said in your descriptions that you rarely used Kabutops on your team and didnt like him that much. I agree that he doesnt really fit for this team plus your team isnt that weak to hazards so Rapid Spin isnt essential. I suggest removing Kabutops and switching him for RestTalk Poliwrath. Poliwrath can tank most physical attacks, is immune to water, and can switch in to status to later rest it off. Circle Throw will be useful to your team as a shuffler to rack up Spike damage from Roselia. He's able to wall Physical Water types that your team is rather weak and relieves your team of a minor weakness to Fighting and Ground type attacks. I know you said you dont think it would be worth it to run 252 SpDef Evs on Roselia, but i have to disagree with you. The phsyical evs dont help you wall anything notable so a full on special defensive spread would be of more use to you. Because Poliwrath is RestTalk Shuffler set, you can switch Munchlax out for Special Defensive Clefable. She tanks special attacks just as well as Munchlax but provides Wish and Heal Bell support which would be quite useful.

Summary:
Zebraiken's Suggestions
Poliwrath > Kabutops
252 SpDef Evs on Roselia

Optional:
Clefable > Munchlax

Sets:

Hide

Poliwrath @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
Evs: 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Circle Throw
-Scald

Clefable @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
Evs: 252 Hp / 252 SpDef / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
-Wish
-Protect
-Seismic Toss
-Heal Bell

Good luck with the team and Pm me with any questions you might have. :)

 

[Alfalfa]

Your team has some good psynergy, and some cool perks you probably never knew about; Roselia's Poison typing can remove Toxic Spikes, and Rhydon can absorb Thunder Waves, which are major pluses. I agree with Incon; Heal Bell + Wish has won me so many games, that I stopped counting.

However, I disagree with Incon in adding Poliwrath. You said that Entei was there to stay, and removing a Spinner is a bad idea. I suggest you go Hitmonchan > Kabutops instead. Hitmonchan can spin for Entei, and has access to Foresight, which allows Hitmonchan to spin on Ghost types. He also has a good recovery move in Drain Punch, backed up by Iron First.

Hide

Hitmonchan (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 216 Spd / 40 HP
Adamant Nature
- Foresight
- Rapid Spin
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch

Rapid Spin is the main move here. Foresight on Ghost types so you can spin on them. Drain Punch is Hitmonchan's preferred STAB of choice, and offers recovery. Ice Punch deals with Flying and Dragon types like Aerodactyl that are annoying to deal with.

 

[EroticoJorge91]

Thanks for the rates guys! I was getting worried no one would comment. I'm sorry I couldn't format the post as much as I wanted to, but the end result is Munchlax, not Druddigon, and Life Orb Entei over CB.


I don't mean to sound contradicting or insulting, but Entei with life orb has been destroying almost anything that doesn't outspeed it, including some walls. I never really thought of Entei being setup bait, he is always getting those KO's.

Kabutops has never been an offensive threat to me, I have Rotom that can come in and easily OHKO. To be honest i'm surprised Kabutops hasn't been a problem, you are right that it is a big threat.

Rotom being subsplit has allowed it to setup a sub and keep it going. It's fun when someone leads with a smeargle and half their team is completely gone simply because they tried to Spore my sub'd Rotom. That being said as I think about it, not many threats outspeed Rotom, the only big two I can think of is Cryogonal, and due to his SpDef, I have no business staying in anyway. Also is sigilyph, he's only been a problem for me twice, but when he is, he shuts down my entire team. Sceptile obviously outspeeds me, but he can still be dealt with after 2 shadow balls.

Overall I think I will give the Clefable and Hitmonchan a try. Some wish support would make this team so much more of a pain. And Fighting as an offensive typing is something this team desperately needs, so Hitmonchan can have multiple purposes. I will also try the pure SpDef Roselia but I feel it will make Sceptiles EQ 2HKO which is kinda a big deal (i'll report back what happens).

Thanks people :)

 

[jake]

Thanks for the rates guys! I was getting worried no one would comment. I'm sorry I couldn't format the post as much as I wanted to, but the end result is Munchlax, not Druddigon, and Life Orb Entei over CB.


I don't mean to sound contradicting or insulting, but Entei with life orb has been destroying almost anything that doesn't outspeed it, including some walls. I never really thought of Entei being setup bait, he is always getting those KO's.

Kabutops has never been an offensive threat to me, I have Rotom that can come in and easily OHKO. To be honest i'm surprised Kabutops hasn't been a problem, you are right that it is a big threat.

Rotom being subsplit has allowed it to setup a sub and keep it going. It's fun when someone leads with a smeargle and half their team is completely gone simply because they tried to Spore my sub'd Rotom. That being said as I think about it, not many threats outspeed Rotom, the only big two I can think of is Cryogonal, and due to his SpDef, I have no business staying in anyway. Also is sigilyph, he's only been a problem for me twice, but when he is, he shuts down my entire team. Sceptile obviously outspeeds me, but he can still be dealt with after 2 shadow balls.

Overall I think I will give the Clefable and Hitmonchan a try. Some wish support would make this team so much more of a pain. And Fighting as an offensive typing is something this team desperately needs, so Hitmonchan can have multiple purposes. I will also try the pure SpDef Roselia but I feel it will make Sceptiles EQ 2HKO which is kinda a big deal (i'll report back what happens).

Thanks people :)

The change in Defense EVs makes absolutely no difference against physical Sceptile's EQ (it is not 2HKOed without the arbitrary Defense EVs you had added before). It shouldn't really matter though, especially considering that physical Sceptile should be using Acrobatics against Roselia anyway. You can double check this using a damage calculator, which I would advise you to bookmark and utilize when you're in need of it rather than relying on your gut.

LO Entei is fine (although I do hope you changed out Bite for Will-O-Wisp; it's incredibly weak against everything but Slowking and Stone Edge hits for a similar amount of damage at that range). The point of changing it out of CB was to prevent you from being locked into something like Flare Blitz at the wrong times - if you were locked into Flare Blitz, a Kabutops could come in and set up on Entei because it had to either switch out or spam a 4x resisted move and then cleanly sweep your team. Will-O-Wisp allows you the opportunity to at least burn Kabutops before it can go on a rampage and help your Rotom tank the hit later as needed.

Choice Scarf Rotom allows you to check several boosted threats that normal Rotom cannot outspeed (namely, stuff like +2 Omastar that otherwise runs over your team as well). You also underestimate the power of its Trick; by Tricking something that usually switches into it like Cryogonal, you can force it to attack with Ice Beam (which you have several resists for) or to Recover, which essentially forces it out. This allows Rotom to be a much more efficient spinblocker for you, as Cryogonal can no longer be able to switch in whenever, Recover off damage, then threaten Rotom with Ice Beam. The same goes for Sigilyph, as you can Trick it and lock it into Cosmic Power or Calm Mind and render it useless for the rest of the match. Admittedly, losing Substitute sort of sucks, but you can still do similar things to Smeargle at the cost of sacking your Rotom to sleep (or just Volt Switching out of Smeargle into whatever you want to take the sleep, then bringing Rotom back in for the KO). It's your team so obviously it's entirely up to you, but I think you dismissed my suggestions too hastily. :P

 

[EroticoJorge91]

I will be honest, I didn't even remember Trick haha. That does sound like a good idea, I will definitely give it a shot!

Thanks a lot guys :) I feel with a little tweak to my playing style, this team will be what I hope it can become.