Sparking Offense OU - Capped at #10

[Sparko]

Intro:

Hey guys, I haven't posted a team for quite a while, so I decided that its time one of my ex-favourite teams was to be revealed. What triggered this decision was the fact that this team has lost its touch lately due to some changes in the metagame, and also due to the fact that it saw 3 round 2 exits in the tours so far As the title indicates (not original I know) this is a pure offense team. I don't want to be caught making predictions consistently with more consistant teams like semi stall so I stick to the offensive genre more often than not relying on pure power to break down the opposing team. This is a concept I adopted from my old days of playing heavy offense, though by no means is this team played too recklessly, I don't just sacrifice random pokes for nothing unless I know a lot of the opponents team. The team is built upon pokemon with several resistances that cover each others counters, so once the counter is eliminated another pokemon can sweep. I battled quite a long time with this team and it got me to rank 10 on the standard ladder with my alt - afk around 4 weeks ago (yes I know the ladder is crap right now but I felt I should post this to show that this team was viable some time ago)


The Team

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 200 HP/ 232 Atk/ 36 Sp.def/ 40 Speed
Adamant nature (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake

Metagross, one of the most consistent leads out there, being able to get SR up against almost every lead (except tran, infernape, taunt gliscor), in which case I swith accordingly. My priority with meta is to set up stealth rock since I this team relies on crippling my opponent, making switching burdonsome for them. EVs are simple, 40 speed evs give me a head start against opposing slower metagross leads so I get to EQ first and apply pressure immediately, while the sp.def evs are for insurance against things like latias should I keep meta alive late game. Against azelf, roserade, smeargle, aerodactyl I meteor mash first and follow up with Bullet punch (this move is also really useful lategame to weaken salamences and other dragons). Against Empoleon and Metagross leads I earthquake, then SR as they usually switch. I have considered occa berry for infernape/heatran, but the latter still has an advantage over me, and seeing that none of them really counters my team hard I decided I'd rather have insurance against status in the form of lum berry. Swampert, Gliscor, Hippowdon (does anybody still use this?) and even starmie leads at times are problematic in which case I switch to the following...

Latias @ Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 Sp.Def/252 Sp.Atk/252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Fire]

One of my favourite pokemon on this team. You'd be surprised how many times this thing kills 2-3 pokemon in a game solely due to the surprise element. Against Gliscor, Hippowdon, Swampert, Infernape, Heatran I always go to this guy. Against the latter too I normally double switch and send out meta against expecting something like t-tar since usually heatran will boom should it stay in (it isn't ohko'd) and the opponent wouldn't sacrifice infernape that early imo. Against the ground types I usually Surf/Grass knot according, and should I catch t-tar on the switch its a bonus as its 2hko'd. Scarftar loves coming in on this usually, in which case I switch (hopefully they don't pursuit). The moves give me coverage against many things, things like scizor/forry and ohko'd by HP Fire, while skarm/jirachi are dented (though I usually switch) and oftentimes I can bluff scarf and kill mences after they come in on my surfs. A strong pokemon indeed, which also checks suicune to an extent with grass knot 2hko'ing 'cune without any boosts.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sandstream
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 Atk
Jolly nature (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Stone Edge

Yeah even though I hate scarftar since it counters my latias so much, I myself use it, and for that reason too. My team dislikes latias (well the part of the team not revealed yet) so I Tyranitar found a spot on my team. It helps counter things like Starmie/Gengar/Azelf/Jolteon/Raikou and frail sweepers of the sort, which hurt offensive teams overall, though I'd have to lure them into a non super effective move cautiously since t-tar doesn't like focus blasts/hydropumps. It is also my rotom counter to an extent, and usually if I sacrifice metagross to rotom, this is my first switch in, and depending on the health I Crunch/Pursuit accordingly. This thing also helps revenge kill things like mix mence/lucario/gyarados after they kill something.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/192 Spd/64 Sp.Atk
Naive nature (+Spd, -Sp.Def)
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- Thunderpunch

Probably my favourite pokemon due to its offensive and hard hitting nature. Also one of the best stall breakers in the game. If scarftar successfully eliminates starmie/latias, this thing can wrack havoc. The moves may seem wierd at first but they're for a reason. Infernape lures in Gyarados, which is a pain to face with offense teams like this, and in doing so I'm able to kill it with thunder punch. Mach Punch decimates scarf-tar to shreds, while helping to revenge kill other things at low health. Close combat is the move I spam the most at first since suicune/vaporeon are 2 switch ins I see alot, and in doing so if SR is in play they are 2hko'd. CC also does more damage to things like latias/starmie than fire blast would. Yes, I'm exposed to dragons this way, in which cases unfortunately I'd have to switch to my next guy to start hindering them:

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/6 Sp.def
Jolly nature (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

My check against things like scizors, lucarios, scarfrachi's locked into iron head/fire punch, gliscors, swamperts to an extent too. Here is where synergy comes in; metagross lures rotom, I kill it with scarftar and thats one gyara counter down. Same goes for latias/starmie which are lured my infernape and handled by metagross/scarftar respectively. At the same time Gyarados handles the aformentioned steel types well, as those tend to hinder my tyranitar. I use Jolly to outpace other gyarados so I can dd/stone edge first and to outspeed jolteon after a DD. Earthquake to handled things like jirachi/metagross better, while stone edge to kill dragons. Like I said earlier Salamence hurts my team, so if its dd mence I normally intimidate and try to lock it into outrage so I can revenge kill with metagross. If its mixmence a sacrifice will have to be made :/ Gyara can lure in scarfrotoms which are scarftar weak too. Intimidate helps me against HO teams too, hindering their sweepers.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Spd/252 Atk/6 Sp.def
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords dance
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Crunch

Lucario, another good stall breaker, and also one of the best late game sweepers out there. I opted for jolly to get the advantage over slower rotoms so I can Crunch before attacking me, and also to kill opposing lucarios/mamoswines. I rely on lucario to revenge kill dragons, crippled opponents so usually I tend to reveal this lastly unless I'm forced to end a salamence/gyarados sweep early. Infernape tends to lure in Gyarados, once of luke's counters and kill it with thunderpunch, while rotoms/gengars are handled by scarftar, leaving luke abit "safer" so to speak. Lucario also benefits from having gliscor/swampert/skarmory eliminated by latias/gyarados/infernape respecitvely.

Conclusion:

So there you have it folks, a simple, yet effective offensive style team that can handle most of the metagame relatively well. Of course like offensive teams, momentum needs to be built up immediately so against things like stall teams, most predictions need to be nailed in order to beat them succesfully, though I have beaten quite a number of big names on the ladder with this team so I wouldn't say that stall is the biggest threat to the team. Like all teams, it does have its fair share of problems as I will go through with the threat list. Hopefully you raters out there can help me solve some of my weaknesses, though technically the team is retired due to the rise in CM Rachi/Scarftar which hinder this team's effectiveness, though to be honest I don't see this team going beyond rank 10 anytime soon due to misses, bulkier teams nowadays etc...


Things I've considered (help me out here guys please)

Explosion > Earthquake on Metagross (to kill swampert/gyara easily)
Adamant > Jolly Nature on Gyarados (I usually attack first not dd, so this is viable I guess)
Ice Fang > Earthquake on Gyarados (helps against celebi/latias more)
Stone edge > Thunder Punch on Infernape (helps my salamence problem)



Thanks for your time guys, I hope my RMT was up to standards and interesting for you to read Rates and Constructive criticism are HIGHLY appreciated :D

Onto my threatlist now...

 

[Sparko]

Threat List: (stolen from Jabba’s thread which was stolen from KG's thread):

Legend:

Red = Problematic
Orange = Somewhat annoying
Black = Handled reasonably well


Defensive Threats:

Blissey – Usually I switch to metagross first to see what kind of status its using, then either meteor match or double switch to infernape since it covers most of metagross's counters. Scarftar, Lucario, Infernape. Gyarados hurt this thing alot so its not the biggest problem.

Bronzong – Can be annoying but usually I send out gyara to lure an explosion and switch back to bronzong to take it. Infernape hurts it alot and it can't take repeated close combats/surfs/waterfalls.

Celebi – Loves coming in on gyara, first switch in is metagross to absorb Thunderwave and hurt it with meteor mash. If it kills something I send out t-tar and start crunching, or else infernape to burn it to pieces. Luke's crunch can be used as it deals around 45% iirc. Somewhat annoying since the teams hates status :/

Cresselia – Metagross/Tyranitar/Luke's crunch are normally used to bring this thing down. The most it can do is twave me, as the other moves don't really threaten the team. Thankfully this isn't used as much nowadays.

Dusknoir- Metagross (yeah I rely on this so much) to absord the first wow and dent it with meteor mash (2hko) in the process. The I either go to t-tar or infernape to end it. Another pokemon I'm happy isn't used that much...

Forretress – Infernape, Latias's Hp Fire and residual damage take care of this thing and it can't do much except set up spikes. I can keep eq'ing it to death with metagross if I'm drunk

Gliscor – I usually rely on Latias and Gyarados to take care of it with their stab moves. Infernape also 2hko's safely with fire blast. Can be annoying if my levitators are down :/ but usually I'm able to deal with it on a consistent basis by wearing it down.

Gyarados - Latias can dragon pulse it to death if need be and my own gyarados can intimidate it and stone edge it to death. Usually a pain to take down :/ I may even rely on scarftar to kill it.

Hippowdon – This thing just doesn't like to die... Like the problematic ground types, I rely on latias/gyarados/infernape's fire blast to kill it, but it can hurt me alot in the process at times :/ thankfully its rare nowadays.

Jirachi – Annoying since they're unpredictable, if its the t-wave version I usually send out metagross then kill it off with infernape. Other than that those bulky CM versions are annoying since I have to rely on t-tar to hurt them :/ another reason for which this team can't survive much nowadays.

Rotom-A – Tyranitar can crunch immediately while infernape dents it. Usually I have to sac my metagross to find out if it has wow, unless I decide to go to infernape to absorb it ^^ Fast luke helps against it and it just can't keep on taking repeated gyara waterfalls on the switch.

Skarmory – Infernape/Latias/repeated attacks from everything is what I usually do to weaken it until it is in ko range for one of my pokes. It can be annoying but can't really hurt me, I try to finish it asap so as to kill the chances of spike stacking asap.

Snorlax – Metagross, infernape, Lucario, gyara and t-tar can usually end it quite consistently, though I haven't faced many of these tbh.

Suicune – Man this thing is as hard as hell to take down, I'm hoping I catch it on the switch with infernape's CC so I can 2hko hopefully. Otherwise I'd have to rely on latias or swords dance with lucario to end it.

Swampert – Very annoying, I tend to send out gyara/latias first, or start crippling it with close combats from ape, thankfully it doesn't have recovery...

Tyranitar – Haven't faced many of these lately, easily handled by metagross, infernape, luke and gyarados.

Vaporeon – So annoying and problematic, only luke and infernape can ohko, and they get hurt in the process wish I had more options to hurt this, I have to rely on crippling it to get the job done.

Zapdos – Not too much of a problem as its handled by scarftar, infernape nails it with fireblast and it can't do too much to latias, won't like taking stone edges from gyarados either.

Offensive Threats:

Azelf – normally its a lead so I just meteor mash + bullet punch to end it, scarf tar and my priority moves also hinder it, not a problem.

Breloom – Metagross absorbs sleep, gyarados intimidates it, and it can't do much to latias. If it kills something I send out ape/lucario to end it (not if it has a sub of course)

Empoleon- mach punch ape says high after I weaken it into petaya range and sac one poke (usually worth the sacrifice to end a sweep) and luke's extreme speed finishes it off too. It can't only set up on latias/tyranitar though, and I reveal those early usually so its not that big of a deal.

Gengar – Metagross, Scarftar take care of it well enough, if it lacks t-bolt I kill it with gyara. Can be annoying at times....

Gyarados – comes in on meta, I stay in and keep meteor mashing since I can't afford to let it set up, hopefully I'd get it into ko range in the process otherwise I'd have to resort to send out my own gyara to intimidate or else latias to finish it off at the expense of losing alot of hp. Extreme speed luke helps here...

Heatran – Gyarados, Tyra (to an extent) and Latias handle it well enough, if its LO, I send out gyara/luke/infernape to end it. Not that much of a problem, scarf can be annoying though.

Infernape – Gyarados/latias say hi, priority takes care of it too, haven't had much trouble with it to be honest.

/

Jolteon/Raikou – ugh, Jolteon and Raikou are similar so I’ll include them together. Usually I send out t-tar to absorb their attacks and pursuit/crunch according to the situation. Priority really helps out here too, and if metagross is at good health I think I can "handle" them.

Latias – Metagross, Scarftar and Lucario handle it well enough, I like eliminating this early game so my ape can start dealing heavy damage. I usually lure it with gyarados to absord thunderbolts with tar.

Kingdra – If its raindance i have to sac one pokemon and send out t-tar to end its sweep. Priority helps as well, cant really set up on me with dd tbh since all my pokes have moves that dent it alot.

Lucario – gyarados, scarftar, mach punch ape handle this thing well, and my own luke outspeeds.

Machamp – I have to predict well to beat this thing, usually I send out gyara if metagross is dead, normally the lead doesn't give me alot of trouble. The strong moves like fireblast/cc end it.

Magnezone – scarf can be annoying so usually I send out t-tar or hope metagross is at good health. mach punch dents it too at least. but I haven't been troubled THAT much by it.

Mamoswine – Gyarados intimidates, bullet punch/mach punch/luke end it. not troublesome.

Metagross – against the lead I eq with my own metagross, otherwise I send out infernape later on in the game to end it. gyarados handles it well too. Agiligross is a pain though as I have to rely on life orb recoil

Salamence - yeah believe it or not I'm actually salamence weak since it can come in on infernape/luke/gyara relatively safely and kill something. if its dd I can lure outrage onto a steel type, unless I'm out of steels in which case I'm in trouble. Mixmence is handled by latias/scarftar/lo recoil + priority. Bulkymence is a pain in the ass

Scizor – gyarados,infernape,lucario,latias and even metagross can handle it well enough, and lets be honest, it can't keep on u-turning much with SR in play so it will end up in ko range eventually. SD can be bothersome if gyara is dead.

Starmie – scarftar/priority/latias take care of this though I have to take some damage in the process, usually ending it is worth the sacrifice.

Tyranitar – scarftar is screwed by mach punch/metagross. I can revenge slower versions with my own t-tar, hopefully gyara can come in on crunch/pursuit and get a dd up. can be bothersome at times if I don't play well.

Weavile – gyarados, metagross, lucario, mach punch infernape take care of it.

Zapdos – tyranitar is my first switch in, I can also revenge it with priority or fire blast it with infernape.

Unpredictable scarfed Pokes - Annoying

Hax - do I have to even comment on this? the amount of games I lost because of hax/misses is incredible, I'd have probably gone higher on the ladder if it wasn't for this... oh well, part of the game I guess...




So there's my threat list, my problems have been highlighted so if you guys can somehow help me out with them I'd be appreciative :) Overall this was a fun team to use, so if it could be revamped abit to suit this metagame it would be great though I'm aware of its limitations... thanks for your time guys, cheers

 

[The SPrinkLer]

it seems to me like starmie could be an extremely potent sweeper on this team, with latias luring in scizor and tyranitar and hitting them hard, and your scarftar stopping any scarf rotom-a that try to revenge you. starmie also fixes up a ton of your problems, offensively and defensively. i would replace gyarados with it, since you already have a bunch of checks to the stuff gyarados checks, like luke and scizor. anyway hope i helped and good luck

 

[Darkon]

Really a good offensive team, serious, a great team.

Well... this is great, don't have much changes to do.
But look:
4 pokemons weak to earthquake (meta, ttar, nape, luke) and one of you pokemons that resists Earthquake is Gyarados (weak to stealth rock). It can be a problem. You don't have a status absorber too, ok Metagross can do it with lum berry but Spore Breloom, Bronzong hypnosis, Vaporeon hypnosis always will make 1 pokemon sleep, IMO.

sry about bad english

 

[franky]

Hi Sparko,

Thank you for adding a threat list, it makes it easier for a rater to point out the threats. Judging by your threat list, it seems like bulky waters are problematic for the most part and CroCune can be a nightmare from what I see. It also points out that Salamence could be problematic as it can set up on locked in Tyranitar with relative ease. The way I see it, you can attempt to patch up this issue all-together with two changes: Explosion on Metagross and going for a bulky Gyarados. Explosion over Earthquake means that you'll punish bulky waters like Swampert, Suicune, and Vaporeon attempting to resist your hits. It takes smart play to lure in the former threats, but the key idea is to make them think you are not running Explosion. When the time is right, you can nail them with Explosion. It ultimately ensures that you have something strong to beat bulky waters if things are going wrong. Explosion will also hit Hippowdon if needed for the OHKO, allowing Lucario to sweep with relative ease late-game.

For my second part of my suggestion, I said that BulkyGyara could work fantastically here. It helps Intimidate and soften the blows of Salamence in particular. Yeah, steels are sometimes not enough so Gyarados might work out to weaken Salamence if the need arises. The extra bulk compensates for the lack of Recovery on Latias to switch into Fire guys like Heatran. You can aim for 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spe for your standard spread with an Adamant nature. Taunt over Earthquake would be nice if you truly want to break down defensive threats and most importantly, shut down Crocune. Although take note that you'll miss out on hitting Steels you'll be switching into, especially Metagross.

As for other options, ape is fucking good at what it does, I ran a similar set to that but with Stone Edge over ThunderPunch for the sake of restricting DD opportunities for Salamence. You'll still hit Gyarados so its no biggie. Give that a go. overall gl.

 

[MetaNite]

Hi. Cool team.

You've got a problem with Water-types it seems, namely Suicune, Vaporeon, Gyarados, and Starmie. With a bit of prediction and support, these Pokemon can wall / KO most of your team without much retaliation. Some things you could do is give Latias Roar to get Suicune and Gyarados out of there before they do some real damage. This does not help against last-man-standing Pokemon though. Something else you could do, is replace Gyarados with Suicune:

Suicune @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid / EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
~ Calm Mind / Surf / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Electric

Suicune counters Gyarados well, and can also check Starmie. With Hidden Power Electric, you may be able to lure and kill Vaporeon as well which would be very helpful to the rest of your team. The EVs give you a lot of bulk and make you faster than Adamant Lucario and Classic MixMence. Suicune counters DDMence very well, as it won't be OHKOed after Stealth Rock like Gyarados. Suicune can also survive a Draco Meteor to kill with Ice Beam. While Suicune does not have a Bug resistance like Gyarados, if you can predict if Scizor is using Bullet Punch or U-turn, you can still counter Bullet Punch with Suicune and Lucario can take U-turns with its 4x resist. You may have some trouble with Jolly Lucario however, but if Suicune fails to defeat it, you do have Latias, Infernape (Mach Punch) or ScarfTar to revenge kill it. All things considered, I think Suicune would be a big benefit to your team. Good luck.

 

[YTP]

I disagree with Sprinkles. Do not use Starmie, or CB Scizor U-Turns will give you hell.

Most of your issues could be solved by making Infernape a life orb heatran. Heatran can 2hko Vappy and Suicune with life orb HP Grass, somewhat reliably check CM Wish Jirachi (better than Infernape at least) and make a really good switch to Celebi if you can avoid Para. Just a suggestion, I usually stay away from rating teams.

btw did Minato make this team with you?

 

[Nosferalto]

Hi.

Looking at your threat list and your team, your team cannot handle several common offensive and defensive OU threats. The main ones being, DD Salamence, DD Gyarados, CroCune and bulky water types. DD Salamence and DD Gyarados set-up on your team in similar manners, both being able to switch-into Tyranitar locked onto Pursuit or Superpower; set-up a single DD and sweep your whole team with little effort. In addition, Gyarados has other opportunities to set-up, Metagross' moveset is completely walled and Lucario is set-up on if it's a BulkyDos version, which makes it even more dangerous. Bulky waters are also dangerous defensive threats to this team as most of your sweepers cannot get past them. A better check to those is needed.

Now, I noticed your Gyarados is rather unneeded on this team as the threats it covers are already handled pretty well by the team. For example, SD Lucario is already countered wonderfully by ScarTar which outspeeds and resists Extreme Speed. Scizor is already handled by Infernape, Latias with HP Fire and Metagross. A more benficial replacement to the team over Gyarados would be offensive three attack LO Suicune as it can handle DD Salamence and Gyarados with Ice Beam and HP Electric respectively while being able to take hits from those two; it also sets-up on bulky waters with Calm Mind fairly easy without any problem whatsoever. Here's the set:

Suicune @ Leftovers | Pressure
Timid | 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Surf | Ice Beam | HP Electric | Calm Mind

In order to beat CroCune however, Suicune won't be enough, for that, I would reccomend you replace Surf on Latias with Roar as it would allow you to p-Haze it with ease without taking any risks since you resist Surf and have solid Special Defence. Surf isn't really needed because you now have Suicune which handles Heatran extremely well, and besides, Dragon Pulse alongside Grass Knot and HP Fire offer decent coverage onyl resisted by Heatran which is again covered by Suicune. With Roar you can oblige opposing Suicunes to switch-out until you can 2HKO with Grass Knot when it comes up with no boosts.

On Tyranitar, I would suggest using Earthquake over Superpower to check Calm Mind Jirachi which seems to be a threat to this team without EQ as you can now hit it for SE damage while it can do nothing back.

Finally, I'd like you to change Thunder Punch on Infernape for Stone Edge. You still hit Gyarados for SE damage, but now you will be able to hit Salamence as well and have better type coverage as well.

Good luck with your team.

EDIT: @ x iFaint x: Please look at the time the posts got posted next time before assuming something wrong. There's a 20 minutes gap, I gave even more reasons why he should use my suggestion. Your post was not appreciate it a bit. Use your head before posting next time, think before you post something as stupid as the post below.

 

[Abutorn]

Hey great team you got here Sparko and congrats for hitting number 10 on the ladder.

Few suggestions here and there, as you see on your threat list you're going to do pretty bad against Salamence and other Bulky waters like Suicune and Vaporeon. For Bulky waters you definitly might want to put explosion in replace of Meteor Mash because if you replace it with Earthquake Other Metagross and Heatran leads would just try to annoy your team if you can't hit it with Earthquake. So I'm sure the explosion will take care of your bulky water problems.

For Salamence you probably need to change Lucario into Jirachi because if you want to stop Salamence you might either want to switch into the turn it Dragon dances or when it is stuck on outrage so you'll be able to take it down with Ice punch. It'll be able to take Salamence's outrage easily. Here's the moveset and EVs you might want to be using.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset: Iron Head, Ice punch, Thunder punch, Fire punch

Good luck in the future Sparko.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

or he can send out latias early game and remove scizor very easily, not giving scizor any oppurtunities. also starmie hydro pump does like 80+ so it kills with two sr switchins. so tell me how it gives him even more u-turn problems when scizor shouldn't be coming in on starmie anyway?

 

[0verl0rd14]

This is a great team, its really strong and effective.

My one gripe, it is so standard its not funny.

But meh... it works, the results speaks for themselves.

Well done! :)

 

[SevveN]

Really a good offensive team, serious, a great team.

Well... this is great, don't have much changes to do.
But look:
4 pokemons weak to earthquake (meta, ttar, nape, luke) and one of you pokemons that resists Earthquake is Gyarados (weak to stealth rock). It can be a problem. You don't have a status absorber too, ok Metagross can do it with lum berry but Spore Breloom, Bronzong hypnosis, Vaporeon hypnosis always will make 1 pokemon sleep, IMO.

sry about bad english

one, ground weaknesses are just begging for latias and gyara to come in on, and i trust sparko knows what his doing with this. also, vaporeon learns hypnosis? o.o

 

[faint]

I'm just confused as to why Nosferalto and Abutorn had to even reply to this thread, since it's pretty clear that instead of "looking at the threat list," the two just looked at j. franky and MN's replies and said the exact same thing. Honestly there is no point in trying to help someone if you're is just going to copy somebodies suggestions.

Here are my suggestions:
LO Latias > Your current
RT Gyarados > Your Current

I know a lot of people suggest Roar on Latias but I would considering throwing Recover on her over one of your current moves. In fact I would considering switching her to a LO set with Dragon Pulse / Surf / Grass Knot / Recover. Surf will 2HKO Scizor if it decides to switch in with SR down, and this would force him to use Bullet Punch since otherwise he will risk getting KO'd. This basically will give you a free switch in to Gyarados or Lucario. I figured you can keep Grass Knot since it hits Suicune harder than Thunderbolt and also almost everything on your team can prevent Empoleon from setting up. The downside is that Vaporeon will become ever harder to take out since Grass Knot won't be doing much at all. Recover allows you to switch into Heatran and Infernape more often since you seem to rely on Latias to take a lot, and residual damage as well as the attack itself will add up causing Latias to die quite fast. I would also like to mention that Gengar can be problematic since only Tyranitar will most likely be alive in order to stop it, but it will generally take out at LEAST 1 of your guys and it has the potential to do more, especially if its those weird Sub / Pain Split Gengars that run around now.

I also recommend a Rest Talk Gyarados over your current DD version. Gyarados can utilize Roar to give you a nice switch in to DD Salamence, as well as Suicune that lack HP Electric. It also gives you a secondary Heatran counter and is able to take on Scizor and Lucario even better now. I realize that losing a Jolly nature prevents you from outspeeding Lucario since I'm sure you know many carry Stone Edge, but I believe it's better in the long run.

Good luck. Nice team, and I hope I was some help.

 

[WECAMEASROMANS]

Congrats for making it to the top 10 dude. Looks like a very solid team to me. Now on the rating.

Your threat list says that you are extremely fucked against bulky waters and salamence/dragonite. To help solve both problems I would remove Lucario and replace it with Jirachi, preferably a choice scarf one, with Trick and Ice Punch. Lucario doesn't have any bulk at all so it's not like a +1 outrage won't kill him anyway. Here's the set I use:

Jirachi @choice scarf (jolly nature)
252 atk/216 speed/40 HP
Iron Head
Ice Punch
Thunderpunch
Trick

This makes a solid revenge killer while at the same time having some bulk. Trick cripples bulky waters and ice punch OHKOes Dragons. I would also replace thunderpunch for stone edge on your Infernape. That way, you won't be completly hopless against Mence.

Good luck in the future. Hope I helped.

 

[YTP]

@Sprinkles: Scizor gets in for free on TTar and gets a U-Turn off without anything to take it comfortably besides Lucario (who he should save for late game) or Metagross (who is a big part of his team OUTSIDE of leading, like sponging outrages)., and a good player (like the ones that you say can consistently play through hax...lol) can suspect something's up with Latias when its doing that little with dragon pulse.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

the ONLY thing he gets a chance to U-turn on is Tyranitar. scizor sure is a big problem huh

 

[YTP]

the ONLY thing he gets a chance to U-turn on is Tyranitar. scizor sure is a big problem huh

My question is... whats taking that U-Turn?

 

[team rater]

yea i disagree with sprinkles. gyarados is your check against a lot of physical attackers, mainly lucario and scizor, two things that could be deadly for this team. in my opinion though, a starmie could work over latias, since they both hit scizor extremely hard, and get rid of your ground type problems like hippowdown. starmie even hits tyranitar harder, ohkoing after rocks the 4 hp ones. starmie still covers infernape well, while making a status absorber of sorts with natural cure. it can also provide rapid spin support to stop rocks from hindering gyarados everytime it comes in to take a u-turn from scizor. just some thoughts. =]

 

[Ex-SOLDIER]

hey i like your team really good type coverage all round.
i noticed near the bottom that you were thinking about switching Ice Fang for Earthquake on your Gyarados for coverage against celebi. I say screw Ice fang and use Bounce. Bounce has a nice STAB boost and with Adamant max attack Gyarados is dealing enough damage to scare a Celebi and also give a 30%chance to paralyze and switch ins trying to counter its Flying attack.

 

[Myzozoa]

I like this team a lot, but I feel that I could offer some suggestions to improve it. I like that infernape lures latias for scarf tar, and that scarf tar lures things for lucario and gyarados, but I feel like much could be done to maximize your gains here.

I feel like gyarados isn't a good choice for this team as I dont feel like it capitalizes on the free turns youre creating in an efficient way. When someone brings there scarf tar in on your latias and pursuits, you want to punish them not slap them on the wrist which is what leftovers gyara basically says. Every team is going to have gyarados answers, usually more than just 1. Another issue with gyarados is that because of scarf tar he can't run life orb effectively, so youre forced to use leftovers, which prevent you from getting important kos. I feel like this team slot could much better be dedicated to DDmence@lum or LO. Your team is going to create the lures that give ddmence its chance to set up. Things like hp electric/toxic vaporeon, and scarf tar/scizor are going to come in right away on most of your team, and mence is the most devastating set-up sweeper around; it easily capitalizes on these opportunities. Mence is going to solve some issues for you. First of all it shits all over crocune and hp electric cune. Secondly it doesn't care about breloom which is a minor issue when you use scarf tar.

Now other area I am extremely concerned with is your lead. Honestly, wtf is going on with that lead. It does absolutely nothing. It seems as if it was thrown on just to be a competent sr user. It doesn't further your team any more than other sr leads that honestly do way more stuff for your team, and it doesnt have an explosion which is a blessing and a curse because it means gyarados can come in a sweep the floor with you, on the other side of it it ensures you wont create a blind switch or lose your only steel too early. I don't care what you do with your lead slot as long as it isnt dumb like metagross. Your team hates sr, it hates hates hates it. Get a lead like aerodactyl, or azelf, even a fast sleep lead would be better. Give it taunt, and then get your rocks up. Azelf is my first choice here. It lures scarf tar in for you to set up on better than any lead except for possibly the extremely blatant gengar lead which is stupid. Give azelf taunt and stealth rocks and the last moves can be whatever you want them to be. I realize that metagross is the only real steel that can go up against mence locked in outrage, but tbh this is the price you pay for scarf tar. I reached 7th on the leaderboard in december just by running ddmence to come in after scarf tar and this is what a lot of people are going to do if you cant handle it dont use it.