SPEED CRASHERS
Team Building Process. I like straight up offense teams. Fast and Strong. They're quick paced and always interesting. The team building process was fairly simple. I usually start off with pokes that have recently caught my interest. The latest ones were Bisharp and Lopunny. Talonflame had always been my favorite as well and does well to accompany these two. The rest were to fill my holes and I found some other gems, like Azumarill, which I haven't used much of before.
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Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
Garchomp is my usual lead. He's a great SR user. He makes a great team with Gengar and Bisharp to avoid losing hazards and supports those two for wallbreaking and sweeping.
Initially, I had the defensive, Helm+Skin set, but chose a more offensive route to deal with the likes of Excadrill. Then I when I switched to this, I found Outrage > DC for the power you get, with or without Lum berry and SD is easy to pull off for Garchomp, so that even if he gets set in Outrage, the damage from it is doubled and doubles the chances of taking down a chunk of the team. Fire blast is for those ferrothorns that pop up.
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Gengar is my stall breaker. This was more of a random pick for me, since I was curious with the Hex set. Hypnosis was fun to use to cripple pokemon that came be problems, but even with 10% extra from Wide Lens, it missed too often. Will-o-wisp didn't cut it either. Ultimately, it came down to Destiny bound or Taunt. I've tried both. I'm currently using Taunt to prevent hazards from bulky types like Skarmory that like to switch in. Hex is still there because SW does still Poison often and the damage over SB is preferred.
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower
As a Fairy type, he's usually easy to switch into. Aqua Jet and Play Rough are usually the only two moves I use and they're usually all I need. He's a key player of this team and covers a lot of defenses as well as taking out several pokemon that can poke holes in this team. Also, I love having all these priority users. Amezeng.
Bisharp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 SpD / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
This thing is a beaut. Swords Dance is almost too easy to use on this guy. I've experimented with his stats a bit too, shifting from 204 Atk/252 Spe and 252 Atk/204 Spe and the ladder was better due to the extra Punch (pun intended). Sucker Punch is simply a great tool to exercise predicting the target's moves. When I know what they're up to, I go for Knock Off instead. I've seen too many times people struggle with Bisharp that they'd try to Paralyze or Burn him, but Lum Berry is there to just cure that. The extra damage you lose from LO or Black Glasses here is really worth it.
Lopunny (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Return
- Fake Out
- Ice Punch
I know not having HJK is an unpopular opinion, but I've been fine with it so far. Missing with HJK really breaks her and opens her to an attack. PUP and Ice Punch together actually take away a lot of targets. A lot of people expect HJK but are suprised by an Ice Punch user instead. Regardless, I do regret Scizor is a problem because of this. PUP just can't match the strength to take down that bug.
Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
Team Building Process. I like straight up offense teams. Fast and Strong. They're quick paced and always interesting. The team building process was fairly simple. I usually start off with pokes that have recently caught my interest. The latest ones were Bisharp and Lopunny. Talonflame had always been my favorite as well and does well to accompany these two. The rest were to fill my holes and I found some other gems, like Azumarill, which I haven't used much of before.
---
---
Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
Garchomp is my usual lead. He's a great SR user. He makes a great team with Gengar and Bisharp to avoid losing hazards and supports those two for wallbreaking and sweeping.
Initially, I had the defensive, Helm+Skin set, but chose a more offensive route to deal with the likes of Excadrill. Then I when I switched to this, I found Outrage > DC for the power you get, with or without Lum berry and SD is easy to pull off for Garchomp, so that even if he gets set in Outrage, the damage from it is doubled and doubles the chances of taking down a chunk of the team. Fire blast is for those ferrothorns that pop up.
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Gengar is my stall breaker. This was more of a random pick for me, since I was curious with the Hex set. Hypnosis was fun to use to cripple pokemon that came be problems, but even with 10% extra from Wide Lens, it missed too often. Will-o-wisp didn't cut it either. Ultimately, it came down to Destiny bound or Taunt. I've tried both. I'm currently using Taunt to prevent hazards from bulky types like Skarmory that like to switch in. Hex is still there because SW does still Poison often and the damage over SB is preferred.
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower
As a Fairy type, he's usually easy to switch into. Aqua Jet and Play Rough are usually the only two moves I use and they're usually all I need. He's a key player of this team and covers a lot of defenses as well as taking out several pokemon that can poke holes in this team. Also, I love having all these priority users. Amezeng.
Bisharp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 52 SpD / 204 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
This thing is a beaut. Swords Dance is almost too easy to use on this guy. I've experimented with his stats a bit too, shifting from 204 Atk/252 Spe and 252 Atk/204 Spe and the ladder was better due to the extra Punch (pun intended). Sucker Punch is simply a great tool to exercise predicting the target's moves. When I know what they're up to, I go for Knock Off instead. I've seen too many times people struggle with Bisharp that they'd try to Paralyze or Burn him, but Lum Berry is there to just cure that. The extra damage you lose from LO or Black Glasses here is really worth it.
Lopunny (F) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Return
- Fake Out
- Ice Punch
I know not having HJK is an unpopular opinion, but I've been fine with it so far. Missing with HJK really breaks her and opens her to an attack. PUP and Ice Punch together actually take away a lot of targets. A lot of people expect HJK but are suprised by an Ice Punch user instead. Regardless, I do regret Scizor is a problem because of this. PUP just can't match the strength to take down that bug.
Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
Raikou is my defense against the likes of Magnetric and Thunderus. He provides momentum for the team with Volt Switch for the other sweepers so they can be brought in safely. Hes replacing Talonflame, by doing a similar role but with better bulk, especially with Assault Vest.
Talonflame @ Life Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
I went with LO over Flying Gem or Sharp Beak for the same reason I went with Brave Bird over Acrobatics. Power. With Roost, the damage you take doesn't mean much anyway. I've tried out a Bulky Talonflame over this set but the speed and power you get right out the gate is something you really miss having on your side. Which is exactly what this team is supposed to represent. I initially had Swords Dance on this set, but the opportunities I had to SD were scarce without opening Talon to a hit. Will-O-Wisp was a better slot choice here for targets where if I couldn't take them down, they'd get Burned instead which would help another teammate to take down the threat.
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