Strawberry Swing

[_Flygon_]

hey this is my first rmt ever, it's a team i build a few days ago but i didnt have much succes with it, be it due to bad luck or my general failure with defensive teams, whatever. it's a semi-stall team, based around hazards while still having strong sweepers to pose a threat especially lategame.

At A Glance

Closer Look

Roserade (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Grass Knot
- Sleep Powder
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Ground]
---
so i lead with rose, one of the most reliable starters in todays metagame imo. leaf storm is for obvious stab and to deal with crocune if roserae is still alive which will most likely the case since i play carefully with him. toxic spikes support my team pretty well since they help keeping pressuring my opponent. hidden power ground is for those subtrans where my team has trouble with otherwise.

fire goes to suicune and mence, ice goes to suicune and meta, flying goes to whatever, psychic goes to meta or skarm.

Metagross @ Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/244 Def/12 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Light Screen
- Explosion
---
meta's my first check against mence and mainly latias, light screen is great for team support and allows it to even survive heatrans fire blast if i absolutely need to. boom if i need something dead right now.

ground goes to rotom, mence and skarmory, fire see roserade.

Rotom-w @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/160 Def/12 Spd/84 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
---
rotom is my spinblocker and a solid check to most lucario and gyarados, the moves are standard, hydro pump's nice to dent tyranitar.

dark and ghost go both to skarm.

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/72 Def/20 Spd/164 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
---
skarmory is my mvp, it often lays down all 4 layers of hazards, checks gengar without thunderbolt, dragon dance tyranitar and many others. i don't feel like i need brave bird since it does laughable damage to taunters anyway. sdef skarm is simply anti-metagame.

fire see meta, electric goes to rose and rotom.

Salamence (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/180 Def/76 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Dragon Claw
- Roost
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
---
mence's my counter to lucario and various other fighters and my lategame cleaner. last mon bulkymence often breaks down stall as does last mon cune. the moves are pretty obvious for the best coverage possible.

ice goes to suicune and meta, rock goes to meta and dragon goes to meta and skarm.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/16 Spd/36 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Surf
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Ice Beam
---
suicune's my 2nd lategame cleaner and first check to salamence and heatran. i don't think i need sleep talk since ice beam is so helpfull in beating down those annoying dragons. most teams don't have a good solution to this thing, especially with t-spikes.

grass goes to everyone lol, electric see skarm.

Problems:
-i dont have a true counter to gyarados, but rotom and skarm do okay and meta is always there to boom, could cause trouble.
-jolteon can cause huge trouble, my only reliable check is meta who can take a hit and ohko back, as can mence. it's the same for raikou and zapdos.
-salamence itself causes havoc, especially the old dder, but i think i can play around with meta+suicune.
-infernape is pretty much gg if cune is weakened and it has hp ice, though rotom can take a hit and ohko, mence also takes everything bar hp ice.
-opposing offensive suicunes will get at least one kill, skarm can take a hit and ww away, meta can boom against sets without sub but thats pretty risky.
​

 

[MetaNite]

Cool team.

Biggest problem I see is all out attacking MixApe, or Nasty Plot Mixape as both are pretty devastating. As you probably know, MixApe 2HKOes every member of your team, many of which are OHKOed. Your only 'checks' are Suicune and Rotom-W. However, Toxic Spikes will hopefully wear him down, assuming you set them up successfully. Nasty Plot Ape can OHKO even Suicune, easily killing Rotom-W, while even Salamence can be OHKOed by Fire Blast after Stealth Rock.

An easy way to give yourself another check to Infernape would be to give Metagross an Occa Berry. Since you are often going to be exploding, Leftovers isn't all that useful. This can also help against Heatran who switch in. Another idea would to be equipping Rotom-W with a choice scarf, however I have another idea for Rotom:

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
EVs: 248 HP / 68 SpA / 188 Speed
Nature: Timid
~ Substitute
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hydro Pump
~ Hidden Power Ice / Ground

This guy can stall a lot of Pokemon with the Toxic Spikes support you have provided. It also checks Gyarados pretty well thanks to the HP EVs. You can use HP Ice for Mence, Nite, and Celebi, or Ground which will be extremely helpful against Magnezone who may be troublesome with only 1 helpful Electric-resist in Rotom-W, and will also do more damage to Jolteon.

One more thing, I always prefer Grass Knot on Roserade over Leaf Storm. This helps a lot when your opponent is switching often. For instance, they can have something take the sleep, maybe Pert, then go to Blissey to take the Leaf Storm, then to Gyarados to set up on you. Grass Knot just gives more constant damage which is very helpful. Also, you may want to try giving Roserade 52 Defense EVs, meaning 400 attack Metagross can never 2HKO you with Bullet Punch. So even if Sleep Powder misses the first turn as Gross punches you, you will survive the next to put it asleep (hopefully it doesn't have Lum Berry).

Good luck.

 

[_Flygon_]

thanks for the suggestions, i'll definitely try occa berry but i'm hesitating in switching rotoms set since its already dying pretty fast (lo gyarados manages around 48% with unboosted waterfall), i'll change roserade like you suggested.