Team at a Glance:
Hello, Guys and Girls, welcome to my RMT! Before anything, I would like to say that I have not gotten to rank #1 on the ladder, I haven't won SPL with this team, and the pros do not use my teams. That said, I am going to start this RMT off with a little story of how I got inspiration for my team. One day, I was laddering with my feraligatr balanced team, when I encountered a team with Azelf, Charizard and 4 other pokes I don't remember, but they are irrelevant. Anyways, I lead with my Tyranitar and he leads azelf. I try to set up rocks but he taunts. He then reflects and is OHKOed by a crit crunch. He then goes into charizard. I miss the stone edge while he sets up DD. He then proceeds to sweep my entire team with that charizard. I later calc'd the stone edge damage from support TTar on that charizard with reflect, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway if I hit the stone edge. This gave me an idea: What if I could build a team that is only about setting up screens and hazards, dying, and giving a sweeper an opportunity to set up and win, or weaken the opposing team for another sweeper? As soon as I had the chance, I started building, and this team is what I came out with. That said, Here is my teambuilding process, for going about selecting my pokes.
When going through the list of support pokes I could use, I realized I needed 2 things out of my support pokes: screens/hazards and a suicide move. Azelf immediately came to mind with its high speed, access to screens and explosion, and diverse support movepool. Because of all that, Azelf was easily my first choice.
Thinking about it, I realized to make this team a viable team, I would need a minimum of 2 screen users to make sure that I could win. Seeing as this team hates switching, I would constantly be sacking pokes, so I would need to have another poke that could help support a sweep. Latios stood out as a poke that could not only set up screens, but consistently force switches with the fear of a LO draco or psyshock, even though mine isn't that set. Latios also gets memento as a nice bonus to force even more switches and give my offense pokes more setup opportunities. That said, screw bisharp.
For my third support poke, I saw that I had enough screen users to consistently be able to set them up for a sweep. So, I decided to go for a hazard setter instead. Forretress and ferrothorn were both options, but forretress, while less viable overall, just had more of the utility and the qualities this team needed. Forretress has several characteristics that made him ideal that I will get into later on in the RMT.
With the support half of my team done, I started work on finding some fearsome sweepers that love screens so they can set up. Mega Charizard X was my first consideration for this role, as he is in my opinion the best setup sweeper in the metagame right now. Charizard really appreciates the screens as it gives him the opportunity to setup on stuff like rotom-w. Anyway, he has proven himself to be a valuable sweeper, so I haven't fiddled with my original pick for this role.
For my next sweeper, choosing a pokes was a bit more difficult, as stacking dragon dancers often leaves redundant synergy/coverage, but I needed a poke that could boost both its speed and offensive capabilities without requiring 2 setup moves. Volcarona was out, as I didn't want a gaping rocks weakness, but then I remembered Hawlucha. He can boost both stats I wanted, and offered great coverage, which is so important on a team with 3 attacking pokes only.
By just looking at my team, I could see I would be walled to hell and back by slowbro, so I needed a strong special attacker with speed boosting capabilities. Landorus appealed to me, as his access to rock polish was enticing, as well as ultra-powerful earth powers. However, Landorus just didn't cut it for a few reasons, so he had to be replaced.
Now then, seeing this you may be thinking, "LOL thundurus-t sucks just use thundurus-I scrub!" However, while Thundurus-t is a very niche pick, I have reasons. First if you didn't realize, my team was absurdly weak to talonflame as its brave birds could go right past my speed boosts and wreck me, plus I have no super effective moves on it. Thundurus-t fills a talonflame check role well, as if he has setup agility, he can outspeed and t-bolt for a KO. He also gives the team a guaranteed OHKO on slowbro, a huge threat because of its bulkiness and t-waves.
So, that's how I built this team. I find it to be very interesting, and the archetype it falls into is probably Hyper-Offense, but it doesn't really have the same play style as HO. But, here is the team in detail and all of its glory.
Team In Detail
Azelf
Azelf @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- Explosion
The first pokemon on my team is Azelf. I needed speed, screens, suicide, and some utility, and azelf gives me all of that. The first two moves are fairly obvious as you need light screen and reflect to be a dual-screens poke. Explosion is another obvious move as I needed pokes that don't waste screen turns sitting around doing nothing. My final move, taunt, was chosen because I knew from the get-go that defog would be a pain, as it clears all my hazards and screens. Azelf outspeeds every relevant defogger in the tier unless they are scarfed(LOL), and can taunt them if they try to defog. Azelf can then blow up, leaving the poke dead or dented. The EV spread is standard, Max speed, almost max HP to get an odd number of HP, and the remaining 8 into attack to give explosion a little boost.
Latios
Latios (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Draco Meteor
- Memento
Latios is my second poke and my second screen user. I won't say the screen set is underrated, as it isn't, but screens latios is surprisingly effective at doing his job. His high speed allows quick screening, as well as being able to take out a few threats with his draco. Another very important aspect of latios is his insane ability to force switches. If I come in on a poke such as conkeldurr, there is no way anyone would ever keep it in on a latios, unless they knew my set, so I can get free screens. Draco meteor is a great move to take out pokes such as thundurus who can taunt the screens and memento away, and is great for bluffing scarf. My last move is of course my suicide move, which in latios' case is memento. Latios was chosen over latias for this one reason only. Memento is so much more useful for keeping up momentum, and forcing switches when I go into a sweeper because nobody can do shit to a charizard with screens up and their attack/spatk halved. But still, screw bisharp and his defiantness.
Forretress
Forretress @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Explosion
- Rapid Spin
Hoo boy, this team is really bringing it back to the BW days, with azelf, custap forretress, and thundurus-t. Anyway, Forretress fulfills several roles as a hazard setter that other pokes such as ferrothorn cannot. Firstly, he gets rapid spin. That means he will generally beat hazard leads such as lando-t or TTar in the hazard game. Second, he gets explosion. While ferrothorn does get explosion, forretress has the tools to get past his abysmal speed to use it and go first. With his access to sturdy, he has a reliable way to activate the custap berry and explode, getting off damage or preventing a spin/defog. It is also a useful way to get up an additional spike against opposing pokes that resist explosion such as gengar lacking taunt.
Mega Charizard X
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Roost
Mega charizard X is the first of my sweepers. He was my first choice for the sweeping role due to his incredible sweeping capabilites, and the fact that he 2hkoes almost the entire game with 1 DD. I chose to run roost over EQ as my sweepers usually have to be able to take down 4-6 pokes and flare blitz would cause charizard to die before he could take down the whole team, which can be crucial in some situations. However, the lack of coverage doesn't hurt him at all as he can break past most heatrans, mega altarias, and azumarills with just flare blitz or dragon claw. Charizard is also your go-to pokemon to try to bulk out a few hits.
Hawlucha
Hawlucha @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 246 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
Hawlucha is my second sweeper, and a very unprepared for threat. While his attack stat isn't great, his speed tier is excellent, allowing him in a pinch to revenge kill raikou, lati-twins, and a few other base 110-115 pokemon. The main reason I chose this guy is for one, he gets excellent stab coverage. Fighting and flying are two great offensive types that have great synergy together, so hawlucha could be able to deal neutral damage almost the entire meta. His unburden ability is another reason why I chose him, as he can double his speed and effectively become the fastest pokemon in the metagame. Swords dance is a great move to have, especially behind screens as you can set up, live a hit, activate unburden, and the sweep. Substitute was added to dodge status so hawlucha could rip through walls or defensive status spammers. The evs are situated so hawlucha activates unburden after 2 subs and the rest are put into attack and speed.
Thundurus-T
Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 3 Atk / 30 Def
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Thundurus-T is the last pokemon on my team, and the only special sweeper. I chose to have only one special sweeper, as physical sweepers such as charizard x can break through pokes such as slowbro and hippowdon after enought setup. However, non-psyshock/secret sword special attackers get completely stopped by chansey, no matter what they do to it. Anyway, Thundurus-t was chosen as I needed a sweeper that could live a brave bird after a chunk of prior damage and KO the talonflame. I also needed a good answer to slowbro and bulky waters in general as they crapped all over my team. Thundurus-t was chosen over regular thundurus for this role as his special attack was already insane, and didn't need boosting from a boosting move. While his speed is sub-par, which was the main reason he dropped in viability, he can boost with agility, and clean sweep or finish a weakened team. The moves that I chose give me the best possible coverage, but somethings will still wall it. The Ivs are so that I have HP ice with the lowest possible attack IVs.
Threatlist:
This threatlist is surprisingly small for a team that was created on a gimmick idea, but it still has a few weakness like many other teams.
Defog: Defog is a pain, as it can clear screens as well as hazards. However, I have taunt to block it on azelf or suicide moves to prevent it from working for a turn.
Opposing setup: This team gets destroyed if a setup poke like gyarados or charizard x sets up against me. However, those pokes don't get a whole lot of setup opportunities late game when most people try to set up.
Final Thoughts: Well, that's my team. I haven't seen any other teams like it, and I think it may be an effective strategy if it is played out right. Thanks for giving my team a read, and feel free to give a rate and give your comments on this strategy the team is based on.
Azelf @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- Explosion
Latios (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Draco Meteor
- Memento
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Roost
Hawlucha @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 246 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
Forretress @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Explosion
- Rapid Spin
Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 3 Atk / 30 Def
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- Explosion
Latios (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Draco Meteor
- Memento
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Roost
Hawlucha @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 246 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Substitute
- High Jump Kick
- Acrobatics
Forretress @ Custap Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Explosion
- Rapid Spin
Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 3 Atk / 30 Def
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
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