Team in a nutshell: Ninetales, Heatran, Volcorona, Celebi, Forretress, Dragonite
I've recently been having fun with this team, so I wanted to post it up and get some advice and input from you guys.
If I were still running an avatar themed team, would Ninetales be Sozin or Ozai? Maybe heatran would be Ozai...
Was using a bulky Ninetales before this. But I decided to try this set out after seeing that a few others had some success with it. I've come to appreicate Ninetales' speed tier after hp ice saved me from a weakened dragonite and a choice band haxorus. Fire blast is monstrous under sunlight. Solarbeam is only here because I'm using sunny day. Making the other weather inducers switch in as I use sunny day helps as 3/4 of them are weak to solarbeam. I may not be ohking tyranitar or politoed with this, but it definitely helps as they are 2hko'd and I can simply take them out mid match after they've sustained some damage.
Changes: Ev spread has been optimized
I'm pretty bad with themed teams...back when this was an Avatar: The last Airbender team, forry's name was Toph and she had Earthquake instead of Volt Switch. Balloon heatran didn't like that too much though.
Female thanks to rivalry choice band haxorus. He's here more so for toxic spikes than for spinning, as toxic spikes are what make winning the weather war so easy to begin with. Gyro ball is his staple filler attack. Rapid spin is obvious, while volt switch is for netting me free slower switches to other pokemon so that they can come in unharmed. Hilariously, it also hurts gyarados for a decent amount of damage. The mental herb is a remnant of when I used to run stealth rock, as most HO teams do not run taunters, but just a lead deo-S with taunt instead. It has its moments, but I'll probably replace it.
Changes: With Celebi carrying magic coat, he didn't really need the mental herb that much anymore. It's still useful against a few of the taunters out there, but leftovers comes into playu more often.
Sweeper #1. He's pretty self explanatory. Everyone except for forretress mandhandles steel type pokemon, so I'm most likely going to replace fire punch for earthquake. Fire punch is only here to serve as bait for the steel types who would switch out of everyone else, but meh. This would also make heatranmuch a bit easier to handle.
I love him. Specially bulky heatran is amazing under sunlight, taking specs surfs from latios and laughing them off as if they're nothing. Magma Storm is wonderful as the enemy weather inducers absolutely love switching into heatran. While eliminating the possibility of a double switch, it lets me pile on additional damage with toxic spikes. Magma storm is even better against jellicient, who also enjoys switching into heatran and getting trapped while dying to toxic damage. Removing jellicient isn't needed, but it forry is still alive, I want to make his job as a rapid spinner easier. More importantly, with the increased usage of tentacruel, heatran plays a very important part in dispatching it so that I may set up toxic spikes freely. In sunlight, heatran muscles down and beats Tenta with ease. Scald? 16-19%. Magma storm means that it isn't switching out either.
Roar is for emergencies and stealth rock is...well, stealth rock. I never liked running SR on heatran, so I'll probably run it on someone else. I could replace SR with protect if someone else was running it instead. Or I could just run the torment tran route to make heatran's trapping job a lot easier. Dugtrio? What the hell is that?
Heatran's right hand man. Makes winning the weather war against rain easier, and handles the Scizor/Rotom-W combo all on its own. It counters terrakion with X-scissor and makes landorus' life tough. I have no idea why the hell I'm running heal bell. My two sweepers have insurance against status and I've only used this move a grand total of one time in any battles (I will admit that it saved my ass). I could probably replace heal bell for SR and free up one of heatran's moveslots.
I'm somewhat considering replacing Celebi with a Cresselia of the same EV spread and nature. Cress handles landorus and all sorts of terrakion way better than Celebi ever could, still fries Scizor with a sun boosted hp fire, and gives a counter to all dragons save for hydriegon and subDD dragonite (he's only countered by one pokemon anyway). Unfortunately, Cresselia does not manhandle politoed as easily as Celebi does either. Celebi is also heatran bait, picking off non specially bulky ones with earth power and clearing the way for both dragonite and Volcorona. At this point, I'm thinking either Nasty Plot or SR over heal bell.
Changes: Magic Coat was given to Celebi as a way to deal with Deo-S hazard leads. Otherwise, it has been useful for helping my opponent cripple himself with his own status attacks or hazard stacking.
I was running chesto rest bulkyrona before it was cool. Although I used to run enough EVs to outspeed Scarftar, I decided not to bother since I don't see scarftar anymore. Good thing too, scarftar is sort of crappy. In the sunlight, this thing sets up on pretty much everything. I've actually set up on a scarfed terrakion before who used X-scissor when expecting me to switch to Celebi. I'm using fire blast over fiery dance thanks to the ease this set has of setting up. This set probably won't change.
Changes: Switched to the lum/morning sun set but I haven't changed the EVs yet. I may in the future, but most of volc's checks and counters do not allow you to ramp up beyond +1 most of the time anyway.
Threat list: Offensive
---
Politoed: Celebi can only be 2hko'd by specs hydro pump, a max damage roll twice in a row, and a layer of hazards. Giga drain means that this scenario will occur once every ten thousand years when Rita escapes. If volcorona gets 2 quiver dances up (or even one should toed have less than 60% of it's health), then I have even less to worry about.
Tyranitar: Specially bulky t-tar is of no consequence and loses the minute he switches into heatran's magma storm with tspikes down (and he always does). Bandtar is much tougher to deal with and is probably the only time wear I would admit to wanting dugtrio on my team...if it weren't for the couple of shed shell t-tars I have been seeing lately.
Dragonite: If he doesn't have EQ, then heatran roars him out and sets up SR. If he's SubDD, heatran does the same thing. If subDD is the last pokemon, try to muscle it down with volcorona. If it's rain abuser dragonite, then try to set up sun by baiting a hurricane and switching to Ninetales. Probably the biggest reason why I want to use Cresselia, as she counters all of his sets save for SubDD. If it tries to set up on Ninetales with a lum berry in tow, I'll just use hp ice, which has a high chance to ko if dragonite has already taken SR damage.
Terrakion: I have to get lucky with prediction depending on who he comes in on. Heatran can take X-scissors all day, while Celebi can tank stone edges and close combats while healing off the damage with giga drain. Cresselia is the most reliable answer. Unfortunately, there isn't room for seven team slots.
Rotom-W: Celebi shrugs off anything it can do, aside from tricking me its choice items. Volt switching is annoying though.
Reuniclus: Offensive trick room is beaten by a healthy volcorona. So is the CM Version.
Latios: Heatran is my answer. Even though I don't exactly do anything back to it, I gain some momentum and extra residual damage. If I see this thing on rain teams, it's tougher to wall, as I'll need the sun up in order to laugh at its surfs.
Haxorus: Hope that forretress is still alive. If not, punch myself in the face for not using cresselia.
Dugtrio: Just play carefully and don't fall for double switches...He can't actually switch into the attacks of anybody on the team. Usually, people try to switch their focus sash dugtrio into heatran's magma storm when hazards aren't up. I laugh because MAGMA STORM MISSES AND HEATRAN DIES. Should Dugtrio actually kill Ninetales, the team can still win since it isn't heavily reliant on sun without any chlorosweepers.
Heatran: Celebi baits it in and uses earth power on the non specially bulky variants. My own heatran does the same thing. To make my life easier, I should just slap EQ onto dragonite and remove the middle man...
Latias: Heatran will never give SubCM Latias any room to set up. Niether will Volcorona or dragonite after he's already set up.
Lucario: They don't run stone edge, so Volcorona can just kill it. Ninetales can revenge it if he's healthy enough.
Starmie: Usually I kill it with Celebi. I can't really complain much about it. If it tries to rapid spin, forretress will just volt switch out. If it comes in on heatran under sunlight, then heatran will simply kill it.
Salamence: Don't ever let this thing set up. If Volcorona or Dragonite haven't already set up, then I probably lost. Sometimes I get lucky and he attempts to set up on Ninetales. Another reason to use cresselia, but I don't see him too often.
Threat list: Defensive
---
Uhhh....
Well, there it is. Rate and give comments. And yes, Blue-Star's team gave me inspiration to try something like this out. Here's a log of me using the team. Although I'll admit that I made risky plays and that it isn't the best battle ever.
http://pokemon.aesoft.org/replay-EasterRabbit-vs-alphatron--2011-11-03
I've recently been having fun with this team, so I wanted to post it up and get some advice and input from you guys.
Fire Man (Ninetales) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
Trait: Drought
EVs: EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sunny Day
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam
If I were still running an avatar themed team, would Ninetales be Sozin or Ozai? Maybe heatran would be Ozai...
Was using a bulky Ninetales before this. But I decided to try this set out after seeing that a few others had some success with it. I've come to appreicate Ninetales' speed tier after hp ice saved me from a weakened dragonite and a choice band haxorus. Fire blast is monstrous under sunlight. Solarbeam is only here because I'm using sunny day. Making the other weather inducers switch in as I use sunny day helps as 3/4 of them are weak to solarbeam. I may not be ohking tyranitar or politoed with this, but it definitely helps as they are 2hko'd and I can simply take them out mid match after they've sustained some damage.
Changes: Ev spread has been optimized
Roll (Forretress) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Volt Switch
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Volt Switch
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
I'm pretty bad with themed teams...back when this was an Avatar: The last Airbender team, forry's name was Toph and she had Earthquake instead of Volt Switch. Balloon heatran didn't like that too much though.
Female thanks to rivalry choice band haxorus. He's here more so for toxic spikes than for spinning, as toxic spikes are what make winning the weather war so easy to begin with. Gyro ball is his staple filler attack. Rapid spin is obvious, while volt switch is for netting me free slower switches to other pokemon so that they can come in unharmed. Hilariously, it also hurts gyarados for a decent amount of damage. The mental herb is a remnant of when I used to run stealth rock, as most HO teams do not run taunters, but just a lead deo-S with taunt instead. It has its moments, but I'll probably replace it.
Changes: With Celebi carrying magic coat, he didn't really need the mental herb that much anymore. It's still useful against a few of the taunters out there, but leftovers comes into playu more often.
Mega Man (Dragonite) (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
Sweeper #1. He's pretty self explanatory. Everyone except for forretress mandhandles steel type pokemon, so I'm most likely going to replace fire punch for earthquake. Fire punch is only here to serve as bait for the steel types who would switch out of everyone else, but meh. This would also make heatran
Magma Man (Heatran) (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Roar
- Earth Power
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Roar
- Earth Power
I love him. Specially bulky heatran is amazing under sunlight, taking specs surfs from latios and laughing them off as if they're nothing. Magma Storm is wonderful as the enemy weather inducers absolutely love switching into heatran. While eliminating the possibility of a double switch, it lets me pile on additional damage with toxic spikes. Magma storm is even better against jellicient, who also enjoys switching into heatran and getting trapped while dying to toxic damage. Removing jellicient isn't needed, but it forry is still alive, I want to make his job as a rapid spinner easier. More importantly, with the increased usage of tentacruel, heatran plays a very important part in dispatching it so that I may set up toxic spikes freely. In sunlight, heatran muscles down and beats Tenta with ease. Scald? 16-19%. Magma storm means that it isn't switching out either.
Roar is for emergencies and stealth rock is...well, stealth rock. I never liked running SR on heatran, so I'll probably run it on someone else. I could replace SR with protect if someone else was running it instead. Or I could just run the torment tran route to make heatran's trapping job a lot easier. Dugtrio? What the hell is that?
Plant Man (Celebi) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Magic Coat/Recover
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Magic Coat/Recover
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Heatran's right hand man. Makes winning the weather war against rain easier, and handles the Scizor/Rotom-W combo all on its own. It counters terrakion with X-scissor and makes landorus' life tough. I have no idea why the hell I'm running heal bell. My two sweepers have insurance against status and I've only used this move a grand total of one time in any battles (I will admit that it saved my ass). I could probably replace heal bell for SR and free up one of heatran's moveslots.
I'm somewhat considering replacing Celebi with a Cresselia of the same EV spread and nature. Cress handles landorus and all sorts of terrakion way better than Celebi ever could, still fries Scizor with a sun boosted hp fire, and gives a counter to all dragons save for hydriegon and subDD dragonite (he's only countered by one pokemon anyway). Unfortunately, Cresselia does not manhandle politoed as easily as Celebi does either. Celebi is also heatran bait, picking off non specially bulky ones with earth power and clearing the way for both dragonite and Volcorona. At this point, I'm thinking either Nasty Plot or SR over heal bell.
Changes: Magic Coat was given to Celebi as a way to deal with Deo-S hazard leads. Otherwise, it has been useful for helping my opponent cripple himself with his own status attacks or hazard stacking.
Heat Man (Volcarona) (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Morning Sun
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Morning Sun
I was running chesto rest bulkyrona before it was cool. Although I used to run enough EVs to outspeed Scarftar, I decided not to bother since I don't see scarftar anymore. Good thing too, scarftar is sort of crappy. In the sunlight, this thing sets up on pretty much everything. I've actually set up on a scarfed terrakion before who used X-scissor when expecting me to switch to Celebi. I'm using fire blast over fiery dance thanks to the ease this set has of setting up. This set probably won't change.
Changes: Switched to the lum/morning sun set but I haven't changed the EVs yet. I may in the future, but most of volc's checks and counters do not allow you to ramp up beyond +1 most of the time anyway.
Threat list: Offensive
---
Politoed: Celebi can only be 2hko'd by specs hydro pump, a max damage roll twice in a row, and a layer of hazards. Giga drain means that this scenario will occur once every ten thousand years when Rita escapes. If volcorona gets 2 quiver dances up (or even one should toed have less than 60% of it's health), then I have even less to worry about.
Tyranitar: Specially bulky t-tar is of no consequence and loses the minute he switches into heatran's magma storm with tspikes down (and he always does). Bandtar is much tougher to deal with and is probably the only time wear I would admit to wanting dugtrio on my team...if it weren't for the couple of shed shell t-tars I have been seeing lately.
Dragonite: If he doesn't have EQ, then heatran roars him out and sets up SR. If he's SubDD, heatran does the same thing. If subDD is the last pokemon, try to muscle it down with volcorona. If it's rain abuser dragonite, then try to set up sun by baiting a hurricane and switching to Ninetales. Probably the biggest reason why I want to use Cresselia, as she counters all of his sets save for SubDD. If it tries to set up on Ninetales with a lum berry in tow, I'll just use hp ice, which has a high chance to ko if dragonite has already taken SR damage.
Terrakion: I have to get lucky with prediction depending on who he comes in on. Heatran can take X-scissors all day, while Celebi can tank stone edges and close combats while healing off the damage with giga drain. Cresselia is the most reliable answer. Unfortunately, there isn't room for seven team slots.
Rotom-W: Celebi shrugs off anything it can do, aside from tricking me its choice items. Volt switching is annoying though.
Reuniclus: Offensive trick room is beaten by a healthy volcorona. So is the CM Version.
Latios: Heatran is my answer. Even though I don't exactly do anything back to it, I gain some momentum and extra residual damage. If I see this thing on rain teams, it's tougher to wall, as I'll need the sun up in order to laugh at its surfs.
Haxorus: Hope that forretress is still alive. If not, punch myself in the face for not using cresselia.
Dugtrio: Just play carefully and don't fall for double switches...He can't actually switch into the attacks of anybody on the team. Usually, people try to switch their focus sash dugtrio into heatran's magma storm when hazards aren't up. I laugh because MAGMA STORM MISSES AND HEATRAN DIES. Should Dugtrio actually kill Ninetales, the team can still win since it isn't heavily reliant on sun without any chlorosweepers.
Heatran: Celebi baits it in and uses earth power on the non specially bulky variants. My own heatran does the same thing. To make my life easier, I should just slap EQ onto dragonite and remove the middle man...
Latias: Heatran will never give SubCM Latias any room to set up. Niether will Volcorona or dragonite after he's already set up.
Lucario: They don't run stone edge, so Volcorona can just kill it. Ninetales can revenge it if he's healthy enough.
Starmie: Usually I kill it with Celebi. I can't really complain much about it. If it tries to rapid spin, forretress will just volt switch out. If it comes in on heatran under sunlight, then heatran will simply kill it.
Salamence: Don't ever let this thing set up. If Volcorona or Dragonite haven't already set up, then I probably lost. Sometimes I get lucky and he attempts to set up on Ninetales. Another reason to use cresselia, but I don't see him too often.
Threat list: Defensive
---
Uhhh....
Well, there it is. Rate and give comments. And yes, Blue-Star's team gave me inspiration to try something like this out. Here's a log of me using the team. Although I'll admit that I made risky plays and that it isn't the best battle ever.
http://pokemon.aesoft.org/replay-EasterRabbit-vs-alphatron--2011-11-03
