Hello everyone, me again. A while back I put my OU team up for rating here on Smogon and got a lot of helpful suggestions. Here's the original thread:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/my-very-first-competitive-team.3497560/
So after weeks of experimenting, tweaking, and playing around with different things, I think I've come up with a much more competitively viable version of my previous team, as well as gained a bit of battling wisdom in the process. Even came up with a cool team name. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Team Buttkick:
As you can plainly see, Team Buttkick is primarily a bulky offensive team. Their functions are A: Kick butts, and B: Remove obstacles that keep them from kicking butts. It's a versatile team that doesn't really have an over-arcing strategy to it, being more about finding ways around the enemy's strategy, followed by merciless beat-downs. So, without further ado, let's go over the team members one by one.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 HP / 128 SDef
Brave Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Payback
- Rock Slide
- Drain Punch
Mienshao used to be on Team Buttkick, but was let go due to her addiction problems. She was addicted to dying, you see. Basically, I needed a bulkier fighting-type and Conkeldurr was suggested by fish6067 along with Scrafty. Funny story. For a while it looked I would go with Scrafty since a Dragon Dance Scrafty with Moxie was easily able to wrack up the kills. However, it turned out the reason that Conky just couldn't wrack up the kills was because it had no EVs in its attack. Where were they? Nowhere. They were unspent. I don't know what that was about; I guess was playing around with Conky's EV spread late one night and in my sleep-deprived state, I took out 252 EVs from attack and forgot to put them somewhere. Anyway, once Conky was capable of hurting things again, he became much more viable than Scrafty; capable of dishing out the pain as well as taking it.
Now fish originally suggested Knock Off for this set, but unfortunately that wasn't an option for Conky, as it can only learn it via a move-tutor in Black 2 and White 2; neither of which I own. So, I decided to go with the next best thing; Payback. It's arguably better since most psychic types outspeed Conkeldurr anyway, especially with a Brave nature, which basically means that a Payback will OHKO most of them, provided Conky survives the hit.
And survive the hit he can. Thanks to not only to his Assault Vest, but 128 EVs in both HP and Special Defense, Conkeldurr is guaranteed to survive at least one psychic or fairy move at full health, giving him the opportunity to strike back. And if the special ISN'T super-effective? Good luck. He also has Power-Up Punch and Drain Punch, which was a tricky combo to utilize at first. The trick is to know when to Power-Up and when to Drain, which typically depends on the opponent's health, Conkeldurr's own health, and whether or not I suspect a switch. Also, went with Rock Slide over Stone Edge for the sake of accuracy, which is just as well since it one-shots Talonflame and Charizard anyhow.
Guts may come across as an odd choice for what looks like an Iron Fist set, but there's a reason for that. It's because I hate Will-O-Wisp with the passion of a thousand suns and Conkeldurr presented an excellent opportunity to take what was once a weakness and turn it into a strength. Not to mention it's a good opportunity for some good ol' fashioned psychological warfare; after seeing Power-Up Punch and Drain Punch, a Sabeleye or Trevenant will think Conk's got Iron Fist and thus can be safely WOW'd. Oh, will they be in for an unpleasant surprise....
All in all, Conkeldurr makes a great tank; hits hard, and can be very difficult to remove from play once it's on the field, at least not without losing a poke or two in the process.
Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 208 SAtk / 52 Spd
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
- Roost
One of the mainstays of Team Buttkick, Togekiss has been a proud member since the very beginning, mostly due to his excellent bulk. He's basically unchanged from the last thread; Air Slash and Dazzling Gleam for the flying and fairy stabs, and Flamethrower as a coverage move against steel types. Some may prefer Aura Sphere for the coverage slot, but many steel-types in OU have a secondary type to nullify the fighting weakness. The Flamethrower? Not so much. With Flamethrower, Togekiss is able to OHKO Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor before they even get a chance to do anything. Genesect has proven to be a more slippery customer though, mostly because he's faster and U-turn is his favorite trick.
Speaking of speed, I recently realized that I completely forgot to experiment with the alternative EV spreads fish suggested in the last thread. I dunno, I guess it just slipped my mind. I'm currently experimenting with the EV spread shown. So far, so good.
All in all, much like Conkeldurr, Togekiss is a reliably sturdy pokemon that is difficult to kill.
Magnezone @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder Wave
- Tri Attack
Team Buttkick's designated revenge killer, Magnezone was originally brought on as a counter-tactic to stop Belly Drum Azumarill from sweeping my team with Aqua Jet. Later testing showed that this tactic also works against a lot of other common threats in OU; Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Pinsir, Mega Gardevoir, a lot of Megas now that I think about it. Basically Magnezone absorbs the supposed OHKO with Sturdy, then strikes back with a STAB Thunderbolt or Flash Cannon and VOILA. The offending party's sweep is stopped dead in its tracks. Then it eats its sitrus berry so it can bounce back in terms of health.
The only real problem with Magnezone is that it's a suicide pokemon; once it's absorbed the OHKO and struck back, there isn't much else it can do, even after eating its berry. I typically have him stay in the hopes of getting off a Thunder Wave or another super-effective Bolt or Cannon before it finally dies, giving whoever's next a free switch in and hopefully maybe hinder the pokemon on its way out.
That said, when a suicide counter is NOT in order, Magnezone can make an effective tank. Particularly against Cloyster, who can't even get Maggy down to half health even after a Shell Smash boosted Icicle Spear, mostly thanks to the Sitrus Berry.
Both fish and chesnaught suggested Hidden Power, but honestly? It's not a realistic option. It's next to impossible to know what that HP will be once you teach it to Magnezone. Which is a shame because it doesn't really have any other coverage options. In the end, I ultimately went with Tri Attack for its good neutral coverage. Plus hey; twenty percent chance to burn, freeze or paralyze? Who knows; I might get lucky.
All in all, good pokemon for stopping enemy sweepers in their tracks.
Drapion @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
Team Buttkick's designated Wall Breaker, Drapion is something of a rare sight in OU, and I think of that as a strength more than a weakness. Much remains unchanged; Taunt remains a good way of shutting down Smeargle, Rotom, Trevenent and the like. Knock Off not only removes items (making Drappy great against Leftovers and Eviollite users), but hurts a LOT thanks to Attack EVs + Dark STAB. And Poison Jab for the reliable STAB move for when Knock Off won't work anymore, particularly against fairies.
The big change here is that, instead of Ice Fang, Drapion's fourth move is Earthquake, as suggested by Smogon user chesnaught. And you know what? It is awesome. I cannot count how many Excadrills and Heatrans that Drapion has OHKO'd thanks to Earthquake. I try to avoid using the move until the opportune moment arises, ensuring I catch Heatran off guard. This makes Drapion a great teammate for Togekiss, the Jubilee Pokemon utterly helpless against it otherwise.
All in all, Drapion makes a good monkey wrench to throw into whatever machinations my enemy might be planning.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Rapid Spin
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
Team Buttkick's designated spinner, but spinning is certainly not all he's good for. With excellent defenses, a beastly special attack stat, and three good attacking moves, Mega Blastoise also enjoys killing things. So much so that he actually gets kind of sad whenever he has to stop murdering in order to clean up the stealth rocks or spikes or whatever the hell is on his side of the field.
Anyway, with Mega Launcher in his mega form, Blastoise's moves that aren't Rapid Spin are all but guaranteed to seriously hurt something. Water Pulse is the only real choice as a STAB move, basically the same as Surf but with a bonus chance to confuse, which is always welcome. Dark Pulse is great against psychics and ghosts, the latter in particular since they would otherwise block a Rapid Spin. And while a lot of people prefer Ice Beam, I prefer Aura Sphere as it makes a great surprise counter against ice, steel, and dark types.
All in all, not a lot different from my last team, except I actually made Blasty learn the move he needed to actually be a spinner. But even when there aren't any rocks or spikes to worry about, he's still good for hurting things.
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang
The sixth and final member of Team Buttkick, Garchomp was brought in to replace Donphan. I experimented with Tyranitar for a time, and while he's nice, I couldn't help but miss the electric immunity. So I went with the actual ground type.
Originally suggested by fish as a stealth rock setter, I found out that Garchomp only learns Stealth Rock via, you guessed it, the Move Tutor in Black and White 2. Kinda sucks but hey; Stealth Rock's nice to have, but it's not strictly necessary on Team Buttkick.
So instead, Garchomp is the team's designated late-game sweeper with a set that's pretty much a typical, no frills Swords Dance set. However, similar to Conkeldurr's ability, Garchomp's true value may be psychological; the hope is that she makes a good Mega Decoy. My opponent will expect Garchomp to be the team's Mega if only because Mega Garchomp is much more common in OU than Mega Blastoise, which will make the Mega Launcher - Powered Aura Sphere flying in their faces all the more unpleasantly surprising. And on top of that, after a Swords Dance, Chompy doesn't really NEED a mega evolution.
All in all, a great late-game sweeper. Just be sure that all the Will-O-Wispers and Ice Attackers are dead first.
Problems
There's sadly no such thing as a perfect team, and Team Buttkick is no exception. Here's a list of problems I've been running into:
- As is the case with many offensive teams, stall teams can give the Buttkickers trouble. Two pokemon in particular are Gliscor and Blissey. The latter can easily be dealt with provided Garchomp and/or Conkeldurr are still alive, but I find that's rarely the case. Meanwhile, Drapion could taunt Gliscor, but an Earthquake or two usually makes short work of Drapion. Blastoise can hit Gliscor super-effectively, but only if he gets a chance; Gliscor can easily toxic Blaster and stall him out from there. I think the most effective tactic would be to use Magnezone to absorb an Earthquake and hope a Flash Cannon can take him out. Thing is, Gliscor is usually a late-game wall and Magnezone is usually either dead or has already used up his sturdy by that point.
- This one is more my fault than the team's; Whenever Mega Blastoise is out on the field with rocks or spikes to clean up, I sometimes forego a Rapid Spin in favor of an attacking move that could potentially OHKO the enemy pokemon. I get greedy with kills from time to time, and because of that, Blastoise sometimes dies before he can spin. I've lost a few games because I failed to clean up entry hazards when I should have.
- No Ice attacks. Sure, I've still got moves to deal with all the things that Ice is super-effective against, but with Dragonite and Garchomp stomping around OU, I sometimes catch myself wishing I had a pokemon with Ice Beam.
- I have no designated lead. Whoever I choose to lead off the battle completely depends on what I suspect my opponent will lead with. This can be risky; If I guess right, I can stop my enemy from setting up or even take a pokemon down right out the gate. But if I guess wrong, I could wind up losing one of my own guys before they get a chance to do anything.
So, there's my team. It looks pretty solid to me and has a good Win / Loss ratio, but suggestions are always welcome.
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/my-very-first-competitive-team.3497560/
So after weeks of experimenting, tweaking, and playing around with different things, I think I've come up with a much more competitively viable version of my previous team, as well as gained a bit of battling wisdom in the process. Even came up with a cool team name. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Team Buttkick:
As you can plainly see, Team Buttkick is primarily a bulky offensive team. Their functions are A: Kick butts, and B: Remove obstacles that keep them from kicking butts. It's a versatile team that doesn't really have an over-arcing strategy to it, being more about finding ways around the enemy's strategy, followed by merciless beat-downs. So, without further ado, let's go over the team members one by one.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 HP / 128 SDef
Brave Nature
- Power-Up Punch
- Payback
- Rock Slide
- Drain Punch
Mienshao used to be on Team Buttkick, but was let go due to her addiction problems. She was addicted to dying, you see. Basically, I needed a bulkier fighting-type and Conkeldurr was suggested by fish6067 along with Scrafty. Funny story. For a while it looked I would go with Scrafty since a Dragon Dance Scrafty with Moxie was easily able to wrack up the kills. However, it turned out the reason that Conky just couldn't wrack up the kills was because it had no EVs in its attack. Where were they? Nowhere. They were unspent. I don't know what that was about; I guess was playing around with Conky's EV spread late one night and in my sleep-deprived state, I took out 252 EVs from attack and forgot to put them somewhere. Anyway, once Conky was capable of hurting things again, he became much more viable than Scrafty; capable of dishing out the pain as well as taking it.
Now fish originally suggested Knock Off for this set, but unfortunately that wasn't an option for Conky, as it can only learn it via a move-tutor in Black 2 and White 2; neither of which I own. So, I decided to go with the next best thing; Payback. It's arguably better since most psychic types outspeed Conkeldurr anyway, especially with a Brave nature, which basically means that a Payback will OHKO most of them, provided Conky survives the hit.
And survive the hit he can. Thanks to not only to his Assault Vest, but 128 EVs in both HP and Special Defense, Conkeldurr is guaranteed to survive at least one psychic or fairy move at full health, giving him the opportunity to strike back. And if the special ISN'T super-effective? Good luck. He also has Power-Up Punch and Drain Punch, which was a tricky combo to utilize at first. The trick is to know when to Power-Up and when to Drain, which typically depends on the opponent's health, Conkeldurr's own health, and whether or not I suspect a switch. Also, went with Rock Slide over Stone Edge for the sake of accuracy, which is just as well since it one-shots Talonflame and Charizard anyhow.
Guts may come across as an odd choice for what looks like an Iron Fist set, but there's a reason for that. It's because I hate Will-O-Wisp with the passion of a thousand suns and Conkeldurr presented an excellent opportunity to take what was once a weakness and turn it into a strength. Not to mention it's a good opportunity for some good ol' fashioned psychological warfare; after seeing Power-Up Punch and Drain Punch, a Sabeleye or Trevenant will think Conk's got Iron Fist and thus can be safely WOW'd. Oh, will they be in for an unpleasant surprise....
All in all, Conkeldurr makes a great tank; hits hard, and can be very difficult to remove from play once it's on the field, at least not without losing a poke or two in the process.
Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 208 SAtk / 52 Spd
Modest Nature
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Flamethrower
- Roost
One of the mainstays of Team Buttkick, Togekiss has been a proud member since the very beginning, mostly due to his excellent bulk. He's basically unchanged from the last thread; Air Slash and Dazzling Gleam for the flying and fairy stabs, and Flamethrower as a coverage move against steel types. Some may prefer Aura Sphere for the coverage slot, but many steel-types in OU have a secondary type to nullify the fighting weakness. The Flamethrower? Not so much. With Flamethrower, Togekiss is able to OHKO Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor before they even get a chance to do anything. Genesect has proven to be a more slippery customer though, mostly because he's faster and U-turn is his favorite trick.
Speaking of speed, I recently realized that I completely forgot to experiment with the alternative EV spreads fish suggested in the last thread. I dunno, I guess it just slipped my mind. I'm currently experimenting with the EV spread shown. So far, so good.
All in all, much like Conkeldurr, Togekiss is a reliably sturdy pokemon that is difficult to kill.
Magnezone @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder Wave
- Tri Attack
Team Buttkick's designated revenge killer, Magnezone was originally brought on as a counter-tactic to stop Belly Drum Azumarill from sweeping my team with Aqua Jet. Later testing showed that this tactic also works against a lot of other common threats in OU; Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, Mega Pinsir, Mega Gardevoir, a lot of Megas now that I think about it. Basically Magnezone absorbs the supposed OHKO with Sturdy, then strikes back with a STAB Thunderbolt or Flash Cannon and VOILA. The offending party's sweep is stopped dead in its tracks. Then it eats its sitrus berry so it can bounce back in terms of health.
The only real problem with Magnezone is that it's a suicide pokemon; once it's absorbed the OHKO and struck back, there isn't much else it can do, even after eating its berry. I typically have him stay in the hopes of getting off a Thunder Wave or another super-effective Bolt or Cannon before it finally dies, giving whoever's next a free switch in and hopefully maybe hinder the pokemon on its way out.
That said, when a suicide counter is NOT in order, Magnezone can make an effective tank. Particularly against Cloyster, who can't even get Maggy down to half health even after a Shell Smash boosted Icicle Spear, mostly thanks to the Sitrus Berry.
Both fish and chesnaught suggested Hidden Power, but honestly? It's not a realistic option. It's next to impossible to know what that HP will be once you teach it to Magnezone. Which is a shame because it doesn't really have any other coverage options. In the end, I ultimately went with Tri Attack for its good neutral coverage. Plus hey; twenty percent chance to burn, freeze or paralyze? Who knows; I might get lucky.
All in all, good pokemon for stopping enemy sweepers in their tracks.
Drapion @ Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
Team Buttkick's designated Wall Breaker, Drapion is something of a rare sight in OU, and I think of that as a strength more than a weakness. Much remains unchanged; Taunt remains a good way of shutting down Smeargle, Rotom, Trevenent and the like. Knock Off not only removes items (making Drappy great against Leftovers and Eviollite users), but hurts a LOT thanks to Attack EVs + Dark STAB. And Poison Jab for the reliable STAB move for when Knock Off won't work anymore, particularly against fairies.
The big change here is that, instead of Ice Fang, Drapion's fourth move is Earthquake, as suggested by Smogon user chesnaught. And you know what? It is awesome. I cannot count how many Excadrills and Heatrans that Drapion has OHKO'd thanks to Earthquake. I try to avoid using the move until the opportune moment arises, ensuring I catch Heatran off guard. This makes Drapion a great teammate for Togekiss, the Jubilee Pokemon utterly helpless against it otherwise.
All in all, Drapion makes a good monkey wrench to throw into whatever machinations my enemy might be planning.
Blastoise @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Rapid Spin
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
Team Buttkick's designated spinner, but spinning is certainly not all he's good for. With excellent defenses, a beastly special attack stat, and three good attacking moves, Mega Blastoise also enjoys killing things. So much so that he actually gets kind of sad whenever he has to stop murdering in order to clean up the stealth rocks or spikes or whatever the hell is on his side of the field.
Anyway, with Mega Launcher in his mega form, Blastoise's moves that aren't Rapid Spin are all but guaranteed to seriously hurt something. Water Pulse is the only real choice as a STAB move, basically the same as Surf but with a bonus chance to confuse, which is always welcome. Dark Pulse is great against psychics and ghosts, the latter in particular since they would otherwise block a Rapid Spin. And while a lot of people prefer Ice Beam, I prefer Aura Sphere as it makes a great surprise counter against ice, steel, and dark types.
All in all, not a lot different from my last team, except I actually made Blasty learn the move he needed to actually be a spinner. But even when there aren't any rocks or spikes to worry about, he's still good for hurting things.
Garchomp @ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang
The sixth and final member of Team Buttkick, Garchomp was brought in to replace Donphan. I experimented with Tyranitar for a time, and while he's nice, I couldn't help but miss the electric immunity. So I went with the actual ground type.
Originally suggested by fish as a stealth rock setter, I found out that Garchomp only learns Stealth Rock via, you guessed it, the Move Tutor in Black and White 2. Kinda sucks but hey; Stealth Rock's nice to have, but it's not strictly necessary on Team Buttkick.
So instead, Garchomp is the team's designated late-game sweeper with a set that's pretty much a typical, no frills Swords Dance set. However, similar to Conkeldurr's ability, Garchomp's true value may be psychological; the hope is that she makes a good Mega Decoy. My opponent will expect Garchomp to be the team's Mega if only because Mega Garchomp is much more common in OU than Mega Blastoise, which will make the Mega Launcher - Powered Aura Sphere flying in their faces all the more unpleasantly surprising. And on top of that, after a Swords Dance, Chompy doesn't really NEED a mega evolution.
All in all, a great late-game sweeper. Just be sure that all the Will-O-Wispers and Ice Attackers are dead first.
Problems
There's sadly no such thing as a perfect team, and Team Buttkick is no exception. Here's a list of problems I've been running into:
- As is the case with many offensive teams, stall teams can give the Buttkickers trouble. Two pokemon in particular are Gliscor and Blissey. The latter can easily be dealt with provided Garchomp and/or Conkeldurr are still alive, but I find that's rarely the case. Meanwhile, Drapion could taunt Gliscor, but an Earthquake or two usually makes short work of Drapion. Blastoise can hit Gliscor super-effectively, but only if he gets a chance; Gliscor can easily toxic Blaster and stall him out from there. I think the most effective tactic would be to use Magnezone to absorb an Earthquake and hope a Flash Cannon can take him out. Thing is, Gliscor is usually a late-game wall and Magnezone is usually either dead or has already used up his sturdy by that point.
- This one is more my fault than the team's; Whenever Mega Blastoise is out on the field with rocks or spikes to clean up, I sometimes forego a Rapid Spin in favor of an attacking move that could potentially OHKO the enemy pokemon. I get greedy with kills from time to time, and because of that, Blastoise sometimes dies before he can spin. I've lost a few games because I failed to clean up entry hazards when I should have.
- No Ice attacks. Sure, I've still got moves to deal with all the things that Ice is super-effective against, but with Dragonite and Garchomp stomping around OU, I sometimes catch myself wishing I had a pokemon with Ice Beam.
- I have no designated lead. Whoever I choose to lead off the battle completely depends on what I suspect my opponent will lead with. This can be risky; If I guess right, I can stop my enemy from setting up or even take a pokemon down right out the gate. But if I guess wrong, I could wind up losing one of my own guys before they get a chance to do anything.
So, there's my team. It looks pretty solid to me and has a good Win / Loss ratio, but suggestions are always welcome.
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