Team Don!
So naming your team after yourself isn't the least bit egocentric, right? In all honesty though, this is my first RMT and I wasn't sure what to call it.
I just got into the BW competitive scene about a week ago and started playing on an online server. I had prior experience to competitive battling in gen.4 but I stopped playing about a year ago. What got me back into competitive battling was the major overhaul to the metagame along with many new layers of strategy to an already strategic game.
I quickly realized that BW has an incredibly offensive metagame. In order to survive, having a strong defensive core is necessary. Also the three types of weather (sand, rain and sun) are crucial elements to many team's strategies. I was never key on having an entire team centred on weather nor was I big on one full of glass cannons. My ideal team is one that posesses a sturdy defensive core where one team member covers another's weakness along with a solid offense that can break down most walls and potentially sweep late game. Easier said than done though. This team went through numerous changes before I got to my current team. While I don't believe this team is anywhere near perfect, it has enabled me to win a good percentage of my battles.
The Team in Depth
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
With the BW metagame dominated by weather, especially rain and sun, I needed a reliable source to cripple some of the major weather-dependent offensive threats. Tyranitar is a Pokemon that many are familiar with since gen.3 for it's ability to summon an endless sandstream. Previously I ran the standard bulky leadTar but found that many opponets knew how to deal with it (Tar is #1 in usage now). Switching to a choice scarf allowed me to outrun and OHKO many Pokemon that would otherwise KO Tar (such as infernape, lucario other standard leadTars). This generally catches most opponets by surprise, allowing me to get an easy KO. Crunch is a strong STAB move, superpower destroys other lead tyranitars, steels and hydregion that think they are faster. Pursuit murders most psychics and ghosts and has great synergy with infernape's U-turn (espically against most latios). Stone edge rounds off the set giving a second STAB option allowing me to OHKO opposing ninetales and infernapes. EVs are put into attack and speed for max effectiveness along with a Jolly nature to outspeed base 110 pokemon including Latios (which I outspeed and trap with puruit). Tyranitar isn't without its weakness though. Choiced versions of politoed usually give it trouble if they switch in. Tar also becomes set-up bait once its locked into an unfavorable move. Most of the time, this isn't an issue, but it has cost me a number of games if a pokemon with strong physical fighting moves switches.
Trait: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Toxic
Gastrodon is a key member for this team, being my main politoed/ latios/ thundurus counter. With two immunities and great Hp/ SpDef, I can switch gastrodon into most special attacks. The EVs let me take 2 specs draco meteors from Latios. Surf is a strong STAB move, which is actually quite powerful under rain and with a +1 special attack boost. Ice beam hits dragons and gliscor hard. Recover and toxic are for stalling and breaking down opponet's walls. Like many bulky waters, gastrodon is completely walled by ferrothorn, which can proceed to set up spikes/SR or threaten gastrodon out with STAB power whip. Thankfully, infernape and salamence can deal with ferrothorn. However if both go down (which is quite possible considering both are SR weak and frail), gliscor will have to stop it. Gastrodon also goes down fairly easily to physical attacks from strong physical attacks (especially strong fighting attacks). I've considered investing in some Def but am not sure if that would make gastrodon too frail on the special side.
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn is the premire wall of gen.5. Boosting a number of key resistances to popular attacking types such as water, electric, grass and dark. Ferrothorn also synergizes well with gastrodon and gliscor (my team's other two walls) taking grass and water attacks aimed at them, respectively. It's weaknesses are also covered by the other two (gastrodon takes special fire attacks while gliscor takes fighting). Evs are maximized in HP, and spread between Def and SDef with emphasis on SDef. The set is fairly standard, T.wave for paralysis and crippling opponet's sweepers. Stealth rock is necessary as my team forces maany switches between my three walls. Gyro ball and power whip are two stab options. Gyro ball in particular being stronger than most opponets think due to ferrothorn's pathetic speed. I used to run a standard SDef Jirachi, but found that the team needed a failsafe against water attacks in the event that gastrodon goes down.
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Mach Punch
Infernape is a pokemon that took gen.4 by storm with its mixed, phys and special sets. In gen.5 infernape finds itself in a tough spot with its low defenses, with hard hitting attacks everywhere. This was the spot on my team that switched around the most. I tried LO latios, heatran, starmie before, but found that I lacked strong fighting and fire moves. The beauty of infernape is that he can punch holes in the opponent's team easily or scout with U-turn. Infernape threatens many of the game's top walls including ferrothorn, foretress, blissey and skarmory with overheat/ close combat. Most people will usually switch in one of infernape's hard counters (latios/starmie) and be hit by U-turn. I then switch to Tar and proceed to take them out with pursuit. My team also needed a form of priority to pick off weakened sweepers (especially if Tar was Ko'd). Mach punch generally accomplishes this (LO boost + iron fist increases its damage significantly). However, if infenape is unable to kill the oponenet's pokemon in one turn, he is generally Ko'd (especially with SR/spikes everywhere).
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 184 Def / 80 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
Gliscor is another key member of my team's defensive core, synergizing well with ferrothorn and gastrodon. He is my primary excadrill/ fighting counter. EVs are placed into HP and Def. 80 Spd allows me to outrun opposing 72 speed gliscors and taunt them. Taunt also shuts down many set-up sweepers including excadrill, SD scizor and DDnite without ice punch. Swords Dance allows gliscor to boost its attack and deal decent damage to its counters and other walls. Earthquake takes out opposing excadrills and bulky heatran once their balloon has been popped. Ice fang is used to predict latios switch ins and to combat opposing gliscor. Toxic orb is great for the HP recovery and prevents gliscor from being inflicted with nasty stats (provided toxic orb has activated).
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 80 Atk / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Outrage
The final member of my team is an old one I used back in gen. 4. This Salamence is a mix between the standard mixmence and DDmence that plagued the gen.4 metagame. Draco meteor hits takes out most slower opponets that I normally cannot KO or have trouble dealing with such as Machamp, Conkeldurr and Reuniclus. Fire blast is for all the steels weak against it. If I predict my opponent is going to switch out their steel, I DD and proceed to sweep with outrage. I usually can get 1-2 Ko's per game using this set. Unfortunately the prevalence of SR limits how many times mence can switch in per game. If I'm stuck in an outrage, that usually means its game for Mence. EVs are maxed in SAtk to make sure I KO ferrothorn and skarmory with fire blast as well as maximizing draco meteor damage. 80 Atk EVs is usally enough to KO at +1 with outrage provided the enemy doesn't resist it. I'm not sure about the speed EVs but generally its been working so far. I outspeed all other non-scarfed dragons at +1 speed and I'm never going to switch directly into them.
The Threats
Offensive Threats
Defensive Threats
Well thats my team, folks. Feedback would be much appreciated so I can see the weak points of my team and any threats I am unaware of.