Team Escape the Fate [OU]

pai

Team
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I. This has been a team that I have been working on lately; been laddering it a bit, and it has actually been quite successful. Now, I need your help to improve the team. This team can stall, wall, sweep, and win.

II.
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II-B. Currently testing:
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III.
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Bronzong @ Lum Berry
Ability: Heatproof
EVs: 252 HP/188 Def/70 SDef
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Hypnosis/Explosion
- Stealth Rock

Lead Bronzong. Pretty standard move pool and EV spread; nothing much to say here. I chose Lum berry over Leftovers just so I can increase my chance of setting up Stealth Rock in the first turn. Only Pokemon stopping me from doing so would be "Taunters." An example would be against Aerodactyle, if I face one, I would simply Gyro Ball and pass on Stealth Rock for the 2HKO. Earthquake + Heatproof for those annoying Heatrans (or any fire Pokemon for that matter) who love to switch on 'Zong. With the reduction of accuracy for Hypnosis I'm thinking of changing it to Explosion to get me out of sticky situations. I'll see what you have to say for that. On a side note, I basically use Bronzong as a Stealth Rock'er. Once I achieve that goal, he's basically used to wall stuff or just for sacrifice. 'Zong is also my status absorber by the way.
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Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 58 HP/200 Def/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Flamethrower
- Thunder Wave

The bitch. On the process of building this team, I had Celebi for this slot. But when I started to test ladder, I kept getting swept by (the rare) ScarfGar. ScarfGar poses a huge threat to this team as it has the ability to out-speed everyone on my team and OHKO my sweepers. Realizing that problem, I decided to add in Blissey. I'm also using the Wish-Passing variant so I can heal my other members. Changed Toxic to T-Wave.
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Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk/24 SAtk/252 Spd
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Blast
- Outrage
- Earthquake

DD Mence. Dangerously powerful. For this slot, I needed a sweeper who can hit hard despite setting-up only once; Salamence seemed perfect. EV's focused on the attack and speed aspect is quite effective and scary. I usually hide this dude late-game before attempting an all-out sweep. And Salamence has delivered in a number of occasions; saving me games. Or, once I see that my opponent is weak to DD Mence, I could also send this dude in mid-game to wreck havock. The only thing I would like help on is his move-pool. I'm considering Fire Blast, Draco Meteor, and Dragon Claw. I need good opinions on this. I decided to go Naive on this one just so I can tie Zapdos, Jirachi, and other base 100 Pokemon.
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Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 200 HP/50 Def/252 Spd/8 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Substitute
- Toxic

WINDO(W)S. I love this Zapdos variant. It's very effective in stalling out PP's, HP's, or just plain landing on damage. I invested 200 on HP so I can get more substitutes in to start stalling out opponents. Thunderbolt, pretty self-explanatory on a 'Dos. Roost, yeah. Toxic + max speed so I can stall out Pokemon who have a base speed of >100. Zapdos also serves as my counter to physical threats such as Scizor, ScarfHera, Breloom, Machamp, etc. Nothing really to change here; been using this dude to its maximum potential and it has really helped me. As the name says, this dude is win.
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Heatran (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast

Choice Specs Heatran. Been going back-and-forth as what Choice item will I give Heatran. Both items seems to fit really well, both having their own advantages and disadvantages, which makes me even more confused. And I decided to go with specs. Choice Specs Heatran + Thunder Wave is great combo. I got rid of HP Grass because since its specs now, I can easily 2HKO those annoying Swamperts. Dragon Pulse for predicted dragon switch-ins. Explosion to get me out off sticky situations. Fire Blast and Earth Power, standard.
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Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Trick
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump

The no longer spinning Starmie. I decided to go with Rey's suggestion of changing Starmie into a Trick-Scarf variant. Changing it to this type eliminates the need to make it more bulky and in the process loose those speed EV's. It also solves a lot of problems for me: Scarfed Pokemon in general and stall teams. This thing can screw over stall teams, big time. Not only can it Trick out those stall teams, it can also land decent damages which is a plus. I decided to get rid of Rapid Spin as I didn't find the need for it anymore; I already have Blissey to heal my team.
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IV. Also, I have been having problems with Scarf Flygon. It out-speeds everyone and can slowly damage my team to death. Anyone to post a solution would be appreciated.
Lastly, I hope you enjoyed reading the whole thing and I hope you can give good rates. Good, relevant rates.
Thanks!
 
Use the choice scarf heatran, with either a modest nature with 252 speed ans s.attack EVs or rash with the same EVs. on the modest one run HP grass and dragon pulse, on the rash run explosion and ragon pulse. personally, i use the rash one and it works great for me. i guess you could also run naive or timid to outspeed flygon (i think) and dragon pulse him
 
Hi

The team looks pretty good, but there are minor thing i would suggest changing.

Since you have already a Toxicer (Zapdos) and you are using a Modest SpecsTran (which is prety slow) i recommend you change Toxic with Thunder Wave on Blissey. This helps your Heatran a lot, since it will now be able to hurt things without getting touched, and Stab Fire Blasts coming from 591 attack is nothing to laugh at.
Also, if you keep Modest on Specstran, a good idea would be to change HP Grass with Dragon Pulse, while having Explosion in the other slot. Fire Blast and Earth Power have both 90 BP vs Swampert, and adding SR or lets say... 15~% prior damage on the Swampert and it will be 2HKOd. With this change you are able to hit the dragons VERY hard on the switchin, since those are bigger threats thanks to their speed. Explosion is the oh-shit button in case something goes wrong or Blissey is acting like a whore.

Into DD Mence, well IMO your best bet is to go with Outrage and Fire Blast, just so Salamence acts as a Stallbreaker, since it seems your team will have troubles with stall teams. If you are as paranoic as me with Outrage getting you locked and ending your sweep, well you can try Dragon Claw, yes, you lose a bucketload of power against Stall, but at least you will be able to sweep more offensive teams (even though your team kinda manages those pretty well).

As of this, the team is pretty slow without prior set-up, so i think we can do something about that. Stall teams will never use Flygon, and a Flygon will only be seen on a offense biased team, which means there wont be Spikes, only Stealth Rock. What we can do to fix this is the following:

Change Starmie to a Scarfed variant. Scarfmie is a great revenge killer, that will help you with revenge killing pokes like Azelf, other Starmies, and company, that can be a total pain because you dont outspeed them with ease. Scarfmie also will screw stall BIG time with Trick. Trick their blissey/rotom and BAM, when they are locked into a crap attack your Mence will come in and oof, stall better watch out! By changing Starmie to scarf you will also beat Flygons, DD Mences, DD Gyaras, which may be a problem, so this is the set if you are interested:

Starmie @ Choice Scarf
4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe Timid
- Trick
- Hydro Pump/Surf (pick the one you like the most, i usually go with Pump)
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

Yes, im sure you noted theres no Rapid Spin there. The thing is your team really doesnt need Rapid Spin that much. You have Wish Support to save Mence when its low on HP against something like Skarmory or Forretress, while your Zapdos can roost the damage itself, so its pretty much useless to have Rapid Spin. Obviously if you still think you need Rapid Spin, you can change either Ice Beam or Thunderbolt, depending on what you want to kill, Flygon and DD Mence or DD Gyara.

I think thats all i can help you with, so GL with your team!
 
Received your PM.

Ok, I'll try not to twist your team, but some changes are needed in my opinion:

1) first of all, I'd replace Bronzong with a standard Swampert lead:

Swampert@leftovers
nature: relaxed
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
-earthquake
-stealth rock
-ice beam
-protect

Your team most evident weakness is Tyranitar: CB TTar can easily come on Blissey and Heatran and start spamming crunches or stone edges, Bronzong is 2hko'd by crunch and can usually only 3hko TTar in return. Swampert is a great check for TTar and would also provide a perfect check for Flygon - though, I have to say that you shouldn't have problems with scarf-Gon, considering that Bronzong and Zapdos are decent switch ins into it (and if it's locked into outrage, Heatran can easily revenge kill);

2) another evident weakness is Gyarados: offensive variants will laugh at your Zapdos ohkoing it with a +1 stone edge, and Starmie can't take boosted hits without a defensive investment. My suggestion is to make Starmie a little more bulky, giving it leftovers and an EV spread of:136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe. With this spread you can actually switch into Gyara, resist the hit and ohko back with thunderbolt;

3) you're quite weak to Lucario, SD Luke can literally rape this team after Salamence is under 60% of its health - read: a switch into SR and one turn of life orb recoil. Also, your EV spread on Heatran is pretty random. Now, I'd suggest to change your Heatran to a scarf-Tran:

Heatran@choice scarf
nature: naive
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-fire blast
-earth power
-hidden power [ice]
-explosion

you'd lose specs Tran raw power, but you'd earn an excellent revenge killer for things like Lucario and Gengar. Note that Zapdos will barely survive a +2 ES from Lucario and won't even ohko it back with thunderbolt;

4) now onto Blissey, I don't really like Blissey on a team like this: she seems like a dead weight and probably is just going to be used as set up fodder for things like DD Salamence and Gyrados, not to mention that if Lucario and Scizor come in on a predicted toxic, you'll be forced out anyway being slower, she also gives free switch in to TTar and Machamp to mention a few. I'd suggest to replce her with a CB Scizor, this pokemon would be an asset to this team for several reasosns:

-traps and kills Latias with pursuit
-is an awesome revenge killer for things like DD dragons (and would be an extra insurance against the feared Flygon)
-scouts with u-turn
-lures fire attacks for Heatran
-makes you a little more covered against opposing Blissey (currently you're quite weak to her, with only Salamence capable of forcing her out - especially if she has seismic toss to deal with your sub-roost Zapdos).

So:

Scizor@choice band
nature: adamant
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
trait: technician
-bullet punch
-u-turn
-superpower
-pursuit

5) I agree with Rey about outrage and fire blast on Mence.

That's all I guess, hope this helps.

GL!
 
Thanks for the great rates/suggestions guys! ;)
I'm going to go with Rey's suggestion about Starmie. *Why didn't I think about that?* It solves A LOT of my problems.
You're right Haunter, I do have a slight problem with CB-Tar *although Zapdos can handle it* But I'm still going to try your suggestion to change Bronzong with Swampert. Also, I'm keeping Bliss as it is essential in healing my other Pokemon; and changing Toxic with T-Wave.
 
Sorry this is so late, been really busy lately because of this there is not much to say as a lot of it has been covered already. ALso thanks for the PM.

Ok what has been said so far is mostly great advice however I would definitely keep Blissey. Blissey provides an excellent lure to Scizor and thus your mence sweep isnt ended so easily by the opponent.

My second worry with this team is that you are fairly weak to CroCune and Vaporeon could give you a headache as well, i dont think Zapdos is best suited on a team like this especially as it adds to your sr weak. If i were you i would consider changing Zapdos into a Celebi. This forms the faultless CeleTran combo and also gives you a solid answer to Gyarados and a lure to Scizor.

You could either run the defensive set:

Celebi@ Leftovers
252hp/220def/36spe
Bold

Hp Fire - Scizor
Grass Knot - Suicune
Recover
T Wave - more paralysis

I would also Scarf your Heatran as Haunter suggests; you need the insurance against Lucario. If you dont fancy doing that you could always use Hippow instead of swampy who can counter Lucario and TTar a lot better. It also sets up SS and SR which could be very helpful for this team and help with its stally orientation. If you do that change the item on Mence to Lum Berry as you dont want outrage confusion and LO damage ruining your fun.


On hippow use this spread. 252hp/252def this spread much better enables it to take on +2 Lucario. Run either Roar/Protect/Ice Fang in the last slot. Hippowdon in fact may work really well and you can keep the raw power of specs.

Hope this helped.
 
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