If you're good with anagrams, ignore any you find in the title, merely a coincidence. Alright so it’s my first time posting on here, so I'm just going to get right at it.
Who's that Pokemon?!
Infernape (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- Fake Out
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
Gliscor was doing fine as a lead, but that was about it. it was nearly useless in the late game when it couldn't attack effectively, having earthquake as its only attacking move, and was basically walled. it was slower than some of the troublesome leads, including other gliscor leads. so in an attempt to fix this, I moved infernape to the lead spot with the leadape set. it works just fine, using fake out to break sashes and check for switches, has always gotten stealth rock up and isn't completely useless late game. the worst thing I can think of about this set is the accuracy of fire blast, but the increase of power compared to flamethrower has saved me on occasion.
Some common leads:
Aerodactyl - I haven't faced one yet with infernape so I've yet to test out what to do here.
Azelf - Fake out then fire blast as they set up. unless they're setting up rain, they die quickly.
Heatran - Fake out to see what switches in then react accordingly.
Hippowdon - Fake out, just for good measure really, it's pretty useless here. fire blast is a 2hko if it manages to hit both times.
Infernape - I haven't faced another infernape lead so I don't know, but likely fake out and set up rocks.
Jirachi - Fake out, fire blast if it stays in, react accodingly if it switches.
Mamoswine - Fake out and fire blast ko's it.
Metagross - Fake out to see who they switch to. if they don't switch, it's holding an occa berry instead of a shuca berry and I switch.
Roserade - Fake out to break the sash, fire blast if it stayed in.
Smeargle - Fake out then switch to either gengar for trick, or gyarados for spore. sucks when I predict wrong.
Swampert - Bit of a problem. fake out then switch to latias.
Tyranitar - Fake out to see if it switches. if not, close combat then set up rocks.
---
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch
Agiligross is so much more useful than nasty plot infernape. I've been able to 5-0 teams with him, and several times he's taken out entire teams, being the only one who hasn't fainted on my team. it's generally easy to switch in, especially on something like Flygon stuck in outrage. from there it's set up and sweep. the recovery from leftovers was chosen over life orb because I prefer having metagross stay in longer than hit harder but go down much easier. only problem pokemon here are the rotom formes, gliscor and zapdos, but they can be worked around.
---
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 128 HP/252 Spd/128 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar
Defensive calm mind latias has saved the team a few times, having enough resistances to switch in and start setting up and being able to phaze our curselax. I originally had hidden power [fire] over roar to take out scizor who tried to pursuit or use a bug move, but curselax had proven to be a huge issue. if there is another place roar can fit on this team so I can put back hp [fire], I'd love to know where. Recover is handy for stalling a bit and generally recovery, and dragon pulse is a reliable STAB.
---
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
My main switch in to Salamence and other Gyarados, ResTalk Gyarados has been probably the most used member of my team. It has been able to survive +1 stone edge from both Salamence and Gyarados, while it KO’s them then heals with rest. He has never under preformed when needed, but I’m not entirely happy with him. Being the only member with sleep talk, he is the one that surprisingly absorbs sleep moves. However since hypnosis is used much less now it’s accuracy is now 60, he tends to be only absorbing sleep powder and spore from Roserade and Breloom respectively. This is a bit of a problem because he doesn’t have ice fang or bounce, and both sleepers have neutral STAB moves against him. That aside, it is easier to use him because most people assume that I’ll start using dragon dance and will be completely screwed if I'm statused. There is one unfortunate problem restalk and dd gyara share and that’s taunt, but it’s easily worked around for the most part.
---
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP/156 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
Starmie is pretty decent. it can come in on other starmie using surf or ice beam, take the thunderbolt and recover off the damage after beating them with thunderbolt. I like that it's fairly bulky, but there are times when more speed and more power would be really useful. I don't feel this team really needs a spinner, with only gyarados weak to stealth rock and toxic spikes affecting only infernape [because of natural cure]. I don't want to use a choice starmie, but a life orb set may be a good replacement.
---
Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
Gengar is so much more useful than rotom was. I needed something that hit hard an fast without getting locked into a move and becoming pursuit bait. scizor and tyranitar switch in and just faint from hp [fire] and focus blast respectively. latias and slower rotoms can't handle shadow ball usually, and thunderbolt is great for bulky water types. I don't want to put a scarf on gengar, but like with the previous team, fast shadow ball users have been rampaging this team. nothing resists ghost and half the team is weak to it. I think putting a normal type on the team, who isn't blissey, would be beneficial, but I don't know who to replace.
---
After all these changes, the team is working much better. it is still very weak to faster pokemon that have shadow ball/thunderbolt, but I have doubts about blissey working well on this team. putting roar on something else would also be great, since latias really needs hp [fire].
Who's that Pokemon?!
Infernape (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Close Combat
- Fake Out
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
Gliscor was doing fine as a lead, but that was about it. it was nearly useless in the late game when it couldn't attack effectively, having earthquake as its only attacking move, and was basically walled. it was slower than some of the troublesome leads, including other gliscor leads. so in an attempt to fix this, I moved infernape to the lead spot with the leadape set. it works just fine, using fake out to break sashes and check for switches, has always gotten stealth rock up and isn't completely useless late game. the worst thing I can think of about this set is the accuracy of fire blast, but the increase of power compared to flamethrower has saved me on occasion.
Some common leads:
Aerodactyl - I haven't faced one yet with infernape so I've yet to test out what to do here.
Azelf - Fake out then fire blast as they set up. unless they're setting up rain, they die quickly.
Heatran - Fake out to see what switches in then react accordingly.
Hippowdon - Fake out, just for good measure really, it's pretty useless here. fire blast is a 2hko if it manages to hit both times.
Infernape - I haven't faced another infernape lead so I don't know, but likely fake out and set up rocks.
Jirachi - Fake out, fire blast if it stays in, react accodingly if it switches.
Mamoswine - Fake out and fire blast ko's it.
Metagross - Fake out to see who they switch to. if they don't switch, it's holding an occa berry instead of a shuca berry and I switch.
Roserade - Fake out to break the sash, fire blast if it stayed in.
Smeargle - Fake out then switch to either gengar for trick, or gyarados for spore. sucks when I predict wrong.
Swampert - Bit of a problem. fake out then switch to latias.
Tyranitar - Fake out to see if it switches. if not, close combat then set up rocks.
---
Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch
Agiligross is so much more useful than nasty plot infernape. I've been able to 5-0 teams with him, and several times he's taken out entire teams, being the only one who hasn't fainted on my team. it's generally easy to switch in, especially on something like Flygon stuck in outrage. from there it's set up and sweep. the recovery from leftovers was chosen over life orb because I prefer having metagross stay in longer than hit harder but go down much easier. only problem pokemon here are the rotom formes, gliscor and zapdos, but they can be worked around.
---
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 128 HP/252 Spd/128 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar
Defensive calm mind latias has saved the team a few times, having enough resistances to switch in and start setting up and being able to phaze our curselax. I originally had hidden power [fire] over roar to take out scizor who tried to pursuit or use a bug move, but curselax had proven to be a huge issue. if there is another place roar can fit on this team so I can put back hp [fire], I'd love to know where. Recover is handy for stalling a bit and generally recovery, and dragon pulse is a reliable STAB.
---
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
My main switch in to Salamence and other Gyarados, ResTalk Gyarados has been probably the most used member of my team. It has been able to survive +1 stone edge from both Salamence and Gyarados, while it KO’s them then heals with rest. He has never under preformed when needed, but I’m not entirely happy with him. Being the only member with sleep talk, he is the one that surprisingly absorbs sleep moves. However since hypnosis is used much less now it’s accuracy is now 60, he tends to be only absorbing sleep powder and spore from Roserade and Breloom respectively. This is a bit of a problem because he doesn’t have ice fang or bounce, and both sleepers have neutral STAB moves against him. That aside, it is easier to use him because most people assume that I’ll start using dragon dance and will be completely screwed if I'm statused. There is one unfortunate problem restalk and dd gyara share and that’s taunt, but it’s easily worked around for the most part.
---
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP/156 Def/216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
Starmie is pretty decent. it can come in on other starmie using surf or ice beam, take the thunderbolt and recover off the damage after beating them with thunderbolt. I like that it's fairly bulky, but there are times when more speed and more power would be really useful. I don't feel this team really needs a spinner, with only gyarados weak to stealth rock and toxic spikes affecting only infernape [because of natural cure]. I don't want to use a choice starmie, but a life orb set may be a good replacement.
---
Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
Gengar is so much more useful than rotom was. I needed something that hit hard an fast without getting locked into a move and becoming pursuit bait. scizor and tyranitar switch in and just faint from hp [fire] and focus blast respectively. latias and slower rotoms can't handle shadow ball usually, and thunderbolt is great for bulky water types. I don't want to put a scarf on gengar, but like with the previous team, fast shadow ball users have been rampaging this team. nothing resists ghost and half the team is weak to it. I think putting a normal type on the team, who isn't blissey, would be beneficial, but I don't know who to replace.
---
After all these changes, the team is working much better. it is still very weak to faster pokemon that have shadow ball/thunderbolt, but I have doubts about blissey working well on this team. putting roar on something else would also be great, since latias really needs hp [fire].
