Team Pursue the Opposition! (OU)

[Fall]

Well hello there. This is one of my RMTs. Unfortunately, the last one didn't help me as much as I would have hoped, but part of the reason was because I didn't spend as much time thinking about the team.

The playstyle is very different: this team is centered around the move Pursuit, despite only having one person who uses it. You see, my Tyranitar runs the "Bait-Tar" set from the analysis, catching many threats off guard and OHKOing them as they try to set up. My Latias is actually Pusuit bait. I did this for a reason. As mentioned before, Tyranitar and Scizor love to come and Pursuit my Latias. If that happens, one of the two set up sweepers comes in and quite often kills the rest of the opponents team. Each member of the team can take advantage of a Choice'd Pokemon locked into Pursuit, which makes this team so darn fun to play. Anyway, let's get started:

Team Pursue the Opposition!

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Jolly - Serene Grace
80 HP/252 Atk/176 Spe
-Body Slam
-Iron Head
-Stealth Rock
-Fire Punch

Yeah, I love this lead. This Jirachi has the same EVs as the scarf lead, but plays really differently. On turn one, people expect a Trick, so they switch to their scarfer, usually a Latias, Magnezone, or Heatran. They get hit with a Body Slam, and then I'm free to set up SR and switch to a counter. Paralysis and flinch work extremely well together, because the paralysis essentially gives me the same amount of speed as a scarf, and paraflinch only gives the opponent a 30% chance to attack. Fire Punch gives me more Fire support and lets me hit Scizor and Magnezone. Later in the game, I can provide paralysis support or a semi-decent tank for Dragon type attacks. This lead gets so many rage quits because it's difficult to take down in one hit, so many things are getting paralyzed, and paraflinching gets me quite a decent recovery with Leftovers. I've never had issues with getting PP stalled or anything. A fantastic lead and very useful later in the game.

Top 10 November Leads
1. Azelf

- Paralyze then Iron Head to death.
2. Metagross

- I've been seeing a lot of LumGross leads, so Fire Punch 'till they die.
3. Swampert

- Paralyze then SR. Switch to Latias as they EQ, then to Empoleon as they Ice Beam. OHKO with GK.
4. Aerodactyl

- Paralyze, Iron Head, SR.
5. Jirachi

- Paralyze then Fire Punch.
6. Infernape

- Switch out, I lose every time.
7. Roserade

- Paralyze then Fire Punch.
8. Heatran

- Paralyze then switch.
9. Smeargle

- Iron Head to 2HKO.
10. Hippowdon

- Paralyze then paraflinch to death.

Latias @ Choice Scarf
Timid - Levitate
4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Draco Meteor
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Trick

Crazy fast revenge killer and crippler of walls. Draco Meteor is my main attack, because after factoring in STAB it has a base power of 210. Unfortunately, I can't stay in to fire off more after I've used one. Surf has extremely good neutral coverage, and it's usually the move I use if the Pokemon I'm up against has low health. Thunderbolt let's me OHKO Gyarados while dispatching bulky waters, bar Swampert. Latias also serves the role as Pursuit bait. If a Tyranitar Pursuits her, I go to Salamence and get a free DD in. If a Scizor does, then I go to Empoleon and get a free Agility in. This is because I never know if a T-tar is running the same "Bait Tar" set as I am, so going to Salamence for the Intimidate is a better option.

[SIZE=-1]

[/SIZE]
Tyranitar @ Expert Belt
Hasty - Sand Stream
252 Atk/48 SpA/208 Spe
-Pursuit
-Crunch
-Flamethrower
-Superpower

Aaah Bait Tar is slowly becoming one of my favorite Tyranitar sets. The idea is simple: bluff a Choice Band and lure in some Pokemon that would want to set up, such as Lucario and Scizor. Then easily OHKO them. The real lure of this set is Pursuit. Most people think that just because I Pursuited their Rotom, they can come in with Foretress and set up some Spikes. Well, apparently not. =D This Tyranitar really helps my sweepers out, because a CB Scizor with the bulky EV spread can easily BP my Salamence or survive a Surf from Empoleon and OHKO with Superpower. This guy is an amazing asset to my team. One of the main reasons this team runs so well and is so much fun to play. Oh yeah, and he's a fantastic SkarmBliss counter because Skarmory is 2HKO'd by Flamethrower and Blissey is OHKO'd by Superpower. I've had an odd amount of Blisseys come in after I use Flamethrower...

[SIZE=+1]

[/SIZE]
Rotom -H @ Leftovers
Bold - Levitate
252 HP/78 Def/92 SpA/88 Spe
-Discharge
-HP Ice
-Will-O-Wisp
-Overheat

Rotom-H is incredibly better than Gengar was. It serves as a better check against top threats with Discharge and WoW giving status. It also protects me from AgiliGross, Scizor, Magnezone, Gyarados, to name a few. It can cripple hard hitting physical attackers for the whole game and actually deal heavy damage to teams despite the minor SpA investment. Many of you may be scratching your heads at the EV spread. I tailored it just to fit my team. See, Gliscor is a huge problem to this team, as is Flygon. Gliscor and Flygon love to switch in on predicted Electric attacks from Rotom, and then I can hit them with a well timed HP Ice. The EVs were made to deal 82.49% - 98.31% to the standard Gliscor, usually an OHKO after SR. I'm considering more EVs just to guarantee an OHKO, but that's not very necessary, as it will take 160 SpA EVs, and I'm not sure if that's viable. What do you guys think?

[SIZE=+1]

[/SIZE]
Empoleon @ Life Orb
Modest - Torrent
24 HP/252 SpA/232 Spe
-Agility
-Surf
-Grass Knot
-Ice Beam

Agility Empoleon is a huge threat, but 3 Attack Agility Empoleon is game breaking. The massive power behind a STAB Surf is incredible. Grass Knot and Ice Beam give me amazing coverage and also make it incredibly hard to counter this thing. The only Pokemon I have trouble with are Mach Punch Breloom, Vacuum Wave Infernape, and Vaporeon. My GK cannot 2HKO Vaporeon, so they can stall me out with Wish/Protect. However, this thing is one heck of a sweeper and if he doesn't kill the entire team, well the next guy will.

[SIZE=-1]

[/SIZE]Salamence @ Life Orb
Naive - Intimidate
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Flamethrower

DD Salamence makes his way on to another team. Pretty much everyone has been swept by one of these before. Scizors are usually picked off by Tyranitar and Gengar while bulky Waters are KO'd by Empoleon. If Salamence's sweep is stopped early, Empoleon can pick up off where he finished. The two sweepers work incredibly well together. Now, I'm considering swapping the item for Leftovers, since 16% each turn really wears Mence down, but I'm afraid of a lack of power. Naive nature was chosen just for stupid amounts of speed, and no hindering of my Flamethrower. Oh yeah, Flamethrower > FB because I hate misses.

Anyway, that's the team. Thanks for reading, and thanks for rating. =D

 

[The SPrinkLer]

I'm glad you out such effort into your RMT and made it well-thought out. It looks nice. Now to the team itself...

I have a couple suggestions that I think could make this team reach its full potential. First off, I think you should run Body Slam over Thunder Wave on Jirachi. Body Slam still paralyzes a lot of the time (60% of the time to be exact) and actually hits Ground types. The only thing that's hitting Gliscor on your team efficiently is Empoleon, and Latias. Latias is pursuit bait, so that leaves Empoleon. The thing is, Empoleon actually needs the agility boost before it can hit stuff like Gliscor. With Body Slam you can paralyze aforementioned threats, and also Swampert too, who looks to be quite troublesome.

Another thing I see is the EVs on Salamence. Those EVs from the analysis are for OHKOing Skarmory with Fire Blast, which you don't have. I'd just run max Att, max Spe Naive, because you still 2HKO Skarm, and have a tad more attack.

Another thing is that Scizor basically revenge kills 4 Pokemon on your team. Although Tyranitar bluffs CB, some players like to Bullet Punch just to make sure, which could prove costly. Salamence gets worn down quickly by SS, and LO recoil, so it's a sitting duck when around 60% because then a CB Scizor can revenge kill it. I think you should run Fire Punch over U-turn on Jirachi to hit Scizor, thinking you can't do anything to them, and also hit Magnezone, which a Scarf version looks to be a major pain.

Another thing I think you can do is probably change Gengar to a Rotom variant, although I'm not sure what would be suitable for your team's purposes. If you predict wrong with Gengar, then Scizor can get a SD in, but Rotom just stops Scizor cold. I'd just run the standard set so you can also effectively counter Lucario with Overheat. Use Rotom-H if you haven't figured that out xD.

Anyway I hope these changes help, and good luck with the team!

 

[Fall]

Thanks for the rate! I made changes based on your thoughts. Jirachi and Rotom are working fabulously. My only concern is not paralyzing right away, but I'll see how it goes.

 

[Sheshi]

If you have concerns about not paralyzing immediately, then maybe Thunder Wave is in order.

 

[Lady Shinki]

I think for the leadrachi, bluffing a scarf is a great idea, but that twave would work better since you don't actually need to paralyze swampert to be able to beat it. It beats the other leads by paraflinching them or spamming fire punch, but they can all be guaranteed to be paralyzed by twave. It would also cover scarfed rotom-forms which might come in to absorb the expected scarf (rare but possible) which body slam doesn't cover... Gliscor is a threat but it can be managed by rotom-h, burning it or scaring it off while wearing it down with well-timed shadow balls (you could consider replacing hp fighting since your team does a pretty good job of dealing with ttar already).

This team has good synergy, particularly using bulky steels to lure in EQs for lati/mence/rotom switches. My only concern is that if they lure/trap rotom that agiligross will walk all over your team, and that you don't have a way to deal with late-game setup sweepers like crocune (other than empoleon). If crocune gets a calm mind first on a good setup opponent (let's say it has 80% of its health left as you switch to emp), it'll be able to CM again and rest, and then be able to continue to set up. tricklati is a good answer for setup sweepers like that, but if it gets caught and killed by a pursuit, it could give you a real problem since you don't have an answer outside of paraflinching it to death or having empoleon set up and ready to 2hko it as it comes in.

This is a fun team :D

 

[Fall]

Hey guys, thanks for the rates!
Yeah I agree, I tested Body Slam and I like being able to Paralyze on the first hit guaranteed and the ability to hit Ghosts. Gengar is a threat, and crippling it immediately is great. Also I am considering changing HP Fighting to Shadow Ball.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

Oh I forgot about the damn ghosts... >.<

Yea, if you want to hit ghosts, Thunder Wave is definitely the superior option, but I generally find Iron Head dealing with them enough. Although, it's just a suggestion.

 

[Fall]

Okay cool, I'm sticking with T-Wave. I've introduced HP Ice on Rotom, what do you guys think about that? Read the blurb I added with the Rotom's description.

 

[Lady Shinki]

Rotom doesn't need HP Ice to deal with gliscor and flygon when it can just use WoW as they switch-in (which is generally what you should be doing anyway since Guts pokemon are rare). Sticking with Shadow Ball for stab is a better idea, unless you're really scared of ttar, that way you don't have to weaken yourself defensively and can still cover those pokemon with shadow ball, which will still 2hko both of them while you tank their weakened hits.

 

[Enygma]

Rotom doesn't need HP Ice to deal with gliscor and flygon when it can just use WoW as they switch-in (which is generally what you should be doing anyway since Guts pokemon are rare). Sticking with Shadow Ball for stab is a better idea, unless you're really scared of ttar, that way you don't have to weaken yourself defensively and can still cover those pokemon with shadow ball, which will still 2hko both of them while you tank their weakened hits.

henh? HP ice to deal with ttar? pfft please. hp ice wont even do much to him anyways. just go for the WoW to attempt to cripple on the switch, or sacrifice yourself to put one more final attempt of WoW if the initial one misses.

replace HP Ice for HP fighting to handle shit better, i.e. heatran. and discharge just sucks. IMO Thunderbolt gives more important KO'es.

 

[The SPrinkLer]

Rotom doesn't need HP Ice to deal with gliscor and flygon when it can just use WoW as they switch-in (which is generally what you should be doing anyway since Guts pokemon are rare). Sticking with Shadow Ball for stab is a better idea, unless you're really scared of ttar, that way you don't have to weaken yourself defensively and can still cover those pokemon with shadow ball, which will still 2hko both of them while you tank their weakened hits.

Will o Wisp hits like 55 percent of the time factoring in sand veil against Gliscor, and he has sandstorm on his team. HP Ice sounds like a fine option to me.

 

[Fall]

This team is extremely more effective when I have 2 solid Gliscor counters. HP Ice on Rotom is well worth it.

Oh, and Kenshiro, I don't WoW on the first turn because I still must be sure if the opposing team doesn't have a Heatran. If it gets a FF boost it can damage a lot of my Pokemons. :(