Team 'Raikou and Nidoqueen'

The team at a glance:
gbc031.gif
gbc051.gif
gbc243.gif
dpffa488.png
gbc134.gif
dpffa472.png


I built this team together with Wayff; I came up with the concept and he basically worked it out. The main purpose is to set Raikou up for a sweep, and to set up Toxic Spikes.

gbc031.gif

cup a (Nidoqueen) (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/40 Spd
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Toxic Spikes
- Stealth Rock
---
Standard Nidoqueen. It takes one hypnosis from Bronzong, and then sets up SR or one layer of TS. It is bulky enough to take at least one reasonably strong hit, but it's not good enough to be let out on things like Garchomp's Outrage or something. It's also a hera counter. It has to flee from Gyara leads which is the main drawback.

gbc051.gif

triple viagra (Dugtrio) (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Sucker Punch
---
My team heavily relies on revenge killing, and nothing does it better than ol' Duggy. It can 2hko Blissey with Earthquake, easily kill Heracross with Aerial Ace, and it stops pokemon like Deoxys S with Sucker Punch. Stone Edge is mainly filler here, though. Should I replace it with Pursuit to rape Gengar and Azelf?
gbc243.gif

blue blob on my back (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
---
The core of my team, it becomes unstoppable after a few calm minds. The only pokemon that can stand up to it then is Blissey, and Dugtrio should take care of that. Magnezone may also be a slight problem due to its boltbeam resist, but some more Calm Minds should take care of that. Late game sweeper.
dpffa488.png

not even a real duck (Cresselia) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Ice Beam
- Charge Beam
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
---
It's really the best that I can do against Garchomp. Otherwise, it walls stuff and absorbs status. It may win a stall war with Charge Beam.
gbc134.gif

TMNT (Vaporeon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP/252 Def/68 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
---
Wish is very valuable support for my team, since it lacks auto healers (other than Cresselia of course). Since I have a bit of a gyara weak, Hidden Power Electric is there to hurt that. It also tends to lure a Garchomp to outrage, only to be KOed by Ice Beam (since Vaporeon will survive an Outrage).
dpffa472.png

my face!!! (Gliscor) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 116 HP/136 Atk/40 Def/216 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
---
Completely stops heracross. Wow, I have a lot against Heracross, don't I? Anyway, it can sweep a bit late game with swords dance, and Ice Fang is against Garchomp. It's my main physical wall. It loves to set up on non-Ice Beam Blissey.

Comments? Criticism?
 
I faced a team similar to this one just earlier today (though it had snorlax over cress), and one of the big things I noticed was that the only thing he could do to my shaymin is pp stall between everyone to get me out of seed flares. in the meantime, I constantly had a sub up and was draining everyone's health with leech seed. on that note, subseeding shaymin makes massive problems for this team, as only 2 pogeys outspeed it and neither enjoys seed flares or can do much back. on that note, the addition of a defensive salamence over gliscor helps you with your shaymin issues, being able to hit it hard while not taking too much back from anything other than hp ice, which is rare. you still gave something good to take on heracross, between nidoqueen and salamence, he's not a problem. in fact, maybe even the subroost set posted in the creative moveset thread would be good, as it easily stalls shaymin, even the hp ice variants if you can manage to get in a sub. this also helps you weaken stuff with toxic spikes so that raikou can sweep better.
 
Aside from that Aerial Ace doesnt 2HKOs shaymin, it is more likely to have a sub up, and he will hit back with seed flare o_o.

You Can Try Tentacruel instead of Nidoqueen since you already have Heracross taken care off. Tentacruel can Toxic Spike as Nidoqueen or better, the only difference is that it wouldnt make a good lead. Also Tentacruel has liquid ooze that makes the leech seed of Celebi / Shaymin inservible. it also resists Seed Flare / Grass knot, etc. and can counter back with Ice Beam or Poison Jab depending on what you prefer o.o!


Aside From that it looks pretty defensive, you basically wait, and counter your oponent until you see there is a chance to setup and sweep.

Well thats it for now, Cya!
 
Defensive Threats:

Swampert
Besides outstalling with Toxic Spikes (which is pretty viable, I guess) your offensive pokemon (Gliscor, Raikou and Dugtrio) are pretty much stopped by the standard MixPert. Not to mention that it's unlikely Vaporeon, Cresselia (who can't power up herself up with Charge Beams) and Nidoqueen will be able to break the murky beast either.

Offensive Threats:

Tyranitar
Also, to a lesser degree, TyraniBoah and most other variants of Tyranitar are quite threatening unless Toxic Spikes are already set up. Standard Dark Pulse/Ice Beam takes care of Gliscor and Cresselia nicely while the SpDef boost and constant Sandstorm will make short work out of Raikou. Your primary two switch-ins, Nidoqueen and Vaporeon are pretty resilient but won't be able to weather multiple hits (as Nidoqueen lacks recovery and Vaporeon's isn't exactly all that fast nor all that reliable). Revenge-killing with Dugtrio is still an option though, but it's persistent SS will greatly limit Raikou's durability.

Weavile
Ice Punch and Night Slash (Ice/Dark) wreck your defensive placement of Cresselia and Gliscor pretty well. An attacking combo that is pretty prevalent. While Jolly CB Night Slash is a 3HKO on Vaporeon, without Protect to assist your 'Wishing' and as Surf won't OHKO, Weavile will defeat Vaporeon if it comes in on the switch. It will be doing 88%-96% on Nidoqueen with Ice Punch and 69%-81% on Raikou.

Generic Special Threats
Without a Blissey or Snorlax to sponge special hits, your Team is pretty weak to the common SpecsMence (though, in your defence it can only switch in on a Duggy's CB EQ or on Nidoqueen). The same thing could be said for Specs Heatran (but it will at least be trapped and killed by Dugtrio).

Changes:

Heatran is a nice pokemon that can cover quite a few of those threats. Try this set out (it's hard to choose who to replace but Cresselia looks like an option):

Heatran @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 96 Def / 100 SpA / 60 SpD
Quiet nature (+SpAtk, -Spd)
- Flamethrower / Lava Plume
- Earth Power / Stealth Rock
- Explosion
- HP Grass

The defensive EVs from the Rest/Talk Set combined with some all-out offensive moves. HP Grass + Explosion (A combo I use on my own Heatran) are some pretty great 'surprise' moves that take out Raikou's greatest counters in Blissey and Swampert. Lava Plume is a nice option over flamethrower despite the decrease in power as it's high burn-rate will scar any Tyranitar that comes in. Stealth Rock can go over Earth Power as EP won't be doing too much to TTar anyway (and Lava Plume is better suited for an incoming TTar). As this Heatran is one of the slowest of its kind it's also unlikely it'll be able to beat other Heatran/Tentacruel to the punch.

Heatran also sponges Special hits fairly well from the likes of Specs/Scarf Tran (if predicting correctly) as well as SpecsMence. Combined with Wish Support, Heatran will last a while before blowing up. Also makes a great status absorber taking Toxic and Will-o-Wisps and paralysis won't be too harmful.

Think it over and good luck with the team.
 
Looking over what Train Man said, Heatran does sound good. If you don't want to put in Heatran, go with what I origianally said about Mespirit.
 
Shadow Claw/Night Slash are goos options over Sucker Punch, but if your'e good at prediction go with Sucker Punch.
But having Nidoqueen as a ground type, I don't see why you even need Dugtrio.
 
Stalefish: Ah I thought so. Seems Shaymin is a serious problem then! But still, not everybody uses shaymin so I don't think it's that big of a downer for my team.
Spiritman: Hmm, I might use Tentacruel, that actually sounds like a plausible idea.
'Serbii ambassador': Please stop posting your shit here and go back to serebii. 'Energy ball ohkos dugtrio', come on.

Train Man: Firstly, thank you for that rate, that was very helpful.

As for the swampert problem, the HP Grass heatran set you suggested seems to be the only viable solution to that.

Tyranitar can be revenge killed by dugtrio and nido/vappy should take care of it to some extent, so I'm not really that afraid of it.

Maybe I could put some spA evs so I can ohko weavile with vaporeon? Or would that be bad? How much spA would I need? Or I could just use that heatran.

Thanks a lot for that heatran set, I'll definitely try it over Cresselia.

Any other advice anyone?

edit: Chimecho, are you being serious or are you just a bad troll?
 
Silly me, I forgot that Dugtrio has the Arena Trap ablilty :X.
But that doesn't make Aerial Ace stronger. X2 Effective Aerial Ace will case less damage than X1 effective EQ. Or is it just Dugtrio's crappy movepool?
 
Oh, then it's okay, I thought you were some stupid troll but you're just a novice player.

Aerial Ace is mainly for Heracross, since it will OHKO Heracross as it's 4x effective. Sucker Punch has priority so it's better than shadow claw/ night slash, and as a matter of fact I'm not sure if Dugtrio even learns those two moves in the first place.

I appreciate that you're trying to help me but I think it would be better if you'd get a bit more experience first.
 
Personally, I never had problems countering Dugtrio. If it wasn't for it's ability what smogon said on it in G/S/C would still be true-all it has is speed.
 
Back
Top