----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEAM STANDARDLY BORING
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The name says it all. They're all standardly boring Pokemon with standardly boring movesets. But they work! ^_^ So this was one of the teams I built when I was being tutored by Jimbo...long long time ago however only recently did I start using it as my normal team with a few tweaks here and there. I opted for something different here frommy usual play. That difference was that my final sweeper was weak to SR, this may not sound big but to me I hate my last sweeper being weak to SR generally opting for things such as Lucario and Infernape. However, I decided to give it a go and see what i got out of it! Basically my initial thought was to try and gather a bunch of Pokes that had amazing synergy and that had alot of resistances and immunities allowing for me to create many switch ins and forcing the opponent out giving me the momentum. Then secondly came the strategy is to eliminate or weaken Gyarados' counters with the other members clearing a path for Gyarados to wreck havoc.
Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
I start off the game with the ever so reliable Swampert. Boasting impressive 110/90/90 defenses, this thing isn't likely to go down in one hit. Only 2 of the top 10 leads carry Taunt which guarantees me setting up SR against the other 8. SR is useful to this team as this teams boasts a number of resistances as well as immunities forcing the opponent to switch if the match up isn't favorable racking up as much passive damage as possible which will help assist the weakening the opponents and which will set up for my late game sweep. However, whilst it's important, I'm not willing to sacrifice my Swampert in exchange for setting up SR as it helps me to counter various threats to this team such as Heatran and Tyrantiar. I will always find a time to set up SR later on as Swampert is Fire, Poision, Rock and Steel and immune Electric. As a result I can usually switch in on bulky waters, Heatran and other things that can't put a dent in it and get a free turn of SR if it wasn't possible on the first few turns.
The combination of Earthquake and Ice Beam is pretty simple. Together they have very good coverage only missing out on damaging things such as a Levitate Bronzong substantially. Earthquake is the move I use mainly as it works off Swampert's impressive 110 Atk base stat, as well as gaining STAB off it. The decision between Ice Beam and Hydro Pump was a hard one. Firstly, Ice beam deals with nearly the same things that Hydro Pump does (such as defeating Aero) but most importantly it gets a x4 Super Effective on the majority of Dragons. Whereas, Hydro Pump gets more damage off things such as Bronzong, Hipopowdon and Skarmory. However after wieghing up the advantages and disadvantages, Ice beam was more favourable to this team in specific as I do have a hard time dealing with MixMence and ScarfGon and Ice Beam ensures a OHKO on both.
Protect makes Swamperts viablity as a lead even more great as it's so useful for scouting. Trick is an important move if the opponent is holding a Choice item as it can screw anything on this team if used correctly so Protect negates the suprise factor of trick if used on a lead. However, it's usefulness doesn't end there, I can Protect to give my other Pokemon free switch ins. Examples would include Protecting a toxic so my Scizor and Heatran recieve free switch ins. Protecting Fighting attacks which give free switch ins to Rotom and Celebi and so on. And it's always funny when you Protect against an Explosion. ^_^ Evs allow me to OHKO Salamence which is a huge threat to any team imo.
It's bulkiness fares well against most of the top 10 leads as shown below:
---
Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Tom Tom. :) I really do love this thing. This thing has some amazing resistances and immunities which include Bug, Fighting, Normal and Ground. BEcause of these amazing resistances/immunities, it can practically get a free switch in on these immunities forcing the other Pokemon out and racking up more... oh wait SR damage. ^_^; It's abilty combined with its unique resistances allow for Rotom to make easy switch into the opponent, usually getting to attack freely before having to switch. Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball are 2 solid STAB moves and Overheat allows me to keep the number 1 used Pokemon in check: Scizor. Once it's in, I usually prefer to start Shadow Balling as it has a wide nuetral coverage.
Originally, this slot was held by an offensive Zapdos - Thunderbolt/HP Ice/Heat Wave/Roost@Life Orb however it ran into some serious problems. One of the problems my team has was against SD Lucario. Whilst I did have a check in Heatran, it would usually be dead by the time SD Lucario would come in. So I decided to remove the Zapdos in favour of Rotom-h because of 2 things mainly, Fighting IMMUNITY and wasn't weak to SR. SR + LO and Extremespeed would usually have killed Zapdos before I got the chance to react so thats why I switched to Rotom.
Now onto the funnest move ever; Trick. This move usually allows me to swap my Choice Scarf for Leftovers because I usually tend to Trick onto bulky pokemon who are utterly crippled by the scarf. However, before I do get rid of the Scarf, I usually scout first, making sure to see what the opponent's initial switch in to Rotom is. If it's something the like of Blissey/Swampert/Snorlax/Lanturn/Spiritomb. I'll have to switch out and next time I'm in, I'll Trick expecting the switch to the walls making breaking down walls much more easier. But, just because it loses it's scarf, doesn't make it useless. After losing scarf and usually gaining Leftovers, it'll trade in speed for versatility and durability in the form of Leftovers.
350 Atk vs 250 Def & 241 HP (80 Base Power): 210 - 248 (87.14% - 102.90%) -
For this reason alone, I may possibly consider running Timid + Scarf on this Rotom, that's how paranoid I am about Lucario ruining my Infernape's sweep. Only 22.3% of Lucario's were Jolly so even after I trick Scarf, I'll have a 77.7% of countering all Lucarios. However, the power drop from Modest to Timid is rather significant and I think Timid+ + Scarf is a bit excessive on something with only 105 SpA Atk as it's my main Special Attacker.
---
Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 240 HP/56 Atk/212 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit
If you haven't heard of this little bugger... well jump off a cliff. ^_^... I wasn't kidding. <_< Everyone and their mother knows what this red bug does, it has been the most used Pokemon for a few months consecutively know and with good reason. Its part steel typing allows for it to jo it's job, trapping things that get in the way of my late game sweep. Each move is self explanatory. Thanks to Platinum's addition of Bullet Punch, it's Base Power is now doubled to 80 with STAB allowing it to gain the upper hand on the likes of Azelf, Salamence etc who are faster than Scizor allowing it to revenge kill effectively.
U-Turn in it self is an amazing move. It allows for me to scout counters and deal with them accordingly. However, when it's coupled with STAB and CB, it's gonna be leaving a dent in everything evem if they resist. When I first switch in Scizor, U-Turning is what I usually do incase of random Magnezones and it allows me to increase the SR damage. Also weakening the Scizor counter makes Scizor's life much more easier. Pursuit is essential in the guessing games of Scizor and it's abily to trap. The combination of Pursuit and Bullet Punch keeps the opponent guessing; as do I. "Trapping" can be done through mind games, if they think they can get a free attack before dying, I'll Bullet Punch. If they think I'll Bullet Punch, Ill Pursuit and kill them. However, sometimes this doesn't go according to plan as even I can over/under predict and it doesn't help when you're faced with an Idiot. x_X; Superpower; if I can predict correctly, I could potentially take out 2 of it's main counters, Heatran and Magnezone. Otherwise, it's the move I use the least as I have other Pokemon that can take care of the 2 pokemon if needed however it's always nice to have if I can predict correctly... which is never. ;_;
It traps various things such as Latias, Celebi and Gengar thanks to it's Steel typing making it resistant to each and every single on of their STAB moves and I alternate between U-Turn, Pursuit and Bullet Punch depending on the situation.
If it's Celebi and I've just switched into a Grass Knot, I will ALWAYS U-Turn as I'm x4 resistant to Grass and it can't do much back and it basically gives me a free turn to switch to whatever Pokemon I want. However, the EV's give Scizor even more bulk allowing it to survive an unsuspectinga x4 Super Effective HP Fire.
236 Atk vs 249 Def & 341 HP (70 Base Power): 192 - 228 (56.30% - 66.86%) - Bold with 0 EVs.
289 Atk vs 249 Def & 341 HP (70 Base Power): 236 - 280 (69.21% - 82.11%) - Timid with 252 EVs.
298 Atk vs 249 Def & 341 HP (70 Base Power): 316 - 372 (92.67% - 109.09%) - Timid with 252 Evs w/ Life Orb.
The majority are the Bold walling version so it can't KO unless I switch into a HP Fire which is rare as I will try to predict a Thunder Wave/Leech Seed/Grass Knot/Recover and KO back with a U-Turn making it's attempts to kill me with HP Fire useless. :D
318 Atk vs 249 Def & 341 HP (70 Base Power): 260 - 308 (76.25% - 90.32%)
318 Atk vs 249 Def & 341 HP (70 Base Power): 340 - 400 (99.71% - 117.30%) - Timid with 252 EVs w/ Life Orb
As you can see, majority of Latia's don't even carry HP Fire. Which is why when it does, it's a suprise to me atleast. With Latias it's a tricky one because if I switch into a NVE attack followed by a HP Fire, I'm dead. Because of this, I will most of the time scout if it has HP Fire by switching to Heatran to recieve the Flash Fire Boost. If it doesn't then I'm clear to switch in Scizor again to Pursuit it for the KO if it switches. If I know they'll stay in expecting to get another free atack as a 40 base Pursuit doesn't kill, I'll U-Turn which will always KO.
511 Atk vs 216 Def & 302 HP (60 Base Power): 153 - 181 (50.66% - 59.93%) - Bullet Punch to 4 HP Latias.
511 Atk vs 216 Def & 302 HP (60 Base Power): 204 - 242 (67.55% - 80.13%) - Pursuit to a 4 HP Latias staying in.
511 Atk vs 216 Def & 301 HP (80 Base Power): 272 - 320 (90.37% - 106.31%) Pursuit to a 4 HP Latias switching out.
511 Atk vs 216 Def & 333 HP (60 Base Power): 153 - 181 (45.95% - 54.35%) Bullet Punch to 128 HP Latias.
511 Atk vs 216 Def & 333 HP (60 Base Power): 204 - 242 (61.26% - 72.67%) - Pursuit to a 128 HP Latias staying in.
511 Atk vs 216 Def & 333 HP (80 Base Power): 272 - 320 (81.68% - 96.10%) - Pursuit to a 128 HP Latias switching out.
Bullet Punch does a fair amount to Latias and if I suspect that the Latias will be staying in and wont be OHKOed via Pursuit, I'll opt for Bullet Punch as it's better in that particular situation.
358 Atk vs 249 Def & 341 HP (70 Base Power): 376 - 444 (110.26% - 130.21%) - Timid with 252 EVs w/ Life Orb
Basically it's the same situation as Latias. Scouting is absolutely vital as it can't survive a non-boosted HP Fire. Switch to Heatran, if no HP Fire find a time to switch in Scizor and usually 9/10 I will Bullet Punch as most expect the Pursui and Explode or Thunderolt. This way I conserve even more of Scizor's valuble health.
511 Atk vs 156 Def & 262 HP (60 Base Power): 211 - 250 (80.53% - 95.42%) - Bullet Punch to 4 HP Gengar.
---
Heatran (M) @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Electric]
One half of of the legendary CeleTran with the most AMAZING resistances ever such as 4x resist Ice, Steel and Bug, x2 Ghost and Dragon. These resistances allow for Heatran... once again to force switches allowing SR damage to rack up. This pokemon is the glue to my team if only because of the resistances, thats how importantly I rate it. It's the one pokemon I will try from getting knocked out early as it has an ability o oput a massive whole through anything that gets in its way.
This set is pretty straight forward in how it functions. Switch into something it's going to be resistance to and "predict". Firstly, I'll Fire Blast scouting out the potential checks and counters to Heatran. Next time it's in I'll use HP Electric/ Earth Power if the counters been taken care of, if not I'll keep on fireing off STAB Fire Blasts off it's 358 SpA.
Earth Power; I rarely use it unless something like Rhyperior/Tyranitar is the check and even then with their Sandstream boost, it doesn't do as much as I like. HP Electric is good for taking chucks off Heatran's main conters without going Boom saving it later for it's resistances and eventual Explosion. The other reason I chose HP Electric over HP Grass and Ice is that without Scarf I simply don't outspeed the necesarry Dragons that sit at a base 100 such as Flygon and Salamence even when they haven't got +Spd natures. However, Salamence is my biggest worry but after SR and Fire Blast, I really dont think HP Ice is neccesarry at ALL. I'm not all to bothered about Swampert to be honest as I have Celebi who walls it all day long even against a Super Effective Ice Beam. And HP Electric is where the magic comes to life, eliminating one of my Gyarados' checks. Opposing Gyarados! The majority of Gyardos are Adamant, 65.2%, and with my +Spd nature, I'll be outspeeding the majority of the offensive Gyarados clearing way for me sweep cleanly.
The reason for Expert Belt lies within being about to conceal my item for as long as possible and just when they think they've got a free switch in, I nail them with un unsuspecting move. Expert Belt allows for me to the feign a Choice Scarf scaring things such as Lucario away. However once the cat is out of the bag, it can go ewither way. The freedom of choice to pick whatever move will either help me or the fact the opponent knows I haven't got a Choice Scarf will work against me. Such as Lucario being to oustpeed
by a meagre one point. Expert Belt seems to generally work in my favour being able to eliminate any unsuspecting Swamperts, Blisseys and Snorlaxes expecting to absorb my special assaults.
---
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Recover
- Grass Knot
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Fire]
IKitsune suggested I stick with the more defensively orientated Celebi but I changed it slightly so that it's able to cover more of my weaknesses. This teams aims to eliminate Gyarados' threats, which include bulky waters. Whilst dealing with defensively orientated bulky waters was no problem due to it's naturally high SpD and Natural Cure, I found myself struggling against the more offensively minded bulky waters such as CM Cune and Sub+Petaya Empoleon. This moveset, and change of nature allows for it to carry out it's job. It still has some physical bulk but it's also fast enough to eliminate one of this team's biggest threats. The reason I haven't even invested in any SpA is because whilst I do want it to hit hard, the biggest job Celebi has to carry out is it's ability to sponge attacks given it's naturally high defenses and with CM, it more than makes up for the lack of SpA Evs.
353 Atk vs 236 Def & 404 HP (95 Base Power): 204 - 242 (50.50% - 59.90%) - Modest 252 Ice Beam to Celebi
353 Atk vs 354 Def & 404 HP (95 Base Power): 136 - 162 ( 33.66% - 40.10%) - Modest 252 Ice Beam to +1 Celebi
As shown, with the simple addition of CM to Celebi's repitoire, Empoleon's monstrous 111 SpA doesn't look as frightening. It really shows you how much a +1 SpD will do in defending against Empoleon's once feared Ice beam.
529 Atk vs 236 Def & 404 HP (95 Base Power): 306 - 360 (75.74% - 89.11%) - Modest 252 +1 Ice Beam to Celebi
This is assuming that Empoleon gets into range where it's Petaya boost is activated. However with the addition of Calm Mind, there's simply no need to attack anymore and break it's sub when I can just CM up and laugh at anything it throws and hit back with neutral Grass Knots.
417 Atk vs 236 Def & 404 HP (95 Base Power): 314 - 370 (77.72% - 91.58%) - Timid 252 +1 Ice Beam to Celebi.
417 Atk vs 354 Def & 404 HP (95 Base Power): 210 - 248 (51.98% - 61.39%) - Timid 252 +1 Ice Beam to +1 Celebi
The change from Bold to Timid was a rather easy one for me. Bold whilst useful didn't really fit in with Calm Mind and the more offensive HP Fire. Timid w/ the Speed EVs allow me to outrun all positive 85 Base Speeds such as: Heracross, Kingrda and more importantly, Suicune. Suicune, unlike Empoleon doesn't rely on Subbing down to get a boost so it's much more harder to handle and as a result Celebi doesn't fully counter it but rather check it. I have to rely on Scizor and Heatran to take Ice Beams and from there, smart switching all the way. "Predict" a Surf on Heatran/Scizor, stay in and alternate between CM and Recover and because offensive lacks a form of recover, I should always win one-on-one against Suicune. Things don't always work out as you hope but you get the idea. ^_^
You can never go wrong with this little green Pixie. The other half... to you guess it.. CeleTran. :D Celebi has saved me many a time, it's my to-go-to Pokemon when I don't know what to do. It provides my team with a much needed Water resist being able to take on the likes of Suicune, Vaporeon and Swampert even with their Super Effective Ice Beams. Infact it's vital to the defense and stalling of Rain Dance Teams being able to switch around with it's water resist and on some occasions being able to take on the combination of a Rain boosted Surf + Ice Beam. Most of the time when I switch this in, I'll Leech Seed as sapping 12.5% of my opponents health is never a bad thing especially when it benfits my team who thrive of the many resistances they hold. There is also no other way to heal my team other than loleftovers so Leech Seed is a little thing that does truly go a long way to keeping my team healthy.
Smogon suggests HP Ice/Fire/Earth Power in the final slot. However, I modified it to my teams needs. I decided to lose the option of a 2nd attack in the form of Thunder Wave and with good reason. My team lacks speed minus Rotom who needs a Choice Scarf to maintain it's speed. Scizor, Heatran and Gyarados are all considered slow. Thunder Wave helps me aliviate this problem by paralyzing the opponent's speed reducing it to a meager 1/4 of it's original. The move is useful as it helps Heatran to maintain the belief that it has Choice Scarf because it will automatically out speed the opposing Pokemon. Gyarados' sweep will be more successful if I have things paralyzed as I opted to go for Jolly > Adamant as I preferred the slight speed advantage (even though with Jolly Gyarados really isn''t that fast without a DD under it's belt) and Thunder Wave helps it by giving a 1/4 chance of a full paralysis giving Gyara a free DD or eliminating threats such as Gengar if it's paralyzed.
Grass Knot > Psychic because I really don't really like being helpless against Tyranitar especially when it can come out the winner over a 1-1 Tyranitar match. Also the reason for Grass Knot as it's SE against some serious threats to this team especially to my Gyarados: Bulky Waters. All of the OU Bulky Waters take alot of damage from a SE STAB Grass Knot (Vap takes more from an Energy Ball but whatev <_<) however when coupled with Leech Seed, I'm 9/10 going to come out the victor minus a random crit. Celebi and it's respectable 100 SpA base stat coupled with it's even 100/100/100 defenses are more than enough to eliminate the bulky waters of OU. Recover = Health. Not gonna give a long ass description. X_X The Evs give it enough Speed to outrun a Jolly Tyranitar whilst giving it the best possible defenses.
---
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs:252 Atk/6 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall
- Bounce
Weeeeeeeeeew. It's finally here. Gyarados Muderfunky! Reasons you should be scared? 125 Atk + Intimidate + 100 SpD and DRAGON DANCE. Not that face though, thats one cute face. ^_^ I've built this team to work around destorying all of Gyarados counters and I think I've done a decent job of it. The combination of Celebi, Scizor and Heatran destory Latias, Gengar, Starmie and Bulky Waters in general. This spot in my team once belonged to Kingdra however, I ran into serious problems with it. It simply didn't hit hard enough at all even with the amazing coverage that Water/Dragon provided. And whilst the x4 resist to Fire made it easy to switch into the likes of Heatran, Gyardos is able to do the same thing, even being immune to Earth Power whilst being stronger on the Special Defense side than Kingdra. Also Kingdra's abily in comparsions to Gyrados is pathetic. Rain Dance won't help much in a late game sweep whereas Intimidate helps me switch in more effectivly into the likes of Lucario who with Kingdra was an even bigger problem. As it's my late game sweeper, I try to keep it out of sight until I see an easy opportinuity as constantly switching into SR with the possibility of Weather is dangerous to it's survivability. I opted for LO instead of Leftovers as it misses some vital KOs without LO such as with LO it's able to OHKO Celebi with a +1 Bounce with SR in play. Without it, I won't get the OHKO damaging it's longivity or ruining it's sweep though Thunder Wave.
The 2 moves that were essential were it's 2 STABs, Waterfall and Bounce. Waterfall provides a strong physical STAB to work off that amazing Atk base stat which I'll be using against the majority of my opponents. The flinch never hurts aswell. ^_^; Bounce is rather situational but a good move all round. If and for whatever reason the Bulky Waters aren't eliminated, Bounce is now a good move to use against them. Unlike Stone Edge, this gets STAB so it's going to be doing alot more damage. EVen though the accuracy isn't perfect, it's good enough to eliminate the likes of Celebi. And finally onto Stone Edge. Probably the worst move ever created, if only for it's stupid accuracy. :@ The reason I opted for Stone Edge over Earthquake is because once I've DD'd up, other Gyardos and Salamence like to ruin my fun. Stone Edge will teach them not to play with me, hitting them both for SE damage and after SR and LO, OHKOing both if offensive variations.
The reason I replaced Kingdra was I was having slight Lucario problems and Gyardos helped it slightly being able to switch into the physical variation without much problem. However with SR, LO and Extremespeed it was being worn out rather quickly. Also Infernape is sort of a problem and the addition of Gyardos made it not as much of a problem.
To me being outsped is far more frustrating than missing out on an OHKO as it happens more than I'd like to think. This is why I picked Jolly > Adamant however I think it's for the better as most of the other team should be sufficiently weakened to the point where Adamant wouldn't make much of a difference anyways.
---
For every view/rate this team gets, you make this Gyarados very happy. :)
