The Birth of a Legend

[Flack]

THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND

Alright, before I show my team I must first put down my story. Coming from a boarding school where the port for shoddybattle is blocked, I was severely disheartened when I first came across the competitive pokemon metagame. I began to lurk the forums around 4 months ago, learning battling skills and team logic from warstories and RMT's. But when I finally came back for spring break, and had no place to go, I thought it would be the perfect time to create my OWN team and start to battle. After an unsucessful try at the suspect ladder (which I thought would be fun, but in fact bored me greatly), I started to find a set of OU pokemon that I found effective and fun to use. Starting around a base of Dragon Dance Tyrannitar and Choice Scarf Infernape, I created a team that has amassed a high win rate over the last 2 days. So without further ado, my team.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Relaxed (+Def, -Spe)
240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpA
Earthquake
Surf
Ice Beam
Stealth Rock

Swampert's role on this team is a very important one. Setting up Stealth Rock is a very important part of the metagame, creating residual damage, and negating focus sashes. However, I refuse to use one of the "suicide leads" because the loss of a pokemon just for one move seems like a stupid idea for me. I chose a standard spread from the analysis for this Swampert, because I do not have the experience to change it. The secondary role for this pokemon is to hit many pokemon for super-effective damage with a strong moves, and to take multiple hits from opponent's sweepers.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Bullet Punch
Superpower
Pursuit
U-Turn

Scizor plays one of the most important roles on this team, but requires the most thought. He is one of my revenge killers, late game sweepers, and bulky pokemon. Switching in on his plethora of resistances, he takes hits like a champ and threatens many KO's back. Bullet Punch is on there for obvious reasons, Superpower for a strong hitting move that offers great coverage, Pursuit for switching pokemon, and U-Turn for damaging and scouting. This set requires a lot of prediction, however, due to the hindering nature of Choice Band and the some of the moves on the set. However, he is an invaluable member of the team.

Tyranitar @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Dragon Dance
Crunch
Stone Edge
Fire Punch

This is the first of the two original members of the team. Gifted with the ability to hit amazingly hard and take special hits, Tyranitar is the perfect match for me. Using his sandstorm to boost his respectable special defense, he can switch in and proceed to set up for a sweep. My logic for the moveset is Dragon Dance to boost my stats, Crunch and Stone Edge for STAB, and Fire Punch to complete the coverage and kill threats to Tyranitar such as Lucario and Scizor. The Babiri Berry reduces the amount taken by super-effective steel-type attacks by 50%, which I use to live Bullet Punches that threaten to end my sweep. However, I feel that it is becoming less useful than I have thought, and would rather change to a different item. I also might concider a bulkier DD set, that makes use of his immense special defense in sandstorm. All suggestions on items, spreads, and moves for this Tyranitar would be greatly appreciated.

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
148 HP / 252 Spe / 108 SpA
Calm Mind
Dragon Pulse
Recover
Substitute

This Latias has been working wonders for me. The addition of Substitute to the normal set, while taking out an attacking move, lets Latias live much longer and be an efficient scout. The moves are for a basic Calm Mind sweeper, with a more defensive mind to it. Even with the mono-type attack, STAB Dragon Pulse is very powerful, and with a couple of Calm Minds a sweep is imminent. Some people may suggest a change of moveset, but I will need a convincing argument to change this one as it has been very successful for me.

Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
24 Atk / 252 Spe / 232 SpA
Close Combat
Grass Knot
Hidden Power [Ice]
Flamethrower

The second part of my core duo. Choice Scarf Infernape sticks out to me as a very effective pokemon because of it's damaging capabilities. The moveset allows maximum damage on todays metagame, with one strong physical move and 3 powerful and covering special moves. I love this pokemon because it moves so quickly with max speed and a Choice Scarf attached to it. However, one disappointing thing about this Infernape is that it usually works on surprise alone, and not because of it's destructive power.

Gengar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Shadow Ball
Focus Blast
Thunderbolt
Trick

A third choice user? Yes, my final pokemon is a very effective choice user. The Choice Specs make Gengar into a very fast and strong sweeper. Shadow Ball is for STAB, Focus Blast to create an unresisted combo, and Thuderbolt because it is standard AND I need an electric type attack on my team. Trick is there to hinder an opponent pokemon, and to free Gengar from the grips of a choice item. I feel sometimes that this is the most expendable member of my team, but other times he is an important part of my matches.
​

So there's my team. I hope that all of you can offer your insight and experience to make it better. Some side notes that I did not already say. First, I have wanted to experiment with certain pokemon that I have seen while laddering (such as a very interesting mixed Jirachi that I saw), but do not know what pokemon to replace them with. However, I do like the layout of this team, and if I were to change it the change would have to be worthwhile. Finally, if you see this team on the ladder, it will probably not be me as I will be using heavily modified / new versions of this team. Take care!​

 

[Myzozoa]

I would definitely change substitute to reflect on latias. Otherwise it would be very weak to CB Weavile, Tyranitar and Scizor. You can reflect and then their pursuits do around 25%ish damage. You can recover stall while CMing up to sweep.

 

[r3do]

gyarados > t-tar imo. and cresselia > latias if your going to end up useing reflect. that way u have the ability to tank as well, since u really dont have a set tank; although swampert does do ok.

 

[racoonman]

with SR support, a gyarados with ice fang can whipe out your entire team in no time, and has an easy time setting up on half of your team. I also feel like your Latias carries your team in terms of counters. Lucario and infernape can easily set up on most of your team. You also lack a salamence counter beyond Swampert, who without wish support from your latias is helpless after a few attacks.

 

[Blln]

This team is very similar to my team :)

<3 sub/cm Latias, it is really the best Latias set I've ever used. My suggestion is to use max HP. I started out running some special attack too, but I found it so easy to get to 4 or 5 cms that it became irrelevant. More HP gives you more physical defense, letting you set up on more physical attacks, and also helps you switch into Infernape CCs and the like, which can start to take a toll if you don't get a chance to recover. It also helps you make harder to break subs faster, making it easier to set up against shit like Rotom and Dpulse Heatran.

I usually like Hydro Pump on mixpert better because I really hate Rotom and Swampert usually ends up being my switch into him, making Hydro Pump a faster way to kill it, but that's just preference I guess.

I'm not really a fan of Specs Gengar cause I think he's a little too much pursuit-bait when he gets locked on Shadow Ball. Maybe try a sub / shadow ball / hp fire / (focus blast/punch) @ leftovers/expert belt if that's been a problem. If you get good at luring Scizor in and killing him then you could even possibly switch babiri to something more useful like LO on ttar.

lastly your team doesn't really like scizor all that much. i suppose you have something to come in on each one of it's specific moves but you're going to have to predict pretty perfectly to get gengar in on his superpowers and not bullet punches. if scizor is a continuing problem then you could put scarf rotom over gengar, but that might not be necessary.

ehh i'm just nitpicking, i don't really see much worth changing, i like this team a lot :)