Introduction
After having my old Trick Room team repeatedly pummeled by leads that prevent me from setting up by means of flinch hax and/or priority Thunder Wave, I decided to try a new team. It took me about a day to conceptualize, and I've only had a week-and-a-half's time to test it. With finals approaching and other more important obligations, I'm finding less time to play test, so I need to quicly figure out which of my two teams is better so I can get to RNGing. Without further ado, here we go
The Team
Tim (Thundurus) (M) @ Charti Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA/ 252 Spe/ 4 SpD
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Protect
- Discharge
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Standard Thundurus, plain and simple. Charti Berry sort of works as his Focus Sash against Rock Slide, and is really the only item that this set can have. EVs + nature so hopefully he wins the speed tie with Tornadus. HP[Flying] is preferred over HP Ice so that I can pick off weakended Scrafty ("weakened" as in "not at full health", guy's got okay bulk) before it can threaten Landorus with Ice Punch. Discharge is a good attack, and hopefully gets paralyze hax. Thunder Wave so he can instanlty slow down lead Terrakion, allowing Landorus to get an easy OHKO with STAB Earthquake, and is just useful in general because of +1 priority. Protect, in my opinion, is better than substitute. Yes, people want to abuse +1 priority sub to block status, but he's so frail and rarely carries a focus sash, so the opponent will go for the kill anyway. This means that that sub was essentially wasted health, shortening Thundurus's already short life-span.
This set is very good as helping Landorus stop leads from setting up. Has problems with lead Tornadus and lead Whimsicott. With Tornadus, I just pray that I win the speed tie, so I can paralyze him (if Discharge does not OHKO because of Focus Sash, Tornadus remains a threat on the next turn, whereas Twave instantly makes him slower than Landorus, giving Landorus the immediate advantage, as well as a little extra wiggle room). This set does its job well, but suffers from frailty and faster prankster leads, but I've learned to try to play around that. Having both leads attack is usually enough to get rid of Whimsicott (it either sets up an effect or subs, in other words, it almost never does damage), and priority Twave hurts Tailwind teams.
Eric (Landorus) (M) @ Normal Gem
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk/ 244 Spe/ 12 HP
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Explosion
When I made this set, I thought is was ingenious and super original. Then I checked out his analysis on Smogon...only to find that I was beaten to the punch long ago :(. If more than one person would think of the same set, that only means that it's the most practical set he can have for this year's ruleset. Rock Slide for flinch hax and power, Earthquake for STAB (gets insanely powerful with a Helping Hand boost), and then Explosion for utility. He doesn't need the Earth Gem, because Earthquake gets the kills it needs already. I was considering Expert Belt and giving him Wide Guard instead of Explosion to save Thundurus from Rock Slide after his Charti Berry is used up (he can learn Wide Guard, right?).
His EVs are the way they are because I had to move things around to make sure that the stats he gets EVd in are even numbers at level 50, y'know, so as to not waste good EVs. He doesn't need full Spe because there is nothing of note that he needs to outspeed, and as a bonus, he appreciates the extra HP. He works very well with Thundurus, not because of the attacking combo akin to ZapChomp, but because priority Twave neutralizes threats that would move first and kill him. My only real gripe with my leads is that if they do not manage to stop TR leads from setting up, that essentially means "Game Over" for me. They also don't tend to live that long, unfortunately.
KidneyBean (Musharna) (F) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 248 HP/ 248 SpD/ 8 SpA/ 4 Def
Sassy nature (+SpD, -Spe)
- Helping Hand
- Light Screen
- Psychic
- Protect
Holy crap, this thing cannot die. The nature + EVs are because most attacks aimed at it tend to be Shadow Ball, Bug Buzz, and Dark Pulse. Even so, it can take physical hits very well. +5 priority Helping Hand, along with poor speed, make him an excellent TR counter, and that combined with its ability makes it the ideal supporter. Thing die very quickly to helping hand boosted EQs, Rock Slides, and Discharges. Psychic can score some suprising KOs, coming off of a base 107 SpA, and usually do a very good number on Amoongus and Terakion. Light Screen, although not used often, helps my defensively weak team, and complements the EVs and nature nicely, making Musharna that much more annoying. Mental Herb is a necessity, and has save me from many a Taunt and Encore.
No complaints here, this mon is totally boss. It just has amazing synergy with the team, combined with great longetivity. What more can I say?
Big Brown (Terrakion) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 248 Atk/ 248 Spe/ 12 HP
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Last but not least we have this amazingly powerful bull for backup, made only deadlier by Helping Hand. I think I stumbled upon the perfect EV set for this guy. This set has survived (at full health) a Dragon Dance-boosted, STAB Dragon Claw from Haxorus's monstrous base 147 Atk (granted, he was left with 6% health, but he survived)!
This is generally a great set, and has good synergy with Musharna, because of Helping Hand, Light Screen helping to soften the defensive drop of Close Combat, and it can lure Dark-type attacks for Terrakion to switch in on (although it's never happended before, sinch Musha is better off staying in to do another HH for its current partner). Quick Attack is for emergencies; as a regular attack, it isn't terribly powerful, though. It's helped me pick-off weakend things that would move first in tailwind or TR and otherwise kill a fellow teammate, but that's really it. He's very useful, has good coverage, but often crumbles to super-effective attacks.
Conclusion
This team is good, and proven to be effective. Overall, this team has won a little more than half the battles it's been used in. However, most of its losses are accredited to its overall frailty, occasional inability to stop TR from being set up due to the hax deciding not to kick-in, and Prankster leads that are faster (Whimsicott) or end up winning the speed tie (Tornadus).
To be honest, I only made this team because I feared that the current environment with hax-based leads was becoming increasingly harsh to TR leads. However, since this team's ability to prevent set-up is based mostly on luck, which isn't always on my side, I'm beginning to think that maybe that notion was sheer paranoia. The main purpose of this RMT is to see if this team is better than my previous one (http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102747, you don't have to read the whole thing, skimming it is just fine), and, if so, to see what changes can be made to make it more efficient. I have to pick a team soon to get to RNG, so feel free to rate, comment, and critique
.
After having my old Trick Room team repeatedly pummeled by leads that prevent me from setting up by means of flinch hax and/or priority Thunder Wave, I decided to try a new team. It took me about a day to conceptualize, and I've only had a week-and-a-half's time to test it. With finals approaching and other more important obligations, I'm finding less time to play test, so I need to quicly figure out which of my two teams is better so I can get to RNGing. Without further ado, here we go
The Team
Tim (Thundurus) (M) @ Charti Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA/ 252 Spe/ 4 SpD
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Protect
- Discharge
- Thunder Wave
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Standard Thundurus, plain and simple. Charti Berry sort of works as his Focus Sash against Rock Slide, and is really the only item that this set can have. EVs + nature so hopefully he wins the speed tie with Tornadus. HP[Flying] is preferred over HP Ice so that I can pick off weakended Scrafty ("weakened" as in "not at full health", guy's got okay bulk) before it can threaten Landorus with Ice Punch. Discharge is a good attack, and hopefully gets paralyze hax. Thunder Wave so he can instanlty slow down lead Terrakion, allowing Landorus to get an easy OHKO with STAB Earthquake, and is just useful in general because of +1 priority. Protect, in my opinion, is better than substitute. Yes, people want to abuse +1 priority sub to block status, but he's so frail and rarely carries a focus sash, so the opponent will go for the kill anyway. This means that that sub was essentially wasted health, shortening Thundurus's already short life-span.
This set is very good as helping Landorus stop leads from setting up. Has problems with lead Tornadus and lead Whimsicott. With Tornadus, I just pray that I win the speed tie, so I can paralyze him (if Discharge does not OHKO because of Focus Sash, Tornadus remains a threat on the next turn, whereas Twave instantly makes him slower than Landorus, giving Landorus the immediate advantage, as well as a little extra wiggle room). This set does its job well, but suffers from frailty and faster prankster leads, but I've learned to try to play around that. Having both leads attack is usually enough to get rid of Whimsicott (it either sets up an effect or subs, in other words, it almost never does damage), and priority Twave hurts Tailwind teams.
Eric (Landorus) (M) @ Normal Gem
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk/ 244 Spe/ 12 HP
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Rock Slide
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Explosion
When I made this set, I thought is was ingenious and super original. Then I checked out his analysis on Smogon...only to find that I was beaten to the punch long ago :(. If more than one person would think of the same set, that only means that it's the most practical set he can have for this year's ruleset. Rock Slide for flinch hax and power, Earthquake for STAB (gets insanely powerful with a Helping Hand boost), and then Explosion for utility. He doesn't need the Earth Gem, because Earthquake gets the kills it needs already. I was considering Expert Belt and giving him Wide Guard instead of Explosion to save Thundurus from Rock Slide after his Charti Berry is used up (he can learn Wide Guard, right?).
His EVs are the way they are because I had to move things around to make sure that the stats he gets EVd in are even numbers at level 50, y'know, so as to not waste good EVs. He doesn't need full Spe because there is nothing of note that he needs to outspeed, and as a bonus, he appreciates the extra HP. He works very well with Thundurus, not because of the attacking combo akin to ZapChomp, but because priority Twave neutralizes threats that would move first and kill him. My only real gripe with my leads is that if they do not manage to stop TR leads from setting up, that essentially means "Game Over" for me. They also don't tend to live that long, unfortunately.
KidneyBean (Musharna) (F) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 248 HP/ 248 SpD/ 8 SpA/ 4 Def
Sassy nature (+SpD, -Spe)
- Helping Hand
- Light Screen
- Psychic
- Protect
Holy crap, this thing cannot die. The nature + EVs are because most attacks aimed at it tend to be Shadow Ball, Bug Buzz, and Dark Pulse. Even so, it can take physical hits very well. +5 priority Helping Hand, along with poor speed, make him an excellent TR counter, and that combined with its ability makes it the ideal supporter. Thing die very quickly to helping hand boosted EQs, Rock Slides, and Discharges. Psychic can score some suprising KOs, coming off of a base 107 SpA, and usually do a very good number on Amoongus and Terakion. Light Screen, although not used often, helps my defensively weak team, and complements the EVs and nature nicely, making Musharna that much more annoying. Mental Herb is a necessity, and has save me from many a Taunt and Encore.
No complaints here, this mon is totally boss. It just has amazing synergy with the team, combined with great longetivity. What more can I say?
Big Brown (Terrakion) @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 248 Atk/ 248 Spe/ 12 HP
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Close Combat
- Quick Attack
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Last but not least we have this amazingly powerful bull for backup, made only deadlier by Helping Hand. I think I stumbled upon the perfect EV set for this guy. This set has survived (at full health) a Dragon Dance-boosted, STAB Dragon Claw from Haxorus's monstrous base 147 Atk (granted, he was left with 6% health, but he survived)!
This is generally a great set, and has good synergy with Musharna, because of Helping Hand, Light Screen helping to soften the defensive drop of Close Combat, and it can lure Dark-type attacks for Terrakion to switch in on (although it's never happended before, sinch Musha is better off staying in to do another HH for its current partner). Quick Attack is for emergencies; as a regular attack, it isn't terribly powerful, though. It's helped me pick-off weakend things that would move first in tailwind or TR and otherwise kill a fellow teammate, but that's really it. He's very useful, has good coverage, but often crumbles to super-effective attacks.
Conclusion
This team is good, and proven to be effective. Overall, this team has won a little more than half the battles it's been used in. However, most of its losses are accredited to its overall frailty, occasional inability to stop TR from being set up due to the hax deciding not to kick-in, and Prankster leads that are faster (Whimsicott) or end up winning the speed tie (Tornadus).
To be honest, I only made this team because I feared that the current environment with hax-based leads was becoming increasingly harsh to TR leads. However, since this team's ability to prevent set-up is based mostly on luck, which isn't always on my side, I'm beginning to think that maybe that notion was sheer paranoia. The main purpose of this RMT is to see if this team is better than my previous one (http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102747, you don't have to read the whole thing, skimming it is just fine), and, if so, to see what changes can be made to make it more efficient. I have to pick a team soon to get to RNG, so feel free to rate, comment, and critique
.
