"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else — if you run very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."
Overview: I've practiced with both offense and stall over the years and I've started to realize that you can keep the best of both worlds with a balance.
For many, fire, grass, and water form the most basic type-trumping system, and in such a fast-paced, blindingly forceful metagame, defensive cores are very much appreciated.
Perhaps you could say that my strategy has been reduced to little more than sweeping coupled with defensive switching, but my opponents often find that my so-called "walls" are thoroughly capable of beating their face in, and by then it's usually too late.
I started off with the classic Heatran, Celebi, Bulky Water triple entente, then added a little kick to it.
The team holds multiple resists to every single type in the game, other than Rock, which doesn't even score any supereffective hits, leaving stealth rock an inferior strategy to combat my team with.
Two status absorbers and three steel types allow me to flush status out with relative impunity.
Dragon, Ghost, Ice, Grass, Water, and Psychic type moves, some of the most common attacking types, are walled by three pokemon each.
With a surprise lead, three special sweepers, a mixed wall, and a setup physical attacker, I can defend any offensive threat while maintaining my own brutal onslaught.
Empoleon @ Shuca Berry
Evs: 252 HP/168 Def/8 Spd/80 SAtk
Bold Nature
~ Hydro Pump
~ Stealth Rock
~ Aqua Jet
~ Roar
Empoleon is standard, but not quite as a lead, and this spread was recommended and "tested" for me by a close friend.
Now, my penguin friend is entirely expendable, but I try to do one of two things with him while he's alive: A. Set Stealth Rock, B. Kill something, and so far he's always managed to do at least one of these.
Against standard leads...
- Empoleon always survives a Fake Out+Close Combat from Infernape, hence the bold nature, and KOs with Aqua Jet and Hydro Pump
- Metagross and Swampert do 33% max damage with Shuca Berry, 66% max after its used which means Empoleon always survives with at least 1HP and can 2HKO both of them thanks to the boost from Torrent.
- Azelf would love to taunt me before I set my entry hazard, so I'll just kill it with Hydro Pump and Aqua Jet.
- Against Jirachi it will always get SR down, and even when it tricks its Choice Scarf on Empoleon it can always come back later and sweeps relatively well due to the speed bonus, torrent and its amazing bulk
- Heatran is an easy kill.
- Tyranitar is outsped and killed, Shuca taking its earthquake just fine.
- Gliscor can try and taunt or earthquake me, but he WILL die.
- Ninjask will protect and I will set Stealth Rocks—however many boosts he gets, I will roar him or the recipient.
- Hippodown is slaughtered.
- Bronzong might get Stealth Rock down, but none of my team is even weak to it. Explosion fails to do more than 50% with my Bold Nature.
- Mamoswine dies horribly.
- Gyarados gets its butt roared and will hate Stealth Rock later on, Empoleon takes its earthquake like a champ.
- Machamp is 2KOED as Empoleon outspeeds it and my defense evs will guarantee survival against Dynamic Punch.
*Roserade and Smeargle are perhaps the only leads Empoleon will struggle with and I have a lot of things on the sidelines ready for them.
Celebi @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 78 HP/180 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power Fire
- Recover
Celebi and Empoleon hold excellent type synergy and resist each other's weaknesses flawlessly.
Celebi, of course, does not mind being Sleep Powdered and can outspeed and kill Roserade with Psychic or Earth Power the Magnezone that wants to trap Empoleon.
Even without any evs put in its defenses, Celebi is an excellent answer to less conservative sweepers like Specs Jolteon or even late game menaces like Swords Dance Lucario.
Likewise, pursuit-happy Tyranitar will have an incredibly terrible time switching in, and will probably be outsped and killed anyway without a Choice Scarf.
People will switch in sweepers, thinking they can setup and kill Celebi, but 80% of the time it's Celebi who gets the kill, or an opportunity to recover when a "counter" is switching in.
Heatran is one of the only pokemon who resists this set, but my opponent will usually be too terrified of an Earth Power to follow through with it--besides, Milotic, Latias, and my own Heatran will make an easy kill of it.
Latias@ Choice Scarf
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Trick
Latias nets all the coverage that my other sweepers don't and she's a surefire dragon-dancer counter, wall counter, and proves incredibly useful both late game and early game—if Scizor tries to switch in, it risks being 2KOed by Thunderbolt or Surf—if it’s a swords dancer, I can ruin its chances of setting up for the rest of the game, and if it’s a choice bander, I can drastically reduce the power of its moves.
Any Dragon that isn't boosted or holding a Choice Scarf will fall to Draco Meteor, Gyarados and Skarmory to Thunderbolt, and Blissey will be maimed by trick—Latias is truly excellent here as she can pave the way for my special sweepers while holding her own as well and quite well I daresay.
Heatran@ Life Orb
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Metal Sound
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
Heatran is my 3rd and final special sweeper, but it is arguably the most effective because of its deceptive role—Metal Sound debilitates 75% of its counters: It turns Blissey into little more than a fatter Wigglytuff, negates the boost of Tyranitar's much-appreciated sandstorm, and turns bulky waters into puddles—the majority of my team has ways of hitting Rocks, Grounds, and Waters, so the redundance of Hidden Power Grass has been abandoned in favor of Dragon Pulse which slams whatever Dragon Latias fails to eliminate and also has the dubious ability of eliminating Kingdra, should it switch in predicting a Fire Blast.
Dragon and Fire are a combination only resisted by Heatran and unless its scarfed, my Earth Power will kill—even in the event of a speed tie, the Naïve nature of opposing Heatran will make Earth Power all the more deadly.
Bulky Waters are incredibly useless against my team with Metal Sound disarming their bulk and the rest of my team holding four water resists in reserve.
Additionally, should a ground type threat emerge, Celebi and Latias will make sure I'm unscathed.
Milotic@ Leftovers
Evs: 252 SDef/ 252 HP / 6 SAtk
Calm Nature (+SDef, –Atk)
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
Milotic is my favorite pokemon and it saddens me that people cannot recognize its full potential, not as a defensive tank or a bulky sleep-inducer, but as a status absorbing special wall.
Nobody bothers trying to force Gyarados to be a special attacker, it’s a role not in its nature, so I feel Milotic works just fine as a special wall.
Even with major evs invested in Defense, Milotic will still be 2KOed my many common physical sweepers, so I took what she is good at and tried to work with it and the results have been spectacular.
While she cannot take boosted outrages from Salamence, she easily walls mixed and special versions and will 2HKO any Dragon foolish enough to switch in—237 Special Attack is decent enough to warrant two attacking moves, and with almost HP combined with almost 400 Special Defense and about 270+ Defense while sleeping,
Milotic acts as a great damage and status absorber. Vaporeon may laugh off Ice Beams and Surfs, but even with Toxic and Hidden Power Electric, Milotic will outstall it.
Again, Milotic is the only pokemon that gets a defensive reward for using Rest with Marvel Scale and she is the "rock" that allows my sweepers to continue their good work unhindered.
Physically defensive Zapdos will hate running into Ice Beam and specially defensive Zapdos's thunderbolts will bounce off Milotic—while an offensive Zapdos might prove intimidating for Milotic, I find solace in the fact that Ice Beam will decimate it without an defensive evs.
Milotic is an excellent team player and she was the first pokemon I chose, building my offense around a defensive gem.
I realized her flawless ability to counter special sweepers like Gengar, Specsmence, and Heatran were valuable enough to let her take the big hits, and let the rest of my team dish them out—seriously, Porygon Z has serious issues against her.
Scizor@ Life Orb
Evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ U-Turn
~ Bullet Punch
~ Superpower
~ Swords Dance
This set, I feel, needs little to no explanation—my team is very biased towards special sweepers, so I needed something that would pick up the slack on the physical spectrum.
While, I had previously used a Choice-Bander here, I felt that the immediate boost provided by Choice Band wasn't nearly as useful as a lategame booster.
With 10 resistances on his own and a weakness that four of the pokemon on my team easily handle, Scizor's role couldn't be more obvious here.
Double STAB, a scouting move, and excellent coverage have made this set a household name.
While a wonderful tank, Scizor does best as my late-game "sweeper"—Celebi, Heatran, and Latias have usually eliminated any physically defensive pokemon at this point.
It really throws a sense of urgency onto my opponent to see this monstrosity pop out after their Skarmory has been slaughtered--U-turn has been known to score easy KOs on Starmie and Latias.
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that."
Overview: I've practiced with both offense and stall over the years and I've started to realize that you can keep the best of both worlds with a balance.
For many, fire, grass, and water form the most basic type-trumping system, and in such a fast-paced, blindingly forceful metagame, defensive cores are very much appreciated.
Perhaps you could say that my strategy has been reduced to little more than sweeping coupled with defensive switching, but my opponents often find that my so-called "walls" are thoroughly capable of beating their face in, and by then it's usually too late.
I started off with the classic Heatran, Celebi, Bulky Water triple entente, then added a little kick to it.
The team holds multiple resists to every single type in the game, other than Rock, which doesn't even score any supereffective hits, leaving stealth rock an inferior strategy to combat my team with.
Two status absorbers and three steel types allow me to flush status out with relative impunity.
Dragon, Ghost, Ice, Grass, Water, and Psychic type moves, some of the most common attacking types, are walled by three pokemon each.
With a surprise lead, three special sweepers, a mixed wall, and a setup physical attacker, I can defend any offensive threat while maintaining my own brutal onslaught.
Empoleon @ Shuca Berry
Evs: 252 HP/168 Def/8 Spd/80 SAtk
Bold Nature
~ Hydro Pump
~ Stealth Rock
~ Aqua Jet
~ Roar
Empoleon is standard, but not quite as a lead, and this spread was recommended and "tested" for me by a close friend.
Now, my penguin friend is entirely expendable, but I try to do one of two things with him while he's alive: A. Set Stealth Rock, B. Kill something, and so far he's always managed to do at least one of these.
Against standard leads...
- Empoleon always survives a Fake Out+Close Combat from Infernape, hence the bold nature, and KOs with Aqua Jet and Hydro Pump
- Metagross and Swampert do 33% max damage with Shuca Berry, 66% max after its used which means Empoleon always survives with at least 1HP and can 2HKO both of them thanks to the boost from Torrent.
- Azelf would love to taunt me before I set my entry hazard, so I'll just kill it with Hydro Pump and Aqua Jet.
- Against Jirachi it will always get SR down, and even when it tricks its Choice Scarf on Empoleon it can always come back later and sweeps relatively well due to the speed bonus, torrent and its amazing bulk
- Heatran is an easy kill.
- Tyranitar is outsped and killed, Shuca taking its earthquake just fine.
- Gliscor can try and taunt or earthquake me, but he WILL die.
- Ninjask will protect and I will set Stealth Rocks—however many boosts he gets, I will roar him or the recipient.
- Hippodown is slaughtered.
- Bronzong might get Stealth Rock down, but none of my team is even weak to it. Explosion fails to do more than 50% with my Bold Nature.
- Mamoswine dies horribly.
- Gyarados gets its butt roared and will hate Stealth Rock later on, Empoleon takes its earthquake like a champ.
- Machamp is 2KOED as Empoleon outspeeds it and my defense evs will guarantee survival against Dynamic Punch.
*Roserade and Smeargle are perhaps the only leads Empoleon will struggle with and I have a lot of things on the sidelines ready for them.
Celebi @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 78 HP/180 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power Fire
- Recover
Celebi and Empoleon hold excellent type synergy and resist each other's weaknesses flawlessly.
Celebi, of course, does not mind being Sleep Powdered and can outspeed and kill Roserade with Psychic or Earth Power the Magnezone that wants to trap Empoleon.
Even without any evs put in its defenses, Celebi is an excellent answer to less conservative sweepers like Specs Jolteon or even late game menaces like Swords Dance Lucario.
Likewise, pursuit-happy Tyranitar will have an incredibly terrible time switching in, and will probably be outsped and killed anyway without a Choice Scarf.
People will switch in sweepers, thinking they can setup and kill Celebi, but 80% of the time it's Celebi who gets the kill, or an opportunity to recover when a "counter" is switching in.
Heatran is one of the only pokemon who resists this set, but my opponent will usually be too terrified of an Earth Power to follow through with it--besides, Milotic, Latias, and my own Heatran will make an easy kill of it.
Latias@ Choice Scarf
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Trick
Latias nets all the coverage that my other sweepers don't and she's a surefire dragon-dancer counter, wall counter, and proves incredibly useful both late game and early game—if Scizor tries to switch in, it risks being 2KOed by Thunderbolt or Surf—if it’s a swords dancer, I can ruin its chances of setting up for the rest of the game, and if it’s a choice bander, I can drastically reduce the power of its moves.
Any Dragon that isn't boosted or holding a Choice Scarf will fall to Draco Meteor, Gyarados and Skarmory to Thunderbolt, and Blissey will be maimed by trick—Latias is truly excellent here as she can pave the way for my special sweepers while holding her own as well and quite well I daresay.
Heatran@ Life Orb
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Metal Sound
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
Heatran is my 3rd and final special sweeper, but it is arguably the most effective because of its deceptive role—Metal Sound debilitates 75% of its counters: It turns Blissey into little more than a fatter Wigglytuff, negates the boost of Tyranitar's much-appreciated sandstorm, and turns bulky waters into puddles—the majority of my team has ways of hitting Rocks, Grounds, and Waters, so the redundance of Hidden Power Grass has been abandoned in favor of Dragon Pulse which slams whatever Dragon Latias fails to eliminate and also has the dubious ability of eliminating Kingdra, should it switch in predicting a Fire Blast.
Dragon and Fire are a combination only resisted by Heatran and unless its scarfed, my Earth Power will kill—even in the event of a speed tie, the Naïve nature of opposing Heatran will make Earth Power all the more deadly.
Bulky Waters are incredibly useless against my team with Metal Sound disarming their bulk and the rest of my team holding four water resists in reserve.
Additionally, should a ground type threat emerge, Celebi and Latias will make sure I'm unscathed.
Milotic@ Leftovers
Evs: 252 SDef/ 252 HP / 6 SAtk
Calm Nature (+SDef, –Atk)
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
Milotic is my favorite pokemon and it saddens me that people cannot recognize its full potential, not as a defensive tank or a bulky sleep-inducer, but as a status absorbing special wall.
Nobody bothers trying to force Gyarados to be a special attacker, it’s a role not in its nature, so I feel Milotic works just fine as a special wall.
Even with major evs invested in Defense, Milotic will still be 2KOed my many common physical sweepers, so I took what she is good at and tried to work with it and the results have been spectacular.
While she cannot take boosted outrages from Salamence, she easily walls mixed and special versions and will 2HKO any Dragon foolish enough to switch in—237 Special Attack is decent enough to warrant two attacking moves, and with almost HP combined with almost 400 Special Defense and about 270+ Defense while sleeping,
Milotic acts as a great damage and status absorber. Vaporeon may laugh off Ice Beams and Surfs, but even with Toxic and Hidden Power Electric, Milotic will outstall it.
Again, Milotic is the only pokemon that gets a defensive reward for using Rest with Marvel Scale and she is the "rock" that allows my sweepers to continue their good work unhindered.
Physically defensive Zapdos will hate running into Ice Beam and specially defensive Zapdos's thunderbolts will bounce off Milotic—while an offensive Zapdos might prove intimidating for Milotic, I find solace in the fact that Ice Beam will decimate it without an defensive evs.
Milotic is an excellent team player and she was the first pokemon I chose, building my offense around a defensive gem.
I realized her flawless ability to counter special sweepers like Gengar, Specsmence, and Heatran were valuable enough to let her take the big hits, and let the rest of my team dish them out—seriously, Porygon Z has serious issues against her.
Scizor@ Life Orb
Evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
~ U-Turn
~ Bullet Punch
~ Superpower
~ Swords Dance
This set, I feel, needs little to no explanation—my team is very biased towards special sweepers, so I needed something that would pick up the slack on the physical spectrum.
While, I had previously used a Choice-Bander here, I felt that the immediate boost provided by Choice Band wasn't nearly as useful as a lategame booster.
With 10 resistances on his own and a weakness that four of the pokemon on my team easily handle, Scizor's role couldn't be more obvious here.
Double STAB, a scouting move, and excellent coverage have made this set a household name.
While a wonderful tank, Scizor does best as my late-game "sweeper"—Celebi, Heatran, and Latias have usually eliminated any physically defensive pokemon at this point.
It really throws a sense of urgency onto my opponent to see this monstrosity pop out after their Skarmory has been slaughtered--U-turn has been known to score easy KOs on Starmie and Latias.
