Introduction
I love this team; alot. Before I used this team, I was just another average player, running gimmicky teams and teams with my 'favourites'. But after building this team I found it was really quite good, I won like 9-10 games in a row. I soon became determined to reach a good CRE with this team. After many late nights and 3 hour battling sessions I reached the magic number, 1500 CRE. I would have liked to have got onto the leaderboard with this team, but had exams coming up, and just didn't have the time, which is a shame. So here you have it. This is the team at a glance:
Team Building:
This team started the same way as all my teams did, I took a cool pokemon and built a team around it. In this case, it was Aggron.
The Sub Punch set allows Aggron to beat common walls such as Donphan, Registeel and Steelix. For Substitue to work effectively, I needed Paralysis support. Enter Slowbro
Slowbro is one of the best physical walls and its fighting resist is handy. Now, I need a Pokemon that can sweep, with walls such as Donphan and Registeel out of the way. This role fell to Swellow
Swellow's immunity to Ground makes her a good partner to Aggron. Bulky waters are still an issue for Slowbro, how do I deal with them? #003 Venusaur
Originaly I went for a Specs set, but found SWords Dance to be much better. Access to Sleep Powder is very valuable, and can sweep given half a chance. Moltres and Rotom stand in the way of Venusaur, do well against alot of my team. What can remove these threats. That job is left in the care of the kicking fiend, Hitmonleee
Hitmonlee is my revenge killer. His massive 110 Base SpDef allows it to revenge kill most Rotom and of course Moltres. Just the lead to go now. I went for Donphan, as it could at the time stop Froslass, but since has still proved to be very effective.
Stealth Rock Lead, with EQ, Stone Edge and a priority move. What more can you want?
The result to the team building was a very Physically based team, packed full with powerful Rock moves, and a balance of both bulky and frail attackers
The Team
I basically just took the Donphan Wall set and adapted it into a lead. What sets it apart slighlty from other rock leads such as Golem and Aggron is Ice Shard. Effectively a Bulky Version of Kabutops with Thunder Wave immunity.
(Superphan)
Donphan (F) @ Focus Sash
EVs: 52 HP/252 Atk/204 Def
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
A bulky lead, which often takes out the opposing lead, however not always laying down Stealth Rock. I suppose this is basically a lead Mamoswine but in UU. Against special attackers it will nearly always be left on 1HP. The choice between Stone Edge and Rock Slide is basically between power for later use and reliability. I used Stone Edge
Donphan vs. Common Leads
Alakazam - Beaten by EQ then Ice Shard. SR not set up
Ambipom - I think it takes around 15%-20% from Fake out. Can take it out with EQ and Ice Shard, or set up SR if you see a U-turn coming
Arcanine - Will beat if it holds Lum berry. Only loses to a combination of Focus Sash ExtremeSpeed and HP Grass
Cloyster - Probably Donphan's biggest problem. Its defence stat is so high, Stone Edge only does like 30%. Plus, it can Rapid Spin SR set up. Surf hits hard.
Froslass (I used this team when Froslass was in UU)- Gets one layer of Spikes at max. Beats Destiny Bonds with Ice Shard
Hariyama - Dents Hariyama but ultimately loses. Can get SR up though.
Houndoom - Easily beats with Earthquake, and Ice Shard beats Counter sets
Moltres - Will beat with Stone Edge unless Stone Edge misses or Donphan gets an unlucky burn.
Omastar - Earthquake. Ice Shard to beat Focus Sash
Two Lake guardians - Sets up SR and then proceeds to GTFO. Mesprit's Grass Knot is a 2HKO and Donphan cant really touch Uxie.
Regirock - Earthquake sorts Regirock out. Immunity to Thunder Wave is also helpful.
Venusaur - Yeah doesn't really stand up to Venusaur at all. Wont appreciate Sleep, and Power Whip will 2HKO for sure.
Electrode - I can take it down to its sash with EQ as it Sets up Rain Dance/Taunts/Explodes and then Ice Shard. Thunder immunity is cool.
Snover - Stone Edge will take out it out / down to focus sash. Blizzard and Grass Knot plus hail means Donphan may no be able to finish with Ice Shard.
Rhyperior - Earthquake and Ice Shard will beat all lead variants of Rhyperior.
Hippopotas - Earthquake is the most powerful move against Hippopotas. Hippopotas can't take Donphan down before it is taken down itself. Usually both set up SR
Ambipom - I think it takes around 15%-20% from Fake out. Can take it out with EQ and Ice Shard, or set up SR if you see a U-turn coming
Arcanine - Will beat if it holds Lum berry. Only loses to a combination of Focus Sash ExtremeSpeed and HP Grass
Cloyster - Probably Donphan's biggest problem. Its defence stat is so high, Stone Edge only does like 30%. Plus, it can Rapid Spin SR set up. Surf hits hard.
Froslass (I used this team when Froslass was in UU)- Gets one layer of Spikes at max. Beats Destiny Bonds with Ice Shard
Hariyama - Dents Hariyama but ultimately loses. Can get SR up though.
Houndoom - Easily beats with Earthquake, and Ice Shard beats Counter sets
Moltres - Will beat with Stone Edge unless Stone Edge misses or Donphan gets an unlucky burn.
Omastar - Earthquake. Ice Shard to beat Focus Sash
Two Lake guardians - Sets up SR and then proceeds to GTFO. Mesprit's Grass Knot is a 2HKO and Donphan cant really touch Uxie.
Regirock - Earthquake sorts Regirock out. Immunity to Thunder Wave is also helpful.
Venusaur - Yeah doesn't really stand up to Venusaur at all. Wont appreciate Sleep, and Power Whip will 2HKO for sure.
Electrode - I can take it down to its sash with EQ as it Sets up Rain Dance/Taunts/Explodes and then Ice Shard. Thunder immunity is cool.
Snover - Stone Edge will take out it out / down to focus sash. Blizzard and Grass Knot plus hail means Donphan may no be able to finish with Ice Shard.
Rhyperior - Earthquake and Ice Shard will beat all lead variants of Rhyperior.
Hippopotas - Earthquake is the most powerful move against Hippopotas. Hippopotas can't take Donphan down before it is taken down itself. Usually both set up SR
Aggron (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 160 HP/252 Atk/92 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Head Smash
- Focus Punch
- Magnet Rise
The big mumma herself. The heart of the team, her aim is to cause as much damage to as many Pokemon as possible. Despite this, Aggron usually appears mid to late game, once Paralysis has been spread, then Aggron can take advantage of Full Paralysis, and keep substitute up. Magnet Rise means that Rhyperior and other Earthquake users stuggle to break her substitue. Head Smash is obvious, and Focus Punch is a powerful 150 base power move, hitting Rock and Steel types hard. 160HP allows Aggron to make more substitutes combined with leftovers. Max Attack for massive damage, and the Speed to outspeed Donphan and other slow walls.
Venusaur (F) @ Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Power Whip
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Sleep Powder
Was originaly a Choice Specs set, but found that Venusaur became a dead weight after a Leaf Storm or locked in Sleep Powder, so I went for Swords Dance. Venusaur is vital to my team. It can Destroy Milotic, Rotom and Blastoise, all major threats to my team, and can put her usual counters (Moltres) to sleep, leaving them open to be set up on or revenge killed.
Hitmonlee (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Limber
EVs: 40 HP/252 Atk/216 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Blaze Kick
Revenge killing at its finest. I opted for Hitmonlee, as his SpDef makes it easy for hit to 2HKO the likes of Mismagius and Rotom with Stone Edge. A great check to Houndoom and Absol, as he resists their Sucker Punches and has access to Close Combat, and STAB 120 base power fighting type. Never got much use out of Earthquake, seeing as there are so many Pokemon who resist or are immune to it. I suppose Sucker Punch could go there, but that requires a heck of a lot of prediction to make it effective. Blaze Kick for Venusar and Grass types only, as Ice, Fighting and Bug are generally hit harded by Hitmonlee's other moves. He effectively deals with fast threats, Ambipon, Mismagius and Moltres
Swellow (F) @ Toxic Orb
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Quick Attack
When the big physical walls have been crushed, Swellow comes in and sweeps better than a 6 year old Victorian chimney cleaner. Brave Bird before Toxic Orb takes affect, then use moves accordingly. I sometimes use Swellow early game, perhaps before Stealth Rocks are up. Swellow screams for physical walls to come it, and Swellow acts a good bait for these walls. U-turn as they switch in, and then go to Slowbro to Paralyse them, so that Aggron can beat them later AND keep her sub up. Swellow is vunerable against priority users such as Blaziken and Arcanine, especially seeing a Swellow is regularly left on low health thanks to Toxic Orb. Because of this I decieded to use Quick Attack is over Pursuit, as Pursuit proved rather unsuccessful.
Slowbro (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Slack Off
- Surf
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
Slowbro. Takes physical hits like there's no freakin' tomorrow. It stares blankly in the face of Rhyperior, as Megahorn fails to 2HKO, and retaliates with Surf. As stratergy goes, Slowbro take a hit, paralyse anything that can be with Thunder Wave, then outspeed and KOs. Surf and Pshycic are two great STAB attacks, and Slack Off is a fantastic one turn recovery move. EVs help her take physical hits, but she does ok against Sp Attackers, HP Grass from Blaziken and Moltres never 1HKO, so she can then Thunder Wave and KO them with Surf.
Threats
Physical Walls - With a team of 5 Physical Attackers, these obviously cause a problem.
Milotic - The toughest of physical walls, it is especially hard to beat.
Moltres - SubRoost is a nightmare. Low PP rock moves, along with their terrible accuracy mean this this is a bitch to take down.
Rotom - Will-o-Wisp cripples 4 of my team, and Swellow can't absorb Will-o-Wisp with the threat of Thunderbolt. Substitute sets are also a pain.
Cursers - Not a huge threatnow Umbreon is OU, but with no Phaze or Haze they can cause problems
If I am allowed to, I will publish my team, so that anyone can download it and test it out.
In conclusion, this team has propelled me from an average battler to near the top 50. I doubt if it will ever get into the leaderboard, as it relies on moves with 80% accuracy. Any advice is very much appreciated. Also, what do you think of the format. If it is annoying centred, then I can change it back to normal.
Now Rate my Team
