My name is Kakimori. I'm a longtime lurker, Gen-1 grandpa, and first-time RMT poster. At its peak some time ago, I got up to the low 1900s with this team and feel it could go further, but I'm mostly a casual player (and this is a slow team) so I really can't summon the fortitude to grind the ladder for hours trying to reach a higher plateau. I do feel this team matches up well against most things, but I'm looking for constructive criticism about teambuilding as well as tips on how to better utilize the pokemon that ARE in my team and how to better address my major threats. Cheers! :)
Gengar has been on every team of mine since Generation 1, and Milotic has been on every team of mine since Generation 3. I’ll always use them, and they’re the best pokemon on my team.
This generation, a new monster reared its head(s) and I vowed I would incorporate it into my team somehow. Hydreigon resisted Gengar and Milotic’s weaknesses and vice versa, so I had a good start.
I wanted something that could handle physical attackers and avoid status, and Gliscor’s double immunities, great durability, and tricky movepool appealed to me so I added him to the team as my main physical wall.
I needed a priority user and something to stop special walls, so it made sense to add a CB Scizor. He also helped shore up Gliscor and Hydreigon’s ice weakness.
Finally, I needed something that could absorb Draco Meteors and act as a dedicated special wall, so I added specially defensive Jirachi.
Scizor got me the occasional Bullet Punch sweep, but more often he’d go down to a random HP Fire, or take a burn from Scald, and end up not doing too much. I tried out Choice Scarf Terrakion and SD Lucario in this slot before settling on Bulk Up Conkeldurr. He suited my play style by being difficult to take down while also dishing out damage.
I noticed that although Hydreigon almost always got a kill, he rarely stuck around long enough for me to abuse his incredible resistances. I finally settled on a bulky set that mimicked Celebi’s Tinkerbell set in a way that only Hydreigon could do.
With Hydreigon now bulky and slow, I felt that I needed something that could outspeed and beat down mid-range threats, but I still needed a Steel on my team to be able to take a Draco Meteor if necessary, and I also wanted a Ground weakness for free switch-ins to Gliscor, Hydreigon, and Gengar, so I settled on Katakiri’s Twinrova Jirachi set.
I liked my team as posted, but felt it could be improved while keeping the same Pokemon, so I made the following changes: Gliscor changed to SubProtectToxic, Hydreigon changed to offensive stallbreaker, Jirachi changed to standard SpDef. This gave me the incredible power of PlagueScor while sacrificing very little in terms of offence.
And that's how I got to my current team!
WYVERN
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish
EVs: 244 HP, 40 Def, 224 Spe
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Protect
-Earthquake
My Stealth Rock user, physical check, and all-around annoying staller. He can switch into Fighting, Ground, and Electric attacks intended for Hydreigon, Jirachi, and Milotic, and Earthquake usually does respectable damage to things that don’t resist it. He’s my last line of defense against Volcarona: if Hydreigon manages to paralyze it, he comes in afterwards and revenge kills with Stone Edge (I really prefer Ice Fang, but Volcarona just runs all over me if I don’t have a way to OHKO it after paralysis).
I love Gliscor, but aside from getting Stealth Rocks up, he doesn’t seem to do much in most games due to the high amount of weather and special attackers in the current metagame. Then again, he’s invaluable against the rare physically-oriented teams I run into, and solidly checks Heatran, Tyranitar, Scizor, and Terrakion. I’m very, very open to suggestions about his EV spread and moveset. I like the idea of SubProtectToxic because of its durability and the ability to utterly wreck teams that are unprepared for it, but then I don't know what I'd do about Stealth Rocks, and Scizor's Bullet Punch would hurt even more than it already does.
Changed from SR/SE/Protect/EQ to PlagueScor. The amount of utility I get out of it is incredible, and it can very quickly wreck teams that aren't prepared for it if they make even one mistake. I love this Pokemon. I'm not sure the EVs suggested are actually optimal and would prefer more bulk if I don't actually need to outrun everything. Then again, it's working out very well as is.
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COUATL
Milotic @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale
Nature: Calm (+SpDef, -Atk)
EVs: 148 HP, 224 Def, 136 SpDef
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Sleep Talk
-Rest
MVP, no joke. My Milotic has swept more teams than any other Pokemon here. She’s incredibly bulky on both sides of the spectrum, soaks up status without batting an eye, and RestTalk makes full use of her ability to ensure victory against anything that can’t 3HKO her, and even some things that can.
Scald is standard for STAB and to burn things, but I disagree with the trend of running Dragon Tail as her second attacking option. Part of Milotic’s charm is the ability to reliably hand out respectable amounts of damage while RestTalking, and she needs two attacks to be able to do that, not to mention that Dragon Tail is just asking to be set up on by anything that knows Substitute. Ice Beam also lets my Milotic check dragons, Venusaur, and the ever-popular Thundurus-T: she can take an Outrage, Draco Meteor, Solarbeam, or Life Orb Thunderbolt and fire back for super effective damage. I’ve walked through Choice Band Haxorus and Salamence one after the other with nothing but her and a little luck, stalled out Timid Leftovers Starmie (which always fails to 3HKO with Thunderbolt), and, believe it or not, this thing can break standard WishBliss one-on-one.
The EVs are my own design, giving her 368 HP (a leftovers number), 375 defense, and 352 special defense after activating Marvel Scale, and maximizing extra stat points in SpDef. If you know of a spread that provides strictly better all-around bulk, let me know. Otherwise, I’m not looking to change her.
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ANTAEUS
Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 120 HP, 252 Atk, 136 SpDef
-Bulk Up
-Drain Punch
-Ice Punch
-Mach Punch
No matter how many times you throw him down, he keeps getting up. I used to run CB Scizor in this slot until I got tired of every third pokemon OHKOing me with HP Fire. Conkeldurr is my way of dealing with things like Heatran, Tyranitar, Terrakion, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Gliscor, and Blissey easily and painlessly. Ice Punch also hits Latios quite hard on the switch and can give Celebi grief. With all the Dragons and so on in Standard today, most people have a lot of Steel pokemon on their team, and Conkeldurr eats them for breakfast. Once his checks such as Jellicent and Gengar are removed, he can plow through whole teams like an inexorable juggernaut. You can even get through Gengar sometimes if you’re careful. This is the Machamp-mimicking EV set designed by Chou Toshio (more or less the standard), and I’ve found its bulk to be quite good, though of course you must be careful around certain Special attacks. I rarely Bulk Up straight away…usually I’ll fire off a Drain Punch or Ice Punch to test the waters and assume that I’ll at least get some damage down. God help my opponent if they even think about burning him.
It’s very simple. He just breaks things.
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TINKERHELL
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Mild
EVs: 206 HP, 252 SpAtk, 52 Spe
-Fire Blast
-Draco Meteor
-Superpower
-Roost
I have to say that I’m proud of this little monster. I used to run Choice Specs with 4 attacks and just enough HP EVs to put him at 333 (harf harf snicker snicker), and while I enjoyed OHKOing Politoeds and roasting Ferrothorns on the switch, I eventually came to realize that the loss of offensive momentum caused by being locked into Choice didn’t suit my play style well at all. I ran a 252/0/72/64/72/48 LO set with Thunder Wave/Draco Meteor/Roost/Earthquake to mimic Tinkerbell Celebi's stats for a while, but I found myself being set up on by pokemon I couldn’t kill and wasting HP doing pitiful damage with Earthquake (though it did take on Heatran and Tyranitar quite well).
I played around with Shouting’s set from the Hydreigon thread for a while and it turned me on to the usefulness of Taunt (the EV spread is also thanks to him…it’s basically my EV spread with the Defense EVs consolidated into Special Defense, and makes sense given the truism that most attacks Hydreigon switches into will be Special). It was very bulky and had great survivability with Leftovers. However, I was disgusted by the fact that this Hydreigon couldn’t even OHKO a Gengar. I mean, it’s a Hydreigon. Have some pride. So I found that by changing the item to Life Orb and replacing the coverage move with my original Thunder Wave, I could OHKO or 2HKO even very bulky pokemon while crippling those I couldn’t.
You might be saying, “But Kakimori, he only has one attack! Think of the coverage! Think of the children!” Well, yes, but it’s a hell of an attack. If you don’t resist it, you’ll be in pain. The most common switch-ins, Ferrothorn, Blissey, and Forretress, get taunted, can do nothing, and then I switch out to a counter. Faster pokemon who think they can revenge him after a SpAtk drop eat a Thunder Wave, I Roost up until they get fully paralyzed, and then I switch out to a counter. It’s amazing the amount of people who think he’s fully offensive and then rage when I take 48% from an Ice Beam and Thunder Wave their sweeper: aside from Milotic and Gengar, he's probably scored the most ragequits. This *may* be the bulky Hydreigon set I’ve been looking for.
He comes in on…well, everything. Water attacks meant for Gliscor, Grass and Electric attacks meant for Milotic, Psychic attacks meant for Conkeldurr, Ghost, Psychic, and Dark attacks meant for Gengar, Fire and Ground attacks meant for Jirachi.
Changed from Bulky Defensive to Stallbreaker. After changing from offensive Jirachi to SpDef, I needed more of an offensive presence and bumping Hydreigon up to the role seemed like a good idea. I run a lot of HP EV's to maintain a bit of bulk, but I'm very open to EV suggestions. Roost is a must, but I'd consider changing Superpower to Dark Pulse to take on Jellicent and Reuniclus, hit more things for Neutral, and run Modest for better defenses. I still feel this is a long way from being perfectly optimised.
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CHESHIRE
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Disable
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
Before Generation 5, I used to just run Gengar as a fast special sweeper with Destiny Bond, but he always felt a bit out of place in my bulkier play style. Now that he has SubDisable, I feel as though he’s really come into his own. After Milotic, Gengar is responsible for the majority of my sweeps…or, if he doesn’t sweep a team outright before going down, he can still do irreparable damage. He can come in on Ground attacks aimed at Jirachi, U-turns and Fighting attacks meant for Hydreigon, boosting moves, and any slower pokemon that’s locked into a Choice set.
Using SubDisable Gengar is always a bit of a chess match with his life as a disposable resource (will they stay in and attack? will they switch out?) and I enjoy that aspect of his play. Black Sludge over Leftovers will be a controversial choice, and I have to say I do it mostly out of spite. If something Tricks me, I want them to at least suffer a little bit for the indignity. Plus, they’ll want to get rid of it as soon as possible, so there’s a chance I can switch back into it.
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TWINROVA
Jirachi @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP, 236 SpDef, 20 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Body Slam
-Iron Head
-Wish
I liked Katakiri’s Twinrova Jirachi set from his Prelude of Light RMT so much that I stole it and posted my theft here for all the world to see. People don’t expect Jirachi to be offensive. They also don’t expect it to take Landorus-T Earthquakes and OHKO in return. They also don’t expect it to OHKO Scizor and Salamence or 2HKO Gliscor and Ferrothorn. They also don’t expect it to bring a crippled, low-health Milotic, Conkeldurr, Hydreigon, or Gengar back for another round of fun. Once Hydreigon has paralyzed swathes of my opponent’s team, Jirachi becomes the true Haxrachi of legend. It’s just…it’s just nasty.
Aside from Milotic, Jirachi is my only reliable check to dragons (and, once upon a time, Specs Hurricane), and I find that I need to manage him very carefully if I want to stay alive in certain games. He can come in on Ice attacks meant for Gliscor and Hydreigon, Grass attacks meant for Milotic, and Psychic attacks meant for Gengar and Conkeldurr.
Changed offensive Jirachi to SpDef FlinchRachi version. I'm not used to running Wish, so I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, but I think it can be more useful on this version of Jirachi than Healing Wish would be (especially for switching Hydreigon in). This change allowed me to run PlagueScor, which is AMAZING. I'm considering running Rocky Helmet on this as a "SCREW YOU" switch-in to Breloom's Bullet Seed and Cloyster's Icicle Spear, but I'm not sure it's worth the loss of Leftovers.
A few notes about the team:
-2 of my pokemon resist SR, and no pokemon are weak.
-Only half of the team is damaged by Spikes, and nobody really cares about Toxic Spikes…Conkeldurr actually likes them.
-I only have one Water weakness (Gliscor) and one Fire weakness (Jirachi) to help mitigate the dangerous effects of weather, and two resistances for each.
-I usually lead with Gliscor or Hydreigon (sometimes Conkeldurr) depending on their team composition.
-SubCM Latias, Volcarona, Shell Smash Cloyster, LO Thundurus-T, and SubDD Gyarados are my biggest threats, and I can handle them all if I’m careful but it’s very touch-and-go. If you have any suggestions for dealing with them, please let me know.
Team Creation
Gengar has been on every team of mine since Generation 1, and Milotic has been on every team of mine since Generation 3. I’ll always use them, and they’re the best pokemon on my team.
This generation, a new monster reared its head(s) and I vowed I would incorporate it into my team somehow. Hydreigon resisted Gengar and Milotic’s weaknesses and vice versa, so I had a good start.
I wanted something that could handle physical attackers and avoid status, and Gliscor’s double immunities, great durability, and tricky movepool appealed to me so I added him to the team as my main physical wall.
I needed a priority user and something to stop special walls, so it made sense to add a CB Scizor. He also helped shore up Gliscor and Hydreigon’s ice weakness.
Finally, I needed something that could absorb Draco Meteors and act as a dedicated special wall, so I added specially defensive Jirachi.
Scizor got me the occasional Bullet Punch sweep, but more often he’d go down to a random HP Fire, or take a burn from Scald, and end up not doing too much. I tried out Choice Scarf Terrakion and SD Lucario in this slot before settling on Bulk Up Conkeldurr. He suited my play style by being difficult to take down while also dishing out damage.
I noticed that although Hydreigon almost always got a kill, he rarely stuck around long enough for me to abuse his incredible resistances. I finally settled on a bulky set that mimicked Celebi’s Tinkerbell set in a way that only Hydreigon could do.
With Hydreigon now bulky and slow, I felt that I needed something that could outspeed and beat down mid-range threats, but I still needed a Steel on my team to be able to take a Draco Meteor if necessary, and I also wanted a Ground weakness for free switch-ins to Gliscor, Hydreigon, and Gengar, so I settled on Katakiri’s Twinrova Jirachi set.
I liked my team as posted, but felt it could be improved while keeping the same Pokemon, so I made the following changes: Gliscor changed to SubProtectToxic, Hydreigon changed to offensive stallbreaker, Jirachi changed to standard SpDef. This gave me the incredible power of PlagueScor while sacrificing very little in terms of offence.
And that's how I got to my current team!
My Play Style
The style of play that suits me best is Bulky Offense. I much prefer it when my pokemon have bulk and means of recovery, but also the firepower to put hits on the opposing team. I want to be able to switch my pokemon in multiple times over the course of a battle, and I love it when my opponent simply can't come up with an answer for something like Milotic, Gengar, or Conkeldurr as their team is slowly worn down.
I generally attempt to minimize the amount of offensive prediction I have to do by putting my opponent in lose-lose situations: What pokemon is best to sacrifice to Gengar once it's safely behind a sub? Which non-resistant pokemon left on their team can best afford to eat a Conkeldurr Drain Punch? Will they sacrifice their current pokemon to whittle down Milotic or switch in a counter but take a hit and leave my health intact? Will they deal 50% to my Hydreigon and get OHKO'd or switch to something that can take the Draco Meteor better, but can't touch it after Taunt? Forcing these kinds of decisions forms the basis of my offensive presence.
On the other hand, I designed the team so that my pokemon's resistances (hopefully) complement each other quite well, and so that I'll have more than one right answer to most situations from the defensive perspective. This doesn't necessarily mean I won't have to think, but it does give me a large toolbox to work with and the ability to put my own pokemon in favorable situations more often than not, especially if my opponent doesn't know that my Hydreigon can take a CB Mamoswine Ice Shard or that my Jirachi outspeeds a Breloom or is NOT, in fact, choice-locked into Iron Head.
When it works well, it should be like Kevin Garrett's definition of stall, the feeling of jaws slowly but surely closing around you, but punctuated by the occasional explosive or unexpected moment: BAM! a pokemon goes down to Draco Meteor. BAM! Jirachi OHKOs a Salamence.
I never feel happier than when I win a tough battle with all 6 of my pokemon still alive.
I generally attempt to minimize the amount of offensive prediction I have to do by putting my opponent in lose-lose situations: What pokemon is best to sacrifice to Gengar once it's safely behind a sub? Which non-resistant pokemon left on their team can best afford to eat a Conkeldurr Drain Punch? Will they sacrifice their current pokemon to whittle down Milotic or switch in a counter but take a hit and leave my health intact? Will they deal 50% to my Hydreigon and get OHKO'd or switch to something that can take the Draco Meteor better, but can't touch it after Taunt? Forcing these kinds of decisions forms the basis of my offensive presence.
On the other hand, I designed the team so that my pokemon's resistances (hopefully) complement each other quite well, and so that I'll have more than one right answer to most situations from the defensive perspective. This doesn't necessarily mean I won't have to think, but it does give me a large toolbox to work with and the ability to put my own pokemon in favorable situations more often than not, especially if my opponent doesn't know that my Hydreigon can take a CB Mamoswine Ice Shard or that my Jirachi outspeeds a Breloom or is NOT, in fact, choice-locked into Iron Head.
When it works well, it should be like Kevin Garrett's definition of stall, the feeling of jaws slowly but surely closing around you, but punctuated by the occasional explosive or unexpected moment: BAM! a pokemon goes down to Draco Meteor. BAM! Jirachi OHKOs a Salamence.
I never feel happier than when I win a tough battle with all 6 of my pokemon still alive.
The Team
WYVERN
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
Nature: Impish
EVs: 244 HP, 40 Def, 224 Spe
-Substitute
-Toxic
-Protect
-Earthquake
My Stealth Rock user, physical check, and all-around annoying staller. He can switch into Fighting, Ground, and Electric attacks intended for Hydreigon, Jirachi, and Milotic, and Earthquake usually does respectable damage to things that don’t resist it. He’s my last line of defense against Volcarona: if Hydreigon manages to paralyze it, he comes in afterwards and revenge kills with Stone Edge (I really prefer Ice Fang, but Volcarona just runs all over me if I don’t have a way to OHKO it after paralysis).
I love Gliscor, but aside from getting Stealth Rocks up, he doesn’t seem to do much in most games due to the high amount of weather and special attackers in the current metagame. Then again, he’s invaluable against the rare physically-oriented teams I run into, and solidly checks Heatran, Tyranitar, Scizor, and Terrakion. I’m very, very open to suggestions about his EV spread and moveset. I like the idea of SubProtectToxic because of its durability and the ability to utterly wreck teams that are unprepared for it, but then I don't know what I'd do about Stealth Rocks, and Scizor's Bullet Punch would hurt even more than it already does.
Changed from SR/SE/Protect/EQ to PlagueScor. The amount of utility I get out of it is incredible, and it can very quickly wreck teams that aren't prepared for it if they make even one mistake. I love this Pokemon. I'm not sure the EVs suggested are actually optimal and would prefer more bulk if I don't actually need to outrun everything. Then again, it's working out very well as is.
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COUATL
Milotic @ Leftovers
Trait: Marvel Scale
Nature: Calm (+SpDef, -Atk)
EVs: 148 HP, 224 Def, 136 SpDef
-Scald
-Ice Beam
-Sleep Talk
-Rest
MVP, no joke. My Milotic has swept more teams than any other Pokemon here. She’s incredibly bulky on both sides of the spectrum, soaks up status without batting an eye, and RestTalk makes full use of her ability to ensure victory against anything that can’t 3HKO her, and even some things that can.
Scald is standard for STAB and to burn things, but I disagree with the trend of running Dragon Tail as her second attacking option. Part of Milotic’s charm is the ability to reliably hand out respectable amounts of damage while RestTalking, and she needs two attacks to be able to do that, not to mention that Dragon Tail is just asking to be set up on by anything that knows Substitute. Ice Beam also lets my Milotic check dragons, Venusaur, and the ever-popular Thundurus-T: she can take an Outrage, Draco Meteor, Solarbeam, or Life Orb Thunderbolt and fire back for super effective damage. I’ve walked through Choice Band Haxorus and Salamence one after the other with nothing but her and a little luck, stalled out Timid Leftovers Starmie (which always fails to 3HKO with Thunderbolt), and, believe it or not, this thing can break standard WishBliss one-on-one.
The EVs are my own design, giving her 368 HP (a leftovers number), 375 defense, and 352 special defense after activating Marvel Scale, and maximizing extra stat points in SpDef. If you know of a spread that provides strictly better all-around bulk, let me know. Otherwise, I’m not looking to change her.
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ANTAEUS
Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 120 HP, 252 Atk, 136 SpDef
-Bulk Up
-Drain Punch
-Ice Punch
-Mach Punch
No matter how many times you throw him down, he keeps getting up. I used to run CB Scizor in this slot until I got tired of every third pokemon OHKOing me with HP Fire. Conkeldurr is my way of dealing with things like Heatran, Tyranitar, Terrakion, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Gliscor, and Blissey easily and painlessly. Ice Punch also hits Latios quite hard on the switch and can give Celebi grief. With all the Dragons and so on in Standard today, most people have a lot of Steel pokemon on their team, and Conkeldurr eats them for breakfast. Once his checks such as Jellicent and Gengar are removed, he can plow through whole teams like an inexorable juggernaut. You can even get through Gengar sometimes if you’re careful. This is the Machamp-mimicking EV set designed by Chou Toshio (more or less the standard), and I’ve found its bulk to be quite good, though of course you must be careful around certain Special attacks. I rarely Bulk Up straight away…usually I’ll fire off a Drain Punch or Ice Punch to test the waters and assume that I’ll at least get some damage down. God help my opponent if they even think about burning him.
It’s very simple. He just breaks things.
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TINKERHELL
Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Mild
EVs: 206 HP, 252 SpAtk, 52 Spe
-Fire Blast
-Draco Meteor
-Superpower
-Roost
I have to say that I’m proud of this little monster. I used to run Choice Specs with 4 attacks and just enough HP EVs to put him at 333 (harf harf snicker snicker), and while I enjoyed OHKOing Politoeds and roasting Ferrothorns on the switch, I eventually came to realize that the loss of offensive momentum caused by being locked into Choice didn’t suit my play style well at all. I ran a 252/0/72/64/72/48 LO set with Thunder Wave/Draco Meteor/Roost/Earthquake to mimic Tinkerbell Celebi's stats for a while, but I found myself being set up on by pokemon I couldn’t kill and wasting HP doing pitiful damage with Earthquake (though it did take on Heatran and Tyranitar quite well).
I played around with Shouting’s set from the Hydreigon thread for a while and it turned me on to the usefulness of Taunt (the EV spread is also thanks to him…it’s basically my EV spread with the Defense EVs consolidated into Special Defense, and makes sense given the truism that most attacks Hydreigon switches into will be Special). It was very bulky and had great survivability with Leftovers. However, I was disgusted by the fact that this Hydreigon couldn’t even OHKO a Gengar. I mean, it’s a Hydreigon. Have some pride. So I found that by changing the item to Life Orb and replacing the coverage move with my original Thunder Wave, I could OHKO or 2HKO even very bulky pokemon while crippling those I couldn’t.
You might be saying, “But Kakimori, he only has one attack! Think of the coverage! Think of the children!” Well, yes, but it’s a hell of an attack. If you don’t resist it, you’ll be in pain. The most common switch-ins, Ferrothorn, Blissey, and Forretress, get taunted, can do nothing, and then I switch out to a counter. Faster pokemon who think they can revenge him after a SpAtk drop eat a Thunder Wave, I Roost up until they get fully paralyzed, and then I switch out to a counter. It’s amazing the amount of people who think he’s fully offensive and then rage when I take 48% from an Ice Beam and Thunder Wave their sweeper: aside from Milotic and Gengar, he's probably scored the most ragequits. This *may* be the bulky Hydreigon set I’ve been looking for.
He comes in on…well, everything. Water attacks meant for Gliscor, Grass and Electric attacks meant for Milotic, Psychic attacks meant for Conkeldurr, Ghost, Psychic, and Dark attacks meant for Gengar, Fire and Ground attacks meant for Jirachi.
Changed from Bulky Defensive to Stallbreaker. After changing from offensive Jirachi to SpDef, I needed more of an offensive presence and bumping Hydreigon up to the role seemed like a good idea. I run a lot of HP EV's to maintain a bit of bulk, but I'm very open to EV suggestions. Roost is a must, but I'd consider changing Superpower to Dark Pulse to take on Jellicent and Reuniclus, hit more things for Neutral, and run Modest for better defenses. I still feel this is a long way from being perfectly optimised.
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CHESHIRE
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP, 252 SpAtk, 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Disable
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
Before Generation 5, I used to just run Gengar as a fast special sweeper with Destiny Bond, but he always felt a bit out of place in my bulkier play style. Now that he has SubDisable, I feel as though he’s really come into his own. After Milotic, Gengar is responsible for the majority of my sweeps…or, if he doesn’t sweep a team outright before going down, he can still do irreparable damage. He can come in on Ground attacks aimed at Jirachi, U-turns and Fighting attacks meant for Hydreigon, boosting moves, and any slower pokemon that’s locked into a Choice set.
Using SubDisable Gengar is always a bit of a chess match with his life as a disposable resource (will they stay in and attack? will they switch out?) and I enjoy that aspect of his play. Black Sludge over Leftovers will be a controversial choice, and I have to say I do it mostly out of spite. If something Tricks me, I want them to at least suffer a little bit for the indignity. Plus, they’ll want to get rid of it as soon as possible, so there’s a chance I can switch back into it.
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TWINROVA
Jirachi @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP, 236 SpDef, 20 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Body Slam
-Iron Head
-Wish
I liked Katakiri’s Twinrova Jirachi set from his Prelude of Light RMT so much that I stole it and posted my theft here for all the world to see. People don’t expect Jirachi to be offensive. They also don’t expect it to take Landorus-T Earthquakes and OHKO in return. They also don’t expect it to OHKO Scizor and Salamence or 2HKO Gliscor and Ferrothorn. They also don’t expect it to bring a crippled, low-health Milotic, Conkeldurr, Hydreigon, or Gengar back for another round of fun. Once Hydreigon has paralyzed swathes of my opponent’s team, Jirachi becomes the true Haxrachi of legend. It’s just…it’s just nasty.
Aside from Milotic, Jirachi is my only reliable check to dragons (and, once upon a time, Specs Hurricane), and I find that I need to manage him very carefully if I want to stay alive in certain games. He can come in on Ice attacks meant for Gliscor and Hydreigon, Grass attacks meant for Milotic, and Psychic attacks meant for Gengar and Conkeldurr.
Changed offensive Jirachi to SpDef FlinchRachi version. I'm not used to running Wish, so I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, but I think it can be more useful on this version of Jirachi than Healing Wish would be (especially for switching Hydreigon in). This change allowed me to run PlagueScor, which is AMAZING. I'm considering running Rocky Helmet on this as a "SCREW YOU" switch-in to Breloom's Bullet Seed and Cloyster's Icicle Spear, but I'm not sure it's worth the loss of Leftovers.
A few notes about the team:
-2 of my pokemon resist SR, and no pokemon are weak.
-Only half of the team is damaged by Spikes, and nobody really cares about Toxic Spikes…Conkeldurr actually likes them.
-I only have one Water weakness (Gliscor) and one Fire weakness (Jirachi) to help mitigate the dangerous effects of weather, and two resistances for each.
-I usually lead with Gliscor or Hydreigon (sometimes Conkeldurr) depending on their team composition.
-SubCM Latias, Volcarona, Shell Smash Cloyster, LO Thundurus-T, and SubDD Gyarados are my biggest threats, and I can handle them all if I’m careful but it’s very touch-and-go. If you have any suggestions for dealing with them, please let me know.
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