The Slow has Become the Fast

[Dragone]

I decided to celebrate my return to Smogon with my first RMT in awhile. So here it is, the team I used to climb to the top 20 ranked on Pokemon Battle Center.

Introduction
The name of this team was inspired from the famous fable tortoise and the hare, so I figured I could make a team around it with mostly slow and steady pokes that could outplay almost everything. Through the use of paralysis and other conditions my pokes become faster than the standards. The team got its basic construction from starting with a pure physical wall paired with a pure special wall, but we'll get more into that later. I tend to get a lot of stalemates with this team, but hopefully we can turn those into wins,(thats where the raters come in).

Team Building
As I said before I wanted to have a physical and special wall that could switch into harmful situations. Here were my first two choices, physical and special respectfully.

Next I wanted a mixed defensive wall/staler that could set up rocks, I had only one choice in my mind.

At this point my team has an awful times 8 fire weakness, so I needed to fix this now, which spawned an idea.

At this point all of my pokes are much to slow, so i need a powerful and diverse sweeper to fix this.

My last poke needed to be able to check everything that i didn't have yet, which was a lot at this point.

Now was when I realized that chansey was an upgrade from blissy so I quickly made the change.

It seemed redundant to have ferro and fort on the same team so I switched out fort for scizor so I could have an alternative sweeper that could also check tyranitar better.

The Team

(Rainbow) Politoed (F) @ Choice Scarf
Drizzle
252 SP ATK/252 SPE/4 HP
Modest
-Hidden Power (Grass)
-Perish Song
-Ice Beam
-Scald

Starter
She sets up rain, and is mainly used to counter other starters. HP (Grass) for rain counters. Perish Song is a secondary defense against baton passers. Ice Beam for added type coverage, and to counter pokes with 4 times weakness to it. Scald for STAB and nice burn %. Politoed is a starting special sweeper ready for anything. She has two attacks that can cause status conditions, which puts a nice dent in the other team at the beginning of the battle. Her offensive spreads and choice scarf make her an excellent sweeper, and few people can predict this. She has nice support from my other team members that can switch in if she's in trouble.

(Kukui) Scizor (F) @ Occa Berry
Technician
248 HP/252 ATK/8 SPE
Adamant
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Punch
-Roost
-Bug Bite

Physical Sweeper
Able to easily check Tyranitar and other common rain team threats. 6+ attack bullet punch is able to KO almost anything. Many teams don't make use of roar, etc, so sometimes Scizor sweeps entire teams that aren't ready. Swords Dance is to boost attack. Bullet Punch is to KO fast threats, and finish off weakened opponents. Roost is so it can outlast stallers like Ferrothorn. Bug Bite is STAB and for slower opponents. The rain and occa berry make Scizor last at least one turn, even against powerful fire type moves. HP ev's for added bulk, but the rest are all in attack.

(Banyan) Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Iron Barbs
252 HP/124 SP DEF/132 DEF
Careful
-Gyro Ball
-Stealth Rock
-Spikes
-Power Whip

Mixed Wall
Able to switch into most situations and take little damage, Ferrothorn is my defensive core. In the rain her times 4 weakness to fire is less of a drawback. She is able to set up rocks and to stall against a variety of opponents with leech seed. Power Whip allows for some not modest damage. She is another poke on my team that helps check the common Tyranitar. When fighting type moves are coming switch to Dragonite. Gyro Ball is STAB and added type coverage. Stealth rock is to set up rocks. Spikes is for added support. Power Whip is STAB. Rocky helmet helps prevent pokes from using rapid spin.

(Lahaina) Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Levitate
252 SP ATK/252 SPE/4 HP
Modest
-Grass Knot
-Thunder
-Surf
-Draco Meteor

Special Sweeper
Latios is the clean up of the team, he sweeps once the opponent has been weakened. His ev's in speed allow him to out-speed most foes and his large special attack stat makes sure they are KOed. His wide range of typed moves makes him like a swiss army knife that is ready for any type combination. Grass Knot is for rain counters. Thunderbolt is for added type coverage. Surf is for fire types and it deals a considerable amount of damage in the rain. Draco Meteor is STAB.

(Nene) Dragonite (F) @ Leftovers
Mulitiscale
252 HP/108 DEF/148 SP DEF
Impish
-Thunder Wave
-Substitute
-Roost
-Dragon Tail

Mixed Wall
With her incredible bulk and defensive stats, and even ability Dragonite is hard to KO. She is used to mainly check opponent pokes that have boosted their stats. Her defense is strong enough to take a well boosted and even super effective attack, then she can use dragon tail and make the changes void. Thunder wave is to paralyze multiple opponents so that my other sweepers can sweep even easier. Substitute is for defense against status conditions and leech seed. Roost restores lost HP and resets multiscale. Dragon Tail combined with rocks does massive damage and can lock opponents.

(Haleakala) Chansey (F) @ Eviolite
Natural Cure
252 DEF/252 SP DEF/4 HP
Impish
-Aromatherapy
-Wish
-Thunder Wave
-Seismic Toss

Mixed Wall
Her huge HP reserves allow her to switch into most attack while taking little damage. Natural Cure helps her from staying poisoned and her defense ev's allow her to take physical attacks well. Aromatherapy cures my teams status aliments. Wish can pass huge HP bonuses to my other defensive pokes, mostly for dragonite. Thunder Wave is for added paralysis support. Seismic Toss is for damage dealing.

Last Remarks
I have two pokes with weakness times 4 to fire but it's not as bad as it seems, the rain helps, and i can always switch in chansey or dragonite.
As for having no rapid spinner i'm fine with that. If i see a spiker sent out i'll switch to scizor and swords dance while he lays down spikes. Then I can bullet punch his entire team for easy KOes and finish sweeping with Latios, who is immune to spikes, and toxic spikes.
Well thats my team. I want to hear what you think.
Signed, Dragone

 

[wraiders11]

bug bite > x scissor on scizor because it gets the technician boost, making it base 90 power

 

[Mr Tempest]

Might want to deal with Dragonites 252/252/252 evs :p

 

[Maid-]

go with 248 HP evs on scizor. you can put them into SpD if you don't want to speed tie with other scizors. i believe you're taking 1 more damage when you switch into entry hazards so it's better to just go 1 under that HP threshold. bug bite does more damage than x-scissor on scizor because of technician. also i'd put the 4 SpD points on your politoed into speed just to outspeed pokes with the same base speed and no investment. overall, it's actually a pretty good team.

 

[coughing]

Ok, a few things

You say HP ice on latios is for flying dragons and gliscor, Surf on its own let alone in the rain surely should OKO Gliscor? and dragons you have draco meteor, seems like a waste of a moveslot, i's suggest replacing it with Grass knot and/or thunderbolt replace with psyshock: says fuck you to blissey, toxicroak, grass knot deals with quaggy and gastrodon which are hardcore rain counters.

You have quite a defensive team, chansey, ferrothorn, defensive dragonite, defensive toed, and running dragon tail defensive set on dragonite with little hazard damage seems pointless. I'd suggest the following:

Politoed: Drizzle
@choice Scarf
252Spa/252Spe/4hp Modest nature
-hydro pump
-ice beam
-hidden power grass
-perish song/hypnosis

the politoed is a preference thing but always worked better for me, up to you though, makes your team more offensive as it sort of looks like defensive stall but... without the hazards; leading me to my next suggestion: a better rain abusing dragonite.

Dragonite: Multiscale
Leftovers
calm nature
252hp/108Spa/148Sdef
-hurricane
-thunder
-roost
-dragon tail

Since he still has dragon tail, i'd recommend running spikes on ferrothorn, to rack up max damage when phazing, and since you don't have a spinner, make it hold rocky helmet and run power whip, reasoning: most spinners are weak to power whip in OU, if they spin, 25% damage to them so they will think twice before spinning again. soo with SR spikes and power whip on ferrothorn you may as well run gyro ball too, and reduce your speed IV's to 0.

Thats how i'd improve it.
Other than that, looks balanced and pretty solid

 

[Dragone]

Ferrothorn is already plenty to handle the hard core rain counters. I also already have three pokes that check blissy so, I'm not about to hinder my type range for repetition. I like your move set choices for Politoed and Dragonite, and I look forward to trying them out. The changes on Ferrothorn also seem nice. Thanks for also being the first to do a REAL rate.
Thanks coughing

 

[AfroThunderRule]

Skimmed this and I only have one thing to say, you don't need HP Ice on Latios. He learns Ice Beam

Not going to say anymore since I suck at team rating. Hope I helped.

 

[Dragone]

Had already changed it but thanks

 

[AfroThunderRule]

Oh and one more thing, this may not be much but your current EV/Nature spread for Ferrothorn and Dragonite can be better.

Your current Nature/EVs give on your Ferrothorn gives you 352/327/331 defenses. An EV spread of 252/124/132 and a Careful Nature (instead of Impish) gives you 352/329/331 defenses. A two point increase in Defense.

Your current Nature/EVs give on your Dragonite gives you 386/289/260 defenses. An EV spread of 252/148/108 and a Impish Nature (instead of Careful) gives you 386/289/263 defenses. A three point increase in Special Defense.

Like I said it's not much but there's no reason to run sup-optimal EV spreads, and I'm sure there's someone smarter than me who can increase the potential further.

 

[Dragone]

Well I was always under the impression that the nature should benefit the highest base stat, but i guess there are exceptions.

 

[Crona]

That's a good team, from the first look at it, I couldn't find major faults.
But to start off with, I don't think Rocky Helmet on Ferrothorn exactly prevents Rapid Spin.
Sure, you're doing tons of damage just by them touching you, but I'm sure they can work around it and screw your hazards up. I'd prefer Leftovers since you lack Leech Seed (which you can't run with both SR and Spikes).
If you want to block hazards, use a spinblocker (but I'm not sure how you can fit one on your team, it looks like it'd have to be completely rebuilt).

Another suggestion I could make is fitting Wish onto your Chansey. You have lots of healers supporting themselves, but I'm sure DNite would appreciate full HP upon switching in, recovering 83% with your spreads. SR and a switch on a Fighting type move, surely DNite can easily get that Multiscale back. I would drop Thunder Wave on Chansey for it, but you'd also have to drop Aromatherapy for Heal Bell, since those are illegal. It's blocked by Soundproof, but you won't see that often.

Other than that, I think this team could do really well.

 

[Dragone]

Thanks for the rates everyone, this has helped my team reach an even higher rank on Pokemon Battle Center. I'm gonna go ahead and keep ferro the way he is for now cuz he workin pretty good. Also I already got the idea to put wish on chansey, but thanks for reinforcing it. I'll probably come out with a version 2 of this team once I reach ranked #1 so keep a look out.

 

[Shurtugal]

Looking like your everyday rain team to me. Lets see what you got~

Politoed/Chansey/Ferrothorn/Latios/Scizor/Dragonite

I personally find that Politoed's wall set is better than his offensive set as poison usually helps out his sweepers, and his bulk sets help him survive some Weather Wars. Let me show you the Politoed I recommend~

Politoed:

Hide

Politoed @ Leftovers
Nature: (+Sp.Def/-Atk)
Effort Values: 200 Hp/180 SpDef/130 Def

~ Toxic
~ Protect
~ Hydro Pump/Surf/Scald
~ Perish Song/Hidden Power (Grass)

Lets us see, Dragonite and Ferrothorn... With Ferrothorn doing your mixed walling (max out Special Defense) you can run a bulky DDance Dragonite instead.

Dragonite:

Hide

Dragonite @ Leftovers/Life Orb
Nature: (+Def/-SpA)
Effort Values: 200 Hp/180 Def/130 SpDef

~ Roost
~ Dragon Dance
~ Outrage
~ Waterfall

Now, with Ferrothorn doing a role in specail defending, time to replace chansey. (But before we do) Run this Ferrothorn set:

Ferrothorn:

Hide

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers/Rock Helmet
Nature: Sassy
IV: 0Spe
Effort Values: 252 Hp/252 Sp.Def/4 Def

~ Gyro Ball
~ Stealth Rock
~ Spikes
~ Power Whip

I say you need a physical wall, so obviously were talking about Gliscor, who else?

Gliscor:

Hide

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Nature: Impish
Effort Values: 252 Hp/252 Def/4 Spe

~ Earthquake
~ Toxic
~ Protect
~ Substitute

I think that is all for now, good luck to this team man!
Anthonias

 

[Dragone]

Thanks for the rate,
I used to run the bulky politoed set but she was kinda dead weight so i swapped her for the offensive set which actually works better. The speed allows me to get off perish song and get a few surprise KOs in. I also have chansey to pass wish to her.

I like your dragonite suggestion, but the set I run now has never given me problems and I NEED dragon tail.

I'm gonna also keep a mixed set on ferro cuz im not switching any pokes, especially this far down the road and since I have had so much sucess with this team.

But, ya still, thanks for the rate, It's always nice to have options if I have a problem.

 

[Super Mario Bro]

Hi,

First of all, I would switch out Scald on scarf Politoed for Hydro Pump, since it really needs all the power it can get to revenge certain things (Tornadus, Scizor, etc), as well as laying some hurt on Tar and Ninetales. If you want to have a more accurate alternative to Hydro in certain situations, you can try Surf over Perish Song. Though, you may also want to try a bulky version to switch into threats like scarf Landorus, Tyranitar, and Ninetales more easily. The need for scarf has fallen since last round, since Thundurus and Excadrill were two main revenge targets.

Next, take Occa off of Scizor. It's really situational, especially on a rain team, and doesn't really serve a purpose other than to occasionally check Celebi (who shouldn't be too bad for this team in the first place). Try Life Orb instead to give your team some more revenge power against fast sweepers (namely dragon dancers and chlorophyll pokes).

One thing I'd like is for Leech Seed to be on Ferrothorn. Leech Seed coupled with Rocky Helmet means Forretress will have trouble winning in a stall war, and also gives it an ok source of recovery. I would put SR on Chansey, over Aromatherapy, and Leech Seed over SR on Ferrothorn. Aroma is important to have on some teams, but I don't really see how this team needs it.

I hate to say it, but I have trouble understanding what Drag exactly does for the team (other than pHaze with Dragon Tail, which is handy at times). I feel like Tentacruel would contribute more, as it can lay down toxic spikes, check Scizor better than Dragonite, absorb toxic spikes for Chansey, and rapid spin. Try this set:

Tentacruel @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
-Scald
-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Protect

Also, Bold on Chansey and Timid on Latios. The first one isn't a big deal, but it lets Chansey take less damage from confusion, and it's not like you're using any physical moves anyway. Timid on Latios lets it be an extra check to things like Terrakion and Virizion (can't always rely on Scizor for those things due to the presence of Magnezone).