THE STEEL GYM
Hey Smogon! On another Perth based Pokemon community you can find in my signature, we have this Gym Leader challenge, and my friend asked me for help with his Steel Gym. Now I’ve done a bit of testing but found it faces a couple of problems, obviously no mono-typed team can be perfect but I’ll aim to get as close as I can.
One thing I’ll point out to give rating guidelines is that everything in this team has to have a Steel typing somewhere, and no wildcards are allowed. Also it's quite easy to use bulky offense especially for my mate as it's quite fail safe, and even though it's hard to shy away from that with a mono-steel team, keeping to that theme will be preferable, but by all means suggest what you need to for making this team work Ok onto the team building process!
TeamBuilding Process:
First of all when making mono-typed team you consider the common weaknesses and aim to alleviate them. As such I initially chose the two levitators, Bronzong and Skarmory to cover up the ground weakness.
Next, Fire needed the cover up. The two who offered this were Heatran and Empoleon, and with quite different roles I didn’t see why I should put both in there even though Fire is less common.
I was quite happy with this, seeing here we already have 2 pokemon to resist the last weakness which is Fighting, however; Skarmory takes a beating from Electric attacks which aren't really covered up anywhere. As such I thought Magnezone would make a good Electric resist and a good Choice Scarf candidate.
The spot for a lead me to Metagross, he's bulky and will set up those Stealth Rocks nicely, and could get in a revenge kill with Bullet Punch somewhere, as priority is something the team lacked. So I chucked in Metagross.
I looked at the team and noticed a couple of flaws, as any first compile would do. A weakness to Gyarados and Salamence is something I normally take into account in the building stage but still this team is weak to it. I decided to change Bronzong to the lead spot and leaving out Metagross, and chucking in Choice Scarf Jirachi with max Speed and Jolly. It also became apparent the only way to run Empoleon would be Agility, to outrun those threats.
Looking at that, I’ve been quite satisfied with it. However I’ve tried out Choice Band Scizor in there, and I just love that pokemon, but every spot is really quite vital and I don't know where to put it. I've also considered having Lucario over Empoleon as the late game sweeper, considering Heatran still resists Fire although uncommon, and Jirachi with the Choice Scarf outpaces many threats anyway. However, Empoleon is a reliable sponge, and I’ve tried more bulky sets with Leftovers with Agility to achieve that so it's quite hard to rule out. A big problem the team has is Rotom-A, as it can rip through most of the team. Because of this I’m tempted to use Trick + Iron Ball Metagross but I don't know where to put it in, it's tempting over Magnezone who now functions as a quick Substitute user. But I need to get some opinions on that matter.
The Team in Depth:
Bronzong
----
Item: Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 86 Atk / 60 Def / 92 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
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~ Gyro Ball
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Stealth Rock
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Sassy
EVs: 252 HP / 86 Atk / 60 Def / 92 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
----
~ Gyro Ball
~ Earthquake
~ Explosion
~ Stealth Rock
Bronzong does well as a lead and a vital Ground resist this team needs. He sets up rocks easy too, which helps out the sweepers, but Taunt annoys him even though it can come back later. I don't really see a need to change anything from the standard set, as some Earthquake coverage is nice, and Exploding doesn't make it set-up fodder, such as versus Gyarados. Gyro Ball is handy for OHKO’ing Gengar, because he can be annoying to switch on.
Skarmory
----
Item: Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 Def
----
~ Brave Bird
~ Roost
~ Spikes
~ Whirlwind
Trait: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 Def
----
~ Brave Bird
~ Roost
~ Spikes
~ Whirlwind
Skarmory makes sweeping easier once a couple of layers of Spikes are up, and Whirlwinding is often my way of weeding in the damage before a final sweep. It sponges many threats like Metagross, who are quite annoying to switch in on, as I don't want to waste Heatran's Shuca Berry outright, plus they may often have a Salamence in the wings. His Ground immunity rocks too.
Heatran
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Item: Shuca Berry
Trait: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
----
~ Flamethrower
~ Earth Power
~ Hidden Power Ice
~ Taunt
Trait: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
----
~ Flamethrower
~ Earth Power
~ Hidden Power Ice
~ Taunt
This is basically just the Life Orb set but tweaked for what I need Heatran to do. Being paranoid of Salamence makes a Shuca Berry and Hidden Power Ice good options. Flamethrower is more reliable and considering it's the only solid Fire user it's quite essential it hits what it aims for, because Scizor can be a pain without Heatran. The Shuca Berry also helps out against other Heatran, letting me get the KO and living their Earth Power. Taunt is good for Blissey that come in, and then I can switch to something else like Jirachi, but I stay in to see if it has Flamethrower some times after constantly making the switch to Jirachi, as it gets pretty predictable.
Magnezone
----
Item: Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
Nature: Timid
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
----
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Fire
~ Substitute
~ Magnet Rise
Trait: Magnet Pull
Nature: Timid
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
----
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Fire
~ Substitute
~ Magnet Rise
Four more EVs in speed are needed to make up for the imperfect Speed IV needed for Hidden Power Fire, just to clear that one up. Apart from that, this is standard Steel Killer Magnezone with Hidden Power Fire over Grass, as that's not really needed. I can set up on Swampert with Skarmory anyway, and get an easy OHKO with Empoleon via Grass Knot if I come in on something besides Earthquake. Substitute on switches and Magnet Rise helps with more Ground resistance. I'm not a fan of Explosion as it doesn't really do much with Magnezone, and he's often needed time and again for many threats and sponging his many resists.
Jirachi
----
Item: Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
----
~ Iron Head
~ Ice Punch
~ Thunderpunch
~ U-turn
Trait: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
----
~ Iron Head
~ Ice Punch
~ Thunderpunch
~ U-turn
This is like the glue to the team I believe, what others fail to achieve Jirachi cleans up with his good Speed + coverage. I don't need Fire Punch, as I already have Heatran's Flamethrower and Magnezone's Hidden Power Fire, so the other elemental punches for Gyarados and Salamence are best. Iron Head is good for optimistic flinching and can often get me out of sticky situations. U-turn is good for scouting but it's hard to resist what Jirachi gets hit by and be able to hit back with that pokemon, but none-the-less is a sick move.
Empoleon
----
Item: Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
Nature: Modest
EVs: 236 HP / 40 SpA / 232 Spe
----
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Grass Knot
~ Agility
Trait: Torrent
Nature: Modest
EVs: 236 HP / 40 SpA / 232 Spe
----
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Grass Knot
~ Agility
It should be a late game sweeper, but it often comes in to take hits with its many resistances, like 13 IIRC. Getting the Agility up is quite easy - hitting the same speed as the analysis recommends, mainly for Heatran - and having a high HP (largest Leftovers number) lets it come back in quite a few times to do this. Even with the low Special Attack investment, Ice Beam OHKO's Salamence even without Stealth Rock. However, this doesn't really hit Gyarados that hard, it does 33.23% - 39.27% to standard Offensive Dragon Dance sets and shocking to Bulky, but I have Jirachi to cover this up anyway, plus it often fears the possibility of Hidden Power Electric so instead tries against Bronzong, often getting Exploded on. Speaking of which, I tested out Hidden Power Electric over Grass Knot but I need Grass Knot to get like Suicune and what not, and it's only 10 BP less versus Vaporeon who doesn't do jack without Hidden Power Electric itself. I contemplated it over Agility however, then having less Speed EVs and more Special Attack, but the Speed jump on random threats is hard to pass up.
ALTERNATE POKEMON
Metagross
----
Item: Iron Ball
Trait: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
----
~ Meteor Mash
~ Bullet Punch
~ Earthquake
~ Trick
Trait: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
----
~ Meteor Mash
~ Bullet Punch
~ Earthquake
~ Trick
This is a really tempting option for the team but I’ve got 6 Pokemon syndrome, seriously 7 members would make this easier. The main reason this would be good is a shocking Rotom-A weakness, so Tricking and Iron Ball would rid it of Leftovers recovery and ground it, meaning I can Earthquake it for super effective damage, or just generally screw up any pokemon. Bullet Punches priority is also really nice to have too plus isn't hindered by Iron Ball. There's not really room for Explosion though it'd be pretty cool, but I replacer Meteor Mash, or even Bullet Punch; but it's not convincing enough for me to change the set.
Last Words:
Well that's the team, you may see the problems I'm facing, which is mainly just the Rotom-A issue *shakes fist* so I’ll get to testing Metagross in there more but it really is hard to pass up a Pokemon. Love, Hate, Rate, Steal (or Steel :P). Yeah it’s lame I know. Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance!
