Okay, so here I go with my first RMT thread. I've used this team on and off on various shoddybattle servers with moderate success. After a few edits, I don't believe I've run into any one pokemon that can entirely destroy my team on its own, but I have been outplayed and lost as a result. So here's an RMT to see if the team does as well as I think it can, or if there's some serious room for improvement.
Team at a Glance:
Gimp (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 SAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
---
The idea here is to get a lead that can set up rocks, has some survivability, and is immune to sandstorm. Previously, I ran the standard metagross lead, who managed to do alright but, as I noticed, consistently lost to swampert. Swampert is still, in effect, a "suicide lead" as far as my team is concerned. That is, he doesn't serve a fundamental role that must be fulfilled by him and only him, or the team will fall apart. The survivability is somewhat of an option, but he's mostly just there to get rocks up and defeat most common leads (being a switch-in to a few pokemon for scouting as the game progresses).
King Hippo (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/52 Atk/32 Def/172 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
---
Curse-hippo. I love this set because it enables me to somewhat scout counters and sometimes eliminate them (after a curse, non-bulky latias can take a serious hit from ice fang), set up the sandstorm that the team uses so well, and tank physical hits. Oftentimes when I switch in, I end up slacking off turn 1 just to see what they're going to throw at me (depends on the opponent, but you get the picture).I also often use him in place of phazing as he can set up while a physical opponent sets up, shrug off damage that they deal, and eventually strike back with a high-powered earthquake or ice fang (depending on opponent). He doesn't like getting poisoned or burned, so I have to watch out for that, looking for a pivot if I expect one of the two.
DA STACHE (Probopass) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP/64 SAtk/192 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise
---
I know what you're thinking... "eww, 4x weaknesses to both Fighting and Ground!". The fact of the matter is, he can easily switch attacks of either type into Rotom, typically crippling his opponent on the way (unless the opponent is a ground-type, in which case I basically just lose my turn on the switch). He suffers most strongly from lack of immediate recovery, but don't be fooled: with the given EV Spread and Nature, He reaches over 600 Special Defense. With stats like that, he can easily come in on, trap, and defeat many steel types, including standard offensive magnezone (easy revenge kill if he gets one of my steels on turn 1 - just earth power him. It's a bit more troublesome if he happens to have magnet rise and substitute, but generally if he carries those two moves, he isn't doing anything to me either and it becomes somewhat of a stall-war). He also does a good job of killing any scarf-tran users who use earth power on him for that x4 damage (doesn't do enough to kill probopass, who can magnet rise turn 1, thunder wave turn 2, and then continue wasting TWave PP until he needs to magnet rise again, eventually healing back to full health before he earth powers heatran into oblivion). Other special steels are dealt with in similar fashion. He is also a switch-in to scizor if I expect a pursuit coming at my rotom (banded scizor's pursuit does laughable damage to probopass) and Empoleon (Subagilitypetaya variants have virtually no chance to kill, dealing at most somewhere in the 80% range with a Petaya Torrent Surf). The best thing about probopass is that people underestimate his stats and think that they can just kill him with a super-effective hit. That's simply not the case.
Lawn eater (Rotom-c) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
---
Trick Rotom does so much to support my team. It cripples so many walls, both physical and special, with a simple Trick. Usually I attack when I first send him out, choosing either Shadow Ball or thunderbolt (more often the latter, seeing as it hurts banded pursuit-users like tyranitar and scizor more), then seeing if I need to switch out or keep attacking. Later in the game, once I'm sure the threat of a "bad trick" is gone, I'll usually try to find something to cripple with him before he dies. He does such a good job of switching into types that my team has trouble with, as well as dealing with certain pokemon I'd otherwise be in a tight spot to fight against.
Exacto (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
---
I loathe Scizor with a passion. That doesn't change the fact that he makes a great (and almost natural) choice for my team. His moves are made to hit fast, hit hard, and punish my opponents where they'd rather not be punished. I have to be careful what I switch him into, but usually u-turn is a safe bet for switching him back out. Pursuit sees little use outside dealing heavier damage to opponents locked into a move (giving him some synergy with Rotom-C in tandem), while the majority of attacks unleashed by this offensive beast are either U-turns are bullet punches.
Lead head (Metagross) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch
- Agility
---
Agiligross, my closer and main switch-in to a LOT of pokemon. After Agility, almost nothing is going to outspeed him, and with a little luck from meteor mash, I can see a huge attack power wreaking havoc on my opponents. I went with Leftovers to help him survive, as I often switch him in expecting him to take a hit or two before he gets going. Once he starts rampaging through a team, the leftovers recovery helps him out quite a bit where Life Orb would make him much more easily walled.
Team weaknesses:
1) Sleepers. I typically have to sacrifice a pokemon (usually probopass or swampert) to take the sleep, then try to kill it with something else. Going down 1 pokemon isn't very conducive to keeping the battle in your favor.
2) Special-type setup pokemon. I have some issue against CM jirachi if it gets itself setup, as it has the bulk to take a hit or two while setting itself up, and then sweep a large portion of my team. my best options against CM jirachi are to A) trick a scarf onto it, which makes it fast but locked into one move, or B) hope that my pokemon can damage it severely enough on a switch to put some heavy pressure into it while it tries to set up. Once it gets itself ready, it takes down both swampert and hippowdon with almost no trouble, often is able to take down probopass because probopass can't do anything back (low Sp.A + boosted Sp. Def on Jirachi is a horrible combo to try overcoming; my best option with him is simply to paralyze)
3) Baton Pass teams. If they get themselves setup right, they can wreak havoc on me as I have no true phazer. I typically rely simply on hitting my opponents hard before they can set up, but I've made the mistake of letting them set up before too.
I could probably write more about this team, but I get bored easily and I felt like the team at least needed some exposure. No, I do not use probopass as a gimmick, I believe he fills a niche in my team very well. I can't find another pokemon that can successfully trap steels and kill them while being able to take heavy Special assault.
Team at a Glance:
Gimp (Swampert) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 SAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
---
The idea here is to get a lead that can set up rocks, has some survivability, and is immune to sandstorm. Previously, I ran the standard metagross lead, who managed to do alright but, as I noticed, consistently lost to swampert. Swampert is still, in effect, a "suicide lead" as far as my team is concerned. That is, he doesn't serve a fundamental role that must be fulfilled by him and only him, or the team will fall apart. The survivability is somewhat of an option, but he's mostly just there to get rocks up and defeat most common leads (being a switch-in to a few pokemon for scouting as the game progresses).
King Hippo (Hippowdon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/52 Atk/32 Def/172 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
---
Curse-hippo. I love this set because it enables me to somewhat scout counters and sometimes eliminate them (after a curse, non-bulky latias can take a serious hit from ice fang), set up the sandstorm that the team uses so well, and tank physical hits. Oftentimes when I switch in, I end up slacking off turn 1 just to see what they're going to throw at me (depends on the opponent, but you get the picture).I also often use him in place of phazing as he can set up while a physical opponent sets up, shrug off damage that they deal, and eventually strike back with a high-powered earthquake or ice fang (depending on opponent). He doesn't like getting poisoned or burned, so I have to watch out for that, looking for a pivot if I expect one of the two.
DA STACHE (Probopass) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 HP/64 SAtk/192 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise
---
I know what you're thinking... "eww, 4x weaknesses to both Fighting and Ground!". The fact of the matter is, he can easily switch attacks of either type into Rotom, typically crippling his opponent on the way (unless the opponent is a ground-type, in which case I basically just lose my turn on the switch). He suffers most strongly from lack of immediate recovery, but don't be fooled: with the given EV Spread and Nature, He reaches over 600 Special Defense. With stats like that, he can easily come in on, trap, and defeat many steel types, including standard offensive magnezone (easy revenge kill if he gets one of my steels on turn 1 - just earth power him. It's a bit more troublesome if he happens to have magnet rise and substitute, but generally if he carries those two moves, he isn't doing anything to me either and it becomes somewhat of a stall-war). He also does a good job of killing any scarf-tran users who use earth power on him for that x4 damage (doesn't do enough to kill probopass, who can magnet rise turn 1, thunder wave turn 2, and then continue wasting TWave PP until he needs to magnet rise again, eventually healing back to full health before he earth powers heatran into oblivion). Other special steels are dealt with in similar fashion. He is also a switch-in to scizor if I expect a pursuit coming at my rotom (banded scizor's pursuit does laughable damage to probopass) and Empoleon (Subagilitypetaya variants have virtually no chance to kill, dealing at most somewhere in the 80% range with a Petaya Torrent Surf). The best thing about probopass is that people underestimate his stats and think that they can just kill him with a super-effective hit. That's simply not the case.
Lawn eater (Rotom-c) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Leaf Storm
---
Trick Rotom does so much to support my team. It cripples so many walls, both physical and special, with a simple Trick. Usually I attack when I first send him out, choosing either Shadow Ball or thunderbolt (more often the latter, seeing as it hurts banded pursuit-users like tyranitar and scizor more), then seeing if I need to switch out or keep attacking. Later in the game, once I'm sure the threat of a "bad trick" is gone, I'll usually try to find something to cripple with him before he dies. He does such a good job of switching into types that my team has trouble with, as well as dealing with certain pokemon I'd otherwise be in a tight spot to fight against.
Exacto (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit
---
I loathe Scizor with a passion. That doesn't change the fact that he makes a great (and almost natural) choice for my team. His moves are made to hit fast, hit hard, and punish my opponents where they'd rather not be punished. I have to be careful what I switch him into, but usually u-turn is a safe bet for switching him back out. Pursuit sees little use outside dealing heavier damage to opponents locked into a move (giving him some synergy with Rotom-C in tandem), while the majority of attacks unleashed by this offensive beast are either U-turns are bullet punches.
Lead head (Metagross) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Meteor Mash
- Thunderpunch
- Agility
---
Agiligross, my closer and main switch-in to a LOT of pokemon. After Agility, almost nothing is going to outspeed him, and with a little luck from meteor mash, I can see a huge attack power wreaking havoc on my opponents. I went with Leftovers to help him survive, as I often switch him in expecting him to take a hit or two before he gets going. Once he starts rampaging through a team, the leftovers recovery helps him out quite a bit where Life Orb would make him much more easily walled.
Team weaknesses:
1) Sleepers. I typically have to sacrifice a pokemon (usually probopass or swampert) to take the sleep, then try to kill it with something else. Going down 1 pokemon isn't very conducive to keeping the battle in your favor.
2) Special-type setup pokemon. I have some issue against CM jirachi if it gets itself setup, as it has the bulk to take a hit or two while setting itself up, and then sweep a large portion of my team. my best options against CM jirachi are to A) trick a scarf onto it, which makes it fast but locked into one move, or B) hope that my pokemon can damage it severely enough on a switch to put some heavy pressure into it while it tries to set up. Once it gets itself ready, it takes down both swampert and hippowdon with almost no trouble, often is able to take down probopass because probopass can't do anything back (low Sp.A + boosted Sp. Def on Jirachi is a horrible combo to try overcoming; my best option with him is simply to paralyze)
3) Baton Pass teams. If they get themselves setup right, they can wreak havoc on me as I have no true phazer. I typically rely simply on hitting my opponents hard before they can set up, but I've made the mistake of letting them set up before too.
I could probably write more about this team, but I get bored easily and I felt like the team at least needed some exposure. No, I do not use probopass as a gimmick, I believe he fills a niche in my team very well. I can't find another pokemon that can successfully trap steels and kill them while being able to take heavy Special assault.
