Hello guys, it's been awhile since I've posted around here. I had to leave the game/community for quite some time due to real life stuff, but now I'm back :) 5th gen seems to bring a lot of new toys to the table that I've enjoyed playing with, and as such I decided to make a fun yet fairly effective team to run. The 5th gen poke that interested me the most is Victini; I was surprised that so few people actually appreciate its power. As such, this team was sparked by a desire to use Victini, and through the course of the teambuilding I've ended up using a lot of Pokemon that are, in my opinion, underrated. Without further ado, here's the team.
* I do not own any of these pictures; I found them online. Also, I have not actually watched ABC's "V"; however, I thought that it would be an extremely fitting name for a Victini team.
AT A GLANCE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOOKING AT THE INDIVIDUAL POKES:
Mamoswine (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Mamoswine often works as my designated lead (though I do put Victini in the first-slot at times if the situation calls for it) and is quite frankly the only reason why this team is Dream World and not regular OU. I've tried using Snow Cloak on this beast before, but Thick Fat makes Mamoswine so much better that I've kept that ability. The Boltbeam immune/resist allows Mamoswine to stop a lot of dangerous threats like Zapdos stone-cold. This thing has surprising bulk; as far as I've seen, for instance, lead Ninetales haven't OHKOed it with Fire Blast unless they're equipped with Choice Specs. Even though he's my lead, Mamoswine actually serves to patch up many holes for the rest of the team, so I try not to let him die early. Stealth Rock is great for any team, but it's not ridiculously important for this one; nevertheless, it's awesome when I get it up. More importantly than that, for a non-boosted Pokemon Mamoswine's STABs hit like trucks, and Ice Shard allows me a last line of defense against many Dragons.
Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Rapid Spin
I tend to use Tentacruel and Mamoswine together in a lot of my teams; although there isn't much synergy between them typewise (though Tentacruel taking Water attacks and Mamoswine taking Electric ones is nice), their support functions work well in tandem. Often, I deliberately let opposing leads set up Toxic Spikes to their heart's content, knowing Tentacruel is waiting in the wings to absorb them all in one fell swoop. Spinning is important for this team, as Honchkrow and Victini hate Stealth Rock. I actually play this Tentacruel with a more offensive twist though, opting for three attacks and a SpA/Speed-emphasized EV spread. I play this Tentacruel a lot like a Starmie; however, though the latter is faster and more powerful, I stick to Tentacruel since I need the Toxic Spikes absorption. Tentacruel also provides better secondary typing for the synergy of this team. As an interesting aside, Tentacruel's Liquid Ooze is also really fun for flipping the bird to Ferrothorn's Leech Seed and Conkeldurr's Drain Punch.
Honchkrow (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Insomnia
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Brave Bird
- Heat Wave
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
Honchkrow and Tentacruel have excellent type synergy, with the mafia crow being immune to two of Tentacruel's three weaknesses. People often overlook Honchkrow for its frailty; however, when played right he is absolutely lethal. Sucker Punch allows me to take out fast threats as well as bulky Psychics/Ghosts that tend to give problems to Conkeldurr and to a lesser extent Victini. The Sucker Punch guessing game is rather annoying, but I'm confident in my abilities to use it properly. The rest of the moves provide great type coverage and hit like cannons; all of these moves' base powers exceed 100 except Sucker Punch. I am looking for a better EV spread though, since I notice Krow often misses OHKO'ing Ferrothorn with Heat Wave by a hair. Once again, Krow's ability allows me to bring it in on random sleep moves from Lilligant/Breloom and others, and then immediately threaten back by resisting their STABs and then Brave Birding for the kill.
Conkeldurr (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge
One of the premiere new threats introduced in this generation, though I still think it's ugly beyond belief. Nevertheless, it's great at what it does and often finds a spot on my teams. Mach Punch allows me to check a lot of fast threats such as Excadrill throughout the game, similar to how Mamoswine checks Dragons. He particularly shines once the opponent's Psychics and Ghosts are gone though. I used Stone Edge over Payback to deal more consistently powerful damage, because I wouldn't really want to leave Conkeldurr in on Psychics/Ghosts anyways, and because I suck at Payback prediction.
Shaymin @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SAtk / 40 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Rest
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
At this point, there seems to be some difficulty in taking out bulky waters. Even though Victini can take on them with Fusion Bolt, I figured that I wouldn't want to have it tackling them if I could help it. A Grass-type would help take care of this problem while completing the famous and ever-powerful Fire-Grass-Water trio. I initially had a Tinkerbell Celebi which I thought would be perfect for the job, since it has the added effect of luring out Tyranitars and killing it, but I really didn't enjoy the fact that Celebi was practically forced to switch out after one Leaf Storm. Shaymin packs the same stats as Celebi and can use Seed Flare instead of Leaf Storm, a huge boon in my eyes. Shaymin does lose Thunder Wave and Fighting/Psychic resists, but I feel the benefits outweigh the costs. Shaymin hard-counters many bulky waters, taking pitiful damage from most moves, shaking off status conditions with Natural Cure and Rest, and usually threatening immediate death with Seed Flare. In addition, without T-Wave in its movepool, I have to use Earth Power on Shaymin; this allows it to take out Heatran as well. I used a bulkier EV spread on Shaymin to help it do its job of withstanding attacks from bulky Waters.
Victini @ Choice Scarf Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- V-create
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fusion Bolt
- U-turn
What a boss. Victini comes in and out through the game, which is why it's imperative for me to make sure there are no Spikes/SR on the field if possible. V-Create hits for major damage, absolutely shredding through everything that doesn't resist it and even a few that do. Due to the Choice Scarf and Victini's natural speed, I can often use it twice in a row without being forced to switch out too, and there've been times I've ended the game by using V-Create three times in a row. The beauty of this set is that the next two moves allow me to take out things that would normally dominate Victini. Fusion Bolt does a massive amount of damage to Waters, while HP Ice allows me to take out or at least damage beyond repair non-Scarfed Landorus, Gliscor, Garchomp, and other Dragons which don't expect an HP Ice coming out of a primarily physical Victini. U-Turn allows me to play normal scouting duty and also does a number on stuff like Latios and Tyranitar that tend to come in on Victini.
QUICK THREAT LIST
(top 15 most commonly used Pokemon in Smogon's Dream World OU in May; might update more when I have time)
Ferrothorn: Victini and Conkeldurr clobber it; Honchkrow can hit it hard too.
Chandelure: I've played mostly on PO so I haven't dealt with it much; however, Tentacruel will outspeed non-Scarfed variants and OHKO with Hydro Pump; Mamoswine speed-ties non-Scarfed variants I think, and should be able to take a Fire Blast from non-Specs Chandelure before wrecking the chandelier with Earthquake, considering it can survive Drought Ninetales' Fire Blast. Honchkrow plays the Sucker Punch game with it.
Garchomp: Can be a pain. Mamoswine's Ice attacks stuff it. Victini outspeeds non-Scarfed Chomps; Scarfed Chomps can be played around most of the time, although it gets annoying since nothing on my team can really take an Outrage (see conclusion)...
Conkeldurr: Can't really do much to Tentacruel, who tends to kill it with Hydro Pump faster than Conkeldurr can kill it. Takes a ton of damage from Victini's V-Create and Shaymin's Seed Flare.
Scizor: Victini says hi. Conkeldurr is bulky enough to take a hit, start Bulking Up, and Drain Punch it.
Tyranitar: Conkeldurr wrecks it with its Fighting moves. Mamoswine and Honchkrow take out non-Scarfed variants with EQ and Superpower, while Shaymin and Tentacruel do a lot of damage with their STAB moves.
Dragonite: Mamoswine smashes it; Tentacruel, Shaymin, and Victini all outspeed and hit it with Ice moves.
Latios: Mamoswine blasts it with Ice moves; Honchkrow plays the Sucker Punch game.
Espeon: Honchkrow plays the Sucker Punch game again. Usually too frail to pose a major threat.
Genesect: Can get annoying, but Victini outspeeds and V-Creates it to the next world.
Breloom: Honchkrow has Insomnia, can take a Mach Punch, and threaten back with Brave Bird. Victini resists both STABs and V-Creates it to oblivion.
Heatran: Shaymin outspeeds non-Scarfed and Earth Powers it. Mamoswine EQs it. Tentacruel can Hydro Pump it.
Gengar: Victini outspeeds and crushes non-Scarfed variants, Honchkrow guessing game destroys Choiced Gengars. Sub variants get annoying, but Gengar's frail enough to fall to Mamoswine's Ice Shard if necessary.
Gliscor: Tentacruel outspeeds with Ice Beam, Mamoswine Ice Shards it, Victini HP Ices it. Next.
Excadrill: Conkeldurr's Mach Punch dents it massively, and my priority attacks often pick at it enough so that it dies; the few odd times I've seen it outside of Sand it's not a threat at all.
CONCLUSION:
While this team has been fun to use, there are a few glaring flaws. It has plenty of priority in the first three pokes to wipe out fast-paced, frail teams. As for defensive teams, the team in general provides enough firepower to blast through them, and has members to absorb Toxic (Tentacruel), Thunder Wave (Mamoswine, Conkeldurr), Will-o-Wisp (Victini), Sleep moves (Honchkrow), and even all of the above (Shaymin). The problem, though, is that it is sometimes difficult to wipe out bulky hard-hitters. While this team has amazing offensive synergy, the defensive aspect is not as great; for instance, there are no Steels to eat Outrages/Draco Meteors, and Electric-types like Zapdos/Jolteon can do a royal number on my team if Mamoswine faints early. As such, it has reached a relatively average peak (about ~#360 on PO I think) and averages significantly less. Nevertheless, I do feel this team can be fixed, which is why I've brought it here. Rate/hate/pick it apart/whatever, guys! Thanks in advance.
* I do not own any of these pictures; I found them online. Also, I have not actually watched ABC's "V"; however, I thought that it would be an extremely fitting name for a Victini team.
AT A GLANCE:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOOKING AT THE INDIVIDUAL POKES:
Mamoswine (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
Mamoswine often works as my designated lead (though I do put Victini in the first-slot at times if the situation calls for it) and is quite frankly the only reason why this team is Dream World and not regular OU. I've tried using Snow Cloak on this beast before, but Thick Fat makes Mamoswine so much better that I've kept that ability. The Boltbeam immune/resist allows Mamoswine to stop a lot of dangerous threats like Zapdos stone-cold. This thing has surprising bulk; as far as I've seen, for instance, lead Ninetales haven't OHKOed it with Fire Blast unless they're equipped with Choice Specs. Even though he's my lead, Mamoswine actually serves to patch up many holes for the rest of the team, so I try not to let him die early. Stealth Rock is great for any team, but it's not ridiculously important for this one; nevertheless, it's awesome when I get it up. More importantly than that, for a non-boosted Pokemon Mamoswine's STABs hit like trucks, and Ice Shard allows me a last line of defense against many Dragons.
Tentacruel (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Rapid Spin
I tend to use Tentacruel and Mamoswine together in a lot of my teams; although there isn't much synergy between them typewise (though Tentacruel taking Water attacks and Mamoswine taking Electric ones is nice), their support functions work well in tandem. Often, I deliberately let opposing leads set up Toxic Spikes to their heart's content, knowing Tentacruel is waiting in the wings to absorb them all in one fell swoop. Spinning is important for this team, as Honchkrow and Victini hate Stealth Rock. I actually play this Tentacruel with a more offensive twist though, opting for three attacks and a SpA/Speed-emphasized EV spread. I play this Tentacruel a lot like a Starmie; however, though the latter is faster and more powerful, I stick to Tentacruel since I need the Toxic Spikes absorption. Tentacruel also provides better secondary typing for the synergy of this team. As an interesting aside, Tentacruel's Liquid Ooze is also really fun for flipping the bird to Ferrothorn's Leech Seed and Conkeldurr's Drain Punch.
Honchkrow (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Insomnia
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Brave Bird
- Heat Wave
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
Honchkrow and Tentacruel have excellent type synergy, with the mafia crow being immune to two of Tentacruel's three weaknesses. People often overlook Honchkrow for its frailty; however, when played right he is absolutely lethal. Sucker Punch allows me to take out fast threats as well as bulky Psychics/Ghosts that tend to give problems to Conkeldurr and to a lesser extent Victini. The Sucker Punch guessing game is rather annoying, but I'm confident in my abilities to use it properly. The rest of the moves provide great type coverage and hit like cannons; all of these moves' base powers exceed 100 except Sucker Punch. I am looking for a better EV spread though, since I notice Krow often misses OHKO'ing Ferrothorn with Heat Wave by a hair. Once again, Krow's ability allows me to bring it in on random sleep moves from Lilligant/Breloom and others, and then immediately threaten back by resisting their STABs and then Brave Birding for the kill.
Conkeldurr (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Guts
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge
One of the premiere new threats introduced in this generation, though I still think it's ugly beyond belief. Nevertheless, it's great at what it does and often finds a spot on my teams. Mach Punch allows me to check a lot of fast threats such as Excadrill throughout the game, similar to how Mamoswine checks Dragons. He particularly shines once the opponent's Psychics and Ghosts are gone though. I used Stone Edge over Payback to deal more consistently powerful damage, because I wouldn't really want to leave Conkeldurr in on Psychics/Ghosts anyways, and because I suck at Payback prediction.
Shaymin @ Life Orb
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 212 HP / 252 SAtk / 40 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Seed Flare
- Rest
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
At this point, there seems to be some difficulty in taking out bulky waters. Even though Victini can take on them with Fusion Bolt, I figured that I wouldn't want to have it tackling them if I could help it. A Grass-type would help take care of this problem while completing the famous and ever-powerful Fire-Grass-Water trio. I initially had a Tinkerbell Celebi which I thought would be perfect for the job, since it has the added effect of luring out Tyranitars and killing it, but I really didn't enjoy the fact that Celebi was practically forced to switch out after one Leaf Storm. Shaymin packs the same stats as Celebi and can use Seed Flare instead of Leaf Storm, a huge boon in my eyes. Shaymin does lose Thunder Wave and Fighting/Psychic resists, but I feel the benefits outweigh the costs. Shaymin hard-counters many bulky waters, taking pitiful damage from most moves, shaking off status conditions with Natural Cure and Rest, and usually threatening immediate death with Seed Flare. In addition, without T-Wave in its movepool, I have to use Earth Power on Shaymin; this allows it to take out Heatran as well. I used a bulkier EV spread on Shaymin to help it do its job of withstanding attacks from bulky Waters.
Victini @ Choice Scarf Trait: Victory Star
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- V-create
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fusion Bolt
- U-turn
What a boss. Victini comes in and out through the game, which is why it's imperative for me to make sure there are no Spikes/SR on the field if possible. V-Create hits for major damage, absolutely shredding through everything that doesn't resist it and even a few that do. Due to the Choice Scarf and Victini's natural speed, I can often use it twice in a row without being forced to switch out too, and there've been times I've ended the game by using V-Create three times in a row. The beauty of this set is that the next two moves allow me to take out things that would normally dominate Victini. Fusion Bolt does a massive amount of damage to Waters, while HP Ice allows me to take out or at least damage beyond repair non-Scarfed Landorus, Gliscor, Garchomp, and other Dragons which don't expect an HP Ice coming out of a primarily physical Victini. U-Turn allows me to play normal scouting duty and also does a number on stuff like Latios and Tyranitar that tend to come in on Victini.
QUICK THREAT LIST
(top 15 most commonly used Pokemon in Smogon's Dream World OU in May; might update more when I have time)
Ferrothorn: Victini and Conkeldurr clobber it; Honchkrow can hit it hard too.
Chandelure: I've played mostly on PO so I haven't dealt with it much; however, Tentacruel will outspeed non-Scarfed variants and OHKO with Hydro Pump; Mamoswine speed-ties non-Scarfed variants I think, and should be able to take a Fire Blast from non-Specs Chandelure before wrecking the chandelier with Earthquake, considering it can survive Drought Ninetales' Fire Blast. Honchkrow plays the Sucker Punch game with it.
Garchomp: Can be a pain. Mamoswine's Ice attacks stuff it. Victini outspeeds non-Scarfed Chomps; Scarfed Chomps can be played around most of the time, although it gets annoying since nothing on my team can really take an Outrage (see conclusion)...
Conkeldurr: Can't really do much to Tentacruel, who tends to kill it with Hydro Pump faster than Conkeldurr can kill it. Takes a ton of damage from Victini's V-Create and Shaymin's Seed Flare.
Scizor: Victini says hi. Conkeldurr is bulky enough to take a hit, start Bulking Up, and Drain Punch it.
Tyranitar: Conkeldurr wrecks it with its Fighting moves. Mamoswine and Honchkrow take out non-Scarfed variants with EQ and Superpower, while Shaymin and Tentacruel do a lot of damage with their STAB moves.
Dragonite: Mamoswine smashes it; Tentacruel, Shaymin, and Victini all outspeed and hit it with Ice moves.
Latios: Mamoswine blasts it with Ice moves; Honchkrow plays the Sucker Punch game.
Espeon: Honchkrow plays the Sucker Punch game again. Usually too frail to pose a major threat.
Genesect: Can get annoying, but Victini outspeeds and V-Creates it to the next world.
Breloom: Honchkrow has Insomnia, can take a Mach Punch, and threaten back with Brave Bird. Victini resists both STABs and V-Creates it to oblivion.
Heatran: Shaymin outspeeds non-Scarfed and Earth Powers it. Mamoswine EQs it. Tentacruel can Hydro Pump it.
Gengar: Victini outspeeds and crushes non-Scarfed variants, Honchkrow guessing game destroys Choiced Gengars. Sub variants get annoying, but Gengar's frail enough to fall to Mamoswine's Ice Shard if necessary.
Gliscor: Tentacruel outspeeds with Ice Beam, Mamoswine Ice Shards it, Victini HP Ices it. Next.
Excadrill: Conkeldurr's Mach Punch dents it massively, and my priority attacks often pick at it enough so that it dies; the few odd times I've seen it outside of Sand it's not a threat at all.
CONCLUSION:
While this team has been fun to use, there are a few glaring flaws. It has plenty of priority in the first three pokes to wipe out fast-paced, frail teams. As for defensive teams, the team in general provides enough firepower to blast through them, and has members to absorb Toxic (Tentacruel), Thunder Wave (Mamoswine, Conkeldurr), Will-o-Wisp (Victini), Sleep moves (Honchkrow), and even all of the above (Shaymin). The problem, though, is that it is sometimes difficult to wipe out bulky hard-hitters. While this team has amazing offensive synergy, the defensive aspect is not as great; for instance, there are no Steels to eat Outrages/Draco Meteors, and Electric-types like Zapdos/Jolteon can do a royal number on my team if Mamoswine faints early. As such, it has reached a relatively average peak (about ~#360 on PO I think) and averages significantly less. Nevertheless, I do feel this team can be fixed, which is why I've brought it here. Rate/hate/pick it apart/whatever, guys! Thanks in advance.
