The Wheels on the Bus (GBU Rotation)

Welcome to the sleeper hit of the 5th Generation: the Rotation Battle! With 12 moves to consider at a time (13 counting switching), Rotation is a unique mode reliant even more on chance management and team synergy. Without further shameless commercial ado, I present a specially-formulated GBU Rotation Battle team. Those who know me shall slap me because this team is almost Bug-free.

Sprites aren't available at the moment but I'd like to get them up soon.

Thundurus @ Focus Sash
Rash
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 Def
Thunder Wave
Taunt
Thunderbolt
Grass Knot


This is indeed a Rash Thundurus. Judging by the fact that I totally forgot that I should probably try for a good nature on the runner this time, I'm fairly pleased with it.

That aside, Thundurus composes one half of my Thunder Wave duo. He's not usually my lead (as little as that matters in Rotation), but heads off the team here as an introduction to the theme. I'm experimenting with the Rotation equivalent of Parashuffling, in that I attempt to cripple as many of the opponent's crucial threats as possible to make way for a variety of slow, powerful attackers or ease setting up for a faster sweeper. Thunder Wave is a given, and the priority makes Thundurus my first choice at neutering Scarf Pokemon and things like Terrakion or Latios which could otherwise cause heavy damage to the team. Taunt has proved a complete success, shutting down status-lovers such as Dusclops, Sableye, Breloom, and Quagsire. Thunderbolt and Grass Knot miss out on a lot of type coverage, but deal with Water- and especially Ground-types that would otherwise be dangerous.

Regigigas @ Leftovers
Relaxed
252 HP/204 Def/54 SpD
Thunder Wave
Knock Off
Return
Confuse Ray

Laugh all you want, Relaxed isn't optimal either. He's from Pearl when I was a bit less than competitive in my Pokemon.

Gigas is a beautifully bulky complement to Thundurus, and often is enough to get the Paralysis job done on his own. Capable of surviving nearly any unboosted attack, Regigigas is often my paradoxical Rotate-in on Lucario, Tyranitar, Dragonite, weather sweepers, and Rotom. Knock Off relieves the opponent's mons of their Leftovers, Choice items, Life Orbs, or (gasp!) Lum Berries. Return is a solid STAB attack which, off an uninvested base 160 Attack, becomes dangerously powerful after Slow Start wears off. Confuse Ray comes into play when I'm feeling desperate, and more often than not seems to let me down!

Nidoking @ Life Orb
Modest
252 SpA/252 Spe/6 HP
Earth Power
Ice Beam
Flamethrower
Thunderbolt

A Fighting and Rock resist with a Toxic immunity, mediocre speed, and lethal special Force? A necessity for this team! Nidoking often hangs out in the back of the field pretending to be Scarfed, coming in when the immediate dangers are Paralyzed and the opponent's field can all hit super-effectively. Which is actually quite often. Earth Power is a mighty STAB move, Ice Beam deals with some of the metagame's most popular Pokemon (like opposing Grounds), Flamethrower dispatches Bug-Steels and Ferrothorn, and Thunderbolt slams Water-types like Jellicent and Vaporeon.

Aggron @ Air Balloon
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spe
Substitute
Head Smash
Focus Punch
Ice Punch

Forget Blaziken. Set aside Drizzle and Swift Swim. The Air Balloon may be one of the most broken things in the Rotation Battle metagame. The message "Aggron is holding an Air Balloon" doesn't appear at all I send her out in the back of the 3 leads! This allows her to effortlessly torture Gliscor, Garchomp, Excadrill, and Dragonite by setting up in their faces and launching an Ice Punch or Head Smash back at them. After so many gleeful experiences like that, I never want to leave home without my Aggron.

Salamence @ Lum Berry
Adamant
252 Atk/252 Spe/6 SpD
Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Blast

Salamence helps to disguise the stallish nature of my team on the Team Preview as well as be my insurance against any quick mon I didn't Paralyze. Getting a free DD is easy with the Fighting, Ground, and Water moves flying at Nidoking, Aggron, and Regigigas. After that, I keep him in the back until the team is ready to get swept. Outrage + Lum Berry is pretty cool if I don't sacrifice the Berry for a Dragon Dance. EQ is obvious, and Fire Blast with an Adamant nature is from when I used Fire Fang before I found out it was bad.

EDIT: As of late I've replaced Hydreigon with this:
Scizor @ White Herb
Adamant
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Def
Swords Dance
Superpower
Bullet Punch
Bug Bite

Scizor provides the priority I realized I needed so badly despite the paralysis. His Ice resistance gives him opportunities to SD against opponents trying to nail Thundurus or Salamence, and Mence compliments Scizor by taking the ever-obvious Fire moves. Because of the increased impracticality of switching in Rotation, White Herb restores my stats if I have to take out a Steel with a somewhat surprising Superpower. The fast spread is equally surprising, but I've often considered changing him (or training a new one) to a SpD version.

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Hydreigon @ Dragon Gem
Modest
252 SpA/196 Spe/62 HP
Draco Meteor
Dragon Pulse
Surf
Flamethrower

The EV spread is a relic from when it was popular.
This Hydreigon alternates between Scarf, Specs, and this, and she's currently the object of contention on this team. As much as I like GemDM, another Flamethrower, good bulk, and a Psychic immunity, she feels like a combination of Nidoking and Salamence. I have a couple ideas in case I decide to replace her, but for now she's performing flawlessly and has saved me a difficult game or two.
 
Threat List (in progress) (same sprite ordinances apply)

Dragonite
Dragonite used to give me the chills whenever its adorable yellow face appeared from the Poke ball. Now I have an Aggron and am no longer afraid! Call 555...
Seriously, can anybody say Twave -> Knock Off -> Head Smash or [Ice Move]? It may be the Nite users I've been facing, it may be that I've predicted the set correctly, it might be the nature of Rotation, but Dragonite hasn't been as deadly as it is in Singles.

Rotom-W

Very annoying and potentially deadly for my team. Specs Hydro Pump is brutal even for Regigigas, and the tankish versions can often get off a Will-O'-Wisp before their set is discovered. I'll usually Paralyze them first (duh) and send in Aggron or Hydreigon to pound them with powerful neutral attacks. Of course... it seems most of my teams without Ferrothorn end up being weak to Rotom-W!

Garchomp
If I see a Chomp, I bring 'Gron. SubSD can't break Aggron's sub with an unboosted Dragon move, and Ice Punch breaks its sub and finishes it off. Scarfed Garchomp is dangerous to Salamence even if I do get a DD, and dealing with it mostly depends on the move it locks itself into. If I don't have Aggron things become much harder, but rotating Nidoking in on Stone Edge, Fire Blast, SD, or maybe Dual Chop is my last hope.

Gliscor
Very similar to Chomp in that Aggron makes fun of it, except this time Nidoking might outspeed if they don't invest much. The downside is that it may carry Guillotine and that if they Substitute on Gigas the battle becomes much uglier.

Politoed and Rain Teams
Rain Stall is far less effective in Rotation than in Single, so most Rain teams I encounter are speedy and offensive. Regigigas and Thundurus need to Paralyze nearly everything in order for me to not be overwhelmed. Once that task is through, I can proceed to Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Outrage, and Earth Power the often-frail sweepers. Ferrothorn is much harder to deal with under Rain, but oddly enough I havent encountered this combo yet. Politoed's varied sets mean that one false move could cost me a Pokemon or a status. After Twaving, I'll usually go for a Knock Off in order to weaken offensive sets before I find out the hard way. Head Smash OHKO's the ones which don't invest in Defense, so it's a very tempting option if I expect Toxic.

Ninetales and Sun Teams
Another relatively Speed-heavy playstyle, Sun's attacks are often immediately weaker than Rain. This makes Regigigas's job easier, unless of course he gets Sleep Powdered, Hypnotized, or slammed with a Typhlosion's Eruption... If that fails, the Dragons resist both Fire and Grass (+ Arcanine's Close Combat) and can usually bring down one of the opponents with them. Dragon Dancing is a nice win condition against slower Sun teams, too.

Latios
Paralyze at all costs! Sometimes I manage to get by by using Aggron to absorb a Dragon move, or by Mence getting a DD on another team member and later Outraging it.

Latias
Usually I'll Taunt these first, but otherwise treat them like Latios.

Lv.1 Aron


Tyranitar

Hippowdon

Excadrill

Landorus

Volcarona

Espeon

Electivire

Trick Room

Thundurus

Tornadus

Quagsire

The Other Water/Grounds

Ferrothorn

Scizor

Breloom

Pink Blobs

Hydreigon




 
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