Time to Get Serious

[frewboo]

Introduction​

For a while now I have been playing competitive Pokemon on Pokemon Showdown. Most of my teams in the past have either been quickly thrown together, or I lost interest in them quickly. But now I've decided to stop being a mediocre player and rise to something more. I had a plan to make a team that would get a rating of higher than 2000. Even though that isn't even top 100, I felt like that was a good milestone where I would be considered a decent player. Here we go!

Team Building​

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I had used scarf-moxie Honchkrow in UU, so I decided to use Salamence for OU.

Since I had a good dragon, I wanted to bring in a good steel type. Heatran worked out.

To compliment the fire type wall, I brought in a water type wall.

I needed a special attacker, so I decided to use Alakazam, mostly for Magic Guard.

I wanted another wall, and Forretress seemed good for his utility.

I wanted another attacker to round out the team, and I settled on Gyarados. I briefly considered going for another scarf-moxie set, but quickly decided it would limit my offensive versatility. These six were the first team I had. I mixed around a few sets at first then decided I needed to make some changes.

I'm not really sure why I did this, but I switched out Heatran for Gliscor. Needless to say, it was a mistake and I switched back very quickly.

I was having some big trouble with Breloom at this point and I wasn't sure what to do. All of a sudden I remembered that magic bounce works on statuses as well as hazards. So I substituted Alakazam for Espeon. The big letdown was loss of magic guard, but I think bounce made up for it. There was also minimal loss of offensive prowess.

Forretress wasn't really working out with the team. He just ended up getting killed way too quickly. Maybe I overestimated his defenses, but anyways I had an extreme weakness to Electric moves, so I needed a ground type, but I also needed something that had good bulk. Landorus T was the perfect candidate for this slot, so I brought him in, and he's worked well so far. So that's the team right now.

Analysis​

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Standard scarf set here. Two stabs, earthquake for another strong move, and Fire blast for covereage. I chose fire blast over Aqua tail because I was having troubles with grass pokemon. The hasty nature is to make sure Special attack isn't lowered, but if you have a better suggestion, please enlighten me.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 180 SDef / 248 HP / 80 Def
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Night Shade
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp

WOOOOOOO! This guy is such a mosnter. Eatin up hits all day. But for real, this set is fantastic in normal play, but where it really shines is rain teams. I didn't understand the recommended EV spread, which was purely physical, so I spread the EVs a bit. The way I see it, he'll be taking special hits mostly (t-bolt, energy ball, etc.). Taunt and Night Shade work really well with each other for wall breaking, really this whole set just plays off of taunt. I love it.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 168 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Bounce
- Waterfall

The recommended set here for this behemoth. This has won me many a game with its amazing power and really ease of setting up. I really hate bounce for being a 2 turn move, but its the only flying option. I also learned (the hard way unfortunately) that this set is extremely succeptable to the uncommon but not unseen Ditto. I considered using SubDD Dragonite, but didn't want to put 2 Dragons on the same team. Although I may try that out at some point.

Espeon @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot
- Baton Pass

Since this pink kitty was taking the place of Alakazam, I went with the Offensive set. I still am evenly divided (as I'm sure most people are) between Psyshock and Psychic. But anyways, HP fire to hit those bulky Ferros and Forres. Wow, I just realized those are one letter switch away from each other. Anyways, Grass knot hits Jellicent, Hippowdon, Weakened Tyranitar I guess. Baton pass is there if I need to switch but have a fear of pursuit.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SDef / 248 HP / 8 Def
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Roar

The one Wall to rule them all, this guy takes any hit that is not of the ground or fighting denomination. Even water moves (other than waterfall) fail to leave this firery behemoth with much more than a few scratches. This set was the recomended specially defensive set, except I switched protect for earthpower. I pretty much know all the EQ or EP users by now, so I know when I need to switch. All protect really did was give me 1 more leftovers heal before I had to switch, so Earth Power makes up for it.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Gravity

One word: POWER. This thing, without any EV investment, can eat souls with EQ. I OHKOed a Vaporeon today (not sure what set but still) with this monster. But for real, he checks plenty of Pokemon that could be threats to my team, and he keeps the momentum up with U-turn. I chose Gravity over stealth rocks because I already had a rocker and thought it would be interesting against Skarmorays and levitaters. He he... taters.

Threat List​

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NOTE: These threats are late game threats if I've already lost key pokemon. I cant really thing of anything I don't have a switch in for.
Breloom: He used to make trouble with spore, but since I added Espeon he's been pretty easy to deal with. I suppose if he went for seed bomb on my switch in it could be bad, but then I would just revenge kill.
SDef Jellicent: Really only a problem because this is the set that Espeon cant 2HKO with Grass Knot. I could try to counter with my own Jellicent, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

Conclusion​

Being the first team I've actually stuck with and worked with for a while makes me pretty proud of it. My current ACRE is somewhere in the 1700s which isn't too bad. But like I said, I'm trying to get above 2000, so please tell me what would be more effective. Here's a nice video of me using this team. Battling starts at 10:00.

Thank you for any help you can give me and also any support you can give to my Youtube channel, linked here.
Exportable​

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Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 180 SDef / 248 HP / 80 Def
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Night Shade
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 168 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Bounce
- Waterfall

Espeon @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot
- Baton Pass

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SDef / 248 HP / 8 Def
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Roar

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Gravity

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Hi there. I'm here to rate your RMT.

While I generally quite like the team, I feel that some of your move slots are not being used to their full potential. The first thing I noticed is Gravity on Landorus-T. Now I'm not knocking Gravity, but it seems to me you're putting way too much pressure on Landorus-T to fill many roles (eliminate Rotom-W and Skarmory on the switch, and wall Terrakion). The EVs seem pretty weird since this is meant to be an offensive set(?) I suggest this Landorus-T to replace your current one.


Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]

OR

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Gravity
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Now, the reason I've listed two sets is that I'm not sure what you'd rather Landorus-T do, since it can't fill both roles of countering Terrakion / Scizor, and eliminating Skarmory / Rotom-W. I suggest the first set, as this allows you to remove SR off of Heatran, allowing you to deal with Jellicent easily with a new set (I'll get to this later). However, if you're mainly using Landorus-T to beat Rotom-W and Skarmory to open up a sweep for your Gyarados late game, then use the second set. The EVs and nature make Landorus-T pack a much harder punch, while still being able to decently check Terrakion and Scizor.

Okay, my next suggestion is changing Heatran's move set. You said in your threat list that you generally have problems with Jellicent, so this set should allow you to lure in Jellicent easily and cripple it for the rest of the game.


Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 248 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Protect / Stealth Rock
- Roar / Stealth Rock

This Heatran is a lot like your Heatran, but it doesn't carry SR or Earth Power. I mean, Earth Power is only really for Heatran, and you have Gyarados and Jellicent, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem for you to beat anyway. Toxic nails bulky water types like Rotom-W and Jellicent that love to switch into Heatran. Lava Plume it STAB and has a great 30% burn rate. Protect is used for scouting purposes, and leftovers recovery, as well as gaining extra Toxic damage on your opponent. Roar is the last move slot to phaze away dangerous threats like Volcarona and DD Dragonite. Stealth Rock has been slashed on the last two move slots just in case you decide to go with the Gravity Landorus-T set.

So, other than that, this is a really cool team man. Good luck in the future with it, and I hope my suggestions helped you.

 

[frewboo]

Hey ShootinStarmie! Thanks for the rate.

Landorus wasn't meant to be purely offensive. He was taking the place of Forretress, who was meant to be a wall. The reason I chose that set for Landorus was simply because it was the recommended set for "offensive pivot." After checking a few stats, I learned that the reason for the spread is that it gives him considerable bulk so that he can takes hits and check threats like Terrakion after the Intimidate drop while also having just enough EVs left over to outspeed Skarmoray and standard bulky Rotom-W. That being said, Landorus is still susceptible to choice scarf/specs Rotom-W as well as not being able to get big damage off on really any Scizor. But of the 4 threats you metioned, this current set already counters 2 possibly 3 of them(EQ can OHKO 252HP/0Def spread after SR, 50% without), and I have Jellicent to check Scizor. The only real threat would be specs set, but with some good prediction I could play around that.


As for you recommendations about Heatran, you do bring up a good point. Toxic would work very well on him, and you're right in saying that Earth Power is really unnecessary. I'm feeling a little 4 moveslot syndrome here, but I'll figure out what would work best. Protect is good when used with toxic, but SR is nice because its my only hazard. And roar is really good, especially against things like Volcarona and DDers. So I will look into changing those moves, thank you.

I hope I was clear in my reply and I hope you understand why I made the Landorus set how it is (more importantly I really hope all the info I said is all true and I didn't screw up:D).