Hello everyone, this is my first Gen 5 RMT and as such I'll attempt to make it as pretty as I can. I spent roughly a week on this team, and it’s pretty solid. I'm still not happy with it, and figured the RMT section can give me some advice. Here’s the team
Obviously, this is a sandstorm team. I tried to shy away from Excadrill and Landorus; mainly because they’re so common they always have a check or counter. I’ve been running Sandstorm teams since Gen 3, they’re a lot of fun and can do literally anything you want, heavy offense, stall, you name it and I can guarantee sandstorm can do it; though hopefully, you don’t need me to tell you that. With this team I tried to find a balance of offense and defense to let me respond to most situations.While the team might not be the most original thing in the world, it is a lot of fun to play.
@ LeftoversEVs: 252 HP / 180 SAtk / 76 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
As my Default lead, Ttar still lives up to his name this gen. This thing is a tyrant. Unless I choose not to set it up, I cannot recall a single time he *didn't* get rocks on the field. With the given EV's I can always OHKO a scizor with fireblast who thinks it can set up a swords dance on me, unless they decide to invest heavily into Special Defense. Ice beam takes care of Dragons, Gliscor leads, and gliscor in general. Crunch is a powerful stab, which hurts the rising psychic count hard, and usually on the weak side. It also deals with all the new ghosts. The EV's also let it survive most, if not all, non-stab focus blasts. Alas, physical fighting attacks still blow through him, but then, who keeps a Ttar in on anything with a fighting attack? Besides setting up rocks and absorbing special hits, and of course being one Sassy son of a bitch, TTar doesn't do much. He occiasionally checks Some psychic types, like opposing Reunculis, but he has to watch the boosted Focus blast, which will OHKO.
@ Choice Scarf
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Aqua Tail
I joke that my general strategy for my team is to go balls deep on my outrages. I once won a 1v5 just by out raging through confusion. Nothing really relevant, I just think it's funny. Anyways, ScarfChomp tends to catch people off guard. why, I'm not sure, I had thought it was common. Scarf provides revenge killing, and Its versatile move pool lets me check a plethora of opponents. With scarf, he out speeds most +1 speed dragons, and can OHKO (most of the time) with Outrage. Earthquake provides a 2nd powerful stab. the last 2 slots are for coverage. Fire blast deals with Steels that would otherwise wall it. Usually, what happens, is I outrage, get locked, they throw out there steel wall, tank the 2nd out rage, maybe the 3rd. assuming he's healthy enough, I take chomp back, and throw him in later usually on something weak, or at least neutral w/ low (<50%) life, to fire blast, and cripple, if not OHKO their wall. I've been told to run Dragon claw over Aqua Tail, but the water coverage is really nice, and honestly, I've never had an issue with leaving chomp out through the Outrages. Usually the opponent's Ice Beamer gets OHKO'd by the faster outrage, or else they just throw out a wall. Some issues I've been having are the Jolly nature, I like the speed boost, but the loss of spec attack, I'm sure, is costing me some OHKO's, but I'm afraid of running Naive. Burn and Paralysis also plague him, as burn forces him into a weaker Fire blast and Paralysis removes his advantage. Other than that he's solid.
@ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn has seen so many subtle changes it hurts. Originally, he used 252/252/4 ev's with leftovers and T-wave over leech seed. The idea was to use him and TTar to swap hits, take the physical attacks directed at TTar and put them onto Ferro. Unfortunately, most were fighting type, so I switched the left overs for a rocky helmet, which made me smile as something would kill itself on it. Long story short, A long list of being afeered of counters and typing lead to this set up. Rocky helmet+ Iron barbs allows for a pseudo spin block. While it doesnt block the spin, It does usually cut 20-30% of their health off, mixed with a follow up of power whip, which hits most common Rapid Spinners SE = a dead spinner. Ferro- also is my go-to lead for rain teams. No politoed will stay on the first turn so I get a free leech seed off. With his main weakness cut, the fact that most drizzle teams don't have much fighting moves allows me to set up hard with Seeds and spikes. Ferro also takes care of fake out leads with a simple switch in.
@ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Fling
- Earthquake
- Acrobatics
Gliscor, since his release, has been my favorite mon. His versatility has allowed me to fit him on every team so far, and this one is no exception. In homage to the new gen I decided to run a set up utilizing poison heal, and i was so happy with it. Its nothing new, I'm sure you've seen them around. Basically, get poisoned from orb, fling for a free toxic, enjoy a 150 and a 165 base attacks with 100 accuracy and great coverage. I started with Swords Dance over protect, and i was disappointed, protect lets him get free heals in, which is quite helpful. I've been thinking of U-turn over Protect, to bait and switch out of his counters. the eve's were also different before, running jolly nature with 252 speed. I really felt like they weren't doing anything, so i tried a bit bulkier build. It fit in more with the rest of the team, who could take hits and deal off OHKOs as well, and gives me a secondary, fighting-resistant physical wall that hits like a truck with wings. That's hard for those of you without imagination. 252 HP ev's for general bulk, 72 speed ev's to out speed jolly scarftar, rest into defense. I've been debating dropping to 56 speed ev's which should still out speed an adamant scarftar, and give me more physical bulk. Honestly, I dont recall ever seeing a scarftar this gen, But I figured "hey that's a good thing to try and out speed"
@ Life Orb EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Recover
I like and hate this thing all at the same time. It has the amazing ability, Magic Guard, and provides the team with some much needed special bulk and offense. I hate it, because its moves, suck. It has a powerful STAB in psychic, but its resists by a bunch of common types, namely steel, and his an immunity in dark typing. Focus Blast has no accuracy, and fucks me over a lot. Recover is necessary, or else it's 40 speed shits all over it. The only other move worth using is Shadow ball, or energy ball, and the coverage lost from Psychic/blast isnt worth it, and without even just a +1 boost, It doesnt perform the way i want it to, it becomes more of a SS immune psychic/steel type check than a booster. It's a necessary part of the team though, as the fighting resistance is very welcome, and it can tank some Ice beams.
@ Leftovers
EVs: 240 HP / 228 Def / 40 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Roar
Swampert's just here. I needed 6 slots, and it had water, and an immunity to ss. Ice Beam gives me a 2nd cover on Dragons and Gliscor/Landorus. I use Swampert more for the latter, because it isn't as weak to the EQ's. Scald is a great stab with great chance of burn, while EQ is my main source of damage. Roar lets me get rid of boosters, namely the bug/fire moth, who (without stealth rock) usually doesn't OHKO with a +2 bug buzz. I'd like to get rid of this, but I cant really think of much.
Synopsis
So thats the team. After playing the ladder for a while, Some major weaknesses I've found are: Excadrill, Uglamoth, and Ice beams. Both Excadrill and Uglamoth are able to set up on practically half the team and proceed to kill 3-4 things before i can take it down. Uglamoth is easier to deal with, as i usually have rocks down, and can get a roar off before it kills me or while it dances. Excadrill requires a lot of dancing and trying to get him to use X-scissor/Shadow claw on Ferrothorn. Occasionally, I can catch them off guard with Chomp and fire blast while they take the opportunity to dance, but its usually a long shot. Ice beam flat out OHKOs a third of my team. All in All, the team works well together, and theirs some definite synergy between the pokes. I think a big issue is the sharing of weaknesses. TTar + Ferro share fighting, while gliscor+Garchomp share a x4 ice. I'd like to keep those 4, and cover the weaknesses with the other 2 pokes, so advice along those lines would be loved. Specific mon related questions/advice asked in the descriptions of each would also love being answered/ hearing your opinion. Thanks for taking the time to read, Hope it wasnt too boring, I know I rant. Dont do Drugs, Stay in School, and have a great day.
Obviously, this is a sandstorm team. I tried to shy away from Excadrill and Landorus; mainly because they’re so common they always have a check or counter. I’ve been running Sandstorm teams since Gen 3, they’re a lot of fun and can do literally anything you want, heavy offense, stall, you name it and I can guarantee sandstorm can do it; though hopefully, you don’t need me to tell you that. With this team I tried to find a balance of offense and defense to let me respond to most situations.While the team might not be the most original thing in the world, it is a lot of fun to play.
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
As my Default lead, Ttar still lives up to his name this gen. This thing is a tyrant. Unless I choose not to set it up, I cannot recall a single time he *didn't* get rocks on the field. With the given EV's I can always OHKO a scizor with fireblast who thinks it can set up a swords dance on me, unless they decide to invest heavily into Special Defense. Ice beam takes care of Dragons, Gliscor leads, and gliscor in general. Crunch is a powerful stab, which hurts the rising psychic count hard, and usually on the weak side. It also deals with all the new ghosts. The EV's also let it survive most, if not all, non-stab focus blasts. Alas, physical fighting attacks still blow through him, but then, who keeps a Ttar in on anything with a fighting attack? Besides setting up rocks and absorbing special hits, and of course being one Sassy son of a bitch, TTar doesn't do much. He occiasionally checks Some psychic types, like opposing Reunculis, but he has to watch the boosted Focus blast, which will OHKO.
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Aqua Tail
I joke that my general strategy for my team is to go balls deep on my outrages. I once won a 1v5 just by out raging through confusion. Nothing really relevant, I just think it's funny. Anyways, ScarfChomp tends to catch people off guard. why, I'm not sure, I had thought it was common. Scarf provides revenge killing, and Its versatile move pool lets me check a plethora of opponents. With scarf, he out speeds most +1 speed dragons, and can OHKO (most of the time) with Outrage. Earthquake provides a 2nd powerful stab. the last 2 slots are for coverage. Fire blast deals with Steels that would otherwise wall it. Usually, what happens, is I outrage, get locked, they throw out there steel wall, tank the 2nd out rage, maybe the 3rd. assuming he's healthy enough, I take chomp back, and throw him in later usually on something weak, or at least neutral w/ low (<50%) life, to fire blast, and cripple, if not OHKO their wall. I've been told to run Dragon claw over Aqua Tail, but the water coverage is really nice, and honestly, I've never had an issue with leaving chomp out through the Outrages. Usually the opponent's Ice Beamer gets OHKO'd by the faster outrage, or else they just throw out a wall. Some issues I've been having are the Jolly nature, I like the speed boost, but the loss of spec attack, I'm sure, is costing me some OHKO's, but I'm afraid of running Naive. Burn and Paralysis also plague him, as burn forces him into a weaker Fire blast and Paralysis removes his advantage. Other than that he's solid.
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
Ferrothorn has seen so many subtle changes it hurts. Originally, he used 252/252/4 ev's with leftovers and T-wave over leech seed. The idea was to use him and TTar to swap hits, take the physical attacks directed at TTar and put them onto Ferro. Unfortunately, most were fighting type, so I switched the left overs for a rocky helmet, which made me smile as something would kill itself on it. Long story short, A long list of being afeered of counters and typing lead to this set up. Rocky helmet+ Iron barbs allows for a pseudo spin block. While it doesnt block the spin, It does usually cut 20-30% of their health off, mixed with a follow up of power whip, which hits most common Rapid Spinners SE = a dead spinner. Ferro- also is my go-to lead for rain teams. No politoed will stay on the first turn so I get a free leech seed off. With his main weakness cut, the fact that most drizzle teams don't have much fighting moves allows me to set up hard with Seeds and spikes. Ferro also takes care of fake out leads with a simple switch in.
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Fling
- Earthquake
- Acrobatics
Gliscor, since his release, has been my favorite mon. His versatility has allowed me to fit him on every team so far, and this one is no exception. In homage to the new gen I decided to run a set up utilizing poison heal, and i was so happy with it. Its nothing new, I'm sure you've seen them around. Basically, get poisoned from orb, fling for a free toxic, enjoy a 150 and a 165 base attacks with 100 accuracy and great coverage. I started with Swords Dance over protect, and i was disappointed, protect lets him get free heals in, which is quite helpful. I've been thinking of U-turn over Protect, to bait and switch out of his counters. the eve's were also different before, running jolly nature with 252 speed. I really felt like they weren't doing anything, so i tried a bit bulkier build. It fit in more with the rest of the team, who could take hits and deal off OHKOs as well, and gives me a secondary, fighting-resistant physical wall that hits like a truck with wings. That's hard for those of you without imagination. 252 HP ev's for general bulk, 72 speed ev's to out speed jolly scarftar, rest into defense. I've been debating dropping to 56 speed ev's which should still out speed an adamant scarftar, and give me more physical bulk. Honestly, I dont recall ever seeing a scarftar this gen, But I figured "hey that's a good thing to try and out speed"
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Recover
I like and hate this thing all at the same time. It has the amazing ability, Magic Guard, and provides the team with some much needed special bulk and offense. I hate it, because its moves, suck. It has a powerful STAB in psychic, but its resists by a bunch of common types, namely steel, and his an immunity in dark typing. Focus Blast has no accuracy, and fucks me over a lot. Recover is necessary, or else it's 40 speed shits all over it. The only other move worth using is Shadow ball, or energy ball, and the coverage lost from Psychic/blast isnt worth it, and without even just a +1 boost, It doesnt perform the way i want it to, it becomes more of a SS immune psychic/steel type check than a booster. It's a necessary part of the team though, as the fighting resistance is very welcome, and it can tank some Ice beams.
EVs: 240 HP / 228 Def / 40 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Roar
Swampert's just here. I needed 6 slots, and it had water, and an immunity to ss. Ice Beam gives me a 2nd cover on Dragons and Gliscor/Landorus. I use Swampert more for the latter, because it isn't as weak to the EQ's. Scald is a great stab with great chance of burn, while EQ is my main source of damage. Roar lets me get rid of boosters, namely the bug/fire moth, who (without stealth rock) usually doesn't OHKO with a +2 bug buzz. I'd like to get rid of this, but I cant really think of much.
Synopsis
So thats the team. After playing the ladder for a while, Some major weaknesses I've found are: Excadrill, Uglamoth, and Ice beams. Both Excadrill and Uglamoth are able to set up on practically half the team and proceed to kill 3-4 things before i can take it down. Uglamoth is easier to deal with, as i usually have rocks down, and can get a roar off before it kills me or while it dances. Excadrill requires a lot of dancing and trying to get him to use X-scissor/Shadow claw on Ferrothorn. Occasionally, I can catch them off guard with Chomp and fire blast while they take the opportunity to dance, but its usually a long shot. Ice beam flat out OHKOs a third of my team. All in All, the team works well together, and theirs some definite synergy between the pokes. I think a big issue is the sharing of weaknesses. TTar + Ferro share fighting, while gliscor+Garchomp share a x4 ice. I'd like to keep those 4, and cover the weaknesses with the other 2 pokes, so advice along those lines would be loved. Specific mon related questions/advice asked in the descriptions of each would also love being answered/ hearing your opinion. Thanks for taking the time to read, Hope it wasnt too boring, I know I rant. Dont do Drugs, Stay in School, and have a great day.