Too Slow! Trick Room in OU

[Bossgodora]

My Very First Trick Room Team!

Hello. I'm back, and with yet another new team for me. I've been searching for a team that I like and works quite well in the OU. This team has proven to be good and bad in various ways. I wanted a team that wasn't necessarily gimmicky but not used too much either. Trick Room was the perfect candidate. I've yet to see someone else use such a team, which is actually surprising. In a tier filled with super fast pokemon, this team ruins the strategies of many well known and used teams out there. But, it has its flaws, unfortunately. Two things, mainly: Priority and Taunt. In all the guides it's been emphasized enough, but I didn't actually realize how badly these two things hurt this team until I experienced them. Priority users, especially Breloom, Scizor, and Dragonite, pose a threat to this team no matter what the conditions are. Taunt users, Sableye especially shut this team completely down to. In the end, this team has many redeeming strengths, as well as some apparent holes, which I hope to have patched up soon.

The Team Building Process

Like how I start off with any other team, I first needed some sort of dedicated lead.

Smeargle was the perfect candidate for having the niche as a suicide lead. He does an exceptional job at it too. My team still needed another TR user. One that was reliable, and had useable offensive stats as well as the bulk to last long.

Reuniclus was an obvious choice. She possesses the bulk and power to function as a reliable sweeper under TR, as well as another pokemon capable of getting it up. But, my team still lacked some physical bulk.

Cofagrigus was the perfect solution to this. He is amazing as a physical wall, and is yet another pokemon capable of not only getting Trick Room up, but setting up and sweeping as well. Now my team just need some muscle.

Conkeldurr is a very strong physical tank. I can easily sum up his function in a sentence: Guts + Hammer Arm/Facade + Trick Room = Win. My team of course, still needed more physical power, as well as a pokemon that could resist as many of the types my other pokemon are weak to.

Regirock filled this role perfectly. His excellent coverage and typing allows him to tank hits my other pokemon can't take, and his power is unstoppable. At this point, my team looked in good shape. It just needed one last thing...

Dragonite. Dragonite filled the last slot as a mixed sweeper, and helps in cleaning up late-game, especially with extremespeed. However, after countless battles being lost, I had to make some adjustments. I actually realized I made a stupid mistake...

I needed a choice scarf user! Although this is indeed a Trick Room team, I still needed a pokemon that could function well outside of TR. In those worst case scenarios where all my Trick Room setters are down and I need to hit hard and fast. Salamence was picked without question, and took Dragonite's spot in my team. Moxie in combination with a choice scarf and outrage makes Salamence very deadly, and she has great synergy with Regirock.

My Team Up Close

Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 HP / 4 SpD
Hardy Nature
Trick Room
Stealth Rock
Endeveaor
Dragon Rage


My suicide lead. Job is pretty simple, get trick room up and attempt to cripple the other pokemon with endeavor. Sometimes I can even get stealth rock up. Though, I've rarely been given the chance, but it is nice, especially against sun teams.

Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 96 HP / 160 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
Trick Room
Psychic
Focus Blast
Shadow Ball

She is always able to at least get Trick Room up in battle. If she does manage to survive she can wreck the opposing team with a STAB psychic. I've actually considered replacing it with Psyshock, since it seems most pokemon she's up against would be hit harder with it.

Cofagrigus @ Leftovers
Trait: Mummy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
Trick Room
Nasty Plot
Shadow Ball
Hidden Power Fighting

He is the sturdiest wall on this team. While Reuniclus serves as the main special sweeper on this team, Cofagrigus can also work pretty well. After even just one Nasty plot boost a shadow ball won't feel too good. Hidden power fighting is to take out any steel or rock types that think they can wall Cofagrigus.

Conkeldurr @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 SpD
Brave Nature
Mach Punch
Hammer Arm
Stone Edge
Façade

He provides my team with much needed physical muscle. He also helps out my team with some priority with mach punch, which can actually hit pretty hard after a guts boost. Hammer arm can take down pretty much anything that doesn't resist it, and façade helps him deal with psychic types that resist it.

Regirock @ Life Orb
Nature: Brave
IVs: 0 Speed
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Def
Stone Edge
Hammer Arm
Earthquake
Stealth Rock

While Conkeldurr is the team's tank (Metaphorically), Regirock happens to be my team's literal tank. In trick room he hits hard and with his amazing physical bulk he can take a beating as well. Pretty standard EdgeQuake combo along with Hammer arm to complement Trick room and to make him even faster under it.

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpA
Nature: Naïve
Outrage
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Fire Blast

Last, but not least, my choice scarf user. I try to save her for towards the end of the match, since she acts as a backup mainly, when things go wrong with the rest of my team. She can also function as a reliable revenge killer. I use Outrage most of the time because... why not? Rest of her moves are for coverage (Fire Blast helps with taking out Ferrothorn and Skarmory).


Conclusion

This team is the first Trick Room team I've made and I really like how it works. I want to be able to disrupt most of the widely used types of teams and under Trick Room this is made possible. This team is by no means perfect, but it sure is a whole lot of fun to mess around with. I love being able to show off Regirock's strength in battle! :D



:) Thanks for reading this! :)

 

[jg1198]

Just a quick little rate, as I'm not all to familiar with Trick Room teams, and have never used them very successfully.

I would definitely use Drain Punch over Hammer Arm on Regirock and especially on any guts variant of Conkeldurr, as they will "out-slow" pretty much everything they need to anyways, and will really appreciate the recovery they get from Drain Punch, especially Conkeldurr, who will already be dealing with Toxic damage + whatever hazards + possible sandstorm or hail.

Also Dragon Rage on Smeargle frankly makes no sense at all to me, and you have offered no explanation to it. Run Spore. 100% acc. Sleep. Enough said.
I suppose if you want to play games with endeavor on Smeargle you could, but you should use Extremespeed, not Dragon Rage.

Also just curious, how do you stop Rain boosted Hydro Pumps from shredding your team? If you have trouble with that, I would go look up Slowking, as he can use Trick Room, and can bring much needed special bulk to your team, as well as a water resist.

Hope I was of some small help.

 

[Hulavuta]

Hammer Arm can get a 2HKO on Skarmory, with Guts activated, while Drain Punch can't. I'm guessing that's his reasoning for it.

As for Smeargle, assuming it's a level 1 Smeargle, ExtremeSpeed won't beat any lead that happens to have Leftovers, so Dragon Rage is better for its consistent 40 damage and it will go first anyway if Trick Room is up. Although I doubt Smeargle will often get three turns to use Trick Room, Endeavor, and Dragon Rage anyway.

 

[noobcubed]

Not experienced with Trick Room in OU but, for what it's worth...

Imo the set for Smeargle should be:

Trick Room
MAGIC COAT
Stealth Rock
Spore

Without Magic Coat you are off to a bad start against any team with a Taunt user faster than Smeargle in it, if they spot the obvious Trick Room lead. Magic Coat at least allows you to get trick room up against any opposing lead bar Breloom/Cloyster who just rip through its Focus Sash. Spore is likewise too good to pass up.

 

[Bossgodora]

Just a quick little rate, as I'm not all to familiar with Trick Room teams, and have never used them very successfully.

I would definitely use Drain Punch over Hammer Arm on Regirock and especially on any guts variant of Conkeldurr, as they will "out-slow" pretty much everything they need to anyways, and will really appreciate the recovery they get from Drain Punch, especially Conkeldurr, who will already be dealing with Toxic damage + whatever hazards + possible sandstorm or hail.

Also Dragon Rage on Smeargle frankly makes no sense at all to me, and you have offered no explanation to it. Run Spore. 100% acc. Sleep. Enough said.
I suppose if you want to play games with endeavor on Smeargle you could, but you should use Extremespeed, not Dragon Rage.

Also just curious, how do you stop Rain boosted Hydro Pumps from shredding your team? If you have trouble with that, I would go look up Slowking, as he can use Trick Room, and can bring much needed special bulk to your team, as well as a water resist.

Hope I was of some small help.

Yeah, I took some of these movesets from an older guide somewhere. I'll change hammer arm though, makes more sense. The moveset I took smeargle from actually utilized a lvl 1 smeargle, which essentially set up Trick Room and attempted using the F.E.A.R. with endeavor (Makes more sense for having dragon rage). Honestly, I actually misread it and never used the lvl 1 Smeargle, but if I do decide to I'll keep dragon rage. Otherwise, I'll switch it for spore if I don't. Eh, I really like Reuniclus and cofagrigus as TR users, but I'll try switching out either one of them for a slowking and see what happens. I've never actually encountered a rain team yet with this team.

 

[chimpact]

Hey there, you have a nice start to a solid Trick room team.

Your first four pokemon are solid, but I do have a small nitpick on smeargle and conkeldurr. You should probably opt to go with a jolly nature to boost your speed up a bit to outspeed skarm/breloom's taunt and spore respectively. You can also go ahead and use spore over dragon rage if you want. Spore can effectively take out a pokemon from the game. It also allows you set up Trick Rooms on that sleeping pokemon if they decide to stay in and hope to wake up or if they want to just let it die. You should also probably change up your conkeldurr to a Sheer force set with Hammer Arm / Ice Punch / Thunder Punch / Mach Punch. Sheer force cancels out the life orb recoil you take from the elemental punches and you get much better coverage than your facade set.

The last two pokemon on your team are questionable. Regirock really struggles in the OU metagame for a variety of reasons. I would replace Regirock for Dragonite, another trick room abuser. Dragonite has quite a unique movepool and immense bulk so it can naturally fit on a trick room team. dragonite gives you another form priority, some unique resists, and overall makes it tough for your opponent to bring a safe switch-in for it.

Salamence is also a good pokemon, but he is vulnerable to priority. I would replace it with scarf Jirachi. Jirachi has plenty of resists, less vulnerable to priority, and can win games alone with scarf iron head. Additionally, it has access to a great move in healing wish. It's basically a max revive in attack form, which can be crucial in changing the outcome of a game. It allows you to play reckless with your trick room abusers earlier in the match and give your opponent a false sense of security.

sets

Dragonite @ Dragon Gem
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Quiet Nature
- Draco Meteor
- ExtremeSpeed
- Superpower
- Fire Blast

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 72 HP / 216 Atk / 4 SDef / 216 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Healing Wish

EVs are so you can take advantage of its steel typing while still outspeeding + 1 Base 95s (notably Kyurem-B)

 

[noobcubed]

Had another think about the lead, I think this is maybe better...

Bronzong @ Normal Gem
Trick Room
Stealth Rock
Mirror Coat
Explosion

Better than Smeargle because Explosion takes out a Poke (notably, you can do this even after reflecting a Spore with Magic Coat, without violating sleep clause) while retaining momentum (ie, switching to a more attacking threat, you only have five turns to exploit trick room so momentum is everything). Meanwhile its far superior bulk makes its more likely to set up SR. It's also a less obvious lead so opponents are less likely to counter-lead it.

 

[Qualna]

You should definetely use lead Smeargle with Spore but aside the posts above, I suggest...

Conkeldurr should really be running Ice Punch over Stone Edge since they give nearly identical coverage but Ice Punch hits most common Pokémon such as Dragonite and friends harder than Stone Edge, and a miss under TR has a huge consequence since TR teams need every turn they can get for damaging the enemy. Be wary though as Jellicent will be untouchable.

Speaking of Jellicent... Jellicent is a nightmare to your team, especially in rain. Jellicent can wall most of your team and can taunt your trick rooms, physically defensive Jellicents loses to Reuniclus and Cofagrigus, but Specailly Defensive variant will win and Choice Specs variants has a high chance to OHKO outside rain and sure OHKO when it's raining.

I suggest using Tangrowth over Regirock, for some reasons. Firstly, it can hurt water types, as you have zero moves to hit them super effectively. Second, it can be mixed, making it the most versatile member of your team. And last, it has access to Regenerator, which is extremely helpful due to TR's nature to switch out.

Tangrowth @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 HP /252 Atk / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 2 Spd
- Focus Blast
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ice

You could use a different stat spread or change some moves too, but that is the recommended set.

Since your Salamece is a late game sweeper, Dragon Claw is pretty useless it should just run another coverage move like Aqua Tail.

That's all and I hope this helps. :) :3

 

[truedrew]

hey there man thats a nice team and as stated before: it has 2 weak links(smeargle and moxie mence) if the opponent is running a jellicent it completely sits on your conkelldur and can ruin it with continuous recover stalling. Also a little brat known as sableeye can completely shut down ure team withwith taunt and if he is running substitute can seriously harass your team as hes unaffected by conkelldurr(recover makes it impossible for u to win) also if hazards are up mence cannot repeatedly witch in on sableeye. also reuniclus cannot outstall continous attacks from sable.

To solve the aforementioned problems, CS LATIOS as it rapes both sable eye and can shut down jellicent with a trick also consider running at least an elemental punch on conk as he can be decimated by bulky ghosts with stable recovery.

also a trick room jirachi can solve your problems against lots of common threats and is able to provide the <b>needed wish support</b> to your team as it is prone to being set up on by slower hazard setters such as forrtress.

hope the changes help and good luck

Sets:
choice scarf latios
@Life orb/ choice scarf(whatever u prefer)
timid or modest nature
moves:
draco meteor
trick
hidden power fire/ice
roost/surf/thunderbolt(im confused)

jirachi in trickroom
@Lagging tail/lefties(if u want it slower in trick room or recovery{not needed with wish})
Moves
Trick room
Wish
fire punch(deal with ferro)/ptrotect/trick
iron head(stall ppl to death)

good luck and hope this rating helps:) xD