Hi guys, this is my first RMT so I'd really appreciate any feedback!
So, to start this off I wanted to build a Steel team that was not overly reliant on stalling. I'm not patient enough for that playstyle and while I don't mind facing it, I hate playing stall myself. I'm okay with playing defensively if that's what I have to do to win but I don't enjoy making it my primary win condition. Steel tends to be more balance/stallish from what I've seen (correct me if I'm wrong) so I wanted to make a team that was more focused on pressuring opponents and sweeping. I decided on using three setup sweepers that are viable in Monosteel, Celesteela, M-Scizor, and Z-Jirachi. This team can be super fun to play and I've had some really interesting matches. I've managed to do alright with this team, peaking about 1550 on the ladder, but my personal goal was to hit 1700+ and after a streak of losses putting me at 1300 I decided that I should just post an RMT and get help from more experienced players. With that said, here is the team:
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
- Autotomize
- Giga Drain
Celesteela is one of my favorite Pokemon and the main reason I decided to play Steel. Instead of going for the bulky Leech Seed set, because I hate playing too defensively/stallishly, I opted for the Autotomize sweeper set. Air Slash is stab and can get the hax flinch, occassionally winning games. Flamethrower is necessary against other Steel teams, and Giga Drain gives coverage against Water teams and also paired with Leftovers makes Celesteela a decent defensive mon if I'm forced into a position where I have to play defensively. Celesteela can really snowball if I get a surprise KO on a something that was expecting a defensive set.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Magma Storm
- Stone Edge
- Taunt
- Earth Power
Taunt Heatran with Magma Storm is really good and I feel like it's the most viable Heatran set at the moment. Max speed is important for Taunt and the Heatran mirror, which I run into quite often. Earth Power is important coverage, and Stone Edge is my best option against Megazard Y and Volcarona, which can absolutely demolish me. I've heard that there's better EV spreads than the one I have, however, so I would love suggestions on that.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Leech Seed
Ferrothorn I feel is an essential on Steel teams, especially when paired with Heatran as they make a solid defensive core. Max defense makes it a good switch-in against Ground and Rock teams. I run Stealth Rock on him because I don't use Skarmory (maybe I should?). Other than that this is a fairly standard set and is really important in patching up some holes in my team.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Mega Scizor is another one of my sweepers and probably the best one. It can absolutely rip through some teams, and with max Attack, Bullet Punch can revenge kill most of the offensive mons in the meta if they're below half health. I run Superpower over Bug Bite, because I feel Bullet Punch at +2 is more than enough for Dark and Psychic teams, and Superpower gives me more wallbreaking ability against bulkier mons that I wouldn't be able to break otherwise. Roost helps me recover health and gives me the option to try for a sweep a second time if I failed once.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
Standard Scardrill set. I think he's absolutely essential on Steel teams in the current meta, as he functions as speed control and also has Rapid Spin to get rid of Spikes. Unfortunately, while he is good at revenge killing he sucks at wallbreaking, especially against Flying teams. I struggle really hard against Zapdos/Mantine/Celesteela cores, which I face really often, since Flying is so popular. Part of the reason I made this RMT is because I absolutely get curb stomped by Flying teams.
Jirachi @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Happy Hour
- Iron Head
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Z-Normalium with Happy Hour is a fun set, and Iron Head's flinch rate can really put in work against certain teams. However, while this set is fun, I feel like it doesn't really help my matchups all that much (apart from Thunderbolt coverage which is nice) and sometimes I feel like Jirachi is a deadweight against certain matchups. I've struggled with this sixth slot and I've debated taking out Jirachi for something like Magnezone, which also has electric coverage.
Threatlist:
Final thoughts:
I'm open to any suggestions and how I should go about beating my worst matchups. I would love for someone to just rip apart my team and tell me everything I'm doing wrong cause I'd honestly appreciate any feedback, even if it's critical. My only thing is that I'd like to keep things in the offensive-balance side, though looking at my team after writing this I do kinda see that I might be leaning towards too much offensive and not enough balance. But I dunno what I'm talking about and that's why I'm asking for help lol. So yeah, I'd really really appreciate any feedback because I've been at this for a week now and I'm still at a loss. Thanks in advance for any help!
So, to start this off I wanted to build a Steel team that was not overly reliant on stalling. I'm not patient enough for that playstyle and while I don't mind facing it, I hate playing stall myself. I'm okay with playing defensively if that's what I have to do to win but I don't enjoy making it my primary win condition. Steel tends to be more balance/stallish from what I've seen (correct me if I'm wrong) so I wanted to make a team that was more focused on pressuring opponents and sweeping. I decided on using three setup sweepers that are viable in Monosteel, Celesteela, M-Scizor, and Z-Jirachi. This team can be super fun to play and I've had some really interesting matches. I've managed to do alright with this team, peaking about 1550 on the ladder, but my personal goal was to hit 1700+ and after a streak of losses putting me at 1300 I decided that I should just post an RMT and get help from more experienced players. With that said, here is the team:
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
- Autotomize
- Giga Drain
Celesteela is one of my favorite Pokemon and the main reason I decided to play Steel. Instead of going for the bulky Leech Seed set, because I hate playing too defensively/stallishly, I opted for the Autotomize sweeper set. Air Slash is stab and can get the hax flinch, occassionally winning games. Flamethrower is necessary against other Steel teams, and Giga Drain gives coverage against Water teams and also paired with Leftovers makes Celesteela a decent defensive mon if I'm forced into a position where I have to play defensively. Celesteela can really snowball if I get a surprise KO on a something that was expecting a defensive set.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Magma Storm
- Stone Edge
- Taunt
- Earth Power
Taunt Heatran with Magma Storm is really good and I feel like it's the most viable Heatran set at the moment. Max speed is important for Taunt and the Heatran mirror, which I run into quite often. Earth Power is important coverage, and Stone Edge is my best option against Megazard Y and Volcarona, which can absolutely demolish me. I've heard that there's better EV spreads than the one I have, however, so I would love suggestions on that.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Leech Seed
Ferrothorn I feel is an essential on Steel teams, especially when paired with Heatran as they make a solid defensive core. Max defense makes it a good switch-in against Ground and Rock teams. I run Stealth Rock on him because I don't use Skarmory (maybe I should?). Other than that this is a fairly standard set and is really important in patching up some holes in my team.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Mega Scizor is another one of my sweepers and probably the best one. It can absolutely rip through some teams, and with max Attack, Bullet Punch can revenge kill most of the offensive mons in the meta if they're below half health. I run Superpower over Bug Bite, because I feel Bullet Punch at +2 is more than enough for Dark and Psychic teams, and Superpower gives me more wallbreaking ability against bulkier mons that I wouldn't be able to break otherwise. Roost helps me recover health and gives me the option to try for a sweep a second time if I failed once.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
Standard Scardrill set. I think he's absolutely essential on Steel teams in the current meta, as he functions as speed control and also has Rapid Spin to get rid of Spikes. Unfortunately, while he is good at revenge killing he sucks at wallbreaking, especially against Flying teams. I struggle really hard against Zapdos/Mantine/Celesteela cores, which I face really often, since Flying is so popular. Part of the reason I made this RMT is because I absolutely get curb stomped by Flying teams.
Jirachi @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Happy Hour
- Iron Head
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
Z-Normalium with Happy Hour is a fun set, and Iron Head's flinch rate can really put in work against certain teams. However, while this set is fun, I feel like it doesn't really help my matchups all that much (apart from Thunderbolt coverage which is nice) and sometimes I feel like Jirachi is a deadweight against certain matchups. I've struggled with this sixth slot and I've debated taking out Jirachi for something like Magnezone, which also has electric coverage.
Threatlist:
- Flying: Like I said earlier, I get absolutely Shrekt to pieces by Monoflying. I have no clue what to do in this matchup and whenever I see Flying in the Team Preview my heart sinks a little bit because I know it's gonna be painful for me. Every game I've played against Flying has been just awful. I can't break their defensive core, and their offensive mons threaten me as well because I have no safe switch-ins to Landorus-I or Megazard Y. They can always run different coverage moves to get around, and even smart switching or sacrificing a mon so I can revenge kill doesn't always work, because smarter players can easily predict switches because I'm put into situations where the switch is obvious as staying in will only get me killed, and can always switch out to Zapdos or something else that walls me if I bring in Scizor or Excadrill to revenge kill. I've played Monoflying with this team around maybe 15+ times and I've won only once or twice. If nothing else, I would like advice on how to win in this matchup.
- Electric: M-Scizor, which is often my wincon, is severally at a disadvantage here because they resist Bullet Punch. Mega Manetric is huge offensive threat with Flamethrower, and Electric Terrain Thunderbolts 2HKO Heatran with ease. I also get destroyed by Golem-A and Magnezone, both of which have Magnet Pull, rendering Ferrothorn, my best defensive answer, completely useless. I've gotten close against Electric teams, but I don't think I've ever won a game. I'm simply at such a huge disadvantage right from the get-go. I easily lose to <1150 players using Electric.
- M-Sableye and other stall mons: I don't really get salty against stall teams (I promise), because I recognize that playing super defensively is just as legitimate of a playstyle as my preferred style of offensive-balance. That said, I don't necessarily enjoy playing against them, because Steel doesn't really have any brilliant wallbreakers to ease the matchup. Oftentimes my best answer is to just set up Scizor, or play smart and get a surprise KO with Celesteela and try to snowball from there, or going for the scum hax with Jirachi's flinch strat. Stallmons are a better matchup for me than Flying/Electric though, because I have a decent matchup most of the time and I can generally win games if I don't misplay too hard.
Final thoughts:
I'm open to any suggestions and how I should go about beating my worst matchups. I would love for someone to just rip apart my team and tell me everything I'm doing wrong cause I'd honestly appreciate any feedback, even if it's critical. My only thing is that I'd like to keep things in the offensive-balance side, though looking at my team after writing this I do kinda see that I might be leaning towards too much offensive and not enough balance. But I dunno what I'm talking about and that's why I'm asking for help lol. So yeah, I'd really really appreciate any feedback because I've been at this for a week now and I'm still at a loss. Thanks in advance for any help!
