Team Building Process:
The Lead
I had already decided from the very begining that I wanted something that could set up using Dragon Dance, while the opposing lead is busy setteing up Stealth Rock and such. I thought about what could learn it, and I narrowed it down to Salamence and Kingdra. I decided to use Kingdra, because Salamence would just be stopped immediately by Weavile and Mamoswine, plus theres the occasional Gliscor with Stone Edge that would just stop Salamence dead in its tracks.
The Stealth Rock Setter Upper-er
I figured that most of my teams were to easy to set up against, so I decided that I wanted something that could set up Stealth Rock, keep things from setting up, and take some hits. I decided on Gliscor, because it could stop set ups with Taunt, Roost away any damage, and lay down the ever important Stealth Rock.
Kingdra's Dance Partner
Now it's time for me to use Salamence. I was reading some things on Smogon about roles for Salamence, and I went into the roles it can play in Ubers, and when I saw the title "Rayquaza's Dance Partner" I just had to try and find an OU version of this pair. I found it interesting to use two dragons on the same team, and it made sense, I mean who would expect it?
The Steel Killer
Gee this sure was a hard choice. Two dragons on the same team, it only makes sense to use a Magnezone. Although I have considered using Choice Scarf Dugtrio, who could double as a revenge killer, it still just made more sense to go with Magnezone, he's so good at his job.
The Scout
I needed to have a Pokemon on this team that could scout out potential threats to Salamence, and check if I would need to use Magnezone to trap steels, or if I could use his monsterous Special Attack stat to try and pull off a sweep of his own. After some thought it came down to two Pokemon: Swampert and Suicune. Both could effectively Roar through an opponents team and do some damage or stall using Curse or Calm Mind respectively. However Suicune is one of my favorite Pokemon so I ended up using him instead.
The Rapid Spinner
Because Salamence looses 25% of his HP everytime he comes into play with Stealth Rock up I was in need of a strong Rapid Spinner who could switch in on opponents dragon type attacks, and spin away their entry hazards. And because Salamence benefits so much from entry hazards I figured I should look for something to use Spikes as well. I ended up choosing Forretress, he just does this job so well it wouldn't make sense not to use him.
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Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Swift Swim
Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Outrage
-Iron Head
I had already decided from the very begining that I wanted something that could set up using Dragon Dance, while the opposing lead is busy setteing up Stealth Rock and such. I thought about what could learn it, and I narrowed it down to Salamence and Kingdra. I decided to use Kingdra, because Salamence would just be stopped immediately by Weavile and Mamoswine, plus theres the occasional Gliscor with Stone Edge that would just stop Salamence dead in its tracks.
The Stealth Rock Setter Upper-er
I figured that most of my teams were to easy to set up against, so I decided that I wanted something that could set up Stealth Rock, keep things from setting up, and take some hits. I decided on Gliscor, because it could stop set ups with Taunt, Roost away any damage, and lay down the ever important Stealth Rock.
Kingdra's Dance Partner
Now it's time for me to use Salamence. I was reading some things on Smogon about roles for Salamence, and I went into the roles it can play in Ubers, and when I saw the title "Rayquaza's Dance Partner" I just had to try and find an OU version of this pair. I found it interesting to use two dragons on the same team, and it made sense, I mean who would expect it?
The Steel Killer
Gee this sure was a hard choice. Two dragons on the same team, it only makes sense to use a Magnezone. Although I have considered using Choice Scarf Dugtrio, who could double as a revenge killer, it still just made more sense to go with Magnezone, he's so good at his job.
The Scout
I needed to have a Pokemon on this team that could scout out potential threats to Salamence, and check if I would need to use Magnezone to trap steels, or if I could use his monsterous Special Attack stat to try and pull off a sweep of his own. After some thought it came down to two Pokemon: Swampert and Suicune. Both could effectively Roar through an opponents team and do some damage or stall using Curse or Calm Mind respectively. However Suicune is one of my favorite Pokemon so I ended up using him instead.
The Rapid Spinner
Because Salamence looses 25% of his HP everytime he comes into play with Stealth Rock up I was in need of a strong Rapid Spinner who could switch in on opponents dragon type attacks, and spin away their entry hazards. And because Salamence benefits so much from entry hazards I figured I should look for something to use Spikes as well. I ended up choosing Forretress, he just does this job so well it wouldn't make sense not to use him.
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Kingdra @ Lum Berry
Swift Swim
Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spd
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Outrage
-Iron Head
Thanks to the 200 Spd EV's and the Jolly nature I'm able to use Dragon Dance before Gliscor can Taunt me, then follow up with Waterfall, so unless it uses Stelath Rock first turn, it won't use it at all. I have the Lum Berry because I'm just screwed after something like Roserade uses Sleep Poweder on me, but when I have my Lum Berry I can be cured of the sleep immediately, use Dragon Dance, which makes me faster than Timid max speed Roserade, unfortunately part two of this plan was messed up when I decided to use Forretress over Scizor, because now I can't revenge kill Roserade after attacking with Kingdra. Also the Lum Berry gets me out of confusion immediately so I can keep him in longer. I chose to use Iron Head instead of Draco Meteor or Hydro Pump because I rarely found myself using either of the two, and with Iron Head I can 2HKO lead Weavile, who does very little damage to me no matter what attack it uses. And lastly I chose Swift Swim over Sniper because it stops Rain Dance teams from starting the rain so early, and I have the opportunity to KO it if it chooses not to switch.
Gliscor @ Leftovers
Sand Veil
Impish (+Def, -Sp.Atk)
252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Speed
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock
-Roost
-Earthquake
I know it may seem kind of stupid using taunt on my non-lead Gliscor, and just stupid all around that I'm using a lead set on a non-lead Gliscor, but it was just the Pokemon I needed for this team. Thanks to the 216 EV's invested in speed Gliscor becomes the perfect counter to the most popular of the steels that Magnezone can not take care of, Lucario and Jirachi. I have Taunt to take care of anything that I know is going to try and set up, which is extremely useful. Roost is to recover off damage, and keep him in the game longer, Stealth Rock is the main reason he's on the team, and Earthquake for many common threats, and to not be screwed over by Taunters.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Pressure
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.Def
-Roar
-Surf
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
In the past I've always, always used the Crocune set, but I needed something to scout out potential threats to my Salamence, so I just had to use a set with Roar. I ended up using the Sleep Talk set, because even without Calm Mind, Suicune is still a pain to take down. And I just couldn't sacrifice two turns, in todays fast paced metagame, it's just way too risky to let something set up. I chose these EV's because it resists a fair amount of special attacker's STAB attacks, Heatran imparticular, so it made more sense to go with a defensive EV investment. Roar isn't only for scouting although that is its main purpose, it also allows me to weaken opposing Pokemon through residual damage from Stealth Rock. Rest and Sleep Talk are on the set, because in my oppinion it's the only way I could hope to get through the opponents whole team using Suicune, plus it's the only form of recovery Suicune has.
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Magnet Pull
Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 Sp.Atk
-Magnet Rise
-Substitute
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power (Fire)
This Pokemon is really important to my team, he's part of the three man unit that removes all of Salamence's checks and counters. In the event that Suicune has scouted out my opponents entire team, and they have no steels I have the chance to do some damage with Magnezone thanks to his ridiculously high Sp.Atk.
I chose Hidden Power Fire over Hidden Power Grass, because I think Swampert is really not that good, and now-a-days used almost exclusively as a lead. I chose Magnet Rise over Explosion because so many steel typed Pokemon carry Earthquake, and it saves me some more EV's for speed. Substitute, because once I trap a steel it has such a tough time breaking my Substitue that by the time I KO it or my Substitue breaks I'll have recovered off the 25% HP thanks to Leftovers. And Thunderbolt is there for a solid STAB move.
I chose Hidden Power Fire over Hidden Power Grass, because I think Swampert is really not that good, and now-a-days used almost exclusively as a lead. I chose Magnet Rise over Explosion because so many steel typed Pokemon carry Earthquake, and it saves me some more EV's for speed. Substitute, because once I trap a steel it has such a tough time breaking my Substitue that by the time I KO it or my Substitue breaks I'll have recovered off the 25% HP thanks to Leftovers. And Thunderbolt is there for a solid STAB move.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Relaxed (+Def, -Spd)
252 HP / 112 Atk / 144 Def
-Rapid Spin
-Spikes
-Payback
-Explosion
This is probably my favorite Rapid Spinner, because he's one of the few that can stay around long enough to also put down Spikes, and act as a wall. He takes on Scarfgons Outrage like it's none of his buisiness, which is really important so that I can either explode or chip away at him with Payback thanks to the huge difference in speed between the two. Why it's important to get rid of Scargon is because he stops my Salamence sweep if I haven't found out about him yet. Thanks to Forretress' many support options he's able to spin away Stealth Rocks that make Salamence's chance of surviving so much lower, especially when taking into consideration the Life Orb damage. Lastly because of Forretress' high defense he's able to take down Weavile and Mamoswine who really screw Salamence over with Ice Shard.
Salamence @ Life Orb
Intimidate
Naive (+Spd, -Sp.Def)
232 Atk / 252 Spd / 24 Sp.Atk
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
Finally, the star of the team. Dragon Dance Salamence is basically the toughest sweeper to have to stop in the whole game, the only things that can stop him are usually taken care of by this point in the game. After 1 Dragon Dance he outspeeds pretty much anything in OU, and after 2 he's just unstopable. A +2 Life Orb Outrage will OHKO anything that doesn't resist it, and the things that do resist it usually don't have anything to hit back with, so once Outrage is over he can finish the steel off with either Fire Blast or Earthquake. So basically even if a steel manages to get through he can still handle it on his own. Even without any Dragon Dances under his belt he's a difficult pokemon to take down with a massive 400 Atk to work with.
232 Atk still lets him reach 400 attack, a Naive nature and 252 Speed gives him a grand total of 328 speed, which while it isn't something to gloat about, it certainly isn't a stat to over look, and after that Dragon Dance I've been talking about this whole RMT, pretty much nothing can catch up with it. His 24 Sp.Atk is so he could get 2HKO's on Skarmory, and some other Pokemon out there.
Dragon Dance is the move that makes this set, Outrage provides for a ridiculous STAB attack, that after a Dragon Dance rips through just about everything. Earthquake is a great move for coverage, and helps Salamence deal with any grounded steel types it may find itself against, and lastly Fire Blast is pretty much there solely for Skarmory, but it comes in handy against steels that have used magnet rise.
232 Atk still lets him reach 400 attack, a Naive nature and 252 Speed gives him a grand total of 328 speed, which while it isn't something to gloat about, it certainly isn't a stat to over look, and after that Dragon Dance I've been talking about this whole RMT, pretty much nothing can catch up with it. His 24 Sp.Atk is so he could get 2HKO's on Skarmory, and some other Pokemon out there.
Dragon Dance is the move that makes this set, Outrage provides for a ridiculous STAB attack, that after a Dragon Dance rips through just about everything. Earthquake is a great move for coverage, and helps Salamence deal with any grounded steel types it may find itself against, and lastly Fire Blast is pretty much there solely for Skarmory, but it comes in handy against steels that have used magnet rise.
Thank you in advance for any and all rates.
