"We were separate, and without purpose, so the Great Spirit illuminated us with the Three Virtues: Unity, Duty, and... Destiny."
— Turaga Vakama, Mask of Light
— Turaga Vakama, Mask of Light
The team at a glance
Introduction
Hello Smogon, this is my first RMT (well technically it’s my second RMT; my first one was so bad that I don’t want to even think about it), so it may not be up to par with other RMTs, and I’ll talk a little about myself first. I joined Smogon roughly about a year and a half ago, roughly the time where everyone was transferring from forth generation into the fifth generation, but I rarely was actively participating in the community, so I’m hoping this RMT will change that. Also, this RMT will probably make you think otherwise, but I actually suck at this game ._. (if I’m not using this team, that is).
The team I’m about to present to you is actually fairly old… like “shortly after Deoxys-S was banned” old and I’ve used it for the rest of BW1, though I used it less and less as BW2 came closer. It’s also my most successful team, and although I played off the ladder in the Smogon server, I won about 85 to 90 percent of the matches I played, as opposed to winning only about 50 percent of the time with all my other teams. I’m not sure why I hadn’t RMT’ed this team sooner; the thought of showing this team only came across my mind about a couple of days ago (early August 2012).
Oh, and before I forget, this my most favourite team, like I absolutely ♥ this team, so I decided to theme my RMT around my most favourite franchise, Bionicle, (yes, I like Bionicle more than Pokémon). Finally, since this team was made in BW1, so there’s probably a ton of threats in BW2 that just destroy this team, and in a way, I want to make this team adapt to the new BW2 metagame, but I feel like I would have to change a lot of things around and it won’t be the same team anymore. Even if someone does manage to fix this team without changing much, I’ll likely retire this team (as if I haven’t done so already). Anyways, enough of my rambling, and I present you my team, Unity, Duty, Destiny.
Team Building
I knew I wanted my favourite Pokemon, Lucario in this team, so he was my first choice.
CB Terrakion was my second pick, because my strategy was to lure and weaken Lucario’s counters, such as Gliscor and Skarmory, so Luke could sweep easier.
The era of Volt-Turn was taking shape at this time, so I decided to add my Volt-Turning core of Scizor, Rotom-W and Celebi.
I must admit, choosing my lead was very hard, because Deo-S was just banned, so it was hard trying to find a lead that was just as good. Since no such thing existed, I decided on the next best thing, Azelf.
The team in depth
(Azelf)
Item: Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Zen Headbutt
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- U-turn
Why this Pokémon?: After Deo-S was banned, I wanted to find a similar Pokémon. Azelf fit the bill. They are both very fast, have similar typings and can lay hazards and have access to Taunt. Unfortunatly, Azelf isn’t as bulky, nor does it have access to Spikes, but It does have access to U-Turn, which benefits my team so much more.
Moveset: I originally had a Normal Gem over the Focus Sash, and Explosion over Zen Headbutt, but I found that preserving Azelf for death fodder was so much more beneficial than dealing a huge chuck of damage to the opponent, at the cost of Azelf’s life (especially with the nerf to Explosion this gen). Zen Headbutt is there for obligatory STAB, and it deals a good chuck of damage because of Azelf’s high 125 attack and full investment. Stealth Rocks is there for entry hazard damage, dealing a deceivingly small amount of damage, but because I constantly put offensive pressure on the opponent with Volt-Turn, the opponent is forced to switch, and SR damage adds up. Because of Azelf’s high speed, it can Taunt the opponent before it can set up or Taunt Azelf itself, preventing them from doing so. U-Turn is to gain momentum, and hits any Espeon trying to bounce back Stealth Rock fairly hard due to it being super effective, and allows me to threaten it with Scizor.
Item and EVs: The Focus Sash is super important, because nothing can prevent me from laying rocks (except Magic Bounce, Magic Coat and faster/ Prankster Taunt users), and because Azelf is super fast, unless the opponent’s lead is Tyranitar, Azelf can U-Turn safely with one HP, saving him for death fodder. The spread and nature are self explanatory, dumping the EVs in attack and speed to maximize the damage output with Zen Headbutt and U-Turn and with a Jolly nature, Azelf outspeeds a lot of the OU metagame.
(Scizor)
Item: Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Quick Attack
Why this Pokémon?: Scizor is one of the three members in my Volt-Turn core, and good synergy with them.
Moveset: Choice Band Scizor is the most popular set (at the time, I can’t recall if Scizor’s most popular set is still CB) for a reason. U-Turn hits pretty hard with a Choice Band, dealing even ~8 to 9 percent to Skarmory, and U-Turn is important for the Volt-Turning core and allows me to get a safe switch-in to Rotom-W if Skarmory is out, and Terrakion, if Ferrothorn and other Steel Types are out. Bullet Punch is boosted to 90 BP after STAB and Technician, making it a powerful priority attack, and it allows me to check Terrakion. Superpower is to dent any incoming steel-types like Ferrothorn, and I chose Quick Attack over Pursuit, because the ability to have a second priority that could hit certain Pokémon that resisted Bullet Punch was more important than trapping Lati@s, and Quick Attack isn’t weaker than Pursuit (unless you Pursuit on the switch) either, as they both have 60 BP after Technician.
Item and EVs: The EVs are so I maximize my attack and bulk, without dying to SR in 4 turns. The rest is dumped in speed because.. why not? The Choice Band and an Adamant nature is to maximize my damage output.
(Rotom-W)
Item: Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
Why this Pokémon?: Same reason as Scizor. It has good synergy with the other two members of my Volt-Turn core and with a Choice Scarf, it also becomes a pretty good revenge killer as long it isn’t immune to Volt Switch and I don’t miss Hydro Pump (which I actually don’t :D)
Moveset: Hydro Pump is Rotom-W’s strongest attack, get’s boosted by any rain, and has fairly good coverage with Volt Switch, and makes any ground-types think twice before trying to switch into a potential Volt Switch. Volt Switch is fundemental for the Volt-Turn strategy, switching out of Ferrothorn to safely switch into Terrakion, or other grass-types so Scizor or Celebi can deal with them (though I do have to be careful of Hidden Power fire). Hidden Power ice gives Rotom BoltBeam coverage, and along with Hydro Pump, it gets unresisted coverage, and destroys Dragonite, Landorus and Gliscor.
Trick is to cripple Gastrodon, Ferrothron, the two pink fat blobs that everyone hates, and any other special walls I missed.
Item and EVs: EVs are used to maximize damage output and speed (that’s getting a bit repetitive, isn’t it? :P) and I chose Modest over Timid because the extra speed wasn’t important to me, and I can still revenge kill +1 Adamant Dragonite. The scarf makes Rotom-W a pretty good revenge killer, like I’ve said above.
(Celebi)
Item: Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn
- Recover
Why this Pokémon?: Some threats to Volt-Turn were Breloom, Virizion, and to an extent, Ferrothorn. Celebi can deal with all of them, and she is the final part of my Volt-Turning core.
Moveset: I actually can’t remember why I chose this set. I probably was looking through all the Celebi sets on Smogon, then I was probably like: “hmm… offensive Celebi, and I can fit U-Turn! Sweet.” Leaf Storm is a very powerful attack, backed up by full special attack investment, and it takes out Gastrodon for Rotom. Hidden Power fire helps me deal with threats like Scizor, Forretress, Ferrothorn, Virizion and Breloom. U-Turn is to help my Volt-Turning core, U-turning out of a predicted Heatran and Tyranitar switchin, so I can bring out my Rotom-W or Scizor/Terrakion/Luke, so I can check with said threats, respectively. Recover is to increase Celebi’s longevity.
Item and EVs: Leftovers also helps to increase Celebi’s longevity. 180 speed EVs allows me to outspeed neutral-natured base 90s. I maxed out special attack and gave Celebi a Modest nature so she can hit as hard as she can, and the rest is dumped into HP.
(Lucario)
Item: Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Ice Punch/Bullet Punch
Why this Pokémon?: It’s my favourite Pokémon, and a very powerful sweeper.
Moveset: Although NP Luke is less common and catches players off guard expecting an SD Luke (why did they take off the NP set on Luke’s analysis page for BW2? D: ), SD is still more powerful. Also Terrakion is also a physical attacker, so I wanted Luke to attack from the physical side, so they would share the same counters, and not many physical walls can take on two hard-hitting attackers. Swords Dance is to boost Luke’s attack to an impressive 700 points, and Close Combat will hit everything that doesn’t resist it for a lot of damage. ExtremeSpeed is to make up for Luke’s mediocre speed, and Ice Punch is to deal with Gliscor. When I made this team, I chose Ice Punch over Crunch, since Celebi can check both Jellicent, and Slowbro, and Scizor can deal with Reuniclus, but for Gliscor, I had to hit two Stone Edges with Terrakion (I don’t have as much with Stone Edge than I do with Hydro Pump) to 2HKO it, though in hindsight, Bullet Punch would be more useful to prevent any Terrakions and Gengars from ending my sweep.
Item and EVs: Adamant is so much better than Jolly, because the threats that you would outspeed with Jolly (I can’t remember the threats, since they took them down from Luke’s analysis page, I think one of them was Jolly Gyarados? But anyways…) you can OHKO with an Adamant-natured Espeed, after SR anyways, so Jolly is pretty much useless. Once again, I maximized attack and speed to make Luke a much better sweeper. And Life Orb is to increase Luke’s damage output by ~30 percent (it’s actually 5324/4096 :P) at the cost of 10 percent of Luke’s health, but Luke has paper-thin defences anyways, so that doesn’t matter.
(Terrakion)
Item: Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack
Why this Pokémon?: Terrakon shares Luke’s counters in the hopes that Terrakion can lure Luke’s counters and beat them down, so Luke can sweep.
Moveset: Close Combat and Stone Edge are two powerful STABs that have great coverage together (only resisted by 7 Pokémon in the whole game [excluding NFEs], all of which are rare in OU). Unless your name is Nidoqueen, Golurk, or Cresselia then you have a chance to be 2HKOed after Stealth Rocks, with the appropiate move and a Choice Band. In fact the type coverage given by Close Combat and Stone Edge is so great and so powerful that the other two moves are just filler. X-Scissor hits Psychic-types hard, without resorting to Stone Miss er... Edge, and Quick Attack is to knock off that last 25% percent from faster opponents like Starmie, Espeon, and Lati@s .
Item and EVs: I gave Terrakion a Choice Band because it’s the only way to 2HKO Gliscor and Skarmory with Stone Edge and Close Combat, respectively. A Jolly nature is to tie with the other Muskateers and Infernape, while outpacing all positive-natured base 95s, and higher, and once again, maxing out speed and attack because blah, blah, blah, you should know by now :P
Conclusion
Well there’s my most favourite and most successful team, and I’m really sad to retire it, much like when Bionicle ended in 2010, but much like Bionicle, this team will always be in my heart forever (I know it sounds a bit trite, but whatever :P). Feel free to make your own suggestions, but I probably won’t test them, partly because I don’t want to change my team and the OP, and partly because I already retired it, but feel free to take this team and make your own changes so it would do well in BW2. Together we fought with Unity, did our Duty, and achieved our Destiny, and my friends… this is the way… of the Bionicle… *cue end credits*
Credits/Shout Outs
-Big shout outs to Smogon members Absolete (and his RMT, Celestial Beings) and Magma for inspiring me to make this RMT.
-Credits to Pokecheck, and Bulbapedia, for the sprites, mini sprites and pictures (I find it amusing that the big pictures of the Pokémons are somewhat in scale, though Rotom-W seems a bit small, considering he is a washing machine. Perhaps the washing machine had shrunk to Rotom's size when Rotom possessed it?).
-Also credits go to Biosector01 for the Bionicle lettering.
-Thanks to Linkin Park, Green Day, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, Three Days Grace, Rise Against and Muse for creating great music to entertain me while I typed out this RMT :P
-Thanks to Bionicle for making my childhood so awesome. :’D
-And finally, thanks to you guys for taking the time to read through my RMT and enduring all the information that you already knew, my constant rambling, terrible jokes, my obsession with Bionicle and this team, and my cheesy comments (honestly, if I were to read this RMT, I’d probably stop halfway through.)
A final look
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Zen Headbutt
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- U-turn
Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Quick Attack
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn
- Recover
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Ice Punch
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Zen Headbutt
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- U-turn
Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Quick Attack
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- U-turn
- Recover
Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Ice Punch
Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Quick Attack
How do I label the hide tags?
