Hello everybody! I would like your opinions on my team. Thanks in advance for your time!
Summary
The first question I ask myself is: Are they using a Trick Room based team? If the answer is No, then I immediately choose Slowking. Then depending on their team I either choose a support (Scrafty or Meowstic, depending on what I need) or Abomasnow. Once I have both of my leads I follow up with 2 attackers, they usually are Abomasnow and Rhyperior, but, again, it really depends on what they have (or mostly what they seem to be weak to). Finally, if they are using a Trick Room based team I go Meowstic and 3 attackers (usually, Chandy (as my secondary lead), Rhyperior and Abomasnow)
The Team
The King (Slowking) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Own Tempo
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spd
- Scald
- Blizzard
- Trick Room
- Protect
Im using Slowking over the most common Slowbro because I have Intimidate support, which means I dont really need the extra Def over the extra SpD. Mental Herb because Mental Herb/Own Tempo + Meowstic/Scrafty = Ensured Trick Room.
That set of EVs allows me to maximize on the damage output while also letting me tank huge special attacks, for example:
252+ SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 5 SpD Slowking: 168-200 (83.1 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
And with Intimidate support I can tank any physical attack aswel, for example:
-1 252+ Atk Technician Mega Scizor Bug Bite vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Slowking: 152-180 (75.2 - 89.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Trick Room is mandatory. Protect is kind of staple. Scalad is my primary attacking option, Water has a good coverage and I have STAB on it. Blizzard is there because I use Abomasnow way to often and Blizzard under Hail is way to good to pass up.
The Jocker (Meowstic) (M) @ Light Clay
Ability: Prankster
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 196 Def / 68 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Safeguard
- Quick Guard
I went for Meowstic because:
A) Against certain things Slowking needs to have access to Safeguard.
B) Against certain things Slowking needs to have access to Quick Guard.
Meowstic is currently the best for that role.
Meowstic is my primary support. If I face a Trick Room based team I lead with him and pair him with my 3 bulky attackers. Against anything else I use him when I really need Safeguard or Quick Guard to use the Trick Room and then follow up with Dual Screens.
Safeguard completely destroys Amoonguss. Quick Guard stops Fake Out on Slowking aswell as Prankster pokemons. It also hurts badly Talonflame (he cant use his Flying moves, and his Fire moves does little to no dmg to Slowking).
>:3 (Scrafty) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- High Jump Kick
- Crunch
- Drain Punch
- Fake Out
I went for Scrafty because:
A) Against certain things Slowking needs to have access to Fake Out.
B) Against certain things Slowking needs to have access to Intimidate.
Scrafty is currently the best for that role.
I tested Eject Button to recyle Intimidate and Fake Out, but its too gimmick to be pull out consistently. With no Gems arround, and not need for damage items Assault Vest becomes the best option. It is (IMO) superior than type resisting berrys since Intimidate is already reducing physical super effective moves, so Im only worried by super effective special moves.
Fake Out + Crunch + Fighting move was staple. I though of adding a elementary punch for coverage but tbh neither HJK nor Drain Punch are good alone. HJK is waaay better than Drain Punch when you are at full HP, while Drain Punch is waaay better than HJK when you arent, so having access to both all the time should work better than having a random super effective hit from time to time.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Abomasnow) @ Abomasite
Ability: Snow Warning
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Blizzard
- Energy Ball
- Ice Shard
- Protect
Abomasnow is my Mega of choice. I like spread damage over single target attacks so Mawile was ruled out. Blizzard is far superior to EQ (Aggron) and Discharge (Ampharos) because it cannot be blocked (Flying/Levitate and Ground/Lighting Rod) and because I dont really wanna kill my other pokemon. Plus, Hail support is awesome.
I maxed SpA and HP over SpA and Atk because 90% of times I just spam Blizzard and having more bulk generates a bigger impact in those game. Ice Shard is there to be able to do stuff outside Trick Room. Protect is there if I need to leed with Abomasnow (against other weather teams for example, in which case I need to Protect + Trick Room). Energy Ball is kind of staple (good STAB coverage).
Wrecking Ball (Rhyperior) @ Choice Band
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Rock Wrecker
- Drill Run
I have a new respect for Rhyperior ever since I watched VGC 2013 Seniors Finals, he was (IMO) Ben Hickey MVP. When I decided to play Trick Room in this gen I immediately add'd Rhyperior to the team, and I dont regreat it at all. I usually use him as my 4th pokemon.
Without Gems arround I first tested Life Orb and found out it completely sucks. 10/20/30 of Rhyperior's HP is A LOT. Im not a big fan of Choice Band but it works really great on him. Yeah, I kind of miss having Protect, but most of the times I dont need to switch attacks.
Rock Slide and EQ are obviously mandatory, and they are the only moves I need 99% of times. I was about to use other coverage moves but since I will be locked into Choice Band I realized I was only going to use them if are the last pokemon, and if thats the case Rock Wrecker does the same thing; so I decided to go for 2 single target STAB moves instead (which would remove my clear weakness to Wide Guard).
One of Trick Room attacker's biggest challenges is been usefull outside Trick Room. Rhyperior has soo much bulk that he doesnt need Trick Room to function, which is why I usually pick him as my 4th pokemon (that plus the fact that if he is the last man standing I can use EQ w/o fearing friendly fire). For this reason I choose Solid Rock over Lightning Rod. I have won many close games because of this awesome ability.
Chandelure (Burn Baby Burn) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 2 Spd
- Heat Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
- Protect
I tested many pokemon but truth was 90% of times the 6th pokemon always stayed inside the box, and the other 10% he was completely useless. Thats when I decided to add Chandy. It provides a huge boost in specific games aswell as that mind game factor, like having Espeon on your team, even if I dont select it he may support me in the way that my opponent may do a suboptimal play.
Chandy can counter Abomasnow x4 weakness to fire, specially from Sun teams. It improved my Sun machup a lot. It also helps vs Trick Room a lot. Leading with Chandy and Meowstic is huge against them because I will outspeed all their attackers, 1HKO stuff such as Meowstic or Slowbro, not to mention immunity to Fake Out and Heat Wave does a lot of damage to the standar Megas in Trick Room (Aggron, Mawile and Abomasnow).
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