Why am I Posting?
I really like gen 5 as a generation, even if I dislike the metagame. I typically reach around the mid 1500s, playing various styles, so I would characterize myself as an ok player, not great, but not terrible. I am posting to ask for your opinion on this team. I appreciate any feedback, so feel free to criticize any detail. Pokémon Sets
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
I was looking for a scarfer that had clean-up potential and Kyurem-Black caught my eye. I always thought scarf Kyurem-Black was relatively useless since it is easily walled by Ferrothorn, but after seeing old replays of CTC using it as a scarfer, I thought maybe it had some merit. I've used scarf Latios extensively, and it always felt underwhelming in terms of power. It doesn't even cleanly ohko Garchomp and opposing Latios from full with dragon pulse. Kyurem-Black always felt underwhelming because the set that saw use - the choice band set - at most traded 1 for 1 because it usually needed outrage to knock out its checks. So a choice scarf suddenly started to make sense - Kyurem-Black is so strong, it doesn't struggle to ohko weakened mons, and with a scarf, outspeeds all non-scarfers. The issue with this set is that there are other scarfers that are faster, but the team is constructed to check other prominent scarfers like Latios and Garchomp.Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fusion Bolt
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 198 HP / 60 Atk / 140 Def / 110 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- U-turn
Lando-T is quite self-explanatory at this point. Good pivot, good damage output, EQ immunity, and volt switch immunity (sometimes). The EV spread I must admit is not refined and is down to feel, but the general idea of this Lando T set is this: swords dance breaks open common defensive mons and exerts a threat to drop mons after a boost. For example, +2 superpower will ohko the bulkiest of Ferrothorns, and breaks some of the bulky waters after the slightest bit of chip. The defense and HP investment is used to check poison heal Breloom and act as a pseudo check to Garchomp, technician Breloom, and various other physical attackers. U-turn exists on this set for pivoting purposes, and while it may be weird for swords dance and U-turn to be on the same set, this Lando set isn't suppose to sweep; it is suppose to do significant damage to certain mons and act as a pivot. The speed evs are there to outspeed defensive Jirachi's.Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 198 HP / 60 Atk / 140 Def / 110 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Superpower
- U-turn
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
Ferrothorn is again quite self-explanatory. Hazard setting, and checks half of the offensive metagame. Knock off makes Ferrothorn very good against stall and other Ferrothorn, and I opted for gyro ball over power whip because it doesn't actually check the dragons otherwise. SR and spikes are important, so Ferrothorn is not always used to switch in on Draco Meteors in this team, preserving its health to check things like scarf Latios and scarf Chomp.
Keldeo @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Protect
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 202 SpD / 60 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
That Rotom-W - Lando-T combination is very good and it's easy to see why. Rotom-W is probably the mon that sees the most action in this team due to its auspicious defensive typing and ability that enhances it's ability to switch in. Volt switch is another pivot move that helps bring in Keldeo and Kyurem-Black for free, and hydro pump gives it some offensive potential. Pain split is there to give it some sort of active recovery, even if it is not reliable. It checks many mons, and spreading chip with will-o-wisp makes the end-game easier. The speed evs are there to outspeed defensive Rachi.Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 202 SpD / 60 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Force
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Protect
- Iron Head
General Plan in Battle
The general idea is to manipulate the game state so Kyurem-Black can click a move in the endgame and wipe the floor. Will-O chip, Ferrothorn getting a free turn, and wittling the opponent down, achieves that game state. Taking out scarfers before the endgame is ideal and keeping Ferrothorn alive means it can check the scarfers that would revenge kill Kyurem-Black. Volt-Turn plus Keldeo should be able to generate enough offensive momentum to do significant damage. Bad to Iffy Matchups
- Volcarona
- Technician Breloom
- Keldeo
- Thundurus
The last three are manageable. Even though Rotom-W is really not a good check to Keldeo and Thundurus, they can be played around, usually by some double switching. Technician Breloom can also be played around by using Landorus to chip Breloom into range of Keldeo's secret sword. Volcarona on the other hand is such a problem that it is necessary to switch Kyurem Black in on the turn Volcarona quiver dances, so it can barely survive the subsequent fire blast and KO back with outrage. It's a terrible answer to Volcarona and that is why Heatran was considered over Keldeo, but Volc can slap on HP ground and ohko with rocks up so I just gave up on trying to check Volc. If there is a solution, I would appreciate hearing it.
P.S. I am quite new to the hub, and I have no idea how to obtain and insert sprites. If someone can enlighten me I would greatly appreciate it.
No changes. Like I said earlier, I think Scarf is pretty underrated for it's ability to get the jump on Kyu-B's would-be counters.
Thunder Wave > Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock Ferro is one of Volcarona's biggest entry points. Without any speed control, you basically gets 6-0ed on the spot. Having Thunder Wave at least neutralizes that threat so that stuff like Landorus-T and Excadrill can revenge kill Lum Berry Variants. I also added Lum Berry since this team doesn't have enough Rotom Punish.
Stealth Rock + Hidden Power Ice > Superpower + Swords Dance. While SD Landorus-T does do a good job breaking down defensive stuff, this team really can't afford it with how Volc weak you are. Since you are running a Defensive spread on Landorus-T anyways you may as well make Landorus-T your Rocker. Hidden Power Ice is so that you can actually do something against Physical Attackers.
Since this team is kind of weak against Mamoswine, you really want as much speed as you can get. Running about 192 Speed EVs gives you enough to outspeed Adamant Mamo. You can also experiment with SD over Protect and maybe Mold Breaker if you want more insurance against Rotom-W, but it's not necessary.
Keldeo is a good Pokemon but without Scarf it becomes an unreliable Volcarona check outside of Rain. You might think that Scarf Keld would remedy this but all it does it open more holes to stuff like Dragonite. Scarf Mence in contrast gives you the best of both worlds as it retains Scarf Keld's revenge killing properties while also being much better into Dragonite and Breloom. Draco Meteor means that Landorus-T won't cause you as much trouble as it would have otherwise.
Slowking seems like a weird addition but it's probably one of the sturdiest Keldeo checks in the tier. This is kind of important since this team really doesn't have any proper switch-in. Slowking is also a lot better into Alakazam in contrast to it's competition Celebi, but of course I would leave that up to you.