So the last time I made a RMT was last year around this time for last years vgc I did not completely understand the metagame or what would make for a good team. In fact, I was new to competitive battling and I look back and laugh at myself for even posting that atrocity of thread. This time however I have more experience under my belt and was able to test the team thanks to PO. Enjoy:
Oh yeah, here is my first RMT, if you are bored and want a good laugh click on this:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70321
So, on to my team.
Teambuilding
Once I heard that the team preview would most likely be gone I wanted to take advantage of that and bring a somewhat tricky team to the table. What is better to be tricky with no team preview than Zoroark. I really wanted to use a Zoroark because his illusion could make him stay alive for the first or possibly even first few turns when he is usually pretty frail. Now I just had to figure out what to disguise him as.
To disguise him I wanted a ghost pokemon so that no one would lead with a fighting attack of any kind. The ghosts in this game are Cofagrigus, Jellicent, Chandelure, and Golurk. I needed a ghost that could also serve as a late game sweeper. Golurk was out of the question for me because he gets out sped easily and I kinda wanted a special attacking ghost for a strong stab with shadow ball. Cofagrigus is mainly used to set up and doesn't have as much sweeping skills as Jellicent and Chandelure, it also has the word (BAN ME PLEASE) in his name and that just wont do. That leaves me with Jellicent and Chandelure. I chose chandelure because he is a bit faster and heat wave which is very useful for any Amoongus that still might be hanging around.
Now for my other lead. The main threats when it comes to leading offensively are the genies, Terekion, Jellicent, and of course fake out. There are others but this is just a brief summary. Rock slide is the best way to take out a genie, except Landorus, and Terekion goes easily to fighting attacks. Fake out is a problem but I lead with a "Chandelure" so I get to attack with him at least. Jellicent will get hurt a lot from a dark attack so my "Chandelure" has him covered. I also wanted a lead with a priority attack so that it could dish out an attack quickly just before death. Rock slide, fighting attack, priority... that leaves me with Conkeldurr. There was more thought to it than this, trust me. And yes, I know there are other pokemon that fit the description but Conkeldurr is best suited for my team.
For my last pokemon I wanted someone that could come in and sweep late game. I thought of Sazadora and his decent speed along with his high special attack with draco meteor. I tested with him for a while and was somewhat pleased with the results but want completely satisfied. I also didnt like having two pokemon that were weak to fighting. I switched him out for another dragon, Haxorus. Base 147 attack is nothing to scoff at and he comes with the most necessary attack in this meta, rock slide. I put him in my team and it worked much better. Also having two physical attackers and two special attackers is nice too for synergistic reasons.
And thus my team was born!
Zoroark @ Lum berry
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 Speed, 252 S Atk, 6 Hp
Moves:
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power (Ice)
- Protect
Alright, Zoroark is a strong special attacker with pretty great speed. Dark pulse is there for a strong stab and for Mushana, Jellicent, and Chandelure. Flamethrower is to take care of any Amoongus since it can 2hko them. HP ice is for Landurus mainly since Zoroark can out speed him but works for any of the genies. Protect is for obvious reasons and I use it a lot with Zoroark. The lum berry is for Amoongus and ensures the chance to 2hko. Its also nice for t-waving Thunderus.
Conkeldurr @ Coba berry
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 Hp, 252 Atk, 6 Speed
Moves:
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Rock Slide
- Protect
You may be thinking, Coba berry? Why not flame orb. Well here's why. I HATE GENIES!!! Coba berry ensures surviving a acrobat from anyone, a hp fly, a brave bird, or whatever evil flying attack you may think of. This allows me to Rock Slide those stupid birds for about 75% damage to Thundorus and Tornadus. This combined with a Hp ice from Zoroark makes those genies will be gone. Also drain punch will ohko Terrakion unless it runs a chople berry in which case a 2hko will suffice. Mach punch is when close to death for still sufficient damage.
Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Nature: Jolly
Evs: 252 Speed, 252 Atk, 6 Hp
Moves:
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
The explanation for him isn't much. Sweep the remaining pokemon with either Dragon Claw or Rock Slide mainly. Brick break is used in select situations if there is only rock/steel pokemon where it would be more useful than dragon claw. Outrage is barely used but if I think that Dragon Claw just wont cut it and I don't care who dies first, then Haxorus is gonna start a'Raggin! Choice scarf is nice because he will outspeed the Genies and Rock slide them, or out speed Hydreigon and ko him with dragon claw (barring chople). Side note: Haxorus Rock Slide + Conkeldurr Mach Punch = KO'ed Genie before it can even move).
Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 speed, 252 S Atk, 6 Hp
Moves:
- Shadow Ball
- Heat Wave
- Psychic
- Protect
Chandelure is there for Zoroark mainly but he also makes a great sweeper in the back. Heat wave can come in and KO many pokemon that are hurt, while shadow ball is also a great stab and will severely hurt Mushana, Jellicent, or other Chandelures. Psychic is for Conkeldurrs, Mienshaos, Terrakions, and Amoongus's. Protect is just good for scouting and stalling. The focus sash is because of Chandelures fragility and has saved the game for me many of times.
Conveniences
- Many people think I have a trick room team because of the "Chandelure" and Conkeldurr leads and they taunt "Chandelure", which puts me in the advantage of still being disguised.
- My team has each others backs. Once they realize that "Chandelure" is really a Zoroark, I protect to scout for a fighting attack. If one is coming I switch to Chandelure. Then I can scout for Conkeldurr for a Psychic attack and can switch to Zoroark. Its a useful strategy.
- Zoroarks Illusion throws off opponents a lot of times and puts them off their gaurd, which gives me the advantage. Its not a huge deal but any kind throwing off is nice to have.
- Some times people predict a DD Haxorus and taunt him as well giving me the advantage once again.
Final note
The reason I made this is because, even though this team is good and has proven so on skarmbliss's ladder (I think im currently number 6... EDIT: I was wrong, I'm number 5 currently), there is always opportunity for a team to improve. If I have missed anything, please let me know so I can improve upon this team. If you think there is a pokemon more suited for my team than one I currently have then let me know and I will test it out. Thank you for reading this and sorry that is so long.
Oh yeah, here is my first RMT, if you are bored and want a good laugh click on this:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70321
So, on to my team.
Teambuilding
Once I heard that the team preview would most likely be gone I wanted to take advantage of that and bring a somewhat tricky team to the table. What is better to be tricky with no team preview than Zoroark. I really wanted to use a Zoroark because his illusion could make him stay alive for the first or possibly even first few turns when he is usually pretty frail. Now I just had to figure out what to disguise him as.
To disguise him I wanted a ghost pokemon so that no one would lead with a fighting attack of any kind. The ghosts in this game are Cofagrigus, Jellicent, Chandelure, and Golurk. I needed a ghost that could also serve as a late game sweeper. Golurk was out of the question for me because he gets out sped easily and I kinda wanted a special attacking ghost for a strong stab with shadow ball. Cofagrigus is mainly used to set up and doesn't have as much sweeping skills as Jellicent and Chandelure, it also has the word (BAN ME PLEASE) in his name and that just wont do. That leaves me with Jellicent and Chandelure. I chose chandelure because he is a bit faster and heat wave which is very useful for any Amoongus that still might be hanging around.
Now for my other lead. The main threats when it comes to leading offensively are the genies, Terekion, Jellicent, and of course fake out. There are others but this is just a brief summary. Rock slide is the best way to take out a genie, except Landorus, and Terekion goes easily to fighting attacks. Fake out is a problem but I lead with a "Chandelure" so I get to attack with him at least. Jellicent will get hurt a lot from a dark attack so my "Chandelure" has him covered. I also wanted a lead with a priority attack so that it could dish out an attack quickly just before death. Rock slide, fighting attack, priority... that leaves me with Conkeldurr. There was more thought to it than this, trust me. And yes, I know there are other pokemon that fit the description but Conkeldurr is best suited for my team.
For my last pokemon I wanted someone that could come in and sweep late game. I thought of Sazadora and his decent speed along with his high special attack with draco meteor. I tested with him for a while and was somewhat pleased with the results but want completely satisfied. I also didnt like having two pokemon that were weak to fighting. I switched him out for another dragon, Haxorus. Base 147 attack is nothing to scoff at and he comes with the most necessary attack in this meta, rock slide. I put him in my team and it worked much better. Also having two physical attackers and two special attackers is nice too for synergistic reasons.
And thus my team was born!
Zoroark @ Lum berry
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 Speed, 252 S Atk, 6 Hp
Moves:
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power (Ice)
- Protect
Alright, Zoroark is a strong special attacker with pretty great speed. Dark pulse is there for a strong stab and for Mushana, Jellicent, and Chandelure. Flamethrower is to take care of any Amoongus since it can 2hko them. HP ice is for Landurus mainly since Zoroark can out speed him but works for any of the genies. Protect is for obvious reasons and I use it a lot with Zoroark. The lum berry is for Amoongus and ensures the chance to 2hko. Its also nice for t-waving Thunderus.
Conkeldurr @ Coba berry
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant
Evs: 252 Hp, 252 Atk, 6 Speed
Moves:
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Rock Slide
- Protect
You may be thinking, Coba berry? Why not flame orb. Well here's why. I HATE GENIES!!! Coba berry ensures surviving a acrobat from anyone, a hp fly, a brave bird, or whatever evil flying attack you may think of. This allows me to Rock Slide those stupid birds for about 75% damage to Thundorus and Tornadus. This combined with a Hp ice from Zoroark makes those genies will be gone. Also drain punch will ohko Terrakion unless it runs a chople berry in which case a 2hko will suffice. Mach punch is when close to death for still sufficient damage.
Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Nature: Jolly
Evs: 252 Speed, 252 Atk, 6 Hp
Moves:
- Dragon Claw
- Outrage
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
The explanation for him isn't much. Sweep the remaining pokemon with either Dragon Claw or Rock Slide mainly. Brick break is used in select situations if there is only rock/steel pokemon where it would be more useful than dragon claw. Outrage is barely used but if I think that Dragon Claw just wont cut it and I don't care who dies first, then Haxorus is gonna start a'Raggin! Choice scarf is nice because he will outspeed the Genies and Rock slide them, or out speed Hydreigon and ko him with dragon claw (barring chople). Side note: Haxorus Rock Slide + Conkeldurr Mach Punch = KO'ed Genie before it can even move).
Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 speed, 252 S Atk, 6 Hp
Moves:
- Shadow Ball
- Heat Wave
- Psychic
- Protect
Chandelure is there for Zoroark mainly but he also makes a great sweeper in the back. Heat wave can come in and KO many pokemon that are hurt, while shadow ball is also a great stab and will severely hurt Mushana, Jellicent, or other Chandelures. Psychic is for Conkeldurrs, Mienshaos, Terrakions, and Amoongus's. Protect is just good for scouting and stalling. The focus sash is because of Chandelures fragility and has saved the game for me many of times.
Conveniences
- Many people think I have a trick room team because of the "Chandelure" and Conkeldurr leads and they taunt "Chandelure", which puts me in the advantage of still being disguised.
- My team has each others backs. Once they realize that "Chandelure" is really a Zoroark, I protect to scout for a fighting attack. If one is coming I switch to Chandelure. Then I can scout for Conkeldurr for a Psychic attack and can switch to Zoroark. Its a useful strategy.
- Zoroarks Illusion throws off opponents a lot of times and puts them off their gaurd, which gives me the advantage. Its not a huge deal but any kind throwing off is nice to have.
- Some times people predict a DD Haxorus and taunt him as well giving me the advantage once again.
Final note
The reason I made this is because, even though this team is good and has proven so on skarmbliss's ladder (I think im currently number 6... EDIT: I was wrong, I'm number 5 currently), there is always opportunity for a team to improve. If I have missed anything, please let me know so I can improve upon this team. If you think there is a pokemon more suited for my team than one I currently have then let me know and I will test it out. Thank you for reading this and sorry that is so long.