"Whirlpools and Hand Grenades" [CAP RMT]

[Elevator Music]

yeah so thanks Fuzzy/DK/Rising Dusk for helping me think of names since I'm terrible at it...

This is a somewhat offensive team of mine that I've had mostly success with, but could be better. The goal of all my offensive teams is to not be set up bait for common pokemon/walls, and this one does that to a big extent. Still... it's been having trouble with a few pokemon, mostly Leech Seed Pyroak and Cyclohm (and of course others but mostly those two).

"WHIRLPOOLS AND HAND GRENADES"

Starmie @ Life Orb
Natural Cure | Timid
4 HP / 252 Spe / 252 SpAtk
- Hydro Pump
- Grass Knot
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam

Actually probably not the most solid lead, but it does it's job. Not having SR sucks, but it's OK if I can keep the opponent's SR off the field as well. Starmie usually threatens the other lead into not using SR. Starmie usually does outlast the first few turns though and can weaken anything that it outspeeds (not named Blissey).

I guess this is the most replaceable member of my team.

Kitsunoh @ Leftovers
Limber | Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Will-o-wisp
- Taunt
- ShadowStrike
- Earthquake/U-turn

My kitty. The best stall-breaker I've used since Taunt/Toxic Gliscor (which I actually haven't used so...). Kitsunoh definitely gives me an edge against CAP Stall, and only has problems with a handful of pokemon on those teams. The rest of my team can generally handle those, except... Pyroak. I originally had U-Turn over Earthquake, but I switched to it to help with Cyclohm a little bit more.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Intimidate | Rash
40 HP / 216 Spe / 252 SpAtk
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Roost

And just in case I needed any more help breaking stall, I have MixMence. It admittedly can't touch Blissey, but I really don't care because most of my team can just walk all over Blissey. It's my best switchin to both Colossoil and Pyroak thanks to Roost and it's great typing, and Draco Meteor takes a chuck out of everything.

Stratagem @ Life Orb
Technician | Timid
4 HP / 252 Spe / 252 SpAtk
- Flamethrower
- Ancientpower
- Giga Drain
- Vacuum Wave

Technician Stratagem is just a stupidly good sweeper. Remove Scizor, Blissey, and Revenankh, and it generally has an easy time. Vacuum Wave is to help with other Stratagem and Colossoil, and also because strong priority is hard to pass up. I'll usually send out Stratagem early in the game to scout what needs removing, then work on slowly whittling it down throughout the match. Other times I'll just wait until lategame and clean shit up.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician | Adamant
248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpDef
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Scizor supports the team with priority and the way it easily revenge kills pokemon like Salamence and Stratagem. It also is helpful for removing certain pokemon with Pursuit. Scizor actually has been rather lackluster on the team...

Arghonaut @ Leftovers
Unaware | Adamant
96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 SpDef
- Bulk Up
- Waterfall
- Low Kick
- Rest

Arghonaut is the newest member on the team and as such I don't have much of an opinion on him... in theory it's nice because not much can really set up against Arghonaut (except like Skarm...). Rest is there for recovery, since Bulk Up is illegal with Recover.


Sorry that this doesn't have much content in it, but I'm just really not sure what to do with this team anymore...

 

[Fuzznip]

Hey EM. Nice team you have here. :)

I would like to suggest two changes to your team.

Lead Pyroak instead of Starmie

You mention that Starmie is your most replaceable member and that you lack Stealth Rock on your team, so I think Pyroak will be a big benefit to your team. Pyroak also helps with your Leech Seed Pyroak weakness. It's not like Pyroak is weak or anything too, as Wood Hammer and Flare Blitz still hit incredibly hard, and Pyroak tends to threaten a ton of leads in today's metagame. It still keeps the offensive feel to your team.

So, now that you are missing Rapid Spin, which your team could really use, I would like to suggest Rapid Spin Colossoil instead of Scizor.

Scizor really isn't that great in CAP with all of those Pokemon that can switch into it with impunity, such as Kitsunoh, Cyclohm, Revenankh, and Arghonaut, and you even said so yourself that Scizor's been a bit lackluster. Colossoil's monstrous offensive stats and ability to Rapid Spin with great success is very notable in my opinion. Also, you don't lose any priority as you can run Sucker Punch on Colossoil. Also, your team can be status weak at times, so Guts helps with that; you can even run Rebound to cripple opposing WoW Kitsunoh and the like.

Another thing, how is that Arghonaut working for you? I was never really a big fan of Bulk Up Arghonaut for some reason, as it's pretty much lame when your opponent has Arghonaut or someone else that can threaten you. If you want, you can try out SubPunch Arghonaut. It gives you immediate power which your team likes, and SubPunch Arghonaut is devastating. It's so easy to set up and launch extremely powerful Focus Punches. You should look into it and see what you think. I run this kind of SubPunch set:

Arghonaut @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def | Adamant
~Substitute
~Focus Punch
~Waterfall
~Recover

Hope I helped. :)

 

[bubbly]

Yeah, I agree with pretty much everything Fuzznip said. If you decide to run lead pyroak, drop earthquake on kitsunoh for superpower is a good option, ESPECIALLY if you also like the idea of a rapid spin Colossoil.

Arghonaut has never really worked for me...I mean, it stops a few sweeps, great, but it always seems to just sit there at the end and slowly die one on one because its attacks don't do enough. It doesn't learn explosion, does it? That would make my day.

But, bulk up Naut is a bit dodgy as well.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Howdy, EM, I've got some comments too!

LeadOak would add some much-appreciated bulk to the team, but you really lack other members on your team that can capitalize on the leads that LeadOak has trouble with, most notably Infernape, Stratagem, Heatran, and the very rare Dragonite. Salamence deals with Infernape and Heatran relatively well if it can avoid an Explosion from the latter and rocks aren't up, but Stratagem carrying Flamethrower are going to be a pain for your team - made much worse if you get rid of Scizor for Rapid Spin Soil.

I do think that the lack of entry hazards makes your Pokemon too easy to switch into with the appropriate defensive pivots, though. I think your team would appreciate at the very least Stealth Rock support, if not Spikes support on top of that. That Stratagem especially loves them.

I think that if you do go with Rapid Spin Colossoil, you might actually experiment with one of the Syclant Spikes leads. Spikes makes you much harder to switch into because of the residual damage building up, and after forcing your opponent to switch in a few times, your Stratagem will have no trouble dealing OHKOs out to an entire opposing team. You'll definitely need to make sure that you have a way to handle the flyers that avoid Spikes, but needless to say, you've been doing that already, so I don't think that should be too much of a problem. I think Syclant will also start the pace of the match off in your favor, picking up offensive momentum like a trooper. Might try the following set.

Syclant @ Focus Sash
Ability: CompoundEyes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly

Taunt

Spikes

Megahorn

Ice Shard

By the way, I definitely think that SubPunch Arghonaut will help your team more than Bulk Up. The sheer power of a Focus Punch will murder stuff and Substitute will provide extra coverage against things like Bounce Gyarados.

Cheers.