Hello again! I am here again posting what is perhaps my most successful team yet - which peaked #14 on Skarmbliss (though how much of it was luck we may never know). I also used it during the Spring friendly recently, where it failed so badly and got so boring I gave up after the second day. Just like my previous team, this was given to me by Fantom0, so everyone give a big cheer to him! (Or rather, just me, or whatever.) I'll admit, it's a run-of-the-mill goodstuffs, but for someone who sucks at using goodstuffs, I think #14 is pretty good.
For those of you who don't know, ?Z is the alt under which I laddered this team.
Anyway, no massive nuke picture, I'll just get straight on with the team:
Still in order of importance!
Cresselia (F) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Rest
Ahh, Cresselia, thou art VGC's greatest breaker. Seriously though, every team must either run a counter to Cresselia, or run their own - but it's best to run both. Physically defensive Cresselia is my favourite set for its unparalleled physical defences (Bastiodon, Aggron and Steelix don't count), enabling it to not be OHKOed by Dark Gem Tyranitar's Crunch. It still keeps a solid Special Defence stat, though not enough to hold off a +1 Volcarona Bug Buzz. Cresselia functions as the glue of the team, though more in the sense of keeping it all together than patching up weaknesses. It throws paralysis around, and for those pesky Garchomp and Safeguard Latios (lolwut?) I have Icy Wind. The moves work great together, making my other mon's jobs a lot easier, such as Garchomp, who can shred a Latios to pieces, provided it's at -1 speed. Basically, Cress sticks around a long time, being annoying for every second of it.
The moves are somewhat different from the standard Cress set, but very useful. Thunder Wave and ChestoRest are obviously on the set, being commonplace and very good. Icy Wind can help take out random Yache Berries, Focus Sashes, Multi-Scales, Sturdies and, of course, cut speed. I really would urge people to use Icy Wind Cress, it so strongth ^_^ Finally, Helping Hand is to aid in the complete obliteration of stuff, especially from my two sweepers (yes, my playstyle with this team has evolved to accommodate sweepers), and in getting those little Gem boosts when necessary.
I don't think this team would even have existed without Cress. Easily the most important member of my team, she sticks around and is annoying. And that's great for a supporter. I really use Cresselia for like 99% of the time.
Garchomp (F) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Garchomp. Das Land Shark. Well, what can I say? Standard Yache Jolly Garchomp. It used to be Adamant, but I changed that when I lost it to a Jolly Chomp. I do miss the OHKO on Hydreigon, but that's all that really matters, and I can always solve that with Icy Wind, removing a potential Scarf advantage at the same time. Anyway, Garchomp is "sweeper" #1, my go-to, in-all-weather mon - though he's dreadful against most forms of hail. Garchomp/Cresselia is my usual go-to lead for a very good reason, due to the impressive synergy between the two; Cress helps chomp with other chomps and Latis, whereas Chomp deals with TTar, Chandelure and Volcarona. Garchomp has other uses, too, such as its ability to deal with Zapdos, Metagross and the rest of the metagame scum everyone accommodates.
The moves are self-explanatory, this being Garchomp and all that. Earthquake is really helpful given three of my mons are immune to it, so I'm pretty happy. Just spamming Helping Hand boosted Earthquake will get you somewhere (hey Ray!), or at least mixing it up with Rock Slides. Speaking of which, Rock Slide works quite well in tandem with Thunder Wave, giving a painful ParaFlinch situation. Dragon Claw takes down opposing Dragons after Cress has dropped their speeds and taking a bit of health from them. Protect is just there, always useful, especially when Cress needs to get an Icy Wind off against a Lati.
Garchomp is just plain good. We all know that. So it should be no surprise why she's sitting at #2 - except for the fact that she isn't at #1. Ah well, not everyone can be the best.
Chandelure (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Heat Wave
- Energy Ball
- Protect
My favourite mon, and for good reason - Gastrodon lurer and destroyer! Chandelure functions as my heavy duty breaker, anti-Fake Outer and my second sweeper, benefiting as much from Cress as Chomp. Chand may take the lead quite often, and there's no denying it does a great job. With lots of negative speed on the opponent's side, Chand is free to murder everything, except maybe Tyranitar, but I have enough to deal with him. Chandelure helps deal with Trick Room, Cresselia and Gastrodon, being able to deal plenty of damage very quickly (though Porygon2 is a slight problem). Chandelure is the only fun thing on this team, so when I'm not using him, I'm really bored.
The moves. Shadow Ball and Heat Wave are obligatory STAB options, complete with great damage against stuff like Metagross and Cresselia. In fact, Chand has no trouble getting past the infamous Japanese Cress + Meta combos, so if you're going to worlds, it may be a good idea to use it. Heat Wave is a good spread attack (as we know) as well, another good reason to use Chand. Energy Ball is my GastroKiller, and is a great surprise attacks against rain teams too. But that's all it's really used for. Protect is... yeah.
Chandelure is a great member of the team. It owns everything in a massive explosion of black and red, but it tends to struggle with the more common metagame. Still, once Tyranitar's dead, things are a bit easier.
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
I've been using Lum Meta forever, and I'm just going to say what I did last time - it's great. Being able to simply shrug off Spores, Thunder Waves and Will-o-Wisps and then break stuff like only a Metagross can is invaluable. It also seems to turn Metagross into a hax magnet - with Thunderbolt paralyses and Flamethrower burns all affecting it. It can be a fair bit annoying, but it's better than another pokemon suffering the effects without the Lum Berry. Metagross functions primarily to take down Latios without the need for Cresselia, or I could find myself getting bombed by the thing. It also helps with Tyranitar when Chomp's not around, and, of course, the dreaded Hitmontop. The Lum Berry helps him deal with stuff like Breloom and Amoongus better, too. The obvious synergy with Rotom-W and Thundurus is there, but he's seen more alongside Garchomp in order to deal with Latis, while Chomp handles Chand and Volca.
Yes, the obvious moveset. Meteor Mash is 100% necessary to deal with the Latis while still being able to take out Tyranitar. Bullet Punch exists for the same reason, but also for the fact that it's the only damaging priority on the team. Zen Headbutt is secondary STAB and destroys Amoonguss, Breloom, Hitmontop, and others. I used to have Earthquake, but Protect is definately at least 2.54 time more helpful overall.
So yeah, Metagross. Pretty useful, great for the Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch Lati-killing combo, but not as good as the three above him.
Rotom-W @ Water Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
Water Gem Rotom-W is a beast. Will blow up everything - except Gastrodon, my worst enemy. I knew I should have put Hidden Power Grass on it. He was helpful in the International, but just a bit useless here. Still, from time to time I appreciated his Hydro Pump and it's ability to OHKO Ferrothorn in the rain. So he was a solid rain counter too - whenever Gastrodon wasn't around.
Hydro Pump is a godsend, killing anything that doesn't resist it and isn't called Chansey or Cresselia. Thunderbolt hits waters and flyings hard enough. Thunder Wave used to be helpful for its paralysis powers, but not anymore. HP Grass, honestly!
I know, short compared to the others, but I don't have a lot to say about ol' Tom. He was good before, but not on this team. Whenever I used him, I got stuck, so there really isn't much to comment on.
Thundurus (M) @ Charti Berry
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
- Substitute
THUNDURUS. He hates me. He sucks, but he annoys me to no end. He was originally supposed to be to counter Chlorophyll and Swift Swim abuses, but it was generally easier just to kill them. I was running Electric Gem (which I should have kept), but for some odd reason, Charti Berry made more sense. Thundurus also provided a keen check to Dragons with HP Ice, though YacheChomp was a problem. I am really running out of things to say now.
Thunderbolt hurts. Or it did do when I had Electric Gem. Oh for reusing Electric Gem. Hidden Power Ice forms a pseudo BoltBeam combo, taking on Dragons and Grounds. Thunder Wave is sometimes helpful, essentially preventing a threat from becoming the winning card. Substitute makes Thundurus a great way to hold the Latis in check, causing them to waste precious Special Attack Draco Meteoring my Subs. It wasn't exactly Protect, but it was helpful from time to time.
#6 because it hardly did anything. I give up with Thundurus - it looks cool, but it doesn't have a thing to Zapdos.
Sorry my descriptions got a little short at the end. I just got a bit bored, so I'm going to finish it now. Feel free to rate, hate, steal and otherwise!
For those of you who don't know, ?Z is the alt under which I laddered this team.
Anyway, no massive nuke picture, I'll just get straight on with the team:
Still in order of importance!
Cresselia (F) @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Rest
Ahh, Cresselia, thou art VGC's greatest breaker. Seriously though, every team must either run a counter to Cresselia, or run their own - but it's best to run both. Physically defensive Cresselia is my favourite set for its unparalleled physical defences (Bastiodon, Aggron and Steelix don't count), enabling it to not be OHKOed by Dark Gem Tyranitar's Crunch. It still keeps a solid Special Defence stat, though not enough to hold off a +1 Volcarona Bug Buzz. Cresselia functions as the glue of the team, though more in the sense of keeping it all together than patching up weaknesses. It throws paralysis around, and for those pesky Garchomp and Safeguard Latios (lolwut?) I have Icy Wind. The moves work great together, making my other mon's jobs a lot easier, such as Garchomp, who can shred a Latios to pieces, provided it's at -1 speed. Basically, Cress sticks around a long time, being annoying for every second of it.
The moves are somewhat different from the standard Cress set, but very useful. Thunder Wave and ChestoRest are obviously on the set, being commonplace and very good. Icy Wind can help take out random Yache Berries, Focus Sashes, Multi-Scales, Sturdies and, of course, cut speed. I really would urge people to use Icy Wind Cress, it so strongth ^_^ Finally, Helping Hand is to aid in the complete obliteration of stuff, especially from my two sweepers (yes, my playstyle with this team has evolved to accommodate sweepers), and in getting those little Gem boosts when necessary.
I don't think this team would even have existed without Cress. Easily the most important member of my team, she sticks around and is annoying. And that's great for a supporter. I really use Cresselia for like 99% of the time.
Garchomp (F) @ Yache Berry
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Rock Slide
- Protect
Garchomp. Das Land Shark. Well, what can I say? Standard Yache Jolly Garchomp. It used to be Adamant, but I changed that when I lost it to a Jolly Chomp. I do miss the OHKO on Hydreigon, but that's all that really matters, and I can always solve that with Icy Wind, removing a potential Scarf advantage at the same time. Anyway, Garchomp is "sweeper" #1, my go-to, in-all-weather mon - though he's dreadful against most forms of hail. Garchomp/Cresselia is my usual go-to lead for a very good reason, due to the impressive synergy between the two; Cress helps chomp with other chomps and Latis, whereas Chomp deals with TTar, Chandelure and Volcarona. Garchomp has other uses, too, such as its ability to deal with Zapdos, Metagross and the rest of the metagame scum everyone accommodates.
The moves are self-explanatory, this being Garchomp and all that. Earthquake is really helpful given three of my mons are immune to it, so I'm pretty happy. Just spamming Helping Hand boosted Earthquake will get you somewhere (hey Ray!), or at least mixing it up with Rock Slides. Speaking of which, Rock Slide works quite well in tandem with Thunder Wave, giving a painful ParaFlinch situation. Dragon Claw takes down opposing Dragons after Cress has dropped their speeds and taking a bit of health from them. Protect is just there, always useful, especially when Cress needs to get an Icy Wind off against a Lati.
Garchomp is just plain good. We all know that. So it should be no surprise why she's sitting at #2 - except for the fact that she isn't at #1. Ah well, not everyone can be the best.
Chandelure (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Heat Wave
- Energy Ball
- Protect
My favourite mon, and for good reason - Gastrodon lurer and destroyer! Chandelure functions as my heavy duty breaker, anti-Fake Outer and my second sweeper, benefiting as much from Cress as Chomp. Chand may take the lead quite often, and there's no denying it does a great job. With lots of negative speed on the opponent's side, Chand is free to murder everything, except maybe Tyranitar, but I have enough to deal with him. Chandelure helps deal with Trick Room, Cresselia and Gastrodon, being able to deal plenty of damage very quickly (though Porygon2 is a slight problem). Chandelure is the only fun thing on this team, so when I'm not using him, I'm really bored.
The moves. Shadow Ball and Heat Wave are obligatory STAB options, complete with great damage against stuff like Metagross and Cresselia. In fact, Chand has no trouble getting past the infamous Japanese Cress + Meta combos, so if you're going to worlds, it may be a good idea to use it. Heat Wave is a good spread attack (as we know) as well, another good reason to use Chand. Energy Ball is my GastroKiller, and is a great surprise attacks against rain teams too. But that's all it's really used for. Protect is... yeah.
Chandelure is a great member of the team. It owns everything in a massive explosion of black and red, but it tends to struggle with the more common metagame. Still, once Tyranitar's dead, things are a bit easier.
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Zen Headbutt
- Bullet Punch
- Protect
I've been using Lum Meta forever, and I'm just going to say what I did last time - it's great. Being able to simply shrug off Spores, Thunder Waves and Will-o-Wisps and then break stuff like only a Metagross can is invaluable. It also seems to turn Metagross into a hax magnet - with Thunderbolt paralyses and Flamethrower burns all affecting it. It can be a fair bit annoying, but it's better than another pokemon suffering the effects without the Lum Berry. Metagross functions primarily to take down Latios without the need for Cresselia, or I could find myself getting bombed by the thing. It also helps with Tyranitar when Chomp's not around, and, of course, the dreaded Hitmontop. The Lum Berry helps him deal with stuff like Breloom and Amoongus better, too. The obvious synergy with Rotom-W and Thundurus is there, but he's seen more alongside Garchomp in order to deal with Latis, while Chomp handles Chand and Volca.
Yes, the obvious moveset. Meteor Mash is 100% necessary to deal with the Latis while still being able to take out Tyranitar. Bullet Punch exists for the same reason, but also for the fact that it's the only damaging priority on the team. Zen Headbutt is secondary STAB and destroys Amoonguss, Breloom, Hitmontop, and others. I used to have Earthquake, but Protect is definately at least 2.54 time more helpful overall.
So yeah, Metagross. Pretty useful, great for the Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch Lati-killing combo, but not as good as the three above him.
Rotom-W @ Water Gem
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
Water Gem Rotom-W is a beast. Will blow up everything - except Gastrodon, my worst enemy. I knew I should have put Hidden Power Grass on it. He was helpful in the International, but just a bit useless here. Still, from time to time I appreciated his Hydro Pump and it's ability to OHKO Ferrothorn in the rain. So he was a solid rain counter too - whenever Gastrodon wasn't around.
Hydro Pump is a godsend, killing anything that doesn't resist it and isn't called Chansey or Cresselia. Thunderbolt hits waters and flyings hard enough. Thunder Wave used to be helpful for its paralysis powers, but not anymore. HP Grass, honestly!
I know, short compared to the others, but I don't have a lot to say about ol' Tom. He was good before, but not on this team. Whenever I used him, I got stuck, so there really isn't much to comment on.
Thundurus (M) @ Charti Berry
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunder Wave
- Substitute
THUNDURUS. He hates me. He sucks, but he annoys me to no end. He was originally supposed to be to counter Chlorophyll and Swift Swim abuses, but it was generally easier just to kill them. I was running Electric Gem (which I should have kept), but for some odd reason, Charti Berry made more sense. Thundurus also provided a keen check to Dragons with HP Ice, though YacheChomp was a problem. I am really running out of things to say now.
Thunderbolt hurts. Or it did do when I had Electric Gem. Oh for reusing Electric Gem. Hidden Power Ice forms a pseudo BoltBeam combo, taking on Dragons and Grounds. Thunder Wave is sometimes helpful, essentially preventing a threat from becoming the winning card. Substitute makes Thundurus a great way to hold the Latis in check, causing them to waste precious Special Attack Draco Meteoring my Subs. It wasn't exactly Protect, but it was helpful from time to time.
#6 because it hardly did anything. I give up with Thundurus - it looks cool, but it doesn't have a thing to Zapdos.
Sorry my descriptions got a little short at the end. I just got a bit bored, so I'm going to finish it now. Feel free to rate, hate, steal and otherwise!
