Bryce
Lun
Game Of Foams
Introduction
Introduction
I've been using this team for quite some time now and decided to share it with the community.This is a Rain offense team centered around toxicroak.I decided to build this team when I first noticed how Toxicroak could easily dismantle or pose a serious threat to many common builds,especially Rain teams and Keldeo Sand.This team is built in a way so that any checks or counters to Toxicroak gets lured out and weakened or taken out by it's teammates,thus enabling a Toxicroak sweep.However,it will be quite unfair to say that Toxicroak is the heart of this team as the team's other members are equally valuable.This team is quite fun for me to play as unlike most of my teams,this team doesn't use speed too much for sweeping and revenge killing,rather the powerful priority of Scizor,Toxicroak and Dragonite. In this BW2 metagame,I feel I have a good match up against most of the playstyles and has been rather consistant.
This team has proven to be successful letting me hit #1 on the beta server with over 1700 points under the alt -snorlax-.Later I gave this team to a friend of mine,High Impulse who also achieved #1 with 1700+ using this team in the majority of his battles under the alt Criminal.
The Team
Team Building Process
In-Depth
So I wanted to build around Toxicroak.I decided on the SD LO set for sweeping.When using Croak,obviously I would like to abuse it's dry skin abilty.So I threw in politoed.Besides,having Rain as your weather is always nice so why not.
Now I needed to add breakers which could weaken walls for Croak.Croak can muscle past Gliscor and Defensive Landorus-T thanks to Ice Punch but Skarm and Hippo were an issue.I decided that SD Garchomp with Rain Boosted Aqua Tail would be a suitable breaker to weaken Skarm and Hippo so that they can no longer take a hit from a boosted croak.
To sweep with croak,I needed to break walls such as Jellicent too which would rarely switch in on chomp.I also needed a secondary win condition,something that could take hits and has good synergy with the team.SD Lum Zor was perfect for this role as it not only met the above criteria but also had the benefit of luring out things like Tenta,Keldeo,Heatran which could be used as set up fodder for Toxicroak and chomp respectively.
Dragonite was the next member as it had the resists I needed and also sported strong priority move,making me comfortable using toed as my scarfer. Originally I thought of a Latias in this spot for the added speed but decided on Nite as it's better vs Sun Offense.
For the final member of the team,I needed something that could lay rocks .I also wanted to run something that can add some bulk to my somewhat frail team and can act as a pivot.I decided on a custom Jirachi set I had previously used on a DragSpam team as it seemed to fit in nicely.
Jirachi @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Jirachi usually starts of the team most of the time.It's job is to lay rocks and act as a pivot to bring momentum early game in my favor.Flash Cannon is for STAB and was chosen over Iron Head to not sacrifice any of my other stats.Flash Cannon is used to hit things like Mamo and Terrakion.Thunder+HP Ice gives me bolt beam coverage making it hard for most pokemon to switch in on Rachi.It also abuses that 60% paralysis chance of Thunder.For the Item I initially had Expert Belt but later realized just how useful it can be to net a surprise KO on Garchomp and Landorus forms early game,especially Garchomp.Shuca Berry also makes it hard for Donphan to spin on Rachi as HP Ice 2HKOs.This Rachi has KOed so many Lando-T's turn 1 xD .
Jirachi is usually my switch in to many pokes such as Latias and TTar and is used like a pivot early game.Depending on match up,I also use it as a suicide lead.The EVs are max Sp Atk with enough speed to outrun neutral nature max speed base 90s and lower.
Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Encore
Politoed supports the team bringing permanent Rain giving Croak a nice recovery and my dragons a strong aqua tail.Politoed's role itself is to act as a revenge killer and bring momentum with those fast powerful hydro pumps.Despite being a former NU,toed has been pretty useful with the rain support.Choice Scarf was the item of choice boosting toed's speed by 50%.Hydro Pump for strong STAB,Ice Beam for coverage against dragons and grass types,psychic is for opposing croak and hits tenacruel and Keldeo.Encore is filler but has it's uses.Hip-Hop :]
Garchomp (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Aqua Tail
Garchomp's role on this team is to weaken or take out physical walls such as Landorus-T,Skarmory,Hippo so that Scizor/Toxicroak can sweep.Garchomp's high attack and speed along with nice bulk and good typing makes it an immediate threat.This set basically has 3 STABS under Rain.SD is there to increase chomp's attack to so that it can hit extremely hard allowing it to break through many defensive cores.EQ is my main STAB with high base power and no drawbacks.Outrage is a more powerful option and hits a anything not a steel type really hard but the lock and confusion is annoying.Aqua Tail is chomp's 3rd and coverage move enabling it to do over 50% to skarm under rain at +2,OHKO things like Landorus-T and heavily dent Hippo.It also takes the opposing balloon tran by surprise.Chomp's Rough skin,bulk and typing is also very handy against several pokes such as Jirachi and Scizor.
Scizor (M) @ Lum Berry/Flying Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite/Acrobatics
- Superpower
Scizor is here as a secondary win condition alongside croak and a lure for Jellicent.With this set Scizor can outspeed and 2HKO Jelli at +2 with rocks up evading any potential burn with Lum Berry.Scizor's steel typing provides it with key resists such as dragon and ice giving more set up opportunities.Scizor is also useful for hitting things like ScarfRachi with boosted BP allowing Toxicroak to KO it at +2 with sucker punch.Scizor helps keep many troublesome pokemon such as Mamoswine and Latias at bay.The EVs maximize attack while giving enough speed to outrun no speed SpDef tran.The rest is dumped into HP.The moves are pretty much self explanatory.Bullet Punch is it's STAB priority move OHKOing many common pokes at +2 after rocks or with some prior damage.Bug Bite is secondary STAB and Superpower is for coverage vs steels.
I've found the Flying Gem+Acro set neat in this role as well.Though I must say I do miss Lum's status healings when using it.So I'm 50/50 about it.
Toxicroak (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Ice Punch
Toxicroak,the poke I built the team around.In today's metagame Toxicroak excels in the role of a cleaner.Resisting the STABs of Keldeo(immune to water),Terrakion,Breloom, OHKOing the likes of Latios and Starmie with priority sucker punch,setting up all over most Toed,tentacruels,not giving fuks about Ferro,TTar and straight murking defensive Lando-T with Ice Punch,which seems to be everyone's go to pokemon for checking physical sweepers.Toxicroak has it's faults such as being rain dependent and having meh bulk and average attack stat but those holes are filled up by it's teammates.I do wish for a bit more bulk and power though.After an SD,stopping it becomes a really hard task with that strong priority move,Fighting+Ice coverage and constantly healing in Rain.The EVs are simple Max Atk Max Speed.
Dragonite (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Aqua Tail
- Superpower
- ExtremeSpeed
Dragonite got a place in this team because of it's resists,ability to check sun and breloom alongside strong priority in Espeed.Outside of that,Dragonite under rain is a fuking mofo with that ridiculously powerful outrage alongside that Rain boosted Aqua Tail and Superpower for coverage,Literally nothing is a safe switch in to this monster.Skarm gets 2HKOed after rocks with Rain boosted Aqua Tail.Most ferrothorn are OHKOed by superpower and physically defensive variants takes like at least 80.Gliscor and Lando-T are obviously doomed if they come in on Aqua Tail.Hippo is 2HKOed by ATail or Outrage.Being choice locked is an issue but it can still hit like a truck to even resists.Max Atk and Speed yet again.I remeber CTC once telling me to run 52 HP from speed to avoid getting 2HKOed by Scizor's BP.I considered that but then I lose the speed tie vs opposing Dnites so I stuck with Max Speed.
EDIT: Decided to go with 44 HP/252 Atk/ 212 Spd suggested by CTC.
Importable
Conclusion
This team has been pretty fun for me to use but is getting a little boring as I have used it for a long time.Do give this team a try and post any feedback and suggestions to further improve it.I hope you enjoy using this team and thanks for reading :]
Shout-outs
Finally,shout-outs for my buddies from PO and Smogon and people who have helpled me.Shout outs to:
zzazzdsa,Ripamon,Probs,Kidogo,CTC,Dice,D4RR3N,ThunderBlunder,Blim,High Impulse,King,bbtest,Liked,Hellpowna and Delko
Politoed (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Encore
Garchomp (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Aqua Tail
Dragonite (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Aqua Tail
- Superpower
- ExtremeSpeed
Scizor (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
Toxicroak (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Sucker Punch
- Ice Punch
Jirachi @ Shuca Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Conclusion
This team has been pretty fun for me to use but is getting a little boring as I have used it for a long time.Do give this team a try and post any feedback and suggestions to further improve it.I hope you enjoy using this team and thanks for reading :]
Shout-outs
Finally,shout-outs for my buddies from PO and Smogon and people who have helpled me.Shout outs to:
zzazzdsa,Ripamon,Probs,Kidogo,CTC,Dice,D4RR3N,ThunderBlunder,Blim,High Impulse,King,bbtest,Liked,Hellpowna and Delko
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