Hello smogon! This is Tyrant626, excited for the coming of 5th Gen to the U.S. I've been using this team to climb into the 900's of the ladder(would be higher, but I've been busy) with great success. I've been extremely happy with this team since I win about 75% of the time, roughly. Well, seeing as I'm not a fan of long monologues, let's present the team!
Hippowdon @ Lum Berry -Relaxed 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def (Sandstream)
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
-Slack Off
You guessed it! I'm running Hippowdon to support a Sandstorm Team! Many people complain about those who use weather, especially sand, but I digress. Sand has gotten a lot of new toys to play with this gen, while admitedly, Hippowdon did not. I'm using him to set up my sand and wall the monsters like normal T-Tar, Doryuuzu(sometimes), Blissey, Chansey, and more. His EVs and bold allow him to be a formidable tank, while his SpD is a bit lackluster. Stealth Rocks allows me to protect my team from constant switch ins, while Slack Off lets me shrug off some hits. Earthquake and Ice Fang give me some good coverage to fend off against my opponent, especially things like TH Gliscor and other Hippowdon. As long as he hide him from Special Attackers, I'm easily ablt to keep him and the sand alive.
E:Relaxed ensures that my weather gets set up when confronted with other auto-weather lead, since it takes speed into consideration when deciding what the final weather is.
Nattorei @ Rugged Helmet -Relaxed 252 HP / 104 Atk / 152 Def (Iron Thorns)
-Protect
-Leech Seed
-Gyro Ball
-Power Whip
Oh my God, this is officialy my favorite pokemon of 5th Gen. While he may be overhyped, it is for a long list of reasons. His typing neuters the power of Water, Grass, and sometimes Ice attacks, along with the likes of Paralysis/Poison. Protect allows me to take full advantage of Sand and Leech Seed by racking up a lot of residual damage, especially if I have Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock set up. Gyro Ball and Power Whip allow me to hit a large amount of threats in this metagame including Tyranitar, Burungeru, Vaporeon, Blissey, Chansey (the last two are difficult, but he can manage), Hippowdon, dragons (besides Sazandora. I rarely ever see Fire type attacks on the dragon types anymore), Politoed, Abomasnow, and many other pokes that would bother my team. Rugged Helmet allows me to rack up even HIGHER amounts of damage with SS+SR+Leech Seed+Iron Barbs+Rugged Helmet+Poison (if possible). The EV spread allows me to be more of a Tank rather than a deadset wall.
Tentacruel @ Black Sludge -Calm 252 HP/ 4 SpA / 252 SpD (Liquid Ooze)
-Boil Over
-Rapid Spin
-Hail
-Toxic Spikes
While being seen as rather downsized this gen, he sure gets the job done. He serves as my spinner, a good Special Tank, and a Toxic Spike user. I don't usually need to keep him alive TOO long since my team rarely has trouble with hazards, although opposing Toxic Spikes or Spikes upset my Hippowdon and Doryuuzu respectively, which in that case gives me a reason to keep him around. He works similarly to Burungeru wheras he takes Fire and Fighting attacks for him(although fighting is now 1/2 rather than immune). I've been debating whether or not to replace Toxic with Evil Eye to deal with Spin Blockers. I can likely spread a few burns to annoying things that are immune to poison such as Scizor, Nattorei, Forretress, Skarmory, and Doryuuzu, while Hail ruins the attempts of Doryuuzu and Landlos sweeping well(against my team, that is).
Rankurusu @ Toxic Orb -Bold 252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 SpA (Magic Guard)
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
-Recover
Rankurusu. Where do I start? This thing is a monster. Thanks to Magic Guard, Rankurusu can easily CM in the Sand, while countering Roobushin for Dory. His high HP and decent bulk allow him to easily get a few calm minds with proper prediction. Psychic and Focus Blast provide similar coverage to ShadowBlast, while I hit Fighting types for SE damage instead of Ghosts. I hesitate to replace Psychic with Shadow Ball to hit other Psychics, but I don't want to miss out on the amazing power and strength against Fighting types. Recover allows me to ready myself to progress through my sweeps, or straight out wall. Flame Orb was the most appealing item to me. Poisoning prevents me from being crippled by paralysis, frost, or sleep. It also seemed more appealing than Flame orb since my team is heavily immune to poison. (Except Hippowdon)
Doryuuzu @ Life Orb -Jolly 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe (Sand Throw)
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-X-Scissor
I, myself, am afraid of Doryuuzu. He reaches 604 speed with Sand Throw in the sand with 252 Jolly, along with a nice 369 attack. While many may complain about his overpwereness(whatever you want to call it), it isn't really broken. He's unfortunately countered by any strong Mach Punch/Aqua Jet, along with resistant phazers like Hippowdon, Skarmory, and Swampert. However, if I get a Swords Dance or two, I can lay waste to almost anything else. Earthquake+Rock Slide and provide nice coverage, a long with STAB and a flinch rate. X-Scissor seems to be a better option, seeing as I can hit Rankurusu, Sazandora, Zuruzukin, and Espeon/Xatu for a good chunk of damage, if not for a KO. Gliscor is of course a big problem, but that is why he's a Dory counter.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb -Impish 252 HP/ 4 Atk / 252 Def (Poison Heal)
-Protect
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
-Toxic
Come on. How could you not have seen this coming? Gliscor is an excellent tank, if not a physical wall, with Poison Heal. His typing gives me some great resistances to Fire, Electric, Fighting, Bug, Poison, Ground, Steel, and Flying type attacks that all negatively effect my team in on way or another. Protect works like Nattorei where I try to rack up damage on the foe while I regain HP. Earthquake and Ice Fang give me great coverage, like Hippowdon, whenever I need to deal some quick damage. Gliscor works well with Tentacruel since I can lure in bulky/offensive water types or Ice Beamers that allow him to set up easy Toxic Spikes. Toxic allows me to stall other tanks/walls that try to outstall me or eliminate me overall.
Well, while I've been ranting on (sorry if I was missong something. I'm still new to using RMT. I'm usually in Smeargles Studio), I felt that I should point out a few of my teams weaknesses.
Skarmory has a big tendancy to make me want to throw my computer at the wall. While Rankurusu can usually 2-3 ko with Focus Blast (without any boosts), my team has very little along the lines of beating Skarm. Tentacruel, however, does help with some Special damage, and an occasional burn.
A love-hate relationship. While he is one of my biggest assets, he is also one of my biggest problems. He resists most of my team with little to no damage, while he can either SD ot Toxic like mad. Again, Rankurusu and Tentacruel sometimes come to the rescue, while the latter has trouble against EQ.
Yes. Other weathers. Sun is rarely a problem since I can easily rid them of ninetails, while Rankurusu and Tentacruel (sometimes even Gliscor) can deal with the sun. Rain, on the other hand is...ugh! Politoed messes with everything except, AGAIN, Rankurusu and Tentacruel, along with Nattorei. Even then, he just switches to a Swift Swimmer to proceed through a sweep of my team. Even sandstorm can be annoying since everything on a sandstorm team is resistant to itself.
I just...I hate Starmie. He hits everything on my team for neutral or super effective damage. Surf kills Doryuuzu, Gliscor and Hippowdon. Ice beam destroys Gliscor and Hippowdon, while dealing good damage to Nattorei and Doryuuzu (even though Doryuuzu outspeeds and usually gets the KO first). Thunderbolt destroys my last safe member, Tentacruel It's just...wow.
Well, thanks for reading! Rates? Opinions? Movesets?
Even comments about the prsentation would be nice.
E: Thanks to Argornbird for the animated sprites.
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
-Slack Off
You guessed it! I'm running Hippowdon to support a Sandstorm Team! Many people complain about those who use weather, especially sand, but I digress. Sand has gotten a lot of new toys to play with this gen, while admitedly, Hippowdon did not. I'm using him to set up my sand and wall the monsters like normal T-Tar, Doryuuzu(sometimes), Blissey, Chansey, and more. His EVs and bold allow him to be a formidable tank, while his SpD is a bit lackluster. Stealth Rocks allows me to protect my team from constant switch ins, while Slack Off lets me shrug off some hits. Earthquake and Ice Fang give me some good coverage to fend off against my opponent, especially things like TH Gliscor and other Hippowdon. As long as he hide him from Special Attackers, I'm easily ablt to keep him and the sand alive.
E:Relaxed ensures that my weather gets set up when confronted with other auto-weather lead, since it takes speed into consideration when deciding what the final weather is.
-Protect
-Leech Seed
-Gyro Ball
-Power Whip
Oh my God, this is officialy my favorite pokemon of 5th Gen. While he may be overhyped, it is for a long list of reasons. His typing neuters the power of Water, Grass, and sometimes Ice attacks, along with the likes of Paralysis/Poison. Protect allows me to take full advantage of Sand and Leech Seed by racking up a lot of residual damage, especially if I have Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock set up. Gyro Ball and Power Whip allow me to hit a large amount of threats in this metagame including Tyranitar, Burungeru, Vaporeon, Blissey, Chansey (the last two are difficult, but he can manage), Hippowdon, dragons (besides Sazandora. I rarely ever see Fire type attacks on the dragon types anymore), Politoed, Abomasnow, and many other pokes that would bother my team. Rugged Helmet allows me to rack up even HIGHER amounts of damage with SS+SR+Leech Seed+Iron Barbs+Rugged Helmet+Poison (if possible). The EV spread allows me to be more of a Tank rather than a deadset wall.
-Boil Over
-Rapid Spin
-Hail
-Toxic Spikes
While being seen as rather downsized this gen, he sure gets the job done. He serves as my spinner, a good Special Tank, and a Toxic Spike user. I don't usually need to keep him alive TOO long since my team rarely has trouble with hazards, although opposing Toxic Spikes or Spikes upset my Hippowdon and Doryuuzu respectively, which in that case gives me a reason to keep him around. He works similarly to Burungeru wheras he takes Fire and Fighting attacks for him(although fighting is now 1/2 rather than immune). I've been debating whether or not to replace Toxic with Evil Eye to deal with Spin Blockers. I can likely spread a few burns to annoying things that are immune to poison such as Scizor, Nattorei, Forretress, Skarmory, and Doryuuzu, while Hail ruins the attempts of Doryuuzu and Landlos sweeping well(against my team, that is).
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
-Recover
Rankurusu. Where do I start? This thing is a monster. Thanks to Magic Guard, Rankurusu can easily CM in the Sand, while countering Roobushin for Dory. His high HP and decent bulk allow him to easily get a few calm minds with proper prediction. Psychic and Focus Blast provide similar coverage to ShadowBlast, while I hit Fighting types for SE damage instead of Ghosts. I hesitate to replace Psychic with Shadow Ball to hit other Psychics, but I don't want to miss out on the amazing power and strength against Fighting types. Recover allows me to ready myself to progress through my sweeps, or straight out wall. Flame Orb was the most appealing item to me. Poisoning prevents me from being crippled by paralysis, frost, or sleep. It also seemed more appealing than Flame orb since my team is heavily immune to poison. (Except Hippowdon)
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-X-Scissor
I, myself, am afraid of Doryuuzu. He reaches 604 speed with Sand Throw in the sand with 252 Jolly, along with a nice 369 attack. While many may complain about his overpwereness(whatever you want to call it), it isn't really broken. He's unfortunately countered by any strong Mach Punch/Aqua Jet, along with resistant phazers like Hippowdon, Skarmory, and Swampert. However, if I get a Swords Dance or two, I can lay waste to almost anything else. Earthquake+Rock Slide and provide nice coverage, a long with STAB and a flinch rate. X-Scissor seems to be a better option, seeing as I can hit Rankurusu, Sazandora, Zuruzukin, and Espeon/Xatu for a good chunk of damage, if not for a KO. Gliscor is of course a big problem, but that is why he's a Dory counter.
-Protect
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
-Toxic
Come on. How could you not have seen this coming? Gliscor is an excellent tank, if not a physical wall, with Poison Heal. His typing gives me some great resistances to Fire, Electric, Fighting, Bug, Poison, Ground, Steel, and Flying type attacks that all negatively effect my team in on way or another. Protect works like Nattorei where I try to rack up damage on the foe while I regain HP. Earthquake and Ice Fang give me great coverage, like Hippowdon, whenever I need to deal some quick damage. Gliscor works well with Tentacruel since I can lure in bulky/offensive water types or Ice Beamers that allow him to set up easy Toxic Spikes. Toxic allows me to stall other tanks/walls that try to outstall me or eliminate me overall.
Well, while I've been ranting on (sorry if I was missong something. I'm still new to using RMT. I'm usually in Smeargles Studio), I felt that I should point out a few of my teams weaknesses.
Well, thanks for reading! Rates? Opinions? Movesets?
Even comments about the prsentation would be nice.
E: Thanks to Argornbird for the animated sprites.