This is a team I have been recently testing that I would like some helpful feed back on. On my Smurf Account, it seems to be doing well. I have been playing a lot of weather teams and unexpected fun stuff, but, this time, I wanted to build a balanced team around Calm Mind Latias.
TEAM OVERVIEW:
Blissey, Rotom-W, Latias, Skarmory, Gouging Fire, Zamazenta!
Zamazenta:
Zamazenta was chosen firstly as I recognized it's powerful presence to be very challenging to deal with for all kinds of teams: Hyper offensive, Defensive, and Stall teams.
Gouging Fire:
This Pokemon was selected as it pairs nicely with the rest of the team and has proven to be a very strong bulky sweeper that can end games very easily.
Skarmory:
This little guy in gen 9 is much better than in gen 8. He is, in my opinion the best balanced team choice in spikes setter and proves to be an excellent wall with immunities that drive this pokemon in to a tier of his own.
Rotom-W
Rotom checks a lot of things for this team. It's access to Levitate and premier typing allows it to act as a balanced stat pivot and late game sweeper.
Blissey:
I needed a special wall that was difficult to immediately set up on. With Thunder Wave and Siesmic Toss, it seemed better than most options. Blissey is also a great Stealth Rock setter.
Latias:
Covers the team from Fighting hits, sports Levitate, speed control, and serves to sweep opponents teams.
Zamazenta @ Heavy Duty Boots
/ 252 HP / 252 SPE / 4 DEF
Ability: Daughtless Shield
Nature: Jolly
Tera: Fighting
- Substitute
- Iron Defense
- Crunch
- Body Press
Zamazenta is an excellent sweeper who can also serve as a breaker who can tank dark hits for the entire team. Substitute was chosen to hurt common switch ins to land extra hits before broken and it helps protect from toxic. Crunch is there to hit Gholdengo + Dragapult. On a balanced team he does very well. Boots was selected over Leftovers because coming in and out for zamazenta on this team is especially more common as it is used here for more then just late game sweeping.
Skarmory @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
/ 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 SPE
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
Tera: Flying
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Skarmory is the immediate go to wall as it Whirlwinds away set up sweepers. Roost is here for self healing. Spikes is excellent on this mon as he is able to get them up and keep them up and Brave Bird hits Tusk and grass types extreemly hard so while Zamazenta was chosen for body press set, Skarmory was chosen to pair as the roar pivot of the team. It tanks physical hits for them teams and the things it resists are obviously key.
Rotom-W @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Tera: Water
Nature: Timid
/ 252 SPA / 252 SPE / 4 HP
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Bolt
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
Rotom-W for this team is super clutch. Against Stall and slower teams Pain Split almost feels like soloing the match up, so I figured why not bring an old gen 4 set back. Tera Water is chosen to OHKO max invested Clodsire running unaware. Thunderbolt is preferred over Discharge for max out puts against Dondozo as Blissey is already spreading paralysis. This guy counters most rapid spinners, Lando and others and for its dual typing and Levitate I figured to add it in.
Blissey @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera: Fairy
Nature: Bold
/ 252 DEF / 252 HP / 4 SPD
- Siesmic Toss
- Soft Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
Blissey is an excellent special wall so I felt lile Bold was still correct as if somehow opponent has set up enough special attack boosting to blow through this, you've already lost. The covers the holes of the team and sets up rocks. It also helps waddle down opposing mon wearing boots as I am lacking a strong Knock Off user. T-wave is here to cripple Stall teams and help with speed control so that Zamazenta and Gouging Fire can successfully sweep. Also, it ensures Latias outspeeds other Dragon and a possible Valiant.
Gouging Fire @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera: Fire
Nature: Adamant
/ 252 ATK / 252 SPE / 4 HP
- Raging Fury
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Gouging Fire resists Dark hits and blows through anything frail. I opted for Adamant over Jolly because in testing I felt it was capable of tanking hits as the set is and I wanted to ensure guaranteed 2hkos as much as possible under hazards. Outrage is here because confusion will happen regardless and switching isn't necessary if played properly. Also, outrage hits so hard after a steel switches in Hazards leave it generally useless and if it goes down I usually play through the situation anyways. I try to avoid it tho. Mostly I am successful. On this team you have to be very smart with bringing this mon in as it hates hazards and is kind of slow and with no hp investment is only bulky enough to win so when you bring it in you are bringing it to either win or because you have to.
Latias @ Latias/Latios Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera: Fairy
Nature Bold
/ 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 SPD
- Agility
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Recover / Wish / Draco Meteor / Stored Power
This set I was stuck on. I almost did not know what to add here. Latias worked fine because she usually gets up Agility often. If she isn't she gets Calm mind up. If not I tank a hit dish a hit and try to scout and switch. Wish could be interesting here and Stored Power wasn't sweeping well enough and felt psyshock was much better as it deals a heavy amount of damage with only plus 1 Agility or Calm Mind or without set up at all. With a base 110 and decent bulk, she switches in fine and sponges hits for both Zamazenta and skarmory. Her ability to eat Fighting hits protects Blissey and Levitate aids to protect Gouging Fire from things like Lando. I can bring her in and set up on Lando and attempt to sweep.
THREAT LIST:
Gargancyl
Knock Off users
+2 Sword Dance Weavile
Cosmic Power Clefable
TEAM OVERVIEW:
Blissey, Rotom-W, Latias, Skarmory, Gouging Fire, Zamazenta!
Zamazenta:
Zamazenta was chosen firstly as I recognized it's powerful presence to be very challenging to deal with for all kinds of teams: Hyper offensive, Defensive, and Stall teams.
Gouging Fire:
This Pokemon was selected as it pairs nicely with the rest of the team and has proven to be a very strong bulky sweeper that can end games very easily.
Skarmory:
This little guy in gen 9 is much better than in gen 8. He is, in my opinion the best balanced team choice in spikes setter and proves to be an excellent wall with immunities that drive this pokemon in to a tier of his own.
Rotom-W
Rotom checks a lot of things for this team. It's access to Levitate and premier typing allows it to act as a balanced stat pivot and late game sweeper.
Blissey:
I needed a special wall that was difficult to immediately set up on. With Thunder Wave and Siesmic Toss, it seemed better than most options. Blissey is also a great Stealth Rock setter.
Latias:
Covers the team from Fighting hits, sports Levitate, speed control, and serves to sweep opponents teams.
Zamazenta @ Heavy Duty Boots
/ 252 HP / 252 SPE / 4 DEF
Ability: Daughtless Shield
Nature: Jolly
Tera: Fighting
- Substitute
- Iron Defense
- Crunch
- Body Press
Zamazenta is an excellent sweeper who can also serve as a breaker who can tank dark hits for the entire team. Substitute was chosen to hurt common switch ins to land extra hits before broken and it helps protect from toxic. Crunch is there to hit Gholdengo + Dragapult. On a balanced team he does very well. Boots was selected over Leftovers because coming in and out for zamazenta on this team is especially more common as it is used here for more then just late game sweeping.
Skarmory @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
/ 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 SPE
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
Tera: Flying
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
Skarmory is the immediate go to wall as it Whirlwinds away set up sweepers. Roost is here for self healing. Spikes is excellent on this mon as he is able to get them up and keep them up and Brave Bird hits Tusk and grass types extreemly hard so while Zamazenta was chosen for body press set, Skarmory was chosen to pair as the roar pivot of the team. It tanks physical hits for them teams and the things it resists are obviously key.
Rotom-W @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Tera: Water
Nature: Timid
/ 252 SPA / 252 SPE / 4 HP
- Volt Switch
- Thunder Bolt
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
Rotom-W for this team is super clutch. Against Stall and slower teams Pain Split almost feels like soloing the match up, so I figured why not bring an old gen 4 set back. Tera Water is chosen to OHKO max invested Clodsire running unaware. Thunderbolt is preferred over Discharge for max out puts against Dondozo as Blissey is already spreading paralysis. This guy counters most rapid spinners, Lando and others and for its dual typing and Levitate I figured to add it in.
Blissey @ Heavy Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera: Fairy
Nature: Bold
/ 252 DEF / 252 HP / 4 SPD
- Siesmic Toss
- Soft Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
Blissey is an excellent special wall so I felt lile Bold was still correct as if somehow opponent has set up enough special attack boosting to blow through this, you've already lost. The covers the holes of the team and sets up rocks. It also helps waddle down opposing mon wearing boots as I am lacking a strong Knock Off user. T-wave is here to cripple Stall teams and help with speed control so that Zamazenta and Gouging Fire can successfully sweep. Also, it ensures Latias outspeeds other Dragon and a possible Valiant.
Gouging Fire @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera: Fire
Nature: Adamant
/ 252 ATK / 252 SPE / 4 HP
- Raging Fury
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
Gouging Fire resists Dark hits and blows through anything frail. I opted for Adamant over Jolly because in testing I felt it was capable of tanking hits as the set is and I wanted to ensure guaranteed 2hkos as much as possible under hazards. Outrage is here because confusion will happen regardless and switching isn't necessary if played properly. Also, outrage hits so hard after a steel switches in Hazards leave it generally useless and if it goes down I usually play through the situation anyways. I try to avoid it tho. Mostly I am successful. On this team you have to be very smart with bringing this mon in as it hates hazards and is kind of slow and with no hp investment is only bulky enough to win so when you bring it in you are bringing it to either win or because you have to.
Latias @ Latias/Latios Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera: Fairy
Nature Bold
/ 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 SPD
- Agility
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Recover / Wish / Draco Meteor / Stored Power
This set I was stuck on. I almost did not know what to add here. Latias worked fine because she usually gets up Agility often. If she isn't she gets Calm mind up. If not I tank a hit dish a hit and try to scout and switch. Wish could be interesting here and Stored Power wasn't sweeping well enough and felt psyshock was much better as it deals a heavy amount of damage with only plus 1 Agility or Calm Mind or without set up at all. With a base 110 and decent bulk, she switches in fine and sponges hits for both Zamazenta and skarmory. Her ability to eat Fighting hits protects Blissey and Levitate aids to protect Gouging Fire from things like Lando. I can bring her in and set up on Lando and attempt to sweep.
THREAT LIST:
Gargancyl
Knock Off users
+2 Sword Dance Weavile
Cosmic Power Clefable
