Dragon Rush (Balanced Offensive OU)

Phantom_IV

Balanced Offensive Dragon [OU]

Well, here it is. I’ve made plenty of teams before, though this one has served me best and seems to play most naturally. The general idea is to abuse the fact that Dragon is resisted only by Steels. I use frail rock types to lure out steels, then trap and eliminate them with Magnezone. Once they’re gone, Latias and Salamence attempt to batter the opponent’s team with their unresisted Draco Meteors.

So, without further ado, the team:

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The Lure:

I needed something that could draw in the steels I wanted to eliminate as well as a strong lead. Initially I considered TTar for this role, but I found his low speed and vulnerability to status and gimmicky tricks annoying. I find the need to switch often, so I wanted a fast taunt to stop opposing rocks from going up. Aerodactyl was the choice for me.

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Aerodactyl (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

Ah, Aerodactyl. Its popularity has gone downhill, especially with the introduction of bulkier leads such as Metagross and Jirachi. I’d say all the flying dinosaur needs is a bit more team support. With Magnezone waiting in the wings, Aerodactyl beats what he should and has a good response to most everything else.

Most Jirachi and Scizor go straight for the Iron Head/BP and run straight into Magnezone for an easy KO.

If he survives into lategame, he can be sacrificed to scout a difficult switch or check slower sweepers such as Adamant Gyara and TTar even after a DDance. Rock slide is chosen over Stone Edge for the accuracy and flinch rate.

The Trapper:

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Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Explosion

Scarfed Magnezone. Traps and kills scarfed Jirachi and all Scizor variants that were looking for a free KO on Aero. I was considering running the Sub/Magnet Rise set, losing the ability to kill LO Scizor (which outspeeds and OHKOs with superpower) in exchange for being able to trap and kill slower Metagross variants, particularly leadGross. Overall, I considered Scizor to be the greater threat, as it can revenge my dragons if they get to low hp. Additionally, the scarf allows it to kill a greater number of threats, including Lucario after a defense drop. A fast explosion once opposing steels have been eliminated is a large plus as well.

Whenever possible, I try to finish things off with TBolt or Flash Cannon. HP Fire is a necessity for Scizor, but otherwise I try to avoid using it as my team can run into difficulty with setup sweepers.


The Dragons:
Well, there were some choices I had to make when choosing dragons. I wanted one faster and one bulkier. I wanted high special attack to back up Draco Meteors. I was considering a bulky Sala and a Specs Latias, but Latias is naturally a better defensive choice. Thus I decided on ScarfMence and a bulky Latias.

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Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 48 Atk/208 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Outrage

My fast dragon, oddly enough. He hits hard and fast with a Draco Meteor and then gets out. Outrage helps with Blissey and Earthquake is a solid OHKO on unsuspecting scarfTran, which are difficult to kill with Magnezone. Very handy lategame and often my last poke standing. Hopefully he doesn’t take much more than entry hazard damage and resisted physical attacks.

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Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 100 HP/128 Def/28 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Recover
- Draco Meteor
- Surf

A slightly unorthodox bulky set. As my team has a lot of Choice items, Latias needs to come in on many threats while still fulfilling a sweeper role. I had also considered a defensive CM set for this slot, but I found myself liking the power of Draco Meteor midgame over possibility of a clean sweep. Often Latias doesn’t stay in more than a turn anyway.

Sometimes I feel Latias’ Meteors don’t have the requisite power without some sort of item boost.

I’m still debating the possibility of Draco Plate over Lefties. Adding another Choice item (Specs) would likely be a bad idea. LO + sandstorm might work but would limit durability.

The Glue:
These guys stop the team from falling apart at the seams. They bring a bit of type diversity and check a few problem pokemon.

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Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 146 HP/112 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Leech Seed

My response to the Ground attacks directed at Magnezone. Also a reasonable response to Metagross. Cripples an opponent each game with spore, as well as absorbing status and scouting the team. Jolly nature helps outrun things that are trying to outrun neutral 70s and prevents speed ties with Metagross and other Breloom. I felt that the suggested 252 attack EVs were unnecessary on something with 1 attack. Even without attack EVs, Focus Punch KOs what it should and does good damage to everything else. 146 HP hits a Poison Heal +1 number, and seemed like a good choice to balance defense with overall tanking.

Additionally, this guy is a great scout and annoying in general. Allows me to discover more about my opponent’s team and judge his skill level.

The one thing Breloom has been having problems with is Taunt Gliscor. I’m considering switching Focus Punch with Facade just for him. I’ve lost 3 matches due to a 1v1 with a Taunt Gliscor, ending with me forced to struggle as I’d run out of Focus Punches.

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Tyranitar (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Spd/252 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
The special tank. He traps and kills a variety of special attackers, most notably Rotom and Latias (Which outspeeds my own). Helps to lure out Scizor, Jirachi and Lucario. Also my most reliable Heatran check, although he might have some issues with the increasingly popular sub/toxic variety.

Final Comments:
Yes, I realize my team has issues with Mamoswine. He hits each of them SE with his STABs and can OHKO 4 of them. Luckily for me, it’s hard for my opponent to know that… Unless he reads this…. Anyway, it often turns into a prediction war. Ice attacks run into Magnezone, which outspeeds and OHKOs with Flash Cannon. Ground attacks run into one of my many floating pokes or Breloom. The Choiced ones can be predicted around and the LO variety gets worn down by recoil. And neither Breloom nor Latias is OHKO’ed by Ice Shard, and both can neutralize Mamo.

Overall, the team has worked out decently for me. I rely heavily on prediction (and sometimes the ineptitude of my opponents) to win my matches. I’m hoping for some comments to make it even better. Thanks.

-Phantom
 
Salamence should utilize a +speed nature like naive in order to tie at worst with other 100s. On CBTar, that spread is pretty bad, since SS already boosts its above average SpD by 1.5. Try putting those ev's into hp, it'll take hits better both physically and specially.
 
Hmm.... Why does Sala need a +speed nature though? He's scarfed... Already he's running more speed than the suggested smogon scarf set.
I can see your point that TTar might need some HP for physical attacks, but the idea was to maximize Special Def while keeping my Attack at maximum. Putting all the points into SpD does just that. Generally I try not to let TTar take any physical hits though. I already gave Breloom and Latias physically defensive sets.
 
Woah....your team is enourmously weak to the Ground-Ice attacking combination. Every single Pokemon on your team takes one of the other super effectively...probably your worst fear hear is having Latias down, Mamoswine switching in on a Magnezone locked into Thunderbolt, than KOing half of your team. To solve this problem, I suggest you change Tyranitar to the standard Bronzong.

Bronzong@ Light Clay
Levitate
Relaxed nature (+Defense, -Speed)
252 HP/152 Attack/8 Defense/96 Sp. Defense

Reflect
Light Screen
Gyro Ball/Earthquake
Explosion

Tyranitar is sort of dead weight for your team in my opinion. I think Bronzong will solve your Ground-Ice problem. I also think Bronzong can make great use of screens for your team, so you can switch Latias to the Life Orb offensive version.

Latias@ Life Orb
Levitate
Timid nature (+Speed, -Attack)
4 HP/252 Sp. Attack/252 Speed

Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor
Surf
Thunderbolt
Recover

There you go! Both Dragon attacks work great for your team. Surf and Thunderbolt are for coverage, while Recover is a nice option to get rid of Life Orb recoil.

Hope I helped, and Good Luck!
 
Witness: That sounds quite good. Better defensive synergy and a harder hit from Latias. Takes a lot of work out of having to predict against Mamo or hoping for it to overstay its welcome.

Sprinkles: I'll put it into consideration, as with Latias hitting a bit harder, Sala doesn't need the boosting nature as badly. Gonna start playtesting and get back to you.
 
maggy is so underrated >.< thats a great strategy vs jirachi leads, draw out the iron head (i use azelf it accomplishes the same thing) and trap it, i would actually recommend a substitute version set though:

Magnezone@Leftovers
Magnet Pull
W/O explosion: 4 Def/252 SpA/252 Spe Timid Nature
With explosion: 40 Atk/252 SpA/216 Spe Naive Nature
Substitute
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power [Grass/Ice]
Magnet Rise/Explosion

This allows you to take better advantage of jirachi/metagross leads. the speed in both cases allows you to outspeed max scizor, though i personally run modest/rash since i prefer the power. the hidden power choice is up to you, i recommend grass without hesitation since itll OHKO swampert (with +SpA nature) which your team cant deal with (besides repeated draco meteors) (this is in relation to dragons though). magnet rise allows you to beat metagross, and explosion handles blissey/latias. BTW vs metagross tbolt hits ~65% with a +SpA nature so hit it with an aerodactyl EQ beforehand. also vs blissey, tbolt first to scout the protect, do NOT explode first thing. (although exploding might ruin your overall strat)
if you dont want a sub version change the EVs around just a little, use only 236 speed EVs, since itll let you outrun +110s like latias and gengar, and put some in attack. no use with max since youre not going to outrun base 115s anyways.

on salamence, do put 8 more speed EVs so its faster than +1 max jolly gyarados.

latiass moveset is ok, id like some explanation on the EVs though =/

i dont really know what breloom is doing here, if you have a ground problem there are latias and salamence on your team. if theyre gone your strat is pretty much done anyways =/ same goes for tyranitar, since as youve alluded to sandstream can decrease livability, and then maybe you can put a life orb on latias or something. by the way if you do keep breloom, which wouldnt be the worst choice in the world, but it makes a HUGE ice weakness, take ALL of the HP evs out, since that makes you require less hp to put up a substitute.

in these two slots i would put at least 1 setup sweeper, and at least one thing that doesnt completely die to weavile/mamoswine. and maybe something that can backup kill steels and revenge kill something for when salamence dies. ah heres something

Scizor@Choice Band/Life Orb
Technician
248 HP/252 Atk/(8 Spe/8 Def) Adamant
4 Def/252 Atk/252 Spe Adamant
Bullet Punch
Pursuit
U-turn
Superpower OR Roost

Now where have we seen this before >.< this is a bit of a twist on the standard SD scizor. on the first spread, where you want to put the last 8 evs is up to you, i personally like them in speed but put them in defense if you want to. beats weavile, mamoswine, and most importantly, checks a +1 salamence. you might be thinking wheres salamence going to set up? a choiced earthquake or a -1 pursuit seem like great ideas. if you want to use the life orb version thats also great, its only marginally weaker than a CBzor but theres variety in what you can do, you lose more hp so thats why roost is an option. but the point is if they see life orb recoil they will think twice about who they switch in, given that it isnt like a heatran or something

i was trying to think of what else would fit with steels out of the way, but dragons kept coming to mind, so then i thought, why not make that tyranitar a dragon dance variant? it a very good option if you make scizor your choice banded revenge killer, especially since pretty much nothing will stop a tyranitar with +1 DD (wait SCIZOR can! no wait its dead already...)
it also gives you a backup option vs rain dance teams, but either way keep it towards the end so you dont ruin livability.


well gl with the team ^^
 
I would try to put a cb scizor in there to help ease that really big ice weakness you seem to have. Also since you are having trouble with gliscor i suggest you put hydro pump on your salamence just for him. I would change magnezone to a substitute one running a set like hp grass, magnet rise, substitute, and thunderbolt. Maybe you could switch your t-tar to a babiri tar with dragon dance, fire punch, crunch and stone edge.

Thats all i got for now, so good luck.
 
So I'm currently playtesting the Bronzong. Added the 8 speed to Sala. Jolly Gyara is kinda important. I'm still debating the Magnezone. I kinda like the extra speed that scarf gives as well as the neutral coverage of flash cannon. Latias has 28 speed to outrun +speed 70s such as Metagross and Breloom. 100 HP 128 Def was semi-arbitrarily decided. I should probably make it a lefties number+1 if I'm going to keep lefties. Currently testing with LO and the dual screen Bronzong.
DD Tar does sound pretty good. He should run rampant if I can get Scizor out of the way. Simply replacing TTar with a Scizor could be interesting. I kinda feel the need to run something with more SDef though and would need to find a better switch-in to Heatran/various other special threats.
 
Hi there,

You have a very solid bulky offensive team here at the moment. I just have a few things I want to say.

First off- Aerodactyl is not a very viable lead in the current metagame. While it may shut down some leads like Smeargle and Roserade, other leads such as Metagross and Scarf Jirachi completely dismantle it. I think the lead you are looking for is Lum Berry Metagross. This lead has extreme bulk and can easily set up Stealth Rock against many common leads because it is so hard to OHKO. It also puts up a helluva fight because its moves are hitting off of a 401 attack stat. Lum Berry means Smeargle and Roserade are defenseless as you 2HKO them before they can do anything. This also gives you another steel type on your team, which is never a bad thing considering how many top tier OverUsed pokemon use Dragon-type moves. Here is the set:

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Adamant
252 HP/236 Attack/12 Def/8 Speed

Meteor Mash
Bullet Punch
Stealth Rock
Explosion

Because you cannot deal with Fire type leads such as Infernape because you lack Occa Berry, Earthquake is unneeded. If you use Explosion at the right time, you can easily open up for another one of your pokemon to begin sweeping.

Magnezone- Like it. Deserves its place on the team because it opens up nicely for your two dragons. This is also now your main check to Lucario. MixMence with Intimidate can be an emergency check, but between Stealth Rock, LO, and possibly taking an attack, Salamence isnt the longest lived pokemon on the planet. Magnezone can easily OHKO Lucario with HP Fire however, so as long as Magnezone is alive Lucario is a weak threat.

Latias/Salamence- Ok, you have a nice Double Dragon theme here, but I think it can be used more effectively if we change some sets around. Salamence makes a great wallbreaker and can really put some massive dents in opponents teams if he is given the freedom to switch moves with a Life Orb. MixMence, together with CB Tar, means a normal Stall team will crack open if you play the two well. Draco Meteor, backed by Life Orb and STAB, is your main move in the early game. This will takes massive chunks out of most anything, even the Steel Types that resist it. But what if Magnezone has already killed off your opponent's steels? He sure is in for a world of hurt then. Fire Blast and Earthquake round out your coverage, and allow you to pick off slower steels that may want to switch into Draco Meteor. Outrage, the final move, will mostly be used as a late game sweeping tool, but if you run into something really bulky, Outrage will almost ensure they will faint. Almost no non-Steel type Pokemon can withstand a Draco Meteor and then a subsequent Outrage. Here is the set:

Salamence @ Life Orb
Naive
16 Attack/240 Sp. Attack/252 Speed

Draco Meteor
Outrage
Fire Blast
Earthquake

Now we need to change Latias. Salamence has been moved to be a fantastic wallbreaker for your team. Now, Latias can take Salamence's old job as the revenge killer. ScarfLatias outspeeds every non boosted pokemon in OU, making it a fantastic revenge killer. This gives you some insurance against DD Gyara, Kingdra, Salamence, and Empoleon, among countless other threats. Late game, when Magnezone can wiped out steels and MixMence has blasted big holes into your opponent's team, Latias can easily pick off whatever is left with her blazing speed and high powered moves. Here is the set:

Latias @ Choice Scarf
Timid
4 HP/252 Sp. Attack/252 Speed

Draco Meteor
Surf
Thunderbolt
Trick

Trick helps to catch a Blissey switch in, but to be honest I dont think you will have much trouble with defensive teams with both Salamence and TTar on your team. Be sure not to show this when it is not absolutely needed, because if Latias is pursuited, you are exposed to many common threats.

Tyranitar- Like it. Great set to use on the team. However, i think the Evs should be 80 HP/248 Attack/176 Sp. Def/4 Speed, still with an Adamant nature. This allows you to never be 2HKO'd by SpecsLatias Surf, which is probably the most powerful Special Attack Tyranitar will usually have to take. Tyranitar still poses an immense threat with near max attack and an Adamant nature, but with these evs he is more efficient on the defensive end as well.

Breloom- This is something I want to change. I feel Breloom is slowing your team down a little too much. If you were to use MixApe over Breloom, I think your team would turn into a nearly unstoppable offensive Juggernaut. This change also gives you three nearly unbeatable combinations, all in one team: Magnezone + Dragon, Double Dragon, and CB Tar + MixApe. CB Tar can easily Pursuit away a very prominent MixApe counter in Latias and checks like ScarfRotom, while MixMence and Latias can blast away other counters like Suicune, Vaporeon, and Gyarados. Then, with his counters down and the rest of your opponent's team sufficiently weakened, Infernape can take the stage and easily sweep the rest of the way. You will notice no Nasty Plot on this set. While Nasty Plot gives Infernape's moves a huge power boost, he has a hard time finding a turn to set up. Also, your team is so good at weaking his counters that I think the still powerful coverage based set will be more than enough to be a fearsome late game sweeper for your team. Here is the set:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Naive
64 Attack/252 Sp. Attack/192 Speed

Flamethrower
Close Combat
Grass Knot
HP Ice

Fire Blast is an alternate option over Flamethrower, but to be a reliable late game sweeper Infernape should run Flamethrower. Also, everything should be so weakened by the point Infernape is revealed Flamethrower should easily be enough.

Thats all I have, Good Luck with your team.
 
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