At a glance:
This is a team I really like and have been using for a while, so I thought I'd show it off for any final improvements before I retire it and start building another. The objective was to come up with a Physical/Special offensive pairing that could wreak havoc individually, but also cover each others' few blank spots when it came to taking apart opposing teams. In the end I came up with something a little less conventional, though definitely effective:
Teambuilding Process:
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Trick
Rotom-W usually functions as a lead. It's an obvious choice to my opponents, who will often start off with something traditionally immune to a conservative Rotom, which I then proceed to Hydro pump, Trick or Volt Switch, taking them by surprise. Pain Split is there to keep Rotom-W alive after the Specs are gone. This is also my main pivot and, once Specs are gone, is usually the first to be sacrificed so that another member can get an easy revenge kill - even its death preserves momentum. Rotom is valuable for its ability to punch huge dents in opponents with enormous hydro pumps, cripple members of stall teams with specs and take play roughs and dracos in an emergency...though not to survive them
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
Landorus serves much the same function as Rotom-W in the softening-up-the-opponent sense. Sheer force and Life Orb give Landorus an effective SpA of either 526 or 556, depending on exactly how the item and ability stack. Even Eviolite Chansey takes about 40% damage from focus blast, turning it into a high chance of a 2HKO after SR damage. I guess Lando is my wallbreaker, but really most of the team is designed to do that. Sludge wave is chosen over a hidden power because of its effectiveness against fairies and its 100% hit rate and 95BP, making it the second choice of attack if the opponent is immune to Earth Power, for example Rotom-W.
Trevenant (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Leech Seed
- Shadow Claw
- Substitute
This is the defensive glue that hold the team together - without it, it's just a bunch of powerhouses. Wisp obviously is for burning opponents, Shadow claw is for dealing with the pesky lati@s. The real area in which Trevenant shines is if it manages to get a free substitute. From there, leech seed and Harvest (which ALWAYS activates in the sun) keep Trev alive indefinitely. You'd be surprised how many defensive pokemon Trevenant outspeeds in order to block status with sub, and for the faster mons you'll want to restore a sub broken that turn anyway. Though defensive in nature, Trevenant's role in the team's objective is exactly the same as Landorus and Rotom-W - wear down the opponent so that the fire types can have a clean sweep.
Excadrill (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Excadrill is a necessity - I need Rocks up on their side, and I need them gone on mine. The fact that it outspeeds Rotom-W and Heatran and hits them super effectively is just icing on the cake. Iron head helps take out pesky fairies too. EVs are given to outspeed Rotom-W whilst maximising attack.
Charizard (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
Here are the real stars: With Sun up, the only relevant pokemon that avoid a 2HKO after rocks are Goodra and Chansey. I shouldn't have to explain more than that, but I will say I chose 4 attacks over 3 and roost is because I want to maximise offensive potential, even if an attack is situational, and Charizard shouldn't be seeing action until everything that can harm it between an OHKO and a pokemon that survives long enough to score a 3HKO should be long gone. Either Charizard or Talonflame can come out before the other, depending on the situation.
Talonflame (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Me First
Standard Band Talonflame except EVs given outspeed Thundurus-T; above Thundurus-T there is nothing I would rather Flare Blitz than Brave Bird. Me First may seem like an odd choice, and it is. I admit I've never used it, but similarly I have never been in a situation where I would rather Roost (see Charizard-Y) or Iron Tail than Brave Bird, Flare Blitz or U-Turn. I hope one day it will prove surprisingly useful. As it stands it's an unused moveslot anyway, and I like the concept.
I'll try to expand the descriptions with threat lists etc. when I have the time, but I have to go now. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
This is a team I really like and have been using for a while, so I thought I'd show it off for any final improvements before I retire it and start building another. The objective was to come up with a Physical/Special offensive pairing that could wreak havoc individually, but also cover each others' few blank spots when it came to taking apart opposing teams. In the end I came up with something a little less conventional, though definitely effective:
Teambuilding Process:
Mega Charizard Y was an obvious choice for a complete powerhouse - Sun-boosted Fire Blasts from 159 Base SpA are no easy thing to shake off. However, with only 100 base speed and the only speed boosting moves being the specially-impractical dragon dance and flame charge, I needed more speed from its partner. I thought about how useful Charizard-X would be: incredibly similar but physical and with a different, powerful offensive STAB. I cursed the one-mega restriction, not to mention species clause, until it hit me:
Talonflame is the perfect partner for Charizard-Y. Priority Brave Birds give a barely-resisted STAB that tears apart a great chunk of OU (That being the premise for the Talonflame/Staraptor core of a similar concept). Flare Blitz is also a great option in the sun. The problem with these two pokemon is usually that they are too frail to get off that crucial second hit of a 2HKO against a key opponent - with each other waiting in the wings they can power through most defensive threats. Of course, a major part of that frailty is their shared 4x weakness to stealth rock, which brings us to:
Excadrill is the fastest combined SR-setter and Rapid Spinner, it kills Rotom-W dead, and has excellent offensive capabilities, especially considering Steel's new effectiveness against fairies.
Next I wanted a spinblocker that could lend my team some much-needed survivability. Originally I considered Jellicent, but the idea of a dedicated status absorber appealed to me. For a while Trevenant carried natural cure with rest, but it wasn't nearly as good at surviving hits as I'd hoped. I took stock and realised that between the fire types, excadrill and trevenant i has immunities to burn, thunder wave and spore: all I needed to do was play around these moves, not sacrifice a team member to them. Still believing in Trevenant's virtues, I swapped to a harvest-sitrus set and never looked back.
Rotom-W and Landorus-T joined Trevenant as other bulky members of the team, continuing the trend of each member of the team being immune to at least one status condition. At this point I found that some dedicated walls and tanks such as chansey, Clefable and Mega-Venusar were still giving me trouble, having to expend my fire types on my opponent's schedule, not mine. I played with knock off on Landorus-T to cripple eviolite users but it was often too obvious a move. Finally I decided that Trick on Rotom-W would allow me to cripple multiple opponents much better than attempting to spread burn, which trevenant already covered. I changed to a bulky specs set and swapped Landorus-T to regular Landorus, the physical set feeling redundant with Excadrill already in an irreplaceable spot on the team.
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Trick
Rotom-W usually functions as a lead. It's an obvious choice to my opponents, who will often start off with something traditionally immune to a conservative Rotom, which I then proceed to Hydro pump, Trick or Volt Switch, taking them by surprise. Pain Split is there to keep Rotom-W alive after the Specs are gone. This is also my main pivot and, once Specs are gone, is usually the first to be sacrificed so that another member can get an easy revenge kill - even its death preserves momentum. Rotom is valuable for its ability to punch huge dents in opponents with enormous hydro pumps, cripple members of stall teams with specs and take play roughs and dracos in an emergency...though not to survive them
Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
Landorus serves much the same function as Rotom-W in the softening-up-the-opponent sense. Sheer force and Life Orb give Landorus an effective SpA of either 526 or 556, depending on exactly how the item and ability stack. Even Eviolite Chansey takes about 40% damage from focus blast, turning it into a high chance of a 2HKO after SR damage. I guess Lando is my wallbreaker, but really most of the team is designed to do that. Sludge wave is chosen over a hidden power because of its effectiveness against fairies and its 100% hit rate and 95BP, making it the second choice of attack if the opponent is immune to Earth Power, for example Rotom-W.
Trevenant (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Harvest
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Leech Seed
- Shadow Claw
- Substitute
This is the defensive glue that hold the team together - without it, it's just a bunch of powerhouses. Wisp obviously is for burning opponents, Shadow claw is for dealing with the pesky lati@s. The real area in which Trevenant shines is if it manages to get a free substitute. From there, leech seed and Harvest (which ALWAYS activates in the sun) keep Trev alive indefinitely. You'd be surprised how many defensive pokemon Trevenant outspeeds in order to block status with sub, and for the faster mons you'll want to restore a sub broken that turn anyway. Though defensive in nature, Trevenant's role in the team's objective is exactly the same as Landorus and Rotom-W - wear down the opponent so that the fire types can have a clean sweep.
Excadrill (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock
Excadrill is a necessity - I need Rocks up on their side, and I need them gone on mine. The fact that it outspeeds Rotom-W and Heatran and hits them super effectively is just icing on the cake. Iron head helps take out pesky fairies too. EVs are given to outspeed Rotom-W whilst maximising attack.
Charizard (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
Here are the real stars: With Sun up, the only relevant pokemon that avoid a 2HKO after rocks are Goodra and Chansey. I shouldn't have to explain more than that, but I will say I chose 4 attacks over 3 and roost is because I want to maximise offensive potential, even if an attack is situational, and Charizard shouldn't be seeing action until everything that can harm it between an OHKO and a pokemon that survives long enough to score a 3HKO should be long gone. Either Charizard or Talonflame can come out before the other, depending on the situation.
Talonflame (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Me First
Standard Band Talonflame except EVs given outspeed Thundurus-T; above Thundurus-T there is nothing I would rather Flare Blitz than Brave Bird. Me First may seem like an odd choice, and it is. I admit I've never used it, but similarly I have never been in a situation where I would rather Roost (see Charizard-Y) or Iron Tail than Brave Bird, Flare Blitz or U-Turn. I hope one day it will prove surprisingly useful. As it stands it's an unused moveslot anyway, and I like the concept.
I'll try to expand the descriptions with threat lists etc. when I have the time, but I have to go now. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
