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By the way, I was wondering: Silver Wind doesn't give Shedinja much coverage beside Shadow Ball. Right now I have one in my Ruby playthrough with Aerial Ace. Could that come in handy? Or did Silver Wind have some crucial advantages against certain Pokémon?
I haven't really thought about Aerial Ace much, but the truth is that move slot always felt like filler since it doesn't get used anywhere near as much as the other moves, so it doesn't matter a whole lot what you run there I don't think. Silver Wind/HP Bug's coverage isn't extremely important (although Silver Wind's boosts can sometimes be fished for when KOing Pokemon with it), but I likewise see Aerial Ace being of limited utility as well. It hits Fighting-types, but a lot of those have anti-Shedinja moves and would be unsafe to challenge. The never-miss effect might be useful to deal with evasion though. At the very least it might be more convenient to use Aerial Ace - Silver Wind is an egg move after all.
Slaking is a pretty straightforward Pokemon to use. Since it sits on an important speed tier (Base 100) you want max Speed to speed tie all the relevant threats that sit on 152 Speed (Zapdos, Typhlosion, Salamence, Charizard). Also +252 ATK has some impressive numbers with a Choice Band depending on the moves you are running. +252 ATK gets you some nice OHKOs like these:
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Weezing: 169-199 (98.2 - 115.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Shadow Ball vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Dusclops: 141-166 (95.9 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Suicune: 175-207 (100 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Latios: 179-211 (95.7 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO (Anabel's Latios)
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170+ Def Umbreon: 178-210 (93.1 - 109.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Wobbuffet: 298-351 (104.1 - 122.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Miltank: 202-238 (105.7 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
You can't afford to reduce Speed and cutting some ATK, would kill some of these KOs or odds to achieve one. I haven't used Slaking a lot, but I would just go for max Speed/Atk as my bread and butter spread.
You can actually achieve all of those calcs and more with 244+, but running 244+ does make Double-Edge calcs worse on some Lapras sets (Hyper Beam OHKOes most sets though - only set 1 has a chance to survive). Unless there's some use for those spare 8 EVs though, I would agree that 252/252 is probably ideal.
Personally I think Slaking is at its best in the Pyramid - all of the battles (trainer and wild) are 1v1s which suits Slaking's design, although some of the Protect-using wilds might be a nuisance.
Slaking is a pretty straightforward Pokemon to use. Since it sits on an important speed tier (Base 100) you want max Speed to speed tie all the relevant threats that sit on 152 Speed (Zapdos, Typhlosion, Salamence, Charizard). Also +252 ATK has some impressive numbers with a Choice Band depending on the moves you are running. +252 ATK gets you some nice OHKOs like these:
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Weezing: 169-199 (98.2 - 115.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Shadow Ball vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Dusclops: 141-166 (95.9 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Suicune: 175-207 (100 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Latios: 179-211 (95.7 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO (Anabel's Latios)
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170+ Def Umbreon: 178-210 (93.1 - 109.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Wobbuffet: 298-351 (104.1 - 122.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Miltank: 202-238 (105.7 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
You can't afford to reduce Speed and cutting some ATK, would kill some of these KOs or odds to achieve one. I haven't used Slaking a lot, but I would just go for max Speed/Atk as my bread and butter spread.
You can actually achieve all of those calcs and more with 244+, but running 244+ does make Double-Edge calcs worse on some Lapras sets (Hyper Beam OHKOes most sets though - only set 1 has a chance to survive). Unless there's some use for those spare 8 EVs though, I would agree that 252/252 is probably ideal.
Personally I think Slaking is at its best in the Pyramid - all of the battles (trainer and wild) are 1v1s which suits Slaking's design, although some of the Protect-using wilds might be a nuisance.
Pyramid is definitely a target, and one I still need gold for. But I'm thinking that it does well even in 3v3. Set it up with a Suicune for Rhydon and co. and a Latios / Salamence for Fighters and you'll claim kills consistently.
Figured I could publish this in here as well. I have a live 56 win streak on the Battle Arena. Made a live video of me going through rounds 21-56 in here:
I don't have a detailed explanation of this team and I am fairly sure there will be more consistent teams than this one. You can find a brief one here
First of all, I would like to thank Golden Blissey for taking this initiative and everyone else to share their teams and records.
As posted here, I had a 461 win streak with the Alakazam / Zapdos / Tyranitar squad. Ever since this streak has ended (due to Quick Claw Ursaring), I have been using Curse/Agility/Substitute Skarmory instead of Tyranitar. This circumvents the three major problems the other team had (Ursaring, Muk and Rhydon), but Skarmory's can't sweep as effectively (and has no Drill Peck with Curse) and Double Team becomes a necessity against bulky Electrics. Since Defense isn't as important anymore, Zapdos now gets LANSAT Berry to get pumped, so Skarmory has 1/3 crit chance with Air Cutter. This prevents stallwars against other Curse users such as Registeel and Regirock, and hasn't failed yet. Maybe a 'new' problem is Roar, but so far I haven't seen it yet. Current streak is 280 and still ongoing. Sturdy is an extra bonus, too.
I would like to make use of this place to post some of my Battle Tower Doubles teams as well. Not all at once, because I feel that takes away the appreciation of the teams. I think these are pretty original, and I have done lots of testing / optimizing to get the best out of classic strategies. I am particularly proud of the following team:
Follow Me + Belly Drum
It's an ancient, bread-and-butter idea, but which Pokémon are the best? Clearly, the Follow Me user has to be Togetic or Clefable (because their bulk might actually let them survive a realistic turn). The Belly Drummer is harder to decide on. Attack-wise, Hariyama and Snorlax come to mind, while Speed-wise, Linoone and Charizard are the best (tied at 100 BS). Linoone gets Extremespeed, of course, but can only attack one Pokémon at a time. It won't survive Earthquakes easily too. Charizard can Sub + Salac and outspeed everything in sight, but it's weak to Rock Slide AND Surf. Hariyama can get into a decent Speed tier with Salac Berry, but its Sub breaks against Starmie's Surf as well. Snorlax is simply too slow. So what do we do, and how do we support the setup in the best way? The answer lies in Poliwrath.
Togetic (F) @ Lum Berry Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Follow Me
- Helping Hand
- Thunder Wave
- Water Pulse
Aerodactyl (M/F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpD
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace / Double-Edge / Hyper Beam - Hidden Power [Ghost]
General team discussion
The premise is simple: Follow Me + Sub on turn 1, Follow Me + Belly Drum on turn 2, then sweep, using Helping Hand when needed. Obviously Togetic is used because it is immune to EQ. If the matchup is difficult, or Poliwrath can't OHKO everything in sight, or if Togetic doesn't have to help Poliwrath in any way, use Follow Me again. Water Pulse has nice synergy with Thunder Wave and Serene Grace in a pinch, but is mainly there to heal Poliwrath in Sandstorm in certain scenarios. Don't use it before activating Salac Berry, however.
Poliwrath has all the goods: Water Absorb to prevent Surf (although Damp is useful as well, but boomers are less common and often use other moves), enough bulk to prevent being 2HKOed by many Earthquakes, just enough Attack and Speed, AND it resists Rock Slide and Blizzard. As good as it gets.
Latios OHKOs Gengar / Salamence / Gyarados / Weezing very conveniently, and aids Poliwrath (or Aerodactyl) with Helping Hand. Normally Helping Hand is a waste of a moveslot, but it turns many 2HKOs into OHKOs with Poliwrath, and with EQ you attack both Pokémon anyway. Most Pokémon that resist or are immune to EQ really hate Latios. It's also a good sweeper in general, should things go horribly wrong.
Aerodactyl is there to have a haymaker (another team I will discuss later) effect with Latios, as it is a physical sweeper. Being one of the good Earthquake-immune physical attackers, it mainly faces competition from Salamence. Outspeeding Lati twins, Gengar, Starmie and Raikou (without using Jolly) is pretty important, however, and outweighs the Attack difference. HP[ghost] beats or at least greatly dents stuff like Gengar, Misdreavus, Starmie, Lati twins, Claydol, et cetera. CB Helping Hand EQ really hurts as well. Aerial Ace can be chosen over Double-Edge here to ensure wins in some scenarios; Aerodactyl mainly uses HP[Ghost], Earthquake and Rock Slide (in that order) anyway. Hyper Beam is important when Aerodactyl absolutely needs to OHKO something and the other moves can't while Poliwrath uses Belly Drum.
The spreads
Togetic is as bulky as possible, an easy spread. Bold can make it just as bulky and give it equal defenses, but I don't like Togetic being Bold, cute as it looks and all. So this Togetic has 271 SpD and 269 Def. Ice Beams and Thunderbolts are more common anyway. I honestly think Togetic survives turn 1 i
n at least 95% of the battles, although I haven't kept track by counting.
Poliwrath has the minimum EVs for its HP to be divisble by 4, without giving up IVs as these might be important to eat EQs. The Defense EVs are to make sure it survives every non-crit Earthquake up to the power of Adamant Nidoking (311 Attack). Using more Defense (e.g. to do the same with Flygon) leaves too little for Attack to OHKO important bulky stuff, even after Helping Hand. Speed is so it outspeeds the magic 339 tier after Salac Berry. HP[Rock] is weak, but OHKOs nearly all Pokémon that are immune to EQ with Helping Hand. Too bad it doesn't get Rock Slide. Brick Break is its STAB, which greatly helps against Skarmory and especially Curselax, and Return is very strong as well but it fails to KO Pokémon like Aerodactyl. Still haven't decided on the optimal move, but HP[Rock] seems very dependable so far. Double-Edge might have its uses to get into Salac range when I Belly Drum against an Earthquake-sporting opponent that doesn't actually use it, but it can't be used if the standard strategy actually works (which it does very often).
Latios and Aerodactyl need no explanation. Note that Latios importantly outspeeds Poliwrath even after Salac Berry, so it can KO threats like Gengar and Poliwrath can use EQ against the follow-up Pokémon (as well as some other uses). It's important to not have speed ties within your own team so you can maintain control at any time.
A few extra reasons why this team is good
Helping Hand and Follow Me 'outspeed' Quick Claw;
The effects of Follow Me and Helping Hand remain for the turn, even if the user has fainted already;
Every Pokémon has (some) synergy with every other Pokémon on the team;
The team has many 'escape' routes if Poliwrath can't get Belly Drum off;
Earthquakes are predictable because the opponent usually only uses it if their partner is immune;
It's easy to use, aside from some threats.
Important threats
These are 'threats', but I still have to be unlucky to actually lose to them.
Two EQ-immune Pokémon at the same time that threaten Togetic as well (Aerodactyl helps here with Rock Slide, giving additional flinch chances);
Jolteon (can outspeed Aero too), but Follow Me helps and Togetic survives many Thunderbolts);
Early / random use of Explosion by the opponent;
Double-status + Sleep/Confuse/Full Para on Togetic (worse than Togetic being KO'ed, since it takes a turn to switch. If Togetic gets KO'ed on turn 1, at least I can try to OHKO ONE Pokémon and still use Belly Drum while Poliwrath's sub might get broken). Pretty unlikely circumstance however.
Quick Claws when Poliwrath has no Substitute, or Poliwrath has fainted (Metagross and Curselax are very notable threats in this situation).
How I lost so far
Needed to go for sub-less Belly Drum because of a Flygon + Tyranitar lead. TTar used EQ and Flygon used Rock Slide, which crit Togetic. Second turn it crit again, and I couldn't heal Poliwrath after the Belly Drum. Because of the Rock Slide chip damage, Poliwrath dies too fast. I almost swept, but a Quick Claw Metagross in the back OHKOed Aerodactyl before I got the Helping Hand-boosted EQ off. Then it was Latios vs Metagross, which I lost blow-for-blow. In hindsight, maybe I should've switched out Poliwrath in this situation as I usually do when the setup is too dangerous (most of the time I switch to Latios).
Maximum streak
Since I play on emulator, this was part of a larger (save-stated) streak, but the team has had 188 consecutive +49-tier wins.
Going to post another 2v2 team, because I have a little spare time right now and I hinted the theme already in the previous post. Hope it's okay to post two messages in succession. I have many more, so you can expect to see a few 2v2 teams in the next weeks. Also novelty ones, but these are just as fun to try and optimize.
The haymaker theme is probably the most straightforward strategy since double battles were introduced. It makes use of fast, hard-hitting Pokémon that don't need turns to setup and yet are bulky enough to not be glass cannons. The idea is that any 'strategy' a team like this would encounter has no time to set up. The name refers to the TCG, as many of you probably know. In competitive play, the Gengar below has Taunt as well, to gain an advantage over Follow Me strategies.
Key themes in haymaker 2v2 teams are the use of EQ + EQ immunity and Explosion + Protect / Ghost, as they require no setup turns, make use of big stats / strong moves right from the bat, and hit multiple targets without their power being reduced. Special attackers are used to support the heavy hitters and to be able to hit from both sides of the spectrum (1v1 walls don't 'wall' anymore).
The following team was inspired by Eldes (the XD: Gale of Darkness final 'competitive' boss), especially Tauros, which could be seen as the symbol of the team, because it's so much more useful in Doubles than in Singles and represents the agressive nature of the team so well. In Kommo-o's guide I saw a similar team, although this team has some relevant tricks up its sleeve.
General team discussion
Latios and Tauros are unbelievably synergetic. Tauros' Intimidate makes both of them bulky enough to survive all important physical assaults at least once, and together they can OHKO more than 90% of the Battle Frontier Pokémon if they team up on one threat. If Earthquake affects both foes, one opponent usually faints on turn 1 while the other is damaged quite badly.
Latios is faster than Tauros, so the recoil damage from Double-Edge is minimized. The movesets don't really need explanation I think. Dragon Claw is redundant, although Hidden Power [Fire] on Latios could prove useful sometimes. Thunderbolt + EQ kills Metagross, however, and most Steel-types aren't a problem at all. Registeel, however, might get a Thunder Wave off. Hyper Beam is useful when Tauros is withdrawn and comes back later, or against Blissey / Curselax.
Gengar is the second special sweeper. It is chosen over Latias because it has more Special Attack, is immune to Explosion, and, most importantly, it learns Haze. Pokémon with stat-boosts (most importantly Double Team and Curse) can get dangerous very quickly, because this team has no ways to directly overpower them outside of Explosion, which could miss. Just let them boost until something faints or you can get Gengar in safely, and use Haze. Gengar is one point faster than Latios for this reason.
Finally, Metagross is there to perfectly finish the team. The Pokémon, while being offensively oriented, complement each other defensively too (Gengar can switch into Fighting moves used against Tauros, and Latios + Metagross have perfect defensive type synergy). Every combination of Pokémon has its uses, although Tauros and Metagross together might have an Earthquake problem. Metagross survives Tauros' EQ, activating Salac Berry if it really needs to (only used as last resort, because it could crit).
I'd like to call this Metagross 'MomentumGross'; it doesn't need Agility, and Endure is more useful against Fire types with Overheat/Fire Blast/Flamethrower that Gengar + Metagross can't handle otherwise. I have Giga Drain over HP [Grass] because the HP recovery lets Gengar survives extra Rock Slides / Surfs (designated targets are Quagsire / Regirock / Swampert / Tyranitar) and Giga Drain has enough power for a partner to finish them off anyway.
The spreads
With this team, all the EV's are simple: they maximize power with enough Speed. The Speed EVs were already explained in the previous paragraph. Metagross has 227 Speed so it outspeeds the 339 tier after Salac and is still slower than Gengar and Latios. Leftover EV's in Special Defense to survive some critical hit Electric-type moves and (unexpected) weaker Fire-type moves. A little Defense or HP might be better to survive all Earthquakes, but I haven't really met situations yet where the EV's mattered to be honest.
The Gengar EV's might not be optimal yet, either. I'm not sure if it really needs all that SpA because usually all it does it exploit weaknesses or use Haze. It survives Electric moves already, which is the most important for me. Cheri Berry is chosen as an item for Gengar, because Thunder Wave is the most important status move to cover. Things with sleeping moves are usually too frail to stay alive against my leads; it's more about Pokémon such as Regis that carry Thunder Wave.
Important / hidden strategies
Using Protect with Latios when Tauros is paralyzed, will be taken out and it is not desirable to switch out Tauros AND Latios can't kill a Pokémon;
Retreating Tauros and Latios simultaneously for Intimidate later, letting Gengar take a possible Thunder Wave and/or Metagross take Ice Beam, for example, against very bulky leads (think of Regirock + Regice for example);
Switching Gengar directly into Tauros/Metagross EQ or Metagross Explosion (riskier with Quick Claws present, as Explosion might KO your own next Pokémon if Gengar is taken out by accident);
Endure + Tauros EQ, then either switch Tauros out and Explode / EQ with Metagross or use MM, depending on the opponent. Metagross outspeeds Tauros after EQ.
Switching Metagross into Salac Berry from Tauros Earthquake;
Protect + Explosion (Obvious)
Using Haze if Tauros needs to get rid of opponent's Intimidate;
Use Hyper Beam + Explosion for absolute devastation;
Use Double-Edge with low-HP Tauros, KO-ing it, send out Gengar and use Explosion in one turn.
Use Haze repeatedly if they use Double Team repeatedly.
Haze also works against Reflect and Light Screen (edit: I read this somewhere but found out it's not true!!)
Be careful if Haze resets -2 SpA from opponent's Overheat
Threats
So far, the only threat I've seen is insane Quick Claw/OHKO/Critical hit hax. The team had so many wins the Battle Tower started with low tier Pokémon again (that happened at 256 * 7 = 1792).
Overall, this must be the best team I've used for Battle Tower 2v2. It also works very fast (although I have one faster team to discuss later, hint hint ;)).
Here's the third write-up for Battle Tower Doubles. As promised, this team has the potential to win as fast as possible, i.e. in merely one turn.
Unsurprisingly, this makes use of two Explosions fired off on turn 1. In Double Battles there are a variety of possibilities to make use of Explosion; bulky Pokémon that survive a turn nearly guaranteed like Metagross, Snorlax and Regirock are good candidates. Slow Pokémon, however, are prone to hax, Substitutes, status moves, you name it, in the Battle Tower so in order to make Explosion strategies somewhat viable, some momentum is needed.
Then there are many 'helpful' strategies such as Protect + Imprison, Swagger + Confusion-healing berries, Screens, and very importantly, Ghost-types and other Explosion-resistant Pokémon have to be threatened. Imprison strategies leave little choice as to what Pokémon to use and they cost an important turn, where Protect isn't common enough in the Battle Tower. Also, Protect is very easy to predict with the help of a list of Pokémon that know it:
The initial goal of this team was to win on turn 1 and optimize THAT strategy, so it wasn't built as a generic, as-dependable-as-possible Explosion squad. Surprisingly, all my experience with this team makes me think it might be the most dependable way to use Explosion after all! This is because the opponent's 'second' set of Pokémon has no opportunity to active Quick Claw, and the team was optimized to deal with the situations in which Explosions are survived or dodged in another way. Here is the team:
General Team discussion
Metagross and Gengar lead off, both with the intention to use Explosion on turn 1. Gengar OHKOs surprisingly many Pokémon, approximately up to the bulk of 'bulky' Dragonite. It doesn't KO my own Metagross, of course, even with a Critical Hit. Gengar being so fast reduces the need of Metagross having to be very fast, although I've EV'ed it in such a way it outspeeds all threatening forms of Metagross, so Fire Punch + EQ KOs it. If the situation is not ideal to use Explosion (i.e. when I feel Protect is incoming, or there are too many resistant / immune Pokémon on the field), a combination of HP[Grass]/Shadow Ball/Fire Punch and Meteor Mash / Earthquake usually deals with those Pokémon very well. So there's a haymaker safe-route of some sorts.
I'm very proud to introduce Sableye, of all things, to do something unique here in the Battle Tower. It's the only Ghost-type that learns Fake Out! Generally, it comes in to absorb Metagross' Explosion, hopefully ending the battle. If this doesn't happen, Electrode comes in and Fake Out is used against something that could survive Explosion, or has a Quick Claw for example. Anything threatening. Electrode KOes way more Pokémon than Gengar, and with Helping Hand + Choice Band its Explosion is stronger than Metagross', should that be needed. Sableye beats all Ghost-types 1-vs-1 (and OHKOs Gengar), possibly making use of its Lum Berry. Either Brick Break or Counter can be useful against those Steel or Rock-types that manage to stay alive. Seismic Toss might be viable as well, but so far I've only used Brick Break. Sableye won't win many 1-vs-1 matchups on its own, but that shouldn't be happening, the way it supports its teammates.
Spreads and set details
Metagross is EV'ed to tank QC Rhydon's non-crit Earthquake (while Gengar KOs with HP[Grass]) as cheaply as possible, which makes it survive Gengar's CH Explosion guaranteed as well. It also outspeeds other Metagross (except the QC Jolly one, which doesn't know Meteor Mash and therefore can't KO Gengar). The rest goes into Attack for obvious reasons.
Gengar hits the standard 341 Speed, maximizes Attack which makes all Explosion rolls more likely and gives it a good chance to OHKO opposing Gengar (although I might switch to Sableye and let Metagross do that, depending on the opposing Gengar's partner). The rest is put into SpA to maximize the other two moves' damage output; Hidden Power [Grass] OHKOes Rhydon/Golem, severely weakens the Damp Ability Pokémon Quagsire and Golduck and is the best move Gengar can use against Tyranitar and Regirock together with Meteor Mash or Earthquake. Obviously, the Hidden Power is preferred over Giga Drain for the damage output here. Fire Punch OHKOs Forretress and some Scizor usually, and pairs nicely with Metagross' EQ against Steelix and Registeel. Gengar's White Herb restores the Attack reduction from Intimidate, even if there are TWO Intimidators!
Sableye's EVs were difficult and underwent many changes while testing. The Attack EVs let Sableye OHKO non-170 HP Gengar 100% of the time (the 170 HP one only knows Dream Eater). The 4 Speed EVs let it outspeed Regis (and Aggron/Donphan/Hariyama/Muk), which might be important to prevent them from using Rest or finishing off Sableye in endgame scenarios. Most of the time, they only need to be finished off after a Helping Hand + CB Explosion from Electrode. The HP and Special Defense investment makes it survive the most powerful special attack that can be thrown at it at full HP: 319 SpA Blaziken's Overheat. The rest can be put into Defense, although investing more in Attack might be helpful in some cases as well, especially if Brick Break is used. I haven't really thought much about +2 damage outputs when Electrode uses Swagger on Sableye, which is quite rare anyway.
Finally, Electrode maximizes Attack and outspeeds the 359 tier (which leaves only Timid Jolteon as an 'outspeeder', but this can't KO Electrode nor Sableye). Leftover EVs go into SpA, which lets Electrode KO threats such as Gyarados, some Skarmory and Aerodactyl with a Helping Hand Thunderbolt. Hidden Power [Fighting] gives an amazing blow into Aggron and Tyranitar, while Swagger could help Sableye (and Metagross, in strange scenarios) in a pinch if Electrode can't do much else and my endgame Pokémon are up against bulky yet passive Pokémon. This is useful against last-Poke Shuckle and last-Poke Dusclops (which gets OHKOed), for example. Another option would be Thunder Wave, or maybe even Flash. A few other fillers are mentioned above.
Useful strategies
When using this team, it is important to anticipate Quick Claw activation. If the opposing leads are too bulky for Gengar to OHKO them, they are usually slow enough for Metagross to outspeed them (e.g. Snorlax and Swampert). It is then a good move to switch Gengar for Sableye while Metagross uses Explosion. This prevents Gengar from doing something redundant, and lets Sableye use Fake Out next turn. This is also an important move when you face Quick Claw Psychic-types such as Slowking and Gardevoir -- they always target Gengar with Psychic. Send in Electrode after and save Gengar -- otherwise Gengar might blow up Electrode as well if Sableye gets KOed unexpectedly.
The filler move on Metagross, Protect, is to be used when Metagross is too low on HP to survive an Explosion from one of its teammates. If Sableye can come in after, Fake Out the faster Pokémon while Metagross hopefully outspeeds the other one. The 'MomentumGross' from Team #2 can be used as well, but protecting this Metagross from status is more important, and this one already has Persim Berry, although the Electrode + Metagross kamikaze scenario is rare. Chesto Berry is another option, and Metal Coat gives it a (low) chance to OHKO Tyranitar (it is also useful against Regirock during a HP[Grass] + MM assault).
Protect comes in handy against Quick Claw OHKO (Horn Drill/Fissure) Pokémon that Gengar can KO (maybe it needs two turns), while their partner is not too threatening against Gengar. Essentially, this stalls a turn while Gengar eliminates danger.
Retreating Sableye when possible greatly increases the chance of winning at the end, because every Fake Out turn reduces the chance of QC Hax. Also, the DAMAGE from Fake Out can be useful to bring certain Pokémon into guaranteed KO range from Explosion (e.g. Blissey / Wailord / Dragonite for Gengar).
Threats
I think the important threats are already discussed: Protect, Quick Claw and bulky Steel or Rock-types. Play it safe when possible, and try to make use of the Protect turns by attacking the other Pokémon. Be careful, against Pokémon like Moltres, which can KO Metagross if they decide not to use Protect. This is another situation where Protect on Metagross can be used, revealing something about the Moltres set as well.
Overall, this team might not look as reliable as the Follow Me + Belly Drum and the Haymaker team, but it's fantastic to quickly burn through streaks, and really needs quite some bad luck to lose. With the current build, I have lost twice: once when Brightpowder Flygon dodged TWO Explosions (wish I had Counter on Sableye in this situation), and another one where the battle started with Brightpowder Tyranitar dodging HP[Grass] and Meteor Mash on turn 1, killing Gengar with Crunch. I could have won the second match, but I messed up missclicking afterwards.
The team is harder to use than the other teams I've posted so far, but very satisfying.
Teambuilding process (short version)
The first Explosion Battle Tower Doubles team I made didn't feature the 'turn 1 victory' aspect, but Imprison + Protect Dusclops, utilizing Icy Wind on the turn Metagross used Explosion. Then most 'next' opponents become slower than the 199 Speed Regirock I used, trying to win in a 'bulky' fashion. This team lacked flexibility, and Dusclops is less durable than one might expect in Double Battles. Also, having only one Pokémon that does all the offensive stuff doesn't work as well in general, unless it's insanely powerful and hits two Pokémon at once (see Team #1).
Once I got into turn 1 victory, the first build was Electrode + Gengar lead (same Electrode but Gengar had less Speed (enough to hit 320 and outspeed other Gar, more into SpA), and I had a CLOYSTER in the back to come in on Gengar's Explosion. It was a cool idea: Cloyster's Shell Armor makes it possible to get Cloyster into the Salac range guaranteed (surviving a Sandstorm damage as well), and then Sableye helps Cloyster. Cloyster beat most of the Rock/Ground/Steel/Bulky mon with Surf and Ice Beam (esp. with the help of Fake Out), and the others with Explosion. This was a hyperoffensive strategy, but killing about 3/4 of my own team on turn 1 proved to be too dangerous against hax items and unexpected things like missing Explosion or exploding into Protect/Focus Band activation. Still, this team consistently had over 40 consecutive wins as well. This is the Cloyster I used, it's nice to try and gives a cool kamikaze-feeling when using the team:
Slaking is a pretty straightforward Pokemon to use. Since it sits on an important speed tier (Base 100) you want max Speed to speed tie all the relevant threats that sit on 152 Speed (Zapdos, Typhlosion, Salamence, Charizard). Also +252 ATK has some impressive numbers with a Choice Band depending on the moves you are running. +252 ATK gets you some nice OHKOs like these:
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Weezing: 169-199 (98.2 - 115.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Shadow Ball vs. 255 HP / 0 Def Dusclops: 141-166 (95.9 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Suicune: 175-207 (100 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Latios: 179-211 (95.7 - 112.8%) -- 75% chance to OHKO (Anabel's Latios)
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170+ Def Umbreon: 178-210 (93.1 - 109.9%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Wobbuffet: 298-351 (104.1 - 122.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Slaking Hyper Beam vs. 170 HP / 170 Def Miltank: 202-238 (105.7 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
You can't afford to reduce Speed and cutting some ATK, would kill some of these KOs or odds to achieve one. I haven't used Slaking a lot, but I would just go for max Speed/Atk as my bread and butter spread.
That's definitely the standard. Rock Slide/BB isn't worth (although BB OHKOes Tar) it and a Fire-type move, which could OHKO Forretress and Scizor, is an expensive moveslot because these aren't threatening Pokémon to your usual BT team. Still depends on the team you are making, ofc. Focus Punch is only useful in competitive play IMO.
For battle pyramid, I'd suggest Return over D-E because wild Pokemon die to Return anyway, the recoil damage is nasty, and it has more PP. Keep Hyper Beam for trainers. You might even consider Slack Off there to make use of the weak wild Pokemon, although that's redundant if you have a Blissey, and coverage is more important. If you're creative, a Choice Band Endure + Flail set can work in the battle pyramid!
P.S.: I provided the three Double Battle posts with 'sample streak' videos at the end, to give an indication. The videos don't showcase every 'trick' the team has; just the general flow with some risky events here and there.
Is there note on how the IVs of AI player was carried out? I'm just curious....
I remember very long years ago, which save and even the device itself is now pretty much lost, I managed to reach Battle Dome's boss few times, presumably enough to normally net me completely perfect IV teams if I play Battle Maison, yet I played on Lv100 with teams which IIRC at best included a 3IV Espeon and that's it, and still landed many times on "Most Likely To Win" even when there's someone with legendaries and T'tar.
I have experience with the Emerald Battle Frontier. Decided to make a post here to get my records added to the leaderboards and maybe also contribute a little to the thread. While my records aren't all that impressive, they are at least something.
Last year, I made several long posts which summarized my experiences with the Battle Facilities of Gen 2-5, the ones with information for the Emerald Frontier can be found here and here. I'm not going to give any longer descriptions for my teams in this post, I'll just post the teams I used as well as my record along with a picture proof. For more information, check out these two posts. They contain things like more detailed descriptions of my teams and streaks, battle logs for several of my Gold Battles against the Frontier Brains and even a video of my Gold Battle against Anabel. I decided to do it this way since I don't want to repeat myself too much. Though I suppose I can copy some of the most relevant information and add to this post if it is deemed more suitable.
I don't have any super high streaks for the facilities, my goal for the Emerald Frontier was to get all the Gold Symbols, not to get high streaks. I usually stopped battling in a Facility after getting the Gold Symbol from there. The only facility where I have continued afterwards is the Dome, and the only facility from which I don't have the Gold Symbol (yet) is the Factory. All of my best streaks are for Level 50, though I guess my Open Level record for the Factory can be added as well if it is good enough for this thread. And all of my best records are for Single only, I have no good streaks for Double or Multi. There's a chance I might go back to Emerald and complete all of my unfinished streaks in the future, and if that should happen, I'll be sure to post about it here. Also, if I should ever manage to get the Gold Symbol from the Factory, I'll be sure to post about that here as well.
As for the Pokémon I used, I have never learned RNG in Gen 3 so all of them have been obtained through traditional breeding (and one lucky legendary capture which has the right Nature at least). The ones I have obtained through breeding have 1-3 Flawless IVs in desired stats.
Below are my records, the teams I used, and a picture proof. I have done everything on my Emerald Cart. I'll list the Facilities in the same order as in the first posts of this thread just for simplicity.
Here we go!
Team:
Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry ** Brutus
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: Flawless Att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Aerial Ace
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
Heracross (M) @ Salac Berry ** Set
Ability: Swarm
IVs: Flawless Att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Reversal
- Megahorn
- Rock Slide
- Endure
Slaking (F) @ Choice Band ** Liza
Ability: Truant
IVs: Flawless Att / Def / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Return
- Earthquake
- Shadow Ball
- Aerial Ace
Pretty sure the Snorlax set I used here was set 4. It could also have been set 7, but set 4 is more likely. I don't remember the sets for the Forretress and Ludicolo though.
Team:
Salamence (M) @ Lum Berry ** Brutus
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: Flawless Att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Aerial Ace
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
Starmie @ Petaya Berry ** Ralhix
Ability: Natural Cure
IVs: Flawless HP / Sp.att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Sp.att / 252 Spd
Nature: Modest
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
Heracross (M) @ Focus Band ** Brave
Ability: Guts
IVs: Flawless Att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Brick Break
- Megahorn
Starmie @ Petaya Berry ** Ralhix
Ability: Natural Cure
IVs: Flawless HP / Sp.att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Sp.att / 252 Spd
Nature: Modest
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
Salamence (M) @ Leftovers ** Brutus
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: Flawless Att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Aerial Ace
- Dragon Dance
Streak: 56 (ongoing)
Teams:
For round 1-8, my team was this:
Salamence (M) @ Scope Lens ** Brutus
Ability: Intimidate
IVs: Flawless Att / Spd
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spd
Nature: Adamant
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Dance
In at least some facilities, the Frontier Brains will challenge you again with their gold teams at certain win streak intervals.
In the Battle Dome, Tucker will challenge you every 5 rounds (5 tourneys/20 battles) with his Swampert/Metagross/Latias team.
In the Battle Pyramid, Brandon will challenge you every 5 rounds (35 floors) with his Articuno/Zapdos/Moltres team.
My current theory is that this only occurs in facilities that use non-standard metrics to measure streak lengths. For example, the Pyramid and Dome don't record streaks by number of wins, but by number of floor cleared and number of tourneys cleared, respectively. I suspect that Lucy will continue to challenge you with her Gold team in the Pike (where streaks are reported as number of rooms cleared) while the Brain won't appear again in the Tower, Factory, Arena and Palace. Feel free to correct me on this though.
I remember seeing somewhere long ago that some player(s) said that they got to battle Gold Anabel again in Battle #105 in the Tower. But looking back now after reading your post, I have no idea if that was actually true (or I might just remember incorrectly). I had always believed that you would get to rebattle all of the Frontier Brains with their Gold teams a certain number of battles after the initial Gold battle. Though I don't know if that is actually true for all the Facilities. I can't speak for the Tower as I haven't gotten that far myself. Though I guess that if we want to find out, we can simply just ask the people in this thread who have gotten past 105 battles at the Tower to see if they got to rebattle Gold Anabel at Battle #105 or not.
DON'T PLAY WITH SCISSORS (GENERATION III) Unless you have some cojones
The Holy Week vacations have been fun and while I am still working on some stuff to get my life sorted out, I managed to spare some time getting into a team I feel proud to share.
Reporting a finished streak of 165 wins with Starmie / Flygon / Scizor. Now mind you, this isn't the first time I have used Flygon and Scizor on the Frontier before. In fact, if you have seen my Team Azure post before, you'll notice that I mention a similar team to this, but with Suicune used instead of Starmie. The reason why I swapped to a more offensive approach is simply because of how well Starmie complements this team with its superior coverage.
I could say this version of the team was kind of inspired from my Gen 7 team with me using CB Flygon as a lead and Morning Sun SD Scizor. For those who do not know, Gales Scizor gets Morning Sun as a purify move, so I went ahead and RNG'd an Adamant Gales Scizor: 29-31-30-18-30-30 which yielded a 68 power Hidden Power Fighting. Now, for those who are not familiarized with Gamecube RNG, the spreads on certain shadow Pokemon are conditioned by Nature Locks which greatly limits the amount of possible spreads on a Shadow Pokemon. Also, against trainers with multiple shadow Pokemon, locking the 1st or 2nd shadow can also influence which spreads you can hit. The IVs are kinda disappointing, but this was the best HP Fighting Scizor I could get from Gales and use it as a pseudo-Gen 4 Scizor but without the priority Bullet Punch that makes it the monster it is well known for since Gen 4. The team did fairly well since I was consistently getting around 70-90 wins on each attempt. However, the team was highly vulnerable to almost all 8 sets of Lati@s that appeared at the Battle Tower and Alakazam shredded me into pieces. While Flygon was fortunately faster than Lati@s 8, which were the sets invested on Speed, even a Banded Hidden Power Bug only had a 12.5% chance to OHKO Latios, while Latias could easily laugh at the damage and KO back with Dragon Claw or Ice Beam. Scizor can handle them well, but it loses to critical hits and the occasional paralysis that can come from Latias carrying Thunder Wave or simply by spamming Thunderbolt. Scizor also needed a boost in order to kill HP invested Latios & Latios with a +2 Silver Wind.
Starmie, Flygon and Scizor conform a reliable Water/Dragon/Steel core with the team members resisting each other weaknesses: Flygon is immune to Electric type attacks which nail Starmie and resist the Fire attacks that scare Scizor. Starmie and Scizor both resist Ice with Scizor providing a resistance to Dragon. Scizor resist Bug and Ghost attacks while boasting a quad resist to Grass which helps Starmie immensely. The point of this team is to KO opponents on a fast paced way due to the team's lack of bulk.
STARMIE
Starmie has a very simple minded approach: KO as many opponents as possible with its superior coverage and speed. Thanks to that, Starmie does a huge favor to this team by being able to OHKO dangerous Pokemon like Donphan, Houndoom and Marowak which would be troublesome for the team to switch into. After honcalculating some calcs, I ended up determinating that Mystic Water is the best held item for it due to its ability to push some would-be OHKOs with Surf into certain OHKOs. You can check some of the calcs below:
Surf is your main STAB and the strongest one at your disposition with Mystic Water. Psychic targets dangerous poison types like Victreebel and makes Fighting types like Machamp cry back to home. Ice Beam is reserved for Dragon slaying and Thunderbolt retains coverage on opposing Water types like Vaporeon, Milotic, Blastoise, etc.
A Modest nature is needed to get the most possible amount of OHKOs. Timid is overall too weak and doesn't really achieves a lot of OHKOs. The EV spread is pretty simple and it is a copy + paste max Special Attack & Speed spread. Starmie hits 167 Speed which makes it speed tie with 5 Starmie sets and all 4 Raikou sets which is good enough (If the RNG is with your side, you might win those speed ties).
FLYGON
Banded Flygon is probably one of the best Banded Pokemon to use in Gen 3. As someone who has used Banded Metagross and Steelix, I can't stress enough how powerful it is to use a boosted STAB Earthquake on this game and how easy it is to spam it (as long as the AI doesn't sends a Levitator / Flying type next). Surprisingly, with a Band, Flygon makes the best out of its decent base 100 Attack and start hitting like a truck.
Earthquake is insanely strong with a CB. It's so strong that it will always OHKO Metagross and it deals a lot of damage to neutral targets. Rock Slide is the move that complements Earthquake just like Peanut Butter + Jelly and hits Flying types like Articuno, Moltres, Salamence and Zapdos for super-effective damage. Let's be honest, the rest of Flygon moves are simply niche moves because 90% of the time, Earthquake & Rock Slide will be getting the job done. Fire Blast has the niche of being able to OHKO Forretress at Lv.50 while toasting Scizor and Skarmory for good damage. The 85% accuracy is a let down but taking into account that this is Flygon's best move to OHKO Forretress as otherwise it can get Countered to death if I click Earthquake, it's worth the risk. Quick Attack's only purpose is only to stop Medicham 2 (aka Reversalcham) cold on its tracks. It also helps sometimes if Jolteon 4 gets too haxy or when the opponent is severely weakened. Just make sure that if you click this move, whatever it is being used against will die as otherwise it is too dangerous to lock itself into it due to its weak power.
The main reason why I use a Hasty nature (This Flygon was bred for Palace purposes) is also because since Hasty weakens DEF but no SPDF, Flygon can take hits from Jolteon 4 better. Some Electric types like these tend to rely on special moves like Crunch, Bite and you'd want to take the least amount of damage from these moves since Flygon walls them. It also helps vs Overheat users allowing Flygon to switch more comfortable into them. Of course, this makes switching into Aerodactyl more difficult due to the lowered Defense, so take that into account. 252 Speed hits 167 which lets you speed tie with Starmie which can be useful on a pinch while outspeeding Gengar 1 which is nice. It also gets the jump on the 152 gang like Typhlosion, Charizard, Salamence, etc. Of course, you can use Lonely as well, but I've found myself quite fond of the extra Speed on Flygon and you aren't missing a lot of crucial OHKOs anyways.
SCIZOR
Don't play with scizors if you can't play it safe. Yeah, all of you are pampered guys who always felt safe running Bullet Punch, Roost and Mega Stones. But you don't know what it means to use a REAL SCIZOR CON COJONES until you see this set in action. This is pretty much your classic Gen 4 Scizor except that you're not using Bullet Punch, Roost or even Technician. Yeah, Gen 3 were the badlands for Scizor, but life is all about to overcome your problems.
Morning Sun is an exclusive move from Gale of Darkness and it was the only recovery move Scizor can get in G3, so I RNG'd one to get it gunning. It's a pretty cool move because it almost feels like using Roost except for the fact that it gets fucked by Rain and it only has 8 PP. Silver Wind is a pitiful excuse for a STAB. It's overall weak and it has low PP (Fuck you Dusclops 2) but once Swords Dance comes into play, it becomes a respectable move. Hell, the best feeling when using this team comes when you start getting a lucky +1 boost to all stats and Scizor literally starts shredding for fun if it gains it. Hidden Power Fighting was the best coverage move I could think of since I needed a way to hurt Blissey super-effectively (GF really hated our Bug and couldn't even spare it at least with getting Brick Break on this gen). Mind you, it's not even flawless [base power is 69 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)] but it gets the job done since the IV spread was the only legal XD spread with the HP type I wanted.
A real Scizor with cojones, needs a real EV spread with sauce. 252 HP EVs and 29 IVs gives you 176 HP which is a magic leftover number. 136 Speed EVs allows you to outspeed all Milotic sets which is pretty useful since Milotic 1/2 are big lovers of Mirror Coat and you can pretty much Morning Sun the damage if they decide to attack. 108 Atk EVs guarantees that Scizor will 2HKO Anabel's Latios or OHKO it after an SD boost. 10 SpD boosts its Special Defense slightly to take special attacks better and well the 4 Def EVs are simply unnecessary since they don't boost a stat due to Scizor's IVs. It's just there... because I can. Leftovers helps Scizor recover lost health and complements very well with Morning Sun.
This is what pretty much threatens the team mostly on top of my head:
Dusclops: One of the most annoying Pokemon to face for this team. Starmie and Flygon are not powerful enough to 2HKO it and Scizor can't really set up on it when you consider that Pressure can easily deplete its Silver Wind's PP. Set 1 can burn Flygon while Confuse Ray annoys any switch-in. Set 2 is total cancer due to Toxic, Protect & Pressure. Fortunately set 3/4 are not as dangerous as the first two, but letting them set up can be bad news.
Rhydon: Goes without saying. Quick Claw hax and OHKO moves are bad news for this team.
Blissey: Blissey 3 is the most dangerous one considering that it has access to Calm Mind and Blizzard / Fire Blast to deal with Scizor / Flygon. Sadly, I have to sack one of these two to beat it.
Lapras: Starmie can usually pawn this thing, but set 7/8 have OHKO moves which are bad news.
Alakazam: Set 4 deserves a special mention due to Brightpowder potentially making Starmie / Flygon miss and get beaten because of it.
Will be posting a new playlist soon about this team.
Loss:
Battle #166 vs Aroma Lady Gretel:
2 /
1 /
1 or 2
The loss came at Battle #166 vs Aroma Lady Gretel.
Turn 1 was Espeon being shown up and I immediately swapped to Scizor which takes Shadow Ball damage. Quite pathetic.
Turn 2 has me simply using a Silver Wind boost which OHKOs Espeon and gets Scizor a boost to all stats. Outlook was looking good at this point.
Turn 3 has Ludicolo showing its ugly and smug face here. At this point my play would have been to Silver Wind considering that Ludicolo 2 is OHKO'd while Ludicolo 1 (which has some Def EVs) has a chance of being OHKO'd but I accidentally clicked on SD and Scizor gets toasted to death due to my carelessness.
On Turn 4, things are looking really bad and Flygon comes out. I Rock Slide hoping for some flinches but Flygon gets wrecked by Ice Beam.
Turn 5 has Starmie Psychic Ludicolo but the fucking bitch still survives and Thunderpunchs me for good damage. At this point Starmine only has around 38 HP left to continue the fight once Ludicolo goes down and whatever that could come next.
Turn 6 has Starmie finish off Ludicolo and Sunflora comes out.
Sunflora takes the Ice Beam and ends up finishing the job with Giga Drain. I lost to an Undertale meme.
Messed up and picked the wrong move when Scizor was up vs Ludicolo and it gets toasted by Fire Punch. Ludicolo cleans 2/3 of my team and leaves Starmie 1-on-1 with Sunflora who takes the Ice Beam and KOs with Giga Drain
Special Thanks & Credits:
Credits to Serebii.net for the ball and icon sprites.
Only Happy When It Rains A Gen III Battle Tower Doubles Team
Rainy days are one of my favourite things, so it's appropriate that rain is my favourite weather to use in Pokemon games. I find it easiest to use in Doubles, and the Emerald Battle Frontier is no exception to this. I present to you my current project, making a viable Rain Dance Doubles team for the Emerald Battle Tower.
/
Since I wanted to make a Rain Dance team, I started with the two best Pokemon for a rain team, Ludicolo and Kingdra. Ludicolo is a good support Pokemon for a rain team: two abilities that benefit from the rain being up, a Grass typing to help against opposing Grass- and Electric-types, and the ability to learn Rain Dance as well as the uncommon Fake Out to help set up the team. Kingdra is a powerhouse in the rain, and is the best Swift Swimmer imo. Kingdra possess good balanced stats, so is a bulky asset to have on the team. It has a Dragon typing to help against Grass- and Electric-types, as well as the ability to learn Rain Dance like most Water-types. Ludicolo and Kingdra are the leads of the team, since it allows rain to be set up easily with Fake Out and their status berries, as well as the ability to sweep through teams that can't handle Surf and Ice Beam.
/ /
Raikou was the next addition to the team, thanks to being a fast Electric-type to help take care of the Water- and Water/Ice-types that Ludicolo and Kingdra struggle with. Raikou also learns Rain Dance, making it a second rain setter for the team in case the inital rain runs out. Timid Raikou has a very good speed tier, which allows the team to quickly take down weakened threats outside of the rain, or the ability to set up the rain in a pinch.
/ / /
The last slot for the team was a struggle for a long time, as I didn't really know what the team needed. It currently is Latios simply because it is a massive threat in the Battle Frontier, and it's Thunderbolt is helpful for taking out pesky Water-types. Latios has been working out well so far, but could be subject to change if I find something better for the team.
Ludicolo @ Cheri Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Leech Seed
Ludicolo is a strong support Pokemon for rain teams. It has Swift Swim to directly benefit from the rain, Fake Out to help set up Rain Dance, it has decent special bulk to take hits, as well as its Grass typing makes it less vunerable to opposing Grass- and Electric-types.
Fake Out is a useful move for the first turn of the battle, since it makes Kingdra's job to set up Rain Dance a lot easier. Generally, you want to Fake Out the biggest threat to Kingdra and setting up the rain. This includes the likes of opposing Dragon-types, slower Pokemon that have their own weather moves such as Sunny Day, and especially anything that could have a OHKO move. If nothing threatens Kingdra, next should be anything that could take out Ludicolo. This includes threats with strong Bug-, Flying-, or Poison-type moves, as well as any Pokemon that could have a sleep move since Ludicolo only has a Cheri Berry.
Surf and Ice Beam are the team's main offense. If neither of the opposing Pokemon resist it and don't threaten to take out either Ludicolo or Kingdra, Surf is the main move of choice. Even with the reduced damage of spread moves, STAB Surf is stronger in the rain than Ice Beam against neutral threats. Ice Beam is to cover the Grass- and Dragon-types that resist Surf, as well as giving Ludicolo a single target option in case an opponent has Mirror Coat.
Leech Seed is an interesting choice in Doubles. It originally was Giga Drain for opposing Water-types, but it wasn't very strong and Raikou was capable of handling them if needed. Leech Seed allows Ludicolo to cover Shedinja if it shows up, as well as indirectly chipping at opposing Water-types while Ludicolo and Kingdra focus down its partner. It also helps with Double Team spammers, especially Blissey 1. Blissey is a massive threat to this team since they are all special attackers, and should be not be neglected. When a Blissey is on the field, Ludicolo should focus on getting Leech Seed on it so that you can stall it out.
Modest and max SpA allows Ludicolo to do the most damage in the rain, and 244 Spe hits 121 at Level 50. This allows Ludicolo to outspeed base 100s with no investment outside of the rain, as well as all Salac Berry users in the rain. The rest goes evenly into its defenses. Cheri Berry helps with the overall team's theme of speed, and Kingdra has the Lum Berry.
Kingdra is the main powerhouse of the team, and does most of the KOing. It is a very strong sweeper in the rain, with only Water-types being able to comfortably take its assaults, and only opposing Dragon-types are able to take it out easily.
Rain Dance is an obvious move for a team focused around the rain. Kingdra is chosen as the setter since Ludicolo has Fake Out to help setting it up, and Kingdra is faster so that it can Rain Dance before Ludicolo and boost its Surf in case the opponent cancelled out the rain.
Hydro Pump is Kingdra's strongest option, but has shaky accuracy. It is high-risk, high-reward. I only use it when double Surf isn't appropriate (eg. Mirror Coat or Water Absorb) and I can safely take what the opponent has, or I need to get the KO to keep a Pokemon alive and no other option will do. Hydro Pump is not to be relied on, as it can and will miss when you need it most.
Surf and Ice Beam are the team's main offense. If neither of the opposing Pokemon resist it and don't threaten to take out either Ludicolo or Kingdra, Surf is the main move of choice. Even with the reduced damage of spread moves, STAB Surf is stronger in the rain than Ice Beam against neutral threats. Ice Beam is to cover the Grass- and Dragon-types that resist Surf, as well as giving Kingdra a reliable single target option in case an opponent has Mirror Coat.
Modest and max SpA allows Kingdra to do the most damage in the rain, and 244 Spe hits 136 at Level 50. This allows Kingdra to outspeed base 115s with no investment outside of the rain, as well as +1 Ninjask in the rain. The rest goes evenly into its defenses. Lum Berry is to help with status and the overall goal of setting up the rain.
Raikou is the team's main answer to opposing Water-types that Ludicolo and Kingdra struggle with. Raikou has fantastic speed and SpA, but is held back by its very shallow movepool (it doesn't even get Crunch in Level 50). As for using Raikou in the team, I generally don't directly switching it in against threats with status or OHKO moves since Raikou needs its speed and the teams loses to things like Lapras and Walrein if it goes down early. Switching Kingdra out to Raikou is sometimes the best option when facing a double Water-type lead, since Ludicolo's Fake Out and Leech Seed can help get Raikou in safely and to soften up targets.
Thunderbolt is Raikou's main form of offense. I originally ran Thunder to use with the rain, but Raikou was often used to clean up the opponent when the rain had ended and was unreliable with its shaky accuracy. At the moment it is sufficent, but I might go back to Thunder if Thunderbolt misses out on any important KOs.
Hidden Power [Grass] is Raikou's coverage move of choice, since Ludicolo and Kingdra already have Ice coverage and to help take out threats like Volt Absorb Lanturn, Water Absorb Quagsire, and Swampert.
Substitute is used simply because Raikou has no other good offensive options, and it comes in handy to block status from Double Team spammers that only have Toxic. Raikou is better at using its offensive moves to take out threats rather than tanking hits, so Substitute should only be used against Pokemon with status moves to keep Raikou healthy.
Rain Dance is just so Raikou is a back up rain setter. Raikou is often used near the end of the battle when Ludicolo and Kingdra have fainted, so it is rarely used and only useful for removing opposing weather or boosting Surf if either Ludicolo or Kingdra are still around.
Timid and max Spe allows Raikou to hit 183 Spe at Level 50, which outspeeds everything except Jolteon 4. Max SpA investment is to allow Raikou to do as much damage as possible, and the rest is split between the defenses. Leftovers is to synergies with Substitute in a tight situation and improve Raikou's overall survivability, but could easily be changed to a Petaya Berry for a boost when using Substitute.
Latios is overall a fantastic Pokemon in the Battle Frontier. Although I was hesitant to use it in the team at first, it has defintely proved its worth throughout my streak.
Psychic and Dragon Claw are Latios' strongest and most consistent offensive options. Psychic helps cover Grass/Poison-types that get past Ludicolo and Kingdra which Raikou struggles with, and Dragon Claw helps cover the Dragon-types that Kingdra is weak to. Psychic also has the added bonus of occasionally dropping an opponent's SpD, which helps the team since they are all special attackers.
Thunderbolt is specifically to help with the team's weakness to Water-types. Although not as strong as Raikou's, it is helpful in combating the Lapras and Walrein that plague the team.
Helping Hand is another option for the team, but much like Raikou's Rain Dance, sees little use in battle. It is only saved for situations where Latios does little damage to the opponent, and saves it from being a dead weight to the team. I have used it once throughout my streak so far, so it could easily be changed to something more useful.
Timid and 220 Spe allows Latios to hit 173 Spe at Level 50, which outspeeds everything except Nijask, Crobat 3 & 4, and Jolteon 1 & 4. Max SpA investment is to allow Latios to do as much damage as possible, and the rest is put into HP with a point in each defense. Bright Powder is a filler item, but it could be easily changed to something else. I have stuck with it because my streak is still alive thanks to a few Thunder Wave misses.
My streak is on cartridge, and I am currently up to 105 wins. The streak is still going strong, I just wanted to post my team since it broke 100-wins. I'm happy with the team so far, and any suggestions or questions are welcome :)
I've been meaning to post on here for quite a while. This is a really good thread and I greatly enjoy reading all of your 'warstories'. :D
I absolutely love, but also hate the Battle Frontier. Just the sheer hax can totally screw you over and sometimes, there's nothing you can do about it. I've been thinking about different team compositions a lot lately though and I have an idea that I need to test. I'll probably test it on the emulator so I don't lose actual progress once I actually try to beat my record.
My actual record on my old Emerald file was 140 wins on level 50. EVs weren't optimized at the time. This was years ago though, so I don't exactly remember the exact spreads I used. The mons also didn't have perfect IVs because I bred on retail so most of them were like 31/19/31/30/30/31 haha. I described the team in dept in a previous topic, but I'll mention it again since it's very effective.
I used:
Salamence@Choice Band
Intimidate, Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
- Aerial Ace
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Brick Break
Blissey@Leftovers
Natural Cure, Calm
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 Speed (I really need to check the EVs...)
- Softboiled
- Seismic Toss
- Ice Beam
- Aromatherapy
This team is heavily focused on hitting hard with Salamence and pivoting out to Bliss or Milotic depending on the oppossing 'mon. As this team has a bit of an issue with Dragon types, two have Ice Beam to deal with them in a pinch. I can freely stay in on status because of Aromatherapy from Blissey. Bulky waters are dealt by Milotic who can just Toxic stall everything. I ended up losing to Anabel in battle 140 because of her last mon CurseLax, which this team has an issue with as well. Once I got all the way back to battle 134, I switched Salamence to Weezing:
Weezing absolutely destroys Snorlax with a combination of Haze and Will-o-Wisp, there's nothing it can do. I might have given it Leftovers, but alas, I don't remember as this file is long gone. <_< Also, if I were to use Weezing again, I'd probably pick a physical variant over it because Sludge Bomb just hits so much harder, it's not even funny.
Anyway, the team ended up losing on battle 141 against a mixed Medicham that had Psychic. Whoops.
Currently, I've been using Kommo-o's Team Azure (Latios/Suicune/Steelix) to climb the ladder. After a bunch of losses, I got to 90 before losing to Lapras. Lapras is the bane of my existence. Especially if it keeps getting criticals and stuff. After getting up to 70 a bunch of times and losing to random mixed Gardevoirs around the 40s mark, I finally got back to 49 again and will use a team I've been theorycrafting for a while now. I need to EV my stuff so I can test it out.
Once I've tested a bit, I'll post my team. :)
Edit:
Also, I've done a couple of joke/meme sets that are just a lot of fun to use, but not neccesarily good. I've mentioned these before in the other thread, but it's fun to show these off anyway. :) I have a couple more, but I need to check what they were again.
Aerodactyl@Leftovers
Pressure, Jolly
EVs: 208 HP / 4 Atk / 124 Def / 44 SpD / 128 Speed
- Rock Slide
- Substitute
- Protect
- Taunt
This set absolutely tears through low PP sets. It's actually decently bulky and with perfect Leftovers, Sub and Protect, it gets a 5th Sub. 128 Speed outspeeds all but Jolteon 4 who runs 394 Speed. It has obvious issues with sets that have a lot of moves/or moves that hit Aero SE. I remember beating one of the Blastoise sets with this because PP was just gone haha.
Mr.Mime@Starf Berry
Soundproof, Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 Speed
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Recycle
- [something]
The idea here is to get to low HP, then Recycle 15 times to get all your stats +6, then Baton Pass to a mixed sweeper. Sounds interesting on paper, but actually pulling it off is a different story. It's good against Choice locked support moves, but actually getting to low HP would be the issue. I tried mimicing the Drapion Accupressure set from gen 4, but keeping the Sub up is difficult...
Dodrio@Choice Band
Early Bird, Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 36 Def / 228 Speed
- Drill Peck
- Return
- Quick Attack
- HP Ground
The EVs have been slightly altered to take physical hits slightly better. Normal and Flying STAB is very nice and powerful. More importantly, I did these EVs to combat most Metagross in the BT. The bulkiest and strongest Meteor Mash has a 6.3% chance of OHKOing Dodrio while Choice Band HP Ground has a 80.9% to 2HKO. Adamant secures the 2HKO, but leaves you vulnerable to more Pokémon.
Ludicolo@Petaya Berry
Swift Swim, Modest
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Speed
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- HP Grass
- Rain Dance
As the previous post already illustrated, Ludicolo is nothing to scoff at under Rain. Preferably, I'd have Sub somewhere for protection and a better way to trigger Petaya, but Water/Ice is bad coverage. Water/Grass isn't the best coverage either, but all three is really good. Enough Speed to outspeed anything in Rain.
Kingdra@Petaya Berry
Swift Swim, Modest
EVs: 148 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 96 Speed
- Surf
- HP Dragon
- Substitute
- Rain Dance
If Ludicolo is the king of Rain Dance, then Kingdra is the queen (lol). Water/Ice isn't the greatest coverage, but Water/Dragon is really good. You do kind of need the Petaya Berry boost to deal reliable damage to other Dragons. At least you are more safe behind the Sub.
Registeel@Leftovers
Clear Body, Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 60 SpD / 4 Speed
- HP Steel
- Amnesia
- Curse
- Substitute
This is pretty much the exact set of gen 4 Registeel, just missing the Iron Head. Slightly less powerful, but still fun to use. Can even beat Fire types if setup to the maximum and behind a Sub as most are 2HKO'd. HP Steel is nice because nothing is immune to it. While it has great defenses, it lacks the sheer power of more attack oriented setup users.
Charizard@Salac Berry
Blaze, Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 Def / 12 SpD / 180 Speed
- HP Flying
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Earthquake
BellyZard, but with enough Speed to outspeed everything after the Berry boost. HP Flying hits very hard and works well in conjuction with Quake. Skarmory, Aerodactyl and Zapdos are obvious issues, but once they are taken care off, stuff just perishes. It's slightly difficult to setup, but cool otherwise.
Only Happy When It Rains A Gen III Battle Tower Doubles Team
Rainy days are one of my favourite things, so it's appropriate that rain is my favourite weather to use in Pokemon games. I find it easiest to use in Doubles, and the Emerald Battle Frontier is no exception to this. I present to you my current project, making a viable Rain Dance Doubles team for the Emerald Battle Tower.
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Since I wanted to make a Rain Dance team, I started with the two best Pokemon for a rain team, Ludicolo and Kingdra. Ludicolo is a good support Pokemon for a rain team: two abilities that benefit from the rain being up, a Grass typing to help against opposing Grass- and Electric-types, and the ability to learn Rain Dance as well as the uncommon Fake Out to help set up the team. Kingdra is a powerhouse in the rain, and is the best Swift Swimmer imo. Kingdra possess good balanced stats, so is a bulky asset to have on the team. It has a Dragon typing to help against Grass- and Electric-types, as well as the ability to learn Rain Dance like most Water-types. Ludicolo and Kingdra are the leads of the team, since it allows rain to be set up easily with Fake Out and their status berries, as well as the ability to sweep through teams that can't handle Surf and Ice Beam.
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Raikou was the next addition to the team, thanks to being a fast Electric-type to help take care of the Water- and Water/Ice-types that Ludicolo and Kingdra struggle with. Raikou also learns Rain Dance, making it a second rain setter for the team in case the inital rain runs out. Timid Raikou has a very good speed tier, which allows the team to quickly take down weakened threats outside of the rain, or the ability to set up the rain in a pinch.
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The last slot for the team was a struggle for a long time, as I didn't really know what the team needed. It currently is Latios simply because it is a massive threat in the Battle Frontier, and it's Thunderbolt is helpful for taking out pesky Water-types. Latios has been working out well so far, but could be subject to change if I find something better for the team.
Ludicolo @ Cheri Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Leech Seed
Ludicolo is a strong support Pokemon for rain teams. It has Swift Swim to directly benefit from the rain, Fake Out to help set up Rain Dance, it has decent special bulk to take hits, as well as its Grass typing makes it less vunerable to opposing Grass- and Electric-types.
Fake Out is a useful move for the first turn of the battle, since it makes Kingdra's job to set up Rain Dance a lot easier. Generally, you want to Fake Out the biggest threat to Kingdra and setting up the rain. This includes the likes of opposing Dragon-types, slower Pokemon that have their own weather moves such as Sunny Day, and especially anything that could have a OHKO move. If nothing threatens Kingdra, next should be anything that could take out Ludicolo. This includes threats with strong Bug-, Flying-, or Poison-type moves, as well as any Pokemon that could have a sleep move since Ludicolo only has a Cheri Berry.
Surf and Ice Beam are the team's main offense. If neither of the opposing Pokemon resist it and don't threaten to take out either Ludicolo or Kingdra, Surf is the main move of choice. Even with the reduced damage of spread moves, STAB Surf is stronger in the rain than Ice Beam against neutral threats. Ice Beam is to cover the Grass- and Dragon-types that resist Surf, as well as giving Ludicolo a single target option in case an opponent has Mirror Coat.
Leech Seed is an interesting choice in Doubles. It originally was Giga Drain for opposing Water-types, but it wasn't very strong and Raikou was capable of handling them if needed. Leech Seed allows Ludicolo to cover Shedinja if it shows up, as well as indirectly chipping at opposing Water-types while Ludicolo and Kingdra focus down its partner. It also helps with Double Team spammers, especially Blissey 1. Blissey is a massive threat to this team since they are all special attackers, and should be not be neglected. When a Blissey is on the field, Ludicolo should focus on getting Leech Seed on it so that you can stall it out.
Modest and max SpA allows Ludicolo to do the most damage in the rain, and 244 Spe hits 121 at Level 50. This allows Ludicolo to outspeed base 100s with no investment outside of the rain, as well as all Salac Berry users in the rain. The rest goes evenly into its defenses. Cheri Berry helps with the overall team's theme of speed, and Kingdra has the Lum Berry.
Kingdra is the main powerhouse of the team, and does most of the KOing. It is a very strong sweeper in the rain, with only Water-types being able to comfortably take its assaults, and only opposing Dragon-types are able to take it out easily.
Rain Dance is an obvious move for a team focused around the rain. Kingdra is chosen as the setter since Ludicolo has Fake Out to help setting it up, and Kingdra is faster so that it can Rain Dance before Ludicolo and boost its Surf in case the opponent cancelled out the rain.
Hydro Pump is Kingdra's strongest option, but has shaky accuracy. It is high-risk, high-reward. I only use it when double Surf isn't appropriate (eg. Mirror Coat or Water Absorb) and I can safely take what the opponent has, or I need to get the KO to keep a Pokemon alive and no other option will do. Hydro Pump is not to be relied on, as it can and will miss when you need it most.
Surf and Ice Beam are the team's main offense. If neither of the opposing Pokemon resist it and don't threaten to take out either Ludicolo or Kingdra, Surf is the main move of choice. Even with the reduced damage of spread moves, STAB Surf is stronger in the rain than Ice Beam against neutral threats. Ice Beam is to cover the Grass- and Dragon-types that resist Surf, as well as giving Kingdra a reliable single target option in case an opponent has Mirror Coat.
Modest and max SpA allows Kingdra to do the most damage in the rain, and 244 Spe hits 136 at Level 50. This allows Kingdra to outspeed base 115s with no investment outside of the rain, as well as +1 Ninjask in the rain. The rest goes evenly into its defenses. Lum Berry is to help with status and the overall goal of setting up the rain.
Raikou is the team's main answer to opposing Water-types that Ludicolo and Kingdra struggle with. Raikou has fantastic speed and SpA, but is held back by its very shallow movepool (it doesn't even get Crunch in Level 50). As for using Raikou in the team, I generally don't directly switching it in against threats with status or OHKO moves since Raikou needs its speed and the teams loses to things like Lapras and Walrein if it goes down early. Switching Kingdra out to Raikou is sometimes the best option when facing a double Water-type lead, since Ludicolo's Fake Out and Leech Seed can help get Raikou in safely and to soften up targets.
Thunderbolt is Raikou's main form of offense. I originally ran Thunder to use with the rain, but Raikou was often used to clean up the opponent when the rain had ended and was unreliable with its shaky accuracy. At the moment it is sufficent, but I might go back to Thunder if Thunderbolt misses out on any important KOs.
Hidden Power [Grass] is Raikou's coverage move of choice, since Ludicolo and Kingdra already have Ice coverage and to help take out threats like Volt Absorb Lanturn, Water Absorb Quagsire, and Swampert.
Substitute is used simply because Raikou has no other good offensive options, and it comes in handy to block status from Double Team spammers that only have Toxic. Raikou is better at using its offensive moves to take out threats rather than tanking hits, so Substitute should only be used against Pokemon with status moves to keep Raikou healthy.
Rain Dance is just so Raikou is a back up rain setter. Raikou is often used near the end of the battle when Ludicolo and Kingdra have fainted, so it is rarely used and only useful for removing opposing weather or boosting Surf if either Ludicolo or Kingdra are still around.
Timid and max Spe allows Raikou to hit 183 Spe at Level 50, which outspeeds everything except Jolteon 4. Max SpA investment is to allow Raikou to do as much damage as possible, and the rest is split between the defenses. Leftovers is to synergies with Substitute in a tight situation and improve Raikou's overall survivability, but could easily be changed to a Petaya Berry for a boost when using Substitute.
Latios is overall a fantastic Pokemon in the Battle Frontier. Although I was hesitant to use it in the team at first, it has defintely proved its worth throughout my streak.
Psychic and Dragon Claw are Latios' strongest and most consistent offensive options. Psychic helps cover Grass/Poison-types that get past Ludicolo and Kingdra which Raikou struggles with, and Dragon Claw helps cover the Dragon-types that Kingdra is weak to. Psychic also has the added bonus of occasionally dropping an opponent's SpD, which helps the team since they are all special attackers.
Thunderbolt is specifically to help with the team's weakness to Water-types. Although not as strong as Raikou's, it is helpful in combating the Lapras and Walrein that plague the team.
Helping Hand is another option for the team, but much like Raikou's Rain Dance, sees little use in battle. It is only saved for situations where Latios does little damage to the opponent, and saves it from being a dead weight to the team. I have used it once throughout my streak so far, so it could easily be changed to something more useful.
Timid and 220 Spe allows Latios to hit 173 Spe at Level 50, which outspeeds everything except Nijask, Crobat 3 & 4, and Jolteon 1 & 4. Max SpA investment is to allow Latios to do as much damage as possible, and the rest is put into HP with a point in each defense. Bright Powder is a filler item, but it could be easily changed to something else. I have stuck with it because my streak is still alive thanks to a few Thunder Wave misses.
My streak is on cartridge, and I am currently up to 105 wins. The streak is still going strong, I just wanted to post my team since it broke 100-wins. I'm happy with the team so far, and any suggestions or questions are welcome :)
I really enjoyed reading through this team specially by the fact that it is a rain team. Without Rain Sweepers in Gen 3, I do enjoy the idea of using a basic Fake Out + Rain Dance approach and sweep.
I do see some issues on this team specially with Normal types since pretty much Ursaring 2 can inflict some serious pain if it gets lucky with its Quick Claw.
255+ Atk Ursaring Double-Edge vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Ludicolo: 150-177 (96.1 - 113.4%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
255+ SpA Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Ursaring in Rain: 171-202 (86.8 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
255+ SpA Kingdra Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Ursaring in Rain: 102-120 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
255+ SpA Ludicolo Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Ursaring: 67-79 (34 - 40.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
The fact that it can survive +SpA STAB Hydro Pump on Rain, has such a high chance to OHKO one of your Rain sweepers and your team simply has no response to it, makes it a more massive threat can what you originally think due to the lack of Normal resists. Also, even if you resort to a combination of Double Surf, it has a high chance to survive if you end up using Fake Out on another Pokemon that might be threatening to your lead combination. I think that Latias 1 also deserves a mention for this (Cooltrainer Carrie can use a combination of Latias 1 + Ursaring 2):
255+ SpA Kingdra Ice Beam vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 78-92 (41.7 - 49.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 76-90 (40.6 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
The fact that both your leads are unable to 2HKO even if they double target it, makes it a massive threat since Dragon Claw has a ~70% chance to OHKO Kingdra. If Latias is paired with a problematic Pokemon like Lapras 1, it becomes difficult to decide on whether you'd want to set up rain knowing that you can't kill next turn and put your main sweeper on risk. I can also see that your team can struggle with Blissey 2 due to the fact that you only pack 4 special attackers for this cause and Blissey 3 can set up Calm Minds without caring what your team does. For this reason, I would like to suggest two changes on your backline:
A Metagross / Zapdos combination is very reliable and it takes advantage from Rain as Zapdos can fire off 100% accurate Thunder coming from the highest SpA stat from all Electric types while Metagross takes even more reduced damage from Fire attacks. Metagross can easily switch when the opponent reveals something like Granbull 4, Ursaring 2 and Slaking 3 which can easily claim a kill. The reason why you should also keep Thunder on Zapdos is because since Leech Seed has a 90% accuracy, it can end up missing against Double Teamers. Mind you, Thunder bypasses accuracy boosts with Rain Dance and even a Pokemon like Umbreon won't be enjoying eating nevermissing 120 base powered STABs. Extrasensory is an option on Zapdos if you feel that Venusaur 2 can be a pain in the ass and don't need the rain back-up.
Zapdos will also allow Metagross to Earthquake safely and use it at your favor since it dispatches Electric types more easily. It also allows it to explode, claiming several kills on the process. Metagross is just there to improve your match up vs Blissey / Snorlax. The Speed EVs on Metagross allows you to outspeed all 4 Milotic sets meaning that Metagross can KO it first with Explosion if needed before it gets hit by rain boosted Surf / Hydro Pump. Metagross also helps against Hex Maniac matchups since they are very prone to use Exlposion on Muk + Gengar leads.
If you make these changes, I would replace Hydro Pump on Kingdra with Protect. If the opponent carries a very troublesome Pokemon, Kingdra can allow Metagross to Explode safely while scouting for opposing Explosions or any dangerous move it might affect it. Hydro Pump is pretty strong but it has a 80% accuracy and it can miss at the worst moment.
I really enjoyed reading through this team specially by the fact that it is a rain team. Without Rain Sweepers in Gen 3, I do enjoy the idea of using a basic Fake Out + Rain Dance approach and sweep.
I do see some issues on this team specially with Normal types since pretty much Ursaring 2 can inflict some serious pain if it gets lucky with its Quick Claw.
255+ Atk Ursaring Double-Edge vs. 4 HP / 4 Def Ludicolo: 150-177 (96.1 - 113.4%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
255+ SpA Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Ursaring in Rain: 171-202 (86.8 - 102.5%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
255+ SpA Kingdra Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Ursaring in Rain: 102-120 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
255+ SpA Ludicolo Surf vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Ursaring: 67-79 (34 - 40.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
The fact that it can survive +SpA STAB Hydro Pump on Rain, has such a high chance to OHKO one of your Rain sweepers and your team simply has no response to it, makes it a more massive threat can what you originally think due to the lack of Normal resists. Also, even if you resort to a combination of Double Surf, it has a high chance to survive if you end up using Fake Out on another Pokemon that might be threatening to your lead combination. I think that Latias 1 also deserves a mention for this (Cooltrainer Carrie can use a combination of Latias 1 + Ursaring 2):
255+ SpA Kingdra Ice Beam vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 78-92 (41.7 - 49.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 255 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 76-90 (40.6 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
The fact that both your leads are unable to 2HKO even if they double target it, makes it a massive threat since Dragon Claw has a ~70% chance to OHKO Kingdra. If Latias is paired with a problematic Pokemon like Lapras 1, it becomes difficult to decide on whether you'd want to set up rain knowing that you can't kill next turn and put your main sweeper on risk. I can also see that your team can struggle with Blissey 2 due to the fact that you only pack 4 special attackers for this cause and Blissey 3 can set up Calm Minds without caring what your team does. For this reason, I would like to suggest two changes on your backline:
A Metagross / Zapdos combination is very reliable and it takes advantage from Rain as Zapdos can fire off 100% accurate Thunder coming from the highest SpA stat from all Electric types while Metagross takes even more reduced damage from Fire attacks. Metagross can easily switch when the opponent reveals something like Granbull 4, Ursaring 2 and Slaking 3 which can easily claim a kill. The reason why you should also keep Thunder on Zapdos is because since Leech Seed has a 90% accuracy, it can end up missing against Double Teamers. Mind you, Thunder bypasses accuracy boosts with Rain Dance and even a Pokemon like Umbreon won't be enjoying eating nevermissing 120 base powered STABs. Extrasensory is an option on Zapdos if you feel that Venusaur 2 can be a pain in the ass and don't need the rain back-up.
Zapdos will also allow Metagross to Earthquake safely and use it at your favor since it dispatches Electric types more easily. It also allows it to explode, claiming several kills on the process. Metagross is just there to improve your match up vs Blissey / Snorlax. The Speed EVs on Metagross allows you to outspeed all 4 Milotic sets meaning that Metagross can KO it first with Explosion if needed before it gets hit by rain boosted Surf / Hydro Pump. Metagross also helps against Hex Maniac matchups since they are very prone to use Exlposion on Muk + Gengar leads.
If you make these changes, I would replace Hydro Pump on Kingdra with Protect. If the opponent carries a very troublesome Pokemon, Kingdra can allow Metagross to Explode safely while scouting for opposing Explosions or any dangerous move it might affect it. Hydro Pump is pretty strong but it has a 80% accuracy and it can miss at the worst moment.
As for Ursaring and the overall team's weakness to strong Normal-types, the few that the team has faced haven't been lucky with Quick Claw. Since the streak is still relatively low, it was bound to happen further on in the streak so I'm glad you highlighted it before I lost the streak to it.
The overall problem behind this though is the lack of a Steel-type to act as the team's Normal resist and help with Dragon-types that threaten Kingdra. I don't know why I didn't try Metagross like you suggested, I guessed I was so focused on making the team as fast as possible.
Latias is a Pokemon that is difficult to play around with my current team, and luckily it hasn't been paired with anything troublesome as a lead so far. I think this is mainly due to the lack of a Steel-type. With the Blissey I have faced so far, I generally Leech Seed it if possible and target down its partner until it's the last Pokemon left.
Thanks for the suggestions, and I will definitely test them out. I originally thought of Zapdos before Raikou, but I preferred the speed to the power and Flying-type. I totally forgot about Thunder bypassing Double Team in the rain, definitely will be changing back to it.
I'm still in testing phase and literally just lost, so I think my team needs some tinkering. Or maybe I just need to figure out a better strategy going in fights depending on the opossing mon...
Linoone@Choice Band
Pickup, Jolly
EVs: 188 HP / 4 Atk / 84 Def / 4 SpD / 228 Speed
- Trick
- Charm
- Thunder Wave
- Sand Attack
Zapdos@Ganlon Berry
Pressure, Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Speed (My Zapdos has HP Ice)
- Substitute
- Protect
- Agility
- Baton Pass
Medicham@Leftovers
Pure Power, Jolly
EVs: 204 HP / 180 Atk / 64 Def / 60 Speed
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Brick Break
- Shadow Ball
The idea is simple. Trick a Band on the opposing Pokémon, then Charm, Thunder Wave or Sand Attack until you die or switch immediately if they are locked into a setup move. Out comes Zapdos. With Protect and Substitute, it eats through attacks. Even super effective ones, which usually have 10 PP. After an Agility, it will outspeed everything in the Battle Tower and after draining the opponent of their (generally) STAB attack, proceed to pass the Agility to Medicham. Medicham after 6 Bulk Ups will OHKO EVERYTHING (bar Focus Band of course) in the Battle Tower with it's superior coverage. Shadow Ball is really good for touch-based abilities like Static or Flame Body.
There are of course a couple of problems with the team. Critical elemental attacks that KO Linoone and are faster than Zapdos are a big thread because another critical might just spell doom to Zapdos. I've actually been thinking about Bold, 252 HP / 144 Def / 108 SpD / 4 Speed because it can tank a critical burning Charizard 3 Flamethrower or a critical Espeon 3-4 Psychic. 121 Speed might also be slightly to low since Lapras 2 actually has 123 Speed but as long as it doesn't crit or freeze Linoone, it can paralyze it on turn 2. It might also be better to have Substitute trigger Ganlon (or maybe the SpD equivalent, I'm not sure yet) on the third use because it speeds up the passing. I could also run Timid, 153 Speed and avoid most of these issues, but then Zapdos loses quite a bit of bulk. Zapdos is obviously the weakest link in the team, but he's very neccesary. I haven't really figured out how to use this team yet, but I'm working on it.
Obvious threats:
- Claydol 4: this guy made me lose the streak (which technically was only 13, because I started at 50 and lost at 62). He exploded turn 1, something I did not expect at all.
- Everything that Zapdos cannot outspeed or outstall. Or both. For example, Porygon 4 is very difficult to deal with. Even the specially defensive variant fails to avoid the 25% damage from Thunderbolt and Psychic. I Baton Passed the Ganlon boost after it was at 1 HP, but Medicham just got promptly paralyzed. And to make matters worse, Brick Break cannot even OHKO at all. It does 97% max. Perhaps I should've let Zapdos die, then Bulk Up once and pray for non-critical Psychic/non-paralyzing Thunderbolt.
I'm still in testing phase and literally just lost, so I think my team needs some tinkering. Or maybe I just need to figure out a better strategy going in fights depending on the opossing mon...
Linoone@Choice Band
Pickup, Jolly
EVs: 188 HP / 4 Atk / 84 Def / 4 SpD / 228 Speed
- Trick
- Charm
- Thunder Wave
- Sand Attack
Zapdos@Ganlon Berry
Pressure, Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Speed (My Zapdos has HP Ice)
- Substitute
- Protect
- Agility
- Baton Pass
Medicham@Leftovers
Pure Power, Jolly
EVs: 204 HP / 180 Atk / 64 Def / 60 Speed
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Brick Break
- Shadow Ball
The idea is simple. Trick a Band on the opposing Pokémon, then Charm, Thunder Wave or Sand Attack until you die or switch immediately if they are locked into a setup move. Out comes Zapdos. With Protect and Substitute, it eats through attacks. Even super effective ones, which usually have 10 PP. After an Agility, it will outspeed everything in the Battle Tower and after draining the opponent of their (generally) STAB attack, proceed to pass the Agility to Medicham. Medicham after 6 Bulk Ups will OHKO EVERYTHING (bar Focus Band of course) in the Battle Tower with it's superior coverage. Shadow Ball is really good for touch-based abilities like Static or Flame Body.
There are of course a couple of problems with the team. Critical elemental attacks that KO Linoone and are faster than Zapdos are a big thread because another critical might just spell doom to Zapdos. I've actually been thinking about Bold, 252 HP / 144 Def / 108 SpD / 4 Speed because it can tank a critical burning Charizard 3 Flamethrower or a critical Espeon 3-4 Psychic. 121 Speed might also be slightly to low since Lapras 2 actually has 123 Speed but as long as it doesn't crit or freeze Linoone, it can paralyze it on turn 2. It might also be better to have Substitute trigger Ganlon (or maybe the SpD equivalent, I'm not sure yet) on the third use because it speeds up the passing. I could also run Timid, 153 Speed and avoid most of these issues, but then Zapdos loses quite a bit of bulk. Zapdos is obviously the weakest link in the team, but he's very neccesary. I haven't really figured out how to use this team yet, but I'm working on it.
Obvious threats:
- Claydol 4: this guy made me lose the streak (which technically was only 13, because I started at 50 and lost at 62). He exploded turn 1, something I did not expect at all.
- Everything that Zapdos cannot outspeed or outstall. Or both. For example, Porygon 4 is very difficult to deal with. Even the specially defensive variant fails to avoid the 25% damage from Thunderbolt and Psychic. I Baton Passed the Ganlon boost after it was at 1 HP, but Medicham just got promptly paralyzed. And to make matters worse, Brick Break cannot even OHKO at all. It does 97% max. Perhaps I should've let Zapdos die, then Bulk Up once and pray for non-critical Psychic/non-paralyzing Thunderbolt.
I still think you can afford to lose some bulk if Lapras 2 is an issue while still surviving crits from Charizard 3 and Espeon 3/4. You can use an EV spread of 252 HP / 120 Def / 108 SpD / 28 Spe (assuming a 30 Def IV) to outspeed Lapras and Metagross will still be unable to break your Sub with Meteor Mash: 170+ Atk Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 120+ Def Zapdos: 41-49 (20.8 - 24.8%) -- guaranteed 5HKO
Possible damage amounts: (41, 42, 42, 43, 43, 44, 44, 45, 45, 46, 46, 47, 47, 48, 48, 49). Hope this helps!
I'd like to throw my name on the leaderboard for the Battle Dome with 15 consecutive tourneys. Felt like having another go at the Battle Frontier, so I traded a bunch of my BR Pokemon to a spare Emerald cartridge and am working my way through the facilities (got Gold in the Factory, Arena, Palace, and Dome so far). Annoyingly, I managed a longer streak with the exact same team on my old save file, but this is what I have on hand now. Once I'm back at home in a couple of weeks I'll start listing some other historic streaks. 15 tourneys isn't so terrible for now, though.
My team:
Latios@Lum Berry
Levitate, Modest
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Speed / 6 HP
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Dragon Claw
IVs: uncertain, max Sp.Atk and close to max for Speed, others relatively high
Keng@Choice Band
Truant, Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 6 HP
-Double-edge
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace
-Shadow Ball
IVs: 21/31/26/x/9/30 (approximate, calculated at level 70)
Metagross@Leftovers
Clear Body, Adamant
EVs: 230 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Speed
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Agility
-Explosion
IVs: uncertain, max Attack and relatively high for the others, Speed 29 or 30
For rounds 10 and 15, I swapped out Metagross for Shedinja and gave Latios a King's Rock:
The idea behind this team was just to go all out on offense and wipe out the opponent as quickly as possible. Latios generally leads, though Slaking often leads when the opponent has bulkier Pokemon that Latios might only 2HKO. I did consider Calm Mind, but battles tend to be brief and it's often easier to just 2HKO and hopefully at least do 50% to whatever comes out second. Being reasonably durable, Latios can often stand up to things like opposing Metagross or Regirock and blast away until they're dead.
I'm of the opinion that Slaking is probably the best lead in the game. I used this same team in the Tower with Slaking as a lead; he's just as good here, even if he's often saved for backup. Double-Edge is favoured over Return or Body Slam because the higher base power scores KOs on things like Kingdra, Venusaur, and Swampert. Even with 1/3 of his HP missing after KOing the opponent's lead, Slaking can often survive the subsequent hit and attack again for the KO. If not, I switch to the backup and let them deal with it; if they die, Slaking comes back out and cleans up.
Metagross is rarely used, but useful against slower foes. The given IVs allow Metagross to outspeed neutral base-130s after an Agility, but this rarely matters as Metagross generally just Explodes on the second foe if the lead has fainted. Given that the Dome is the only place where finishing with a double KO favours the player, it seemed sensible to make use of this; I only had to Explode to force a tie twice.
And then there's Shedinja - it was too tempting not to use him. Watching the AI struggle to cope with Wonder Guard is hilarious - Swampert just attacks helplessly, Latias Calm Minds up and then just Rests over and over, and Metagross just uses Protect repeatedly.
How I lost:
I lost (due to hax more than anything else, grumble grumble) to Triathlete Samir in the finals, who was using Starmie and Walrein. I sent Slaking out first, took a Psychic from Starmie, OHKO'ed back with Shadow Ball. Walrein comes out so I switch to Metagross, who Walrein then freezes with Ice Beam. A critical-hit Surf then finished Metagross off, Slaking came back out and promptly missed with Double-Edge. And that was that. In hindsight it might have been wiser to keep Slaking in and let it die to Walrein before Exploding with Gross. Or to just have led with Latios, I suppose.
Anyway, I do have one other record from my old game saved that I'll post about later, but for now enjoy this.
Apologies for double posting, but in the time since I posted my Dome Record I decided to have a go at the Pike and achieved a very respectable 199 rooms which puts me top of the leaderboard for the Pike. Gutted to have just missed out on cracking 200, but will definitely be having another go since the Pike is my favourite facility. Fought Lucy again at 196 rooms, oddly - that's only 14 passes through. Strange.
Metagross@Choice Band
Clear Body, Adamant
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Speed
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Aerial Ace
IVs: uncertain, max Attack and relatively high for the others, Speed 29 or 30
Probably the most Standard Pike team ever (unless I replaced Metagross with Rapidash) but it does the trick. Starmie is a great lead and there's little more to say about it - it also wipes out Lucy's Gold team (barring her damn Steelix's Brightpowder activating twice in a row, that is...)
Metagross is there for some brute force backup, and its handy Poison immunity is a nice bonus. I initially considered Steelix for its immunity to all the various Toxics and Thunder Waves the Pike throws around, but Gross still outclasses it. Choice Band makes it especially good in the Doubles fights where it's (usually) 3v2.
I initially wrote off Blissey as dead weight whose only function was to heal the others with Softboiled, but she arguably pulled her weight more than the other two did, especially in later rounds - in particular I had a very tense fight against Gentleman Reese (using Suicune, Zapdos, and Moltres) in which Blissey one-shotted his entire team. Max Def makes her phenomenally bulky, able to stall out physical attackers like Donphan and Gyarados and whittle them down with Toxic.
How I lost
Stupidity and carelessness, really. Metagross had been KOed in the previous fight so I was left with Starmie and Blissey at more or less full health. Entered a room with a Doubles matchup and it was Heracross and Rhydon v Starmie and Blissey. Thinking I'd go for the easy target I used Surf, which took care of Rhydon and left Heracross at ~65%. Blissey used Seismic Toss which got Heracross to ~35% while it KOed Starmie with Megahorn. Knowing Blissey could survive one Brick Break I stupidly went with Seismic Toss again instead of Flamethrower (which, in hindsight, I should have used from the start) and Heracross was left with a sliver of health. And then next turn it finished me off.
Still, it was a fun run, and I'll definitely be having another go later on. Anyone got any suggestions for how to improve my squad? Not entirely satisfied with how cookie-cutter it feels.
Just wanted to share my 53 streak in Battle Palace Singles, Open Level: Proof
This team was put together specifically to wreck Spenser Gold after my previous team lost to him. Spenser is the most dangerous opponent in the Battle Palace because his team is the only one with natures specifically chosen to have good attack/defense/support ratios. He also has both Slaking and Suicune, two very hard pokemon to counter effectively in the palace. My goal was to develop a team that could consistently beat Spenser while also being reasonably effective against other opponents.
All pokemon are at level 70 (I used a 10 ANNIV Raikou)
Plenty of room for improvement since I didn't even breed for IVs, just used the first pokemon with the correct natures.
Raikou with Leftovers
Hasty Nature - 252 SpA, 248 Speed, 10 HP
IVs: 14, 28, 1, 20, 23, 3
- Thunderbolt
- Crunch
- Hidden Power Grass (56)
- Calm Mind
Discussion:
Salamence is the lead. In the early rounds and when facing opponents that don't threaten Salamence too much, your goal is to get a dragon dance sweep going. If you're facing something that Salamence can't deal with, switch to the appropriate teammate. It has a hasty nature, which is the best palace nature in my opinion. At full health a hasty pokemon has a 58% chance to attack, a 37% chance to use a defensive move, and a 5% chance to use a support move. Once below half health, the ratios change to 88% attack, 6% defense, and 5% support. This all means that Salamence will attack while dragon dancing when at high health, but will basically only attack when below half. It's important that the attacking ratio is still pretty high at full health because you don't want to be a sitting duck while the opponent uses their own boosting moves, and there are a lot of opponents that you'll want Salamence to just KO immediately. The support ratio being super low is great because it minimizes wasted turns. (It is more effective to have 3 move coverage than to shoehorn a support move into the moveset) Intimidate works well to counteract the defense drop caused by the hasty nature, and also makes switching a more valuable play. In the palace switching is the only thing you can control directly, so you want to make it as useful as possible.
Skarmory is the most interesting pokemon on this team, acting as a physical wall to counteract the low defense of the other members. It is also the only good answer to Spenser's Slaking. The Impish nature is a bit of an odd one, but it works well. The attack/defense/support ratios are 69/6/25 at full health and 28/55/17 at half or below. So the strategy is that, when you first send Skarmory in, it will mostly do chip damage with Drill peck and Steel wing, and a quarter of the time use Toxic. This strategy is very effective at wearing down opponents, since they tend to waste a lot of turns. When Skarmory is threatened and its health falls below half, it basically spams rest, occasionally using toxic or an attacking move. The first rest is free thanks to the chesto berry, which can really help you out if Skarmory uses rest when it doesn't need to at nearly full HP. Skarmory basically employs a toxic stall strategy, but often the chip damage from its attacking moves can KO opponents as well. It works on most bulky physical attackers... Eventually. Taking Aggron out with Steel Wing isn't pretty, but it works. It's important to note that the ratios change once HP drops below half, and stay that way until the pokemon is switched out, even if HP goes back up. Impish is an especially useful nature because of its defense boost, and because Skarmory will still occasionally attack and use toxic in between Rest when at low health.
Raikou is the best answer to Spenser's Suicune and creates great defensive type synergy with Salamence and Skarmory. Its goal is to set up some Calm Minds and sweep. It uses the Hasty nature in the same way as Salamence. A good answer to the Water and Ice types that Salamence and Skarmory can't deal with.
This team, lacking a strong fighting type move, has a hard time with bulky normal types like Snorlax. Skarmory can often take care of them anyway, but it can get a bit dicey. Losing Skarmory early on is the quickest path to a loss. Rarely Salamence or Raikou will boost instead of attacking and get taken out. They have a harder time after the Spenser Gold battle when the opponents start to become strong, because there is less room for error.
Time for Battle Tower Doubles team number 4. This one has more of a novelty feeling to it, but the excellent synergy between the Pokémon on the team still makes it quite the consistent team, probably ranking somewhere in between the 'Turn 1 Victory' team and the Follow Me + Belly Drum Poliwrath one (closer to the latter), the order of those being obvious.
The purpose of this team was to optimize removing Slaking's ability. There are so many ways to do that… I've seen Pure Power Skill Swap chains, but these take too long and similar results can be achieved in other ways, for example by just boosting Slaking's Attack in another way. Then there's Levitate + EQ, Synchronize Slaking, Tank strategies with Amnesia, Safeguard + Swagger, Natural Cure, and many more. The most important aspect of getting Slaking to work is actually what its teammates do besides using Skill Swap, and how well that synergizes with which Pokémon Slaking destroys during or after the setup. In competitive environments, this team would be a joke for sure. Another important thing to keep in mind is the question "is slaking providing something unique here, or is the team REALLY novelty?" For example, Swagger strategies can be used with other Pokémon such as Tauros or Salamence. This is why I made use of Slaking's other stats as well; I really think Slaking fits the team, as stupid as that may sound since the original idea was to build around it. Hope you know what I mean ;)
Here is my tried-and-true result (I admit Xatu is not very recognizable in the picture below):
Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpD
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Double-Edge
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
General Team Discussion
Ideally, Xatu uses Swagger on turn 1, during which the Persim-healed Slaking tries to eliminate the most important threat(s) using one of its attacking moves. Xatu is faster than Slaking for this reason. Due to the offensive presence of Slaking, and Xatu being relatively bulky, both Pokémon should survive turn 1, so that Xatu can use Skill Swap next turn, letting Slaking continue its onslaught. If Xatu still lives on turn 3, it can either wait a turn, for example if it wants to use Skill Swap on an opponent, or switch out if that is expected to be more effective later. Xatu is the only viable Pokémon that remains immune to EQ after using Skill Swap, and even though it's quite underrated it has just enough stats to fulfill all the tasks here. Gengar and Aerodactyl form the optimal backup in my opinion, but I don't think that discussion belongs to 'general team discussion'.
Strategies and on the Pokémon individually
The star of the team, Slaking, has a standard and fully offensive spread. This is really a matter of a 'best defense is offense' situation, maximizing the probability that both leads survive on turn 1. Swagger-boosted Return and Earthquake OHKO so many Pokémon. To compare, note that +2 Return is about 13% stronger than a Choice Banded Double-Edge, and we all know how many Pokémon are OHKOed by that. It is important to prevent recoil damage here, as Slaking will be taking hits as well in this environment. Bulk Up and Rest give access to a more long-term strategy, making use of the Early Bird ability Slaking receives. It can be used against physically (defensively) strong opponents that cannot be OHKOed easily, but also won't break Slaking's boosted Defense, such as against Forretress, Scizor, Shuckle, Cradily, Armaldo and sometimes stuff like Regirock and Tyranitar, depending on their allies. This is where Xatu's 'filler move', Light Screen, comes in handy too in some situations, for example against bulky waters or other bulkier specialists.
Xatu hits 300 Speed to outspeed Slaking and a majority of opponents. Its bulk guarantees it survives many important faster non-crit Thunderbolts, such as Gengar's. Lum Berry is to make 'as sure as possible' that Xatu can use Skill Swap on Slaking. Against Raikou or Jolteon, however, it is better to switch out to Gengar on turn 1 while Slaking Earthquakes them away (especially Jolteon, since it outspeeds Gengar). This explains the specific Cheri Berry on Gengar. Gengar is a backup Skill Swapper AND Swagger-user, should Xatu not be able to use both moves on Slaking. The worst case scenario is when Slaking gets Swaggered by Xatu, but Xatu faints due to e.g. a surprise Quick Claw next turn. This situation should be avoided at all costs.
The last Pokémon, Aerodactyl, outspeeds the faster threats to the team such as the aforementioned Electric-types, OHKOes the Levitate Ghost-types that Slaking can't touch, and can use EQ alongside Slaking when it received Levitate from Gengar or when it has used (multiple) Bulk Up(s). As usual, Rock Slide can be used to fish for flinches if necessary. Gengar and Aerodactyl together have a good haymaker effect, and saved many pinch scenarios already. This is also the reason Gengar is not made more bulky; sometimes the offensive output is just the most important (for example when Gengar and Aerodactyl have to get rid of a bulky water together). Psychic on Gengar is a second option for opposing Gengar, but generally Ice Punch provides better coverage. A Flying-STAB such as Aerial Ace is not so important here as in the Poliwrath team, because most passive Double-Teamers lose to 'long-term Slaking' anyway and here the damage output is more important than merely hitting them.
Useful strategies
Keeping Xatu alive to help Gengar and Aerodactyl later if Slaking should faint too early; don't underestimate the power of Psychic;
When in serious trouble, a decent last resort option is sometimes to use Swagger on Aerodactyl, or use Swagger against an opponent;
If extra momentum is needed, Slaking can OHKO its ally Gengar with EQ on the turn it Skill Swaps. This also prevents a 'do-nothing' turn on Gengar's side;
Xatu can use Skill Swap against opposing Levitate users on the turn Slaking uses EQ (mostly on turn 1 or 2); this way Slaking can defeat opposing Gengar for example. Cannot be combined with Light Screen on turn 1, so keep track of the 'loafing around' turns;
In some cases, it is better to switch out Slaking turn 1 and save it for later. Especially when Fire-types are around that might outspeed Slaking, such as Charizard and Typhlosion. Just switch to Aerodactyl and use Light Screen, for example. Note that Gengar has good type synergy with Slaking, so the AI can easily be fooled if it wants to use Fighting- or Ghost-type moves;
Watch out when clicking Earthquake on Aerodactyl if Gengar doesn't have Levitate. If needed, try to Skill Swap the non-Levitate ability away when Aerodactyl comes in. Sometimes it is needed to anticipate an ally's fainting for this.
Threats
As discussed, powerful Thunderbolt users should be detected and dealt with. Tyranitar hampers Slaking's longevity significantly, it can use Crunch against Xatu and Gengar can't really touch it. Especially if Quick Claw activates on an unlucky turn, it's very dangerous. For the remainder, being unlucky with status on Slaking, such as full paralysis or freeze can spell doom, although it has Rest and with only one sleeping turn, it's quite difficult for the opponent to actually beat it, especially with the offensive presence of Gengar and Aerodactyl around.
A shorter-than-usual analysis indeed, but I think that's it. I'm curious to hear your opinion. Here is a sample streak as usual.
Thanks for reading!
Edit: Xatu doesn't even learn Safeguard, so I deleted any comments about Safeguard an as optional filler. My bad!
