I want to do Professor Oak..

[Scofield]

Proud

Team at a glance

MAJOR EDIT~ I officially added Zapdos, this really changes my team dynamics, defensively and offensively.

Gengar @ Choice Scarf “I was emo //.-”
Modest- 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Levitate
~ Shadow Ball
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hypnosis
~ Focus Blast

My favorite pokemon, scarf allows for many surprise ko’s and works well with his immunities, ie switching in on rapid spin starmies and koing. The idea is to sleep the opponents starter and immediately switch to pert to rocks up asap. Yeah I know this as a lead is very common. What I don't like about leading with him is he is very fragile and if hypnosis misses I lose a valuable member of the team. Also revealing I have a ghost early kinda hurts when I want to predict and switch in on a normal, ground, fighting, or explosion attack.

Heatran @ Life Orb “BBQ Time”
Naive - 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Flash Fire
~ Fire Blast
~ Earth Power
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Explosion

Naïve since it’s the nature of the one I caught in game, which is decent enough. I’ve been trying out fire blast, I'm still not sure if lava plume, flamethrower, or overheat is better though. Life orb over specs so I can explode whenever I want. Heracross and heatran work well together, covering all of each others weaknesses except for water. Can counter azelf, celebi, jirachi, switch in on draco meteors if needed.

Heracross @ Choice Band “IR Horny”
Adamant- 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Guts
~ Megahorn
~ Close Combat
~ Stone Edge
~ Pursuit/Night Slash

I love this guy with all the love I have to give. I haven’t been using pursuit much as it allows too easy of a setup and I find that gengars tend to not switch out. Is night slash better? Originally I built the team around him, giving him paralysis support that has since been lost, but he is still amazing. I maxed speed since I wanted to beat neutral heatran.

Swampert @ Leftovers “Pert Plus”
Relaxed- 252 HP, 6 SpAtk, 252 Def
~ Roar
~ Ice Beam
~ EQ
~ Stealth Rock

A great wall with only 1 weakness, he counters so many threats, ie ttar, chomp, etc. No room for surf though. Not sure if "Pert-y" or "Pert Plus" is a better nickname though ; )

Starmie @ Leftovers “Starlight Starbright”
Timid-216 SPd,120 SpAtk, 172HP
Natural Cure
~ Surf
~ Thunderbolt
~ Ice Beam
~ Recover

Originally I used her as a rapid spinner but I since found RS to be not worth its moveslot. I've also tried sub-star with petaya (suprisingly good) but it still got walled to high hell by blissey. I settled in on recover so that he can act as a bulky water (switching in on ice beams and surfs) and recovering off the damage. I also debated grass knot for pert and psychic for gengar. She is here since without her my team is weak to ape, the dragons, and gyarados and generally slow with the exception of gengar.

Zapdos @ Leftovers “Prickly Heat” (I need help changing my in game zapdos nickname too if anyone can help >_>)
Modest-200 hp/40 spd/16 spc att/252 spc def (stolen from mystica :P)
Pressure
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
~ Discharge
~ U-turn

Replaces my lovely spiritomb. I lose priority attack. Counters all of the pokemon (breloom, kiss, cario) that were giving me problems earlier. Counters starmie and gengar too, but not quite as head on as spiritomb in the trapping and killing way. Can absorb status and works well with pert. Discharge since I already have 2 tbolters and hera gets a little paralysis support. U-turn to get away from ttar SE and to scout. What I like most about this is that it isn't that easy to set up on.

Team Cons:

No priority attacks (my main and biggest concern.)

Not one single pokemon that can stat up. I thought about replacing heracross with SD lucario but that gives a good weakness to EQ.

Gengar is a really fragile lead. Very common too and all those lum starters really screw me over. If hypnosis misses and he gets koed I'm at a real disadvantage as gengar is a big part of my team.

No grass attacks for pert.

Breloom sets up too easily, and lucario is a beast to take down once its SD up. (Not so much anymore with zapdos.)

Overall: This team is meant to hurt teams by hitting hard on the switch and forcing lots of switches. It does have pretty good unity and coverage, never relenting and hitting plenty hard. I want this team to be perfect but it isn’t….not yet at least. I've made it into the top 100 but this team isn't still perfectly to my liking yet.

 

[ToF]

Proud


Roserade @ Focus Sash “SoupOrSalad?”
Timid - 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Natural Cure
~ Stun Spore
~ Sleep powder
~ Grass Knot
~ Sludge Bomb

I’ve fallen in love with Roserade leads, double power > hypnosis + u turn crobat. I love leads that shut down the opponents opening strategy and roserade does that to perfection. If I’m lucky the switch in is a fragile fast sweeper like infernape, weavile, or gengar. I prefer grass knot over energy ball since sludge bomb gives me stab, although I wish I could get a good hp fire.

Poison is a horrible attacking type in the OU environment. HP Fire/Ice is a much better option.

Heatran @ Life Orb “BBQTime”
Naive - 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Flash Fire
~ Overheat
~ Earth Power
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Explosion
Naïve since it’s the nature of the one I caught in game, which is decent enough. I’ve come to love overheat as he is more of a hit and run pokemon anyways. Life orb over specs so I can explode whenever I want.

Overheat on a Life Orb Heatran is not worth it. I would use Fire Blast/Flamethrower in that spot. Consider Magma Storm as well for trapping Blissey and then Exploding in her face for a surefire KO.

Heracross @ Choice Band “IRHorny”
Adamant- 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Guts
~ Megahorn
~ Close Combat
~ Stone Edge
~ Pursuit

I love this guy with all the love I have to give. I haven’t been using pursuit much as it allows too easy of a setup and I find that gengars tend to not switch out. Is night slash better?

I prefer pursuit on CBCross.

Gengar @ Choice Scarf “PeeOnU”
Modest- 252 SpAtk, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Levitate
~ Shadow Ball
~ Thunderbolt
~ HP Ice
~ Focus Blast

My favorite pokemon, scarf allows for many surprise ko’s and works well with his immunities, ie switching in on rapid spin starmies and koing. Right now he has energy ball solely for pert, on shoddy id prolly go with hp ice and hypnosis is decent but I already have a sleeper roserade and I dislike the thought of having to switch out after hypnosis.

Go with HP Ice in that third slot for revenge killing those annoying Dragons.

Swampert @ Leftovers “Pert-y”
Relaxed- 252 HP, 6 SpAtk, 252 Def
~ Roar
~ Ice Beam
~ EQ
~ Stealth Rock

I great wall with only 1 weakness, he counters so many threats, ie ttar, chomp, etc. No room for surf though.

Works fine I guess...can always move Stealth Rock to Mesprit to make room for Surf.

Mesprit @ Leftovers “WetDrmz”
Sassy 6 SpAtk, 252 Def, 252 HP
Levitate
~ Psychic
~ Thunderbolt
~ Ice Beam
~ Calm Mind

Sassy is the nature of my ingame mesprit which isnt great but it could be worse. He gives me my only pokemon that can really set up with a stat upping move. Great coverage to counter gyarados, dragons, infernape.

Mesprit shouldn't be statting up in my opinion. There are much better choices to use.

This team is meant to hurt teams by hitting hard on the switch and forcing lots of switches. I have 1 weakness to fighting, 3 resistances, 1 immunity, and the other one is my main physical wall. 2 immunities to EQ. Sadly, I ended up picking 4 of the same pokemon as Aldaron, although with different movesets. I didn’t even do that on purpose. I want this team to be perfect but it isn’t….not yet at least. I've made close to 50 teams on shoddy and I still can't get it right.....

Note I'll edit this with pictures real soon, I just gottahead out right nowand I really wanted to get this up asap.

The main problem I see with this team is, coincidentally, Garchomp and Tyranitar. After a Swords Dance, Garchomp can rip through your team with Outrage. Heatran is your only resist, but it will take a lot from Outrage as well. Also, you have no "special wall" to soak up hits from opposing Azelfs/Gengars/PorygonZs. Gengar can revenge kill, but any smart player will exploit the scarf. If Mesprit does not Calm Mind enough, you could be in hot water. I suggest changing Heatran's spread and set to a more defensive one. 244HP, 186 Sp.Def, rest in Sp.Att/Speed. Lava Plume, Earth Power, Rest, Sleep Talk. This adds a status absorber as well as the potential to burn things that give you trouble, such as Garchomp. Gyarados can go in place of Mesprit as well. It adds nice resistances for the team to work with, and also helps deal with Tyranitar and Garchomp.

 

[Scofield]

Thanks for the rate. I would most definitely use those hidden powers on shoddy, but I've been playing on shoddy for months and want to build this team in game as well, as I miss the animations. Hence why I'm using sludge bomb on roserade and energy ball on gengar.

I prefer a speedier spread on heatran since my in game heatran is naive and I don't want the nature to go to waste, although I will try the bulkier spread on shoddy. Right now roserade is my sleep absorber.

Pursuit it is on heracross.

I can replace mesprit but I have no idea what to replace it with. Ideally I'd love a good Zapdos, but again, in game it is kind of impractical to get one with hp ice, let alone a good one with good ivs/natures (I don't really have anything "Smogon worthy" to trade on these threads.)

Gyarados would be ok except then I don't really have anything that can absorb a tbolt except for pert. I'd love a good special wall but I just can't seem to find one that would give me a second ice attack, a stat up move, and/or a priority attack that can stand up to garchomp.

Garchomp, infernape, and lucario can be problems if they get in a sd/np. Ttar is easily countered by pert or heracross, can be ohkoed by FB or slept by roserade if it's a lead.

Thanks for the insight, from what I gather from what you said, I could just replace mesprit and the team would be fine, I just don't know what I could replace it with.

Edit: For the last slot, I was considering curse baton passing umbreon, can counter azelf, gengar, and starmie, while setting up on outrage garchomps before baton passing to pert, but everyone else thinks umbreon sucks. Also, I was thinking about clefable, but she isn't really that wallish at all and can fall easily to ape, chomp, and cario. I might end up having to switch out more than just mesprit, but I don't know what else to change.

 

[ToF]

Being Wifi messes up a lot of things lol.

Ideally, I think Gyarados fits best, as you have your Ground to absorb it, so the electric attacks shouldn't worry you.

Tyranitar can 2HKO Swampert if Crunch induces a defense drop (CBTar), which is why you may be interested in more bulk. Suicune fits as well in Gyarados's place, but then again, being Wifi complicates things =/

 

[Scofield]

Bump for major edits (hopefully that is ok.)

 

[Kira]

I dont think your Gengar is going to fare well as a Rapid Spin blocker when it is your lead pokemon... Unless the opponent is stupid they are going to use surf, knowing that you will most likely predict a rapid spin...

 

[Scofield]

Yep, you are right, orginally gengar wasn't my lead, and I guess I didn't realize that no longer applied. I actually now mostly switch in spiritomb on starmie to pursuit/sucker punch. That's one of the things I don't like about leading with gengar though, as I stated (maybe not clearly enough).

 

[matty]

nvm, most of the things have already been mentioned

 

[Ninjarabian]

I'd say that Flame Thrower is the best choice for Heatran, but that's my personal preferance, I have been screwed by the accuracy of Fire Blast too many times.

 

[junior]

Your team lacks the ability to take hit. You might say, 'Sure, Offensive teams don't either' but the major difference is that they hit damn hard and revenge kills so easily it requires little to no defense. For this, I'm suggesting using a Rest Talk Swampert just so you can survive a little longer, seeing as none of your pokemons can take consecutive hits as well as Swampert can.

Nitpicking time.

Heracross wants Pursuit to hit everything that would run away from it. Night Slash and Megahorn hits everything just as hard as each other, with Megahorn being stronger or only slightly weaker.

Lif Orb works really well on Starmie IMO. Max out Spe and SpA and it makes a great revenge killer. I personally use it on my main team and find it great, and not to mention surprising. In doing this, you can can easily take out YacheChomps with 70% of their health left, which is amazing, otherwise, Chomp will just run rampant around your team.

 

[Scofield]

When you say my team "can't take a hit" that is very generic, which pokemon in particular give me trouble? Restalk pert would lose me both SR and Roar, not to mention I find restalking unreliable at best. I'm all for changing my team to be able to take a hit though ;O

My main problem with pursuit/nightslash is that it hits ghosts whereas ghosts resist megahorn. I'll prolly leave pursuit but I find that nothing really flees from heracross that is weak to it and id rather hit the incoming wall with a CC for the 2hko than give it a chance to set up. I find myself using stone edge when I predict a gengar incoming however it has fairly bad acc.

Now, where you really lose me is when you say I should make starmie more sweeper oriented and less bulky when at the same time you say I can't take a hit. Starmie can come in on fire, ice, some fighting, and water attacks all day long and recover off the damage later.

Now obviously you have a lot of posts so you know what you are talking about, but by any chance are you underestimating heatran and heracross's ability to hit hard on the switch not to mention gengar and starmies speed + sweeping ability? Swampert + Spiritomb last a good long while, although not as long as I'd like. I'm honestly all for changes though, so thanks for the criticism.

 

[junior]

Sorry about being so vague, but hard hitters in general. What I'm talking about are the common threats in this metagame, Garchomp, Lucario, Salamence and so on. They all pose a big threat to your team and you look like you'll have a hard time taking their hits.

The thing is, when Heracross comes into the playing field, many people would think 'Ok, it's going to Close Combat so I'll switch to something that resists it' or 'Hey! Gliscor is on my team, let's go to it and be safe'. This will give them the chance to attack your switch or set up with you doing very little damage but Pursuiting the switch-out will create a huge dent in them and leave them vulnerable for their next switch-in.

Starmie isn't going to take a lot of hits at all to be honest, and since you're going for such an offensive orientated Starmie, I'm just suggesting something that lets you hit slightly harder and threaten a lot of the pokemon (Celebi can't even counter it as Ice Beam 2HKOs, same goes with Heatran and a bulky water and that combo seems like the most popular walling strategy).

Lol, you shouldn't really judge people by how many posts we have. Some people just post-whore but don't really have any idea what they're talking about.

Starmie can't really sweep with that little special attack. This is another reason why I'm recommending you to use a 4/252/252 spread on it. Just for that extra speed that Gyarados always aims to beat (352) or in case they decide to pack a little more speed just in case.

Ironically, your walling duos fall to BandCross. I see you're trying to use Spiritomb as a counter to Gengar and Azelf as well as using it as a special wall. The first bit can work, but utilizing it as a special wall isn't going to work. It's not bulky enough in my opinion. It's special defense is certainly above average, but the lack of HP just makes it fail as one. You really want a more solid Special Wall.

 

[Scofield]

Hmm, im strongly considering zapdos in the last slot. Zapdos helps with lucario, breloom, infernape, gyarados, heracross, gengar, starmie (obviously the special threats more than the phyiscal).

something like
modest
200 hp/40 spd/16 spc att/252 spc def (stolen from mystica :P)
tbolt
hp ice/uturn
rest
sleep talk

in game id prolly use u turn (maybe even hp flying isnce thats what it has for hera ape and breloom)

or maybe even twave/roost in the last slots to support heracross?

sorry for the bump, I stopped playing for a while (ps, I did reach the top 100 but fell out when I stopped playing)

This would go over spiritomb as my special wall btw, zapdos works well with pert and while he doesnt take on ghosts/psychics as head on as spiritomb he can take hypnosis and maybe support hera with twave

also, can anyone nickname my in game zapdos for me so that it isnt so bland? D:

 

[Scofield]

I'm going to give this one more bump, as I officially added zapdos, and I feel this warrants enough changes in the team for one bump.

 

[Scofield]

Sorry for the triple post, but I wanted dormin to rate it :s

 

[Dormin]

Hmmm, I kind of want to say that Gengar isn't a great lead anymore, the metagame has kind of left him behind as far as leads are concerned. Practically every lead counters him with a resttalker/lum berry, or they just switch to their sleep absorber.

You mention that you used to use Spiritomb, which I think is a fantastic lead. Between Taunt and Sucker Punch/Pursuit, your already screwing over Bronzong and Gengar. Add Will-o-wisp or somesuch and your sitting pretty against a lot of leads.

I also think Garchomp would be more threatening over Choice Band Heracross, or some other set-up sweeper, which your team desperately wants for clean up.

To make up for the loss of speed if you replace Gengar, you could always scarve Heatran, but its good at the moment to have a strong attacker which doesn't need set-up.

With the changes Blissey might start to give you headaches, but Heatran can always explode on it, which I recommend. I might be tempted to drop resttalk on Zapdos now that Spiritomb would handle sleep from Gengar/Bronzong, but meh. In either case Zapdos should have HP Ice over U-turn--the more Yachechomp coverage the better x_x

Anyways test out the changes--the lack of speed might start to hurt, but I think the team handles most faster threats no problem. Good luck!

 

[Taylor]

If you made contact with Dormin, why didn't you simply ask him to rate it in PM instead of going to unreasonable lenghs, reviving a topic that is over one month old? Not to forget the fact you have bumped this topic on more than one occasion. To top it off, triple posting in the same topic with no good reason (not that there are any in the first place). This is unneccesary and ridiculous.