I don’t always post in more competitive forums, but when I do, I like to make them count. This will still only be the second time I’ve made an RMT, so I apologize in advance for anything that doesn’t appear perfectly organized. I’m posting this RMT in particular for the purpose of hopefully collecting more information to further develop this core I’ve designed into a team and/or team style that can succeed on the DPP OU ladder. Thanks for your help in advance, and let’s dive right into the squad.
The Team
In its current state, this team is a bulky offensive Trick Room archetype designed to take advantage of DPP OU’s “Big Five” teams, those of which consist of Jirachi, Tyranitar, Latias, Clefable, and Skarmory. Frequently, Big Five archetype teams add in a bulky Ground-Type in the sixth team slot to round out their matchup spread. In my search to find a balance core that can contend with the members of the tier’s Big Five, I stumbled upon the idea of using an old gem that’s been lost to the history books of Past Gens Doubles formats. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long post.
Bronzong @ Macho Brace
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion
This team needed a Trick Room setter just as much as it needed a proper win condition, and after over a month of comparing the Pokémon in DPP OU that learn the move, I settled in on Bronzong as both my Trick Room setter and as a potential anti-lead, hence its current team slot placement. The main draw for Bronzong as a Trick Room setter for this team was its better matchup against Tyranitar compared to other potential options like Celebi or Cresselia. The lack of a Bug-Type weakness for the purpose of U-Turn and immunity to sandstorm damage are nice bonuses too. The Pokémon Showdown team builder seems to agree with this decision, as no other recommended movesets for any Pokémon in the DPP OU threat list includes a Trick Room variant, not unlike what BW2 OU is seeing with Reuniclus as of late. Traditionally Trick Room Bronzong runs Gyro Ball, Earthquake, and Explosion as its three attacking moves, but Zen Headbutt can also be utilized to provide more reassurance against Fighting-Types in a strategy I’ll talk about with a later team member. As an added bonus, Zen Headbutt can also help Bronzong against a common ladder lead in Machamp if used in the lead slot, although this isn’t always reliable as Machamp can confuse you with DynamicPunch. If worried about this interaction, just use Zen Headbutt on Turn 1 instead of Trick Room to do as much damage as possible before switching out and saving both Bronzong and its Trick Room for later in the battle.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Eruption
- Earth Power
- Lava Plume
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Let me introduce the primary win condition and centerpiece of this team, a Pokémon only obtainable from a discontinued Wi-Fi event in 2010 from my favorite video game in history. I’ll save you guys the full story, but I’ve wanted to use this set for as long as I’ve been able to call myself a Pokémon fan since I didn’t have access to Nintendo WFC while this Heatran was still available. Over 12 years later, I’ve found a way for Pokémon Showdown to help me realize this wish. The cult classic Eruption Heatran was distributed with a guaranteed Quiet nature, which had players questioning how it was supposed to be used in multiplayer. That is, until some clever VGC 2010 players decided to pair it with Trick Room Cresselia sets and ended up breaking the metagame wide open. Together with a viable setter like Bronzong, Eruption Heatran is arguably my single most favorite set in the entirety of Pokémon and is an absolute ton of fun to practice with. The moveset I came up with is pretty simple- Eruption should be obvious, and Flamethrower gives Heatran a reliable Fire-Type move to click in scenarios where Eruption would do less damage. Lava Plume can be used in place of Flamethrower if you’re looking for a higher burn rate in place of some power, though. Earth Power is necessary type coverage against a number of targets and is by far Heatran’s best option against opposing Heatran. Finally, Hidden Power Grass hits specific targets that aren’t as afraid of Heatran’s other moves for super-effective damage, such as bulky Water-Types, although Hidden Power Ice can be used to potentially snipe Dragonite and Flygon switching in on the turn Trick Room runs out. The specific combination of nature, EVs, and Hidden Power IVs for both Grass and Ice gives this Heatran a Speed stat of 171 at Level 100, the knowledge of which may be helpful to know while Trick Room is active.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb
- Mach Punch
Every good win condition needs a powerful offensive partner to help it deal with bad matchups. In Heatran’s case, its worst matchups are a combination of bulky Water-Types, bulky Ground-Types, although anything with Ground-Type coverage at all can potentially be a threat, and specially defensive Clefable who can get near-guaranteed Stealth Rock up and annoy Heatran in a number of other ways (although sometimes switching Heatran into a Thunder Wave can actually be a good thing, since it prevents Heatran from being put to sleep while simultaneously further lowering its Speed stat). Breloom’s role on this team is to provide necessary reassurance against the aforementioned Clefable as well as Swampert, Water Absorb Quagsire, most Tyranitar sets due to an interesting metagame flaw (mixed sets with Fire Blast don’t run Chople Berry due to needing Passho Berry for the bulky Water-Types that Steel-Type Fire Blast targets are usually paired with), and potentially even opposing Heatran depending on the situation. All three of Spore, Seed Bomb, and Mach Punch have their uses against those threats, with the fourth move slot being reserved either for Superpower for more Fighting-Type damage to push bulky neutral targets over the edge, or Stone Edge for Flying-Types such Gyarados, Zapdos, and all three of UUBL residents Strapator, Crobat, and Honchkrow, the first two of which cannot switch in while Trick Room is up.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Choice Band Tyranitar is one of Breloom’s most consistently reliable partners in both low and high ladder, being the team’s main response to most variants of Latias, Azelf, Celebi, Rotom, as well as rarer choices in today’s metagame like Gengar and Cresselia. As one might expect, all of these matchups are easiest assuming Tyranitar’s target(s) aren’t running Colbur Berry. Breloom and the rest of the team already loves Tyanitar’s ability to Pursuit trap these threats as is, but there’s always that underlying possibility of Trick Room being up, enabling the usually slow Tyranitar to crush even more Pokémon with its choices of physical coverage moves. All three of Stone Edge, Superpower, and a Fire-Type move- even the non-Choice Band-boosted Fire Blast if you felt like it- are viable candidates for Tyranitar’s last two movesets after Pursuit and Crunch. If you don’t want to run Choice Band and/or two Dark-Type moves on the same set, a different held item can be selected with one of Tyranitar’s attacking move slots being opened up for Stealth Rock, which this team can struggle to set up otherwise.
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunder Wave
Between Breloom, Tyranitar, and Magnezone, this team should have everything it needs to handle most staples of the Big Five DPP OU archetype. Magnezone in particular is the team’s best answer to Tier King Jirachi as well as the two Steel-Type Spikes setters being Skarmory and Forretress. I ended up choosing to use a Magnet Rise variant as my preferred Magnezone set, as the Choice sets didn’t allow Magnezone to switch moves and the Choice Scarf set in particular felt counter-intuitive to the usual goals of a bulky Trick Room team. Magnet Rise sets, on the other hand, can not only switch moves, but have an even easier time trapping Steel-Types that run any form of Ground-Type coverage. It’s extremely hard to pull off in practice, but Magnet Rise can also single-handedly flip the script on Gyarados that would have preferred to have been able to use Earthquake on Magnezone prior to switching out. With Magnet Rise active, Gyarados can still use a potentially boosted Waterfall to inflict solid damage, though, which is why I’m planning on replacing some of Magnezone’s usual Special Attack EV investment with more physical bulk, as STAB Thunderbolt and super-effective Hidden Powers can usually do enough damage against trapped targets anyways. One more thing before we move onto the last team member- if otherwise trapped Steel-Types happen to be Shed Shell against this Magnezone set, they can be dealt with by paralyzing them with one of the team’s two potential Thunder Wave users, which will then leave them vulnerable to Heatran’s Fire-Type moves since they won’t be holding Lum Berry and Shed Shell at the same time.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
An extremely unique Clefable set rounds out the rest of what this team needs, being one of two potential Stealth Rock setters alongside Tyranitar as well as one of two potential Thunder Wave users. Your choice of three of Soft-Boiled, Knock Off, Stealth Rock, and Thunder Wave will be taking up your first three move slots- but what about the fourth? This is where this set’s secret weapons come into play. In modern-day DPP OU, the status-immune Poison Heal Breloom can switch into and counter Clefable extremely easily, with similar feats being achievable by other Fighting-Types. Just when your opponent thought they could take advantage of Clefable’s passivity, they’ll be shocked to learn it’s actually holding a Chople Berry and that just like that their Breloom just got eviscerated by a four-times super-effective Hidden Power Flying. As hinted earlier, this strategy can also be used alongside Zen Headbutt Bronzong to beat Machamp leads, so long as the Turn 1 move selection as mentioned in Bronzong’s section is utilized properly.
(Post-playtest edit: With the given EV spread with 4 EVs in Special Attack, Hidden Power Flying still only connects for roughly 90% on -2 Sp. Def Infernape. As such, I've started experimenting with a more standard Clefable set that would offer the team more flexibility outside of the Fighting-Type matchups.)
Threats to the Team’s Success
(All forms)
If Tyranitar is defeated prior to Rotom’s appearance on the opponent’s team, Rotom can annoy the other members of this team depending on its form and if it is running one of its powerful special coverage moves. Overheat can deal big damage to Bronzong and Breloom, while Hydro Pump can deal a significant blow to Heatran. None of Bronzong, Tyranitar, or Breloom prior to its Toxic Orb activating appreciate switching to Will-o-Wisp, either.
Machamp teams are this roster’s biggest weakness as far as team archetypes are concerned. The issue with Machamp isn’t so much with Machamp itself, so much as the fact that an opponent’s lead Machamp is going to be paired with five other Pokémon in the back during any significant high ladder or tournament game. Having to trade this team’s Trick Room setter and possibly Clefable for the opponent’s lead generally isn’t a good thing, and may require further team optimizations compared to battling against other leads. Nothing on this team really enjoys taking a DynamicPunch, either.
During the time in which this thread was previously locked, I ran into a hyper offense team on the low ladder that had a Swords Dance Gliscor in the back behind a mirror Bronzong lead, if I'm remembering things correctly. It was at that moment when I just kind of sat there and realized... in its current state, this team just doesn't have a reliable Gliscor check. While in theory I could switch Heatran over to Hidden Power Ice for this matchup, in practice this only works while Trick Room is active, meaning Gliscor still wins that matchup the large majority of the time.
Dedicated PokéPaste link for easy team copying: https://pokepast.es/e2c31652b5c680cc
The Team
In its current state, this team is a bulky offensive Trick Room archetype designed to take advantage of DPP OU’s “Big Five” teams, those of which consist of Jirachi, Tyranitar, Latias, Clefable, and Skarmory. Frequently, Big Five archetype teams add in a bulky Ground-Type in the sixth team slot to round out their matchup spread. In my search to find a balance core that can contend with the members of the tier’s Big Five, I stumbled upon the idea of using an old gem that’s been lost to the history books of Past Gens Doubles formats. Buckle up, because this is going to be a long post.
Bronzong @ Macho Brace
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Trick Room
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake
- Explosion
This team needed a Trick Room setter just as much as it needed a proper win condition, and after over a month of comparing the Pokémon in DPP OU that learn the move, I settled in on Bronzong as both my Trick Room setter and as a potential anti-lead, hence its current team slot placement. The main draw for Bronzong as a Trick Room setter for this team was its better matchup against Tyranitar compared to other potential options like Celebi or Cresselia. The lack of a Bug-Type weakness for the purpose of U-Turn and immunity to sandstorm damage are nice bonuses too. The Pokémon Showdown team builder seems to agree with this decision, as no other recommended movesets for any Pokémon in the DPP OU threat list includes a Trick Room variant, not unlike what BW2 OU is seeing with Reuniclus as of late. Traditionally Trick Room Bronzong runs Gyro Ball, Earthquake, and Explosion as its three attacking moves, but Zen Headbutt can also be utilized to provide more reassurance against Fighting-Types in a strategy I’ll talk about with a later team member. As an added bonus, Zen Headbutt can also help Bronzong against a common ladder lead in Machamp if used in the lead slot, although this isn’t always reliable as Machamp can confuse you with DynamicPunch. If worried about this interaction, just use Zen Headbutt on Turn 1 instead of Trick Room to do as much damage as possible before switching out and saving both Bronzong and its Trick Room for later in the battle.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Eruption
- Earth Power
- Lava Plume
- Hidden Power [Grass]
Let me introduce the primary win condition and centerpiece of this team, a Pokémon only obtainable from a discontinued Wi-Fi event in 2010 from my favorite video game in history. I’ll save you guys the full story, but I’ve wanted to use this set for as long as I’ve been able to call myself a Pokémon fan since I didn’t have access to Nintendo WFC while this Heatran was still available. Over 12 years later, I’ve found a way for Pokémon Showdown to help me realize this wish. The cult classic Eruption Heatran was distributed with a guaranteed Quiet nature, which had players questioning how it was supposed to be used in multiplayer. That is, until some clever VGC 2010 players decided to pair it with Trick Room Cresselia sets and ended up breaking the metagame wide open. Together with a viable setter like Bronzong, Eruption Heatran is arguably my single most favorite set in the entirety of Pokémon and is an absolute ton of fun to practice with. The moveset I came up with is pretty simple- Eruption should be obvious, and Flamethrower gives Heatran a reliable Fire-Type move to click in scenarios where Eruption would do less damage. Lava Plume can be used in place of Flamethrower if you’re looking for a higher burn rate in place of some power, though. Earth Power is necessary type coverage against a number of targets and is by far Heatran’s best option against opposing Heatran. Finally, Hidden Power Grass hits specific targets that aren’t as afraid of Heatran’s other moves for super-effective damage, such as bulky Water-Types, although Hidden Power Ice can be used to potentially snipe Dragonite and Flygon switching in on the turn Trick Room runs out. The specific combination of nature, EVs, and Hidden Power IVs for both Grass and Ice gives this Heatran a Speed stat of 171 at Level 100, the knowledge of which may be helpful to know while Trick Room is active.
Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Superpower
- Seed Bomb
- Mach Punch
Every good win condition needs a powerful offensive partner to help it deal with bad matchups. In Heatran’s case, its worst matchups are a combination of bulky Water-Types, bulky Ground-Types, although anything with Ground-Type coverage at all can potentially be a threat, and specially defensive Clefable who can get near-guaranteed Stealth Rock up and annoy Heatran in a number of other ways (although sometimes switching Heatran into a Thunder Wave can actually be a good thing, since it prevents Heatran from being put to sleep while simultaneously further lowering its Speed stat). Breloom’s role on this team is to provide necessary reassurance against the aforementioned Clefable as well as Swampert, Water Absorb Quagsire, most Tyranitar sets due to an interesting metagame flaw (mixed sets with Fire Blast don’t run Chople Berry due to needing Passho Berry for the bulky Water-Types that Steel-Type Fire Blast targets are usually paired with), and potentially even opposing Heatran depending on the situation. All three of Spore, Seed Bomb, and Mach Punch have their uses against those threats, with the fourth move slot being reserved either for Superpower for more Fighting-Type damage to push bulky neutral targets over the edge, or Stone Edge for Flying-Types such Gyarados, Zapdos, and all three of UUBL residents Strapator, Crobat, and Honchkrow, the first two of which cannot switch in while Trick Room is up.
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 180 HP / 252 Atk / 76 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Choice Band Tyranitar is one of Breloom’s most consistently reliable partners in both low and high ladder, being the team’s main response to most variants of Latias, Azelf, Celebi, Rotom, as well as rarer choices in today’s metagame like Gengar and Cresselia. As one might expect, all of these matchups are easiest assuming Tyranitar’s target(s) aren’t running Colbur Berry. Breloom and the rest of the team already loves Tyanitar’s ability to Pursuit trap these threats as is, but there’s always that underlying possibility of Trick Room being up, enabling the usually slow Tyranitar to crush even more Pokémon with its choices of physical coverage moves. All three of Stone Edge, Superpower, and a Fire-Type move- even the non-Choice Band-boosted Fire Blast if you felt like it- are viable candidates for Tyranitar’s last two movesets after Pursuit and Crunch. If you don’t want to run Choice Band and/or two Dark-Type moves on the same set, a different held item can be selected with one of Tyranitar’s attacking move slots being opened up for Stealth Rock, which this team can struggle to set up otherwise.
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunder Wave
Between Breloom, Tyranitar, and Magnezone, this team should have everything it needs to handle most staples of the Big Five DPP OU archetype. Magnezone in particular is the team’s best answer to Tier King Jirachi as well as the two Steel-Type Spikes setters being Skarmory and Forretress. I ended up choosing to use a Magnet Rise variant as my preferred Magnezone set, as the Choice sets didn’t allow Magnezone to switch moves and the Choice Scarf set in particular felt counter-intuitive to the usual goals of a bulky Trick Room team. Magnet Rise sets, on the other hand, can not only switch moves, but have an even easier time trapping Steel-Types that run any form of Ground-Type coverage. It’s extremely hard to pull off in practice, but Magnet Rise can also single-handedly flip the script on Gyarados that would have preferred to have been able to use Earthquake on Magnezone prior to switching out. With Magnet Rise active, Gyarados can still use a potentially boosted Waterfall to inflict solid damage, though, which is why I’m planning on replacing some of Magnezone’s usual Special Attack EV investment with more physical bulk, as STAB Thunderbolt and super-effective Hidden Powers can usually do enough damage against trapped targets anyways. One more thing before we move onto the last team member- if otherwise trapped Steel-Types happen to be Shed Shell against this Magnezone set, they can be dealt with by paralyzing them with one of the team’s two potential Thunder Wave users, which will then leave them vulnerable to Heatran’s Fire-Type moves since they won’t be holding Lum Berry and Shed Shell at the same time.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunder Wave
- Knock Off
- Seismic Toss
- Soft-Boiled
An extremely unique Clefable set rounds out the rest of what this team needs, being one of two potential Stealth Rock setters alongside Tyranitar as well as one of two potential Thunder Wave users. Your choice of three of Soft-Boiled, Knock Off, Stealth Rock, and Thunder Wave will be taking up your first three move slots- but what about the fourth? This is where this set’s secret weapons come into play. In modern-day DPP OU, the status-immune Poison Heal Breloom can switch into and counter Clefable extremely easily, with similar feats being achievable by other Fighting-Types. Just when your opponent thought they could take advantage of Clefable’s passivity, they’ll be shocked to learn it’s actually holding a Chople Berry and that just like that their Breloom just got eviscerated by a four-times super-effective Hidden Power Flying. As hinted earlier, this strategy can also be used alongside Zen Headbutt Bronzong to beat Machamp leads, so long as the Turn 1 move selection as mentioned in Bronzong’s section is utilized properly.
(Post-playtest edit: With the given EV spread with 4 EVs in Special Attack, Hidden Power Flying still only connects for roughly 90% on -2 Sp. Def Infernape. As such, I've started experimenting with a more standard Clefable set that would offer the team more flexibility outside of the Fighting-Type matchups.)
Threats to the Team’s Success
(All forms)If Tyranitar is defeated prior to Rotom’s appearance on the opponent’s team, Rotom can annoy the other members of this team depending on its form and if it is running one of its powerful special coverage moves. Overheat can deal big damage to Bronzong and Breloom, while Hydro Pump can deal a significant blow to Heatran. None of Bronzong, Tyranitar, or Breloom prior to its Toxic Orb activating appreciate switching to Will-o-Wisp, either.
Machamp teams are this roster’s biggest weakness as far as team archetypes are concerned. The issue with Machamp isn’t so much with Machamp itself, so much as the fact that an opponent’s lead Machamp is going to be paired with five other Pokémon in the back during any significant high ladder or tournament game. Having to trade this team’s Trick Room setter and possibly Clefable for the opponent’s lead generally isn’t a good thing, and may require further team optimizations compared to battling against other leads. Nothing on this team really enjoys taking a DynamicPunch, either.
During the time in which this thread was previously locked, I ran into a hyper offense team on the low ladder that had a Swords Dance Gliscor in the back behind a mirror Bronzong lead, if I'm remembering things correctly. It was at that moment when I just kind of sat there and realized... in its current state, this team just doesn't have a reliable Gliscor check. While in theory I could switch Heatran over to Hidden Power Ice for this matchup, in practice this only works while Trick Room is active, meaning Gliscor still wins that matchup the large majority of the time.
Dedicated PokéPaste link for easy team copying: https://pokepast.es/e2c31652b5c680cc
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