Monotype Myrmecophobia - Twave Durant Offensive MonoSteel (Peaked #8)

[Sae]

Myrmecophobia - Twave Durant Offensive MonoSteel (Peaked #8 - 1648)​

Proof:​

Proof

Introduction:

Honestly I'm surprised that my first RMT would be a Mono Steel team. For one, I never ladder with it and I think the only times I've actually built a Steel team was for a Monothreat (for those that aren't aware Monothreats is basically a metagame where everyone is given the same type and you have to build your team to counter team anything that type might have to win). I'm actually a Water user most notably known for using Suicune, but I left my roots to go build a team for a type that I don't dabble in.

I got this idea from a Skype call where I was asking some of the Mono Staff for some shitmons ideas to go beat Anttya with. Everyone was listing off really terrible ideas, until someone told me to try a Durant (because !dt Duranttya). So with the idea of using a some sort of gimmick, I stumbled upon the fact that Durant actually got Thunder Wave.

And then I beat Anttya who was using an actual OU team against my shitmons team with some of my favorites like Specs Machamp with of course the Twave Durant. Anyway, I had a Durant vs Anttya's Heatran, she expected the Superpower so she switched to Latias, gets Paralyzed on the switch, dies to X-Scissor, then sends her last mon Heatran which dies to a Superpower. When I saw this gimmick actually work, I decided to build a monoteam for it about a year later when I got bored of laddering with the same teams over and over again.

(Also in case you're wondering myrmecophobia is the intense fear of ants. Fitting right :p)
Teambuilding Process:
​

I had to of course start with the mascot of the team. Nice Atk stat, enough speed to outrun the fighting base 108's, and it's further compounded by the ability Hustle. Thunder Wave allows it to support the rest of the team who can't keep up with some of the faster teams.

Next I went with the obvious choice of Heatran. Heatran provides the necessary Fire immunity for the rest of the team. It's a really good glue mon for Steel. I went for an offfensive spread because it'll be more rewarding if I get the Thunder Wave off from Durant.

The next mon is Skarmory. Skarm provides a Ground immunity, a SR user so Heatran wouldn't have to set it up, and a nice defensive wall.

While Mega Scizor might sound weird since I already have a Bug/Steel mon in Durant, Mega Scizor is really key to the success of this team. It provides a win condition for the team, backup mon in case Durant misses from Hustle, and it eases off some of the pressure Skarm has when taking physical hits.

Jirachi provides much needed coverage for the team. It has a plethora of moves to choose from and I needed another special attacker to ease the use of my Heatran.

Bisharp rounds out the crew by providing another priority user, Knock Off user, and Defog deterrent. It fits in nicely with the offensive nature of the team which is why I kept this instead of switching to Klefki. I did try Klefki for a bit; while Klefki does better vs Fighting, provides more support in an additional Twave user, and screens support for Mega Scizor and Jirachi, it ultimately lost me some momentum I needed. Bisharp on the other hand can provides an offensive lead which deters others from gaining momentum, and actually is the only real lead Pokemon I liked for this team.
​

The Sets:

Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Iron Head
- Superpower / Rock Slide
- Thunder Wave

Ah good old Twave Durant. This mon puts in a surprising amount of work with Twave. Notably, it outspeeds Infernape, Keldeo, Terrakion, Mega Charizard Y, and pre-Mega forms like Pinsir, Gallade, and Gyarados. The 8 HP allows Durant to hit 259 HP which should be a LO number. Dual Stab + Superpower is the main coverage, but Rock Slide is an option. Superpower helps in more cases like hitting Keldeo, getting rid of Steel types, and hitting Normal teams hard. However, Rock Slide helps deter Fire and Flying teams to an extent. Just be wary that Rock Slide + Hustle is extremely frustrating to use on occasion.

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 52 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge

I borrowed scpinion's set from his HO team because I didn't want Heatran to be passive if I was to use it with a Twave Durant, but I wanted to retain some semblance of bulk. Modest STAB Fire Blast really puts on the heat especially if you use Heatran to pivot into a Sableye or something that uses WoW immediately. Earth Power is to beat other Heatrans which are especially scary to face since I'm not running max speed. HP Ice helps beat things like Gliscor, Lando-T, and random dragons like Salamence. Stone Edge is really good because it beats both Mega Y and Volcarona which are major threats to the team. Mega Y's Focus Blast only OHKO's Heatran 6.3% of the time with this spread, and 204 Spe creeps Adamant base 70's and those that creep that by one point. Air Balloon is really important since it allows me another (albeit temporary) immunity to Spikes since this team doesn't run a defogger.

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Skarmory is really important to the team. The moveset is pretty standard although I do not run Defog because I feel that Whirlwind and Brave Bird are too important to not have. Normally, I'd have thought to put Spikes on Skarmory since Steel types have plenty of SR users. However, since the other mons that could be SR users are more offensive I had to leave it to Skarm.

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

Mega Scizor is the main win condition for the team. The EV spread is not customized since I need max attack to get the immediate power to threaten teams, while being as bulky as possible. Mega Scizor also provides another Steel coverage in case Durant misses with its Iron Head. It also sets up on a lot of the tankier mons like Conkeldurr. It can even clutch out games if you sack the rest of the team so that it can't be phazed by things like Hippowdon so it can get a free setup if you've dented the rest of the Ground team already.

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt / Energy Ball
- Moonblast
- Psychic

Jirachi is super important as it prevents me from losing to Mega Sableye, and really helps clear away the bulkier Fighting type mons. I chose Suprachi since I needed another special attacker, and one that could pressure Mega Sableye. Thunderbolt helps deal with Water and Flying teams, but Energy Ball can help with Water and Ground teams. Moonblast is what allows me to keep up with Mega Sableye in a CM War since it will have a 60% chance to drop Sableye's SpA thanks to Serene Grace. It also allows me to threaten Mega Gallade, Mega Medicham, Scrafty, etc. from switching in since Psychic won't be dealing that much damage to them. Expert Belt allows me to boost my coverage moves if super effective, which really helps against things like Foul Play Mandibuzz which the rest of the team doesn't like taking on.

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head / Psycho Cut
- Swords Dance

Adamant Bisharp with a Sash allows me to have a powerful mon to lead with, since the rest of the team doesn't really want to be the first one in. The moves are pretty standard, but Psycho Cut is an option if you constantly face Fighting teams on the ladder like I did when using this team as it does a lot of damage to Keldeo and Infernape. Another cool thing about this spread is that leads like Scarf Lando-T are taking massive hits if they choose to attack since I get a +1 Knock Off and then Sucker Punch. Also another Iron Head user complements Durant since I can abuse Paraflinch (which unfortunately Jirachi couldn't do).


Threat List: ​

Threat List

What is a Steel team supposed to do against a well played Landorus? Earth Power + Focus Blast means I have no switch-ins, and Gravity variants just demolish everything. Only real way to beat it is either Heatran with Balloon dodges a Focus Blast and beats it with HP Ice or Heatran beats it on the switch. If the opponent plays safe, then the only other option is to use Durant to whittle it down, and then get rid of the remaining health with priority moves. Overall, it's super annoying to face.

+

This is a super annoying core since the only real way to beat Gliscor is on the switch with HP Ice, but Gyara takes care of that. Gliscor prevents Jirachi from beating Gyarados with its Thunderbolt. Only real way to beat this core with this team is a lot of luring.

+

Now this core is pretty much guaranteed on MonoFlying, but it's still a threat to face for about the same reasons of the Gliscor+ Gyara. Zapdos walls out my Heatran and Jirachi from beating Skarmory, and the only real way to beat Zapdos is by somehow setting up Jirachi. This becomes even more problematic if this core is combined with the Gliscor+Gyara core since Jirachi can't even find the opportunity to do its thing.

/

While all Fighting teams are tough to face, Keldeo and/or Infernape are able to break all my cores. My main solution to this is to use Twave Durant's Speed to Twave them to soften them up for the rest of the team. This is when Psycho Cut Bisharp is preferred just so there's another mon that can get the damage in besides just Jirachi.

Torkoal is surprisingly the threat to this team among all Fire types. Heatran can usually take a Focus Blast from Mega Y, switch-in on choice locked Fire type attacks, etc. However, even Stone Edge+ Earth Power Heatran gets annoyed by Torkoal. As Zinnia-senpai has always warned me, Torkoal is evil. Rapid Spin will break the Balloon making you lose your main defense, Earth Power from Heatran will not OHKO this thing, and if it has Yawn then you're already playing to its tune. Durant can't really do much unlike against Mega Y since Torkoal is already slow so there's nothing to paralyze, and it is so bulky. I mean of course you can play around it since it's not the strongest Fire type, but this is the most threatening by far (unless there's an Infernape on this team too which in that case they're tied).

252+ SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Torkoal: 290-342 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Ground teams are also annoying to face, but this thing is by far the most annoying. If you are not using Energy Ball Jirachi, then playing around this thing is extremely annoying. Recover prevents it from taking any real damage, and this mon prevents me from getting a KO on Mega Garchomp with HP Ice. Mega Garchomp is also extremely threatening but it's definitely more manageable than beating Gastrodon with the Grass coverage on Jirachi.

Breloom is just a threat not only for having Fighting STAB, but primarily for its Spore. Not much more to say here since everybody knows Sash Spore Breloom in Mono.

Importable:​

Importable

Durant @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- X-Scissor
- Iron Head
- Superpower
- Thunder Wave

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 52 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge

Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Roost

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Moonblast
- Psychic

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

Shout Outs:​

Shout Outs

• Anttya for accepting her fate of losing to this monster. Also honestly this should be her mascot instead of Altaria since it actually is a hax based Pokemon (freaking Hustle misses but at least the Para's make up for it). Also Gogoats are terrible, and Lucky Lanturn is the truth. However, I can forgive you fren because we both believe Jolteon is bae. Also she's secretly behind all things conspiracy related in the Monotype room.
• 11pikabro for being an awesome brother and keeping Pokemon still fun after all these years. You've helped me test countless of teams using niche sets to make the game fun but also innovative. Thanks for the inspiration, but hopefully I can top that Sub+Disable Galvantula that beat me during the XY UU Victini meta or maybe that Misty Terrain Gallade for RU.
• Animus Majulous for actually helping me test some of these bs ideas my bro made up and then finding out they actually worked in standard metas.
• Dirpz, BetaHousing, Zinnia, Omega-Xis14, and Bondie for helping me come up with these shitmons ideas that got us through many a Skype convo. Ah man I seriously enjoyed those moments. Too bad they nerfed Rain Fire (RIP Dank Rock Fire Team 2014-2015).
• Feliburn, scpinion, Freeroamer, RZL, Croven for just in general being awesome people and helping me teambuild from all the standard tiers for Smogon Tournaments, to just niche ideas such as this one for the past year.
• Also thanks to the rest of the MonoStaff I haven't mentioned (as there are quite a bit of you) for doing such a good work in the room. Monotype is on the rise, and you guys are especially responsible for that. Hopefully college will become less burdensome so I can start contributing more to the room like I used to in the future.

​