Rate my First BW team

[butterfingers158]

Hey Smogon! After a long time off from playing Pokemon, I thought I'd take a swing at this fancy new metagame (I haven't played since DPP). Here's the team I came up with, and it got me up close to 1800 rating on Showdown. Whether this was because the team is any good, or just because most players on ladder suck, remains to be seen.

The premise of the team is to set up a CM Latias sweep, with Conkeldurr as my alternate boosting sweeper and having Terrakion available for late game cleanup.

The two biggest annoyances I've noticed so far are CM Jirachi (especially in the rain) and Deoxys-D.

Changes in red

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Substitute

I have always loved Lati@s (and have preferred Latias over Latios), and when I saw this set I decided to make the team based around it. Latias serves as an amazing defensive pivot throughout the match, until she finds her opportunity to start setting up Calm Minds and proceeding to sweep with Dragon Pulse. Sub is important to prevent status (especially Toxic) and to allow an escape from Pursuit users (though team preview makes it much easier to avoid these). Combining Recover, Sub, and CM, Latias can set up right in the face of many special attackers. However, I find myself annoyed with Calm Mind Jirachi, as if I don't manage to take them out earlier, there is no way I can break them with Latias (bar a lucky crit).

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 148 HP / 252 SAtk / 108 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]

The main Pokemon that pose a threat to a Latias sweep are steel types, and that is where Magnezone comes in. Using Sub+Charge Beam, he can raise his SpA a few notches on a helpless steel type and then lay the hurt on. However, I'm not sure if this is the best set for my team. While it is nice to have a third boosting pokemon sometimes, the coverage of this set leaves a bit to be desired. This set is basically a free switch in for Garchomp and isn't particularly adept at taking out Gliscor either. Zone was changed to a specs set to more reliably kill Sczior and Ferrothorn, as well as passing along momentum with volt switch.

Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock


Donphan is taking Conkeldurr's old spot. Since Gyarados is my main answer to a large number of threats, the rapid spin support is invaluable. It also frees up a spot for Leech Seed on Ferrothorn as well as patching up my Jirachi weakness a bit and being able to revenge kill boosting dragons.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball

Every team needs Stealth Rock, and Ferrothorn brings that along with a number of useful resistances. Power Whip and Gyro Ball give him decent attacking options. I went with Spikes as the 4th move to provide more residual damage but perhaps another move would be better suited instead? Since Donphan now covers Stealth Rock, Ferrothorn is free to carry Leech Seed to increase his survivability and to help wear down threats.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Waterfall
- Roar

RestTalk Gyarados is quite useful as both a status absorber and phazer. He can take a lot of punishment and has saved my butt more than once from boosting pokemon.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide

Finally, I needed a revenge killer/late game cleaner and decided on Scarf Terrakion. His combo'd STAB moves give him excellent coverage and X-Scissor hits stuff like Celebi for Super Effective damage. Honestly not sure about Rock Slide, I picked it as an option to fish for flinches and for when it will KO and I can't risk Stone Miss not landing, but it goes unused the majority of the time.

 

[ganj4lF]

Hi. I like your team a lot, the way you support your Latias to try to sweep and the use of an underrated, yet very effective defensive core like Gyarados + Ferrothorn is very nice to me. It is quite solid on its own, to be honest, so I'm just giving little advices to help fixing some choices I see as non-optimal.

First of all, as you noticed, SubCharge Magnezone is not really that good, especially in this metagame. It has limited coverage, and even after a boost it cannot deal much damage if the opponent brings out a Dragon or a Ground type. Furthermore, with Rain everywhere, there's a big risk of having your HP Fire weakened, and thus losing the 2HKO and even the 3HKO most of the times (!!!) on standard Ferrothorn (in fact, you need SR AND a SpA boost to get a guarandeed 2HKO in Rain). If the Ferrothorn user manages to outpredict you somewhat and TWave / Leech Seed, you can as well be outstalled and lose your Steel trapper, which leads to Ferrothorn being a huge problem for your Latias sweep. I'd suggest using Choice Specs Magnezone instead. That set doesn't care about Rain, and 2HKOs standard Ferrothorn no matter what; not only, but it provides you an useful Volt Switch user, that can help mantaining momentum and hit hard the enemy in the process. Flash Cannon also ensures Chomp and other Ground pokes cannot switch in with impunity, and even handily 2HKOs standard Tank Latias (and even Specially Defensive TTar, that may try to come in and absorb a Volt Switch) if it tries to switch in to absorb Volt Switches.

[HIDE='Zone]Magnezone @ Choice Specs | Magnet Pull
Modest | 148 HP / 252 SpA / 108 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire
- Flash Cannon[/HIDE]

ANother thing I'd say about your team is that Gyarados, while being an absolute monster of a physical wall, hates badly Stealth Rock, since losing 25% of its health on every switch-in is very painful (and Rest is not really spammable, so...). To fix that, a cool solution could be substituting Conkeldurr with a Donphan. Donphan covers the same role, basically, since you can switch it into Pursuits from TTar all day (hopefully your Latias used Sub on the switch) and scare it out with STAB Earthquake. Donphan can set-up Rocks for you, so your Ferrothorn can use the more useful Leech Seed or Thunder Wave, as you prefer. The only downside is that Donphan cannot set up on TTar, however it's kinda nullified since the added utility of Rapid Spinning is quite big, and using an offensive set (you already have good defensive walls in Ferrothorn and Gyarados) allows you to hit hard almost everything, despite what the average battler expects from Donphan (which is usually seen as a wall). Donphan retains also beautiful synergy with Gyarados since it can tank Electric and Rock attacks, while Ferrothorn covers beautifully the weaknesses to Water, Grass, and (sorta) Ice. Donphan also helps in dealing with Jirachi, since it usually cannot deal much damage to it (unless it carries Psychic, Water Pulse, or Flash Cannon, however those sets aren't really common), and can spin away hazards from Deoxys-D, so it can somewhat alleviate your problems you listed earlier in the thread.

Donphan

Donphan @ Leftovers | Sturdy
Adamant | 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge / Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

If you don't like my suggestion and plan to keep Conkeldurr, however, I'd strongly suggest to switch to Guts as ability. Guts allows you to ignore those Scald / Lava Plume / WoW burns and take advantage of Thunder Waves as well. Iron Fist is a nice ability, but Guts is just too good to pass up. Also, I usually like to have Payback as a coverage move on Conk; while it doesn't hit Lando and Gliscor super effectively (although they still take a good chunk of damage if it's boosted), it helps dealing with Jellicent that otherwise destroys you (and threatens to burn your Ferrothorn).

Hope my rate is useful somewhat. Good luck.

 

[butterfingers158]

I like your suggestions, I was thinking about a choiced 'Zone so I'll definitely give Specs a shot.

Donphan set looks interesting as well, and leech seed over SR means Ferrothorn will survive a lot longer. I'll see how it fits.