Sharpedo Shenanigans

[TGMD]

Sharpedo Shenanigans​

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Introduction​

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Hey everyone, welcome back to another RMT. This time I bring you a team I made with dragonuser, a good friend of mine. We wanted to build a team together, and he thought of buildling it around Sharpedo. Sharpedo seemed to be a very underrated, and powerful threat in the rain infested metagame, so we started building a team that would aid Sharpedo in its attempt to sweep. This isn't the best team ever, but I had a great time buildilng it with dragonuser, it's very fun to use and I wanted to share it with everyone.​

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Teambuilding Process​

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The team started off with Sharpedo of course, and I thought of the perfect partner for it: Choice Specs Gothitelle. Gothitelle has the ability to remove almost all of Sharpedo's biggest nightmares, it also helped with synergy, it was overall an amazing partner that formed a great offensive core.​

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We could tell sun was going to be a problem, it weakened Sharpedo's STAB, the likes of Volcarona were going to really threaten Gothitelle, and it's overall a pretty good idea to have a check to sun, lol. dragonuser suggested using Dragonite as a secondary sweeper to fall back on against sun teams and such, I thought this was a good idea, as Dragonite also greatly benefited from Gothitelle's trapping capabilities. I then suggested we try out Agilinite, a set I wanted to try out, and he agreed.​

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We really wanted some sort of hazard setter to aid Sharpedo and Dragonite. We also wanted a Steel type, as we had nothing that came close to taking a hit from any powerful dragons, and Sharpedo has difficulty getting past dragons. I thought of Skarmory, it was a great dragon check, and it could set up Stealth Rocks and phaze the opposing team around, forcing their dragons in, weakening them for Sharpedo. However, we wanted those hazards up as soon as possible, and Skarmory had a bad matchup against many common leads, as many of them had Taunt. I suggested we go for more of a suicide lead Skarmory that I'd learnt from Heist and Earthworm.​

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We had two slots left, we wanted something that could take hits from rain boosted Water moves, as well as something that could check Thundurus-T, Tornadus-T, (it was still unbanned at the time this team was created), Keldeo etc. We also wanted a form of revenge killing, spinblocking, further protection against dragons, Landorus, etc. The first thing that came to mind to check rain teams was Rotom-W, however, it lacked the means necessary to reliably stop Agility Thundurus-T all on its own, especially with all the pressure to check everything else in rain. We also thought of Latias, but it magnified the Dragon and Ice weakness, and the idea of having a defensive pivot was too appealing. Eventually we decided on Lanturn, a weaker, grounded Rotom-W that handled Electric types and physical moves better.​

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Lastly, we just needed that revenge killer, one that could handle dragons and Landorus was ideal. We decided upon Choice Scarf Gengar, we were somewhat skeptical at first, but it ticked all the boxes: it's a great answer to Landorus, it's fast, it could revenge kill dragons and such, it could even spin block.​

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The team was doing pretty well, however, we noticed Agilinite really didn't do much in most battles; in fact the lack of Extremespeed really screwed me over in a tourney final. It also lacked power, making it more difficult to beat Bulky variants of Volcarona. We decided to just go with Banded Dragonite instead. This opened up the problem of too many choice items though. Most of the team was choiced, the only members that weren't were our main sweeper (not meant to be used till late game), our suicide lead (usually dies in the first 5 turns), and Lanturn (doesn't do much offensively). Everything else was choiced. This meant we were left with a team that gave the opponent a lot of setup opportunities, but had only one form of priority and one weird scarfer in terms of stopping sweepers. Not only this, but once Gengar had lost its suprise factor of being scarf, it was incredibly easy to predict, and often put the team in a bad position. Mamoswine seemed like a great Gengar replacement, it fit the criteria almost perfectly, meeting everything but spinblocking, and we rarely spin blocked anyway because Gothitelle was great at removing the likes of Forretress. Between Mamoswine and Dragonite the team can revenge kill a large portion of the metagame, pretty much everything else is checked by the rest of the team.​

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With Banded Dragonite and Mamoswine in our arsenal, the need for such emphasis on checking Thundurus-T was no longer as necessary, meaning Lanturn was no longer as necessary. Because of this, we replaced Lanturn with Rotom-W.​

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After some great suggestions from you guys and some testing, I decided to change Skarmory to a Custap variant because it was superior to Mental Herb in every way and I have no I dea why I didn't have Custap in the first place. I also changed Gothitelle to an Expert Belt variant because it reduces set up oppurtunities for my opponent. Finally, I replaced Mamoswine with Mienshao because it helped against a lot of threats and was a great addition to the team. Thanks a lot to Meru and Heist for these changes!​

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Team​

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Bird (Skarmory) (F) @ Custap Berry​

Trait: Sturdy​

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd​

Jolly Nature​

IVs: 0 HP​

- Spikes​

- Taunt​

- Stealth Rock​

- Brave Bird​

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This Skarmory is, in my opinion, the best Deoxys-D replacement out there. It has Sturdy, pretty much guarenteeing Skarmory will at least get up Stealth Rock unless they have Magic Coat or a faster Taunt, and unlike Forretress, it actually has speed, so there aren't many things with a faster Taunt, therefore Skarmory will likely get up extra layers. It has max speed and a Jolly nature to outspeed as many Pokemon as possible, so it can set up as many layers as possible. The rest of the EVs just maximize bulk to take hits, obviously. Custap Berry + Brave Bird is a great combo, for example, if I'm up against a spinner and down to my Sturdy, I can click Brave Bird, move before the opponent, probably kill of the spinner in the process, but if not, I still spinblock and then I can send out something to finish it off, securing whatever hazards I had on the field at the time.​

Changes were suggested by Heist​

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Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 248 HP / 32 SAtk / 228 SDef​

Calm Nature​

IVs: 0 Atk​

- Volt Switch​

- Hydro Pump​

- Thunder Wave​

- Pain Split​

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With no Tornadus-T to check, Specially Defensive Rotom-W may not be quite as godly as it once was, but it's still a phenomenal Pokemon, one that's just so useful. Rotom-W is here to check rain teams and it's used as a defensive pivot. It performs these roles perfectly and it checks / counters a plethora of common Pokemon in the current metagame. In terms of moveset it's just the standard stuff, I use Thunder Wave over Will-O-Wisp because a lot of the fast, heavy hitters you use Will-O-Wisp on hate Thunder Wave just as much. Not only this, but I only really find myself wishing I had Will-O-Wisp against really bulky Water types such as Gastrodon, but these are easily trapped by Gothitelle, Volcarona and Lati@s are also pretty annoying, so I definitely prefer Thunder Wave on Rotom-W in this particular team. The EVs in Special Defense and HP ensure I live a Specs Draco Meteor from Hydreigon (pretty much the strongest neutral Special move Rotom-W is likely to ever take), and the rest are pumped into Special Attack to ensure I OHKO Gliscor with Hydro Pump.​

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Sharpedo (M) @ Life Orb​

Trait: Speed Boost​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd​

Adamant Nature​

IVs: 0 SAtk​

- Waterfall​

- Crunch​

- Protect​

- Zen Headbutt​

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Sharpedo is here to sweep through teams, although it has pretty much no defenses and its speed is rather average, Sharpedo has one of the best abilities in the game: Speed Boost. This ability paired with Sharpedo's massive attack, good coverage, and a STAB that's boosted by a very common weather; rain, make Sharpedo a force to be reckoned with. Sharpedo is obviously my main win condition, and it's pretty easy to sweep through teams once I've got some hazards up and put in some work with Gothitelle This is a pretty generic set, max Speed and Attack for maximum sweeping potential, Protect to get extra Speed Boosts, dual STABs, and finally, Zen Headbutt, which deals with the ever-so-common Keldeo, as well as Toxicroak, Tentacruel, etc. Sharpedo is truly a great Pokemon in OU, one I highly recommend using.​

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Yoshi (Dragonite) (M) @ Choice Band​

Trait: Multiscale​

Shiny: Yes​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd​

Adamant Nature​

- Outrage​

- ExtremeSpeed​

- Fire Punch​

- Earthquake​

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Bandnite is simply amazing, not only does its Outrage rip through teams, but it has the most powerful Extremespeed in OU, making it great for revenge killing. Dragonite can be incredibly useful for softening up teams to help aid Sharpedo. Dragonite's incredible power and resistances to common move types found in sun, such as Bug (cos Volcarona), Grass, Fire, etc, make Dragonite pretty great at handling sun teams, which can be quite annoying to face. I run max Speed and Attack to allow Dragonite to outspeed as much as possible and fire off powerful Outrage's, its moveset is incredibly basic, just STAB move, priority move, and coverage moves for various Steel types. ​

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Gothitelle (M) @ Expert Belt​

Trait: Shadow Tag​

EVs: 172 HP / 252 SAtk / 84 Spd​

Modest Nature​

IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd​

- Psyshock​

- Hidden Power [Fire]​

- Grass Knot​

- Rain Dance​

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Gothitelle is here to trap almost every single one of Sharpedo's checks and counters, while also using its trapping capabilities to aid the rest of the team too, eg. trapping Forretress so it's not around to spin away Skarmory's hazards, trapping the likes of Bronzong, Skarmory, etc, all of which give both Dragonite Mamoswine big problems, etc. I use Expert Gothitelle rather than the choiced variants because the choice variants always kill something and lock themselves into a move, making it very easy for Gothitelle to be set up on. I run a bulky variant of Gothitelle with enough Speed to outspeed standard Skarmory. I run Psyshock over Psychic mainly for Terrakion in the sand, but it also helps against Tentacruel and more physically defensive Pokemon in general. Hidden Power [Fire] is the obvious coverage move for Ferrothorn, Forretress, Bronzong, Skarmory etc. I run Grass Knot instead of Thunderbolt because not only is removing the likes of Hippowdon very nice, but Gastrodon would be a bit of a nightmare to face. Finally, I have Rain Dance which is mainly for sun, and it also neutralizes other weathers and boosts Sharpedo's Waterfall; it's overall very useful, much better than something like Signal Beam in this particular team, especially considering almost all my team can easily beat Celebi 1 on 1.​

Changes were suggested by Meru.​

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Cat (Mienshao) (F) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Regenerator​

Shiny: Yes​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Naive Nature​

- Hi Jump Kick​

- U-turn​

- Stone Edge​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

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This thing suprised the hell out of me. Mienshao's my scarfer, but, generally, I consider Mienshao to be outclassed by other scarfers. However, in this particular team, it's the perfect fit. Mienshao helps a lot against Scarf Heatran, Volcarona, Latios, and Terrakion, pretty much my entire threatlist. Although Landorus, a superior scarfer, can help against those too, it's outsped by Scarf Garchomp who would be able to Outrage through my team. There's also Terrakion, but it lacks U-Turn, which really benefits my team, and Terrakion's weak to Scizor's Bullet Punch and Breloom's Mach Punch, which isn't ideal considering those Breloom and Scizor are both quite big threats to this team. Mienshao's moveset is pretty self explanatory, it's just STAB move, U-Turn, 2 coverage moves.​

Changes were suggested by Meru.​

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Threat List​

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Scizor - I pretty much get swept by Offensive SD variants of this thing if there's Stealth Rock on my side of the field snd they're at +2. However, this is much more of a threat on paper than it is in actual battles. If I see a Scizor in the team preview, I'm going to make sure I don't give it a set up oppurtunity. Even if it does get one, I'll make sure I get a hit off and I'll probably have at least 1 layer of Spikes up and Stealth Rock up. After all that, it doesn't take many rounds of Life Orb recoil to get it within KO range of Dragonite's Extremespeed.​

Terrakion - This thing can be a real problem; Choice Banded variants are almost impossible to switch into, as my one and only rock resist is super frail, Choice Scarf variants are a massive problem if I lose Gothitelle, etc. As long as Terrakion is at +0 Attack, Gothitelle can live a hit and kill it off, otherwise I just have to rely on hazards and Mienshao.​

Lati@s - Nothing can really switch in on these 2, they can switch in on a lot of my Pokemon, although I have multiple checks to them, they can always switch out and come back in later with relative ease. Luckily, Mienshao's U-Turn gives me the switch advantage if they switch. A good thing about them is, as long as they're not Sub or Scarf, they're the perfect set up oppurtunity for Sharpedo.​

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Conclusion​

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I really hope you enjoyed reading my RMT and you like the team as much as I do. This really is one of the most enjoyable teams I've ever used, so try it out yourself. I know this team has some room for improvement, so if you see anything that could be improved leave a rate below. Bye :)​

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Importable​

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Bird (Skarmory) (F) @ Custap Berry​

Trait: Sturdy​

EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd​

Jolly Nature​

IVs: 0 HP​

- Spikes​

- Taunt​

- Stealth Rock​

- Brave Bird​

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Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 248 HP / 32 SAtk / 228 SDef​

Calm Nature​

IVs: 0 Atk​

- Volt Switch​

- Hydro Pump​

- Thunder Wave​

- Pain Split​

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Sharpedo (M) @ Life Orb​

Trait: Speed Boost​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd​

Adamant Nature​

IVs: 0 SAtk​

- Waterfall​

- Crunch​

- Protect​

- Zen Headbutt​

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Yoshi (Dragonite) (M) @ Choice Band​

Trait: Multiscale​

Shiny: Yes​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd​

Adamant Nature​

- Outrage​

- ExtremeSpeed​

- Fire Punch​

- Earthquake​

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Gothitelle (M) @ Expert Belt​

Trait: Shadow Tag​

EVs: 172 HP / 252 SAtk / 84 Spd​

Modest Nature​

IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd​

- Psyshock​

- Hidden Power [Fire]​

- Grass Knot​

- Rain Dance​

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Cat (Mienshao) (F) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Regenerator​

Shiny: Yes​

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Naive Nature​

- Hi Jump Kick​

- U-turn​

- Stone Edge​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

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[blunder]

Yesss the team I played in the finals =) awesome team as always doom. the first thing that pops out to me is the weakness to physical attackers. Terrakion in general looks like a bitch. You could change goth to scarf but the power loss sucks. You also mentioned a weakness to Latis so i want to try to fit scarf rachi somewhere on this team but its so hard. On phone atm, so will finish rate tomorrow, but great team buddy =)

 

[TGMD]

Yesss the team I played in the finals =) awesome team as always doom. the first thing that pops out to me is the weakness to physical attackers. Terrakion in general looks like a bitch. You could change goth to scarf but the power loss sucks. You also mentioned a weakness to Latis so i want to try to fit scarf rachi somewhere on this team but its so hard. On phone atm, so will finish rate tomorrow, but great team buddy =)

Hey ThunderBlunder, thanks for the rate! Terrakion really is a massive problem, but Specs Gothitelle is far more useful on this team than Scarf is overall. I'll definitely try out Scarf Gothitelle though and see how it goes :)

 

[AeroTempest]

At first I tried this team out of sheer boredom, but this team is fucking amazing. I've had a lot of fun using this and honestly love it. I have to agree with ThunderBlunder that scarf gothitelle might be better because in my experiences, gothitelle hasnt been able to do much. BTW I cant tell you how many times zen headbutt has saved me, good call.

 

[TGMD]

At first I tried this team out of sheer boredom, but this team is fucking amazing. I've had a lot of fun using this and honestly love it. I have to agree with ThunderBlunder that scarf gothitelle might be better because in my experiences, gothitelle hasnt been able to do much. BTW I cant tell you how many times zen headbutt has saved me, good call.

Hey AeroTempest, thanks for the kind words. It's always good to see people enjoying my teams :)

 

[dragonuser]

Hey there bud,

This was a pretty fun team to build with you and while yes it does have its weaknesses you can usually play around them if needed and this teams creativity has really given it its edge. Naturally with the loss of Scarf Gengar we became weaker to Terrakion, and really you need to preserve Gothitelle to specifically trap Terrakion/Keldeo and the team can function normally again. I'd probably say Latios is this teams biggest threat, but can also be played around. If it comes in vs Rotom-W/Gothitelle it almost always gets a kill but the other members can usually threaten it fairly well. Tbh, I think running a Scarf Jirachi > Mamoswine may work, as it gives you a semi reliable Dragon-Type switch (as Skarmory will suicide itself every match) and a Pokemon that is faster than Terrakion (which you seem to lack). Scarf Jirachi with Ice Punch also does a pretty good job at revenging Dragon-Types so Mamoswine shouldn't be missed too much. Anyways, this team was a lot of fun to build/use and gl if you intend to further improve it.

 

[The Grand Babido]

i like this team a lot for what it is. it is probably not the greatest team at the highest level but it really strikes a great balance between a competitive and a fun team.

i think you should try brave bird on skarmory and probably a custap berry. since you built this team for the deoxys-d metagame, i think mental herb won't be as useful anymore. brave bird sturdy checks volcarona in a pinch and you can also strategically play skarmory into a position where it drops into custap range. a custap brave bird is a good way to chip off enough of latios' hp to put it in dragonite xspeed range. i know skarm has an attack stat of like five but you can always keep skarmory around as emergency insurance against a bunch of threats like keldeo or -1 terrakion or whoever. another reason for brave bird is that you speed tie even the fastest of breloom, and most breloom will have absolutely no qualms about staying in on a skarmory and sporing. if you can win that speed tie (or are most breloom adamant?) and ko loom, probably the best anti-sharpedo pokemon has been removed.

brave bird also can be used as an anti-spin measure or whatever as well. i think whirlwind is the most expendable move. taunt is important as sr kind of limits a lot of your guys. preventing toxic spikes from tentacruel or roserade (as you are faster than most!) is also pretty important

 

[TGMD]

Hey there bud,

This was a pretty fun team to build with you and while yes it does have its weaknesses you can usually play around them if needed and this teams creativity has really given it its edge. Naturally with the loss of Scarf Gengar we became weaker to Terrakion, and really you need to preserve Gothitelle to specifically trap Terrakion/Keldeo and the team can function normally again. I'd probably say Latios is this teams biggest threat, but can also be played around. If it comes in vs Rotom-W/Gothitelle it almost always gets a kill but the other members can usually threaten it fairly well. Tbh, I think running a Scarf Jirachi > Mamoswine may work, as it gives you a semi reliable Dragon-Type switch (as Skarmory will suicide itself every match) and a Pokemon that is faster than Terrakion (which you seem to lack). Scarf Jirachi with Ice Punch also does a pretty good job at revenging Dragon-Types so Mamoswine shouldn't be missed too much. Anyways, this team was a lot of fun to build/use and gl if you intend to further improve it.

Hey dragonuser, thanks for the rate. Jirachi's a great idea, helping against Lati@s and Terrakion, probably the 2 biggest threats to this team. It does, however, have far less offensive presence overall, and it make the team weaker to the likes of Landorus, so I'll do some testing before I decide whether or not to make the change :)

i like this team a lot for what it is. it is probably not the greatest team at the highest level but it really strikes a great balance between a competitive and a fun team.

i think you should try brave bird on skarmory and probably a custap berry. since you built this team for the deoxys-d metagame, i think mental herb won't be as useful anymore. brave bird sturdy checks volcarona in a pinch and you can also strategically play skarmory into a position where it drops into custap range. a custap brave bird is a good way to chip off enough of latios' hp to put it in dragonite xspeed range. i know skarm has an attack stat of like five but you can always keep skarmory around as emergency insurance against a bunch of threats like keldeo or -1 terrakion or whoever. another reason for brave bird is that you speed tie even the fastest of breloom, and most breloom will have absolutely no qualms about staying in on a skarmory and sporing. if you can win that speed tie (or are most breloom adamant?) and ko loom, probably the best anti-sharpedo pokemon has been removed.

brave bird also can be used as an anti-spin measure or whatever as well. i think whirlwind is the most expendable move. taunt is important as sr kind of limits a lot of your guys. preventing toxic spikes from tentacruel or roserade (as you are faster than most!) is also pretty important

Hey man, thanks for the rate. Yeah, this team isn't the best in tourneys, it's more of a fun team that's still viable in competitive play, a ladder team basically (I used it in one tour, but that was a mini tour, lol). I preferred the Mental Herb set before, but you've brought up some very, very good points, so I'll make the change as soon as I get on my computer :)

 

[Frog]

looking at your threatlist you could really utilize a sciozr to great effect to deal with the terrakions and the latis, probably over mamoswine. Either a trapper set or CB could revenge kill both. U-turn also forms volt turn with rotom-w which will let you fully abuse your hazards.

 

[TGMD]

looking at your threatlist you could really utilize a sciozr to great effect to deal with the terrakions and the latis, probably over mamoswine. Either a trapper set or CB could revenge kill both. U-turn also forms volt turn with rotom-w which will let you fully abuse your hazards.

Hey Frog, thanks for the rate. Scizor simply doesn't revenge kill the things I need it to revenge kill, it would indeed help out against the Latis and Terrakion, but Scizor just opens me up to more threats than it covers, it does more harm than good.

 

[Kiyo]

Hey Doom! Fun looking team you have here, I don't really see anything I can suggest to improve it without opening the door to new threats. I figure I'll just add my two cents and be done with it. Props for using Sharpedo it just plain works in this meta. Be careful of Rain teams with ferro, just due to the fact that the only reliable ways you have of killing it are to get a free switch into gothitelle and trick it(it beats you one on one if you're seeded) or to ko it with mamoswine [which requires some prior damage or you run the risk of losing mamo to gyro or power whip (assuming they even stay in on you)] Basically What I'm getting at is Ferrothorn in rain walls your Sharpedo and Dragonite resists Rotom's dual STAB which could mean a ton of annoyance on your part ranging from hazard damage racking up due to forced switches or losing a potential check to an opponents Terrakion or Dragon Type while attempting to take the ferrothorn out.

I also see SD Scizor doing a number on your team after stealth rock, so be careful about locking gothitelle into psychic or grass knot or locking dragonite into outrage (for bulky variants.) If you can weaken Scizor or Thunder Wave a non-lum berry set I can see sharpedo handling it too an extent i suppose.

tl;dr Always get a free switch into Ferrothorn (ideally by doubling after threatening somethign out with sharpedo) and be wary of set up mons like SD Scizor.

I love your rmt's Doom, keep em' comin' :]

 

[Matt Tuck]

Looking at your team structure and threatlist i think Scarfgar will do you good. You could replace it with gothitelle since it more or less offers the same resistances to pokes which threaten sharpedo while also adding a bug resist. It also deals with stuff like Latios and anything not named CM Latias after some prior damage and outspeeds all terrakion variants expect when behind a sub. Sure you loose the ability to "trap" Sharpedo's weakness but you could still switch Gengar onto Sharpedo's counters such as breloom and stuff. Great team and i really enjoyed using it.

 

[Reymedy]

Hi.

I've been wondering what I could do to improve your team, and to be honest I had big issues figuring out what to change.
The point being, I think you deal with many stuff on paper, but I'm not sure that during a game it will work so well. I'll try the team to make my rate better, but at the moment, I still didn't play it yet.

However, Your only Steel pokemon will be thrown away (Roostless Skarmory with 0 def investment won't wall anything)
And, your match-up against Sun teams, while you have Nite, seems terribad

Out of that, the team seems surprisingly solid, and well built around the purpose of a Sharpedo's sweep. So yes, definitely, that's a really good team.

The things I'll try to improve :

- Right now, I'd get rid of Taunt. While it seems like a good idea, and it probably was a good one in Uber (I have no clue about this tier whatsoever anyway), I don't see the point in OU. I mean, if slow hazards setters come.. you must kill them, not Taunt them. Forretress, Ferrothorn, Hippowdon... You can just go to Gothitelle and get a free kill if you're indeed predicting them to stay in. Other typical SR setters like Landorus-T are faster and will get SR up. And there is stuff like Heatran.. You just won't taunt it. So, on paper, I'm calling into question the use of this move along with a trapper. I'd also change the spread, really, I don't think max speed is mandatory. I'd go for something like 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 Spe to outspeed neutral base 70 like Breloom.
Without Taunt, this moveslot is free for Roost. This means that you're not totally helpless against Outrage spamming. Also, a U-Turning Scizor ruins you badly since he can come on locked Gothi, Sharpedo, locked Nite, on a Mamo's Ice move and then grab the momentum from here. You won't be letting Gothi/Sharpedo/Mamo on Scizor, Nite won't come if SR after up to take the U-Turn, and Rotom-W will get totally destroyed by a CB U-Turn. Having a free switch in for this particular case can be great.

- Next is Sun. I mean, he will start will Ninetales, and what do you do ? Unless if you start with Nite, your lead match-up will be complicated. Mamoswine can be outsped by some Ninetales, so it's risky, Skarmory will get roasted and that's it, Rotom-W can't hurt it etc...
On the top of that, your Sharpedo is directly crippled and Chlorophyl sweepers will be a pain even if you have Mamo to force them out and Dragonite to "tank" them. The latter being crippled by SR badly.
The issue being also, that Mamoswine can't kill a Venusaur unless it's really weakened, and since you got no Ghost, you shouldn't consider Spikes+SR as classic fight conditions.

My changes :

- As I said, changing a bit Skarmory's set could help in my opinion.

- Err, try Rain Dance over Icycle Spear on Mamoswine. Mamoswine can force many switchs and I believe that many Sun players will let Ninetales die quickly to not lose the momentum. Rain Dance Mamoswine (what the fuck is that :o) can turn the tide of a game in your favor easily, and save a Sharpedo's sweep aswell as ruining a Venusaur's one.
It can also help against Stoutland, because let's be honest, with Skarmory thrown away in early game, the Dog would probably sweep you cleanly.

Sadly, it's probably too hard to fit a Ghost.

That's all, the team is, as I said, really good and well built from my point of view, meaning that the changes are really hard to find. I "believe" those changes I proposed can be interesting, I don't know if Rain Dance wll be easy to use on Mamoswine, but it can't be harder to use than SR so I'm not too too worried.
I hope I helped, and good luck with your team.


TL;DR :

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Roost/ChangeSpread on Skarmory
Rain Dance on Mamoswine

 

[Meru]

Now that you have the early-game sacrifice on Skarmory, I'm gonna recommend you change Mamoswine to Choice Scarf Sand Force Landorus. Firstly, if you set up Stealth Rock against Starmie, you can prevent Rapid Spin with a Custap kamikaze, which either forces the seastar out or puts it in range of a U-turn KO for Landorus, allowing you to preserve a hefty amount of early game momentum. In conjunction with Gothitelle trapping every other spinner, an early-game Rapid Spin isn't a problem for you. Second, Landorus helps your Volcarona and Terrakion weaknesses, being able to revenge kill them. Thirdly, it gives something of a Volt-Turn core in tandem with Rotom-W. Most pokemon that switch into U-turn from Landorus can be trapped by Gothitelle, which is insanely beneficial as Sand Force Landorus shares common counters with both CBnite and Sharpedo. And finally, if Landorus forces a switch when it uses U-turn, Sharpedo can come in unscathed with a free Speed Boost under its belt, while still retaining the ability to use another Protect, which is dangerous because it ensures a second Speed Boost to let it outspeed even Scarf Starmie.

Try it out. At the very least, if it doesn't work out, let me know its shortcomings. I'm legitimately curious why Scarf Sand Force Landorus is no longer used, because on paper, it still seems like a super potent metagame force. If you're not fond of being locked into Earthquake with so many Ground-immune pokes, Scarf Terrakion could end up being a good fit too since you're pretty weak to Adamant CB Stoutland.

Landorus-I @

Trait: Sand Force
Nature: Naive
EV: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power Ice

In addition, I have two more suggestions. Try running Expert Belt Gothitelle, as being choice locked there could screw you over. You can replace Trick with so many things, as Gothitelle has a very generous support movepool for a Shadow Tagger. Taunt, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Rain Dance, Heal Block, Tickle, as well as more offensive options such as Thunderbolt and Signal Beam. All of these have very good merits for your team, while Trick only beats Blissey/Chansey. Admittedly, I can see them being a problem as you lack a way to OHKO/2HKO besides CB Outrage. However, Chansey/Blissey are both really rare in this metagame and you will lose far more games to Gothitelle being choice-locked. Also, you should lower your Skarmory's HP IV to 0 to force yourself into Custap range and ensure complete suicide if you end up between 10% and 25%. Make sure you increased its Atk IV back to 31. I'm guessing you did but your team descriptions say you haven't.

 

[TGMD]

Hey Doom! Fun looking team you have here, I don't really see anything I can suggest to improve it without opening the door to new threats. I figure I'll just add my two cents and be done with it. Props for using Sharpedo it just plain works in this meta. Be careful of Rain teams with ferro, just due to the fact that the only reliable ways you have of killing it are to get a free switch into gothitelle and trick it(it beats you one on one if you're seeded) or to ko it with mamoswine [which requires some prior damage or you run the risk of losing mamo to gyro or power whip (assuming they even stay in on you)] Basically What I'm getting at is Ferrothorn in rain walls your Sharpedo and Dragonite resists Rotom's dual STAB which could mean a ton of annoyance on your part ranging from hazard damage racking up due to forced switches or losing a potential check to an opponents Terrakion or Dragon Type while attempting to take the ferrothorn out.

I also see SD Scizor doing a number on your team after stealth rock, so be careful about locking gothitelle into psychic or grass knot or locking dragonite into outrage (for bulky variants.) If you can weaken Scizor or Thunder Wave a non-lum berry set I can see sharpedo handling it too an extent i suppose.

tl;dr Always get a free switch into Ferrothorn (ideally by doubling after threatening somethign out with sharpedo) and be wary of set up mons like SD Scizor.

I love your rmt's Doom, keep em' comin' :]

Hey Kiyo, thanks for the kind words and advice :]

Looking at your team structure and threatlist i think Scarfgar will do you good. You could replace it with gothitelle since it more or less offers the same resistances to pokes which threaten sharpedo while also adding a bug resist. It also deals with stuff like Latios and anything not named CM Latias after some prior damage and outspeeds all terrakion variants expect when behind a sub. Sure you loose the ability to "trap" Sharpedo's weakness but you could still switch Gengar onto Sharpedo's counters such as breloom and stuff. Great team and i really enjoyed using it.

Hey Matt Tuck, thanks for the rate. I actually used to have Choice Scarf Gengar over Mamoswine in this team, lol. Although Gengar provides similiar resistances, it doesn't actually do that great a job of removing the Pokemon I want it to remove, the likes of Ferrothorn will really be problem for this team without Gothitelle. Gothitelle just fits in so perfectly with Sharpedo, and it's much easier to trap something than it is to hope your opponent is stupid enough to sac their Sharpedo check :)

Hi.

I've been wondering what I could do to improve your team, and to be honest I had big issues figuring out what to change.
The point being, I think you deal with many stuff on paper, but I'm not sure that during a game it will work so well. I'll try the team to make my rate better, but at the moment, I still didn't play it yet.

However, Your only Steel pokemon will be thrown away (Roostless Skarmory with 0 def investment won't wall anything)
And, your match-up against Sun teams, while you have Nite, seems terribad

Out of that, the team seems surprisingly solid, and well built around the purpose of a Sharpedo's sweep. So yes, definitely, that's a really good team.

The things I'll try to improve :

- Right now, I'd get rid of Taunt. While it seems like a good idea, and it probably was a good one in Uber (I have no clue about this tier whatsoever anyway), I don't see the point in OU. I mean, if slow hazards setters come.. you must kill them, not Taunt them. Forretress, Ferrothorn, Hippowdon... You can just go to Gothitelle and get a free kill if you're indeed predicting them to stay in. Other typical SR setters like Landorus-T are faster and will get SR up. And there is stuff like Heatran.. You just won't taunt it. So, on paper, I'm calling into question the use of this move along with a trapper. I'd also change the spread, really, I don't think max speed is mandatory. I'd go for something like 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 Spe to outspeed neutral base 70 like Breloom.
Without Taunt, this moveslot is free for Roost. This means that you're not totally helpless against Outrage spamming. Also, a U-Turning Scizor ruins you badly since he can come on locked Gothi, Sharpedo, locked Nite, on a Mamo's Ice move and then grab the momentum from here. You won't be letting Gothi/Sharpedo/Mamo on Scizor, Nite won't come if SR after up to take the U-Turn, and Rotom-W will get totally destroyed by a CB U-Turn. Having a free switch in for this particular case can be great.

- Next is Sun. I mean, he will start will Ninetales, and what do you do ? Unless if you start with Nite, your lead match-up will be complicated. Mamoswine can be outsped by some Ninetales, so it's risky, Skarmory will get roasted and that's it, Rotom-W can't hurt it etc...
On the top of that, your Sharpedo is directly crippled and Chlorophyl sweepers will be a pain even if you have Mamo to force them out and Dragonite to "tank" them. The latter being crippled by SR badly.
The issue being also, that Mamoswine can't kill a Venusaur unless it's really weakened, and since you got no Ghost, you shouldn't consider Spikes+SR as classic fight conditions.

My changes :

- As I said, changing a bit Skarmory's set could help in my opinion.

- Err, try Rain Dance over Icycle Spear on Mamoswine. Mamoswine can force many switchs and I believe that many Sun players will let Ninetales die quickly to not lose the momentum. Rain Dance Mamoswine (what the fuck is that :o) can turn the tide of a game in your favor easily, and save a Sharpedo's sweep aswell as ruining a Venusaur's one.
It can also help against Stoutland, because let's be honest, with Skarmory thrown away in early game, the Dog would probably sweep you cleanly.

Sadly, it's probably too hard to fit a Ghost.

That's all, the team is, as I said, really good and well built from my point of view, meaning that the changes are really hard to find. I "believe" those changes I proposed can be interesting, I don't know if Rain Dance wll be easy to use on Mamoswine, but it can't be harder to use than SR so I'm not too too worried.
I hope I helped, and good luck with your team.


TL;DR :

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Roost/ChangeSpread on Skarmory
Rain Dance on Mamoswine

Hey Remedy, thanks for the rate. You stated that it's just better to go straight out to Gothitelle than it is to Taunt the likes of Hippo, Forretress and Ferrothorn. However, if I were to go straight out to Gothitelle against Forretress, then, assuming it's the common Custap Berry set, it'd set up Stealth Rock on the turn I switch, a layer of Spikes on the turn I use Hidden Power [Fire] to knock it down to Sturdy, and then a second layer of Spikes on the turn its Custap Berry activates. That leaves me up against 2 layers of Spikes, and Stealth Rock, as well as a Gothitelle locked into Hidden Power [Fire], that's a terrible position to be in at the start of the game. All this could be avoided if I use Taunt. Similiar things apply against Ferrothorn in the Rain (especially if they have Leech Seed and Protect). I could go on, but the point is I really like Taunt, and my current lead set in general because it suits the team much better. But I'll try out Rain Dance on Mamoswine if the Scarf Jirachi I'm testing in Mamoswine's slot doesn't work out :)

Now that you have the early-game sacrifice on Skarmory, I'm gonna recommend you change Mamoswine to Choice Scarf Sand Force Landorus. Firstly, if you set up Stealth Rock against Starmie, you can prevent Rapid Spin with a Custap kamikaze, which either forces the seastar out or puts it in range of a U-turn KO for Landorus, allowing you to preserve a hefty amount of early game momentum. In conjunction with Gothitelle trapping every other spinner, an early-game Rapid Spin isn't a problem for you. Second, Landorus helps your Volcarona and Terrakion weaknesses, being able to revenge kill them. Thirdly, it gives something of a Volt-Turn core in tandem with Rotom-W. Most pokemon that switch into U-turn from Landorus can be trapped by Gothitelle, which is insanely beneficial as Sand Force Landorus shares common counters with both CBnite and Sharpedo. And finally, if Landorus forces a switch when it uses U-turn, Sharpedo can come in unscathed with a free Speed Boost under its belt, while still retaining the ability to use another Protect, which is dangerous because it ensures a second Speed Boost to let it outspeed even Scarf Starmie.

Try it out. At the very least, if it doesn't work out, let me know its shortcomings. I'm legitimately curious why Scarf Sand Force Landorus is no longer used, because on paper, it still seems like a super potent metagame force. If you're not fond of being locked into Earthquake with so many Ground-immune pokes, Scarf Terrakion could end up being a good fit too since you're pretty weak to Adamant CB Stoutland.

Landorus-I @

Trait: Sand Force
Nature: Naive
EV: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power Ice

In addition, I have two more suggestions. Try running Expert Belt Gothitelle, as being choice locked there could screw you over. You can replace Trick with so many things, as Gothitelle has a very generous support movepool for a Shadow Tagger. Taunt, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Rain Dance, Heal Block, Tickle, as well as more offensive options such as Thunderbolt and Signal Beam. All of these have very good merits for your team, while Trick only beats Blissey/Chansey. Admittedly, I can see them being a problem as you lack a way to OHKO/2HKO besides CB Outrage. However, Chansey/Blissey are both really rare in this metagame and you will lose far more games to Gothitelle being choice-locked. Also, you should lower your Skarmory's HP IV to 0 to force yourself into Custap range and ensure complete suicide if you end up between 10% and 25%. Make sure you increased its Atk IV back to 31. I'm guessing you did but your team descriptions say you haven't.

Hey Meru, thanks for the rate. Landorus, would make my team pretty much auto lose to Choice Scarf Garchomp. Nothing would be fast enough to outspeed it, I wouldn't have enough priority to take it out, and my entire team is OHKOd by Outrage after very little prior damage. Expert Belt Gothitelle, on the other hand, is something I'll try out :)

 

[Saphi]

Hi,

nice team you got there! I would suggest Earthquake > Zen Headbutt on Sharpedo though. The only thing you gain from Zen Headbutt is a chance to OHKO Keldeo after Entry Hazard Damage, but Keldeo is easily trapped by Gothitelle. Earthquake does the same against Toxicroak, Tentacruel and even more against Sunteams, Steeltypes in the Rain etc.

Keep up the Good Work! :)

 

[TGMD]

Hi,

nice team you got there! I would suggest Earthquake > Zen Headbutt on Sharpedo though. The only thing you gain from Zen Headbutt is a chance to OHKO Keldeo after Entry Hazard Damage, but Keldeo is easily trapped by Gothitelle. Earthquake does the same against Toxicroak, Tentacruel and even more against Sunteams, Steeltypes in the Rain etc.

Keep up the Good Work! :)

Hey Saphi, thanks for the rate. Keldeo definitely isn't easy to trap with Gothitelle, Keldeo can outspend and OHKO Gothitelle with Hydro Pump. Although Earthquake would help against Fire types in the sun, there are very few relevant Fire types that can live a Waterfall, even when it's hindered by sun. Stealth Rock makes short work of Fire types anyway, and Zen Headbutt can be useful against common Pokemon found in sun, such as Venusaur. For Steel types in rain, the power difference between Waterfall and Earthquake will almost always be negligible. Overall, I prefer Zen Headbutt for the flinch chancd, coverage on the likes of Venusaur, and Keldeo is an incredibly common Pokemon :)

 

[Meru]

I really think a fast U-turner on your team would give considerable benefit though... maybe Scarf Mienshao? Reckless or Regenerator would be good

 

[TGMD]

I really think a fast U-turner on your team would give considerable benefit though... maybe Scarf Mienshao? Reckless or Regenerator would be good

Hey Meru, thanks for the rate. Mienshao seems quite interesting, I'm too tired to write up all my thoughts on it atm, but I'll definitely try it out and see how it goes :)

 

[Ninechu]

Really nice team you've got! Sharpedo really is cool, and it's good to see it used again... however, i strongly believe you should slap a Politoed on that team of yours, as it works wonders with powering up sharpedo, as well as helping rotom. I think your best option is Politoed -> Gothitelle. Considering you'd be losing a powerful special attacker in Gothitelle, i recommend Choice Specs Politoed with a moveset of Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and a hidden Power Type or Surf. This provides the ability to not only power up sharpedo's water moves, but the ability to still hit very hard and eliminate bulky threats like skarmory. Politoed also ensures Sharpedo doesn't suffer from a sun team, and Dragonite from Sandstorm.
I think you have a great team there! Try Politoed out, good luck!

 

[TGMD]

Really nice team you've got! Sharpedo really is cool, and it's good to see it used again... however, i strongly believe you should slap a Politoed on that team of yours, as it works wonders with powering up sharpedo, as well as helping rotom. I think your best option is Politoed -> Gothitelle. Considering you'd be losing a powerful special attacker in Gothitelle, i recommend Choice Specs Politoed with a moveset of Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and a hidden Power Type or Surf. This provides the ability to not only power up sharpedo's water moves, but the ability to still hit very hard and eliminate bulky threats like skarmory. Politoed also ensures Sharpedo doesn't suffer from a sun team, and Dragonite from Sandstorm.
I think you have a great team there! Try Politoed out, good luck!

Hey Ninechu, thanks for the rate. Although this team greatly benefits from rain, Gothitelle is just too crucial to this team because it removes a lot of key Pokemon. Without it, Ferrothorn and many others are going to be incredibly difficult to deal with :)

 

[NinetalesPrower]

Found this team very similar to this on ladder. I'm not sure if it was you or someone else testing out adjustments on this team, but it was a fun battle (accidentally putting water absorb over drizzle on my toed actually helped me a lot tho lol)

Pretty interesting team. I really like the item for Skarmory, although whoever I was facing wasn't really lucky with not getting burned from Lava Plume. The rain dance on Gothitelle was also a very nice add-on to this team.

I could see why you had LO Mamoswine over choice scarf Mienshao though, since when Skarmory's out of the way, around mid-game, my opponent had to let a Pokemon die from my scarfed Salamence and lock Mienshao into stone edge.

The best idea I can think of is scarf Scizor > scarf Mienshao, that way you get priority along with being able to u-turn as well.

Best of luck with your team!

 

[TGMD]

Found this team very similar to this on ladder. I'm not sure if it was you or someone else testing out adjustments on this team, but it was a fun battle (accidentally putting water absorb over drizzle on my toed actually helped me a lot tho lol)

Pretty interesting team. I really like the item for Skarmory, although whoever I was facing wasn't really lucky with not getting burned from Lava Plume. The rain dance on Gothitelle was also a very nice add-on to this team.

I could see why you had LO Mamoswine over choice scarf Mienshao though, since when Skarmory's out of the way, around mid-game, my opponent had to let a Pokemon die from my scarfed Salamence and lock Mienshao into stone edge.

The best idea I can think of is scarf Scizor > scarf Mienshao, that way you get priority along with being able to u-turn as well.

Best of luck with your team!

Hey NinetalesPrower, I was testing on the ladder earlier today, so that person you faced could have been me. The problem with Choice Scarf Scizor is that it's unable to revenge kill a lot of the things I need it to. Dragons for example, Scizor's Bullet Punch can't even 2HKO Salamence, one of the more frail dragons. Thanks for the rate though :)

 

[TGMD]

After testing everything I've made some changes to the team. Firstly, I changed Gothitelle's set to Expert Belt because it reduces set up opportunities. I also replaced Mamoswine with Mienshao. Mienshao strengthens my matchup with sun teams, it helps with my entire threat list, etc. I chose it over Choice Scarf Jirachi because although it gave me a dragon resist, it made me far too weak to sun, it can't outspeed base 101 or 102s, such as Choice Scarf Garchomp, which is really important etc. Thanks a lot to Meru who suggested both Mienshao and Expert Belt Gothitelle, and thanks to everyone else who gave my team a rate :)