EDIT/DISCLAIMER: I CLIMBED THE OU LADDER ON PBC, NOT DREAM WORLD SMOG. BUT SCINCE THIS TEAM INCLUDES UNRELEASED LIGHTNING ROD ZAPDOS, I HAVE ADDED THE DREAM WORLD PREFIX.
Introduction:
Hello, friends. I am The Police, Yo! and I have been lurking PO for some time. I posted maybe a thread before (haven't looked for a few months), but I felt compelled to contribute today. This team is my most recent successful team, and I have taken it about as far as it can go for now. It can beat any team if played correctly (as you could say about most teams), and does so using lots of synergy, lots of power, and enough speed to get by. It also uses a Skuntank, which is always cool :naughty:. So without further delay, let's move onto the team building process:
Team Building:
I wanted to start things off with a tried and true combination: Gyarados and a benefiting Electric type. In past gens, this was usually Electevire in the famed 'voltvire' combo. Also viable was Jolteon. This gen brings the combination to an even higher level, as Zapdos gains a boost in special attack which gives it the power nod over jolteon and E-vire.
-----------------------
While the Zapdos-Gyrados combo is a thing of beauty, it does leave one glaring weakness: rock. I needed a resist, and I needed it bad. The obvious typing choice was steel as the ground weakness was covered by Zapdos and Gyarados, and I had many to choose from. I didn't want to go super-OU, so I left out Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Jirachi. I happened upon Metagross, which looked good initially, but my weakness to SR made switching into repeated EQs with my 2x weak to SR Zapdos and Gyarados made survivability a major problem. This got me thinking about stability in more ways than just switching into SR a lot. I wanted a bulky son of a bitch that could set up some rocks and check a bunch of annoying threats. The answer was Bronzong.
-----------------------
Even with Bronzong, I needed another defensive cog that complimented everything I already had. Rotom-W was an easy choice, as he checks/counters so much of the metagame, has great survivability, and provides backup insurance on the ever-valuable electric STAB of Zapdos, and a special variant of Gyarados' spectacular water STAB. I've found that Rotom-W is the premier defensive pivot to just about any team, and this one was no exception.
-----------------------
While switching in and out, taking advantage of resistances and immunities was nice, it lacked the sheer speed and power needed to compete in todays metagame. My ideal choice here would have been Garchomp (and it was for a while), but with it's banishment to Ubers I was forced to switch to another hammer. Garchomp doesn't get as many useful resistances as Garchomp (SR in particular) or the great dual STAB (How I miss that boosted EQ
), but he does have access to intimidate and a much better pure attack stat. Scarf Salamence enteres the team.-----------------------
In my never-ending quest to not be entirely OP, I hit up my handy-dandy team-builder/synergy guide courtesy of Pokemon.Marriland.com:
http://pokemon.marriland.com/black_white/team_builder
to find out what my team was lacking. As far as resists, I did not have a psychic or dark resist, nor did I have a true wall-breaker capable of switching attacks, nor did I have a grass attack. Enter: Skuntank. This guy was my answer to KOing Quagsire outside of a critical hit (among other ground/water types). His immunity to psychic helps as he gets a free switch and can KO whatever was. Love this stinky, stanky, skunk.
-----------------------
Team Synergy Overview:
*Note: This chart does NOT reflect Zapdos's electric immunity.
*Normal Rotom was used in place of Rotom-W, as the program does not support alt. forms.
Highest Ranking:
*This was ranked 25th on the OU ladder at the time.
-----------------------
A Deeper Look:
Now that I had selected WHO was going to be on my team, I had to decide WHAT exactly each would do in the form of what sets they would run.
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
Bronzong leads, mainly because he was the only pokemon that was capable of doing so effectively on my team. It sets up SR if it doesn't fear Taunt or a powerful fire attack. Most common taunting leads (Aerodactyl/Deoxys-S/Thunderus) are 2HKO'd by Gyro Ball. Gyro Ball also makes sure that shell-smash Cloyster lead bullsh** doesn't sweep my entire team. HP Ice provides a nice check to pretty much every dragon not named bulky Dragonite, as well as Gliscor, Landorus, and other common threats severely hurt by ice. Earthquake was the best coverage move, and takes care of any non-air balloon Excadrill (and at full health any Excadrill). SR is the most valuable move of the set, as it ensures so many OHKO/2HKO that I need to not get counter-swept.
-----------------------
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Taunt
- Bounce
I wonder why I don't see more of these running around. Taunt turns any defensive/annoying pokemon without a random T-bolt into setup fodder. Those that do have T-bolt just assist Zapdos with setting up his sweep. Waterfall is obvious, and the choice between Bounce and EQ came down to coverage. Water/ground is very meh at best, and Bounce (in addition to providing better coverage) allows Gyarados an extra turn of recovery if he feels like it. He does a good job of stopping Conkeldurp from setting up and ruining my fun, and destroys Breloom (as long as a teammate is asleep). Intimidate is great, especially in tandem with Rotom-W's will-o-wisp and fellow intimidate-er Salamence. Not much else to say here.
-----------------------
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Ice]
This set has proven to be very, VERY good in this metagame. It was actually this set (or a similar set), that led to the construction of this team. I was using an older team that rarely gets beaten badly, and this Zapdos absolutely demolished my OP team. So I figured, if it broke my team loaded with OP pokes, why shouldn't it wreck the same OP pokes on other teams? The idea is to switch into a common electric attack, agility, and sweep. When Zapdos switches into an electric attack at full health, there are really very, very few pokemon that can KO it back before getting KO'd or allowing me to activate Agility and then KO. (T-punch/stone edge Infernape is one of the very few pokemon I can think of off of the top of my head that could feasibly stay in. And seriously, how many of THOSE are running around?). Roost allows Zapdos to beat weak ice beam/HP ice users that would otherwise ruin its fun before it can KO (other Zapdos, in particular). T-bolt is obligatory without politoed to make Thunder consistent, and HP Ice forms the ever-infamous 'bolt-beam' combo. Really just a quality, quality pokemon.
-----------------------
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
As I stated in the team-building process, Rotom-W was meant to be backup STAB electric and water as well as a wall. And that he is. This is nothing really NEW, but lord is it effective. T-bolt/hydro pump is simply dominant, and a lone (and VERY covered) grass weakness is a non-issue. Will-O-Wisp destroys any boosting sweeper daring enough to set up on it, as well as makes Ferrothorn very beatable (which otherwise is a huge bother to this team - especially in the rain). Pain Split keeps him alive long enough to KO something with his quintessential and dominant dual STAB. Over the course of an average game, no pokemon in my part sees more switch-ins than this guy. Oh, and having an absolute counter to Scizor is never a bad thing.
-----------------------
Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Aqua Tail ??????
Who ever sees this coming? That's what I play off when I want to KO an opposing dragon. outside of full-health multi-scale Dragonite and CS Latios with no SpA drops beat this mence. The sheer speed outpaces the omnipresent Genesect and KOs a weakened one with EQ. A scarfed Outrage late game is one of the last things my opponent wants to see, and dragon claw ensures he doesn't get trapped/set up on by steels (even though he can 2HKO a good selection of them after SR if they dare to switch in). The last slot honestly has not been used other than once or twice. I remember using Aqua Tail against a Gliscor and was very disappointed to see it only did 40%, so that slot is probably the most up-for-debate move on this team. Really not much else to say here... I needed a hammer that was fast. A revenge killer. A beast. Salamence has done exceptionally well at all of this (even though he's no Garchomp
).-----------------------
Skuntank (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Sucker Punch
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
I dug into the Smogon 4th gen archives, blew some dust off of the screen, and made an adjustment to this little-used set to fantastic results. Sucker Punch does a whole lot of damage coming off of 284 Atk, KOing weakened sweepers, nearly every ghost or psychic, and just generally bails my ass out. Explosion destroys anything that wants to status/set up on me, or anything that I don't really want to switch into. Fire Blast provides a sweet OHKO on Ferrothorn and does good surprise damage to others. HP grass is leaned upon heavily, and is something I really have to consider moving forward. As it comes off of a measly 196 un-STAB'd SAtk, it struggles to take care of stockpiled Quagsires/Gastrodon which give this team a shit-ton of issues. It does 2HKO both if they don't already have a boost. Skuntank provides that game-changing surprise KO more often than I could have asked.
-----------------------
In Conclusion:
A simple idea turned into a very, very effective team (as they usually do). It was fun watching this team blossom and grow under my supervision and guidance, and I would like to take it to the next level with your help. I would also like you all to try it out and make it your own with a tweak here or there.
Thank you for reading this small novel (or at least it feels like it judging by how long it took to write) and I hope you can offer me some valuable insight as I, like the rest of you, can always learn something new from my fellow competitors.
Importable:
PHP:
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Taunt
- Bounce
Skuntank (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Sucker Punch
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Lightningrod
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Aqua Tail
Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain SplitA Final Look:
