Hello Smogon, my name is Funkasaurus, presenting a joint RMT of a team I made with my tutor, BKC. I've had a good amount of success with this team, peaking 7th on the ladder with 1561 points. I also used this team to reach semi-finals of No Johns II, where I lost in an extremely close game against K-12 The Madchine. Lastly, I used this team to win the last BW OU tour of season thirteen. On both the ladder and in the tournaments, I defeated some top players, proving that this team can hang with the best. BKC's used the team as well, reaching 6th on the ladder with 1568 points. This team has spread around the ladder a fair bit; someone recently asked me if I was using "Princess Bri's team", since she used the team after BKC lent it to her. That pretty much spurred us to make this RMT, since the team has pretty much peaked in effectiveness and I can't stand the thought of it being known as someone else's, so it's time
to showcase it and get advice for fixing some of its weaknesses. Enjoy.
The basis of this whole team, Gliscor. Not only an amazing defensive wall, but an amazing offensive sweeper as well. Here we decided to run a faster Sand Veil Acrobatics variant for sweeping late game.
Being as Gliscor will have Sand Veil, Sandstorm support would benefit the team greatly. So we had to make a decision, Hippowdon or Tyranitar? And that question would help determine the offensive nature of the team. Plus this Pokemon will most likely be the one to set up Stealth Rock. Hippowdon was chosen because of it's excellent defenses and "immunity" to Dugtrio.
Since Hippowdon and Gliscor dislike Water type moves, a Grass type was needed to absorb them. Roserade seemed like a good choice because of its good offensive and special defensive prowess. On top of that, it helps absorb Toxic Spikes and gets Sleep Powder, which would be very beneficial for the team.
To assist Gliscor's sweeping, a spinner was needed so it would be able to take more hits and set up more Substitutes. Hitmontop was chosen because of good defenses and its Intimidate ability.
We decided to scrap the idea of Hitmontop due our team's current weakness to Ice type moves. For this position, we had a choice. Tentacruel, Starmie, or Forretress. Forretress seemed to be the best fit for its ability to set up layers of Spikes as well as Volt Switch to help gain offensive momentum. BKC had wanted to try a custom Breloom set with Protect, Leech Seed, Drain Punch, and Substitute. It seemed pretty cool so we gave it a shot.
At this point, the team would need assistance from a Pokemon that could deal with Rain, Stall, and Water types, in general. Jellicent fit the bill perfectly. Not only that, it helps serve as a spinblocker.
We're almost done! We just needed a Pokemon to serve as a revenge killer. Not only that, but another Steel type. A Choice Scarf'd Jirachi, an excellent candidate for the job of revenge killer. This variation helped achieve a point total within the 1300s. Not too bad. However, it seemed as if this team needed something to help it go over the top.
The final version of the team with Roserade > Breloom. Breloom just wasn't cutting it. Physically defensive walls were becoming a problem. So here's Roserade making her return to the team. Roserade was just what team needed to put it over the top, helping the team peak 1561 points and 7th rank for me and 1568 and 6th rank for BKC.
Hippowdon -- Underground In America
Sand Stream | Careful | Leftovers
252 HP | 16 Def | 240 SDef
Stealth Rock | Slack Off | Earthquake | Ice Fang
Most people opt for Tyranitar as their Sandstreamer and Stealth Rocker, but in my opinion, that's a waste of Tyranitar's potential. That, and Hippowdon is just so much better. He is bulky as all hell, and has recovery, which lets him stick around a very long time -- excellent for winning weather wars. Hippo is also not Dugtrio prone, making him much more effective against Drought teams than Tyranitar. Special Defense EVs seem like a waste on a 'mon with such great physical Defense, but they work, since Hippo's high HP balances out his rather poor SpD. With this EV spread, he's able to check SubSplit Gengar rather reliably, and he cannot be OHKO'd by Choice Specs Latios's Draco Meteor. Everyone's favorite SpD MixTar can barely scratch it with super-effective Ice Beams. However, Hippo is no slacker on the physical side, either; he's able to avoid a 2HKO from Landorus's Earthquake, while Expert Belt-boosted Hidden Power Ice can't 2HKO either, thanks to the SpD investment.
Forretress -- 13 Steps to Nowhere
Sturdy | Bold | Leftovers
240 HP | 216 Def | 52 SAtk
Spikes | Rapid Spin | Volt Switch | Hidden Power Ice
This set was recently featured in the twentieth edition of The Smog, but it's has been around for a long time, and it's very effective. Just like 99.99% of teams, this team needed a rapid spinner. Forretress, unlike most rapid spinners, has access to Spikes, which is perfect for this team. On top of that, Forretress has an excellent Defense stat. Volt Switch and Hidden Power Ice help give Forre a "BoltBeam" attacking combination. Volt Switch helps gain offensive momentum and escaping Magnezone's Magnet trapping abilities. And Hidden Power Ice helps against Dragon types, like Salamence and Dragonite, and Ground types like Gliscor and Landorus. The investment of 52 special attack EVs help Forretress do some "serious damage." No, not really. It helps score 2HKOs on the aforementioned Landorus and Gliscor with Hidden Power Ice. Not only that, it takes a nice chunk out of Gyarados with Volt Switch. Forretress is a great utility mon who has shown surprising offensive capabilities, so BKC and I refer to this guy as "THE BIG SWEEPER."
Jellicent -- Floods
Cursed Body | Bold | Leftovers
248 HP | 252 Def | 8 SDef
Shadow Ball | Taunt | Will-o-Wisp | Recover
This is the premier spin-blocker of BW OU. There are other Ghost-types, of course, but none are as solid as Jellicent at preserving hazards. Gengar is fast and strong, but too frail and is 2HKO'd by pretty much every spinner. Dusclops has a ton of bulk, but it has no recovery and is set-up fodder. Jellicent isn't exactly an offensive force, and it isn't quite as bulky as Dusclops, but it has instant recovery and is a lot harder to set-up on, thanks to Taunt, which also makes a fine stallbreaker in conjunction with Will-o-Wisp. Shadow Ball is used over Scald to actually do something back to Starmie, who Jelli is used to spin-block against. It also helps against stallbreaker Mew. Cursed Body is used over Water Absorb because disabling an opponent's move while Recover stalling has been a life-saver many times. While we initially ran a lot of Speed EVs, we eventually shifted over to max Defense so Tyranitar has a harder time trapping.
Roserade -- 10's
Natural Cure | Modest | Black Sludge
208 HP | 124 Def | 60 SAtk | 116 SDef
Sleep Powder | Giga Drain | Hidden Power Fire | Rest
A defensive sandstorm team needs a reliable switch to Rotom-W, preferably one who can also handle its omnipresent partner, Scizor. Roserade performs this task admirably. Burns are shrugged off by Natural Cure, Volt Switch/Hydro Pump barely scratch it, and HP Fire/Ice don't do too much either, thanks to Rossy's high Special Defense. Not to mention, Rossy absorbs Toxic Spikes, which helps Hippowdon and Jellicent's survivability. Thanks to the defense investment, Scizor's Bullet Punch will not KO and HP Fire will often OHKO after Stealth Rock. Most defensive Roserade run a Spiking set of some sort, but since we already had Forretress for Spikes, and T-Spikes aren't always that effective, we figured sticking with this set would be beneficial, and it has yet to let us down. Rest is great recovery since Natural Cure will remove the sleep condition upon switching out. We've used Leaf Storm over Giga Drain for extra power before, but the low PP was off-putting in longer battles.
Jirachi -- War Nerve
Serene Grace | Adamant | Choice Scarf
16 HP | 216 Atk | 36 SDef | 240 Spe
U-turn | Iron Head | Ice Punch | Trick
We needed a second Steel-type, and we needed some speed, as our team was slow as dirt. Enter Jirachi, whose revenge-killing capabilities are top-notch. We're running Adamant as the nature because Jirachi's Attack stat leaves something to be desired, and since even with a Jolly nature we can't outspeed Scarf Landorus / Terrakion, Adamant is the way to go. We dropped the Speed EVs low enough to beat Scarf Hydreigon / Haxorus, then added a bit of bulk since this is our main switch to Latios. U-turn is great for gaining switch advantage, and it's excellent at warding off Celebi. Iron Head is Jirachi's signature move that causes ragequits galore. Ice Punch is used because this is our check to Dragon Dance Dragons, such as Dragonite and Haxorus. It also destroys Expert Belt Landorus and opposing AcroBats.
Gliscor -- Sandblasted Skin
Sand Veil | Jolly | Flying Gem
16 HP | 252 Atk | 64 Def | 176 Spe
Substitute | Swords Dance | Earthquake | Acrobatics
Ah, the star of the show. The very thing this team was built around. The reason for the team's very existence. With a Jolly nature and 176 speed EVs, Gliscor can outspeed Pokemon such as Modest Hydreigon and Adamant Haxorus, reaching a 297 speed stat. Acrobatics does indeed OHKO common Grass-type threats such as Nasty Plot Celebi, Venusaur, and Breloom without any attack boosts. The biggest threat to this set is, of course, Skarmory; great bulk lets it shrug off even Swords Danced attacks and it can either Whirlwind to get rid of the boost and rack up damage from the Spikes it lays, or simply chip away at Gliscor's health with Brave Bird, Roosting to recover health when necessary. However, Skarm is taken care of by Forretress, Roserade, and Jellicent; even Jirachi can Trick a Scarf onto it in a pinch, so it's sufficient to say that the rest of the team handles the metal bird well. Sand Veil is a valuable ability to Gliscor as Garchomp-esque miss-fishing can be greatly helpful in pulling off a sweep. For those of you who played during the Garchomp era, you will notice the similarities between Chomp's trademark SubSD set and this Gliscor; their playstyle is very similar. Early game, fire off attacks to check threats or weaken counters; late-game, set up and cleave through weakened teams.
Conclusion
I've enjoyed using this team. Since making it, it's been my "go to" team. So I figured it's best to retire it after it's helped me achieve so much. Please post if you have any suggestions on how to better this team. Thanks for reading.
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