THE WU-TANG CLAN
A National Dex Balance Team Featuring Raikou
Description: Several weeks ago I decided I wanted to make a team around Raikou who is one of my favorite mons to play with in early gens. I want to start out by saying that Raikou can be considered a matchup fish. However, it is capable of dismantling some standard teams if it does get a favorable matchup. Raikou has an amazing speed tier and hits relatively hard, but it is frail and difficult to get in. I also think that the team itself is very visually appealing and has a nice color scheme, so it is incentive enough for me. I'm also putting the team details in the order that I built the team so don't be confused by that. I hope you enjoy!
Teambuilding Details
GZA (Raikou) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
The star of the show, I don't think Raikou really has any other viable set than SubCM. I think its standard UU set is four attacks with boots as a pivot, but its essentially outclasses by Tapu Koko so I didn't find that viable, and I don't think that Choice Specs Raikou would be very good. The set itself is fairly obvious with Calm Mind to setup and Substitute to aid that and avoid status. I'm running leftovers because I think that's really the only viable option to run. Alternative items could be something like Expert Belt or Magnet/Mystical Water but the things walling Raikou won't be broken with that anyways. Thunderbolt is the go-to STAB and Scald is great for 2HKOing most ground types. Raikou behind substitute is a legitimate threat with a combination of these attacks, and it fits well into a metagame with bulky water types seemingly on every team.
Ol Dirty Bastard (Medicham-Mega) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out
One of the strongest breakers in the tier, Mega Medi is the teams premier physical attacker. I went in with my SubCM Raikou set and knew I wanted a physical breaker to get past things like Blissey and Ferrothorn, two things Raikou can't deal with. For the set itself, it's a very standard Mega Medicham set with HJK, Zen Headbutt, and Fake Out. I'm running Ice Punch over Thunder Punch because Slowbro has very little usage right now, and both Greninja and Raikou can deal with it.
RZA (Greninja-Ash) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes
My third and final true offensive threat is Ash-Greninja. I think it's one of, if not the best Pokemon in this tier, and it is great for cleaning teams. Raikou and Mega Medicham are great at dealing with Greninja's walls (bulky water types in particular) in order to set up an end game sweep. However, Ash-Greninja is also great for forcing switches and either punishing with a double switch or setting up hazards. Another standard set of Hydro Pump, Dark Pulse, and Water Shuriken with Choice Specs for damage. For the final spot I think that Spikes is the best choice just for slowly wearing down opposing walls, however, both Toxic Spikes and U-Turn are viable options.
Inspectah Deck (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
After establishing what I think is a strong offensive core, I knew that I wanted rocks to compliment the team and help wear down opposing walls. I think Landorus-T is probably the best rock setter in the tier with fantastic strength, speed, bulk, and versatility. Unfortunately, Lando doesn't have any form of recovery so I considered pairing him with a Wish user but couldn't fit one on. Earthquake is Lando's go to STAB move hitting most things neutrally, with U-Turn for pivoting. This is great for getting in the less bulky attackers that are on this team. Toxic is there to whittle down opposing walls and lastly I have rocks. EVs are currently set for Timid Magnezone with the rest in bulk. This team doesn't enjoy going against Heatran so giving Landorus additional speed to outrun Timid Tran is an option, as well as giving additional Spdf EVs. I chose to keep Lando like this because it is the teams only real check to ZardX. I chose Rocky Helmet because I think that combined with intimidate it is great for getting every bit of chip, especially for opposing Lando's trying to U-Turn, although leftovers is an equally valid option.
Ghostface Killah (Corviknight) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog
As Landorus-T has no form of recovery, I wanted to bring in an additional wall to help out against physical threats while being able to recover, as well as bringing hazard removal. This is the mixed wall and also one of the only switch ins to Tapu Lele allowing it to avoid a 2HKO after hazards from everything other than a Choice Specs Focus Blast. The set itself is another standard set with U-Turn for momentum, Roost for recovery, and defog for removal. I don't think Body Press is as good on Defog Corvi as Brave Bird is but both are viable options.
Method Man (Toxapex) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Recover
Toxapex is on this team so I do not mono-lose to Ash-Greninja. Another standard EV spread, with enough to live Kartana's +2 Leaf Blade and the rest in SpD as it is the teams primary special wall. The moves are standard as well with Scald, Haze, and Recover. I think that Toxic/Toxic Spikes are both fairly interchangeable and have favorable/unfavorable scenarios, I think that TSpikes fits better on this team. Scald can also be replaced with Knock Off but I think the burn chance and damage it can do to Heatran if trapped is more valuable.
Paste
https://pokepast.es/8b7cd71c44e7df6c
Threat List
Ferrothorn: Leech Seed Ferrothorn in particular is very difficult to get around as the only thing that can really break it is Mega Medicham, but there's no incentive for it to really stay in anyway. Additionally, it's hard to scare it out as switching MMedi in isn't enjoyable and all U-Turns are faster/takes Iron Barbs chip. Additionally, Raikou can't set up and break it as both of its attacks are heavily resisted and Ash-Gren doesn't do very much either.
Heatran: Offensive Heatran is very difficult to switch into. The ideal scenario is that they're Scarf Eruption Heatran which Pex walls, but any Magma Storm + Taunt variant can cause major issues. Lando has the benefit of being able to scare it out and Pex, if trapped, can heavily chunk it. While everything else can really just out-offense it.
Bulky Calm Mind Users: These can unfortunately shred through this team, but it's far from unwinnable. Toxapex fortunately has Haze but most CM users carry an electric or psychic type attack to deal with Pex in particular. CM Users like Mega Latias need to be dealt with aggressively with Ash-Gren which can be pivoted into fairly safely from Corviknight. I will say that the most difficult Pokemon to deal with which can essentially 6-0 is Reuniclus. However, this can still be avoided with Ash-Gren.
Team Variants
The first option to consider is replacing Toxapex with Tapu Fini (either scarf or not are viable) in order to help deal with CM setup users with taunt and/or trick. This is also a fantastic way to help against the Heatran matchup which this team struggles with and is the most realistic switch that the team can make.
Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 12 SpA / 56 SpD / 192 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Scald
I'd like to thank adem for this set which lets Fini outspeed Modest Tran, then 2HKO with Scald with the rest in Spdf and I think that this is the best potential replacement for the team. However, this makes the Kartana, Zard Y, and Serperior matchups significantly worse which I find to be much more common.
A second replacement is substituting Weavile for Ash-Greninja which helps additionally with the CM struggles faced by this team, but I'm not a huge fan of Weavile on this team as I find Choice Band Weavile gets walled far too frequently. SD Weavile is a replacement which has its uses, but I think that Ash-Greninja is still superior and I'm personally not a huge fan of having Toxapex and Raikou as my only two special attackers.
Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Triple Axel
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Swords Dance
This is the standard Swords Dance Weavile set if you are interested in trying it out.
Lastly, Landorus-T could potentially be substituted by Garchomp. I don't think it's particularly useful as Tank Chomp tends to just be a less effective wall than Tank Lando-T, but it provides more of an offensive threat with a SD Rock-Z set.
Garchomp @ Rockium Z
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Stealth Rock
However, the reduced bulk and lack of intimidate makes this team especially weak to dragon dance users that tend to have answers to Toxapex and Corviknight, like Zard X. I also prefer fatter teams and I think Lando-T fits my personal playstyle better, although I understand how some might prefer Chomp.
Conclusion
If you got this far, thank you so much for reading my review. Please let me know your thoughts on the team and any suggestions you may have (except for replacing Raikou because i'm NOT gonna do it).