D/P/Pt RMT: Even more switches

[J.T.]

ALL RIGHT. Gonna bump this to show that I need more help. Team's undergoing some serious revamps. Well, that's the plan, anyway. Old parts are crossed out, new ideas are bolded; note that until I'm concretely told I should replace something, and a good reason why, I won't actually do so.


Infernape @ Focus Sash / Life Orb / Expert Belt
Blaze / Jolly Naive
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP ... something.
- Swords Dance Nasty Plot / Stealth Rock
- Blaze Kick Fire Blast
- Close Combat Grass Knot
- Mach Punch Close Combat

I'm hoping to turn this guy into a mixed attacking lead, or, failing that, a simple mix sweeper. It'll take a lot of effort on my part, which is a big turn-off because I'm a lazy son of a bitch, but if it's important, well. He works well for me even in his current state, sweeping entire teams on occasion, but I got this thought when I got completely walled and slowly decimated by a SkarmBliss combo.


Absol @ Scope Lens
Super Luck / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Psycho Cut
(fuck you)


Scizor @ Life Orb
Technician / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 232 Spe / 24 HP
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break / Roost
- X-Scissor / U-Turn

Noted later than this original post that Absol sucks and Scizor is the shit. First, I'm planning on testing out whether U-Turn works better than X-Scissor. Switching might be nice in a pinch, but then again I don't switch a lot. Brick Break doesn't get much use out of me, since the majority of important things it hits for super-effective can kill me before I do shit against them; but at the same time, Scizor isn't extremely bulky, and barely able to take most hits, so I don't know how much she'd get out of Roost.

Latias @ Life Orb
Levitate / Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf

Okay, a few things I could potentially replace my Latias with; tourneys and shit usually don't allow for legends like Latias, like the ones here at TCoD. They're listed below.


Yanmega @ Wise Glasses
Speed Boost / Modest
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Protect
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz
- Shadow Ball
This guy left a loooong time ago.


Gengar @ Life Orb
Levitate / Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Sludge Bomb / Hypnosis
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt

This guy is brutal. His type coverage is phenomenal, and Sludge Bomb, while having awful coverage, is a massively powerful move with a helpful poisoning chance (that poison chance once saved me from a near-deadly potential Dragon Dance Salamence sweep, which I still love). However, I'm considering replacing it with the chance to completely shut down a foe with Hypnosis. Shadow Ball is a STAB move with usable coverage. Aaaand I despise Focus Blast! Anyone who knows me should know this. It's a horrible disgusting move that gets me raped more times than it helps me and as a result I go out of my way to avoid using it. But it's a requirement every once in a while. Unfortunately. And we all know TBolt has great coverage, so.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch
- Spore


Swampert @ Leftovers
Torrent / Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
- Curse
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Avalanche / Rest

This guy is my bulky fighter. His only weakness is Grass (albeit a 4x weakness), similar to Scizor's sole weakness to Fire. Incidentally, Scizor has a Grass resistance and Swampert a Fire resistance, so they can complement each other very well. Anyway, Curse is the big staple here, making 'Pert more bulky physically and amping his attack up to more powerful levels while lowering his completely useless speed. Waterfall's flinch rate is absolutely pointless on this site, but it's 'Pert's most powerful STAB Water move. Earthquake is Earthquake, do I need to go on. And Avalanche is nice against dragons like Salamence; they already outrun him, so 'Pert comes in, absorbs whatever they toss at him, and OHKO's with Avalanche. However, I'm considering putting Rest in there for survivability, although I don't know if going through 2 turns of complete vulnerability is worth it.


Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Sand Stream / Impish
EVs: 176 HP / 84 Def / 248 SpD
- Stockpile
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

My tank. Usually he comes out at the end when I'm in a desperate bid to stall out what remains of my enemy's team - it's a nice surprise to my opponent to encounter a team of sweepers (and one SubPuncher not anymore), then meet the king of stalling. After one Stockpile, almost nothing can hurt it much; after two, it can take (and has taken) a Sudowoodo's Explosion; and after three, you're fucked unless you get a crit. Once his defense is boosted to the max, I spam Earthquake, Slacking Off any major hits. Ice Fang is there for Flying-types, because otherwise walling is a much harder chore. Oh and I can't think of any changes to give this ten-foot wall; come up with something? Great, lemme know.

POSSIBLE REPLACEMENTS FOR LATIAS:


Jolteon @ Life Orb / Wise Glasses
Volt Absorb / Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Charge Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Baton Pass / Hidden Power... Ice?

I love Jolteon. One of my favorite Eeveelutions. Unfortunately, he has a rather limited special movepool that's limited mainly to support options. This is my attempt (emphasis on "attempt") to make him into a somewhat worthy sweeper. Charge Beam would boost his special attack to monstrous levels with some luck; I was about to say maybe Signal Beam instead, but then I realized STAB Charge Beam has equal power to Signal Beam. Maybe for some really limited type coverage. Afterwards, Thunderbolt serves as a majorly powerful STAB attack, with Shadow Ball for neutral type coverage. Baton Pass allows me to pass my Charge Beam boosts to something more able to deal with the situation I may be facing, such as Gengar (who otherwise can't get any boosts) or my potential mix Infernape (which gives him a head-start on his Nasty Plot boosts), or just to get the hell out of there. Alternatively, Hidden Power Ice makes a pseudo-BoltBeam combo, which is a well-known combo for its coverage. This is highly speculative; I think it could work, but I need some tips before I go through with it.


Porygon-Z @ Silk Scarf
Adaptability / Timid
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 Sp.Atk / 6 HP
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam / Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot

The big thing about Porygon-Z is the fact that he can boost his already Alakazam-rivaling special attack to pretty much "holy fuck run" levels with Nasty Plot in one turn. His Adaptability boost then gives Tri Attack, with great neutral coverage, a base power of 160, stronger than a STAB Earthquake. This is further boosted with Silk Scarf, which is chosen over Life Orb because I have way too many Life Orb users already Porygon-Z is frail enough already, and he's outsped by a good chunk of everything. All this together gives it 192 base power (unless my math sucks). And that's before a Nasty Plot. Essentially, Tri Attack demolishes everything, and as such is the standard attack. The BoltBeam combo is better for super-effective coverage, but Dark Pulse is apparently massively important according to Smogon, but I can't see why. >.> Hitting Ghost-types? So do TBolt and Ice Beam, plus they hit other things too.

?
????? @ ?????
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EVs: ??????????
- ??????
- ??????
- ??????
- ??????

No I didn't catch a question mark. That means gimme suggestions. Anything, really.

 

[Exo-Raikou]

I'm no expert on rating teams, but I'll try to help you here, as you've gave me lots of good advice before

Need moar ratings plz. Still in the OU environment here, but I have a few UU Pokemon here.


Infernape @ Focus Sash
Blaze / Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Swords Dance
- Blaze Kick
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch

Still no changes on Ember here. I'm considering swapping Stealth Rock somewhere on here since he's my lead, or even completely switching his role to a MixApe. Suggestions please?

If you're going to put in Stealth rock, then you'd want to use it in downtime, as an unexpected psychic, water, or ground could come in and wreck you. If you want Stealth Rock, then get rid of swords dance or mach punch/close combat the former because they're both downtime moves; the latter because two STAB moves can be "iffy" at times.


Absol @ Scope Lens
Super Luck / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Psycho Cut

This is a work in progress. Not the moveset, the Absol itself, because I don't have it yet. The idea is with Super Luck and Scope Lens, I'll be hitting a critical with Sucker Punch 1 in 3 times, and with Psycho Cut, 50% of the time. Superpower is nice for Steel- and Dark-types who resist my other attacks. This replaces my Scizor because of its higher speed and stronger priority move.

Ah, the good old Scope Lens-Super Luck strategy. I've got no complaints on this one, though you could have a Sniper in for Double Battles, for the purpose of augmenting that pokemon

Latias @ Life Orb
Levitate / Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf

My pride and joy. Intensely fast (her IVs in Special Attack and Speed are perfect, and as far as I can tell not hacked), powerful, and after a couple Calm Minds an effective special wall, she can switch in on almost any special attack, outspeed them, pull off a Calm Mind, and crash back with a STAB Dragon Pulse or super-effective Surf. Recover heals off Life Orb damage as well as enemy attacks.

Good, but I suggest dropping surf in favor of Mist Ball/Psychic for STAB purposes. If a water type hits the field, then She's not going to be happy. Especially if that's something like a Water type with an Ice attack that could cut right through her.


Yanmega @ Wise Glasses
Speed Boost / Modest
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Protect
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz
- Shadow Ball

A standard Yanmega set. Protect guarantees a Speed Boost, after which I can outspeed almost anything that isn't holding a certain scarf item, in which case I can switch out to somethign that resists its Choice move, then boost and crush. Air Slash is nice for flinching things, Bug Buzz is a powerful STAB move, and Shadow Ball is... filler. This set is completely walled by Steel types, but I forgot Hypnosis is only available as a Yanma, and his Hidden Power type is, of course, Steel. >.> He's still a valuable member of the team, though.

I suggest pulling Shadow Ball for something like Substitue, as that would give Speed Boost more time to work, and then you could outspeed anything even if it has a Choice Scarf. Other than that, I've no complaints

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch
- Spore

Breloom has massive attack going here. Once it's against something slow and has the opportunity to set up, things die, rapidly and painfully. Leech Seed helps wither down tanks, and with it + Poison Heal, any damage I take from Substitute is fully recovered. However, I'm considering replacing Leech Seed with Seed Bomb, simply because I'm sick of being walled by ghosts.

Replacing Leech Seed really depends on what sort of moveset you're going for here. I see this as mostly a SubWall, and I think giving it Seed Bomb would make it less wall-like


Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Sand Stream / Impish
EVs: 176 HP / 84 Def / 248 SpD
- Stockpile
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

My tank. Usually he comes out at the end when I'm in a desperate bid to stall out what remains of my enemy's team - it's a nice surprise to my opponent to encounter a team of sweepers (and one SubPuncher), then meet the king of stalling. After one Stockpile, almost nothing can hurt it much; after two, it can take (and has taken) a Sudowoodo's Explosion; and after three, you're fucked unless you get a crit. Once his defense is boosted to the max, I spam Earthquake, Slacking Off any major hits. Ice Fang is there for Flying-types, because otherwise walling is a much harder chore.

Pretty Good, though a pokemon like Moltres, Charizard, or some pokemon with levitate that's ice-resistant could still block this guy. If you chose to make Infernape a mix, then trade off Stockpile for Stealth Rock and lead with this fellow. Other than that, i have nothing.

This team's pretty good, overall. It still has a few kinks to work out, but I can see this team wrecking a lot of other teams, if deployed correctly.

Any suggestions?

 

[Espeon]

Need moar ratings plz. Still in the OU environment here, but I have a few UU Pokemon here.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Focus Punch
- Spore

Breloom has massive attack going here. Once it's against something slow and has the opportunity to set up, things die, rapidly and painfully. Leech Seed helps wither down tanks, and with it + Poison Heal, any damage I take from Substitute is fully recovered. However, I'm considering replacing Leech Seed with Seed Bomb, simply because I'm sick of being walled by ghosts.

Here's how I'd go:

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Facade
- Seed Bomb
- Brick Break
- Protect

Protect on the first round to get the effects of Toxic Orb in play. Once you've got that going, you're immune to status effects and have Poison Heal running. Using Protect minimises the risk of being put to sleep before the Toxic Orb can come into effect.

Facade is a brilliant attack as it is only resisted by rock, ghost and steel types. It initially has a mere 70 base power but after Toxic Orb is in effect, its power doubles to 140 making it as poweful as Overheat and Leaf Storm but it has no downside.

Brick break hits the steel and rock types that Facade doesn't.

Seed Bomb is a bit of a compromise here. It hits ghosts but doesn't hit Gengar that badly as his poison typing resists Seed Bomb.

 

[J.T.]

NEW DISCOVERY UPON TESTING:

My Absol sucks. Hard. It's lucky to survive even one hit, unlike my Scizor who could take them without much of a problem then KO back hard. Sucker Punch is horrible because goddamn everyone expects me to use it and sets up - I mean, they expect Bullet Punch too, but at least there's jack shit they can do to avoid it.

So with this in mind, I'm going back to my Scizor:


Scizor @ Life Orb
Technician / Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 232 Spe / 24 HP
- Bullet Punch
- X-Scissor
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
Rather bog standard, but effective; Swords Dance up on something that doesn't have a Fire attack, then beat the hell out of everything. Bullet Punch on things that're faster, X-Scissor on things that're slower, Brick Break for coverage.

 

[Exo-Raikou]

I only see one flaw in that Scizor: It doesn't cover anything that's flying and has steel resistance. Like I said with Hippowdon's Ice fang, if you find yourself up against a Charizard, Moltres, Gyrados, etc, then Scizor'll be wrecked.

 

[J.T.]

UPDATED MY TEAM. LOOK AT THE FIRST POST.

 

[surskitty]

I would actually go with Download over Adaptability on Porygon Z. Yes, it's a bit riskier because you have to know the opponent's defenses and only send it in if SpDef's worse, but that's a stronger boost and it helps everything, not just Tri Attack. Pretty sure it's a better boost for Tri Attack, too....

 

[J.T.]

Yeah, that's a good point, but at the same time I prefer having a smaller risk factor. It's an idea though, and I'll probably go with whatever ability I get first.

Any suggestions for the Jolteon? Would it work well, or is it just not built for a special sweeper?

 

[surskitty]

Uh. You probably wouldn't want to switch in Porygon if it's got a higher SpDef. o_O It's vaguely risky I guess but not really...!

I think your Jolteon could sort of work but it's a Jolteon: it's not built for sweeping. I wouldn't try it, but I dunno.

 

[J.T.]

Yeah, of course I wouldn't pull it on something like Blissey or Snorlax, but there are just average Pokemon with rather underwhelming defenses that I might switch Porygon-Z in on who still have higher natural Sp.Def than Defense, and that's what I'm worried about.

 

[surskitty]

If it's got underwhelming defenses, then it doesn't really matter that you won't get the proper boost. It'll still do decent-ish damage.

A high chance of boosting everything by a lot's better than a guaranteed chance of a small boost.

 

[J.T.]

Okay, I got ahold of a Porygon-Z, and he also turned out to be shiny. Unfortunately, I'm realizing that the problem I knew would happen is more hindering than I thought it'd be: His speed's too low. I figured I could get away with it, but I found out it's not that easy for him. Fortunately, I can fix that!

Porygon-Z @ Focus Sash
Download / Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Agility

Pretty simple premise - I come in on something with low special defense and get the special attack bonus, then use Agility on the first turn. Focus Sash ensures I survive that long. After that's done, I come out sweeping with +2 Speed and +1 Special Attack. However, he faces the same problems as most Focus Sashers - priority moves and weather both destroy him. However, both of those also combat my Infernape, and he still works well enough. I'm thinking I probably should have a) thought of this earlier, and b) got a Modest one rather than Timid. At least this way I'm more likely to outpace most Choice Scarfers, which I just now realized I get pretty eaten by.

EDIT: NEW SET ON INFERNAPE BECAUSE I DECIDED TO STOP BEING LAZY.


Infernape @ Focus Sash
Blaze / Naive
EVs: 64 Atk / 192 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe
- Fake out
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Close Combat

A standard mixed lead set, with a little variation thrown in by me. I believe Speed to be more important than pure attack power, so rather than the standard 252 Sp.Atk / 192 Spe, I flipped the EVs around. I still have high special attack, and my speed's now more to my liking. I only finished him this morning, and already he's devastating teams, so I think he works pretty well.