First RMT - Trying for the Next Level

[Shen]

Okay, here we go. I'm rather new to this RMT thing, but I've been playing Shoddy for a fair time now and felt the need to up my game. This team slowly put itself together in my mind throughout my browsings of the Smogon StrategyDex and after testing it for a bit on Shoddy, I got a fairly equal result of wins and losses (slightly more wins though) and figured it definitely needs work. So I come to you guys after semi-lurking through this part of the forum. Help a guy out.

At a Glance

In Depth

Metagross

Item : Occa Berry
Ability : Clear Body
Nature : Adamant
EVs: HP 252 / Atk 236 / Def 12 / Spe 10

Bullet Punch
Earthquake
Explosion
Stealth Rock

SR lead. Not really much to say, gets up Stealth Rock, deals some damage until it needs to switch where it can come back to pick off foes with Bullet Punch. I chose Bullet Punch and EQ over Meteor Mash/Bullet Punch or Meteor Mash/EQ because Bullet Punch does the same thing as Meteor Mash against Suicide leads with Sash along with priority without losing EQ's coverage.

Lucario

Item : Shuca Berry
Ability : Inner Focus
Nature : Jolly
EVs : Atk 252 / Def 4 / Spe 252

Sword Dance
ExtremeSpeed
Close Combat
Ice Punch

Seemingly generic SDLucario. I say seemingly because you're probably thinking "wtf is he doing with a Shuca Berry over a Life Orb". Or you might've guessed. Regardless, I find that most Lucario counters are Earthquake users, such as Gliscor or Hippowdon. With a Shuca Berry, I can Sword Dance on the switch, then again in their face, survivng attacks with the Shuca Berry. With x3 attack, Extremespeed should be killing most everything. I chose Ice Punch over Crunch (leaving me with a potentially fatal Ghost counter) for Salamence really. You never know if the big blue dragon is using Earthquake or Fire Blast. Hoping to hell I can survive either, I just want to Ice Punch it in the face at x1.5 power, which should always kill it. I can't think of a Ghost with the offences to kill Lucario aside from Gengar and his eh defence.

Jirachi

Items : Choice Scarf
Ability : Serene Grace
Nature : Jolly
EVs : HP 80/ Atk 252 / Spe 176

Ice Punch
Fire Punch
Thunder Punch
Iron Head

In by reccomendation of D_A, serves as a check for several threats who have already come in. It can switch in with its fantastic typing and kill or simply revenge kill. Not much to say, but I'm very glad he's there. I've seen a lot of teams fall apart because this guy took out their big buddy.

Gyarados

Item : Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Nature : Adamant
EVs : HP 4 / Atk 252 / Spe 252

Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Stone Edge
Earthquake

Simple DDdos set, possibly backed by a Mean Look passed foe. Useful, but I was thinking of switching to a Bulky Gyara.

Latias

Item : Life Orb
Ability : Levitate
Nature : Timid
EVs : HP 4 / Sp.Atk 252 / Spe 252

Calm Mind
Dragon Pulse
Surf
Recover

Offensive Calm Mind set. Very deadly, but you can really feel the lack of her trademark bulk. Not much to say really.

Blissey

Item : Leftovers
Ability : Natural Cure
Nature : Calm
EVs : Def 252 / Sp.Atk 80 / Sp.Def 176

Thunder Wave
Softboiled
Flamethrower
Seismic Toss

Flamethrower for the likes of Scizor, Heracross and Lucario from trying to set up on her, whilst crippling over set-uppers with T-Wave. Softboiled for instant recovery and Seismic Toss for stall wars. Thinking of dropping either some Def or Sp.Def EVs for SP.Atk...?


That's the team. I've realised I'm weak to a few Pokemon so I'm hoping for your input on how best to deal with them. Shred them to pieces.

​

 

[Sebastien Loeb]

I don't like at all that Blissey it risks to go to crisis against a Calm Minder, I think both fundamental to give him Toxic or Thunder Wawe, for the rest I don't have anything to say a good offensive team.

 

[Shen]

Should I replace Ice Beam for Thunder Wave? I'd rather not lose Flamethrower as otherwise I don't think my team has anything for Scizor.
Also, should I use Serene Grace over Natural Cure? I went with Natural Cure to start with so as not to rely too much on Aromatherapy but I liked the idea of better Burn/Freeze for stall wars.
I'm Starmie weak aside from Blissey stall and I THINK Gyarados weak, although it never seems to cause any real problems. DDKingdra is a bigger problem as it KOs Latias before I can with STAB. There are a few others I can't remember right now. So any solutions?

 

[d2m]

Switch Aromatherapy for Thunder Wave. Aromatherapy is fun, but I've found status effects manageable in the fights that I've done. Foretress can serve as a decent status soaker as the most common by far is T-wave paralysis which doesn't hurt his low speed too much.

 

[Shen]

Switch Aromatherapy for Thunder Wave. Aromatherapy is fun, but I've found status effects manageable in the fights that I've done. Foretress can serve as a decent status soaker as the most common by far is T-wave paralysis which doesn't hurt his low speed too much.

Hmm, the main reason I wanted Aromatherapy was so that I can get rid of Statuses that cripple my offensive Pokemon. A Paralysed Latias is dead no matter how many Calm Minds that have been set up. I think I might test that idea for a bit though.

 

[d2m]

Hmm, the main reason I wanted Aromatherapy was so that I can get rid of Statuses that cripple my offensive Pokemon. A Paralysed Latias is dead no matter how many Calm Minds that have been set up. I think I might test that idea for a bit though.

Most T-wavers are pretty obvious. Blissey can absorb toxic and any other effect then switch out for natural cure.

 

[Matt-O]

Deal with Status by switching Blissey in on the T-Waves and Toxics or whatever it is that's coming. T-Wave over Aroma. Helps you cripple enemy sweepers, especially if you can catch them on the switch. Also, please give Blissey S-Toss over flamethrower or Ice Beam. You'll win more stall wars with that than you will with either of those other two moves.

 

[Shen]

Dragon Dance Kingdra weak! Help with this please people. Metagross can come in, but can't do anything really.
Also, Thunder-Wave + Flamethrower/Ice Beam win enough Stall Wars. Seismic Toss just leaves me weak to another deadly Pokemon.

 

[Dark Azelf]

Dragon Dance Kingdra weak! Help with this please people. Metagross can come in, but can't do anything really.
Also, Thunder-Wave + Flamethrower/Ice Beam win enough Stall Wars. Seismic Toss just leaves me weak to another deadly Pokemon.

Like because you lose to Raikou, Empoleon and anything with Sub +stat up move lol ?

In addition, a few special sweepers are eving themselves for their subs to survive blisseys weak sp.att's thus being able to set up on you, so yeah you need s-toss.

Also what is adding S-Toss gonna leave you open against? If anything, it will help you MORE against special threats. o_0

This team doesnt mind in the least about status and without T-Wave Blissey actually struggles with many special threats. T-Wave >> Aroma.


Put reflect on meta if you fear Kingdra that much, but its not that big of a problem.

Gyarados and Salamence are MUCH worse to you. Replace dead weight Umbreon with a check of some sorts imo and goodness knows what forry is achieving its just sitting there being set up fodder. You dont even need Rapid Spin with only one SR weak and you have no spin blocker idk what toxic spikes are achieving.

So yeah you have forry and umbreons slot to sort out your mence, Gyarados (And to an extent SD Stone Edge/ES/CC Lucario weakness)

 

[Detox]

Justa bit of advice.... Forretress sucks...use this

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Impish Nature
Sturdy Ability
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
-Brave Bird
-Spikes
-Stealth Rock
-Roar

 

[Matt-O]

Also, Thunder-Wave + Flamethrower/Ice Beam win enough Stall Wars. Seismic Toss just leaves me weak to another deadly Pokemon.

You're right. I forgot how horrible Gengar could be after taking a T-WAVE TO THE FACE! Seriously, it does more good for Blissey to have S-Toss than it does to not. Blissey's base Sp. Att is 75. Good enough for it's purpose, but not good enough to be your only way of taking down Special Attackers. S-Toss does 100 HP every time. Period. I guarantee Blissey won't accomplish that to anything with decent Sp. Def using Ice Beam and Flamethrower. Keep one, but not both.

 

[Shen]

Bowing to your superior logic, I've gone back to this team for some changes.
I'm going to switch Umbreon out for a Scarftran, but I'm not sure whether or not to use Skarmory or Suicune in place of Forry. Skarmory replaces him perfectly as my Physical Wall but Suicune is also tempting. Any suggestions between the two, or should I go for another completely?

 

[Dark Azelf]

Justa bit of advice.... Forretress sucks...use this

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Impish Nature
Sturdy Ability
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
-Brave Bird
-Spikes
-Stealth Rock
-Roar

Just a note, DO NOT USE THIS.

Nice set dude with no recovery, great ! >_> lol

Also why are you trying to set up Spikes with no spin blocker (aka why add skarm)? Thats really counter productive.

Id be much more concerned about, as i stated earlier, Lucario Gyara and mence.

Something like Jolly Scarf Jirachi @ Fire Punch/Ice Punch/T-Punch/Iron head would keep them all in check >> Forry.

Scarf tran doesnt help here too much..

 

[Get Away From That Outlet Pikachu!]

I agree with Dark Azelf, adding in Scarf Jirachi would help cover DDMence, SDLucario etc. who all give you loads of grief, not only that, but you REALLY need seismic toss on Blissey, if Raikou, or anyother substitute Pokemon comes in, you've got no real way to counter them while they stat up in your face.

 

[Shen]

ScarfJitachi sounds like a good idea, what should I do with ScarfTran?

 

[Samson]

you should pray. yes, pray.

or maybe just give bliss seismic toss. the worst he can do is explode in your face, and well, at least he's a goner.

 

[Shen]

Posted with changes. I dunno, I must have faced a string of noobs as about 80% of the randoms I tested this on at the Smogon server gave up and left after this team took out certain Pokemon. Will need more testing for sure.
How would this team fare against stall? 5/6 are immune to Toxic Spikes, 2/6 are immune to regular spikes and 3/6 are Stealth Rock resistant. That's just entry hazards though, so how d'you reckon it will do in practice?

 

[StrickeN]

You have atleast 3 Heavy sweepers, and a sufficient check for most counters.

I'd say stall wouldn't be a big problem with you, they would only hinder themselves by trying to set up on you any way.