Anti
return of the king
- 10,818
- Posts
- 17
- Years
- Kobe's Reality
- Seen Mar 6, 2022
This Is Not War!
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An Anti Pop Culture Warrior Production
Introduction
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I recently started battling again, and unlike last time with my World War I team, that means on the Smogon ladder (and with a not terrible ranking of 1462 so far). I've used and retired three different teams, each with their own strengths and impressive victories, and each with its fair share of crushing defeats. It is the crushing defeats that made each team a thing of the past, and I ended up with this team. I've battled a lot with it and have learned how to play with it, and though I've lost games, it's mostly been due to bad play. While each Pokemon, their information, and some comments are below, the other sections are important to read since they outline how I built this team and how it plays. I'm posting this team mostly to provide an example RMT in S&M, as I feel like a lot of the time the RMTs in S&M are given little thought or effort beyond how pretty they look. Remember, the purpose of an RMT is to put raters in the best position possible to rate it and help make it better. By being vague and leaving out crucial insight into how the team functions, it makes it very difficult for raters to provide good suggestions that don't disrupt how the team operates. I didn't put anything in this RMT to serve as filler, so be sure to read it all!
I also posted this team because I feel like balanced teams are constantly underrated. I built this team for the sole purpose of showing that balanced teams, if they are built correctly and played well, can beat any playing style. How I built this team is in the Team Building section, so you can go there. The main problem people always have with balanced teams is that they don't have enough defense to beat offensive teams, and they do not have enough offense to beat stall teams. I feel like this team can deal with both playing styles fairly well without resorting to bulky offense, which is the most common type of "balanced" team there is (though they aren't really balanced teams, just offensive teams in disguise). Still, I have been defeated before, and some weaknesses have popped up. While I'm still learning to use this team well and a lot of my problems can be attributed to bad play by me, there is certainly room for improvement, and that makes the last and most important reason I'm posting this - to make the team better! I still need help ironing out the kinks, so I'm open to changes as long as you back them up with very good reasoning.
Also, sorry to disappoint, but there is no awesome theme. =(
At A Glance
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Under The Microscope
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Metagross @ Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Atk / 12 Def / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
Metagross is one of the most common leads in the game for a very good reason. This specific set is similar to most other lead Metagross, but it is designed to better deal with other leads. You'll notice that it lacks Stealth Rock, and this is because I need Meteor Mash and Earthquake to hit everything I want to hit instead of being forced to choose between one or the other. Meteor Mash or Earthquake + Bullet Punch hammers opposing Focus Sash leads, and this is especially true thanks to Lum Berry, which allows Metagross to always beat opposing Roserade, Smeargle, and Breloom sleeper leads (though Breloom can get lucky with a Meteor Mash miss). The extra Speed EVs give Metagross the advantage against other Metagross leads to 2HKO them. I can still bring back Metagross later in the game to check Jirachi and other threats if necessary, and Explosion is always useful for getting essentially a free kill if I can predict well.
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Flygon (♂) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Fire Punch
Choice Band Flygon is so underrated, and it makes me die a little inside every time I see this thing being wasted as a weak little Choice Scarfer. With Flygon, all you really need is prediction and you're good to go. I actually try not to spam U-Turn too much, as other players are usually smart enough to just start leaving their Pokemon in to take a weak unSTABed attack to hit my switch-in. I use Fire Punch over Fire Blast because it helps improve Flygon's defenses, but it also does enough damage to satisfy me. Skarmory needs to be at full health or it loses, and I like using a more reliable attack than the risky Fire Blast. Once I know most of my opponent's team and my entry hazards are in play, Outrage and Earthquake clean up well, late game or even before. I chose Flygon over more powerful Dragons mostly because of its ability to be a nightmare against opposing stall teams, which can't break Flygon with passive damage besides Hail (lol).
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Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The first member of my core is Rotom-W. I used this to spread status to weaken physical attacks since my defenses against physical sweepers aren't very strong outside of Skarmory, who can't wall everything. It allows it to counter every single type of Scizor, and it gives me some leverage when Lucario shows up. I also use this to counter Gyarados, which is probably the most threatening Pokemon in the game outside of Salamence. Because I rely on it for a lot, I need Rest + Sleep Talk to keep it healthy. I try not to give away my moveset to discourage Heatran and Infernape from switching in, which is why I used Rotom-W over the other Rotom formes in the first place - the threat of Hydro Pump, even though I don't have it. Most importantly, this is my Rapid Spin blocker, which is important since I'm using Spikes and Stealth Rock to weaken the opposing team's core for a Latias sweep, and having them blown away would be a catastrophe.
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Blissey (♀) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Flamethrower
- Stealth Rock
- Softboiled
The second member of my core and the first half of my entry hazard support is Blissey. Not having a status move sucks, but hitting Scizor, Lucario, and especially Gengar for good damage is more important to me than crippling things, though I'm open to testing Thunder Wave if I need to. Stealth Rock is the most important thing about Blissey on this set, as I need the damage it does to wear down my opponent and put things in KO range for Latias and Flygon. The rest of its moveset is fairly standard. Seismic Toss does consistent damage to just about everything, which is very important with a Pokemon that has Blissey's staying power, thanks to its amazing stats and Softboiled. I'm considering using more Special Attack EVs to replace some of the HP EVs to hit Scizor and Lucario harder with Flamethrower, but I don't know. speaking of Blissey's EVs...
Also, I don't want to hear about how "outclassed" or "outdated" this moveset is compared to Calm Blissey. The last team I used before I quit battling for a long time used Calm Blissey, and the extra damage it took from physical attacks was notable. Meanwhile, SpecsTran is so obscure that I'd be shocked if I've seen one in the past year (and, lol, I can revenge kill or just outpredict it). SpecsGar is a bad joke that no one uses, and the same can be said of SpecsLuke, only it is actually useful. The extra defense is actually important for taking random Pursuits and weaker STAB Earthquakes. If you want to continue to insist that Blissey needs Special Defense for whatever reason, I guess you can, but don't bring your "OMG USE CALM BLISS 4 SPECSTRAN" propaganda into my thread or I'll delete your post on the spot. Bold is just better than Calm.
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Skarmory (♂) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The third and final member of my core and the second half of my entry hazard support is Skarmory. This is a really underrated Pokemon, and SkarmBliss as a combination is also underrated. People think that SkarmBliss sucks just because it has trouble walling a lot of things, but that isn't really true since both Skarmory and Blissey are wonderful supporters that can take a ton of hits, and it really takes the pressure off when my sweepers out when I know that I have these guys to fall back on. Whirlwind support is nice to abuse entry hazards, though I usually don't have the opportunity since Skarmory is pretty easy to force out. I'm using Shed Shell to escape Magnezone, as without Skarmory, my main form of damage is gone and thus my team is severely weakened. I need to keep this alive not just to get Spikes in play but also to be able to take Outrage from MixMence and unresisted attacks from Weavile and DD Kingdra.
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Latias (♀) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Recover
Life Orb Latias is a useful little sugar bear. Draco Meteor and Surf allow it to beat most Pokemon that try to wall it, though Steel-types and Blissey are obviously annoying. This usually isn't something I like to bring out right away unless I'm dealing with Infernape, as I need my entry hazards set up so that Surf can run over its counters. Draco Meteor is probably the best offensive move in the game thanks to amazing power and terrific neutral coverage, and it doesn't lock you in like Outrage does. Still, I don't like to fire them off unless I have to, as it makes Latias potential set-up bait, which is bad. You'll also notice that Dragon Pulse is used where Thunderbolt normally is, and that's because I really wanted a sweeping move for later stages of the game, and unSTABed attacks with worse coverage just don't cut it. Besides, with entry hazards in play, Dragon Pulse's lower damage output against Waters shouldn't be a problem.
Strategy
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The strategy is to get up entry hazards as quickly as possible. This is not as easy as it sounds, so I usually like to scout early with Whirlwind and U-Turn to get an idea of what I can sacrifice and what has to stay alive and healthy. SkarmBliss + Rotom-W is a very reliable defensive core, so it can usually remain intact for most of the battle and keep me from falling apart in the face of my opponent's attacks against me. Rotom-W being forced to Rest early can be a problem since Sleep Talk can have bad judgment when picking what attack to use. If that happens and Rotom (or Blissey, for that matter) is Pursuited or just killed off early, I'll try to overwhelm my opponent quickly. With only Flygon and Latias to do this, it usually means setting up Spikes and abusing Whirlwind until Skarmory dies (as I'll usually be content sacrificing it), and then letting Flygon and Latias loose. Scouting is very critical to my strategy, that way I know if it's safe to Outrage with Flygon to clear the way. Balanced teams require a fair amount of long-term thinking, as every member of the team is even more crucial than it is on other teams.
If I can set up Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes while knowing most of my opponent's team by the mid game, I can usually figure out how to win. A lot of teams have trouble damaging Rotom-W, so I'll take out its counters (even if it means sacrificing a Pokemon ro two) and then just stall out my opponent for a victory. If my opponent is using an offensive team, I'll usually try to weaken the offensive core to the point where I can pick it off with Latias. If that isn't possible, I'll turn to simply stalling out my opponent. Usually, keeping in my walls makes my opponent more bold when it comes to switching something in the eliminate my pesky walls, and that's when I can get creative myself and predict their switch-ins so that I can send in my own sweepers. Difficult, but certainly not impossible. Against stall teams, getting up entry hazards and keeping them up if my first priority. After that, I have to figure out the best way to break down the opponent's defensive core. Flygon is tricky, as I have to predict perfectly, but I can abuse Whirlwind with Skarmory and weaken them enough to put them in KO range. Latias is pretty useless against stall unless I can get lucky and knock out Blissey. For that reason, I'm actually considering replacing Metagross with a Blissey lure (perhaps Gengar or Heatran) to give Latias an easier time. Even with Blissey gone, Latias can still have trouble winning with power alone, so battling stall is, as usual, an uphill climb. Still, I've beaten every stall team I've faced except for one.
Generally, my team is the most vulnerable in the early game. As I mentioned earlier, if I get out of that with my core intact and a fair amount of entry hazards in play, I have a good chance of winning the battle. I can usually tell if I'm going to win the battle after about 20 turns, or at least if I have a realistic chance of winning without divine intervention. Because of this, I like to play smart andliberal conservative early in the match so that I don't lose the game for myself. By playing not to lose, I'm playing to win, as I can't risk my team early since I rely on each member (bar Metagross) a lot, and I can't afford to lose them unless it's a part of my long-term plan. The general strategy of this team is to react to my opponent until I can seize the initiative, and then I go for victory. I try to be flexible, so defining a strict straegy is nearly impossible.
Team Building
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The Defensive Core
I started knowing that I wanted to make a balanced team. For a balanced team, you need passive damage to make up for the lack of sweepers and a Rapid Spin blocker to make sure that they stay in place. I decided against using Toxic Spikes, however, as many players make sure that any offensive team they use isn't affect by them significantly if at all, and they're basically useless against stall teams. With that in mind, I knew my core needs to have a Ghost-type, a Spiker, a Stealth Rock, and combined they need to form a strong defensive backbone. With numerous Stealth Rockers, I decided to start by building from where I had a limitted selection. I decided my Spiker and Spin Blocker would be the best place to start my team building process at.
The Spiker was an easy choice. The only two reliable Spikers that have any kind of defensive capabilities are also the only two Spikers in the OU tier - Skarmory and Forretress. Forretress has the advantage of learning Rapid Spin and even Stealth Rock, but Skarmory has a Ground immunity and Roost. I decided to go with Skarmory for Whirlwind especially, which is great for scouting and abusing entry hazards. While Rapid Spin is nice to have, it's easy to block, and any serious entry hazard abusing team is carrying Rotom-A anyway. Skarmory's recovery is also a huge plus, as I knew going into making this team that using wish support was unlikely. I just decided to copy the EVs from Smogon, as they seem to be reasonable and effective.
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Next up was my Rapid Spin blocker. I knew at this point that the third member of my core was probably going to be Blissey for its special walling capabilities, so I wanted something that would do well against the physical threats that Skarmory can't cover. The only viable Rapid Spin blockers are Rotom-A, Spiritomb, Dusknoir, Mismagius, and Gengar. I ruled out Dusknoir since it's a bad Pokemon that should never be used on a serious team, and its weakness to Toxic Spikes - the very same Toxic Spikes that Rapid Spinners like Forretress and Tentacruel set up - was even more reason not to use Sucknoir. Spiritomb is a very caoable defensive Pokemon, but it's also set-up fodder, and with limitted defenses given the team being balanced, I decided that this was a deal-breaker. Mismagius is a good Classic MixMence counter and special tank, but it is pretty easy to nail with Payback or a Pursuit, even with Will-O-Wisp. I decided against Mismagius as well, especially since it doesn't help Skarmory. Gengar vs. Rotom-A was actually a difficult choice to make, as Gengar can provide a hugely powerful offensive threat that can also lure Scizor and Blissey to their deaths. Still, I needed something that could last, which would mean that my entry hazards will stay up. I decided to go with Rotom-A.
Next I had to choose its moveset. Unlike with Skarmory, this was no obvious matter, but I decided to use a RestTalk variant, again for longevity. I knew I would be using Thunderbolt for Gyarados, but the choice between Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, or a signature move like Blizzard or Hydro Pump was tough. I decided on Will-O-Wisp so that my Rapid Spin blocker wouldn't be total Pursuit bait, even if it meant giving Latias and others an easy time coming in on it. With that out of the way, I needed to decide on which of the Rotom formes to use. I wanted to use the one whose signature move would scare away the threats that make me worry the most. Infernape sure is right up there, so Rotom-W was an obvious choice, though keeping Latias or Swampert away was also an attractive option.
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With my Spiker and Rapid Spin blocker accounted for, my Stealth Rocker was next. I didn't want to use a suicide lead, as I figured that I would need all six moveslots for the majority of the battle. I wasn't going to restrict myself to Blissey just because she is a special wall that would form a nice defensive trio, as I could always add the inpenetrable pink blob in later if I wanted to. I wanted my Stealth Rocker to have recovery, as I wanted my defensive core to be able to sustain itself without resorting to risky maneuvers like Wish passing or Rest. This left Gliscor, Hippowdon, Blissey, Celebi, and the Skarmory I already had. I decided against Skarmory, as I needed every moveslot, and relying on one Pokemon for everything would be bad if it were to suddenly die. I decided against Gliscor and Hippowdon mostly because using them would turn my team onto the road leading directly to a stall team. I would have at least 4 defensive Pokemon if I used them. That left Celebi and Blissey. I saw Jabba on Smogon use Stealth Rock Blissey with success, so I decided to give it the nod over Celebi for its special walling capabilities, as I had a feeling I would be doing all along.
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The Offensive Core
The defensive part of my balanced team was at last completed. It might seem weird to put in the supporting Pokemon first when you don't know who they're supporting, but I wanted to make sure that I had a solid backbone capable of supporting the team while countering my opponent's strategies before executing mine. After all, trying to win right away is something offense does far better than a balanced team, and I'm not going to use a team that is thoroughly outclassed by something else. Actually though, finding a sweeper that could take advantage of all of this support was not hard. I stumbled upon Latias, whose Life Orb set could run over everything (its counters included) with Spikes support. Its main counters were lured fairly effectively by the defensive core (Scizor by a Blissey Flamethrower; Tyranitar by a Rotom-W Will-O-Wisp), so it made sense from the support point of view. Since Infernape would also become a non-issue and Toxic Spikes don't affect it either, I decided that Life Orb Latias would be the perfect fit. I also decided to use Dragon Pulse to give it a consistent sweeping move.
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The next Pokemon I wanted was a heavy hitter. It would be wishful thinking to assume that my defensive core would always get up entry hazards and weaken the opponent's team themselves, and that Latias wouldn't need any support from a more aggressive source. It was also important, as it was with Latias, that Toxic Spikes would be a non-issue to help deal with stall teams. This left Flying-, Poison-, and Steel-type Pokemon, as well as Pokemon with Levitate. I wanted to use a Choice Band or Life Orb attacker with a lot of power, and preferably something that resisted rock-type attacks to scare away CBTar. That ruled out Flying-types as well as any Poison-type usable in standard play. I now had a choice between Swords Dance Lucario, any kind of Scizor, Calm Mind Jirachi, and AgiliGross. I rules out Metagross due to how easy it is to wall, especially for a stall team, as well as its problems staying alive for any kind of extended period of time. Scizor doesn't resist Rock-type moves, but more importantly made me paranoid about Magnezone, so I decided against it. Magnezone issues also knock Calm Mind Jirachi out of the running, but the real problem with it was that Blissey would wall the majority of my offensive core. I was going to use SDLuke, but I remembered to look at Levitate Pokemon, and I ran into Flygon. Flygon ddoesn't have Scarf Magnezone problems, resists Rock, scouts well, hits Blissey hard, and does well against stall. For all of these reasons, Flygon seemed like the perfect fit, even over the fearsome SDLuke. I decided to run the Choice Band set to actually do some damage.
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The Lead
With my double Dragon offensive core, the last thing I wanted was a good lead, preferably one that could contribute to the offensive strength of my team. Since I had ruled out suicide leads and continued to stand by that position, I decided that Metagross would be the best choice. Another Steel-type would be a wonderful addition, especially one that could massacre a given physical wall with Explosion, which would open up Flygon to do inflict some major pain. With a Stealth Rocker already in place, I figured that I could run Earthquake AND Meteor Mash on the same set. It also ended my team building process with only one Pokemon affected by Toxic Spikes, two Pokemon hit by Spikes, and no Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock. Being good against entry hazards is useful against any style of play, as they can be used effectively on any kind of team. Still, using Metagross really only to lead off well worries me a bit, and I find it to be a misfit if it's still alive and healthy late, usually because something like LeadApe would force it out. Still, I wouldn't come up with a good replacement, so I decided to start testing the team.
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Problems
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Anything that can take Blissey down: This is true with any stall team that uses Blissey, so it's especially true here when Blissey IS my defense against special attackers. After that, anything can get past me. The biggest problems occur when Blissey gets Tricked with a Choice item. It's very diffcult since I don't have anything that can take it well besides Latias, and that is a risky switch into Rotom, Gengar, and other Latias. A timely Explosion can also obviously be a problem. Blissey is the key member of my defensive core, so it going down is a big problem.
Pursuit: Again, not a Pokemon, but this is a problem. It really is annoying when I get smart players who just wait to send in their Pursuiters to revenge kill, which is trouble for my whole team. since it kills the key members. This is probably my team's number one problem.
Bulky crap that doesn't die: Another generalization, but I'm talking about stuff like RestTalk Rotom-A and things that aren't immediately at a disadvantage because of Spikes and/or Stealth Rock. Rotom is especially bad because I can't use Explosion to take it out and clear the way. Usually I have to Outrage with Flygon, which effectively kills Flygon unless I only gets two turns of Outrage.
Salamence: This is true for every team. Usually I can play around it, but when I can't, it significantly weakens my core. Classic MixMence is kind of a joke and easy to swiftly deal with, but New MixMence is a much more dangerous game to be playing. And then there is DDMence. Ugh.
Entry hazard abusing teams: Ironically, these teams have the upper hand. While I can beat them myself, it's difficult to overpower them before my team is worn down. If I can do that, I win, but I have to play well...and sometimes that can be a problem. Luckily, my team does very well against entry hazards, so that buys me some time to set up and knock out my opponent fast.
Babiri Dragon Dance Tyranitar: Man, this is annoying. Luckily for me it usually comes in to get wasted by a Rotom-W Will-O-Wisp, but if it gets in on Blissey or Will-O-Wisp misses (which happens a lot), this can sweep my team if I'm not careful. I was thinking about Choice Band Scizor over Metagross to help deal with it as well as Tyranitar (or maybe even the Swords Dancer to sweep), but I would have nothing to lead with.
Closing Comments
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There you have it, my balanced team! Don't be afraid to make suggestions (even drastic ones), as long as it means my team is being improved and it isn't changing how I play with my team. Replacing Skarmory with Gliscor, for example, is essentially defeating the purpose of my team. As I said in the introduction, that's exactly why I've gone into detail - so you know how I play with this team (even if I screw up lol) so you know when you're disrupting the synergy of the team. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this, and hopefully it wasn't a slow and painful read for you. Feel free to suggest anything, babes.
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An Anti Pop Culture Warrior Production
Introduction
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I recently started battling again, and unlike last time with my World War I team, that means on the Smogon ladder (and with a not terrible ranking of 1462 so far). I've used and retired three different teams, each with their own strengths and impressive victories, and each with its fair share of crushing defeats. It is the crushing defeats that made each team a thing of the past, and I ended up with this team. I've battled a lot with it and have learned how to play with it, and though I've lost games, it's mostly been due to bad play. While each Pokemon, their information, and some comments are below, the other sections are important to read since they outline how I built this team and how it plays. I'm posting this team mostly to provide an example RMT in S&M, as I feel like a lot of the time the RMTs in S&M are given little thought or effort beyond how pretty they look. Remember, the purpose of an RMT is to put raters in the best position possible to rate it and help make it better. By being vague and leaving out crucial insight into how the team functions, it makes it very difficult for raters to provide good suggestions that don't disrupt how the team operates. I didn't put anything in this RMT to serve as filler, so be sure to read it all!
I also posted this team because I feel like balanced teams are constantly underrated. I built this team for the sole purpose of showing that balanced teams, if they are built correctly and played well, can beat any playing style. How I built this team is in the Team Building section, so you can go there. The main problem people always have with balanced teams is that they don't have enough defense to beat offensive teams, and they do not have enough offense to beat stall teams. I feel like this team can deal with both playing styles fairly well without resorting to bulky offense, which is the most common type of "balanced" team there is (though they aren't really balanced teams, just offensive teams in disguise). Still, I have been defeated before, and some weaknesses have popped up. While I'm still learning to use this team well and a lot of my problems can be attributed to bad play by me, there is certainly room for improvement, and that makes the last and most important reason I'm posting this - to make the team better! I still need help ironing out the kinks, so I'm open to changes as long as you back them up with very good reasoning.
Also, sorry to disappoint, but there is no awesome theme. =(
At A Glance
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Under The Microscope
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Metagross @ Lum Berry
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Atk / 12 Def / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
Metagross is one of the most common leads in the game for a very good reason. This specific set is similar to most other lead Metagross, but it is designed to better deal with other leads. You'll notice that it lacks Stealth Rock, and this is because I need Meteor Mash and Earthquake to hit everything I want to hit instead of being forced to choose between one or the other. Meteor Mash or Earthquake + Bullet Punch hammers opposing Focus Sash leads, and this is especially true thanks to Lum Berry, which allows Metagross to always beat opposing Roserade, Smeargle, and Breloom sleeper leads (though Breloom can get lucky with a Meteor Mash miss). The extra Speed EVs give Metagross the advantage against other Metagross leads to 2HKO them. I can still bring back Metagross later in the game to check Jirachi and other threats if necessary, and Explosion is always useful for getting essentially a free kill if I can predict well.
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Flygon (♂) @ Choice Band
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Fire Punch
Choice Band Flygon is so underrated, and it makes me die a little inside every time I see this thing being wasted as a weak little Choice Scarfer. With Flygon, all you really need is prediction and you're good to go. I actually try not to spam U-Turn too much, as other players are usually smart enough to just start leaving their Pokemon in to take a weak unSTABed attack to hit my switch-in. I use Fire Punch over Fire Blast because it helps improve Flygon's defenses, but it also does enough damage to satisfy me. Skarmory needs to be at full health or it loses, and I like using a more reliable attack than the risky Fire Blast. Once I know most of my opponent's team and my entry hazards are in play, Outrage and Earthquake clean up well, late game or even before. I chose Flygon over more powerful Dragons mostly because of its ability to be a nightmare against opposing stall teams, which can't break Flygon with passive damage besides Hail (lol).
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Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
The first member of my core is Rotom-W. I used this to spread status to weaken physical attacks since my defenses against physical sweepers aren't very strong outside of Skarmory, who can't wall everything. It allows it to counter every single type of Scizor, and it gives me some leverage when Lucario shows up. I also use this to counter Gyarados, which is probably the most threatening Pokemon in the game outside of Salamence. Because I rely on it for a lot, I need Rest + Sleep Talk to keep it healthy. I try not to give away my moveset to discourage Heatran and Infernape from switching in, which is why I used Rotom-W over the other Rotom formes in the first place - the threat of Hydro Pump, even though I don't have it. Most importantly, this is my Rapid Spin blocker, which is important since I'm using Spikes and Stealth Rock to weaken the opposing team's core for a Latias sweep, and having them blown away would be a catastrophe.
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Blissey (♀) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Seismic Toss
- Flamethrower
- Stealth Rock
- Softboiled
The second member of my core and the first half of my entry hazard support is Blissey. Not having a status move sucks, but hitting Scizor, Lucario, and especially Gengar for good damage is more important to me than crippling things, though I'm open to testing Thunder Wave if I need to. Stealth Rock is the most important thing about Blissey on this set, as I need the damage it does to wear down my opponent and put things in KO range for Latias and Flygon. The rest of its moveset is fairly standard. Seismic Toss does consistent damage to just about everything, which is very important with a Pokemon that has Blissey's staying power, thanks to its amazing stats and Softboiled. I'm considering using more Special Attack EVs to replace some of the HP EVs to hit Scizor and Lucario harder with Flamethrower, but I don't know. speaking of Blissey's EVs...
Also, I don't want to hear about how "outclassed" or "outdated" this moveset is compared to Calm Blissey. The last team I used before I quit battling for a long time used Calm Blissey, and the extra damage it took from physical attacks was notable. Meanwhile, SpecsTran is so obscure that I'd be shocked if I've seen one in the past year (and, lol, I can revenge kill or just outpredict it). SpecsGar is a bad joke that no one uses, and the same can be said of SpecsLuke, only it is actually useful. The extra defense is actually important for taking random Pursuits and weaker STAB Earthquakes. If you want to continue to insist that Blissey needs Special Defense for whatever reason, I guess you can, but don't bring your "OMG USE CALM BLISS 4 SPECSTRAN" propaganda into my thread or I'll delete your post on the spot. Bold is just better than Calm.
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Skarmory (♂) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Spikes
- Whirlwind
- Roost
The third and final member of my core and the second half of my entry hazard support is Skarmory. This is a really underrated Pokemon, and SkarmBliss as a combination is also underrated. People think that SkarmBliss sucks just because it has trouble walling a lot of things, but that isn't really true since both Skarmory and Blissey are wonderful supporters that can take a ton of hits, and it really takes the pressure off when my sweepers out when I know that I have these guys to fall back on. Whirlwind support is nice to abuse entry hazards, though I usually don't have the opportunity since Skarmory is pretty easy to force out. I'm using Shed Shell to escape Magnezone, as without Skarmory, my main form of damage is gone and thus my team is severely weakened. I need to keep this alive not just to get Spikes in play but also to be able to take Outrage from MixMence and unresisted attacks from Weavile and DD Kingdra.
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Latias (♀) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Recover
Life Orb Latias is a useful little sugar bear. Draco Meteor and Surf allow it to beat most Pokemon that try to wall it, though Steel-types and Blissey are obviously annoying. This usually isn't something I like to bring out right away unless I'm dealing with Infernape, as I need my entry hazards set up so that Surf can run over its counters. Draco Meteor is probably the best offensive move in the game thanks to amazing power and terrific neutral coverage, and it doesn't lock you in like Outrage does. Still, I don't like to fire them off unless I have to, as it makes Latias potential set-up bait, which is bad. You'll also notice that Dragon Pulse is used where Thunderbolt normally is, and that's because I really wanted a sweeping move for later stages of the game, and unSTABed attacks with worse coverage just don't cut it. Besides, with entry hazards in play, Dragon Pulse's lower damage output against Waters shouldn't be a problem.
Strategy
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The strategy is to get up entry hazards as quickly as possible. This is not as easy as it sounds, so I usually like to scout early with Whirlwind and U-Turn to get an idea of what I can sacrifice and what has to stay alive and healthy. SkarmBliss + Rotom-W is a very reliable defensive core, so it can usually remain intact for most of the battle and keep me from falling apart in the face of my opponent's attacks against me. Rotom-W being forced to Rest early can be a problem since Sleep Talk can have bad judgment when picking what attack to use. If that happens and Rotom (or Blissey, for that matter) is Pursuited or just killed off early, I'll try to overwhelm my opponent quickly. With only Flygon and Latias to do this, it usually means setting up Spikes and abusing Whirlwind until Skarmory dies (as I'll usually be content sacrificing it), and then letting Flygon and Latias loose. Scouting is very critical to my strategy, that way I know if it's safe to Outrage with Flygon to clear the way. Balanced teams require a fair amount of long-term thinking, as every member of the team is even more crucial than it is on other teams.
If I can set up Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes while knowing most of my opponent's team by the mid game, I can usually figure out how to win. A lot of teams have trouble damaging Rotom-W, so I'll take out its counters (even if it means sacrificing a Pokemon ro two) and then just stall out my opponent for a victory. If my opponent is using an offensive team, I'll usually try to weaken the offensive core to the point where I can pick it off with Latias. If that isn't possible, I'll turn to simply stalling out my opponent. Usually, keeping in my walls makes my opponent more bold when it comes to switching something in the eliminate my pesky walls, and that's when I can get creative myself and predict their switch-ins so that I can send in my own sweepers. Difficult, but certainly not impossible. Against stall teams, getting up entry hazards and keeping them up if my first priority. After that, I have to figure out the best way to break down the opponent's defensive core. Flygon is tricky, as I have to predict perfectly, but I can abuse Whirlwind with Skarmory and weaken them enough to put them in KO range. Latias is pretty useless against stall unless I can get lucky and knock out Blissey. For that reason, I'm actually considering replacing Metagross with a Blissey lure (perhaps Gengar or Heatran) to give Latias an easier time. Even with Blissey gone, Latias can still have trouble winning with power alone, so battling stall is, as usual, an uphill climb. Still, I've beaten every stall team I've faced except for one.
Generally, my team is the most vulnerable in the early game. As I mentioned earlier, if I get out of that with my core intact and a fair amount of entry hazards in play, I have a good chance of winning the battle. I can usually tell if I'm going to win the battle after about 20 turns, or at least if I have a realistic chance of winning without divine intervention. Because of this, I like to play smart and
Team Building
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The Defensive Core
I started knowing that I wanted to make a balanced team. For a balanced team, you need passive damage to make up for the lack of sweepers and a Rapid Spin blocker to make sure that they stay in place. I decided against using Toxic Spikes, however, as many players make sure that any offensive team they use isn't affect by them significantly if at all, and they're basically useless against stall teams. With that in mind, I knew my core needs to have a Ghost-type, a Spiker, a Stealth Rock, and combined they need to form a strong defensive backbone. With numerous Stealth Rockers, I decided to start by building from where I had a limitted selection. I decided my Spiker and Spin Blocker would be the best place to start my team building process at.
The Spiker was an easy choice. The only two reliable Spikers that have any kind of defensive capabilities are also the only two Spikers in the OU tier - Skarmory and Forretress. Forretress has the advantage of learning Rapid Spin and even Stealth Rock, but Skarmory has a Ground immunity and Roost. I decided to go with Skarmory for Whirlwind especially, which is great for scouting and abusing entry hazards. While Rapid Spin is nice to have, it's easy to block, and any serious entry hazard abusing team is carrying Rotom-A anyway. Skarmory's recovery is also a huge plus, as I knew going into making this team that using wish support was unlikely. I just decided to copy the EVs from Smogon, as they seem to be reasonable and effective.
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Next up was my Rapid Spin blocker. I knew at this point that the third member of my core was probably going to be Blissey for its special walling capabilities, so I wanted something that would do well against the physical threats that Skarmory can't cover. The only viable Rapid Spin blockers are Rotom-A, Spiritomb, Dusknoir, Mismagius, and Gengar. I ruled out Dusknoir since it's a bad Pokemon that should never be used on a serious team, and its weakness to Toxic Spikes - the very same Toxic Spikes that Rapid Spinners like Forretress and Tentacruel set up - was even more reason not to use Sucknoir. Spiritomb is a very caoable defensive Pokemon, but it's also set-up fodder, and with limitted defenses given the team being balanced, I decided that this was a deal-breaker. Mismagius is a good Classic MixMence counter and special tank, but it is pretty easy to nail with Payback or a Pursuit, even with Will-O-Wisp. I decided against Mismagius as well, especially since it doesn't help Skarmory. Gengar vs. Rotom-A was actually a difficult choice to make, as Gengar can provide a hugely powerful offensive threat that can also lure Scizor and Blissey to their deaths. Still, I needed something that could last, which would mean that my entry hazards will stay up. I decided to go with Rotom-A.
Next I had to choose its moveset. Unlike with Skarmory, this was no obvious matter, but I decided to use a RestTalk variant, again for longevity. I knew I would be using Thunderbolt for Gyarados, but the choice between Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, or a signature move like Blizzard or Hydro Pump was tough. I decided on Will-O-Wisp so that my Rapid Spin blocker wouldn't be total Pursuit bait, even if it meant giving Latias and others an easy time coming in on it. With that out of the way, I needed to decide on which of the Rotom formes to use. I wanted to use the one whose signature move would scare away the threats that make me worry the most. Infernape sure is right up there, so Rotom-W was an obvious choice, though keeping Latias or Swampert away was also an attractive option.
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With my Spiker and Rapid Spin blocker accounted for, my Stealth Rocker was next. I didn't want to use a suicide lead, as I figured that I would need all six moveslots for the majority of the battle. I wasn't going to restrict myself to Blissey just because she is a special wall that would form a nice defensive trio, as I could always add the inpenetrable pink blob in later if I wanted to. I wanted my Stealth Rocker to have recovery, as I wanted my defensive core to be able to sustain itself without resorting to risky maneuvers like Wish passing or Rest. This left Gliscor, Hippowdon, Blissey, Celebi, and the Skarmory I already had. I decided against Skarmory, as I needed every moveslot, and relying on one Pokemon for everything would be bad if it were to suddenly die. I decided against Gliscor and Hippowdon mostly because using them would turn my team onto the road leading directly to a stall team. I would have at least 4 defensive Pokemon if I used them. That left Celebi and Blissey. I saw Jabba on Smogon use Stealth Rock Blissey with success, so I decided to give it the nod over Celebi for its special walling capabilities, as I had a feeling I would be doing all along.
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The Offensive Core
The defensive part of my balanced team was at last completed. It might seem weird to put in the supporting Pokemon first when you don't know who they're supporting, but I wanted to make sure that I had a solid backbone capable of supporting the team while countering my opponent's strategies before executing mine. After all, trying to win right away is something offense does far better than a balanced team, and I'm not going to use a team that is thoroughly outclassed by something else. Actually though, finding a sweeper that could take advantage of all of this support was not hard. I stumbled upon Latias, whose Life Orb set could run over everything (its counters included) with Spikes support. Its main counters were lured fairly effectively by the defensive core (Scizor by a Blissey Flamethrower; Tyranitar by a Rotom-W Will-O-Wisp), so it made sense from the support point of view. Since Infernape would also become a non-issue and Toxic Spikes don't affect it either, I decided that Life Orb Latias would be the perfect fit. I also decided to use Dragon Pulse to give it a consistent sweeping move.
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The next Pokemon I wanted was a heavy hitter. It would be wishful thinking to assume that my defensive core would always get up entry hazards and weaken the opponent's team themselves, and that Latias wouldn't need any support from a more aggressive source. It was also important, as it was with Latias, that Toxic Spikes would be a non-issue to help deal with stall teams. This left Flying-, Poison-, and Steel-type Pokemon, as well as Pokemon with Levitate. I wanted to use a Choice Band or Life Orb attacker with a lot of power, and preferably something that resisted rock-type attacks to scare away CBTar. That ruled out Flying-types as well as any Poison-type usable in standard play. I now had a choice between Swords Dance Lucario, any kind of Scizor, Calm Mind Jirachi, and AgiliGross. I rules out Metagross due to how easy it is to wall, especially for a stall team, as well as its problems staying alive for any kind of extended period of time. Scizor doesn't resist Rock-type moves, but more importantly made me paranoid about Magnezone, so I decided against it. Magnezone issues also knock Calm Mind Jirachi out of the running, but the real problem with it was that Blissey would wall the majority of my offensive core. I was going to use SDLuke, but I remembered to look at Levitate Pokemon, and I ran into Flygon. Flygon ddoesn't have Scarf Magnezone problems, resists Rock, scouts well, hits Blissey hard, and does well against stall. For all of these reasons, Flygon seemed like the perfect fit, even over the fearsome SDLuke. I decided to run the Choice Band set to actually do some damage.
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The Lead
With my double Dragon offensive core, the last thing I wanted was a good lead, preferably one that could contribute to the offensive strength of my team. Since I had ruled out suicide leads and continued to stand by that position, I decided that Metagross would be the best choice. Another Steel-type would be a wonderful addition, especially one that could massacre a given physical wall with Explosion, which would open up Flygon to do inflict some major pain. With a Stealth Rocker already in place, I figured that I could run Earthquake AND Meteor Mash on the same set. It also ended my team building process with only one Pokemon affected by Toxic Spikes, two Pokemon hit by Spikes, and no Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock. Being good against entry hazards is useful against any style of play, as they can be used effectively on any kind of team. Still, using Metagross really only to lead off well worries me a bit, and I find it to be a misfit if it's still alive and healthy late, usually because something like LeadApe would force it out. Still, I wouldn't come up with a good replacement, so I decided to start testing the team.
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Problems
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Anything that can take Blissey down: This is true with any stall team that uses Blissey, so it's especially true here when Blissey IS my defense against special attackers. After that, anything can get past me. The biggest problems occur when Blissey gets Tricked with a Choice item. It's very diffcult since I don't have anything that can take it well besides Latias, and that is a risky switch into Rotom, Gengar, and other Latias. A timely Explosion can also obviously be a problem. Blissey is the key member of my defensive core, so it going down is a big problem.
Pursuit: Again, not a Pokemon, but this is a problem. It really is annoying when I get smart players who just wait to send in their Pursuiters to revenge kill, which is trouble for my whole team. since it kills the key members. This is probably my team's number one problem.
Bulky crap that doesn't die: Another generalization, but I'm talking about stuff like RestTalk Rotom-A and things that aren't immediately at a disadvantage because of Spikes and/or Stealth Rock. Rotom is especially bad because I can't use Explosion to take it out and clear the way. Usually I have to Outrage with Flygon, which effectively kills Flygon unless I only gets two turns of Outrage.
Salamence: This is true for every team. Usually I can play around it, but when I can't, it significantly weakens my core. Classic MixMence is kind of a joke and easy to swiftly deal with, but New MixMence is a much more dangerous game to be playing. And then there is DDMence. Ugh.
Entry hazard abusing teams: Ironically, these teams have the upper hand. While I can beat them myself, it's difficult to overpower them before my team is worn down. If I can do that, I win, but I have to play well...and sometimes that can be a problem. Luckily, my team does very well against entry hazards, so that buys me some time to set up and knock out my opponent fast.
Babiri Dragon Dance Tyranitar: Man, this is annoying. Luckily for me it usually comes in to get wasted by a Rotom-W Will-O-Wisp, but if it gets in on Blissey or Will-O-Wisp misses (which happens a lot), this can sweep my team if I'm not careful. I was thinking about Choice Band Scizor over Metagross to help deal with it as well as Tyranitar (or maybe even the Swords Dancer to sweep), but I would have nothing to lead with.
Closing Comments
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There you have it, my balanced team! Don't be afraid to make suggestions (even drastic ones), as long as it means my team is being improved and it isn't changing how I play with my team. Replacing Skarmory with Gliscor, for example, is essentially defeating the purpose of my team. As I said in the introduction, that's exactly why I've gone into detail - so you know how I play with this team (even if I screw up lol) so you know when you're disrupting the synergy of the team. Anyway, I enjoyed writing this, and hopefully it wasn't a slow and painful read for you. Feel free to suggest anything, babes.
