Screw Platinum (D/P)

[.]

ITT: Really bad nicknames (D/P)

Overview
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I made this team after I practically gave up on Platinum. The teams were too similar, and I got bored of using/fighting the same exact things. This team used to have major issues with Lucario and Heracross, but after adding the "Speedy" Gliscor, the problem was almost solved. MixGar was ditched for a new "All Out Offensive Mixape" RaikouLover on Smogon posted, so its been working quite well for me. Cresselia has had Charge Beam added in order to better handle Gyarados of all sorts, and Tyranitar, Heracross, and Blissey remain unchanged due to being immensely awesome.​

Gliscor @ Leftovers *Gliswhore*
Impish
244 HP/ 188 Def/ 76 Spe
Aerial Ace
Earthquake
Roost
Stealth Rock​

Gliscor has taken Bronzong's place in order to better handle the everyday Heracross and Lucario I seem to have troubles with. It also outruns the fastest Tyranitar in the game (Jolly, 252 Spe) and hits it hard with an Earthquake. Stealth Rock is again, completely necessary, and Aerial Ace/Earthquake destroy the mentioned Lucario and Heracross. I want to pack Taunt on this guy, to mainly screw over Bronzong leads, but I can't seem to fit it mainly because all of his moves are absolutely necessary, whether they are offensive or for support. Still, Gliscor is a fantastic lead with a great typing that helps this team overcome its immense fear of Heracross and Lucario. It has some troubles with the rare Weavile and Azelf leads, but other than that it pretty much starts the game with a quick Stealth Rock, and then back to the Poke Ball to come back only when one of those Heracross rear their ugly head.​

Tyranitar @ Choice Band *Fag Tar*
Adamant
176 HP/252 Att/80 Spe
Crunch
Stone Edge
Focus Punch
Pursuit​

CB Tar is my favorite Pokemon in the game x3. It's really a complete beast, and with Focus Punch, most of its counters are hit EXTREMELY hard. For example, the standard 252 HP/6 Def Machamp (a Smogon standard) takes an unbelievable 87% minimum, and 102% maximum. In other words, it's OHKO'd 54% of the time if switching into Stealth Rock. Now that's scary. Crunch is an awesome STAB; gaining Defense drops and soon getting the upper hand in stall wars that seem hopeless. Stone Edge is unreliable at times, but destroys everything and has excellent coverage with Focus Punch. Pursuit traps Zapdos and Scarfed Ghosts such as Gengar and can almost always KO them on the switch (Zapdos, even with 252 HP/0 Def, takes 66% minimum when switching out). A solid threat as always.​

Infernape @ Life Orb *Infernrape*
Naive
140 Atk/ 176 SpA/ 192 Spe
Close Combat
Grass Knot
Fire Blast
Stone Edge​

I heard many great things about this set. It handles Swampert, Gyarados, Salamence, Blissey, Tyranitar, Celebi, Heracross, etc...It OHKOs Blissey, 2HKOs Vaporeon, 2HKOs Gyarados and Salamence (if they switch in on Fire Blast, Stone Edge KOs them the next turn IIRC). ThunderPunch is an option, but it doesn't hit Mence which worries me a bit. I could also go HP Ice, but I'm comfortable with Cress's ability to wall Salamence and, to a lesser extent, Dragonite.​

Heracross @ Choice Scarf *Eww*
Adamant
252 Att/252 Spe/6 HP
Close Combat
Megahorn
Stone Edge
Toxic​

Yeah, so it's Scarf Cross, shoot me. I know it's "cool" to make fun of Choice Scarf users, but this guy is really cool! 383 Attack with 2 120 STAB moves is sexy as hell. Stone Edge for flying types that plague my team, and Toxic to wear down things like Gliscor on the switch. Heracross also is my true answer to Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Dragon Dance Gyarados, since he outruns both after a Dragon Dance and KO them with Close Combat/Stone Edge respectively. This guy also doesn't mind coming in on Blissey's Toxic for a "free Choice Band". Let's face it, 558 Att and 403 Spe is pretty damn scary with two powerful moves such as Close Combat and Megahorn.​

Cresselia @ Leftovers *Walled imo*
Bold
252 HP/176 Def/82 SpD
Reflect
Charge Beam
Thunder Wave
Ice Beam​

With this EV spread, Cresselia has astonishing 444 HP/352 Def/316 SpD. An Adamant Life Orb Gyarados using Waterfall only manages 49% maximum, never a 2HKO factoring in Leftovers, and even without, it never 2HKOs. Cresselia also handles Salamence and such decently, as an Adamant Dragon Claw from YacheMence only does 39% maximum, pretty lol if you ask me. Draco Meteor from a MixMence does only 52%, never a 2HKO due to the Special Attack drop. Ice Beam does a minimum of 79%, meaning Cresselia will be coming out on top of any battle she has with Salamence. Infernape can never 2HKOs with a Specs Fire Blast, and even a Nasty Plot Flamethrower only does 69% maximum, meaning I can paralyse it and then go to Blissey/Tyranitar. Great team support member overall.​

Blissey @ Leftovers *Wanna cyber?*
Calm
42 HP/252 Def/216
Wish
Softboiled
Seismic Toss
Toxic​

This it it. This is the greatest Special Wall in the game. THIS IS THE HEART OF THE METAGAME. And you know how I feel using this overused, broken piece of fat blob? I feel great. Yes, this thing is amazing. It gives Wishes to Cresselia, CBTar, Heracross, Gengar, and Bronzong, letting them survive much longer. Toxic is for things that don't mind paralysis, like Swampert who is a total meanie head to this team ;( Softboiled because I'm always up for more recovery in stall walls, and Seismic Toss is just oh so sexy for CM Raikou and SubAgility Empoleon, two threats increasing in usage.​

 

[Dark Azelf]

On Gengar consider the ev spread 40 attack / 216 sp.att / 252 speed @ hasty (Hasty >>Naive since gar actually has respectable sp.def and you might aswell cut its already inferior def instead of its better special defense.)

This spread guarantees that you OHKO Bold max hp / max def blissey after it has taken stealth rock damage with explosion. The same spread guarantees a OHKO on 168 hp / 120 def (curse lax) snorlax with stealth rock damage.

(If you want to check the calcs make sure you put in half the targets defense since explosion halves it, so on blissey it would be against 65 defense since half of 130 is 65).

The only "major" threat i can see is a well played bulky Gyarados, since i checked smogon usage statistics for the past few months and approx 1/3 of them still pack Taunt, which shuts down cress and if you switch it in on a dd and then it taunts your t-wave it gets in another dd thus outpacing scarf cross. In addition, you may lol but stone edge from hera doesnt ohko bulkydos and it sometimes fails to even ohko sweeper versions which is meh (even without intimidate) however life orb recoil will finish it off more than likely. You could severely dent it with cross then like finish it with cress, so yeah just something to be careful of.

CroPert = major aaaaaa for this team and so is CB Pert.

Given its purpose, it is arguably better to shove some sort of vappy>> cress. Not only does it give you a more reliable gyarados counter (along with hera being able to revenge it) but it also sorts the swampert problem out, to an extent. Wish support would be nice from vappy too, which could free up some slots on blissey so you could actually hit ghosts with a special attack namely sub gar who could just sleep w/e and then pound away at your team. Especially those stupid Focus Punch ones ..eww.

Speaking of freed up slots, your team doesnt like sleep at all. Aromatheraphy could be a nice option on bliss. If not, sleep talk on heracross >> toxic would work too, so he can act as your "status" absorber. You might not "need" s-toss on this team actually (i know it sucks without, but just hear me out lol) as t-tar takes raikou and vappy walls empoleon and heatran for the most part. This would allow you to run Aroma/<Special attack> (for ghosts)/T-Wave/Softboiled



With Mixgar luring in special walls, i could actually see specs vappy causing serious problems for opponents, so thats an option for said vappy. However this would give you 3 choice users, and you may feel this is a liability so meh, its up to you.


In addition, a gliscor would be kinda nice >> zong to cover Lucario and other fighters weak and it still gets SR. You could then lead with CB Tar.



CBTar
vappy
Gliscor
Bliss
Mixgar
scarf cross

Something like that ?


Just some things to consider here.

 

[.inLOVE]

The title and bold faced words weren't too nice, but your team was. Think about replacing Cresselia. Even though it is legendary, and it's stats can be high, it is easily beaten. The others have not yet failed me. Oh, but you might wanna raise the Spe on Tyranitar. That's all I can think of!

 

[Archer]

Okay, so the team looks very solid as always. Nice job Vance. One concern is the lack of a central "strategy" aside from "keep TTar killing". The reliance on Choiced offense (Bar Gengar, which is likely to either explode or be pursuited.) means I can't see much "sweeping" going on. Aside from issues that only I might think of as an issue :D, it's all good.

Bronzong - Feel free to run a Spd IV of 1 or 2, as you outspeed other Bronzongs without losing any power on Gyro Ball (It's not a big enough change to make a difference.) Explosion sure does come in handy, if you're prepared to fit it in. Also, as more of a note than anything else, don't rely on SR for all of your Calcuations. It's risky, as you are easily Taunted.

Tyranitar - I'm a bit concerned about the reliability of Focus Punch on a CBer, but I can see it's usefulness and you're the Tyranitar King, after all.

Gengar - Basically, what D_A has mentioned about the EVs and Nature. Be careful to scout around and not to lose Gengar too early.

Heracross - Fine. I can't see why this lost so much usage from early DP.

Cresselia - Eh, if it works. I'm note 100% sure how you're dealing with Gyara once it's Paralysed, A Psychic is a barely a 4HKO. (Switch, DD, TWave, Waterfall 57%, Reflect, Waterfall 39%, Psychic 75%, Waterfall 21%, Psychic 50%, Waterfall KO.) I guess you could revenge with Gengar, but it still causes problems. TBolt would work, but I understand you will have trouble fitting it in.

Blissey - Fine appart from the Typos. The phrase is "wanna?cyber" and you have 216 EVs with no marker. I am assuming they are Cake EVs, to make it survive a food fight.

Really good. A few tiny things, but it's solid and well thought through. Now you make me want to run a Heracross, which reminds me; you have fairly serious Heracross issues.

 

[SkyPioneer]

The title and bold faced words weren't too nice, but your team was. Think about replacing Cresselia. Even though it is legendary, and it's stats can be high, it is easily beaten. The others have not yet failed me. Oh, but you might wanna raise the Spe on Tyranitar. That's all I can think of!

How about posting some real critique instead of just "it is easily beaten"?

CresseliaSwitch, DD, TWave, Waterfall 57%, Reflect, Waterfall 39%, Psychic 75%, Waterfall 21%, Psychic 50%, Waterfall KO

wut

Psychic 75%, Waterfall 21%, Psychic 50%, Waterfall KO

So, Gyara can take 125% damage?
Correct it, lol.
BTW, you didn't really factor parahax. So in that case, omit the turn for T-Wave he'd get an extra Psychic in.
Sooo... Yeah.

 

[Archer]

That's the maximum HP after Leftovers, I thought it'd be easier to see what's happening with Lefties.
You are correct about the extra Psychic, but it still leaves Gyara standing (or hovering) with 25% HP left. With the amount of Taunt leads stopping you from SRing, that's rather risky. You could always Swap Tbolt in. If over Psychic, you can effectively neutralise Mixapes with Thunder Wave, anyway.

 

[.]

Okay, so the team looks very solid as always. Nice job Vance. One concern is the lack of a central "strategy" aside from "keep TTar killing". The reliance on Choiced offense (Bar Gengar, which is likely to either explode or be pursuited.) means I can't see much "sweeping" going on. Aside from issues that only I might think of as an issue :D, it's all good.

Bronzong - Feel free to run a Spd IV of 1 or 2, as you outspeed other Bronzongs without losing any power on Gyro Ball (It's not a big enough change to make a difference.) Explosion sure does come in handy, if you're prepared to fit it in. Also, as more of a note than anything else, don't rely on SR for all of your Calcuations. It's risky, as you are easily Taunted.

Tyranitar - I'm a bit concerned about the reliability of Focus Punch on a CBer, but I can see it's usefulness and you're the Tyranitar King, after all.

Tyranitar's STABs are really good enough for it, since EQ is almost useless in every case I've been in. At least Focus Punch destroys many things on the switch in.

Gengar - Basically, what D_A has mentioned about the EVs and Nature. Be careful to scout around and not to lose Gengar too early.

Heracross - Fine. I can't see why this lost so much usage from early DP.

Cresselia - Eh, if it works. I'm note 100% sure how you're dealing with Gyara once it's Paralysed, A Psychic is a barely a 4HKO. (Switch, DD, TWave, Waterfall 57%, Reflect, Waterfall 39%, Psychic 75%, Waterfall 21%, Psychic 50%, Waterfall KO.) I guess you could revenge with Gengar, but it still causes problems. TBolt would work, but I understand you will have trouble fitting it in.

I WANTED to have Charge Beam, but Anti didn't like the notion of it. I think I'll go Charge Beam >>> T-Wave.

Blissey - Fine appart from the Typos. The phrase is "wanna?cyber" and you have 216 EVs with no marker. I am assuming they are Cake EVs, to make it survive a food fight.

No, not a meme. Just a simple question: Wanna cyber?

Really good. A few tiny things, but it's solid and well thought through. Now you make me want to run a Heracross, which reminds me; you have fairly serious Heracross issues.

Yeah, Heracross has been a complete PAIN for me, which is why Gliscor sounds really good over Bronzong. Sadly, I want to fit Taunt on it too, since it screws CroPert over letting something like TTar 2HKO it with Crunch (IIRC).

I'm not liking this whole Swampert issue either, which is why I'm considering adding adding a Celebi (Defensively minded) over something, maybe Bronzong, in order to cope with this Swampert/Bulk Gyarados issue. I'm not replacing Cress, or else DD Mence screws me over, but I guess Bronzong could be replaced. If I do go Gliscor over Bronzong, I'm gonna have to go Charge Beam >> Twave on Cress so I can better handle Gyarados of all sorts.

Gliscor / Tyranitar / Gengar / Heracross / Cresselia / Blissey

Still has Swampert troubles, which is why I'm thinking on ENERGY BALL (joking). Celebi could work over Gengar ironically, but I don't know if that'd be any good.

 

[Aquilae]

You have problems with mixed variants of Tyranitar, Ice Beam to be exact, and CB variants can really screw Cress over with Pursuit which you rely on alot. I'd replace Gliscor with Machamp which provides a nice switchin to Tar and replace Cress with Vaporeon, Surf / Ice Beam / HP Electric / Wish takes care of Mence and Gyarados. I'd put Gengar > Blissey since your team covers all the major special threats, Gengar also makes a good switchin to Luke, Hera and Nape and poses a huge threat with TB / Shadow Ball / Focus Blast / Hypnosis or Explosion.

So,
Machamp > Gliscor
Vaporeon > Cresselia
Gengar > Blissey

 

[Samson]

keke your gliscor is missing something.

 

[Noir Lancer]

Screw Platinum

Thread title does not lie.

It's enough to make you want to quit Pokemon isn't it? =/



- 244 HP/ 188 Def/ 76 Spe on Gliscor, I like me the Leftovers recovery, also plays the speed game for those trying to reach the stat you're trying to with just 72 Spe, also manages to outspeed some versions of Heatran if i recall correctly.

As for Ape:

- 140 Atk/ 176 SpA/ 192 Spe on Infernape

Lands a guaranteed OHKo on Max HP/ 0SpD neutral Swampert. Though Consider HP ZapZap over Stone Edge, Cress can handle Mence already exceptionally well.




Also allow me to help you with the art there Vance,

Spoiler:

And Happy New Year by the way!

 

[.]

Thanks Noir =] You always seem to know how to work the EVs out. Adding the changes, and Happy New Year!

(thread can be locked btw)

 

[Dark Azelf]

Thread Locked on request of OP.