For some reason I like this team. (OU RMT)

[Circa]

Intro

I made this team this morning in a personal honor of my 1,000th post, and so far I've really liked it. So also in honor of my 1,000th post, I'm making this RMT. Yayyy. The idea behind this team is pretty simple: set up entry hazards while forcing as many switches as possible, and wear down the opponent to the point where I can pull off a sweep. I can't exactly explain why I like this team, but I do. Something about the way it operates just speaks to me I guess. Anyway, let's move on to the team.

In-depth

Roserade @ Focus Sash
Ability: Poison Point
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Leaf Storm
- Toxic Spikes
- HP Ice

Now this build is kind of weird, but there is a method to the madness. HP Fire does little to nothing for me with the way I play Roserade, as I never stay in against Jirachi and Metagross leads anyway. HP Ice, however, breaks the speed tie I'd get against most opposing Roserade leads, and also gives me something to do against any Mence that thinks it can switch in and set up on me. Poison Point as opposed to Natural Cure gives me an easier way to deal with opposing Roserade leads as well. This is because if they decide to put me to sleep right off (I've never been in the Roserade-Roserade situation, so I don't know what people do), then I can take advantage of it and switch in Blissey for SR without having to worry about her being put to sleep as well. And then of course I can just use Blissey later to get rid of Roserade's sleep and let it do its original job. Apart from those things though, it plays like a standard Roserade lead. Don't criticize my choices in what to run on it, because I probably won't listen. I know the straightforward advantage of Natural Cure, but I also know the advantage to actually having something you can use to completely absorb sleep. And I decided to opt for the latter.

Synergy

- Heatran

- Latias, Skarmory, Heatran

- Rotom-H, Skarmory, Heatran

- Latias, Heatran

Rotom-H @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/156 Def/100 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Discharge
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp

My main lead-counter as well as my spin-blocker. When it comes to taking on leads, it rightfully deals with basically everything that Roserade can't deal with apart from Infernape (Fire Blast is a *****), and its ability to WoW potential switch-ins that bypass Toxic Spikes is nice as well. Supposedly Rotom-H's EVs for the Standard set were made to outspeed max speed Adamant Scizor, but nobody runs that anymore. So I dropped all the Speed EVs and some Defense EVs as well, and invested all of that into Special Defense to give it better survivability as a spin-blocker. With the additional investment, it can take a non-LO Surf from Starmie on the switch and still get a turn to take it out. I use Discharge over Thunderbolt because I feel like the higher paralysis chance can be a greater asset to this team than the extra power, despite Toxic Spikes and WoW already being there. Discharge does miss the KO against Starmie though (assuming only SR is up), which isn't cool, but it still does enough to guarantee that non-bulky versions won't be able to switch in to try and spin again. So despite the lack of power, it's still able to do its main job, all while adding more support to the rest of the team. So far this Rotom has been a great asset, and I don't think I'd make any changes to it.

Synergy

- Skarmory, Heatran

- Blissey, Skarmory, Heatran

Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Surf
- Recover

The standard Offensive CM Latias. This is meant to be the main sweeper, as well as my way to deal with the Infernape leads that ruin Roserade. Nothing else to really say about this. It just sets up and sweeps.

Synergy

- Skarmory, Heatran

- Heatran

- Skarmory, Heatran

- Blissey, Skarmory, Heatran

- Rotom-H, Skarmory, Heatran

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/40 SAtk/216 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, Atk)
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Flamethrower
- Stealth Rock

Blissey, in my opinion, is among the best SR users in the game. Its ability to come in on any special attacker and force it out means it tends to have an ample amount of opportunities to set up SR in any given match. I decided to put it on the Cleric set as opposed to one of the others because I also liked having something to save me in case status got spread around my team. So far this set has been pretty useful.

Synergy

- Roserade, Rotom-H, Latias

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/232 Def/24 Spe
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Whirlwind
- Roost
- Spikes

TauntSkarm with a bulkier EV spread. The main reason for this sitting on my team was to get in those Spikes, but I also wanted to keep things like CurseLax and CroCune from ruining my Toxic Spikes fun, as well as further keeping the opponent from spreading status. Thus, TauntSkarm was added. It also helps in keeping the opponent's phazing and setting up to a minimum, which gives me more time to do some phazing and setting up of my own. In a lot of ways I'd say Skarmory is the MVP of my team, even if it is just by a slim margin.

Synergy

- Latias, Heatran

- Roserade, Rotom-H, Latias

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 SAtk/252 Spe
Naive Nature (+Spe, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Dragon Pulse

My revenge killer and additional clean-up. This is standard ScarfTran doing what it does best, and there's not really anything to say about it. It just helps keep possible threats in check and such, and acts as back up in the case that Latias doesn't do its job.

Synergy

- Roserade, Latias

- Rotom-H, Latias, Skarmory

- Roserade, Rotom-H, Latias

Additional Info

This team has absolutely no SR weaknesses, 3 Spikes immunities, 5 Toxic Spikes immunities (as well as an absorber), and two Sandstorm immunities. It also carries a PHazer, a Cleric, a Stealth Rock user, a Spiker, a Toxic Spiker, a Spin-Blocker, a Pseudo-Stallbreaker, and an Exploder. Last, this team has access to every type of status but Freeze.

Closing

So yeah, I guess that's it for now. This team is basically brand new but it's already done me a lot of good. I really just want to see what other people think and maybe take what I already have and make it better. So rate/hate, all thoughts are welcome (unless you scold my 'Rade. I'll stab you mah****a).

 

[Circa]

RESERVED FOR THREAT LIST

I kind of submitted this all on accident, so I didn't get a chance to even consider making one. Work with me as I hopefully finish this out soon (threat list by tomorrow).

 

[Wave⁂]

Mence has a party after a Dragon Dance.

 

[supermarth64]

You're weak to Subcharge Rotom, but I'll fix that problem later when I have more time to think.

 

[Wave⁂]

With 80 SpAtk, Blissey can break SubCharge Rotom's Subs.

 

[Gates]

Who uses SubCharge Rotom? I've never seen that. I've seen Resttalkcharge Rotom, but not sub.

There's things I like about it and things I have issues with.

• I like your Roserade, it's interesting that your plan with it is to bait opposing sleepers to activate sleep clause and I don't know if this was intended but you can also poison Fake Out leads with Poison Point. HP Ice is a fine call, though I would have to ask if this would really live for very long against a Salamence or even a Dragonite.
• Your Rotom's lack of speed concerns me a little. It's going to lose speed ties to other Rotoms almost every time except for the very defensive ones, and for the choice variants you're running the risk of most likely being OHKO'd after rocks with Modest Scarf and you'll barely survive Timid Scarf. Meanwhile, you'll never OHKO them even after rocks assuming a 4 hp/0 spD build. Also, Gengar can outspeed you and OHKO you after rocks whether it's LO or Scarf. As long as you're absolutely sure you can nullify these threats, you should be alright, but frankly your chances look slim.
• u n33dz 2 uze t3h CB Latiass d00d.
• Your Blissey has a few things I'd criqitue about it. First of all, I disagree with you about Blissey being the best SR user in OU. This is largely because I'm a "set up rocks right away" kind of guy, but that philosophy has never failed me before. I realize with your lead it has to go somewhere on your team but I think that Blissey's 4th move slot could be better utilized with something like Thunder Wave to hinder switch-ins and phaze. I think if you put Stealth Rock on Skarmory instead of Blissey your team wouldn't be hindered at all. I also think that Flamethrower is better than Thunderbolt in the meta overall since some of the most common pokemon are Scizor, Metagross, Jirachi, and Skarmory, but if your team really needs help against Suicune like you say then go for it.
• I like your Skarmory. I don't see what the 4 spe EVs are for though. If you're only going to raise it by one point you're not raising it by a significant enough amount to really make a difference. My sugestion would be to put it into SpD to increase its tanking ablility by a tiny bit. Unless of course you REALLY need to outspeed Swampert.
• Your Heatran is very unique and I've never seen anything like it before.

Solid team overall. I can see why you have trouble with Bulky Waters though - remove Skarm and you don't really have an answer to them.

 

[Wave⁂]

Who uses SubCharge Rotom?

Approximately one person, until that one person posted this.

 

[Circa]

@Annoying: DDMence would be a threat no matter what I did with this team. My true answer on how to deal with it, to be quite honest, is to sac Latias to bait the Outrage, then switch in Heatran to revenge. I know it's a waste of a main sweeper, but that's probably my best answer to it. Obviously this fails if it's MixMence, but if it's MixMence then Heatran will most certainly outspeed and pick up the kill.

EDIT: Scratch that, I forgot that my Rotom existed. I can just go to that instead. Fire Blast from DDMence is a 3HKO and Earthquake obviously won't do anything, so it's forced to use Outrage if it doesn't want to get neutered by WoW. Latias is my back-up though, in case Rotom has already been taken out or Rotom is just simply too weak to take even a Fire Blast. Rotom also helps me scout to see if it's a MixMence, which I'd really rather not have Latias do (for obvious reasons).

@all three of you (depending on what part you need to hear): I've used SubCharge Rotom. Worked pretty dang well too, I might add. And Jabba's team basically kept on popping into my mind with just about every step I took on this team. We have different sets, but all our Pokemon (bar Jirachi/Heatran) are the same. With Aromatherapy and Softboiled, Blissey actually doesn't have much to worry about against SubCharge Rotom. Well, unless it gets like +6, which it could do, sadly. I will admit this is a weakness, so I'll probably relocate EVs or something so I have at least a mild chance of breaking subs. I don't want to make it any less bulky on the Special Defense side though, so EV spread advice please? Or I'll just wait for supermarth to give me his idea, and work from there.

@Gates: I'm trying to figure out if your portion about Rotom-H is a joke or not (especially considering other parts of your post are as well). <___< Every standard Gengar will outspeed non-ScarfRotom, no matter what you do. And I hate speed ties, which a defensive Rotom set will only ever see against opposing defensive sets anyway, and those do almost nothing to my team.

Putting SR on Blissey and just Spikes on Skarmory as opposed to no SR on Blissey and both SR and Spikes on Skarmory is a strategic move. Reason being is that it takes a lot less pressure off of using Skarmory throughout the match, and it gives Blissey something to do when opponents start switching in grounded Pokemon as well. That idea wasn't purely chosen just because Blissey is amazing at setting up SR. There was a little more to it than that. With Toxic Spikes and WoW already doing a good portion of my team's jobs I found status to be Blissey's least needed area of expertise, so that's what I got rid of from the set. This team isn't meant to play stand-alone, but as a group. That's why it's so important to keep down everything my opponent can pull off, because otherwise this team could quickly fall apart.

4 Speed EVs don't really do much, especially on Skarmory, but a simple 4 EVs in anything doesn't really do much to be honest. 1 extra point in a defensive or offensive stat doesn't usually raise the damage output by even an extra percent. Speed is the all-around most useful place to put it in, so that's where I threw it. It might not do much for me, but it'll likely do more for me than throwing it in the other stats would do.

Thanks for the rates! Keep them coming! :D

 

[Wave⁂]

Well, unless it gets like +6, which it could do, sadly.

Putting SR on Blissey and just Spikes on Skarmory as opposed to no SR on Blissey and both SR and Spikes on Skarmory is a strategic move. Reason being is that it takes a lot less pressure off of using Skarmory throughout the match, and it gives Blissey something to do when opponents start switching in grounded Pokemon as well.

4 Speed EVs don't really do much, especially on Skarmory, but a simple 4 EVs in anything doesn't really do much to be honest. 1 extra point in a defensive or offensive stat doesn't usually raise the damage output by even an extra percent. Speed is the all-around most useful place to put it in, so that's where I threw it. It might not do much for me, but it'll likely do more for me than throwing it in the other stats would do.

Assuming two attacks to break a Sub and SubCharge Rotom has Leftovers, you will have to attack ten (?) times before Rotom is forced to switch or die. 90% accuracy and 70% boost rate, your opponent has a pretty low chance of getting to +6. You could even assume getting one crit with a 1/16 chance.

Skarmory with Stealth Rock and Spikes is like giving Forretress Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rock, and Rapid Spin. You'll never finish your job.

I missed this. Standard Skarmory on Smogon has 16 Speed, I'd recommend at the very least 24 to Taunt them and Whirlwind their switch-in. 184 Speed outpaces Adamant (Curse) Tyranitar.

 

[Circa]

Yeah, but if they got Toxic Spikes up after I lost Roserade then I have to waste a turn to Aromatherapy as well. Not a big inclusion, but that one turn could make all the difference. I just really want to make sure I play it right to break its subs before it can KO me, that way Heatran can come in and take it out before it can really do damage to the rest of my team.

I wanted to keep Skarmory as bulky as possible, so I opted not to outspeed CurseTar and just throw it all in Defense. I didn't think of outspeeding standard Skarmory though, which you are right about it being a nice little aid. EVs are changed.

 

[Terywj [태리]]

Good thing you have them Rotom and Skarmory. Watch out for Scizor / Gyarados.

Then again I don't play OU, so I should probably stop digging myself into a hole.

-Terywj

 

[Circa]

I'm actually not too worried about Scizor. Don't ask me why, but I'm not. Gyara is really only an issue if it's Taunt Gyara, but those almost always run Adamant (granted, almost all Gyara run Adamant anyway), and because of this they're outsped by Heatran after a single DD. So yeah, pretty easy pickins.