[RMT] Team Poverty

[Zankoku]

Not much gimmick here, except for the lead. And a lot of Substitute, I guess.

Alakazam (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Encore
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
Resist:

Weak:

Alakazam can do some very mean things to typical leads with Encore, forcing them to switch out rather than do their usual job of taking out the opposing lead after a Stealth Rock. Since none of my team is particularly bothered by Stealth Rock, I prefer the Encore to Taunt, which grants me a free Substitute to see their switch-in. Signal Beam is run to counter Dark types that might try to come in and quickly kill Alakazam.
---

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell

Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/176 Def/80 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Protect
Null:

Resist:

Weak:

When the opponent finally sends in something that Alakazam can't actually deal with, Skarmory can usually come in to tank the hit, resisting both of Psychic type's weaknesses, and set up Stealth Rock. Whirlwind is also very useful, since my team generally wants to force switches, and has trouble dealing with Pokémon that set up otherwise. Protect is for a bit of teamwork with Flygon - in the event that I can't properly stall something out with Toxic Flygon, Skarmory can typically come in to tank the rest of the hits.
---

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Will-o-wisp
Flash Fire:

Null:

Resist:

Weak:

Covering the first half of Skarmory's weaknesses, Heatran is in for a very obvious purpose. Again, Substitute. This team wants to buy turns hard. Will-o-wisp can punish people attempting to switch in a resist or a wall, as well as cripple offensive counters, like Gyarados.
---

Jolteon (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Volt Absorb:

Resist:

Weak:

Jolteon covers the second half of Skarmory's weakness. With Substitute, it can even stop Choice Scarf Flygon from forcing a switch. If they instead decide to send in something to stall me, I can Baton Pass the substitute to Lucario and gain a setup turn.
---

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb

Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
Null:

Resist:

Weak:

Standard Swords Dance Lucario set. Not much to explain - it sweeps up when its more common threats are gone, or if it got passed from Jolteon.
---

Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP/72 Atk/96 Def/184 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Null:

Resist:

Weak:

The final piece of the switch-ins. Heatran, Jolteon, and Lucario all share a weakness to Ground type moves, which Gyarados easily flies over, and can retaliate with strong Earthquake of its own. It can also Dragon Dance on forced switches, and Leftovers keeps it going even when switched into Stealth Rock. Gyarados also resists several other typings that my other Pokémon have trouble with, like Fighting and Water.
---


Basically this team tries to run early tricks to force lots of switches and take advantage of those switches by Subbing up, then acting accordingly. This will inevitably either weaken or kill several of the opponent's Pokémon, especially with Stealth Rock out, at which point Lucario can come in and begin to sweep.

Don't let this happen to you.

 

[Shaya]

even though it has the shaky accuracy, focus blast does better against just about everyone you'd be worried about. Bug does hurt fellow psychics though, so I suppose having it allows you to "kill" the common azelf lead, but shutting down his setting up purposes with encore, and not really dying to anything of his (bar a very rare physical variant and I doubt he'd use explosion first turn), and still being able to do strong damage to him with resisted psychics (god bless zam), makes signal beam seem obsolete.

Focus blast would also actually allow you to hurt steels. Which are a lot more common than the psychics the signal beam is allowing you to cover.
If you're worried about the accuracy/PP there is HP Fighting.

You also lack a water resistance.

 

[Zankoku]

I'm not really worried about any Steels in particular. The bulky ones would only come in to try to stall me, or something, and I can Encore them before switching out to something useful. I can get a decent read on the more offensive Steel types (Scizor, Heatran, Metagross) to get a switch for some free Rocks or something.

I might consider a water resist in the final slot to replace Umbreon, because it's probably the weakest guy on my team. Maybe a Kingdra.

 

[Riddle]

Suicune seems like it could be a good replacement to umbreon. It does a lot of the same things that umbreon does with its crocune set.

 

[Zankoku]

Suicune hits in special, though, and I already mentioned why I didn't want to run CroCune. I'm probably going to test with Kingdra, since it removes one of my three (!) Fighting weaknesses, adds a Water resist, when running its RestTalk set is still reasonably beefy, and still hits physically. Of note is that its only weakness is Dragon, and the only Dragon that would probably be a threat on switch-in is Flygon.

(If not already clear, I'm considering the RestTalk set, which runs Outrage and Dragon Dance and puts significant EVs into HP and defense)

 

[ss118]

Put the attack EVs on Umbreon into Defense. Then use Wish+Protect over Rest+Sleep Talk: don't make it an inferior Tyranitar. =P

This way you can now use CB Scizor as set-up bait, as well as being an excellent first switch into Salamence.

 

[Terywj [태리]]

Ahh, Umbreon. Wish+Protect work out better than Rest+Sleep Talk would, since the only thing Umbreon fears is Burns, which you have Heatran for.

 

[Gates]

Your team is really ground weak. Like REEEEALLY ground weak. If Agiligross with Thunderpunch sets up, there won't be much to stop it.

And don't use attacks on Skarmory. Put the Atk EVs in speed and run Taunt, Spikes, or Toxic.

 

[Zankoku]

I got a Flygon to replace Umbreon. It doesn't resist Water, but it totally stops Ground attacks.

 

[The Real Gamer]

That new Flygon of yours is setup bait for Bronzong.

I personally don't like that bulky variant of your Flygon. It looks like it's trying to accomplish what Zapdos does... But Zapdos does it better. But then again, Lucario would be your only real physical attacker on this team, which would NOT be good whenever you run into Snorlax, Blissey, Calm mind boosters, etc.

In fact, why don't you try bulky Gyra instead? It gives you the much needed Water resist and it can avoid the Ground attacks. It's a better physical attacker than Flygon, plus it would have great synergy with Jolteon. And you could use a Water move to deal with some bulky Ground types like Gliscor and Hippowdon, because (surprisingly) you don't have any Water or Grass attacks on this team.

 

[Zankoku]

I like that idea. What should I run for the fourth move, assuming the first three are the standard DD/Taunt/Waterfall?

 

[The Real Gamer]

I was going to suggest Bounce over EQ on Gyra. Waterfall + Bounce has amazing type coverage.

It seems as if you're aiming for a late-game Lucario sweep, so you'll obviously want to get rid of its counters, and Bounce will, overall, do a better job with that than EQ.

Some of the main Lucario counters you will see are Gliscor, other Gyra, and maybe even Celebi (Pretty sure non +1 Crunch won't OHKO it, while it can Earth Power/Psychic you back). Both Celebi and opposing Gyra (with Stone Edge) can easily come in on your current Gyra and threaten both it and Lucario, but when you factor Bounce in... That's a whole different story.

Bounce has a lot of positive qualities for DD Gyra. The 1 turn stall for more HP gained from Leftovers, STAB Flying move with more raw power than EQ has, as well as a 30% paralasis rate.

But if you get rid of EQ you will have to be wary of Metagross, Magenzone, and Empoleon, but lucky for you, your Heatran can easily come in on the first two, outspeed, and OHKO, while Empoleon is taken care of by your Jolteon.

Well those are my 2 cents. Feel free to stay with EQ if you want.

 

[Zankoku]

Those are all very good arguments. I originally added Earthquake because it was a strict replacement from the Flygon, but Bounce definitely works well. I'll test it a bit and get back to you.

I think I earlier decided that if a Metagross came in on my subbed Jolteon, I could pass to Heatran to get a proper read, as an AgiliGross would probably take what it considered a free turn to set up, only to face down a Heatran behind a substitute, while a Choiced 'Gross means I can just switch into Gyarados next.

And yeah, I ran Shed Shell on my Skarmory specifically to watch for Magnezone, which have been strangely absent in my most recent battles.

 

[Wave⁂]

That new Flygon of yours is setup bait for Bronzong.

No one actually uses Bronzong. And he can't set up anything except Stealth Rock.

I was going to suggest Bounce over EQ on Gyra. Waterfall + Bounce has amazing type coverage.

BounceGyara should only be used in one situation: Bulky Dragon Dance user on a team very weak to Celebi.

 

[The Real Gamer]

No one actually uses Bronzong. And he can't set up anything except Stealth Rock.

Say that to my late game Trick Room Zong, who could out-speed and OHKO every Pokemon on this team other than Skarm and Gyra... So yeah.

Oh and a Tinkerbell Celebi will give this team problems once Skarm is out of the picture. His only real counters would be Alakazam and Heatran without Bounce on his Gyra, and both of them really can't switch in on Tinkerbell because both will get paralyzed and OHKOed by Earth Power or Leaf Storm.

 

[Wave⁂]

Say that to my late game Trick Room Zong, who could out-speed and OHKO every Pokemon on this team other than Skarm and Gyra... So yeah.

| Bronzong   | Usage        | 78509            |     7.3 |
| Bronzong   | Attack EV    | Max              |    14.0 |
| Bronzong   | Move         | Trick Room       |    23.7 |

Bronzong is a non-issue.

Oh and a Tinkerbell Celebi will give this team problems once Skarm is out of the picture. His only real counters would be Alakazam and Heatran without Bounce on his Gyra, and both of them really can't switch in on Tinkerbell because both will get paralyzed and OHKOed by Earth Power or Leaf Storm.

BounceGyara doesn't counter Tinkerbell. Leaf Storm OHKOs with Stealth Rock and 2% damage. BounceGyara scares away Celebi after +1.

 

[The Real Gamer]

I mean hey, a well balanced team should be prepared for anything amirite?

Anyways, after a +1 Gyra can counter Celebi after SR damage. Plus he would never switch his Gyra into a Celebi. Celebi would most likely switch into Gyra, then once he gets his +1 in, that Celebi will either get killed by Bounce or something else will get hit hard (that doesn't resist it) by Bounce.

 

[Wave⁂]

I mean hey, a well balanced team should be prepared for anything amirite?

No team can be prepared for everything. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

Anyways, after a +1 Gyra can counter Celebi after SR damage. Plus he would never switch his Gyra into a Celebi. Celebi would most likely switch into Gyra, then once he gets his +1 in, that Celebi will either get killed by Bounce or something else will get hit hard (that doesn't resist it) by Bounce.

You're "countering" Celebi by hoping it will switch into Gyarados. lol

 

[The Real Gamer]

No team can be prepared for everything. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool.

Ok let me rephrase that Mr. Literal. A team should be prepared for as many threats as possible.

You're "countering" Celebi by hoping it will switch into Gyarados. lol

And completely walled by Celebi if you don't give it Bounce...

 

[A_man13]

Bronzong should be a "no worry" pokemon. Even though it's OU, very few people run it and those that do only use it for Stealth rock and trick room. I'm seriously the only person I've seen who uses it. It can't heal and all it can do is explode. Only worry about it if it stalls out your PP.

@Ankoku: You need to fix that massive earthquake weakness. If a pokemon like Salamence gets a dragon dance in or a scarftran is stuck on earth power, it will rip your team apart with no way to revenge kill. Though Gyara and Skarmory is immune, it is easy for it to be weakened due to SR, sandstorm, and by damage caused by other pokemon (especially since the two pokemon frequently carry a fire type move for Skarmory). Once that is done, your team is toast. I'd reccomend changing your team around ASAP to account for this weakness.

 

[Wave⁂]

Ok let me rephrase that Mr. Literal. A team should be prepared for as many threats as possible.

Thank you. However, a team should be wary of some threats more than others. A team that is weak to Electivire, for example, isn't a problem, since no one uses him.

And completely walled by Celebi if you don't give it Bounce...

Gyarados only has 125 base attack. Even Choice Band Tyranitar's massive 600 attack has trouble 2 or even 3HKOing some threats. A good coverage move is much more useful than a strong one that hits three Pokémon super-effectively and is resisted by... everything.

 

[The Real Gamer]

That Flygon of his being setup bait for Zong wasn't the sole reason for suggesting Gyra instead... I was just bringing that up for the heck of it, especially since I use it.

He needs Gyra to help get rid of Lucario's counters.

@Wave- Okay I give up. Go with EQ over Bounce... But he better keep that Heatran or Alakazam alive if he wants to have something for Celebi.

 

[Pink Reaper]

Your team loses to Taunt Gliscor

 

[Zankoku]

@Ankoku: You need to fix that massive earthquake weakness. If a pokemon like Salamence gets a dragon dance in or a scarftran is stuck on earth power, it will rip your team apart with no way to revenge kill. Though Gyara and Skarmory is immune, it is easy for it to be weakened due to SR, sandstorm, and by damage caused by other pokemon (especially since the two pokemon frequently carry a fire type move for Skarmory). Once that is done, your team is toast. I'd reccomend changing your team around ASAP to account for this weakness.

It's unfortunate that the two things that completely negate Skarmory's two weaknesses are both weak to Ground type. You'll notice a cascade of opposing weaknesses and resistances if you go down my team list - it's built to switch for damage negation and then buy a turn with Substitute. In other words, layer 1 prediction.

Anyway, I reached my 50 point landmark with this team so I'm done with it and will be moving on to my next one. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions to help complete this.