[5th Gen] Pokemon: The Next Generation... - My First RMT

[mew420]

Okay. Just when I was getting the hang of 4th gen, a whole new world erupts. After my initial attempt at a team failed miserably, I eventually came up with these guys. Although it's far from perfect, atleast I'm notching up a few wins. This is more-or-less what the team will be, give-or-take a monster or two to improve synergy and success.

Here we go:

Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
IVs: 0 Spd
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Fang

Something I hadn't really played with before was a sandstorm team. Hippowdon is physically bulky and gets sand up immediately. Stealth Rock for support. Earthquake for STAB. Ice Fang for extra coverage and to hit stuff in the air. And Slack Off for recovery, as he returns often to reinstate sand and wall. O speed IV's and Relaxed nature to ensure my weather is the last to take effect when facing Politoed or Ninetales.

Nattorei (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Toxic
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Substitute

With sand damaging the opponent, I wanted a way to stall and increase the damage. Nattorei does this brilliantly. Toxic helps wear down the opponent. Leech Seed to do the same and recover Nattorei's health. Protect to stall a turn for extra damage/recovery. Substitute to hide behind and a free chance to Toxic/Seed when my opponent switches in a counter.

Doryuuzu (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Throw
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Dory has great synergy with Hippowdon. It's a beast in the sand. EQ and Rock Slide for coverage. Swords Dance to boost attack even further on the opponents switch. I've got rapid spin on there, but found I rarely get a chance to use it as Dory is so fragile. I am considering replacing the Life Orb with a Balloon.

Skarmory (M) @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

As my team abuses sand and hazards, I thought I could use a bit more on the field. Skarm is there to set up spikes and phaze to spread around the damage. Roost for obvious reasons and Brave Bird STAB is powerful and works great with roost to recover the damage. Shed Shell to escape Magnezone and Shandera.

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs:
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Roar

Heatran is there to take the fire attacks aimed at Skarm and grab the boost. I ran a scarf set in gen 4, which was great, but I always cringed when I saw opposing Heatran get a sub up. Fire Blast and Earth Power provide great coverage and Roar to phaze.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Hardy Nature
- Aromatherapy
- Softboiled
- Flamethrower
- Toxic

With multiple physical walls on the team, it appeared a special wall was neccessary. So Blissey made the final cut. It's a basic cleric set. Aromatherapy because the majority of my team hates being burnt or paralysed. Softboiled for recovery. Flamethrower so she's not absolutely useless against ghosts. And toxic helps stall, which is what my team kind of ended up focusing on.


So that is that. Politoed has been giving me quite a bit of grief, and I don't have a dedicated revenge killer. I could scarf Heatran, but kind of like him the way he is.

Any criticism you guys could provide would be greatly aprpeciated.

 

[Acritter]

A Tyranitar lead with SR and Thunder could help you with Politoed. Sure, Thunder's useless outside of the rain it's supposed to be stopping, but it'll get the job done in terms of keeping rain out. Also, it has solid SpD and could free you up to swap out Blissey for something else.

Main problem with your team? I don't quite see where it's trying to go. It's got a huge stalling backbone, and then... Dory? Are you trying to make a stall team or a team designed to set Dory up to sweep? If the former, swap out Dory for perhaps Scarf Ditto to deal with anything that sets up on you. If the latter, consider remaking your whole team to remove Dory's counters and checks (think Shanderaa for Skarmory and so on).

 

[Iconic]

Skarmory is not needed whatsoever when you already have Nattorei (who should be the one setting up Spikes for you), especially since Skarmory just makes your team that much more weak to Fire-types attacks. You should definitely replace Skarmory with a Ghost to block Rapid Spin, and it just so happens that Burungeru is the premier spinblocker right now in BW. Not only does it pair perfectly with Nattorei in terms of resistances, it gives you a more reliable way of hurting Taunt Gliscor, who your team will have trouble beating aside from Hippowdon. I think a defensive spread would work better despite Burungeru's superior Special Defense, because it allows you to deal with Rain Dance sweepers (Kabutops, Kingdra) and Terakion better, while it also lets you to live a +1 Payback from Roobushin if needed. Access to Will-O-Wisp and Recover make it an excellent addition to your stall team, while you can try using Taunt if you don't want opposing Nattorei, one of Burungeru's most common switch-in, to set up on you.

Burungeru @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
- Surf
- Shadow Ball / Taunt
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp

As I mentioned, Nattorei really should be the one who has Spikes. Try a set with Spikes / Leech Seed / Power Whip / Gyro Ball, as it will allow you to lay down entry hazards as well as heal yourself via Leech Seed. You might also want to consider making yourself a bit more bulky on the special side, since this will greatly aid against Politoed, Manaphy and Rain Dance teams in general. A Sassy nature (-Speed to maximize Gyro Ball's power) and 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD is what I usually use, but you can always shift some EVs into Defense if there's something specific you want to survive.

Since your team is more stallish, Heatran has no business running a Timid nature. I would honestly load up on the Special Defense, since I'm assuming this is your primary switch-in to Scarf Latios, so repeated Draco Meteors will begin to hurt without the extra bulk. On Doryuuzu, I really recommend keeping Life Orb, since he is pretty much the only thing keeping Darkrai from obliterating your team. With Life Orb, Dory will always OHKO Darkrai with Stealth Rock down, and the extra power will help a lot against Shaymin-S. If you find Rapid Spin is useless, you could always try Return to screw over Gliscor or X-Scissor to 2HKO Bronzong after a boost. If you do opt to get rid of Rapid Spin, and if you do choose to use Burungeru, definitely use Taunt instead of Shadow Ball to prevent entry hazards from building up on your side.

 

[jwoozie]

A small nitpicky thing, but on your Nattoeri (which is totally screwed by Taunt btw) I would change the nature to a -Atk nature and set the attack IV to 0. All this will do is minimize the amount of damage you would deal to yourself in Confusion. It's not really a big deal but since it isn't running any attacking moves you might as well.