Landorus-Therian @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Lando-T gets absurd breaking power when given a choice band, and this team was built with the goal of abusing that strength. The main advantages Lando-T has over other choice band mons like Rillaboom or Urshifu are its typing, its natural bulk, and its access to intimidate, which combined afford Lando-T many opportunities to safely switch in. Another advantage is Lando-T's excellent coverage in earthquake and stone edge. These moves come with the added benefit that neither makes contact, which is nice for dealing with Zapdos and Ferrothorn. Knock off makes Lando-T much more annoying to switch into since potential checks run the risk of losing their item and taking significant chip damage on switch in. U-turn lets Lando-T keep up momentum by switching out of unfavorable matchups and giving its teammates better positioning. In this team, Lando-T functions as an offensive pivot, revenge killer, and even a late game sweeper once its checks have been dealt with.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic
Specially defensive Heatran is a great partner for Lando-T as the two cover each other's weaknesses very well. Heatran appreciates Lando-T's ability to switch in on fighting and ground coverage and threaten some of its checks (namely Garchomp, Nidoking, and opposing Heatran). Also, pivoting into Heatran from Lando-T tends to work very well as intimidate softens physical hits that Heatran couldn't comfortably take otherwise. Meanwhile, Heatran gives Lando-T a switch-in for ice and grass coverage as well as most special attackers. Magma storm and taunt let Heatran threaten to trap and kill stall mons like Blissey or Toxapex that could otherwise give the team trouble. Toxic is helpful status that helps to cripple the mons Heatran baits in, like Urshifu or opposing Lando-T. Toxic also assists in chipping away walls like Slowbro or Blissey, especially once they've been trapped with magma storm.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog
Rotom-W gives the team a water resist, a defogger, and a way to cripple problematic physical attackers with will-o-wisp. 56 speed is enough to outrun defensive Lando-T and Heatran, as well as some random stuff like neutral nature Magnezone or neutral nature Tyranitar. Everything else is invested into defense and HP to live hits from Urshifu, Barraskewda, and other physical breakers. Rotom-W's natural bulk and typing also allow it to sponge the occasional scald or focus blast for Heatran. Heatran and defensive Rotom-W are great partners in general because of how they cover each other's weaknesses and deal with each other's checks. Aside from that, hydro pump is a strong STAB move that can pick off mons like Lando-T and Heatran, or just deal some chip damage when necessary. Volt switch lets Rotom-W keep up momentum and give its teammates opportunities to switch in. Defog support is important in order to prevent the rest of the team (particularly Heatran and Lando-T) from getting chipped down. Finally, will-o-wisp is an incredibly helpful tool to get residual damage on mons that don't care about Heatran's toxic, like Ferrothorn or Toxapex. Will-o-wisp also gives us an out against physical breakers like Kartana or Urshifu-R that can dunk on the rest of the team otherwise.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
- Wish
- Heal Bell
Together, Heatran, Rotom-W, and Clefable form a potent defensive core with 4 immunities and no shared weaknesses. With wish, Clefable offers incredible support for Rotom-W and Heatran by giving them the recovery they so desperately crave. Wish also lets the team's offensive mons be played more aggressively in the early game, as the access to recovery makes it a much less risky play to sacrifice HP in order to snag an important kill. Heal bell also lets the team be played pretty aggressively, as the threat of getting statused can largely be disregarded without much risk. Aside from that, Clefable has the ability to sponge up status moves when necessary and set up rocks in order to punish switching and give the rest of the team an easier time securing kills. A physically defensive build makes Clefable the most generally bulky, allowing it to comfortably take most hits.
Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
Specs Dragapult gives the team some much needed speed and raw damage. The only things without a scarf that are faster than Dragapult are Zeraora and Regieleki, both of which are easily handled by Lando-T. Aside from its speed, Dragapult offers an incredible dragon/ghost typing that synergizes well with the rest of the team and gives it enough resistances and immunities to frequently switch in and hit something for big damage. The fighting immunity in particular is helpful as it takes some pressure off of Clefable to deal with mons like Urshifu-R. Draco meteor and shadow ball together are great coverage, u-turn helps keep up momentum, and flamethrower can occasionally pick off an unsuspecting Ferrothorn or Corviknight. Much like Lando-T, specs Dragapult is a great offensive pivot, revenge killer, and late game sweeper. In general, the primary strategy of this team is to clear a path for one of these mons to sweep, relying on their speed, coverage, and raw power to close out games.
Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
Even with Dragapult's speed, the team has trouble dealing with swift swimmers, choice scarfers, some set-up mons, and priority users. Bisharp was added to the team as a catchall solution for the team's speed problems. A STAB life orb boosted sucker punch from max attack Bisharp is enough to handle most stuff that out speeds Dragapult, especially after some chip damage. 172 speed is enough to out speed defensive Heatran, with the rest going into HP to give Bisharp as much bulk as possible. Bisharp's defenses and typing make it surprisingly bulky, letting it live a lot of hits on switch-in. Aside from that, I chose Bisharp to give the team a ghost and rock resist, as well as a psychic immunity and an additional dragon and dark resist. Defiant is also a great ability to help keep rocks up. Swords dance makes Bisharp hard to switch out of, since getting a swords dance up often means Bisharp will be getting a kill or sometimes just cleaning through the enemy team. I chose life orb over black glasses or leftovers because Bisharp needs the damage, and wish from Clefable can make the life loss a little less punishing. Bisharp's job on the team is to secure important kills so that Lando-T or Dragapult can clean up after, so the self-damage from life orb normally doesn't even matter.
Difficult Match-Ups:
Rain
Barraskewda in rain out speeds and OHKOs or 2HKOs the entire team. Rotom-W can burn Barraskewda to prevent it from sweeping, but it can just flip turn to stay safe. Special Seismitoad is another threat on rain since it prevents Rotom-W from volt switching and has the capability to sweep. Finally, the team has difficulty dealing with Ferrothorn with fire moves dealing half damage. Beating rain normally requires killing Pelipper early to minimize rain turns or somehow getting a burn on Barraskewda.
Urshifu-R
Banded Urshifu-R can 2HKO both Clefable and Rotom-W with neutral damage, resists sucker punch from Bisharp, and ignores Lando-T's intimidate. The team typically needs to burn Urshifu-R or revenge kill it with Dragapult draco meteor.
Kartana
Scarf Kartana out speeds the entire team and has the coverage to hit everything super effectively. Beating Kartana requires getting a lucky burn with Rotom-W (leaf blade has a 30% chance to OHKO) or chipping it down so sucker punch from Bisharp kills.
Stall
Heatran, Clefable, and Bisharp give the team the ability to fight stall, but the matchup has to be played very carefully. If one of these mons gets KO'ed or tricked early, the game is effectively over since the rest of the team lacks the longevity or breaking power necessary to win.
This team has changed a lot as I've continued using it, but I think this is the most versatile and adaptive version. Across the team there are immunities to 8 different types and a resistance to every type. The team is capable of sustaining itself and playing the long game with support from Clefable, but can also punish slow/sloppy play with Bisharp and Heatran. It's a really fun team to play and probably my favorite that I've built. It needs some prediction to function properly though and its bad matchups can be pretty rough if you lose too many interactions.
