Like all of my teams, Crunchy Offense started with a goal in mind. The goal can be general, like "Murder Stall", or it can be specific, like "CM Latias Sweep". The goal of this team is to pull off a sweep with Swords Dance Lucario. With its excellent typing (4x resistance to Pursuit makes me a happy camper), STAB and set-up move, as well as near unique access to ExtremeSpeed, little stands in the way of a Lucario sweep. And for the few pokemon that can stand in the way of my Lucario - this team is designed to give them hell. First and foremost is Lucario's one true counter, Gliscor. Gliscor can be EV'd to outspeed all varients of Lucario, resists Close Combat, takes little even from +2 ExtremeSpeed, and can OHKO in return with STAB super-effective Earthquake. The fact that it has a recovery move in Roost to stick around longer doesn't make Lucario's life any easier. For these reasons, I choose Gyarados for my team. Gyarados is immune to Gliscor's Earthquake, which is oftentimes its only move. While there, Gyarados can threaten Gliscor with a STAB super-effective Waterfall or it can Dragon Dance on the switch. Tyranitar then comes in to play. Tyranitar is an excellent partner for Lucario and Gyarados, Pursuiting / Crunching Rotoms that stand in their way while Gyarados takes care of the bulky Ground-types that plague Lucario. Lucario also appreciates the fact that Tyranitar takes care of other threats for a Lucario sweep, such as Scarf Heatran, and the fact that it lures Gliscor, who it taken care of by Gyarados. This combination makes up my core and it works very efficiently as a unit to set up a Lucario sweep and break Stall. It does, however, leave me weak to certain threats. Opposing Swords Dance Lucario have a ball if they are Stone Edge varients (especially with Jolly), as they may outspeed and OHKO everything straight away. Opposing DD Gyardos can go to town on my Tyranitar if it is locked into Earthquake. Both Dragon Dance and Mixed varients of Salamence give me issues. Choice Band Tyranitar with Earthquake hits everything for super-effective damage. Gengar with Focus Blast will annoy me. For these reasons, I select Choice Band Scizor and Choice Scarf Rotom for my team. Choice Scarf Rotom stops SD Lucario and DD Gyarados being able to outspeed and OHKO both with Overheat and Thunderbolt, respectively. Rotom does about ~51% damage with Thunderbolt to Salamence, which with Stealth Rock (25 %), Life Orb (10 %), and Sandstorm damage (6.25 %), naive variants go down rather quickly. Scizor's Bullet Punch also takes out most Salamence after Life Orb and Stealth Rock, and varients that don't have Life Orb probably don't have Fire Blast either, meaning Scizor can just absorb an Earthquake and Bullet Punch again. Swampert ties everything together, providing me with Stealth Rock and the best Tyranitar check not named Groudon that anyone could ask for.
From afar:
tl;dr - every type is resisted twice except for water
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Change log
- Changed Rotom to Timid with the spread: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 212 Spe to outrun Empoleon after Agility.
- Changed Stone Edge to Bounce on Gyarados to hit Celebi.
- Changed Earthquake to Aqua Tail on Tyranitar to catch Gliscors on the switch
Notes
- Stealth Rock user
- Phazer
- Two Toxic Spike weak pokemon
- One Stealth Rock weak pokemon
- Every type is resisted twice except Water
- Only one reliable Dragon resist
- Three Choiced pokemon
- Two priority users
- U-turn user
- Two Pursuit users
- One Taunt user
Upon further inspection:
Act I: Exposition
Each "act" is a unit, serving a unique purpose. This act's purpose is make sure I start off on the right foot, by getting Stealth Rock up early and scouting the opponent with Roar - like the exposition of a story, revealing the characters.
Swampert
@ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpA
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Roar
Every team loves Stealth Rock, and this team is no exception. Lucario teams love Stealth Rock especially, as it OHKO's really helps him turn 2HKO's into OHKO's. Anyway, Stealth Rock is everyone's favorite Mence and Gyara pseudo-check, and it also keeps stall from fucking around with too much switching, to an extent. Earthquake provides Swampert a 100 BP STAB move and turns him into my Tyranitar check. Ice Beam is for coverage; this combination hits the entire metagame for neutral or better damage, minus Bronzong. The 56 SpAtk EV's guarantee a KO on Salamence even without SR, which is cool. I'm another person who likes to parrot the statement "Swampert is the best Stealth Rocker in the game". With excellent typing and resistances, paired with his respectable defensive stats and resistance to Stealth Rock, Swampert not only has the ability to set up rocks both early and mid game, but he can also do it without suiciding or suffering from four moveslot syndrome. I'm considering Avalanche over Ice Beam to his Latias on her weaker stat, but I'm not sure if it's worth it due to Salamenace's intimidate. Overall, Swampert is great. Roar is cool for the leading position as I can Roar annoyances away quickly or set up Stealth Rock and spam Roar to scout and accumulate Stealth Rock damage. Swampert fares well against most leads except, ironically, for the number 1 lead, but I can take care of that one easily.
Swampert against top 15 leads
Act II: Enemy at the gates.
This act is named enemy at the gates because it's meant to keep specific threats in check. Also, it's a good movie (go watch it).
Scizor
@ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 160 HP / 176 Atk / 4 Spe / 168 SpD
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit / Quick Attack
Yeah Scizor is more or less totally and completely awesome. Using his massive bulk and excellent typing (10 resists, 1 weak) he says fuck you to everyone and either Punches them in the face or U-turns to a friend. U-turn is excellent for scouting, and its easy to find places to use it on slower pokemon (ie swampert) or pokemon that can't hurt it much (ie latias) and hit the switch in for good damage while bringing out the appropriate pokemon for my foe. As such, proper usage allows me to remain in control of the match because I'm almost guaranteed to have the upper hand after a U-turn. Bullet Punch works well in tandem - where U-turn punishes those who switch, Bullet Punch smacks those who stay in (this is more true of frailer pokemon). Speaking of Bullet Punch, it reaches 90 power after a STAB and Technician boost, which is cool. Superpower is a coverage move, OHKOing Blissey, Lucario, etc. Pursuit takes out pokemon like Choice Scarf Latias, SubCharge Rotom, etc., and also receives a Technician boost, leaving it with 60 base power. Quick Attack is sometimes used as I already have a Pusuiter (Tyranitar) but I've generally found Pursuit to be more useful. Even though I already have Tyranitar, I use a Specially Bulky EV spread because it allows me an easier time against things like Life Orb Starmie.
Damage Calculations:
Superpower vs. 252 HP / 176 Def Impish Skarmory: (42.22% - 50.00%)
U-turn vs. 252 / 252 Impish Gyarados: (14.21% - 16.75%) - minimum of ~39% with Stealth Rock down
U-turn vs. 0 / 4 Adamant Gyarados: (24.17% - 28.70%) - minimum of ~49% with Stealth Rock down.
Bullet Punch vs. 4 / 0 Rotom-a: (31.40% - 37.19%)
Bullet Punch vs. 164 / 0 Tyranitar: (78.53% - 92.67%)
Rotom-h
@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 156 HP / 124 SpA / 224 Spe
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- Trick
Just as a team needs certain members to set up an ideal environment for a win condition, a team also needs members to prevent the opponent from doing the same. Rotom does just this - he is the glue that keeps my team from completely falling apart to huge threats of the metagame such as DD Gyarados, opposing Swords Dance Lucario, and Mamoswine. Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball are obligatory STAB moves and provide me with coverage against the likes of Gyarados, Vaporeon, and Gengar. Overheat is a coverage move, and hits threatening pokemon like Lucario, Metagross, and Mamoswine. Trick is cool for catching Blissey / Swampert on the switch, crippling them for the rest of the match and making it more difficult to stop my team. The EV spread has been awesome for me. 228 Spe lets me outspeed positive natured base 130's with a Choice Scarf, and also lets me outspeed max+Jolly Breloom and Adamant Mamoswine after I have Tricked the Scarf away. 156 HP EV's gives me some much appreciated bulk, and a Leftovers number after I have tricked something like Blissey or Swampert. 124 SpA EVs gives me an extra SpA point. Since I already outspeed everything I need to with the given spread, I can afford to run Modest for the extra power. Rotom can also serve as a Spin Blocker, if needed. Overall, Rotom's typing, bulk, resistances, and respectable Special Attack and Speed make him an excellent utility for this team.
Act 3: Setting the stage.
This act is called setting the stage because its purpose is to taylor the perfect conditions for a Lucario sweep.
Tyranitar
@ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
Testing Scarf Tar
Part one of my Lucario support core. Choice Band Tyranitar is stupidly powerful - with a Choice Band, he reaches an incredible 604 Attack stat. Crunch and Stone Edge are my STAB moves. Stone Edge is just lovely, 2HKOing the mighty Skarmory. It also OHKO's Scizor, which is cool because people like to switch that into my Tyranitar for some reason, even though Babiri Tar is very popular. Crunch is my other STAB move, and it comes with a handy 10% chance (iirc) of Defense drop. This is awesome for Swampert, who is 2HKOed with the defense drop. Pursuit is very cool. It takes out Rotoms (especially offensive ones) and other Ghost- or Psychic-types that run away from Tyranitar. Tyranitar is also my primary answer to lead Azelf, as very few have Grass Knot. Sand Stream breaks Azelf's Focus Sash, and then I put Azelf into a checkmate position with Pursuit. Pursuit also takes care of other pokemon that can't really stand up to Tyranitar, such as Choice Specs Jolteon.
The Spe EVs are the mosrt peculiar and yet most important part of this set. Although most Tyranitar run only enough Speed to outrun the standard Skarmory, I run 204 Speed to beat a very special threat - no speed Rotom-a. Outspeeding Rotom-a is essential to the success of this team. This is because I need to be able to switch into a Thunderbolt / Shadow Ball from Rotom and then Crunch it before I get Burned. If I do not do this, Rotom sticks around to wall my Lucario, who I do not run Crunch on. Though my Gyarados does have Taunt to make situations where Burning Tyranitar is a non-factor, this will not always be the case, and I feel that I cannot rely on that situation occuring - even though its not far-fetched, as Rotom swithces into Gyarados a lot. However, when I think of it that way - that is really the only time Rotom will switch in, except for Scizor. And if it does switch into Scizor, it will use Will-O-Wisp anyway. So I may consider changing my Tyranitar EV spread, as the only situation where Tyranitar swithces into Rotom 100% safely is when I've Taunted it with Gyarados first and in those situations, the Speed EVs are not needed.
"Why not Aqua Tail?" one might ask. Yes, at first glance it does seem logical to use Aqua Tail to take care of Gliscor, Lucario's number one threat. However I avoid Aqua Tail for three reasons. One, Aqua Tail is a 2HKO, and Gliscor will outspeed Tyranitar and can hit it with a STAB super-effective Earthquake. Two, Gyarados already takes care of the bulky Ground-types. Three, there are certain Steel-types I like to hit - most importantly Choice Scarf Jirachi, who is a threat to Lucario.
Gyarados
@ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
Here is Part two of my Lucario support core. Bulky Taunt DD Gyarados is a sweeper, supporter, a wall, and likes to collect stamps in his spare time. Anyway, Gyarados serves one main, but extremely important purpose - countering Gliscor. With his high defensive stats, Intimidate, immunity to Earthquake and possession of a STAB and super-effective Waterfall, Gyarados does that job excellently. Taunt is the most important move in the set. Since Gyarados often lures Rotom, I use Taunt very liberally. This is because Rotom can have Will-O-Wisp. However, with Taunt, Will-O-Wisp is useless - making Rotom Pursuit bait for Tyranitar in every sense of the word. Taunt is also important for allowing me to beat walls. It stops Forrey / Skarmory from setting up entry hazards, it stops Swampert / Skarmory from phazing, and it stops <insert other wall here> from statusing. Now with these walls unable to use their support moves, they are left to use their weak attacking moves, which will do very little to Gyarados due to the lack of offensive investment on their part. This allows me to set up multiple Dragon Dances quite easily, and then sweep. Waterfall and Stone Edge has near perfect neutral coverage - the only pokemon that resist both are Breloom and Empoleon (fun fact: and Dialga). On a side note, Gyarados serves as a secondary Lucario check. The EV's let me survive two Life Orb Fire Blasts from Timid Heatran and outspeed Starmie after a Dragon Dance.
Act IV: The end.
Game over. If you see this, it usually means one of two things: one, I am about to lose the match; or two, you are about to lose the match.
Lucario
@ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Stone Edge
Enter Swords Dance Lucario, DPPt's premier endgame sweeper. All he needs is one mistake from a choiced pokemon to come in one of his ten resisted move types and then double his attack stat with Swords Dance and smack faces with his 120 Base Power STAB'd Close Combat and priority Extremespeed to make up for his below average speed. Stone Edge hits Resttalk Gyarados, which is usually stall teams' first answer to Lucario. Only one pokemon truly counters Lucario after a Swords Dance. Its name is Gliscor, who has the ability to outspeed all variants of Lucario, resist Close Combat and take pittance from Extremespeed and OHKO it with STAB'd Earthquake. There are several other checks to Lucario, including both offensive and defensive variants of Rotom, who OHKO's with Overheat or burns, Scarf / Expert Belt Jirachi, the first of which KO's with Fire Punch after a Close Combat defense drop, and the latter of which KO's either way, Scarf Heatran, who is handled with little issue by Tyranitar and his resistance to Fire Blast and awesome Special Defense thanks to Sand Storm, Gengar, who is handled by Scizor and Tyranitar, and quicker Salamence, who is taken care of by Swampert and Scizor, while Rotom can finish weakened ones. Gliscor itself has to answer to Gyarados, who is more or less its best counter, by threatening with Waterfall if it stays in or Dragon Dance if it switches out. As for stall, Lucario OHKO's every common member of stall after a Swords Dance besides Rotom-a, who this team is designed to remove.
Last look:
Special thanks to those who read all of it - I put a lot of time into writing this!
