Greetings all! Many of you might know me from my former posts in this sub-forum ages ago. If not well I have posted a lot of research. The thing is I'm a fairly mediocre battler with a goal, hit 1800 elo, at the very least before Sun/Moon comes out. To achieve this goal, I've decided to try and use one of my favorite teams from the research thread, namely utilizing Specs Lucario. A set noone sees and is fascinating to use. Unfortunately, this team isn't very good. It's got maybe a 39% winrate, if that. I'm looking for help on the road to 1800 and hopefully I don't have to rebuild the whole team to do it, just rehash some sets. The teambuilding process was kinda a while ago and I don't really remember it too well, so I'll post each member because that will probably be more useful and it'll help me remember how I built the team anyways. I do remember going through a couple iterations before arriving at this final team but I can't remember what they were.
RENAMON
Renamon (Lucario) (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Vacuum Wave
- Aura Sphere
- Shadow Ball
- Flash Cannon
I really like this set. Lucario is one of my favorite pokemon and when it came up for research I just had to use it. My thoughts for using it were 'I'll test out the typical wallbreaker and band sets, but I wanna do special offense as well.' A while ago when BW first came out, I tried NP Lucario (because that was the first gen he learned it) and it was...unimpressive. However, Specs has been around since DP as a bait set, so I thought I would try it out. Flash Cannon is actually the main STAB as it whacks fairy types hard, and also has a chance to OHKO Lando. T if it's offensive. Because Lando T is so common and switches in a lot this set can really exploit it. Shadow Ball is the best coverage I could think of, there's nothing really it hits harder than Dragon Pulse or Dark Pulse but nothing is immune to it bar normal types (who switches normal types into LUCARIO?) and Keldeo won't get a justified boost off it. I could be using a hidden power but most of the things I'd want to nail with a hidden power some other move would also nail. Aura Sphere is reliable STAB coverage, it hits pretty hard against any steel type and can really throw opponents for a loop if they tried their physical wall against this gal. V. Wave is another one that catches people out. Noone expects it and to be hit with a priority special move can take people by surprise...though, just like with the NP set, I would describe V Wave as unimpressive, but it can clean-up certain teams if they don't have a solid ghost or fairy type to switch into it, and who would switch a fairy into a lucario who could be carrying Iron Tail or Flash Cannon?
A Pillow
A Pillow (Altaria-Mega) (M) @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 96 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Return
- Roost
- Heal Bell
KING DDD. A really solid set. I went with a mono-attacking Return because the plan was for Lucario and the rest of the team to get rid of all the fairy resists. Dragon Dance 2x and become strong enough to sweep basically all of OU while almost noone can OHKO back. Dragon Dance 3x to just BM people. Roost can help you stay healthy and recover off SR damage. It can also net you momentum, earning you extra time to dragon dance. Heal Bell is a support move, not sure if I really need it but it has been helpful in the past if one of my team gets paralyzed.
RAGE
RAGE (Gyarados) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 88 HP / 220 Atk / 4 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Bounce
- Waterfall
- Substitute
Sub Bounce Gyrados is a troll. Substitute has long been a solid move on Gyra, allowing it to absorb status and giving it time to setup. Dragon Dance likewise has been really solid, allowing Gyra to reach scary speed and annihilate anything with it's attacks. Waterfall is a reliable stab move that does solid damage after a dragon dance. The actual crux of this set is Bounce. What Bounce does is allow Gyarados to survive way longer than it should. With Bounce and Sub, the amount of damage mitigation is silly. If they can't break your sub in one hit, they'll have to stay in for three turns to get rid of you. The best way to deal with this set honestly is to roar it out. Bounce also has the best coverage against Keldeo who would be a huge threat otherwise.
Flare
Flare (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earth Power
Offensive Heatran is probably my favorite way to use Heatran. Fast heatran has the advantage of outrunning slower Lando.T and Hippodon, while the Balloon basically ensures those pokemon cannot OHKO me. Fire Blast is necessary for a couple of KOs, and it also hits harder than any of his other moves so I'll deal with the accuracy problem. Heatran is my Stealth Rock setter, and in this role he's usually my lead, like I said, he can usually deal with almost any Lando T set at least until he loses the balloon, and at the very least, I get my rocks. Taunt is great against slower more defensive stealth rockers and against things like Tank Chomp or Clefable. Preventing opponents from setting up and allowing me to counter attack or to switch to something with more advantage. Earth Power is for opposing heatran, it also can hit Zard X, though Zard Y is a big problem, the only lead this thing can't really beat.
Clever Girl
Clever Girl (Serperior) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Dragon Pulse
Contrary Serperior sets all seem to have a lack of staying power. Life orb does give you that extra attack but what I found out was that if I had assault vest, I could 1v1 any opposing Serp, along with a couple other grass types without worry. Leaf Storm combos with Contrary to make the snake +2. However, one of serperior's downsides is it kinda needs that +2 to be a threat. It needs to find a good time to switch in, thanks to things like Amongus and Sableye, it usually gets that chance (though it must beware will-o-wisp and toxic which can wear it down) Giga Drain is a recovery move that's still an attack. Again, you won't really want to use this until after a leaf storm boost, but I've used it to get back almost all my health before. Dragon Pulse is a great coverage move that nails a lot of things that would like to eat a Leaf Storm. There are things it can't do anything to like ferrothorn but that's where HP Fire comes in handy. That move is specifically for Ferrothorn, as after a leafstorm I can 2HKO all but the MOST TANKY variants, and OHKO a couple of defensive variants.
Excadrill @ Lum Berry
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
Providing the Rapid Spin support is probably one of the best Rapid spinners in the game. This pokemon's only real goal is to scare my opponent and to get rid of stealth rocks. Swords Dance can gain momentum and allow it to defeat defensive things like Sableye in combination with Lum Berry. Iron Head is the primary stab move, it hits everything pretty hard bar Heatran and Ferrothorn which Earthquake hits fairly hard. Earthquake is the most spamable move as with mold breaker it even hits Lati@s. I didn't wanna go full on wuss mode and do Balloon Jolly, I still wanted to be jolly though to make sure I beat Altaria before a DD and other neutral base 80s like Dragonite.
Charizard-Y: I forgot how annoying this thing can be. It hates rocks but if it can get in for free I basically don't have a counter to it until Altaria gets setup, and he hits too hard for Altaria to setup on.
Charizard-X: More manageable, but I don't have a way to beat it if it's +1/+1, Gyra can kinda/sorta counter it by forcing it to setup more, and Excadril can knock X out if I predict right, but it's still scary. Heatran is my only hope and it dies once it's balloon is gone.
Breloom: Spore hurts, one of the reasons I still carry heal bell on my altaria. Though Serp can come in on it, Serp can't 1v1 it because Mach Punch hits way too hard.
Venusaur: Lucario helps, as its one of the main things it baits in, but not all Venusaurs can be KO'd by a Specs Flash Cannon, I need prior damage, and if lucario is out my options become very limited, Heatran can fight it for a while but Venu will outlast him.
Talonflame: Gyra is my only real counter, and against Bulk Up Wisp I don't really have a counter.
Volcarona: Another thing that hates rocks but if it gets setup it can be a nightmare. I'm way too used to using Azumaril on all my teams as this thing can be hard to deal with if it sets up. Fortunately, it takes 50% from rocks and the other 50% from Gyra's Waterfall, I just have to hope it's not carrying HP Electric.
Keldeo(Choice Specs): Really painful to deal with. I don't have a special defensive tank on this team and it can spam scald against me for free. Since I'm so reliant on physical attackers a Scald burn on Gyra or Altaria early is unacceptable, and Serp even with an AV cannot tank this thing...maybe with more spdef she could but it'd mean I'd lose out on either speed or some of the +2 OHKOs.
(if I think of any more I'll add them)
Charizard-X: More manageable, but I don't have a way to beat it if it's +1/+1, Gyra can kinda/sorta counter it by forcing it to setup more, and Excadril can knock X out if I predict right, but it's still scary. Heatran is my only hope and it dies once it's balloon is gone.
Breloom: Spore hurts, one of the reasons I still carry heal bell on my altaria. Though Serp can come in on it, Serp can't 1v1 it because Mach Punch hits way too hard.
Venusaur: Lucario helps, as its one of the main things it baits in, but not all Venusaurs can be KO'd by a Specs Flash Cannon, I need prior damage, and if lucario is out my options become very limited, Heatran can fight it for a while but Venu will outlast him.
Talonflame: Gyra is my only real counter, and against Bulk Up Wisp I don't really have a counter.
Volcarona: Another thing that hates rocks but if it gets setup it can be a nightmare. I'm way too used to using Azumaril on all my teams as this thing can be hard to deal with if it sets up. Fortunately, it takes 50% from rocks and the other 50% from Gyra's Waterfall, I just have to hope it's not carrying HP Electric.
Keldeo(Choice Specs): Really painful to deal with. I don't have a special defensive tank on this team and it can spam scald against me for free. Since I'm so reliant on physical attackers a Scald burn on Gyra or Altaria early is unacceptable, and Serp even with an AV cannot tank this thing...maybe with more spdef she could but it'd mean I'd lose out on either speed or some of the +2 OHKOs.
(if I think of any more I'll add them)
So, thoughts initially? I'll keep playing the team as is until I either get better or think of different sets.
