Dream a Little Dream World - OU RMT

[Onetwobanana]

Hi there, guys. I've lurked around here for quite some time, and decided to post my first RMT. I've had some decent success with this team, though it certainly does have some kinks. Anyway, here we go!



- So, first off, every team needs a lead, right? I decided early on that whichever lead I chose was going to be capable of using Stealth Rock. My team was going to be fairly offensive (I wouldn't necessarily call it hyper-offensive, but it may be close) so the entry damage would be invaluable. After perusing the movepools of the available Stealth Rockers, my eyes settled on someone I hadn't really seen mentioned as a lead before:

Kirikizan @ Focus Sash
Brave (+Atk, -Speed)
Inner Focus
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
0 Speed IVs
-Stealth Rock
-Metal Burst
-Payback
-Stone Edge

Thus, this guy was born. He functions as an anti-lead of sorts, utilizing Metal Burst instead of Counter (which he has no access to). I had initially tried him with a Lum berry, but the copious amount of Fighting leads forced me to use a Focus Sash to survive. I decided on this set because anti-lead Weavile was far and away my favorite lead back in 4th Gen. I wish I could run Psycho Cut and Stealth Rock on the same set, but alas the combination is illegal.

While I've had pretty good results with this variation of Kirikizan, he's easily the weakest member of my team. He'll often fail to even set Stealth Rock up, which is his primary purpose, once it's all said and done. I think his Fighting weakness is really what does him in.


-Next up, we have one of my favorite Pokemon, and easily one of my favorite sweepers ever. I'm talking, of course, about:

Yup, OTR Bronzong.

Bronzong @ Life Orb
Brave (+Atk, -Speed)
Levitate
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
0 Speed IVs
-Trick Room
-Zen Headbutt
-Earthquake
-Gyro Ball

While Kirikizan is the weakest member of my team, Bronzong is easily my strongest. Nobody I've encountered is prepared for him, and he almost always nets me a kill or two, unless I mispredict horribly and get him maimed on a switch-in. Bronzong also serves me as the ever-so-important Doryuzuu check. He handles other Fighting-types pretty well, too.



-Third in line is another of my favorite Pokemon, that I try very hard to include on all of my teams. And that guy is....

Good ol' reliable Starmie.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Timid (+Speed, -Atk)
Natural Cure
252 SpA / 252 Speed / 4 HP
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic

Life Orb Starmie serves as a very reliable check or counter to a large list of threats, very notably Roopushin, the Fighting quartet, and the various Dragons running around - Kingdra and Sazando excepted. I chose Psychic over Grass Knot and Recover because I needed something powerful to wallop all the Fighting types flying around this gen.

I've been toying with dropping either Thunderbolt or Ice Beam for Rapid Spin, as this team definitely could use Spin support, but breaking up the Boltbeam combo makes me a bit uneasy. Ice beam is probably the best one to drop if it comes down to it though, because of my next teammate...

The mighty Mamoswine!

Mamoswine @ Choice Band
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpAtk)
Thick Fat
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
-Earthquake
-Icicle Drop
-Ice Shard
-Stone Edge

Fairly standard CBSwine, with the added benefit of Icicle Drop and an added resistance to Ice and neutrality to Fire. His purpose overlaps with Starmie a bit, namely hitting Dragons with his powerful Ice Shard, as well as just being a great all-around threat to deal with.

His Ground typing is what makes him utterly invaluable to my team, though, as he is immune to Electric attacks, which would otherwise be fairly hard for my team to deal with. Actually, a previous iteration of this team had Metagross in Mamoswine's place, but I struggled so much with Electric attacks that the might Mammoth more than earned his spot.


-My fifth teammate is admittedly lame. He's the definition of Overused, and probably Overrated as well. He is...

Yeah, yeah, Shandera.

Shandera @ Choice Scarf
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Atk)
Shadow Tag
252 SpAtk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
-Fire Blast
-Overheat
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power (Ground)

Not really much to say about this. Shandera is my go-to revenger on a lot of threats, most notably Nattorei and most other Grass-types. He's also my most effective switch-in for Psychic types like Espeon and grounded Fire-types, especially Blaziken.

While Shandera is undeniably effective, I feel dirty using him. I'd be very amenable to replacing him if something suitable exists. I just haven't found that something yet.


-Last, but not least, we have a good old friend from the third and fourth Generations. Put your hands together for...

Yes, that is indeed Salamence.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Naive Nature (+Speed, -SpDef)
Intimidate
80 Atk / 176 SpAtk / 252 Speed
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Hydro Pump
-Fire Blast

Good old Mixmence. Just as reliable as he was in the last Generation. I set aside Draco Meteor in favor of running both Hydro Pump and Fire Blast. Most people don't seem to expect it. Fire Blast makes Salamence an even more reliable Nattorei counter than Shandera. A lot of Nattorei are running Shed Shell, so Shadow Tag is worthless on them, and I just wind up Fire Blasting a Heatran switch-in or something. Most Nattorei stay in on Salamence and try to set up, and they eat a 4x effective Fire Blast. Hydro Pump nets me near-perfect coverage alongside Outrage, and Earthquake rounds out the mix.

I couldn't remember the EV spread for Mixmence before his banishment to Ubers, so I ballparked them. He's been working out just fine as is, but if y'all have a way to improve the EV spread I'm all ears.



Notable issues my team has:

1. Damaging Weather (Sandstorm/Hail) - As I have no way to clear these weathers, the damage really adds up and puts a lot of pressure on me to end the battle quickly.

2. Three Life Orb users - Three Life Orbers means three sweepers who tend to go down a lot faster than I'd like, especially if Issue Number One is in play. If Sandstorm / Hail is active, my three Life Orbers tend to drop like rocks.

3. No Grass attack - No powerful Grass attack, while it hasn't been an overwhelming problem, becomes a big issue when the rare Swampert pops up.

4. No Status - This is a big one, I feel. I have no way, barring significant amounts of luck from Fire Blast, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam, to get status effects spread around the enemy team. Without being able to cripple my opponent's team, it makes things significantly worse for me if my team gets crippled by status.

I believe that's it. Thanks for your time, guys. Don't hold back! If the team sucks, let me know. I promise I won't rage. I can't get better without criticism.

 

[Jaroda]

Replace Payback for Sucker Punch, you'll demolish Deoxys-A leads. Or just replace Kirikizan entirely. Want a SR user that can spread status? Use a Nattorei with SR and T-Wave. Why do you have Overheat and Fire Blast on Shandera? It's unecessary on a scarf user since OVerheat is more accuracte and more powerful. You said you need a grass attack so replace it with Energy Ball. I say replace Hydro Pump on Starmie for Rapid Spin. With all the LO users you need as much protection as you can get, and MEnce can use Hydro Pump anyway. Boltbeam is too good a coverage to pass and you need Psychic for Roopushin. Don't want Salamence taking 25% from SR afterall do we?

 

[Onetwobanana]

Replace Payback for Sucker Punch, you'll demolish Deoxys-A leads. Or just replace Kirikizan entirely. Want a SR user that can spread status? Use a Nattorei with SR and T-Wave. Why do you have Overheat and Fire Blast on Shandera? It's unecessary on a scarf user since OVerheat is more accuracte and more powerful. You said you need a grass attack so replace it with Energy Ball. I say replace Hydro Pump on Starmie for Rapid Spin. With all the LO users you need as much protection as you can get, and MEnce can use Hydro Pump anyway. Boltbeam is too good a coverage to pass and you need Psychic for Roopushin. Don't want Salamence taking 25% from SR afterall do we?

I definitely never thought about dropping Hydro Pump. I was blinded by the STAB, I'll certainly try using Rapid Spin in that slot.

Concerning Shandera, I was using Overheat and Fire Blast on the same set because the moves serve different purposes. If I was simply revenging something, I would go for Overheat for its massive power. Fire Blast was the more reliable option that could keep going without switching.

...and of course, now that I've said that, I realized how rarely that situation actually came up. Suppose I was being too careful as far as that goes. Energy Ball is certainly worth a shot on Shandera at this point.

 

[kc4444]

Putting Trick Room on Bronzong is pretty pointless, as its the only pokemon that can use it. Its bulky anyway, and you don't want to waste a turn setting up. Replace it with T-Wave, that way you can slow the opponents down, aiding your sweepers. Any other status move is acceptable

 

[DropTheNuke]

I say replace Hydro Pump on Starmie for Rapid Spin. With all the LO users you need as much protection as you can get, and MEnce can use Hydro Pump anyway. Boltbeam is too good a coverage to pass and you need Psychic for Roopushin.

Um... no. Starmie's Hydro Pump is its strongest attack and Water is a much more reliable STAB than Psychic. If anything should be replaced with Rapid Spin, it should be Psychic. The only thing you're going to hit hard with it is Roobushin, and you're already doing a ton to it with STAB Hydro Pump.

 

[sora13]

Quickly going to say something, Ill suggest using Psycho Shock instead of Psychic on Starmie because it kills the fighters you want it to but now Starmie can kill off Blissey much easier. No drawbacks other than the slight base power decrease(you should be using Hydro Pump most of the time anyways).

 

[Fiddy]

I would put grass knot over fire blast (or overheat) on shanderaa. Shanderaa wouldn't be able to switch in on any STAB attack that grass knot can counter (water, rock, ground) but you could switch in on a different move or after a KO, trap and KO the opponent with GK.

I would also put modest over timid on shandy. I used to play on timid as well but there were way to many times where I would overheat and the opponent would get down to 1-5%. I switch to modest and I never saw it again.

 

[Onetwobanana]

Putting Trick Room on Bronzong is pretty pointless, as its the only pokemon that can use it. Its bulky anyway, and you don't want to waste a turn setting up. Replace it with T-Wave, that way you can slow the opponents down, aiding your sweepers. Any other status move is acceptable

On this particular Bronzong, don't think of Trick Room as a support move, think of it as a setup move, a la Swords Dance or Agility. Switch in on something Bronzong forces out, Trick Room on the switch, then proceed to sweep for the four turns I get out of it. Nobody has ever been prepared for it, and because of Bronzong's bulk, he manages to take out 1-3 pokemon every single time.

I would put grass knot over fire blast (or overheat) on shanderaa. Shanderaa wouldn't be able to switch in on any STAB attack that grass knot can counter (water, rock, ground) but you could switch in on a different move or after a KO, trap and KO the opponent with GK.

I'd assume GK is a better option than Energy Ball, right? I've switched to Energy Ball in the interim, but it's been ultimately underwhelming.

 

[Fiddy]

I'd assume GK is a better option than Energy Ball, right? I've switched to Energy Ball in the interim, but it's been ultimately underwhelming.

Sorry about that, it is Energy Ball, not GK (it doesn't even learn GK). Anyways, it is underwhelming but with a little damage it will over come swampert and the likes. Just a suggesting because you said you had a hard time with them :)

 

[Onetwobanana]

Sorry about that, it is Energy Ball, not GK (it doesn't even learn GK). Anyways, it is underwhelming but with a little damage it will over come swampert and the likes. Just a suggesting because you said you had a hard time with them :)

Ha, so he doesn't learn GK, look at that. I'll probably stick with EB here, it's been working out a bit better. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Jaroda]

Um... no. Starmie's Hydro Pump is its strongest attack and Water is a much more reliable STAB than Psychic. If anything should be replaced with Rapid Spin, it should be Psychic. The only thing you're going to hit hard with it is Roobushin, and you're already doing a ton to it with STAB Hydro Pump.

The whole point of Psychic is that it can OHKO Roopushin, #3 in usage in this tier, in one hit. Hydro Pump can't. It isn't about coverage so much as it really is specifically for that mon, who is such a threat otherwise. With Starmie being it's best check it has to eliminate it efficiently. Psycho Shock is worthless because it can't OHKO Roo either and Blissey usage is severely dropping. Just switch if one comes in.

 

[Roger Fox]

If the Bronzong is really working and you can't replace it fine but trick dosn't benefit anyone else on you relatively fast team. You have full speed evs on 4 pokes and speed boosting natures on three trick room might be good on bronzong but when he goes down your team is crippled for a few crucial turns which could easily make the difference between a win and a loss. Besides defensive walls like skarmory nattorei and forretress completely wall bronzong and can set up nasty hazards.

 

[Juice!]

Putting Trick Room on Bronzong is pretty pointless, as its the only pokemon that can use it. Its bulky anyway, and you don't want to waste a turn setting up. Replace it with T-Wave, that way you can slow the opponents down, aiding your sweepers. Any other status move is acceptable

Have you ever used OTR Bronzong? Base 150 STAB attack and it outspeeds everything and is not weak to ANY priority. Not to mention nobody ever expects it, they think oh screens/status/rocks when they see Zong. As long as Nattorei is out of th e picturem this thing WILL do a shitload of damage. Just think of all the fast Pokémon in this metagame like Darkrai, Skymin, Latios, Garchomp, etc. Not to mention, it outspeeds and OHKOs Doryuuzu if its Balloon has been popped.