Hello everyone :)
This team was my first real ORAS-Team and quickly climbed the ladder with its ability to somewhat fight almost every thread except for a few situations. However, I just didn't feel satisfied enough with my team for some reason and dropped it after some time. Now I want to bring it back to life, but possibly with some improvements, as it still feels incomplete to me (mainly because I'm not too happy with my mega). Since I've been unable to think about changes too it for a longer time without completely redoing it, I hope for some nice suggestions here. So without further ado, here it is:
[URL='http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rotom_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29']
[/URL]
Before I get to the Pokémon themself, I'll tell about some of them in general.
The first 3 Pokémon make up my defensive Core that basically stops a ton of offensive and defensive Threads and is especially allowing me to control the flow of the battle almost freely, forcing my opponent to play after my rules while punishing many attempts to break through this. Rotom-Wash offers great utility and my dragons bring offensive power. So let's get to the pokémon:
Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Defog
- Roost
Let's start with the Bone-Vulture. I really fell in love with her ability to stop stallers and physical attackers alike while instantly wiping out any physical setup-sweeper and for me, Mandibuzz is the best physical wall out there. Her typing leaves her with an ice-weakness, meaning some pokémon who use ice punch as coverage move might give her a harder time, but other than that, she shares no weakness with the common physical walls, allowing her to take on threads like Mega-Charizard-X and Talonflame without WoW with ease. Foul Play annihilates setup-sweepers like every Dragon Dancer (even Mega-Gyarados can't take it too well), Mega-Scizor, even the resistant Bisharp and many more while also giving her a good shot against basically anything physical and hitting almost everything relevant that can fight back bar Rotom-Wash, Clefable and Sylveon for at least some damage. Foul Play also abuses the usable attack-stat of special attackers like Mega-Charizard-Y, Mega-Guardevoir or Latios, as they don't like to switch into this attack. Taunt is essential for single-handedly dismantling entire stall-cores and stopping hazards. The combination of Taunt against walls and Foul-Play against physical threads alongside Roost for good recovery leaves entire teams at her mercy once one or two key-threads have been taken care of. Defog fully complements Mandibuzz' arsenal of great utility-moves, giving me hazard control and allows for powerful reset-tactics mid-battle, where I am able to bring my team somewhat back to square one while the opponents team is still weakened. Being able to take on every Stealth-Rocks-User bar faster Gliscor and Clefable while also denying them any recovery (if they have one in the first place) means hazards never stay too long and often opponents who try to play around Mandi find themselves having one or two important pokémon severely weakend or even defeated while Mandibuzz is at full health again (and my field is hazard-free). Also, Mandibuzz has great speed for a defensive Pokémon and even a usable special defense that can even live through insane attacks such as Mega-Diancies Moonblast with no investment.
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Aromatherapy
- Thunder Wave
So when I have the pokémon that stops most physical and defensive threads, what do i need? Thats right: A Pokémon that does the same thing for special threads. Chanseys special bulk is insane as always and i don't think i have to strech this out further. Some details about this set: I chose Thunder Wave over Toxic as i think Toxic can be handled too easy. Thunder Wave catches many threads such as Gengar, Mega-Metagross or Keldeo and softems them up for the rest of my team. Also I love to pin down targets with Chanseys Twave and Mandibuzz Taunt, as this combination turns even the most fearsome attackers into heal-bait for either Chansey or Mandibuzz. Also it stops the somewhat dangerous "SWEEP BEFORE TOXIC KILLS ME"-Pokémon who can get out of control before they go down. I chose to run this spread over 4/252/252 because I divided special-attackers into 3 categories:
1. Those who just can't touch Chansey in any ways and will never kill it. (Zard-Y, Raikou, M-Manectric, Tran)
2. Those who target Chanseys physical defense to beat it. (M-Gvoir, Keldeo, Lati@s, M-Diancie)
3. Those Chansey can't kill too. (CroCune, M-Slowbro, Gengar)
As no special investment is needed for 1., I go for full HP (even though it doesn't boost my bulk that much) to take on 2. better, winning against all threads bar Keldeo.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Landorus-Therian is my Hazard-Setter as well as a reliable Intimidate-Support, which is just awesome to help my other two Walls. I think every move here is self-explanatory, with Knock Off crippling some Pokémon and U-Turn granting me momentum. It also adds a valuable fighting resistance to my team, even though I'm forced to go for my Rotom right after Intimidating and taking a fighting-attack as most of them carry Ice Punch. Intimidate + Fighting-Resistance was the main reason for me to use Landorus over Ferrothorn for Hazard-Support, even though its lack of recovery is sometimes rather annyoing and its weakness to Water stops it from truly checking Azumarill (even though it is my only switch-in against banded Play Rough). Its great attack-stat allows for powerful Earthquakes even without investment, so it packs quite a punch on its own against some threads. Other options for Landorus would be: Ferrothorn, Gliscor, Hippowdon, Skarmory
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 148 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
My big surprise. This spread along with my scarf allows me to outspeed anything up to jolly M-Bunny and +1 adamant m-gyara while the rest is dumped into HP to use some of Rotoms good natural bulk. Scarf-WoW gets so many surprise-burns and also allows me to cripple many targets after giving up the scarf (especially since many players don't expect the wow after I revealed Trick and vice-versa). Also this is my main-answer to Calm Mind Clefable, which tends to give me some trouble (and I get it with the trick almost every time). Also opposing Chanseys are devastated when they lose their precious evolites and get tricked at the same time. This Rotom requires perfect prediction, but the outcome makes it totally worth it most of the time (especially when double-switching from Mandibuzz as this catches Clefable most of the time while also giving my opponent the feel that they have an adavantage so they stay).
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
My Mega-Pokémon. I have to admit this Pokémon is also the one I'm the least happy with even though I do like it. Leaf Storm brings great Power to the field in an instant, acting like a Meteor and severely denting many offensive threads. Mega-Sceptiles biggest selling-point is his blazing speed, outrunning almost everything and hitting it hard, before it can react. It also sports a nice quadruple resistance to water, shrugging off +6 Aqua-Jets from Azumarill and +2 Life-Orb Aqua-Jets from Crawdaunt like the aren't even moves and then draining all of their HP. Giga Drain is a powerful move in general when the drop is unappealing or when I'm not really able to get kills and just throw around moves to force switches. Dragon Pulse is my standard-STAB-move with usable base-power and not that much resistances to it. Focus Blast, albeit painfully inaccurate, deals good damage to most switch-ins, mainly Heatran and Ferrothorn, 2HKOing defensive variants and denting them for a long time. Even though I have many concerns with Mega-Sceptile, leaving it out takes so much speed off my team that it ends up being overrun sometimes once my walls are weakened (for example by Thundurus once Chansey is weak enough). Possible replacements right now are: Mega-Lopunny, Mega-Diancie or Serperior + another Mega.
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
My Wallbreaker as well as priority-user. I really love the immediate power Dragonite brings to the table with Outrage, cleanly 2HKOing anything that is neiter a Fairy-type nor a Steel-type. Multiscale guarantees a hit and also makes stopping an outraging Dragonite with full HP much harder, as the opponent is forced to sacrifice another Pokémon. Fire Punch takes out any Steel-Type bar Heatran which is taken care of with Earthquake. Extremespeed hits hard as hell with Dragonites Power and allows me to revenge-kill many Pokémon who are down below 50% or lower in one single hit. Also Dragonite counters SubCM-Keldeo as well as most other Keldeos unless I switch into an Icy Wind.
Thread-List:
Choice-Band-Azumarill: Only Landorus-T can switch into Play Rough and at a great risk, even though nobody expects a Landorus-T as switch-in for Azumarill and thus everybody goes for the play rough.
Assault-Vest-Conk: Even though it is practically non-existant in ORAS, its immunity to burn and fighting/ice-coverage makes life very hard for rotom, mandi and lando, even though continuous intimidates force it out.
Dragon-Dance M-Gyara: Thanks to its Dark-Resistance and Bulk, Mandi can't just Foul Play it out of the game before it gets started, forcing me into some hard fights.
Specs-Keldeo: Even though i can outpredict Keldeo as it needs specs to be a thread, being able to OHKO or 2HKO my entire team is nothing to take lightly.
Stallbreaker-Talon: Not really dangerous, but annoying as hell.
Assault-Vest: Knock Off + Hurricane give my defensive core a really hard time.
Sub+Sd: This set was responsible for two of my five losses while laddering with this team, even though it was the surprise-factor that really got me.
and
almost
every
goddamn
fairy
Calm Mind: Dnite can't kill it so I need to trick or sacrifice Mandi to taunt, then 3hko with band-eq and multiscale up so it can't heal
Annoyer: Rare, but able to annoy the hell out of my Team.
and the two biggest threads to my team:
Calm Mind: I actually do have a way to deal with M-Sab: Bring M-Scep against non-mega-Sab, threat it into M-Evolving and using CM so it can better take the Leaf Storm, then switch into Bandnite as it recovers and take a big chunk of its health with Outrage as it WoWs you. The hit will take away about 80% and once it is down later, Chansey can Aromatherapy it back up.
and...
Defensive Dragon Dance: Even though I can actually beat the offensive one, the defensive one with Roost and Heal Bell is a true terror to my team as nothing will 2HKO against this massive bulk, allowing it to setup on me (i have beaten it though with my opponent underestimating Landos bulk.)
That was my team. I hope for good criticism and ideas what to make better. So far i haven't found a thread that was truly impossible to beat, which makes me already somewhat happy with my team, but it still feels somewhat unfinished to me. Thanks :)
This team was my first real ORAS-Team and quickly climbed the ladder with its ability to somewhat fight almost every thread except for a few situations. However, I just didn't feel satisfied enough with my team for some reason and dropped it after some time. Now I want to bring it back to life, but possibly with some improvements, as it still feels incomplete to me (mainly because I'm not too happy with my mega). Since I've been unable to think about changes too it for a longer time without completely redoing it, I hope for some nice suggestions here. So without further ado, here it is:
[URL='http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Rotom_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29']
[/URL]
Before I get to the Pokémon themself, I'll tell about some of them in general.
The first 3 Pokémon make up my defensive Core that basically stops a ton of offensive and defensive Threads and is especially allowing me to control the flow of the battle almost freely, forcing my opponent to play after my rules while punishing many attempts to break through this. Rotom-Wash offers great utility and my dragons bring offensive power. So let's get to the pokémon:
Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Foul Play
- Taunt
- Defog
- Roost
Let's start with the Bone-Vulture. I really fell in love with her ability to stop stallers and physical attackers alike while instantly wiping out any physical setup-sweeper and for me, Mandibuzz is the best physical wall out there. Her typing leaves her with an ice-weakness, meaning some pokémon who use ice punch as coverage move might give her a harder time, but other than that, she shares no weakness with the common physical walls, allowing her to take on threads like Mega-Charizard-X and Talonflame without WoW with ease. Foul Play annihilates setup-sweepers like every Dragon Dancer (even Mega-Gyarados can't take it too well), Mega-Scizor, even the resistant Bisharp and many more while also giving her a good shot against basically anything physical and hitting almost everything relevant that can fight back bar Rotom-Wash, Clefable and Sylveon for at least some damage. Foul Play also abuses the usable attack-stat of special attackers like Mega-Charizard-Y, Mega-Guardevoir or Latios, as they don't like to switch into this attack. Taunt is essential for single-handedly dismantling entire stall-cores and stopping hazards. The combination of Taunt against walls and Foul-Play against physical threads alongside Roost for good recovery leaves entire teams at her mercy once one or two key-threads have been taken care of. Defog fully complements Mandibuzz' arsenal of great utility-moves, giving me hazard control and allows for powerful reset-tactics mid-battle, where I am able to bring my team somewhat back to square one while the opponents team is still weakened. Being able to take on every Stealth-Rocks-User bar faster Gliscor and Clefable while also denying them any recovery (if they have one in the first place) means hazards never stay too long and often opponents who try to play around Mandi find themselves having one or two important pokémon severely weakend or even defeated while Mandibuzz is at full health again (and my field is hazard-free). Also, Mandibuzz has great speed for a defensive Pokémon and even a usable special defense that can even live through insane attacks such as Mega-Diancies Moonblast with no investment.
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Aromatherapy
- Thunder Wave
So when I have the pokémon that stops most physical and defensive threads, what do i need? Thats right: A Pokémon that does the same thing for special threads. Chanseys special bulk is insane as always and i don't think i have to strech this out further. Some details about this set: I chose Thunder Wave over Toxic as i think Toxic can be handled too easy. Thunder Wave catches many threads such as Gengar, Mega-Metagross or Keldeo and softems them up for the rest of my team. Also I love to pin down targets with Chanseys Twave and Mandibuzz Taunt, as this combination turns even the most fearsome attackers into heal-bait for either Chansey or Mandibuzz. Also it stops the somewhat dangerous "SWEEP BEFORE TOXIC KILLS ME"-Pokémon who can get out of control before they go down. I chose to run this spread over 4/252/252 because I divided special-attackers into 3 categories:
1. Those who just can't touch Chansey in any ways and will never kill it. (Zard-Y, Raikou, M-Manectric, Tran)
2. Those who target Chanseys physical defense to beat it. (M-Gvoir, Keldeo, Lati@s, M-Diancie)
3. Those Chansey can't kill too. (CroCune, M-Slowbro, Gengar)
As no special investment is needed for 1., I go for full HP (even though it doesn't boost my bulk that much) to take on 2. better, winning against all threads bar Keldeo.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off
Landorus-Therian is my Hazard-Setter as well as a reliable Intimidate-Support, which is just awesome to help my other two Walls. I think every move here is self-explanatory, with Knock Off crippling some Pokémon and U-Turn granting me momentum. It also adds a valuable fighting resistance to my team, even though I'm forced to go for my Rotom right after Intimidating and taking a fighting-attack as most of them carry Ice Punch. Intimidate + Fighting-Resistance was the main reason for me to use Landorus over Ferrothorn for Hazard-Support, even though its lack of recovery is sometimes rather annyoing and its weakness to Water stops it from truly checking Azumarill (even though it is my only switch-in against banded Play Rough). Its great attack-stat allows for powerful Earthquakes even without investment, so it packs quite a punch on its own against some threads. Other options for Landorus would be: Ferrothorn, Gliscor, Hippowdon, Skarmory
Rotom-Wash @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 148 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
My big surprise. This spread along with my scarf allows me to outspeed anything up to jolly M-Bunny and +1 adamant m-gyara while the rest is dumped into HP to use some of Rotoms good natural bulk. Scarf-WoW gets so many surprise-burns and also allows me to cripple many targets after giving up the scarf (especially since many players don't expect the wow after I revealed Trick and vice-versa). Also this is my main-answer to Calm Mind Clefable, which tends to give me some trouble (and I get it with the trick almost every time). Also opposing Chanseys are devastated when they lose their precious evolites and get tricked at the same time. This Rotom requires perfect prediction, but the outcome makes it totally worth it most of the time (especially when double-switching from Mandibuzz as this catches Clefable most of the time while also giving my opponent the feel that they have an adavantage so they stay).
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
My Mega-Pokémon. I have to admit this Pokémon is also the one I'm the least happy with even though I do like it. Leaf Storm brings great Power to the field in an instant, acting like a Meteor and severely denting many offensive threads. Mega-Sceptiles biggest selling-point is his blazing speed, outrunning almost everything and hitting it hard, before it can react. It also sports a nice quadruple resistance to water, shrugging off +6 Aqua-Jets from Azumarill and +2 Life-Orb Aqua-Jets from Crawdaunt like the aren't even moves and then draining all of their HP. Giga Drain is a powerful move in general when the drop is unappealing or when I'm not really able to get kills and just throw around moves to force switches. Dragon Pulse is my standard-STAB-move with usable base-power and not that much resistances to it. Focus Blast, albeit painfully inaccurate, deals good damage to most switch-ins, mainly Heatran and Ferrothorn, 2HKOing defensive variants and denting them for a long time. Even though I have many concerns with Mega-Sceptile, leaving it out takes so much speed off my team that it ends up being overrun sometimes once my walls are weakened (for example by Thundurus once Chansey is weak enough). Possible replacements right now are: Mega-Lopunny, Mega-Diancie or Serperior + another Mega.
Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
My Wallbreaker as well as priority-user. I really love the immediate power Dragonite brings to the table with Outrage, cleanly 2HKOing anything that is neiter a Fairy-type nor a Steel-type. Multiscale guarantees a hit and also makes stopping an outraging Dragonite with full HP much harder, as the opponent is forced to sacrifice another Pokémon. Fire Punch takes out any Steel-Type bar Heatran which is taken care of with Earthquake. Extremespeed hits hard as hell with Dragonites Power and allows me to revenge-kill many Pokémon who are down below 50% or lower in one single hit. Also Dragonite counters SubCM-Keldeo as well as most other Keldeos unless I switch into an Icy Wind.
Thread-List:
and
almost
every
goddamn
fairy
and the two biggest threads to my team:
Calm Mind: I actually do have a way to deal with M-Sab: Bring M-Scep against non-mega-Sab, threat it into M-Evolving and using CM so it can better take the Leaf Storm, then switch into Bandnite as it recovers and take a big chunk of its health with Outrage as it WoWs you. The hit will take away about 80% and once it is down later, Chansey can Aromatherapy it back up.and...
Defensive Dragon Dance: Even though I can actually beat the offensive one, the defensive one with Roost and Heal Bell is a true terror to my team as nothing will 2HKO against this massive bulk, allowing it to setup on me (i have beaten it though with my opponent underestimating Landos bulk.)That was my team. I hope for good criticism and ideas what to make better. So far i haven't found a thread that was truly impossible to beat, which makes me already somewhat happy with my team, but it still feels somewhat unfinished to me. Thanks :)
