Hi! This is my first RMT, and I wanted to share this balance team because I've had a lot of fun with it and would love some feedback on how to patch up some of its weaknesses. After making this team and playing several games with it on my main account, I made a new one and only used this squad, reaching the 1800s in a couple days. I want to make sure to shout out Pinkacross, since the structure of this post and some of the sets are inspired by his iconic RMTs. With that, here's PoryGone With The Wind.
TEAM
PokePaste: https://pokepast.es/11e44b4485bb9c4d
Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Body Press
- Iron Head
Role/Tips: Rocker, physical wall. Helps answer weav, skewda, melm, rilla, kart etc. and koko. Faster than a lot of trick room breakers under trick room, which can be helpful.
Item: Helmet chips contact attackers, particularly when they use multi-hit moves.
EVs/Nature: HP and def with impish to wall physical attackers, spe to outspeed other ferros.
Moves: Rocks provide chip, leech seed serves as much-needed recovery and forces out defoggers like corv, body press kills weav and bisharp and does consistent neutral damage to other mons, iron head prevents you from auto-losing to CM clef (unless it has flamethrower) and hits alolan ninetails.
Other Options: Gyro ball is stronger than iron head is stronger against fini, lele, and dnite, but clef is the main target of the steel move. Knock off could instead be run to remove items and hit pult in a pinch.
Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Icy Wind
- Heat Wave
Role/Tips: Offensive pivot, defogger, ground immunity. Helps check kart, rilla, shifu, gapdos, buzz, etc. Try not to reveal all your moves too early because water types will stay just always stay in when they realize you can't do much damage to them. Be careful to preserve this if the other team has a kart, which can rip through your team otherwise.
Item: Boots help it fulfill the pivot/defogger role.
EVs/Nature: HP and def to live hits, spe with timid to outspeed kart and base 110s.
Moves: Defog removes hazards, u-turn helps pivot, icy wind hits lando, chomp, and dnite (slowing the latter two down if they try to boost speed). Heat wave hits steels like ferro, kart, melm, and bisharp.
Other Options: Hurricane can replace icy wind to hit gapdos, lucha, shifu, and blace, and provide a generally strong STAB. Honestly I think hurricane is probably a little better, I just hate using 70% accurate moves.
Slowking (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Slack Off
- Teleport
- Future Sight
- Scald
Role/Tips: Defensive pivot, futureport supporter. Answers special attackers like lele, volcanion, glowking, and tran. Helps bring in shifu and PZ safely. Along with ferrothorn, it can check CB skewda, although be careful of crunch. I've found that I click future sight a little less with this team than with some others, because the main goal is to provide pressure on the special side with PZ.
Item: Boots help it fulfill the pivot role.
EVs/Nature: HP and spdef with sassy to take special attacks, def to avoid the 2HKO from modest lele psyshock in terrain and take CCs from shifu and skewda, min spe to get the slow teleport as much as possible.
Moves: Slack off provides recovery, teleport pivots, future sight helps break bulkier teams in combination with shifu, scald deals consistent damage and potentially burns.
Other Options: Ice beam over scald can put more pressure on the 4x weak mons and pult. Flamethrower can hit ferro.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat
- Surging Strikes
Role/Tips: Physical breaker, u-turner extraordinaire. Puts physical pressure on a ton of mons in the tier like tran, glowking, bliss, and lando. Forms a deadly core with PZ, as it u-turns out on physically defensive mons switching in to bring in PZ and give it a spatk boost with download. Even if you're 100% sure that rocky helmet pex is coming in, for example, it's often better to u-turn anyway and take the helmet chip instead of double switching to PZ because if you switch first then you might not get the spatk boost. That said, careful not to get too telegraphed with your u-turns. Against offense, keep in mind that it's your only priority user so don't sack it needlessly.
Item: Band allows it to hit as hard as possible.
EVs/Nature: Atk and spe with jolly to break most effectively.
Moves: U-turn provides the all-important pivoting to bring in teammates (mostly PZ), jet threatens volcarona, blace, and weakened sweepers, CC and surging strikes are its strongest STAB options.
Other Options: Adamant can be used over jolly for more power, but it misses out on outspeeding timid lele, jolly offensive lando, timid nido, and neutral base 100s. Notably, however, it does always OHKO max HP 0 def hatterene with surging strikes, denying sash lead sets the turn 1 trick room.
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Download
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Tri Attack
Role/Tips: The star of the show! Special breaker. Obliterates physical walls and muscles through special walls. The main offensive mode of this team is to lure in physdef walls like pex, slowbro, fini, buzz, tangrowth, and corv with shifu, u-turn out, and bring in PZ. With specs and the spatk boost from download, it reaches 910 spatk. It's great against balance and stall but can be dead weight against offense, so don't be afraid to sack it in the latter case. I usually lead it against rain to catch the potential physdef pelipper lead and start battering down ferro, the only real switch-in on rain (I also lead it against sun to catch torkoal). Finally, which stat gets boosted by download can provide useful info about the opposing mon's defense investment in ambiguous cases like zapdos, fini, clef, and lando.
Item: Specs allow it to hit as hard as possible.
EVs/Nature: Spatk and spe with modest to break most effectively. Outspeeds timid tran and below.
Moves: Trick cripples special walls and bulky setup sweepers. However, a lot of special walls are 2HKOd by +1 tri attack anyway (like slowking), so be mindful of giving up your specs unnecessarily. I usually use it late game once PZ has done its job breaking. Ice beam hits ferro and pult, tbolt hits tran and melm neutrally, and tri attack is your spammable STAB option that can cheese some games with the 20% chance to status.
Other Options: Psyshock is an option over tbolt or ice beam to 2HKO bliss and glowking at +1.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 240 Atk / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
Role/Tips: Ground immunity, electric immunity, speed control. Checks electrics, intimidates, does lando stuff. Don't reveal scarf too early but also don't be afraid to let it get knocked off if you don't think it'll be needed (against bulky teams, for example).
Item: Scarf provides the much-needed speed control for the team.
EV's/nature: Atk and spe with jolly to hit hard and outrun max speed arctozolt in hail. HP to live hits in a pinch, such as jolly weavile ice shard from full.
Moves: Toxic provides insurance against setup sweepers, which threaten this team a lot, and can be good for bluffing a non-choice locked set. U-turn allows pivoting. Knock off hits flying types, always OHKOs pult after some chip, and obviously removes items. EQ is a strong STAB that can OHKO unsuspecting koko trying to u-turn out.
Other Options: Stone edge threatens torn and zap, which are decently scary for this team.
BUILDING PROCESS
I like the quacky boi and wanted to make a team that could abuse download.
I needed a mon that encouraged physical walls to switch in, and so the porygon-zhifu core was born.
I wanted a slow pivot and a mon that could provide future sight support to shifu, hence slowking.
For a team so focused on pivoting, I needed hazard removal. The team was weak to kart and rilla, so I picked torn.
Ferro was added as the third member of the defensive core, providing hazards and additional insurance against physical attackers.
The team needed speed control and an electric immunity, so scarf lando rounded out the squad. I also considered scarf moxie krook here.
THREATLIST
When your spdef mon is weak to ghost, specs pult is a problem. It can be checked defensively with smart switching between slowking, torn, and PZ, and offensively with scarf lando. The real problem, however, is DD pult with fire blast. This thing OHKOs every member of the team after a single DD, so be very careful about letting it set up.
The balance killer itself. A full-health ferro can beat it 1v1 and lando outspeeds, but if ferro is chipped and/or zolt is behind a sub then it's gg.
Banded brave bird 2HKOs or OHKOs everything. The only two mons that outspeed it, torn and lando, have a bad matchup (icy wind can actually hurt you since it gives it the defiant boost). I usually just trade ferrothorn, since two rounds of brave bird/barbs/helmet recoil takes gapdos out.
Sweeps after an SD. You can chip it into jet range with ferro or hit it with future sight, but it's often just game over if lucha gets onto the field safely. Zap could maybe replace torn to deal with lucha and gapdos better, but I think torn's extra speed is needed since the team is already on the slow side.
Slow, defensive zap is typically another opportunity to give PZ the download boost and threaten with an OHKO, but offensive zap (like on rain) is tough to switch into. Slowking can take any single hit, so using it to pivot out into lando for a toxic or knock off can work, but is inherently risky due to hurricane or weather ball on the swtich.
REPLAYS
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593529709 vs semistall (PZ goes wild)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1597805143 vs stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593547959 vs balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593843361 vs BO 1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593547959 vs BO 2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593530993 vs rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593514914 vs sun
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593563403 vs sand
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593472645 vs TR
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593542501 the shifu show
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593538302 how the team crumbles to HO (loss)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1596670957 from Illusion master 2365
FINAL THOUGHTS
The teams generally matches up well against bulkier builds because they often don't have a great answer to PZ, but really struggles against HO. I'm hoping to get some advice about how to improve the offense matchup while keeping its potency against balance and stall. I'd also love any advice about how to play this team better if you check out the replays, since I'm not as strong of a player as those who make the RMTs this is inspired by. Thanks for reading!
TEAM
PokePaste: https://pokepast.es/11e44b4485bb9c4d
Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Body Press
- Iron Head
Role/Tips: Rocker, physical wall. Helps answer weav, skewda, melm, rilla, kart etc. and koko. Faster than a lot of trick room breakers under trick room, which can be helpful.
Item: Helmet chips contact attackers, particularly when they use multi-hit moves.
EVs/Nature: HP and def with impish to wall physical attackers, spe to outspeed other ferros.
Moves: Rocks provide chip, leech seed serves as much-needed recovery and forces out defoggers like corv, body press kills weav and bisharp and does consistent neutral damage to other mons, iron head prevents you from auto-losing to CM clef (unless it has flamethrower) and hits alolan ninetails.
Other Options: Gyro ball is stronger than iron head is stronger against fini, lele, and dnite, but clef is the main target of the steel move. Knock off could instead be run to remove items and hit pult in a pinch.
+2 252 Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 225-264 (64.1 - 75.2%) -- approx. 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Weavile Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 246-290 (70 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn in Rain: 99-117 (28.2 - 33.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Kartana Sacred Sword vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 150-178 (42.7 - 50.7%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Ferrothorn Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ninetales-Alola with an ally's Aurora Veil: 206-246 (58.8 - 70.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Weavile Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 246-290 (70 - 82.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn in Rain: 99-117 (28.2 - 33.3%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Kartana Sacred Sword vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 150-178 (42.7 - 50.7%) -- 2.3% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Ferrothorn Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ninetales-Alola with an ally's Aurora Veil: 206-246 (58.8 - 70.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- U-turn
- Icy Wind
- Heat Wave
Role/Tips: Offensive pivot, defogger, ground immunity. Helps check kart, rilla, shifu, gapdos, buzz, etc. Try not to reveal all your moves too early because water types will stay just always stay in when they realize you can't do much damage to them. Be careful to preserve this if the other team has a kart, which can rip through your team otherwise.
Item: Boots help it fulfill the pivot/defogger role.
EVs/Nature: HP and def to live hits, spe with timid to outspeed kart and base 110s.
Moves: Defog removes hazards, u-turn helps pivot, icy wind hits lando, chomp, and dnite (slowing the latter two down if they try to boost speed). Heat wave hits steels like ferro, kart, melm, and bisharp.
Other Options: Hurricane can replace icy wind to hit gapdos, lucha, shifu, and blace, and provide a generally strong STAB. Honestly I think hurricane is probably a little better, I just hate using 70% accurate moves.
252 Atk Choice Band Kartana Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 92 Def Tornadus-Therian: 220-259 (60.9 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Ice Punch vs. 248 HP / 92 Def Tornadus-Therian: 194-230 (53.7 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Zapdos Volt Switch vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 200-236 (55.4 - 65.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Tornadus-Therian Icy Wind vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 200-236 (56 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Tornadus-Therian Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ferrothorn: 196-232 (55.6 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Ice Punch vs. 248 HP / 92 Def Tornadus-Therian: 194-230 (53.7 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Zapdos Volt Switch vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tornadus-Therian: 200-236 (55.4 - 65.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Tornadus-Therian Icy Wind vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 200-236 (56 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Tornadus-Therian Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ferrothorn: 196-232 (55.6 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Slowking (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Def / 240 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Slack Off
- Teleport
- Future Sight
- Scald
Role/Tips: Defensive pivot, futureport supporter. Answers special attackers like lele, volcanion, glowking, and tran. Helps bring in shifu and PZ safely. Along with ferrothorn, it can check CB skewda, although be careful of crunch. I've found that I click future sight a little less with this team than with some others, because the main goal is to provide pressure on the special side with PZ.
Item: Boots help it fulfill the pivot role.
EVs/Nature: HP and spdef with sassy to take special attacks, def to avoid the 2HKO from modest lele psyshock in terrain and take CCs from shifu and skewda, min spe to get the slow teleport as much as possible.
Moves: Slack off provides recovery, teleport pivots, future sight helps break bulkier teams in combination with shifu, scald deals consistent damage and potentially burns.
Other Options: Ice beam over scald can put more pressure on the 4x weak mons and pult. Flamethrower can hit ferro.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking in Psychic Terrain: 165-195 (41.8 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking: 174-205 (44.1 - 52%) -- 14.8% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking in Rain: 151-178 (38.3 - 45.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking: 122-144 (30.9 - 36.5%) -- 64.8% chance to 3HKO
0 SpA Slowking Scald vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Heatran: 134-158 (34.7 - 40.9%) -- 57.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking: 174-205 (44.1 - 52%) -- 14.8% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 240+ SpD Slowking in Rain: 151-178 (38.3 - 45.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Slowking: 122-144 (30.9 - 36.5%) -- 64.8% chance to 3HKO
0 SpA Slowking Scald vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Heatran: 134-158 (34.7 - 40.9%) -- 57.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat
- Surging Strikes
Role/Tips: Physical breaker, u-turner extraordinaire. Puts physical pressure on a ton of mons in the tier like tran, glowking, bliss, and lando. Forms a deadly core with PZ, as it u-turns out on physically defensive mons switching in to bring in PZ and give it a spatk boost with download. Even if you're 100% sure that rocky helmet pex is coming in, for example, it's often better to u-turn anyway and take the helmet chip instead of double switching to PZ because if you switch first then you might not get the spatk boost. That said, careful not to get too telegraphed with your u-turns. Against offense, keep in mind that it's your only priority user so don't sack it needlessly.
Item: Band allows it to hit as hard as possible.
EVs/Nature: Atk and spe with jolly to break most effectively.
Moves: U-turn provides the all-important pivoting to bring in teammates (mostly PZ), jet threatens volcarona, blace, and weakened sweepers, CC and surging strikes are its strongest STAB options.
Other Options: Adamant can be used over jolly for more power, but it misses out on outspeeding timid lele, jolly offensive lando, timid nido, and neutral base 100s. Notably, however, it does always OHKO max HP 0 def hatterene with surging strikes, denying sash lead sets the turn 1 trick room.
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 294-348 (86.2 - 102%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable on a critical hit: 252-297 (63.9 - 75.3%) -- approx. 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 350-414 (99.4 - 117.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 204-241 (51 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 326-384 (116 - 136.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable on a critical hit: 252-297 (63.9 - 75.3%) -- approx. 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 350-414 (99.4 - 117.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 204-241 (51 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike U-turn vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 326-384 (116 - 136.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Porygon-Z @ Choice Specs
Ability: Download
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Trick
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Tri Attack
Role/Tips: The star of the show! Special breaker. Obliterates physical walls and muscles through special walls. The main offensive mode of this team is to lure in physdef walls like pex, slowbro, fini, buzz, tangrowth, and corv with shifu, u-turn out, and bring in PZ. With specs and the spatk boost from download, it reaches 910 spatk. It's great against balance and stall but can be dead weight against offense, so don't be afraid to sack it in the latter case. I usually lead it against rain to catch the potential physdef pelipper lead and start battering down ferro, the only real switch-in on rain (I also lead it against sun to catch torkoal). Finally, which stat gets boosted by download can provide useful info about the opposing mon's defense investment in ambiguous cases like zapdos, fini, clef, and lando.
Item: Specs allow it to hit as hard as possible.
EVs/Nature: Spatk and spe with modest to break most effectively. Outspeeds timid tran and below.
Moves: Trick cripples special walls and bulky setup sweepers. However, a lot of special walls are 2HKOd by +1 tri attack anyway (like slowking), so be mindful of giving up your specs unnecessarily. I usually use it late game once PZ has done its job breaking. Ice beam hits ferro and pult, tbolt hits tran and melm neutrally, and tri attack is your spammable STAB option that can cheese some games with the 20% chance to status.
Other Options: Psyshock is an option over tbolt or ice beam to 2HKO bliss and glowking at +1.
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Tri Attack vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Slowbro: 397-468 (100.7 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Tri Attack vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 223-264 (56.5 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Tri Attack vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 255-301 (35.7 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ferrothorn: 219-258 (62.2 - 73.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Heatran: 189-223 (48.9 - 57.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Tri Attack vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 223-264 (56.5 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Tri Attack vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 255-301 (35.7 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ferrothorn: 219-258 (62.2 - 73.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Porygon-Z Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Heatran: 189-223 (48.9 - 57.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 24 HP / 240 Atk / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Toxic
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
Role/Tips: Ground immunity, electric immunity, speed control. Checks electrics, intimidates, does lando stuff. Don't reveal scarf too early but also don't be afraid to let it get knocked off if you don't think it'll be needed (against bulky teams, for example).
Item: Scarf provides the much-needed speed control for the team.
EV's/nature: Atk and spe with jolly to hit hard and outrun max speed arctozolt in hail. HP to live hits in a pinch, such as jolly weavile ice shard from full.
Moves: Toxic provides insurance against setup sweepers, which threaten this team a lot, and can be good for bluffing a non-choice locked set. U-turn allows pivoting. Knock off hits flying types, always OHKOs pult after some chip, and obviously removes items. EQ is a strong STAB that can OHKO unsuspecting koko trying to u-turn out.
Other Options: Stone edge threatens torn and zap, which are decently scary for this team.
252 Atk Weavile Ice Shard vs. 24 HP / 0 Def Landorus-Therian: 268-324 (82.4 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 24 HP / 0 Def Landorus-Therian: 269-317 (82.7 - 97.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 12 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian in Psychic Terrain: 253-298 (78.5 - 92.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
240 Atk Landorus-Therian Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 288-340 (90.8 - 107.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
240 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 184-217 (51.5 - 60.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Kartana Leaf Blade vs. 24 HP / 0 Def Landorus-Therian: 269-317 (82.7 - 97.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 12 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian in Psychic Terrain: 253-298 (78.5 - 92.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
240 Atk Landorus-Therian Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 288-340 (90.8 - 107.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
240 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 184-217 (51.5 - 60.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
BUILDING PROCESS
I like the quacky boi and wanted to make a team that could abuse download.
I needed a mon that encouraged physical walls to switch in, and so the porygon-zhifu core was born.
I wanted a slow pivot and a mon that could provide future sight support to shifu, hence slowking.
For a team so focused on pivoting, I needed hazard removal. The team was weak to kart and rilla, so I picked torn.
Ferro was added as the third member of the defensive core, providing hazards and additional insurance against physical attackers.
The team needed speed control and an electric immunity, so scarf lando rounded out the squad. I also considered scarf moxie krook here.
THREATLIST
When your spdef mon is weak to ghost, specs pult is a problem. It can be checked defensively with smart switching between slowking, torn, and PZ, and offensively with scarf lando. The real problem, however, is DD pult with fire blast. This thing OHKOs every member of the team after a single DD, so be very careful about letting it set up.
The balance killer itself. A full-health ferro can beat it 1v1 and lando outspeeds, but if ferro is chipped and/or zolt is behind a sub then it's gg.
Banded brave bird 2HKOs or OHKOs everything. The only two mons that outspeed it, torn and lando, have a bad matchup (icy wind can actually hurt you since it gives it the defiant boost). I usually just trade ferrothorn, since two rounds of brave bird/barbs/helmet recoil takes gapdos out.
Sweeps after an SD. You can chip it into jet range with ferro or hit it with future sight, but it's often just game over if lucha gets onto the field safely. Zap could maybe replace torn to deal with lucha and gapdos better, but I think torn's extra speed is needed since the team is already on the slow side.
Slow, defensive zap is typically another opportunity to give PZ the download boost and threaten with an OHKO, but offensive zap (like on rain) is tough to switch into. Slowking can take any single hit, so using it to pivot out into lando for a toxic or knock off can work, but is inherently risky due to hurricane or weather ball on the swtich.
REPLAYS
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593529709 vs semistall (PZ goes wild)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1597805143 vs stall
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593547959 vs balance
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593843361 vs BO 1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593547959 vs BO 2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593530993 vs rain
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593514914 vs sun
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593563403 vs sand
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593472645 vs TR
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593542501 the shifu show
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1593538302 how the team crumbles to HO (loss)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1596670957 from Illusion master 2365
FINAL THOUGHTS
The teams generally matches up well against bulkier builds because they often don't have a great answer to PZ, but really struggles against HO. I'm hoping to get some advice about how to improve the offense matchup while keeping its potency against balance and stall. I'd also love any advice about how to play this team better if you check out the replays, since I'm not as strong of a player as those who make the RMTs this is inspired by. Thanks for reading!
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