I was actually making this team before Platinum was utilized, and have made only one change to Salamence, taking advantage of his shiny new toy, Outrage. Otherwise, this team would be fine for pre-Platinum play. This team has gone 12-2, however, I imagine a lot of people are just throwing new pokes together (Scizor, yachemences, Skymin, etc.) and trying it out.
I'm not so sure about the strategy for this thing; it just works through some smart playing. Celetranpert combines to be an annoying as hell combo that can slowly wear down pokemon, force switches, and let me get to know the team. I usually have to play around certain threats, and some pokemon should rape my team (good thing I don't see them). Salamence comes roaring in when I feel he's ready. Lets get on shall we?
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Clear Body
208 HP/76 Atk/224 SpD
Adamant
-Meteor Mash
-Bullet Punch
-Thunder Punch
-Earthquake
My anti-lead of sorts. Meteor Mash+Bullet Punch takes out many annoying sashed leads (azelf, gengar, weavile, aerodactyl), Lum Berry to cure any status for a free shot. Metagross takes earthquakes like a man and can return any Gyarados with Thunder Punch, or Meteor Mash Salamence. Heatran leads and Bronzong leads usually force me to switch, since I can't do too much to them and Heatran 1HKO's me with a Fire Blast. Earthquake combines with the steel moves for some awesome type coverage. Sometimes I wish I had explosion just to go out with a bang, but I find Metagross fairly useful in the end game, using Bullet Punch to take out worn down pokemon.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Torrent
240 HP/216 Def/52 SpA
Relaxed
-Earthquake
-Ice Beam
-Surf
-Stealth Rock
Mixpert is a great physical wall, my 2nd one. His typing really helps my tema out, since the rest of them are resistant to grass and he provides useful immunities to electric attacks, and general bulkiness against all physical attacks. I'm not sure what kind of Swampert to run; I really just use him for his typing since it complements my team so well. I just ran mixpert since ice beam is great vs. Salamence, since there isn't any intimidate Attack falls. Surf and Earthquake are for STAB, can hurt things from Blissey to Skarmory pretty decently. SR is the second reason I chose Swampert; its really great having something like him that often forces switches to have SR, and it really helps my team out in wearing out opposing pokemon (and is a great deterrent to Skymin, who is all the rage these days). If anyone could think of a better Swampert for my team, I'm listening.
Salamence @ Life Orb
Intimidate
80 Atk/252 SpA/176 Spd
Mild
-Draco Meteor
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
Ah, Outrage was a huge blessing for Mixmence, giving him a powerful STAB move that made brick break/crunch unnecessary, as well as allowing more SpD EVs. With Lucario getting Ice Punch, the 280 speed is very useful to outspeed Adamant Lucario. 80 Atk EVs mean that Draco Meteor+Outrage KO's Blissey. Earthquake for steels, fireblast for floating ones. I generally wait a while before sending Salamence out, preferably when a lot of the team is paralyzed, wounded, etc. I can then fire off a huge Draco Meteor into something, then follow with an Outrage sweep. Almost nothing can actually switch into this; walls are totally owned and sweepers are going to have to revenge it. Mild since Sala gets intimidate anyway, I switch into Heatran a lot. Not having SR makes using Salamence easy, since I can switch in, throw a Draco Meteor, go out, etc. With SR ups, I need to be a bit more careful though, and time Salamences entrance just right to maximize his final sweep.
Celebi @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
252 HP/222 Def/36 Spd
Bold
-Leech Seed
-Thunderwave
-Grass Knot
-Recover
My secondary physical defense, Celebi is a solid switch in to bulky water, Gyarados, and a whole lot more. If Gyarados DD's as I switch, I use T-Wave, recover off the ice fangs till full paralysis, then leech seed and stall till I can Grass Knot. Tends to die to crits, but oh well. Thunderwave is so good for my team, it turns my relatively slow pokes into possibly fast sweepers. T-Wave totally cripples Skymin, who is the poke I want to switch into T-Wave, since then he is easily defeated by my team. Grass Knot for grounds, waters, etc. Recover is so useful. Too bad Celebi often gets ripped to shreds by Pursuit from T-Tar and Weavile (have yet to have this happen to me), but it’s a definite possibility. Overall, this is a beast at stalling and it takes powerful boosted hits to even get a 2HKO on this thing.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Pressure
252 HP/220 SpD/36 Spd
Calm
-Thunderbolt
-HP Ice
-Rest
-Sleep talk
I needed a status absorber and sleep absorber, and tried multiple pokemon, from Machamp to Hera, and finally, Zapdos. I think Zapdos is perfect for the job, and he’s always been a favorite pokemon of mine since RBY. Still working with a solid 289 SpA, means that STAB T-bolts and HP Ice hurt what they are supposed too, making Zapdos one of my prime Skymin counters. Nothing quite stalls endgame against non-offensive special attackers quite like Zapdos, capable of just taking away PP very very quickly. A great switch in to Bronzong, though it can’t KO it at all, it can take the gyroballs, hypnosis, etc. and only explosion will kill this thing. If enough T-Waves are passed around, this thing can end up sweeping pretty hard too. But the attacks are mainly there to just continuingly nail pokes as the switch in, out, etc.
Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Flash Fire
4 Hp/252 SpA/252 Spd
Naive
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Explosion
-HP Ice
My revenge killer, and he does a fine job at it. The moves are self explanatory and provide great coverage against common threats from Salamence and Skymin to Infernape (unless they pack NP+Vacuum wave). I definitely enjoy Explosion, and chose naïve so that explosion completely dominates Blissey, meaning Sala won’t have to waste his Draco Meteor, and can use Outrage on some threats that switch in. I ran max speed naïve so that I can kill opposing Heatran, make sure I am faster than Skymin and stuff that put their speed to outspeed Heatran.
As you can see, this team lacks a definitive sweeper and requires no set up moves, meaning its just switching from counter to counter, absorbing hit to hit, and dishing out moves continuously till the opposing team has been damaged enough. I have never 6-0ed with this team, and it’s pretty apparent why, since there are no pokemon here really capable of doing it. I’m sort of looking for some kind of rapid spinner to help salamence out, but I haven’t really found a good looking one to really complement my team. I’m looking for all sorts of advice for this team, and for you guys to spot out any particularly scary threats for my team.
