Introduction
So this is the first team that I've really submitted on here in a while. Mostly because I'm self concious about don't want people calling me a butthead D:. But this is the first team I've ever actually successfully laddered with. I managed to peak around 1400 on PO (I know that's not really much, but hey it was my first time ever so I'm going to enjoy my moment of glory. Anyway, If whether you'd like to actually help me with my team or if you're reading along to have a giggle at my bad team building skills read up, and have enjoy yourself.
At A Glance...
Team Building Process
My first decision was to find a core to build around. Actually I lied, my first decision was who to pair Reuniclus up with as a core. I mean look at that thing it's so friggen cute. It's just asking you to hug it so it can suffocate you in its plasma (or jello? body).
TR Reuniclus has always been a pokemon that has taken a shine to me. Conkeldurr, it's main partner in crime... not so much. Therefore I wanted to go a different route. I wanted to roll with something that could devastate my opponents but wouldn't be completely screwed if I decided to go with everyone's favourite Deku Scrub, Breloom.
From here I needed to support the two of them. They're really both fantastic sweepers, but they hazard support, especially when it comes to dealing with threats like Scizor or Dragonite. I initially started with Ferrothorn, but decided to go to Forretress afterwards. Unfortunately, I found myself missing Ferrothorn's overall defensive prowess so the ... iron ball? pokemon found itself as the third pokemon on my team.
Next, I noticed I lost to sun teams. I mean seriously Specs Ninetales OHKO's all 3 of my aforementioned pokemon. My solution to this was to slap a Politoed on my team, and take it in the direction of a rain team. Besides, the rain helps both Breloom and Ferro.
Next I needed to cover dragons. Sure I had ferrothorn, but Ferro didn't really address DD users that could kill it before GyroBall could do its stuff. I chose Thundurus-T to alleviate this problem.
Lastly, I needed something to beat Jirachi, specifically the defensive set, among other threats. I decided I might as well abuse the rain while I have it, and chose Keldeo as the final member of my team.
In Depth Analysis
Alright, so Politoed gets the ball rolling simply just by being on the field because of it's amazing ability in Drizzle. Rain is sorta the glue to this team, as it allows me to deal with Fire pokemon whom I would usually have trouble with otherwise. I elected to take a physically defensive route, since I was having difficulties dealing with Dragons once Ferrothorn was out. Politoed takes a +1 outrage from Dragonite like a champ and can either go for a burn (if I see no Lum Berry), or the kill with Ice Beam. Most of the times against something that's locked into Outrage, I'll opt to go with Ice beam for the sake of removing the threat as soon as possible. Scald dishes a fair amount of damage given the lack of SAtk investment, and the 30% burn chance is really always nice. Using Protect allows me to stall out burns or dragons locked in outrage, as well as scout moves and items. Lastly Perish Song gives me the opportunity to force set up sweepers that I would normally have problems with out, until I can deal with them appropriately.
On the Debbie Downer side, I find often times that I'm using Politoed specifically just to set the weather and that it doesn't carry much weight otherwise. Sometimes I feel like I would benefit in running a Scarf Toed instead, but having something that can (sorta) take hits is pretty nice.
Come on this is the cutest iddy biddy Nuclei ever, right? Anyway, at first I was completely sceptical (why on earth doesn't that look right) of this set, because I always assumed that it was frail and would pretty much die unless it flat out KO'd anything that my opponent sent out. But after seeing it used against me I started to use it on my own teams and I friggen love it. It's so retardedly powerful. All I do is wait for a chance to switch in safely (either off a VT, or on a NFE attack, and throw Trick Room up. I'll usually choose to either send Reuniclus out early or very late game, depending on my opponents team. If I see that Keldeo is going to tear through my opponents teams no problem, I'll use Reuniclus early on to weak them, so that Keldeo can simply power through them afterwards. Otherwise, I'll save Reuniclus for as long as I can, and bring him out after something's diedl and clean up. I decided to run with Psychic over Psyshock, because the drop in power is really noticable. Focus Blast and Shadow Ball round out Reuniclus' perfect coverage. Normally I put HP Fire over Shadow Ball, but really I don't see much use for it as Genesect got dumped off to the Uber tier. 0 Speed IV's as well as a Quiet Nature mean pretty much that only Ferrothorn (and the odd ass hole Escavalier) are going to be outspeeding me under TR.
When I built my team I really -really- did not want to go with Conkeldurr, because I really don't like it.. much.. or at all. So Breloom was my next choice, pairing pretty well with Reuniclus. I went with this specific EV spread, to reach a speed of 246, which outspeeds Adamant Banded Nite, as well as Bulky non scarf Rotom's. The moveset is pretty standard to say the least. Spore because really, 100% accurate sleep inducing move is fantastic; along with a combination of Bullet Seed and Mach Punch don't really good coverage, but all of that is irrelevant with Swords Dance. This allows me to effectively stop most Sub users (other than maybe latias) and still hit them thanks to BS.
If there was anything really about Breloom that I could change it would be his item. To be honest, I didn't want to use a Life Orb because of the recoil, and I thought a boosted first Mach Punch would really help me out. However I've been looking for a suitable replacement for it instead.
Ferrothorn represents my counter to Dragons, Rain teams, and my Hazard setter, all in one really. While Forretress gave me the ability to spin away hazards, I couldn't overlook the typing advantage Ferrothorn had when it came to dealing with water moves that my team struggled to counter. Seriously this thing is such a freakin tank. I almost always manage to get my Rocks up, and any Spikes on top of that is just a bonus, which really helps with it comes to my offensive pokemon ploughing their way through other teams. The EV spread maximizes it's bulk, while a Relaxed nature gives it a stronger Gyro Ball, and Power Whip helps me deal with pokemon like Jellicent and other Bulky Waters, even if it gets burnt. Unfortunately, I couldn't fit Leech Seed onto his moveset, so my only means of recovery are via Leftovers. It really is a shame that it doesn't get Rapid Spin, but maybe X&Y will give Ferrothorn that opportunity. Another move that I really wanted to put on Ferrothorn was Bulldoze. I learned from a different RMT (I think it was SC22's, but anyway) that with 92 Attack EVs Bulldoze will always break SubCM Rachi's substitutes, effectively giving me a way to counter it. Oddly enough, I haven't run into any SCM Jirachi's so I'm not really sure how my team fares against it.
Thundurus-T represents a few things on my team. Firstly, I almost always (literally almost always) will go to this pokemon as my lead, because I prefer starting things off with something that has access to Volt/Turn to react to their own lead. Thundurus-T allows me not only to absorb electrical attacks (a big &*(% you to TWave right here), but revenge kill pokemon thanks to it's Choice Scarf. This lets me kill +1 Dragonite once multiscale is broken as well as outright OHKO Breloom with HP Ice, both of which can really pick holes in my team. Volt Switch maintain's momentum , and Thunder allows me to pack an extra wallop against my opponent when I'm not looking to switch out. Finally, Focus Blast lets me break through Steels and Tyranitar. I originally went with Thunderbolt instead of Thunder since I was afraid of losing weather wars, but I find the difference between Thunder & Thunderbolt to be too big, and the difference between Tbolt and VoltSwitch to be too minimal. Gastrodon is usually the common switch in to Thundy-T, but Ferrothorn and Breloom both handle it pretty well.
The last pokemon on my team is Keldeo. Specs Kelly was something I had never seen used to before, but often heard others talk about, so I was eager to give it a try, since my team for the most part struggles with specially defensive jirachi. But holy crap this thing hit's like a truck, even out of the rain. Hydro Pump and Secret Sword are obligatory STAB's to Keldeo, giving it crazy overwhelming coverage. My last two moves were more optional choices for me, but are completely open to suggestion. Firstly I decided to go with Icy Wind, since really, my team isn't that fast outside of Thundy-T, and really appreciates the speed drop from my opponents. (i.e Lati@s, DDNite). My second choice was to run HP Electric over HP Ghost. My first reason was because I'm already hitting everything I want to with a pseudo bolt-beam. And secondly because I fucking hate having to deal with Tentacruel and Jellicent. Tentacruel would often found ways to switch into on Keldeo and spin all my hazards away, before managing to burn either Breloom or Ferrothorn, since I'm very hesitant to pull Reuniclus out early. Using HP Electric allows me to easily 2HKO both Jellicent and Tentacruel, while still hitting everything else I need to. Really, once Jellicent and opposing Ferrothorn's are out, I pretty much line them up and break through them with Hydro Pump.
Conclusion
Again, I know this might not be a really good team, but I really did enjoy building and testing it. I really would appreciate any help you guys could give me.
Some threats I've come across are:
Volcarona: can be a pain in the ass if it sets up and carries Giga Drain.
Deoxys-D: I really don't know how to beat the suicide lead. It's so bulky, and I don't really have anything that can cleanly remove it before it gets up atleast Rocks and a layer of Spikes.
Lucario: If it gets a Swords Dance in I don't think there's anything on my team that can beat it as (IIRC) +2 ESpeed OHKO's Breloom and Thundurus-T after rocks.
So this is the first team that I've really submitted on here in a while. Mostly because I'm self concious about don't want people calling me a butthead D:. But this is the first team I've ever actually successfully laddered with. I managed to peak around 1400 on PO (I know that's not really much, but hey it was my first time ever so I'm going to enjoy my moment of glory. Anyway, If whether you'd like to actually help me with my team or if you're reading along to have a giggle at my bad team building skills read up, and have enjoy yourself.
At A Glance...
Team Building Process
My first decision was to find a core to build around. Actually I lied, my first decision was who to pair Reuniclus up with as a core. I mean look at that thing it's so friggen cute. It's just asking you to hug it so it can suffocate you in its plasma (or jello? body).
TR Reuniclus has always been a pokemon that has taken a shine to me. Conkeldurr, it's main partner in crime... not so much. Therefore I wanted to go a different route. I wanted to roll with something that could devastate my opponents but wouldn't be completely screwed if I decided to go with everyone's favourite Deku Scrub, Breloom.
From here I needed to support the two of them. They're really both fantastic sweepers, but they hazard support, especially when it comes to dealing with threats like Scizor or Dragonite. I initially started with Ferrothorn, but decided to go to Forretress afterwards. Unfortunately, I found myself missing Ferrothorn's overall defensive prowess so the ... iron ball? pokemon found itself as the third pokemon on my team.
Next, I noticed I lost to sun teams. I mean seriously Specs Ninetales OHKO's all 3 of my aforementioned pokemon. My solution to this was to slap a Politoed on my team, and take it in the direction of a rain team. Besides, the rain helps both Breloom and Ferro.
Next I needed to cover dragons. Sure I had ferrothorn, but Ferro didn't really address DD users that could kill it before GyroBall could do its stuff. I chose Thundurus-T to alleviate this problem.
Lastly, I needed something to beat Jirachi, specifically the defensive set, among other threats. I decided I might as well abuse the rain while I have it, and chose Keldeo as the final member of my team.
In Depth Analysis
Alright, so Politoed gets the ball rolling simply just by being on the field because of it's amazing ability in Drizzle. Rain is sorta the glue to this team, as it allows me to deal with Fire pokemon whom I would usually have trouble with otherwise. I elected to take a physically defensive route, since I was having difficulties dealing with Dragons once Ferrothorn was out. Politoed takes a +1 outrage from Dragonite like a champ and can either go for a burn (if I see no Lum Berry), or the kill with Ice Beam. Most of the times against something that's locked into Outrage, I'll opt to go with Ice beam for the sake of removing the threat as soon as possible. Scald dishes a fair amount of damage given the lack of SAtk investment, and the 30% burn chance is really always nice. Using Protect allows me to stall out burns or dragons locked in outrage, as well as scout moves and items. Lastly Perish Song gives me the opportunity to force set up sweepers that I would normally have problems with out, until I can deal with them appropriately.
On the Debbie Downer side, I find often times that I'm using Politoed specifically just to set the weather and that it doesn't carry much weight otherwise. Sometimes I feel like I would benefit in running a Scarf Toed instead, but having something that can (sorta) take hits is pretty nice.
Come on this is the cutest iddy biddy Nuclei ever, right? Anyway, at first I was completely sceptical (why on earth doesn't that look right) of this set, because I always assumed that it was frail and would pretty much die unless it flat out KO'd anything that my opponent sent out. But after seeing it used against me I started to use it on my own teams and I friggen love it. It's so retardedly powerful. All I do is wait for a chance to switch in safely (either off a VT, or on a NFE attack, and throw Trick Room up. I'll usually choose to either send Reuniclus out early or very late game, depending on my opponents team. If I see that Keldeo is going to tear through my opponents teams no problem, I'll use Reuniclus early on to weak them, so that Keldeo can simply power through them afterwards. Otherwise, I'll save Reuniclus for as long as I can, and bring him out after something's diedl and clean up. I decided to run with Psychic over Psyshock, because the drop in power is really noticable. Focus Blast and Shadow Ball round out Reuniclus' perfect coverage. Normally I put HP Fire over Shadow Ball, but really I don't see much use for it as Genesect got dumped off to the Uber tier. 0 Speed IV's as well as a Quiet Nature mean pretty much that only Ferrothorn (and the odd ass hole Escavalier) are going to be outspeeding me under TR.
When I built my team I really -really- did not want to go with Conkeldurr, because I really don't like it.. much.. or at all. So Breloom was my next choice, pairing pretty well with Reuniclus. I went with this specific EV spread, to reach a speed of 246, which outspeeds Adamant Banded Nite, as well as Bulky non scarf Rotom's. The moveset is pretty standard to say the least. Spore because really, 100% accurate sleep inducing move is fantastic; along with a combination of Bullet Seed and Mach Punch don't really good coverage, but all of that is irrelevant with Swords Dance. This allows me to effectively stop most Sub users (other than maybe latias) and still hit them thanks to BS.
If there was anything really about Breloom that I could change it would be his item. To be honest, I didn't want to use a Life Orb because of the recoil, and I thought a boosted first Mach Punch would really help me out. However I've been looking for a suitable replacement for it instead.
Ferrothorn represents my counter to Dragons, Rain teams, and my Hazard setter, all in one really. While Forretress gave me the ability to spin away hazards, I couldn't overlook the typing advantage Ferrothorn had when it came to dealing with water moves that my team struggled to counter. Seriously this thing is such a freakin tank. I almost always manage to get my Rocks up, and any Spikes on top of that is just a bonus, which really helps with it comes to my offensive pokemon ploughing their way through other teams. The EV spread maximizes it's bulk, while a Relaxed nature gives it a stronger Gyro Ball, and Power Whip helps me deal with pokemon like Jellicent and other Bulky Waters, even if it gets burnt. Unfortunately, I couldn't fit Leech Seed onto his moveset, so my only means of recovery are via Leftovers. It really is a shame that it doesn't get Rapid Spin, but maybe X&Y will give Ferrothorn that opportunity. Another move that I really wanted to put on Ferrothorn was Bulldoze. I learned from a different RMT (I think it was SC22's, but anyway) that with 92 Attack EVs Bulldoze will always break SubCM Rachi's substitutes, effectively giving me a way to counter it. Oddly enough, I haven't run into any SCM Jirachi's so I'm not really sure how my team fares against it.
Thundurus-T represents a few things on my team. Firstly, I almost always (literally almost always) will go to this pokemon as my lead, because I prefer starting things off with something that has access to Volt/Turn to react to their own lead. Thundurus-T allows me not only to absorb electrical attacks (a big &*(% you to TWave right here), but revenge kill pokemon thanks to it's Choice Scarf. This lets me kill +1 Dragonite once multiscale is broken as well as outright OHKO Breloom with HP Ice, both of which can really pick holes in my team. Volt Switch maintain's momentum , and Thunder allows me to pack an extra wallop against my opponent when I'm not looking to switch out. Finally, Focus Blast lets me break through Steels and Tyranitar. I originally went with Thunderbolt instead of Thunder since I was afraid of losing weather wars, but I find the difference between Thunder & Thunderbolt to be too big, and the difference between Tbolt and VoltSwitch to be too minimal. Gastrodon is usually the common switch in to Thundy-T, but Ferrothorn and Breloom both handle it pretty well.
The last pokemon on my team is Keldeo. Specs Kelly was something I had never seen used to before, but often heard others talk about, so I was eager to give it a try, since my team for the most part struggles with specially defensive jirachi. But holy crap this thing hit's like a truck, even out of the rain. Hydro Pump and Secret Sword are obligatory STAB's to Keldeo, giving it crazy overwhelming coverage. My last two moves were more optional choices for me, but are completely open to suggestion. Firstly I decided to go with Icy Wind, since really, my team isn't that fast outside of Thundy-T, and really appreciates the speed drop from my opponents. (i.e Lati@s, DDNite). My second choice was to run HP Electric over HP Ghost. My first reason was because I'm already hitting everything I want to with a pseudo bolt-beam. And secondly because I fucking hate having to deal with Tentacruel and Jellicent. Tentacruel would often found ways to switch into on Keldeo and spin all my hazards away, before managing to burn either Breloom or Ferrothorn, since I'm very hesitant to pull Reuniclus out early. Using HP Electric allows me to easily 2HKO both Jellicent and Tentacruel, while still hitting everything else I need to. Really, once Jellicent and opposing Ferrothorn's are out, I pretty much line them up and break through them with Hydro Pump.
Conclusion
Again, I know this might not be a really good team, but I really did enjoy building and testing it. I really would appreciate any help you guys could give me.
Some threats I've come across are:
Volcarona: can be a pain in the ass if it sets up and carries Giga Drain.
Deoxys-D: I really don't know how to beat the suicide lead. It's so bulky, and I don't really have anything that can cleanly remove it before it gets up atleast Rocks and a layer of Spikes.
Lucario: If it gets a Swords Dance in I don't think there's anything on my team that can beat it as (IIRC) +2 ESpeed OHKO's Breloom and Thundurus-T after rocks.
Reuniclus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
Thundurus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Protect
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Breloom (F) @ Fight Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
Thundurus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]
Politoed (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Perish Song
- Protect
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Breloom (F) @ Fight Gem
Trait: Technician
EVs: 64 HP / 252 Atk / 192 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
