Gen 5 Badlands

Finchinator

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OU Leader
Badlands








Hey everyone, Finchinator here. For those of you that do not know me, I am an avid player of BW OU and I'm here to share with you one of my best BW OU teams! I haven't RMT'd a team in nearly 2 years and, since then, the BW OU metagame has changed a fair amount and I, as a player, have also adapted my own playstyle, so I figured now would be as good a time as ever to share this!

This is a team that was crafted to become a fallback team for the current season of SmogTour and I had the intent of it being a fairly standard, Sand Bulky-Offensive team that gave me universally acceptable match-ups. From a glance, it definitely fulfills the "fairly standard" facet of the above description and, to some extent, it plays that way, as well. However, there is a unique part of this team that not only makes it stray from the norm, but also makes it more effective against many common Pokemon and styles.

I'm well aware of the fact that Tyranitar Sand with Spikes and Alakazam has grown into the bog standard archetype of BW OU in the eyes of many people and I'm not denying the fact that is has become increasingly common. While many players subsequently relegate this general build as boring or ordinary, I tend to disregard this notion and employ an alternative sentiment. As many of you know, I frequent Tyranitar, Spikes, Alakazam, Scarf Landorus-T, etc., but in each serious build of this nature, I try to incorporate some element that will allow the individual team to stand-out from the others. This can vary from a minor structural change to a significant change in pace and it also encompasses everything in between these two extremes.

On this team, the unique element happened to be the augmentation of a Tyranitar set from the current norm of setting up Stealth Rock, being a Choice Scarfed Pursuit user and Revenge Killer, or being a Choice Banded hard-hitter and breaker. Through trying this Tyranitar set and shifting the structure of the team to a slight extent, I found this team to be favorable to a vast majority of my other standard builds. Initially, most people seem to be skeptical of this Tyranitar set because it's no longer fulfilling any of the aforementioned conventional roles it would play and it's essentially a free-for-all set that seemingly is trying to do too much, but in practice, it performs very well if played properly. I will get into how I tend to play the team and those specifics later on, however.

Getting into the process of building the team, I did not actually start with the Tyranitar set; I started to build with Garchomp. I wanted to use one of my favorites sets that I've used sporadically in the past and various others have also used sparingly over the years: SR SD Dragon Gem. This set is, in my opinion, incredibly effective at breaking holes in opposing teams early in games for team members and depressingly underrated by the general playerbase. It is intended to get up Stealth Rocks and put a dent into the normal switch-ins of Garchomp early on in the game. With Dragon Gem and SD, Garchomp is effectively able to weaken or kill Landorus-T, Rotom-W, Hippowdon, Gliscor, and many other common early-game Garchomp switch-ins that find themselves overwhelmed.



The next member of the team I wanted to be something threatening, that could take advantage of the offensive support the Garchomp set provided the team with. After searching through my options, I elected to use Alakazam as my second Pokemon. Alakazam appreciates when the opposing team is weakened, in general, like any late-game cleaner, and this is often why it is paired with Spikes. Garchomp provides a more direct approach at accomplishing this by putting a large dent in or getting rid of many Pokemon that often stand in Alakazam's way, to varying extents. Seeing as I had my eye on Alakazam as a late-game cleaner, the variant of choice was the common, standard Focus Sash Alakazam.



With the initial core of the team formed, I knew that I had to now take a glance at the big picture. Did I want this team to be Hyper Offense, which the first two members seem to be leading towards, or do I want to slow down the pace a bit and make it Bulky Offense? What weaknesses am I starting to stack given that I'm using Garchomp and Alakazam in conjunction with each other? How can I give myself an edge against common playstyles that I currently do not give myself with this starting core? These are all questions I asked myself when dissecting my current position in building the team. Ultimately, I decided upon Tyranitar as the third member of the team. Tyranitar leads the team in a Bulky Offensive direction seeing as it likely will necessitate the team to have an inherent bulky core to assure that there is sufficient defensive counterplay to the threats of the tier. I elected to leave the variant of Tyranitar up in the air for the time being seeing as it's one of the most versatile Pokemon and the team had not yet developed to the extent that warranted specifics being decided upon, besides the specifics of the initial set I wished to build around, SR SD Dragon Gem Garchomp.



Now that I had half of my team members, I really needed to make sure that I had proper defensive synergy so that I wasn't trying to make my last couple Pokemon counter any-and-everything the tier has to throw at the team because that's a recipe for disaster in teambuilding. I also wanted to maintain the momentum and offensive presence that I had going throughout my team because this team was intended to be Bulky Offense and I find that the faster paced these type of teams are, the more suited they are to take-on opposing offensive teams. I noticed that I was vulnerable to many common physical attackers at this point in teambuilding and none of my first three really appreciated switching into any physical attacks, so I needed to remedy this immediately. I didn't want to use a full-on wall such as Hippowdon or Slowbro, but I still needed something with significant physically defensive presence. After thinking it through, I decided that Scarf Landorus-T was the right Pokemon for the team, at this point. It is a convenient pivot into many physical attackers that is pretty much the face of momentum in the BW OU metagame and it also serves as a Revenge Killer, meaning that I don't have to use Scarf Tyranitar. I already had a Stealth Rocker, in Garchomp, and I didn't have any desire to use Double Dance Landorus-T as it requires either Magnezone support or multiple lures, I would have to find another Choice Scarf user, and Double Dance Landorus-T is generally reserved as a win condition as opposed to a physically defensive pivot, which would mean that my last two members would have to do far too much for my liking.



Given that I now have four of the six team members decided upon, my Stealth Rocker and Choice Scarfer set, and my last two members could very much be dependent upon this set, I decided that it was an appropriate time to go back to my third Pokemon, Tyranitar, and decide upon a set for it. All of the normal roles for Tyranitar, bar Choice Banded breaker, were already filled as I alluded to earlier. Therefore, I initially slotted in Tyranitar as a Choice Bander. However, after thinking it through briefly, I decided that the team could make better use of Tyranitar in a unique fashion as opposed, which is where this team found its departure from the norm. Given that I had already established a pair of somewhat comparable physically offensive threatening Pokemon, in Garchomp and Landorus-T, I decided that using Tyranitar's versatility to work synergetically with this pair, predominantly as a lure, would be optimal for this team. Moreover, I created this Tyranitar set, as I established above, for the purpose of this team. I can go on and write a novel about the effectiveness of it here, but I'll save it for when I describe the Pokemon individually for the sake of everyone reading!



I now have four Pokemon and sets all decided; the last two members shall serve the purpose of making sure that I have as few weaknesses as possible and I keep momentum fairly high throughout the entirety of my team. I noticed that I had a few glaring general weaknesses at this point; the two biggest vulnerabilities I had were the fact that I lacked a resist to Water and Dragon type attacks. Every team needs at least one solid Steel type as is and Water resists are mandatory, too, but I wanted something that could fulfill at least one, if not both of these, while also doing something productive for the team instead of just sitting there and passively walling things. I ultimately decided upon Ferrothorn. While Ferrothorn isn't exactly an offensive threat, it does provide Spikes for Alakazam and other members of the team to take advantage of and it isn't completely passive either thanks to Leech Seed and the attacks it has at its disposal. Moreover, I now have a lot of my defensive holes patched and the team is filling out quite nicely with all of the necessary supportive elements falling into place and lots of synergy present.



With five members, the last member's purpose is to make sure I clean up any final weaknesses and potentially glue the team together, if need be. One glaring weakness came to mind: Keldeo. My Water resist was weak to Fighting and my Fighting resists were either weak to Water or Alakazam, which can't be relied upon defensively whatsoever, so I needed to add a last Pokemon to help deal with this. This was probably the easiest member to pick out of them all because the easiest fallback, standard Keldeo answer that's incredibly common and effective is Latios. It also helps with Electric types such as Thundurus-T as Ferrothorn cannot always deal with the boosting or Focus Blast variants of it while Garchomp is HP Ice bait. I will go into specific sets and EVs as I go through the pokemon, but this was my general building mindset throughout.




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Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake

Garchomp is usually the Pokemon I lead with and it serves a defined purpose on this team. As you can see from the set, Garchomp provides Stealth Rock, which is vital for this team's success as games transpire. Additionally, Garchomp poses as an early game wall-breaker, which is a bit unconventional, but it's quite effective. Below, I will post some calcs that show how strong this set is and how that can impact the game in many situations.

This set is very comparable to the set GaryTheGengar posted, but Jolly is generally better due to all of the lead Jirachi, opposing Garchomp, Hydreigon, and Thundurus-T that you encounter early game and the fact that it's rare that the Pokemon listed in Gary's post actually run 252/252+, so Adamant is often times not necessary or only necessary against a handful of uncommon things.

In an ideal game, Garchomp gets Stealth Rock up, gets a Swords Dance under its belt, and gets to fire off Dragon Gem boosted Outrage or two off, crippling or killing whatever the opponent has out early in the game and opening up holes for the remaining team members to take advantage of later in the game. Sometimes, in a lesser ideal scenario, Garchomp is pressured to the extent that it can only get up Stealth Rock or get a kill and in those situations, it depends on the opponent's team as to which you pick, but Stealth Rock is often the safer choice - it avoids mispredicting and wasting Garchomp as a whole or at least a few turns. If you can get rid of something that is the only check/counter to one of the other offensive threats on the team, then usually it's worth heavily considering, however.
+1 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 248 HP / 172 Def Landorus-T: 402-474 (105.5 - 124.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

If Garchomp gets a favorable lead match-up against a Tyranitar, Scizor, non-Shuca non-Icy Wind Jirachi, Heatran, etc., then usually the opponent switches-out. As Landorus-T pivots in, Garchomp gets Stealth Rocks up. Assuming it's a Stealth Rock Landorus-T, it's often going to set its own Stealth Rock on turn 2 and that gives you a free turn to get a Swords Dance up. After Intimidate and a Swords Dance, +1 Dragon Gem Outrage kills standard Landorus-T. Personally, I find 0 Speed Landorus-T to be suboptimal in the current metagame and it is not incredibly common, but when you encounter one, you do only have a 31.3% chance to kill it at +1 with Dragon Gem Outrage as you can see below*. Although that is somewhat annoying, it's always dead to Stealth Rock, Rough Skin, or the next Outrage, so Garchomp has still done its job as it has eliminated a defensive pivot that normally checks it.

Alternatively, if Landorus-T is led with, then it very well might be Scarf, in which case you just click Stealth Rock as it cannot OHKO you, but it can comfortably 2HKO with HP Ice or Earthquake if it doesn't elect to U-turn out. However, if Stealth Rock Landorus-T is led with, then the optimal line of play is still to Stealth Rock turn 1 (usually you don't even know which variant it is until after turn 1 anyway, so just clicking SR to be safe is the way to go). Turn 2 I'm clicking Swords Dance in most match-ups, but if the opponent has a Skarmory, then I usually switch out to Ferrothorn (safe switch-in to Lando-T's U-turn and HP Ice, baits Taunt to scout Skarmory's fourth move, and can set-up on Lando-T/potential bulky-water switch in), and if the opponent has something quicker than Garchomp that can OHKO it, such as Keldeo or Latios, then I hesitate because he can U-turn into that Pokemon, but usually I Swords Dance anyway because often times the Landorus-T goes for HP Ice anyway. If it's Keldeo in the back, however, I might consider either clicking Outrage just to get crucial damage off** or switching out to Ferrothorn, who lives any Keldeo attack after uninvested U-turn from Landorus-T and can set-up if it stays in while eating up HP Ice or even EQ, simply because Keldeo, especially on teams with Tyranitar, is hard to play around when your only counter is Latios. If they have a Latios in the back, you fodder off Garchomp after Lando-T U-turns into it, if he does (if he HP Ices, then you live and you're in a position to kill Lando-T with +1 Outrage next turn and Garchomp pretty much clicks Outrage to get off damage and then suicide itself off the ensuing turn when it's revenge killed), unless Garchomp does very well against the remainder of the opposing team and then Tyranitar comes in for free and it's simply a trade because the opponent isn't switching unless they know the set and Dark Pulse should kill from there.

*+1 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Landorus-T: 339-400 (88.9 - 104.9%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
**-1 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 248 HP / 172 Def Landorus-T: 178-211 (46.7 - 55.3%) -- 16.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

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+2 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 378-445 (90 - 105.9%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
+2 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Hippowdon: 508-598 (120.9 - 142.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Honestly, Hippowdon is getting less and less common as the metagame becomes faster paced, but it's still a good Pokemon and it is certainly viable, so this is still noteworthy for the time being. The normal situation here is both are led with and click Stealth Rock turn 1, but then Garchomp clicks Swords Dance turn 2 while Hippowdon uses Ice Fang, Earthquake, or whatever it can do the most damage with. Sometimes, however, Garchomp gets an ideal lead match-up, like I mentioned in the first part of the Landorus-T example, and Hippowdon switches in on turn 1 and this plays into Garchomp's favor as it gets free Stealth Rock and trades a Swords Dance for opposing Stealth Rocks and then it's set to attack when it is at full health. The Physically Defensive variant of Hippowdon avoids being OHKOd by +2 Dragon Gem Outrage 62.5% of the time and this is one of the main selling points of running Adamant, like Gary did, but I still don't view it as worthwhile because you win the 1v1 and you 2HKO it if he Slacks Off* on the first Outrage or doesn't have Ice Fang to 2HKO you in the process (if he has Ice Fang, then Rough Skin damage minus Leftovers recovery makes your chance to OHKO with the +2 Dragon Gem Outrage up to 75% while if he lacks Ice Fang and goes for Earthquake, then he's not 2HKOing you**). Meanwhile, any other spreads get OHKOd by +2 Dragon Gem Outrage. Removal of Hippowdon in match-ups against the generic type of balanced teams with it is vital as it can be used to check multiple other Pokemon on the team if it were to escape the early game healthy.

*+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 252-297 (60 - 70.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
**0 Atk Hippowdon Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Garchomp: 124-147 (34.7 - 41.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

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+2 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 224 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 166-196 (50.7 - 59.9%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 224 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 111-131 (33.9 - 40%) -- 34.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 224 HP / 32 Def Skarmory: 214-252 (65.4 - 77%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 224 HP / 32 Def Skarmory: 143-168 (43.7 - 51.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Skarmory is rarely ever used as a lead unless it's Custap, which is often fairly predictable based off of team preview and if you notice this, then you shouldn't lead Garchomp, but, instead, you could: lead with Landorus-T and U-turn to Latios to kill it or force it out with HP Fire, lead with Latios and Surf as a majority of the time it does under 75% (66.7% to 78.5% is the variation) and this sets you up to 2HKO it without letting it get into Custap and it makes it seem like your Latios lacks HP Fire, or lead with Alakazam and click Psychic turn 1 then Focus Blast turn 2 to force it out or kill it. I'm not sure which of these has the best odds of doing well or which is the most practically efficient, but usually I lead with Latios and go with the Surf option if the Custap Skarm is obvious and they don't have a Tyranitar.

Going back to the defensive variants of Skarmory, often times it finds itself switching in to Garchomp turn 1 or turn 2 depending on if the lead is setting up Stealth Rock into Garchomp or if it's immediately scared out as well as some other variables. If it's a SDef Skarmory, then the best line of action is to get a Swords Dance up and try to 2HKO it (although usually you'll get Whirlwinded out after the first Outrage, which is fine seeing as you're doing on average 71% damage to it, but if it's PDef Skarmory, then the best line of action is to get Tyranitar out against it as your Tyranitar set is completely unpredictable at this point and it at very least threatens the Skarmory and opens up potential for prediction and lots of damage on your end if done successfully. Usually, you try to gauge which set it is based off of team preview, but if you have no clue, then lean towards the side of getting Tyranitar in if you're not already +2 (there's always the prospect of going for +4 to punish him for trying to Spike on you and, at worst, tempting fate w/ Whirlwind as most things on the team don't mind Skarmory, if this is the case, but that's only worthwhile if you're in a position where you SD on the Skarmory switch-in) as it switches in because the Tyranitar set still 2HKOs SDef Skarmory with Fire Blast and it's generally a threat to a vast majority of the tier due to its unique moveset, so you can't go wrong with getting it in safely early game and then you can save Garchomp for later on.

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+2 252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 244 HP / 248+ Def Gliscor: 364-429 (103.4 - 121.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 244 HP / 248+ Def Gliscor: 243-286 (69 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Poison Heal

Gliscor isn't particularly common nowadays and it's not often seen near the lead slot unless it's a faster Taunt variant, but I posted calcs on the bulkier variant just to attest to the strength of this Garchomp set and because if you see an SD Garchomp, you're less likely to check it with a faster, frailer Gliscor than you are a bulkier one, but neither is a particularly good check to SD Garchomp regardless. This is pretty straightforward. If they happen to lead-off against you or switch-in to you, then you can get SR and an SD up as they damage or cripple you and then you can kill it with Outrage if Gliscor stays in.

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252 Atk Dragon Gem Garchomp Outrage vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Rotom-W: 279-328 (92 - 108.2%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

Rotom-W is occasionally led with just as a means of gaining early momentum and crippling whatever the opponent throws out there and it's also often used as counterplay against Garchomp despite Specially Defensive variants not being a particularly good sponge of the strong physical attacks most variants have to throw at it. Usually when Rotom-W leads against Garchomp, I set up Stealth Rocks turn 1 and let them Will-O-Wisp me. Assuming they hit, I Swords Dance turn 2 and they Hydro, doing a bit under half, leaving be at between a third and a quarter health after both turns of burn. Then, I Outrage and +2 burnt Outrage is equivalent to neutral Outrage, so it has a 50% chance to OHKO, which is crazy considering that OHKOing a Rotom-W is a rare thing to come by. Usually, Rotom-W stays in the whole time because they're inclined to believe that they can shrug off a +2 burnt Dragon Claw/Dual Chop and even a +2 burnt Outrage without Dragon Gem leaves it with a considerable amount of health, but if they switch out to a Steel type then Outrage will basically function as a suicide move and then you'll just get momentum after Garchomp dies.

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I could post some other calcs, but they'd be less directly relevant to Garchomp's function on this team seeing as it's being used almost always during the early game and often as a lead and, therefore, it doesn't encounter a wide variety of Pokemon. There are more than just the above handful, but those are meant to double as relevant Pokemon to Garchomp and evidence to how strong this set is.



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Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Encore

Alakazam tends to function as a late-game cleaner that takes advantage of strong Special Attack and high Speed, but lacks any bulk or defensive presence. On this team, it does just that. I support this Alakazam in pretty much every way possible - there are Spikes, lures to troublesome Pokemon, and multiple Ground types to help annoy Jirachi, which many people see as the best counter to Alakazam in the tier. Therefore, it often is in a very good position later in games due to the nature of the team around it.

While Psychic and Focus Blast are mandatory on all Alakazam, Shadow Ball and Encore fill out my set. Shadow Ball is used almost all of the time, as well, but it's definitely better than Signal Beam on this team because I often find Alakazam pitted against opposing Psychic types and every little bit of extra damage is appreciated, especially with Celebi being nearly nonexistent, which is one of Signal Beam's few perks, and Jellicent being potentially 2HKOd after Stealth Rocks and Sand damage by Shadow Ball. Encore is used because I find it to be incredibly useful if Alakazam is played aggressively and, even if it isn't, it's a nice utility to have around when you're fast and immune to status. It can take advantage of pretty much any non-attacking move that's thrown it's way and, if you play it aggressively, in general if you switch Alakazam in at the right time.​


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Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 8 HP / 104 Atk / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Superpower

This Tyranitar is similar to some sets that have been used in DPP (although they tend to prefer using berries over Expert Belt), but there haven't been (m)any BW Tyranitar sets like this. Honestly, I've fell in love with using Expert Belt Tyranitar over the past month or so and it has been incredibly effective. Here's a bit of an explanation of the set I wrote here before I go into the set specifically on this team:​

Tyranitar (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 8 HP / 104 Atk / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 180 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Superpower

Previously, Jirachee posted an Expert Belt Tyranitar set here and I believe people like Posho have also used similar sets, but this is my personal take on it and I've been having lots of success with this lately, so I thought it would be good to post.

Unlike Jirachee's set, this Tyranitar does not function as a Stealth Rock setter; the sole purpose of this Tyranitar is as a mixed attacker. Not only does this set function as an incredibly effective lure, but it also can break through many mixed cores regardless of the opponent's knowledge of the set (although it's certainly ideal to minimize the information you disclose on your set until it's time to take advantage of the set). Below, in the hide tags, you can see many calcs that pose as examples for what this Tyranitar can do, but in case specific explanation of the EV spread is wanted, the spread is as it is because:
  • Speed allows you to outpace: Adamant max speed Tyranitar (so CB variants), 0 speed Lando-T (some SR variants), 0 speed Rotom-W (fair amount of the SDef variants), non +speed Magnezone (pretty much all non-scarf variants), non max speed Politoed (pretty much all non-scarf variants as they often run some HP over speed), bulkier Heatran, non-custap Skarmory, all Jellicent, and bulkier Scizor.
  • Special Attack allows you to: kill max HP Starmie after SR w/ Dark Pulse, kill Ferrothorn w/ Fire Blast, almost always kill PDef Skarm (always w/ SR) w/ Fire Blast, 2HKO CM Reuniclus at +0 and then +1 w/ Dark Pulse if it were to CM while always surviving Focus Blast from 0 SAtk Reuniclus, 2HKO Jellicent and Mew w/ Dark Pulse when they think they're safer due to Will O Wisp, 2HKO Slowking w/ Dark Pulse, and almost always kill Excadrill w/ Fire Blast after SR.
  • Physical Attack allows you to: almost always kill offensive Heatran w/ Superpower after SR, OHKO Kyurem-B w/ Superpower after SR and Sand, almost always kill Terrakion w/ Superpower (always w/ SR), and OHKO Hydreigon after Sand w/ Superpower.
The best way to use this set is on a team that's reliant upon pokemon that want Steels and/or Lando-T/Garchomp/Gliscor killed as it most effectively lures and kills those types of pokemon. Teams with this set should pretty much always have one of, if not both, of the common 'standard' grounds on their team (Garchomp and Landorus-T) solely because they compliment this Tyranitar very well (either SR or Scarf variants, usually, but SD variants abuse the fact that opposing grounds, Latios, and Skarmory can potentially be taken care of by Tyranitar). This set doesn't necessarily need to bluff Scarf or anything per se, especially if your SR setter is already revealed because then the opponent almost assumes Scarf or Band, but if you happen to use Superpower first, then the opponent literally completely disregards the prospect of you being mixed, so use that to your advantage if it comes into play.

212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 208 SpD Ferrothorn: 360-427 (102.2 - 121.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Starmie: 283-334 (87.6 - 103.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Skarmory: 326-386 (97.8 - 115.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Reuniclus: 281-331 (66.2 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. +1 252 HP / 4 SpD Reuniclus: 187-223 (44.1 - 52.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Reuniclus Focus Blast vs. 8 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 280-332 (81.6 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
104 Atk Expert Belt Tyranitar Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 276-326 (85.4 - 100.9%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
104 Atk Expert Belt Tyranitar Superpower vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Kyurem-B: 288-341 (73.6 - 87.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock - kills after Sand if SR up
104 Atk Expert Belt Tyranitar Superpower vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Terrakion: 317-374 (97.8 - 115.4%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
104 Atk Expert Belt Tyranitar Superpower vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 317-374 (97.2 - 114.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO - kills after Sand and always if -Def
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Jellicent: 233-276 (57.8 - 68.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Thundurus-T: 233-276 (77.9 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 245-290 (60.6 - 71.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 56+ SpD Slowking: 197-233 (50 - 59.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill: 348-410 (96.3 - 113.5%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
104 Atk Expert Belt Tyranitar Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Excadrill: 437-516 (121 - 142.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
212 SpA Expert Belt Tyranitar Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 269-317 (95.7 - 112.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

This Tyranitar does so much for this team and I'm honestly so glad I have it over a traditional Band, Scarf, or Stealth Rock set. I'm sure that my RMTing of this team will spoil the future surprise to some extent, especially for this specific team, but regardless it'll still be effective to some extent. Dark Pulse is probably the move that makes the most people question this set and I must say that it has worked wonders because Jellicent and Mew are so annoying to face when you're relying upon a core of strong Physical Attackers - letting Tyranitar take a weaker Scald or a Will-O-Wisp with minimal consequence is a luxury that's blatantly underrated until you actually let it happen. Ice Beam and Fire Blast both hit various noteworthy threats that the team very much appreciates being weakened or killed and Superpower is complimentary with Dark Pulse and, to a lesser extent, Ice Beam+Fire Blast, but it's also nice because having a Tyranitar that can't touch opposing Tyranitar or Heatran isn't ideal despite my team handling both of them pretty well overall. I could go on and on here, but it'll get repetitive and I think the general concept of what this set does is fairly simple, so I'll leave it at this - be sure to try this one, even if it's not on this team, it'll be worthwhile!!!


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Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
IVs: 30 HP / 30 Def
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Scarf Landorus-T is probably the single set I use the most nowadays - it probably finds its way onto over 1/3 of my teams. I find Scarf Landorus-T to be a great Pokemon in BW OU right now because it is the epitome of convenience when it comes to teambuilding and it's very effective, even if it has plenty of checks and counters. Fast U-turn and Intimidate are a great pairing and they both play vital roles in Landorus-T's function on this team. Every game I take advantage of the momentum Landorus-T grants, the Speed Scarf Landorus-T has, and the Intimidate ability. It's hard to really go in depth on a Pokemon like this, but Landorus-T performs exceptionally well here because Garchomp and Tyranitar tend to weaken or kill many of the normal pivots into it and without Landorus-T, this team would fall flat to a lot of opposing Speed boosting sweepers or fast Pokemon in general. It's also my saving grace against opposing Alakazam, which this team has to dance around a bit, because it either breaks sash or forces it out every time. Overall, Landorus-T is a staple on this team and functions as a glue in a sense that it is my safety net for many things and it works so well with everything else I have.

The set I am using on Landorus-T on this team is pretty much the same set that Scarf Landorus-T uses 95% of the time, but in case people are wondering why I'm using Hidden Power Ice over Superpower, Explosion, or Sleep Talk, it's because it's simply the best move of the three overall and although I have Dragon Gem Garchomp and Ice Beam lure Tyranitar, I find it to be very effective with all of the Garchomp, opposing Landorus-T, Gliscor, etc. trying to pivot into U-Turn or even Earthquake - one timely prediction and the whole game is put heavily in your favor. Superpower is not particularly necessary on this team because Latios has HP Fire, which often catches Ferrothorn, and Alakazam, Tyranitar, and Garchomp can heavily damage Ferrothorn anyway. Explosion I don't view as a move that's really ever worth using on Scarf Landorus-T in BW, but this team doesn't struggle w/ Rotom-W, so it's even less appealing. Finally, Sleep Talk's not very good, either, but while this team only has Latios to "switch in" to Breloom, the shroom does struggle to get in safely and do much against my team with any consistency due to the fast pace, so I'll take the slight weakness, especially since Sleep Talk Landorus-T doesn't even do much damage to opposing Breloom, so it's still an issue (side note: I usually try to keep Garchomp alive and sleep it in most Breloom match-ups, but there are a lot of factors that can change that in each individual game, of course).


@

Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 172 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed

Ferrothorn is pretty straightforward. It's a defensive Pokemon and it checks a lot of common things in the metagame; the Dragon and Water resist that it provides me was the biggest appeal, but the fact that it has Spikes is also much appreciated. Ferrothorn often finds itself switching into a Draco or Hydro earlier in the match, if a situation requiring that arises, and it takes these strong attacks fairly easily.

The moveset is also relatively straightforward. I elected to use two attacks, Power Whip and Gyro Ball, over Protect simply because Protect can slow down momentum and I find it unnecessary on this team while being able to hit bulky Waters with Power Whip is appreciated, especially when they're trying to burn you, while Gyro Ball is generally a good attack to have on Ferrothorn seeing how slow it is and the fact that Steel provides decent neutral coverage. Spikes are a staple on, more or less, every Ferrothorn set and Leech Seed is, as well, simply because Spikes are so important to punish opponents for switching while Leech Seed helps keep Ferrothorn alive and punish opponents for consistently attacking or setting-up on Ferrothorn with their Pokemon.


@

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

Latios is another Pokemon on the team that's fairly standard and finds its way onto many teams. On this team, it works as a Keldeo check, Water resist, Electric resist, hard-hitter, etc. - Latios does plenty for the team and it rounds things out quite well, too. My team is predominantly physical, so it's nice to have a more durable special Pokemon than Alakazam. Additionally, Latios happens to clear the way for Alakazam often.

The moveset here is what I consider to be the best combination of moves on LO Latios and what I find fitting onto the most teams, but it's fairly evident that almost everyone else frequents Psyshock. Surf is a solid coverage move on Latios; Surf Latios singlehandedly destroys any Rain team that lacks Ferrothorn as well as hitting Heatran, Tyranitar, and Excadrill. I think something a lot of people overlook is the fact that Surf additionally functions as a fairly safe neutral coverage move to click, when in doubt. While a non-STAB Surf isn't the strongest move, Latios has strong Special Attack and using Draco isn't always ideal, so Surf is far more useful than just a coverage move to hit Heatran. Hidden Power Fire is important on this team because it picks off pesky Steels like Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Scizor, Jirachi (sorta), and the rare Metagross. Seeing as Skarmory and, to a lesser extent, Ferrothorn are problematic to the dual Grounds while Jirachi, Scizor, Metagross, and, to a lesser extent, Skarmory are problematic to Alakazam, Hidden Power Fire works exceedingly well on this team, regardless of the fact that I have Fire Blast on Tyranitar. If anything, having both is practical because once one is revealed, the other is much less likely in the eyes of the opponent and you can never have too much coverage for Steel types in BW, especially when they tend to be carrying Spikes often and you do not want to have a team with too many Pokemon that let up Spikes freely. Psyshock simply isn't needed as it's only really there to make Draco less necessary in a few situations (i.e: against Keldeo) and one could argue that my current coverage does just as good a job of doing that. Moreover, Surf+HP Fire Latios is the best set for this team and it should see more usage in general, as well.

Threatlist and Replays

Alakazam


Alakazam is annoying because I lack a reliable check to it, which most BW teams appreciate. I am weak to Alakazam and I'm fully willing to admit this; it 2HKOs everything assuming it doesn't get near minimum damage on Garchomp and, even then, Garchomp is usually dead or significantly weakened by later on due to how it is used on this team. My main way of dealing with Alakazam is a combination of consistent offensive pressure on the opposing team throughout the game, which often forces Alakazam to be used prematurely or never to get an opening to do too much, Scarf Landorus-T, and keeping either Latios or Ferrothorn healthy (enough to live any Alakazam attack). This is far from ideal, but I've found it to be sufficient in pretty much every circumstance because my team does well against the general structure of a lot of the Alakazam Sand teams you run into nowadays and that makes dealing with Alakazam later on much more possible. With this all said, there are still no Alakazam switch-ins on my team and I'm weaker to it than anyone would like to be in BW OU.

Volcarona


Well, yea...this team has potential to get absolutely demolished by a well-played Volcarona with the right set and nature (Timid). Since I'm using Scarf Landorus-T a faster Scarf, such as Garchomp or Keldeo, a +1 Speed Volcarona outruns my entire team. Additionally, with +1 Special Attack, Volcarona can sweep me with Bug Buzz + Fire Blast alone, assuming Garchomp is dead or weakened like it normally is mid-late game due to how it is utilized on this team (Bug Gem, LO, or HP Ice Volcarona also does the trick if Garchomp happens to be alive and healthy). My ways around this are using Encore on an attack, foddering off something, and then hoping that I have a healthy enough Pokemon to take the +1 Fire Blast (Tyranitar, Garchomp, or Latios) or +1 Bug Buzz (Landorus-T, Ferrothorn, or Garchomp) and kill it in return. In the process of doing this, I often lose at least one Pokemon and then have another significantly damaged and this line of play is not even a sure thing given the circumstances of many games (i.e: the health of my remaining Pokemon - if Alakazam's Sash is broken, it's not happening and if multiple Pokemon on my team are significantly weakened, then odds are that my ability to get rid of Volcarona after its Encored is compromised to a fatal extent). When I play Volcarona teams, I often cannot Draco with Latios, as this opens up a free turn for Volcarona to set-up if there are no Stealth Rocks up. In addition, I usually try to not let Garchomp go early in the game solely so I can set up Stealth Rocks multiple times, if need be, but I often still lead with it simply out of convenience and the way the team works.

Tornadus


I was debating putting this here because, while I am 'weak' to Tornadus, it rarely ends up a problem in practice. At the end of the day, however, my lone Flying resist is non-Chople non-Scarf Tyranitar, so including Tornadus and explaining some means of dealing with it couldn't hurt. Usually, teams only have one member who can outpace Tornadus seeing as it outpaces both of the Latis, but teams with Alakazam or Starmie in conjunction with a Scarfer happen to have multiple, which is the case for my team. That automatically puts me in an advantageous position against Tornadus, but this isn't all there is to it. Tornadus does not come in safely against anything on my team unless it's an Earthquake locked Landorus-T. If it's Specs, then it has to predict correctly every time, or at least until Tyranitar is gone, which seems much riskier than it actually is because people are initially under the impression that Tyranitar can Pursuit your Tornadus to (near) death if you pick wrong. If it's Sharp Beak, then Tornadus doesn't do enough to kill Garchomp or Latios after Stealth Rocks and, while it can switch up moves, the initial pivot to Tyranitar becomes easier to pull-off because it's more likely to Hurricane if non-Scarf Tyranitar is confirmed and with a quick calc confirming it's not Specs, you can take advantage of this and easily pivot around Tornadus in almost all early-game situations. Finally, it's worth noting that Surf Latios often does very well against Tornadus Rain teams, which often is overlooked or not explicitly stated, but I find the pairing of this with Alakazam and then Scarf Landorus-T to often overwhelm any offensive Rain team that is thrown at me, which is great due to my lack of traditional Tornadus counterplay.

Gastrodon


Gastrodon is irksome to deal with, but it's only that -- irksome. I find it hard to label myself as conventionally weak to it because whenever I face Gastrodon, I'm getting up multiple layers of Spikes and Gastrodon teams lack Starmie (and, oftentimes, lack hazard control in general). With Spikes up and Gastrodon often forced-out by Ferrothorn or a well-timed Encore from Alakazam, it's fairly easy pickings. Garchomp can easily overwhelm Gastrodon thanks to its set, Latios can drop a Draco on it for a ton of damage, which should be enough with Spikes, Alakazam can forcibly weaken it with Psychic unless it wishes to get itself forced-out/forced into Recover thanks to Encore shenanigans, and, of course, Ferrothorn can straight-up kill Gastrodon with Power Whip. From a glance, the team struggles to kill our favorite slug because it can 1v1 up to 5 of my Pokemon depending on the set, but, practically speaking, the Gastrodon match-up isn't all-that-bad and it often enables me to control the pace of the match and the hazard game, which I generally appreciate having the ability to do.

Offensive Trick Room pokemon


This is a weird one, but they can be very much problematic if you look at my team. OTR Reuniclus is the biggest threat here and it basically comes down to a guessing game if it has enough turns at its disposal, but Encore with Alakazam at full can help, to some extent. OTR Slowking needs Fire Blast, Ice Beam, and Surf to do well against my entire team, but often enough it's lacking Ice Beam, which is good as Latios can check it, but if it happens to have that, then it could net a surprise kill and potentially sweep me if I decided to let Ferrothorn get weakened or if it packed both Fire and Ice. I really hesitate to call OTR Slowking a legitimate threat as it's so rare and it needs to have the right moves or some conditions in its favor, but OTR Reuniclus certainly is a threat and if you get Conkeldurr or something else that's threatening going under Trick Room, then it can be a mess for my team to handle due to how fast-paced and vulnerable it is.
I don't have many because there aren't many major BW tours going on during this time of the year and I didn't want to reveal it on my main alt before I got to use it in a few SmogTours, but here are a handful of them for those interested in seeing the team in action that haven't already!​




Thanks to everyone who happens to read this, like this team, and/or use it in the future. I'm open to any questions, comments, etc. and, please, offer your feedback and criticism if you happen to have any! I hope that people try out this team and, specifically, the Tyranitar set in the BW OU metagame. Additionally, I hope that variant of Garchomp gets more usage in the near future as it's quite effective. Sorry this ran so long - I like going in depth and fully explaining my thought process and the details of the team if and when possible, so I did so to the full extent.

Finally, the team is named Badlands because this is one of my favorite recent albums. Halsey is one of my favorite singers and her music has a very strong emotional and sentimental significance in my life and her album is something that I personally enjoy listening to and cherish. On an unrelated note, props to TDK because I shamelessly mirrored some of the formatting points in his June RMT in this RMT because it had been so long since I wrote an RMT and I thought his was done very well. Also, this team looks fairly similar to Jirachee's team that he RMTd, but the two teams play quite differently due to how they approach early games and that kinda domino effects through the remainder, but I in no way intended for them to be similar and if anyone thinks I'm stealing his thunder or anything, this is not at all the case - his team is great and has been for much longer than mine has existed, but they're totally separate teams, ideas, etc.. This is all - thanks again to everyone and I hope I have asserted my dominance over Nedor as the longest RMT writer (oops)!

Importable | Chomper | Badlands

 
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cool team finch, I've played it several times and it's very strong. it reminds me of a more offensive version of my favorite jirachee team. latios definitely makes this team more immediately fierce (I use surf/fire too btw it's the best).

that said you are really volc weak, moreso than usual because your ttar is actually setup bait for it and of course it's scot free vs volc. starmie will remove rocks and you almost surely won't get them back up before volc appears. I love encore zam to death but I think your team would really benefit from twave. it would also help with opposing zam, which is a scenario I would imagine arises fairly often with this team. you might want to consider twave on ferrothorn as well since gyro looks to be kind of a luxury move. twave would also help against offensive jirachis which look to be kind of annoying, mainly because ttar being faster means it's going to shred it as opposed to getting shredded itself. ferro would also probably appreciate more sdef so it can tank zam/torn attacks at higher range, I don't think you need that much defense. honestly your team is so offensive I think ferro could forgo lefties to use chople. it helps with zam keld rak torn thund who are all threats etc etc but the real reason is mienshao. lo is a bitch to switch into but that's a given for a lot of teams and you can play around it; however the choice scarf set is the single most threatening pokemon you can face, even worse than volc. I think it's worth the investment, especially seeing how it helps vs all those other fighting-using nasties. might even be nice if you run into a stray specs focus blast politoed.

personally I would use scarf chomp (shocking I know) because it's the best pokemon in the tier amazing and you can make lando be an even more brutal wallbreaker while still being incredibly reliable sr (I had eq/gravity/hp ice @ eplate in mind, worth mentioning that gravity + scarfchomp is just unfair). in addition to covering volc, endgame scenarios where your opponent also has a scarf land can get kinda messy and chomp doesn't buy any of that. land can actually afford some bulk with that sr set which can be huge against chomp/terrak. I could also see dual chop blowing through opposing zam's sash being a lifesaver. lastly being able to kill dragons with your stab attack which also has great coverage is incredibly useful vs dragmag and in general for lategame sweeps (like for example smurf's weatherless offense where a lot of volcs are going to be seen), whereas lando's weak hp ices don't exactly strike fear in the opponent. if you do use scarfchomp I don't think twave is necessary on zam so you can keep encore, but since you cited gastrodon as a problem and skarmory looks to be annoying or worse on a bad day, I think cm is worth trying, as it blows those kinds of teams to shreds and if you get up enough hazards then you'll often just kill tyranitar right through chople.

sd scizor can also definitely be threatening when it sets up on ferrothorn since garchomp is probably going to take at least somewhat of a beating in the early-mid game. offensive variants are very scary but ferrothorn's leech + lando + zam sash mean they'll rarely outright sweep you (although they very well could and won't have trouble leaving a massive dent). the bulky ones with leftovers and roost are more dangerous imo since land is not that durable. you can definitely play around it though. in terms of fixes there's not much to really do here; hp fire on zam would be alright and would also hit skarm harder as well as not having to use focus miss vs ferro. works even better with scarfchomp + eplate land cause chomp's being held back a lot so it'll save its hp and that land set absolutely massacres sciz with eq so it'll be even more hard pressed to handle it.

also I think you have the hazard support to make ebelt on ttar not as necessary. I also don't think the attack evs do that much in practice, so what I'd do is max out satk (probably mild as well, I don't think it's worth trying to outspeed 0 spe lando as it is so rare and every ev counts especially on a poke like this; they will just about never go that low seeing as dnite and loom are such big threats so I'd stick to trying to ice beam it on the switch. you'll outrun just about every cbtar by a mile anyway) to do as much damage to your intended targets as possible, making up for the loss of ebelt somewhat, and then give it chople. you can never have too much zam insurance. you will be a lot safer against offensive rain by tanking thund/torn focus, if it faces hydreigon it lives and kills back as opposed to dying and doing nothing, it helps with otr reun which you mentioned as a threat and at high health you'll take scarftar's superpower. makes the occasional nasty plot mew even less of a threat I suppose

now I totally understand why you have the chomp + land sets you do, they're fantastic at what they do obviously. this would just be my alternative 9/10 times.

last thing, you may want to consider sleep talk specs latios. against a keldtar team very rarely are you going to be making use of recover because ttar's just going to pursuit your ass immediately, and the extra power actually helps bust past it - plus, zam is so threatening that it can backup pressure keld for you (something I like very much about this team) and when lati hits tar your opponent is probably in a lot of trouble with zam later. sleep talk turn breloom/amoonguss from annoying to free kills. amoong isn't that big a deal considering how badly the rest of the team beats it up (although it still gets essentially a ko, which still might not be too bad) but a well played loom can really set the tone of the match early game and with sleep talk you take that away. this is optional of course, life orb works perfectly fine.

tldr:
- twave > gb ferro @ chople
- either twave on zam or scarfchomp + sr gravity land w some bulk @ eplate
- mild max satk tar @ chople
- possibly sleep talk specs latios

overall very strong team, gl
 

Finchinator

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cool team finch, I've played it several times and it's very strong. it reminds me of a more offensive version of my favorite jirachee team. latios definitely makes this team more immediately fierce (I use surf/fire too btw it's the best).
Thanks! It's similar to this Jirachee team that he posted in the past when you look at it mon-by-mon and some of the sets are similar, too, but the overall structure of the two teams are different to a significant extent -- as you said, his is more balanced (Jellicent over Latios and SR Tar instead of an off-the-bat breaker SR Chomp, etc. - the lead change kinda impacts the pace of the whole team, to be honest, and Latios is a much more offensive means of tackling Pokemon like Keldeo, as you said).

that said you are really volc weak, moreso than usual because your ttar is actually setup bait for it and of course it's scot free vs volc. starmie will remove rocks and you almost surely won't get them back up before volc appears. I love encore zam to death but I think your team would really benefit from twave. it would also help with opposing zam, which is a scenario I would imagine arises fairly often with this team. you might want to consider twave on ferrothorn as well since gyro looks to be kind of a luxury move. twave would also help against offensive jirachis which look to be kind of annoying, mainly because ttar being faster means it's going to shred it as opposed to getting shredded itself. ferro would also probably appreciate more sdef so it can tank zam/torn attacks at higher range, I don't think you need that much defense. honestly your team is so offensive I think ferro could forgo lefties to use chople. it helps with zam keld rak torn thund who are all threats etc etc but the real reason is mienshao. lo is a bitch to switch into but that's a given for a lot of teams and you can play around it; however the choice scarf set is the single most threatening pokemon you can face, even worse than volc. I think it's worth the investment, especially seeing how it helps vs all those other fighting-using nasties. might even be nice if you run into a stray specs focus blast politoed.
I do agree that the team is incredibly weak to most Volcarona, especially when the opponent plays their team properly to support it. I don't think the Tyranitar set lacking a Rock move necessarily plays into it as many Volcarona users aren't willing to risk setting-up on Tyranitar, unless the full set is revealed, when the match-up is this good and the odds of Tyranitar having a Rock move are decent. With that said, now that the team is public, this may change the dynamic.

I do think, however, that adding Thunder Wave to Alakazam over Encore is a smart decision that I previously overlooked. Volcarona is obviously the main reason why seeing as it being slowed down makes it stoppable once it has a Quiver Dance up, but opposing Alakazam being crippled is also greatly appreciated, as you stated. Offensive Jirachi's are only problematic if they have Fire + Ice coverage, but those variants that are like Hidden Power Fire + Icy Wind + Iron Head + SR/TBolt/EBall are hard to deal with, especially earlier on in games and if they have Shuca. I don't think Thunder Wave on Alakazam will necessarily be too relevant for stopping these simply because by the time Alakazam is in the game, usually that type of Jirachi has already been severely weakened or killed and I don't plan on using TWave Alakazam as an early-mid game pivot into any variant of Jirachi to change this. Having the option there is still nice, however.

I'm not particularly fond of TWave Ferrothorn (at least on this team) because the team doesn't need paralysis support to function a vast majority of the time and giving up on an attack or Leech Seed isn't ideal seeing how often I use Ferrothorn to pivot into things where one, if not multiple, of the three moves are necessary in the given situation. I do think that Chople Berry being used over Leftovers on Ferrothorn would be a nice addition on this team. I've used Chople on numerous Pokemon, including Ferrothorn, in the past months and with all of the Focus Blasts, Secret Swords, Superpowers, Mach Punches, etc. flying around, it tends to be helpful regardless of the specific intent behind using the item, but this team really benefits from it seeing as Alakazam is a problem and the up-and-coming Mienshao also poses a threat to my team. I feel like keeping the same spread with Chople is fine, but I could shift 40 or so EVs (to hit the next jump point) more into Special Defense from Defense without compromising much, so either way works.

personally I would use scarf chomp (shocking I know) because it's the best pokemon in the tier amazing and you can make lando be an even more brutal wallbreaker while still being incredibly reliable sr (I had eq/gravity/hp ice @ eplate in mind, worth mentioning that gravity + scarfchomp is just unfair). in addition to covering volc, endgame scenarios where your opponent also has a scarf land can get kinda messy and chomp doesn't buy any of that. land can actually afford some bulk with that sr set which can be huge against chomp/terrak. I could also see dual chop blowing through opposing zam's sash being a lifesaver. lastly being able to kill dragons with your stab attack which also has great coverage is incredibly useful vs dragmag and in general for lategame sweeps (like for example smurf's weatherless offense where a lot of volcs are going to be seen), whereas lando's weak hp ices don't exactly strike fear in the opponent. if you do use scarfchomp I don't think twave is necessary on zam so you can keep encore, but since you cited gastrodon as a problem and skarmory looks to be annoying or worse on a bad day, I think cm is worth trying, as it blows those kinds of teams to shreds and if you get up enough hazards then you'll often just kill tyranitar right through chople.
I personally find Scarf Landorus-T to be better on this team simply because it provides HP Ice, U-turn, and Intimidate with Speed, but Garchomp being Scarf obviously has its merits (Volc being the main one). While switching the roles around to let LandoT be the breaker and adding a synergetic Gravity does seem appealing, I think I will personally stick with the current team in this regard because of the element of momentum and the potent nature of the Garchomp set early on. Much like many other Sand builds, things are, arguably, interchangeable - I can realistically build a team with these same fix Pokemon with LandoT, Garchomp, or Tyranitar being Scarf, SR, or other sets they have at their disposal, but I find the current combination to work the best together. Others may think otherwise and I completely respect their alternative perspective.

sd scizor can also definitely be threatening when it sets up on ferrothorn since garchomp is probably going to take at least somewhat of a beating in the early-mid game. offensive variants are very scary but ferrothorn's leech + lando + zam sash mean they'll rarely outright sweep you (although they very well could and won't have trouble leaving a massive dent). the bulky ones with leftovers and roost are more dangerous imo since land is not that durable. you can definitely play around it though. in terms of fixes there's not much to really do here; hp fire on zam would be alright and would also hit skarm harder as well as not having to use focus miss vs ferro. works even better with scarfchomp + eplate land cause chomp's being held back a lot so it'll save its hp and that land set absolutely massacres sciz with eq so it'll be even more hard pressed to handle it.

also I think you have the hazard support to make ebelt on ttar not as necessary. I also don't think the attack evs do that much in practice, so what I'd do is max out satk (probably mild as well, I don't think it's worth trying to outspeed 0 spe lando as it is so rare and every ev counts especially on a poke like this; they will just about never go that low seeing as dnite and loom are such big threats so I'd stick to trying to ice beam it on the switch. you'll outrun just about every cbtar by a mile anyway) to do as much damage to your intended targets as possible, making up for the loss of ebelt somewhat, and then give it chople. you can never have too much zam insurance. you will be a lot safer against offensive rain by tanking thund/torn focus, if it faces hydreigon it lives and kills back as opposed to dying and doing nothing, it helps with otr reun which you mentioned as a threat and at high health you'll take scarftar's superpower. makes the occasional nasty plot mew even less of a threat I suppose
Scizor's a threat to my team and after I posted it, I recall Blunder and ZoroDark asking me why I didn't include it in the threat list at the end of the RMT. In hindsight, it may very well belong there. With that said, however, Scizor is often found switching into or staying in on an unexpected Fire move from Tyranitar or Latios. Part of the reason why I use EBelt Tar and Surf+Fire Latios is so that the team doesn't really let any of the bulkier Pokemon out there, especially the bulkier win conditions, breathe throughout the game. The coverage tends to overwhelm teams and eventually, they crack due to taking a risk that doesn't go their way. While I lack an on-paper means of beating a bulky SD Scizor, it's not going to end up a problem a majority of the time due to luring. I find Offensive Scizor to be annoying, but it's never getting more than 1-2 kills unless I play myself into a hole. The only Scizor that I find to be truly problematic is a patient Bulky SD Roost Scizor. Given that I'll likely get Spikes up during the game and, if it comes in on Ferrothorn to set-up, which is often, Leech Seed on Scizor, it'll be hard for Scizor to realistically sweep me given that I have Intimidate + max attack EQ and other means of getting in the way of Scizor straight-out sweeping me, but if it manages to get in safely and work around the multiple lures I have, which isn't very often, while either healing and boosting quickly or being in a position to straight up Boost and then live whatever is thrown at it, then bulky SD Scizor can win. It has to have a pretty perfect set of circumstances surrounding it given how my team plays for things to work out, but it's possible and I do not deny this. I personally find the sets I use to be perfect when it comes to dealing with Pokemon like Scizor because they often handle the problem without even having to take an attack and that gives the team lots of momentum and a noteworthy lead, but there are more traditional means of counterplay that involve changing some things around that can work, too.

last thing, you may want to consider sleep talk specs latios. against a keldtar team very rarely are you going to be making use of recover because ttar's just going to pursuit your ass immediately, and the extra power actually helps bust past it - plus, zam is so threatening that it can backup pressure keld for you (something I like very much about this team) and when lati hits tar your opponent is probably in a lot of trouble with zam later. sleep talk turn breloom/amoonguss from annoying to free kills. amoong isn't that big a deal considering how badly the rest of the team beats it up (although it still gets essentially a ko, which still might not be too bad) but a well played loom can really set the tone of the match early game and with sleep talk you take that away. this is optional of course, life orb works perfectly fine.
Specs Latios is almost always a viable option, especially when Chople Ferrothorn would help with things like Keldeo, but I appreciate being able to switch-up moves and being able to have some longevity in match-ups against bulkier teams, so I often opt to use LO. With that said, either variant is acceptable assuming Chople Ferrothorn is used, so that's up to whoever is using the team.

Thanks for the rate - it was very thorough and well-done!
 

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