Defenders of the Crown
Here is a team that has been modified heavily throughout the last month or two. I started off having a balanced offense team, but now it is turning into a type of bulky offense. This team has one goal, which can typically be challenging to reach, and that is to sweep with Landorus-T. This is difficult because this team is nowhere near perfect. I have a lot of trouble keeping momentum and this team lacks priority moves to pick off pokemon that have 2%-15% health left, which is sadly very common. Another problem that I have with this team is that battles take waaaay too long. I had an 81-turn long battle yesterday, and the majority of other battles have been over 40-turns long. I'm looking for help because I need to find a way to speed this team up while keeping it effective. I've tested things like CB Scizor and Choice Scarf Latios, but I just lacked good switch-ins to certain things. Anyway, here is the team:
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 76 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Synthesis
Venusaur, the crown himself. He always has several opportunities to switch in on something, whether it be a physical attacker or a special attacker. Venusaur is a very important member because people occasionally doubt the bulk of his mega form and will ignorantly stay in on him only to be slowly worn down by Giga Drain to be put to sleep by Sleep Powder. Giga Drain is an effective STAB move which allows him to regain health to due the unfortunate lack of leftovers. Sludge Bomb is another STAB move which deals heavy damage to fairy type pokemon such as Azumarill. Sleep Powder is there to shut down a problematic pokemon, while Synthesis is here to reliably regain health after taking a lot of damage. The EV spread is to effectively take both physical and special attacks, but there is nothing notable about the specific EVs.
Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
Heatran is often my surprise revenge killer and late game cleaner. He is also my switch-in of choice when I foresee a fire-type move coming my way. Heatran is such a great choice scarfer simply because most people don't expect it. His moveset may appear to be inferior to some others, but I have reasons to back up my choices. Lava Plume was chosen over Fire Blast or Overheat simply because I needed a reliable way to kill off a pokemon, and if my opponent switches into something that could take the hit, they usually get burned. Earth Power was chosen to hit opposing Heatran as well as anything else that Lava Plume wouldn't be doing much too. Ancient Power is here to nail Charizard and Volcarona. I decided to use it over Stone Edge because I already have a surplus of inaccurate moves on this team, and one extra move that easily misses does not sound too appealing. Lastly, HP Ice is to nail Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp.
Rotom-W (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 56 SAtk / 212 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is pretty much a staple on all of my teams. It's just too good not to use in this current meta. It's my switch-in to threats like Talonflame and Aegislash. A physically defense build was chosen on this team because he counters a lot of problems that this team would otherwise face. Hydro Pump is the obvious STAB move of choice, as it is Rotom's only water type move available to him, aside from Hidden Power Water... Volt Switch is a very important move on Rotom as it allows him to deal damage while simultaneously switching out into something that would be better for the situation, thus building momentum. Will-O-Wisp is such a great move due to the accuracy buff that it had received, though it still misses twice in a row for me. Pain Split is an interesting move which allows Rotom to deal damage while recovering. The special attack EVs (might) allow it too kill common Gliscor, not too sure on that.
Landorus-T (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Landorus-T is a very important member on my team. Aside from Heatran being able to finish off a weakened team, Landorus-T is essentially my most obvious win condition. Packing both Rock Polish and Swords Dance, this can be a very threatening pokemon since most people expect it to just eat up a physical attack and U-Turn out. But that is not the case. I always try to save Landorus-T for late-game, but this can sometimes be difficult since he is easily the strongest member on my team. Rock Polish is here to scare offensive teams that would normally be able to outspeed and kill Landorus-T, but would faint otherwise. Swords Dance is to finish off defensive teams that would normally be able to take a shot from Landorus unboosted. Earthquake is my go-to move once there are no flying types of levitators remaining on my opponent's team, while Stone Edge hurts those as well as grass types.
Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Taunt
Mandibuzz is actually a new member on this team. My team previously did not enjoy switching in just to get hurt by stealth rocks until Mandibuzz came along. This pokemon is able to accomplish a lot on this team. Defog serves two main purposes: the first purpose is to obviously remove stealth rocks, and the second reason is to allow pokemon like Rotom and Landorus to actually hit that pokemon with Hydro Pump and Stone Edge respectively if they were to stay in. Foul Play is such a good move; it pretty much insta-kills any prideful physical attacker after a swords dance and it also deals great damage to pokemon like Gengar, which is a problem to this team. Roost is her reliable recovery move which also allows it to take neutral damage from stealth rocks during that turn. Taunt shuts down set up sweepers as well as stallmons.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 236 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Spd / 16 Atk
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
Jirachi is the final and newest addition to the team. After putting Mandibuzz on the team, I was looking through the good cores thread to find a good partner for Mandibuzz, and I saw specially defensive Jirachi. The EVs are pretty strange, I know. I noticed that an Iron Head only did about 45% damage to Tyranitar with 0 atk investment, so I added a little more to hopefully get the 2HKO, though it's probably not enough. Jirachi is the big supporter on this team with Wish, allowing it to heal the other members on this team which are usually worn out during a long game. Stealth Rock is here to hurt things like Gyarados and to punish things for switching in. Iron Head and Body Slam are here because, well, the hax is real. Body Slam to paralyze a pokemon, and spam Iron Head to stun kill it.
Threats:
- Baton Pass teams
- SubDD Gyarados
- Gengar
- Stall teams (I just don't have the patience)
- Showdown Lag
So that's my team. I would really appreciate any suggestions that would help the team out. Thanks for reading.
Here is a team that has been modified heavily throughout the last month or two. I started off having a balanced offense team, but now it is turning into a type of bulky offense. This team has one goal, which can typically be challenging to reach, and that is to sweep with Landorus-T. This is difficult because this team is nowhere near perfect. I have a lot of trouble keeping momentum and this team lacks priority moves to pick off pokemon that have 2%-15% health left, which is sadly very common. Another problem that I have with this team is that battles take waaaay too long. I had an 81-turn long battle yesterday, and the majority of other battles have been over 40-turns long. I'm looking for help because I need to find a way to speed this team up while keeping it effective. I've tested things like CB Scizor and Choice Scarf Latios, but I just lacked good switch-ins to certain things. Anyway, here is the team:
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Def / 76 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Sleep Powder
- Synthesis
Venusaur, the crown himself. He always has several opportunities to switch in on something, whether it be a physical attacker or a special attacker. Venusaur is a very important member because people occasionally doubt the bulk of his mega form and will ignorantly stay in on him only to be slowly worn down by Giga Drain to be put to sleep by Sleep Powder. Giga Drain is an effective STAB move which allows him to regain health to due the unfortunate lack of leftovers. Sludge Bomb is another STAB move which deals heavy damage to fairy type pokemon such as Azumarill. Sleep Powder is there to shut down a problematic pokemon, while Synthesis is here to reliably regain health after taking a lot of damage. The EV spread is to effectively take both physical and special attacks, but there is nothing notable about the specific EVs.
Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
Heatran is often my surprise revenge killer and late game cleaner. He is also my switch-in of choice when I foresee a fire-type move coming my way. Heatran is such a great choice scarfer simply because most people don't expect it. His moveset may appear to be inferior to some others, but I have reasons to back up my choices. Lava Plume was chosen over Fire Blast or Overheat simply because I needed a reliable way to kill off a pokemon, and if my opponent switches into something that could take the hit, they usually get burned. Earth Power was chosen to hit opposing Heatran as well as anything else that Lava Plume wouldn't be doing much too. Ancient Power is here to nail Charizard and Volcarona. I decided to use it over Stone Edge because I already have a surplus of inaccurate moves on this team, and one extra move that easily misses does not sound too appealing. Lastly, HP Ice is to nail Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp.
Rotom-W (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 56 SAtk / 212 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is pretty much a staple on all of my teams. It's just too good not to use in this current meta. It's my switch-in to threats like Talonflame and Aegislash. A physically defense build was chosen on this team because he counters a lot of problems that this team would otherwise face. Hydro Pump is the obvious STAB move of choice, as it is Rotom's only water type move available to him, aside from Hidden Power Water... Volt Switch is a very important move on Rotom as it allows him to deal damage while simultaneously switching out into something that would be better for the situation, thus building momentum. Will-O-Wisp is such a great move due to the accuracy buff that it had received, though it still misses twice in a row for me. Pain Split is an interesting move which allows Rotom to deal damage while recovering. The special attack EVs (might) allow it too kill common Gliscor, not too sure on that.
Landorus-T (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
Landorus-T is a very important member on my team. Aside from Heatran being able to finish off a weakened team, Landorus-T is essentially my most obvious win condition. Packing both Rock Polish and Swords Dance, this can be a very threatening pokemon since most people expect it to just eat up a physical attack and U-Turn out. But that is not the case. I always try to save Landorus-T for late-game, but this can sometimes be difficult since he is easily the strongest member on my team. Rock Polish is here to scare offensive teams that would normally be able to outspeed and kill Landorus-T, but would faint otherwise. Swords Dance is to finish off defensive teams that would normally be able to take a shot from Landorus unboosted. Earthquake is my go-to move once there are no flying types of levitators remaining on my opponent's team, while Stone Edge hurts those as well as grass types.
Mandibuzz (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Foul Play
- Roost
- Taunt
Mandibuzz is actually a new member on this team. My team previously did not enjoy switching in just to get hurt by stealth rocks until Mandibuzz came along. This pokemon is able to accomplish a lot on this team. Defog serves two main purposes: the first purpose is to obviously remove stealth rocks, and the second reason is to allow pokemon like Rotom and Landorus to actually hit that pokemon with Hydro Pump and Stone Edge respectively if they were to stay in. Foul Play is such a good move; it pretty much insta-kills any prideful physical attacker after a swords dance and it also deals great damage to pokemon like Gengar, which is a problem to this team. Roost is her reliable recovery move which also allows it to take neutral damage from stealth rocks during that turn. Taunt shuts down set up sweepers as well as stallmons.
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 236 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Spd / 16 Atk
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Body Slam
Jirachi is the final and newest addition to the team. After putting Mandibuzz on the team, I was looking through the good cores thread to find a good partner for Mandibuzz, and I saw specially defensive Jirachi. The EVs are pretty strange, I know. I noticed that an Iron Head only did about 45% damage to Tyranitar with 0 atk investment, so I added a little more to hopefully get the 2HKO, though it's probably not enough. Jirachi is the big supporter on this team with Wish, allowing it to heal the other members on this team which are usually worn out during a long game. Stealth Rock is here to hurt things like Gyarados and to punish things for switching in. Iron Head and Body Slam are here because, well, the hax is real. Body Slam to paralyze a pokemon, and spam Iron Head to stun kill it.
Threats:
- Baton Pass teams
- SubDD Gyarados
- Gengar
- Stall teams (I just don't have the patience)
- Showdown Lag
So that's my team. I would really appreciate any suggestions that would help the team out. Thanks for reading.
