Salamence just wanted to dance!

[TrueLuck]

THIS IS NOT A LADDER TEAM.

Hello, ladies and gentleman, As of 2 weeks ago salamence had gone to the uber tier, many disagreed, some agreed, i wasn't too fussed as i was a big UU player, but ubers changed me, and i love it!
Anyway, looking upon salamences set, there was one called " Rayquazas dance partner", many laughed at this going " LOL N00B SMOGON SALAMENCE CANT BE IN UBARS AND WHY HAV 2 DD'ERS ". I didn't so much question the set, i just went with it, after lurking around the RMT section, i was amazed, no Uber RMT had salamence in it, well, i wanted to be the first!

This team revolves around salamence setting up a sweep for rayquaza as they're dance partners, salamence has got a few sweeps himself.

Team building process:

I knew i wanted mence and ray, so they were obvious choices.

Next all sweepers need entry hazard support, right? Deoxys-S was an obvious choice.

Next i wanted something that could help the two set up, i decided on wobb for encore and shadow tag.

Next i wanted something that could pickoff weakened pokemon, scizor fitted the job and provided a nice ice resistance.

Next i decided i just want a hard hitter. Specsogre is an incredible force.

There we hav' it. Now, onto the sets.


The lead.

@ Focus sash.
252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Jolly nature ( +Spe, - SpA)
Ability: Pressure
Moveset:
-Stealth rocks
-Spikes
-Taunt
-Superpower.

Its role: Deoxys-S is an excellent lead, and because this team revolves around sweeping, it needs entry hazards up, deoxys always gets SR up and some spikes.

Moveset, EVs and Nature: Stealth rock is an obvious choice because pokemon taking 12% everytime they switch in really helps damage wise, and spikes, if i get a full layer that's a further 25%, adding up to a demolising 37% per switch, taunt is for mew wanting to bp sweep and superpower is just for damage. I have a Jolly nature for +spe and helping superpower with damage.

The set up aide.

@ Leftovers.
28 HP / 228 Def / 252 SpD
Calm nature ( + SpD, - Spe)
Ability: Shadow tag
Moveset:
Encore
Counter
Magic coat
Tickle.

The role: This thing makes the sweeps happen, encore a set up move or a move salamence / rayquaza resists and they can begin to DD, it can get rid of potent threats to my sweeping chances.

Moveset, EVs and Nature: Encore is for helping with the set ups, counter demolishes pokemon using psyhical attacks, magic coat is for the special side and safeguard helps protect my team from status. The EVs are quite simple, 28 HP because wobb really doesn't need that much HP, 228 Def for taking psyhical hits and 252 SpD because most of the Uber tier is special orientated, that is also why i have a calm nature.

The Hard hitter.

@ Choice Scarf
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Spacial Rend
-Outrage
-Surf
-Thunder

It's role: This was kindly suggested by Firecape_01 to help solve my specsogre problem, it can also revenge non choicedsarf skymin and disposed of darkrai.

Moveset, EVs and Nature: Spacial rend is for other dragon types and is my choice of attack, outrage is for blissey and other special walls, surf is for groudons and my secondary stab, thunder is my main attack for killing Kyogre, 252 SpA for max power, 252 Spe for well erm, speed and 4 HP for taking hits better, Hasty is used for outspeeding timid scarfogres.

@ Choice band
252 HP / 200 SpD / 56 Atk
Adamant Nature ( +Atk, - SpA)
Ability: Technician
Moveset:
-Bullet punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit
-U-turn

Its role: CB scizor, what can it do? What CAN'T it do is probably a better quesion, It can pick off apposing poke with BP, It can scout, it can trap pokemon, it can just plain it hard, its amazing.

Moveset, EVs and Nature: Bullet punch picks off weak pokemon, superpower hits pokemon hard like blissey and Dialgas, pursuit can trap weakened pokemon and U-turn can scout for mences and Rays sweep(s). EVs is for the standard Ubers scizor, 252 Hp for max bulkiness, 200 SpD because most of the tier is specially based and 56 Atk because scizor doesnt need that much Atk in ubers. Adamant Nature is used for more Atk power.

Le peice de resistance.

@ life orb
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Hp
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
Ability: Intimidate
Moveset:
-Dragon dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire blast

Its role: Salamences role is to scout the team and weaken / kill pokemon rayquaza cant outspeed such as scarf ogre and such.

Moveset, EVs and Nature: Dragon dance is for raising its speed and gaining more attack, outrage is prefered over dragon claw for extra damage, earthquake is for steels, named not scizor and forry, because fire blast is for them. EVs are very simple, speed EVs give me much needed speed, and Atk EVs are for power, HP is for taking some hits better.

The poke that finishs the battle.

@ Life orb
32 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD / 216 Spe
Jolly nature ( +Spe, -SpA)
Ability: Air lock
Moveset:
-Dragon dance
-Outrage
-Overheat
-Stone edge

Its role: This thing sweeps insane once mence has demolished their team, it just finishes the game of really.

Moveset, Evs and nature: DD for raising spe, outrage for major damage and my main attacking move, stone edge for lugia, and overheat for forry and scizor. 32 HP is for extra bulk, 252 Atk is for max power, 8 SpD is for taking special hits and 216 Spe is to outspeed certain pokemon, Jolly is for extra needed speed.

Well thats the team, please Rate it, no harsh comments please, thank you very much for reading / Rating (:.

Threat list:

- This thing is a giant threat, if i have no boosts, scizor CAN revenge, but darkrai is just so, annoying.

- With 127 Spe and choice scarf, it can revenge my mence at +1, wobb can magic coat, but it defeats the point of the team.

- This thing, being the beast of the wall it is, can ice beam or whirlwind me away if it takes a hit.

Rate away.

 

[cheap_uber_battler]

You should consider changing Safeguard to Tickle on Wobbuffet as you are using a pursuit Scizor. This will make taking down the likes of Lugia easier.

 

[TrueLuck]

I'll try it out, thanks.

 

[firecape]

Well this team is fairly solid, but it does have some major weaknesses. (I will attempt to help patch it up at the end of this post)

First off- you have a huge weakness to Specs Kyogre. It can easily 2HKO everything on your team while Wobbuffet can't safely revenge it.

Second- You have a pretty bad weakness to setup sweepers in general, with one DD you now have to sacrifice Scizor/Salamence to take down Rayquaza.

Third- This team seems to rely far too much on Wobbuffet. Its attempting to setup 2 sweepers, while also trying to revenge things like RP Groudon.

Fourth- You are extremely weak to Latios with Thunder, Calm Mind, HP Fire, and Dragon Pulse with Spikes support. After one Calm Mind this set can mow through your entire team, bar Wobbuffet, but you need Wobb to help setup your sweepers.

To help remedy this, I would suggest replacing Kyogre with a Choice Scarf Palkia or Dialga. The former can take care of most Kyogre variants, and revenge a wide variety of threats, such as Latios, with the following set (This should go over Kyogre):

Palkia @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Spacial Rend
-Outrage
-Surf
-Thunder

You are also pretty weak to stall. With only Kyogre (and now hopefully Palkia) as a special attacker, a stong physical wall laughs at your whole team, Taunt Will-o-Wisp Mewtwo and (to a lesser degree) Giratina (if Wobbuffet lacks Safeguard). These threats, thankfully, are pretty rare in the current metagame. Hope I helped!

 

[eValentino]

As a nitpick, Deo-S might benefit from the 4 Atk EV being moved to Def or SDef, since you want to make it bulky to get more hazards up. If you're having trouble with Darkrai and Lugia, a Groudon with a Lum Berry (for you I recommend this over Leftovers in order to absorb a sleep if Darkrai comes in, and you currently have ZERO means of dealing with status) might be beneficial. Stone Edge (if it hits...) will show Lugia who's boss, and Earthquake will solve your Darkrai problem (since Darkrai will Dark Void, Lum will cure you, and Earthquake will bag the KO). I'd replace Kyogre here, since rain hinders the fire attacks carried by your main sweepers (oops). Groudon's sun will help power them up. I don't know what EV spread, nature, and other two moves to use, but I think using my suggestion as a starting point will help cover some of your team's weaknesses and give you a nice boost.

 

[TrueLuck]

Interesting comments, to both of you. i will definately try the palkia suggestion, firecape, ill change the EVs Valentino and lum groudon sounds, interesting. Might give it a go.

 

[eValentino]

I agree with Firecape (how's it goig man?) about Palkia being good. It will definitely help you against Specs Kyogre, but it isn't a 100% Darkrai counter. I won't reproduce it here, but if you read my RMT (link in the sig), find the Darkrai part and see how a Darkrai can beat Palkia. It should also give you some idea of how Darkrai works and how to beat it.

Remember, my Groudon suggestion doesn't work with the Palkia suggestion. Don't try both at once, haha. Give each a spin and see which works better for you.

 

[TrueLuck]

Will do, i'll have a look at your RMT, maybe i can rate it. :P

 

[eValentino]

Thanks! firecape01 definitely has a good point about Scarfkia being able to break physical walls. My only worry is that in my experience, Scarfkia is extremely vulnerable to Wobbuffet and can be stopped by stall. However, it does have the speed needed to beat Darkrai (while not a 100% counter) and Skymin while providing strong special attacks.

Lum Berry Dialga (Lum for same reason as Groudon) with special attacks might help too, though it wouldn't pack the speed of Scarfkia.

 

[shrang]

Hi TrueLuck, not a bad team, although:

I didn't so much question the set, i just went with it, after lurking around the RMT section, i was amazed, no Uber RMT had salamence in it, well, i wanted to be the first!

There have been SalaQuaza teams made in the past (here)

Anyway, onto your team, you are very weak to other setup sweepers like other Rayquaza and Salamence, RP Groudon (Who can easily get a boost off Palkia stuck on Thunder or something), SD Chomp and many others. SpecsOgre gives you trouble too. While the nature of your team means you cannot safeguard against all of these threats, you need to overcome this somehow. An RP Groudon of your own can help with a lot of those threats (Replace him for Palkia, Scarf Pokemon hand your momentum away easily). Yes, I know this adds another Ice weakness to your team, but I'm quite sure you shouldn't mind when you're using SalaQuaza, heh.

Groudon @ Life Orb
Ability: Drought
EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/8 Def/136 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Fire Punch/Swords Dance

Swords Dance is something cool to mindgame Wobb with. If you can get off SD, gg to your opponent, hehe.

Now, you have rightfully pointed out in your threat list, that Shaymin-S pretty much god-stomps all of your sweepers. For this reason, I would suggest changing Rayquaza to a Swords Dancer, especially since most of things revenging Mence are easily picked off by +2 Extremespeed (With the exception of Lugia and Groudon).

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
-Swords Dance
-Dragon Claw
-Extremespeed
-Overheat/Waterfall/Earthquake

Now, to address your "physical wall read Lugia problem". It actually isn't very hard to solve. All you have to do is replace Safeguard with Tickle on Wobbuffet, so you can trap Lugia and remove him with Pursuit. The inability to switch in on status can be annoying now, but Groudon, Mence and Ray all have nice immunities and resists to switch into anyway.

If you are wondering how to deal with SpecsOgre and other stuff without Palkia, don't worry. This team is obviously Hyper Offense, and a Scarf Palkia is hands away your momentum easily (Which means you'll get beached by other HO teams quite easily, not to mention that he gets Wobb'd at first sight anyway). SpecsOgre, to be honest has pretty much 0 oppotunities to come in and kill things, apart from Bullet Punch, in which I'd just sac Deoxys-S anyway.

Hopefully I helped, good luck with your team.

 

[TrueLuck]

You did very much, shrang, made me think my team over quite, i will try out SD quaza but it kinda defeats the point of the DD partners, but i'll try it.

 

[Friar]

This is a pretty textbook Salamence team, but there is one more thing I think you can do to make it better aside from using Tickle on Wobbofett. That is, use Mixed Rayquaza over your current set. At the moment, you struggle with an overloaded Wobbofett, who you need to both set up your Dragons and counter / mirror coat their counters. With a Mixed Rayquaza, you can take a more direct approach to killing off Salamence's counters, such as Groudon and Lugia. Rayquaza can nail them all with Draco Meteor, paving the way for Salamence and easing Wobb's job. Here is the set:

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Naive / Air Lock
40 Attack / 252 Sp. Attack / 216 Speed
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-ExtremeSpeed
-Brick Break

You can use Outrage in the last slot to really run over CM Kyogre or something, but I like Brick Break to help against Baton Pass Mew.

Thats all I have, good luck going forward!

 

[mtr]

Textbook SalaQuaza team, but I would also use something like MixRay to lure in Groudon and ScarfPalk. In general, be afraid of ScarfChomp and Mix Palkia, so when you see those be prepared to play aggressively.