Something Wild

[Fayne]

Something Wild​

At A Glance​

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In-Depth Analysis
Changes in BOLD​

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The Nail​

Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Roost​

Your eyes are full of hate, forty one.
That's good.
Hate keeps a man alive, it gives him strength.​

When looking for a reliable spiker in DPPt, it's hard to look past Skarmory. In short, he gets up spikes on about half of OU's major threats, and abuses the layers established himself with whirlwind. Roost augments his longevity and keeps opportunities available to chip away at the opposing team. My first line of defense against many offensive and defensive threats alike, turning menaces such as Shaymin, Tyranitar, Metagross, Blissey, Vaporeon into set-up fodder. Spikes support is crucial to enable SubSplit Gengar, the star of the show, to clean up weakened teams. In addition, multiple layers allow Empoleon, Suicune, Gengar and Rotom-H to accentuate each other's offensive presence and keep up the pressure so that special walls will eventually crack.

The set is standard for the most part, with brave bird preferred over taunt to hit Breloom, Roserade and Machamp. Special bulk is maximised, which is the norm, to allow Skarmory to take hits from both sides of the attacking spectrum better. Self-explanatory for the most part.

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Deadnight Warrior​

Empoleon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Grass Knot
- Roar
- Surf​

If the daylight dies the shadows fall all over me..
Then death, you'll have your way..
Scorn the torment in moonlight's shadow..
I can't get out, lost the way for eternity.​

You're the guard of the dead ones..
In the night I'll find you to drink your blood..
Still the deadnight's screaming in my heart..
The dead of night's close by!​

A very underrated set. I needed a pokemon that can set up stealth rock and check offensive water types such as Starmie, Suicune and Empoleon. Not surprisingly, Blissey was the first thing that came to mind. As much as I adore Blissey which I use on every other non-offensive team, Empoleon was a better fit for a couple of reasons. First, it was the ability to phaze and like Skarmory, Empoleon is able to put his hazards to good use himself. Second, it has a much better offensive presence and lures in many similar checks my opponent may have to Suicune and Gengar. Third, it retains it's effectiveness as a special wall and covers the afforementioned threats equally well. With a specially defensive spread, this Empoleon is not 2HKOed by Life Orb Starmie's thunderbolt or a +1 hidden power electric from Suicune. In return, the former gets smashed by grass knot while the latter is sent flying out and ravaged by entry hazards.

And of course who doesn't love penguins?

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Lake Bodom​

Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 36 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Roar​

So wait salvation, come unto me!
Life to the saint, life for me!
(your) Your lord,
Smashed this bloody god on earth.
it's always by my side,
take me to the place to die for you,
and give me life in flames!​

Suicune is a monster and a half, and a beautiful one at that. She is my secondary sweeper in conjunction with Gengar. If Gengar doesn't clean up my opponent's team, then Suicune will. Your everyday offensive Suicune, with a twist - roar to further abuse the entry hazards from Skarmory and Empoleon. Of course, despite the lack of defensive investment, her natural bulk keeps threats such as Heatran and Infernape at bay. Usually this buys enough time for me to set up a Gengar sweep before my own team starts disintegrating, provided that my entry hazards are up.

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In The Shadows​

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 224 Atk / 36 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Crunch​

I got the one, the dream of horror!
Dreams of blood, dreams of war!
Rudest eyes have seen the fright...
Welcome to the eternal night!​

Tyranitar has wonderful synergy with Skarmory - pursuiting that pesky Rotom-A, forcing that Heatran switch-in out and commencing his reign of terror with spikes support. With one layer of spikes and stealth rock in play, Swampert is 2HKOed by Tyranitar's Crunch. Anything unfortunate enough to take an unresisted hit from this bad boy will have its flesh thorn asunder. Tyranitar himself supports Gengar, being a really good switch-in to the likes of Blissey and CM Jirachi.

The EV spread is stolen from my friend BKC (thanks kevin if you're reading this) who used the same CBTar on his paralysis abusing team, so credits to him. The extra bulk investment nets me some wriggle room against Starmie and Shaymin - Starmie cannot KO with a combination of ice beam/t-bolt + hydro pump while Shaymin cannot KO with seed flare, even if both are equipped with life orb. This safety measure against Shaymin is important, seeing that it is a more problematic threat for my team to face.

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Red Light in My Eyes​

Gengar (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Pain Split
- Substitute
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball​

Hate... I can't control it anymore,
you'll see the red light more and more,
Trapping you in destroying despite
by the red light in my eyes.​

So, better wake up, drink your blood,
follow me and be a god.
Can't you fucking look into my eyes,
watch this god arise, yeah!​

My primary sweeper, and the mon this team was based around on. He has a sound reputation of faring well against both offensive and defensive teams, and I enjoyed using him in some of my battles, so here we are. In addition to being an outright sweeper, he acts as a secondary check to the likes of Infernape, Shaymin and Breloom, should Suicune/Skarmory fall.

Spikes support really give him the chance to shine, as opposed to being yet another mundane, tractable sweeper. I like to either keep him hidden until late game or bring him out early and double switch to catch my opponent's response off guard and rack up spikes + stealth rock damage.

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Silent Scream​

Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 44 SAtk / 216 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Trick​

Torment, ill forgotten
A soul that will never rest
Innocence withdrawn in fear
Fires burning can you hear
Cries in the night​

Yeah, the usual defensive Rotom. I am aware that the originality of this set is really sleep inducing and all, but he does his job well, especially when Gengar is the 'paper' spinblocker that he is and me deluding to my opponent his presence on this team early game is not favourable for me. Nevertheless, Rotom-H patches up the remaining threats that I am weak to otherwise such as Machamp, Metagross and Gyarados. Rotom-H doubles up with Gengar as both perform in similar ways and share common checks and counters.

I'm running both reflect and will-o-wisp so that I can avoid burning Heatran switch-ins or fail against lead Machamp with lum berry and as well as to provide my team a fair bit of screen support. I'm not a fan of defensive Rotoms in general so this EV spread was just used to outspeed Jolly Tyranitar with maximum physical bulk possible. If anyone has a better spread, please do suggest it.

EDIT: changed to the scarfed variant to help out against Lucario and Jirachi to an extent. Also supports Gengar by luring in Blissey and Tyranitar to maim them with trick.


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That concludes my team and I hope that you had a good read. All rates are really appreciated.

 

[B-Zard]

Nice Team! Only problem I see: 3 electric weaknesses and only Rotom resist, 2 pursuit weaknesses. LO Jolteon fucks over your team, since it 1 or 2hko's your whole team. You should also be careful of opposing Gengar since with Tbolt, Focus Blast and Shadow Ball it can hit every team member for super effective damage.

Since you already have Suicune to handle bulky water decenlty maybe you can try SR Heatran > Empoleon. Heatran has pretty good synergy with your other team members and can take hits from Jolt decenlty. Here's the set:

Heatran set

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 hp, 252 spdef, 4 speed
Calm Nature (+Spdef,-Att)
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower/Lava Plume/Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Will-O-Wisp/ Roar

This set has SR and Roar (if you choose it lol) like Empoleon has. Second slot depends on you; if you want power accuracy or a higher burn chance. If you choose Lava Plume you might want to combine it with Roar.

Since you have 2 ghost types (thus 2 Pursuit weaknesses) maybe you can replace one. I don't know which one you can replace best, since it seems you rely on both to take down threats as Machamp and Shaymin etc.

 

[DarthChocoboz]

hey fayne, as usual,its very hard to find problems with your team, the only thing i can see you having issues with is SubSeed shaymin, as not many pokemon on your team enjoy taking a seed flare besides Skarm (gengar can take it but not enjoyably, especially if it has a sub up), To deal with this and to be annoying in general and handle stall better i'd advise Taunt > Whirlwind on Skarm. Whirlwind doesn't help anything that other stuff on your team doesn't deal with, since you have 2 other phazers.

Hope i helped and Also I love the dual ghosts its really unpredictable and can catch out your opponent really nicly

 

[BKC]

It's not exactly common, but a Jolly Lucario who uses Bullet Punch as its form of priority 6-0s this team once it grabs a Swords Dance against Tyranitar locked into Crunch / Pursuit. For this reason, I recommend switching over to good old Scarf Rotom (248 HP, 44 SpA, 216 Spe @ Timid, T-bolt / Shadow Ball / WoW / Trick). Not only is it the final nail in the coffin for pretty much any variant of SD Lucario, it also helps Gengar sweep by luring + crippling two of its biggest checks, Blissey and Tyranitar.

If you're going to use CM Roar Suicune, it needs to take hits while CMing alongside its opponents (usually opposing Cune's HP Electric). So I'd just swap the SpA and HP EVs to take hits better. With all your hazard support, the loss of power shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Just a few things to consider, nice team and props on the cool theme :)

 

[Fayne]

@ BKC: I've been thinking about RestTalk Rotom-H with reflect specifically to combat Zapdos better, but I'll gladly make my team a little weaker against Machamp and Zapdos (which both aren't that common anyway) in return for more insurance against Lucario and Jirachi. I'll definitely try out the scarfed set over my current one. Also edited Suicune's spread. Thanks!

@ DarthChocoboz: With whirlwind I can phaze SubSeed Shaymin out if it has a sub up, so I don't really see how taunt > whirlwind can help against Shaymin. Against stall I won't want Heatran coming in on Skarm each time and firing off lava plumes/flamethrowers or maybe shuffling my team about, and if I can catch it on the switch with whirlwind, I can weaken it into KO range for Gengar. With spikes up, usually Rotom is the preferred switch in against Skarm which is where Tyranitar can work his magic. Thanks for the rate though, I appreciate it.

@ B-Zard: T-bolt from LO Jolteon is a 4HKO on average on Tyranitar without SR. Tyranitar comes into any move from Jolteon and pursuits him on his way out. Done. Jolteon sucks. Jolteon isn't really common anyway. All out offensive Gengar could be a problem, and I'll have to rely on my own Gengar to speed tie with it. Otherwise, Skarmory can help against SubSplit variants which see more usage. Heatran is an option I could consider to help against SubRoost Zapdos, although it leaves me more open to the likes of Suicune and Starmie - I'll definitely try that out. Thanks for the rate!

 

[Tomahawk]

Really cool team, a few threats though. Charge Beam Jolteon can cause a lot of trouble, and so does Life Orb Zapdos. While Tyranitar is usually your best counter, a +1 Thunderbolt from Jolteon does 64.3% - 75.9%, which means that if Tyranitar is a little weakened, you're gonna get swept. Tyranitar can't switch in on Zapdos either, as Thunderbolt is a clean 2HKO. Magnezone can also cause trouble, trapping your Steel-types, possible getting a Sub up somewhere, and Flash Cannoning Tyranitar.

What I suggest is using a Choice Band Snorlax over Tyranitar. He does the same job as Tyranitar, pursuiting Rotom-A, forcing Heatran switches, and being great with Spikes support. You also have the choice of using Body Slam over Return for paralysis support, but Return works more effectively with Spikes support. The exact set is:

Hide

Snorlax @ Choice Band | Thick Fat
Adamant | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Return / Pursuit / Crunch / Earthquake

Using Shed Shell on Skarmory (and possible Empoleon) also helps against Magnezone.

Cool team, good luck!

 

[george182]

Really cool team, a few threats though. Charge Beam Jolteon can cause a lot of trouble, and so does Life Orb Zapdos. While Tyranitar is usually your best counter, a +1 Thunderbolt from Jolteon does 64.3% - 75.9%, which means that if Tyranitar is a little weakened, you're gonna get swept. Tyranitar can't switch in on Zapdos either, as Thunderbolt is a clean 2HKO. Magnezone can also cause trouble, trapping your Steel-types, possible getting a Sub up somewhere, and Flash Cannoning Tyranitar.

What I suggest is using a Choice Band Snorlax over Tyranitar. He does the same job as Tyranitar, pursuiting Rotom-A, forcing Heatran switches, and being great with Spikes support. You also have the choice of using Body Slam over Return for paralysis support, but Return works more effectively with Spikes support. The exact set is:

Hide

Snorlax @ Choice Band | Thick Fat
Adamant | 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Return / Pursuit / Crunch / Earthquake

Using Shed Shell on Skarmory (and possible Empoleon) also helps against Magnezone.

Cool team, good luck!

I think you forgot sandstorm :S, I calculated a +1 life orb charge beam to do 42.7% - 50.6% from a 252 sp.atk timid Jolteon.

But a switch in to electric types would be really nice for this team and something to counter calm mind Flash cannon Jirachi, which is becoming popular again on the PO ladder. So I recommend replacing Suicune with a Swampert. Swampert also counters Tyranitar and Dragonite who trouble this team.

With Swampert you can take stealth rocks off Empoleon and use Hidden Power electric to combat Gyarados.

 

[bubbly]

Or, if you try CB Snorlax and don't like it, you could just try running a specially defensive mixed Tyranitar with Stealth Rock. I know you like CB Tar, but doing so would more or less fix the Electric issues as well as act as a great lure for Scizor / Forretress / Skarmory by faking a choice item. This would then free you up to use SubPetaya Empoleon, which I've used before alongside Gengar and has great offensive synergy with it.

Just going to steal Kevin's set (which I think he stole from Eggbert anyway =P ):

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt, Hasty nature
132 Atk / 96 SpA / 28 SpD / 252 Spe
-Stealth Rock
-Pursuit
-Fire Blast
-Superpower

Hope you like the suggestion, nice team and good luck.

 

[Tomahawk]

@george182: Oops, you're right. Anyways, I have an other, probably better, suggestion. I didn't really want to suggest it at first, because the Pokemon is a little rare in DPP OU. However, he is immune to Thunderbolt, resists Hidden Power Ice, Flash Cannon and Heat Wave, and is neutral to Shadow Ball. He's also pretty bulky, and can sometimes even sweep -or dent- the opponent's team. I'm talking, of course, about Lanturn! Yes, Lanturn could work over Suicune. He checks a lot of threats, and can do some cool stuff like setting up on Blissey with 101 HP Substitutes. The exact set is:

Hide

Lanturn @ Leftovers | Volt Absorb
Modest | 52 HP / 252 SpA / 148 SpD / 56 Spe
Substitute / Charge Beam / Hydro Pump / Ice Beam

52 HP EVs let you make 101 HP Substitutes, which together with Leftovers recovery and Charge Beam/Hydro Pump will more often than not let you take down Seismic Toss Blissey. The Speed EVs put you at 184 Speed, one point ahead of the standard Vaporeon. This is important as it allows you to set up on Vaporeon before he can Toxic you. The investment also helps against the occasional Scizor, Machamp, Tyranitar, or Metagross with a minimal investment in Speed. Special Attack is maxed to cause as much damage as possible with Lanturn's fantastic coverage. The rest is dumped in Special Defense, as those EVs combined with Lanturn's resistances to common special attacks help him repeatedly check special threats during a match. With the above spread, Grass Knot—which hits for 40 Base Power—from a Defensive Celebi has a 50% chance not to even break Lanturn's Substitute.

Good luck!

 

[DarthChocoboz]

@george182: Oops, you're right. Anyways, I have an other, probably better, suggestion. I didn't really want to suggest it at first, because the Pokemon is a little rare in DPP OU. However, he is immune to Thunderbolt, resists Hidden Power Ice, Flash Cannon and Heat Wave, and is neutral to Shadow Ball. He's also pretty bulky, and can sometimes even sweep -or dent- the opponent's team. I'm talking, of course, about Lanturn! Yes, Lanturn could work over Suicune. He checks a lot of threats, and can do some cool stuff like setting up on Blissey with 101 HP Substitutes. The exact set is:

Hide

Lanturn @ Leftovers | Volt Absorb
Modest | 52 HP / 252 SpA / 148 SpD / 56 Spe
Substitute / Charge Beam / Hydro Pump / Ice Beam


Good luck!

Im Impressed.

 

[Fayne]

@ Tomahawk9 (1st post): CB Lax is a solid choice over Tyranitar; will definitely try it out, thanks!

@ george182: Swampert is a good idea, but swapping out Suicune for it seems a little passive, since it means reducing the general firepower of the team. With CB Lax over Tyranitar, I think Empoleon could be replaced instead, seeing that Lax takes care of both Starmie and Suicune. Thanks!

Taking the above two suggestions, the summarised changes would be:

CB Lax > Tyranitar
Defensive Swampert > Empoleon

I'll implement these two changes together, and they would make a general improvement to the team. Thanks again.

@ bubbly: I am fond of that Mixed Tyranitar set, but not really a fan of SubPetaya Empoleon. My main concern is that MixTar > CBTar would make my team more weak to CMRachi, and SubPetaya Empoleon > the Sp.Defensive set will leave me more open to offensive cune. Another problem is that I don't see how MixTar will fix the electric issues as 1) it is less bulky than CBTar anyway (MixTar: 28 Sp.Def EVs vs CBTar: 248 HP, 36 Sp.Def EVs), 2) it can't KO a fleeing Jolteon with pursuit/ 2HKO Jolteon staying in and 3) it cannot touch SubRoost Zapdos with fire blast / pursuit / superpower while CBTar could lock itself into crunch.

MixTar does lure in Forretress and Skarmory, both which are decent checks to SubSplit Gengar, so he definitely helps in supporting a Gengar sweep. However, luring Scizor, who is spikes fodder for Skarmory (in return multiple layers will put scizor in KO range for Gengar's focus blast) and comfortably checked by Rotom anyway, would not benefit the current team as much. I thought about it for quite a while and came up with this lineup:

Skarmory, Gengar, Rotom-H, MixTar, ChestoRest Kingdra, CBPert

Which I think should be fine (and better than the original, also correct me if I missed something), thanks for the rate!

@ Tomahawk9 (2nd post): While SubCharge Lanturn is cool, it does make the team more vulnerable to Infernape if it replaces Suicune. I thought of replacing Empoleon with Lanturn and moving SR to Skarm (replacing whirlwind). I would probably consider roar Vaporeon > Suicune when using Lanturn to help against opposing cunes. Thanks once again!