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Another team!

This team 5-0ed Regarde / Bulldogs so it must be good! (sarcasm!!)

Edit: fine 4-0 up yours bulldogs

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@ Lum Berry
Careful
252 HP / 216 Special Defense / 40 Speed

Spikes
Roost
Taunt
Brave Bird

I used to have Metagross here as he is capable of beating all major leads barring Infernape / Heatran / Skarmory / Forretress, but the terrible, terrible threat of Shaymin has forced me to run a better check. Still, Skarmory does very well as a lead. Agains Azelf I switch right to Tyranitar who will either get Taunted and throw a Payback at it or eat a Fire Blast / Trick and lay rocks. Machamp will usually kill Skarmory in two hits, but not before I get a layer of Spikes and a Brave Bird on it. Lum Berry lets me stay in against Smeargle and Roserade and Taunt their sleep move. Though I can Taunt Swampert and Metagross I usually don't as they often switch right to a Heatran / random other counter.



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@ Choice Specs
Timid
252 Special Attack / 252 Speed / 4 Defense

Draco Meteor
Surf
HP Electric
Yawn

Kingdra is a destructive monster with about 91% the Special Attack of Choice Specs Latias, yet Kingdra's Surf is 36% stronger. Max speed allows me to at worst tie with enemy Suicune and also outrun every single standard Kingdra set in OU as well as Adamant Lucario, Mamoswine, Scizor and Gyarados. Yawn is mostly filler but its convenient for at worst putting something to sleep (usually in an emergency situation) or at best racking up tons of Spikes and Stealth Rocks damage. To give you an idea of the massive destructive potential of Kingdra, offensive Suicune is always OHKOed by Draco Meteor after Stealth Rocks and a turn of Sandstorm. HP Electric is cool for situations where I'm against a Skarmory and I know they have a Gyarados or Starmie waiting so I can hit them hard no matter what. Also it hits Empoleon!



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@ Shuca Berry
Adamant
252 Attack / 60 Speed / 196 HP

Close Combat
Extremespeed
Ice Punch
Swords Dance

Shuca Berry and HP EVs lets Lucario survive any Earthquake in OU weaker than Mamoswines CB hits, and any neutral attacks weaker than that. Zapdos Heat Wave also fails to KO, allowing Lucario to take down most of his counters. HP EV bulk gives me either a free hit against things like Gliscor, Flygon and Zapdos (Ice Punch + ES KOs all three) or lets me get a second Swords Dance in ideal situations which adds up to 115% what +2 LO Lucario reaches giving me some added OHKOs.



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@ Lum Berry
Sassy
252 HP / 252 Special Defense / 4 Special Attack

Payback
Fire Blast
Stealth Rock
Rest

A horrifying combination of a lure and support pokemon. Payback OHKOs Azelf and 2HKOs anything weak to it. Fire Blast is chosen over Flamethrower for its ability to OHKO Specially Defensive Forretress and Breloom after Stealth Rocks while 2HKOing all Skarmory, something Flamethrower can't. Fire Blast does enough to enemy Lucario that they are in KO range for just about any attack on my team. Stealth Rocks is obligatory on any team while Rest keeps me alive. Lum Berry works as a Chesto-Rest combo and turns the tide on Spore / Toxic Spikes / Will-O-Wisp. Special Defense EVs and Sandstorm boost gives Tyranitar so much Special Defense he ends up with just 2% less than Bold Blissey, letting him stand his ground in the face of even HP Fighting. Payback does surprising amounts of damage even with no Attack EVs. For example, its more powerful than Jolly Scarf Flygon's Earthquake. This lets it keep up a moderate amount of offensive pressure against things like Crocune (possible 2HKO on offensive versions) or Gyarados (2HKO after rocks and intimidate).



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@ Life Orb
Timid
252 Special Attack / 252 Speed / 4 Defense

Shadow Ball
Focus Blast
Substitute
Pain Split

My primary switch in for Shaymin. Gengar can survive any Life Orbed hit and retaliate with a Pain Split, gaining back enough HP to survive the next blow and retaliate with a now lethal Shadow Ball. Not to mention Sub Pain Split Gengar sweeps teams. Gengar can handle Lucario and Infernape well enough but also beats Scizor. If I sub as Scizor comes in I can Pain Split back to full health, putting Scizor into KO range for Focus Blast. Gengar forces tons of switches as well as being a decent spin blocker. Gengar is standard and boring and no one ever lets it set up a substitute, so maybe drop Substitute for Hypnosis or Will-O-Wisp.



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@ Choice Scarf
Jolly
144 Speed / 252 Attack / 108 Defense

Earthquake
U-turn
Outrage
Thunder Punch

Revenge killer, not much to say. It spreads tons of Spikes damage by forcing Pokemon to flee, only to make them flee again when they take a U-turn and watch me send in a counter. Thunder Punch strikes Gyarados down, doing 101 minimum while also doing decent damage against some things like Skarmory, Vaporeon, Suicune and Gengar that I don't want to use Outrage on. +2 Lucario ES does 91% max so I guess this is kind of a check to it. Outruns Scarf Rotom and the rest went into bulk. I guess I lose out on other Flygon but at least I win a U-turn war this way.


Anyway I'm extremely weak to Lucario since Gengar pretty much always dies or Focus Blast misses. Maybe I'll drop Kingdra for an offensive Jolly Taunt Gyarados (my favorite set) or some kind of Suicune. I can also drop Gengar for a Gliscor but.. Gliscor doesn't really do anything.

I also pretty much instantly lose to Agility Metagross if things are weakened enough (though I'm not quite 6-0ed, its just a pain).
 

TheAwesomeOne

Well-Known Member
You might want to consider WhirlWind over Taunt because Skarmory isn't that fast of a Pokémon.
Fire Punch over Thunderpunch on Flygon, and Dragon Pulse might be better on Kingdra becuase of the -2 Special Attack of Draco Meteor.
 
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artbomber_97

Ultimate Aritist
Actually on Flygon, ThunderPunch is a better choice, since it allows you to revenge kill Gyarados. Fire Punch can only OHKO Forretress and Scizor, and it can't even 3HKO Skarmory. With Forretress, you can just U-turn to Lucario and freely get a Sword Dance up, while with Scizor, you U-turn to that Gyarados mentioned at the end of the thread (the replacement for Kingdra) and get a free Dragon Dance. Flygon can opt to use Fire Blast, however, as it guarantees a 2HKO on Physically Defensive Skarm. (51.5% - 61.1%)
 
You might want to consider WhirlWind over Taunt because Skarmory isn't that fast of a Pokémon.
Fire Punch over Thunderpunch on Flygon, and Dragon Pulse might be better on Kingdra becuase of the -2 Special Attack of Draco Meteor.

Well Taunt is useful against other Skarmory and Forretress because instead of letting them get 3 layers of Spikes I can just taunt them. It also helps against stuff like Curselax and lead Roserade / Smeargle. Still there have been times when I wished I had Whirlwind.

No to Fire Punch though. It would only really hit Forretress and Scizor, neither of which I want to stay in against. Thunderpunch hits Gyarados who I get swept by otherwise and does ok against stuff like Gengar and Aerodactyl if I don't want to Outrage. Stone Edge is a possibility but I don't like knowing Gyarados has a 20% chance to 6-0 me each time I see it.

Dragon Pulse might go over Yawn but Draco Meteor is the main reason I'm running Kingdra at all. Most people expect a Dragon Dance Kingdra and switch to their Gyarados or Swampert only to get 2HKOed by the meteors.

Thank you for the rate ^_^
 

Gamefreak

Well-Known Member
No, Taylor Swift is really hot. =[

Anyhoo Emily, you always rate my teams, and you are my friend so it is pretty much mandatory for me to rate this. Take note that I am extremely tired though, so feel free to ignore this rate. The team is already good, I can attest to that. I have laddered with it extensively, and won around 80% of my games.

Gengar, Agility Lucario, Agility Metagross seem to be your weaknesses. Don't fret as this can be remedied quite easily. I would also call you stall weak on a bad day, but Spec'd Kingdra lures Rest/Talk Gyarados, blows it up, and Shuca Lucario pretty much destroys the rest of stall.

I believe a quick and easy fix would be moving Scarfed Flygon to the lead position, and using Offensive Trick Room Bronzong with an EV spread of 248HP/224Atk/36SpD with a Brave nature and Macho Brace to power up Gyro Ball. I would also make Spec'd Kingdra's EV spread 100HP/252SpA/156Spe with a Modest nature which is just enough to outrun Defensive Celebi, Defensive Jirachi, Mixed Dragonite, Jolly Tyranitar, and Modest Heatran. The extra bulk makes you a great Gyarados check, and allows you to sweep with Trick Room if need be. The power boost from a Modest nature is also very noticable. Scarfed Flygon can U-Turn out of the Sashed leads, and threaten bulkier leads with Earthquake. It can also 2HKO Forry/Skarmory with Fire Blast. I don't believe you would need Thunder Punch for Gyarados as Gyarados can't OHKO Kingdra, and Gyarados fails to OHKO Bronzong while you can explode.

Bronzong is actually a great check to Gengar as Shadow Ball fails to 2HKO most of the time with a calc of 42.7% - 51%, Agility Metagross cannot touch you while you can Earthquake, and Agility Lucario cannot OHKO you while you OHKO with Earthquake. The EV's hit a jump point in attack, maximize your overall bulk with max HP, and put the rest in special defense to check Gengar with more ease. You fufill all the criteria for an Offensive Trick Room Bronzong sweep. You have Tyranitar to deal with Rotom, and Spec'd Kingdra is slow enough to abuse Trick Room if you are forced to explode early. Offensive Trick Room Bronzong resists most priority, checks Tyranitar, Life Orb Aerodactyl, most Jirachi, and cannot be stopped by scarfers either which is also a perk. You can still beat lead Machamp with smart switching. Simply U-Turn with Flygon to Gengar on the Dynamic Punch, then switch to Spec'd Kingdra while Payback does minimal damage while you OHKO with Draco Meteor.

Well, I hope I helped, and I hope the fixes work! ^_^

Edit:Actually, I think dropping Shuca Lucario would be a better thing to remove for the Offensive Trick Room Bronzong. Skarmory is just too helpful to your team as a lead, and Shuca Lucario seems to have too similar of a role Bronzong has.
 
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Gamefreak

Well-Known Member
That works too! Scarfed Jirachi doesn't help too much against Jolly Agility Metagross, but it helps against the Adamant ones.

Jolly Agility Metagross also doesn't do enough to Kingdra or Shuca Lucario anyway so it works out. You just have to be careful with it around Gengar, but you can still switch in and live a Shadow Ball. Can Agility Lucario OHKO Scarfed Jirachi? If not, then Scarfed Jirachi seems like a very solid way to go. 3 ground weak pokemon is really gay though.
 
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