Usatoday
Eternal God
Introduction
Hello all and welcome to what I believe is my fourth team here on smogon, now the team itself started when I got sick of using special Landorus since it just utterly hates and refuses to work for me. So instead I utilized a tried and true set being the expert belt Landorus with sand force and the team just sort of blossomed from there. Now the team is pretty much your standard sand team except that Infernape isn't too common a sight on sand teams but lets get into the team shall we?
Team Preview
Team Building Process
Obviously my first member for the team was landorus and with it I remembered mixed results from months ago when physical landorus was absolutely everywhere this being that it couldn't touch things such as specially defensive hippowdon and skarmory.
The next pokemon to join the team had to be able to take down the nuisances to landorus mainly being balloon heatran, skarmory, ferrothorn, mamoswine, and hippowdon. So since the pair had been common staples in the BW1 metagame I figured i may as well abuse them in BW2. However Rotom-Wash lacked the ability to two hit ko a ferrothorn until I discovered the joy of hidden power fire Rotom Wash. Its so unexpected which is what makes it so perfect.
The next pokemon to join the core was one that could help dispatch of steel types as well as round out my volt turn core that was forming, I also happened to want a scarfer that could do very decent damage to terrakion and starmie; I found my infernape this way, with base 108 speed the same as terrakion it is enough to outspeed all that is necessary with a chioce scarf equipped to infernape while pounding out the kinks rotom had with some steel types.
The next member to join was the dragon of the team as pretty much everyone should run one since the coverage they carry is absolutely amazing. Now I had originally considered a bulky tanking latias in this spot however the team seemed to like offensive pressure more then just pure stalling purposes, so I chose her brother Latios who I had been meaning to use and had honestly forgotten the damage output this thing can give to someone. It also gave a nice offensive pivot switch into Keldeo so I can figure out the set it was running.
With Landorus being physical and benefiting from the sand I figured I may as well run sand to help to support Landorus, so the obvious choice was tyranitar a pokemon that could deal with gengar and lati@s with the combo of pursuit and crunch. Now I also realized that I relied on Infernape to deal with a lot of fast pokemon so I threw in a choice banded stoutland to hit hard from the physical side as well as help clear the way for latios or Landorus and having the steel types gone didn't seem to hurt stoutland's heart any.
Team Preview
Team Building Process
Obviously my first member for the team was landorus and with it I remembered mixed results from months ago when physical landorus was absolutely everywhere this being that it couldn't touch things such as specially defensive hippowdon and skarmory.
The next pokemon to join the team had to be able to take down the nuisances to landorus mainly being balloon heatran, skarmory, ferrothorn, mamoswine, and hippowdon. So since the pair had been common staples in the BW1 metagame I figured i may as well abuse them in BW2. However Rotom-Wash lacked the ability to two hit ko a ferrothorn until I discovered the joy of hidden power fire Rotom Wash. Its so unexpected which is what makes it so perfect.
The next pokemon to join the core was one that could help dispatch of steel types as well as round out my volt turn core that was forming, I also happened to want a scarfer that could do very decent damage to terrakion and starmie; I found my infernape this way, with base 108 speed the same as terrakion it is enough to outspeed all that is necessary with a chioce scarf equipped to infernape while pounding out the kinks rotom had with some steel types.
The next member to join was the dragon of the team as pretty much everyone should run one since the coverage they carry is absolutely amazing. Now I had originally considered a bulky tanking latias in this spot however the team seemed to like offensive pressure more then just pure stalling purposes, so I chose her brother Latios who I had been meaning to use and had honestly forgotten the damage output this thing can give to someone. It also gave a nice offensive pivot switch into Keldeo so I can figure out the set it was running.
With Landorus being physical and benefiting from the sand I figured I may as well run sand to help to support Landorus, so the obvious choice was tyranitar a pokemon that could deal with gengar and lati@s with the combo of pursuit and crunch. Now I also realized that I relied on Infernape to deal with a lot of fast pokemon so I threw in a choice banded stoutland to hit hard from the physical side as well as help clear the way for latios or Landorus and having the steel types gone didn't seem to hurt stoutland's heart any.
In Depth Analysis
Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
0 Spd IVs
Brave Nature
First up on the list we have Tyranitar a pokemon that has been on the overused scene since generation two when it was first released, however in generation III tyranitar got something that would make it one of the most sought after pokemon to use in the game, Sand Stream. This ability gives landorus the equivalent of a Life orb boost without the negative side effects and gives stoutland double the speed it would normally have. However this is not the sole reason to abuse tyranitar as it possesses some of the best traits one can ask for within the game, one of which is the best counter to Lati@s in the game thanks to the boost it gets via sand stream and with access to pursuit it can trap not only latios and latias but gengar as well something that with a sub up can be extremely annoying. Pursuit is also very handy in breaking the balloons off of heatran for landorus to kill them later as well as for choiced pokemon. Crunch is there more for jellicent than anything else as with only pursuit I do pathetic damage, it also is handy for latias spamming roost to outstall me as well as for sub disable gengar so that they can disable crunch but not pursuit. Superpower I really put there because I was getting pissed off at other tyranitar leads, and more importantly heatran leads who my original fire blast tyranitar couldn't touch. So I revised the spread so that max attack to hurt ferrothorn, heatran, and tyranitar as hard as possible, with the only drawback being the reduction in attack and defense. Finally I have the most important hazard in the game being stealth rock which allows my team which thrives on forcing switches and prediction to hurt pokemon such as volcarona as hard as I can while I also deter Ninetales and Politoad from switching in often. Otherwise if I wasn't running stealth rock I'd slap a choice band on tyranitar. Finally the Brave nature and zero speed ivs to ensure that my sand is going up as opposed to rain or hail.
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
Hidden Power [Fire]
Psyshock
Draco Meteor
Recover
Next off is Latios everyone's favorite special dragon, with the ability to hit like a freight train and the coverage it has it's easy to see why this thing was Uber for the last two generations. However Latios misses its soul dew but Life orb is not that bad of a fit for it boosting its attacks by 30% for the small price of 10% of ones health which is easily recovered off. This is my initial switch in to politoed and keldeo as I prefer offense to defense on this team utterly destroying my opponent with a draco meteor is the reason why this thing has gained a soft spot in my heart. Draco meteor specifically lets me hit dragonite, salamence, ninetales, politoed, and haxorus. Psyshock is there for two reasons the first being to break the sub of a toxicroak as well as damage defensive tentacruel who hope to sponge a draco meteor, and secondly so that I can nail blissey for some more power. Now life orb in the sand racks up 16% every turn meaning that it doesn't take long for latios to die, however I really like the power it provides now here is my question should I try out an expert belt, or wise glasses instead?
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
Next off is Latios everyone's favorite special dragon, with the ability to hit like a freight train and the coverage it has it's easy to see why this thing was Uber for the last two generations. However Latios misses its soul dew but Life orb is not that bad of a fit for it boosting its attacks by 30% for the small price of 10% of ones health which is easily recovered off. This is my initial switch in to politoed and keldeo as I prefer offense to defense on this team utterly destroying my opponent with a draco meteor is the reason why this thing has gained a soft spot in my heart. Draco meteor specifically lets me hit dragonite, salamence, ninetales, politoed, and haxorus. Psyshock is there for two reasons the first being to break the sub of a toxicroak as well as damage defensive tentacruel who hope to sponge a draco meteor, and secondly so that I can nail blissey for some more power. Now life orb in the sand racks up 16% every turn meaning that it doesn't take long for latios to die, however I really like the power it provides now here is my question should I try out an expert belt, or wise glasses instead?
Landorus (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
Next up is our main man that the team is built around with sand force and stab earthquake hits a 195 base power doing over fifty percent that doesn't resist or is immune to it. Earthquake in particular hits forretress, ferrothorn, blissey, jellicent, and scizor. All of which are two to three hit ko'd and the ones with reliable recovery are lacking a way to sponge to of these babies. Stone edge is there mainly for dragonite, volcarona, and more importantly rotom wash which seems to be the impervious troll to landorus nowadays being a solid two hit ko with stone edge. U-Turn is for the few grass types that are viable within the overused tier mainly being celebi and amoonguss providing for an escape option on Landorus. Finally there is hidden power ice for a few reasons a.) it provides for a solid way to get rid of gliscor which is ex troll to landorus, b.) provide a more accurate option for hitting salamence, and dragonite, and finally c.) To help bluff that I'm the special set. The beauty of this set is the fact that the instant people see a physical attack U-Turn most likely they automatically assume that it's the classic scarf set if they've been playing long enough.
Rotom-W @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 192 HP / 92 SAtk / 224 SpdRotom-W @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
Modest Nature
Now the spread may seem weird however it's effective at what it does hidden power fire is there as a fore mentioned to hit ferrothorn which I deem to be a pain in the *** for this team and it allows me to not have to waste hydro pumps on forretress just to kill it. It also allows me to not be stalled out by specially defensive skarmory when they roost on my predicted volt switch. I run just enough speed to outspeed jolly breloom which is also a key reason to run hidden power fire. Pain split should be fairly evident as it allows for rotom wash to switch in on things such as scarf politoed and pain split off the damage they do as they switch out to ferrothorn or what they have to take an electric attack. Expert belt also allows for me to bluff being a choiced rotom more specifically a choice scarf variant with the damage i dole out. Hydro pump allows for an unbelievably powerful stab move that can hit just about anything in the tier hard bar amoonguss. Finally there is volt switch to keep the momentum going in my favor and also hitting politoed for some pretty decent damage.
Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
Now every team needs a choice scarfer and infernape seemed to fit the bill quite well being able to absorb any attack that ninetales throws at it which is what makes infernape better than tyranitar as a switch in aka it won't get burned by a will o wisp. Close combat the obvious stab move that allows me to absolutely demolish heatran, opposing tyranitar, and adamant natured stoutland. Flare Blitz is there for two pokemon amoonguss which I find atrociously annoying so being able to fry it with a flare blitz is quite satisfactory as many infernape carry overheat which does a pitiful 61% to specially defensive amoonguss, and secondly to fry the sunny bug itself volcarona as infernape quad resists bug buzz and resists fiery dance. Finally if you notice from the rest of the team I have barely anything to hit a dragon danced dragonite or scarf salamence besides stoutland so infernape acts as a back up check to dragonite and salamence.
Stoutland (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature
Stoutland is pulling up the team with its incredible speed that allows me to outspeed scarf terrakion or keldeo with the given effort values, as I deem scarf latios as not a problem given I carry the best counter to it tyranitar. Return should be the obvious stab that nets incredible ohko's and some very decent two hit ko's with prior damage on the enemy. Ice fang allows me to hit salamence, dragonite, gliscor, and celebi. Superpower is mainly for terrakion, ferrothorn, and tyranitar. Finally there is wild charge to two hit ko defensive politoed, hit tornadus, and finally to hit the ever loving nuisance of keldeo.
Team In Action
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Importable
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Importable
Tyranitar (M) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Recover
Landorus (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Rotom-W @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 192 HP / 92 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Pain Split
Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Stoutland (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Ice Fang
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Recover
Landorus (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Rotom-W @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 192 HP / 92 SAtk / 224 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Pain Split
Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Stoutland (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Return
- Ice Fang
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
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