What does the Dephox say?
Ring-ding-ding-di...
I used to play Smogon OU but over time kind of stopped caring about the bans, unbans, and tier changes. While Smogon OU is undoubtedly the best most balanced and competitive tier you can play sometimes its fun to play Battle Spot. While Battle Spot is not in any way balanced it is fun to abuse some of the most broken Pokemon in the game. The most important aspect of playing "Nintendo OU" is that people IRL can actually relate to it. This team is designed with "IRL play" in mind meaning I have it bred on my 3ds and use it against friends I know IRL who don't even know what Smogon is. Because of that this team has several restrictions..
1) No Legends. I understand that they are no stronger than some other Pokemon / Megas and it does put me at a disadvantage in teambuilding but you try and explain to a non-competitive player why it's okay for me to use my Cresselia but not their Mewtwo.
2) No Hidden Power. I don't have a 6 30 IV Ditto.
3) No 5th gen (or earlier) move tutors. I can't RNG manipulate either. R/S remakes have move tutors so I guess I can remove this rule, but I have to revamp the whole team for that anyway so...
4) This team is built to play 3v3 but ALSO must be competent enough in 6v6. In other words I want to run Stealth Rocks somewhere.
Peak proof. The ladder wasn't particularly tough so I don't think it was much of an achievement, but hey it's something?
Anyhow the team is based around running the most broken, physically intimidating 'mons I can think of. Since a lot of players run bulky offense in Battle Spot that means I face a lot of Cresselia, Suicune, Landorus, and M Venusaur many of which run Rocky Helmet. I get past them with the Hulk method, basically bashing them in the face until they die. I deal with offensive teams / Trick Room with a wide range of priority moves and bulk. This team does have a couple issues and weak links though, which I'll get to later.
@ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sleep Talk
First up is Talonflame which despite being my lead in team preview is never my actual lead. I'm running max speed to at worst speed tie with other Talonflame and to beat Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack. However in 60+ battles this has never once happened. Unlike at level 100 battles Talonflame does not outrun the base 110s, it only speed ties with them (and I Brave Bird all of them anyway). Max Speed doesn't outrun Thundurus's Prankster Twave either. I could run a bunch of HP EVs since I switch in on Blaziken a lot. Set is pretty standard. Brave Bird is a fantastic late game sweeping move and Flare Blitz hits... Mega Mawile? Will-O-Wisp also hits Mega Mawile so I can avoid the Sucker Punch. It's also nice for hitting Tyranitar and Rhyperior if I know for a fact Talonflame isn't going to be of any further use. I had a lot of trouble picking the last move but ended up going with Sleep Talk as it lets Talonflame switch in on all of Breloom's moves besides Rock attacks. It also helps against stray Smeargles and the occasional Prankster Assist Spore Pokemon. I know there are a couple other 4th move options I tried and here are why they all suck.
Tailwind - On paper it seems awesome, letting my team have 2x speed for 4 turns. In reality its useless. It gives me at max two turns to abuse it and nothing on my team cares about speed boosts. Tyranitar and Rotom W don't hit hard enough, and Kangaskhan and Blaziken already have strong priority and speed boost respectively. Garchomp can use Tailwind but it's way more situational than you might expect. Just spamming Brave Bird is usually way more efficient.
U-Turn - At level 50 Talonflame does not outrun the base 110s so I can't U-turn on Latios (and I would probably Brave Bird it anyway). U-turning on incoming Tyranitar is nice but it's risky to predict and if I CAN predict it I'd rather just burn them and hard switch.
Me First - I can't think of a single thing this would be useful against.
Aerial Ace - Moody / Minimize Pokemon are really shitty to face but w/e, I just attack until they die or I do. Evasion is pretty rare and luck based. Usually I just break them. If I lose w/e. Aerial Ace won't prevent that.
Regardless 99.9% of the time Talonflame just uses Brave Bird.
@ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
Rotom W is the only defensive Pokemon on the team but it is possibly the MVP because of its incredible utility. It can switch in on and crush Landorus and Cresselia (unless CM) while putting pressure on Suicune. I've considered running something over Volt Switch since its switching effect is more often detrimental than helpful and it is very, very weak. It doesn't do anything notable to Suicune either. Hydro Pump hits with decent force although the accuracy sucks. Will-O-Wisp burns pretty much anything it contacts and pairs well with Hydro Pump since nothing wants to take both moves. Chesto Berry + Rest was originally picked as its recovery over Pain Split because I didn't have access to a Pain Split move tutor but I eventually found it better because of its enormous PP potential. In long matches against Sub / Toxic Gliscor, Cresselia or various Shuckle it can just sit there and easily PP stall pretty much everything as Rotom can waste 112 turns in optimal conditions (for comparison Sub Roost Gliscor caps at 64 PP). Chesto Berry also lets me burn Breloom in a pinch provided they don't just outright hit with Bullet Seed 4+ times. HP / Defense EVs guarantee survival of Jolly Mega Kanga's Fake Out + Return while 60 speed outruns Jolly Azumarill.
@ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Protect
Blaziken is insanely hard to wall in 6v6 when you can have an entire team devoted to taking it on. In 3v3 the situation is far worse. Flare Blitz rips a hole in everything it hits while High Jump Kick does as well... 90% of the time. Knock Off is something no one seems ready for. It takes out those damn Rocky Helmets on stuff like Landorus and Cresselia as well as completely wrecking Lati@s / random Starmie and Slowbro. Protect guarantees a speed boost avoiding Fake Outs and giving it effectively 127 base speed. Blaziken is checked pretty hard by Talonflame which is annoying so any time I use Blaziken I make sure I either bring Rotom W or have my other two Pokemon beat it hard one on one. I'm open to options over Knock Off since besides dicking Latios it doesn't do much. Also it's a 5th gen tutor move so I'm having difficulty getting it in-game. I guess I could run Stone Edge / Rock Slide / Rock Tomb to hit Talonflame / Lati@s that switch in.
@ Kangaskhanite
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Return
- Earthquake
Kanga is my lead 95% of the time due to its sheer crushing ability to beat almost all Pokemon one on one. Even tanks like Rocky Helmet Suicune and Cresselia either die or end up at the brink of death when they try to face Kangaskhan. Fake Out + Sucker Punch is a deadly combo while Return forces anything that doesn't resist it to its knees. Earthquake beats Sub Mega Gengar, Aegislash, and Heatran while hitting Tyranitar for decent enough damage. I try to keep Mega Kangaskhan alive even at low HP because of the utility Fake Out + Sucker Punch has. Who cares if it's standard, it kills everything.
The first 4 Pokemon on my team are invaluable, but the next two are sorta replaceable.
@ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
I'm mostly running Garchomp because this is Battle Spot and that's kind of what everyone does. While it is a really reliable Pokemon it's pretty much the most common 'mon and this almost everyone has some sort of counter / check for it. Despite this SD + Focus Sash usually lets Garchomp bust through these counters. For example...
+1 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Landorus-T: 118-141 (60.2 - 71.9%)
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 130-154 (57.2 - 67.8%)
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 135-160 (65.2 - 77.2%)
Focus Sash works offensively letting chomp set up Swords Dances but also works defensively, preventing BS like DD Mega Tyranitar, SD Talonflame and SD Blaziken from totally wrecking me after a boost. Rough Skin is also nice because it lets Garchomp get a little extra damage switching in on U-turns and stuff. Garchomp isn't amazing but it is insanely reliable.
@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Punch
- Superpower
Tyranitar is the last Pokemon on my team and also the least useful. While it checks a bunch of stuff and gets surprise kills on Talonflame (who always U-turn out) it is sorta bad at sweeping as it really lacks power. It also totally fails against anything with boosted speed or bulk. It can't even beat Cresselia most of the time! Sandstorm doesn't really help anything on my team either. Maybe I could just run Air Balloon Aegislash here instead?
Despite all this Tyranitar is rarely used and I'm open to replacements that don't suck.
1) No Legends. I understand that they are no stronger than some other Pokemon / Megas and it does put me at a disadvantage in teambuilding but you try and explain to a non-competitive player why it's okay for me to use my Cresselia but not their Mewtwo.
2) No Hidden Power. I don't have a 6 30 IV Ditto.
3) No 5th gen (or earlier) move tutors. I can't RNG manipulate either. R/S remakes have move tutors so I guess I can remove this rule, but I have to revamp the whole team for that anyway so...
4) This team is built to play 3v3 but ALSO must be competent enough in 6v6. In other words I want to run Stealth Rocks somewhere.
Peak proof. The ladder wasn't particularly tough so I don't think it was much of an achievement, but hey it's something?
Anyhow the team is based around running the most broken, physically intimidating 'mons I can think of. Since a lot of players run bulky offense in Battle Spot that means I face a lot of Cresselia, Suicune, Landorus, and M Venusaur many of which run Rocky Helmet. I get past them with the Hulk method, basically bashing them in the face until they die. I deal with offensive teams / Trick Room with a wide range of priority moves and bulk. This team does have a couple issues and weak links though, which I'll get to later.
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sleep Talk
First up is Talonflame which despite being my lead in team preview is never my actual lead. I'm running max speed to at worst speed tie with other Talonflame and to beat Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack. However in 60+ battles this has never once happened. Unlike at level 100 battles Talonflame does not outrun the base 110s, it only speed ties with them (and I Brave Bird all of them anyway). Max Speed doesn't outrun Thundurus's Prankster Twave either. I could run a bunch of HP EVs since I switch in on Blaziken a lot. Set is pretty standard. Brave Bird is a fantastic late game sweeping move and Flare Blitz hits... Mega Mawile? Will-O-Wisp also hits Mega Mawile so I can avoid the Sucker Punch. It's also nice for hitting Tyranitar and Rhyperior if I know for a fact Talonflame isn't going to be of any further use. I had a lot of trouble picking the last move but ended up going with Sleep Talk as it lets Talonflame switch in on all of Breloom's moves besides Rock attacks. It also helps against stray Smeargles and the occasional Prankster Assist Spore Pokemon. I know there are a couple other 4th move options I tried and here are why they all suck.
Tailwind - On paper it seems awesome, letting my team have 2x speed for 4 turns. In reality its useless. It gives me at max two turns to abuse it and nothing on my team cares about speed boosts. Tyranitar and Rotom W don't hit hard enough, and Kangaskhan and Blaziken already have strong priority and speed boost respectively. Garchomp can use Tailwind but it's way more situational than you might expect. Just spamming Brave Bird is usually way more efficient.
U-Turn - At level 50 Talonflame does not outrun the base 110s so I can't U-turn on Latios (and I would probably Brave Bird it anyway). U-turning on incoming Tyranitar is nice but it's risky to predict and if I CAN predict it I'd rather just burn them and hard switch.
Me First - I can't think of a single thing this would be useful against.
Aerial Ace - Moody / Minimize Pokemon are really shitty to face but w/e, I just attack until they die or I do. Evasion is pretty rare and luck based. Usually I just break them. If I lose w/e. Aerial Ace won't prevent that.
Regardless 99.9% of the time Talonflame just uses Brave Bird.
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
Rotom W is the only defensive Pokemon on the team but it is possibly the MVP because of its incredible utility. It can switch in on and crush Landorus and Cresselia (unless CM) while putting pressure on Suicune. I've considered running something over Volt Switch since its switching effect is more often detrimental than helpful and it is very, very weak. It doesn't do anything notable to Suicune either. Hydro Pump hits with decent force although the accuracy sucks. Will-O-Wisp burns pretty much anything it contacts and pairs well with Hydro Pump since nothing wants to take both moves. Chesto Berry + Rest was originally picked as its recovery over Pain Split because I didn't have access to a Pain Split move tutor but I eventually found it better because of its enormous PP potential. In long matches against Sub / Toxic Gliscor, Cresselia or various Shuckle it can just sit there and easily PP stall pretty much everything as Rotom can waste 112 turns in optimal conditions (for comparison Sub Roost Gliscor caps at 64 PP). Chesto Berry also lets me burn Breloom in a pinch provided they don't just outright hit with Bullet Seed 4+ times. HP / Defense EVs guarantee survival of Jolly Mega Kanga's Fake Out + Return while 60 speed outruns Jolly Azumarill.
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Protect
Blaziken is insanely hard to wall in 6v6 when you can have an entire team devoted to taking it on. In 3v3 the situation is far worse. Flare Blitz rips a hole in everything it hits while High Jump Kick does as well... 90% of the time. Knock Off is something no one seems ready for. It takes out those damn Rocky Helmets on stuff like Landorus and Cresselia as well as completely wrecking Lati@s / random Starmie and Slowbro. Protect guarantees a speed boost avoiding Fake Outs and giving it effectively 127 base speed. Blaziken is checked pretty hard by Talonflame which is annoying so any time I use Blaziken I make sure I either bring Rotom W or have my other two Pokemon beat it hard one on one. I'm open to options over Knock Off since besides dicking Latios it doesn't do much. Also it's a 5th gen tutor move so I'm having difficulty getting it in-game. I guess I could run Stone Edge / Rock Slide / Rock Tomb to hit Talonflame / Lati@s that switch in.
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Sucker Punch
- Return
- Earthquake
Kanga is my lead 95% of the time due to its sheer crushing ability to beat almost all Pokemon one on one. Even tanks like Rocky Helmet Suicune and Cresselia either die or end up at the brink of death when they try to face Kangaskhan. Fake Out + Sucker Punch is a deadly combo while Return forces anything that doesn't resist it to its knees. Earthquake beats Sub Mega Gengar, Aegislash, and Heatran while hitting Tyranitar for decent enough damage. I try to keep Mega Kangaskhan alive even at low HP because of the utility Fake Out + Sucker Punch has. Who cares if it's standard, it kills everything.
The first 4 Pokemon on my team are invaluable, but the next two are sorta replaceable.
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Swords Dance
I'm mostly running Garchomp because this is Battle Spot and that's kind of what everyone does. While it is a really reliable Pokemon it's pretty much the most common 'mon and this almost everyone has some sort of counter / check for it. Despite this SD + Focus Sash usually lets Garchomp bust through these counters. For example...
+1 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Landorus-T: 118-141 (60.2 - 71.9%)
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 130-154 (57.2 - 67.8%)
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 135-160 (65.2 - 77.2%)
Focus Sash works offensively letting chomp set up Swords Dances but also works defensively, preventing BS like DD Mega Tyranitar, SD Talonflame and SD Blaziken from totally wrecking me after a boost. Rough Skin is also nice because it lets Garchomp get a little extra damage switching in on U-turns and stuff. Garchomp isn't amazing but it is insanely reliable.
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Ice Punch
- Superpower
Tyranitar is the last Pokemon on my team and also the least useful. While it checks a bunch of stuff and gets surprise kills on Talonflame (who always U-turn out) it is sorta bad at sweeping as it really lacks power. It also totally fails against anything with boosted speed or bulk. It can't even beat Cresselia most of the time! Sandstorm doesn't really help anything on my team either. Maybe I could just run Air Balloon Aegislash here instead?
Despite all this Tyranitar is rarely used and I'm open to replacements that don't suck.