Genesis
A well-trained one can sense auras to identify and take in the feelings of creatures over half a mile away.
It all began here with this Pokemon Lucario. I want to make another team as my last team was terrible I just couldn't adapt to the balance style and was to use to offensive to really free at home. However when sat down and began to ponder what kind of Pokemon I wanted to base my team around I began to get a few ideas.
- ●Not weak to Stealth Rock.
●Not weak to Bullet Punch.
●Very dangerous late game.
I decided these were the structures I would work around, I immediately thought of three Pokemon which could:
I immediately took off Metagross as I recently made a team (Which failed) with Metagross and don't want to repeat the disaster and it isn't fun using a Pokemon you have used before hand. Also the only set that Metagross could really use in the kind of team I wanted was Agility Metagross and I really don't like them even if they are powerful and destructive.
Empoleon was a harder choice as I wanted to make a team centred it as well as Lucario. However I went with Lucario because of two reasons. It is one hell of a late game sweeper that really just slaps weakened Pokemon in the face. Secondly unlike Empoleon, Lucario doesn't mind if Toxic Spikes are missing (Of course he prefers it if it was there but won't be disadvantaged if they are not.) Also Lucario has better speed and Priority (Of course Empoleon has Aqua Jet but it has pathetic attack stat. Also Extreme Speed is so much more stronger.) Also finally Lucario looked better in my opinion and that was what made me choose Lucario.
Team so far.
Lucario@Life Orb
Nature:Adamant
Ability:Steadfast
Evs:252 Attack 252 Speed 6 Hit Points
Moves
●Close Combat
●Extreme Speed
●Crunch
●Sword Dance
Then I wanted to find a partner for Lucario, something deadly strong and fast. I need it to be able to break or severely damage walls there was literally only two choices for me to choose from:
At first Infernape looked perfect at first not weak to Scizor's Bullet Punch only taking 12.5% from Stealth Rock each turn and able to break most physical walls. However once I looked past this positives I discovered Specially Based Infernape was no way able to take up the job. Firstly Infernape isn't able to touch Zapdos whilst it doesn't have enough power to knock out most Hippowdons with Grass Knot meaning Infernape the core with Lucario, Infernape the wall breaker goes down. Also Infernape can't touch Gyarados at all meaning that Bulky Gyarados is going to have a field day with my team.
However Salamence proved to work wonderfully. The amount of raw power that a Mix Salamence holds is scary. I also realised that Salamence and Lucario have perfect typing and Intimidate has saved Lucario's life many times. Whilst Salamence is severely hurt by Bullet Punch I found ways to work around that.
Team so far.
Salamence@Life Orb
Nature:Rash
Ability:Intimidate
Evs:216 Speed 210 Special Attack 84 Attack
Moves
●Draco Meteor
●Outrage
●Earthquake
●Flamethrower
After noticing I had terrible weakness to Specially based Infernape I wanted either Starmie or Latias to cover the weakness. I eventually went Latias because she paired with Salamence could seriously deal some heavy damage especially with the double Draco Meteor going. I couldn't decide on which set to use it was a tie between Choice Specs for the raw power or Life Orb. At first Choice Specs seem to be doing well however it required me to predict to much and something I predict wrong therefore causing me to lose the game. When I switched over to Life Orb it was like a match made in heaven. Life Orb is like combining a weaker Choice Specs and freedom, Life Orb Latias was seriously wrecking. However after testing I noticed my team if set up on once would be destroyed as all my sweepers are so fragile I need a check for Dragon Dancing Salamence or Gyarados so I eventually switched Life Orb to Choice Scarf and also Tricking a wall like Blissey onto Seismic Toss gives Lucario the opportunity to set up.
Team so far.
Latias@Choice Scarf
Nature:Timid
Ability:Levitate
Evs:252 Special Attack 252 Speed 6 Hp
Moves
●Draco Meteor
●Thunderbolt
●Surf
●Trick
Things were seriously looking nicely now. I also wanted to find a way to get rid of Steel typed Pokemon as most carry heavy bulk I especially wanted Magnezone, Metagross, Bronzong and Scizor dead. Those stuck out as the most important Steels to eliminate.
This was an extremely hard choice both Starmie and Heatran have benefits. Starmie being faster and usually more suited to an offensive minded team it also had insane coverage especially with the "Bolt Beam" combo. Heatran had more resistances and had a strong attacking stat and also carried around Explosion it definitely wasn't as faster and I wasn't going to put a Choice Scarf on it as Latias already carried one and also it doesn't draw Dark, Rock, Normal, Ice, Grass, Bug, Ghost, Dragon or Steel typed moves (Lucario resists those types.) It rather attracted unwanted Waterfalls or Earthquakes. Heatran however could take Scizor's U-Turns all day and unlike Starmie's Surfs Fire Blast always OHKOS Scizor and whilst Starmie resists Steel a Choice Band Bullet Punch with Stealth Rocks up will hurt so in the end Heatran was chosen.
Team so far.
Heatran@Life Orb
Nature:Timid
Ability:Levitate
Evs:252 Special Attack 252 Speed 6 Hp
Moves
●Explosion
●Fire Blast
●Earth Power
●Hidden Power
Now I look at my team and the last choice was obvious: Scizor. My team lacked priority completely and Scizor's Bullet Punch would do just fine. It not only will that make my team completely immune to Toxic Spikes and have three members immune to Sand storm. What got me questioning was if I should either use a specially bulky Scizor or the standard Scizor set.
Team so far.
Scizor@Choice Band
Nature:Adamant
Ability:Technician
Evs:248 Hit Points 242 Attack 20 Speed
Moves
●Superpower
●U-Turn
●Bullet Punch
●Pursuit
Scizor@Choice Band
Nature:Adamant
Ability:Technician
Evs:176 Attack 160 Hp 148 Special Defense 20 Speed
Moves
●Superpower
●U-Turn
●Bullet Punch
●Pursuit
The standard Scizor set has a few advantages and a few disadvantages firstly it has 11 uses of Life Orb which usually doesn't get much but an advantage is still an advantage. The first Scizor can also switch into Stealth Rock more times than the Special Defense bulky Scizor. The Specially Defensive bulky Scizor is meant to take Draco Meteors and Surfs a lot better and spam U-Turns however having less Evs in Hit Points means physical attacks like Bullet Punch or Dragon Claw hurt more. In the end I decided to go with the standard Smogon set as it can take both physical hurts as well as special hits so that was chosen.
Lead was actually the simplest choice both me and Kennisious agreed that Bulky Dual Screen Azelf would work perfect and it was an old and reliable lead I have been using and was glad to have it back on the team. However I didn't like one thing about my last Azelf it was how unreliable they were offensively. Explosion was good however it absolutely sucked against slower (Or faster) Pokemon with Substitute as after I blow up they set up another Substitute on that turn. Also Explosion is resisted (Obviously) by Ghost Pokemon so Pokemon like Rotom-H who I don't really want to send anything in because of Stealth Rock weakness or Will-O-Wisp or Thunderbolt I can use Azelf to hurt it. So looking at Azelf's movepool Psychic was pretty obvious it is a strong move that gets STABBed off a nice base 125 stat.
Team so far.
Azelf@Light Clay
Nature:Timid
Ability:Levitate
Evs:248 Hit Points 252 Speed 10 Special Attack
Moves
●Psychic
●Stealth Rocks
●Light Screen
●Reflect