Death Trap Doubles Team (VGC Format)
I want to have my team rated under VGC rules.
Team Overview:
This team is designed mainly for Double Battles usage. Double Battles account more for synergy than Base Stat prowess and as such becomes a whole different ball game compared to Singles OU. Many tactics such as Trick Room and Protect/Detect variants are prevalent throughout the VGC battles and because of that, the metagame becomes completely unpredictable.
The theme for this team is "Traps". The reason why I think traps are important for this metagame is because the metagame itself favors (I usually spell favours for Canadian spelling) switch-ins to outwit and counter certain tactics the opponent can think of. As such, the importance of traps is to disrupt a key strategy commonly used in the metagame, effectively placing importance on team leads during the beginning of the match. However, traps alone would not improve the odds of success in my favor, so for my team to become a serious threat, I had to come up with a counter-strategy against the majority of the metagame.
Another thing I realized about the metagame is that offense and supports are very commonly used. To counter those, I had to find some sort of weakness in both of those tactics. After some pondering, I realized that offensive users usually favor hard-hitting moves that either have high power, or ones that has higher priority. In exchange, their defensive abilities are usually lacking. Support users in return, usually boast higher defensive abilities to increase survivability to make up for their lack of offensive traits. At first, the two cover their respective weaknesses, but in the end, if they are struck down quickly, they wouldn't leave much of an impact. Therefore, I came up with the second theme of "Death".
The team are the following:
Standard text is for the initial sets introduced in Version 1.
Bolded text are changes introduced since the posting of Version 1 up to Version 2.
Version 2 Roster
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Rock Slide
- Swagger
Dugtrio is the only fully evolved pokemon with the Arena Trap ability. Arena Trap prevents opponents from switching non-Flying types on a fatal attack. Protect gives Dugtrio free protection for a turn, allowing it to stall while its partner does the work. Dig stalls the opponent further by one turn and hits non-flying steel-type pokemon hard on the next turn. Rock Slide with STAB hits multiple pokemon hard enough to do some damage and possibly cause flinching. Swagger raises the attack of its target by two stages and inflicts confusion in return. This allows it to potentially stall or if partnered with Lickilicky, give Lickilicky additional firepower. Focus Sash allows Dugtrio to survive a hit once it resurfaces or while it is underground, take a devastating Earthquake.
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Calm (for competitive simulator purposes)
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Trick Room
Gothorita is nominated for being one of the few pokemon with Shadow Tag that is available and not banned for tournament play. Protect stalls a free turn. Reflect gives the team additional defense, allowing them to take hits from offensive hitters. Magic Coat gives it taunt-protection from the likes of pranksters (especially Thundurus). Trick Room ruins sweepers and allows Lickilicky to outrun offensive threats. Eviolite lets Gothorita take additional hits.
Roles: Trapper/Support
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP 128 SDef 128 Def
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Scald
- Substitute
Politoed replaces Murkrow as a Song user, while adding versatility to the team's overall synergy. With Perish Song, every non-soundproof pokemon will fall in three turns. Protect stalls for one free turn. Scald does some damage while passing burns. Substitute saves Politoed from one fatal hit. Sitrus Berry restores enough health for Politoed to use Substitute.
Roles: Rain Support/Staller/Suicide lead
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Hammer Arm
- Power Whip
- Protect
Lickilicky has the most powerful pure damage output (before calculating resistance and weaknesses) out of all the pokemon I can think of. A Normal Gem-boosted Explosion could cripple unprepared teams that aren't rock, steel, ghost, or Damp users. Hammer Arm helps eliminate Rock and Steel Types that resist Explosion and slows Lickilicky down further for Trick Room usage. Power Whip strikes down bulky Water Types, Rock and Ground Types like Chople Berry TTars. Protect gives it protection against certain hard-hitters like Terrakion. Own Tempo allows Lickilicky immunity to confusion and allows free boosts from swagger.
Roles: Suicide Lead
Dewgong @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP 252 SDf 4 Def
Nature: Careful
- Encore
- Disable
- Rest
- Ice Shard
Dewgong is the most gimmicky user of the team. It benefits from rain and fits in reasonably well with the overall theme of trapping. Encore + Disable combo effectively forces its target to Struggle itself to death, preventing them from doing serious harm. Rest combined with rain gives it free recovery. Ice Shard gets STAB and priority to destroy weakened teams. Leftovers allow it to survive several more hits.
Roles: Disruptor/Sponge
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SAt
Nature: Lonely
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor
- Bounce
- Protect
Kingdra benefits from rain due to Swift Swim, doubling its speed to outrun most sweepers. Life Orb boosts all of its attacks by 30% by draining away a portion of its health for every successful attack. Waterfall gets STAB and can cause flinching on its target. Draco Meteor also gets STAB, and is picked over Outrage for target control and to hit Physical Walls harder. Bounce is mainly to stall opponents while Perish Song is in play and to destroy Fighting Types that could destroy Lickilicky. Protect is to Stall for one free turn.
Roles: Mixed Sweeper/Staller
Results:
It seems that I've managed to score more victories using this team. Perhaps this is due to using Perish Song twice per match or the opponents I've faced weren't prepared to counter this team. There were two instances however where a pair consisting of Thundurus and a Liepard, both with Prankster as its ability, managed to taunt Politoed before it could Song them, resulting in a key strategy to be ruined.
On the other hand, stalling strategies tend to work in my favor, and it is much easier to pull off an Explosion thanks to Trick Room. Of course, I still need to worry about the taunters with this team.
I want to have my team rated under VGC rules.
Team Overview:
This team is designed mainly for Double Battles usage. Double Battles account more for synergy than Base Stat prowess and as such becomes a whole different ball game compared to Singles OU. Many tactics such as Trick Room and Protect/Detect variants are prevalent throughout the VGC battles and because of that, the metagame becomes completely unpredictable.
The theme for this team is "Traps". The reason why I think traps are important for this metagame is because the metagame itself favors (I usually spell favours for Canadian spelling) switch-ins to outwit and counter certain tactics the opponent can think of. As such, the importance of traps is to disrupt a key strategy commonly used in the metagame, effectively placing importance on team leads during the beginning of the match. However, traps alone would not improve the odds of success in my favor, so for my team to become a serious threat, I had to come up with a counter-strategy against the majority of the metagame.
Another thing I realized about the metagame is that offense and supports are very commonly used. To counter those, I had to find some sort of weakness in both of those tactics. After some pondering, I realized that offensive users usually favor hard-hitting moves that either have high power, or ones that has higher priority. In exchange, their defensive abilities are usually lacking. Support users in return, usually boast higher defensive abilities to increase survivability to make up for their lack of offensive traits. At first, the two cover their respective weaknesses, but in the end, if they are struck down quickly, they wouldn't leave much of an impact. Therefore, I came up with the second theme of "Death".
Team Building Process Version 1:
I started the team building process by identifying pokemon with the ability to trap other teams:
Diglett, Dugtrio, Magnemite, Magneton, Wobbuffet, Nosepass, Trapinch, Wynaut, Magnezone, Probopass, Gothita, Gothorita, Gothitelle, Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure
Through quick analysis, I knew Magnet Pull wouldn't have much effect on the metagame. I got rid of them first, leaving me with:
Diglett, Dugtrio, Wobbuffet, Trapinch, Wynaut, Gothita, Gothorita, Gothitelle, Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure
Afterwards, I picked away those that are banned in VGC play. Not much has changed though, so I also got rid of those that are not yet available in-game:
Diglett, Dugtrio, Trapinch, Gothorita, Gothitelle
Wobbuffet and presumably Wynaut are banned in competitive play due to an incident back in the Ruby and Sapphire days. Gothita, as well as the Litwick family line with Shadow Tag has not been released as of yet, Gothorita and Gothitelle with Shadow Tag can only be male due to the wifi event and thus cannot be bred. This leaves me with Diglett, Dugtrio, and Trapinch as Arena Trap users and Gothorita and Gothitelle as Shadow Tag users. After analyzing the usability of each Arena Trap user, I ended up favoring Dugtrio over the rest mainly due to its high speed and because bulkiness wouldn't make a difference anyways. On the other hand, between the two Shadow Tag users, Gothorita won my vote over Gothitelle since I needed someone with more bulk and it'll find good use with Eviolite. With that, my two trappers have been decided:
Setting them aside for now, I needed to come up with a couple of ways to quickly eliminate the opposition as fast and unpredictable as possible. A couple of moves I can think of that will get the job done are: Selfdestruct, Explosion, Destiny Bond, OHKO moves like Sheer Cold, Perish Song, and Ghost-Version Curse. To narrow the search, I only need Selfdestruct or Explosion, and Perish Song since Destiny Bond only takes down one pokemon upon the user's death, which wouldn't help much; OHKO moves have a low accuracy rating and only hits a single target; and Curse is a double-edge move that takes a quarter of the target's HP per turn in exchange for half of the caster's HP per cast. Meanwhile, Selfdestruct/Explosion and Perish Song can hit multiple targets with certain limitations. Selfdestruct/Explosion sacrifices a member to inflict massive damage and can be hindered by the Rock and Steel resistances, the Ghost immunity, the Damp ability which stops it from setting off, and Protect/Detect/Wide Guard usage that effectively shields them from a devastating attack. On the other hand, Perish Song only suffers from a three-turn delayed effect and cannot affect Soundproof pokemon (which is uncommon in these parts) but in return grants guaranteed death upon the three-turn wait (in which can be successfully performed with stall tactics plus the appropriate trapper).
To fast-forward the selection process, for Selfdestruct/Explosion users, I only need normal types to play that role. Those that match their roles are:
Explosion Users:
Selfdestruct Users:
and by extension:
Munchlax is automatically removed in favor of Snorlax due to its superior attack as its evolved form, which leaves me with the competition between Lickilicky and Snorlax.
VS
The main purpose of my chosen exploder is to inflict maximum damage possible with minimal effort. Lickilicky benefits for having Explosion, a stronger version of Selfdestruct, while Snorlax has a superior Base Attack stat over Lickilicky, making it difficult for me to choose from at first glance. I then had to evaluate them from a different angle.
So far, Lickilicky can be immune to confusion or Attract, depending on its ability, or it can negate weather, an increasingly common factor in the metagame, while Snorlax is immune to POISON, has added resistance to fire and ice through Thick Fat, and eats berries earlier due to Gluttony. Ability-wise, Lickilicky finds most use in Own Tempo and Cloud Nine, while Snorlax is mostly useful with Thick Fat, due to lack of poison in fast-paced battles. Stats-wise, Lickilicky is more well-rounded with its speed just about half of its average stats, while Snorlax is much more inclined as an Offensive Sponge with Superior HP, awesome Base Attack and Special Defense, decent Defense and Special Attack, with its Speed as terrible as an Amoongus. Lickilicky can take advantage of those well-rounded defenses to utilize its bulk and survive non-Fighting attacks with ease, while it can take advantage of Trick Room yet outspeeding Conkeldurr without priority in a non-Trick Room environment. Snorlax can take on Special-based attacks with ease but this in turn makes it more vulnerable to physical Fighting attacks. However, Snorlax outspeeds most pokemon under Trick Room, allowing it to strike hard at its threats with little fear of its downfall.
Lickilicky Advantage: Explosion, Own Tempo, Cloud Nine, Well-Rounded Defenses, Faster than Conkeldurr by default.
Snorlax Advantage: High Attack, Specially Bulky, Outspeeds most pokemon under Trick Room.
Ultimately, it all comes back to who can inflict the most damage out of Selfdestruct/Explosion. I ran damage calculations for each pokemon, using their respective suicide attacks, calculating them at level 50 each, with max Attack EVs and IVs, accounting for STAB as well as the boosts that Normal Gem would give. The results are pretty close, and the ultimate winner for highest pure damage output is:
Lickilicky.
Now for the Song user, I factor every pokemon that can learn Perish Song:
Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff, Seel, Dewgong, Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, Cubone, Marowak, Jynx, Lapras, Igglybuff, Marill, Azumarill, Politoed, Murkrow, Misdreavus, Smoochum, Celebi, Swablu, Altaria, Absol, Kricketune, Mismagius, Honchkrow, Arceus, Meloetta
By process of elimination, I get rid of any pokemon that are banned in this format. Celebi, Arceus and Meloetta thus are unusable for this team. Afterwards, I keep any pokemon with higher speed or good bulk on the list. After elimination, I have:
Speed: Gengar, Jynx, Murkrow, Absol, Mismagius
Gengar has the highest Base Speed of all the Song users, with Mismagius being second in that department, but Mismagius outclasses Gengar with its superb Base Special Defense Stat. Jynx has a relatively okay speed, being the third highest, but it is ridiculously frail with its base physical Defense stat of 35. Murkrow is second last in terms of base Speed, but with Hidden Ability Prankster, allows it to pull off Perish Song the quickest. Absol is dead last in the speed department. After eliminating the weakest links (Absol and Jynx), I had to decide between Gengar (the fastest when it comes to non-Prankster comparison), Mismagius (the toughest in the Special Defense Department), and Murkrow (who can pull off priority +1 Perish Song with little chance of stopping it). Ultimately, Murkrow won my vote, since Prankster Thundurus and Tornadus are common in the metagame.
Bulky: Marowak, Lapras, Azumarill
Marowak possesses a high base Defense stat of 110 and a good base Special Defense of 80. However, its base HP is 60 and its speed is mediocre to say the least, making it vulnerable to a concentrated array of attacks, preventing it from pulling off Perish Song. Lapras benefits from 130 base HP, 80 Defense and 95 Special Defense, which makes it a very bulky user of Perish Song. It is also capable of Rest + Hydration under rain, allowing it to restore to full health without the two-turn sleep drawback. It is slow however and if it is hit by a super-effective move, it may not live long enough to use Perish Song. Azumarill has decent bulking capabilities, but what stands out is that with Sap Sipper, Azumarill gains one immunity to an otherwise super-effective weakness (Grass), leaving it with only one weakness in return (Electric). After much thinking, since Marowak is ineffective in its tanking role, and after deciding between Lapras and Azumarill, Azumarill is ultimately preferable to Lapras since it has less weaknesses to look out for and that a good majority use Fighting Types which could take down Lapras, plus I probably won't use a rain summoner for it to take advantage of that ability.
Mixed (Speed and Bulky): Dewgong, Politoed, Altaria
Dewgong is an inferior version of Lapras, but is faster than it by 10 points in base Speed. Politoed has decent bulkiness, with more in Special Defense and good HP, plus it can summon rain to get rid of other harmful weather like hail and sandstorm. Altaria has a good base Defense of 90, an awesome 105 in Special Defense, and a decent 70 points in Base HP, along with 80 base Speed, allowing it to use Perish Song with little difficulty. It also comes with Cloud Nine to remove all weather. Between those three, Altaria is favored because it can destroy weather without risk of benefiting a different weather user.
Thus, it comes down to those three:
If I analyze the metagame trends so far, I would find that weather users are prevalent in use, therefore Altaria would help destroy a core strategy. However, its typing renders it 4x weak against Ice-type moves, including Ice Beam, its variant HP Ice, and a less accurate Blizzard from hail users. It can also be stopped by taunters like Thundurus and Tornadus (also common in the metagame) from using Perish Song. Azumarill could be instantly struck down by a Thunderbolt/Thunder Thundurus anyways, and Murkrow is frail enough to fall in a single hit and Thundurus/Tornadus can ruin it with Prankster Taunt. Ultimately, what I need for my Song user is to use a Perish Song at least once before it goes down. Hence my decision is to utilize:
Murkrow
Getting back to my list of Team Rosters, I now add the next two members:
That said, I have no faith that this strategy would work completely as I had anticipated, thus I needed some additional powerhouses to sweep the remaining forces in case I either mess up, or the opponent can counter my moves. I needed pokemon that can effectively sweep or add additional synergy to my team. With a little searching, I added those two to the team:
Hydreigon is selected because it can learn a good variety of moves that could provide coverage to the weakness of my team and mow down offensive threats. Terrakion is chosen in order to boost my team synergy while also capable of sweeping with impunity, but more importantly so that it can support Dugtrio with Smack Down.
And with that:
A new team is born: A Death Trap team designed to disrupt any opponent, while destroying them as quickly as possible before they can recover from the setback.
Additional Notes: Before I came up with this build, I once thought of using Cresselia as my Song user before I came to realize it can't learn Perish Song. If it could, I would've went with Perish Song for the kill, Gravity to trap airborne targets for Dugtrio to prevent retreat, Moonlight to recover lost health, and Psycho Shift to transfer BADLY POISONED status to the unfortunate. Alas, I curse that Cresselia for looking so sinisterly beautiful that it made me mistake it for being capable of lulling others to death. And that is all.
I started the team building process by identifying pokemon with the ability to trap other teams:
Diglett, Dugtrio, Magnemite, Magneton, Wobbuffet, Nosepass, Trapinch, Wynaut, Magnezone, Probopass, Gothita, Gothorita, Gothitelle, Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure
Through quick analysis, I knew Magnet Pull wouldn't have much effect on the metagame. I got rid of them first, leaving me with:
Diglett, Dugtrio, Wobbuffet, Trapinch, Wynaut, Gothita, Gothorita, Gothitelle, Litwick, Lampent, Chandelure
Afterwards, I picked away those that are banned in VGC play. Not much has changed though, so I also got rid of those that are not yet available in-game:
Diglett, Dugtrio, Trapinch, Gothorita, Gothitelle
Wobbuffet and presumably Wynaut are banned in competitive play due to an incident back in the Ruby and Sapphire days. Gothita, as well as the Litwick family line with Shadow Tag has not been released as of yet, Gothorita and Gothitelle with Shadow Tag can only be male due to the wifi event and thus cannot be bred. This leaves me with Diglett, Dugtrio, and Trapinch as Arena Trap users and Gothorita and Gothitelle as Shadow Tag users. After analyzing the usability of each Arena Trap user, I ended up favoring Dugtrio over the rest mainly due to its high speed and because bulkiness wouldn't make a difference anyways. On the other hand, between the two Shadow Tag users, Gothorita won my vote over Gothitelle since I needed someone with more bulk and it'll find good use with Eviolite. With that, my two trappers have been decided:
Setting them aside for now, I needed to come up with a couple of ways to quickly eliminate the opposition as fast and unpredictable as possible. A couple of moves I can think of that will get the job done are: Selfdestruct, Explosion, Destiny Bond, OHKO moves like Sheer Cold, Perish Song, and Ghost-Version Curse. To narrow the search, I only need Selfdestruct or Explosion, and Perish Song since Destiny Bond only takes down one pokemon upon the user's death, which wouldn't help much; OHKO moves have a low accuracy rating and only hits a single target; and Curse is a double-edge move that takes a quarter of the target's HP per turn in exchange for half of the caster's HP per cast. Meanwhile, Selfdestruct/Explosion and Perish Song can hit multiple targets with certain limitations. Selfdestruct/Explosion sacrifices a member to inflict massive damage and can be hindered by the Rock and Steel resistances, the Ghost immunity, the Damp ability which stops it from setting off, and Protect/Detect/Wide Guard usage that effectively shields them from a devastating attack. On the other hand, Perish Song only suffers from a three-turn delayed effect and cannot affect Soundproof pokemon (which is uncommon in these parts) but in return grants guaranteed death upon the three-turn wait (in which can be successfully performed with stall tactics plus the appropriate trapper).
To fast-forward the selection process, for Selfdestruct/Explosion users, I only need normal types to play that role. Those that match their roles are:
Explosion Users:
Selfdestruct Users:
Munchlax is automatically removed in favor of Snorlax due to its superior attack as its evolved form, which leaves me with the competition between Lickilicky and Snorlax.
The main purpose of my chosen exploder is to inflict maximum damage possible with minimal effort. Lickilicky benefits for having Explosion, a stronger version of Selfdestruct, while Snorlax has a superior Base Attack stat over Lickilicky, making it difficult for me to choose from at first glance. I then had to evaluate them from a different angle.
So far, Lickilicky can be immune to confusion or Attract, depending on its ability, or it can negate weather, an increasingly common factor in the metagame, while Snorlax is immune to POISON, has added resistance to fire and ice through Thick Fat, and eats berries earlier due to Gluttony. Ability-wise, Lickilicky finds most use in Own Tempo and Cloud Nine, while Snorlax is mostly useful with Thick Fat, due to lack of poison in fast-paced battles. Stats-wise, Lickilicky is more well-rounded with its speed just about half of its average stats, while Snorlax is much more inclined as an Offensive Sponge with Superior HP, awesome Base Attack and Special Defense, decent Defense and Special Attack, with its Speed as terrible as an Amoongus. Lickilicky can take advantage of those well-rounded defenses to utilize its bulk and survive non-Fighting attacks with ease, while it can take advantage of Trick Room yet outspeeding Conkeldurr without priority in a non-Trick Room environment. Snorlax can take on Special-based attacks with ease but this in turn makes it more vulnerable to physical Fighting attacks. However, Snorlax outspeeds most pokemon under Trick Room, allowing it to strike hard at its threats with little fear of its downfall.
Lickilicky Advantage: Explosion, Own Tempo, Cloud Nine, Well-Rounded Defenses, Faster than Conkeldurr by default.
Snorlax Advantage: High Attack, Specially Bulky, Outspeeds most pokemon under Trick Room.
Ultimately, it all comes back to who can inflict the most damage out of Selfdestruct/Explosion. I ran damage calculations for each pokemon, using their respective suicide attacks, calculating them at level 50 each, with max Attack EVs and IVs, accounting for STAB as well as the boosts that Normal Gem would give. The results are pretty close, and the ultimate winner for highest pure damage output is:
Lickilicky.
Now for the Song user, I factor every pokemon that can learn Perish Song:
Jigglypuff, Wigglytuff, Seel, Dewgong, Gastly, Haunter, Gengar, Cubone, Marowak, Jynx, Lapras, Igglybuff, Marill, Azumarill, Politoed, Murkrow, Misdreavus, Smoochum, Celebi, Swablu, Altaria, Absol, Kricketune, Mismagius, Honchkrow, Arceus, Meloetta
By process of elimination, I get rid of any pokemon that are banned in this format. Celebi, Arceus and Meloetta thus are unusable for this team. Afterwards, I keep any pokemon with higher speed or good bulk on the list. After elimination, I have:
Speed: Gengar, Jynx, Murkrow, Absol, Mismagius
Gengar has the highest Base Speed of all the Song users, with Mismagius being second in that department, but Mismagius outclasses Gengar with its superb Base Special Defense Stat. Jynx has a relatively okay speed, being the third highest, but it is ridiculously frail with its base physical Defense stat of 35. Murkrow is second last in terms of base Speed, but with Hidden Ability Prankster, allows it to pull off Perish Song the quickest. Absol is dead last in the speed department. After eliminating the weakest links (Absol and Jynx), I had to decide between Gengar (the fastest when it comes to non-Prankster comparison), Mismagius (the toughest in the Special Defense Department), and Murkrow (who can pull off priority +1 Perish Song with little chance of stopping it). Ultimately, Murkrow won my vote, since Prankster Thundurus and Tornadus are common in the metagame.
Bulky: Marowak, Lapras, Azumarill
Marowak possesses a high base Defense stat of 110 and a good base Special Defense of 80. However, its base HP is 60 and its speed is mediocre to say the least, making it vulnerable to a concentrated array of attacks, preventing it from pulling off Perish Song. Lapras benefits from 130 base HP, 80 Defense and 95 Special Defense, which makes it a very bulky user of Perish Song. It is also capable of Rest + Hydration under rain, allowing it to restore to full health without the two-turn sleep drawback. It is slow however and if it is hit by a super-effective move, it may not live long enough to use Perish Song. Azumarill has decent bulking capabilities, but what stands out is that with Sap Sipper, Azumarill gains one immunity to an otherwise super-effective weakness (Grass), leaving it with only one weakness in return (Electric). After much thinking, since Marowak is ineffective in its tanking role, and after deciding between Lapras and Azumarill, Azumarill is ultimately preferable to Lapras since it has less weaknesses to look out for and that a good majority use Fighting Types which could take down Lapras, plus I probably won't use a rain summoner for it to take advantage of that ability.
Mixed (Speed and Bulky): Dewgong, Politoed, Altaria
Dewgong is an inferior version of Lapras, but is faster than it by 10 points in base Speed. Politoed has decent bulkiness, with more in Special Defense and good HP, plus it can summon rain to get rid of other harmful weather like hail and sandstorm. Altaria has a good base Defense of 90, an awesome 105 in Special Defense, and a decent 70 points in Base HP, along with 80 base Speed, allowing it to use Perish Song with little difficulty. It also comes with Cloud Nine to remove all weather. Between those three, Altaria is favored because it can destroy weather without risk of benefiting a different weather user.
Thus, it comes down to those three:
If I analyze the metagame trends so far, I would find that weather users are prevalent in use, therefore Altaria would help destroy a core strategy. However, its typing renders it 4x weak against Ice-type moves, including Ice Beam, its variant HP Ice, and a less accurate Blizzard from hail users. It can also be stopped by taunters like Thundurus and Tornadus (also common in the metagame) from using Perish Song. Azumarill could be instantly struck down by a Thunderbolt/Thunder Thundurus anyways, and Murkrow is frail enough to fall in a single hit and Thundurus/Tornadus can ruin it with Prankster Taunt. Ultimately, what I need for my Song user is to use a Perish Song at least once before it goes down. Hence my decision is to utilize:
Murkrow
Getting back to my list of Team Rosters, I now add the next two members:
That said, I have no faith that this strategy would work completely as I had anticipated, thus I needed some additional powerhouses to sweep the remaining forces in case I either mess up, or the opponent can counter my moves. I needed pokemon that can effectively sweep or add additional synergy to my team. With a little searching, I added those two to the team:
Hydreigon is selected because it can learn a good variety of moves that could provide coverage to the weakness of my team and mow down offensive threats. Terrakion is chosen in order to boost my team synergy while also capable of sweeping with impunity, but more importantly so that it can support Dugtrio with Smack Down.
And with that:
A new team is born: A Death Trap team designed to disrupt any opponent, while destroying them as quickly as possible before they can recover from the setback.
Additional Notes: Before I came up with this build, I once thought of using Cresselia as my Song user before I came to realize it can't learn Perish Song. If it could, I would've went with Perish Song for the kill, Gravity to trap airborne targets for Dugtrio to prevent retreat, Moonlight to recover lost health, and Psycho Shift to transfer BADLY POISONED status to the unfortunate. Alas, I curse that Cresselia for looking so sinisterly beautiful that it made me mistake it for being capable of lulling others to death. And that is all.
Team Building Process: Version 2
After having my team rated and criticized, I decided to take the constructive advice of those who gave their utmost effort into improving my team and ignore those who are unhelpful for the most part. So far, most of the problems of my team are that they have movesets that contribute very little to help my team. As such, I reviewed my Version 1 Team Roster:
For starters, I reviewed my choice of Pokemon. Gothorita and Dugtrio are central to the theme of trappers so of course them staying is a given. It seems that those who are constructive in their criticism actually find Lickilicky and his purpose in the team good for the most part. Therefore, it stays.
Murkrow got criticized mainly for wearing Choice Scarf, which allows it to outrun Thundurus and Tornadus with Prankster. One suggestion a rater gave was to replace Murkrow for Politoed, another was for Sableye. Murkrow's niche in the team is to use Perish Song before it falls in battle and Choice Scarf allows it to use Perish Song before they could Taunt it. If the prankster taunter uses Scarf, it would lock them to using taunt and they can't switch out due to a trapper present. Should Murkrow be replaced with Politoed, a new set of tactics would be open, but at the cost of being vulnerable to Taunt, an event I wanted to prevent. If replaced for Sableye with a suggested build, it could add synergy for Lickilicky being immune to Explosion, adding more firepower to it through Swagger, breaking shields with Feint, but would allow the opponent to switch in. I considered that change for Politoed, but left it for a later time to test if the same members of the team with moveset improvements could do better than the Version 1 team. I also left Sableye for future usage.
Terrakion's flaw is moveset based, but apart from that, it was relatively good. For Hydreigon, it is favored for its role. Its only improvement is to focus on Speed, to give it a Choice Scarf to outrun faster threats, and to replace Focus Blast with Earth Power for higher accuracy rates. A suggestion from the user who suggested earlier to replace Murkrow with Politoed also suggested to use Kingdra to compliment rain with Swift Swim. That was also considered.
But before I finalized my team for Version 2 update, I tested my unchanged members with improved movesets as Version 1.5 over an Online Battle Simulator.
After playing with this team a couple of times (with my win no more successful than the Version 1 roster), I built another team which is the Version 2 build based on the suggestions of a user, taking the improvements of Version 1.5 and adjusting the team as necessary. This leads to:
However, this leaves Terrakion as the odd one in my team. Thankfully, I came up with a new experimental tactic before coming up with Version 2 and it was some time after responding to the raters. It was a strategy that has not been used against me nor commonly seen in the metagame, but however suits my overall theme and compliments the new additions. The pokemon to replace Terrakion is:
Dewgong.
Why Dewgong, you may ask? Why not use Lapras, who has superior stats, the same ability (Hydration), and generally a more viable moveset consisting of Rest, Curse, Dragon Dance, and even Perish Song, the one move that is key in this set? Two reasons for that; One: I overlooked Lapras' similarity to Dewgong, and Two: I am not looking for a second Perish Song user. As I stated before, I came up with a strategy that no one uses that I want to experiment with in a competitive environment.
Dewgong is one of the pokemon that learns Encore and another move that can be combo-ed together, combined with a trapping strategy, would turn certain strategies into another suicide attempt. That move is Disable. If Dewgong uses Encore first to force its target to use the exact same move, then use Disable on the Encored, it would lock it from being able to use another standard move, being forced to struggle itself to death. With a trapper out, the opponent cannot switch out the affected as it continues to use struggle, giving me one less threat to worry about. Lapras cannot learn Encore or Disable.
Now of course Encore + Torment combo works essentially the same way the Encore + Disable combo would, with some differences. The problem is that most of the pokemon that learns both Encore and Torment are generally not bulky enough to survive a concentrated attack on it, hence why Dewgong is suited for this role. Of course it helps to have rain to allow Dewgong to shrug off the damage it will be taking.
Hence, a new team has been formed:
After having my team rated and criticized, I decided to take the constructive advice of those who gave their utmost effort into improving my team and ignore those who are unhelpful for the most part. So far, most of the problems of my team are that they have movesets that contribute very little to help my team. As such, I reviewed my Version 1 Team Roster:
For starters, I reviewed my choice of Pokemon. Gothorita and Dugtrio are central to the theme of trappers so of course them staying is a given. It seems that those who are constructive in their criticism actually find Lickilicky and his purpose in the team good for the most part. Therefore, it stays.
Murkrow got criticized mainly for wearing Choice Scarf, which allows it to outrun Thundurus and Tornadus with Prankster. One suggestion a rater gave was to replace Murkrow for Politoed, another was for Sableye. Murkrow's niche in the team is to use Perish Song before it falls in battle and Choice Scarf allows it to use Perish Song before they could Taunt it. If the prankster taunter uses Scarf, it would lock them to using taunt and they can't switch out due to a trapper present. Should Murkrow be replaced with Politoed, a new set of tactics would be open, but at the cost of being vulnerable to Taunt, an event I wanted to prevent. If replaced for Sableye with a suggested build, it could add synergy for Lickilicky being immune to Explosion, adding more firepower to it through Swagger, breaking shields with Feint, but would allow the opponent to switch in. I considered that change for Politoed, but left it for a later time to test if the same members of the team with moveset improvements could do better than the Version 1 team. I also left Sableye for future usage.
Terrakion's flaw is moveset based, but apart from that, it was relatively good. For Hydreigon, it is favored for its role. Its only improvement is to focus on Speed, to give it a Choice Scarf to outrun faster threats, and to replace Focus Blast with Earth Power for higher accuracy rates. A suggestion from the user who suggested earlier to replace Murkrow with Politoed also suggested to use Kingdra to compliment rain with Swift Swim. That was also considered.
But before I finalized my team for Version 2 update, I tested my unchanged members with improved movesets as Version 1.5 over an Online Battle Simulator.
Version 1.5 Roster
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash ;051;
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Rock Slide
- Swagger
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite :575:
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Naughty [too lazy to change in the Simulator, plus I feel it makes little difference]
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Trick Room
Roles: Trapper/Support
Murkrow @ Quick Claw ;198;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd 252 HP 4 SDef
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Thunder Wave
- Quash
- Foul Play
Roles: Support
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem ;463;
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Hammer Arm
- Power Whip
- Protect
Roles: Suicide Lead
Terrakion @ Life Orb :639:
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 Def
Nature: Lax
- Quick Guard
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
Roles: Support/Sweeper
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf :635:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SDef
Nature: Mild [Likewise, too lazy to change]
- Heat Wave
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power
- Dark Pulse
Roles: Sweeper
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash ;051;
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Rock Slide
- Swagger
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite :575:
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Naughty [too lazy to change in the Simulator, plus I feel it makes little difference]
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Trick Room
Roles: Trapper/Support
Murkrow @ Quick Claw ;198;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd 252 HP 4 SDef
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Thunder Wave
- Quash
- Foul Play
Roles: Support
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem ;463;
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Hammer Arm
- Power Whip
- Protect
Roles: Suicide Lead
Terrakion @ Life Orb :639:
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 Def
Nature: Lax
- Quick Guard
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
Roles: Support/Sweeper
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf :635:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SDef
Nature: Mild [Likewise, too lazy to change]
- Heat Wave
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power
- Dark Pulse
Roles: Sweeper
After playing with this team a couple of times (with my win no more successful than the Version 1 roster), I built another team which is the Version 2 build based on the suggestions of a user, taking the improvements of Version 1.5 and adjusting the team as necessary. This leads to:
However, this leaves Terrakion as the odd one in my team. Thankfully, I came up with a new experimental tactic before coming up with Version 2 and it was some time after responding to the raters. It was a strategy that has not been used against me nor commonly seen in the metagame, but however suits my overall theme and compliments the new additions. The pokemon to replace Terrakion is:
Dewgong.
Why Dewgong, you may ask? Why not use Lapras, who has superior stats, the same ability (Hydration), and generally a more viable moveset consisting of Rest, Curse, Dragon Dance, and even Perish Song, the one move that is key in this set? Two reasons for that; One: I overlooked Lapras' similarity to Dewgong, and Two: I am not looking for a second Perish Song user. As I stated before, I came up with a strategy that no one uses that I want to experiment with in a competitive environment.
Dewgong is one of the pokemon that learns Encore and another move that can be combo-ed together, combined with a trapping strategy, would turn certain strategies into another suicide attempt. That move is Disable. If Dewgong uses Encore first to force its target to use the exact same move, then use Disable on the Encored, it would lock it from being able to use another standard move, being forced to struggle itself to death. With a trapper out, the opponent cannot switch out the affected as it continues to use struggle, giving me one less threat to worry about. Lapras cannot learn Encore or Disable.
Now of course Encore + Torment combo works essentially the same way the Encore + Disable combo would, with some differences. The problem is that most of the pokemon that learns both Encore and Torment are generally not bulky enough to survive a concentrated attack on it, hence why Dewgong is suited for this role. Of course it helps to have rain to allow Dewgong to shrug off the damage it will be taking.
Hence, a new team has been formed:
The team are the following:
Standard text is for the initial sets introduced in Version 1.
Bolded text are changes introduced since the posting of Version 1 up to Version 2.
Version 2 Roster
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Rock Slide
- Swagger
Dugtrio is the only fully evolved pokemon with the Arena Trap ability. Arena Trap prevents opponents from switching non-Flying types on a fatal attack. Protect gives Dugtrio free protection for a turn, allowing it to stall while its partner does the work. Dig stalls the opponent further by one turn and hits non-flying steel-type pokemon hard on the next turn. Rock Slide with STAB hits multiple pokemon hard enough to do some damage and possibly cause flinching. Swagger raises the attack of its target by two stages and inflicts confusion in return. This allows it to potentially stall or if partnered with Lickilicky, give Lickilicky additional firepower. Focus Sash allows Dugtrio to survive a hit once it resurfaces or while it is underground, take a devastating Earthquake.
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Calm (for competitive simulator purposes)
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Trick Room
Gothorita is nominated for being one of the few pokemon with Shadow Tag that is available and not banned for tournament play. Protect stalls a free turn. Reflect gives the team additional defense, allowing them to take hits from offensive hitters. Magic Coat gives it taunt-protection from the likes of pranksters (especially Thundurus). Trick Room ruins sweepers and allows Lickilicky to outrun offensive threats. Eviolite lets Gothorita take additional hits.
Roles: Trapper/Support
Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP 128 SDef 128 Def
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Scald
- Substitute
Politoed replaces Murkrow as a Song user, while adding versatility to the team's overall synergy. With Perish Song, every non-soundproof pokemon will fall in three turns. Protect stalls for one free turn. Scald does some damage while passing burns. Substitute saves Politoed from one fatal hit. Sitrus Berry restores enough health for Politoed to use Substitute.
Roles: Rain Support/Staller/Suicide lead
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Hammer Arm
- Power Whip
- Protect
Lickilicky has the most powerful pure damage output (before calculating resistance and weaknesses) out of all the pokemon I can think of. A Normal Gem-boosted Explosion could cripple unprepared teams that aren't rock, steel, ghost, or Damp users. Hammer Arm helps eliminate Rock and Steel Types that resist Explosion and slows Lickilicky down further for Trick Room usage. Power Whip strikes down bulky Water Types, Rock and Ground Types like Chople Berry TTars. Protect gives it protection against certain hard-hitters like Terrakion. Own Tempo allows Lickilicky immunity to confusion and allows free boosts from swagger.
Roles: Suicide Lead
Dewgong @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP 252 SDf 4 Def
Nature: Careful
- Encore
- Disable
- Rest
- Ice Shard
Dewgong is the most gimmicky user of the team. It benefits from rain and fits in reasonably well with the overall theme of trapping. Encore + Disable combo effectively forces its target to Struggle itself to death, preventing them from doing serious harm. Rest combined with rain gives it free recovery. Ice Shard gets STAB and priority to destroy weakened teams. Leftovers allow it to survive several more hits.
Roles: Disruptor/Sponge
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SAt
Nature: Lonely
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor
- Bounce
- Protect
Kingdra benefits from rain due to Swift Swim, doubling its speed to outrun most sweepers. Life Orb boosts all of its attacks by 30% by draining away a portion of its health for every successful attack. Waterfall gets STAB and can cause flinching on its target. Draco Meteor also gets STAB, and is picked over Outrage for target control and to hit Physical Walls harder. Bounce is mainly to stall opponents while Perish Song is in play and to destroy Fighting Types that could destroy Lickilicky. Protect is to Stall for one free turn.
Roles: Mixed Sweeper/Staller
Results:
It seems that I've managed to score more victories using this team. Perhaps this is due to using Perish Song twice per match or the opponents I've faced weren't prepared to counter this team. There were two instances however where a pair consisting of Thundurus and a Liepard, both with Prankster as its ability, managed to taunt Politoed before it could Song them, resulting in a key strategy to be ruined.
On the other hand, stalling strategies tend to work in my favor, and it is much easier to pull off an Explosion thanks to Trick Room. Of course, I still need to worry about the taunters with this team.
Version 1 Roster
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash ;051;
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
Dugtrio is the only fully evolved pokemon with the Arena Trap ability. Arena Trap prevents opponents from switching non-Flying types on a fatal attack. Protect gives Dugtrio free protection for a turn, allowing it to stall while its partner does the work. Dig stalls the opponent further by one turn and hits non-flying steel-type pokemon hard on the next turn. Stone Edge hits ground-immune pokemon harder. Stealth Rock once deployed discourages switch-ins from the opponent. Focus Sash allows Dugtrio to survive a hit once it resurfaces or while it is underground, take a devastating Earthquake.
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite :575:
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Naughty [cannot be changed]
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Gravity
Gothorita is nominated for being one of the few pokemon with Shadow Tag that is available and not banned for tournament play. Protect stalls a free turn. Reflect gives the team additional defense, allowing them to take hits from offensive hitters. Magic Coat gives it taunt-protection from the likes of pranksters (especially Thundurus). Gravity makes flying pokemon ground-borne, allowing Dugtrio to trap them in the case that it falls. Eviolite lets Gothorita take additional hits.
Roles: Trapper/Support
Murkrow @ Choice Scarf ;198;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd 252 HP 4 SDef
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Thunder Wave
- Quash
- Foul Play
Murkrow can actually destroy teams with the right setup. Perish Song kills them in three turns and with Trappers in play, it means they'll be gone (unless U-turn and/or Volt Switch happens). Thunder Wave passes paralysis onto vulnerable targets. Quash suppresses its target, allowing slower pokemon to move before it. Foul Play is a backup attack designed to hit offensive pokemon hard despite its own lame attack stat. Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed non-scarf pranksters at the cost of a locking on one move (which doesn't matter as Murkrow is so frail to begin with).
Roles: Support
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem ;463;
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Protect
Lickilicky has the most powerful pure damage output (before calculating resistance and weaknesses) out of all the pokemon I can think of. A Normal Gem-boosted Explosion could cripple unprepared teams that aren't rock, steel, ghost, or Damp users. Earthquake handles Rock and Steel-types that resist Explosion. Gyro ball hits Ghosts-Types like Gengar hard. Protect gives it protection against certain hard-hitters like Terrakion. Own Tempo allows Lickilicky immunity to confusion and allows free boosts from swagger.
Roles: Suicide Lead
Terrakion @ Life Orb :639:
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 Def
Nature: Lax
- Quick Guard
- Smack Down
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
Terrakion is designed to back up the team while being an effective sweeper. Quick Guard blocks all priority moves the opponent can throw. Smack Down smites flying pokemon and renders them vulnerable to ground attacks as well as trap them via Dugtrio. Earthquake hits Steels like a truck. Close Combat gains STAB and hits a single target harder than Earthquake. Life Orb boost its dangerous attacks to higher levels.
Roles: Support/Sweeper
Hydreigon @ Dragon Gem :635:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SDef
Nature: Mild
- Heat Wave
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Hydreigon is the failsafe to my team, being a sweeper of sorts should my matchups become unfavorable. Heat Wave burns all Steels not named Heatran. Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor destroys potential obstacles like Jellicent and Latios in one hit. Focus Blast destroys Heatran and the likes of Aggron. Protect stalls a turn and stops it from being a sitting duck.
Roles: Sweeper
Results:
The odds of winning using this team is more dependent on several factors: The element of surprise, the opponent making mistakes, the user of this team not making mistakes, and just sheer luck altogether. It can take on any team, including a pair of legendaries provided you are prepared and the opponent does not figure out its weakness before you gain the upper hand. In my case, I lost more than I have won.
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash ;051;
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
Dugtrio is the only fully evolved pokemon with the Arena Trap ability. Arena Trap prevents opponents from switching non-Flying types on a fatal attack. Protect gives Dugtrio free protection for a turn, allowing it to stall while its partner does the work. Dig stalls the opponent further by one turn and hits non-flying steel-type pokemon hard on the next turn. Stone Edge hits ground-immune pokemon harder. Stealth Rock once deployed discourages switch-ins from the opponent. Focus Sash allows Dugtrio to survive a hit once it resurfaces or while it is underground, take a devastating Earthquake.
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite :575:
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Naughty [cannot be changed]
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Gravity
Gothorita is nominated for being one of the few pokemon with Shadow Tag that is available and not banned for tournament play. Protect stalls a free turn. Reflect gives the team additional defense, allowing them to take hits from offensive hitters. Magic Coat gives it taunt-protection from the likes of pranksters (especially Thundurus). Gravity makes flying pokemon ground-borne, allowing Dugtrio to trap them in the case that it falls. Eviolite lets Gothorita take additional hits.
Roles: Trapper/Support
Murkrow @ Choice Scarf ;198;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd 252 HP 4 SDef
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Thunder Wave
- Quash
- Foul Play
Murkrow can actually destroy teams with the right setup. Perish Song kills them in three turns and with Trappers in play, it means they'll be gone (unless U-turn and/or Volt Switch happens). Thunder Wave passes paralysis onto vulnerable targets. Quash suppresses its target, allowing slower pokemon to move before it. Foul Play is a backup attack designed to hit offensive pokemon hard despite its own lame attack stat. Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed non-scarf pranksters at the cost of a locking on one move (which doesn't matter as Murkrow is so frail to begin with).
Roles: Support
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem ;463;
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Gyro Ball
- Protect
Lickilicky has the most powerful pure damage output (before calculating resistance and weaknesses) out of all the pokemon I can think of. A Normal Gem-boosted Explosion could cripple unprepared teams that aren't rock, steel, ghost, or Damp users. Earthquake handles Rock and Steel-types that resist Explosion. Gyro ball hits Ghosts-Types like Gengar hard. Protect gives it protection against certain hard-hitters like Terrakion. Own Tempo allows Lickilicky immunity to confusion and allows free boosts from swagger.
Roles: Suicide Lead
Terrakion @ Life Orb :639:
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 Def
Nature: Lax
- Quick Guard
- Smack Down
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
Terrakion is designed to back up the team while being an effective sweeper. Quick Guard blocks all priority moves the opponent can throw. Smack Down smites flying pokemon and renders them vulnerable to ground attacks as well as trap them via Dugtrio. Earthquake hits Steels like a truck. Close Combat gains STAB and hits a single target harder than Earthquake. Life Orb boost its dangerous attacks to higher levels.
Roles: Support/Sweeper
Hydreigon @ Dragon Gem :635:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SDef
Nature: Mild
- Heat Wave
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
- Protect
Hydreigon is the failsafe to my team, being a sweeper of sorts should my matchups become unfavorable. Heat Wave burns all Steels not named Heatran. Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor destroys potential obstacles like Jellicent and Latios in one hit. Focus Blast destroys Heatran and the likes of Aggron. Protect stalls a turn and stops it from being a sitting duck.
Roles: Sweeper
Results:
The odds of winning using this team is more dependent on several factors: The element of surprise, the opponent making mistakes, the user of this team not making mistakes, and just sheer luck altogether. It can take on any team, including a pair of legendaries provided you are prepared and the opponent does not figure out its weakness before you gain the upper hand. In my case, I lost more than I have won.
Version 1.5 Roster
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash ;051;
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Rock Slide
- Swagger
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite :575:
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Naughty [too lazy to change in the Simulator, plus I feel it makes little difference]
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Trick Room
Roles: Trapper/Support
Murkrow @ Quick Claw ;198;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd 252 HP 4 SDef
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Thunder Wave
- Quash
- Foul Play
Roles: Support
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem ;463;
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Hammer Arm
- Power Whip
- Protect
Roles: Suicide Lead
Terrakion @ Life Orb :639:
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 Def
Nature: Lax
- Quick Guard
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
Roles: Support/Sweeper
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf :635:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SDef
Nature: Mild [Likewise, too lazy to change]
- Heat Wave
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power
- Dark Pulse
Roles: Sweeper
Results:
During the few times I've tested this team, the same factors are crucial to victory. The odds are similar to the win/lose ratio of Version 1.
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash ;051;
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Adamant
- Protect
- Dig
- Rock Slide
- Swagger
Roles: Trapper/Staller
Gothorita @ Eviolite :575:
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Def 252 SDef 4 Hp
Nature: Naughty [too lazy to change in the Simulator, plus I feel it makes little difference]
- Protect
- Reflect
- Magic Coat
- Trick Room
Roles: Trapper/Support
Murkrow @ Quick Claw ;198;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd 252 HP 4 SDef
Nature: Timid
- Perish Song
- Thunder Wave
- Quash
- Foul Play
Roles: Support
Lickilicky @ Normal Gem ;463;
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 Atk 252 HP 4 Def
Nature:
- Explosion
- Hammer Arm
- Power Whip
- Protect
Roles: Suicide Lead
Terrakion @ Life Orb :639:
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk 252 Speed 4 Def
Nature: Lax
- Quick Guard
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Close Combat
Roles: Support/Sweeper
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf :635:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk 252 Speed 4 SDef
Nature: Mild [Likewise, too lazy to change]
- Heat Wave
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power
- Dark Pulse
Roles: Sweeper
Results:
During the few times I've tested this team, the same factors are crucial to victory. The odds are similar to the win/lose ratio of Version 1.
Sableye @ Sitrus Berry (Placeholder Item) ;302;
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP 252 Def 4 SDf
Nature: Relaxed
- Swagger
- Feint
- Will-o-wisp
- Recover
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP 252 Def 4 SDf
Nature: Relaxed
- Swagger
- Feint
- Will-o-wisp
- Recover
Last edited: