Pokemon you trust!

[MetalSonic]

Like the title says, this is a thread about Pokemon you can ALWAYS count on in your competitive tier environment of choice. I mean, of course there are certain situations where the Pokemon will be nigh useless, but that's the not-so-vast minority of the time, to you, of course! -w-

It's just a Pokemon you feel AWESOME about when sticking it onto one of your teams. A Pokemon you know so much about, what it can take, what it cant take, what spread allows it to dish out this much damage, and what spread allows it to outspeed this or hit that harder. Really, it's like your signature Pokemon for whatever tier you use it in. OU, UU, PU, whatever.

So? What's the Pokemon of yours?

For me, it'd have to be...what...probably...

Spoiler

LANDORUS.

ch'yu lookin at?

I dunno about you guys buuut im surprised that THIS thing didn't shoot to Ubers as soon as Sheer Force was released. The SHEER power of that set is just ohgodigottagetthisguyouttahere frightening to be up against as im sure you're all more then aware of. I mean, to be able to potentially 2HKO Blissey, THE special wall, with a non-stab, non-boosted (other then the ones he automatically comes with) move in lol Focus Blast is heavenly. He's ALWAYS able to pull his weight, and most of the Pokemon bulky enough on the special side to counter him are decimated by a lone Pokemon that works well with him being something along the lines of T-Tar. That's another thing about Landorus, his walls can usually be picked off by CB T-Tar or the like, which is something that works incredibly well with Landorus as im sure you're all aware.

Of course, let's not forget about Landos physical viability as well buuuut I think ive ranted on long enough. This guy is like boost central with his other ability being Sand Force. Whoever did this guy at GF must've REALLY liked him. ^^;

As for sets, ive stumbled across a Modest max Sp.Atk'in, enough in Speed'n set, im sure a lot of you were aware of long b4 me that allows for him to just...well...destroy as well as take a hit that'd otherwise faint him, and allow him to set up and go.

^dont read this if you dont enjoy fangasms over certain competitive Pokemon

tl;dr: an example of what would be my reasoning as to why this Pokemons so reliable, but really you can explain it as well without having to go into rantmode.

Any Pokemon at all, really. Remember tho, this isn't a "favorite Pokemon" thread so dont go and treat it like one, aight? >> My Pokemons great and all but he's not my fave.

So yea, go for it!

edit: ;-;

 

[TheAdmiral]

There's a couple of pokemon I always find work well in OU and that is Gliscor and Rotom - w. Glic is just so great for his sub/protect set and once you've got a sub up, it can really screw the other team up trying to stop it. Not to mention that it deals with many prominent OU threats such as jirachi, toxicroak and terrakion. Rotom w (the bulky pain splt/ will o wisp/ volt switch/ hydro pump set) is another pokemon that can take a fair few hits, and there is little that can kill it outright. It gives the team momentum with U-turn and is the go to guy when playing against rain.

 

[Zachmac]

Scarf Terrakion. It's been a while since I've used it, but when I have, it has always done it's job perfectly. It makes an excellent revenge killer, and it's STAB rock allows it to revenge kill Volcarona, Gyarados, Dragonite, and Salamence, which are the top four dragon/quiver dancers, without a problem.

Substitute Calm Mind Latias. After playing with it for a while, I've got to the point where I even know if it's safe to set up on an Ice Beam user with her, much to most people's surprise. I also know exactly what stops her or has a chance of being able to stop her.

And now, as a break from the legendaries, I'd like to bring up an underdog I've found much use in; Zoroark. It's a tricky one to use, but I've mastered it. When using it, I mostly take advantage of two moves; sucker punch and flamethrower. Illusion serves as a pseudo-magnet pull. While, in some teams, magnet pull may be better, I've found illusion to have it's uses in others as well. For one, people become extremely careful with their steel types if they see Magnezone in the team viewer. They get wary with their whole team with Zoroark, but they also calm down if you don't use it in the first few rounds, and don't see the Flamethrower coming. Sucker punch is my next favorite move on it, as even if Zoroark isn't invested in attack, it's still a pretty powerful priority attack. Nothing to compare to Scizor's bullet punch, but it's much better then teaching something, say, quick attack or aqua jet.

Also, when using Zoroark, it's best not to worry too much about the illusion. While it is something you should take advantage of, it's not something you should keep from revealing at all cost. There are times where it may be better to give up and reveal it rather then just "play safe" with it. If you need Zoroark out now, but there is a Gyarados in the backslot of your team and all three hazards are on the field...well, forget wasting your time making sure Jellicent is in the back of the team, just use Zoroark and let the hazards reveal it's identity.

 

[Blue Harvest]

I like Amoonguss. It's so easy to use and it puts enormous pressure on Rain teams. Its Special bulk is rivaled only by Latias while its typing and movepool lets it easily smash Politoed, Rotom W, Keldeo, Thundurus, Jolteon, Breloom and others while having the bulk to check stuff like Terrakion, Tyranitar and Garchomp. Even if it takes over 50% it can scout what Choiced pokes are locked into then switch out, healing a good chunk of the damage with Regenerator. Though its movepool is very limited it has Spore, which is effectively a free kill. Due to Amoonguss's bulk that makes it very easy to use, effectively guaranteeing the game starts out 6-5. It also has Stun Spore, Hidden Power, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Foul Play, Rain Dance, and Sunny Day to pick from. In lower tiers it can use Synthesis and Clear Smog, though those moves are significantly worse in OU. Due to Regenerator it does not have to waste a turn using a healing move, so you can switch in on Politoeds all days, and double switch out as they send in Ferrothorn.

Another one is Skarmory. Having a hard check for Outraging Dragons is nice, but setting up Spikes on them and roosting off the damage is even better. Skarm takes a dumb all over most forms of Gliscor so unless they run Magnezone Gliscor is generally just free Spikes. Magnezone isn't that hard to beat anyway.

 

[emboarrocks]

Scarf Terrakion. It's been a while since I've used it, but when I have, it has always done it's job perfectly. It makes an excellent revenge killer, and it's STAB rock allows it to revenge kill Volcarona, Gyarados, Dragonite, and Salamence, which are the top four dragon/quiver dancers, without a problem.

Substitute Calm Mind Latias. After playing with it for a while, I've got to the point where I even know if it's safe to set up on an Ice Beam user with her, much to most people's surprise. I also know exactly what stops her or has a chance of being able to stop her.

And now, as a break from the legendaries, I'd like to bring up an underdog I've found much use in; Zoroark. It's a tricky one to use, but I've mastered it. When using it, I mostly take advantage of two moves; sucker punch and flamethrower. Illusion serves as a pseudo-magnet pull. While, in some teams, magnet pull may be better, I've found illusion to have it's uses in others as well. For one, people become extremely careful with their steel types if they see Magnezone in the team viewer. They get wary with their whole team with Zoroark, but they also calm down if you don't use it in the first few rounds, and don't see the Flamethrower coming. Sucker punch is my next favorite move on it, as even if Zoroark isn't invested in attack, it's still a pretty powerful priority attack. Nothing to compare to Scizor's bullet punch, but it's much better then teaching something, say, quick attack or aqua jet.

Also, when using Zoroark, it's best not to worry too much about the illusion. While it is something you should take advantage of, it's not something you should keep from revealing at all cost. There are times where it may be better to give up and reveal it rather then just "play safe" with it. If you need Zoroark out now, but there is a Gyarados in the backslot of your team and all three hazards are on the field...well, forget wasting your time making sure Jellicent is in the back of the team, just use Zoroark and let the hazards reveal it's identity.

A core i have tried is haxorous and zoroark. It works surprisingly well as the oppoment will be forced to switch to a steel type or stay in and call my bluff. Zoroark also gets SD so i can fake haxorous pretty well. Sd boosted sucker punch will but a huge dent in most things too.

 

[Ultimate Champion]

The above are five very notable recurring Pokémon among the countless Übers teams I have created, that I consider to be extremely reliable, simply due to the consistent success that they always bring to my teams with their absolutely amazing utility, due to either their unbelievably useful Ability, incredibly expansive movepool, excellent stat distribution, awesome typing, or a combination of the aforementioned. I find that just about every decent Übers team that I build inevitably contains at least one of these five Pokémon, as I often find the experiences of team building and battling to be very awkward in the absence of the innumerable advantages that they bring to the table.

 

[Operia]

In Ubers, I'd have to say Garchomp. Weird choice, maybe, but with Sandstorm running, Sand Veil & BrightBowder it can be very hard to take down. I then run Substitute, Swords Dance, Dragon Claw & Earthquake to obliterate everything...of course it doesn't do well against Ice, but I still love its reliability.

 

[jireh the provider]

If my category is the Legendary candidate, It would tie to three.
a. Jirachi for versatility and abuse of Hax. I love flinching enemies with the Iron head set. Gimmicky terms, I use Specs Doom Desire.
b. Victini for physical assault. Only VERY few can take on a V-crate from him. So I made him scarfed for the purpose of facing Deoxys - A
c. Manaphy for Calm mind offense. With scald included along with defense investment, that is pretty much a tough pokemon to defeat.

But I'll be honest, Darkrai is a bastard for these three unfortunately. With my Mew, Celebi, and Shaymin along my team, we find him as the true enemy I hate to face. Rayquaza is second (childhhod fear reasons) and Arceus is third cause he's 120 BST points higher than my team of Mew expies [don't complain why I use them! they're my favorites still]

But if there's a pokemon I'd love to use as much as possible it would be Cinccino. with a speedy 115 base speed stat along with skill link, its multi hitting moves are a very good threat. If only she could use arm thrust, she would be a better offensive pokemon.

 

[jesusfreak94]

Terrakion is my most trusted go-to Pokemon, hands down. It's easily one of the most useful and powerful Pokemon in the metagame today with its great speed, power, and dual STABs. Scarf Terrakion is just such an amazing revenge killer. It checks pretty much every offensive Pokemon with ease besides maybe Reuniclus, Timid Venusaur, and Toxicroak. It's also pretty hard to outspeed, so if your team has been softened up, it's not unusual for Scarf Terrakion to sweep late game just by spamming Close Combat. Band Terrakion is also an incredible wall breaker. Pretty much every common OU Pokemon can be 2HKO by its STABs alone after Stealth Rock besides bulky Landorus-T. It also makes an excellent sweeper with Swords Dance. If you don't have priority, a faster Pokemon, or something really physically bulky, SD Terrakion will probably end you. It can even utilize Substitute and Rock Polish successfully to make itself a nightmare for offensive teams. He's also a fantastic Stealth Rock supporter, especially since he forces switches so easily and can get plenty of free turns for that.

Overall, Terrakion is just one of those versatile offensive Pokemon that can fill all sorts of roles on many teams.

 

[Magicmonkey]

Latios. Speedy, high s atk, excellent typing, ability and resistances, amazing damage output and movepool and brilliant wall breaking capabilities.

 

[TheAdmiral]

I kinda fail to see how amoonguss is so good. Spore definitely does not equate to a free kil... eg. toxic heal glic, espeon/xatu anything that has already been statused, anything with natural cure. And say you get your spore off, what do you do then? Giga drain/hp fire off base 85 SpA is laughable, and you're basically saying hi please set up on me.

 

[jesusfreak94]

I kinda fail to see how amoonguss is so good. Spore definitely does not equate to a free kil... eg. toxic heal glic, espeon/xatu anything that has already been statused, anything with natural cure. And say you get your spore off, what do you do then? Giga drain/hp fire off base 85 SpA is laughable, and you're basically saying hi please set up on me.

Spore pretty much does equate to a free kill in 5th Gen. The metagame is so offensive that if you don't get lucky with a 1 turn sleep, chances are you'll die before you can wake up since the sleep counter resets every time you switch out. In addition, Toxic Heal Gliscor is not a great check since it can't safely switch in on Spore until the Toxic Orb has been activated, and it gets 2HKOd by HP Ice. Xatu and Espeon put together have less than 10% usage, and even then it's pretty much common sense to not spam Spore if you predict a Magic Bounce user switch-in. Using a statused Pokemon is a very unreliable answer to Amoonguss since that relies on the assumption that your opponent has already used a status move on something of yours (unless you're running something with a Toxic/Flame Orb). Not only that, but it also has to be something that actually isn't afraid to switch into Amoonguss, like Gastrodon or Breloom would be. Finally, switching in a Natural Cure user is something you definitely should NOT do. All you're doing is giving your opponent a chance to put something else to sleep since Sleep Clause will be reset once the Natural Cure Pokemon has healed itself. I've caught way too many players who will switch in a Blissey/Chansey/Roserade/etc. into my Amoonguss only to switch out right after, in which case I just use Spore again and catch something else with it.

And base 85 SpA is not laughable, lol. It's not great for an offensive Pokemon, but it's pretty good for defensive Pokemon like Amoonguss. Defensive Amoonguss is only about 10% weaker than defensive Starmie, who has a base 100 SpA stat. Amoonguss's offensive stats are even higher than several other OU defensive/support Pokemon, namely Deoxys-D, Skarmory, Tentacruel, and Ninetales, as well as tied with Jellicent. You might even count those Forretress that run special moves like Volt Switch and HP Ice, while Forretress only has a base 60 SpA stat. Blissey is also known to use the occasional Flamethrower or Ice Beam, and its SpA stat is only 75. Amoonguss's offensive stats are even higher than stats used by some offensive Pokemon. Dugtrio only has a base 80 Atk stat and it does its job just fine. Venusaur sometimes runs mixed or physically based sets, and it's only working off a base 82 Atk stat. Shell Smash Cloyster even runs Hydro Pump pretty commonly, and it has an identical SpA stat.

If you're looking for something to do after you've used Spore, then run Stun Spore in the 4th slot. It's incredibly useful since your opponent will often switch in something to take the sleep and then switch to something like SubCM Jirachi or CM Latias, which would normally be able to set up on bulky Pokemon like Amoonguss. 8 times out of 10, I've followed up on Spore with Stun Spore and paralyzed something important in the process. Or you know, you could always just go with the generic Toxic and spread that around.

 

[Manectrifier]

Sub calm mind Latias for me. It takes any special attack well, and can calm mind in front of nearly all special attackers including top threats such as politoad, keldeo, starmie and (non-nasty plot) thundurus-t. It also has great speed and can possibly pull off a sweep when the opponent's steel types are gone.

Second is Rotom-w, because it works well on every team I make, and it's typing is defensively very good. Plus it gives me momentum through volt switch.

 

[Blue Harvest]

I kinda fail to see how amoonguss is so good. Spore definitely does not equate to a free kil... eg. toxic heal glic, espeon/xatu anything that has already been statused, anything with natural cure. And say you get your spore off, what do you do then? Giga drain/hp fire off base 85 SpA is laughable, and you're basically saying hi please set up on me.

Adding to what Jesusfreak said...

Due to Regenerator you never "have" to stay in. Switch in on Politoed Hydro Pump, Spore, then switch out. Or if you predict a Latios switch in use Stun Spore. Don't just sit there like an idiot if you are in danger of being DD Dragonite swept, switch around. Use its Regenerator ability to the fullest.

 

[McDanger]

Ive been playing RU a lot lately and I have to say, druddigion is my main go to pokemon
Druddigion has a nice edge as a pure dragon type, giving him a plethura of resistances, and gives it a large advantage with the common f/g/w cores in RU. While druddigion has terrable speed, he has fantastic bulk with 77/90/90. This allows him to come in on big threats like sceptile and typlosion and hit them back for a large amount of damage via sucker punch, or just dragon claw and fire punch/earthquake respectfully. Druddigion has a fantastic attack base of 120 putting him in the top of the RU attackers, and as i said before, with access to sucker punch, druddigion can get around his terrable speed and hit for massive damage. Furthermore, druddigion has a nice spot as a top tier stealth rocks, and has access to 3 fantastic abilities, rough skin for a physical wall set, sheer force for a LO sweeper set, and mold breaker for everything as mold breaker is the superior ability.

 

[AnakBaé]

Mamoswine: Amazing offensive STAB (in form of ice-ground), priority ice move, quite fast, massive base attack, perfect bait for Rotom-w/skarm/sciz, and great movepool.

 

[M.Oreo]

as much as i want to say ttar, it has to be ferrothorn. i use him on EVERY team i make, even my sun teams.

 

[floodz66]

Rotom-W Do i really need to go into detail? I also like having Latias in my team, great special bulk without investing anything, plus very high speed and special attack, can be ran in many forms for many teams. Can get a free kill on a lot of things if they don't expect that Draco Meteor, Access to Recovery and Calm Mind, and just an all around good move pool. Those two take the top place as my most trusted choices, with Gliscor in second.

 

[Lucario95]

Well, I have some pokemon that I love and trust in battle. But the one that I trust more is obviously my favorite pokemon Lucario. Well, Lucario is very good for your team for many reason, it has a good moveset, it has only 3 weakness and lots of resistant. Well based on Bulbapedia, Lucario has a 525 base stat, well It's good for an evolved pokemon, but in case of Lucario, it should have a little bit higher, maybe having to 555 base stat just like Arcanine. But I'm satisfied that Lucario still is a real deal.

 

[Sylveön]

The one pokemon I trust is my Dragonite, then second is my Scizor. both have self healing moves and focus sash combinded with a diverse movepool and not so predictable playstyle; I feel I can count on those guys to make things easier for the rest of my teamates. Even outside of that I can count on them to wreck the elite four a zillion times to help level my new pokemon.