Research Month

[dragonuser™]

wow im really happy that so much discussion and sharing is happening!

@Rairyan, I'm glad you were able to put Virizion in a previously held spot with little differences. Just goes to show that just because a pokemon is dropping in usage doesn't mean its bad.

@thedarklord, Yea your team counts as you laddered with it after BW2 came out, glad to see that you had success with Virizion

@Chidori_O, It may not be a bad idea to check this, for sets. While creativity is important sometimes things like Explosion Steel Gem Forretress could serve a better and more effective role on your team.

@Phoopes, Not sure if going to CBTTar is the best idea as you lose your Stealth Rocks setter (Landorus can do it, but landorus's 4 slots area already so contested for). I would also try a different pokemon for your last spot (unless kingdra is doing really well for you) as you do already have a jellicent/Virizion/SpDef rachi to check rain. Also putting a scarfer over kingdra would give you a lot more immediate speed as Kingdra is really only fast in rain which is kinda hard to setup/keep up. Like you said Scarf Mence or other scarfers sound good.

@Eaglehawk, Glad to see you have had so much success with a Chandelure sun core. I actually really like the way that core sounds, and it seems to work really well off of eachother. If liligant falls short don't be afraid to try a Venusaur as it now has giga drain!

EDIT: @Phoopes, yea changing Landorus to a Scarf Variant would help with your speed issue a lot. Keep us posted with results!

 

[KingTorterraXIV]

serebii username:KingTorterraXIV
Pokemon(s) you plan to use:Virizion or Chandy. Bronzong's ugly
Ladder alt (remember it needs to be an untouched alt): Archdemon Estark

 

[dragonuser™]

Its also interesting to note that everyone is taking different approaches to the challenge. Some people are using Sun, Deo-D, Sand, Clear Skies, and even Dual Weather. I find it interesting that noone has tried rain yet (as far as I know). For those of you that have already made your teams, what influenced you to choose that specific playstyle? Is it just that you didn't see much use for one of the Research Pokemon on other team archetypes? Or did you just want to tryout that specific playstyle, and saw this as a good oppurtunity? I'm just curious as we are seeing many different approaches to this challenge.

 

[Klaus™]

wow im really happy that so much discussion and sharing is happening!

@thedarklord, Yea your team counts as you laddered with it after BW2 came out, glad to see that you had success with Virizion

its not so much successful, as it works. that sounds weird, lol. on my team, it functions more as a threat-checker than anything. in fact, it was the 2nd most recent member on the team, behind magnezone<genesect.

i originally tried the work-up set, but because volcarona could set up on everything, and that it completely walled virizion, work-up was changed to stone edge.

certain pokemon still give me problems, like tornadus-t, and keldeo. i originally ran mixed tar:

Spoiler: click it!

tyranitar @chople berry
- sand stream -
sassy
252 hp// 64 SpA/ 192 SpD
- Fire Blast
- Ice beam
- Crunch
- Stealth rock

....but after trying out scarftar, the power difference made the difference between a win and a loss a lot of the time. unfortunately, the lack of stealth rocks has really been worrying me. any comments are welcome.

i also tried running submind latias>jirachi, but the iron head flinch utility is just soooo beneficial. plus, i find mono-attackers to be....not that good.

any comments to help with some minor problems? these are the 2 questions i think i really need help with:

1)- Any way i can at least check keldeo? genesect does a fairly good job, but is outsped by(id have to check speed tiers, buuuuut) scarved, modest keldeo.

2)- any way to fit stealth rocks on the team? im thinking gliscor could use them.

but yeah, back to virizion. i honestly find him under-powered now-a-days, solely because of the rise of multiple checks and counters to it, specifically tornadus-t and mamoswine(counter and check, respectively). its good, but unfortunately certain things keep it from being its full potential.

i havent tried bronzong or chandelure though. too bad trapperlure isnt released.

o.o is it laddering on ou, or dw ou, or both?

 

[Phoopes]

@Phoopes, Not sure if going to CBTTar is the best idea as you lose your Stealth Rocks setter (Landorus can do it, but landorus's 4 slots area already so contested for). I would also try a different pokemon for your last spot (unless kingdra is doing really well for you) as you do already have a jellicent/Virizion/SpDef rachi to check rain. Also putting a scarfer over kingdra would give you a lot more immediate speed as Kingdra is really only fast in rain which is kinda hard to setup/keep up. Like you said Scarf Mence or other scarfers sound good.

EDIT: @Phoopes, yea changing Landorus to a Scarf Variant would help with your speed issue a lot. Keep us posted with results!

CBTar was an idea when I still had Heatran on the team to set up Rocks. I guess I could go that route and replace Protect on Rachi to give me my rocks... but I think I'll stick with what I have now, in both SpDTar with attacking power, and SpDRachi as well.

I did end up changing Gravity Lando with Scarf Lando and that was where I got the back to back 6-0's. Those are the only two matches I've played since I've made the switch, and it's working well for me.

As for Kingdra, I actually haven't been seeing too many Rain teams. In the eight or nine games I've played, I only saw one rain team. That was why I ended up switching to the Rain Dance mixed set over Specs. Seems to be doing okay so far for me, but maybe I could get something else. As I already have a Scarfer covered, maybe I could replace Kingdra with a spinner if it seems to be the weak link? I dunno.

 

[Klaus™]

Its also interesting to note that everyone is taking different approaches to the challenge. Some people are using Sun, Deo-D, Sand, Clear Skies, and even Dual Weather. I find it interesting that noone has tried rain yet (as far as I know). For those of you that have already made your teams, what influenced you to choose that specific playstyle? Is it just that you didn't see much use for one of the Research Pokemon on other team archetypes? Or did you just want to tryout that specific playstyle, and saw this as a good oppurtunity? I'm just curious as we are seeing many different approaches to this challenge.

my team actually started off as tyranitar/empoleon/jirachi/gliscor/swampert.

after testing it out, swampert was changed to quagsire.

2nd update: magnezone>empoleon

3rd: back to swampert

4th: moveset changes

5th: zam>mag again

6th: latias> jirachi, mag>zam

7th: jirachi>latias, virizion is added over quagsire

8th: genesect> magnezone

ive ran dual weather extensively before, but this was my first team, and the styles developed and transformed as it was building. i loved using weather, still do, and dual weather battling is exremely fun to use, by basically manipulating the battle however you please.

virizion was never the basis of the team, it was a very late after-thought.

but!

the username im laddering with involved virizion from the start(formed it today), so its all good

 

[Naoto Shirogane]

going make a team using all 3 of them new alt name will be just like dancing 3

 

[Psilo]

Hit just above the 1300 mark under the alt "Makio" using both Chandy and Bronzong.

(09:03:49) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 670/80665 [1309 points / 47 battles]!
View attachment 6035
Will include details of team later today when I get back. However I might switch it up some, and try Virizion on the same account. Going for 1400 now.

Awesome idea for the thread btw. Hope you keep up with this on a monthly basis, dragon user.

Also, Eranu...I experimented with your team some on a different account, and it is not shitty. It's actually great if you can stay on top of your prediction game and keep your momentum rolling.
I won 9 out of 9 straight with it :/ and then moved on to this alt.
Not a bad team, by any means, as far as I'm concerned.

Tested (off-ladder) the team you used too, Rairyan...and it seems good too. More stable (requires less prediction), and accounts for quite a few of the main threats in the current metagame.
Though, I have to say I prefer Eranu's "shitty" team. That's a fun one to use. Makes for some interesting matches
Kind of interesting to play with a team designed more around beating the metagame (Rairyan's) and immediately use one that leaves it up to how the two play the field afterwards (Eranu's).

 

[5221A]

Someone haked my alt so can I change it? If so then my new alt is [RTR] anziliero
Anyways, when I first thought of Bronzong i thought of TR, then Rain. Then I thought: "why not put them togeter" that is what i did, so first I decided on a suportive TR set, and Supportoad. What sucks about Toad is that he has no recovery, so a wish passer came to mind, Blissey and Chancey. The main resson to use Blissey over Chancey is Leftover recovery under Sandstorm/Hail, so I went with Chancey. Toxic spikes were going to be a pain even if chancey had Heal Bell, Tentacruel came to mind, It dosent abuse of TR, but it is still great out of it (since TR wont be up 100% percent of the time). Then i needed someone to abuse TR so why not Conkeldurr, he is very "fast" with TR, setup time would be a wast, so I decided on a status Orb, since he is ment to stay a bit then leave Toxic Orb was my choice. Then there was still one slot open, and I wanted to test Whimsicott out, just cuz he trolled me too much in the past.

 

[Psilo]

Broke 1400 and then the server crashes because a new server called po2 has opened so yeah :/

anyway not going for gold for this team silver is good enough and if it's ok du i want to use a diffrent po name so i ladder with the other 2 pokemon

Oh, this happened when I was laddering yesterday evening. Though, no one lost their ranks. So you should be at where you were if you reopen that Just Like Dancing 2 alt.
Just a heads up.

 

[Ghosts of the Forums]

just saying, my team is a rain team.

 

[Psilo]

Here's the team. Surprised it did as well as it did, but it does decent if you play it well. Pretty shitty in theory, though. Only truly "original" thing about this team is the T-tar set. Throws people off guard and hits hard. Been using variations of that Chandelure set since I first got into battling on random wifi. Thing's a monster with a scarf. It truly is under-appreciated.

EDIT: Well, fawk. Sub/punch T-tar isn't even anything new. Just found out it's a lesser-used smogon set. What's there is my variation on it though.

Bronzong@Air Balloon
Ability: Heat Proof
EV's: 252 SpD/252 HP/4 Def
Sassy Nature
-Toxic
-Stealth Rock
-Reflect
-Gyro Ball

Tyranitar@Leftovers
Ability: Sandstream
EV's: 252 HP/146 SpA/84 Att/ 28 Spe
Quiet Nature
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam

Chandelure@Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EV'S: 252 SpA/252 Spe/ 4 HP
Timid Nature
-Fire Blast
-Energy Ball
-Shadow Ball
-HP Ground

Latios@Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
Timid Nature
-Trick
-HP Fire
-Surf
-Draco Meteor

Gliscor@Flying Gem
Ability: Sand Veil
EV's: 252 Spe/252 Att/ 4 HP
Jolly Nature
-Substitute
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Acrobatics

Skarmory@Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 252 HP/ 232 Def/ 24 Spe
Impish Nature
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird

 

[Eranu™]

Spoiler: Team

Abomasnow (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SDef
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Ice Shard

Mamoswine (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Spd
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Body Slam
- Iron Head

Virizion @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Earthquake

(20:57:23) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 723/80888 [1304 points / 15 battles]!

I decided to use the same strategy as rairyan and it worked out pretty well.

 

[dragonuser™]

Replying to a few posts, my post may be a bit longish~~

but yeah, back to virizion. i honestly find him under-powered now-a-days, solely because of the rise of multiple checks and counters to it, specifically tornadus-t and mamoswine(counter and check, respectively). its good, but unfortunately certain things keep it from being its full potential.

Yea and that is another purpose of this challenge. With BW2 coming, many Pokemon were "instantly" discarded being viewed as unviable. We are try to see if these Pokemon are in fact viable. Based on our results we are seeing that most of them are viable, but may not be as good/potent as they were in BW1.

Hit just above the 1300 mark under the alt "Makio" using both Chandy and Bronzong.

(09:03:49) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 670/80665 [1309 points / 47 battles]!
View attachment 6035
Will include details of team later today when I get back. However I might switch it up some, and try Virizion on the same account. Going for 1400 now.

Awesome idea for the thread btw. Hope you keep up with this on a monthly basis, dragon user.

Also, Eranu...I experimented with your team some on a different account, and it is not shitty. It's actually great if you can stay on top of your prediction game and keep your momentum rolling.
I won 9 out of 9 straight with it :/ and then moved on to this alt.
Not a bad team, by any means, as far as I'm concerned.

Tested (off-ladder) the team you used too, Rairyan...and it seems good too. More stable (requires less prediction), and accounts for quite a few of the main threats in the current metagame.
Though, I have to say I prefer Eranu's shitty team. That's a fun one to use. Makes for some interesting matches
Kind of interesting to play with a team designed more around beating the metagame (Rairyan's) and immediately use one that leaves it up to how the two play the field afterwards (Eranu's).

Glad you like the thread (although all the credit shouldn't go to me).

Someone haked my alt so can I change it? If so then my new alt is [RTR] anziliero
Anyways, when I first thought of Bronzong i thought of TR, then Rain. Then I thought: "why not put them togeter" that is what i did, so first I decided on a suportive TR set, and Supportoad. What sucks about Toad is that he has no recovery, so a wish passer came to mind, Blissey and Chancey. The main resson to use Blissey over Chancey is Leftover recovery under Sandstorm/Hail, so I went with Chancey. Toxic spikes were going to be a pain even if chancey had Heal Bell, Tentacruel came to mind, It dosent abuse of TR, but it is still great out of it (since TR wont be up 100% percent of the time). Then i needed someone to abuse TR so why not Conkeldurr, he is very "fast" with TR, setup time would be a wast, so I decided on a status Orb, since he is ment to stay a bit then leave Toxic Orb was my choice. Then there was still one slot open, and I wanted to test Whimsicott out, just cuz he trolled me too much in the past.

To prevent hacking, try registering accounts with a password. That way random people can't get on your accounts. And changing alts is np, and I have changed the OP to have your new alt.

Here's the team. Surprised it did as well as it did, but it does decent if you play it well. Pretty shitty in theory, though. Only truly "original" thing about this team is the T-tar set. Throws people off guard and hits hard. Been using variations of that Chandelure set since I first got into battling on random wifi. Thing's a monster with a scarf. It truly is under-appreciated.

EDIT: Well, fawk. Sub/punch T-tar isn't even anything new. Just found out it's a lesser-used smogon set. What's there is my variation on it though.

Bronzong@Air Balloon
Ability: Heat Proof
EV's: 252 SpD/252 HP/4 Def
Sassy Nature
-Toxic
-Stealth Rock
-Reflect
-Gyro Ball

Tyranitar@Leftovers
Ability: Sandstream
EV's: 252 HP/146 SpA/84 Att/ 28 Spe
Quiet Nature
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam

Chandelure@Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EV'S: 252 SpA/252 Spe/ 4 HP
Timid Nature
-Fire Blast
-Energy Ball
-Shadow Ball
-HP Ground

Latios@Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
Timid Nature
-Trick
-HP Fire
-Surf
-Draco Meteor

Gliscor@Flying Gem
Ability: Sand Veil
EV's: 252 Spe/252 Att/ 4 HP
Jolly Nature
-Substitute
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Acrobatics

Skarmory@Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV's: 252 HP/ 232 Def/ 24 Spe
Impish Nature
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
-Brave Bird

Pretty nice team! Glad to see you had success with Zong and Chandy.

Spoiler: Team

Abomasnow (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SDef
Careful Nature
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Substitute
- Ice Shard

Mamoswine (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 216 SDef / 40 Spd
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Body Slam
- Iron Head

Virizion @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Hasty Nature
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Swords Dance
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 220 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Protect
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Earthquake

(20:57:23) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 723/80888 [1304 points / 15 battles]!

I decided to use the same strategy as rairyan and it worked out pretty well.

Nice to see a hail team in the challenge. GJ eranu.

 

[Psilo]

Yea and that is another purpose of this challenge. With BW2 coming, many Pokemon were "instantly" discarded being viewed as unviable. We are try to see if these Pokemon are in fact viable. Based on our results we are seeing that most of them are viable, but may not be as good/potent as they were in BW1.


Glad you like the thread (although all the credit shouldn't go to me).

Pretty nice team! Glad to see you had success with Zong and Chandy.

Less viable, but worthy threats when supported well and played with right. That's what I like about this. It's giving people reason to use pokes that have been **** on lately as a result of the evolving metagame. So kudos to whoever came up with this.

RESPEC

Eh, my team is practical.....but makes for pretty standard play. Every match I've had using Eranu's Deo-D offense team has been interesting, but more of a challenge.

And Rairyan's sand offense team is great due to the fact that it's designed more to beat the current metagame as a whole. Makes ranking quite a bit easier. Think his takes the cake for making ranking up easier, but Eranu's Deo team packs heat and leaves it up to you to really think about each turn you make each match.

Was glad I could pull off at least 1300 using 2/3. Might try for all three on the same team. That'd take some doing though.

 

[Dragonicwari]

I'm going to have to wait a week to ladder and will probably lose interest by then, but I see no reason to not do something totally ripped off of smogon this.

serebii username: Dragonicwari
Pokemon(s) you plan to use: Either Bronzong or Virizion
Ladder alt (remember it needs to be an untouched alt): [test]Dragonicwari

 

[Utopian]

lol cant break 1250 with this ridiculous hax

 

[Psilo]

lol cant break 1250 with this ridiculous hax

KnowDatFeel. Remember what you told me in PM? I took your advice, seemed to work.

 

[Utopian]

well after a flamethrower burned my ttar, i raged quitted and am probably under 1200 -_-

heres my team if someone else wants to ladder with it, it's been fantastic imo and if WoW would stop missing and other bs it would've hit 1300 a while ago lol.

Spoiler: show

Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock

Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish

Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Rapid Spin

Sableye (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Night Shade
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt

Breloom (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 236 HP / 212 SDef / 60 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Drain Punch
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Spore

the ever so rare conkeldurr is quite the b!tch, thats why lando runs psychic>f blast.

 

[Chidori__O]

Hey, because PO server is down at the moment, I went on PS for now. My account name is ChidoriOChallenge