Sweet Dream Worlds Are Made Of This - Dream World OU RMT

[AngryMooCow]

Hello there, Serebii! I'm back with my second RMT, and my first for the Fifth Generation. Hope you all enjoy!

- So, first off, every team needs a lead, right? I decided early on that whichever lead I chose was going to be capable of using Stealth Rock. My team was going to be fairly offensive (I wouldn't necessarily call it hyper-offensive, but it may be close) so the entry damage would be invaluable. After perusing the movepools of the available Stealth Rockers, I decided on this guy for a number of reasons:

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Careful (+SpDef, -SpAtk)
Sand Stream
252 HP / 252 SpDef / 4 Def
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic
-Earthquake
-Slack Off

I went for a specially defensive Hippowdon. He's very successful at setting up Stealth Rock, and with Slack Off, he can generally survive long enough to be withdrawn and sent back in later. This is invaluable to my team, as its original iteration had no way to change weather, which was a massive hindrance in the current metagame. Sandstorm only damages three of my teammates, so I felt it was the best option to use.

Hippowdon also packs Toxic, which was another thing this team had been lacking: status. I opted for Toxic because it's invaluable in stallbreaking.



-Next up, we have one of my favorite Pokemon, and easily one of my favorite sweepers ever. I'm talking, of course, about:

Yup, OTR Bronzong.

Bronzong @ Life Orb
Brave (+Atk, -Speed)
Levitate
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpDef
0 Speed IVs
-Trick Room
-Zen Headbutt
-Earthquake
-Gyro Ball

Bronzong is easily my strongest team member. Nobody I've encountered is prepared for him, and he almost always nets me a kill or two, unless I mispredict horribly and get him maimed on a switch-in. Bronzong also serves me as the ever-so-important Doryuzuu check. He handles other Fighting-types pretty well, too.

His true value comes from him not caring about paralysis. I can switch him in on a predicted Thunder Wave, get his speed cut even more, and watch Gyro Ball really wreck house.



-Third in line is another of my favorite Pokemon, that I try very hard to include on all of my teams. And that guy is....

MixDos?!

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Lonely (+Atk, -Def)
Overconfidence
252 Atk / 80 SpAtk / 176 Speed
-Bite
-Waterfall
-Fire Blast
-Dragon Dance

From Blue Harvest:

Sets up on Shanderaa with ease. Fire Blast has a benefit of letting Gyarados be not completely useless against Sun teams (typically being made up of fire and grass types). Speed EVs allow it to outrun Starmie after a Dragon Dance and virtually everything (including some Doryuuzu) after two.

+1 Bite vs
252/4 Burungeru 89.6% - 105.9%
252/4 Starmie 95.7% - 113%
4/0 Latias 98.3% - 116.3%

Fire Blast vs
252/252 Forretress 92.7% - 109.6%
252/252 Nattorei 62.5% - 73.9%
252/4 Nattorei 84.1% - 100%
252/4 Skarmory 67.1% - 79%
12/0 Breloom 95.5% - 112.9%
252/0 Erufuun 66% - 77.8%
0/0 Venusaur (in the sun) 83.1% - 98.3%

Dragons wall you, but Waterfall still hits hard enough. Many teams now rely on Nattorei / Burungeru cores to stop Gyarados, this set eats through them with ease.

-Fourth up!

ScarfChomp's revenge!

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -SpAtk)
Sand Veil
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP
-Earthquake
-Outrage
-Stone Edge
-Aqua Tail

ScarfChomp, one of the better revengers ever. I chose Aqua Tail for a little bit of added type coverage, as Dragon/Water alone is resisted only by Empoleon, if I'm remembering right. And Shedinja, but who counts him?


-My fifth teammate is a great guy. Seriously!

The land mine...thing. The hell is Nattorei, anyway? Caltrops?

Nattorei @ Shed Shell
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Speed)
Iron Barbs
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
-Thunder Wave
-Leech Seed
-Spikes
-Power Whip

Eats hits like there's no tomorrow. Sets up more entry hazards, and cripples things with TWave and Leech Seed. Power Whip prevents it from being Taunt bait and hits things like Swampert incredibly hard.


-Last, but not least, we have a cute little guy

Rankurusu!

Rankurusu @ Leftovers
Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Magic Guard
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
-Psychic
-Hidden Power: Fighting
-Calm Mind
-Recover

Bulky enough to take an unboosted Doryuzuu X-Scissor, CM, take ANOTHER X-Scissor, and OHKO with HP. This guy eats hits all day, and can hit pretty much anything in the game - notable exceptions are Spiritomb, Sableye, and Shedinja (lol).

 

[ryandcow7]

Overconfidence Salamence might work better, you Fire Blast a Nattoretti, then after the attack boost, outrage everything to pieces.

 

[AngryMooCow]

Overconfidence Salamence might work better, you Fire Blast a Nattoretti, then after the attack boost, outrage everything to pieces.

Overconfidence and Outrage are illegal together. You can't have 4th Gen move tutor moves on Dream World Pokemon.

 

[Pearl Parukia]

Firstly, I don't think you should use a Hippowdon lead. The reason is that with the rising popularity of Sandstorm teams, everything you have is outspeed by Doryuuzu (the new mole pokemon) in Sandstorm and KOes everything with a STAB Earthquake or Rock Slide.
However, if you insist on using Hippo, you can run a Sableye set over Bronzong. Why? With this new Gen, Sablaye got a new ability that enables it to perform non-attacking moves with a higher priority. Just fire away a Will-o-Wisp before it Earthquakes you and you shall reduce its Attack by half; hopefully surviving its attacks, giving you the opportunity to attack back.

Second of all, with the threat of Ononokusu, I'm sorry to say this, but an Adamant CB Mamowine with 252 EV's in Attack will never OHKO Ononokusu, even after Stealth Rock Damage.

In fact, here's the calculation:
- Mamoswine@Choice Band (252 EVs, +Nature) Ice Shard vs Ononokusu (252/4 EVs, Neutral Nature): 66.2 ~ 78% (236 ~ 278 HP).

While...

- Ononokusu@Choice Band (252 EVs, +Nature) Outrage vs Mamoswine@Choice Band (0/0 EVs, Neutral Nature): 88.3 ~ 104.1% (319 ~ 376 HP) OHKO with Stealth Rock damage.

The solution I thought to this was using a Special Sazandora, which is faster, and has a great movepool. Believe me, this guy does massive damage thanks to its great STABs and has a decent Special attack that can be paired with a decent Speed.

Yeah, that's about it. See ya.

 

[Blue Harvest]

Pearl Parukia your math is all wrong!

First off CB Outrage is an easy OHKO on Mamoswine. 117.5% - 138.2%. But Mamo's CB Ice Shard is a likely OHKO as well, doing 80.5% - 94.9%.

Hippowdon lead is fine. In fact, HOW is he weak to Doryuuzu if he runs Hippowdon first when he also has an OTR Bronzong? Even Salamence can take a +1 Rock Slide hit. All good Doryuuzu players run their own sandstorm anyway.



You do have a massive weakness to Shanderaa. It OHKOs literally all of your Pokemon except Hippowdon who still takes 51% minimum from Overheat. Even Mamoswine is OHKOed by Overheat despite Thick Fat.

Consider some drastic changes, like making Mamoswine a Scarf Garchomp, Salamence a Sazandora, and Starmie a mixed Gyarados (to kill Nattoreii) which might reduce your horrible Shanderaa weakness while decently covering other threats.

 

[AngryMooCow]

Thank you for the replies guys!

Firstly, I don't think you should use a Hippowdon lead. The reason is that with the rising popularity of Sandstorm teams, everything you have is outspeed by Doryuuzu (the new mole pokemon) in Sandstorm and KOes everything with a STAB Earthquake or Rock Slide.
However, if you insist on using Hippo, you can run a Sableye set over Bronzong. Why? With this new Gen, Sablaye got a new ability that enables it to perform non-attacking moves with a higher priority. Just fire away a Will-o-Wisp before it Earthquakes you and you shall reduce its Attack by half; hopefully surviving its attacks, giving you the opportunity to attack back.

Second of all, with the threat of Ononokusu, I'm sorry to say this, but an Adamant CB Mamowine with 252 EV's in Attack will never OHKO Ononokusu, even after Stealth Rock Damage.

In fact, here's the calculation:
- Mamoswine@Choice Band (252 EVs, +Nature) Ice Shard vs Ononokusu (252/4 EVs, Neutral Nature): 66.2 ~ 78% (236 ~ 278 HP).

While...

- Ononokusu@Choice Band (252 EVs, +Nature) Outrage vs Mamoswine@Choice Band (0/0 EVs, Neutral Nature): 88.3 ~ 104.1% (319 ~ 376 HP) OHKO with Stealth Rock damage.

The solution I thought to this was using a Special Sazandora, which is faster, and has a great movepool. Believe me, this guy does massive damage thanks to its great STABs and has a decent Special attack that can be paired with a decent Speed.

Yeah, that's about it. See ya.

I was torn between Hippowdon and Gliscor as my leads. I went with Hippo because I didn't want two 4x Ice weak Pokemon on my team if I could avoid it. I also was not particularly concerned with Dory, since Bronzong is a pretty solid check. Hippowdon also handles Dory fairly well, assuming the mole's balloon is popped.

Both of you have recommended Sazandora, who was in the running when the team was under construction initially. Should I run LO, or Specs? Specs makes Draco Meteor a terror to behold, but I'm unsure if the benefit of being able to switch moves makes LO a better option. Additionally, I'm incredibly leery of putting three Choice users on my team, that's pretty hindering in the versatility department.

Consider some drastic changes, like making Mamoswine a Scarf Garchomp, Salamence a Sazandora, and Starmie a mixed Gyarados (to kill Nattoreii) which might reduce your horrible Shanderaa weakness while decently covering other threats.

I actually completely forgot about Scarfchomp as a Dragon revenger, or just a revenger in general. Since I'm sticking with Hippo as the lead, I imagine Sand Veil takes precedent over Rough Skin, especially since sticking with Sand Veil retains access to his entire movepool.

As far as replacing Starmie with Gyarados, is losing Rapid Spin support worth it? Shandera and Gyara both eat 25% from SR, so I feel Rapid Spin remains fairly essential. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.

EDIT: Actually, assuming I throw Sazandora in there, would a mixed Gyarados even be worth it? 60 base SpAtk is ridiculously low, and I'm sure Sazandora can rock Nattorei's world with Flamethrower.

EDIT2: I'm realizing more and more how badly I'm hankering for a Fighting attack on this team. I'm extremely put off by Focus Blast's accuracy. Would HP Fighting be a good option on Sazandora, perhaps? Or should I find a way to get someone like Lucario on the team?

 

[ryandcow7]

Overconfidence and Outrage are illegal together. You can't have 4th Gen move tutor moves on Dream World Pokemon.

It can't breed into outrage? Oh well.

 

[Blue Harvest]

Mixed Gyarados is pretty awesome in 5th gen. I ran this set as a "defensive core" lure.

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Lonely (Naughty also works)
252 Attack / 80 Special Attack / 176 Speed

Waterfall
Bite
Fire Blast
Dragon Dance

Sets up on Shanderaa with ease. Fire Blast has a benefit of letting Gyarados be not completely useless against Sun teams (typically being made up of fire and grass types). Speed EVs allow it to outrun Starmie after a Dragon Dance and virtually everything (including some Doryuuzu) after two.

+1 Bite vs
252/4 Burungeru 89.6% - 105.9%
252/4 Starmie 95.7% - 113%
4/0 Latias 98.3% - 116.3%

Fire Blast vs
252/252 Forretress 92.7% - 109.6%
252/252 Nattorei 62.5% - 73.9%
252/4 Nattorei 84.1% - 100%
252/4 Skarmory 67.1% - 79%
12/0 Breloom 95.5% - 112.9%
252/0 Erufuun 66% - 77.8%
0/0 Venusaur (in the sun) 83.1% - 98.3%

Dragons wall you, but Waterfall still hits hard enough. Many teams now rely on Nattorei / Burungeru cores to stop Gyarados, this set eats through them with ease.

Instead of Sazandora try a Specs or Calm Mind Latios. Despite it being Shanderaa bait you will be very weak to Roopushin with these updates.

 

[AngryMooCow]

Thanks for all your help! I've made the following changes:

-Starmie is now the mixed Gyarados. You're right, it works wonders!

-Mamoswine is now ScarfChomp, who has pulled off some wonderful rampages courtesy of Hippowdon's Sand Stream.

-Salamence became Sazandora, who then turned into Specs Latios. The sheer damage Latios can put out punches huge holes in my opponent's team.

-Shandera has changed over to Magnezone, using the following set:

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Magnet Pull
40 HP / 252 SpAtk / 216 Speed
-Hidden Power Fire
-Thunderbolt
-Substitute
-Magnet Rise

Shandera's primary purpose was Steel killing, which Magnezone is arguably better at anyway. Between 'Zone and Gyarados, Steel types don't stand a chance.

 

[Blue Harvest]

You should update your first post so we can see what the team looks like now.

 

[AngryMooCow]

Done and done.

Heh, not a single Gen V Pokemon to be found now. I love it!

 

[Blue Harvest]

Lonely on Gyarados, not Naive. Naive doesn't really outspeed anything extra besides the base 130s, who no one uses. The Attack boost from Lonely is what lets you OHKO all those things with Bite. Naive doesn't kill any of them. Also Naive lowers your Special Defense, guaranteeing you death against things like Vaporeon's HP Electric.

I don't think Magnezone will help you much. The few Steels it can trap run Shed Shell to avoid Shanderaa. Not to mention Magnezone himself is Shanderaa bait.

Just try a Shed Shell Nattorei. My favorite is Power Whip / Thunder Wave / Leech Seed / Spikes. Power Whip keeps Ground types away and Thunder Wave screws with everything else. Spike at every opportunity.

 

[AngryMooCow]

Updated again. In playtesting I'm finding myself having big issues with Fighting-types, notably Roobushin. A Ghost-type would certainly help this problem with the added benefit of Spin-blocking, or perhaps a bulky Pyschic type like Rankurusu?

 

[ryandcow7]

Really? Even with Latios?

 

[AngryMooCow]

Really? Even with Latios?

Surprisingly, yes. It's risky switching Latios in, since he doesn't like eating a Payback, even if it is unboosted. Also, if I get unlucky and Latios goes down before Roobushin does for whatever reason, I've got a pretty big issue.

 

[Blue Harvest]

Dropping Latios for Rankurusu is ok. After a Calm Mind you OHKO Shanderaa after Stealth Rocks and survive the Shadow Ball. The set I ran was..

Rankurusu @ Air Mail (Mail negates Trick)
Magic Guard
Bold
252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Special Defense

Calm Mind
Psychic
HP Fighting
Recover

Air Mail makes you immune to Trick while Magic Guard makes you immune to pretty much everything else. If you can dispose of opposing Shanderaa, Scizor, Genosekuto and Tyranitar not much will stop you from a sweep. This is also the ultimate anti-stall Pokemon, literally 6-0ing nearly all of them, even some with Tyranitar.

 

[AngryMooCow]

That Rankurusu was exactly what the team was missing! I opted for Leftovers over Air Mail because I really haven't been seeing that much of Trick, but if it becomes an issue I can always drop Air Mail onto him and call it a night. Additionally, between the additions of Rankurusu and Nattorei, I now have a good deal of wiggle room if Bronzong goes down before Trick Room does. Before, I had to scramble to find a way to survive the remaining turns.

Thank's a lot for everyone's help on this - especially you, Blue Harvest! You've helped this team develop into something that can really hold its own in this metagame. The final team has been edited into the first post. Thanks again!