Torrential Victory ~ An OU RMT

[Lucario_Guy]

After being away from the competitive battle scene for some time, I’ve decided to come back and try out a Qwilfish-based team:

Team Torrential Victory:​

Objective:

To pull off a successful Qwilfish sweep!


Team Building:


After reading Qwilfish’s OU analysis on Smogon, I just HAD to make a team based around it.

Looking through the analysis, I found that Qwilfish’s main counters were Bulky Waters, Gyarados, and Salamence. Gyarados and Salamence, along with many other prominent OU threats, are countered by one Pokémon: Porygon2.

As a rule of thumb, all Bulky Waters hate Toxic Spikes, so I added Roserade to the team.

And who better to abuse said Toxic Spikes than Zapdos?

Now all I needed was a Spin-Blocker and something to set up Screens, Stealth Rock, and Rain Dance for Qwilfish: Rotom-W and Bronzong gained the final slots in the team.

An In-Depth Look:

A Rose by Any Other Name…

Sweets (Roserade♀)@Focus Sash
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Spe
~Sleep Powder~
~Toxic Spikes~
~Leaf Storm~
~Hidden Power [FIRE]~

§ Roserade has one purpose and one purpose only: to set up Toxic Spikes. After putting something to sleep with Sleep Powder, she’s guaranteed one layer of them. Leaf Storm eliminates Swampert leads that pain Qwilfish so, and Hidden Power [FIRE] destroys Spinning Forretress and sleeping Scizor switch-ins. Max Special Attack and Speed are for obvious reasons.

Roserade VS Top 10 Leads:

#1 Metagross – Sleep Powder; set up Toxic Spikes; switch to Rotom-W and absorb Explosion or attack with Shadow Ball
#2 Azelf – Leaf Storm; once Taunted, switch to Rotom-W to absorb Explosion or KO with Shadow Ball
#3 Jirachi – Switch to Zapdos or Rotom-W and play from there
#4 Tyranitar – Sleep Powder; set up Toxic Spikes; Leaf Storm; switch to Rotom-W and fight back with Hydro Pump
#5 Infernape – Switch to Zapdos or Rotom-W and 2HKO with Thunderbolt or Hydro Pump, respectively
#6 Aerodactyl – Switch to Zapdos or Rotom-W and 2HKO with Thunderbolt or Shadow Ball/Hydro Pump, respectively
#7 Bronzong – Sleep Powder; set up Toxic Spikes; Leaf Storm; switch to Rotom-W to absorb Explosion
#8 Hippowdon – Sleep Powder; set up Toxic Spikes; OHKO with Leaf Storm
#9 Swampert – Sleep Powder; set up Toxic Spikes; OHKO with Leaf Storm
#10 Ninjask – Set up Toxic Spikes; switch to Zapdos and Roar it away

Stalling God of Thunder

Thor (Zapdos)@Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Timid
EVs: 248 HP / 184 Sp.Def / 76 Spe
~Substitute~
~Roost~
~Thunderbolt~
~Roar~

§ SubRoost Zapdos is one of the most effective abusers of Toxic Spikes and is my main answer to Bulky Water-types. With Substitute and Roost, Zapdos can out-stall hefty Pokémon like Suicune and Snorlax easily. If any Pokémon attempts to set up on it, Zapdos can just Roar their stat changes away. Thunderbolt provides a means of direct damage, and helps to finish off weakened Pokémon. 248 HP EVs let Zapdos survive 4 switches into Stealth Rock and reduces the damage done by Leech Seed, Sandstorm, and Hail. 76 Speed EVs allow it to outrun Adamant Lucario, and the 184 Sp.Def EVs are for bulkiness.

Virtual Muther-Ducker

Quackers (Porygon2)@Lum Berry
Ability: Trace
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Sp.Atk
~Thunderbolt~
~Ice Beam~
~Recover~
~Thunder Wave~

§ Porygon2 counters Salamence, Gyarados, Heatran, and Vaporeon by Tracing their abilities and using them against them. Thunderbolt will do a minimum of 90% damage to Gyarados, OHKOing it if it attacks due to Life Orb recoil, and is useful against Vaporeon. Ice Beam annihilates Salamence, and Thunder Wave cripples anything immune to Toxic Spikes not named Gliscor or Flygon. Recover is a given; Lum Berry is chosen over Leftovers so Porygon2 can absorb status. 252 HP EVs are for maximum durability, 216 Defense EVs let Porygon2 survive hits from Gyarados and Salamence, and 40 Special Attack EVs let it KO them.

Plasma-Powered Spanish Washing Machine

Lavadora (Rotom-W)@Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 100 Sp.Def / 56 Spe
~Reflect~
~Light Screen~
~Shadow Ball~
~Hydro Pump~

§ Rotom-W sets up Screens so Qwilfish can set up with Swords Dance. Shadow Ball is Rotom-W’s STAB and hits Psychics and Ghosts for super-effective damage. Hydro Pump rounds out the set with super-effective damage against Tyranitar, whom this team fears deeply. 252 HP EVs are a must with Rotom-W’s pitiful base HP stat, 100 EVs in both Defense and Special Defense provide all-round bulkiness, and 56 Speed EVs let Rotom-W out-speed… well, I’m unsure of what it out-speeds; this set is directly from Smogon.

Torrential Zong

Zong (Bronzong)@Damp Rock
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 Def
~Rain Dance~
~Explosion~
~Stealth Rock~
~Reflect~

§ The sole purpose Bronzong serves is to set up Rain Dance, Stealth Rock, and (should Rotom-W be out of play) Reflect, then Explode. Zong stays hidden from play until end-game, when Qwilfish's counters have been eliminated and directly after Rotom-W has set up Screens. The EVs let it survive only long enough to set up, then Explode with some force.

Purple Puffer of PWN

Puff (Qwilfish♂)@Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
~Swords Dance~
~Waterfall~
~Poison Jab~
~Explosion~

§ Swords Dance Qwilfish is often underestimated - it has the potential to OHKO a Skarmory with Stealth Rock support! Even Latias, whom many would think to counter Qwilfish, is OHKOed by a +2 Poison Jab. When all is said and done, an Explosion clears the field. Max Attack and Speed EVs are obvious, but the remaining 4 EVs go into Defense instead of HP to minimize the recoil Qwilfish takes from its Life Orb.

A Quick Review:

​

Thanks for reading - please RMT!

 

[Channy13]

wow :O this team is generally perfect, all the things i can think of have been covered!
well done
but why no Kingdra in a rain team?

 

[Lucario_Guy]

wow :O this team is generally perfect, all the things i can think of have been covered!
well done
but why no Kingdra in a rain team?

Well, I personally don't see it as a Rain team, as only one Pokemon actually uses Rain Dance; it's just like any other standard team with one main focus, mine just happens to include a Torrential Zong and a SD Qwilfish.

I chose Qwilfish over Kingdra for the "lolWTF" & surprise factors.

 

[Lucario_Guy]

for some rates!

 

[calze6]

How is this a rain team with only one dancer? If even rotom W doesn't have it and zapdos lacks thunder, it is hopeless for a rain team. I'd go something over roar for more coverage.

 

[Channy13]

Well, I personally don't see it as a Rain team, as only one Pokemon actually uses Rain Dance; it's just like any other standard team with one main focus, mine just happens to include a Torrential Zong and a SD Qwilfish.

I chose Qwilfish over Kingdra for the "lolWTF" & surprise factors.

yeh i would be prettyy 'WTF' if i saw a Qwilfish and no Kingdra or Ludicolo lmao
and fair enough i generally think its a pretty good team
have you designed any others?

 

[Awesome A]

I think it could use some work defensively. Lucario? Starmie? There's quite a few things for which you have no answer. This stems from a lack of attack types. A quick analysis shows that, of the important attacking types:

Water: 2 (STAB x1)
Fire: 1
Electric: 2 (STAB x1)
Ice: 1
Dragon:
Fighting:
Ground:
Dark/Ghost: 1 (STAB x1)
Grass: 1 (STAB x1)

I bolded all the types that you either don't have or are very weak on. Just based on this, I can easily predict trouble with Scizor, Lucario, Metagross, Latias, and others. With a bit more insight, I can see that both your Grass user and your STAB Electric user are weak to Ice, so I can predict troubles with things like Suicune, Vaporeon, and Starmie.

I think you need to pay attention to defensive and offensive types a bit more. The basic offensive concept seems stable, if a bit niche, however.