Sweet Jesus
Neal and Jack and me, absent lovers...
(My original pics had loading problems so I got back to normal ones)
After fast building many weak teams and trying them out on the ladder with what had become my laddering alt (zveet zezus), I ended up creating this team and thought I would want to test it with another alt first. The team did so good, my new alt anomoos started getting a pretty good record and peaked at 46 wins for 1 defeat. I topped number one with it but it wasn't too legit because the ladder had just gone through a general drop and the next game you made gave a huge bonus from the bonus pool which got me to the top of the ladder before the real number one could get his points back too. I still had peaked number 3 behind 2 of zebraiken's alts before the stats drop though (but I don't have a picture).
EDIT: I've peaked number one for real now, here's the picture
I really love this team for it uses both of my most successful custom sets: encore sash kadabra, and resttalk early bird kangaskhan. The latter which I hadn't used since bw1 (which explains the title).
Another thing I love about this team is it has a very unique playstyle. it's very offensive but completely lacks a wallbreaker which is usually an essential element to any offensive team. Instead of that, my team uses all sorts of tactics such as encore, knock off, volt switch, roar and ditto to overcome my opponents walls. The team also resists hazards pretty well and is full of ways to bring back the momentum in my favour. My 2 priority users, sash magic guard kadabra and ditto will make sure I never get swept by anything. I truly believe this is my best team yet and it's also my favourite one.
So let's move on to the team:
WAZA (Kadabra) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Encore
I decided to start my team using kadabra because he had done so much for me in the past and I missed him. He ended up being part of weird core with gurdurr, breaking down many posions and psychic type mons.
Kadabra is such strategic pokemon. His 3 moves grant him perfect coverage hitting even skuntank for heavy damage. Encore and magic guard are the key points of this set however. Since kadbra doesn't take any damage from anything but attacks, he can come in on all sorts of non-damaging moves and encore them to get a free attack. Speaking of free attacks, kadabra's immunity to hazards means his sash is always intact and he can always plug at least one of his powerful psychics before leaving the field.
(For full explanation, I once posted this set on project neverused with different coverage because of bw1 unavailable S beam with MG http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4282210&postcount=132 )
Durdurr (Gurdurr) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Aother classic set with some slight variations, gurdurr helps out kadabra by taking down dark types and just wrecking havoc in general.
You all know how drain punch and mach punch are good on gurdurr and I chose ice punch for coverage because I'm not a payback fan and I feel an ice attack is a must in a team even in NU where dragons are uncommon. Knock off is awesome too, it can take out eviolites or lefties from many of his counters llike golbat and especially misdreavus since my team tends to struggle when facing her. What might seem weird to some is the EV set. I like momentum over sweeping when using gurdurr and since I lack bulk up, I decided to put EV's in defence rather than in special defense. Usually, skilled players invest much more in hp than in one of the 2 defences, but gurdurr rarely takes on special attackers and when he does, they're usualy very weak. The investment in defence however makes his physical bulk even better than if I had invested in hp making him my main physical wall and makes healing through drain punch slightly easier.
(I also posted this set in Project Neverused a long time ago http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4303943&postcount=145 )
Dwayne Johnson (Golem) (M) @ Rocky Helmet/leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
They call him the rock hehe.
Golem has lost in popularity with the rise of skill link cinccino and his new ground rival golurk. I had never tried golem in bw1 because it was kind of boring since everyone used the same set all the time and people started running anti-golem leads. The decline in his usage made him much more interesting to my eyes and I decided to try him out, I ended up liking him pretty much.
Golem is the stealth rocker of the team, I barely ever use him as a lead because people always expect golem leads but I like using the bluff to my advantage. The set is really standard and you all know how it works, great dual stab coverage, priority, stealth rock and sturdy. That's all there is to say about golem. Golem's sucker punch also brings perfect coverage with gurdurr's mach punch and his ground typing is very useful to counter volt switching opponents. Golem is obviously my secondary wall who tanks flying and normal attacks. I currently use rocky helmet because I had some slight problems with cinccino from time to time, but the helmet has never helped me since and cinccino hasn't been too threatening lately, so I guess I'll switch that back to leftovers. 60 speed is because I needed bulk but still wanted to outspeed unninvested 50's and their speed creeps.
yo mama (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Good old Kangaskhan ! This was the first set I've made that helped me reach some decent levels on the ancient PO ladder. I had completely forgotten it but thought long enough to remember it and realize how well he fitted with the rest of the team. Unfortunately, early bird mechanics are messed up on PS and the set works slightly differently then it should atm.
Kangaskhan basically absorbs special attacks and status and heals up so fast it doesn't even care about anything but focus blast. He then proceeds to spam body slam to spread paralysis through the opponent's team. Trust me, there is nothing like this guy when it comes to spreading paralysis. Roar phases anything trying to set up on kanga, does plenty of residual SR damage and brings out new threats to paralyze. Kanga is awesome for he spreads small damage and paralysis everywhere making it easy for the other members of my team to finish them off without getting damaged.
(For complete mechanics of this set, I also happen to have posted it a long time ago: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4258995&postcount=116 )
nice shoes... (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Transform
after looking at my team right there, I realized even with my double priority and sash kadabra, I felt weak too many powerful threats like gardevoir, gorebyss and ludicolo. After some hard reflexion about what countered all these crazy sweepers, I had an illumination. Why search for a defensive poke when you can use the ultimate sex bomb of all pokemon games (rby excluded).
Ditto checks the previously listed threats and a plethora of other threats for they tend to resist thier own stab. He is also one of the best revenge killers in the game. Although he is very vulnerable to substitute, kadabra often locks those who use it with encore. The IV Drops are for hp ice because CM serperior is one of my biggest threats.
EDIT: Ditto doesn't only revenge kill some of my biggest threats, he counters some of them as he is such an unpredictable switch. Gardevoir tanks gardevoir's psychic and focus blast very well for example and is pretty easy to kill with his own signal beam or shadow ball after. Same for ludicolo who believes he can spam surf as I have no water resists. Some threats that set up like gorebyss and SD samurott are harder to switch into but they become much more dangerous when revenge killed by ditto, same goes for ss seismitoad.
biz biz (Rotom-Fan) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
My team was nearly over but I still felt I could use this last spot very well. Until here, my team shared it's physical bulk between gurdurr and golem, neither of which resisted ground and fighting moves which are often the most powerful types in the tier in terms of sheer power. I also wanted decent speed because apart from ditto and kadabra my team is pretty slow. But then again, I also wanted decent power because my team also lacked a wallbreaker. With one more base speed than choice band sawk, Specs Rotom-S seemed to be just the niche I was looking for.
Specs rotom-s works just like scarf really but slower and more powerful. I dropped trick because I already have plenty of other stuff to deal with opposing gimmicks and walls. I then used the free moveslot to use both thunderbolt and hidden power. Unlike most rotom-S this one doesn't use hidden power to give good coverage with his electric move but rather with his flying move. Hp ground makes sure to kill other electric types that could absorb my volt switch which we all know is crucial to rotom-s. A cool thing specs set has over scarf, is that rotom-s can now kill pretty much anything that can absorb volt switch with proper prediction to then spam his favourite move throughout the rest of the game.
Threats:
I haven't noticed many threats to this team since ditto and all my life savers can usually take care of just about anything and make the game very strategic (and fun :D). However, just like any team, this team is weak to certan stuff.
Misdreavus: I'm very happy this thing has no reliable recovery because it would be a pain. Rotom can do some good damage to missy but I usually have to knock his eviolite off first or lock him in substitute or WoW to get in some free damage
Serperior: This thing is probably my greatest threat, especially the calm mind version. I'm often stuck roaring out such serps and praying for paralysis to eventually wreck the whole set. Rotom hits him for super but after a couple calm minds he doesn't give much of a damn and he outspeeds him and kill with hp ice. (the only time I encountered one, rotom was dead early game)
note toxic spikes aren't too threatening since rotom doesn't care, kanga heals and gurdurr becomes a complete monster if my opponent dares set them up.
EDIT: I continued laddering with this team and had some problems with tauros as he acts like a great finisher against this team. He's pretty much the only thing to carry zen headbutt and makes big damage on gurdurr and golem (with EQ) plus he outspeeds kadabra and is just very good in general. Unlike braviary, he is usualy not choice locked, doesn't fear SR and doesn't need a scarf to outspeed rotom and kadabra.
Sub CM gothitelle also highly reduces my possibilities while playing since I'm always switching in gudurr and getting important kills with it.
That is all folks, hope you liked it, if so let me kow :).
Importable (golem has leftovers here)
After fast building many weak teams and trying them out on the ladder with what had become my laddering alt (zveet zezus), I ended up creating this team and thought I would want to test it with another alt first. The team did so good, my new alt anomoos started getting a pretty good record and peaked at 46 wins for 1 defeat. I topped number one with it but it wasn't too legit because the ladder had just gone through a general drop and the next game you made gave a huge bonus from the bonus pool which got me to the top of the ladder before the real number one could get his points back too. I still had peaked number 3 behind 2 of zebraiken's alts before the stats drop though (but I don't have a picture).
EDIT: I've peaked number one for real now, here's the picture
I really love this team for it uses both of my most successful custom sets: encore sash kadabra, and resttalk early bird kangaskhan. The latter which I hadn't used since bw1 (which explains the title).
Another thing I love about this team is it has a very unique playstyle. it's very offensive but completely lacks a wallbreaker which is usually an essential element to any offensive team. Instead of that, my team uses all sorts of tactics such as encore, knock off, volt switch, roar and ditto to overcome my opponents walls. The team also resists hazards pretty well and is full of ways to bring back the momentum in my favour. My 2 priority users, sash magic guard kadabra and ditto will make sure I never get swept by anything. I truly believe this is my best team yet and it's also my favourite one.
So let's move on to the team:
WAZA (Kadabra) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Encore
I decided to start my team using kadabra because he had done so much for me in the past and I missed him. He ended up being part of weird core with gurdurr, breaking down many posions and psychic type mons.
Kadabra is such strategic pokemon. His 3 moves grant him perfect coverage hitting even skuntank for heavy damage. Encore and magic guard are the key points of this set however. Since kadbra doesn't take any damage from anything but attacks, he can come in on all sorts of non-damaging moves and encore them to get a free attack. Speaking of free attacks, kadabra's immunity to hazards means his sash is always intact and he can always plug at least one of his powerful psychics before leaving the field.
(For full explanation, I once posted this set on project neverused with different coverage because of bw1 unavailable S beam with MG http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4282210&postcount=132 )
Durdurr (Gurdurr) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Aother classic set with some slight variations, gurdurr helps out kadabra by taking down dark types and just wrecking havoc in general.
You all know how drain punch and mach punch are good on gurdurr and I chose ice punch for coverage because I'm not a payback fan and I feel an ice attack is a must in a team even in NU where dragons are uncommon. Knock off is awesome too, it can take out eviolites or lefties from many of his counters llike golbat and especially misdreavus since my team tends to struggle when facing her. What might seem weird to some is the EV set. I like momentum over sweeping when using gurdurr and since I lack bulk up, I decided to put EV's in defence rather than in special defense. Usually, skilled players invest much more in hp than in one of the 2 defences, but gurdurr rarely takes on special attackers and when he does, they're usualy very weak. The investment in defence however makes his physical bulk even better than if I had invested in hp making him my main physical wall and makes healing through drain punch slightly easier.
(I also posted this set in Project Neverused a long time ago http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4303943&postcount=145 )
Dwayne Johnson (Golem) (M) @ Rocky Helmet/leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
They call him the rock hehe.
Golem has lost in popularity with the rise of skill link cinccino and his new ground rival golurk. I had never tried golem in bw1 because it was kind of boring since everyone used the same set all the time and people started running anti-golem leads. The decline in his usage made him much more interesting to my eyes and I decided to try him out, I ended up liking him pretty much.
Golem is the stealth rocker of the team, I barely ever use him as a lead because people always expect golem leads but I like using the bluff to my advantage. The set is really standard and you all know how it works, great dual stab coverage, priority, stealth rock and sturdy. That's all there is to say about golem. Golem's sucker punch also brings perfect coverage with gurdurr's mach punch and his ground typing is very useful to counter volt switching opponents. Golem is obviously my secondary wall who tanks flying and normal attacks. I currently use rocky helmet because I had some slight problems with cinccino from time to time, but the helmet has never helped me since and cinccino hasn't been too threatening lately, so I guess I'll switch that back to leftovers. 60 speed is because I needed bulk but still wanted to outspeed unninvested 50's and their speed creeps.
yo mama (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Good old Kangaskhan ! This was the first set I've made that helped me reach some decent levels on the ancient PO ladder. I had completely forgotten it but thought long enough to remember it and realize how well he fitted with the rest of the team. Unfortunately, early bird mechanics are messed up on PS and the set works slightly differently then it should atm.
Kangaskhan basically absorbs special attacks and status and heals up so fast it doesn't even care about anything but focus blast. He then proceeds to spam body slam to spread paralysis through the opponent's team. Trust me, there is nothing like this guy when it comes to spreading paralysis. Roar phases anything trying to set up on kanga, does plenty of residual SR damage and brings out new threats to paralyze. Kanga is awesome for he spreads small damage and paralysis everywhere making it easy for the other members of my team to finish them off without getting damaged.
(For complete mechanics of this set, I also happen to have posted it a long time ago: http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4258995&postcount=116 )
nice shoes... (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Transform
after looking at my team right there, I realized even with my double priority and sash kadabra, I felt weak too many powerful threats like gardevoir, gorebyss and ludicolo. After some hard reflexion about what countered all these crazy sweepers, I had an illumination. Why search for a defensive poke when you can use the ultimate sex bomb of all pokemon games (rby excluded).
Ditto checks the previously listed threats and a plethora of other threats for they tend to resist thier own stab. He is also one of the best revenge killers in the game. Although he is very vulnerable to substitute, kadabra often locks those who use it with encore. The IV Drops are for hp ice because CM serperior is one of my biggest threats.
EDIT: Ditto doesn't only revenge kill some of my biggest threats, he counters some of them as he is such an unpredictable switch. Gardevoir tanks gardevoir's psychic and focus blast very well for example and is pretty easy to kill with his own signal beam or shadow ball after. Same for ludicolo who believes he can spam surf as I have no water resists. Some threats that set up like gorebyss and SD samurott are harder to switch into but they become much more dangerous when revenge killed by ditto, same goes for ss seismitoad.
biz biz (Rotom-Fan) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
My team was nearly over but I still felt I could use this last spot very well. Until here, my team shared it's physical bulk between gurdurr and golem, neither of which resisted ground and fighting moves which are often the most powerful types in the tier in terms of sheer power. I also wanted decent speed because apart from ditto and kadabra my team is pretty slow. But then again, I also wanted decent power because my team also lacked a wallbreaker. With one more base speed than choice band sawk, Specs Rotom-S seemed to be just the niche I was looking for.
Specs rotom-s works just like scarf really but slower and more powerful. I dropped trick because I already have plenty of other stuff to deal with opposing gimmicks and walls. I then used the free moveslot to use both thunderbolt and hidden power. Unlike most rotom-S this one doesn't use hidden power to give good coverage with his electric move but rather with his flying move. Hp ground makes sure to kill other electric types that could absorb my volt switch which we all know is crucial to rotom-s. A cool thing specs set has over scarf, is that rotom-s can now kill pretty much anything that can absorb volt switch with proper prediction to then spam his favourite move throughout the rest of the game.
Threats:
I haven't noticed many threats to this team since ditto and all my life savers can usually take care of just about anything and make the game very strategic (and fun :D). However, just like any team, this team is weak to certan stuff.
Misdreavus: I'm very happy this thing has no reliable recovery because it would be a pain. Rotom can do some good damage to missy but I usually have to knock his eviolite off first or lock him in substitute or WoW to get in some free damage
Serperior: This thing is probably my greatest threat, especially the calm mind version. I'm often stuck roaring out such serps and praying for paralysis to eventually wreck the whole set. Rotom hits him for super but after a couple calm minds he doesn't give much of a damn and he outspeeds him and kill with hp ice. (the only time I encountered one, rotom was dead early game)
note toxic spikes aren't too threatening since rotom doesn't care, kanga heals and gurdurr becomes a complete monster if my opponent dares set them up.
EDIT: I continued laddering with this team and had some problems with tauros as he acts like a great finisher against this team. He's pretty much the only thing to carry zen headbutt and makes big damage on gurdurr and golem (with EQ) plus he outspeeds kadabra and is just very good in general. Unlike braviary, he is usualy not choice locked, doesn't fear SR and doesn't need a scarf to outspeed rotom and kadabra.
Sub CM gothitelle also highly reduces my possibilities while playing since I'm always switching in gudurr and getting important kills with it.
That is all folks, hope you liked it, if so let me kow :).
Importable (golem has leftovers here)
WAZA (Kadabra) (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Encore
Durdurr (Gurdurr) (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Dwayne Johnson (Golem) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Stealth Rock
yo mama (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
nice shoes... (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Transform
biz biz (Rotom-Fan) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Encore
Durdurr (Gurdurr) (F) @ Eviolite
Trait: Guts
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Dwayne Johnson (Golem) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Stealth Rock
yo mama (Kangaskhan) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Early Bird
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Body Slam
- Roar
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
nice shoes... (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Transform
biz biz (Rotom-Fan) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Air Slash
- Hidden Power [Ground]
