WECAMEASROMANS
Banned deucer.
Introduction:
hai, im WECAMEASROMANS, and this is my RMT "To fuck a Flareon". this team has been one of my most successful teams of the generation, being able to reach top 5 on ladder with 2045 ELO with the alt "fuckable flareon" as shown with the link below. this team would most closely be classified under the category hard stall, although it uses several uncommon and unconventional mons rarely seen in the metagame today. for instance, it showcases two currently BL mons (mega slowbro and buzzwole) as well as having a hippowdon which is UU.
proof of peak:
Team at a glance:
Team building process:
I first got the inspiration for this team with the idea of a mega slowbro + buzzwole stall core. They both have unmatched physical bulk, with mega slowbro having the highest base defense stat in the tier and buzzwole having both exceptional defense and HP stats. What makes it better, is that the two share excellent defensive type synergy with each other, with one resisting the other’s weaknesses. Buzzwole can switch in on the dark, grass, bug attacks aimed at mega slowbro (ex: mega gyarados, cb ttar, kartana, tapu bulu, mega scizor) while mega slowbro can switch in on the fire and psychic attacks aimed at buzzwole (mega medicham, Charizard-x). the two mons combined virtually defeat all the physical attackers in the tier.
Since I have the sturdiest 2 physical walls in the tier, the next logical step is to add a chansey since its special bulk is unmatched and it has a deep support movepool. With the two bulkiest physical walls and the single bulkiest special wall, I should be able to wall everything with just 3 mons!... that was the thought process, anyways
The next three slots were dynamic and changed numerous times before I finalized the last and most successful version of the team. I had a zapdos as a flying resist for birds taking advantage of buzzwole, as well as being the defogger and method of combatting stall with pressure. I also had a marowak alola for an electric immunity, wall breaker, and obligatory SR setter for my team. I then added a scarf tyranitar at the end for speed control and a way to trap and kill troublesome stall breakers such as hoopa-u, kyurem-b, tapu lele, and opposing marowak-alola. This first version of the team was essentially just an updated version of my last RMT, found here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/losing-is-an-impossibility-35-0-with-90-gxe.3607001/ with a random ass buzzwole over the skarmory. It did decently well, but nothing spectacular. Its flaws and outdatedness soon became apparent
My first change was switching heatran > marowak alola. I needed an actual psychic resist with lele roaming around and the surge of lati@s. I also disliked how marowak was SR weak and using it really put me at a disadvantage and pressured me immensely to keep rocks off the field. It didn’t help at all that marowak was my lone electric resist, so if rocks were on my side of the field, tapu koko could just bait the marowak switch with u turn and then go to another mon that threatens marowak out. Specs dazzling gleam koko also just 2hkoes you on the switch after SR. heatran fulfilled marowak’s original role of being the SR setter, fire type, and stallbreaker, but at the same time, alleviated my vulnerability to psychic attacks, weakness to SR, and was in general much more durable both in terms of raw bulk and the fact that it had leftovers.
The next change was removing zapdos and replacing it with skarmory. Again, part of this had to do with the fact that Zapdos was SR weak and I hated being pressured with SR when I just have one defogger. With this change, not only am I reducing my weakness to hazards, I can also set up spikes myself, so if both players have SR set up, I can pressure them even more by setting up spikes and their team will eventually give in the long run. Skarmory performs the old roles zapdos was delegated to: flying resist, defogger, and bulky flying bird with recovery for a solid EQ immunity.
The final change had to do with the fact that I was so atrociously weak to tapu koko at this point especially without marowak alola. There was nothing stopping koko from spamming specs volt switches and dismantling my team to shreds. Only chansey could sponge them repeatedly but would then get threatened out by whatever mon came next. I thought it’d be beneficial to replace tyranitar with the other sand stream setter, hippowdon, as a more durable electric immunity that actually gets access to recovery, and functioned as my SR setter so heatran could have an extra slot to perform better.
and that's the finalized version of the team
A closer look:
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 228 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
the first mon on my team is skarmory. skarm is essential to this team's success and is irreplaceable. even if it doesnt directly net any kills in a given game, it indirectly assists in either achieving these kills or saving my mons from being killed because the hazard support skarmory provides is priceless. with both defog and spikes, i can choose whether or not to worry about hazards on my side of the field and just focus on spikestacking up to pressure my opponent immensely more than they pressure me, or clear hazards from both sides of the field if i feel like im at a disadvantage in the hazard war and have to focus on winning another way. typically, if the opponent only has rocks as their source of entry hazards, or if the opponent has a mon (or numerous mons) weak to SR, defogging is not a primary concern for me and i will be entirely committed to overloading their side of the field with spikes and SR. this usually occurs in most games i play. however, in the other games, if the opponent has a rapid spinner, or utilizes spikestacking of their own and then have various magic guard mons or regenerator mons, i will defog when necessary and usually find other ways to chip the opposing team down. having both spikes and defog gives me freedom on the pace i want to set for the game. i used to run toxic over spikes to put other hazard setters on a timer, such as landorus-t, but at the end i thought that it was more effective in just using them as spike bait instead of just limiting their survivability with toxic and forcing myself to defog hazards away.
the first three moves are vital to skarmory's success. as for the last move, I could never imagine myself using a brave birdless skarmory. having no attacks whatsoever makes skarmory literally a free switch in to any opposing mon, where as if i have brave bird im able to chip down their health if i predict a switch. brave bird also allows me to 1 v 1 mega heracross, which would otherwise prove to be problematic if buzzwole is weakened. it also can deal massive damage to mons that typically like to switch in on skarm, such as keldeo and volcarona who may think skarmory is free set up bait. other uses include being able to pressure mega venusaur, tangrowth, tapu bulu, alakazam, mega pinsir, and in general is skarmory's hardest hitting STAB and alleviates the otherwise passive nature of this set. Shed shell is here because Magnezone is much more common on high ladder recently and i can't be bothered losing to shitty strategies such as mega pinsir + magnezone or something.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 16 SpA / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt
specially defensive heatran serves this team quite well, sponging hits from the likes of tapu lele, cm magearna, serperior, clefable, volcarona, etc. the team was in strong need of a backup specially defensive steel type sponge and heatran fulfills that role excellently while deterring other steel types from switching in with its fire STAB. aside from being a specially defensive tank, heatran serves as this team's main stallbreaker vs other opposing defensive teams. practically immune to residual damage such as burns, poison, sandstorm damage means stall usually has to chip away heatran's health little by little with weak direct attacks, or attempting to remove heatran's main source of survivability in leftovers with knock off. Meanwhile, Heatran has both toxic and lava plume to inflict status and damage to more defensively inclined teams, and taunt to prevent healing or other support options. With taunt, earth power, and maybe burns from lava plume, plus the fact that scald does nothing to you, you even stall out Toxapex 1 v 1.
leftovers is the only source of recovery heatran has on this team directly but with the correct double switches and maintenance of hazard control, keeping heatran healthy through the course of the game isn't difficult at all. Also huge wishes passed down from Chansey really benefits heatran as you're able to play with it more recklessly to induce status across the opposing team. Toxic, lava plume, and taunt are all mandatory for stall and stallbreaking purposes, while earth power is the best option for the last slot because it allows you to 1 v 1 opposing offensive heatran which could be problematic since it traps and taunts chansey. you're able to live their earth power and ohko them in return. it also weakens toxapex and allows you to stall it out, chips away at tyranitar switch ins, and you can finish with spdef drops from earth power as well.
Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Def / 16 SpA / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
mega slowbro is the sturdiest physical wall on my team and as such is responsible for keeping a myraid of dangerous physical attackers in the tier in check. this includes cb/dd zygarde, mega medicham, sd hawlucha, dd zard-x, sd lando-t, sd chomp, mega lopunny, etc. mega slowbro is also the only reliable switch in to keldeo on my team. mega slowbro also has a huge base 130 spatk, allowing its attacks to hit decently hard even when uninvested. without mega slowbro my team would struggle significantly vs various physical attackers. mega slowbro is this team's knock off absorber since its item can't get knocked off and you have such an absurd high defense that most knock offs do absolutely nothing to you. i typically mega evolve instantly to get the coveted defense and special attack boost but if im facing a defensive spikestacking team sometimes i pro-long staying in regular form a bit so i can keep regenerator and have more survivability if skarmory somehow is having a difficult time defogging.
all of slowbro's listed moves here are essential for slowbro to perform its role in combating physical attackers. scald is just the spammable STAB move you can use constantly vs things such as skarmory or mega sableye fishing for a burn to weaken them every turn. psychic here is needed since slowbro is this team's only keldeo check, and you need psychic to break its sub in case its a sub CM keldeo or something. psychic also 2hkoes offensive dd zard-x so it cant keep DD'ing and roosting up on you and using you as set up bait. not to mention it also has a nice added bonus of occasionally lowering the opponent's spdef. psychic ohkoes offensive hawlucha allowing mega slowbro to hard wall one of the most popular set up sweepers atm. ice beam is needed in the last slot as a way to handle sd z-move landorus-t, dd z-outrage zygarde, and other mons such as dd dnite/mence and killing mega pinsir when its at 65% health.
some calculations illustrating the physical bulkiness of mega slowbro:
+2 252 Atk Landorus-Therian Supersonic Skystrike (175 BP) vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 292-345 (74.6 - 88.2%)
252 Atk Teravolt Kyurem-Black Fusion Bolt vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 126-150 (32.2 - 38.3%)
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Thunder Punch vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 146-174 (37.3 - 44.5%)
+2 252 Atk Tough Claws Charizard-Mega-X Dragon Claw vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 160-190 (40.9 - 48.5%)
Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 24 Atk / 20 Def / 228 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
specially defensive hippowdon was added to my team for one reason and one reason alone: to hard wall tapu koko. thats why all the special defense EVs are there, to sponge specs hp ice/dazzling gleam. hell, i even have rocky helmet instead of leftovers on this thing just so tapu koko can't just keep spamming u turn vs me with no drawbacks at all. with rocky helmet you're able to indefinitely stall out tapu koko and ensure that they fall before you do.
however after several games it became obvious that hippowdon's usefulness greatly extended outside of countering koko as well. with the huge specially defense investment, hippowdon is the best switch in to magma storm heatran i have available. even with maximum special attack, magma storm still won't 2hko hippowdon, factoring in the trap damage, SR damage, and the fact that magma storm hit twice in a row. hippowdon also puts AV magearna on a complete halt, as they can't volt switch to generate momentum, and AV magearna can't do anything back. for reference, av magearna can't even 2hko this hippowdon spread with fleur cannon, even if fleur cannon didn't lower your spatk two stages. offensive ones with z-fleur cannon or ice beam dont carry volt switch so chansey/heatran are able to handle those variants significantly better without fear of losing momentum. having rocky helmet over leftovers on hippowdon lets you do cool things like setting up SR vs lead sash excadrill and then completely cockblocking them from using rapid spin, since rapid spin doesnt clear your side of the field from hazards if you die. spdef hippo is great for switching in on special attacking ghosts that chansey cant touch, such as gengar and blacephon
spdef hippowdon is perhaps the most reliable switch in to opposing weather mons possible. vs defensive pelipper or veil setting ninetales-alola, you switch in without fear, as uninvested scald in sandstorm doesnt come close to 2hkoing you, and unboosted freeze dry does nothing to you as well. you then get rid of rain and summon sand which makes the opposing rain team near useless, or in ninetales' case, get rid of hail so they're unable to set up aurora veil (not factoring in ninetales that actually carry the move hail). if the opponent is using zard-y + cb ttar, and you dont want to go to chansey for fear of cb ttar's cb pursuit, spdef hippo makes a perfectly acceptable switch in to zard-y since you get rid of sun, so solar beam is weakened and takes 2 turns to hit, and flamethrower under sun doesn't 2hko you and you're able to slack off all the damage.
toxic is the best move in the 4th slot from my experience. you're just able to put so many mons on a timer and spam slack off without fear. this helps tremendously vs dangerous boosting sweepers, such as volcarona or gyarados for instance. you just toxic them and then switch to chansey/mega slowbro, respectively. i even 1 v 1'ed a defensive spinning starmie in one case by toxic'ing them on the switch and then baiting them to use rapid spin to get damaged by rocky helmet and then kill them off with EQ, sand, helmet, and toxic damage. hippowdon has all this special defense investment because it needs it; there is no need for any extra physical defense investment when i have both buzzwole + mega slowbro and the two of them wall every single thing that hippowdon would wall if it was max physdef (dd zard-x, sd bisharp, cb tyranitar)
some calculations for your pleasure:
8 SpA Ninetales-Alola Ice Beam vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 152-180 (36.5 - 43.2%) ice beam doesnt even 2hko you let alone freeze dry
0 SpA Pelipper Scald vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 152-180 (36.5 - 43.2%)
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Flamethrower vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 156-184 (37.5 - 44.2%)
252 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 148-175 (35.5 - 42%)
252 SpA Blacephalon Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 265-313 (63.7 - 75.2%)
56 SpA Magearna Fleur Cannon vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 168-198 (40.3 - 47.5%)
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 244 HP / 48 Atk / 176 Def / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Superpower
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
buzzwole doesnt see much use at all in today's metagame. im not entirely sure why, however. its not the most defining pokemon by any means, but its underrated, and its good. and for this team, it does exactly what i need it to do, which is checking/hard countering some otherwise very dangerous mons. this list includes, but is not limited to: choice band ttar, dd mega ttar, sd bisharp, sd kartana, dd mega gyarados, cb/dd zygarde, thunder punch mega medicham in electric terrain, sd mega scizor, cb/sd tapu bulu, mega lopunny, sd z-stone edge landorus-t. these are some of the strongest and prominent physical attackers in the tier, yet buzzwole is able to handle them all, and even has roost to keep itself healthy alive during the match to do it repeatedly. most of the stalls ive seen nowadays just get ravaged by repeated attacks from cb tyranitar since duggy isnt around anymore to trap it, and having such a perfect switch in to it is just so satisfying especially when most people rely on cb tyranitar heavily when combating stall. they cant even rely on the high crit ratio from stone edge on the switch either since this buzzwole is naturally EV'ed to outspeed the standard cb tyranitar and roost up before they can take advatange of the crit. swords dance kartana is perhaps the biggest upcoming and prominent late game sweeper in the metagame right now, on par with hawlucha, and buzzwole is like the single best answer for that as well. tpunch medicham under electric terrain may be able to muscle past mega slowbro with sr in play but then they lack zen headbutt which makes buzzwole such a solid switch in to that as well.
i used to have hammer arm over superpower on this set because i was paranoid of superpower's effect of lowering atk and defense by one stage, and since this is a defensively inclined team, i thought for sure that the speed drop wouldn't matter substantially. however i was wrong, and after a while of using hammer arm i eventually switched to superpower because of numerous reasons. for one, the power difference (an extra 20 BP) is pretty significant. for instance, hammer arm uninvested falls short in OHKOing kartana and mega gyarados, meaning you have to invest quite a bit to secure those KOes which ultimately means less investment in defense. for those curious in the actual numbers if you still want to run hammer arm, you require 100 atk EVs to ohko kartana with hammer arm, and MAXIMUM ATTACK INVESTMENT (252 atk EVs) to ohko mega gyarados with hammer arm. on the other hand, you can go completely uninvested and OHKO both with hammer arm while stocking up on those defense EVs (and speed). superpower > hammer arm also has several other benefits, such as defensive magearna being able to switch in on superpower once after sr, but hammer arm misses out on the 2hko vs av magearna. one last noticeable factor is that hammer arm misses out the OHKO on heatran without SR, but superpower OHKOes offensive heatran even without SR. plus, there was one instance of a game where i was setting up for a buzzwole late game sweep and i would have swept the remainder of the opposing team, except i used hammer arm once, got a kill, and then my speed was lowered, and then i got outsped by a defensive magearna the next turn and i died. the speed drop still matters in cases like those and i would've won the game if i had superpower instead.
ice punch is necessary on this set for you to be able to threaten out dd zygarde, sd z-stone edge lando-t, garchomp, etc. bulk up is my preferred move in the last slot because it allows you to completely shit on and hard wall several boosting physical sweepers, such as coil zygarde, sd mega scizor, swords dance bulu. having bulk up also means you wall non sd mega heracross endlessly, and at the very least you put sd mega heracross in a stale mate, and win barring crits.
some defensive calcs illustrating buzzwole's natural physical bulk:
+2 252 Atk Kartana Breakneck Blitz (200 BP) vs. 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 336-396 (80.7 - 95.1%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 166-196 (39.9 - 47.1%)
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Excadrill Iron Head vs. 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 211-250 (50.7 - 60%)
+2 252+ Atk Heracross-Mega Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. +1 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 160-190 (38.4 - 45.6%)
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
chansey is here and serves as my team's bulkiest special sponge. also, having chansey as the last slot gives my team 3 special walls (hippowdon, heatran, chansey) and 3 physical walls (skarmory, mega slowbro, buzzwole) which makes my team perfectly symmetrical and makes me happy n_n
there's nothing really left to say here because everyone knows what chansey does by now. its worth noting that chansey is my sole switch in to specs/LO greninja/ash greninja and other stuff like specs pelipper. having both wish + heal bell makes chansey absolutely irreplaceable in terms of team support and gives me extra survivability in those longer games where having an extra form of recovery and getting rid of status is definitely favorable especially vs other stall match ups. heatran in general is my main stallbreaker but lacks reliable recovery besides leftovers, this is where wish comes into play so you can abuse heatran again and again until your PP runs out. all my mons are also susceptible to status so heal bell helps alleviates that issue. i dont necessarily need toxic here because heatran and hippowdon do that already, i'd much rather have the support of both wish and heal bell to keep my team completely healthy.
pastebin of team: this is for all you ungrateful fucks who are here to just steal the team and want to peak yourselves and just skip to this section without reading anything before this
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 228 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 16 SpA / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt
Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Def / 16 SpA / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 24 Atk / 20 Def / 228 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 244 HP / 48 Atk / 176 Def / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Superpower
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-685576917 vs hyper offense using CM z-shadow ball blacephon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-686151564 vs hard stall using spikestacking + rapid spin starmie
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-684760842 vs standard bulky offense with e-terrain kyurem-b and hawlucha
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-684019744 vs spikestacking balance
have fun stalling! (:
hai, im WECAMEASROMANS, and this is my RMT "To fuck a Flareon". this team has been one of my most successful teams of the generation, being able to reach top 5 on ladder with 2045 ELO with the alt "fuckable flareon" as shown with the link below. this team would most closely be classified under the category hard stall, although it uses several uncommon and unconventional mons rarely seen in the metagame today. for instance, it showcases two currently BL mons (mega slowbro and buzzwole) as well as having a hippowdon which is UU.
proof of peak:
Team at a glance:
Team building process:
I first got the inspiration for this team with the idea of a mega slowbro + buzzwole stall core. They both have unmatched physical bulk, with mega slowbro having the highest base defense stat in the tier and buzzwole having both exceptional defense and HP stats. What makes it better, is that the two share excellent defensive type synergy with each other, with one resisting the other’s weaknesses. Buzzwole can switch in on the dark, grass, bug attacks aimed at mega slowbro (ex: mega gyarados, cb ttar, kartana, tapu bulu, mega scizor) while mega slowbro can switch in on the fire and psychic attacks aimed at buzzwole (mega medicham, Charizard-x). the two mons combined virtually defeat all the physical attackers in the tier.
Since I have the sturdiest 2 physical walls in the tier, the next logical step is to add a chansey since its special bulk is unmatched and it has a deep support movepool. With the two bulkiest physical walls and the single bulkiest special wall, I should be able to wall everything with just 3 mons!... that was the thought process, anyways
The next three slots were dynamic and changed numerous times before I finalized the last and most successful version of the team. I had a zapdos as a flying resist for birds taking advantage of buzzwole, as well as being the defogger and method of combatting stall with pressure. I also had a marowak alola for an electric immunity, wall breaker, and obligatory SR setter for my team. I then added a scarf tyranitar at the end for speed control and a way to trap and kill troublesome stall breakers such as hoopa-u, kyurem-b, tapu lele, and opposing marowak-alola. This first version of the team was essentially just an updated version of my last RMT, found here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/losing-is-an-impossibility-35-0-with-90-gxe.3607001/ with a random ass buzzwole over the skarmory. It did decently well, but nothing spectacular. Its flaws and outdatedness soon became apparent
My first change was switching heatran > marowak alola. I needed an actual psychic resist with lele roaming around and the surge of lati@s. I also disliked how marowak was SR weak and using it really put me at a disadvantage and pressured me immensely to keep rocks off the field. It didn’t help at all that marowak was my lone electric resist, so if rocks were on my side of the field, tapu koko could just bait the marowak switch with u turn and then go to another mon that threatens marowak out. Specs dazzling gleam koko also just 2hkoes you on the switch after SR. heatran fulfilled marowak’s original role of being the SR setter, fire type, and stallbreaker, but at the same time, alleviated my vulnerability to psychic attacks, weakness to SR, and was in general much more durable both in terms of raw bulk and the fact that it had leftovers.
The next change was removing zapdos and replacing it with skarmory. Again, part of this had to do with the fact that Zapdos was SR weak and I hated being pressured with SR when I just have one defogger. With this change, not only am I reducing my weakness to hazards, I can also set up spikes myself, so if both players have SR set up, I can pressure them even more by setting up spikes and their team will eventually give in the long run. Skarmory performs the old roles zapdos was delegated to: flying resist, defogger, and bulky flying bird with recovery for a solid EQ immunity.
The final change had to do with the fact that I was so atrociously weak to tapu koko at this point especially without marowak alola. There was nothing stopping koko from spamming specs volt switches and dismantling my team to shreds. Only chansey could sponge them repeatedly but would then get threatened out by whatever mon came next. I thought it’d be beneficial to replace tyranitar with the other sand stream setter, hippowdon, as a more durable electric immunity that actually gets access to recovery, and functioned as my SR setter so heatran could have an extra slot to perform better.
and that's the finalized version of the team
A closer look:
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 228 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
the first mon on my team is skarmory. skarm is essential to this team's success and is irreplaceable. even if it doesnt directly net any kills in a given game, it indirectly assists in either achieving these kills or saving my mons from being killed because the hazard support skarmory provides is priceless. with both defog and spikes, i can choose whether or not to worry about hazards on my side of the field and just focus on spikestacking up to pressure my opponent immensely more than they pressure me, or clear hazards from both sides of the field if i feel like im at a disadvantage in the hazard war and have to focus on winning another way. typically, if the opponent only has rocks as their source of entry hazards, or if the opponent has a mon (or numerous mons) weak to SR, defogging is not a primary concern for me and i will be entirely committed to overloading their side of the field with spikes and SR. this usually occurs in most games i play. however, in the other games, if the opponent has a rapid spinner, or utilizes spikestacking of their own and then have various magic guard mons or regenerator mons, i will defog when necessary and usually find other ways to chip the opposing team down. having both spikes and defog gives me freedom on the pace i want to set for the game. i used to run toxic over spikes to put other hazard setters on a timer, such as landorus-t, but at the end i thought that it was more effective in just using them as spike bait instead of just limiting their survivability with toxic and forcing myself to defog hazards away.
the first three moves are vital to skarmory's success. as for the last move, I could never imagine myself using a brave birdless skarmory. having no attacks whatsoever makes skarmory literally a free switch in to any opposing mon, where as if i have brave bird im able to chip down their health if i predict a switch. brave bird also allows me to 1 v 1 mega heracross, which would otherwise prove to be problematic if buzzwole is weakened. it also can deal massive damage to mons that typically like to switch in on skarm, such as keldeo and volcarona who may think skarmory is free set up bait. other uses include being able to pressure mega venusaur, tangrowth, tapu bulu, alakazam, mega pinsir, and in general is skarmory's hardest hitting STAB and alleviates the otherwise passive nature of this set. Shed shell is here because Magnezone is much more common on high ladder recently and i can't be bothered losing to shitty strategies such as mega pinsir + magnezone or something.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 16 SpA / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt
specially defensive heatran serves this team quite well, sponging hits from the likes of tapu lele, cm magearna, serperior, clefable, volcarona, etc. the team was in strong need of a backup specially defensive steel type sponge and heatran fulfills that role excellently while deterring other steel types from switching in with its fire STAB. aside from being a specially defensive tank, heatran serves as this team's main stallbreaker vs other opposing defensive teams. practically immune to residual damage such as burns, poison, sandstorm damage means stall usually has to chip away heatran's health little by little with weak direct attacks, or attempting to remove heatran's main source of survivability in leftovers with knock off. Meanwhile, Heatran has both toxic and lava plume to inflict status and damage to more defensively inclined teams, and taunt to prevent healing or other support options. With taunt, earth power, and maybe burns from lava plume, plus the fact that scald does nothing to you, you even stall out Toxapex 1 v 1.
leftovers is the only source of recovery heatran has on this team directly but with the correct double switches and maintenance of hazard control, keeping heatran healthy through the course of the game isn't difficult at all. Also huge wishes passed down from Chansey really benefits heatran as you're able to play with it more recklessly to induce status across the opposing team. Toxic, lava plume, and taunt are all mandatory for stall and stallbreaking purposes, while earth power is the best option for the last slot because it allows you to 1 v 1 opposing offensive heatran which could be problematic since it traps and taunts chansey. you're able to live their earth power and ohko them in return. it also weakens toxapex and allows you to stall it out, chips away at tyranitar switch ins, and you can finish with spdef drops from earth power as well.
Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Def / 16 SpA / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
mega slowbro is the sturdiest physical wall on my team and as such is responsible for keeping a myraid of dangerous physical attackers in the tier in check. this includes cb/dd zygarde, mega medicham, sd hawlucha, dd zard-x, sd lando-t, sd chomp, mega lopunny, etc. mega slowbro is also the only reliable switch in to keldeo on my team. mega slowbro also has a huge base 130 spatk, allowing its attacks to hit decently hard even when uninvested. without mega slowbro my team would struggle significantly vs various physical attackers. mega slowbro is this team's knock off absorber since its item can't get knocked off and you have such an absurd high defense that most knock offs do absolutely nothing to you. i typically mega evolve instantly to get the coveted defense and special attack boost but if im facing a defensive spikestacking team sometimes i pro-long staying in regular form a bit so i can keep regenerator and have more survivability if skarmory somehow is having a difficult time defogging.
all of slowbro's listed moves here are essential for slowbro to perform its role in combating physical attackers. scald is just the spammable STAB move you can use constantly vs things such as skarmory or mega sableye fishing for a burn to weaken them every turn. psychic here is needed since slowbro is this team's only keldeo check, and you need psychic to break its sub in case its a sub CM keldeo or something. psychic also 2hkoes offensive dd zard-x so it cant keep DD'ing and roosting up on you and using you as set up bait. not to mention it also has a nice added bonus of occasionally lowering the opponent's spdef. psychic ohkoes offensive hawlucha allowing mega slowbro to hard wall one of the most popular set up sweepers atm. ice beam is needed in the last slot as a way to handle sd z-move landorus-t, dd z-outrage zygarde, and other mons such as dd dnite/mence and killing mega pinsir when its at 65% health.
some calculations illustrating the physical bulkiness of mega slowbro:
+2 252 Atk Landorus-Therian Supersonic Skystrike (175 BP) vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 292-345 (74.6 - 88.2%)
252 Atk Teravolt Kyurem-Black Fusion Bolt vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 126-150 (32.2 - 38.3%)
252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Thunder Punch vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 146-174 (37.3 - 44.5%)
+2 252 Atk Tough Claws Charizard-Mega-X Dragon Claw vs. 240 HP / 236+ Def Slowbro-Mega: 160-190 (40.9 - 48.5%)
Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 24 Atk / 20 Def / 228 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
specially defensive hippowdon was added to my team for one reason and one reason alone: to hard wall tapu koko. thats why all the special defense EVs are there, to sponge specs hp ice/dazzling gleam. hell, i even have rocky helmet instead of leftovers on this thing just so tapu koko can't just keep spamming u turn vs me with no drawbacks at all. with rocky helmet you're able to indefinitely stall out tapu koko and ensure that they fall before you do.
however after several games it became obvious that hippowdon's usefulness greatly extended outside of countering koko as well. with the huge specially defense investment, hippowdon is the best switch in to magma storm heatran i have available. even with maximum special attack, magma storm still won't 2hko hippowdon, factoring in the trap damage, SR damage, and the fact that magma storm hit twice in a row. hippowdon also puts AV magearna on a complete halt, as they can't volt switch to generate momentum, and AV magearna can't do anything back. for reference, av magearna can't even 2hko this hippowdon spread with fleur cannon, even if fleur cannon didn't lower your spatk two stages. offensive ones with z-fleur cannon or ice beam dont carry volt switch so chansey/heatran are able to handle those variants significantly better without fear of losing momentum. having rocky helmet over leftovers on hippowdon lets you do cool things like setting up SR vs lead sash excadrill and then completely cockblocking them from using rapid spin, since rapid spin doesnt clear your side of the field from hazards if you die. spdef hippo is great for switching in on special attacking ghosts that chansey cant touch, such as gengar and blacephon
spdef hippowdon is perhaps the most reliable switch in to opposing weather mons possible. vs defensive pelipper or veil setting ninetales-alola, you switch in without fear, as uninvested scald in sandstorm doesnt come close to 2hkoing you, and unboosted freeze dry does nothing to you as well. you then get rid of rain and summon sand which makes the opposing rain team near useless, or in ninetales' case, get rid of hail so they're unable to set up aurora veil (not factoring in ninetales that actually carry the move hail). if the opponent is using zard-y + cb ttar, and you dont want to go to chansey for fear of cb ttar's cb pursuit, spdef hippo makes a perfectly acceptable switch in to zard-y since you get rid of sun, so solar beam is weakened and takes 2 turns to hit, and flamethrower under sun doesn't 2hko you and you're able to slack off all the damage.
toxic is the best move in the 4th slot from my experience. you're just able to put so many mons on a timer and spam slack off without fear. this helps tremendously vs dangerous boosting sweepers, such as volcarona or gyarados for instance. you just toxic them and then switch to chansey/mega slowbro, respectively. i even 1 v 1'ed a defensive spinning starmie in one case by toxic'ing them on the switch and then baiting them to use rapid spin to get damaged by rocky helmet and then kill them off with EQ, sand, helmet, and toxic damage. hippowdon has all this special defense investment because it needs it; there is no need for any extra physical defense investment when i have both buzzwole + mega slowbro and the two of them wall every single thing that hippowdon would wall if it was max physdef (dd zard-x, sd bisharp, cb tyranitar)
some calculations for your pleasure:
8 SpA Ninetales-Alola Ice Beam vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 152-180 (36.5 - 43.2%) ice beam doesnt even 2hko you let alone freeze dry
0 SpA Pelipper Scald vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 152-180 (36.5 - 43.2%)
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Flamethrower vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 156-184 (37.5 - 44.2%)
252 SpA Heatran Magma Storm vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 148-175 (35.5 - 42%)
252 SpA Blacephalon Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 265-313 (63.7 - 75.2%)
56 SpA Magearna Fleur Cannon vs. 236 HP / 228+ SpD Hippowdon: 168-198 (40.3 - 47.5%)
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 244 HP / 48 Atk / 176 Def / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Superpower
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
buzzwole doesnt see much use at all in today's metagame. im not entirely sure why, however. its not the most defining pokemon by any means, but its underrated, and its good. and for this team, it does exactly what i need it to do, which is checking/hard countering some otherwise very dangerous mons. this list includes, but is not limited to: choice band ttar, dd mega ttar, sd bisharp, sd kartana, dd mega gyarados, cb/dd zygarde, thunder punch mega medicham in electric terrain, sd mega scizor, cb/sd tapu bulu, mega lopunny, sd z-stone edge landorus-t. these are some of the strongest and prominent physical attackers in the tier, yet buzzwole is able to handle them all, and even has roost to keep itself healthy alive during the match to do it repeatedly. most of the stalls ive seen nowadays just get ravaged by repeated attacks from cb tyranitar since duggy isnt around anymore to trap it, and having such a perfect switch in to it is just so satisfying especially when most people rely on cb tyranitar heavily when combating stall. they cant even rely on the high crit ratio from stone edge on the switch either since this buzzwole is naturally EV'ed to outspeed the standard cb tyranitar and roost up before they can take advatange of the crit. swords dance kartana is perhaps the biggest upcoming and prominent late game sweeper in the metagame right now, on par with hawlucha, and buzzwole is like the single best answer for that as well. tpunch medicham under electric terrain may be able to muscle past mega slowbro with sr in play but then they lack zen headbutt which makes buzzwole such a solid switch in to that as well.
i used to have hammer arm over superpower on this set because i was paranoid of superpower's effect of lowering atk and defense by one stage, and since this is a defensively inclined team, i thought for sure that the speed drop wouldn't matter substantially. however i was wrong, and after a while of using hammer arm i eventually switched to superpower because of numerous reasons. for one, the power difference (an extra 20 BP) is pretty significant. for instance, hammer arm uninvested falls short in OHKOing kartana and mega gyarados, meaning you have to invest quite a bit to secure those KOes which ultimately means less investment in defense. for those curious in the actual numbers if you still want to run hammer arm, you require 100 atk EVs to ohko kartana with hammer arm, and MAXIMUM ATTACK INVESTMENT (252 atk EVs) to ohko mega gyarados with hammer arm. on the other hand, you can go completely uninvested and OHKO both with hammer arm while stocking up on those defense EVs (and speed). superpower > hammer arm also has several other benefits, such as defensive magearna being able to switch in on superpower once after sr, but hammer arm misses out on the 2hko vs av magearna. one last noticeable factor is that hammer arm misses out the OHKO on heatran without SR, but superpower OHKOes offensive heatran even without SR. plus, there was one instance of a game where i was setting up for a buzzwole late game sweep and i would have swept the remainder of the opposing team, except i used hammer arm once, got a kill, and then my speed was lowered, and then i got outsped by a defensive magearna the next turn and i died. the speed drop still matters in cases like those and i would've won the game if i had superpower instead.
ice punch is necessary on this set for you to be able to threaten out dd zygarde, sd z-stone edge lando-t, garchomp, etc. bulk up is my preferred move in the last slot because it allows you to completely shit on and hard wall several boosting physical sweepers, such as coil zygarde, sd mega scizor, swords dance bulu. having bulk up also means you wall non sd mega heracross endlessly, and at the very least you put sd mega heracross in a stale mate, and win barring crits.
some defensive calcs illustrating buzzwole's natural physical bulk:
+2 252 Atk Kartana Breakneck Blitz (200 BP) vs. 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 336-396 (80.7 - 95.1%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 166-196 (39.9 - 47.1%)
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Excadrill Iron Head vs. 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 211-250 (50.7 - 60%)
+2 252+ Atk Heracross-Mega Rock Blast (5 hits) vs. +1 244 HP / 176+ Def Buzzwole: 160-190 (38.4 - 45.6%)
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
chansey is here and serves as my team's bulkiest special sponge. also, having chansey as the last slot gives my team 3 special walls (hippowdon, heatran, chansey) and 3 physical walls (skarmory, mega slowbro, buzzwole) which makes my team perfectly symmetrical and makes me happy n_n
there's nothing really left to say here because everyone knows what chansey does by now. its worth noting that chansey is my sole switch in to specs/LO greninja/ash greninja and other stuff like specs pelipper. having both wish + heal bell makes chansey absolutely irreplaceable in terms of team support and gives me extra survivability in those longer games where having an extra form of recovery and getting rid of status is definitely favorable especially vs other stall match ups. heatran in general is my main stallbreaker but lacks reliable recovery besides leftovers, this is where wish comes into play so you can abuse heatran again and again until your PP runs out. all my mons are also susceptible to status so heal bell helps alleviates that issue. i dont necessarily need toxic here because heatran and hippowdon do that already, i'd much rather have the support of both wish and heal bell to keep my team completely healthy.
pastebin of team: this is for all you ungrateful fucks who are here to just steal the team and want to peak yourselves and just skip to this section without reading anything before this
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 16 Atk / 228 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 16 SpA / 248 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt
Slowbro-Mega @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 236 Def / 16 SpA / 16 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 236 HP / 24 Atk / 20 Def / 228 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Earthquake
- Toxic
Buzzwole @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 244 HP / 48 Atk / 176 Def / 40 Spe
Impish Nature
- Superpower
- Roost
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Seismic Toss
Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-685576917 vs hyper offense using CM z-shadow ball blacephon
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-686151564 vs hard stall using spikestacking + rapid spin starmie
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-684760842 vs standard bulky offense with e-terrain kyurem-b and hawlucha
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-684019744 vs spikestacking balance
have fun stalling! (:
