slant

First things first, I like the layout of this RMT, it's really a breath of fresh air Onto the actual team, it is pretty solid. I'll admit to anyone reading this that Rupe has completely taken me to school using this team, against my OU ones. The only suggestion I would make is maybe Forretress over Blastoise? I'm not saying this will for sure improve your team, but at least it's worth a try. Disadvantages: Lose a phazer (and maybe worse typing). Advantages: your team can now set up all 3 hazards, retain a spinner, and also forretress can perform a slow volt switch, giving you a chance to get gothitelle or heracross in for free. Hope this helps. ps from the title of the rmt I was expecting a zerg reference somewhere.

Thanks. During testing I found that there was pretty much no situation in which hydro pump would cripple something but surf wouldn't. I've changed hydro pump to hidden power grass since Gastrodon really causes me problems.

Sup xiphera, If you want to replace Donphan, I have a few suggestions, hopefully one of these will sound ok to you: -Mixed dragonite (quiet nature, 252atk, 252spatk, 4hp, dragon gem, draco meteor/superpower/fireblast/extremespeed). This guy is meant as a wallbreaker, and can really take out almost any pokemon with the right move. However its weakness is that it loses power in late game, once its dragon gem is used up and the surprise factor is lost. However if played right it can really take out 2 or 3 pokemon before its time is up. -Aggron/Rhyperior. I listed these two together because they're really similar. It should be obvious how to play this, just wreck some shit with either head smash (on aggron) or edgequake on rhyperior. They can both set up stealth rock which fills part of donphan's role too. -Crawdaunt. With adaptability it becomes a monster, basically ohkoing or 2hkoing everything out there. If you're fighting a rain team, things will get really ugly for your opponent. -Xatu/another trick roomer. It's always nice to have another trick roomer "just in case". Xatu also reflects all hazards and cannot be taunted, meaning that it is guaranteed to set up trick room if it doesn't die. Also I would recommend changing calm mind on Reuniclus to focus blast. Like conkeldurr, Reuniclus should be attacking while its precious trick room is up. Also, otherwise Reuniclus is walled by dark types and steel types, which are everywhere.

Hey Xiphera, Neat team! Trick room is a really tough playstyle to pull off, but it looks like you're well on your way there. Here are my suggestions: -Conkeldurr is meant as a trick room sweeper, so really it does not have time to bulk up since that wastes valuable trick room time. I would go with a flame or toxic orb, and give it 4 attacks. Also the evs seem to be a bit weird, you really want full attack on that sucker (something like brave, 252atk/252hp/4spdef i think would be great, with hammer arm, facade, mach punch, and stone edge/ice punch) -Chandelure isn't really the best user of trick room imo. It is way too frail, and if you make it slower it'll probably be dead before it sets up TR. Your team is really hurting for a bulky pokemon that can set up trick room reliably besides Bronzong. I'd suggest Slowbro, which thanks to regenerator has no problem staying alive, and also resists the fire attacks that threaten Bronzong. Between the two of them you should find ample opportunities to set up trick room. -If you get rid of Chandelure, there's really no need for a spinner since nothing is really hit hard by hazards. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one you want. Hope this helps! -

I'm not really a fan of black sludge. First off toxicroak doesn't really need to worry about trick since it is behind a substitute most of the time. Second, let's say that toxicroak is tricked and gives the other pokemon black sludge. Then the other pokemon now has a chance to crippled a SECOND pokemon on my team by tricking it my original black sludge. The tradeoff between this and a miniscule amount of extra damage doesn't really seem to be worth it. Thanks for the rate!

THE OLD ONES "In those grisly eyes were mirrored all the unholy things and vile secrets that sleep in the cities under the sea, and that skulk from the light of day in the blackness of primordial caverns..." INTRODUCTION Hi everyone, I'm back with another team. This particular team showcases one of my favorite styles of battling, semistall. The formula for this type of team is pretty basic: a stall core of 3 pokemon, followed by a wallbreaker and 2 sweepers. The game plan is pretty simple too. Early game, focus on laying down hazards and spinning. Wear down the opponent as much as you can, and use the wallbreaker if necessary to blast holes in the opponent's defense. Once everything is worn down, it is a simple matter to mop up with your sweepers. One particular strength of this style is that it is so adaptable to the opponent's strategy, since it has a little bit of everything: walls, wallbreakers, phazers, sweepers, etc. Against a heavy offense team? No problem, I'll just rely on hazard damage and stall my opponent out. Against a stall team? Focus on setting up one of my two sweepers, then it's gg. I'll be presenting my rain semi stall here. I have a sand semi-stall too, but I'm having too much fun with that one just to give it away now TEAM AT A GLANCE TEAM IN DETAIL Cthulhu (Politoed) (M) @ Choice Specs Trait: Drizzle EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Hidden Power [Grass] - Perish Song - Focus Blast - Surf Move over defensive Politoed, I got a new best friend! My weather bringer and wallbreaker, this guy is SICK. With a double stab on water moves, this guy will cripple anything that stays in on its hydro pump that's not named chansey or Blissey. It is pretty bulky, but without any method of recovery, it tends to get worn down quickly. This is why Chansey's wish is essential for keeping it alive. If Politoed makes it all the way to late game it can perish song away any of my opponent's final attempts to pull off a last pokemon sweep. Surf is when I need a more reliable option than hydro pump. Focus blast is to hit tyranitar switch ins, but to be honest I don't find myself using it too often. I am considering switching this for hp grass to hit those annoying water types that are also immune to water attacks (I'm looking at you Jellicent and Gastrodon!). Finally, ice beam is not needed since I have two steel types to take on dragons. Hastur (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Seismic Toss - Softboiled - Wish - Stealth Rock This pokemon shows up in a ton of my rmts, and for good reason. It is so bulky on both the physical and special sides. In particular, it is also my counter to sun teams, taking pittance from fire and grass attacks which are usually special. It also sponges electric attacks which plague half of my team. Wish makes life for my opponent hell. It's tough enough taking out my bulky sweepers once; giving them a second lease on life is going to cause major problems. Finally, Chansey sets up my stealth rock. Because it is such a great pivot, taking almost nil from special attacks, it easily sets up its hazards. Nyarlathotep (Skarmory) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Spikes - Brave Bird - Whirlwind - Roost The second half of the (in)famous Skarmbliss combo. This guy covers the physical threats that my other team members can't. I play this guy the same way as Chansey - use it as a pivot to take physical attacks, lay down a layer of spikes as the opponent switches, switch out, repeat. Between Chansey and Skarmory it is not uncommon for me to get all of my hazards up (SR + 3 layers of spikes). At this point, I start whirlwinding to build up hazard damage, healing and switching when necessary. If I get to this point, there's a good chance that I can win through hazards damage alone. Notable threats that Skarmory counters include: most sand sweepers, Gliscor, and physical attacking dragons. Dagon (Starmie) @ Leftovers Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 12 SAtk / 224 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Scald - Recover - Psychic - Rapid Spin The final part of my stall core. This is a modified Starmie, built to emphasize bulk over special attack. Regular starmie builds really tend only to get one chance to get rapid spin off, while mine is built to last. However, even with such low investment in special attack, it still has surprising power. For instance after stealth rock, gengar is outsped and ohkoed by psychic. Scald's power is boosted by the rain, and is no joke backed by Starmie's special attack stat (even with little investment). I chose scald over surf for the burn chance, thinking that it would outweigh the extra power, but now I'm not so sure. Feel free to try it with surf and tell me what you think. Shoggoth (Toxicroak) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Dry Skin EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Substitute - Bulk Up - Drain Punch - Sucker Punch This frog is so pro. SO PRO. I just love watching it drain punch something, only to gain back 60%+ health in one turn. While its bulk may not be anything to write home about, it gets such fantastic resistances that it doesn't matter (for example, it resists the stab moves from: Breloom, Terrakion, and Conkeldurr, all top tier physical threats). Also dry skin + substitute means you are only losing a tiny bit of hp every time you use it. If the opponent can't break your substitutes (which happens all too often once Toxicroak gets a bulk up in) then you will on average actually be GAINING hp. Finally, I'd like to point out that Toxicroak laughs at stall teams (especially rain stall). Whatever hp it loses from switching into hazards is quickly offset by dry skin, while it is immune to toxic, the main form of damage output from stall teams, and actually absorbs toxic spikes too. Against rain stall in particular, Toxicroak easily switches in on a predicted water move or predicted stealthrock/spikes/toxic spikes and can proceed to set up. Shub (Jirachi) @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Substitute - Calm Mind - Water Pulse - Thunder We all know how this guy works by now, right? After a few calm minds, this guy is almost invincible and destroys everything. Even without the boosts, it can still hax the shit out of the opponent with parafusion. Almost everything I said up there about Toxicroak applies to Jirachi too. Jirachi laughs at stall teams, boasting the same immunity to toxic. It also loves switching in on those bulky steels that set up hazards (Skarm, Ferro, Forretress), appreciating the opportunity to attempt a sweep. THREATS -The main threat to this team are trappers such as Chandelure and Dugtrio, who can eliminate my weather if I am not careful. -A much smaller threat are electric pokemon. As I pointed out, 3 of my 6 pokemon are weak to it, but if I keep Chansey healthy it should not be an issue. CONCLUSION Anyways, that's the team! The Old Ones is one of my favorite teams, being able to effectively take on all kinds of playstyles. Chansey/Skarmory/Starmie form an effective core, being able to sponge all attacks and slowly get hazards up. Politoed by itself hits like a nuke; in the early game it can even take out multiple pokemon if the opponent is not careful. Finally, my two sweepers, although a bit on the slow side, can really break the opponent's team once they get going. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to rate/hate/steal as always.

Thanks for your thoughts Kamina! Reflect is absolutely necessary on Xatu as it helps me beat Conkeldurr and Toxicroak one on one. Without it I would be demolished by payback and sucker punch respectively (note that these guys completely demolish the rest of my team). Heat wave is not necessary on the other hand. Sure I can't do much against Skarm and Ferrothorn but they can't do much in return anyways. In the meantime i can set up reflect and paralyze them, and if they keep on attacking, I can switch in Machamp to (probably) take them out or force a switch. I'm glad you like this team and sorry for the hax (but not really ).

DAZED AND CONFUSED - AN OU TEAM Hello, and welcome to my latest RMT. I set out to make the most annoying team possible and abuse the shit out of the random number generator. And after a bunch of victories and a whole lot of pissed off people, I can safely say that I succeeded. At first I didn't take this team seriously, playing it mainly for shits and giggles and to blow off steam. However it shattered my expectations quickly, leading to a peak in the top 10 (in a previous iteration of the team, not the version I am presenting). Enjoy! TEAM AT A GLANCE TEAM IN DETAIL Amoonguss (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 28 SAtk / 228 SDef Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Spore - Stun Spore - Giga Drain - Hidden Power [ice] The first part of my defensive core, Amoonguss's job is to disable as much of the team as possible. Usually I spore something, and then paralyze the switch in with stun spore. Giga drain is the obligatory stab move, and hp ice is to deal with opposing dragons and Gliscor. Also as a side note, Amoonguss is useful in absorbing toxic spikes, which are the only hazards that actually cause me major trouble otherwise. Amoonguss is also key in countering several big offensive threats, such as Keldeo and Breloom, and also doubles as a secondary rain counter in addition to Chansey. Chansey (F) @ Eviolite Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Seismic Toss - Thunder Wave - Wish - Softboiled You knew this fat little blob would be making an appearance. It is practically a necessity with all the high-powered special attacks flying around. What I like about it is that it lures in sweepers that think they can attempt to set up in Chansey's face, only to be paralyzed on the switch in. Wish support is appreciated to keep my offensive core going as long as possible. Otherwise it walls special attackers (obviously) and a surprising number of physical hitters too. Xatu (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Magic Bounce EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Psychic - Reflect - Roost - Thunder Wave Opponents love bringing in hazard layers on my bulky walls, which is where Xatu comes in. Xatu reflects all the hazards aimed at my team, which is important because a) I will be doing a lot of switching inbetween my defensive core and I lack a hazard layer of my own. The most commonly used hazard layers are bulky steel types that get the shit walled out of them by Xatu. In return, Xatu can either set up Reflect to support my team or cripple another pokemon with paralysis. Xatu also absorbs fighting attacks aimed at Chansey thanks to its 4x weakness. It also counters a whole slew of random threats, including Conkeldurr, Toxicroak, and prankster users. Out of my defensive core, this is the team member that dies the easiest, but it's no big deal. If Xatu has prevented hazards from going up, then his job is done.. Slowbro (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Regenerator EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Scald - Ice Beam - Thunder Wave - Slack Off Rounding out my defensive core is Slowbro. It is the perfect complement to Amoonguss, resisting most attacks that hit it super effectively (and vice versa). In addition, Regenerator allows me to keep these two in good health throughout the match with minimal effort. This guy is also my dedicated physical wall, an alternate fighting resist other than Xatu, and my counter to physical dragons. With its bulk, it can take a boosted outrage from Salamence and Dragonite, KOing back with ice beam. Then it's switched out to instantly get back a third of its health. Slowbro also doubles as a secondary sun counter in addition to Chansey. Machamp (F) @ Leftovers Trait: No Guard EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Substitute - DynamicPunch - Payback - Stone Edge The first part of my offensive core. What. A. Beast. I've swept entire teams with confusion luck alone; if Machamp successfully gets behind a substitute, something is going down for sure (and most likely two pokemon). Getting Machamp behind a substitute is not too hard either, since I usually only switch it in on paralyzed pokemon. In that case I can dynamic punch, and then substitute next turn, and due to parafusion they will probably not hit me. In particular, I love switching Machamp in on the bug and dark attacks aimed at Xatu and Slowbro. Jirachi @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Thunder Wave - Substitute - Iron Head - Fire Punch The absolute centerpiece of the team. Once opponents see what this guy does, it makes them want to rage and pull their hair out. Getting a substitute is easy thanks to all of Jirachi's resistances. From there, Jirachi will usually take out at least one pokemon thanks to flinch hax, but if the majority of the opponent's team is paralyzed then it usually means GG. All the other moves are self explanatory so I won't bother going into detail. STRATEGY: I don't really think I need to spell it out, but I will anyways. In the early game, paralyze the shit out of the opponent and prevent hazards from getting up. Thanks to the defensive core, you should be able to do so with minimal trouble. In mid game, bring out Machamp to soften things up a bit with dynamic punch, and then in end game sweep with either Jirachi or Chansey. If all goes according to plan, you should win without much trouble (half of the time I usually get a ragequit instead of a legit win anyways). Having said that, DO NOT let both Machamp and Jirachi die. They are the only offense this team has, if both of them die you won't be able to do jack shit to the other guy. This is what Chansey's wish is for. Finally let me finish with some calcs: A pokemon affected by paralysis and confusion has a 37.5% chance to successfully attack and a paralyzed pokemon getting hit by Jirachi's iron head has a 30% chance of successfully attacking. This means that I am pretty comfortable keeping in Machamp and Jirachi in matchups that they should normally not be in (e.g. paralyzed Latias vs. Machamp) if I think there is a pretty good chance that I can eventually KO. THREATS: -Baton pass teams. Pretty rare these days, but pure baton pass teams mean gg for me since I lack any phazers or perish song users. -Set up sweepers. Not the ones that dragon dance or whatever, those are easy to handle since 5/6 team members carry paralysis moves. No, I'm talking about slow ssweepers such as Conkeldurr and Cresselia that don't mind being paralyzed. However, they need a fair bit of luck to get past Machamp and Jirachi. -Chandelure traps and OHKOS 2/3 of the team. I hate this thing. Please try this team out! It's perfect for those of you who want a change of pace from the standard rain/sun/sand teams out there (or if you're evil and really enjoy making your opponent rage).

A lot of people have been asking me about hp ice vs sunny day on Rotom-w. It boils down to personal preference, there have been MANY times when hp ice would have saved my ass against dragonite, and MANY times when the surprise sunny day screwed my opponent over. As for Chansey, yes it does kill my momentum but on the other hand I desperately need a tank to switch into those high powered rain boosted surfs, sun boosted fire blasts, etc. All the other team members cannot really take a hit. Another possible option would be a bulky latias with wish/roar/dragon pulse/protect. This would fill a similar role to Chansey and as a bonus resists both of Keldeo's stabs. The drawback is that I'd lose stealth rock, and also a bit of bulk. Thanks for the rates everyone!

Hey dude, First off, beautiful presentation. I can see you put a lot of time and effort into this RMT and it's way cool. Also your team looks solid - you have a basic formula for success here with ninetales + a bunch of sun sweepers. However I'd like to point out some problems I see, I will suggest some ways around it towards the end: -I think other people have pointed out that hazards kind of tear apart your team. Charizard takes 50% obviously and Ninetales also takes 25%. In particular this makes it very easy to lose the weather war. -Ninetales has a pretty cool moveset, but 1) solarbeam is not a good idea on ninetales without sunny day support. This is because Politoed/ttar can switch in easily and change the weather forcing it to power up. Also 2) in BW2 Ninetales got pain split which works wonders for keeping it alive, I would recommend that too. Hypnosis is kind of eh (60% accuracy can suck it). -Defensive Heatran can give you problems (the set I always run is Stealth Rock/Lava Plume/Roar/Protect). This Heatran is only really threatened by Raikou and Sawsbuck, but neither can really switch in on it since lava plume under sun still hurts like a bitch. Cresselia is lava plumed until it gets burnt, then roared away, while ninetales, charizard, and venusaur just can't touch it. barring sleep powder which kind of just delays the inevitable. Heck even offensive Heatran gives you problems, switching in on something that does not threaten it and firing off a powerful fire move. I haven't done calcs but I think even Cresselia has a tough time eating fireblasts/overheats under the sun from Heatran. -In general I don't see how you deal with opposing weather. For example, you have two grass resists for rain, yet your two grass pokemon are hardly tanky enough to eat stab surfs/hydro pumps under rain for more than one or two turns. Against sand you'd have a tough time too since most Ttar run pursuit to trap fleeing Ninetales. My suggestions (I'm not asking you to change all of it at once, just pick and choose what you like): -Run a more defensive Ninetales spread with pain split and will o wisp. This way you enhance Ninetales' survivability and can possibility cripple an attacker on the switch. -Replace one of your team members for Dugtrio, which a) helps you win the weather war, and deals with that annoying heatran problem you have. I'd suggest replacing Charizard with this guy since at the same time you would be getting rid of a SR weakness which lessens your need for a spinner. -A spinner would still be a good idea. Forretress (volt switch/SR/rapid spin/gyro ball) would give your team fantastic support and also a decent pivot against sand teams. Keep in mind that Forretress gets killed by fire attacks no matter what, so putting it in a sun team doesn't really hurt its chances. Also otherwise you have nothing to resist dragon attacks which is a problem. -Maybe CM Latias (sub/recover/CM/dragon pulse) over Cresselia? Unlike Cresselia, Latias gets a resistance to water attacks making it a solid switch in against rain teams. It also has great synergy with the rest of your team since steels are taken care of by fire attacks and dragon pulse hits everything for neutral damage. Also Latias heals with recover, not moonlight, making it a more reliable option if your weather of choice is not up. Hope this helps (and feel free to pm me if you want to discuss anything)!

TEAM AT A GLANCE: INTRODUCTION/TEAM BUILDING: Hi everyone, I'm back to present another team! This one hit #1 on the ladder waaaaay back (unfortunately I didn't think to take screenshots but oh well). Anyways the team building process is pretty simple. The team is based around two offensive powerhouses: Breloom and Chandelure. What is awesome about these two is that if the opponent gives them just a single opportunity to switch in for free, then they will fuck some shit up. Chandelure's ability and ridiculous special attack almost guarantee that I will take out an enemy pokemon every time I switch in, while Breloom can incapacitate a slower foe, set up substitute, and proceed to be a pain in the ass. OK, great. Well...how do I switch them in for free? Answer: VOLT TURN. Once I had this stroke of inspiration, the rest of the team members were almost obvious and the team fell into place easily. This RMT is presented with a chess theme (hence the title), since playing with this team requires you to think several steps ahead. Also, the whole volt-turn thing has a whole 'checkmate' vibe, i.e. "I don't care what you do, I'm u-turning and you'll be behind no matter what." TEAM IN DETAIL Dragon Variation (Chandelure) (M) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Shadow Tag EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Overheat - Shadow Ball - Hidden Power [ice] - Energy Ball Nothing much to say, everyone on the ladder is familiar with this guy. Basically nothing is safe from Chandelure besides pink blobs, as STAB overheat takes a big chunk out of everything, and the other moves provide coverage that is only resisted by a handful of pokemon. This guy nets me multiple kills each match unless I do something stupid. Occasionally Chandelure will double as a spin blocker for me, but usually I will let the opponent spin away hazards since if I mispredict and let Chandy die, half of my offensive presence is gone. HP Ice is invaluable as it gives me a good answer to dragon types, and also kicks Gliscor's ass, who would otherwise walk all over this team. Energy ball is for coverage (sup Gastrodon), while Shadow ball is a nice spammable attack late game. King's Gambit (Breloom) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Technician EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Substitute - Spore - Mach Punch - Bullet Seed I was kind of on the fence about technician Breloom, but boy was I wrong. Yeah, poison heal is awesome and protects from status yadda yadda, but technician just turns Breloom into an absolute offensive killer. Give it one turn to set up (hi walls!) and it will go on a fucking rampage. Its mediocre speed is kind of a letdown, but usually in matches Breloom will be behind a sub if it's against something that outspeeds it. Breloom's bullet seed decimates most pokemon on rain teams, while on sand teams, Breloom's mach punch checks Tyranitar and Excadrill. Leftovers on this guy to give it more survivability - the extra power from life orb is not needed as I want to keep it alive as long as possible. Four Knights (Scizor) (F) @ Choice Band Trait: Technician EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Bullet Punch - U-turn - Superpower - Pursuit Your basic CB Scizor and the first part of my volt-turn core, unchanged from diamond/pearl. What can I say about him that hasn't been said before? It makes for a fantastic pivot, boasting resistances to 10 of the 17 types. In particular, it is invaluable in tanking outrages, and in a pinch it can also take a draco meteor too if its at full health. Most of the time I am either U-turning or bullet punching - I only use Superpower or pursuit on rare occasions (to trap fleeing Latios/latias/choice scarfed chandelure, or if Blissey is the last pokemon for example). Scizor and Breloom make a fantastic late-game cleaning duo, with technician boosted bullet punch and mach punch doing ridiculous amounts of damage. Sicilian Defence (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite Trait: Natural Cure EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Stealth Rock - Seismic Toss - Softboiled - Wish The glue to my team, whenever I think a high-powered attack is coming my way 90% of the time I switch to Chansey. It is my wall for both physical and special attacks, barring fighting moves which are taken with ease by both Xatu and Chandelure. With its beastly bulkiness, it is almost guaranteed to have a chance at some point during the game to set up stealth rocks for me, which are important since my volt turn strategy causes lots of switches. Softboiled and seismic toss are self-explanatory, while wish gives me a chance to keep the rest of my team members healthy. I am too lazy to do damage calcs, but eviolite chansey is roughly 100000000x bulkier than its evolution Blissey (scientifically speaking, a metric shit ton bulkier), and if played properly, just does not die. I wish I could fit in toxic somewhere to increase its offensive presence and maybe deal with last pokemon stat uppers though. One last thing - Chansey is usually my #1 switch in to Chandelure. If its choice scarfed, fine, but if its the calm mind variant then I am completely fucked. Najdorf Variation (Xatu) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Magic Bounce EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Reflect - Roost - U-turn - Psychic Dopeyness aside, Xatu counters a whole slew of random pokemon, including (but not limited to), Breloom, Ferrothorn, Forretress, etc. In addition, its 4x fighting resistance makes it a perfect switch in to fighting attacks aimed at Chansey. A bit about how I play with Xatu: My first priority is to keep hazards off my side - if I deem it necessary, I will sacrifice Xatu to achieve that. This means for example, that against lead Tyranitar, I will always switch in Xatu to reflect back stealth rock. If Tyranitar uses crunch instead and KOs Xatu, I can switch in Scizor and nab momentum. If I play correctly, Xatu will keep hazards off my side of the team and still be in commission during midgame. Once that happens, its u-turn works in tandem with Scizor and Rotom, slowly chipping off my enemies health or giving Breloom or Chandelure a free switch in. In particular, u-turn also allows me to escape enemy Chandelure that think they can trap Xatu and nab a quick KO off shadow ball. Reflect is indispensable for Xatu, enhancing its survivability and allowing it to wall tons of physical pokemon (it even does fine against lead Tyranitar behind a reflect!). Psychic is purely to deal damage and takes a chunk out of some random pokemon. I primarily use it to deal with enemy Conkeldurr. I have tried using a rapid spinner in Xatu's place, but it did not meet my expectations and did not fit into the overall offensive playstyle of the team. First, I need u-turn to keep momentum, which all rapid spinners lack, and second I don't have a turn to waste rapid spinning when I could be doing something else. Ruy Lopez (Rotom-W) @ Choice Scarf Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Volt Switch - Hydro Pump - Trick - Sunny Day My ace in the hole. Nobody expects this moveset, and to be honest maybe its because its a little dumb, but I think the surprise factor more than makes up for it. Volt switch is obvious and completes my volt-turn core. Hydro miss I barely ever use, usually only when I predict that a electric immunity is switching in to take my volt switch. Trick is indispensable, and helps me take out threats that would otherwise kick my ass (stat uppers such as CM Keldeo come to mind). Finally, sunny day is what makes this set unique. Usually my opponent will see that I don't have a weather inducer and sacrifice their own, only for me to take away their weather with sunny day afterwards. With rotom's fantastic set of resistances and (sometimes) blazing speed thanks to his scarf, it can usually find an opportunity to change the weather. Unfortunately against sunny day teams this trick doesn't work, but the upper echelons of the ladder usually run sandstorm and rain. This guy is ALWAYS my lead. THREATS: DD Dragonite: In order to counter this badass, I have to a) break its multiscale, either with U-turn, volt switch, or SR, switch in Chandelure and hope it's not a CB variant, and c) risk the speed tie to take it out with HP ice (however most dnites are adamant, not jolly, meaning that chandelure outspeeds). Sometimes HP ice doesn't KO bulkier versions, meaning I have to revenge with Scizor's bullet punch. I can also trick scarf onto him, although if it runs substitute I am boned. Chandelure: Breloom, Scizor, and Xatu are easily taken out by this guy, while Chansey is taken out by CM versions. Luckily CS versions are worn down by stealth rock, which Chansey sets up easily and 90% of all the Chandelures I've seen run scarf. Keldeo: CM versions are "countered" by tricking Rotom's scarf onto them. If that doesn't work I am fucked since water/fighting takes a big chunk out of everything. If I am backed up against a wall, I can take it out with a combination of Rotom's volt switch, chandelure's energy ball, and mach punch Breloom, but obviously if I'm sacrificing 2 or 3 pokemon to KO this guy, it does not fit under the definition of "counter". Morning sun volcarona: Usually I bring in Chansey against Volcarona. Without morning sun, Chansey narrowly beats it. If it does carry morning sun though, it can easily continue boosting and by the time I figure out it is a morning sun variant it is too late to disable it by tricking a scarf onto it. CONCLUSION I think the premise behind this team is very powerful. This team is played very offensively with the exception of Xatu and Chansey. Roughly, the gameplan is as follows: In the early stages of the match, I try to set up Stealth rock and keep enemy hazards off my side of the field. In mid game, I volt turn to slowly whittle down my opponent's pokemon, although if there is a chance to switch in Breloom or Chandelure, I usually go for it as usually it means that I can take out a pokemon or two and put my opponent too far behind to catch up. Finally in late game, I attempt to sweep, depending on who is left. This is not a problem, as 4 of my 6 pokemon can function as late-game cleaners. CS Rotom and Chandelure naturally have high speed and spatk, while Breloom and Scizor can put severe hurt on the opponent with their technician boosted STAB priority moves. Finally as a side note, it is usually not the end of the world if the opponent manages to get a few entry hazards up: 3 of my pokemon are immune to toxic spikes, 2 are immune to spikes, and stealth rock is super effective on 2 of my pokemon. However I would like to disregard Chandelure in these calculations. Yeah its opportunities to switch in become more limited, but the way I play it, I only switch in Chandelure if it is for free and if it is guaranteed to take out the opposing pokemon. If I really get the opportunity to only switch in 3-4 times, that's ok because it means that I'm taking out 3-4 of the opponent's pokemon putting me in the lead anyways. I am retiring this team since it has been proven already on the ladder. I will not be tinkering with it any further, but I just wanted to share with the Reborn community. Please feel free to try it out and let me know what you think. Export:

Hey Silver, nice team you got here! I recently fell in love with Staraptor too, it's such a beast, so props for using him. It looks like you are using a heavy offense team with 6 heavy hitters, so I will be giving my suggestions under this assumption. On to my team suggestions: -Roost isn't really a good idea on Staraptor, it's frail enough as it is and the healing won't really save its ass in most situations. I would put U-turn over roost in the last slot and put either a band or scarf on it, depending on whether you prefer a late game sweeper or a scout. -While I have seen Toxic Orb Conkeldurr being used before, have you tried the bulk up set? You will get longevity at the cost of a power loss at the outset which I don't think is a big deal. The set is: leftovers, guts, adamant, 120hp 252atk 136spdef, bulk up/mach punch/drain punch/payback. -Have you considered a different pokemon besides Manectric? Thundurus-T, Jolteon, and Zapdos are all great alternatives that still have that electric immunity and are more threatening. -The biggest problem I see is that you have no spinner. This is a huge problem since Volcarona takes 50% and Staraptor takes 25% from stealth rock. One (shaky) solution is to suicide lead with Azelf: jolly/adamant, 4hp 252atk 252speed, focus sash, taunt/stealth rock/zen headbutt/explosion to stop hazards from turn 1 (plus you get stealth rocks up too). Otherwise I can see adding a magic bouncer such as Xatu to your team too. Hope this helps.

I'm willing to tutor someone. Don't reply here, just send me a PM on the server and we'll get started. My experience/philosophy: I have peaked #1 on the OU ladder and am consistently able to stay in the top 10. I really enjoy teambuilding and have built many successful teams while I've been here. I've also tutored a few people that are great battlers in their own right now. I believe that a successful team always has a well thought out strategy that it is built around. On a related note, I also try to build my teams so that the effects of guesswork (read: prediction) and luck are minimized. I believe that if your team is solid and you stick to your game plan, you should be able to win the majority of your matches regardless of your opponent's strategy and without making any risky plays. A few disclaimers: 1) I hate trolls and people who throw a tantrum every time they lose. If I've seen you do either, then I will refuse to tutor. 2) Some people LOVE using weird movesets, weird pokemon, and weird gimmicks. That's not me at all. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for thinking outside the box. But I will not, for example, use a DD Crawdaunt as a late game sweeper just because "Dragonite is overused." Anyways, if any of this appeals to you then drop me a PM and we can begin immediately.

Hey Edge, neat team! It seems to be very heavily offensive with only a defensive backbone of Ferrothorn. However I'd like to point out a few flaws that I see: Minor flaws (easily fixed): 1) Change Chandelure's nature to timid over modest so that you can outspeed +1 dnite (most of them are adamant, not jolly). 2) Change Ferrothorn's moveset to have SR over spikes; this way you will break all focus sashes. It's better to get a little bit of damage on every pokemon than slightly more damage on fewer pokemon. Major flaws (unfortunately I don't see a way to fix these problems without majorly reworking the team): 1) You have no spinner or really any way to deal with hazards. This is key because a) staraptor and chandelure take 25% every time they switch in, and they will be switching in and out a lot and it is pretty easy to set up hazards against this team - steels such as skarm, ferro, and forretress can set up hazards on any pokemon besides Alakazam and Chandelure. 2) Weather teams give you trouble. I see that you packed counters to each type of team, but I don't think they will be that successful. Sure Ferrothorn can take a few hits from a rain team, but then what? It has no recovery outside of leech seed, and once it is worn down (with no recovery it is only a matter of time) you'll be in trouble. Same thing goes for Chandelure on sun teams, but it'll be even worse because Chandelure is naturally frail to begin with. To address these two issues maybe you could replace Ferrothorn with Forretress (you can also use its volt switch to trap things in tandem with Chandelure ), and maybe switch either Electivire or Staraptor with another rain counter. I think this would mess up the 'feel' of your team though. Anyways I hope I helped. If you want to talk more feel free to pm me on the server, I'm usually around.

Neat team. I've always wanted to make a flying monotype. Here are my suggestions: 1) Your evs are all messed up. If something is meant to be an attacker, max out attack and speed. For example, Staraptor you put a scarf on it and maxed out its spdef, thinking that the scarf covers it in the speed department. That's not so. Doing that makes Staraptor moderately fast and still awful at taking hits. Same goes for dnite, gyarados too. 2) For dnite I would go with the standard spread, adamant with full atk/speed, lum berry, and outrage/dd/fire punch/extremespeed. 3) If you have a wildcard, for god's sakes use it for a spinner! If your opponent gets up Stealth rock, dnite's multiscale is broken, and 5/6 members take 25% per switch. I'd recommend Bulky forretress, which you can use to lay hazards too. Maybe something like Gyro Ball/volt switch/stealth rock/rapid spin. 4) If you get rid of Quagsire like I recommend above, maybe you can add in Gliscor for that sorely needed electric immunity. I'd recommend the acrobatics set to complement your heavy offense playstyle (flying gem, sand veil, acrobatics/sub/swords dance/earthquake). Hope this helps.

Hi Zen, neat team! I really like that your stall team packs 2 rapid spinners, 2 taunters, etc. It's like you want to have a backup for everything and as they say, luck favors the prepared My biggest concern with the team is that your stall core is worn down waaaay too easily. The two key members of your stall are Cloyster and Tentacruel, which you rely on to spin and set up hazards. None of them have access to a recovery move, and your ev spread on tentacruel make it an all out attacker. It's hard enough keeping a bulky tentacruel alive outside of rain, let alone one that's not bulky. Wish support would be really beneficial. A few other nitpicks: 1) Nobody benefits from sand, so I don't see why you need Hippowdon. 2) Your team is lacking in resists, which is key if you're trying to stall. For instance, nobody on your team can take a dragon attack which is a pretty glaring weakness. Specs Latios, DD dragonite, CB Haxorus are all pretty common threats that look like they can blast holes through your team. In order to fix all of these problems, I suggest: 1) Change Tentacruel to a bulkier spread, 2) Add some steel types for resistances. Maybe Bronzong over Hippowdon or Forretress over Cloyster and 3) Add some wish support. Chansey/Blissey would be an obvious choice but if you don't want them, there are plenty of other viable ones: Defensive Jirachi, Vaporeon, Latias. Regenerator Alomomola seems cool too but I can't vouch for it. Hope this helps.

Phazer - thanks for the rate! -I don't foresee Infernape being a huge problem for this team. Virizion speed ties and can take a huge chunk out with close combat before getting KOed (not sure if flamethrower KOs, too lazy to check the damage calcs). Honchkrow can take a decent chunk out with sucker punch (yes, even resisted). Darmanitan and Tornadus both outspeed and can KO with an appropriate coverage move. The only one that can't do anything to Infernape is Mamoswine. -In general, scarfed attackers are a bitch to play around. Depending on the move that it's locked into it is possible to maneuver around it, but yeah you are right that it can easily sweep through our team if we aren't careful. There is no easy way to fix this without drastically changing the team. We've done what we could - two priority attackers definitely help out a lot. Oh but scarf Heracross is still outspeeded by scarf Darmanitan and KOed by flare blitz. Your point still stands for other scarfers though. I can't think of any off the top of my head in BL though, but if they exist they can tear our team a new one.

I haven't found Sableye to be an issue since Tornadus has access to prankster as well and a faster substitute protecting it from status (I assume you're talking about the sub/recover/WoW/foul play set). Is there another version I should be concerned about? Also about Virizion - I agree close combat + leftovers seems kind of counterproductive. If I tinker further I think I would put either life orb on it or lum berry to protect from random status.

Hey Jupiter, thanks for the rate. 1) You're right, substitute works wonders on honchkrow. I think Kamina has that in the current iteration of the team. 2) You mention weakness to dragons, especially since nobody on our team can tank a high powered outrage or draco meteor. While this is true, we aren't afraid to sacrifice our pokemon to get a revenge kill (as you point out). Mamoswine easily revenges Flygon (the only BL user of outrage I've seen). Kyurem without scarf is outspeeded and KOed by Virizion, Darmanitan does a buttload to it, and Honchkrow probably does as well. With a scarf, what move is it locked into? If it's an ice move, Darmanitan and Mamoswine can take it. If it's Dragon pulse, Virizion can take it and KO. If it's draco meteor, I will probably sacrifice something and take advantage of the subsequent turn to set up. tldr; Dragons can deal hefty damage to our team, but with the right sacrifices it's not an issue.

I bet it would still work, although you'd have to play carefully. Skarm walls like 2/3 of the team members we've got here.