The Principles of Raw Power

[Vandaeron]

Time for a thread about [s]my genius[/s] the way I build my team. It's all about, as I've said, pokemon with their own, independent power. Setups and baton passes and such are cool and all, but when it fails, the whole system falls apart. So, here's a listing of the team I used in the old league, to help show my point.

Kangaskhan (Scrappy) w/ Silk Scarf - Fake Out, Return, Hammer Arm, Sucker Punch
Yanmega (Tinted Lens) w/ Choice Specs - Air Slash, Bug Buzz, Hidden Power (Fire), Shadow Ball
Feraligatr (Torrent) w/ Mystic Water - Ice Punch, Dragon Dance, Earthquake, Waterfall
Machamp (No Guard) w/ Quick Claw - DynamicPunch, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Encore
Arcanine (Flash Fire) w/ Magnet - ExtremeSpeed, Flare Blitz, Thunder Fang, Will-O-Wisp
Nidoking (Poison Point) w/ Expert Belt - Earthquake, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Sucker Punch

A lot of physical attackers, but that's secondary to the point they represent: all of them are very tough, and have various points along the greater half of the spectrum of bulkiness to speed.

Kangaskhan is easily the most impressive lead I've ever seen, what with being able to drop some of the most brutal Returns you can get without major repercussions, and a majorly boosted Fake Out. In fact, with Fake Out, Return/Hammer Arm, and Sucker Punch done in a row, I can get in 3 hits to the enemy's one.

Feraligatr is an absolute champ too. It's absolutely unbelievable the kinds of hits he can withstand (survived Jolteon Thunderbolt? WHAT THE FUCK!?) and he's equipped also to be able to tear down practically any pokemon but the most absolute walls in 2 hits at the most. Aaaaaand if they do send in a wall of some sort, I can just Dragon Dance it up and whoops, guess who just screwed themself.

Arcanine is a tad iffy. I took him because my team is mostly low-mediocre speed, and when I need someone that's faster he can sure supply it. He has a magnet because nothing beats the look on someone's face when they pull out a bulky water to stop him and he either kills them from full with Thunder Fang, or gets them within kill range of the priority moves my other pokemon had. His insane Flare Blitzes were amazing for ending walls when I can't drop Feraligatr, as well. And of course ExtremeSpeed needs no introduction as to its utility.

Machamp has been iffy too, because while his power is basically impossible to match without major buffing, I have seen him get one-shotted by neutral hits far more than I'd like. Encore makes him a bit of a wall breaker as well, or if I fuck up and Encore a psychic or flying move, someone else can come in to resist it, or if not it'd make predictions easy.

Yanmega is a whole lot of fun too. Not only is it pretty damn hard for it to find something it can't get a SE on, but also if they switch in to something that'd resist the move I Choiced into, Tinted Lens will kick in and still make its attacks punishing. But I'm most likely not bringing it back in favor of new pokemon.

And Nidoking... The now-retired master. Absolute SE god, able to destroy anything that's a counter to himself, and his great mixed offense makes existance for the opponent a constant brick-shitting fest. But really, I simply can do much better nowadays.

---

Anyway, I've taken shots at evolving this team into a 5th gen setup. A lot of old doors are opening back up, and there is, of course, a new list of possible additions. Right now I'm contemplating a Druddigon, and hoping I can get Eelektross to meet my expectations.

Any thoughts on other new/old pokemon that might fit the bill for the kinds of pokemon I'm after? I want someone who can greatly abuse Sheer Force (don't say Nidoking, just don't) to consider. Or just generally anything that has huge power and above average survivability and/or speed. It would be nice to get a more lopsided speedster than Arcanine.

Having a diverse offensive movepool is a must, and some method to take down or at least bruise its own potential counters, even if it's just a neutral powershot.

[Ikaru]

Rampardos having Sheer Force is amazing, but the problem with it is it's not exactly bulky, and the best moves it could use with Sheer Force (elemental punches) aren't legal with the ability. Um... that was just the first that came to mind, but if you give me a while I can probably find a pretty decent list of things to use. You've already hit one of the best in Feraligatr, and you said to avoid Nidoking...
Ooh, how about a special Landorus?

[Vandaeron]

I forgot the most important rule. No legends. Ever.

[Zen]

For Sheer Force, you could use a braviary, maybe. Normal/flying, though.

[Vandaeron]

Yeah, Braviary is a hardass. My only concern about it is whether it can survive super effective stuff that it can't outspeed. Or counter its weaknesses in general.

[Ikaru]

Darmanitan is in the same vein as Rampardos, although weaker, but with more speed; Flare Blitz, its strongest move, is also affected by Sheer Force, which makes it hurt anything that doesn't resist it. To give you an example, even those that resist it:

[quote]
[b][color=#0000FF]Start of turn 8[/color][/b]
Aries used [b][color=#F08030]Flare Blitz[/color][/b]!
[color=#A0A0A4]It's not very effective...[/color]
The foe's Rayquaza lost 48% of its health!
Aries is hit with recoil!
[/quote]

That's scarfed, too, had I used a Life Orb, it would do even more.

[Godot]

[s]nidoqueen?[/s]

[Maelstrom]

Stick with the Feraligatr- it's what I use now and it wins fights all by itself. For reals. I mainly buff up the speed and defenses with ev's and let Dragon Dance take care of the power and outspeeding. I use Lum berry on him because it used to be everywhere you turned there were status haxors everywhere, and if I took a turn to DD, they'd WoW or confuse ray or thunder wave and what have you. Now that I know life orb damage is mostly canceled out by sheer force, I'll probably switch to using that to really make him hurt things.

If you really want speed, power, and fire, I'd say swap out arcanine for Blaziken with speed boost and baton pass to pass on some game changing boosts to one of your other bulkies when that kickin chicken gets threatened.

[Godot]

everything he said... one of my favorite pokemon to baton pass to is Rampardos with Sheer force~

[Godot]

Looking at your team... my opinon...
1. i shouldn't comment on Kanga, you seem to know how to work it well
2. ever considered running Detect on Yamega... you stall for a turn (heal up a little bit if it has left overs) and Raises Speed!
3. when i run machamp [s]which is when i am not using Lucario[/s] i use Dynamic Punch, Bullet Punch, Stone Edge, and Bulk Up
4. Like mael i am running a feraligatr... and it is amazing~ i use crunch to deal with the ever so annoying Jellicent
5. doesn't Archanine learn Close Combat?
6. is Your Nidoking using the Sheer Force Ability... here is a list of moves sheer force work with
http://www.serebii.net/abilitydex/sheerforce.shtml

[Maelstrom]

Hmm, I do like your choice yanmega build, you can alternate to have a speed boost detect/protect uturn.... I just gave myself an idea. Not a very good one. Swagger, psych up, uturn, detect, focus sash, speed booost yanmega is a risky proposition. Could be a useful lead like most speed boost leads.



If you switch it in to a set-up wall or sweeper, you can protect to get speed boost, then either

A. psych up right away to match the set-up but with the addition of two extra speed boosts by the end of the turn which should guarantee a first move uturn into something that hopefully resists and/or has a SE move against the opponent.

B. Swagger next, gambling on confusion to make the foe hurt itself or set up even more and then psych up the next turn. Focus sash will guarantee living through one hit, barring hazards. If you're lucky you surivive to give a greater boost to the next pokemon via uturn.

I take it back. It's not a bad idea. It's an interesting wild card. Could always have bug buzz to give it a good attack if you don't like the swagger gamble.

[Vandaeron]

@ Wolf:

2. I used to run a Speed Boost/Protect Yanmega, it was nice and all, but it severely lacked the killing ability the rest of my team had. So I gave it Tinted Lens and Choice Specs, so now it can really bust heads with its damage, and if they switch in something that my chosen attack won't work on, Tinted Lens will make it as effective as neutral. Ever seen a non-boosted NVE move kill a dude?

3. Yeah, Bullet Punch is a lot of fun, but Steel has grown to be a type I cannot rely on any more. With my set I aim to find a lot of types that can kill many different things, as well as capitalize on No Guard. I have considered bringing in Revenge or somesuch for psychics (you should know how much SD this dude gets by now,) but it's tough to say goodbye to Earthquake, after how many times it's saved by ass.

And as for Bulk Up, most of the time I find him up against shit that he could never survive two hits from, even if I did boost his defense. So I just use him to absorb one blow and send it back tenfold. This is more or less what I've tailored the whole team to do, with certain cases being more or less extreme.

4. Jellican't handle my Yanmega, you mean?

5. With Arcanine being my only pokemon who can survive and fight for several turns in most circumstances, using a move that nerfs my own stats sounds pretty fucking stupid, tbh. Bear in mind that my team is generally slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow as hell, and my speedsters are incredibly important.

6. Earth Power (SD drop), Thunderbolt (paralyze), and Ice Beam (freeze) all benefit from Sheer Force, giving him the same trifecta of power and type diversity he used to have, with a total focus on SA, and a power boost all across the board. Except Sucker Punch, which is just there because fuck yeah priority.