[OU RMT] The Lonely Dragon

[Lugruf]

Good evening fellow Rebornians. Today I decided to rediscover my love for Tankchomp and well, here I bring for you to admire in its full glory, The Lonely Dragon (AKA random afternoon with Durken).

Copy-paste data

Cynthia (Garchomp) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 96 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Pursuit


The Lonely Dragon (Hydreigon) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 100 SpA / 156 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- U-turn


Starmie @ Expert Belt
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Edulbasur (Venusaur-Mega) (M) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed

Nurse Joy (Chansey) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
- Counter

Everything started with the Tankchomp and Assault Vest Metagross core proposed by Steffo in the core thread.

Tankchomp:

Cynthia (Garchomp) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 176 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Well, we all know this guy. Rocky Helmet + Rough Skin punishes very hard contact (28% of max HP), can take quite a lot of damage and hits back pretty strong without any investment. Stealth Rocks are the best entry hazard and deal quite a lot of damage through the game, as well as punishing switches (I don't know why am I explaining rocks as if you didn't know the move). Dragon Tail phazes enemies to rake up stealth rock damage. It also avoids being setup bait as phazing a mon makes it lose all of its boosts. Earthquake is Garchomp's mainly stap and hits really hard, and Fire Blast basically 2HKOs bulky steel mons like Ferrothorn, Scizor or even fisically defensive Skarmory after stealth rock damage.
Tankchomp works incredibly well against U-turn and Volt Switch teams as it's immune to the second and punished the first with a lot of damage. It's also a great switch in to M-Lopunny's and M-Medicham's Fake Out, and also punishes Rapid Spin heavily.

AV Metagross:


Metagross @ Assault Vest
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Atk / 96 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Pursuit


Assault Vest Metagross is an incredible tank. Hits really hard with its base 135 attack and some investment, and can take ice, dragon and fairy attacks for Garchomp, making them work together really well. Meteor Mash is Metagross' main STAB, and it completely demolishes fae, as well as some occasional rock type like Tyranitar. Ice Punch started as Bullet Punch, but we ended up changing it because Bullet Punch wasn't that necessary in the end and also because Metagross tends to lure all the x4 ice weaknesses (Garchomp, Landorus and Gliscor). Earthquake can hit steel and fire types, so it provides a good cover, and Pursuit lets Metagross trap and finish Lati@s, which are lured by Garchomp and Venusaur.

The Lonely Dragon:

The Lonely Dragon (Hydreigon) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 100 SpA / 156 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- U-turn

We came across Hydreigon looking for a pokemon that would cover the Ghost, Dark and Ground type weaknesses for Metagross, and we ended up having an everlasting source of fun and laugh in this Choice Scarf Hydreigon. As well as performing the aforementioned task, 156 speed and a Choice Scarf make Hydreigon reach 406 speed, outspeeding even the 135 speed tier (M-Lopunny and M-Manectric). 252+ attack make superpower hit incredibly hard, getting OHKOs in Tyranitar, Bisharp and Excadrill as well as damaging heavily bulky mons like Heatran. Fire Blast let Hydreigon hit physically defensive steel types like Ferrothorn and Skarmory harder, as well as avoiding contact and stat drop, and (unlike Flamethrower) OHKOs all variants of Scizor. U-Turn lets us keep momentum when forcing switches as well as denting hard the opposing pokemon.
We are planning on revising the spread and investing more on special attack, since when testing the team we found ourselves spamming Draco Meteor much more than Superpower. That would also let us 100% OHKO ferrothorn with Fire Blast, as well as having some chance (100% after Stealth Rocks) of OHKOing fisically defensive Skarmory, while still being able to OHKO Bisharp, Excadrill and offensive Tyranitar sets with Superpower. However, this would cause our Hydreigon to stop being The Lonely Dragon and well, The Mild Dragon doesn't really sound that well.

Offensive spinner Starmie:


Starmie @ Expert Belt
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 16 SpD / 240 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin


This friend started originally as a bulky Starmie with Natural Cure that would act as a status absorber and spreader with Thunder Wave, as well as a way of removing enemy hazards without losing ours, since Hydreigon needed them to secure some OHKOs that otherwise would depend on a roll. However, the final addition of Chansey to the team, who could fulfill this status absorbing role much better, allowed Starmie to play a bit more offensively, with this Analytic Expert Belt set. The idea is to bring Starmie to a weakened target that can OHKO, and either finish it or force a switch and damage it very heavily with Analytic (and Expert Belt if predicted correctly), many times getting the 2HKO or another switch and more free damage. Sometimes, this switch forcing can be used to sneak in a free Rapid Spin and so remove the entry hazards the opponent has set on our field. It works really well with Hydreigon's U-Turn, as this (with 252+ attack) hits very hard and leaves some targets weakened enough for Starmie to do its job.
240 speed are enough to outspeed the 113 tier, and lets us have a bit more bulk as more speed is not necessary. The 115 speed tier in OU is basically Raikou and an occasional M-Absol, and you don't want to face any of them, so the posibility of making a speed tie is irrelevant, and the only pokemon with 114 speed is Swoobat which sincerelly I never expect to see in OU.

Mega Venusaur:

Edulbasur (Venusaur-Mega) (M) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 236 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Leech Seed

At this point, the team needed a check to fairy types and especially to Azumarill, and M-Venusaur was just the perfect candidate for the job. With it's flying and psychic weaknesses covered by Metagross, as well as having an amazing synergy with its pursuit by luring Lati@s, M-Venusaur had nothing to fear and much to offer to the team. Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are the obvious stabs and hit incredibly hard with a full investment in special attack, providing a very solid answer to bulky water and fairy types. Leech seeds stalls Chansey, who can't help but notice how her HP is sipped each turn without being even able to touch Venusaur, and in general acts as a very useful way of turning fights in Venusaurs favour and forcing switches. Finally, Knock Off punishes switches by removing items and hits psychic types hard, which are frequent checks of M-Venusaur.
16 speed let M-Venusaur outspeed Belly Drum Azumarill and kill it with Giga Drain (85.7 - 101%, notice that after Belly Drum Azumarill will be at 75%) before it can even attack, unless it goes for Aqua Jet, which wont damage Venusaur much (36.7 - 43.4%). Besides, this damage will instantly be healed by Giga Drain.

Counter Chansey:

Nurse Joy (Chansey) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Heal Bell
- Toxic
- Counter

And finally here it is, loved by some, hated by most, the never ending special sponge of OU: Chansey! You all know this thing. It comes into special moves, feels some tickles, laughs at the attacker, poisons it and then stalls it to death while it gets healed forever. Heal Bell lets it act as a support for the team, removing status from teammates, which comes in really handy against burns, since there is no fire type mon to absorb Will-O-Wisps and 3 of the pokemon in the team use fisical attacks.
You might be wondering why I'm running Counter over Seismic Toss in my fourth slot. I have two reason. First of all, Chansey tends to lure Knock Off users since it loses an important part of its bulk when it loses the Eviolite. A Counter on time can score a OHKO in a pokemon like Weavile or Landorus-Therian that may be cruacial for the team. My second reason is that this team lacks a solid answer to Sand Rush Excadrill, so a healthy Chansey can resist an Earthquake (45.5 - 53.4% from a 252+ attack Life Orb Excadrill) and kill back with Counter therefore stopping the sweep, providing that Excadrill lacks Swords Dance, which is the usual thing.

So, this is the team. I consider this some sort of first draft since we made it today and it still needs some polishing. Any feedback you might have on the team, I'm sure it will be helpful for us in order to keep improving the team and therefore will be welcome. Hope you liked it and with your help we can improve it to make it be the best it can.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Lugruf

[Shad_]

First off, i'm loving this team just for the Tankchomp + AV Metagross core and my beloved Hydreigon.

There are by the way some things i'm concerned about:

1) You should change Hydreigon to a full special set imo, while i can see why you're running U-Turn btw. It's true that with this EV spread it can OHKO mons like Ferrothorn and other sutff, but you'll feel the difference against neutral opponents, plus i don't see a Dark STAB. To avoid this try this set:

The Lonely Dragon (Hydreigon) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Lonely Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse / U-Turn
- Focus Blast

Yeah, i know what you're thinking, Focus Miss is shit and a lot more but with it you don't have any loss in your stats AND hits hard while considering Hydreigon's 125 Base Sp.Atk. Dark Pulse is just a powerful STAB with a good secondary effect and i'd switch U-Turn for it, as you don't have a Volt Switch user that can form a combo with it. The rest is the same, i just changed the EV Spread to a full Special Sweeper.

2) BP on Metagross is just for priority, you could run Ice Punch for Ground coverage and the 4x weaknesses stuff but the most common Ground Type moves abusers are TTar, Exca and Hippo. TTar and Exca are checked already by EQ and a no STAB Ice Punch on the third one doesn't provide enough damage. Plus, the 4x weaknesses are covered by the rest of your team, especially Starmie and Gon. Aside that, the rest is good.

3) Pretty smart idea on Chansey, i really like it despite the fact that i hate that useless pinky thing. Worst-case scenario, if you're against a Special Attacker that's

able to have some sort of recovery and has been statused already by Starmie's Scald (I.E. a Milotic switched into your mon) then you're in trouble as all you can do is use Soft-Boiled. Then you can do 2 things:

- Replace Scald with Hydro Pump to have a lot more power (wich could fit Starmie's role better) and keep Chansey this way

- Replace Counter with Seismic Toss, to have other ways to damage your enemy

The rest is fine, as i said before i like this team a lot.

Edited June 21, 2016 by AndSoThereIsSt3ffo

[Lugruf]

First off, i'm loving this team just for the Tankchomp + AV Metagross core and my beloved Hydreigon.

There are by the way some things i'm concerned about:

1) You should change Hydreigon to a full special set imo, while i can see why you're running U-Turn btw. It's true that with this EV spread it can OHKO mons like Ferrothorn and other sutff, but you'll feel the difference against neutral opponents, plus i don't see a Dark STAB. To avoid this try this set:

The Lonely Dragon (Hydreigon) @ Choice Scarf [/size]Ability: Levitate [/size]EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def [/size]Lonely Nature [/size]- Draco Meteor [/size]- Fire Blast [/size]- Dark Pulse / U-Turn [/size]- Focus Blast[/size]

Yeah, i know what you're thinking, Focus Miss is shit and a lot more but with it you don't have any loss in your stats AND hits hard while considering Hydreigon's 125 Base Sp.Atk. Dark Pulse is just a powerful STAB with a good secondary effect and i'd switch U-Turn for it, as you don't have a Volt Switch user that can form a combo with it. The rest is the same, i just changed the EV Spread to a full Special Sweeper.

2) BP on Metagross is just for priority, you could run Ice Punch for Ground coverage and the 4x weaknesses stuff but the most common Ground Type moves abusers are TTar, Exca and Hippo. TTar and Exca are checked already by EQ and a no STAB Ice Punch on the third one doesn't provide enough damage. Plus, the 4x weaknesses are covered by the rest of your team, especially Starmie and Gon. Aside that, the rest is good.

3) Pretty smart idea on Chansey, i really like it despite the fact that i hate that useless pinky thing. Worst-case scenario, if you're against a Special Attacker that's

able to have some sort of recovery and has been statused already by Starmie's Scald (I.E. a Milotic switched into your mon) then you're in trouble as all you can do is use Soft-Boiled. Then you can do 2 things:

- Replace Scald with Hydro Pump to have a lot more power (wich could fit Starmie's role better) and keep Chansey this way

- Replace Counter with Seismic Toss, to have other ways to damage your enemy

The rest is fine, as i said before i like this team a lot.

Thanks for the advice. I am playing Bullet Punch in Metagross again, instead of Ice Punch, and I changed the EV investment on Hydreigon to special, although I left Superpower due to the accuracy and also because most of my fighting type targets (Heatran, Tyranitar) are specially defensive. Finally, I did test Hydro Pump in Starmie but I might change it back to Scald because missing the move in a critical situation made me lose more than once.

I thank you again for your help, as I feel it did improve the team.

[Odybld]

1) Give Chansey Seismic Toss back. You're complete Sub+setup fodder the way you are now. If you are enamored with the surprize factor of Counter, remove Toxic

2) Give Starmie Hydro Pump and Life Orb and max Speed. First, Starmie with no HP investment can't spam Scald, because both the move and its defenses are weak: you can only spam scald on one switch and then you better abandon the effort. LO + Hydro hits really bloomin hard and you have no other wallbreaker at all. Also max speed to outspeed cheeky Scarf Mags that think they speedtie.

or even...

3) Replace Mega Venu with Amoon and Hydra with Mega Lopunny or a Talonflame variation as your safety. Mega Venu is, well, a fancier version of Amoon. Has some resistances more, but in the end Spore, Regen, Clear Smog to stop setup sweepers is pretty cool for your team. Sorry, Hydra is not a great cleaner in OU, especially limited by a scarf. Lop and Talon are both tried and true methods that can deal with bloody Mega Sableye really well, while Talon also offers stallbreaker options depending on the set. Sorry... but that's the way it is.

or even...

4) replace AV Metagross with Klefki. You don't really have any Pokemon that wants the Latis removed for offensive reasons and Chansey can pretty much stomach anything they throw at it, so you could use Klefki to aid your matchup both vs stall and offense. A SpDef Klefki with Spikes, T-Wave and Dazzling Gleam to hit Mega Sableye upon switchins and take it out eventually and set layers of spikes with no problem. Also Prankster T-Wave is a great way to cripple opposing sweepers, scarfers and generally fast Pokemon other than grounds or electrics. You could go SpDef Skarm for the reliable recovery alternatively, but you lose both the ability to touch Mega Sab and to T-Wave offenses.