Flygon used U-Turn! (v2)


Introduction

This is my best team to date. I haven't played in almost a month, and I didn't post this team yet (even though I usually post a new team up pretty quickly) because I kept changing the team and improving it.

There's actually a story behind this team. If you played DPPtHGSS battling, you'd know how the metagame evolved, such as the emergence of Rotom-a and Scizor, the banning of 3 dragons, Shaymin's rise to OU, and Heracross's brief massacre in UU. I was still a noob until after Salamence was banned, and I made a really fun team. I called it "Flygon used U-Turn!".

I have an RMT on it (if you wanna go look for it), but basically it's:
TrickScarf Azelf, Offensive LO Suicune, Physically-based Infernape, SubSplit Gengar, CB Scizor, and CS Flygon.
The gameplan was to start with some surprises with Azelf, then punch some holes with Suicune, break some walls with Infernape, troll a bit with Gengar, all the while spamming U-Turn with Flygon and Scizor.
I wasn't such a great battler or team builder, so the team had some flaws I was neglecting. Overall, however, the team was pretty solid. It was my favourite team for a long time, only it wasn't winning enough.

2 years later, I return to the idea of Flygon + Scizor. As an experienced battler and much better team builder, I decided to build a much better team lol. Story of this in the next section.

Anyway, after team building it was time to test it. I won the first battle and I had a very good feeling about the team. However, I was only testing.

After a few hours and a winning streak, I jumped from the depths of the rankings to #12 on the PO ladder that same day. This team, during testing, peaked at #4 on the ladder. I feel like it could have gone higher, but I usually don't dedicate a lot of time to battling.

Below is the ORIGNAL team that I used during testing. I have already made changes that I will note, but will not include in the team.

Team Building

I will just say that I am not writing this RMT from complete scratch, I'm just editing my old RMT from 2 years ago. And the first thing that shows up as I'm typing is this:



"That is a good offensive U-Turn core. Scizor packs the power while Flygon packs the speed, which allows them to deal with a vareity of threats."

I wrote that 2 years ago. I even spelled variety wrong. Anyway...

With this core, I would need some special attackers and probably another physical attacker that could actually do some solid damage.

I determined that the most outstanding threats to this core were Hippowdon, Skarmory, Forretress, Gliscor, Gyarados, and Swampert. I brainstormed Pokemon that could counter these threats, and I came up with:
Starmie, Celebi, Heatran, Gengar, Infernape, Magnezone, Jolteon, Suicune.
Infernape would open up my team to Starmie, a huge threat already. Magnezone and Jolteon didn't really have utility on this team, and Suicune I thought just didn't really counter those threats as well.
Celebi's ability to counter Hippowdon, Swampert, and Gliscor/Forretress (Hidden Power type) proved to be too valuable to pass up. Heatran could counter Forretress and Skarmory, the two biggest threats to this core.

I hadn't noticed it at the time, but I had created the CeleTran combo. I wasn't in need of paralysis support, so Celebi served as a surprise attacker, like a surprise Shaymin. Either Celebi or Heatran could set up Stealth Rock, but I hadn't worked out my lead yet.



The team was a little open to Infernape, so I decided to add a Starmie, which also created a F/W/G combination. I wanted a set up sweeper, and the ideal option for this team was Gyarados (the other option I had in mind was Kingdra). It was my first time actually trying out Gyarados in a well thought out team.



It was tough to decide which Pokemon to lead with. Any three of the F/W/G could work well in the lead (Starmie as anti-lead + spinner, standard lead Heatran, or Celebi with Stealth Rock).

I decided in the end to make Celebi the lead, but give Stealth Rock to Heatran. Surprisingly, Celebi has much more offensive presence than Heatran does as a lead, and has some great lead match ups. I didn't give Stealth Rock to Celebi because I needed all of its moveslots.

In Depth

Celebi


@ Occa Berry
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Leaf Storm
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-Turn

A bit unorthodox, one might say.

The lead set on the analysis suggests Stealth Rock somewhere (obviously). However, as mentioned earlier, I needed all the moveslots.

There are just too many things to say about Celebi. The first thing you've probably noticed is the Occa Berry. This allows me to 2HKO Heatran and Infernape while they cannot OHKO. It also guards against random Fire Blasts from the likes of Dragonite and Azelf.

Celebi can also deal upwards of 90% to Dragonite and Gliscor leads, while still hitting Roserade hard without needing Hidden Power Fire. In general, Hidden Power Ice can score many surprise kills. The loss of Hidden Power Fire hurts, but as a lead I feel Hidden Power Ice is more effective.

U-Turn allows Celebi to get out against Scarf Tyranitar using Pursuit (while also dealing some super effective damage). Most Azelf do not carry U-Turn, so Celebi can U-Turn out to Flygon, who can U-Turn right back for the KO, hopefully taking no damage in the process.

Against the likes of Bronzong, Forretress, and Skarmory, I can U-Turn out to a counter.

Celebi matches up well against Aerodactyl, most Azelf, Infernape, Heatran, Roserade, Swampert, Metagross, Gliscor, Dragonite, Starmie, and Mamoswine. That's a LOT of different leads. The only reason Celebi can do that well is because it has 4 attacks.

Okay Celebi can't actually 2HKO Infernape if they decide to attack since Infernape is faster and has Focus Sash, but a smart player would expect Celebi to switch out and just set up Stealth Rock instead. Celebi leads are rare enough that even the standard is not expected to have Occa Berry.

Celebi is also a Jolteon and Suicune check.


Heatran


@ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SAtk / 216 Spd
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Explosion

Also quite a unique set, although it has been used as a lead set before.

Although this isn't exactly a lead, it serves as a secondary lead for when Celebi is in trouble, like against Skarmory, Forretress, or Bronzong. Life Orb Heatran's Overheat so absurdly strong, it can OHKO Machamp and Occa Berry Metagross. It even deals 49% - 58% to Offensive Gyarados and 35% - 42% to standard Blissey.

Hidden Power Grass can score a surprise KO on Swampert, and it also has a high chance to KO with a combination of Stealth Rock, Overheat, Leftovers, and Hidden Power Grass.
It can also 2HKO Vaporeon after Stealth Rock damage, always 2HKOs offensive Suicune, and can 2HKO CroCune after Stealth Rock damage.

Explosion is so strong with Life Orb, stronger than a Naive lead Heatran's Explosion because of Life Orb. It has a chance to OHKO Blissey and Snorlax, and always OHKOs after Stealth Rock.

Heatran is a great switch in to whatever threatens Celebi, which is why this combo works so well. Both Celebi and Starmie can switch in to the things that threaten Heatran.

Heatran doesn't need Earth Power because opposing Heatran can outspeed and OHKO with Earth Power anyway. Infernape also applies, since I cannot outspeed.


Starmie


@ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Starmie, Heatran, and Celebi all make good leads. Together, they can handle any opposing lead.

I figured that with all the U-Turn going on, I'd want to be able to take as little entry hazard damage as possible. Plus, like Heatran, Starmie possesses a lot of power. For example, Starmie's Hydro Pump can 2HKO Swampert and Scizor, and also has a high chance to OHKO offensive Rotom-a after Stealth Rock. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt provide great coverage and Rapid Spin for Rapid Spinning.

Thunderbolt for hitting water types and Skarmory, Ice Beam for hitting grass and flying types. The set is very self explanatory.

Starmie is an important Infernape check and secondary Skarmory counter. Starmie is also a secondary Suicune and Vaporeon check.


Gyarados


@ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 156 HP / 60 Atk / 96 Def / 196 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Bounce

Gyarados is great for Intimidate, and with Rapid Spin support he can come in quite a few times. This is made better by his bulky EV spread, allowing him to check Infernape, Lucario, Kingdra, Metagross, etc. Gyarados's STAB combination is only resisted by Empoleon and Lanturn, and the 30% chance for paralysis of Bounce comes in handy sometimes. Waterfall also has a nice 20% chance to flinch.

Taunt shuts down Blissey with Flamethrower, Skarmory, Forretress, Hippowdon, etc.

Gyarados is this team's most reliable Scizor counter, the other, Heatran, being only a check. Gyarados can also find many opportunities to come in, such as against Choice Scarf Tyranitar's Pursuit, Earthquake, or Superpower, and Scizor's Bullet Punch.


Flygon


@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- ThunderPunch

Flygon is one of my favourite revenge killers, partly because it doesn't only do that. With Outrage only being resisted by steel types and its high base power, it can do a lot of damage in the late game. Earthquake is also very strong and has near perfect coverage alongside Outrage. U-Turn makes Flygon a great scout alongside Scizor, and ThunderPunch for a guaranteed kill on Gyarados.

Flygon has some useful resistances, but with his somewhat frail with 80/80/80 defenses, switching into resisted strong attacks like Heatran's Fire Blast and Tyranitar's Stone Edge will wear it down very quickly. The good thing is Flygon's near invulnerability to residual damage, being immune to sandstorm, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and taking only 6.25% from Stealth Rock.

If Flygon's Outrage is unresisted late game, it's hard to stop it from rampaging through the opponent's team. If that is unsuccessful, I always have Scizor's Bullet Punch to rely on. Flygon is also a great team player by holding the team together. In times of doubt, I can go straight to Flygon and use a fast U-Turn.


Scizor


@ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

A standard, pretty self explanatory. Bullet Punch for revenge killing and picking off weakened teams, U-Turn for scouting and solid damage, Superpower for coverage on Magnezone and Heatran, Pursuit for trapping.

Scizor's U-Turn and Pursuit can play mind games with Starmie. Since Life Orb Starmie is quite a threat to the rest of the team, a Scizor at high health can KO a Starmie with U-Turn, and can even KO a slightly weakened Starmie with Pursuit when it is not switching. Pursuit and Bullet Punch can also mess with Gengar.

Blissey without Protect will have to predict whether I'm using U-Turn or Superpower, and Scizor can even use Pursuit against an extremely weakened Blissey.

Scizor makes a great counter to Kingdra, being resistant to Outrage and having enough defence to take Waterfalls. U-Turn deals around 70% (I think), and Bullet Punch deals around 30%.

Conclusion

Changes I have already made but have not tested include:
- Moving Heatran or Starmie to the lead slot.
- Possibly changing Heatran's set to the standard lead set with Shuca Berry.
- Switching out Celebi for Choice Specs Rotom-W.

If you rate, thanks. That's all I have to say.

 

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