Hi guys, Meridian here. You guys probably don't know me at all, so i'll introduce myself a bit.
I'm a french player, active on the Pokémon French community since 2010 and who started getting involved on Smogon in 2012. BW OU got me into competitive Pokémon, and I used to be decent at the tier, as I got the chance to join the French wcup team in 2012/2013, and got involved into one SPL. This tier has remained my "main tier" ever since.
I never really enjoyed the next gens half as much as this one, which is why I completely disappeared from any serious tournaments after BW OU was not the main tier anymore.
I definitely don't take the game half as seriously as I used to, and I'm certainly not as good as I was either, so I don't get involved into Tournaments anymore, when I do, I tend to have the shittiest luck anyway.
But still, I really enjoy playing this game, exclusively BW OU though because that's what i'm familiar with, and I'll often end up laddering when I'm bored.
I know many top player consider the BW OU ladder as utter trash (and for the most part, they're right) and irrelevant, but sometimes you'll run into an alt, face a really good player, and have an amazing game, and that's all I'm asking for.
Another really cool aspect of laddering is that you're free to use anything you'd like, i mean losing a game doesn't matter as much as when it's a tournament game, so you can just try out new things.
I've always loved teambuilding, I pretty much do it all the time, trying to figure out new ways to abuse a certain threat, discover some underrated ones etc, that's definitely my favorite aspect of the game. Some of my teams happened to have some good success. The one i'm going to present you today got me to #1 on the ladder with a ridiculous winrate, I then decided to just stop playing on the alt, so that it stayed #1 (basically i'm a p*ssy xd) and I kept playing on another one, just to keep on trying new teams etc, and whenever I wanted a free win I'd load a game with the team I'm about to showcase, etcetc. Ended up getting #1, #2 and #3 on the Ladder. Knowing that I probably won't use the team anymore and that I won't get the chance to use it a tour any time soon, I decided it was time to showcase it. Without further ados, let's get into Teambuilding Process.
I'm a french player, active on the Pokémon French community since 2010 and who started getting involved on Smogon in 2012. BW OU got me into competitive Pokémon, and I used to be decent at the tier, as I got the chance to join the French wcup team in 2012/2013, and got involved into one SPL. This tier has remained my "main tier" ever since.
I never really enjoyed the next gens half as much as this one, which is why I completely disappeared from any serious tournaments after BW OU was not the main tier anymore.
I definitely don't take the game half as seriously as I used to, and I'm certainly not as good as I was either, so I don't get involved into Tournaments anymore, when I do, I tend to have the shittiest luck anyway.
But still, I really enjoy playing this game, exclusively BW OU though because that's what i'm familiar with, and I'll often end up laddering when I'm bored.
I know many top player consider the BW OU ladder as utter trash (and for the most part, they're right) and irrelevant, but sometimes you'll run into an alt, face a really good player, and have an amazing game, and that's all I'm asking for.
Another really cool aspect of laddering is that you're free to use anything you'd like, i mean losing a game doesn't matter as much as when it's a tournament game, so you can just try out new things.
I've always loved teambuilding, I pretty much do it all the time, trying to figure out new ways to abuse a certain threat, discover some underrated ones etc, that's definitely my favorite aspect of the game. Some of my teams happened to have some good success. The one i'm going to present you today got me to #1 on the ladder with a ridiculous winrate, I then decided to just stop playing on the alt, so that it stayed #1 (basically i'm a p*ssy xd) and I kept playing on another one, just to keep on trying new teams etc, and whenever I wanted a free win I'd load a game with the team I'm about to showcase, etcetc. Ended up getting #1, #2 and #3 on the Ladder. Knowing that I probably won't use the team anymore and that I won't get the chance to use it a tour any time soon, I decided it was time to showcase it. Without further ados, let's get into Teambuilding Process.
When I first thought about making a new team to have fun with, all I knew is that I wanted a really heavy hitter, a Pokémon that has a very limited pool of counters, pretty much a Pokémon than one could label as "broken".
Few things came to my mind : Keldeo, Tornadus, Terrakion, Kyurem-Black, Volcarona, Thundurus-Therian, Reuniclus... if you've played BW OU before, you know all of these Pokémons can be really hard to deal with.
But after thinking about it for a while, I settled on Keldeo, as I knew its common counters could be easily pressured, or even straight-up removed from the game with the help of Pursuit user.
I also immediately decided I would use the Specs variant, to abuse its ridiculous firepower, and the ability it has to spam its STABs with very little drawbacks.
When I build in BW OU, I tend to focus on weather control quite a lot : as most of you may know, in 5th Gen, Drizzle, Drought, Sand Stream and Snow Warning provide permanent weather, which is a great way to grant yourself an advantage by abusing abilities like Sand Force, Rain Dish, Dry Skin or put your opponnent at a disadvantage by lowering the power of its Fire moves, or the even accuracy of its Thunders, Hurricanes and the list goes on.
Hence, at this exact point, I already knew what the 2nd member of the team would be : either Tyranitar, or Politoed. Both have their merits when it comes to supporting Keldeo, the former being a pretty common partner, as it provides the Pursuit-trapping that Keldeo enjoys a lot, while the latter provides the permanent Rain thanks to its Drizzle ability, allowing Keldeo to spam Hydro Pumps without having to worry about the opponnent having Water resists considering how hard a Specs+Rain boosted Hydro Pump from a Keldeo can hit.
You guessed it, I picked Politoed. Not only does the permanent Rain boost to all my Hydro Pumps allows Keldeo to bypass some of the Pokémons that would normally resist a hit, but Politoed also shares a good number of counters with Keldeo, which allows me to use my Politoed to pave the way for my Keldeo and vice-versa.
As said earlier, Keldeo heavily benefits from Pursuit trapping. This can be understood easily when you take a closer look at what is commonly used to counter Keldeo : Jellicent, Latios, Celebi, Starmie, Slowking or to check it : Alakazam, Reuniclus. All of these Pokémons are Psychic types, and are weak to Pursuit, a move that they can't avoid, and that can act as an amazing way to litteraly remove them from the game.
I already chose to forego Tyranitar to fulfill the role of "pursuit trapper" for the team, however, another Pokémon can do this for me just as well, while also providing an amazing way to get my Keldeo on the battlefield thanks to a stab-ed U-Turn, you name it, next member of the squad is Scizor. Eventhough I purposedly did not name some of Keldeo's counters/checks earlier, id est Amoonguss, Dragonite, or even grass-types that would live a Pump and threaten to kill with their STABs such as Ferrothorn or Breloom, it's extremely important to note that Scizor provides really good utility against those Pokémons, taking little damage from them all, and threatening them with a powerful hit/allowing me to U-Turn and get a more appropriate counter on the field.
Another thing that Scizor adds to the team is a powerful, STAB-ed priority move, that can be used in case of emergency to deal with threatening pokemons that we would have a hard time dealing with otherwise, let's say Rock Polish Terrakion, for example.
Next up, I had to add Thundurus-Therian. If you've played BW OU or watched some tournament games recently, you've probably noticed that this Pokémon has been fairly popular in rain teams lately.
Its typing and ability provide huge utility for rain teams. Being a Ground-immune Pokémon that isn't weak to U-Turn, packing an Electric immunity thanks to Volt Absorb, having a natural ability to counter Ferrothorn, Thunder Jirachi and match up well versus the majority of Brelooms, or being able to spam STAB-ed Thunders thanks to the permanent rain and thus pressure bulkier Rain types that could otherwise be tough to wear down (ie: Tentacruel or Jellicent) ; Thundurus-Therian fills all this criteria.
Not only does Thundurus-Therian does all of the aforementioned, but he also shares counters with Keldeo and benefits from Pursuit-trapping, it can thus be used to pressure Pokémons like Latios, Celebi or Amoonguss. Some players also tend to send in Chople Tyranitar against Thundurus, considering they won't need it for anything else, allowing me to wear down the Tyranitar, sometimes kill it, and win the weather war, letting me fully abuse Rain boosted hits from Keldeo.
Another thing that I had in mind at this point, but was still kind of debating, was using Volt Switch on it, to form a devastating Volt-Turn core with Scizor, baiting in Pokémons like Latios/Celebi for Scizor to trap, or Ferrothorn, Tyranitars, Amoonguss that are Pokémons I can freely U-Turn on.
Another Pokémon that you can't really go wrong with : Ferrothorn. Its addition felt pretty obvious at this point, Ferrothorn provides the team with Entry Hazards, a Water resist which is more than welcome for things like Starmie, Scarfed Keldeo, or Latios' Surfs. It's also important to note that Ferrothorn provides the team with a Dragon-resist while not being weak to the ground type.
Eventhough some people would consider U-Turn Jirachi as viable in this slot, to be safer against Tornadus, Psychic-types and Magnezone, I personally believe that being able to deal with Garchomp and not give any free turns to Landorus-Therian/Excadrill is arguably better here considering I already have Thundurus-Therian and Scizor as decent ways to deal with Torn/Zam/Reuni. I also highly value the Spikes that Ferrothorn can stack on the opposing field.
Tl;dr: When it comes to providing a solid defensive backbone for your rain team, stack hazards on the opposing field, nothing does it as well as Ferrothorn.
Now at this point, there was a few things the team lacked : a way to remove opposing hazards, speed control, and a way to handle Dragmag. Some would have just thrown a Choice Scarf on Politoed, but Politoed's speed tier is mediocre at best, and it would never be able to outspeed any Speed-boosting sweeper, or Choice Scarf user that you'd use as cleaner (ie ScarfChomp, ScarfMence on Dragmag for example). I also had other ideas in mind for this Politoed anyway.
Let's face it, very few Pokémons can provide all the things I just mentioned. Two choices came to my mind : Scarfed Excadrill, and Scarfed Starmie. The former provided another Dragon resist, an Electric immunity, a possibly dangerous Mold Breaker Earthquake, to threaten teams that would rely on Lati@s or Rotom-Wash as their ground immunity, and it was pretty good at pressuring Celebi, but its speed tier was pretty bad for my needs, being outsped by Pokémons like Scarf Garchomp or Scarf Landorus-Therian even with a Choice Scarf itself. Also, i don't really like Scarfed Excadrill that much, having to lock itself on Iron Head or Earthquake the majority of the time can leave you in trouble against things like Thundurus-Therian, also Baloon Magnezone's rise highly invalidate this choice on this team. Thus, eventhough I had never used it before, I ended picking the latter : Starmie, not only does it provide Rapid Spinning and outspeeds litteraly every Pokémon in the tier, it also highly benefits from permanent rain and all the previous damage Specs Keldeo, Politoed or Thundurus-Therian have supposedly done before Starmie has to come in on the field, making it a pretty decent cleaner sometimes.
Also, I knew I wanted to run Trick on it to potentially annoy opposing Ferrothorns, Jellicents or Celebi, and act as a way to prevent some setup sweepers that i can't revenge kill to sweep my team.
Note that the surprise factor of this set is extremely pleasant as well, it killed way more Landorus-Therians on turn 1 than you'd imagine.
Now onto the team - Les Enfants Sauvages
- Ability : Justified
- Item : Choice Specs
- Nature : Timid
- EVs : 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- IVs : 3 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpD
- Moveset :
- Hydro Pump - Ridiculously powerful STAB and easiest move to spam, especially under rain.
- Secret Sword - Cool way of dealing with Chansey, and hitting Pokémons like Ferro, Tyranitar, Excadril etc... without the chance to miss.
- Focus Blast - Nice way of smashing Rotom-Wash, OHKOing Ferro, and not having to pick the right STAB against Rotom/LandT/Ferro/Latios teams.
- Hidden Power [Ghost] - Hits Latios, Celebi, Jellicent. Probably the best coverage move you can use there.
- .....
- Why this Pokemon ?
As i said in the Teambuilding Process, I wanted to start this team with a really heavy hitter. And Specs Keldeo just happens to hit like a truck. With Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps, Keldeo might even get the chance to bypass its own counters, just by spamming powerful hits on them. I'll illustrate that with some calcs.
Pumps
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Amoonguss in Rain: 200-236 (46.2 - 54.6%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 208 SpD Ferrothorn in Rain: 162-191 (46 - 54.2%) -- 52.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 232+ SpD Rotom-Wash in Rain: 153-180 (50.4 - 59.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tentacruel in Rain: 187-221 (51.5 - 60.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, Rain Dish recovery, and Black Sludge recovery
Blasts
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 208+ SpD Ferrothorn: 392-464 (111.3 - 131.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 276-325 (91 - 107.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Focus Blast vs. 4 HP / 0- SpD Landorus-Therian: 195-231 (60.9 - 72.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 134-158 (44.5 - 52.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Focus Blast vs. 244 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 185-218 (52.5 - 61.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Poison Heal
As you can see, Keldeo under rain is nothing to be messed with, as it has a really solid chance to straight-up bypass its natural counters just by threatening team with a 2HKO thanks to rain boosted Hydro Pumps.
Those Focus Blast calcs also illustrate how much of a good "midground" clicking Focus can be, some teams will rely on Landorus-Therian/Gliscor and/or Latios as their fighting resist, while Ferro and Rotom will act as fairly decent back-up checks to Water moves. Against this kind of teams, Keldeo while often be able to generate free turns against Tyranitar who desperately wants to get the Sand up and set Rocks up : when not using Focus Blast, you always have to think about the right move to click, you don't want to Secret Sword a Landorus-Therian and you'd rather not have a Pump PP wasted on a Ferro under Sand. If, however, you happen to be running Focus Blast on your SpecsKeld, then clicking it is free 100% of the time, and you can be sure it will either grant you a KO, or put the fighting resist on a timer/threaten to 2HKO straight up.
..... - Nature & EVs :
Everything there is pretty straight-forward and self-explanatory, you maximize Keldeo's speed and damage output by running Max SpA max Spe. Eventhough a Modest nature sounds tempting to hit even harder, you'd be slower than Garchomp, max Thundurus-Therian, and wouldn't be able to tie with opposing Kelds/Terraks. Just stick with Timid Max/Max, that's the best you can use.
.....
- Other options :
- Change Hidden Power [Ghost] to something like [Flying] to hit Celebi, Amoonguss, Jellicent and Toxicroak.
- Use Scald over Focus Blast if you want a water STAB to spam without having to worry about misses.
- Ability : Drizzle
- Item : Choice Specs
- Nature : Modest
- EVs : 24 HP / 252 SpA / 56 SpD / 176 Spe
- IVs : 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Moveset :
- Hydro Pump - Probably the only move you'll ever click, really powerful, and unexpected most of the time, it's probably going to get you some surprise KOs.
- Ice Beam - Can be used to chip at Lati@s, Celebi, Amoonguss or Breloom.
- Focus Blast - Useful to dent an opposing Ferro.
- Hidden Power [Grass] - Does a ton to Gastrodon, even kills some variant. Can be used to kill Seismitoad too. Will chip Jellicent.
- .....
- Why this Pokemon ?
Main reason why I decided to run Politoed here is obviously for its ability to set-up permanent rain, boosting its own as well as Keldeo's Hydro Pumps. I also highlighted in the teambuilding process that Keldeo and Politoed share the same counters for the most part, which is one of the main reason why I decided to run Specs Politoed right there. One will pave the way for the other, best way to demonstrate that is with calcs, so once again, let's take a look at some...
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 236 HP / 228 SpD Breloom in Rain: 207-245 (64.6 - 76.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Ice Beam vs. 236 HP / 228 SpD Breloom: 294-346 (91.8 - 108.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 232+ SpD Rotom-Wash in Rain: 131-155 (43.2 - 51.1%) -- 59% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Some other interesting ones...
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 242-286 (80.3 - 95%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hidden Power Grass vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Jellicent: 186-220 (46.1 - 54.5%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 160+ SpD Amoonguss: 240-284 (55.5 - 65.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 316-376 (74.1 - 88.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gastrodon: 460-544 (107.9 - 127.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ SpA Choice Specs Politoed Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 224+ SpD Seismitoad: 348-412 (84 - 99.5%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
As you've probably noticed, Specs Politoed is actually pretty much a powerhouse, not only does it do a ton of damage to the majority of the "water checks", but it's even able to lure some.
Another thing that I want to point out right there, is that by using such an offensive variant of Politoed, you don't lose that much momentum against common rain threats, for exemple, against Rotom-Wash you'll just spam Hydro Pump, without having to worry about the Volt Switch into SpecsTios/Ferro. Opposing Latios might be tempted to switch into this Politoed as well, trying to predict stuff like Protect, Toxic or Scald and dodge the burn, but considering HPump does more than 50%, they'll be put on a timer once again, and will end up having to Recover every single time they come in on you, this alone makes Latios way more manageable than it looks, and eases Scizor's job quite a lot, as you can freely get it in on a Trick/Recover.
..... - Nature & EVs :
Let's start with the obvious thing, we're going with Choice Specs/Modest max SpA to do as much damage to opposing water checks as possible, that's the whole point of this Specs Politoed, heavily damage the water checks to ease Keldeo's job.
176 Spe EVs with a neutral nature lets you hit 220 speed, which is 1 point faster than Modest Magnezone, and faster than the majority of Rotoms. It even lets you outspeed a decent amount of Brelooms.
This leaves you with 80 Evs to dispatch in the bulk stats, and i found out that the best way to take advantage of those is to go with 24 hp/56 SpD, as it allows you to take 49.6% from Scarf Keld's Hydro Pump. That's pretty much irrelevant, but you never know, and that's probably the best thing you'll get out of these 80 EVs anyway.
..... - Other options :
- Trade one of the coverage moves, probably Ice Beam, to fit Psychic in the set, so that you hit Toxicroak/Tenta and still hit Amoonguss.
- Use Scald over one of the coverage moves, to stam a water STAB without having to worry about misses, once again.
- Ability : Technician
- Item : Choice Band
- Nature : Jolly
- EVs : 252 Atk / 40 SpD / 216 Spe
- Moveset :
- Bullet Punch - Powerful priority move, used to check some threats/clean late game sometimes.
- U-Turn - Amazing and extremely spammable STAB attack that lets you get Keldeo in so easily.
- Pursuit - Main way to remove Lati@s or Jellicent from the game or break Alakazam's sash 100%.
- Superpower - Lets you smash Magnezone and do a ton to Ferro.
- .....
- Why this Pokemon ?
Scizor is actually a perfect fit in this team, providing the more-than-welcome Pursuit trapping, as well as an easy way to grab momentum. As i mentioned earlier, Scizor's job is made easier by the fact that Latios will pretty much have to Recover all the time if it wants to stay out of Keldeo's/Politoed's Hydros killing range, Scizor will pretty often come in on a Recover/Trick, and get a free pursuit.
It also acts as the main solution for OTR Reuniclus, and Alakazam, so sometimes you might value its health quite a lot, don't get too carried away with spamming U-Turns and end-up getting this Scizor chipped by Rocks/Ferro's Iron Barbs/Lando's or Skarm's Rocky Helmets.
Its typing also provides some key resistances (Dragon, Grass) and the natural ability to come in/pivot on some threatening/annoying Pokémons such as Breloom, Celebi or Amoonguss. You can even use Pursuit to damage the latter so that it's always in range of Keldeo's/Politoed's Pumps no matter the spread and weather.
Also, Bullet Punch is always a nice move to have in the back, to deal with a threat that got out of control. Or chip/kill/force a 50-50 between BP and Pursuit with a Pokémon that'd you have a hard time dealing with otherwise (Tornadus, Alakazam mainly).
Gotta take a second to thank Zf for inspiring the use of Scizor in rain teams by blessing us BW OU enthusiasts with some really nice games featuring original Scizor rains this SPL.
..... - Nature & EVs :
Max Atk is pretty self explanatory on a Choice Banded Scizor, however, Jolly with 216 Speed EVs might not be that standard, it lets you hit 241 speed, which is one point faster than Timid Magnezone, implying you'll always be faster than non-scarfed Magnezone, and able to OHKO with Superpower. This can come in handy against Dragmag.
You've got 40 EVs left, might as well drop then in SpD, as your Special bulk will be slightly better with 40 SpD EVs than with 40 HP EVs, considering Scizor's main job is to take on Psychic types, might as well have these EVs on the special side.
..... - Other options :
- Try to fit Quick Attack somewhere on the set, as it's a priority move that will allow you to finish Keldeo/Thundurus-Therian/Starmie with way less previous damage than Bullet Punch. But it's really hard to drop any of the 4 moves Scizor is already using.
- Use an Adamant nature and a bulkier spread, this, however, leaves you helpless against Magnezone.
- Scarf Scizor might work here, it would be better against Alakazam, but you're losing a lot of offensive presence though.
- Ability : Volt Absorb
- Item : Yache Berry
- Nature : Timid
- EVs : 216 SpA / 40 SpD / 252 Spe
- Moveset :
- Thunder - Powerful STAB, 100% accurate in rain, 30% chance to para, hits bulky water types that might be troublesome sometimes (Tentacruel)
- Hidden Power [Ice] - Gets you the "BoltBeam" coverage, allows you to hit ground types and opposing Thundurus-Therian.
- Focus Blast - Mainly hits Tyranitar/Ferro/Excadrill.
- Volt Switch - Used to form a "VoltTurn" core with Scizor, easing once again the Pursuit trapping, and amazing way to get Keldeo on the battlefield.
- .....
- Why this Pokemon ?
Offensively, Thundurus-Therian complements the previously mentioned members of the squad extremely well, sharing once again some of the same counters than Keldeo/Politoed while also having the ability to pressure some troublesome Pokémons like Tentacruel.
The fact that it runs Volt Switch here make him a top-notch partner for Scizor as they form together a pretty deadly "VoltTurn core", Thundurus-Therian baiting in Pokémon like Celebi, Amoonguss, Tyranitar or Latios, for Scizor to use U-Turn/Pursuit on ; whereas Scizor's U-Turn will often catch Pokémons like Tentacruel, Landorus-Therian, or even Jellicent against whom Thundurus-Therian does really well and can even use Volt Switch at times.
Defensively, Thundurus-Therian also fits in perfectly, providing amazing Ground and Electric immunities, while not being weak to U-Turn, which means it makes a fairly good answer to VoltTurn cores like LandT+Rotom-W. Volt Absorb can also serve as a way to help pivoting around and/or dealing with opposing Thundurus-Therians, who would otherwise be pretty threatening.
..... - Item, Nature & EVs :
Running Timid Max Speed over Modest as it lets you outspeed any non-Scarfed variants of Pokémons like Landorus-Therian, Excadrill, Kyurem(-Black), Hydreigon, Jirachi... Max Speed also lets you tie with other Thundurus-Therians, and this can end up being huge as it's pretty hard to check in rain teams, especially if you're not running Latios.
Yache Berry neglects the Ice weakness one time, and ensure that you'll always live a HP Ice from opposing Thundurus, and retaliate with your own HP Ice for some nice chip. Even if the opposing Thund sets up a Nasty Plot on your switch-in, the 40 SpD EVs and Berry ensure that you'll live a HP Ice from full, and get the chance to retaliate with your own for some really nice chip, or a KO if the opposing Thundurus-Therians had been weakened, as really little previous damage is required to ensure a kill.
On a side note, Yache Berry allows you to live Mamoswine's Ice Shard, and you might sometimes run into teams that solely rely on Mamoswine to handle Thundurus-Therian, in which case having a Yache will grant you a huge advantage.
..... - Other options :
- U-Turn over Volt Switch is a decent option, Volt Switch generally does more damage though.
- Grass Knot over Focus Blast to have one more way of luring Gastro while still hitting Tyranitar, missing the ability to hit Ferro might be annoying though.
- Ability : Iron Barbs
- Item : Leftovers
- Nature : Relaxed
- EVs : 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
- IVs : 0 Spe
- Moveset :
- Stealth Rock - Every team needs Stealth Rock.
- Spikes - Another Entry Hazard to make it even harder to switch in on Specs Keldeo.
- Power Whip - Poweful STAB that hits Pokémons like Starmie, Tentacruel so that they can't spin on you for free and also hits Keldeo.
- Gyro Ball - Another great STAB that lets you hit Breloom, Dragon types, and break Thundurus-Therian's Substitute.
- .....
- Why this Pokemon ?
Ferrothorn was such an obvious pick at this point. This Pokémon is a stapple in many many rain teams due to all the assets it has : Dragon, Water and Electric Resist, which implies it'll always be able to check/counter the likes of Analmie, SpecsTios, Rotom-Wash, Gyarados, Kyurem-Black - and the list goes on , all of them being standard threats to many rain teams ; and on top of that, the ability to also provide Entry Hazards for the team, not only with Stealth Rock, but with Spikes as well.
Its natural bulk will also allow it to act as a pivot on many Pokémons, such as Landorus-Therian if you're afraid of sending Thundurus-Therian because Rocks and Sand are up, while also chipping at ennemies thanks to its Iron Barbs ability.
This Pokémon defenitely acts as the backbone of this team, being able to single-handedly sponge the majority of the offensive pressure applied to you by your opponnent throughout a game.
On a side note, Ferrothorn does not care much about Keldeo's counters, fearing pretty much nothing from them, so it will always be able to come in on them, and start stacking hazards to put you at an advantage in the long run.
..... - Nature & EVs :
252/48+ on the physical side allows Ferrothorn to never be 2HKO'd by Adamant Banded Kyu-B's Outrage, so that you'll always be able to come in on it, and threaten with a Gyro Ball or set your Rocks up.
Relaxed with 0 Spe IVs is prefered over something like Impish to maximize Gyro Ball's damage.
Remaining EVs are put into SpD to maximize Ferrothorn's ability to handle all the Pokémons I've mentioned earlier.
..... - Other options :
- Use 252/252+ Sassy to maximize the special bulk and take a little bit less from Analmie/SpecsTios.
- Fit Knock Off on the set to get rid of Amoonguss'/Tenta's Black Sludge, opposing Ferro's Leftos and potentially catch Breloom's Toxic Orb, you'd probably use it over Gyro Ball.
- Use Shed Shell over Leftovers if you don't want to get trapped by Magnezone, and have the ability to switch-out into Politoed/Thundurus-Therian for an instant momentum shift.
- Ability : Analytic
- Item : Choice Scarf
- Nature : Timid
- EVs : 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Moveset :
- Trick - Nice to have to annoy opposing Jelli/Ferro, or stop a Pokémon from sweeping you by locking it on a particular move.
- Hydro Pump - You're probably getting familiar with this move by now ahah, once again, really powerful STAB, rain boosted.
- Ice Beam - Useful against Dragon types to straight up kill them, really nice and spammable against Dragmag. Can also pick a Scarfed LandT without missing.
- Rapid Spin - Lets you remove hazards from your side of the field.
- .....
- Why this Pokemon ?
Starmie has been the last pick on this team, it provided all that the squad was lacking at this point : a way to remove entry hazards, speed control, and a cool option against Dragmag. It's been picked over Excadrill because of its Speed-tier, allowing it to outspeed pretty much any Pokémon in the tier, whereas Driller would still fail to beat the likes of Scarf Chomp, Latios, or LandT.
Once again i've got to note it, you now the drill by now, it pairs well with the previous members of the squad because of shared counters etc...
Choice Scarf Starmie also packs a really nice surprise factor, as it's pretty much never used. People will never consider even for a second facing a Scarfed Starmie, and some opposing Scarfers will stay in on you thinking they are safe, and will actually get smashed ; you've got to keep that in mind because it's a really nice way to get yourself an early advantage : you wouldn't even imagine how many Turn 1 kills I got against opposing Landorus-Therians.
..... - Nature & EVs :
Max SpA lets Starmie do quite a bit of damage with its -potentially Analytic and Rain boosted- Hydro Pumps.
Timid Nature is favored over Modest as it lets Starmie outspeed other Choice Scarf user such as Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion and Garchomp. If you happen to Trick your Choice Scarf and trade it for anything that's not another Scarf, then Timid Starmie will keep the ability to outspeed Pokémons like Tornadus, Thundurus-Therian and all of the aforementioned threats if they're not carrying a Choice Scarf.
..... - Other options :
- Thunder over Trick to hit Jellicent, Keldeo, Gyarados and Tentacruel.
• Offensively
Keldeo
- Keldeo can be extremely threatening, its Rain boosted Hydro Pumps can be extremely hard to tank for the team. Specs Variants while probably pick up a KO every time they get a chance to come in, while Scarf variants can only be outsped by Scarfed Starmie who happens to only be able to hit them with Hydro Pump, for litteraly no damage. One really good thing however is that opposing Keldeos rarely run Focus Blast, so they can't OHKO our own Keldeos, whereas we have a really high chance to kill. Most of the time they'll stay in against you, trying to exchange Secret Swords to chip at you and make you more manageable, accepting to be chipped as well (considering they don't really have to care about their health if they haven't figured out yet that Starmie can't hit them), but will find themselves dying to a Focus Blast.
Psyspam
- Psyspam can be tough to handle at times, Scizor is key against Latios/Zam/Reuni, but a combination of all 3 or even just a SpecsTios+Zam combo can hardly be handled by Scizor alone, especially if you happen to tank a Draco/Surf with Scizor, in which case Zam will be able to easily kill it. Best way to not have the situation I just mentioned happening is by keeping the momentum, if opposing Latios can only come in on a Specs Pump from Keld/Toed, it will always be forced to Recover, and Scizor will have an easier time coming in and dealing with it. Note that ScarfMie will be clutch when it comes to dealing with a late game Zam too. As for Reuni, CM variants are fairly easily dealth with, however OTR variants can happen to be tricky, fortunately enough, the majority of the team can live a hit from full, Ferro is slower and get a nice Power Whip off, and Scizor still fairs pretty well against it. Trick Starmie can also be helpful against TR/Psychic/FBlast/Recover variants.
Analmie
- Offensive variants of Starmie, Life Orb or Specs can be really tough to deal with, as Starmie's power and coverage lets it kill/hit extremely hard every member of the team, only way to not give up on a Pokémon is to switch in Ferrothorn, but sadly enough it won't be able to take many hits because of the ridiculous power of Analytic and Rain boosted Hydro Pumps. However, Starmie will often have to chose between Rapid Spinning and getting a free hit, more than likely chosing the latter the majority of the time, resulting in Starmie's health getting low pretty quickly, especially if it carries a Life Orb, which implies that Scizor's BP/Scarfmie's Pump will become nice ways of dealing with it.
Thundurus-Therian
- If you face a Thundurus-Therian you'll have to play really conservative with your own Thundurus so that you'll always have a way to pivot around Thunders and take a hit from full no matter what. Another way to deal with it is by keeping the momentum and make sure you have Keldeo, Starmie or your own Thundurus on the field as much as possible, so that the opponnent can't really generate free turns for his Thundurus. Overall, you shouldn't straight-up lose to Thundurus, but as for any other Rain Team, it's got to be mentioned as a potentiel threat.
Toxicroak
- Just don't spam Hydro Pumps as long as its alive so it can't generate free turns and setup Subs and you'll be fine.
• Defensively
Toxic/Protect Tran + Jellicent + Ferro
- Against this core, your best way to generate free turns for Keldeo, Politoed and Starmie would normally be Heatran, but if it carries Protect and Toxic, it becomes tricky as it lets it scout what your water types are locking themselves into, and you'll never be able to catch the Jelli. Thundurus-Therian often does really well against those teams, make sure to get rid of Starmie's scarf asap, and try spamming your own hazards if they can't reliably spin.
Protect Tentacruel
- Eventhough Thundurus-Therians deals with it, and you should be able to pressure it pretty well, sometimes a few Hydro Pump misses, a burn on Ferro, or getting Thundurus on a Scald is all it's going to take for Tenta to become extremely hard to deal with. Shouldn't be much of a problem most of the time though.
Keldeo
Psyspam
Analmie
Thundurus-Therian
Toxicroak
• Defensively
Toxic/Protect Tran + Jellicent + Ferro
Protect Tentacruel
.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5ou-1112116240
I don't think I need any other replays after that one. Ban Keldeo.
I don't think I need any other replays after that one. Ban Keldeo.
Well I don't have much left to say, I probably wrote way too much already, this was an extremely long RMT, hope you enjoyed it and thank you so much if you took the time to read it all. I really hope you'll give the team a try and enjoy it as much as I did, feel free to let me know if you did.
If you know where these nicknames and the team's name come from, you're an amazing human being with fantastic musical taste.
If you know where these nicknames and the team's name come from, you're an amazing human being with fantastic musical taste.
CCLM - vous lirez pas ce RMT mais wallah tant pis au moins vous avez votre s/o, en plus le build nous a khalass en CPL
Oldfriends - bar Cicada because this man is nothing but a pile of trash.
BW Community - Special shoutout to FNH , you did an incredible job with your recent "Gen 5 : preview analysis" thread.
And all the other frens I forgot to mention
Oldfriends - bar Cicada because this man is nothing but a pile of trash.
BW Community - Special shoutout to FNH , you did an incredible job with your recent "Gen 5 : preview analysis" thread.
And all the other frens I forgot to mention
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