Platinum Battle Tower RMT

[muna]

2 RMTs in One!
I have a RMT for both a Battle Tower team and a Battle Castle team. You can rate just one or both. Any help is appreciated.



Battle Tower
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I want to be the very best that no one ever was. To catch them was my real test. To train them was my cause. I want to go for a 400+ win streak in Battle Tower and I can't do that without a good team. Before I go through the trouble of SR'ing / Trading for all of these, I want some feedback. If any of you have any of the Pokemon in my thread, send me a PM or check out my trade thread.


Summary:

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The main theme of this team is to completely destroy the other team before they have a chance to respond. I will try to add descriptions, but the team explains itself.

Detailed Look:

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Levitate
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Counter
-Shadow Ball
-Destiny Bond

This good old guy is simply a monster. He can take out absolutely anything except faster Pokemon with a Focus Sash who Lucario can easily pick off with Extreme Speed. The set is self explanitory. I use Counter on the first turn if the opponent is obviously going to use a physical attack. Otherwise, I use Shadow Ball or Thunderbolt. After I hopefully KO their lead, I can use Destiny Bond on their second Pokemon to take it down with me.

Latios @ Choice Specs
Levitate
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Draco Meteor
-Surf
-Shadow Ball

There is a reason Latios is uber. With a 539 SpA stat at level 100, it can wreck almost anything. A STAB Draco Meteor coming from that stat is just plain insane. It can come in and cause huge amounts of destruction. It hits anything for at least neutral damage and that is enough to cause major pain for anythimg except Blissey (who Lucario can have fun with). Shadow Ball is needed for Shedninja and helps with the bulky Ghosts who give my team trouble.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Inner Focus
Naive
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
-Aure Sphere
-Extreme Speed
-Close Combat
-Crunch

Lucario brings a few important things to the table. it resists all of Latios' wekanesses and can counter many of the things that would cause Latios trouble. Lucario also brings a Priority move in Extreme Speed that will save me against those Focus Sash holders. Aura Sphere might seem redundant, but it is almost necessary to hit all of the double teamers and Bright Powder users in BT.


Battle Castle

The main difference in between the Battle Tower and Battle Castle is that there is no healing in between rounds so I decided to go with a bulkier team that had recovery moves to try to improve my survival rather than the very offensive Battle Tower team shown above. There are also no items allowed so I am forced to work around that.

Summary:
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I know what you are thinking. Why would he choose Miltank? The answer is that I needed a physical attacker with a reliable recovery move and my options were pretty limited. It also just went well with the team by covering the ghost weakness of Starmie and Latias via Scrappy while Starmie and Latias cover the fighting weakness of Miltank.

Detailed Look:

Starmie
Natural Cure
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Recover

Starmie is my favorite starfish. With somewhat respectable defenses, it can make use of recover while Natural Cure allows it to remain free of status. Surf, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam just provide great coverage, hitting everything for neurtal damage.

Latias
Levitate
Timid
148 HP / 108 SpA / 252 Spe
-Dragon Pulse
-HP Fire
-Recover
-Calm Mind

It was simply impossible not to include Latias. She can abuse recover well and has access to Calm Mind which means I can set up a sweep pretty easily while staying healthy. She complements Miltank well. HP Fire is mostly for Shedninja, but it can also help me take down steels.

Miltank
Scrappy
Impish
252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
-Curse
-Milk Drink
-Body Slam
-Hammer Arm

This is going to be my first time ever using Miltank, but after looking at it's stats, it just fit my team perfectly. It can curse up with it's great defenses while recovering via Milk Drink, then unleash some STAB Body Slams or Hammer Arms from a boosted attack stat.
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[muna]

I also added a Battle Castle team for it to be rated. These haven't been tested out and that is why I need your help.

 

[wildfire393]

On Latios, I would suggest the following moveset to replace yours (also I'm assuming soul dew is unallowed?) - Draco Meteor, Surf, Dragon Pulse, Thunderbolt/Trick. Dragon + Water hits everything bar Empoleon for at least neutral damage. Dragon Pulse gives you an option if you want a powerful attack to use more than just once. Thunderbolt gives you coverage on Empoleon and a stronger move to hit Bulky Waters with repeatedly. Trick is an option for crippling Blissey or Snorlax.

Also on Gengar I would consider Hypnosis over Thunderbolt. When you're fighting a 3-pokemon team, Hypnosis + Counter + Destiny Bond can wipe out that team all on its own. You Counter their first threat if it is physical, otherwise you hypnosis it. On the second threat, you do the opposite (hopefully one of the two is physical). On their third Pokemon, you Destiny Bond to bring them down as well, leaving just their sleeping first Pokemon to deal with. You rely on Hypnosis's slightly shaky 60% accuracy in this case, but the payoff can be well worth it.

As for Lucario, if you still want Aura Sphere, a Neutral-Nature, 0 EV Close Combat has a chance of OHKOing 252 Def/0 HP Calm Blissey, meaning if she switches in to Aura Sphere you can finish her off easily. And if you have a Life Orb I believe that OHKO is guaranteed and will happen even if Bold or running HP EVs. Aura Sphere + Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse for Coverage, with Close Combat to take down Bliss. There are a number of options for the last slot. Calm Mind allows you to still set up a little. Vacuum Wave gives you an alternate priority move. And HP Ice or Rock can give you better overall coverage.

 

[muna]

On Latios, I would suggest the following moveset to replace yours (also I'm assuming soul dew is unallowed?) - Draco Meteor, Surf, Dragon Pulse, Thunderbolt/Trick. Dragon + Water hits everything bar Empoleon for at least neutral damage. Dragon Pulse gives you an option if you want a powerful attack to use more than just once. Thunderbolt gives you coverage on Empoleon and a stronger move to hit Bulky Waters with repeatedly. Trick is an option for crippling Blissey or Snorlax.

Soul Dew is not allowed in Battle Tower. The The only problem with that set that you mentioned is that Shedninja would sweep me if it came in after Gengar was already down. Gengar is somewhat of a Suicide lead so odds are that if Shedninja isn't the first Pokemon and it has a Focus Sash, I will need to rely on HP Fire to take it out. The reason I have Grass Knot is because Swampert can hit Latias with Ice Beam and Lucario with Earthquake. Having Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor are sort of redundant as I can't really scout the opponent's team so I would not know which one would be best to use as it depends greatly on the Pokemon that the opponent has waiting in the wings. The power difference in between a -2 Draco Meteor and a Dragon Pulse is so small that I think Draco Meteor is the better option. I will however change the moveset to Draco Meteor, Surf, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball. I have almost secured myself a Latios and it doesn't have HP Fire so I will need Shadow Ball to take out Shedninja. If it comes in to revenge kill, then I shouldn't have problems switching to Lucario to absorb a hit, then back to Latias because of how well their typing complements eachother.

Also on Gengar I would consider Hypnosis over Thunderbolt. When you're fighting a 3-pokemon team, Hypnosis + Counter + Destiny Bond can wipe out that team all on its own. You Counter their first threat if it is physical, otherwise you hypnosis it. On the second threat, you do the opposite (hopefully one of the two is physical). On their third Pokemon, you Destiny Bond to bring them down as well, leaving just their sleeping first Pokemon to deal with. You rely on Hypnosis's slightly shaky 60% accuracy in this case, but the payoff can be well worth it.

In D/P Battle Tower, I ran Hypnosis and eventually got rid of it because of how unreliable it was. The accuracy drop has just made it impossible to use because it feels like all of the moves that you use in Battle Tower seem to miss. I just think that reliability is much better to have than a high risk - high reward tactic in Battle Tower, where anything can happen.


As for Lucario, if you still want Aura Sphere, a Neutral-Nature, 0 EV Close Combat has a chance of OHKOing 252 Def/0 HP Calm Blissey, meaning if she switches in to Aura Sphere you can finish her off easily. And if you have a Life Orb I believe that OHKO is guaranteed and will happen even if Bold or running HP EVs. Aura Sphere + Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse for Coverage, with Close Combat to take down Bliss. There are a number of options for the last slot. Calm Mind allows you to still set up a little. Vacuum Wave gives you an alternate priority move. And HP Ice or Rock can give you better overall coverage.

There is no switching (that I know of) in Battle Tower and even if there were, a Blisey switching into Lucario is probably not the first thing the AI does. Instead of going for a Special set with Close Combat, I can try a Physical set with Aura Sphere. Something like Naive with 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpA should be decent enough. With STAB behind it, Aura Sphere (135 BP) should be strong enough coming from a 267 (level 100) special attack stat to hurt anything that thinks of Double-Teaming me to death. The set is the problem. I lost one move slot so I will likely need to take out Swords Dance as Close Combat and Extreme Speed are staples to the set while Crunch is needed for any Ghosts.

Thanks for the suggestions. Changes are in Bold.