hi im glen, i played rse a lot and then maybe i played like ten games of dpp but now i wanna try bw2!!!!! i started playing last night and i just cracked 1800 on PS!, landing me at 30th.
i think this team is pretty cool but it has a couple problems
Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 108 Spd / 216 SDef / 184 HP
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar
- Sunny Day
problem 1 is that i don't like ninetales that much!! but anyway speed is to outspeed toed and breloom, etc. set is ok i guess? i havent actually done anything with sunny day yet so i might drop it for hp fighting which would obviate the need to play so carefully around balloontran. roar is pretty good, will o wisp misses way too much but it's gotten me out of a couple sticky situations. maybe toxic is better though? deals with latis much better.
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 100 Atk / 252 SAtk / 156 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
this guy is really good! considering the only thing i'm actually comfortable with in pokemon anymore is prediction, genesect is solving all the problems. 100 atk because max speed is awful, i'm not going to play into a genesect speed tie because it's a shitty way to play pokemon, and the meagre but consistent u-turn chip damage boosts are far more valuable in the long term, especially when compounded by the atk boost that everyone seems to be eving their mons for.
genesect in sun is pretty obviously stellar, late game when i nab a sp atk boost and it's sunny i just fire off big flame throwers (stuff like mixmence is always 2hko'd with rocks, sometimes even without). my only problem with is that so many times it's just a guessing game. 'prediction' is cool and all but when you get to like, 5th layer yomi or whatever when it's like 'he knows that i know that he knows that i know' it's just a coin flip. i really hate when i occasionally make 'bad' predictions with this guy and it is impossible for me to tell if i was outplayed or not. it's fairly common that i'll lead genesect and they'll lead scarf lando, and if they quake while i u-turn they're in a good spot since my team doesn't handle lando well, but if they quake while i ice beam they're fucked, so it's 'safer' for them to u-turn out, but then my slower u-turn can react to it and zzzzzzzz
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
IVs: 21 HP
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock
i like this guy. depending on the team i'll often play him as a suicide lead. i'll trap ttars with him but i normally have a good enough matchup against rain that i don't care about trapping and killing toed, i just want to get rocks up and do 40-70% with reversal to it (depending on the set, if it's scarftoed i do don't get any damage on it but my team handles scarftoed better anyway so whatever).
he's also really neat against teams that rely on espeon instead of a spinner, since unless they lead with a flier they can't stop rocks, and if they lead espeon i kill it with 2 quakes and then almost always get rocks up afterwards.
he's kind of my lone heatran answer which, with proper playing, isn't that big a problem, but it's kind of annoying sometimes especially if they lead balloontran while i lead dug. normally things are handled by u-turn from gene or volt switch from forry to break the balloon, then dug takes care of things.
sub has been sort of useful but i'm thinking about testing memento instead, cause normally one free turn is all i need for volc or venu to win the game
Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SAtk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 2 Spd
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
probably my weakest link, but i need a spinner, a heatran lure that can pivot out, and a way to handle scarf landorus, so he fits nicely. ive thought about spikes but i kinda just feel like theyre not that great, i dunno. no other move is expendable either since when they see i'm using boltbeam shit they'll usually assume i'm sans gyro ball so guys like tyranitar and latis get a big surprise.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Growth
strongest dude on the team, bar none. i win almost every game with him. set is absolutely incredible, sleep one of his (admittedly bountiful) counters, then go to town. against rain i do my best to keep him above 70% at all times so poli can't switch in to stop his chloro spree and ko with scarf ice beam.
i dont care for sludge bomb since the mere threat of it or hp ice is normally enough to dissuade mence from coming in too early, and in the sun hp fire does like 55-65% after a growth anyway so i can normally have it worn down enough. this is also basically my only counter to jellicent which is kind of sketchy.
it's completely destroyed by heatran, of course, so i have to play very carefully with dug to handle it. on the plus side when i sleep it they normally realize it's too valuable to leave in so it tends to get swapped back out and stay sleeped for a hella long time, racking up rocks damage each time it comes in until its in giga drain ko range. spikes on forry may help me in my war of attrition against heatran but id rather volt switch when it comes in and ko with duggy than bother with spikestacking.
Volcarona @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Hidden Power [Ice]
my other strong boy. he's my best answer to rain teams, hilariously enough, as one quiver is normally enough to destroy anything they can throw at me bar maybe gastro, but that's rarely a factor considering i normally get my sun up, bring in volc, and quiv on the switch; if they switch in gastro it's 2hkod by bug buzz and cant do anything back thanks to sun. if they switch in toed to get rain up, it risks an ohko from buzz, and if they double switch from toed to gastro then i 2hko it anyway so there isn't a whole lot they can do!
fiery dance is just awful and i have no idea why i'm using it. im torn between flamethrower and fire blast though, i like the fact that this guy can't miss so blast is a bit scary, but the sheer power of this thing after quiver dance makes me wonder.
hp ice may seem unorthodox but it has served me well. checking calcs now though i'm learning that +1 fire blast ohkos mence in the sun anyway (gyara too, which i imagine i would have trouble with, though i dont run into it much), and hp fighting always ohkos tran after rocks at +1... hmm!!!!!
it's a bit odd, this guy is in my opinion the single most powerful pokemon in the game right now, but just based on the way my team is set up he tends to play second fiddle to venusaur. i'm wondering if i should be using both him and volc or if cut one of them for another support guy who would assuage my heatran woes, making the team more 'cohesive'. volcarona is definitely more menacing but were it my only sweeper i would be totally fucked if i don't get a spin off with forry (which does happen), so venu is the safer choice. i do like having two sweepers though so i dunno!!!
anyway that's my team!!! tentative changes involve fiery dance to fire blast and hp ice to hp fighting on volc, as well as probably changing sunny day to hp fighting on ninetales.
as for threats, jellicent + heatran as a combo is a bit stressful because venu is my only answer to jelli. even if i play well and double switch to dug on the switch to heatran, i'm still fucked if it's balloon (which it always seems to be, does anyone use spdef tran anymore?). also aggressive ddnite as a lead is really really hard for me to deal with if i guess wrong and lead dug instead of gene. beyond that i haven't noticed any glaring weaknesses, but i haven't played that many games yet either!
i think this team is pretty cool but it has a couple problems
Ninetales @ Leftovers
Trait: Drought
EVs: 108 Spd / 216 SDef / 184 HP
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar
- Sunny Day
problem 1 is that i don't like ninetales that much!! but anyway speed is to outspeed toed and breloom, etc. set is ok i guess? i havent actually done anything with sunny day yet so i might drop it for hp fighting which would obviate the need to play so carefully around balloontran. roar is pretty good, will o wisp misses way too much but it's gotten me out of a couple sticky situations. maybe toxic is better though? deals with latis much better.
Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 100 Atk / 252 SAtk / 156 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
this guy is really good! considering the only thing i'm actually comfortable with in pokemon anymore is prediction, genesect is solving all the problems. 100 atk because max speed is awful, i'm not going to play into a genesect speed tie because it's a shitty way to play pokemon, and the meagre but consistent u-turn chip damage boosts are far more valuable in the long term, especially when compounded by the atk boost that everyone seems to be eving their mons for.
genesect in sun is pretty obviously stellar, late game when i nab a sp atk boost and it's sunny i just fire off big flame throwers (stuff like mixmence is always 2hko'd with rocks, sometimes even without). my only problem with is that so many times it's just a guessing game. 'prediction' is cool and all but when you get to like, 5th layer yomi or whatever when it's like 'he knows that i know that he knows that i know' it's just a coin flip. i really hate when i occasionally make 'bad' predictions with this guy and it is impossible for me to tell if i was outplayed or not. it's fairly common that i'll lead genesect and they'll lead scarf lando, and if they quake while i u-turn they're in a good spot since my team doesn't handle lando well, but if they quake while i ice beam they're fucked, so it's 'safer' for them to u-turn out, but then my slower u-turn can react to it and zzzzzzzz
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
IVs: 21 HP
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Reversal
- Stealth Rock
i like this guy. depending on the team i'll often play him as a suicide lead. i'll trap ttars with him but i normally have a good enough matchup against rain that i don't care about trapping and killing toed, i just want to get rocks up and do 40-70% with reversal to it (depending on the set, if it's scarftoed i do don't get any damage on it but my team handles scarftoed better anyway so whatever).
he's also really neat against teams that rely on espeon instead of a spinner, since unless they lead with a flier they can't stop rocks, and if they lead espeon i kill it with 2 quakes and then almost always get rocks up afterwards.
he's kind of my lone heatran answer which, with proper playing, isn't that big a problem, but it's kind of annoying sometimes especially if they lead balloontran while i lead dug. normally things are handled by u-turn from gene or volt switch from forry to break the balloon, then dug takes care of things.
sub has been sort of useful but i'm thinking about testing memento instead, cause normally one free turn is all i need for volc or venu to win the game
Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SAtk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 2 Spd
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
probably my weakest link, but i need a spinner, a heatran lure that can pivot out, and a way to handle scarf landorus, so he fits nicely. ive thought about spikes but i kinda just feel like theyre not that great, i dunno. no other move is expendable either since when they see i'm using boltbeam shit they'll usually assume i'm sans gyro ball so guys like tyranitar and latis get a big surprise.
Venusaur @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Growth
strongest dude on the team, bar none. i win almost every game with him. set is absolutely incredible, sleep one of his (admittedly bountiful) counters, then go to town. against rain i do my best to keep him above 70% at all times so poli can't switch in to stop his chloro spree and ko with scarf ice beam.
i dont care for sludge bomb since the mere threat of it or hp ice is normally enough to dissuade mence from coming in too early, and in the sun hp fire does like 55-65% after a growth anyway so i can normally have it worn down enough. this is also basically my only counter to jellicent which is kind of sketchy.
it's completely destroyed by heatran, of course, so i have to play very carefully with dug to handle it. on the plus side when i sleep it they normally realize it's too valuable to leave in so it tends to get swapped back out and stay sleeped for a hella long time, racking up rocks damage each time it comes in until its in giga drain ko range. spikes on forry may help me in my war of attrition against heatran but id rather volt switch when it comes in and ko with duggy than bother with spikestacking.
Volcarona @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Hidden Power [Ice]
my other strong boy. he's my best answer to rain teams, hilariously enough, as one quiver is normally enough to destroy anything they can throw at me bar maybe gastro, but that's rarely a factor considering i normally get my sun up, bring in volc, and quiv on the switch; if they switch in gastro it's 2hkod by bug buzz and cant do anything back thanks to sun. if they switch in toed to get rain up, it risks an ohko from buzz, and if they double switch from toed to gastro then i 2hko it anyway so there isn't a whole lot they can do!
fiery dance is just awful and i have no idea why i'm using it. im torn between flamethrower and fire blast though, i like the fact that this guy can't miss so blast is a bit scary, but the sheer power of this thing after quiver dance makes me wonder.
hp ice may seem unorthodox but it has served me well. checking calcs now though i'm learning that +1 fire blast ohkos mence in the sun anyway (gyara too, which i imagine i would have trouble with, though i dont run into it much), and hp fighting always ohkos tran after rocks at +1... hmm!!!!!
it's a bit odd, this guy is in my opinion the single most powerful pokemon in the game right now, but just based on the way my team is set up he tends to play second fiddle to venusaur. i'm wondering if i should be using both him and volc or if cut one of them for another support guy who would assuage my heatran woes, making the team more 'cohesive'. volcarona is definitely more menacing but were it my only sweeper i would be totally fucked if i don't get a spin off with forry (which does happen), so venu is the safer choice. i do like having two sweepers though so i dunno!!!
anyway that's my team!!! tentative changes involve fiery dance to fire blast and hp ice to hp fighting on volc, as well as probably changing sunny day to hp fighting on ninetales.
as for threats, jellicent + heatran as a combo is a bit stressful because venu is my only answer to jelli. even if i play well and double switch to dug on the switch to heatran, i'm still fucked if it's balloon (which it always seems to be, does anyone use spdef tran anymore?). also aggressive ddnite as a lead is really really hard for me to deal with if i guess wrong and lead dug instead of gene. beyond that i haven't noticed any glaring weaknesses, but i haven't played that many games yet either!