So several months ago, I watched BKC's video on why Snorlax is "bad" (I mean B-tier is still top 15-ish) and I also saw the video of his super sweet wish spam Hariyama stall team. This is a mediocre player's attempt at remedying Snorlax's issues via wish. The goal of this team is to have one mon who crashes through the opposing team and two wish passers to keep that pokemon alive for as long as necessary. The 3 offensive mons were chosen to have a wide range of cores they can break through while not being too trappable by Dugtrio and not at all by Magneton. This team used to be called Balance Mixed Wish cuz all 6 pokemon have amazing defensive utility and that bulk lets you weather the storm that a lot of offenses bring. Spikes and spin/wish give you a puncher's chance vs most stall teams since they can't keep taking CB Returns forever, meanwhile this team gets to stay quite healthy vs mons with minimal offensive threat.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 76 Def
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
Swampert is one of 2 mixed attackers on the team and the most offensively oriented of the pair. EQ and Ice Beam are self-explanatory but Hydro Pump on this set is basically only used vs Skarmory or if you have to click a move that hits the TTar in front of you and does something to the Zapdos that might switch in. HP Bug is obviously for Celebi, who can be a massive pain for this team. But you can't just click it and hope the celebi drops, usually you need to Ice Beam it and do 30-ish, then bring in Ludi so Cel can't leech seed, then pepper it with ice beam to fish for a freeze or crit (though the freeze doesn't really matter) until it switches out at 60-ish HP. After all that, the second time you bring in Swampert, you can go for the HP Bug read and put it in the ground. EV's make sure you survive 2 TTar EQ's if you switch in into spikes on the initial Dance. That's a pretty specific situation, but the rest of the team can struggle vs TTar, and the added bulk comes in handy for a few other things. The rest of the EV's are in attack and wouldn't you know it, 180 w/HP Bug is actually just enough to get the extra Brave point. WOOHOO!
Snorlax @ Choice Band
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 32 HP / 176 Atk / 136 Def / 160 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Ball
- Self-Destruct
CB Snorlax is pretty self-explanatory as well. It switches in early game vs a ton of special attackers and puts huge pressure on the opposing team. Focus punch does not 2HKO standard Skarm after lefties and protect, but that means you have a bit of a mindgame after reading the initial switch. If you think they'll spike, you can punch again and get them extremely low; if you think they'll protect, you can go Mence and scare them out with Blast. An important note is that CB Return does 25.7-30.5 to standard Skarm, so after landing FP once, you can safely spam return for a 3HKO the next time Lax comes in to cover the future skarm switch. This prevents you from being trapped by Dugtrio when you do finally bring Skarm down. The biggest thing with Lax is that you absolutely have to get the Gengar play right at some point. There's a bunch of teams that snorlax gets through, but he can't click return freely if there's a straight up immune hiding in the back. I stole the EV's from a BKC video in which he said he stole them from someone else. I don't fully know what they all do, but I do know that they work pretty well.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Wish
- Toxic/Roar
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
The first of the Wish duo and second mixed attacker. Mence is the best counter to Heracross, Breloom (if something else is asleep), and Hariyama in the tier. That's pretty important because the rest of this team can definitely be broken through by those fighting types. Because of that, Mence has to be played very carefully if you do see a fighter so they don't read the switch with Rock slide 4 times and then win. Wish is mostly used to pass to Snorlax but on occasion is also sent the way of Ludicolo if they bring Pert into it. Fire blast is for Skarmory so Lax can threaten and it also hits Hera and Breloom hard. Toxic is nice for endgame situations and to keep Hariyama/Waters from getting too many funny ideas. Roar is an alternative to handle Baton Pass teams and rack up a bit of spikes damage if the opportunity presents itself, but is mostly useless outside of facing Baton Pass. Speed EV's let you creep past Heracross who are themselves creeping past modest Moltres. You could go 136 Speed and just get past all the Hera's but the bulk drop is kinda noticeable.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Def / 212 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
Wish Passer no. 2 and Panic Button no. 1. Blissey is Blissey, it usually comes into the game after lax has been worn down a little and really bums out specially offensive teams who were hoping to almost be done with the first blob. Soft boiled lets you heal quickly which lets wish be used mostly for bringing teammates back up, usually Mence but everyone gets a little love from time to time. Bolt/Beam is here so that DD Mence and DD Gyara don't get out of hand which is why I refer to it as Panic Button no. 1. An added benefit of Wish is that if you're at 60-70 and they read a soft boiled while switching to Dug, but you wish instead, the Dug is in an awful position. The first EQ will do 50-60 depending on the set, but you get all of that back with the wish and then smoke him with Beam. Tbolt also helps wear down Skarmory which is a big plus. EV's are Blissey standard, but more bulk might be warranted.
Ludicolo @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 200 HP / 216 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Leech Seed
The reason this team doesn't lose to Offense. After a rain dance, you outrun everything in the tier and Hydro Pump completely pummels everything that takes neutral. Ice beam lets you ohko opposing Mence and Breloom and leech seed lets him present passive pressure early game. His secondary purpose on the team is to switch into Metagross and Swampert since he naturally resists both of their main attacks (4x resisting Hydro). His threat level and walling prowess also baits a lot of explosions from opposing Gross which is mana from heaven for Snorlax (doubly so if you read it and sac something else). Ludi basically solo's physical offense after you Focus Punch or Explode the Lax and then Tbolt or explode the Gyara. His last big job is switching into Suicune and clicking leech seed. This eventually forces Cune to Rest at which point CB Return + Leech seed is super likely to 2HKO in sand and outside of it will force Cune to try and kill it upon waking up, allowing Mence to come in and kill with brick break. This is Max HP while still only taking 21 from sandstorm each turn, enough speed to creep the mons who hit 396 after agility/swift swim, and the rest in SPATK. Once again, just enough to get the bonus point from modest.
Claydol @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Psychic
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
An older version of the team (which cdijk and experience has convinced me is better) used Dol over Forre. Phys def is preferred cuz the team already runs lax/bliss so spdef isn't really necessary. Having a thing to bait in and punish Gar is so helpful (moreso than having spikes in many situations) for letting lax run wild and keeping momentum. Atk EV's are enough to ohko DD mence/gyara after sand guaranteed. One common sequence vs DD tar is: mence on DD, pert on RS, trade EQ's, Dol on next EQ, Dol eats HP Bug Tar dies to EQ.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
Outdated Forre is Gone: The last addition to the team (I had a few versions with Claydol instead, I tried Cloyster and Starmie too). Here to clear spikes after Gengar and/or Skarm is dead. Also sets up spikes which fundamentally changes how much pressure this team puts on. Explosion allows him to be Panic Button No. 2 and EQ is good for killing Magneton and finishing TTar after it eats a Brick break from Mence. Usually I bring this thing in and click EQ twice for fear of Mag if I needed to switch into a hit, after that I'll be more willing to try and spike. At full health, I feel okay spiking immediately. The toxic and sand immunity is so helpful, but for numerous reasons, Forre usually ends up being the sleep fodder for stuff like Breloom, Venusaur, and Hypnosis Gar/Milo so the team can stay offensive.
At first glance, Defensive Milo gives this team fits. But in actuality, Lax just fishes for a crit and immediately smokes it after getting one. Even if Lax doesn't get the crit in 32 tries, it'll still have wasted 28+ recovers. For this reason, you should basically never explode vs milo unless lax is already dead. You can usually get through it without wasting a trade KO move by simply wearing it down. Spikes really hinder this team even with the wishes, so making sure they don't get up 3 layers and especially making sure the Gengar is dead are all super important. On the other hand, spikes for you are a luxury vs the vast majority of teams. They make the endgame go a little faster, but are usually unnecessary except if you're running into the Stalliest of the Stalls. Then you need them because those teams will outlast you.
There are a few ways this team wins games.
First, Snorlax gets 2-3 KO's before needing to explode. These games usually feature a ton of special attackers like zapdos, ludicolo, starmie, etc where you just keep wishing him back to full with blissey and then blasting through with return after getting the Focus Punch/Shadow ball read right early game. The other version of this type of game involves switching Lax into Blissey after forcing it in with Ludicolo and going for big reads to get kills. Once Lax does decide to explode because there's nothing left to sponge hits from, you can usually just grind them down by spamming wish with Mence/Bliss and doing bits of incremental damage with Pert and Ludi. Forre's explosion helps here too to make it a bit easier.
Second, Ludicolo cleans after Lax/Pert chip everything. These games usually feature a specially weak team with a Blissey/Snorlax that Lax/Forre kills. That, or it's an offensive team where Ludi outspeeds everything and Ohko's with just a little help from the friends. For these games, Ludicolo really needs to avoid getting paralyzed. Ludi prefers burn, then toxic, then para, then sleep, then freeze in that order. Being burnt or Toxic'd can usually be offset by leech seed, especially once rain is up and because of wish you can let him go pretty low before switching out if he does need to try and break some holes after being toxic'd.
Third, Pert survives and kills the physical threats. There are some teams that Pert just gets opportunities to tank a hit and catch an ohko with Ice beam or STAB 2x EQ. Those teams then think that the Swampert is chipped enough for the other physical threat, only for Pert to get back to 70+ after lefties and a wish. Once you get that far, forre tries to get spikes then booms and Lax tries to get chip then booms. By that point you have a 4-2 or 3-2 and you ought to be able to grind it out with wish spam and Ludi.
How I lose most Games:
1. Misses
Two Hydro Pumps, Fire Blast, and Leech seed are incredibly important moves that you click a bunch, but if they miss they can often put you on the back foot for a lot of the game. Sometimes you play a sequence several times over just so you can get a blissey leech seeded on the switch on a turn it has to stay in and soft boiled, letting you go Lax and get a bunch of health back while still threatening it out. Then leech misses and you have to do it all over again. Ludi kinda needs to be Hydro imo because he doesn't catch enough ohkos outside of rain without it but if you find a way to play that makes Ludi a consistent killer with Surf on this team, please let me know I HATE MISSING. I've seriously lost 3 games that I remember to missing 2 consecutive Hydro's vs a DD Tar. Since Mence doesn't exactly get a ton of Ohko's with Blast, you might be able to get away with Flamethrower, though the damage drop vs Skarm is also noticeable.
2. Hax but Flinches/Crits specifically
This team really plays on a knife's edge vs a lot of physical sweepers. A chunk of games come down to switching Mence in on a DD by Tar and then praying you don't get flinched while clicking Brick Break. The other huge problem is that Mence relies heavily on Intimidate to be a good physical wall. But that means he doesn't switch into Metagross at all and if he switches in on a Heracross/Medicham/Hariyama crit Rock slide, it goes from doing 30% to 90%. If you can, try to keep 2 sweep stoppers alive and also mix up going to Swampert vs Mence vs physical attackers. I know a lot of teams kinda auto-lose if they get hax'd but this team doesn't have the best backup plan compared to other 6's when Lax/Mence get flinched when going for Boom/Brick Break respectively and it's more susceptible to Hax/Misses because it plays such long games they're bound to happen at some point.
3. HP Grass Metagross
As nice as Ludicolo is with resistances to both Mash and EQ, it still takes a chunk. Add spikes damage and a grass type to prevent Ludi from coming back to life after each hit and Meta can run the team over if it has something to nail Swampert. The few times I ran into this, I ended up booming Lax early just to get rid of it and then trying to win with Pert + Ludi.
4. Spikes + Protect + Gengar (and good luck vs dusclops)
Forre can't touch Gengar, so if the opposing team has protect to always scout Lax, Gengar never has to risk coming in on a shadow ball. Thus you might have to deal with multiple spikes forever. Vs these teams, I usually try to get 3 layers up myself and beat them offensively, but wish only brings back 50% and all the offensive mons lose 25 from spikes, 6.25 from sand for Lax, and usually have to take a hit before receiving that wish. Most teams with Gengar need it to switch into Lax without scouting at some point, so this is usually able to be mitigated, but if you never get the play right vs Gar and spikes stay up permanently, you have to play out of your mind to last long enough to pull out a win. Ludicolo often feels like the only way to win these games.
The best I got with one of my Alts was 1500-ish, but I used versions of this team to beat some players who were much better than me. Semi Literate, Alejandro something, and Unborken. Plus, I'm not very good at understanding positioning, so getting to top 100-ish in an OU tier is a pretty good accomplishment for me. The thing is, I believe in the idea of this team; I just feel like I'm not a good enough player/teambuilder to find it's potential. I would love if some people here could look at this team and run with the idea to see if it can actually make a little noise. I don't save replays anymore cuz I used to do it waaaaaay too much, but since I wanted to make this RMT, I got a few quickly on an alt.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1757551699
I miss play a bit since I could've known Ludi probably wasn't HP grass after seeing Leech and I should've seen that Lax was in Dugtrio range after taking another ice beam. Still there was some hax on both sides and I think the team still showed that it could pull out some weird matchups.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1757715018
Once Lax, Mence, and Tar are gone, Ludi has a great matchup to just clean up. He doesn't necessarily get to, but he could've.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1758371772
Lax loves the matchup at team preview, but once Zapdos shows protect it's a pain. I don't follow my own advice about switching Pert into Rock slides until waaaay too late. Thankfully, no crit. I have the win pretty squared away if I can get Ludi in on Gengar once when it's 5v3, but he absolutely kicks my shit in by reading the double, Tbolting the ludi, and getting the para so it's slower than everything after Swift Swim.
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 76 Def
Brave Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
Swampert is one of 2 mixed attackers on the team and the most offensively oriented of the pair. EQ and Ice Beam are self-explanatory but Hydro Pump on this set is basically only used vs Skarmory or if you have to click a move that hits the TTar in front of you and does something to the Zapdos that might switch in. HP Bug is obviously for Celebi, who can be a massive pain for this team. But you can't just click it and hope the celebi drops, usually you need to Ice Beam it and do 30-ish, then bring in Ludi so Cel can't leech seed, then pepper it with ice beam to fish for a freeze or crit (though the freeze doesn't really matter) until it switches out at 60-ish HP. After all that, the second time you bring in Swampert, you can go for the HP Bug read and put it in the ground. EV's make sure you survive 2 TTar EQ's if you switch in into spikes on the initial Dance. That's a pretty specific situation, but the rest of the team can struggle vs TTar, and the added bulk comes in handy for a few other things. The rest of the EV's are in attack and wouldn't you know it, 180 w/HP Bug is actually just enough to get the extra Brave point. WOOHOO!
Snorlax @ Choice Band
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 32 HP / 176 Atk / 136 Def / 160 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Return
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Ball
- Self-Destruct
CB Snorlax is pretty self-explanatory as well. It switches in early game vs a ton of special attackers and puts huge pressure on the opposing team. Focus punch does not 2HKO standard Skarm after lefties and protect, but that means you have a bit of a mindgame after reading the initial switch. If you think they'll spike, you can punch again and get them extremely low; if you think they'll protect, you can go Mence and scare them out with Blast. An important note is that CB Return does 25.7-30.5 to standard Skarm, so after landing FP once, you can safely spam return for a 3HKO the next time Lax comes in to cover the future skarm switch. This prevents you from being trapped by Dugtrio when you do finally bring Skarm down. The biggest thing with Lax is that you absolutely have to get the Gengar play right at some point. There's a bunch of teams that snorlax gets through, but he can't click return freely if there's a straight up immune hiding in the back. I stole the EV's from a BKC video in which he said he stole them from someone else. I don't fully know what they all do, but I do know that they work pretty well.
Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 Spe
Timid Nature
- Wish
- Toxic/Roar
- Fire Blast
- Brick Break
The first of the Wish duo and second mixed attacker. Mence is the best counter to Heracross, Breloom (if something else is asleep), and Hariyama in the tier. That's pretty important because the rest of this team can definitely be broken through by those fighting types. Because of that, Mence has to be played very carefully if you do see a fighter so they don't read the switch with Rock slide 4 times and then win. Wish is mostly used to pass to Snorlax but on occasion is also sent the way of Ludicolo if they bring Pert into it. Fire blast is for Skarmory so Lax can threaten and it also hits Hera and Breloom hard. Toxic is nice for endgame situations and to keep Hariyama/Waters from getting too many funny ideas. Roar is an alternative to handle Baton Pass teams and rack up a bit of spikes damage if the opportunity presents itself, but is mostly useless outside of facing Baton Pass. Speed EV's let you creep past Heracross who are themselves creeping past modest Moltres. You could go 136 Speed and just get past all the Hera's but the bulk drop is kinda noticeable.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Def / 212 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Soft-Boiled
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
Wish Passer no. 2 and Panic Button no. 1. Blissey is Blissey, it usually comes into the game after lax has been worn down a little and really bums out specially offensive teams who were hoping to almost be done with the first blob. Soft boiled lets you heal quickly which lets wish be used mostly for bringing teammates back up, usually Mence but everyone gets a little love from time to time. Bolt/Beam is here so that DD Mence and DD Gyara don't get out of hand which is why I refer to it as Panic Button no. 1. An added benefit of Wish is that if you're at 60-70 and they read a soft boiled while switching to Dug, but you wish instead, the Dug is in an awful position. The first EQ will do 50-60 depending on the set, but you get all of that back with the wish and then smoke him with Beam. Tbolt also helps wear down Skarmory which is a big plus. EV's are Blissey standard, but more bulk might be warranted.
Ludicolo @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 200 HP / 216 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Leech Seed
The reason this team doesn't lose to Offense. After a rain dance, you outrun everything in the tier and Hydro Pump completely pummels everything that takes neutral. Ice beam lets you ohko opposing Mence and Breloom and leech seed lets him present passive pressure early game. His secondary purpose on the team is to switch into Metagross and Swampert since he naturally resists both of their main attacks (4x resisting Hydro). His threat level and walling prowess also baits a lot of explosions from opposing Gross which is mana from heaven for Snorlax (doubly so if you read it and sac something else). Ludi basically solo's physical offense after you Focus Punch or Explode the Lax and then Tbolt or explode the Gyara. His last big job is switching into Suicune and clicking leech seed. This eventually forces Cune to Rest at which point CB Return + Leech seed is super likely to 2HKO in sand and outside of it will force Cune to try and kill it upon waking up, allowing Mence to come in and kill with brick break. This is Max HP while still only taking 21 from sandstorm each turn, enough speed to creep the mons who hit 396 after agility/swift swim, and the rest in SPATK. Once again, just enough to get the bonus point from modest.
Claydol @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Atk / 228 Def
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Psychic
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
An older version of the team (which cdijk and experience has convinced me is better) used Dol over Forre. Phys def is preferred cuz the team already runs lax/bliss so spdef isn't really necessary. Having a thing to bait in and punish Gar is so helpful (moreso than having spikes in many situations) for letting lax run wild and keeping momentum. Atk EV's are enough to ohko DD mence/gyara after sand guaranteed. One common sequence vs DD tar is: mence on DD, pert on RS, trade EQ's, Dol on next EQ, Dol eats HP Bug Tar dies to EQ.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
Outdated Forre is Gone: The last addition to the team (I had a few versions with Claydol instead, I tried Cloyster and Starmie too). Here to clear spikes after Gengar and/or Skarm is dead. Also sets up spikes which fundamentally changes how much pressure this team puts on. Explosion allows him to be Panic Button No. 2 and EQ is good for killing Magneton and finishing TTar after it eats a Brick break from Mence. Usually I bring this thing in and click EQ twice for fear of Mag if I needed to switch into a hit, after that I'll be more willing to try and spike. At full health, I feel okay spiking immediately. The toxic and sand immunity is so helpful, but for numerous reasons, Forre usually ends up being the sleep fodder for stuff like Breloom, Venusaur, and Hypnosis Gar/Milo so the team can stay offensive.
At first glance, Defensive Milo gives this team fits. But in actuality, Lax just fishes for a crit and immediately smokes it after getting one. Even if Lax doesn't get the crit in 32 tries, it'll still have wasted 28+ recovers. For this reason, you should basically never explode vs milo unless lax is already dead. You can usually get through it without wasting a trade KO move by simply wearing it down. Spikes really hinder this team even with the wishes, so making sure they don't get up 3 layers and especially making sure the Gengar is dead are all super important. On the other hand, spikes for you are a luxury vs the vast majority of teams. They make the endgame go a little faster, but are usually unnecessary except if you're running into the Stalliest of the Stalls. Then you need them because those teams will outlast you.
There are a few ways this team wins games.
First, Snorlax gets 2-3 KO's before needing to explode. These games usually feature a ton of special attackers like zapdos, ludicolo, starmie, etc where you just keep wishing him back to full with blissey and then blasting through with return after getting the Focus Punch/Shadow ball read right early game. The other version of this type of game involves switching Lax into Blissey after forcing it in with Ludicolo and going for big reads to get kills. Once Lax does decide to explode because there's nothing left to sponge hits from, you can usually just grind them down by spamming wish with Mence/Bliss and doing bits of incremental damage with Pert and Ludi. Forre's explosion helps here too to make it a bit easier.
Second, Ludicolo cleans after Lax/Pert chip everything. These games usually feature a specially weak team with a Blissey/Snorlax that Lax/Forre kills. That, or it's an offensive team where Ludi outspeeds everything and Ohko's with just a little help from the friends. For these games, Ludicolo really needs to avoid getting paralyzed. Ludi prefers burn, then toxic, then para, then sleep, then freeze in that order. Being burnt or Toxic'd can usually be offset by leech seed, especially once rain is up and because of wish you can let him go pretty low before switching out if he does need to try and break some holes after being toxic'd.
Third, Pert survives and kills the physical threats. There are some teams that Pert just gets opportunities to tank a hit and catch an ohko with Ice beam or STAB 2x EQ. Those teams then think that the Swampert is chipped enough for the other physical threat, only for Pert to get back to 70+ after lefties and a wish. Once you get that far, forre tries to get spikes then booms and Lax tries to get chip then booms. By that point you have a 4-2 or 3-2 and you ought to be able to grind it out with wish spam and Ludi.
How I lose most Games:
1. Misses
Two Hydro Pumps, Fire Blast, and Leech seed are incredibly important moves that you click a bunch, but if they miss they can often put you on the back foot for a lot of the game. Sometimes you play a sequence several times over just so you can get a blissey leech seeded on the switch on a turn it has to stay in and soft boiled, letting you go Lax and get a bunch of health back while still threatening it out. Then leech misses and you have to do it all over again. Ludi kinda needs to be Hydro imo because he doesn't catch enough ohkos outside of rain without it but if you find a way to play that makes Ludi a consistent killer with Surf on this team, please let me know I HATE MISSING. I've seriously lost 3 games that I remember to missing 2 consecutive Hydro's vs a DD Tar. Since Mence doesn't exactly get a ton of Ohko's with Blast, you might be able to get away with Flamethrower, though the damage drop vs Skarm is also noticeable.
2. Hax but Flinches/Crits specifically
This team really plays on a knife's edge vs a lot of physical sweepers. A chunk of games come down to switching Mence in on a DD by Tar and then praying you don't get flinched while clicking Brick Break. The other huge problem is that Mence relies heavily on Intimidate to be a good physical wall. But that means he doesn't switch into Metagross at all and if he switches in on a Heracross/Medicham/Hariyama crit Rock slide, it goes from doing 30% to 90%. If you can, try to keep 2 sweep stoppers alive and also mix up going to Swampert vs Mence vs physical attackers. I know a lot of teams kinda auto-lose if they get hax'd but this team doesn't have the best backup plan compared to other 6's when Lax/Mence get flinched when going for Boom/Brick Break respectively and it's more susceptible to Hax/Misses because it plays such long games they're bound to happen at some point.
3. HP Grass Metagross
As nice as Ludicolo is with resistances to both Mash and EQ, it still takes a chunk. Add spikes damage and a grass type to prevent Ludi from coming back to life after each hit and Meta can run the team over if it has something to nail Swampert. The few times I ran into this, I ended up booming Lax early just to get rid of it and then trying to win with Pert + Ludi.
4. Spikes + Protect + Gengar (and good luck vs dusclops)
Forre can't touch Gengar, so if the opposing team has protect to always scout Lax, Gengar never has to risk coming in on a shadow ball. Thus you might have to deal with multiple spikes forever. Vs these teams, I usually try to get 3 layers up myself and beat them offensively, but wish only brings back 50% and all the offensive mons lose 25 from spikes, 6.25 from sand for Lax, and usually have to take a hit before receiving that wish. Most teams with Gengar need it to switch into Lax without scouting at some point, so this is usually able to be mitigated, but if you never get the play right vs Gar and spikes stay up permanently, you have to play out of your mind to last long enough to pull out a win. Ludicolo often feels like the only way to win these games.
The best I got with one of my Alts was 1500-ish, but I used versions of this team to beat some players who were much better than me. Semi Literate, Alejandro something, and Unborken. Plus, I'm not very good at understanding positioning, so getting to top 100-ish in an OU tier is a pretty good accomplishment for me. The thing is, I believe in the idea of this team; I just feel like I'm not a good enough player/teambuilder to find it's potential. I would love if some people here could look at this team and run with the idea to see if it can actually make a little noise. I don't save replays anymore cuz I used to do it waaaaaay too much, but since I wanted to make this RMT, I got a few quickly on an alt.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1757551699
I miss play a bit since I could've known Ludi probably wasn't HP grass after seeing Leech and I should've seen that Lax was in Dugtrio range after taking another ice beam. Still there was some hax on both sides and I think the team still showed that it could pull out some weird matchups.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1757715018
Once Lax, Mence, and Tar are gone, Ludi has a great matchup to just clean up. He doesn't necessarily get to, but he could've.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-1758371772
Lax loves the matchup at team preview, but once Zapdos shows protect it's a pain. I don't follow my own advice about switching Pert into Rock slides until waaaay too late. Thankfully, no crit. I have the win pretty squared away if I can get Ludi in on Gengar once when it's 5v3, but he absolutely kicks my shit in by reading the double, Tbolting the ludi, and getting the para so it's slower than everything after Swift Swim.
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