This is the first team I’ve run in since early gen 5 UU. As you’ll notice there are a few of my favorite pokemon from that time on this team. A few students at the university I attend had a tournament and I won using this team. I’ve also managed to get to around 1900 on the pre pokebank ladder with a few accounts. However, I feel like there is certainly still some work necessary to make this team better.
Clefable “Miss Murder” @ Life Orb
Magic Guard
HP 252 SpA 252 SpD 4
Modest
-Moonblast
-Fire Blast
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
Once I heard that Clefable got retyped I got pretty excited. I remembered that he had incredible coverage and Magic Guard. With a decent typing I felt that a Life Orb set would be unexpected and surprisingly hard hitting. The coverage reminds me of Genesect when he was useable in OU. I normally would go for power over accuracy w/ Thunderbolt/Ice Beam but with things like Talonflame who still get ohko'd I didn’t feel like it was worth it. Also, I ran Moonlight instead of Ice Beam for a while, but I like having another way to deal with Gliscor.
Ferrothorn “Beyblade Mark 3” @ Rocky Helmet
Iron Barbs
HP 252 Atk 56 Def 160 SpD 140
Brave
-Stealth Rock
-Gyro Ball
-Power Whip
-Self-Destruct
This is the 3rd version of Ferrothorn I’ve run. I know he’s normally used as a setter and stall with leech seed. Personally I feel that is probably his best niche. However, with all the hard hitting physical attackers running throughout the meta I decided to go for more damage. The Rocky Helmet plus Iron Barbs means something is losing about 25% of it’s HP if it makes contact. Poor Mega Kangaskhan…. Also, I prefer Leech Seed over Self-Destruct, but I forgot to breed it. xD However, Self-Destruct has been pretty useful against a few Talonflame who are trying to set up on the expected switch.
Chandelure “Pumpkin King” @ Choice Scarf
Flash Fire
HP 4 SpA 252 Spe 252
Timid
-Fire Blast
-Shadow Ball
-Will-o-Wisp
-Energy Ball
Chandelure is one of my favorite pokemon from gen 5. I prefer the Air Ballon set in general (4 immunities is super sweet); however, choice scarf allows me to revenge kill a lot of things. Also it’s easy to get ‘trapped’ by MegaGengar and give him the boot (unless he goes for the protect-> disable). I know it’s weird to run Will-o-Wisp on a choice set, but this allows me to bring him in on MegaKangaskhan and MegaMawile burn them on the Sucker Punch and switch to Ferrothorn. I don’t really like Energy Ball though, I only find myself wanting to use it on Quagsire, whom I can’t switch in on. I thought about Curse for a while, it helps to deal with the pink blobs. This is a place where I would be super happy to have some input from you all. :D
Garchomp “Papa Chomp” @ Expert Belt
Rocky Skin
HP 4 Atk 252 Spe 252
Jolly
-Earthquake
-Swords Dance
-Dual Chop
-Poison Jab
Garchomp has always been a monster. I’ve also always like the Expert Belt set, so I saw this as a great opportunity to run this set. He tends to be a pretty solid late game sweeper. Poison Jab counters many of the Fairies who switch in on the expected Outrage. Iron Tail might be better, what do you all think? Also, I don’t understand why I don’t see more Dual Chop on Garchomp. Base 40, hits twice puts the damage the same as Dragon Claw. Except, now I can break subs and focus sashes. True, it sucks I hit someone with Rocky Helmet and it has 90% accuracy, but I feel like that's a value trade.
Gyarados “Sharknado” @ Gyaradosite
Intimidate
HP 252 Atk 96 SpD 160
Adamant
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail
-Ice Fang
Gyarados is one of the most interesting Mega’s I think. The type change is just spectacular. I’m running a bulkier set so that I can eat a couple thunderbolts after transforming. The point here is to force my opponent to guess whether or not I’m going to switch. And while they’re worrying about that I try to get up a few Dragon Dances. Another notable thing is that MegaGyarados gets Mold Breaker. Meaning that his Earthquake can hit the Rotoms supereffectively. I chose Intimidate over Moxie because I end up doing a lot of switching (esp. against Talonflame).
Zoroark “Loki” @ Focus Sash
Illusion
Atk 4 SpA 252 Spe 252
Hasty
-Nasty Plot
-Focus Blast
-Night Daze
-Sucker Punch
Lastly I have Zoroark. He has Hasty, because he’s going to die from strong neutral hits anyway. Zoroark tends to be able to net a few surprise ko’s when used well. The idea is pretty simple, after something dies (early on, usually) bring him out looking like something that forces a switch and isn’t too obvious and set up a Nasty Plot. Ferrothorn and Garchomp are good candidates, as people tend to run counters to those two particular pokemon. However, Clefable can work too. Night Daze and Focus Blast give pretty incredible coverage, at least, until Fairies take the field. I know he’s not often run because of his terrible defenses, but he can, at worst, 2hko most things. Though there needs to be a heavy reliance on Focus Blast. With a base speed at 105 speed spec outruns a lot of the meta. Sucker Punch ohko’s MegaGengars thinking they’ve trapped something else. It also is pretty useful against other Sucker Punchers, only the fastest one hits. Granted a lot of his usefulness comes from how he’s played. He can’t switch in on something that’s attacking, and without setting up he’s not going to be ohkoing anything that has mediocre defenses.
That’s the team! I appreciate any comments and advice anyone may have for this team. I know it does not have a lot necessarily high tier pokemon, but I win far more often with it than I lose. I’m also hesitant to attribute that to my battling ability, I tend to misplay quite often.
Clefable “Miss Murder” @ Life Orb
Magic Guard
HP 252 SpA 252 SpD 4
Modest
-Moonblast
-Fire Blast
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
Once I heard that Clefable got retyped I got pretty excited. I remembered that he had incredible coverage and Magic Guard. With a decent typing I felt that a Life Orb set would be unexpected and surprisingly hard hitting. The coverage reminds me of Genesect when he was useable in OU. I normally would go for power over accuracy w/ Thunderbolt/Ice Beam but with things like Talonflame who still get ohko'd I didn’t feel like it was worth it. Also, I ran Moonlight instead of Ice Beam for a while, but I like having another way to deal with Gliscor.
Ferrothorn “Beyblade Mark 3” @ Rocky Helmet
Iron Barbs
HP 252 Atk 56 Def 160 SpD 140
Brave
-Stealth Rock
-Gyro Ball
-Power Whip
-Self-Destruct
This is the 3rd version of Ferrothorn I’ve run. I know he’s normally used as a setter and stall with leech seed. Personally I feel that is probably his best niche. However, with all the hard hitting physical attackers running throughout the meta I decided to go for more damage. The Rocky Helmet plus Iron Barbs means something is losing about 25% of it’s HP if it makes contact. Poor Mega Kangaskhan…. Also, I prefer Leech Seed over Self-Destruct, but I forgot to breed it. xD However, Self-Destruct has been pretty useful against a few Talonflame who are trying to set up on the expected switch.
Chandelure “Pumpkin King” @ Choice Scarf
Flash Fire
HP 4 SpA 252 Spe 252
Timid
-Fire Blast
-Shadow Ball
-Will-o-Wisp
-Energy Ball
Chandelure is one of my favorite pokemon from gen 5. I prefer the Air Ballon set in general (4 immunities is super sweet); however, choice scarf allows me to revenge kill a lot of things. Also it’s easy to get ‘trapped’ by MegaGengar and give him the boot (unless he goes for the protect-> disable). I know it’s weird to run Will-o-Wisp on a choice set, but this allows me to bring him in on MegaKangaskhan and MegaMawile burn them on the Sucker Punch and switch to Ferrothorn. I don’t really like Energy Ball though, I only find myself wanting to use it on Quagsire, whom I can’t switch in on. I thought about Curse for a while, it helps to deal with the pink blobs. This is a place where I would be super happy to have some input from you all. :D
Garchomp “Papa Chomp” @ Expert Belt
Rocky Skin
HP 4 Atk 252 Spe 252
Jolly
-Earthquake
-Swords Dance
-Dual Chop
-Poison Jab
Garchomp has always been a monster. I’ve also always like the Expert Belt set, so I saw this as a great opportunity to run this set. He tends to be a pretty solid late game sweeper. Poison Jab counters many of the Fairies who switch in on the expected Outrage. Iron Tail might be better, what do you all think? Also, I don’t understand why I don’t see more Dual Chop on Garchomp. Base 40, hits twice puts the damage the same as Dragon Claw. Except, now I can break subs and focus sashes. True, it sucks I hit someone with Rocky Helmet and it has 90% accuracy, but I feel like that's a value trade.
Gyarados “Sharknado” @ Gyaradosite
Intimidate
HP 252 Atk 96 SpD 160
Adamant
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail
-Ice Fang
Gyarados is one of the most interesting Mega’s I think. The type change is just spectacular. I’m running a bulkier set so that I can eat a couple thunderbolts after transforming. The point here is to force my opponent to guess whether or not I’m going to switch. And while they’re worrying about that I try to get up a few Dragon Dances. Another notable thing is that MegaGyarados gets Mold Breaker. Meaning that his Earthquake can hit the Rotoms supereffectively. I chose Intimidate over Moxie because I end up doing a lot of switching (esp. against Talonflame).
Zoroark “Loki” @ Focus Sash
Illusion
Atk 4 SpA 252 Spe 252
Hasty
-Nasty Plot
-Focus Blast
-Night Daze
-Sucker Punch
Lastly I have Zoroark. He has Hasty, because he’s going to die from strong neutral hits anyway. Zoroark tends to be able to net a few surprise ko’s when used well. The idea is pretty simple, after something dies (early on, usually) bring him out looking like something that forces a switch and isn’t too obvious and set up a Nasty Plot. Ferrothorn and Garchomp are good candidates, as people tend to run counters to those two particular pokemon. However, Clefable can work too. Night Daze and Focus Blast give pretty incredible coverage, at least, until Fairies take the field. I know he’s not often run because of his terrible defenses, but he can, at worst, 2hko most things. Though there needs to be a heavy reliance on Focus Blast. With a base speed at 105 speed spec outruns a lot of the meta. Sucker Punch ohko’s MegaGengars thinking they’ve trapped something else. It also is pretty useful against other Sucker Punchers, only the fastest one hits. Granted a lot of his usefulness comes from how he’s played. He can’t switch in on something that’s attacking, and without setting up he’s not going to be ohkoing anything that has mediocre defenses.
That’s the team! I appreciate any comments and advice anyone may have for this team. I know it does not have a lot necessarily high tier pokemon, but I win far more often with it than I lose. I’m also hesitant to attribute that to my battling ability, I tend to misplay quite often.