Zen

That nowadays, the respect for rank, seniority, and knowledge is dying out. That the love of learning was smothered by the mindless drive for a string of A's in exams. That reading and writing are two dying arts. That the world became a smaller place because people destroyed all that made it big to begin with. That some people think they're that damned smart. That pop culture and cartoons seem to have brainwashed humanity beyond creativity and originality (screw you, 9GAG). That people can't even insult others properly any longer. That everything apparently is doomed to fail despite all the trying and hoping. ... But then again, c'est la vie.

You'll be able to survive mamoswine's Ice Shard once, definitely. But I'd probably expect that to remove about half of your hit points if mamoswine's been EV'ed for physical offense, thereabouts (especially since you've gone more for SDef). I've run my share of ground teams, and without any speed EV's, gliscor won't outrun a nidoking with speed EV's. Since nidoking typically runs LO/Specs with Sheer Force and Ice Beam, gliscor would still take significant damage from a hit, if it doesn't faint to begin with.

The old Guard Split trick is just that - old. So I decided to try something possibly more destructive

Possible candidates for Tinted Lens include crustle, heracross (Scarfed), and also accelgor, if you think of it. Really, damage that is neutral of better can't go too far wrong

You know you're definitely seeing things when... Stone Edge and Megahorn hit 100% of the time (well, maybe not Megahorn), and volcarona ignores water-types when attacking Made as a bug monotype for doubles/triples. --- Butterfree (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Compoundeyes EVs: 220 Def / 20 SAtk / 16 SDef / 252 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Giga Drain - Skill Swap - Sleep Powder - Quiver Dance - Heracross (F) @ Custap Berry Trait: Guts EVs: 160 Atk / 96 Def / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Megahorn - Close Combat - Stone Edge - Endure - Yanmega (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 88 Def / 60 SAtk / 204 SDef / 156 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Bug Buzz - Air Slash - Giga Drain - Protect - Scizor (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Technician EVs: 100 Atk / 152 SDef / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Bullet Punch - Night Slash - Brick Break - Swords Dance - Venomoth (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Tinted Lens EVs: 176 Def / 24 SAtk / 56 SDef / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Giga Drain - Skill Swap - Sleep Powder - Quiver Dance - Volcarona (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Flame Body EVs: 228 Def / 24 SAtk / 252 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Bug Buzz - Fiery Dance - Hidden Power [ice] - Quiver Dance --- So, what is the point of all this? Well, yanmega and scizor are mainly there as insurance... but the rest are actually two pairs of pokemon that work in tandem. Butterfree/heracross is a combination intended to Swap the ability CompoundEyes onto heracross. Hello, Stone Edge, how'd you like 100% accuracy? And why, Megahorn, 100% acuracy does suit you much better than that measly 85%! Oh, venomoth/volcarona, how lovely it is to see Tinted Lens on that fiery moth. Now I can use Fiery Dance against those an opposing water pokemon, or even Bug Buzz against a ghost/fighter/bird without losing damage! Would abuse Skill Swap further, but for the bugs there's really only so much it could do. Another alternative for the CompoundEyes swap would be crustle, but it only learns Stone Edge and not Megahorn (can't maximize the accuracy boost).

Some players complain that togekiss and jirachi are the hax rulers of the game... so naturally, I had to try and see if I could replicate the hax effect without using those two This is a normal monotype made for doubles, though it could be easily modified for triples as well --- Chansey (F) @ Eviolite Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Seismic Toss - Aromatherapy - Softboiled - Skill Swap - Porygon-Z @ Focus Sash Trait: Download EVs: 96 Def / 156 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Tri Attack - Dark Pulse - Discharge - Recover - Slaking (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Truant EVs: 120 Atk / 136 SDef / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Body Slam - Rock Slide - ThunderPunch - Slack Off - Kangaskhan (F) @ Chople Berry Trait: Scrappy EVs: 152 Atk / 176 Def / 96 SDef / 84 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Fake Out - Return - Sucker Punch - ThunderPunch - Blissey (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Seismic Toss - Aromatherapy - Softboiled - Skill Swap - Exploud (F) @ Chople Berry Trait: Scrappy EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Hyper Voice - Flamethrower - Ice Beam - Extrasensory --- Barring kangaskhan, three out of four of the team's big hitters are viable recipients for Skill Swapped Serene Grace from chansey/blissey. And there's a mix between physical/special offence for the hitters, with physical being covered by slaking/kangaskhan, and special being covered by porygon-Z/loudred. The 'hax' moves are all on porygon-Z/slaking/loudred, whereas kangaskhan's there to just pack some extra melee firepower in case of idiots that need a bashing. Scrappy doesn't hurt either. Loudred was my personal choice due to its large movepool, and Scrappy. So even if kangaskhan goes down, I still retain the ability to hit ghosts with STAB moves Ambipom's also an option for this team, and so there's one in my PO boxes for this team as well: Ambipom (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Technician EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Fake Out - Fire Punch - Ice Punch - Brick Break It's basically some Skill Swap abuse (I tend to continue swapping out abilities even after I've passed Serene Grace to my attacker), minus the smeargle/slaking combination that Elias brought to infamy XD And this one works even with Sleep Clause

Hmm, grabbed the wrong charizard from the boxes when I was building the team - that one was the special attacker. Edited.

Hmm, I run paralysis since people tend to run Sleep Clause (the wussies) XD Regarding 'knowing' that the opponent is about to use rain, well... when I initially playtested my TR teams in triples, I observed a considerable number of rain teams. So yes, this team is tailored to hate rain, but I sometimes take it out for a spin against anyone else that's available for a match

Yes, it is a triples team. Forgot to mention that in the first post. Hmm, I'd rather paralyze them and smack them with Dig, for one. Otherwise, Spore's the usual on parasect. Night Slash works better than Bullet Punch for ghosts (read: jellicent/chandelure), and since the whole team is loaded with bugs, scizor not having a bug move's sort of compensated for. This yanmega is made to torture water teams - hence the HP Electric. Volcarona has both fire and HP Ice, so those two I'm not too worried about. Regarding Megahorn, refer to my earlier reply to Slim Shady's suggestion. And then there's the bug saturation question as discussed earlier with scizor (this team has leavanny, volcarona, and yanmega running bug moves) so heracross can keep his pitiful Night Slash

Pretty similar to venusaur, but not quite as hard-hitting. --- Bellossom (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 52 Def / 188 SAtk / 16 SDef / 252 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - SolarBeam - Sludge Bomb - Hidden Power [Fire] - Sleep Powder --- SolarBeam for decent STAB damage, Sludge Bomb for opposing grass pokemon, and HP Fire in case steel gets in the way. At worst, fire a Sleep Powder at the opponent and switch out.

Sick of venusaur? Have a sunflower --- Sunflora (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 180 Def / 60 SAtk / 16 SDef / 252 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - SolarBeam - Earth Power - Hidden Power [Fire] - Growth --- Pretty much a slower and frailer Chlorophyll piece, but if given but a turn to use Growth, things could get messy.

Made as my little anti-ferrothorn thingie in my electric monotype teams. --- Emolga (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Motor Drive EVs: 176 Def / 40 SAtk / 176 SDef / 116 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Air Slash - Electro Ball - Hidden Power [Fire] - Thunder Wave --- HP Fire dents ferrothorn pretty badly, which lures someone else in to get Paralyzed. Then, cue the Electro Ball or Air Slash, accordingly.

Not the best marowak set, but nasty when I used it with Sand Tomb --- Marowak (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Rock Head EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Earthquake - Fire Punch - ThunderPunch - Perish Song --- Pretty simple, really. Can dish out hits, or use Perish Song for someone else to come in later and trap the suckers.

Hmm, something I've seen of late in OU on the other servers: --- Golem (F) @ Custap Berry Trait: Sturdy EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Earthquake - Sucker Punch - Fire Punch/Ice Punch - ThunderPunch/Rock Slide/Stone Edge --- So, it basically dishes out a nasty hit to whatever's bugging it, and takes a hit with Sturdy (of course, it'd need a Spinner on the team). Then, once it's down to its last HP, cue the deathstrike.

*Refrains from commenting due to the potentially obscene nature of the comment*

What's wrong is the fingernails XD You really ought to cut them lest they break

Hmm, I'm iffy over the accuracy for Megahorn XD Never seems to work for me Otherwise, yes - the above was one of the older scizor I had lying around, so it has X-Scissor instead of Bug Bite.

Possibly obscene meaning of the thread name aside, the following two teams are bug teams designed to counter weather by using their own weather Both have also been made such as to enable them to have an edge in their own element, against opposing teams meant to function under the same weather (read: Thunder Wave). --- Galvantula (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Compoundeyes EVs: 24 Def / 232 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Thunder - Bug Buzz - Energy Ball - Hidden Power [Rock] - Volbeat (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Prankster EVs: 216 Def / 56 SDef / 236 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Thunder Wave - Toxic - Rain Dance - Encore - Armaldo (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Swift Swim EVs: 36 Def / 216 SDef / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - X-Scissor - Rock Slide - Aerial Ace - Earthquake - Parasect (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Dry Skin EVs: 136 Def / 136 SDef / 236 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Seed Bomb - Aerial Ace - Dig - Swords Dance - Illumise (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Prankster EVs: 216 Def / 56 SDef / 236 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Thunder Wave - Toxic - Rain Dance - Encore - Scizor (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Technician EVs: 120 Atk / 136 SDef / 252 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Bullet Punch - Night Slash - Brick Break - Swords Dance --- And if you're a drop of sunshine who hates rainy days: --- Volcarona (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Flame Body EVs: 228 Def / 28 SAtk / 252 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Bug Buzz - Heat Wave - Hidden Power [ice] - Quiver Dance - Volbeat (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Prankster EVs: 216 Def / 56 SDef / 236 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Thunder Wave - Toxic - Sunny Day - Encore - Leavanny (M) @ Occa Berry Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 156 Atk / 136 Def / 216 SDef Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Leaf Blade - X-Scissor - Aerial Ace - Shadow Claw - Yanmega (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 8 Def / 252 SAtk / 152 SDef / 96 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Bug Buzz - Air Slash - Giga Drain - Hidden Power [Electric] - Illumise (F) @ Focus Sash Trait: Prankster EVs: 216 Def / 56 SDef / 236 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Thunder Wave - Toxic - Sunny Day - Encore - Heracross (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Moxie EVs: 216 Atk / 96 Def / 20 SDef / 176 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Close Combat - Night Slash - Rock Slide - Earthquake --- Basically the rain team is built to hate sun, and vice-versa. However, both teams are also built to punish hail and sand to an extent.

Eh, thought I'd replied to this one... But yes, mandibuzz was something I'd forgotten about - mind went to skarmory with her Sturdy

Fighters are indeed a pain, which is why I keep two grass/poison pokemon around Barring ice moves or blaziken, venusaur and roserade can usually handle fighters between them. And unless they're lucario or those bastard conkeldurr, the TSpikes will hurt them a decent bit. You are also right with regards to the compromised synergy that comes with the versatility. However, the constant weather switches are also a rather effective means of baiting an opponent into switching in and out over the TSpikes. I'm tempted to try physical venusaur to get Earthquake in the Sun mix, to counter opposing fire pokemon, though. The biggest issue I've had while playtesting this one is me getting trolled by the Find Battle algorithm. Somehow, when I run this, I rarely ever run into weather teams at all, and instead get loads of matches against the likes of hitmonlee/scrafty/conkeldurr/gallade! XD

Update: Flying monotype variant of the Bulldoze team. --- Yanmega (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 120 SAtk / 172 SDef / 216 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Bug Buzz - Air Slash - Giga Drain - Protect --- Altaria (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Cloud Nine EVs: 76 Def / 180 SAtk / 252 Spd Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Dragon Pulse - Flamethrower - Hidden Power [ice] - Bulldoze --- Emolga (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Motor Drive EVs: 176 Def / 40 SAtk / 176 SDef / 116 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Air Slash - Electro Ball - Hidden Power [Fire] - Thunder Wave --- Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Multiscale EVs: 116 Atk / 116 Def / 76 SDef / 200 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - ExtremeSpeed - Fire Punch - Bulldoze - Dragon Dance --- Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb Trait: Poison Heal EVs: 196 Atk / 176 SDef / 136 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Bulldoze - Ice Fang - Swords Dance - Protect --- Gyarados (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Intimidate EVs: 144 Atk / 100 Def / 16 SDef / 248 Spd Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk) - Waterfall - Bulldoze - Ice Fang - Dragon Dance

Hmm, grass was never really a stalling type... so perhaps it's time to try and make a grass team aimed at stalling --- Roserade (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Poison Point EVs: 236 Def / 20 SAtk / 252 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Leaf Storm - Leech Seed - Sleep Powder - Toxic Spikes --- Cradily (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Suction Cups EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Rock Slide - Sandstorm - Stockpile - Recover --- Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Iron Barbs EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Gyro Ball - Power Whip - Leech Seed - Stealth Rock --- Venusaur (M) @ Black Sludge Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 116 Def / 252 SAtk / 136 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - SolarBeam - Sludge Bomb - Hidden Power [Fire] - Sunny Day --- Ludicolo (M) @ Lum Berry Trait: Swift Swim EVs: 152 Def / 252 SAtk / 100 Spd Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Surf - Giga Drain - Ice Beam - Rain Dance --- Whimsicott (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Prankster EVs: 252 Def / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Worry Seed - Substitute - Leech Seed - Encore --- So, the basic mixture for stalling is all there - whimsicott/ferrothorn/cradily. Roserade's there to start the party going by laying out TSpikes, or to send someone to sleep and plant Leech Seeds. Leaf Storm's for cleaning up potentially hazardous threats. Come to think of it, the cradily and roserade used in this team match those from Florinia's old team. Hmm. Basically, it's a poison/Seed stall team. Against metallic teams, I'd send out ludicolo or venusaur to clean up a little (see their moves above and description below). Hmm, so that left the question of who the remaining two should be. Since I frankly could not decide, I included ludicolo and venusaur as self-powered speed sweepers should my attempt at stalling fail. Between the two of them, opposing weather teams are pretty much screwed if I get my weather up. Initially, I had rotom-C for burn stalls with Pain Split and Substitute, but due to Will-O-Wisp's incredible accuracy, I dropped the lawnmower from the team. If the opponent is running SkarmBliss or chansey... then I'll just have to grit my teeth and prepare for a long match

Hmm, the Regenerator usage here is indeed nice, and I do agree that the slowpoke evolutions could possibly be more useful. IIRC, slowking's natural stats favor SDef, but I'm not sure on that. And if you really fear bugs, swap out for jellicent - barring yanmega, heracross, and scizor, few bugs can take on a jellicent due to its bulk and type. Plus, swapping out grants the Regenerator bonus! Maybe include more status moves and switch out frequently, to maximize your Regenerator as a stalling ability. Hmm, on alakazam... speed's always good, but priority absolutely WRECKS alakazam. As for Water Absorb versus Cursed Body, I prefer to use Water Absorb, myself - bait the enemy into using a water move, then suck it up. Cursed Body's never been useful for me in the past, since it never kicked in when it would have been helpful XD

So, I was thinking of how to further abuse the flying type, and decided that mere Tailwind in triples was getting boring When thinking, I decided that the team leads ought to be capable of shutting down the opponents' weather, and so Chlorophyll seemed like a decent mode of action. Which is how the following team came to be: --- Tropius (M) @ Yache Berry Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 52 Def / 252 SAtk / 28 SDef / 172 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Air Slash - SolarBeam - Hidden Power [ice] - Sunny Day --- Charizard (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Solar Power EVs: 84 Atk / 124 Def / 156 SDef / 144 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) - Flare Blitz - Earthquake - Dragon Claw - Dragon Dance --- Jumpluff (M) @ Focus Sash Trait: Chlorophyll EVs: 76 Def / 252 SAtk / 176 Spd Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) - Giga Drain - Hidden Power [Fire] - Sleep Powder - Sunny Day --- Staraptor (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Intimidate EVs: 128 Atk / 16 Def / 112 SDef / 252 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Brave Bird - Close Combat - U-turn - Roost --- Pauline (Skarmory) (F) @ Lum Berry Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SDef Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk) - Drill Peck - Rock Slide - Tailwind - Roost --- Jack (Salamence) (M) @ Yache Berry Trait: Intimidate EVs: 96 Atk / 136 Def / 128 SDef / 148 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Dragon Claw - Earthquake - Rock Slide - Fire Fang --- Basically, it's a triples concept that is almost consisting of two separate teams. The first three form a Sun-based line-up that can dish out some decent damage, and of course nullifying all weather aside from Sun itself. Tropius and charizard will provide the bulk of the firepower, and jumpluff annoys the opposition by triggering Sunny Day and Sleep Powder if possible. If against a rain team, tropius could demolish the opposition via Solarbeam/Air Slash, whereas charizard just goes for the big dirty and shakes the hell out of them with EQ (considering the number of scizor/ferrothorn/forretress I see in Rain, she's also a decent sweeper if the Sun goes up). Against Sand teams, tropius again can punish them with Solarbeam/HP Ice. Jumpluff could even dent an excadrill badly with HP Fire in preparation for the EQ from charizard, if the Sun goes up. For Hail teams, they are quite simply screwed if my Sun goes up - all three of the opening line-up are quite capable of beating down ice pokemon if they get the jump on them. Now, the second half of the team is meant to come in late, if it comes in at all. Why staraptor and salamence, you may ask? Surely dragonite beats salamence? The answer lies in Intimidate. Assuming that the opening line has done its work and handicapped the opposition to an extent, those two reduce the enemies' offensive ability merely by being sent out. Skarmory is a bitch as always that sets up the Tailwind to allow staraptor/salamence to rampage on their opponents. Regarding weaknesses, ice is the main problem, but between the Sash and Yache Berries, things ought to be manageable. Rocks are also a pain, but barring TR, they aren't likely to be outspeeding the birdies. No gliscor since that would have only increased the ice weakness. Electric pokemon are also a concern, but it all then breaks down into a question of speed - the amount of damage that can be dealt out by the team pretty much ends them if they don't go first.

Between the three of us, we play doubles/triples a decent bit - a two turn setup is already a stretch, believe me. Frankly, I'd prefer to minimize setup, or even start attacking right off the bat. In fact, I myself have only ever made one team with a two-turn setup, and that had a higher rate of failure than the other doubles/triples teams