[OU] The Slow, The Fast, and the Bulky

[NickCrash]

Welcome to another Rate-My-Team (RMT)

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Greetings fellow trainers! This is yet another RMT, with a team that I had to run through a lot of trial-and-error to make as effective as possible. The team was built with the offensive core Breloom/Manectric in mind, and the rest are there to set the scene for those two to unfold their talent and be used at their fullest extend. This team is a collection of the most ruthless criminals the poke-world has ever seen. In general, the group specialises in guerilla warfare, using underhanded hit'n'run tactics, priority spam, traps and wishes. They chip down your health, take out your most important members, and when you are down on the ground, they hit you hard with bullets and tazers. Breloom might even build you a tomb while he's at it...

Without further ado, let's introduce the gang.

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Breloom @ Expert Belt

Ability: Technician

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Mach Punch

- Bullet Seed

- Rock Tomb

- Spore

The source of my inspiration. This is a pokemon I always wanted to make a team with, but haven't been successful till now. It's a normal Technician set with good coverage options. Mach Punch deals with steel, rock, and ice types that are usually faster, while Bullet Seed breaks subs if need be and deals with annoying walls like Rotom-W, Vaporeon, Alomomola and Slowbro. Rock Tomb is there to get Fire types on the switch, as well as other things I might need slowed down. Remember: the whole gang works together to achieve their goal. If I can slow down a relevant threat enough for Breloom or another member to kill, I might have secured a win. I chose Spore over Swords Dance because Breloom is too frail to take hits, so it will make the most of its free turns. Plus I can put a stop to stall this way. EV spread to maximize damage output and outspeed relevant threats, while Expert Belt bluffs the sash.

Manectric @ Manectite

Ability: Lightning Rod

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Thunderbolt

- Volt Switch

- Overheat

- Hidden Power [ice]

M-Manectric is the special side of the sweeping core. Another underused pokemon with a standard moveset, but lots of damage potential. Manectric sports a pseudo-bolt/beam coverage with T-bolt and Hp-ice, while Volt Switch conserves momentum. Forming an Intimidate Volt/Turn core with Lando-t, they can even work defensively by nerfing opposing physical attackers not named Bisharp. This way Manectric either goes for the KO or gets chip damage on the opponent while returning to safety. Since Lando-t is slow, it may even get a free switch-in as it cannot take any hits whatsoever. EV spread for maximum damage and speed, while Overheat is a nuke for fire-weak foes I desperately need dead.

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 248 HP / 72 Atk / 188 Def

Impish Nature

- Stealth Rock

- Earthquake

- Stone Edge

- U-turn

Almost everyone here has used this guy, at least once. Earning its place as my physical tank and SR setter, Lando-t is an indispensable member of the team. It forms an Intimidate core with Manectric, has multiple chances to set up rocks, can take hits all day thanks to intimidate, decent base stats and a good EV spread, and may even score a kill or two with its Edge/Quake coverage. It's a Jack of All Trades and it works so well in tandem not only with Manectric, but also with Breloom, as it has nice synergy with both. When used against naturally slower opponents I can even bluff a scarf with it.

Latias @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 248 HP / 72 Def / 188 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Draco Meteor

- Psyshock

- Defog

- Healing Wish

SinceI have something to throw hazards at my opponent, I might as well have something to remove them from my side. Please welcome famme fatale, Latias the defogger. This chick is all style and grace, with several tricks up her sleave. Her main role is to tank special hits and use the passive recovery in the form of leftovers while chipping damage with Psyshock and Draco Meteor. Both moves can be devastating used agains the right opponents with zero SpA investment, courtesy of divine base stats. Most of the time, that's what you use with this set, however Latias brings yet another surprise: Healing Wish. When one of my sweepers or Wallbreakers runs low, Latias can sacrifice herself and restore it to its former glory, giving it another chance to fight, and me another chance to win.

Le Bronn James (Bisharp) @ Assault Vest

Ability: Defiant

EVs: 36 HP / 192 Atk / 144 SpD / 136 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Iron Head

- Sucker Punch

- Knock Off

- Pursuit

Every criminal organization needs a master assassin. Bisharp is our very own master of the Dark Arts, with a nice looking Vest and the most complex EV spread I've made for a pokemon. Since it decides to tank special hits, Bisharp has more time to work towards offense and setting its traps. With this pokemon, your choice is a gamble. If you stay and decide to attack, I can hit you first. If you don't, I may knock your item away. If you decide to leave, I may Pursuit you and potentially kill you. Thinking of bringing a Fairy against me? I can use Iron Head for super effective STAB damage, and I won't say no to a possible flinch. Bisharp's mere presence in the team forces the opponent to think twice before deciding to Defog or switch in an Intimidate user, which also provides me with a form of indirect momentum. EV spread allows me to outspeed Band Jolly Azumarill and put SpD at a decent level to endure special hits from things I can trap and kill easily, like the Lati bros, Jirachi, Victini and Slowbro.

Clefable @ Leftovers

Ability: Magic Guard

EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD

Calm Nature

- Calm Mind

- Moonblast

- Soft-Boiled

- Thunder Wave

It's true, I like pink blobs and I cannot lie. Clefable is the last, but certainly not least member of the team, as it provides a multitude of roles itself. First of all, it's a nice check to approximately half of the tier, and with a couple of Calm Mind boosts, it can even function as a Wallbreaker, dealing with any Dark and Fighting type in the game. Moonblast is the obligatory STAB and Soft-Boiled is there for recovery. Since it's a mixed wall, immune to hazards and status-sponge, Clefable is another answer to stall teams and a stop for several sweepers, providing me with more momentum for the team. The last spot is reserved for T-wave in order to slow down any setup sweeper or other things that rely on speed to destroy enemy teams. Since the rest of the team is relatively slow, it benefits a lot from T-wave spam, plus the Parahax is always welcome if I decide to set up with it or make a switch to anothe member to handle the threat more effectively. The opponent may even think Clefable is my SR setter, so I can keep bluffing the scarf with Lando-t until I manage to score a surprise kill or just stop my opponent's rhythm.

So... this is my Evil Team, and now all their secrets are revealed. I want to know your thoughts about this, possible suggestions to improve the team and notes as to what I might need to watch out for on the servers. Remember to tell me what you like or dislike about this team and ... why not even make suggestions for future builds?

I would like to thank you for making it this far and I wish you great success in your battles.

[Tomas Elliot]

Realistically, the only move Breloom will only use to deal supereffective damage is Rock Tomb, and even that only on the switch (it's not like it can take on Mega Pinsir or Talonflame one on one). Reason being, Breloom's firepower is infamous, so I doubt there will ever be someone so stupid to leave a Pokemon that is weak to Fighting and/or Grass on the field, when you send Breloom out. Because of this, I believe Expert Belt is not a good idea: I unerstand the guy is so frail that losing HP on every attack doesn't sound appealing, but Life Orb is going to be more beneficial most of the time.

Also, is Clefable a supporter or a set-up sweeper? Because the former doesn't need Calm Mind, and the latter needs Flamethrower over Thunder Wave (unless you enjoy being forced out every time Scizor shows its ugly face). So yeah, either give Clefable Stealth Rock over Calm mind and make her a full-on special wall (this has also the advantage of freeing a moveslot on Lando), or give her Flamethrower over T-wave and make her a full-on set-up sweeper.

The rest of the team is solid, so I have nothing else to say. Overall, nice work

[NickCrash]

Ok thanks for the suggestions!

I gave Life Orb to Breloom. It doesn't live as long now, but it definitely got a nice boost, which was actually netting me some KO's I wouldn't get before. Suprisingly they stay in on Breloom, even if they are fully aware of Mach Punch and Bullet Seed. I have no idea why. Perhaps they believe they can tank the hits. Who knows?

Anyway, I had a harder time choosing how to implement the other suggestions. CM Clef works as it is with little problem, but I tried the Flamethrower set as well, and it fits more than the support set, as Lando does not have so many options to choose from. I gave it Toxic, SD and SUperpower, but they all felt redundant. Lando forces more physical switches so it kept the SR. Instead, I turned Clef into a special setup sweeper. I haven't played long enough but it seems ok.

Here's my last battle with this team: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/oususpecttest-356424593

[Tomas Elliot]

Lando gets Knock Off, which is kind of a mandatory move these day. That was my reason for suggesting Rocks on Clef. But if set-up sweeper Clef and Stone Edge Lando works better for you hey, it's your choice

[Ironbound]

Quite a nice standard Offense you seem to have there, but I'd have a couple of suggestions.

Yes, like stated above, LO is definitely needed on Breloom for the necessary power. Clefable usually runs Flamethrower or even Ice Beam over TWave on teams like this which have fast Pokémon that don't really need speed control, but the choice is yours if you don't have problems with steels or ground types.

I would also say NOT to put KnocknOff on Lando-T. You have a somewhat different spread for defensive Lando-T, most usually just run 240 def and 8 SpDef; That 8 SpDef is needed to avoid being KO'd NY Mega Mane's HP Ice from Full Health. Also, Lando-T needs EQ and Stone Edge, and having U-turn as the third move on an SR set is definitely better than the subpar Knock Off, especially since you have a Bisharp for aforesaid Knock Off and you don't want to weaken it's power.

I really also can't understand your Latias spread. The standard max speed Timid with 184 SpAtk and 72 HP with Life Orb is optimal IMO for offensive builds like this. The speed tier is crucial, and this can't be understated. Lefties also makes Latias lose LOTS of power, don't worry about LO recoil, as it's job is only to check Keldeo and Defog things away. You can run Roost over Healing Wish if you want, but even that is not necessary if you play it well. I can't imagine what being slower than Charizard accomplishes; that bulk will not help you much IMO.

If you want more power, you can run Black Glasses Bisharp. IIRC the AV set runs 96 Speed and 192 HP, with Max attack, but this is flexible.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Viridescent

[NickCrash]

Quite a nice standard HO you seem to have there, but I'd have a couple of suggestions.

Yes, like stated above, LO is definitely needed on Breloom for the necessary power. Clefable usually runs Flamethrower or even Ice Beam over TWave on teams like this which have fast Pokémon that don't really need speed control, but the choice is yours if you don't have problems with steels or ground types.

I would also say NOT to put KnocknOff on Lando-T. You have a somewhat different spread for defensive Lando-T, most usually just run 240 def and 8 SpDef; That 8 SpDef is needed to avoid being KO'd NY Mega Mane's HP Ice from Full Health. Also, Lando-T needs EQ and Stone Edge, and having U-turn as the third move on an SR set is definitely better than the subpar Knock Off, especially since you have a Bisharp for aforesaid Knock Off and you don't want to weaken it's power.

I really also can't understand your Latias spread. The standard max speed Timid with 184 SpAtk and 72 HP with Life Orb is optimal IMO for offensive builds like this. The speed tier is crucial, and this can't be understated. Lefties also makes Latias lose LOTS of power, don't worry about LO recoil, as it's job is only to check Keldeo and Defog things away. You can run Roost over Healing Wish if you want, but even that is not necessary if you play it well. I can't imagine what being slower than Charizard accomplishes; that bulk will not help you much IMO.

If you want more power, you can run Black Glasses Bisharp. IIRC the AV set runs 96 Speed and 192 HP, with Max attack, but this is flexible.

Thank you for your suggestions, but this is hardly a HO team. All members, bar Manectric, are slow and designed to be able to tank some hits.

Landorus-T and Latias form the defensive core. Therefore, the Latias build allows for maximum survivability, as most super effective special hits deal ~30% when unboosted or not STAB. Same goes for Lando-t that specialises on the defensive, while still tanking non-super effective hits. If I were to let it take an HP-ice from M-Mane head on, it would be useless for the rest of the game, especially without Latias around to clear the rocks. Maintaining my Volt/Turn strategy is more essential than scoring an easy KO on Manectric (which has no recovery and will die from chip damage anyway). At the same time, Latias completely counters Manectric, which cannot deal significant damage with HP-ice, and even checks Gengar with Psyshock (Shadow Ball does max 69%).

If I were to switch to the 100% Clefable set and put Knock Off on Landorus, I might need to change Bisharp's set completely or find a different pokemon for the spot, like Scizor (banded) or scarf T-Tar but then I'd have weather problems and need to change more members. I'll check more options when I get the time.

[Ironbound]

Tbh I corrected it to Offense from HO earlier itself, because cursory glance are evil and I know that's a fault of mine. I was merely quoting the standard Lando-T spread, not implying that you ought to use it to take on Mega Mane when you have a textbook check to it in Latias, as you say. I generally don't compromise Latias's speed unless I'm using Mega Latias, but to each their own.

And perhaps it is feasible to retain Bisharp as a SD user. Just my two cents' worth.

[NickCrash]

I understand your points, and I've already got a pm from other people asking me why I like slow Latias so much

I'm checking various options. The version posted above is the most refined one. I had also tried to use Starmie as a Rapid Spinner, but Latias was much better for the role. What could I switch Bisharp for if I decide to give Lando-t Knock Off?

[Lil' Baby Rupe]

if youre going to be dropping latias speed then youre going to at the very least be 334 speed to beat max speed garchomp. your current set doesnt really counter keldeo at all since you cant recover even though you wasted so many EVs on bulk and you cant outspeed it either. specs keldeo ends your team.

id also say focus sash breloom is a better option over both expert belt and life orb

im not too sure what your bisharp evs are and at this point im too afraid to ask

you also realistically want to run some speed on defensive landorus to outspeed rotoms(219) who speed creep on BD jolly azumarill(218), meaning you want at least 8 speed evs to hit 220 speed.

also dont give defensive landorus-t knock off

[Ironbound]

also dont give defensive landorus-t knock off

This.