Promethean [OU]

[Devonaki]

When I got into Pokemon Online it was pretty late in the game. The Unova generation had long since made its debut (a gen I had not taken part in) and I was lost in a sea of stratagem after stratagem. I, who had never once battled against anything besides an NPC and had been unable to play the games since Sinnoh came out, was in over my head. Thankfully a few of Reborn's more experienced players took me under their wing and helped me build a team. They taught me the basics, advised my choices in builds, and helped make some of my favorite Pokemon viable.

From that came the Team I use now. My old reliable, my fallback. I'm stubborn and I get sentimental at the drop of a hat so rather than make multiple teams centered around strategic choices I make the best I can out of my few favorite Pokemon and stick with that team for good, making only the occasional change now and then to moves or stats. For a while that worked, I slogged my way through most of the Reborn league and even managed to peak at a 1300 score for a very short while.

But I've run into trouble recently, and troubles name is Saphira. Her triple battle team is beastly and its been beating my ass with impunity. My team's not built for triples and the reborn league rules state I can't change moves. So I'm stuck. I'd rather just find a way to use my current Team in a creative way to finally win, or wait to see if Saphira will ever switch to single battles or even doubles (unlikely but a guy can dream).

But even I can see sense. One person suggested I just start over and, while I'm loathe to admit it, she most likely has a point. So I'm presenting my current team here for review before a jury of my peers.

So without further adieu (and at last a cessation to my rambling), here's my first RMT:

The Promethean Team

Be gentle?

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Name: Grace

Item: Choice Scarf
Trait: Trace
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

You won't see a Gardevoir much outside of NU, so my favorite lead has also become sort of a personal trademark for me. Grace has reasonable Special Defense and Speed Stats, but its her base 125 Special Attack that makes her stand out. Fully EV that stat and her STAB becomes devastating. As long as they aren't too bulky and don't have a resistance to Psychic, Grace can two shot most contenders easy, and her SpA gives Shadow Ball enough buck to act as a nice defense against other Psychics even without STAB. With a scarf she can outspeed any unscarfed Pokemon, though that does restrict her to a Scouting and Revenge Killer role, which Trace allows her to excel at.

I use her to get an idea of the opponents abilities, take out enemies like Thundurus that are too fast for the rest of my team, and as a curveball of sorts. As an example, I lead Grace, you lead Blaziken, Grace traces Blaziken's speed boost allowing her to keep up with Blaziken which is ordinarily impossible without priority moves, catching the opponent off guard.

She does have her drawbacks though, her Defense is really low and the tunnel vision that Choice Scarf provides is always a pain. Her last two moves don't get used much as there's not much call for them (though replacing Will-O-Wisp with Hypnosis or whatever the fairy typing will bring me may change that). Dark types and U-turn are rough on my early game plans and Genesect quickly becomes the bane of my existance. Still, she's the corner stone of my strategy and I won't do without her.

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Name: Sirius

Item: Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 8 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

Sirius fits the "Glass Cannon" title to a T. He hits fast and he hits hard and he breaks pretty quick. He's mostly used as a Revenge Killer, but with enough set up can act as a Sweeper when needed. Ice Punch has been of immense help, making him my premier method of dealing with Dragons and Birds, and a single Swords Dance can even make him a viable threat to Skarmory, which causes me trouble otherwise.

He's got a nice +4 resistance to stealth rock and the access to ExtremeSpeed makes up for any issues in speed, but defensively speaking that's where the benifits end. The garbage defense means that a single super effective hit like a well placed Earthquake is all takes to drop him, though this does validate the use of Close Combat.

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Name: Toph

Item: Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch

Priority, priority, priority. The name of the SporeDance game is priority and with Technician Mach Punch Breloom plays like a charm. The set up it takes is a pain, and Breloom has more threats to it than a cat at a dog show, but the sheer amount of sweeping Breloom can pull is worth every bit of it. Even unboosted Breloom is a valid threat against pokemon like Tyranitar and Terrakion and is quite useful against Jellicent. Barring any Espeon shenanigans, Spore is the perfect opening for a set up, and Bullet Seed's multi-hit nature allows me a defense against Substitute users.

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Name: Wayne

Item: Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Thunder Fang

Gliscor is actually a pokemon who doesn't need the boost of Sword Dance to hit heavy, the +2 is simply a method to elevate the Acrobatics/Flying Gem combo to outright devastation. This guy sweeps like nothing else. Earthquake and Thunder Fang are added in for a nice bit of coverage, especially because Quake gets STAB as well. Poison Heal or Sand Veil are a non-issue.

Unfortunately gliscor shares a theme with the rest of the team, and that's his weak defense and his vulnerability to ice. The ground typing cancels Electricity but opens up a host of typing issues. Ice and Water take it out and Thundurus moves fast enough to hidden power it to death. Though that may be solved by substitute, which I've never had the patience for.

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Name: Gustave

Item: Leftovers
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake

The fact that Sheer Force Feraligatr is banned from most servers OU is a crying shame. Reliable bulk, reasonable coverage, and one boost is all it takes to get Gustave sweeping. Thunder and Grass moves are its only threats, so Gustave is usually what I switch in on to spare other team members pain, and leftovers allows him to hold up against Sandstorm sets.

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Name: Nidhoggr

Item: Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

The classic psuedo-legendary is my bulkiest and heaviest hitting team member, Multiscale allowing it to survive most hits (barring field traps). Once DDance is employed, little slows the Nidhoggr down. Lum Berry has the added effect of warding away Scald and Paralysis users.ExtremeSpeed is necessary to keep up with the faster Garchomp and Salamence, but Fire Punch is not as useful as I'd hoped, only truly useful against Ferrothorn. In my ladder version of this team I've since replaced the move with Earthquake.
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Soooo yeah, there you go.
Threats:

Alakazam- Usually leads, and usually dies in a Shadowball shoot-out with Gardevoir.
Blaziken- Half my damn team takes it out, and thats not even counting Gardevoir who (if it traces Blazikens Speed Boost) takes it out with impunity.
Breloom- I use it, I can counter it.
Chandelure- Depends on whether its scarfed or not, dangerous regardless.
Chansey- Breloom and Lucario.
Cloyster- Tough but Breloom and Lucario handle it.
Ditto- Never let this thing near a set-up poke, NEVER.
Dragonite- Either DDanced Feraligatr or Dnite
Espeon- Breloom is a BAD idea near this.
Ferrothorn- Gliscor wins it out but still annoying.
Garchomp- Speedy Psuedo-Legendary. Frak.
Genesect- Versatile and a pain in my ass. When I'm not being sweeped by this thing constant pressure from Dnite, Breloom, Feraligatr and Lucario are what takes it out.
Gengar- Ghost/Poison, meet a mach speed Psychic.
Gyarados- Either overpower via set up or Thunderfang it over several turns with Gliscor.
Haxorus- Dragonite, Feraligatr or Lucario
Hydreigon- Lucario is my co-pilot.
Jellicent- Breloom usually.
Jirachi- Earthquake is key to defeating this one, and I got quake to spare.
Jolteon- Not really all that troublesome.
Latios- Latios is fast, but Gardevoir is faster, also no one sees the Lucario Ice Punch coming, and DDanced Feraligatr ftw.
Metagross- Earthquake.
Porygon2- Versatile. Hate it. Respect it as an enemy but hate it.
Reuniclus- Easy so long as trick room is prevented.
Rotom-W- Versatile but you can corner it with clever switch outs.
Salamence- Moxie makes this one tough.
Scizor- Similar to Breloom and thus counterable.
Skarmory- Fracking robo-bird *grumbles angrily*
Slowbro- Shadowball from Gardvoir, though I do risk Breloom for a quick Bullet-seed clean up.
Tentacruel- Gardevoir or Breloom.
Terrakion- Tough but Garde, Breloom and Feraligatr handle it.
Thundurus-... >.>; (in all seriousness it takes some real finagling to take it out and is the bane of my existance. Gardevoir and priority moves are key in its defeat.)
Togekiss- Ice Punch from Feraligatr or Lucario, or just blunt force trauma from the rest of the team.
Tyranitar- Lucario and Breloom take it out quick, but if it has Pursuit then Gardevoir is doomed.
Volcarona- Gliscor or Feraligatr, though I have to do it quick, one quiver dance and this thing is dangerous.
Whimsicott- I have NO idea why this is a threat.
Zapdos- Manageable.
Celebi- Manageable.
Wuagsire- what is this I dont even- Breloom get it out of my prescence at once.
Sableye- No useable weakness so I have to blunt force it.
Sigilyph- Never seen it used.
Smeargle- Only see it in baton pass teams, which I despise but can handle.
Starmie- Fast little shit, but thats what Gardevoir is for.
Hippowdon+Excadrill- Managable.
Tyranitar+Landorus- arrrrrrrgh.
Ninetales+Venusaur- You're a giant-ass Dino thing with a tree on your back, you have NO business being that fast Venusaur. WTF gamefreak.
Politoed+Kingdra- As long as I get enough DDances in Dnite takes kingdra out, but its always a near thing.
Politoed+Ludicolo- Multiscale lets Dnite charge up to overpower these guys.
Politoed+Vaporeon- See above.
Chansey+Skarmory- I see these two in my nightmares sometimes.
Scizor+Rotom-W- Meh. Challenging but manageable.

Grace (Gardevoir) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Trace
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Sirius (Lucario) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 8 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

Toph (Breloom) (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Spore
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch

Wayne (Gliscor) (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Thunder Fang

Gustave (Feraligatr) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake

Nidhoggr (Dragonite) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

Edited August 4, 2013 by Devonaki