This is a team that I built to allow Lucario to sweep as easy as it could.
Team at a glance:
Closer view of each pokemon:
Forretress-Lum Berry
Relaxed
252 HP/114 Attack/144 Defense
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Spikes
Gyro Ball
This Forretress lead is one of the most reliable leads I've ever used. It gets stealth rock up most of the time and can even rapid spin stealth rock away once it comes in later in the match or it has dealt with the opponent's lead. Gyro Ball is useful for common leads such as Aerodactly and Azelf. Metagross can't do anything to this lead and is often times forced to switch (unless it has trick, then Forretress is crippled) allowing me to set up spikes.
Scizor-Choice Band
Adamant
252 Attack/244 HP/14 Speed
Bullet Punch
U-Turn
Pursuit
Superpower
This is a set that doesn't need much explanation. Almost everyonce uses this set and everyone knows how useful it can be. Scizor is on my team as it can force switches with U-Turn and can counter Latias so Lucario can sweep easier.
Machamp (Guts)-Leftovers
Adamant
252 Attack/252 HP/6 Speed
Close Combat
Payback
Ice Punch
Substitute
Machamp is my Rotom-A killer. I know that there are probably better options for beating Rotom-A but Machamp has surprise factor. The only drawback of this set is that I can't use Dynamicpunch but Close Combat is actually stronger. However the defense drops are unfortunate and causes Machamp to switch out more than I would like. Otherwise I can just watch as Rotom-A try and burn me with the result of my payback becoming even stronger. Ice Punch helps me deal with Gliscor easier as most Gliscor don't switch out on Machamp. Substitute lets me use close combat more often as I don't have to worry about the defense drops letting the opponent deal huge amounts of damamge to me. This set is also good at dealing with the Latias with hidden power fire that Scizor can't counter.
Flygon-Choice Scarf
Jolly
252 Attack/252 Speed/6 HP
Thunderpunch
Outrage
U-Turn
Earthquake
If Celebi (who is another pain in the ass for Lucario) has hidden power fire, Scizor cannot be relied upon to counter it. Flygon helps in this reguard as it can u-turn on Celebi leaving a significant dent in it and allowing me to switch to another pokemon (most often Salamance as Celebi wouldn't thunderwave Flygon) to deal with Celebi even better. Thunderpunch, Outrage and Earthquake are for revenge killing Gyrados, Salamence and Metagross respectively.
Salamence-Life Orb
Naive
252 Speed/240 Special Attack/18 Attack
Draco Meteor
Roost
Fire Blast
Earthquake
MixMence that acts like a fighting resist. It has roost over outrage to help it survive longer. Draco Meteor hurts very much and helps put a dent in Gliscor that otherwise annoys me to no end.
Lucario-Life Orb
Jolly
252 Attack/252 Speed/6 HP
Swords Dance
Extremespeed
Ice Punch
Close Combat
This is beast is the biggest offensive weapon on my team. This is the set I've had the most success with so I use it. I used to run stone edge so I could deal with Gyarados as well but I didn't like it's accuracy. With Ice Punch I can deal with Gliscor though. However this set doesn't deal with Gliscor as well as it used to because as the September statistics show, more and more people are using jolly nature on Gliscor which means that they outspeed me anyway. This alone made me consider running shuca berry and an adamant nature but I still like outspeeding neutral Zapdos and Salamence and I don't like the loss in power that I receive when I lose life orb. This set needs to do as much damage as it can and I need Life Orb for that.
Now I'll go through the process I went through to decide each team member.
As I've already explained, Lucario was my choice for late-game sweeper as I've had the most success with him so I chose him.
To KO Zapdos and Salamence, stealth rock is required so I needed a lead that could get stealth rock down pretty reliably and I chose Forretress because I've used him in the past and was successful with him.
One of Lucario's biggest counters is Celebi as even Swords Danced Ice Punch doesn't 2HKO. Scizor is able to deal with Celebi pretty well do to its x4 grass resistance and access to pursuit so I went with him. He also helps wrack up stealth rock damage and helps dent bulky water pokemon that otherwise are a bother.
However Scizor can't deal with Celebi if it has hidden power fire. So I needed to find a pokemon that could help with Celebi while at the same time, reliably dealing with Rotom-A as Rotom-A is another one of Lucario's biggest enemies. Guts Machamp was a good choice because it can reliably deal with Rotom-A and not be obvious about doing it with payback + guts. Guts + payback also helps with Celebi because if Celebi thunderwaves Machamp, it's going to take a sizeable amount of damage.
These four pokemon have no way of dealing with Gyarados or Metagross so I wanted a revenge killer that could manage that reliably well. Flygon seemed like a good choice since it's very fast and hits hard with STAB outrage and earthquake as well as having thunderpunch for Gyarados. Having two U-turners on the team helps as well because I could wrack up more stealth rock damage that way.
Now the team was nearing it's completion. However I had no answer to fighting typed pokemon such as Lucario or Heracross. I wanted a fighting resist that could also do lots of damage in the process as well as having a reliable healing move. Salamence was a good fit because it could hit hard with Draco Meteor, Fire Blast and Earthquake, heal with Roost, and counter Lucario with its flying type + intimidate.
As you can see, all of my members are immune to toxic spikes except Machamp (but then he actually benefits from it) so I doin't have to worry about that ruining my day.
Well there's my team. It's been pretty successful for me so far but I wanted to get your opinions on it as I am always looking to improve. All suggestions are welcome.
Team at a glance:
Closer view of each pokemon:
Forretress-Lum Berry
Relaxed
252 HP/114 Attack/144 Defense
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Spikes
Gyro Ball
This Forretress lead is one of the most reliable leads I've ever used. It gets stealth rock up most of the time and can even rapid spin stealth rock away once it comes in later in the match or it has dealt with the opponent's lead. Gyro Ball is useful for common leads such as Aerodactly and Azelf. Metagross can't do anything to this lead and is often times forced to switch (unless it has trick, then Forretress is crippled) allowing me to set up spikes.
Scizor-Choice Band
Adamant
252 Attack/244 HP/14 Speed
Bullet Punch
U-Turn
Pursuit
Superpower
This is a set that doesn't need much explanation. Almost everyonce uses this set and everyone knows how useful it can be. Scizor is on my team as it can force switches with U-Turn and can counter Latias so Lucario can sweep easier.
Machamp (Guts)-Leftovers
Adamant
252 Attack/252 HP/6 Speed
Close Combat
Payback
Ice Punch
Substitute
Machamp is my Rotom-A killer. I know that there are probably better options for beating Rotom-A but Machamp has surprise factor. The only drawback of this set is that I can't use Dynamicpunch but Close Combat is actually stronger. However the defense drops are unfortunate and causes Machamp to switch out more than I would like. Otherwise I can just watch as Rotom-A try and burn me with the result of my payback becoming even stronger. Ice Punch helps me deal with Gliscor easier as most Gliscor don't switch out on Machamp. Substitute lets me use close combat more often as I don't have to worry about the defense drops letting the opponent deal huge amounts of damamge to me. This set is also good at dealing with the Latias with hidden power fire that Scizor can't counter.
Flygon-Choice Scarf
Jolly
252 Attack/252 Speed/6 HP
Thunderpunch
Outrage
U-Turn
Earthquake
If Celebi (who is another pain in the ass for Lucario) has hidden power fire, Scizor cannot be relied upon to counter it. Flygon helps in this reguard as it can u-turn on Celebi leaving a significant dent in it and allowing me to switch to another pokemon (most often Salamance as Celebi wouldn't thunderwave Flygon) to deal with Celebi even better. Thunderpunch, Outrage and Earthquake are for revenge killing Gyrados, Salamence and Metagross respectively.
Salamence-Life Orb
Naive
252 Speed/240 Special Attack/18 Attack
Draco Meteor
Roost
Fire Blast
Earthquake
MixMence that acts like a fighting resist. It has roost over outrage to help it survive longer. Draco Meteor hurts very much and helps put a dent in Gliscor that otherwise annoys me to no end.
Lucario-Life Orb
Jolly
252 Attack/252 Speed/6 HP
Swords Dance
Extremespeed
Ice Punch
Close Combat
This is beast is the biggest offensive weapon on my team. This is the set I've had the most success with so I use it. I used to run stone edge so I could deal with Gyarados as well but I didn't like it's accuracy. With Ice Punch I can deal with Gliscor though. However this set doesn't deal with Gliscor as well as it used to because as the September statistics show, more and more people are using jolly nature on Gliscor which means that they outspeed me anyway. This alone made me consider running shuca berry and an adamant nature but I still like outspeeding neutral Zapdos and Salamence and I don't like the loss in power that I receive when I lose life orb. This set needs to do as much damage as it can and I need Life Orb for that.
Now I'll go through the process I went through to decide each team member.
As I've already explained, Lucario was my choice for late-game sweeper as I've had the most success with him so I chose him.
To KO Zapdos and Salamence, stealth rock is required so I needed a lead that could get stealth rock down pretty reliably and I chose Forretress because I've used him in the past and was successful with him.
One of Lucario's biggest counters is Celebi as even Swords Danced Ice Punch doesn't 2HKO. Scizor is able to deal with Celebi pretty well do to its x4 grass resistance and access to pursuit so I went with him. He also helps wrack up stealth rock damage and helps dent bulky water pokemon that otherwise are a bother.
However Scizor can't deal with Celebi if it has hidden power fire. So I needed to find a pokemon that could help with Celebi while at the same time, reliably dealing with Rotom-A as Rotom-A is another one of Lucario's biggest enemies. Guts Machamp was a good choice because it can reliably deal with Rotom-A and not be obvious about doing it with payback + guts. Guts + payback also helps with Celebi because if Celebi thunderwaves Machamp, it's going to take a sizeable amount of damage.
These four pokemon have no way of dealing with Gyarados or Metagross so I wanted a revenge killer that could manage that reliably well. Flygon seemed like a good choice since it's very fast and hits hard with STAB outrage and earthquake as well as having thunderpunch for Gyarados. Having two U-turners on the team helps as well because I could wrack up more stealth rock damage that way.
Now the team was nearing it's completion. However I had no answer to fighting typed pokemon such as Lucario or Heracross. I wanted a fighting resist that could also do lots of damage in the process as well as having a reliable healing move. Salamence was a good fit because it could hit hard with Draco Meteor, Fire Blast and Earthquake, heal with Roost, and counter Lucario with its flying type + intimidate.
As you can see, all of my members are immune to toxic spikes except Machamp (but then he actually benefits from it) so I doin't have to worry about that ruining my day.
Well there's my team. It's been pretty successful for me so far but I wanted to get your opinions on it as I am always looking to improve. All suggestions are welcome.