S P E C I A L O F F E N S E B Y T O G A Q U E S T
Here is a team I quickly cooked up in the team-builder and found it to be quite effective. It managed to peak the ladder at least. The team is a highly offensive team that utilizes techniques such as breaking and baiting to help set-up sweepers more down-the-line in the match.
#1 proof:
The team:
Before continuing onto the main team, I would like to illustrate the three sweepers whom this team are focused around. The other three Pokemon not in the following table are more just supporting mons that help this core achieve their sweeping goals, but this team is very much about the synergy between the following:
3-Sweeper Core
GAME | MON | STRAT |
- - - - - - - - - - early - - - - - - - - - - |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - mid - - - - - - - - - - |
| |
- - - - - - - - - - late - - - - - - - - - - |
|
*
*
*
*
Now
*
*
*
onto
*
*
*
the
*
*
*
full
*
*
*
breakdown
*
*
*
....
*
*
*
*
*
*
Now
*
*
*
onto
*
*
*
the
*
*
*
full
*
*
*
breakdown
*
*
*
....
*
*
*
Explanations:
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 236 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
Metagross is one of my favorite leads because he matches up well against most of the leads I encounter on the ladder. He is very straightforward to use, but it works. Meteor Mash + Bullet Punch + Lum beats most leads and most notably annoying status leads like Breloom and Machamp. Basically I hate giving Machamp leads momentum so this Metagross helps mitigate that. SR is mandatory and Explosion can take out a critical opposing mon if timed right. The leads he matches poorly against are Heatran and Zapdos but in those situations I will switch to resists to scare those leads out. Though lead Metagross tends to be played suicidally, I prefer to preserve him if possible because Bullet Punch and Explosion can have a lot of utility further down the line in the match.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 188 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spikes
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Stun Spore
This is the more specially defensive Spiker then the standard physically-invested one. This is mainly because she fairs much better against Rotom and Gengar which can otherwise be problematic for the team. Scarf Rotom in particular can outspeed all my major sweepers and hit them super-effectively with stab-SB, while also resisting my Jirachi's IH. Therefore this Roserade provides a solid switch-in in those situations and can proceed to status it or the Pokemon that Rotom switches to. As a bonus the special bulk is appreciated versus certain Rain mons like Special Kingdra and Ludicolo. Roserade also provides Spikes which in combination with my sweepers helps make them much more difficult to deal with. I was also trying Synthesis over HP fire which has the benefit of making setting up against specially oriented mons like Rotom, Celebi, some-variants of Latias really easy (as well as Seismic Tossers), but found the fire coverage better overall.
Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Trick
Now the main breaker of the team, and perhaps the star of the team (no pun intended). This Specs set is responsible for so many highlight OHKOs which opens the door for my other sweepers. Notably, Starmie baits Tyranitar wanting to trap and Ghosts trying to intercept a spin. They are all OHKO'd with the boosted Hydro Pump. In my opinion, Specs Starmie rivals Specs Latias and is even better in some ways. It has slightly less firepower but Water is better than Dragon offensively imo due to it being super-effective against Tyranitar (Starmie is not as Pursuit-able as Latias is) and neutral against Steels instead of being resisted. Also Hydro Pump is a guarenteed 2HKO on Clefable while Draco Meteor isn't after the the initial hit plus the halved hit. This Starmie can also bait Blissey and ruin it with Trick, which will greatly help my CM Latias out. Interestingly I have Recover over Rapid Spin just because it has more utility (I had Rapid Spin initially but found myself never clicking it so I switched).
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Pain Split
Next is Gengar, one of the best offensive pressurers in the tier and my spin-blocker. From my viability post: SubSplit set w/ LO is so dangerous especially with entry hazards. Pretty much nothing can switch in on it safely on offense with the protection of Sub in combination with the perfect coverage granted by Ghost and Fighting. Blissey/Clef are beaten through Pain Split/Focus Blast meaning Gengar can also break through stall. Gengar is fragile but he has three good immunities in Normal (Seismic Toss immunity), Ground (Earthquake immunity, Spikes immunity), and Fighting (CC, Mach Punch, immune versus Breloom that only have one fighting attack like the Leech Seed set). Obviously the main negative of using Gengar is Focus Blast; the inevitable miss can be catastrophic and lose you the whole game that you played so well up to that point. But overall Gengar is definitely one of the best offensive pressurers in the game.
Edit: I had the idea of making Gengar bulkier for the specific purpose of dealing with Blisseys with Ice Beam or Flamethrower better but ultimately found the idea infeasible. Gengar would need max HP investment to nearly guarantee that those moves won't break his subs so it probably isn't worth it. But it would be cool to have those attacks not break his subs in order to have Gengar be pretty much a full stop to all Blissey variants minus those with Shadow Ball.
However on second thought, maybe only partial investment in HP could result in being effective. For example, say having Blissey's Ice Beam only break Gengar's subs 50% of time could still result in success for Gengar, since it would still result in taking two attacks to break the sub part of the time, thus over a stretched out battle with Blissey Gengar could have a good shot at coming out on top with Ice Beam eventually running out of PP (it's nice that Pain Split has a wealth of PP). So investing enough in HP to reduce that sub-breakage percentage while still having enough SpA to 2HKO Clefable could be a good idea. What we don't want is what I have currently which is illustrated in this situation:
Gengar Sub
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar Sub
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar Sub
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar Sub
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar forced to Pain Split
Blissey paralyzes with Thunder Wave
Instead this would be a more ideal scenario:
* considering enough HP investment to give a 50% chance of breaking Gengar's Subs with Ice Beam
Gengar Sub
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar Sub
Blissey fails to break Sub
Gengar Sub but fails because prior Sub still intact
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar Sub
Blissey fails to break Sub
Gengar uses Pain Split
Blissey breaks Sub
Gengar Sub
etc... which leads to a better prolonged battle with Blissey for Gengar
I have been trying this EV spread now: 184 HP / 4 Def / 68 SpA / 252+ Spe
An Ice Beam from the standard Blissey gives these damage rolls: 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81
Gengar's subs have (307/4) = 76 HP therefore we have the following:
68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 72, 73, 74, 75,
Or a 9/16 (56.25%) chance that the Ice Beam doesn't break the sub.
The remaining SpA still guarantees a 2HKO on Clefable (also now Knock Off may take 3 hits to break the sub instead of 2) and OHKOs on Scarf and Band Tars with FB.
Some bonus calcs with the bulkier EV spread:
i. Now has a solid chance (damage range is 81.1 - 95.7%) to survive a +2 Lucario Bullet Punch after SR as well as a guarantee'd chance to survive that attack from full health (and can proceed to KO with FB). This variant of Lucario can be dangerous to the team since Jirachi doesn't have Fire Punch.
ii. Scarf Tar Pursuit now does 66.4 - 78.1% instead of 78.1 - 91.9% without the extra HP. This creates the scenario for Gengar to net a surpise KO on Scarf Tar's coming in to revenge kill after Gengar makes its own kill after SR and one round of LO recoil (the Pursuit range now requires two or three LO recoils where most players would just expect one round).
iii. The Gliscor stallbreaker set now has a low chance to break sub with Ice Fang.
UPDATE: Another option I was thinking of could be like Shadow-Ball/Taunt/WoW/Trick with Black Sludge. I am mainly suggesting this because I've noticed WishTect Jirachi can be pretty annoying for the team and this set could maim it with Black Sludge and a burn. It loses Focus Blast but the WoW can still neuter Tar. The main loss though is that Gengar is now useless versus Clef. With no Pain Split he is also less effective versus Blissey but the Black Sludge + WoW can still be somewhat effective.
Latias @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
Latias is good late-game when Tyranitar/Flygon/Clefable/Blissey are eliminated. She also offers good defensive value with her myriad of resistances. If she gets two or three CMs under her belt it could very well be gg. She has good synergy with Starmie baiting and eliminating Tyranitar, and also Jirachi. For example, if Latias gets a couple CMs and seems threatening, an opponent will often send out their Scarf Flygon and click Outrage. In this case I will usually predict the Outrage and switch to Jirachi, which will absorb the Outrage and KO with Ice Punch. I can then switch Latias back in later in the match and set-up again, this time with Flygon eliminated so the sweep is nearly guaranteed.
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch
This Jirachi provides this team with necessary speed control. Jirachi can revenge kill a myriad of threats such as DD-tar, DD-dos, and the odd Weavile. He also functions as a great pivot with U-turn and always gives the chance to get out of a tough situation through Iron Head chaining (some matches can be flipped through Jirachi linking some IHs). Overall Jirachi doesn't make too much of an appearance during the match, but comes in when needed and does its job well. Also he offers a necessary Dragon and Steel resist since Metagross usually faints early-on.
I would like to now descibe some threats to the team:
HIGH
1. Wacan Gyarados - This version of Gyarados is especially deadly because it survives Jirachi's Thunder Punch and can proceed to decimate the team. Honestly the way to beat is is maybe through Latias + Jirachi, but this is difficult because its hard to tell what item Gyarados has at first glance.
2. OTR Bronzong - Only beatable if Starmie is at high health or if Metagross can tank a hit and boom. If saved for a late-game sweep it can be real tough to deal with. Also Trick Room teams overall.
3. WishTect Jirachi - I've noticed these can be pretty annoying for the team after facing a few of them on the ladder. They don't like taking Hydro Pumps from Starmie but can drain the PP by Protect-ing on the alternate turns. Every other team member doesn't do too well against him either (Body Slam's para is especially annoying and Gengar doesn't do enough damage to it).
MID
4. Tyranitar - Interestingly Tyranitar isn't too dangerous to the team even though it seem like it would be with three sweepers weak to Dark. Oftentimes he is baited and removed by Starmie. Jirachi also provides insurance against DD variants and can outspeed even at +2. If the opponent maintains his Scarf-Tar through the late game though it can be difficult to play against. Metagross, if preserved, can also help a lot here with Bullet Punch and natural bulk. Also need to be careful with Jirachi getting trapped by Magnezone early, which can open the door for DD Tyranitar - which is why it is best for Jirachi to just U-turn early on in the match to scout for Magnezone.
5. Reliance on faulty accuracy moves. Unfortunately Meteor Mash, Hydro Pump, Focus Blast, and Stun Spore all have imperfect accuracy and the inevitable misses can be frustrating to deal with and can result in turning a win into a loss.
LOW
1. Scarf Rotom and to an extent Gengar - Naturally these Pokemon outspeed and hit the main sweepers of the team super-effectively. Luckily they are generally baited and eliminated early on by Starmie. Roserade is generally a good first switch-in to these. Other techniques against these guys are Sub on Gengar (meaning if Gengar gets a Sub on a predictive switch these Pokemon cannot revenge kill him) as well as getting some CMs on Latias. In a pinch Jirachi can Iron Head flinch these.
No team is perfect but overall this is a fun team to play due to its fast pace and violent nature.
Last but not least some replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1956322011-4zi3bwkjtzm9de6i4g8a38s5wcipruxpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1956330695-v5m1dj1x18lldsf3aesszxrht7h2qkxpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1956412787-ofnncypvxb5gomxc6wm7uvbpqtv0d7wpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1956418514-v1meyj8227aue93w1cy6l0g087lqk9lpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1957074961-i8vci2t1uvk62fzhkbrevcin5fui20ypw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1957242979-4gbzyuo9ib9hk6fhcvviagnu4jw2f0vpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4ou-1957419513-wmjs4ttj41zoo1xt77lka3x7j72ab68pw
Thanks for reading!
Edit this team got featured.
Last edited:
