With arena trap recently banned, I want to take this opportunity to post one of, if not my favorite team that I've ever built. I made this team for the playoffs of SPL X, using it in the semifinals vs DBC. Dugtrio seemed to catch on (especially in combination with Clefable) during SPL XI, but as of the time this team was made, Dugtrio was still a relatively rare sight. Players seemed to be afraid to use it because of the lack of defensive utility that it offered teams, as well as the free setup opportunities it offered some of the premier sweepers at the time such as Dragonite and Gyarados.
Teambuilding Process
I was talking to August before the week about how to approach a Dugtrio team, as I wasn't a fan of the few dual trapper teams that had utilized it throughout the season. He offered me a Jirachi set which seemed to be a perfect lure to a lot of pokemon that Dugtrio trapped with an early game u-turn. Everyone knows how valuable defensive Rachi is, but it has a lot of vulnerabilities such as Heatran, Magnezone and substitute Jirachi to name a few. The set he showed me was less about stalling out games with the combination of slam/wish/protect, and more about setting rocks and gaining early momentum that was often impossible for the opponent to recover from.
I was trying to think of something that would benefit from the most common Trio victims, and screech had just started to catch on as a tech to take on the common at the time defensive Clef with knock off. I tried to think of something that would take advantage of Clef's removal, as a lot of teams relied solely on it (as well as Tyranitar, if not spdef Tran - all handled by Dugtrio) as their means of special walling. I thought back to one of my very favorite teams from when I first joined smogon a decade back: Phil's infamous team of torment. I remembered pokesav'ing that team in for use on wifi battles, and the how annoying it was for opponents to try to play around a Heatran with a sub up, especially with some form of hazards.
Speaking of hazards, the best hazard to pair with torment tran in my opinion was always toxic spikes. Walls that weren't trappable by Dugtrio, such as Blissey and Milotic could easily be defeated with multiple layers of the poisonous spikes down. They also help tremendously vs. common water pokemon that Heatran naturally has trouble with, such as Swampert or Suicune, and the chip damage can even add up vs Starmie, as opposed to it being able to simply recover off spikes damage freely while you lava plume for 20%. Roserade also granted a nice water resist, as my team was lacking in that department, especially without any real recovery on Jirachi. I noticed my team might have some trouble with Gliscor at this point, so I opted for a fast spread with hp ice to try to combat that.
Even with Roserade, I was still pretty weak to water types, especially with such an offensive spread that I'd grown to prefer, even outside of the lead position. I felt the utility of a fast sleep powder and strong leaf storm outweighed the limited defensive utility a bulky rade had, especially on a team that relies so much on maintaining momentum. My team was also incredibly slow, and I lacked a revenge killer. Scarf Latias was a perfect fit, being able to switch into water moves, revenge the main DDers, and even outspeed scarf Flygon. Trick is also a perfect fit with torment Tran, often giving it a free substitute due to the nice inherent type synergy between Lati/Tran. Once they're locked into a move and get hit with torment, they have no choice but to struggle. Latias also benefits from being a danger lategame after Tyranitar has been trapped, as its other checks are either easily trapped as well, or set up bait for Heatran (defensive Rachi).
At this point I only had a single ground resist, and my only solid fighting resist was easily pursuit trapped. I needed insurance vs lucario, especially as I knew DBC seemed to favor the pokemon. I also wanted a back up check for things like Dragonite or Tyranitar incase my first line of defense fell. I also had a pretty nasty weakness to scarf Flygon if I managed to mess up and get Latias pursuited. Gliscor fit perfectly, covering all the types I was weak to nicely. The taunt set also offered some nice stallbreaking capabilities, especially in combination with Rose's tspikes.
A Closer Look
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- U-turn
- Protect
- Iron Head
- Stealth Rock
Full credit to August for this genius set. Jirachi nearly always starts the match off with momentum on your side. Stealth rock was easily set vs. nearly every lead save for Heatran, which could be scouted for a free switch with protect. Protect offered additional utility vs scarf Flygon, pokemon attempting to trick, and finally just free recovery. U-turn is the crux of the set, allowing Jirachi to take an attack and pivot to a counter, be it Dugtrio for the trap, or Roserade for early sleep/spikes. It also allowed you to escape Magnezone for a free Dugtrio trap, which happened in my semis game. Another nice use was that u-turn into dugtrio eliminated all but the bulkiest starmie, guaranteeing your tspikes on the field without requiring the use of a spinblocker. The lowered speed EV allowed Jirachi to tank a body slam from Jirachi before u-turning out. With the chip, you could immediately eliminate less defensive Jirachi with Dugtrio, or if you could tell from the calc that it would survive the follow up EQ, a free substitute with heatran. Iron Head rounded out the set as a way to hit ghosts, and body slam conflicted with toxic spikes and lava plume burns. It had the nice benefit of flinching slower grounded foes with toxic spikes - I'd flinched a swampert down with a layer or two up on multiple occasions. Evs are from before the era of impish Jirachi, but the spdef served me well as a buffer for attacks like Starmie's hydro pump and Latias' draco, especially as I don't want to take any chip damage on my secondary steel. The def evs limited dugtrio's ability to revenge kill (95% max), while maintaining most of the special defense that made Jirachi such an effective wall. Even in a metagame more heavily populated with dug, I'd keep the spdef, as without wishtect, Jirachi isn't lasting full games.
Dugtrio @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 16 HP / 240 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Pursuit
- Screech
- Aerial Ace
Dugtrio hardly needs an introduction at this point. The innovation of screech a few months prior was massive, as knock off clefable had started to gain a lot of steam (by far the most common set as of SPL X), which would easily shut down an effort to trap without screech. Aerial Ace is solely for Breloom, which seems adequately handled by rose + lati + Gliscor, but rose is one of the first members to die, Latias is easily trapped, and Gliscor without a flying move can be a shaky check. Pursuit is mainly to handle Gengar, who can be a large threat to this team. The way to play around it is to pivot to Jirachi on the shadow balls, break any substitutes, and sacrifice yourself while life orb damage builds up. Dugtrio can then come in and trap with pursuit, as long as you don't need it to trap any other targets (watch out for being pursuited by tar in return if you haven't trapped it yet!). Evs here are simple, but 16 hp evs come out of attack as they allow you to survive two seismic tosses from Clefable with stealth rock on the field, which is essential for being able to trap it properly. Many players drop to 224 speed, as there is nothing in OU between 365 and 372 speed other than opposing trio, but I wanted the extra insurance for dug because I had multiple pokemon that could be trapped myself.
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 60 SpD / 200 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Substitute
- Torment
- Lava Plume
The star of the show himself, Heatran. Once tspikes are up and you're behind a sub, Heatran can be nearly impossible to stop. Alternating between protect and substitute can quickly wear down grounded checks. Lava plume has perfect synergy, offering a 30% burn chance vs pokemon that can avoid the grounded hazards. Torment is the crux of the set - once behind a substitute it can be impossible to keep the sub down for the remainder of the game. With Heatran's plethora of resistances, many pokemon only have one move that can break the substitute, allowing for another substitute to be put up once tormented. With protect thrown in to block attempts to break the sub, Heatran gains a shitload of free turns. Heatran also pairs perfectly with Latias' trick. When faced with a choice locked pokemon under the effect of torment, they have no choice but to struggle on the 2nd turn. Protect blocks any attempt to break the sub, forcing switches and a new cycle of torment. When this team was created, this pokemon was all but forgotten about, but I'm glad to see it has regained some use again, as it is fantastic on the right team composition. As for the evs, I wanted to ensure that I outsped max speed adamant Dragonite/Gyarados, with a few more points thrown in for good measure against jolly max speed agility Metagross and the rare jolly Breloom. The rest of the evs are poured into spdef, as that is the primary side of the spectrum Heatran gets hit by.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Sleep Powder
- Toxic Spikes
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Ice]
The team wouldn't function without toxic spikes, and Roserade is the premier setter. As mentioned before, it also offers a handy water resist. Although I'm not leading with it, (as a side note: I think lead roserade is relatively poor; lots of anti-leads prepare for rose specifically. I think it has better use midgame) I still decided to use what is essentially the lead set, with very minor changes. Since it isn't in the lead, focus sash is useless, so black sludge offers minimal recovery and dissuades trick from things like Rotom-A. Midgame rose can be a bit of a surprise, and black sludge can bluff the bulky set with spikes, so often times a fast, fully invested leaf storm can be devastating. I opted for hidden power ice as opposed to fire, as I have heatran to cover the pokemon it hits. Pokemon like Skarmory can be slept, set up on, and then pivoted instead of chipped by a relatively weak hidden power. The coverage on Breloom is maintained as well. Ice's main target was Dragonite, as you outspeed and ohko if they aren't holding a yache berry. Another benefit was ohking Gliscor, who can be a pain to deal with in certain game scenarios. I got some shit from my teammates for the evs, but they're straightforward. You still outspeed base 100 neutral, and the only other pokemon you'd encounter with 306 speed are opposing Roserade (should be dead by the time you hit the field), or Lucario, who you don't want to mess with without hp fire. Might as well take the extra 6 hp points for tanking superpowers from Breloom and water attacks.
Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Trick
Scarf Latias is an underrated threat. It is complete pursuit bait, but if you can play around that, it is easily as dangerous as specs or any of the other options. Latias was mainly included on this team to revenge +1 gyara/nite, and absorb water attacks. Thunderbolt is needed to revenge Gyarados efficiently, and it also helps with agility Empoleon. Trick is amazing here, as it facilitates Heatran while helping to break stall, and offering Latias utility in matchups where its revenge killing isn't needed, such as vs. stall. In the last slot, I usually prefer another utility option such as thunder wave or healing wish, but my Heatran matchup if it evades Dugtrio ultimately isn't great, so I was forced to opt for surf. It can also be helpful vs Tyranitar, given you double out a few times and and allow it to be chipped by rocks + tspikes. I normally prefer to creep jolly Flygon and give Latias a slight amount of bulk, but this team is ultimately pretty damn weak to jolly agility Metagross, so I chose to run max speed to outspeed it by one point and trick, locking it into mash/ice punch.
Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Roost
Gliscor is the glue that holds the team together, and coincidentally the primary stallbreaker. Torment tran + scarf lati give the team a fantastic offensive matchup, but Gliscor really solidifies the defensive one with its ability to taunt and prevent recover in combination with toxic spikes. Gliscor also provides insurance vs. physical threats, such as a scarf Flygon counter, Lucario check and insurance vs Breloom/Dragonite. Earthquake and roost are a given, while taunt is chosen to stallbreak and to prevent Gliscor from being a momentum sink with its poor offense. For example, you can taunt a Starmie switching in, preventing them from using recover and gradually chip them down. Taunt is also huge vs. Skarmory, who is a very rough matchup if Heatran manages to fall. In the last slot, ice fang is chosen to deal with the various dragons that scor checks, while also getting a decent hit on Breloom. It also sees some use in the Gliscor mirror. Max speed solely for the Gliscor mirror; feel free to cut it to ~232 and add the rest to defense.
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-429736 - Torment tran cleaving through offense
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen4ou-470352 - Good example of Gliscor breaking stall with Tspikes
Closing Words
Thank you to BKC and Excal for the great idea to start posting DPP RMTs again! I used to love browsing the top teams back when I was a kid and the forum was active.
Thanks for reading!
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