Hey guys, this is my first RMT, so I apologize in advance for any formatting problems that crop up, and I hope you guys will help me out!
This team peaked for me at about 220 in PO Dream World, which I personally found pretty unreal given my lack of overall experience. I hope you guys can help me make it even better.
What I was going for is a kind of mix of hard-hitting priority and instant damage with enough bulk to outlast and chip away at the opponent's options.
AT A GLANCE:
Team Building Process
So the first thing I decided when I got back into competitive mons after a brief hiatus, was that I wanted to be able to deal with weather teams, in particular sandstrom teams. I also noticed that a lot of popular new leads in Dream World -Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and the like- are weak against LeadChamp. Also, Leadchamp's biggest nuisance that I know of, Slowbro, was almost nowhere to be found. So first came the Champ.
Of course, I had been researching on the impact of different new pokemon and how they were influencing the metagame, and I stumbled upon the Smog's article on Reuniclus. Upon further research, I learned that the cell poke worked well when paired with a fighting type. In went the Reuniclus.
When discovering what variant of Reuniclus to use, I settled on Trick Room to support not just Machamp, but my third pokemon for the team: the oft-underrated Azumaril. I figure that even if Gooey bites the dust, the leftover Trick Room will give Machamp and Azumaril some kills they wouldn't get, and besides, Azumaril can shut down Excadrill and Landorus, and is a beast in the rain with a choice band.
Now I wanted a good offensive pivot that could take Psychic and Electric type attacks, had flying/levitate, and could threaten bulky waters, something that my team lacked. I decided on Trick Specs Latias.
Now, with Latias I knew I was leaving myself open to Dragon and Ice type attacks, as well as pursuit trapping. So I picked a pokemon that could sponge those attacks (Heatran) and one that could set up on pursuit (Breloom)
so there you have it. On to the movesets!
The Team
Machamp @ Lum Berry
No Guard, Adamant Nature
EV: 240 HP/248 Atk/16 SpD/4Spe
Dynamicpunch
Bullet Punch
Ice Punch
Payback
Ah, LeadChamp, how I've missed you. This thing mangles most standard leads with Dynamic and Bullet Punch, and turns any non-ghost counter into a semi-counter with Dynamicpunch's confusion and his own status healing Lum Berry.
Generally speaking, I lead with Dynamicpunch unless the opponent is using a U-turn Poke, as a straight switch to what most people carry to deal with Champ (Chandelure) usually results in victory for me via Payback.
EVs are taken from LeadChamp analysis, I really don't know that much about how to tailor EVs but I know
Leadchamp has trouble with Mischievous Heart Leads, as it essentially becomes up to the Dynamicpunch confusion to interupt their priority status moves.
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Magic Guard, Quiet Nature
EVs: 192HP/64 Def/252/SpA
IVs: 2 Spe
Trick Room
Psychic
Hidden Power Ice
Focus Blast
A funny story: up until this RMT, I had forgotten to actually give the PO Reuniclus its EVs. Did not stop him from performing in his role. the Evs are standard for the TR set, and give Reuniclus the ability to hit tremendously hard and give it bulk to set up TR.
Reuniclus NEEDS AURA SPHEAR. Basically, just using Focus Blast is a huge toss-up, but I love that added sense of risk/reward. Gambler much.
Trick Room is a boon to everybody short of Latias should it remain up and Reuniclus goes down. Most opponents will try to stall Reuni out of TR, but they still lose massive chunks of their team in the process, and between Reuniclus and Machamp the opponent is hurting from the get-go.
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Huge Power, Adamant Nature
EVs: 232 HP/252 Attk/12Def/12SpD
Aqua Jet
Return
Ice Punch
Superpower
Azumarill is a great lategame cleaner, particularly against rain teams that have lost their water absorber, or sandstorm teams banking on a late Excadrill or Landorus Sweep. I'm unsure about how successful it would be to drop Ice Punch for Waterfall, but my motto is "never be unprepared for Dragons!"
EVs allow Azumarill to hit hard with CB Aqua Jet, and outspeed some things inside trick room, with bulk to take hits otherwise.
Latias @ Choice Specs
Levitate, Timid Nature
EVs: 4 Hp/252 SpA/252 Spe
Trick
Draco Meteor
Surf
Thunderbolt
Unsure how long Latias will stay in OU, but I sure do love that she's here now. This set is fast, difficult to predict (Trick) and dents a lot of things before and after the specs are tricked.
EVs are standard for choice sweeping.
Since Breloom loves to deal with pursuit trappers (for the most part, anyway), Latias makes a great lead-in to him. She just has to watch for getting stuck in Trick Room!
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Flash Fire, Timid Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Flame Charge
Fire Blast
Hidden Power Ice
Earth Power
Keeping dragons in check with the speed boost from Flame Charge, iiiiiit's Heatran! I was so stoked when I discovered that Heatran was able to self-boost speed with Flame Charge AND gained Air Balloon's ground immunity as well! This makes him great to set up when things like Garchomp or Gliscor switch in, only to be bombed by HP Ice coming from a fast Tran.
EVs are designed to get the most out of Tran's hard-hitting movepool, pretty standard stuff.
Breloom @ Life Orb
Technician, Adamant Nature
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk/252 Spe
Mach Punch
Spore
Bullet Seed
Swords Dance
Technician Mach Punch and Bullet Seed are FANTASTIC. Breloom's life span is pretty small, but if he hasn't already decimated the opponent by the time he's down, I've probably done something wrong.
Breloom has to be a lot more careful with Spore now that Espeon is flying its cute little self around. If I know there's an Espeon I'll usually Bullet Seed hoping to catch it and deal some solid damage.
EVs I just threw into getting the most oomph out of the 3-4 attacks that Breloom can get off.
Threats:
Stall: This team relies heavily on Draco Meteor, Dynamicpunch and Fire Blast from their respective mons to break through stall. In particular, Jellicent gives the team huge issues, walling Azumaril, Reuniclus, and Heatran, though it does fear Thunderbolt and Bullet Seed.
Rain: The only problems I've had in the Dream world tier coming from rain would be people who Drizzle + Swift Swim Kingdra me, and even then I find Trick Room to be a huge help in setting up Latias for the Draco Meteor.
Sun: Sun can be a big problem for me. Chlorophyll users tend to resist my main priority attacks (mach punch and aqua jet), and without using entry hazards I have to deal with the full power of the sun all game.
U-turn pokes like Genesect and Scizor also love getting in pokes to set up on Heatran, and without entry hazards to punish that can put me at a disadvantage.
No entry hazards: This wasn't an intentional choice, and I'd be stoked if someone could figure out a way to help me work some hazards into the game. I've been experimenting with a Scarftar/DD Tar that bluffs with Stealth Rock, but can't figure out who to replace it for.
Thanks for reading!
This team peaked for me at about 220 in PO Dream World, which I personally found pretty unreal given my lack of overall experience. I hope you guys can help me make it even better.
What I was going for is a kind of mix of hard-hitting priority and instant damage with enough bulk to outlast and chip away at the opponent's options.
AT A GLANCE:
Team Building Process
So the first thing I decided when I got back into competitive mons after a brief hiatus, was that I wanted to be able to deal with weather teams, in particular sandstrom teams. I also noticed that a lot of popular new leads in Dream World -Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and the like- are weak against LeadChamp. Also, Leadchamp's biggest nuisance that I know of, Slowbro, was almost nowhere to be found. So first came the Champ.
Of course, I had been researching on the impact of different new pokemon and how they were influencing the metagame, and I stumbled upon the Smog's article on Reuniclus. Upon further research, I learned that the cell poke worked well when paired with a fighting type. In went the Reuniclus.
When discovering what variant of Reuniclus to use, I settled on Trick Room to support not just Machamp, but my third pokemon for the team: the oft-underrated Azumaril. I figure that even if Gooey bites the dust, the leftover Trick Room will give Machamp and Azumaril some kills they wouldn't get, and besides, Azumaril can shut down Excadrill and Landorus, and is a beast in the rain with a choice band.
Now I wanted a good offensive pivot that could take Psychic and Electric type attacks, had flying/levitate, and could threaten bulky waters, something that my team lacked. I decided on Trick Specs Latias.
Now, with Latias I knew I was leaving myself open to Dragon and Ice type attacks, as well as pursuit trapping. So I picked a pokemon that could sponge those attacks (Heatran) and one that could set up on pursuit (Breloom)
so there you have it. On to the movesets!
The Team
Machamp @ Lum Berry
No Guard, Adamant Nature
EV: 240 HP/248 Atk/16 SpD/4Spe
Dynamicpunch
Bullet Punch
Ice Punch
Payback
Ah, LeadChamp, how I've missed you. This thing mangles most standard leads with Dynamic and Bullet Punch, and turns any non-ghost counter into a semi-counter with Dynamicpunch's confusion and his own status healing Lum Berry.
Generally speaking, I lead with Dynamicpunch unless the opponent is using a U-turn Poke, as a straight switch to what most people carry to deal with Champ (Chandelure) usually results in victory for me via Payback.
EVs are taken from LeadChamp analysis, I really don't know that much about how to tailor EVs but I know
Leadchamp has trouble with Mischievous Heart Leads, as it essentially becomes up to the Dynamicpunch confusion to interupt their priority status moves.
Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Magic Guard, Quiet Nature
EVs: 192HP/64 Def/252/SpA
IVs: 2 Spe
Trick Room
Psychic
Hidden Power Ice
Focus Blast
A funny story: up until this RMT, I had forgotten to actually give the PO Reuniclus its EVs. Did not stop him from performing in his role. the Evs are standard for the TR set, and give Reuniclus the ability to hit tremendously hard and give it bulk to set up TR.
Reuniclus NEEDS AURA SPHEAR. Basically, just using Focus Blast is a huge toss-up, but I love that added sense of risk/reward. Gambler much.
Trick Room is a boon to everybody short of Latias should it remain up and Reuniclus goes down. Most opponents will try to stall Reuni out of TR, but they still lose massive chunks of their team in the process, and between Reuniclus and Machamp the opponent is hurting from the get-go.
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Huge Power, Adamant Nature
EVs: 232 HP/252 Attk/12Def/12SpD
Aqua Jet
Return
Ice Punch
Superpower
Azumarill is a great lategame cleaner, particularly against rain teams that have lost their water absorber, or sandstorm teams banking on a late Excadrill or Landorus Sweep. I'm unsure about how successful it would be to drop Ice Punch for Waterfall, but my motto is "never be unprepared for Dragons!"
EVs allow Azumarill to hit hard with CB Aqua Jet, and outspeed some things inside trick room, with bulk to take hits otherwise.
Latias @ Choice Specs
Levitate, Timid Nature
EVs: 4 Hp/252 SpA/252 Spe
Trick
Draco Meteor
Surf
Thunderbolt
Unsure how long Latias will stay in OU, but I sure do love that she's here now. This set is fast, difficult to predict (Trick) and dents a lot of things before and after the specs are tricked.
EVs are standard for choice sweeping.
Since Breloom loves to deal with pursuit trappers (for the most part, anyway), Latias makes a great lead-in to him. She just has to watch for getting stuck in Trick Room!
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Flash Fire, Timid Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Flame Charge
Fire Blast
Hidden Power Ice
Earth Power
Keeping dragons in check with the speed boost from Flame Charge, iiiiiit's Heatran! I was so stoked when I discovered that Heatran was able to self-boost speed with Flame Charge AND gained Air Balloon's ground immunity as well! This makes him great to set up when things like Garchomp or Gliscor switch in, only to be bombed by HP Ice coming from a fast Tran.
EVs are designed to get the most out of Tran's hard-hitting movepool, pretty standard stuff.
Breloom @ Life Orb
Technician, Adamant Nature
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk/252 Spe
Mach Punch
Spore
Bullet Seed
Swords Dance
Technician Mach Punch and Bullet Seed are FANTASTIC. Breloom's life span is pretty small, but if he hasn't already decimated the opponent by the time he's down, I've probably done something wrong.
Breloom has to be a lot more careful with Spore now that Espeon is flying its cute little self around. If I know there's an Espeon I'll usually Bullet Seed hoping to catch it and deal some solid damage.
EVs I just threw into getting the most oomph out of the 3-4 attacks that Breloom can get off.
Threats:
Stall: This team relies heavily on Draco Meteor, Dynamicpunch and Fire Blast from their respective mons to break through stall. In particular, Jellicent gives the team huge issues, walling Azumaril, Reuniclus, and Heatran, though it does fear Thunderbolt and Bullet Seed.
Rain: The only problems I've had in the Dream world tier coming from rain would be people who Drizzle + Swift Swim Kingdra me, and even then I find Trick Room to be a huge help in setting up Latias for the Draco Meteor.
Sun: Sun can be a big problem for me. Chlorophyll users tend to resist my main priority attacks (mach punch and aqua jet), and without using entry hazards I have to deal with the full power of the sun all game.
U-turn pokes like Genesect and Scizor also love getting in pokes to set up on Heatran, and without entry hazards to punish that can put me at a disadvantage.
No entry hazards: This wasn't an intentional choice, and I'd be stoked if someone could figure out a way to help me work some hazards into the game. I've been experimenting with a Scarftar/DD Tar that bluffs with Stealth Rock, but can't figure out who to replace it for.
Thanks for reading!
