Hello, this is the first team that I have made that feels worthy of a proper RMT (that I felt like writing at least). I made this team a few months ago around the launch of DLC1. even though its been a few months I feel like this team got even better somehow. National dex may not be the most intelligent ladder, you can get almost anything to work at least once and that's how this team started a gimmick. Before the Gliscor ban in OU (not NDOU) my friend Def_pid on PS swept me with a tera ice tera blast, swords dance, rock polish Gliscor. At the time I thought this was just a funny gimmick set that he came up with on a gimmicky team. For reference, the rest of the team consisted of a weakness policy Greninja and a choice band Alolan Golem with only explosion. But when I was messing around on the National dex ladder with a “throw random stuff on veil” team I put a Landrus with the same set and it worked once, twice then a third time. This was kind of consistent. Also on that random screens team was another double dance sweeper, Latias the star of this team.
Process
In general, the way I build my screens teams / HO teams is by taking a setter putting random stuff behind it and just having fun. when I go to build a real team I pick out the stuff I like the most throw them on a team and swap them out for other members of different teams until the team clicks. So a lot of these sets pop out of nowhere but they are on a team somewhere in my builder or got replaced on a different team and added to another.
Example of one of those teams
https://pokepast.es/0159ff7bf6459c64
The starting point of any screens team. I chose to go Ninetales over something like Grimmsnarl originally because of Ninetales' access to safeguard and encore. Safeguard was very necessary since the team was 6-0ed by any status move, and encore was to give what I thought would be inconsistent setup sweepers an opportunity to set up. In updating the team I kept Ninetales the same for 2 reasons, 1 its the best screen setter and 2 I ended up building the team around the snow provided by Ninetales to some degree.
Latias and Landorus were taken from an earlier team that I mentioned in the intro. Read that for more information on why I picked them as well as the debrief below each one.
Before the building process, I was having a lot of success with bulk-up Landorus. I started with a speed Photosynthesis boost but ended up not needing the speed and changed it to an attack boost instead. I never swapped him out it just kinda stuck around for the rapid spin support.
This is a core that I really like, it's an unconventional hail core centred around the great coverage of Mega-Abomasnow and the hard-hitting blizzards of Kyurem. After some playtesting it didn't fit on the team as well as I thought it could. I thought it would work since this core works well alongside setup sweepers and strong breakers to remove steel types with scarf Kyurem cleanup but they never got used since I was either winning the game with the setup or I was getting swept myself. I still believe in this core and will make a team around it soon.
Left with just these I needed a sweeper that only needed to use one move to set up since these guys take a while to get going, I landed on either a booster-speed Iron Valiant or a dragon dance sweeper. Unfortunately for Iron Valiant never felt like it had the right covrage special or physical it was always missing one important pokemon, so Iron Valiant was scrapped. That left dragon dance sweepers the options I narrowed it down to through their viability. Dragonite, Gyarados mega and z move, Salamence, Mega-Altaria and Z Kommo-o (it counts speed and attack get boosted).
Dragonite didn't force anything I wanted (Mega-Banette), Salamence was too inconsistent even with Flyinium Z, both Gyarados forms were not big fans of Ferothorn or Iron Valiant both major issues for the team. Kommo-o didn't have the power I needed so I ended up with Mega-Altaria. For the updated version Gouging Fire was an option now as well however pokemon with ground coverage moves and Stealth Rocks became a huge issue without Altaria.
Mega-Altaria fixed a lot of the offensive problems I was having with slow and sometimes weak setup. The fairy typing was massive for the team allowing setup on a lot of dragons. The dragon type was also huge since the Heatran matchup was really bad for having 2 ground types since nothing could set up in front of it and would get revenge killed right after. Except for Latias who couldn't deal damage without a lot of boosts. Altaria pre Mega has a flying type to completely stop Heatran and set up to max on it. More details on why mega altaria was so good/important in the breakdown.
After testing with some other 5 setup Pokemon the team was SUPER weak to everything and couldn't take a hit at all. the weather matchup was really bad since you could never get veil up. Rotom was the perfect Pokemon for this team and I go into detail about it in the breakdown but in short, it just made the team not immediately lose to everything.
Example of one of those teams
https://pokepast.es/0159ff7bf6459c64
The starting point of any screens team. I chose to go Ninetales over something like Grimmsnarl originally because of Ninetales' access to safeguard and encore. Safeguard was very necessary since the team was 6-0ed by any status move, and encore was to give what I thought would be inconsistent setup sweepers an opportunity to set up. In updating the team I kept Ninetales the same for 2 reasons, 1 its the best screen setter and 2 I ended up building the team around the snow provided by Ninetales to some degree.
Latias and Landorus were taken from an earlier team that I mentioned in the intro. Read that for more information on why I picked them as well as the debrief below each one.
Before the building process, I was having a lot of success with bulk-up Landorus. I started with a speed Photosynthesis boost but ended up not needing the speed and changed it to an attack boost instead. I never swapped him out it just kinda stuck around for the rapid spin support.
This is a core that I really like, it's an unconventional hail core centred around the great coverage of Mega-Abomasnow and the hard-hitting blizzards of Kyurem. After some playtesting it didn't fit on the team as well as I thought it could. I thought it would work since this core works well alongside setup sweepers and strong breakers to remove steel types with scarf Kyurem cleanup but they never got used since I was either winning the game with the setup or I was getting swept myself. I still believe in this core and will make a team around it soon.
Left with just these I needed a sweeper that only needed to use one move to set up since these guys take a while to get going, I landed on either a booster-speed Iron Valiant or a dragon dance sweeper. Unfortunately for Iron Valiant never felt like it had the right covrage special or physical it was always missing one important pokemon, so Iron Valiant was scrapped. That left dragon dance sweepers the options I narrowed it down to through their viability. Dragonite, Gyarados mega and z move, Salamence, Mega-Altaria and Z Kommo-o (it counts speed and attack get boosted).
Dragonite didn't force anything I wanted (Mega-Banette), Salamence was too inconsistent even with Flyinium Z, both Gyarados forms were not big fans of Ferothorn or Iron Valiant both major issues for the team. Kommo-o didn't have the power I needed so I ended up with Mega-Altaria. For the updated version Gouging Fire was an option now as well however pokemon with ground coverage moves and Stealth Rocks became a huge issue without Altaria.
Mega-Altaria fixed a lot of the offensive problems I was having with slow and sometimes weak setup. The fairy typing was massive for the team allowing setup on a lot of dragons. The dragon type was also huge since the Heatran matchup was really bad for having 2 ground types since nothing could set up in front of it and would get revenge killed right after. Except for Latias who couldn't deal damage without a lot of boosts. Altaria pre Mega has a flying type to completely stop Heatran and set up to max on it. More details on why mega altaria was so good/important in the breakdown.
After testing with some other 5 setup Pokemon the team was SUPER weak to everything and couldn't take a hit at all. the weather matchup was really bad since you could never get veil up. Rotom was the perfect Pokemon for this team and I go into detail about it in the breakdown but in short, it just made the team not immediately lose to everything.
The Team Breakdown
Altaria-Mega @ Altarianite
Ability: Pixilate
Happiness: 0
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Frustration
- Roost
Mega Altaria is a deceptively powerful Pokemon after a dragon dance or two, it's possible to beat Rocky Helmet or leftovers Corviknight 1v1 same with Moltres. Most teams can be swept after 2 dragon dances and with veil and Mega Altaria's great bulk even uninvested, it's easy to set up against common mons like Heatran, Zapdos (watch out for t wave), Moltres (if they don't switch out), Kartana not using smart strike, Kommo-o, Ogerpon-Wellspring, Urshifu-Rapid-Strike, Zamazenta, Gouging Fire and probably more. Mega Altaria is really strong behind screens. one thing to note is that before Mega Altaria's flying type is really important since the flying type allows it to set up on Pokemon a fairy type can't such as Landorus or Serperior (4x grass resist). Also if your opponent has ditto they might feel safe to let you set up, however, if you stay in regular form you completely wall your copy because most ditto have max friendship leading frustration to have 1 base power. I think this mon is incredibly underrated, the only mon that I have had problems knocking out was Ferrothorn but Altaria has an amazing move pool with a ton of fire coverage.
+3 252+ Atk Pixilate Altaria-Mega Frustration vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 169-199 (42.3 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
every frustration forces a roost and Corviknight will run out of roost pp.
+3 252+ Atk Pixilate Altaria-Mega Frustration vs. 248 HP / 248+ Def Moltres: 188-222 (49 - 57.9%) -- 96.9% chance to 2HKO
if burned you can get to +6 since Moltres can't damage you very much and you would do the same damage as this calc burned.
+3 252+ Atk Altaria-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 44+ Def Ferrothorn: 185-218 (52.5 - 61.9%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
You may think that getting to +3 is difficult but with the amount of Pokemon you can set up on, veil, and the unexpected power a lot of teams can just lose.
every frustration forces a roost and Corviknight will run out of roost pp.
+3 252+ Atk Pixilate Altaria-Mega Frustration vs. 248 HP / 248+ Def Moltres: 188-222 (49 - 57.9%) -- 96.9% chance to 2HKO
if burned you can get to +6 since Moltres can't damage you very much and you would do the same damage as this calc burned.
+3 252+ Atk Altaria-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 44+ Def Ferrothorn: 185-218 (52.5 - 61.9%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
You may think that getting to +3 is difficult but with the amount of Pokemon you can set up on, veil, and the unexpected power a lot of teams can just lose.
Ninetales-Alola @ Light Clay
Ability: Snow Warning
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Aurora Veil
- Freeze-Dry
- Encore
- Safeguard
This thing is way too good at setting veil, it can live almost any hit thanks to the snow defence boost. Encore gives free setup and safeguard prevents status which can be crippling to a lot of the team.
252+ Atk Kingambit Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Ninetales-Alola in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 248-294 (71 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Although Kingambit is no longer in the tier it's a great example of the sheer bulk and survivability Ninetails has. For reference, it can live the iron head and 40% of the time switch into rocks and set veil again.
Although Kingambit is no longer in the tier it's a great example of the sheer bulk and survivability Ninetails has. For reference, it can live the iron head and 40% of the time switch into rocks and set veil again.
Latias @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 188 Def / 72 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Agility
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Aura Sphere
This is NOT a gimmick it may look like one but this thing sweeps so many people (check replays) with max defence it can get weakness policy boost on powerful u-turns and knockoffs agilitying on that turn is an instant loss without priority or a super defensive steel / dark type. The list of mons this can set up on is twice as long as Altaria's and it will sweep you if you are not careful. Tera steel allows it to beat Tapu Lele, Landorus, toxic pokemon, non close combat Great Tusk, Garchomp, and some Iron Valiant. Can activate weakness policy on Moltres too. a lot of people will lead Mega-CharizardY to override Snow and block Veil but you can just lead this and setup, if the team is weak to Latias (a lot are). The EVs in speed allow you to outspeed booster val at +2 making it a non-issue. (Updated version has enough speed for Iron Boulder). No spa investment is a worthwhile trade since stored power will scale out of control really fast.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 32 HP / 224 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Tera Blast
- Rock Polish
This might be the funniest mon on the team, this one is slightly more gimmick than the Latias but is still a real mon. Ice ground coverage is excellent. if an opponent sacks their ground immunity/resistance then you don't need to tera but it does tend to be tera reliant for full sweeps. The best part about Tera Ice is that you can offset the almost 0 bulk investment with the snow boost alongside intimidate which really helps get the swords dance and rock polish off. The attack EVs do nothing if anything they hurt but it hits 420 attacks and that's funny.
Great Tusk @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Ice Spinner
Not gonna lie these guys are just kinda here, sweep sometimes but are mostly there to spin and win vs weekend teams. People know bulk-up tusks are a threat so they use teams that have a good matchup. Like Landorus tera ice is nice for the defense boost in snow. This along side the next pokemon is the only way to beat Mega Scizor.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom is the glue of the team. Without him, the team would fall apart since the rest of the teams are very very HO with no consistent defensive utility. Volt-switch allows you to pivot into Ninetales on a weather seter lead (Tyranitar or Torkoal, rain gives free freeze drys) allowing for veil to be set up. Will-o-wisp will give setup vs burned physical attackers and act as counterplay to a lot of the threats to the team. Rotom was the perfect option for this team complementing the lack of good water resistance and the shutting down of opposing physical sweepers. Pain split can be swapped for Thunder Wave or Defog but I found I never clicked anything in the 4th move slot anyway. The lack of Rotom's long-term survivability isn't a problem since games are usually over within 20 turns. If you decide to swap out Great Tusk for something else I would always change it to defog.
Threat List
This team has a couple of issues.
This MF counters every single setup Pokemon and will encore and Destiny Bond you until you kill it ruining any sweep. The counterplay for this is straightforward, however. Just set up with something and bait the Banette to Destiny Bond and kill itself to open up the sweep for the rest of the team. But if they have other Pokemon that are problematic it's a very difficult matchup.
Dondozo is an instant loss without Latias. If you choke and lose Latias vs Dondozo forfeit imedently its not worth wasting your time. this all seems grim but Latias is the saving grace and why you can't lose it. Simply Dondozo is set up fodder and will die to stored power after a few boosts only dealing less than 20% total. Be careful though since Latias doesn't have recovery.
Swords dance mega Scizor is a very difficult matchup if it has the right coverage and teammates. If something can take advantage of Rotom it can be almost impossible to stop. Great Tusk can beat it sometimes but because Scizor boosts so much faster than Tusk it can end up winning if it has the right EVs (not 2 hit KOed after 1 boost). offensive 3 attacks swords dance is easier to deal with because it has no recovery. more defensive Scizors with roost can have the same effect without being able to chip it down this time. Scizor covrage is very difficult with BP and Duel Wingbeat Great Tusk is hopeless leaving only Rotom as a check.
Iron Valiant is the worst by far. The team requires Tera Steel to resist Moonblast but without cc, it's not a problem for Latias. Except what if it had encore? oh, wait it does. This is where the major issue is the only way to be faster is with speed boosts on something but Iron Valiant will encore you into said speed boost move leaving you vulnerable. In general encore and fairy types are a very very hard matchup iron valeant just happens to be the worst.
This MF counters every single setup Pokemon and will encore and Destiny Bond you until you kill it ruining any sweep. The counterplay for this is straightforward, however. Just set up with something and bait the Banette to Destiny Bond and kill itself to open up the sweep for the rest of the team. But if they have other Pokemon that are problematic it's a very difficult matchup.
Dondozo is an instant loss without Latias. If you choke and lose Latias vs Dondozo forfeit imedently its not worth wasting your time. this all seems grim but Latias is the saving grace and why you can't lose it. Simply Dondozo is set up fodder and will die to stored power after a few boosts only dealing less than 20% total. Be careful though since Latias doesn't have recovery.
Swords dance mega Scizor is a very difficult matchup if it has the right coverage and teammates. If something can take advantage of Rotom it can be almost impossible to stop. Great Tusk can beat it sometimes but because Scizor boosts so much faster than Tusk it can end up winning if it has the right EVs (not 2 hit KOed after 1 boost). offensive 3 attacks swords dance is easier to deal with because it has no recovery. more defensive Scizors with roost can have the same effect without being able to chip it down this time. Scizor covrage is very difficult with BP and Duel Wingbeat Great Tusk is hopeless leaving only Rotom as a check.
Iron Valiant is the worst by far. The team requires Tera Steel to resist Moonblast but without cc, it's not a problem for Latias. Except what if it had encore? oh, wait it does. This is where the major issue is the only way to be faster is with speed boosts on something but Iron Valiant will encore you into said speed boost move leaving you vulnerable. In general encore and fairy types are a very very hard matchup iron valeant just happens to be the worst.
Usage Tips
Know how to play HO, I can’t recommend this enough you NEED a game plan from team preview. If Great Tusk is sent out to counter lead a Kingambit predicting Ninetails but they have an Iron Valiant or an unaware pokemon you will lose the tusk because nothing switches into those. This team can win with only half the team if you plan correctly. this is extra important vs mega bannet. to plan I recommend watching Pinkacrosses laddering season with a similar team in OU. It's a great example of what you need to think about before picking your lead.
try your best to keep Ninetails alive to set veil multiple times a game unless you have the experience and confidence to know my ______ will win within the 6 or so turns of veil I have.
Be careful around Rillaboom’s grassy glide it won't OHK any mon on the team but your sweep could be cut short if you get too low.
Don't get greedy with Latias sometimes activating the weakness policy is worth 70% of your health but most of the time it's not. If there's a Tapu Llele in front of the Latias think about whether or not you need the weakness policy or if you should just Terastize and go for calm minds.
A general tip for the ND ladder is don't expect the highest quality plays don't get crazy with your predictions. also if you see something odd on the opposing team try and think of a gimmicky set it could be and make sure you don't let it get the gimmick off because that is usually really bad.
this team is really easy to play and a beginner can learn important skills like preplanning games and identifying win conditions. and unlike a lot of the sample teams in most formats its very appealing to new players with its unconventional Pokemon and sets. I have a lot of friends that I would classify as beginners who all they want to do is play ranbats and make funny teams with "bad" sets and they have been very interested in some of the sets.
try your best to keep Ninetails alive to set veil multiple times a game unless you have the experience and confidence to know my ______ will win within the 6 or so turns of veil I have.
Be careful around Rillaboom’s grassy glide it won't OHK any mon on the team but your sweep could be cut short if you get too low.
Don't get greedy with Latias sometimes activating the weakness policy is worth 70% of your health but most of the time it's not. If there's a Tapu Llele in front of the Latias think about whether or not you need the weakness policy or if you should just Terastize and go for calm minds.
A general tip for the ND ladder is don't expect the highest quality plays don't get crazy with your predictions. also if you see something odd on the opposing team try and think of a gimmicky set it could be and make sure you don't let it get the gimmick off because that is usually really bad.
this team is really easy to play and a beginner can learn important skills like preplanning games and identifying win conditions. and unlike a lot of the sample teams in most formats its very appealing to new players with its unconventional Pokemon and sets. I have a lot of friends that I would classify as beginners who all they want to do is play ranbats and make funny teams with "bad" sets and they have been very interested in some of the sets.
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2016145460 unprepared 1600
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2016147579-culwsyun2eqfrnny5gl9465korit9zwpw Latias sweep
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2016157251 lando sweep
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2016327899 Latias sweep again
a lot of my replays don't work anymore because of the hole replay broke thing.
Importable
https://pokepast.es/bc5434b11f07fc02 updated
https://pokepast.es/995465516c1eb72e
Editors note
I went into a lot of detail about this team and ended up with over 2500 words which is by far the most I have ever written about anything. Even still I feel like I missed a lot about the team and the flow charts I have on how to play it. I hope it's not too wordy. Enjoy the team!
Thanks to def_pid for telling me my team was inconsistent inspiring me to go 22-0 on the ladder to prove it and for the original idea for the landrous set. and thanks to Pinkacross for reminding me about this team with their team.
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...-2043-still-climbing-ft-gouging-fire.3732919/