Team Cannons - An LC RMT

[Black Buddha]

Good day LCers!

Im MGX, as few of you may know, and recently I have expressed my love for a little beast known as Cranidos. Now usually Cranidos is seen as a revenge killer, but here I am going to be using it for something else: A lead! This team basically revolves around using Cranidos to get some momentum going, and then use that momentum to follow up with powerful scarfers and set up sweepers. A utility mon and Priority mon are there to ensure everything flows smoothly, and help make the transition back into offense should a sweeper go down fighting.

At a Glance:

At first glance, the team does have a large Ground weakness, but hopefully the three immunes can balance it out. Water weaks are absorbed by Croagunk and Mantyke. I dont have anything atm to take on strong Electric attacks, but hopefully my scarfers can take out the main user, Elekid, out before it can do much harm. Otherwise its pretty standard, nothing too creative im afraid.

A Closer Look

Cranidos (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 236 Atk/212 Spd/36 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Beam / Head Smash

The star of the team in my view, Choice Scarf Cranidos works as a great anti lead in the current metagame. From the top 20 leads of September, Cranidos only loses to 3 - Kabuto, Phanpy and Hippopotas. Normally Zen Headbutt + Pursuit is recommended, but Ice Beam helps against Gligar, whom Cranidos cannot OHKO without SR. EQ and Stone Edge dont require explanation, and Zen Headbutt conveniently OHKOes Machop who is rising as a lead with Oran Berry, while Machop fails to OHKO with Bullet Punch. Currently testing Head Smash > Ice Beam, it does similar damage to Gligar and is a much better move to be locked into.

Cranidos helps the team start off with great momentum and power, and gets the pace going for my other scarfers. I often save it after it KOs the first mon as it is absolutely great for revenge killing 21 Speed Scarfers, as it sits at 22 Speed with a Scarf.

Weaknesses:
Ground -> Mantyke, Bronzor, Gastly
Fighting -> Gastly, possibly Mantyke or Croagunk
Grass -> Bronzor, Croagunk, Gastly
Water -> Mantyke, Croagunk
Steel (lol) -> Bronzor, Mantyke, Houndour


---

Houndour (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 36 Def/236 Spd/196 SAtk/36 SDef
Timid nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Overheat
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Choice Scarf Houndour is the next Scarfer on this team, and a pretty efficient Scarfer at that. Houndour is my answer to non Salac Misdreavus, who is otherwise a bitch to this team. Houndour also works great as a hit and run Scarfer, coming in, denting something with Overheat and switching back out. Houndour is also like the only Scarfer that has no trouble with Wynaut, thanks to its Dark-type which renders Mirror Coat useless. Flamethrower and Dark Pulse are for general late game sweeping, and Hidden Power Ground OHKOes opposing Houndour and Aron. 25 Speed is to outspeed Adamant Scarf Mankey, who is threat to the team otehrwise in some cases.

Houndour acts as a Missy check and special sweeper #1 on this team, dealing great damage even to stuff that resists, and often gets atleast 2 kills a match.

Weaknesses:
Water -> Croagunk, Mantyke
Fighting -> Gastly, possible Mantyke or Croagunk
Ground -> Gastly, Mantyke, Bronzor
Rock -> Croagunk, Bronzor

---

Gastly (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 36 HP/76 Atk/196 Spd/196 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt
- Explosion

Yay its Gastly! Gastly is my third and final Scarfer, and special sweeper #2. With its two STAB Moves, Gastly is bound to hurt everything with its 20 SpAtk stat. Thunderbolt is a great complementary move, getting neutral hits on a large proportion of the metagame. Explosion allows it to go out with a BANG, taking Munchlax away with it. I'm currently debating whether Hypnosis should go over Thunderbolt, due to TBolt giving an opening to SD or RP Gligar, whereas Hypnosis can be useful to incapacitate and opponent and then switch to an appropriate mon. Testing Energy Ball > Cranidos so that I dont let Gligar set up for free EVER.

Gastly is the final sweeper and revenge killer, and a good revenge killer at that, especially for weakened Dratini, who can't outpace Gastly after a Dragon Dance and can't touch Gastly with Extreme Speed, allowing for a clean OHKO with Shadow Ball on ones who have taken some damage, which they will while setting up. Gastly is also my alternative answer to Non-Sneak Missy, while being the Fighting immune, stopping Machop and Mankey from sweeping my team.

Weaknesses:
Ghost -> Houndour
Dark -> Houndour, possible Croagunk
Psychic -> Houndour, Bronzor

---

Mantyke (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 76 HP/196 Spd/196 SAtk/36 Def
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Ice Beam

Now one might think, why Rain Dance Tyke with a team with Scarf Dour? Well, simply put, I think Mantyke does its job better with a Rain boosted STAB Hydro Pump, which is capable of OHKOing Munchlax if it has taken some previous damage. Hidden Power Ground is used over Electric or Flying because I do not like being walled by Chinchou, and it also takes Croagunk by surprise. Ice Beam kills Gligar and Dratini, who absolutely cannot be allowed to set up against this team. Oran Berry helps me get Rain Dance up and still be left with a good portion of my health, allowing me to take random priority moves, esp Sucker Punches.

Mantyke is my only set up Sweeper, and my final special sweeper. Mantyke also acts as a Glue, thanks to its one immunity and gargantuan special defense, allowing it to take Water attacks without much harm. Rain Dance also supports Gunk, healing it for a little bit of HP everyturn, while reducing the damage Bronzor takes from Fire attacks.

Weaknesses:
Electric -> Unfortunately, I have no resists to this :(, but i usually utilise Bronzor's high Special Defense to take the hit.
Rock -> Bronzor, maybe Croagunk

---

Croagunk (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 188 Atk/116 Spd/188 SAtk
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Fake Out
- Vacuum Wave
- Sucker Punch
- Payback

Croagunk is my end-all priority user. If something is weakened, Croagunk will finish it off with its combination of priority moves, only resisted by enemy Croagunk. FO + Vwave or Sucker Punch will finish off most weakened Sweepers, and Payback is a great move to use when I can see the enemy ghost coming in from a mile away to take the FO or Vacuum Wave. Sucker Punch is my strongest priority move, and is great to deal some final damage before going down. Max Attack and Max SpAtk are here to ensure I do the most damage possible, and the Lonely nature is chosen as I need more power behind my FO and Sucker Punch than behind VWave.

Croagunk is a great pokemon to finish off what my sweepers started, while being able to check many a set up sweeper like Larvitar and Aron. The Water immunity is also a great help.

Weaknesses:
Ground -> Gastly, Mantyke, Bronzor
Fire -> Houndour, Mantyke, possible Cranidos
Psychic -> Bronzor, Houndour
Flying -> Bronzor, Cranidos

---

Bronzor @ Light Clay
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 220 HP/4 Atk/4 SAtk/228 SDef
Sassy nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Gyro Ball

Bronzor is the final member, and is my only defensive Pokemon. Bronzor acts as the defensive glue, as well as offering a great transition from defense to offense thanks to DS Support, which helps set up my Mantyke. Stealth ROcks are necessary on everyteam, and this is no exception. Gyro Ball is used here with a 0 Speed IV because it breaks Misdreavus' Substitute, whereas Flash Cannon may fail to against bulky versions. It also does more damage to Scarfeed Machop and Mankey.

Bronzor provides vital resistances and Dual Screens and SR for the team, and is my go to guy when enemy special attackers threaten to end my sweep.

Weaknesses:
Fire -> Mantyke, Houndour, possible Cranidos

---

So there's my team, I'll add a threat list and team building process soon when I get the time.

Rate / Hate / Steal w/e bye

Sprites from Pokesho
TCG images from google search etc
​

 

[eric the espeon]

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[15:59] <MGX> hi eric
[15:59] <MGX> i posted an RMT
[15:59] <ete> mhm?
[15:59] <ete> hi
[15:59] <MGX> with a certain poke
[15:59] <MGX> you might like ;)
[15:59] <MGX> hint discussion thread
[15:59] <ete> heh
[16:00] <ete> yaycrani
[16:00] <MGX> mhm
[16:00] <MGX> its a fast team
[16:00] <ete> have you tried Head Smash Crani?
[16:00] <MGX> yeah
[16:00] <MGX> but
[16:00] <ete> No Ice Beam
[16:01] <MGX> lead crani does better with SE and ICE beam
[16:01] <MGX> read the RMT
[16:01] <MGX> lead crani is a good mon
[16:01] <MGX> loses to few leads
[16:01] <MGX> its still Scarfed
[16:02] <ete> actually
[16:02] <ete> 95.65% - 117.39%
[16:02] <ete> Is Head Smash against normal Gligar
[16:02] <ete> it also is a waaay better move to be locked into then ice Beam
[16:02] <Kannon> lead gligars are usually utility
[16:02] <Kannon> so they run more HP
[16:02] <askaninjask> lead gligar is a waste of a gligar
[16:02] <Kannon> most of the time
[16:03] * ete checks stats
[16:03] <Kannon> not for rain dance or sun
[16:03] <askaninjask> if there was no species clause then maybe lead gligar would be worth it
[16:03] <ete> | Gligar | HP EV | None | 64.9 |
[16:03] <ete> yea, most of the time is better off
[16:03] <ete> and HS does not suck against everything but gligar
[16:04] <ete> it actually 1KOs most stuff
[16:04] <ete> and comfortably 2KOes resisting Pokemon
[16:04] <ete> 73.91% - 91.3% to Machop >_>
[16:04] <ete> with a resisted physical attack
[16:05] <iss> wow
[16:05] <iss> lol
[16:05] <MGX> ok
[16:05] <MGX> but POST this
[16:05] <ete> in the RMT?
[16:05] <MGX> yes
[16:05] <MGX> what do you mean
[16:05] <MGX> should i go HS over Ice Beam
[16:05] <MGX> or HS over edge
[16:05] <ete> Yea
[16:06] <MGX> and Pursuit
[16:06] <ete> Over Beam
[16:06] <MGX> oh
[16:06] <MGX> double STAB then
[16:06] <MGX> ?
[16:06] <ete> yep
[16:06] <MGX> k
[16:06] <ete> Beam is rubbish against almost everything but Gligar
[16:06] <MGX> ill try that out
[16:06] <MGX> true
[16:06] <MGX> wait
[16:06] <ete> And HS has a solid chance to 1KO even that
[16:06] <MGX> hippopo
[16:06] <MGX> is 9th common lead
[16:06] <ete> Hippo is hit hard by EQ
[16:07] <ete> ok, maybe not
[16:07] <ete> Hippo is not hit hard by EQ
[16:07] <MGX> ah well
[16:07] <MGX> iull go to zor in case oh hippo
[16:08] <MGX> complete set up fodder if it doesnt have yawn
[16:08] <MGX> oh i know
[16:08] <MGX> ill go to tyke
[16:08] <MGX> set up RD
[16:08] <MGX> ;D
[16:08] <MGX> :D*
[16:08] <ete> 42.31% - 50%
[16:08] <ete> is EQ on Hippo
[16:08] <ete> 46.15% - 61.54% is Beam
[16:08] <ete> Beam is not much help

The only things you hit with Ice Beam are hit almost as hard with Head Smash, and getting locked into a 150 BP STAB attack of base 125 attack is a hell of a lot better than being locked into a 95 BP move of 30 base SpA.

 

[Black Buddha]

The main thing I see on this team is its major weakness to RP Gligar. It can find a number of places to set up e.g. Gastly locked into T-bolt, Houndour locked into hp ground, Crani locked into EQ. It can then destroy 5 out of your 6 pokes with ease, only being checked by bronzor. But is bronzor is gone you are in deep shit.

that is true Sledge, but RP Gar is a bitch to a lot of teams, and I need to make sure basically that I save Bronzor in such cases. Yes, it has a lot of opportunities to set up, and Gligar is easily one of my no1 threats

How do you say I resolve this though? EQ AT Roost versions are helpless against Mantyke, and SE versions are walled by Zor, but 3 attacks give me problems :/

At best I hope for a miss against gastly and just explode, but thats not thr best stratagey either

So yeah, how do you say i fix that?

 

[franky]

hello mgx,

Have you ever tried swapping Bronzor and Cranidos just for the sake of testing it out? I mean I really see a Magby weakness here if it decides to slip on Mantyke with ThunderPunch / Mach Punch / Overheat / Flare Blitz as the move. Of course, Magby will not be 6-0ing the entire team because 6-0 doesn't exist in LC. Although your only check is Croagunk throughout the course of the match, and Gastly coming in on Mach Punch. Most teams have a Ghost-type check so Gastly is pretty much dead. Swapping Bronzor ensures you get Reflect down, this way you can cushion hits better. Bronzor will get to set up most of the time anyways. Late game Cranidos is crazy, I suggest you use it late game. Just a thought.

As for other options, I've been using Head Smash / Ice Beam on the same slot. You might want to replace Stone Edge over Head Smash. Ice Beam might be an important use late-game when you face Gligar. Head Smash has a decent chance of OHKO on Gligar and Ice Beam still ensures you 100% it. On Houndour, I'd go for HP Electric to smash Mantyke trying to score a free switch in. Aron is not a big deal because its pretty much 'non-existent' lately and Vacumm Wave checks it. overall gl.

 

[Black Buddha]

thanks for your rate franky

well no, I havent, and the reason is because I have used a bronzor lead before, and I find it extremely dead weight esque, it does not give you good momentum and puts you on the defensive. Cranidos puts on the pressure, and forces the opponent to either die or switch out, which helps.

OK I will try double rock moves on Cranidos, and perhaps HS / Zbutt / EQ / Pursuit eventually

Magby can be a bitch yes, but thankfully that is quite non existant as well, and I find a way around wit with Croagunk's priority and with Gastly after enemy Stunky is down

thanks for the rate

 

[Maris]

hmm you say you have a electric type problem perhaps agility chinchou could aid you with that. replace mantyke with it and see how that works
Chinchou (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 132 Def/64 Spd/232 SAtk/68 SDef
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- hydro pump
- hidden power fire
- Agility
hydro pump and t-bolt provide overall STAB while HP fire takes out the annoying snovers. Volt absorb forces the annoying elekid to swich or get attacked meanwhile you agility and procede to sweep. It does however hurt your ability to check gligar and you may wish to have mantyke to be immune to the EQs. Great team btw. Happy battling!

 

[Black Buddha]

its ironic, but that was exactly what I used before trying Raintyke, and the large Ground Weakness + lack of bulk without investment meant that I was much better off with Raintyke, as I could deal with an Electric weakness, but if I did not have tyke and ibe swept by ScarfGar if Gastly and Bronzor went down.

Thanks for the rate though, and I do see where you are coming from

 

[Heysup]

Hi.

I would start by moving Cranidos out of the lead position. All leads either use a focus sash or completely fuck over Cranidos (Phanpy for example). Bronzor would work pretty well in the lead slot i guess....

Speaking of Bronzor, what is it doing in particular? I mean, it makes you ridiculously Magby weak, and doesn't do much supporting other than SR. Why don't you try something like Kabuto in that slot? Support Kabuto is an awesome utility Pokemon, aiding Gastly by allowing it to avoid a OHKO from SSneak, and aids Houndour by giving it more switch in chances with Rapid Spin. It also comes with the always useful Aqua Jet, which will completely screw over Aron and even foe ScarfDour (who can sweep you with a predicted attack on Mantyke). Kabuto even works in the lead slot!

I suggest something like:

move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Oran Berry
nature: Adamant
EVs: 196 HP / 196 Atk / 116 Def

You should consider switching Gastly's moveset around as well. I personally use Timid + Hidden Power Ground on Gastly so I can revenge kill Aron. Your team in particular has trouble with Aron, as Bronzor does nothing to it and it outspeeds Houndour/dos.

Otherwise, great team. RAWR!

 

[Black Buddha]

Thanks for the rate

I see what you mean about Bronzor, and I have decided to try out Kabuto for a lead.

Im going to leave Gastly with Energy Ball, I absolutely cannot give Misdreavus / Gligar chance for a free set up.

OK after testing, without Bronzor Scarfgar RAPES my team with Stone Edge

How do i fix this :(

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

OK I AM COOL

If you want to try not using priority, drop this into your team over Croagunk:

SDS IS AWESOME (Barboach) (M) @ Oran Berry
Ability: Anticipation
EVs: 36 HP/212 Atk/12 Def/196 Spd/52 SDef
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Spark
- Dragon Dance

Provides an elec immunity, a rock resist, and has decent bulk. 22/11/11 defenses with 16 attack and 15 speed (translates to 24 attack and 22 speed after a DD). Lategame, he can clean up with speed, bulk, and a general lack of exploitable weaknesses.

 

[Black Buddha]

I fidn that priority is often essential to my team, and Croagunk moreso as it checks for me stuff like Scarfgastly, Houndour, Kabuto, Carvanha(which does not have a Sub up) etc.
Its also my only priority user so obv it is pretty damn important

right now I am expermineting with shifting Crani to gastly's spot and changing gastly for a Taunt SR Gligar lead, but I havent used it enough to get good results

any other suggestion?