darkie
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after a brief hiatus from battling for about a year in between the time Deoxys was declared Uber in DP till March of this year, I tried learning BW OU. I utterly failed and fell into an even briefer hiatus from then till about 2 weeks ago when I randomly decided to ask Gen for a team. it featured Scrafty, who I immediately realized as an absolute baller. i then read some of archived RMTs from BW so far (and the nominations which themselves were pretty useful) and set about making a Scrafty team. i've always had a preconception in my head from DP and RS that weather is an unreliable strategy, so I tried to stay away from that. (I know I'm wrong, but I just can't shake the thought!)
the team
Heatran (M) @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SDef / 8 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Roar
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
Depending on what I see in Team Preview, I sometimes lead with this Heatran. Specifically, if I see Tyranitar, I go with Heatran and try to burn it while it can't really do anything to me. I then set up Stealth Rock as soon as I can and proceed to Roar through the team, doing whatever damage I can. Overall, Heatran is VERY important to this team, providing useful resists as well as being part of the line of defense against Excadrill (provided my Air Bubble is still intact). As I'm writing this RMT up I realize I don't really use Flamethrower very often and when I do, it's far weaker than I want, so I may change this to Overheat. Good change?
Roserade (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 68 SDef / 188 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
When I see Politoed in the opposing lineup, I lead with Roserade, who can get off a quick sleep and then set up Toxic Spikes, one of my favorite moves (when it's not being used against me!). Obviously, if they have a Tentacruel or Toxicroak waiting in queue I don't lay them down immediately. Toxic Spikes imo is crucial to a Scrafty sweep, as they can cause that little bit of extra damage Scrafty needs in order to get that first kill and get the whole thing going with Moxie. Giga Drain has been more useful than Leaf Storm to me, though if there is a good reason to switch, I will! The Speed EVs let it outspeed Jolly Gyarados, though that is more a result of me thinking "I want to outspeed Timid Heatran...hmm I might as well outspeed +nature base 80s...hmm Jolly Gyarados is right there, might as well outspeed him too"
Gyarados (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
This guy is a monster. I lifted him from one of the nominated RMTs I looked at (can't quite remember whose it was atm), because it caught my eye as the type of Pokemon I love to use (a decently bulky pokemon with a great offensive stats EVed to maximize defenses and working off the base attack, a description Heatran and Roserade both fit on my team). He stops most physical attackers right in their tracks with good defenses, good defensive typing, and an amazing defensive ability. Thunder Wave is useful for guys Scrafty would need more than one Dragon Dance to outspeed. Taunt is fun for guys like Bronzong who sometimes like to switch into Gyarados, thinking it's offensive. Waterfall doesn't do as much damage as you would expect, but it's still a decent amount, especially in rain. Dragon Tail helps me to coax the intended target of Thunder Wave out into the fray as well as doing nice damage to things like Latias and Latios who sometimes switch in to Gyarados. Gyarados is also part of my defense against Excadrill, who does barely anything to it even with Rock Slide. I sometimes lead with Gyarados if they lead with Ninetales or something that can attack physically. In retrospect, Heatran might be the smartest lead against Ninetales.
In previous incarnations of this team, Gyarados used to be Azumarill and later Starmie. Gyarados has functioned better in its role than either of those ever did.
Gliscor (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang
- Swords Dance
Gliscor is perhaps the most redundant member of my team, yet at the same time, somehow holds it together. While often little used, when I replaced Gliscor with Jirachi in an attempt to defend against other Deoxys-S, the team did not do so well. Gliscor does much of what Gyarados also does. I don't really know what else there is to say about Gliscor. If I replace any Pokemon on this team, it'll most likely be Gliscor. Gliscor helps me against Excadrill as well as other physical threats. I really like Gliscor's Electric immunity, which really helps the team against nearly every physical threat between the two of them.
Gliscor used to be Skarmory in 2 previous incarnations of the team.
Deoxys-S @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Psycho Boost
- Superpower
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Not much to say about Deoxys-S. I meant him to be a temporary stopgap while I searched for something that fit better, but surprisingly enough, when I put Deoxys-S in the role of "really fast revenge killer/cleaner-upper" it flourished!! I try to keep Deoxys-S alive till their team is sufficiently weakened because eventually, the first four members of my team will weaken the opposing team enough to where Deoxys-S will simply rip through it. Deoxys-S is probably the second-most replaceable member behind Gliscor, as it's role could be done by a number of Pokemon who add more with their resistances than Deoxys-S, I just can't figure out what would fit.
Deoxys-S used to be Zapdos and then Specs Latios.
Scrafty (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
The "star" of the team, I suppose. Scrafty is a beast after a single Dragon Dance, and most of the times I win, I end the game with a +6/+1 or +6/+2 Scrafty thanks to Dragon Dance and Moxie. Lum Berry helps me set up right in the face of things like Jellicent who try to burn me with WoW. Drain Punch is more reliable than HJK and I don't really miss the damage. The HP gain is far more useful to me, especially when facing teams that employ Sand, Hail, Stealth Rock, Spikes, etc. Ice Punch destroys Gliscor.
thoughts/threats/musings
some things that give me trouble are:
- opposing Deoxys-S
- Jirachi can be a bitch to take down
- Vaporeon can also be a bitch to take down
- Hydreigon
- Rotom-W is also a gigantic bitch if Roserade goes down, which it often does since it has no healing outside of Leftovers
this team is very switch-heavy and relies on me to use my instincts to try and use the first four pokemon as pivots for each other in order to end in a position of power. Rapid Spin is thus on my priority list of things to add, but since I've been doing well enough without it, it's not high on that list.
I would like to replace Gliscor, but with something that does some of what Gliscor already does and some of what it doesn't, that is:
- resists electric
- takes physical hits reasonably well
- rapid spin? maybe
- helps against excadrill
- deals with Deoxys-S/Rotom-W
also I want to add that the only times I really lose with this team is when it's late at night/i'm sleepy/i'm preoccupied with something else. though those things happen far too often, so my ladder ranking isn't that great!
go bananas.