Featured Ubers RMT

Introduction

The release of HeartGold and SoulSilver has undoubtedly shifted the metagame a bit—the rise of Shadow Sneak Giratina-O and Brave Bird Ho-Oh quite interestingly left the metagame focused on Dragon and Fire attacks. Stall teams saw a rise as Ho-Oh's immense bulk and power filled in many gaps in them. This, in turn, caused the metagame to move its attention towards entry hazards and more on offense, which in turn caused stall to decline as people overprepare for them. This is evident in august's henry, where he abused Spikes and Stealth Rock and popularized Hidden Power Fire/Shadow Sneak Giratina-O. However in this rabble, a few Pokémon were forgotten...

This team attempts to showcase the utility of a few undervalued Pokémon, specifically Heatran and Latias. These two Pokémon are currently "anti-metagame", because they destroy a large part of it. The rare Trick Scarf Deoxys-S and Scarf Jirachi also make appearances that perform crucial roles for the team. The team also combines the common "semi-stall" and offensive playstyles, given the quick entry hazards, but also some good bulk provided by just about everything in the team! How exactly do you classify this team? Flashstorm1 called it "offensive balance", and Ace Matador called it "semi-stall". You know what I think? Forget team classification! It's a team of Pokémon, period. (Theorymon says "Right on, Jibaku!")

As proof of this team's success I've gotten to #2 with it a few times (couldn't be bothered to get to #1 because I already accomplished that twice before. ANYWAYS... it peaked at 1829 so it's good enough). However, as with any RMT, I need help—this team suffers from a few problems in which I can't seem to cover up. A main issue of this team is that it's a bit unstable—it sort of falls to hax, and unlike my previous stall teams it relies too much on haxing back to regain the advantage. Speaking of that, another problem with the team is that it requires thought and whenever I'm in a tilt, this team fails me =(

This is probably the final 4th generation team I will make. With 5th gen stepping closer to our doorsteps, there isn't a whole lot of time left. Of course, if ARCEUS (and I mean Arceus, not "Farceus" or "Farkeus" depending on how you want to pronounce it....) comes out before then, it may be a different story. To go out with a bang, I've put my utmost effort into creating this team, putting comprehensive information and organizing them so they would be easy to read.

Like my previous teams, I will tell you right now I might lie on the EV spreads, but if you can suggest a better EV spread, please do so =). Without further ado...

The Entry Hazard Core

Deoxys-S @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 244 HP/40 Def/52 Spe/174 SpD
Careful nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Superpower
- Trick

General Information

Even with Deoxys-S leads being prepared for nowadays, it still remains as the most consistent lead in the metagame, setting up hazards with relative ease. This Deoxys-S lead differs from the general Spikes / Stealth Rock / Taunt / ExtremeSpeed lead, however, as it is a dedicated Spiker. Since this team is focused around entry hazards, I decided that splitting up Stealth Rock on another Pokémon would overall be beneficial to the team, as putting both hazards on Deoxys-S places too much pressure on it and should situations come up where only one hazard can be put up (e.g. vs. Lead Tyranitar), it would throw over the focus of the team. Anyways, this is a TrickScarfer lead, which isn't seen at all nowadays. Its main advantage over the standard Deoxys-S is laying down Spikes before Scarf Shaymin-S/Scarfrai attack. This thing has a surprising amount of bulk, which I will discuss later.

Also I find it quite weird that some Deoxys-S runs only ExtremeSpeed as their sole attacking move. I mean, come on, would you really give up your coverage against other Deoxys-S to defeat Deoxys-A?

Moveset Explanation

Well, Spikes is outright obvious, and Taunt is still useful in halting opposing set ups once I've tricked the Scarf onto something. Superpower is only for times I may actually need to attack - it helps greatly with Darkrai. I've considered Pursuit since most Deoxys-S leads Taunt me and it would be funny to chop them up a little bit as they switch with Pursuit, but I decided to scrap the idea because I don't want stuff like Scizor coming in and Pursuiting my hazardmon.

EV Explanation

With Choice Scarf patching its Speed (which is already insane to begin with), moving the EVs into the defenses seem logical. With these EVs, Leadquaza will almost never KO it with LO Fire Blast + ExtremeSpeed, and most of the time they won't OHKO with Draco Meteor anyways. Shaymin-S will 3HKO at best with Air Slash so I get three layers of Spikes against it. If I Trick against Forretress, Payback will not 2HKO me if I snag Leftovers. Also, it survives Crunch from SpecialTar lead after sand. The Speed EVs are only there so that it can outrun a Rock Polish Jolly Groudon at +2 while having a Choice Scarf attached, so that I may cripple it.

Groudon @ Leftovers
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 HP/56 Def/40 Spe/162 SpD
Impish nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

General Information

For a team that focuses on Heatran, Groudon is pretty darn important. It sets up sunlight, and of course, Stealth Rock. After this Groudon's only job left to complete is checking random physical attackers and absorbing Electric-type moves such as Thunder Wave and Thunder. Nothing else to describe in this short section, eh?

Moveset Explanation

Earthquake is self explanatory, while Stone Edge smashes Ho-Oh and Rayquaza. As for the last moveslot, I've had Rest before, because Blissey isn't friendly to the team. However, I think Roar is better overall, despite having another phazer. This allows me to escape the wrath of Double Dance Groudon once, and allows Latias to use Thunder instead of Grass Knot.

EV Explanation

The EV spread is quite different from the standard—instead of focusing solely on physical Defense, some Special Defense is thrown in. This spread, in particular, allows it to survive Life Orb +2 Darkrai's Dark Pulse after Stealth Rock damage. Although it's unreliable, it can help in pinch situations. Groudon can also beat Scarf Palkia one on one (if Palkia has taken entry hazard damage). The Speed EVs seem excessive, but they outrun most Ho-Oh in the game, which is essential as the team does not enjoy facing Ho-Oh. It will also help against the slow base 90s.

Giratina-O @ Griseous Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 Atk/200 Spe/60 SpA
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Hidden Power Fire / Earthquake
- Shadow Sneak
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Claw

General Information

Well, obviously I'm not going to go without a spinblocker, right? Despite having Fire Punch on Deoxys-S, I still would like to prevent Forretress from Spinning away all of the hard work I went to get them up (read: it's not hard, but if Deoxys-S dies I'd rather not see its effort wasted). Giratina-O also provides the team with the ever so useful Fighting and Ground immunities (well, Latias already has Ground immunity, but this helps, no?) Also helps beat down Rock Polish Groudon. And Mewtwo. And Adamant Lucario. And helps tremendously against stall. And even helps absorb Explosions/Selfdestructs, etc. You get it, right? By these reasons you should understand why Giratina-O is picked over Giratina-A, or any other Spinblocker really (because they're either pretty darn frail (Gengar, Rotom-A), silly (Dusknoir, Spiritomb), doesn't have Levitate (a lot of them), and they don't work as great vs stall or Mewtwo).

Moveset Explanation

Hidden Power Fire is for the obvious "getting rid of Forretress" theme which has been recurring in this team, but I am considering Earthquake because it allows me to outrun all other Giratina-O (due to having max Speed IV - and this would mean I need to move EVs into Speed, obviously) and of course, to get rid of Heatran, but I'm scared of enemy Skarmory and Bronzong who shrugs off everything. Shadow Sneak is pretty self explanatory as it helps clean up soo much stuff it's not even funny. Draco Meteor crushes Rock Polish Groudon and deals massive damage in general. Lastly, Dragon Claw is reliable and can allow me to hit Blisseys who might switch into it (trust me they sometimes do, probably to lock you into Outrage or something... whatever). The reason Outrage isn't needed here is because I have Latias, who can tear up Kyogre anyways. Ho-Oh is a slight issue though, but I can switch to Groudon during the Roost and tear it apart with Stone Edge.

EV Explanation

The EVs are pretty much the same as in the analysis, with extra Speed to outrun most other Giratina-O. It's focused on Attack because I want to hurt Blissey with Dragon Claw, and increase my chances of 2HKOing Mewtwo with Shadow Sneak. That doesn't mean Draco Meteor won't hurt, though—STABed 140 BP *1.2 move is still pretty devastating in its own right

The Team Focus(es)

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP/152 Spe/106 SpD
Calm nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Roar
- Dragon Pulse
- Flamethrower

General Information

Quite an underrated mon. It's slowly rising in usage though. Heatran is an excellent Pokémon in the Uber metagame due to its resistance to Dragon and Fire and immunity to Toxic Spikes, and in this team it full well takes advantage of that trait. As I said before, with the metagame focusing on Fire + Dragon, this stuff is useful. And it can actually hurt stuff besides walling them too. Heatran sort of suffers from having no recovery, however.

Moveset Explanation

In case you haven't been paying attention to the Heatran thread in the Ubers subforum, Roar can give a lot of headaches as their Heatran counters are sent in, take loads of entry hazard damage, and are promptly forced back out. Since Heatran handles many Pokémon, it might just drag out a Pokémon it normally scares off. And it has the option to stay in and probably die, or switch out and risk Roar. As you see, Heatran is an excellent phazer, and I'm sure you'd probably agree. Taunt harasses Stall teams to the extreme—it means Blissey can't recover, then I can roar it out and add more entry hazard damage. Furthermore, I can Taunt Blissey and switch into Giratina-O, which decimates Blissey. Taunt also messes up Lugia, Giratina-A, and Lugia =). So yeah, this is my second weapon against stall. By messing around with their head, Heatran and the rest of the team prey on the opponent's deteriorating composure.

Flamethrower is chosen for reliability, and the power is generally preferred over the burn from Lava Plume. I am no way using Fire Blast or Overheat, they suck -_-. Fire Blast has imperfect accuracy and terrible PP, and where Pressure is flying about AND the fact that it's supposed to be a defensive Pokémon makes it a terrible choice. Overheat is worse due to the -2 Special Attack, which means Taunt / WoW Mewtwo outstalls me =(. Dragon Pulse is for immediate damage to Dragons (unless they're Latias or Dialga). I am considering Toxic in this spot, though, because it helps a lot against Latias and Lugia, and does wonders if I didn't get enough entry hazards when this is sent out.

EV Explanation

The EVs give it enough speed to outrun most Ho-Oh (see: Groudon). Rest are just dumped into HP and SpD for overall bulk. With no recovery in hand, Heatran must tread carefully against powerful NVE attacks such as Dialga's Choice Specs Draco Meteor or Ho-Oh's Brave Bird. For this reason, I carry Jirachi as a secondary Steel to absorb hits when I feel that I must preserve Heatran.

Latias (F) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 160 HP/252 Spe/96 SpA
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Thunder

General Information

I consider Latias to be an anti metagame Pokémon at this point. It appeared that people forgot her existence and thus many teams are weak to her. Latias is probably the best partner to Heatran in the game because not only do they counter each other's weaknesses, they are pretty destructive to sun (Heatran), and rain (Latias) teams. Furthermore, being one of the best counters to Kyogre in the game, Latias secures the team's purpose of abusing Heatran.

What makes Latias so dangerous? She has no Uber counters, and thus you're left with Scizor/Jirachi/Tyranitar/Blissey/Registeel as your best bets to stop her. Scizor gets 2HKOed by Thunder and is mauled by the entry hazards in the team, Jirachi doesn't like Thunder either, Tyranitar is sort of rare, and Registeel is even rarer. Which leaves Blissey, really. This means Latias will very, very often snag a kill in the game, and may even sweep.

Moveset Explanation

I picked the Calm Mind set as it is the most effective way to decimate Kyogre. Ice Beams don't hurt her a whole lot and is easily recoverable, unless they have Life Orb (where they just put themselves into Thunder kill range). Speaking of Thunder, I picked it to hit Steels and Lugia. Despite sunlight, Kyogre is common enough to make up for that.

Choice Explanation

Latias is chosen over Palkia here because of her ability to Calm Mind, Recover, and because she is faster. Palkia struggles to fight off Calm Mind Kyogre and the inability to Recover (and being hit by the grounded entry hazards...) make it quite unreliable. She holds the team against Mixed Palkia as well, which apparently is something the rest of the Kyogre checks struggle to do. Being faster than Garchomp is invaluable as well.

Latias is picked over Latios for her better bulk. This is important because it allows her to hold against Kyogre easier as they may pack Ice Beam. I mean, seriously, Latios gets 2HKOed by Specs Ogre's Surf with SR, as well as 2HKOed by Scarfed Water Spout. Furthermore, her extra defense allows her to survive priority moves better—she can survive a +2 Life Orb ExtremeSpeed from Jolly Lucario after two Stealth Rock damages (unless it rolls max damage or something).

The Revenger

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
Jolly nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- U-turn
- Trick

General Information

The glue... kind of, I guess. I don't really like to Scarf Jirachi, since it has a lot of potential on doing other things, but due to the presence of Darkrai, Mewtwo, Rayquaza, and Lati@s, I am obligated to Scarf this. Turns out, Jirachi is a pretty good Scarfer. Scarfrachi's huge drawback is still the fact that it doesn't do a lot of damage due to its average Attack stat and fairly weak attacks, and thus often relies on super effective hits or the extremely cheap Ironflinch to deal good damage. However, its Steel/Psychic typing, reasonable bulk, and somewhat precise moveset more than makes up for this setback. Following the theme of this team, Jirachi is somewhat rare as well.

Moveset Explanation

Iron Head is for the extremely cheap Ironflinch "technique" thanks to Serene Grace. Although it is by no means reliable, it's a decent weapon when I'm desperate, and Jirachi can often pull through (while probably aggravating the opponent >=)). Ice Punch nails Rayquaza and Garchomp—Jirachi is one of the best Rayquaza checks in the game, by outrunning both DD and SDRay and resisting ExtremeSpeed and Dragon Claw. It can also 2HKO the Lati@s and has a 20% chance to freeze (which is unfortunately cancelled out by Groudon's sunlight...). U-turn is interesting for mind games, dents stuff like Mewtwo and MOST IMPORTANTLY DARKRAI, and abuses the entry hazards if I predict that they will switch out. Trick is mostly a desperation or endgame situation sort of thing—it punishes BP Mew pretty badly if I can predict it. What sets Jirachi apart from other Scarfers is that unless Wobbuffet comes into Ice Punch, Jirachi can break free of its grasps.

Darkrai

I will mention Darkrai once more because it's an annoying Pokémon. It resists Shadow Sneak and has STAB Dark Pulse, which limits my revenging capabilities. To defeat Darkrai, I usually have a Pokémon sent to sleep, switch in Jirachi, U-turn out to the Sleeping Pokémon and let it die to Darkrai, then send Jirachi back in to pick off the remaining HP (unless it's so low that Shadow Sneak can pick it off, which happens if Darkrai has Life Orb). Entry hazards prevent Darkrai from coming back in the second time around to Sleep another mon. I will only attempt an Ironflinch in desperate situations or when I know it will put Darkrai's HP into Shadow Sneak kill range.