By Trick or By Force

[Little Green Yoda]

Here's a team that I've had a decent amount of success and a whole lot of fun with. Lately, most of my losses with this team seem to be due to my lackluster prediction skills moreso than faults of the team itself. However, I'm probably overlooking some critical flaw so I'd love if I could get a good rate on this team.

(F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Trick
- Spore
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion
---

Such a cool lead. Really only "beaten" by Ninjask, Honchkrow, priority leads and Lum Machamp. Allows me to Sleep or Trick right off the bat and disable a member of the opposing team. Comes in later in the match via double switches or non-threatening Pokemon to unload his other "tricks".

@ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 192 HP/176 Spd/140 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Roost
- Roar
---

Shamelessly ripped from MythTrainerInfinity. Roar is for Ninjask leads who give Smeargle trouble. Other than that it serves as a Scizor counter, Metagross counter, Skymin check, etc. Probably somewhat expendable since I have Rotom but insurance is nice.

@ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Trick
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
---

Another Metagross/Scizor counter. Trick screws over Blissey switch-ins. Makes a great revenge killer if it keeps the Scarf.

(F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 168 HP/188 Atk/152 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
---

Gotta love bulky, stat-upping Rest Talkers. Mainly a late game threat when opposing Steels have been weakened or crippled.

(M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 216 HP/252 Atk/40 SAtk
Sassy nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Selfdestruct
- Body Slam
---

Special sponge and run-of-the-mill attacker. Fire Blast for Forretresses and Scizors that like to switch in. EQ for somewhat threatening Tyranitar but I might be better off with Superpower. Especially since EQ won't be doing too much to Jirachi/Metagross anyway. Selfdestruct is the contingency plan should I need it.

(M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Extremespeed
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
---

Originally had a TrickScarf Metagross to round out my Trick theme. But Lucario gives me more lategame firepower. Jolly is for Mamoswine, neutral speed Lucario, neutral speed Salamence, and Gliscors designed to outrun Adamant Lucario.

General plan of action is to disrupt my opponent's team with Tricks and Spore. If I see an opportunity to open a hole in my opponent's defenses, I don't hesitate to blow up. Should all go well, Kingdra or Lucario cleans up the mess at the end.

Some weaknesses I've noticed include:

-lack of a reliable Dragon resist for random Outrages; Lucario really doesn't have the defenses to take more than one STAB Outrage from things like Salamence

-opposing Rotoms are annoying midgame since Kingdra is the only real thing that can hurt it and throwing out random Outrages when my opponent likely has a healthy Steel in reserve isn't very smart

-lack of a true mixed wall means I have to be on top of my prediction game if Mixape, MixMence, or even Electivire comes in safely

-Jolly DDGyara gives me problems especially if I already Tricked away Scarf from Rotom

-Rain Dance teams (especially those with multiple Damp Rock Rain Dancers) destroy me since I don't have an auto-weather changer

Feel free to tear apart my team. >_>

 

[Darkmalice]

Snorlax should be Brave, because his purpose is to hit hard (shown well by 252 Att EVs). It hits Jirachi/Metagross harder too. Stick with Earthquake, because the Steels that resist it are hit by Fire Blast. According to your description, his main use is to counter physical threats. So I would put those Hlth EVs into Def. It also allows him to take on Infernape, and with Ice Punch instead of Body Slam (I really recommend this), he can take down Salamance, who your team has major problems against.

If you want your Zapdos to be a Scizor counter, it should have Heat Wave instead of HP Ice. Otherwise, Scizor can U-turn out. It's extra base power is great against Metagross, who could otherwise explode or use Ice Punch. You still have Skymin covered. The main lose is against Salamance, but you lack the stats to effectively wall him.

If you take my Snorlax advice. Your Zapdos should be a Special Wall. This will make it a reliable Skymin counter barring Air Slash flinch (252 Hlth, 252 SpDef, 36 Spd). He is still capable of countering Scizor and Metagross thanks to its typing and Heat Wave.

Rotom should be Timid, so he can outspeed +1 Jolly Gyara and Timid Scarf Heatran, and it is your fastest pokemon, so speed is optimal.
However, you already have Zapdos to counter Scizor and Metagross, so I would replace Rotom with Heatran, who has greater power and STAB on fire (whilst you have Zapdos for STAB on electric). He can take an Outrage hit from Salamance, unlike Lucario, which is very important because Snorlax does not have a recovery move.

Gliscor is less of a threat to your team than Rotom, so Crunch > Ice Punch on Lucario.

 

[Imran]

As you also pointed out, Zapdos and Rotom are doing very similar jobs for you. My advice to you would be to Change Zapdos to something different but not completely obsolete in the jobs its doing so, what I suggest is a "Calm Mind Shuffle" Suicune, who will do a similar job to Zapdos but will also be able to amintain a slightly more offensive presence in the middle game thanks to its aggressive stalling capabilities with Calm Mind. Ripped straight from the Analysis but here it is:

Suicune @ Leftovers
Bold Nature / Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
~ Surf
~ Calm Mind
~ Roar
~ Rest / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Electric

That way you can still use it to roar out Ninjask, but you may be able to use it to set up for a turn as well. Although Roaring straight off the bat may present you with this opportunity as well.

As for Salamence especially, if you have SR up the best way to play it is to just keep on the aggressive with it, don't switch out and just hit it with something. Force it to play, more times than often you may put it in KO range for Lucario to finish off. You could even use Rotom to Trick a scarf onto it, which will give you a good chance of catching it on the Stat Up, but more intelligent players will probably outrage there and then, which will be harder to deal with.

Oh and on a side note, Zapdos doesn't need Heat Wave to counter Scizor, you hit it with Thunderbolt and will take out 49-58% (assuming Max HP Max Atk) but most Scizors run more speed these days so the damage will probably be steeper than that. They are not faster than you so will have to switch if they want to avoid that damage, the exact same thing they could do with Heat Wave.

Sorry I don't really have the time to say more. I hope some of this helped :D

 

[Little Green Yoda]

Thanks for the replies. I'll give each of those suggestions a try except the "making Snorlax a physical wall" tidbit. Even with Def EVs, it's not going to stand up to Infernape. o_o It's main use is to switch into Spec Attackers and to hit the switch-ins hard.