Danger Above! The RU RMT ( ranked #1 and peaked #1 maaany times)

[Pombo]

I've always played OU. But, after talking to DragontamerChris in another forum, he suggested me to try RU, a metagame without weather wars or overovercentralization. He told me it had a King, a Queen and a Prince, but there were also ways to beat them.

Was he right? In one of the most diverse metagame i've ever seen, with surprisingly effective agility ampharos and lots of evioliets, I've made a team built to abuse what the metagame had of stronger: flying threats.

So i present you Danger Above, an Angry Birds RMT.

Team Preview:

My strategy is basic, yet effective when well used. Abuse key resistances/immunities, and, whenever possible, spam Bug Buzzes until the opponent is weak, then sweep with moltres/honch. Keeping the Rocks out of the field is a job that is easier achieved when you have 2 (bulky) spinners.

Bomb Bird (Claydol) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Earth Power

Able to deal a lot of damage through support and destroy rock/steel walls,
Bomb Birds is an awesome all around bird, serving for a lot of purposes.

Claydol. A pokemon with a key typing, able to resist those Rock Slides/ Stone Edges aimed at my birds like they didnt exist. Also, provides an essential SR support, and, even more important, is the part 1 of my spinning core. Keeping SR out of the field is the top priority for my team, as my game-breaking core is really hampered by them. Earth Power is there to break Steel/Rock that lack Megahorn types in general, who could otherwise wall my Fireblasts/Honchkrow.

Big Bro (Yanmega) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Tinted Lens
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Air Slash
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Electric]

So, you really think you are safe behind a wall, dont you?

Whenever i think of Tinted Specs Yanmega, an iron ball comes to my mind. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are pretty self explanatory. Shadow Ball kills those Golurks and Cofogrius with SR support and HP Electric brings down any Water/Flying Manta trying to absorb my Buzzes. With hazard support, not much can switch into it.

Boomerang Bird (Moltres) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Air Slash
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Fire Blast

If a fortress is too well armed, send you boomerang bird, and find the so important hole you were looking for.

Timid Scarftres... how i love this thing. +1 Speed Liligant speedties with it. Right? RIGHT? Wrong. HP Rock makes them have 1 less speed point, and i can OHKO back with FB. The same applies to Modest Venomoth, who think they actually can BP in my face.
This dude is my best answer against Yanmegas in general, taking less than 50% from specs buzz and outspeeding +1 modest. Not many people carry HP Rock, as Air Slash already covers any bug.
HP Grass is there for Rhyperiors. The former is killed, unless they invest hard on SDef.

Red Bird(Ferroseed) (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

A good player knows how, even a small and inoffensive bird, when used correctly, can wreak havoc through hordes of pigs.

I used to have a BP scyther in this spot. But his resistances werent useful, team wise. I already had a lot of other flying types and he shared weaknesses with other guys. So i replaced him with Ferroseed.

Ferroseed is able to:
1- Scout;
2- Take Rock attacks;
3- Lay down hazards, softening Honch's, Moltres' and Yan's path to victory;
4- Take Rock attacks;
5- Break those too-strong-but-frail-pokemon to be OU pokemon (Alakazam, Sceptile...).
6-Take hits from PZs, Krokodiles and Galvantulas, who otherwise could tear my team apart!

Replicate Bird(Blastoise) (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Scald
- Roar
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic

"HAHA, a weak blue bird... wait, what?! O_O WHERE ARE MY WALLS!!?"

The second part of my spinning core abuses its bulk to take down those omastars, put a time counter on those walls, burn random stuff, and shuffle. His support/paving abilities are so great that not even some STAB SE hits are able to kill him.

Yellow Bird (Honchkrow) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Night Slash
- Substitute
- Sucker Punch

Once the rock walls have been removed, accurate Yellow birds come into play, easily killing 4-5 Pigs with a single shot.

Once the rock/steel pokemons have been removed, deadly Honch comes into play, easily turning a 1-5 into a 1-0. Abusing his sky-high attack that is further boosted by Moxie and Substitute, that renders "you are not sucker punching me" attemps useless, Honchkrow sweeps even through the bulkiest mons in the tier, provided enough food.


Conclusion:

After playing a lot of matches and discovering the metagame, i came to a conclusion: Yanmega and Honchkrow ARE too strong for the tier.

Yanmega speaks for itself, acting like a ultra fast sweeper or a heavy steel ball.

My Honchkrow set isnt gamebreaking, but the fact that it could have Superpower/Heat Wave makes it a Super RU Gen4 Salamence.

Either way, it was really fun to play in a tier where wheater wards didnt exist and the balance between walls/sweepers (not counting the broken duo) actually did exist.

Thank you for reading!

 

[badabing]

Nitpicks mostly. Have you considered U-turn or Hypnosis over Shadow Ball on Yanmega. U-turn abuses the hazards by racking up residual on the opponents mega counter (usually a hard special wall that Krow can force out), paving the way for a bug buzz sweep late game. I even feel like HP Electric is pretty filler in most cases and a liability to be locked into. Hypnosis is a somewhat shaky alternative, but it can really pay off by incapacitating their only "resist". Just some food for thought...

Also, you might want to try Roost over Night Slash on Honchkrow. Reason being, Krow is a crucial member of this team because like I said it deals with hard special walls that beat Mega and Moltres. Roost is going to give it that necessary longevity and help offset BB recoil. You won't really miss the dual dark stab with substitute to ease sucker punch prediciton and night slash is only coming off 15 higher bp (factoring in stab amirite). No super luck to abuse it either, but moxie is better anyway. /end rant

Alright well not much to add. Great use of goodstuffs and double spin is groovy. GL HF!

 

[Mike Legend]

Hey man this is a pretty great team. It beat my stall a couple of times if you remember. That damn SubKrow is really a tough mon. Anyway, I always wondered why you didn't run Foresight on Blastoise when spinning is so crucial to your team. With two spinners, it is hard for some ghosts like Rotom to block a spin, but against a team that uses ResTalk Dusknoir or Cofagrigus or something, you'd have a really tough time spinning. It does kinda seem like overkill when you have another spinner as well, but it could really help against bulkier teams with Dusknoir. I'd also probably try running some more Defense just to ease the pressure you'll face against Entei who can actually come in on a few of your mons and fire off those strong Flare Blitzs.

I also questioned Night Slash over Roost when playing the team. I think it would be more useful, but I've seen having that reliable dark STAB help you out in a lot of situations. The big thing about Roost though would be the ability to run Life Orb now that you don't need the Leftovers recovery, making Honchkrow even stronger than it already is. I can't really think of much else to say, so I'll end by giving this a luvdisc and wishing you luck with the team if you continue using it.

 

[Pombo]

HP Electric is a filler, but a specific one. As i said, due to the unpredicability, i use it to bring those mantines/tykes to the floor.

The main reasons of Night Slash over Roost are:
-SP only has 8 PP. Its much easier to stall than Night Slash.
-They cant Sub/Recover on my face while i waste my pps waiting for an attack.

On the Entei topic, Moltres can take the blitzes, and Blastoise takes 43% IIRC from it. I know, its a lot, but nothing i cant deal with. Also, Yanmega revenges it pretty well. If SR is on the field and it blitzed Blast twice, Bug Buzz is a clean OHKO.

TBH, i never had THAT much trouble with spinning. I had even less when i had scyther over Ferroseed, because he used to SD to +6 in their face (while they burned me) and then BP to Honch, who, with +6 and a sub (they ALWAYS tried to WoW it) pretty much ensures a sweep. Now, those ghosts are basicaly setup fodder for my ferroseed. I have to be aware, true, but i usually can deal with it.

Thank you guys (:

 

[No Luck Involved]

Hi Pombo (or Ephraim!), I remember facing this team a few times and it is very solid and overwhelming.

Apart from out-running Adamant Entei, is there any reason to using Timid on Yanmega? I think it would prefer a Modest nature to give it even more sting and Entei is checked by Blastoise, Claydol and Moltres so an extra check in Yanmega isn't necessary imo. Modest would help Yanmega really eat into those walls and would pave the way for Moltres to clean up. I would second the suggestion of using U-turn because you have got a lot of hazards on your team and they are easy to set up with Claydol and Ferroseed. Giga Drain could also be an option to steal a bit of healing for Yanmega a bit and it will be doing decent damage with Specs and Tinted Lens.

I love your Timid Scarf Moltres and it's my favourite set in your team, it's very powerful and a solid utility sweeper/cleaner and annoyer with U-turn. It's perfect with your team synergy both in typing and in purpose.

The only other thing I have to say is to try Taunt and Roost on Honchkrow instead of Night Slash and Substitute. This will allow you to win against every wall in the tier not named Rhyperior and Aggron who is rare. Rhydon and Steelix are quite rare and pose no threat to this team. Taunt also eases Sucker Punch prediction and it is just a great move to have on a team for breaking stall or messing with all the Eviolite pokemon in the tier. Of course Substitute will be missed so it's up to you what you prefer.

This is a really tough team with very powerful Pokemon in Yanmega, Moltres and Honchkrow and they are well supported. Great team and congrats on getting the top spot!