Team Mlisst (an OU RMT)

[The Kid]

Team Mlisst​

I was recently using my old team on the ladder and getting crushed (not a big surprise). Then I realized that it was out of date. I had put off making a new team for a while and decided it was time, so I checked Smogon to see what was what.

Team Building Process​

First Try:​

I always like to start by thinking of a lead. I wanted a pokemon that could learn fake out and stealth rock. Infernape seemed like the ideal choice.


I had found two awesome paraflinch abuser sets. I thought that they might be good to use so I added them to my team.

I wanted to have at least one choice user on my team. Latias seemed like a good choice because of her ability to switch in to a lot of things.

I didn’t know what to put in for the last two pokemon, so I just slapped in two of my favorites.

Second Try​

After failing really hard, I decided that Cresselia and Azumarill had to go. I wanted set up sweepers. Metagross had worked for me in the past so he was added, and Scizor had ripped holes in my past teams, so I decided to add him as well.

Version 2.5​

After a few more battles, I decided that Jirachi was not working so well. I found that sometimes people could get stealth rock up on me, so I decided to swap Jirachi for a Rapid Spinner. Guess who? Starmie!

Final Team​

Starmie was my weak link so I decided to replace him. I was having huge problems with Snorlax. I also noticed I needed a reliable Scizor counter. I ran a lot of damage calculations and decided that Heracross was a good choice.

Team at a Glance:​

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Under the Microscope:

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‘Nape (Level 100 Infernape) (M) @

Focus Sash​

Ability: Blaze​

EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spe/252 SpA​

Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)​

- Fire Blast​

- Close Combat​

- Fake Out​

- Stealth Rock​

Infernape lead is one of the best leads in the current metagame. Because of his ability to break sashes, OHKO the opponents lead, and set up stealth rock make him a superior choice. The bad news is he doesn't usually survive past the opponent's second pokemon. This is bad because he helps a lot with some key weaknesses I have.

Synergy:

- Latias, Togekiss, Heracross can take some ground hits, same with Scizor
- Latias, Togekiss can sometimes deal with them, Heracross for emergencies
- Scizor, Metagross, Latias, maybe Togekiss
- Latias, Heracross, Scizor, Metagross, Togekiss

Below is a list of common leads and how to counter them. Red means I have issues with them.

Azelf: Fake out and then fire blast it. Then stealth rock.
Metagross: Fake out and then fire blast. Then stealth rock.
Jirachi: Fake out. Fire blast even if it tricks. Switch out, switch back in and stealth rock.
Aerodactyl: One of the few leads that can screw me over. Fake out and then stealth rock.
Swampert: Fake out and then close combat. If it doesn’t do over fifty percent, then stealth rock. If it does, kill it and then stealth rock.
Smeargle: This guy just gets screwed by Infernape. Fake out, then close combat. Then stealth rock.
Infernape: Fake out and then close combat. If he fake outs first, then stealth rock but he is screwed.
Roserade: Fake out and then fire blast. Then stealth rock.
Ninjask: Fake out and then fire blast. When it baton passes use stealth rock. This guy is an issue, although I can usually handle what he baton passes to.
Heatran: Fake out then close combat. Then stealth rock.

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‘Cross (Level 100 Heracross) (M) @

Choice Band​

Ability: Guts​

EVs: 96 HP/252 Atk/160 Spe​

Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)​

- Megahorn​

- Close Combat​

- Night Slash​

- Stone Edge​

This is my answer to Snorlax and Scizor. He is bulky enough to switch in and take a hit, and then OHKO back. A Snorlax with two curses barely OHKOs, but I try to get Heracross in before it can set up too much. This guy can also unofficially take care of Blissey and Rotom-A. On both he can switch in when he gets an opening, and then take care of them with their respective super-effective move. This set requires some amount of prediction, so be careful.

Synergy:

- Scizor, Metagross, Latias, maybe Togekiss
- Latias, maybe Togekiss. This type gives me problems
- Latias, Scizor, Metagross, Togekiss

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‘Kiss (Level 100 Togekiss) (F) @

Leftovers​

Ability: Serene Grace​

EVs: 252 HP/4 Spe/252 SpD​

Calm nature (+SpD, -Atk)​

- Air Slash​

- Aura Sphere​

- Roost​

- Thunder Wave​

This gal can cripple many fast sweepers, especially special ones. He can switch in to any special attack with ease, and then thunderwave. This will either force a switch, or give Togekiss an opportunity to paraflinch them to death. I have been having trouble with this set? Should I switch to the Nasty Plot sweeper instead?

Synergy:

- Latias, maybe Scizor or Metagross. This type is annoying
- Infernape, Heracross, Metagross, Scizor
- Infernape, Heracross, Metagross, Scizor, maybe Latias

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‘Tias (Level 100 Latias) (F) @

Choice Scarf​

Ability: Levitate​

EVs: 4 HP/252 Spe/252 SpA​

Modest nature (+SpA, -Atk)​

- Draco Meteor​

- Surf​

- Thunderbolt​

- Shadow Ball/Trick​

This girl is essential to my team. Because of her ability to switch in on attacks and take minimal damage, She can counter a lot of threats to my team, such as Gyarados. I have found that Shadow Ball is better than Trick, because of the pesky Rotom-As that switch in to me. Without her (as you can see in the synergy sections), I would have a lot of issues dealing with some types.

Synergy:

- Infernape, Heracross, Togekiss, Scizor
- Heracross, Latias has shadow ball. This type is annoying
- Infernape, Togekiss
- Latias, Metagross, Heracross against some
- Infernape, Heracross, Metagross, Scizor

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‘Gross (Level 100 Metagross) @

Leftovers​

Ability: Clear Body​

EVs: 112 HP/252 Atk/12 Def/132 Spe​

Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)​

- Agility​

- Earthquake​

- Ice Punch​

- Meteor Mash​

This guy is AWESOME! Agiligross is a solid way to take out a lot of set up sweepers. His best use is to stop swords dance Lucario in his tracks. When you see a Lucario, switch in. He will swords dance as you agility. Then next turn, you can just let loose with an earthquake. He also works well on other setup pokemon like DD Salamence in the same way.

Synergy:

- Latias, maybe Togekiss. This type gives me problems
- Latias, Togekiss, Heracross can take some ground hits, same with Scizor

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‘Zor (Level 100 Scizor) (M) @

Leftovers​

Ability: Technician​

EVs: 200 HP/252 Atk/56 Spe​

Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)​

- Bullet Punch​

- Swords Dance​

- Brick Break​

- Roost​

The star of my team has arrived! This beast’s bulky swords dance set is so underrated! It allows me to take so many hits that I couldn’t have imagined. The strategy is to switch him in on something that you don’t think can hit her very hard. This will usually force a switch if the opponent is smart, or the opponent will just try to attack you while you swords dance and then heal with roost. Once you are set up, RIP SOME HOLES IN THE OPPONENTS TEAM! I also use him to lure out Heatran, and then switch to Togekiss or Latias, who will kill it. This takes care of Heatran for a sweep.

Synergy:

- Latias, maybe Togekiss. This type gives me problems

Typing:
​

My typing is not too bad, but it could be better. My main issue is that I do not have enough pokemon who can handle fire, electric, and ghost. Electric and Ghost do not threaten a lot of my pokemon, but I cannot destroy them before they hurt my team. I need to work on my fire issues though.

Conclusion:

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This team is very solid, although there are a few pokemon who give me problems (mentioned a bit later, in the threat list). I already covered my angst against Fire, Electric, and Ghost types although I would like to emphasize it again. My team building skills are not the best in the world, so please comment. NOTE: Win-Loss record: 15-5. I would still like advice though, because I am not perfect.

Last Glance:​

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Thanks for reading! I would like advice on how to make this team shine! Do I have to put a full threat list? Don't have too much time.

 

[The Kid]

Threat List

Reserved for full threat list. When I have time. Please rate!

Threat List:​

(NOTE: Only pokemon that give me problems are listed)​

Orange – Annoying​

Red – Causes major problems​

Gyarados - I can kill it if I get Latias out before it gets 2 dragon dances off. Otherwise OH CRUD!

Snorlax - The Curse varient can rip holes in my team if I don’t get Heracross in time. Every time I fought a Snorlax except for one, I have been pwned! Scizor hopefully has a swords dance, and can brick break it to death.

Scizor – The swords dance version can be an issue if I don’t kill it before it swords dances too much. Not too much of a problem. If Infernape is alive I don’t have a problem but he usually isn’t alive. Otherwise, I would use Togekiss or Latias. CB is a blessing! It allows me to send in one of my steels and set up while it tries in vain to destroy me with bullet punch.

Empoleon - all of my pokemon are itching to get their hands on that thing if it doesn't get an agility up. The problem is that it usually does. Sub petaya sets hurt a ton, and I have never won a match when the opponent used one. I guess just thunderbolt with Latias if possible.

Magnezone - Because I have so many steel types, and my annoyance with the electric type, this guy is hard to kill. Metagross and Scizor will get trapped, but they both have super-effective moves. Heracross or Togekiss could also help.

Gliscor - This guy is annoying because he can stall me out pretty well. Once my Latias is dead, I am sort of screwed. This guy will come and taunt my Metagross and Scizor, preventing them from doing their duties.

Dusknoir - Another ghost type shows its insubstantial face. Latias knows shadow ball, but it will not do enough. Otherwise, Just hit it with my most powerful attacks and hope to kill.

Rotom A - By far the most annoying of the ghost types. The best way to KO it is to do as much damage as possible with Latias, and then finish it off with Scizor. This strategy doesn’t work too well though.

Heatran - The evil fire type strikes again! It is hard to take down without losing at least one of my pokemon to the fire monster. My best hope is to take it down with Togekiss or Latias, but if those both fail, that I will have to resort to Heracross or Metagross (both not very good options because of their weakness to fire blast).

 

[Snorlaxe]

Hi, looking quickly at your team, I would suggest changing Togekiss to a ParaFlinch Jirachi variant. Jirachi, like Togekiss, has considerable defensive bulk. However, it has better defensive typing, and is not weak to Stealth Rock. Currently, Togekiss sems to bring paralysis to the table for your team. However, due to its weakness to Stealth Rock as well as common Ice and electric type attacks, it might not have many opportunities to switch in before it is KOed. While Togekiss also has Roost, it's relatively low speed means that it could have trouble finding an opportunity to use it. Most importantly, however, Jirachi has access to Wish, a great move to support your team. Wish can be used to both heal your teammates and heal Jirachi, as well as easing prediction (i.e. using Wish and then switching in a new Pokemon; the new poke would take the attack and/or stealth rock damage, but the Wish would heal it). Here is the set I suggest you use:

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 80 Hp / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Jolly nature (+Speed, -Special Attack)
~ Thunder Wave
~ Iron Head
~ Zen Headbutt
~ Wish

This Jirachi can perform a multitude of roles on your team, allowing your Scizor or Metagross to set up by Paralyzing a threat and passing a Wish. He can also act as a sweeper with his relatively high speed and nice attack stat, plus Iron Head and Zen Headbutt to flinch most any Pokemon who gets in his way. The EVs here aim to make Jirachi as fast and Powerful as possible, while still retaining some bulk. 176 Spe EVs is all this adorable pixie needs to outspeed other neutral natured base 100 Pokemon (such as Naughty Salamence). 252 Atk EVs make Jirachi hit hard, and combined with a 60% flinch rate on both of his moves, the opponent will be beyond frustration as they are hit with a strong attack and then unable to move. 80 Hp EVs allow Jirachi to take neutral hits with relative ease, such as Tyranitar's Crunch and Gyardos's Waterfall. ThunderWave is a great move here for inflicting crippling paralysis on opponents, and essentially making it so your opponent cannot attack (25% paralysis rate and 60% flinch rate). Zen Headbutt and Iron Head make up Jirachi's STAB, allowing him to hit many threats for neutral damage, as well as surprising Pokemon such as Gyarados switching in (as Jirachi usually only carry Iron Head). Wish is an amazing move for healing Jirachi and his teammates, and dont hesitate to use it when low on health.

Now, you seem to have a terrible weak to Fire type moves. What I suggest you do is change your Infernape lead to a Heatran lead. Heatran can still get up Stealth Rock early in the match, but is immune to Fire-type moves. Also, he can use Explosion, which can open up a hole in the opponent's team early in the game at let one of your setup sweepers clean out more easily. To top it all off, he has much more power than Infernape, and much better defenses. Here is the set:

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive nature (+Speed, -Special Defense)
~ Stealth Rock
~ Fire Blast
~ Earth Power
~ Explosion

This Heatran set is really a great lead. Shuca Berry is an awesome item here, allowing you to survive any Earthquake from leads that carry that move (such as Metagross, Aerodactyl, and even Swampert). However, you still cannot survive Mamoswine Earthquakes, so switch out for Latias on those. The EVs make Heatran fast and powerful, nothing too complicated there. Stealth Rock is of course the most important move on any lead, turning many would-be 2HKOes into OHKOes, as well as making opponent's Pokemon think twice before switching. Fire Blast is very powerful STAB, and can wreck many Pokemon switching in. Earth Power is a move that gets good coverage with Fire Blast, and can surprise enemy Heatran switching in; they expect to get a Flash Fire boost from Fire Blast, but are instead OHKOed by Earth Power. Explosion rounds off the set, KOing many Pokemon that would otherwise hinder you, such as Blissey. Don't explode too early in the match, though, and try and save Heatran for lategame...his immunity to fire is greatly helpful to your team.

Hope I helped, and good luck! =)

 

[egg shell]

snarlax has a point replace togekiss but his jirachi set does'nt do much to your threat list (unless you feel lucky enough to flinch magnezone to death) try this as an alternative

blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Def / 252 S.DEF
Calm nature (+Special Defense, -Attack)
~ Thunder Wave
~ Seismic Toss
~ Flame Thrower
~ Softboil

you will lose your flinching ability but in return you lose half your threat list
flame thrower will beat empoleon, rotom-a and scizor in the long run, while seismic toss deals with heatran don't worry about ground type pokemon latios & heracross can switch in safely

you will slightly worse against snorlax and tyranitar may cause you problems so try to keep heracross alive as long as possible

 

[franky]

Good team, finally get to see some paraflinching. The way I see it, your team has serious issues with Fire-type threats such as Heatran and Infernape. A great way to patch is up is reverting to Life Orb Latias to recover off their assaults. This way, you can consistently check Life Orb Heatran and MixApe and whatnot. With Scarf, your limiting Latias from recovering and I feel like it needs that recovery move. Go for Timid Nature with Life Orb and EVs of 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD with the movesets Draco Meteor / Surf / Thunderbolt / Recovery. This way you have more freedom to hit your next switch-ins as well as checking Fire-type threats (especially those who pack Choice on them to provide instant damage).

You can try replacing Metagross over Scarf Rotom at the moment as a way to check SD Lucario (really problematic once its slips in one SD) as it can use it on Latias after using Draco Meteor, or even scare away Scizor. Scarf Rotom really adds a way to check DD Gyarados and SD Lucario efficiently. Furthermore, its a nice pursuit bait as well for Heracross to make an easy switch in and wreck havock. The EVs are 232 HP / 28 SpA / 252 Spe with the movesets Overheat / Thunderbolt / Trick / Shadow Ball. This way you can 2HKO Latias with the given EVs and OHKO Lucario with Overheat, as well as Gyarados with Thunderbolt. Trick is always a last resort move to shed through stall (which is kinda problematic when played wrong).

Now with that being said, I think you could switch Heracross and Scizor's roles. There is nothing wrong with going CB on Scizor now with the standard U-turn / Bullet Punch / Pursuit / Superpower and same EVs. It just makes a nice synergy with Rotom, attracting Shadow Ball from opposing Rotom, allowing Scizor to come in and Pursuit easily. This way, with Rotom removed, Heracross chould shed through teams much easily. The instant +1 power CB provides is also a safety blanket check for DD Salamence. The instant power is much needed to make Bullet Punch hurt, as well as U-turn. Now about Heracross going for SD, it just makes more sense for it to run it because it can set up once teams are crippled by Thunder Wave, and with things being lured in such as Rotom, an SD set is easier to run.

As for other options, keep your synergy with Paraflinch as it troubles teams and it provides status for the team to help members sweep easily. I'd really like you to try out Body Slam over Thunder Wave just for the sake of crippling Ground-types on the switch. With a crippled Gliscor, it makes life much easier for Heracross to grab more SD's and hopefully finish it off. With a serious underestimation on Heracross nowadays, Gliscor tends to forget Aerical Ace on its movesets. This way, you can gyarantee yourself faster than Gliscor and hopefully grab a couple of hax to beat it so it doesnt out-roost you. overall gl.

 

[The Kid]

Thanks for all the help and support! I really appreciate it. There are a few points I would like to make.

1. I like the Jirachi set. I will probably use it instead

2. I like the heatran lead. Even if I get taunted, I can still kill the opponent's lead.

3. I am DEFINITELY keeping bulky swords dance scizor (sorry franky).

4. I would like to replace metagross with another set up sweeper. I would like it to try and cover my threat list more (with the addition of Gliscor). Can you guys help? Preferably bulky water. Vaporeon, Gyarados, Kingdra, Milotic, Empoleon?

5. I am torn between turning Latias into a life orb sweeper. I like being able to outspeed a lot of stuff, and still have max attacking power. The life orb set means that she won't die as quick as she used to. What should I do?

6. Do the RMT rules say I can't post a 2.0 version of my team a few days after my first one?

 

[Toxic Torture]

Just a suggestion, you might want to go with Psychic over Shadow Ball if you are using that on Latias, as it will hit ghosts just as hard with the x2 super effective, but even harder thanks to STAB.

 

[The Kid]

Really

Really? If you want me to, I'll run some damage calcs. Just wondering.

 

[Snorlaxe]

6. Do the RMT rules say I can't post a 2.0 version of my team a few days after my first one?

Yeah you cant, but you can click the edit button on the bottom of your post to make the changes necessary.

 

[The Kid]

Thanks

Thanks. Can anybody suggest a pokemon that resists fire and electic, and can do damage to snorlax or Rotom A (or both, if possible) for me? I think I need one instead of metagross.

 

[Skytt]

I recommend replacing Heracross with a Machamp. Try using this set:

Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant nature (+Attack, -Special Attack)
~ DynamicPunch
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
~ Payback

Machamp may be losing out on Speed to Heracross, but its slightly higher attack, higher HP, fewer weaknesses and its ability to heal itself makes its a worthy canidate. DynamicPunch + STAB + No Guard + 100% Confusion rate absolutely destroys a lot of your Team's threats.

Gyarados - Confusion annoys this thing, but most of the time its just not enough. Unless you use Thunder Punch over Payback that is...

Snorlax - Snorlax, meet DynamicPunch.

Scizor – DynamicPunch does a hell of a lot of damage. Lets hope it doesn't have Sword Dance up...

Empoleon - Poor Empoleon, it can't get its Substitute up because of Confusion. :P

Magnezone - Once again, DynamicPunch.

Gliscor - Unless you choose Ice Punch over Payback, your screwed...

Dusknoir - This is where Payback comes in. You can even get rid of status with Rest!

Rotom A - Just like Dusknoir, Payback comes to the rescue.

Heatran - One move: DynamicPunch.

I think I made my point.

 

[Vapor Trails]

I might try switching Metagross with Heatran.
It takes care of the major Fire-type weakness your team has.
The version I posted is the basic Choice Scarf version; I feel this is the best one for your team but the other ones might help too.

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Naive
Ability: Flash Fire
EV's: 4 Atk / 252 Sp.Atk / 252 Speed
~Fire Blast/Flamethrower
~Earth Power
~Explosion
~Dragon Pulse/HP Grass/HP Ice

Fire Blast/Flamethrower depends on your preference, mainly.
The final attacking slot depends mainly on Heatran's mission.
Dragon Pulse helps deal with opposing Dragon-types, as well as HP Ice; HP Grass works to help counter Swampert and Empoleon.
Try it out on place of Metagross for a few matches and see how it works out.

 

[The Kid]

Thanks

Thanks to you both! Just so you know, I already am using heatran as a lead. I may switch Metagross's and Heatran's roles. Then I want to use a heatran set besides the choice scarf. Any suggestions? I think that machamp is a good idea. He is a bit bulkier than heracross (I have run some damage calcs), so I'll try using him instead. I would also like to replace jirachi with a Choiced Rotom-C. Do you think this is a good idea?