#Swagger

[Shadow Scyther]

#SWAGGER​

Team at a Glance​

Lately Smogon is getting on my nerves with all these bannings. As soon as they ban one Pokemon another one becomes the suspect and I wonder how long will that continue before someone realizes that they banned a bunch of Pokemon and made the metagame far worse than it was even when SS+Drizzle was legal. So to avoid those month to month changes I went to try a tier which is either "adapt to it or go home". The fact that it is Nintendo official is another plus and I am starting to really like this metagame. So please help me with my first team.

Suicune @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 132 SAtk / 60 SDef / 4 Spd
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Tailwind
- Swagger
- Scald
- Ice Beam​

As I wanted to go for Tailwind as my form of speed control I went with Suicune over the popular Cresselia and I must say I am happy with the result. Swagger is the main move on the set potentially boosting Scizor or even Hitmontop as well as annoying my opponent. Scald is the water type stab as both Surf and Hydro Pump have negative side effects. Ice Beam is mostly for the many dragon types that roam in VGC and it provides good neutral coverage with Scald. I stole the EV spread from some RMT and so far it works well. Note that the Suicune is Relaxed instead of Bold as I plan to breed this team on my B2 and the event Suicune is all I got. Truth is the nature doesn't matter as it already outspeeds everything it needs to (with or without Tailwind) and also makes Suicune's speed closer to those of Swagger recipients (Scizor, Hitmontop).​

Scizor @ Lum Berry
Trait: Technician
EVs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 60 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Safeguard
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite​

Some people like Metagross I like Scizor. Pretty basic Scizor with few changes. I use 60 Speed EVs to reach 93 Speed which is one less that Suicune enabling it to receive the Swagger boost before it attacks. Rest of the EVs are dumped for maximum attacking power and bulk. If anybody has a better spread feel free to comment. Bug Bite and Bullet Punch are powerful attacks with added effects of having priority and eating the opponent's berry. Safeguard is here primarily to block annoying Swagger and TWave spam from Thundurus and Cresselia with the added bonus of being able to receive multiple boost from Suicune's Swagger. One may argue about Acrobatics being a better move (eliminates Hitmontop and Volcarona but even with that I am hard countered by Zapdos and Thundurus.​

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Protect
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
​

Classic Hydreigon here. Pretty common stuff: full offensive EVs, Protect + 3 Attacks. Maybe the only odd choice is the Life Orb over a Dragon Gem because I like the added power on all of the attacks. This is especially important for Dark Pulse as it is my counter to Trick Room Pokemon who will be most likely OHKOd by it.​

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Protect
- Low Kick
- Crunch
- Rock Slide​

Weather control. Also a standard set. Crunch and Rock Slide are powerful stab attacks while Low Kick is for the coverage. Full attack investment along with HP investment. Last 4 EVs are there for ouspeeding 0 speed Cresselia to stop the Trick Room from going up.​

Hitmontop (M) @ Persim Berry
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat
- Wide Guard​

So much use of this Pokemon. It helps with Tailwind set up with Fake Out, has Intimidate to support its nice bulk. Close Combat is a powerful STAB attack something that Scrafty can only dream of. Rock Slide is for the annoying Thundurus and Volcarona. Wide Guard protects me from spread attack if I predict them right. While mainly being a supportive Pokemon Hitmontop can rapidly turn into a sweeper with a Tailwind and Swagger boost which is not as hard to set up as one would think.​

Rotom-W @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
​

Glue of the team. It mostly serves as an anti rain Pokemon. The EV spread seams standard but it actually lets me never get OHKOd by Life Orb Draco Meteor from Kingdra or Life Orb Giga Drain from Ludicolo while I can OHKO Kingdra with Thunder. Hidden Power (Grass, Fire, Ice) all seem like a good idea but are generaly a bad move to be locked into and tbh you should only use Thunderbolt/Thunder and Hydro Pump.​

 

[Chaos Jackal]

It's a very good team. A few suggestions.
I know you have your reasons for Safeguard on Scizor, but it isn't a very good idea. Scizor is a powerful attacker and although it has some bulk using a defensive move is usually a waste of turn as Scizor can be easily OHKOed by any Fire attacks or the ever present Rain team Pokemon. Acrobatics is better.
On Hitmontop, on the other hand, it's rather the opposite. Hitmontop's not supposed to work as an attacker. Close Combat is powerful and should not be overlooked, but coverage moves are not very useful on it. I'd rather use Mach Punch or Feint on it instead of Rock Slide. Also, I'd replace the Persim Berry with Fighting Gem. Even at +2, Hitmontop isn't so strong and it's really not worth it. Alternatively, you can run Leftovers.

 

[One Approved]

Hash Tagging on PokeBeach, 2/10.

Anyways, one of the more solid VGC teams I've seen in a while. I like that between Scizor, Tyranitar, and Hydreigon, you have enough pressure to keep some important support pokemon from doing too much (like Cresselia or Uxie.) The only instant problems I see are against Rain teams and against the obscure Trick Room users, like Porygon2, Metagross, and Dusclops. While you have enough pressure to keep most Trick Roomers off the field (as they are usually weak to Dark), Metagross and Pory2 will have no issues setting it up. I understand it won't be able to do much damage to pokes like Rotom-W or Suicune, but neither of them can actually stop it from getting Trick Room up, and then you have to deal with a bunch of other pokemon, like Snorlax and Rhyperior and whatnot. Honestly, I don't know if you have enough here to stop Cresselia from getting it up either, although it will essentially sacrifice itself in doing so.

As for rain, I don't understand what this team does against it. If you don't get tailwind up, common swift swimmesr will outspeed your whole team, and Suicune can't really set up tailwind consistently when some of rain's most common abusers are Thundurus, Ludicolo, and Zapdos.

For the suicune/scizor strategy... there's nothing "wrong" with it, I just feel like it's the same thing as the Beat Up Whimsicott/Terrakion strategy, except weaker. Whimsicott can raise Terrakion's attack to +4 in one turn, and then use Prankster to get up tailwind 100% of the time, regardless of the opposition. I'd rather change these two pokemon up entirely. I'd rather use something that can consistently threaten or stall Trick Roomers, and something that gets rain under pressure very early in the match.

I think a Tail Winder/Trick Roomer should stick around on the team for sure, as it's a way to bypass Rain's awesome speed. I honestly think Whimsicott might not be a bad idea. It's not a bad lead overall, as with prankster Taunt, it can keep away Trick Room, and with Tailwind, it will keep the opponent under pressure from turn 1, even from low speed powerhouses like Tyranitar, as well as cool stuff like Helping Hand. I also think Latios could work very well. It resists both of Ludicolo's STABs, in addition to the 100% accurate Thunder's you'll go up against, and it's bulky enough not to be OHKO'd by an Ice Beam.

I have no problems with the rest of the team. The other 4 are great pokemon in VGC play, and they all support each other nicely. The only thing I'd watch out for are the rare physical dragon-types like Salamence, but I don't think they're all too common in this metagame.

 

[Shadow Scyther]

@ChillBill

-Safeguard is not a waste of a turn and anyone who has faced Thundurus or Cresselia spamming status knows that. Despite this Acrobatics is still useful in certain situations and I'll switch those two moves from time to time to compare the results.

-Hitmontop is not supposed to be an all out attacker. Persim Berry is there for no better options in the item slot (Leftovers is useless in VGC and Coba berry is the only other viable option). Sitrus Berry is already held by Suicune and Fighting Gem is a bad item in a mirror match with other Hitmontop (and many other slower Pokemon for that matter) because I will outspeed thanks to my trollish Evs and I will not be able to OHKO them and they will because of the Defense drop from Close Combat. On the other side if Top does receive the Swagger boost it can easily OHKO other Hitmontop with less investment than 252/172 (which is pretty much every Hitmontop out there) 100% of the time.

-Mach Punch is too weak without Technician and so is Feint even if I predict corectly. The only change here would be Stone Edge over Rock Slide.


@TPO3

- Those obscure Trick Room seters are not present in this metagame. It is something like saying to someone that his OU team is weak to Moltres who is almost never seen in OU and has some obvious faults that keep it from OU. Same goes for Pory whose lacks both offensive power and defensive moves and Metagross who has better things to do than setting up Trick Room. I don't see how I can't prevent Cresselia from setting up. I have Crunch on Tyranitar, Dark Pulse on Hydreigon and Bug Bite on Scizor to double team it on the start of the match as my Pokemon will be faster if I am facing a TR team. I also have Hitmontop to Fake Out it so it can take 2 hits from my alread metioned trio. All other TR Pokemon like Musharna, Slowbro/king, Jellicent, Chandy and Dusclops are all faced with the same tactic and are mostly OHKOd by those attacks making Cresselia the best Pokemon which is why it is by far the most common one. If you still think I am having problems I'll definietly try Taunt on Tyranitar over Low Kick as I read about it being a good and unexpected move on it.

-Things against Rain:
1) Tyranitar - slower than Politoed and most Rain teams are so focused on getting rid of it turn one I just protect and let my other Pokemon do whatever I want. Also they'll need to switch Politoed at least once to bring the rain up and when that happens in my experiance battle is already on that point when weather doesn't matter anymore. Also Rain Pokemon without Rain are straightforward inferior to all the others and they struggle without it.
2) Rotom-W - doesn't die from anything (even Life Orb Modest Giga Drain) and OHKOs anything (mostly SS users) with Thunder.
3) Thundurus and Zapdos are NOT common on Rain teams and even when they are present they don't abuse it. (lol Heat Wave in rain)
4) Wide Guard on Hitmontop protects me from Surfs and Muddy Watters.
5) Tailwinded Hydreigon choses what will die from its amazing Draco Meteor. Suicune does not have problems with setting up in Rain as it survives all the attack (with SItrus Berry the same Ludicolo can't 2HKO it nuff said).
6) Scizor's awesome typing.

-Just wanted to say that this years winner used Swagger Cresselia and Lum Berry Metagross. I don't know how often you play VGC but that tactic is not a gimmick. Here is a link to some winning teams and as you can see Swagger is pretty common. Also my team is not dependant on that tactic as half of my battles I don't use Swagger at all either on my or on my opponents Pokemon.

-Whimsicott is bad imo but I will try Latios as it was in my original idea of this team.

Thanks for the rates keep the coming.

 

[Shadow Scyther]

Bump!

 

[iSharingan]

May I ask why the 4 Evs on Tyranitar are described as being used to out-speed TR users? Trick Room may generally appear on extremely slow pokemon, but that isn't why it always seems to be triggered last each time it's used. Trick Rom has a -7 priority, even lower than Phasing moves like Roar and Dragon Tail. It is pretty much the last move that will ever be used in a turn (ignoring the uncommon Magic Room and Wonder Room which share the same priority level), provided it doesn't get (easily) stopped by taunt or phasing. Even if the user has Prankster, Trick Room becomes a -6 priority move and the user is usually still too slow to beat out phasing moves I have no problem with the 4 Evs themselves being placed in speed (It's quite normal, actually), but the explanation evidences misinformation. I'm surprised no one else noticed, especially those more familiar than my with the VGC format...