Seeking Team Advice (RMT - OU, No Legendaries, Wi-Fi)

[Transcendent]

Hey everyone,

As I am near finishing Heart Gold, I am interested in making a team for competitive battle. Note that this is in the planning stage, so EV's, items, Abilities and Natures have not been finalized and I am all open-ears on how to adjust them.

The rules the for the competitive play I am participating in is no Legendary Pokemon. I believe Ubers are not allowed either.

Here's an overview before the discussion of each Pokemon choice in order in the party (discussion of the party is out of order, i.e. Salamence is not my lead):

Since RSE, I have been fond of Salamence, so I will definitely be including him on the team.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Intimidate
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant (+Atk -SpA)

Outrage
Dragon Dance
Earthquake
Roost

Purpose: Ideally, a late-game physical sweeper when Steel threats have been taken out. After a Dragon Dance, STAB’ed Outrage can hurt. If Salamence is needed mid-game, Earthquake and Roost are very helpful to avoid the confusion and to recover so the sweep can last longer.

So to begin, considering Salamence as a member of the team, I'll need something to take out Steel types, which resist Dragon. Immediately that comes into mind is Magnezone.

Magnezone @ Leftovers?
Magnet Pull
4 ATK / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive (+Spe -SpD)

Thunderbolt
Substitute
Explosion
Flash Cannon? (I can't really get Hidden Power working in my favour since this is an in-game bred team. If I were to try, what HP should I get? Is it worth trying to mass breed for a stat distribution for that specific HP?)

Purpose: Traps and kills Steel types which would normally wall Salamence’s sweep.

Magnezone seems to really bait out Earthquakes, and I don't want to keep sending out Salamence to let it take damage, so I will probably need a physical wall. Skarmory comes in mind with its ability to Roost, set up Spikes and Phaze.

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Keen Eyes
252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe [Standard Skarm]
Impish (+Def -SpA)

Roost
Whirlwind
Spikes
Brave Bird

Purpose: Physical wall, Spiker and Phazer

Stealth Rock is really good, but giving Skarmory Stealth Rock as well would mean it won't have an attacking move. After looking up some leads, Swampert seemed viable since he can reliably use Stealth Rocks due to his high defense and only weakness being Grass, which is resisted by both Salamence and Skarmory.

Swampert @ Leftovers (lead)
Torrent
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed (+Def -Spe)

Stealth Rock
Roar
Earthquake
Ice Beam

Purpose: Lead and set-up Stealth Rocks. Kill with Earthquake if possible, Phaze any Dragon Dancers. Ice Beam is being used instead of STABed Surf because typically things weak to Water are also weak to Earthquake, and Swampert’s Attack stat is much better anyways.

With both Stealth Rock and Spikes, an Anti-Spinner is pretty much needed, so Gengar comes in mind. He also is able to take out Blissey and other stallers with Substitute and Pain Split

Gengar @ Life Orb
Levitate
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid (+Spe -Atk)

Substitute
Pain Split
Shadow Ball
Focus Blast

Purpose: Anti-spinner, Anti-Walling

Now, I don't know what to use for my last Pokemon, but I am pretty weak on the Special Attacking end, so for now I will use Starmie. The other alternative was Scizor, since Swampert can easily protect him from Fire and he is very good at scouting.

Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Natural Cure
4 HP / 252 SpA / Spe
Timid (+Spe -Atk)

Trick
Surf
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt

Purpose: Revenge killer and Trick Scarfing

Obvious problems:
- Gyarados (typically know EQ and Magnezone is my only Electric, which fears it; Starmie dies easily too)
- Spore Breloom (no sleep absorbers)
- No Rapid Spinner

Once again, I’m very open with suggestions. I’m even willing to change entire line-ups to make a team that can create a good environment for a Salamence sweep.

Thanks!

 

[Relictus]

Very similar to:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61060

I've run a very similar setup as well (Swampert, Magnezone, Salamence, Gengar, Scizor, Vaporeon). I used Swampert at the time because I did not have access to Heatran.
When I ran this, my biggest problem was usually just zapdos coming in and wiping out my entire team. Even another electric type like Jolteon can come in and oneshot starmie, gengar (1HKO if specs'ed, 1HKO with SR if LO), do 84%-99% to Salamence (if specsed 1HKO after stealth rock, still a 2shot with LO), one shot skarmory, and if carrying HP Grass, one shot Swampert.

I used vaporeon over other things (I tried Azelf, Infernape, Starmie, and a few others in place of either vaporeon or magnezone) because it was a solid Gyarados counter with HP electric, and a solid wall.

Also, you may want to try Scizor instead of Skarmory just to try it out. More often than not for me, I've had scizor kill more things than the rest of my team combined. This would also provide you with a strong priority move (Bullet Punch).

I stopped using this mostly because things like zapdos and jolteon would come in and wreck me after swampert died, or hp grass'ed him if he was still alive, but good luck building your team up.

 

[Transcendent]

Very similar to:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61060

I've run a very similar setup as well (Swampert, Magnezone, Salamence, Gengar, Scizor, Vaporeon). I used Swampert at the time because I did not have access to Heatran.
When I ran this, my biggest problem was usually just zapdos coming in and wiping out my entire team. Even another electric type like Jolteon can come in and oneshot starmie, gengar (1HKO if specs'ed, 1HKO with SR if LO), do 84%-99% to Salamence (if specsed 1HKO after stealth rock, still a 2shot with LO), one shot skarmory, and if carrying HP Grass, one shot Swampert.

I used vaporeon over other things (I tried Azelf, Infernape, Starmie, and a few others in place of either vaporeon or magnezone) because it was a solid Gyarados counter with HP electric, and a solid wall.

Also, you may want to try Scizor instead of Skarmory just to try it out. More often than not for me, I've had scizor kill more things than the rest of my team combined. This would also provide you with a strong priority move (Bullet Punch).

I stopped using this mostly because things like zapdos and jolteon would come in and wreck me after swampert died, or hp grass'ed him if he was still alive, but good luck building your team up.

Thanks!

I think I'll give Scizor a shot. Swampert gives good coverage against Fire and can typically attack back with Earthquake.

I agree, a Thunderbolter with HP Grass wreaks the team. Zapdos I won't have to fear because there are no legendaries in the competition I'm using this team for. Unfortunately, that makes Heatran not an option for me.

I have been looking for a Gyarados counter, and Vaporeon does the job if it has HP Electric. Unforunately, I do not know how to get a good HP Electric as breeding one is very unlikely, hence the Starmie. Same applies with trying to get HP Grass or Fire on Magnezone. Leaning towards Grass because Swampert really messes with Magnezone. That is, if I figure out how HP works in-game.

For now I will try replacing Skarmory with Scizor, thereby ditching my old strategy of Stealth Rocks + Spikes stall.

Thanks again!

 

[coolking503]

just test out scizor oer skarm, though with starmie revenge killing you dont need it too much. Gengar is too frail for a spin blocker, since most spinners can KO it. Try dusknoir instead.

If you do switch out skarm, change starmie to a rapid spinneing set. Most of your team is dediated towards mence it seems, and negating the SP damage it takes is really helpful.