Cress Rules~!
This is my first OU RMT (the others were from other tiers, check my sig for links), because it’s been my first team that hasn’t been so bad that it wasn’t beyond improvement. It’s been fairly successful, hitting a cre of […] on pokelab. Without further ado, here's my team!
At a glance:
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Heatran (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SpAtk
Rash nature (+SpAtk,-SpDef)
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Hidden Power - Grass
- Overheat
This particular Heatran isn’t that common a lead, but it works really well. It’s basically a specstran (only 5% less power) except it can switch moves. The only thing timid/naïve nature really gets is the tie with other Heatran who I obviously lose to, and beating smeargle, who still sleeps heatran and gets a layer (Metagross never runs max+ speed, and Breloom is scared out), however the extra power is so worth it. Have some calcs.
- Overheat vs 4 hp Starmie - 71% - 83.6% (Timid Shuca Berry Heatran with Fire Blast does 42.7% - 50.4%)
- Overheat vs 252 hp Gliscor - 117.2% - 138.1% (Shuca Tran - 70-83%)
- Flash Fire Overheat vs Standard Wish Bliss - 52.9% - 62.3% (Shuca Tran - 31.9% - 37.5%)
- Overheat vs 252 hp Occa Metagross - 146.7% - 172.5% (Shuca Tran - 88%-104%, huge risk of not koing (though Shuca blocks EQ, they can get rocks up))
- HP Grass vs standard lead Swampert - 112.7% - 132.7% (Shuca Tran - 78.8% - 93.8%, never a ohko. People always leave their Swamperts in on Heatran because hp grass can’t ohko normally.
- HP Grass vs Lead Azelf - 56.8% - 67.1%, clean 2hko without a chance of missing, as opposed to Fire Blast’s 72% chance of hitting twice in a row.
- Overheat vs 240 HP 16 SpD Leadchamp - 96.1% - 113.4% (Shuca Tran - 57.7% - 68.5%). This is where things get interesting, Machamp leads are EV’ed to have huge bulk and can normally survive almost any attack and reply back with a ohko on a lot of stuff. This heatran ohkoes it >80% of the time, which is something most leads would kill to have, and it means my team doesn’t have to deal with it.
Leads I lose to:
- Infernape – Switch out to cress.
- Heatran – Switch out to swampert, most don’t carry hp grass because of the fact it can’t ohko leadperts.
- Aero – Switch to swampert, 2hko with surf.
- Ninjask - This is actually a bit concerning, I struggle against dedicated BP teams. Because I don’t want to leave heatran sitting at -6 SpA and out of Overheat PP, my best response is switch to Machamp on the Protect, Ice Punch the sub, sub on the protect, Ice Punch until the pass to Vappy, who gets DPunched, and then I switch to shaymin to seed flare… The lack of Roar on Swampert was a tough choice, but I decided I needed all 3 coverage moves. It’s an issue, I’m considering putting Iron Head or something over Earth Power, because my team handles anything Earth Power hits hard. But not having it there just to threaten Heatran switches could be bad. Idk on this one.
- Hippowdon – Overheat does 88.8% - 104.5%. I don’t like those odds, so switch to shaymin and throw out a seed flare.
- Roserade – Hope sleep powder misses, because I lack a sleep absorber. Heatran is the safest choice.
- Starmie – Switch to cress, Hydro Pump does 40% (including LO).
- Jirachi – Obviously a OHKO, but could be considered a loss because I’m out -2 SpA that Fire Blast doesn’t leave me at.
- Overheat vs 252 hp Gliscor - 117.2% - 138.1% (Shuca Tran - 70-83%)
- Flash Fire Overheat vs Standard Wish Bliss - 52.9% - 62.3% (Shuca Tran - 31.9% - 37.5%)
- Overheat vs 252 hp Occa Metagross - 146.7% - 172.5% (Shuca Tran - 88%-104%, huge risk of not koing (though Shuca blocks EQ, they can get rocks up))
- HP Grass vs standard lead Swampert - 112.7% - 132.7% (Shuca Tran - 78.8% - 93.8%, never a ohko. People always leave their Swamperts in on Heatran because hp grass can’t ohko normally.
- HP Grass vs Lead Azelf - 56.8% - 67.1%, clean 2hko without a chance of missing, as opposed to Fire Blast’s 72% chance of hitting twice in a row.
- Overheat vs 240 HP 16 SpD Leadchamp - 96.1% - 113.4% (Shuca Tran - 57.7% - 68.5%). This is where things get interesting, Machamp leads are EV’ed to have huge bulk and can normally survive almost any attack and reply back with a ohko on a lot of stuff. This heatran ohkoes it >80% of the time, which is something most leads would kill to have, and it means my team doesn’t have to deal with it.
Leads I lose to:
- Infernape – Switch out to cress.
- Heatran – Switch out to swampert, most don’t carry hp grass because of the fact it can’t ohko leadperts.
- Aero – Switch to swampert, 2hko with surf.
- Ninjask - This is actually a bit concerning, I struggle against dedicated BP teams. Because I don’t want to leave heatran sitting at -6 SpA and out of Overheat PP, my best response is switch to Machamp on the Protect, Ice Punch the sub, sub on the protect, Ice Punch until the pass to Vappy, who gets DPunched, and then I switch to shaymin to seed flare… The lack of Roar on Swampert was a tough choice, but I decided I needed all 3 coverage moves. It’s an issue, I’m considering putting Iron Head or something over Earth Power, because my team handles anything Earth Power hits hard. But not having it there just to threaten Heatran switches could be bad. Idk on this one.
- Hippowdon – Overheat does 88.8% - 104.5%. I don’t like those odds, so switch to shaymin and throw out a seed flare.
- Roserade – Hope sleep powder misses, because I lack a sleep absorber. Heatran is the safest choice.
- Starmie – Switch to cress, Hydro Pump does 40% (including LO).
- Jirachi – Obviously a OHKO, but could be considered a loss because I’m out -2 SpA that Fire Blast doesn’t leave me at.
As far as Heatran’s role goes, it serves as not only my lead but also as the closest thing the team has to a wallbreaker. It has so much power that once it switches in, the opponent has a really tough time switching into its attacks. It is also the only thing that kills skarmory for this team. Its role is spamming overheat and exploding on Blissey, and it serves that role incredibly well.
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Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/24 Spd/28 SpAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def,-Spd)
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Surf
This is the standard swampert set, with some slightly skewed evs. The evs are there to make sure I beat other swamperts if it ever came up, and some extra power on the special side, as the SpD evs weren’t doing all that much. Rocks because they’re needed, dual stabs because they’re stronger than other stuff, Ice beam because swampert is my best response to DD nite (Rachi doesn’t really like switching in), and works as a makeshift counter to flygon.
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Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd,-SpAtk)
- Ice Punch
- Iron Head
- ThunderPunch
- U-turn
This is a slightly modified version of Scarfrachi, with Thunderpunch over the standard Trick because the team is pretty Gyara weak. It serves as the team’s cleaner generally, and is occasionally used for a resist to a bunch of stuff because of its typing. But mostly it sits off to the side unless I need something deaded. Also, Iron head and leech seed have fantastic move synergy.
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Machamp (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 128 HP/252 Atk/128 Spd <--- This spread sucks
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- DynamicPunch
- Stone Edge
- Encore / Payback
- Substitute
Machamp is a lot of power in one teamslot (see heatran) and generally either nets 2-3 kills per game or does nothing, depending on whether or not they have something that beats it (Gliscor, Skarmory to an extent). It basically switches in on something it threatens and spasm dynamicpunch. If they have a ghost, I’ll sub, then use the correct move. Stone edge replaced ice punch because the team was weak to gyara and zapdos (I still lack a way to break toxic + roost bulky zapdos if heatran is dead/weakened), while gliscor is less of a threat because shaymin checks it.
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Shaymin @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 128 HP/252 Spd/128 SpAtk - Testing 64 def/SpD over 128 HP
Timid nature (+Spd,-Atk)
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power - Fire
- Leech Seed
- Seed Flare
Shaymin on this team is basically a bulkymon, a fastmon, and a lure of sorts. The team needed something with a decent amount of speed to handle a variety of issues, which is one of its major contributions to the team, along with the fact that fwg makes a decent core. The evs are just split up evenly and looking closer aren’t really accomplishing much, but the spread is working just fine, the extra hp helps a lot with bulk. Earth power gives me an option to revenge unscarfed heatrans, HP fire koes scizor with average damage after SR, seed flare is STAB, and leech seed is a decent scouting move. It also is the only source of healing heatran has, which can occasionally become an issue.
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Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/216 Def/40 Spd
Bold nature (+Def,-Atk)
- Calm Mind
- HP Fire
- Moonlight
- Psychic
CM Cress is a fantastic pokemon. Early game it serves as my check to a multitude of powerful sweepers (Starmie, Infernape, Machamp, Lucario, ect.) that most teams struggle against. Lategame it serves as a sweeper, taking advantage of its fantastic bulk to set up on nearly anything. I’ve had so many games where teams kill 5/6 of my team and then lose because they can’t break cress, who proceeds to set up +6 and sweep. There are like 3 or 4 pokemon that cress can’t set up on and kill, and the rest of the team handles them fairly well. As for the moveset, it should be fairly obvious. Gamefreak trolled us by not giving cress thunderbolt, so HP fire is the best option, as it hits skarm, metagross, rachi, scizor, [other steels that wall cress]. EVs max out hp, get the highest bonus point in defense, and the rest go in speed.
Issues
- Skarmory - Heatran can kill it, but all it has to do to stop that from happening is switch out. It sets up spikes on Swampert, Rachi, Shaymin, and Machamp (who can also be BB'ed or WW'ed), and it can beat cress if it doesn't have too many boosts (takes 40% max from hp fire with no SpD evs).
- Baton Pass teams - I'm currently testing encore over payback on Machamp, as I love the move and it stops baton passers in their tracks. However, this could cause issues with rotom-a. However, heatran deals with 4/5 of them, and W is handled fairly well by shaymin, so thoughts on this would be nice. With the current moveset, baton pass teams shit on this team and then sweep with their +6 in all stats.
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