WISHING FOR A WIN Introduction Hello SOS, and Happy Holidays!!! This team is based is centered around the idea of hitting opposing pokemon as hard as possible, then healing right away with wish. The idea came to me when i was battling an opponent (i forget who), and it frustrated me when all his main sweepers were being revived by wish, and kept the offense going, even after i thought i brought them down to a low enough HP level.
Team Building So, seeing on how this team does not function without wish support, i went out and found the two best wish passers in the game,
Jirachi and
Vaporeon I then thought about a very important aspect of this team, the stalling factor. Both of my two wish passers are very bulky, and they can both easily take hits. I thought, well, if i get some toxic spikes up, my opponent would really be in trouble. They slowly lose damage as i keep healing up, and healing my main attackers. This is who immediately came to mind:
Roserade is an amazing lead, as it not only sets up my much needed toxic spikes, but it also puts opposing pokemon to sleep, and absorbs both opposing leech seeds and toxic spikes. I then began to notice that my team could not deal with status, mainly paralysis, and it was lacking on the specially defensive side, so i brought in this pokemon to heal those wounds:
Blissey is the best special wall in the game, and it has access to aromatherapy, which is great for my team. Now, i have everything that i needed to effectively use this strategy except for the main sweepers.
I chose
Latias and
Infernape because they both have fairly good synergy, and they cover my teams weaknesses.
Latias is a great pokemon to have as it is very powerful and it has one of the strongest moves in the game as STAB (draco meteor).
Infernape is good as it hits steel types that resist every main move that i use except for surf.
A Closer Look Roserade @ Focus Sash
Nature: Timid (+ Speed,- Attack)
Ability: Natural Cure (Cures status on switching out.)
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset: - The first move i use. Puts the opponent to sleep so i am free to set up toxic spikes
- The whole point of the set. This move is very important to my team because it, well, poisons my opponents, making it easier too sweep.
- Main STAB move. Very powerful, and i usually use it after focus sash has been activated.
- Helps kill grass types and the ever annoying scizor. If i havn't used my sash, and my HP isnt below 50%, i use wish as the opponent brings in scizor, go into roserade as the SD, recovering all of my health, and HP fire for the kill.
Why Roserade?: Simple, roserade has the ability to set up toxic spikes. It is one of the fastest t-spikers in the game and it has the ability to put the opposing pokemon to sleep. Also, roserade can absorb status moves, as its ability (natural cure) heals it after it switches. Roserade also helps me by absorbing opposing toxic spikes and leech seeds. The focus sash allows me at least 2 chances at sleep powder. If sleep powder hits the first time, it guarantees me at least one layer of toxic spikes.
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Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Nature:Bold (+ Defense, - Attack)
Ability: Water Absorb (Heals 25% HP when hit by a Water-type attack.)
Ev's: 188 HP / 252 Def / 68 Spe
Moveset: - Main STAB move. Not much else to say.
- The best move on the set. This move keeps both vaporeon and my other team members healthy, while toxic stalling the opposing pokemon.
- A must have for this, and almost any wishing set. Allows me to get a free turn and heal 50% of my health after wish. Also, it allows me to see what move the opponent is going to use.
- Kills other water pokemon that think they can come in and set up, or do whatever they want to. Mainly, i use this as a gyra counter. Most gyra think that they can switch in on vaporeon and get a free DD on it as i switch. While they DD i hit them hard with and HP electric, going for a 2HKO.
Why Vaporeon?: Vaporeon is one of, if not, the best, wish passers in the whole metagame. Its bulkyness and great typing allows it to pass wishes around better than most wish passers. Vaporeon is also one of my only counters to gyrados (besides latias), who is a great threat to this team. Also, vaporeon pairs up nicely with TS support as vaporeon is very bulky, and has access to protect and wish.
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Jirachi @ Leftovers
Nature: Impish (+ Defense, - Special Attack)
Ability: Serene Grace (This Pokémon's secondary effect chances are doubled.)
Ev's: 240 HP / 160 Def / 76 SpD
Moveset: - Main STAB move and hax's the opponent with its ability, serene grace, and its 30% of flinching.
- Again, heals not only itself, but my teammates. With Jirachi's great defenses and typing, and its access to U-turn, jirachi makes a great wish passer. Normally, i wish up, then U-turn out into a waiting team member that needs to be healed.
- See above ^. Also, U-Turn is great as it allows me to scout out the opponent.
- Okay, the last move is the one that i am having trouble with. The only thing that resists TS are flying and steel types. I already have a counter for steel types in infernape, so i needed a way to take out flying types, so i chose thunder punch. But, i was also thinking of putting reflect in, to help my team stall even more, and get even more wishes passed, plus i already have a max speed latias with t-bolt to help me take out flyers. But, like i said before, gyrados was a real pain for me to take out, and thunder punch really surprised gyrados users
Why Jirachi?: Why not use jirachi? It has excellent typing, great defenses, serene grace + a high rate flinching move, and, most importantly, wish. Jirachi is an amazing pokemon for my team because, like i said before, i has U-turn, and wish, a great combo. Its defenses allows me to easily set up, and pass wishes to my teammates, fulfilling its role in my team perfectly.
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Blissey @ Leftovers
Nature: Calm (+ Special Defence, - Attack)
Ability: Serene Grace (This Pokémon's secondary effect chances are doubled.)
Ev's: 252 Def / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
Moveset: - This move helps my team tremendously as it heals all status on my team. This makes it easier to both sweep and stall, not to mention it's easier to pass wishes along too. It also allows one of my wish passers to come in and absorb status moves as they don't really mind being poisoned or paralyzed.
Flamethrower - I hate scizor, so i use flamethrower on blissey so i can a tleast get some damage on the incoming scizor.
- ....really?
- I have stealth rock on this blissey because i don't want to sacrifice a move on any of my other team-member's move slot. I switch in to any special attacker and, as they switch, i get my rocks up. Easy as that.
Why Blissey?:Blissey is by far the best special wall in the game, and i consider it the "glue" of the team. Why? Because it has access to two very helpful moves: Stealth Rock and Aromatherapy. Getting stealth rocks up makes it so that common threats such as gyrados and salamence can't switch in and out on my team as they please. Stealth rocks also helps the "stalling" effect with TS set up too. Blissey's access to aromatherapy really was the reason it is on this team. My wish passers being poisoned, or my sweepers being paralyzed really kills the whole point of this team. Thats why aromatherapy is so useful to this team. Also, the fact that blissey is the best special wall in the game has something to do with why i picked her too. :P
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Latias @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid (+ Speed, - Attack)
Ability: Levitate (This Pokémon is immune to Ground-type moves.)
Ev's: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset: - My main offensive move. Hits any pokemon tremendously hard with a base 140 power and STAB. The only downside is that it lowers my special attack 2 stages
- Surf is used to give coverage with draco meteor and thunder bolt.
- Thunder bolt also helps me cover most threats that switch in on latias.
- Used to cripple walls if i predict well.
Overall, this set is pretty standard. IMO
Why Latias?I love this thing. With timid and scarf, it out speeds everything bar ninjask. It out speeds most faster scarfed pokemon that have a neutral speed nature. Latias fits it role on my team better than any sweeper could. It hits fast and hard, then comes back only to get healed and hit fast and hard again. The reason that i run timid on here is that i really need opposing scarfed latias's dead, as most of them run modest nature over timid. (even though scarfed latias isn't necessarily a huge sweeping threat to my team, its STABbed draco meteors makes it very hard to pass wishes to my team.) The other reason that i run scarf on this thing is so that i am able to take out +1 DD gyra (i think even +2 gyra) and +1 mence's. These two could potentially be huge threats to my team, so it is always nice to be able to take them out with relative ease. I also love its ability to trick a choice scarf to any wall, most notably, blissey. This thing walls my team (excluding infernape) and it is always a pain to take out, so i love being able to cripple it and get a free switch in to really any pokemon that i desire.
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Infernape @ Life Orb
Nature: Naive (+ Speed, - Special Defense)
Ability: Blaze (Boosts power of Fire-type moves 50% when at 1/3 HP or less.)
Ev's: 64 Atk / 196 Speed / 248 SpA
Moveset: - Hits blissey hard. It really is my only main counter to blissey as toxic doesn't really effect it that much. This is mainly the move that i use 1st as the opponent switches out.
- I chose flamethrower over fire blast because i hated missing fire blast in key situations towards the end of the game. Plus, flamethrower isn't necessarily that bad...
- I laugh at my opponents when they think that they can bring in gliscor and wall this set, forcing a switch. I always imagine their expression after they are OHKO'd with Hidden Power Ice after they switch into either a close combat or a flamethrower.
- My last move serves one purpose, eliminate swampert. I believe after SR damage and one layer of TS spike damage, grass knot is a 2KO to a standard defensive wall swampert set. (please, correct me if im wrong. im not good with calcs). This move is to also damage any bulky waters if my HP is getting low, but i normally use CC in that scenario.
Why Infernape?:Infernape was the last pokemon i chose after looking at the team that i had assembled. It was lacking in both fire and fighting moves, and there was almost no possible way of taking out blissey. I immediately thought of infernape. At first, i ran a physically based mixed set, but i didn't like how i was completely walled by gliscor and basically gave it a free SR as i u-turned out. I then tested out specially based infernape and found that it's type coverage was better than the other set. I run 196 speed ev's to out run all other infernapes, as most of them are 192. It also ensures that i out run all modest starmie users that add an extra 4 ev's to their speed also, with the same mindset as me. Infernape is good on this team because it works well with both vaporeon and latias. Any grass moves aimed at vappy go to infernape, and i usually get the wish along with it. Also, latias's and infernape's moveset cover every type in the game.