Dealing with and abusing the new threats of B2W2

[Big Beluga]

well as i'm sure most of you know, B2W2 was just released in japan, and as such many competitive players are in a frenzy trying to find the next best sets to abuse. in this thread, you'll be able to collaborate with each other to share and build sets that help use the new and improved threats of B2W2 to the best of their ability. furthermore, sets that help counter or check the aforementioned threats are also highly encouraged. to help get us started, i'll kick things off with a set i've been using on pokemon showdown on my rain team to help combat the new thundurus and tornadus forms... (remember, i think i speak for everyone when i say that feedback on the sets posted is greatly appreciated)

Raikou @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 120 HP / 136 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Calm Mind
- Rest

with raikou's typing, speed and fair natural bulk, it makes for a great switch-in and check to the new genie forms. thundurus-therian's volt switch and thunder are easily soaked up by volt absorb, and from there raikou can cm up and try and go for a sweep at +2 and with it's own monstrous thunder. against tornadus-therian, raikou easily takes it's main move, hurricane, and can ohko back with thunder. lastly, although it can only revenge, raikou can always put the pressure on landorus-therian with a swift hp ice. not to mention, raikou also makes for a great check to keldeo as a se thunder will still be doing a **** ton after +1. i was originally using sub + lefties > chestorest, but i found that raikou performed much better when it could stay healthy for a longer period of time and take status then rest it off later, so i just slapped the chesto on and stuck with it. sd virizion / breloom make for great partners, as they can both handle threats that give raikou trouble such as ferrothorn, tyranitar, and blissey.

[AlexandriaTheMixed]

Sounds like a nice check. The only problem I see is possibly a Super Power or Focus Blast from either Tornadus or Thundurus. Most Landorus-T's are scarfed instead of Rock Polish. So that may be an issue considering it'll out speed and easily get the ohko with it's Earthquake.

I guess I have to put my own set now? Hmm.

I'm gonna take the cheap road out and say SDef Jirachi.

It takes Tornadus-T's Hurricanes like nothing even happened, it can take a couple of Thundurus-T's Thunders if it has wish and paraflinch behind it. It doesn't mind Keldeo's Secret Sword to much if it's not at +1 or +2. It just needs to watch out. But Landorus gives it some trouble.

[your boss]

I like the set, even the speed EVs are good, Tornadus-T may cause trouble though with Focus Blast.

[PokéMaster Forever]

Hyourinmaru (Kyurem-W) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
- Fusion Flare
- Ice Beam

This is... ultimate power. Being able to easily demolish Dialga, Kyogre, Groudon, Forretress and Tyranitar, which are all common leads, I can safely say that Choice Specs Kyurem-W is one of the greatest anti-leads in existence. Its ability to completely bypass Lugia's Multiscale with its Turboblaze-enhanced, Same Type Attack Bonus super effective Ice Beam is also absolutely amazing.

[viker2]

Nice set Pokemon Trainer R! I like the powerful moves and the Choice Specs

[your boss]

With 700 BST, good luck switching in, which looks to be the problem when facing both formes.

[Ghosts of the Forums]

Black-Kyurem @Band
Adamant
Teravolt
252 atk 252 spe 4 hp
-Outrage
-Fusion Bolt
-Stone Edge/Rock Slide/Freeze Shock/Shadow Claw/Zen Headbutt/Iron Head
-Stone Edge/Rock Slide/Freeze Shock/Shadow Claw/Zen Headbutt/Iron Head
I can't understand why they gave black kyurem such a bad movepool. I mean, he should have at least gotten superpower. Good Luck switching in. Sadly, freeze shock might actually be viable.

[Phoopes]

Hey ho, let's talk about something that's gotten really popular... the pairing of Slowbro and Amoongus. Personally, I feel that it's the best defensive core that there is right now. Amoongus can take Special hits, and Slowbro can take Physical hits. Also, Regenerator on both of them make for great walls who can stay in the game for a long time.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off

The standard set here. The Nature and EV's allow it to take as many physical hits as possible. Scald and Psychic are good STABs to use, with the burn chance from Scald making Slowbro even more bulky. Thunder Wave over the sometimes used Flamethrower, because of the abundance of Rain. Also, it's really nice to be able to paralyze some threats, even though Thundurus-T can switch on that really easily. Slack Off, Leftovers, and Regenerator mean that Slowbro will stay in the game for a long time.

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power Ice
- Spore

Pretty much the same old story here, just on the special side of things. The EV's and Nature are for maximum Special bulk. Spore is wonderful for taking big threats out of the game, because with the new sleep mechanics, they won't be waking up any time soon. Giga Drain is a nice STAB, and you get recovery to boot, which is nice. Clear Smog can help with boosted sweepers, at it resets their stats. However, it doesn't work through Sub, so be wary of that. Also, I guess it's another STAB, though don't expect to kill anything with it, other than maybe Breloom. Hidden Power Ice is for coverage, and is great for dragons, the genies, and Gliscor, if your opponent carries that. Black Sludge, Regenerator, and Giga Drain are great for recovery, and Black Sludge over Leftovers in case any ignorant person decides to Trick you.

Overall, these two have great type synergy. The only weaknesses that they don't cover for each other are Flying (hardly used), Bug (usually Special, tanked by Amoongus), Ghost (see Bug), and Dark (see Ghost). Also, they hit back pretty well. Not overly hard, but enough that it takes a chunk out of your opponent's 'Mon, which is always nice. Slowbro has base 100 Spa, and Amoonguss has 85. While not the best, it's certainly not bad. These guys are great when you have hazards down, as they force a lot of switches, due to walling a vast majority of offensive Pokemon between them. You could add SpD Heatran to this core for FWG, but I tend to lean more towards SpD Jirachi because there's so much Rain. But hey, these two by themselves are enough to stop most offensive threats. Have fun.

[your boss]

Techniloom and Ditto deserve mentions due to their ability to hit harder for Breloom and Ditto who can check a lot of things and only requires maxing HP.

[MikeHill005]

I was really into the competitive scene last Summer, and now that school's out, I have more time to work on my team again. Unfortunately, I know very little about what Black/White 2 have brought to the table in terms of competitive options. I know there's tons of new move tutors, so there's bound to be tons of new strategies people are using... maybe even some extremely game-breaking ones (remember Scizor in Platinum?)

*Ahem*... Anyway, to get back on topic, someone bring me up to speed: what seem to be the main new threats this time around?

[TheRibbonedCubchoo]

Hyourinmaru (Kyurem-W) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Focus Blast
- Fusion Flare
- Ice Beam

This is... ultimate power. Being able to easily demolish Dialga, Kyogre, Groudon, Forretress and Tyranitar, which are all common leads, I can safely say that Choice Specs Kyurem-W is one of the greatest anti-leads in existence. Its ability to completely bypass Lugia's Multiscale with its Turboblaze-enhanced, Same Type Attack Bonus super effective Ice Beam is also absolutely amazing.

THE BLEACH REFRENCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE!

Heh, anyway, are you trying to do a set for White kyurem (Resh+Kyu)? You posted Black kyurem sooo....yyeaahh, slightly confused.

Good set either way! lol, I cant find a real flaw in it...

[PokéMaster Forever]

This is the site from which I get my sprites. Apparently, that site had the URLs of the images of the two Kyurem Formes mixed up before, as the URL of Kyurem-W's sprite was http://sprites.pokecheck.org/i/646-black.gif, while the URL of Kyurem-B's sprite was http://sprites.pokecheck.org/i/646-white.gif instead of the other way around. They fixed that problem just then though, which is why the image I posted in my message, which was previously of a Kyurem-W sprite, is now a Kyurem-B sprite (and why the Kyurem-B sprite Ghosts of the Forums posted earlier in this thread is now a Kyurem-W sprite). I have edited my post to change that though.

And yeah, that Kyurem-W's name came from Bleach indeed. In fact, the team in which I use that Kyurem-W actually has all of its members named after Zanpakutou. You can see that from some of my most recent replays I posted in the Pokemon Online Log Replays thread

Nice set Pokemon Trainer R! I like the powerful moves and the Choice Specs

Thank you very much

[Eaglehawk]

Hey ho, let's talk about something that's gotten really popular... the pairing of Slowbro and Amoongus. Personally, I feel that it's the best defensive core that there is right now. Amoongus can take Special hits, and Slowbro can take Physical hits. Also, Regenerator on both of them make for great walls who can stay in the game for a long time.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Scald
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off

The standard set here. The Nature and EV's allow it to take as many physical hits as possible. Scald and Psychic are good STABs to use, with the burn chance from Scald making Slowbro even more bulky. Thunder Wave over the sometimes used Flamethrower, because of the abundance of Rain. Also, it's really nice to be able to paralyze some threats, even though Thundurus-T can switch on that really easily. Slack Off, Leftovers, and Regenerator mean that Slowbro will stay in the game for a long time.

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Hidden Power Ice
- Spore

Pretty much the same old story here, just on the special side of things. The EV's and Nature are for maximum Special bulk. Spore is wonderful for taking big threats out of the game, because with the new sleep mechanics, they won't be waking up any time soon. Giga Drain is a nice STAB, and you get recovery to boot, which is nice. Clear Smog can help with boosted sweepers, at it resets their stats. However, it doesn't work through Sub, so be wary of that. Also, I guess it's another STAB, though don't expect to kill anything with it, other than maybe Breloom. Hidden Power Ice is for coverage, and is great for dragons, the genies, and Gliscor, if your opponent carries that. Black Sludge, Regenerator, and Giga Drain are great for recovery, and Black Sludge over Leftovers in case any ignorant person decides to Trick you.

Overall, these two have great type synergy. The only weaknesses that they don't cover for each other are Flying (hardly used), Bug (usually Special, tanked by Amoongus), Ghost (see Bug), and Dark (see Ghost). Also, they hit back pretty well. Not overly hard, but enough that it takes a chunk out of your opponent's 'Mon, which is always nice. Slowbro has base 100 Spa, and Amoonguss has 85. While not the best, it's certainly not bad. These guys are great when you have hazards down, as they force a lot of switches, due to walling a vast majority of offensive Pokemon between them. You could add SpD Heatran to this core for FWG, but I tend to lean more towards SpD Jirachi because there's so much Rain. But hey, these two by themselves are enough to stop most offensive threats. Have fun.

Jirachi complements AmoonBro well in Rain, but on Weatherless, Heatran is much better, as it can deal with Sun teams, and do a great job walling.

Oh and Haxorus.

Haxorus@Life Orb
Mold Breaker
Jolly
4 HP/252 Att/252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Outrage
-Aqua Tail
-Low Kick

Right now, this thing has no counters in the rain. Plenty of checks, but no counters. Every single wall in OU is OHKO - 2HKOed by this thing at +2.

Personally I think this set's more dangerous.

Haxorus@Lumberry/LifeOrb
Mold Breaker
Jolly
4 HP/252 Att/252 Spe
-Dragon Dance
-Dual Chop/Dragon Claw
-Aqua Tail
-Low Kick

Still weak to priority, but really cuts down the number or legitimate checks it has down significantly, and it can easily sweep late-game after a few choice walls are removed (Skarm and Forry mostly).

[PokéMaster Forever]

Dragonite (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Hurricane
- Roost
- Superpower
- Thunder

A rain Dragonite that can hit Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, Chansey, Blissey and Porygon2 hard. I've been waiting for the day in which Multiscale Dragonite can have Superpower... for too long!

[theebay707]

Mamoswine (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Superpower
- Icicle Spear

Mamoswine is going to play a big part in the new Metagame. With the new Genie Formes, upgraded Dragons, and Amoonguss, Mamoswine might be one of the "go-to-pokemon" if you're having trouble with any or all of those pokemon.

This set is pretty standard. EQ hits everything pretty much. Superpower hits Air Balloon Heatran, Ferrothorn (2hko's if they come in on an EQ, AFTER ROCKS), and other stuff i'm too lazy to name. Ice Shard is well, ice shard. Icicle Spear is like the icing on the cake. Hitting and KOing SubGliscor, Breloom without Mach Punch (bulk up, SubPunch, etc), Dragonite, and Amoonguss.

[That Crazy Russian™]

^^^ why not thick fat?

[PokéMaster Forever]

Reshiram @ Life Orb
Trait: Turboblaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Blue Flare
- Dragon Pulse
- Flame Charge
- Roost

A set-up sweeper with reliable recovery and a pair of awesome and completely unresisted Same Type Attack Bonus moves. Now that it has Roost, it has no qualms with holding Life Orb like before, enabling the Flame Charge set to be insanely powerful while still maintaining survivability.

[Cometk]

^^^ why not thick fat?

thick fat is illegal with ice shard and ice shard >>>>> thick fat

[theebay707]

^^^ why not thick fat?

oh, is that thing released?
i didn't know haha.

also, Pokemon Trainer R, please stop posting Ubers set. We all know you're great at Dream World Ubers, but I believe we're dealing with the Standard OU Meta

Though, your Dragonite set seems nice, But I think it gets outclassed by Tornadus-T in terms of using it as some sort of Rain Abuser

[Dr.Chaos]

thick fat is illegal with ice shard and ice shard >>>>> thick fat

Actually Swinub gets ice shard as a level up move so it is perfectly legal to have ice shard on a thick fat mamoswine since dw swinub is released.