Research Month

[Jets]

oh **** i forgot kyu b is unbanned... fuuu. ps ladder sucks tho.

updating! should be at 1100 on PO after 4 battles but WoW is the worst move in the game -_-

[Chidori__O]

Okay, I got the name wrong. It's actually ChidoriO[Challenge]. Just edited it.

[Ghosts of the Forums]

i'll do it with virizion on ps.
Name: B. Machoore

[d0nut]

Chandelure just doesn't have the stats or typing the other two do. Fire is a purely offensive type, while Ghost can sort of do both. Unfortunately, it has neither the Speed nor the Hp or Defenses necessary for its role. And there's the fact that Fire is the worst defensive typing in the game.

Might agree with that if Ice typing weren't 100x worse.

[Rairyan]

got to 1300 on po ladder with viz on my team with no item too lol

team (pretty much my rmt team with viz over keldoe ll this is easy)

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Thunder
- Trick

Salamence (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Hydro Pump
- Fire Blast

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Quick Attack
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Gliscor (F) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

Tyranitar (F) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Virizion @ (No Item)
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

trying to get 1400

(20:13:27) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 600/80013 [1318 points / 24 battles]! [currently on now ]

[Ghosts of the Forums]

so far my team is pretty good. 2-0'd a 1600 something rank person, and would've 5-0'd a 1540 point person if they hadn't quit. currently at 1195 points.

[Soperman]

oh **** i forgot kyu b is unbanned... fuuu. ps ladder sucks tho.

Kyurem-B is actually not that hard to deal with at all. Almost completely walled by Bronzong and Heatran, and Scarf Chandelure has the potential to out-speed it and KO with Fire Blast. Offensively, Virizon can take any Electric hit and destroy it with Focus Blast/Close Combat.

[That Crazy Russian™]

i have a team i sometimes ladder with on PS! includes virizion. i got to ~1550(i believe. 1400-1600) on it, but stopped laddering because the damn beta server kept crashing my computer, and i would only get, like, +6 from winning once past the 1400 mark. does that count, lol? heres the team:

Tyranitar @choice scarf
- sand stream -
Jolly
252 atk/ 4 SpD/ 252 speed
- Superpower
- Stone edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit

Politoed @leftovers
- drizzle -
Modest
252 hp/ 252 SpA/ 4 SpD
- Encore
- Hydro pump
- HP Grass
- Ice beam

Virizion @Life Orb
- justified -
116 atk/ 160 SpA/ 232 speed
- Close Combat
- Stone edge
- Giga Drain
- Hp ice

Genesect @choice scarf
- download -
Naive
4 atk/ 252 SpA/ 252 speed
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt/ Thunder
- Ice beam

Jirachi @Expert belt
- serene grace -
Naive
252 atk/ 4 SpA/ 252 speed
- Fire punch
- Ice punch
- Thunder
- Iron head

Gliscor @Flying gem
- sand veil -
Adamant
4 hp/ 252 atk/ 252 speed(or i sometimes try out the bulky-er set with 72 speed evs)
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Swords dance/stealth rock

any comments are welcome. i have found the reason virizion wasnt used and moved to uu: tornadus-t(though thats common knowledge). like i said, does this count? i went under the username: That Crazy Russian, and didnt change anything on the team. laddered today, actually. idk the exact ranking or points, but i was between 1480 and 1550.(yeah, i suck, lol)

[Soperman]

Just a quick update: Bronzong isn't doing much for my team (if anything, hindering it) so he's leaving. Virizion is staying still.

[Phoopes]

So on my Virizion team, I thought I'd use it in Sand, with a FWG core. So I went with:

SpDTar, CM Virizion, Standard Jelli, SpDTran, Gravity Lando (more useful than you'd think), and Specs Kingdra (for countering Rain).

I've tweaked the team a bit, and gotten up to almost 1100 on PS. Not anything great yet, but I'm thinking I can do a bit better with:

SpDTar, CM Virizion, Standard Jelli, SpD Rachi, Gravity Lando, Rain Dance Mix Kingdra.

Considering changing to CBTar and Scarf Lando, but haven't tested those out yet. Also thinking of going with Scarf Moxie Mence, or another Dragon type like Hydreigon in the last spot. Any thoughts on improving?

[That Crazy Russian™]

my team is actually an old, old team, from around february-march. revised a little and includes virizion, because i had trouble with a lot of pokes anc voltturn, as well as opposing rain(sometimes). that's why the evs are a little weird. its just enough to always outspeed mienshao, while not wasting any. 160 SpA gives it a good chance to ohko starmie, while taking about 40-50 % from ice beam(psyshock is almost never used). just a little history :P

but yeah, agreed. the star players seem to be a hinderence. virizion on my team just barely stays on because landorus-t, volcarona, voltturn and dragonite are used often enough to warrant it. other than that, he really doesnt do much except as suicide fodder( always a good thing to have on a team)

[Chidori__O]

I'm still using all three but I mean...it's hard to get pokemon to help balance it while at the same time being original. I've been switching out all 3 of the pokemon while at the same time changing items and movesets of the other 3. I'll show you guys it but just a warning that it'll probably be different since I'm rotating all of them.

Salamence (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Zen Headbutt
- Fire Fang
- Earthquake
- Outrage

Suicune @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Virizion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Zen Headbutt
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Chandelure (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Forretress (F) @ Steel Gem
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Explosion

Bronzong @ Normal Gem
Trait: Heatproof
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Explosion
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock
- Swagger

Go nuts.

[Eaglehawk]

I've started out with Specs Chandelure, which is an amazing wallbreaker under sun, as it even 2HKOs Blissey and Bulky Waters (Chansey's just shy of a 2HKO). With his amazing wallbreaking abilities, I decided to run a Sun Offense team. A rather cliche one, but still a sun team.

Ninetales/Dugtrio/Chandelure/Sawsbuck/Heatran/Forretress.

This team didn't work, as Sawsbuck was the weakest link, as it didn't give me a good pivot against Rain. Lucario, Conk, and Mamoswine shat all over it with priority, and therefore not giving me the mid-game sweep I envisioned. Plus, it didn't synergize well with Heatran, my other sweeper due to fighting-moves weakness. In the end, the executive decision was made to cut Sawsbuck. D:

The next thing I added in place of it was another, more reputable Chloro abuser: Lilligant. Lilligant could pretty much do everything Sawsbuck did, but it had access to Sleep Powder, which helps my team's offense considerably by literally putting one the opponent's Pokemon out of commision. Second, Quiver Dance helps immensely, as it makes it less sun dependent, which is usually a good thing. Also, mine runs the Grass/Rock coverage variant, which fares really well on sun since the two types that wall it, Grass and Steel, are all taken out by teammates, hence opening up a sweep opportunity for Lilligant. I run a more bulky variant for more boosts and to tank water hits better (Specs Politoed's Hydro Pump still hits for 65% damage, but oh well :/ ).

As soon as I slapped it on, I realized how good of a core Lilligant/Heatran/Chandelure is. I'll break it down.
Heatran-Chandelure: My Flame Charge Heatran is walled by two important things: Blissey and Chansey. Chandelure's rediculous Overheat can 2HKO 252 HP/252 Def Bold Blissey and I believe Chansey too. Calcs.
~252 SpAtk Choice Specs Chandelure (+SpAtk) Overheat vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Blissey: 65.69% - 77.45% 2 hits to KO (with Leftovers)
~252 -2 SpAtk Choice Specs Chandelure (+SpAtk) Overheat vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Blissey: 32.91% - 38.8% 3-4 hits to KO (with Leftovers)
~252 SpAtk Choice Specs Chandelure (+SpAtk) Overheat vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Chansey: 55.4% - 65.2% 2 hits to KO
~252 -2 SpAtk Choice Specs Chandelure (+SpAtk) Overheat vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Eviolite Chansey: 27.7% - 32.53% 4 hits to KO

Lilligant-Chandelure: Simply put, Chandy does two good synergy numbers with Lilligant. First, as a Fire-type, it removes all of the Steel-types and Grass-types that could possibly impede its sweep. Second, it tanks every possible priority move aimed at hampering its sweep, a point many people overlook. Even with a Bulky Lilligant, priority is the bane to its sweep, notably Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, Extremespeed, and Ice Shard, which all hold residence in the movepools of many OU powerhouses. Chandy resists or is immune to all of these and can deal with all of the major abusers with relative ease.

Lilligant-Heatran: The main sweeper core here, Lilligant takes out bulky waters that resists Heatran's sweep and Heatran does the same with Steel and grass types.

Dugtrio then ties it up with TTar/Heatran killer and HP Ice Forretress finishes as the Dragon resist/killer. Ninetales is just there to look nice and to set sun, and after that it's dead weight. In fact, after they have done their jobs, Dugtrio and Ninetales are the most useless on my team and turn into death fodder first.

[Rairyan]

Broke 1400 and then the server crashes because a new server called po2 has opened so yeah :/

anyway not going for gold for this team silver is good enough and if it's ok du i want to use a diffrent po name so i ladder with the other 2 pokemon

[Phoopes]

Anyway, the only tweak that I did that I mentioned before was change Gravity Lando to Scarf Lando. It's worked out pretty well... just got back to back 6-0's. Then again, this is PS ladder, so keep that in mind, haha. Anyway, here's the team I have right now.

    Spoiler:- Drum roll please...:

Show Spoiler

 
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 SDef
Sassy Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit

Virizion @ Leftovers
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spd
Bold Nature
- Surf
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Taunt

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spd
Careful Nature
- Iron Head
- Thunder Wave
- Protect
- Wish

Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 92 Atk / 252 SAtk / 164 Spd
Mild Nature
- Rain Dance
- Waterfall
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
 

Currently, I'm thinking about Naught over Naive for Lando, though something like that hasn't mattered so far. I'd appreciate thoughts on that, and the team as a whole. Thanks!

EDIT: Oh, that should be importable btw. I always like to do that, in case someone out there's interested.

[dragonuser™]

wow im really happy that so much discussion and sharing is happening!

@Rairyan, I'm glad you were able to put Virizion in a previously held spot with little differences. Just goes to show that just because a pokemon is dropping in usage doesn't mean its bad.

@thedarklord, Yea your team counts as you laddered with it after BW2 came out, glad to see that you had success with Virizion

@Chidori_O, It may not be a bad idea to check this, for sets. While creativity is important sometimes things like Explosion Steel Gem Forretress could serve a better and more effective role on your team.

@Phoopes, Not sure if going to CBTTar is the best idea as you lose your Stealth Rocks setter (Landorus can do it, but landorus's 4 slots area already so contested for). I would also try a different pokemon for your last spot (unless kingdra is doing really well for you) as you do already have a jellicent/Virizion/SpDef rachi to check rain. Also putting a scarfer over kingdra would give you a lot more immediate speed as Kingdra is really only fast in rain which is kinda hard to setup/keep up. Like you said Scarf Mence or other scarfers sound good.

@Eaglehawk, Glad to see you have had so much success with a Chandelure sun core. I actually really like the way that core sounds, and it seems to work really well off of eachother. If liligant falls short don't be afraid to try a Venusaur as it now has giga drain!

EDIT: @Phoopes, yea changing Landorus to a Scarf Variant would help with your speed issue a lot. Keep us posted with results!

[KingTorterraXIV]

serebii username:KingTorterraXIV
Pokemon(s) you plan to use:Virizion or Chandy. Bronzong's ugly
Ladder alt (remember it needs to be an untouched alt): Archdemon Estark

[dragonuser™]

Its also interesting to note that everyone is taking different approaches to the challenge. Some people are using Sun, Deo-D, Sand, Clear Skies, and even Dual Weather. I find it interesting that noone has tried rain yet (as far as I know). For those of you that have already made your teams, what influenced you to choose that specific playstyle? Is it just that you didn't see much use for one of the Research Pokemon on other team archetypes? Or did you just want to tryout that specific playstyle, and saw this as a good oppurtunity? I'm just curious as we are seeing many different approaches to this challenge.

[That Crazy Russian™]

wow im really happy that so much discussion and sharing is happening!

@thedarklord, Yea your team counts as you laddered with it after BW2 came out, glad to see that you had success with Virizion

its not so much successful, as it works. that sounds weird, lol. on my team, it functions more as a threat-checker than anything. in fact, it was the 2nd most recent member on the team, behind magnezone<genesect.

i originally tried the work-up set, but because volcarona could set up on everything, and that it completely walled virizion, work-up was changed to stone edge.

certain pokemon still give me problems, like tornadus-t, and keldeo. i originally ran mixed tar:     Spoiler:- click it!:

Show Spoiler

 
tyranitar @chople berry
- sand stream -
sassy
252 hp// 64 SpA/ 192 SpD
- Fire Blast
- Ice beam
- Crunch
- Stealth rock
 

....but after trying out scarftar, the power difference made the difference between a win and a loss a lot of the time. unfortunately, the lack of stealth rocks has really been worrying me. any comments are welcome.

i also tried running submind latias>jirachi, but the iron head flinch utility is just soooo beneficial. plus, i find mono-attackers to be....not that good.

any comments to help with some minor problems? these are the 2 questions i think i really need help with:

1)- Any way i can at least check keldeo? genesect does a fairly good job, but is outsped by(id have to check speed tiers, buuuuut) scarved, modest keldeo.

2)- any way to fit stealth rocks on the team? im thinking gliscor could use them.

but yeah, back to virizion. i honestly find him under-powered now-a-days, solely because of the rise of multiple checks and counters to it, specifically tornadus-t and mamoswine(counter and check, respectively). its good, but unfortunately certain things keep it from being its full potential.

i havent tried bronzong or chandelure though. too bad trapperlure isnt released.

o.o is it laddering on ou, or dw ou, or both?

[Phoopes]

@Phoopes, Not sure if going to CBTTar is the best idea as you lose your Stealth Rocks setter (Landorus can do it, but landorus's 4 slots area already so contested for). I would also try a different pokemon for your last spot (unless kingdra is doing really well for you) as you do already have a jellicent/Virizion/SpDef rachi to check rain. Also putting a scarfer over kingdra would give you a lot more immediate speed as Kingdra is really only fast in rain which is kinda hard to setup/keep up. Like you said Scarf Mence or other scarfers sound good.

EDIT: @Phoopes, yea changing Landorus to a Scarf Variant would help with your speed issue a lot. Keep us posted with results!

CBTar was an idea when I still had Heatran on the team to set up Rocks. I guess I could go that route and replace Protect on Rachi to give me my rocks... but I think I'll stick with what I have now, in both SpDTar with attacking power, and SpDRachi as well.

I did end up changing Gravity Lando with Scarf Lando and that was where I got the back to back 6-0's. Those are the only two matches I've played since I've made the switch, and it's working well for me.

As for Kingdra, I actually haven't been seeing too many Rain teams. In the eight or nine games I've played, I only saw one rain team. That was why I ended up switching to the Rain Dance mixed set over Specs. Seems to be doing okay so far for me, but maybe I could get something else. As I already have a Scarfer covered, maybe I could replace Kingdra with a spinner if it seems to be the weak link? I dunno.

[That Crazy Russian™]

Its also interesting to note that everyone is taking different approaches to the challenge. Some people are using Sun, Deo-D, Sand, Clear Skies, and even Dual Weather. I find it interesting that noone has tried rain yet (as far as I know). For those of you that have already made your teams, what influenced you to choose that specific playstyle? Is it just that you didn't see much use for one of the Research Pokemon on other team archetypes? Or did you just want to tryout that specific playstyle, and saw this as a good oppurtunity? I'm just curious as we are seeing many different approaches to this challenge.

my team actually started off as tyranitar/empoleon/jirachi/gliscor/swampert.

after testing it out, swampert was changed to quagsire.

2nd update: magnezone>empoleon

3rd: back to swampert

4th: moveset changes

5th: zam>mag again

6th: latias> jirachi, mag>zam

7th: jirachi>latias, virizion is added over quagsire

8th: genesect> magnezone

ive ran dual weather extensively before, but this was my first team, and the styles developed and transformed as it was building. i loved using weather, still do, and dual weather battling is exremely fun to use, by basically manipulating the battle however you please.

virizion was never the basis of the team, it was a very late after-thought.

but!

the username im laddering with involved virizion from the start(formed it today), so its all good :P

[Rairyan]

going make a team using all 3 of them new alt name will be just like dancing 3

[Psilo]

Hit just above the 1300 mark under the alt "Makio" using both Chandy and Bronzong.

(09:03:49) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 670/80665 [1309 points / 47 battles]!
Screen Shot 2012-09-10 at 8.50.28 AM.jpg
Will include details of team later today when I get back. However I might switch it up some, and try Virizion on the same account. Going for 1400 now.

Awesome idea for the thread btw. Hope you keep up with this on a monthly basis, dragon user.

Also, Eranu...I experimented with your team some on a different account, and it is not shitty. It's actually great if you can stay on top of your prediction game and keep your momentum rolling.
I won 9 out of 9 straight with it :/ and then moved on to this alt.
Not a bad team, by any means, as far as I'm concerned.

Tested (off-ladder) the team you used too, Rairyan...and it seems good too. More stable (requires less prediction), and accounts for quite a few of the main threats in the current metagame.
Though, I have to say I prefer Eranu's "shitty" team. That's a fun one to use. Makes for some interesting matches
Kind of interesting to play with a team designed more around beating the metagame (Rairyan's) and immediately use one that leaves it up to how the two play the field afterwards (Eranu's).

[5221A]

Someone haked my alt so can I change it? If so then my new alt is [RTR] anziliero
Anyways, when I first thought of Bronzong i thought of TR, then Rain. Then I thought: "why not put them togeter" that is what i did, so first I decided on a suportive TR set, and Supportoad. What sucks about Toad is that he has no recovery, so a wish passer came to mind, Blissey and Chancey. The main resson to use Blissey over Chancey is Leftover recovery under Sandstorm/Hail, so I went with Chancey. Toxic spikes were going to be a pain even if chancey had Heal Bell, Tentacruel came to mind, It dosent abuse of TR, but it is still great out of it (since TR wont be up 100% percent of the time). Then i needed someone to abuse TR so why not Conkeldurr, he is very "fast" with TR, setup time would be a wast, so I decided on a status Orb, since he is ment to stay a bit then leave Toxic Orb was my choice. Then there was still one slot open, and I wanted to test Whimsicott out, just cuz he trolled me too much in the past.

[Psilo]

Broke 1400 and then the server crashes because a new server called po2 has opened so yeah :/

anyway not going for gold for this team silver is good enough and if it's ok du i want to use a diffrent po name so i ladder with the other 2 pokemon

Oh, this happened when I was laddering yesterday evening. Though, no one lost their ranks. So you should be at where you were if you reopen that Just Like Dancing 2 alt.
Just a heads up.