Lock Down

Smeargle

.
Member
So, this team is built to completely shut down and counter your opponents team, hence the name "lock down." Anyway:

[animate]haxorus[/animate]
Haxorus
Mold Breaker
Jolly
@Yache Berry
252 HP/252 SpD/4 Def
-Superpower
-Dragon Claw
-Protect
-Aqua Tail

This is here to shut down teams that rely on using abilities (skill swap teams, weather teams, and anything using shedinja (but when they see the haxorus they will probably not use it...)). It usually will do it's damage with mold breaker while subbing and having breloom or thundurus sweep, but if left alone too long it can deal a decent amount of damage with swords dance and dragon claw.

[animate]breloom[/animate]
Breloom
Technician
Adamant
@ Life Orb
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
-Spore
-Mach Punch
-Stone Edge
-Bullet Seed

This is my main attacker. It's a pretty standard TechLoom and can put a ton of pressure on my opponent, especially when they're strategy doesn't work.

[animate]uxie[/animate]
Uxie @ Sitrus Berry
Calm Nature
Trait; Levitate
252 HP/4 SpAtk/252 Spe
~Trick Room
~Imprison
~Psychic
~Protect
This saves me against Trick room teams. Using imprision deals with them. My team is made of fast, agile attackers that cannot deal with big bulky FASTER in the trick room pokemon.

[animate]thundurus[/animate]
Thundurus
Prankster
@ Focus Sash
Timid
252 SpA/252 Spe/4 HP
-Thunder Wave
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Grass knot

My second real attacker. Timid, and 252 of my EV's dedicated to speed is really just to make sure I hit with volt switch before any other pokemon hits. Nasty Plot is good once both pokemon have been paralyed I have my time to use it so Thunder Shock does more damage. Focus Sash is there to pretty much guarantee no
out-of-nowhere stone edge KO.
Here come the two I am very uncertain about:

[animate]golduck[/animate]
Golduck
Cloud Nine
Timid
@ Leftovers
252 Spe/252 HP/4 SpD
-Hydro Pump
-Protect
-Substitute
-Helping Hand

This is here primarily to be extra sure that a weather team doesn't get through haxorus by KOing it and then switching there weather creator in, or just using rain dance/sunny day/sandstorm. I used this over altaria and lickilicky (other pokemon that have cloud nine) because 2/3 popular weathers (snow isn't really popular...) are weak to water. Helping hand is there to give a boost to my breloom to become even more of a sweeper.

[animate]dugtrio[/animate]
Dugtrio
Arena Trap
Jolly
@ Quick Claw
252 HP/252 SpD/4 Def
-Earthquake
-Protect
-Substitue
-Rock Slide

This is there so they can't be sneaky and switch there trick roomer out of the imprision, kill the reunicles, and then trick room again. It also guarantees getting past there weather maker. Both of these are, if, I can stay alive which I plan to do with all those EV's on HP and SpD and some on Def, along with the sub and protect combo. Quick claw is there to hopefully get my sub out before they can do anything


It seems that thundurus' animation doesn't work
 
Why are you using Thundershock? That is the weakest electric attack out there. You should be using Thunderbolt, it does significantly more damage. Also get rid of Volt Switch and Nasty Plot, and instead use use Focus Blast and Hidden Power Ice. As it is, you get walled completely by anything that is part Ground, as well as Ferrothorn and to an extent, Tyranitar, which both of the coverage moves can take care of. VGC doesn't allow time for you to set up for boosts anyways, it's much too offensive.

Giga Drain on Breloom is a no-no. Breloom doesn't have very Special Attack, so it shouldn't be using it at all. Stone Edge would be a better coverage to be using, so you can hit Volcarona and Zapdos.

On Haxorus, you probably want Superpower and Aqua Tail instead of Swords Dance and Substitute. Like I said before, VGC is too offensive, and everything gets KO'd very quickly. If you waste a turn to set up Swords Dance or Substitute, Haxorus will probably be KO'd. Superpower lets you hit Heatran, Ferrothorn, Blissey, and Tyranitar, while Aqua Tail can hit Gliscor.

As for Reuniclus, I would switch it to Uxie. I would use
Uxie @ Sitrus Berry
Calm Nature
Trait; Levitate
252 HP/4 SpAtk/252 SpDef
~Trick Room
~Imprison
~Psychic/Psyshock/Helping Hand
~Protect

This Pokémon does the same exact thing Reuniclus is supposed to, but it has MUCH higher defenses. (base 75 HP/130 Def/130 SpDef, compared to Reuniclus's 110/75/85.) Protect is a better move to lock up than Skill Swap, since Skill Swap is so rare. Protect is common on a LOT of Pokémon, so if you can use Imprison, it will lock a lot of Pokémon up. Trick Room is there for the same reason it is on Reuniclus. You can also actually use Trick Room if you go up against a Tailwind team. the 3rd move depends on what you want. Psychic and Helping Hand are the most common moves, but Psyshock is viable as well.
 
Agreeing with everything TPO3 said, but I wouldn't use Uxie or Reuniclus. Cresselia is bulkier than Uxie, trading in Imprison for Icy Wind, which slows fast threats down.

Cresselia @ Sitrus Berry
Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Icy Wind
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Light Screen / Reflect
 
TPO3 said:
Why are you using Thundershock? That is the weakest electric attack out there. You should be using Thunderbolt, it does significantly more damage. Also get rid of Volt Switch and Nasty Plot, and instead use use Focus Blast and Hidden Power Ice. As it is, you get walled completely by anything that is part Ground, as well as Ferrothorn and to an extent, Tyranitar, which both of the coverage moves can take care of. VGC doesn't allow time for you to set up for boosts anyways, it's much too offensive.

Giga Drain on Breloom is a no-no. Breloom doesn't have very Special Attack, so it shouldn't be using it at all. Stone Edge would be a better coverage to be using, so you can hit Volcarona and Zapdos.

On Haxorus, you probably want Superpower and Aqua Tail instead of Swords Dance and Substitute. Like I said before, VGC is too offensive, and everything gets KO'd very quickly. If you waste a turn to set up Swords Dance or Substitute, Haxorus will probably be KO'd. Superpower lets you hit Heatran, Ferrothorn, Blissey, and Tyranitar, while Aqua Tail can hit Gliscor.

As for Reuniclus, I would switch it to Uxie. I would use
Uxie @ Sitrus Berry
Calm Nature
Trait; Levitate
252 HP/4 SpAtk/252 SpDef
~Trick Room
~Imprison
~Psychic/Psyshock/Helping Hand
~Protect

This Pokémon does the same exact thing Reuniclus is supposed to, but it has MUCH higher defenses. (base 75 HP/130 Def/130 SpDef, compared to Reuniclus's 110/75/85.) Protect is a better move to lock up than Skill Swap, since Skill Swap is so rare. Protect is common on a LOT of Pokémon, so if you can use Imprison, it will lock a lot of Pokémon up. Trick Room is there for the same reason it is on Reuniclus. You can also actually use Trick Room if you go up against a Tailwind team. the 3rd move depends on what you want. Psychic and Helping Hand are the most common moves, but Psyshock is viable as well.
Oops, meant thunderbolt, just get the two confused often... The problem is my thundurus' can't learn hiddie power ice, so what should I switch it with?


Bippa said:
Agreeing with everything TPO3 said, but I wouldn't use Uxie or Reuniclus. Cresselia is bulkier than Uxie, trading in Imprison for Icy Wind, which slows fast threats down.

Cresselia @ Sitrus Berry
Nature: Calm
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Icy Wind
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Light Screen / Reflect
The purpose of Uxie is to shut trick room down which completely destroys my team.
 
IF you use Trick Room on your Cresselia, it will undo the opponent's Trick Room, so it kind of works in the same way.

If you can't learn Hidden Power Ice, you can try Grass Knot, for Gastrodon, Swampert, and Hippowdon. Not really sure how common they are in VGC...Thunder Wave is fine as well.
 
TPO3 said:
IF you use Trick Room on your Cresselia, it will undo the opponent's Trick Room, so it kind of works in the same way.

If you can't learn Hidden Power Ice, you can try Grass Knot, for Gastrodon, Swampert, and Hippowdon. Not really sure how common they are in VGC...Thunder Wave is fine as well.

Thunder wave is already on thundurus, and I like imprision because it completely shuts trick room off instead of delaying it, and it shuts protect and psychic off.
 
^Right. So you can try Grass Knot instead, or Taunt (I'm pretty sure Thundurus can learn this...) If not, Substitute is actually ok on Thundurus because of Prankster. You will always move first, so you can safely get a substitute up, and scout which move your opponent wants to use. This is different on Thundurus because it will definitely go first, while Haxorus might actually take a hit before getting its Substitute up.

And yeah, Imprison is a cool move. DNA gave me a team that used Imprison Landorus, and I really liked the concept. If you want to use Imprison, your best bet is going to be Uxie.
 
Wait, wait. What is going on with Haxorus? First off, the EVs don't make any sense to me. It will still get demolished even with the HP and D/SDef EVs. It needs Atk/Spd. And you mention it doing good damage with Swords Dance and Dragon Claw, but it doesn't have Swords Dance listed as one of its moves.
 
QWERTY DITTO said:
[animate]haxorus[/animate]
Haxorus
Mold Breaker
Jolly
@Yache Berry
252 HP/252 SpD/4 Def
-Superpower
-Dragon Claw
-Protect
-Aqua Tail

This is here to shut down teams that rely on using abilities (skill swap teams, weather teams, and anything using shedinja (but when they see the haxorus they will probably not use it...)). It usually will do it's damage with mold breaker while subbing and having breloom or thundurus sweep, but if left alone too long it can deal a decent amount of damage with swords dance and dragon claw.

In addition to switching EVs to atk and speed, I'm wondering if you know what Mold Breaker does. It doesn't negate all abilities, it ignores the effects of the Pokemon it attacks when it attacks them. This means it doesn't actually counter weather teams in any way.
 
Dark void is completely right. And while a 'bulky' Haxorus is kind of a surprise "tank," I wouldn't advise it. You may as well use attack and speed because Haxorus can still be out-stalled easily.
 
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