RMT Stranger in a Strange Land

[Chaos Jackal]

What became of the man that started
All are gone and their souls departed
Left me here in this place
So all alone

It has been nearly a year and a half since I bid Pokebeach farewell, and two years since the last tournament I participated in and the RMT threads of the teams that I used. A lot has changed since then, and now that I've made my return (however brief it may end up being) to the scene, I've found myself being an unknown person in unknown territory. Lonely as it might feel, one can't hang on to the past forever. They can, however, look to it for principles and guidance, that they may venture forth into the mysterious future.

Hello again everyone. It's been a long time. For those of you who know me, I hope you've been well. For those who don't, allow me to introduce myself. I am Chaos Jackal, former VG moderator on Pokebeach and competitive battler during Generations V and VI. I started during the peak of the weather metagame, but I reached my own peak during the Mega Evolution era. While Ubers has been my most successful tier in terms of PS! accomplishments, I am no stranger to OU and have had victorious tournament runs and decent laddering there. In both tiers, I had a love of two things. The first was making RMT threads. The second was creating offense teams so that I could make those threads. Indeed, offense has been my favored playstyle ever since I saw TDL's (now known as PG24) Arabian Nights, and with the exception of the balanced Metal Massacre, my best teams (Code Chaos, Cry for Tanelorn, Public Enemy No.1) have been focused on offense. And while I never managed to achieve status similar to that of old battlers like Pride, gamercal or TDL, offense has allowed me to carve my own story in PB's competitive history.

So, with this return of dubious meaning and duration, I'm diving into a metagame completely new to me but my past self still shows up. My detachment from the games has brought an end to old principles concerning the usage of specific Pokemon (most notably my "no Fairies" clause, some might remember that I used to detest them), but even though I've changed as a person as well, it's nothing radical enough to direct me towards stall tactics or even balanced cores. The team primarily focuses on a core of 4-DD Zygarde and Specs Tapu Lele aided by Spikes Greninja, with the excellent support of defensive Landorus-T. Offensive Latias and Assault Vest Magearna round up the team, providing some important defensive coverage and utility while also racking up damage.

Offense has always been the name of the game for me, be it bulky, standard or hyper, and it's with offense that I sign what might be my last venture into competitive Pokemon. Stranger in a Strange Land I may be, but I won't lose my way.

Tyrant (Zygarde) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance
Dragon Dance Zygarde is a very powerful setup sweeper and one of the hardest to stop thanks to its great coverage and priority in Extreme Speed. Outrage, aided by the Dragonium Z boost, is there to take care of bulky Grass types like Tangrowth; at +1, Devastating Drake has a 94% chance to KO Assault Vest Tangrowth after SR and allows for a guaranteed 2HKO against the physically defensive variant, limiting Tang's use as a counter. It can similarly eliminate Buzzwole. Thousand Arrows is the main attraction, providing excellent coverage and solid power while Extreme Speed allows Zygarde to function as a revenge killer if needed, in addition to dealing with weakened Scarfers that would otherwise beat it due to its middling base 95 Speed. All that, of course, requires one or two Dragon Dance boosts, something easier for Zygarde compared to other sweepers due to the large number of Pokemon it threatens. To aid in this, the team also comes equipped with a VoltTurn core, allowing for easier switching into favorable matchups.

Rebel (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
No offensive team is complete without Stealth Rock... and some backbone. Defensive Landorus-T is a reliable SR setter and also acts as a check to stuff like Excadrill, Zygarde and Garchomp and the most obvious choice to the majority of physical attackers. Earthquake is powerful even uninvested and threatens the aforementioned Excadrill as well as hazard setters like Tyranitar and Heatran while providing good neutral coverage and chip damage. Hidden Power Ice allows Landorus to take on other Landorus-T, Garchomp and Zygarde, all of which are quite threatening to the team otherwise. U-Turn allows the team's main damage sources to come in unhindered and synergizes quite well with most members of the team.

Stranger (Greninja) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Rock Slide
- Gunk Shot
- Dark Pulse
Spikes is something I've rarely used; aside from Deoxys-D and -S sets that packed both hazards, I never wanted to dedicate more than one team member to hazard setting and I always favored SR. Greninja, however, is too good to pass. Fitting excellently to the team's mindset thanks to its high Speed and Protean, Greninja threatens a large part of the metagame due to the unpredictability of its movesets and can find ample opportunity to throw around a few Spikes. It also synergizes very well with the team's VoltTurn core, allowing for double hazards as well as easy switching since Greninja's bulk is low. Choice Scarf was an idea of Prof P's, combined with Rock Slide to more safely deal with Volcarona as well as Weavile, while still hitting Zapdos for super effective damage. Gunk Shot and Dark Pulse deal decent damage to Tapu Fini, Mew and Lati@s, all potential Defoggers alongside the aforementioned Zapdos.

Foxy (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
If I had themed this team after rock songs, then this would probably have "I hate myself for loving you" as its tag. I used to dislike Fairy types on principle, and even after two years of no game involvement there's still residual hatred left, but Tapu Lele is a thing of beauty. Its purpose is simple: break down everything that stands in the way. With Choice Specs and the ability to instantly summon Psychic Terrain, Tapu Lele runs over everything not made it to beat it, sporting an impressively low amount of checks while at the same time hampering enemy priority users. The VoltTurn core once again comes into play to allow for safe switches. Psychic has the power levels of a nuclear bomb, often 2HKO'ing even Pokemon that resist it, while Psyshock covers for Pokemon like Chansey and Assault Vest users. Moonblast doesn't boast the same power, but is still a force to be reckoned with, taking down Dragons and Dark types immune to Psychic, while Hidden Power Fire provides a more reliable way of taking out Scizor and eliminates Ferrothorn while allowing for some meaningful damage on the Steel types that can take on Lele. Said Steel types are handled even better due to the overall excellent synergy of Tapu Lele with Landorus-T, which provides hazards, U-Turn as well as it defensive abilities to cover up Lele's issues.

Aristocrat (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 200 HP / 56 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
I may have an unlikely love for Tapu Lele, but said love doesn't extend to Magearna. However, the team has trouble with Ice and Fairy attacks, most of which are specially oriented, and Assault Vest Magearna takes on these attacks as well as a multitude of other specially-oriented threats such as Latios, Gengar and Greninja, while still providing a solid offensive presence thanks to its high Special Attack and strong STAB. HP Fire covers Ferrothorn and Scizor, otherwise solid switch-ins, while Volt Switch serves similar purposes to Landorus-T's U-Turn, safely bringing in less bulky threats due to Magearna's low Speed and forming a decent VoltTurn core with Landorus due to their overall good defensive synergy.

Coquette (Latias) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Defog
Latias is the second "filler" Pokemon I added to the team. With Ice and Fairy now covered by Magearna and the team in need of a Defogger as well as something to more reliably check Keldeo, Volcarona and MegaZard Y, Latias felt like the best fit. With Defog in case hazards become a problem and Healing Wish to bring back a weakened Zygarde or Tapu Lele for another chance to setup or a new round of mayhem, Latias is a helpful support that also packs quite a punch with 110 base Special Attack and Soul Dew to boost its STAB combination, adding in to residual damage for the stronger team members to capitalize on.

Spoiler: Importable

Aristocrat (Magearna) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 200 HP / 56 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch

Rebel (Zygarde) @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Dragon Dance

Guardian (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Stranger (Greninja) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Rock Slide
- Gunk Shot
- Dark Pulse

Foxy (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Coquette (Latias) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish
- Defog

See my bio for image credits.

 

[Scattered mind]

Nice to see a new RMT from you
How do you handle with bulky water types, like Slowbro? I used Tapu Lele, and it worked well with Moonblasting the opponent's Mega Slowbro.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

Bulky Water types are generally handled by Tapu Lele, yes. Mega Slowbro, Mega Swampert and CM Tapu Fini can't switch into Tapu Lele and only Swampert can KO without a boost, while Lele can in turn 2HKO any of them easily. Truth to tell, Mega Swampert under rain isn't exactly ideal, but rain teams aren't very common and they don't threaten me much outside of Swampert. In general, the biggest issue so far seems to be the aforementioned Swampert, offensive Celesteela, Weavile and Mega Medicham. I'm still playing around with a few things, as I'm not yet perfectly familiar with the metagame, so I may end up changing some stuff.

 

[Professor Palutena]

I'm curious how you handle +1 Volcarona, as your only way of outspeeding it is Extreme Speed, which doesn't KO, and nothing can stomach +1 Volcarona due to Z-Moves, especially Shattered Psyche.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

I'm partly depending on Volcarona being mostly unable to setup on anything outside Magearna (a rather predictable switch and Volt Switch helps here) or Lele locked into HP Fire, partly on the fact that it is remarkably weak to hazards. Outside of that, Latias can take on most variants, as Inferno Overdrive at +1 deals at most 72%, with Volcarona in turn taking at least 63% from Psyshock, a guaranteed KO after SR or at least a good enough opening for Zygarde (that does sack Latias though). The rare Bug Buzz is the largest threat here, as that does have the potential to wipe me, while the more niche bulky Roost sets lack the power and coverage to outright threaten me. Any suggestion on the matter is appreciated however.

 

[Professor Palutena]

Try Scarf Greninja instead. The set is basically Rock Slide + 2 Attacks + Spikes OR Rock Slide + 3 Attacks. For your team, I would recommend Rock Slide + Spikes + Dark Pulse + Gunk Shot, as both attacks pressure Tapu Fini and Mew, the common Defoggers, and Zapdos is also pressured with Rock Slide, and it all contributes towards keeping your hazards up. Volcarona has no solid counters, but the best insurance policy is a scarfer that outspeeds it at +1 (if it gets to +2, any team gets destroyed because nothing switches in).

 

[Chaos Jackal]

Yeah, I get the point. It's a good idea, think I'll give it a spin. It can also help with managing Weavile, which is rather troublesome, so that's a plus.

 

[Secret Agent Seal]

How do you handle TR Magearna? It seems like a variant with Ice Beam would blow right through this team until you stall out the TR turns and RK with Zygarde / Lando.