Curse Of Darkness (old team revamp)

[Silent Storm]

Curse Of Darkness

Team inspired by Legacy Raider's Curse Tyranitar team

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Introduction:

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Around the D/P Era as well as early Platinum I ran a bulky offensive team on shoddy as well as WiFi, the basic strategy behind it was to use Dual Screen Bronzong lead to set up rocks and D/S so it could make things easier for DD Tyranitar to sweep.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46608

This was by far one of the best teams I ever used, it got me the most wins and hardly more than 3 members died, after a while I believed the team reached it's limits so I retired it till a few days ago.

On smogon I saw a RMT post by Legacy Raider promoting (I believe) Curse Tyranitar using Pokemon like Gliscor and co to make things easier for him to sweep (Gliscor dealing with fighting moves as well as psychics and other stuff dealing with things that hinder Tyranitar's sweep don't remmber the details as for some reason it got deleted).

With the team posted I noticed the team resembled my team with new additions to fit the Platinum metagame, basically what the team did was make me want to rework my old team using some things LR used.

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Team Line Up

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In-depth look

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Metagross @ Leftovers

Ability: Clear Body

Nature: Adamant (+Attack, - Special Attack)

EVs: 252 HP | 236 Attack | 12 Defense | 8 Speed

• Bullet Punch
  
• Earthquake / Meteor Mash
  
• Stealth Rock
  
• Explosion
  

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Comments & Suggestions:

Taken straight from the Smogon dex with Leftovers over Occa Berry.

Metagross as a lead is very interesting, the purpose of this set is to set up rocks while dealing with some of the common leads in the metagame like suicide leads.

With his typing and ability Metagross provides my team with useful resists, when Stealth Rock is up normally save Metagross for later so I can check some dragon Pokemon (predicted Outrage etc), normally this Pokemon is Salamence as Salamence can be a pain to kill when played right so it is important I keep Metagross alive as long as I can.

The EVs give Metagross a bit of bulk as as I am not really interested in out speeding other Pokemon, the move sets goes either way for me, I tend to use Meteor Mash over Earthquake most of the time so I can attempt an early sweep but that would mean steel types resist all of my moves, Explosion is to take out a key member as a perfectly timed Explosion can be game breaking for this team.

Gliscor @ Leftovers

Ability: Hyper Cutter

Nature: Jolly (+Speed, - Special Attack)

EVs: 252 HP | 40 Special Defense | 216 Speed

• Swords Dance
  
• Earthquake
  
• Roost
  
• Stone Edge
  

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Comments & Suggestions:

Now this is a member I am very fond of.

Gliscor acts as a fighting check (I think) as well as a great supporting Pokemon for my team, with his speed, decent attack and defense stats he is normally one of the last members standing late game.

The move set is so that i can stop stat up users that are outsped by Gliscor as well as ruin some other sets for Pokemon, this has helped me stop Pokemon from stalling with Recovery as well as screw up switch ins, Roost gives Gliscor well needed recovery and the rest deals with fighting Pokemon and Heracross as well as Pokemon weak to ground.

The EVs are so that Gliscor can have as much health and speed as possible while having a ok attack and defense stats, I haven't used this set in a while so I don't know remember it fares against Lucario.

Zapdos @ Leftovers

Ability: Pressure

Nature: Timid (+ Speed, - Attack)

EVs: 252 HP | 80 Special Attack | 176 Speed

• Thunderbolt
  
• Heat Wave
  
• Roost
  
• Hidden Power [Grass]
  

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Comments & Suggestions:

Zapdos is one of the defensive cores of the team that is able to check stuff like Swampert that give this team a lot of trouble, I felt that Salamence was dead weight on the team, which died too soon because of the Life Orb + Stealth Rock + Sandstream combination.

Zapdos also aids in beating Scizor which is a thorn to Tyranitar, my old team used to have major problems with SD Scizor especially but the addition of Zapdos with recovery as remedied that.

Uxie @ Light Clay

Ability: Pressure

Nature: Impish (+Defense, - Special Attack)

EVs: 252 HP | 180 Defense | 76 Speed

• Reflect
  
• Light Screen
  
• Memento
  
• U-Turn
  

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Comments & Suggestions:

This is the first time I have ever used Uxie and I must say he/she is a fine addition to this team.

I consider Uxie to be the Mesprit and Bronzong mixed together, my old team had Bronzong set up screens while crippling another pokemon while I had a psychic immune to ground scout what my opponenet does, Uxie accomplished these taaks by setting up screens and crippling with memento, if I want to save him/her for later I U-Turn out of there.

Scizor @ Choice Band

Ability: Technician

Nature: Adamant (+ Attack, - Special Attack)

EVs: 248 HP | 252 Attack | 8 Speed

• Bullet Punch
  
• Superpower
  
• Pursuit
  
• U-Turn
  

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Comments & Suggestions:

Scizor with Choice Band is an excellent addition to any offensive team that needs a raw revenge killing Pokemon, with Choice Band + Stealth Rock you are looking at killing alot of Pokemon denting enough to be killed by other offensive pokemon.

The key to this set is making sure you are not predicable, this means most of the time you are going to need to use the odd pursuit, but I mainly stick to U-Turning ass scouting is a massive help, with U-Turn I can plan what my next move is gonna be, though this does not work against his main counter that being Heatran, a well predicated Superpower decimates his ass, and if it is not Scizor I am still doing hells worth of damage providing a ghost does not come in and kill me.

This is also the perfect trapper imo as well as the best set for Scizor, Choice Band + Bullet Punch will indefinitely deal with Gengar, and if he decides to switch out, Pursuit deals with him, Gengar as well as everything that is weak to Pursuit is in a no win situation when in the same ring as Scizor.

(Another lazy repost)

Tyranitar @ Leftovers

Ability: Sand Stream

Nature: Careful (+Special Defense, - Special Attack)

EVs: 74 HP | 252 Attack | 8 Defense | 176 Special Defense

• Curse
  
• Crunch
  
• Substitute
  
• Stone Edge
  

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Comments & Suggestions:

Credits go to Randomspot for showing the set.

Anyways Curse Tyranitar is a beast, that is all I have to say, after two curses and stuff Tyranitar becomes a very difficult Pokemon to take down providing everything that kills him is weakened/taken otu beforehand.

This set is a little different to the the normal set found on Smogon, as I don't like Rest I decided to use this set. Basically you sub as early as possible and curse up behind the sub, with Tyranitar's decent special defense and attack while being boosted by Curse he should be able to clean up late game.

The move set is what I am having problems with, Payback is a powerful move but I feel Crunch will be better suited for that move slot, with the other moves I have the option of using Stone Edge, Earthquake or Crunch, it is hard choosing a good move for it.

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The End

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Ok so I know that the team is not perfect, I am considering dropping Salamence for a Latias as well as trying out Celebi, the Curse set has been working well for me.

(I have been lazy in this rmt, sorry).

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Change Log

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• Gave Tyranitar Crunch and Stone Edge
  
• Changed Gliscor's spread
  
• Changed Gliscor's move set
  
• Changed Gliscor's nature and ability
  
• Mesprit and Salamence gone
  
• New members being Uxie and Zapdos
  

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Change Log

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• Coming soon
  

Edited May 24, 2009 by Silent Storm

[Enkidu]

Interesting team, I can't give you a full rate right now but theres a couple of things that need to be said

Crunch > Payback on a curse set. It's not a power issue but a PP issue that's important. Without rest + sleeptalk paybacks meager PP is easily stalled out by pressure pokemon or skarmory, while with Crunch the defense drop can be skarmory's demise.

But since you have a Sub set, Crunch is by far the better option.

Stone edge also lets you hit Salamence/Gyarados for Super effective damage but Earthquake proves you with some much needed coverage. However as your team should take care of most threats to T-Tar stone edge might be the better choice.

for gliscor use this spread, as it lets you outspeed all Lucario except choice scarf ones. ( which are lol )

Gliscor @ leftovers

252 Hp/ 40 X / 216 Speed

Jolly with Hyper cutter

Swords dance/Taunt

Roost

Earthquake

Stone edge/Aerial ace

This lets you outpace all lucario and OHKO with Earthquake.

Now the last 2 moves and 40 EV's are kind of important.

If you opt for 40 attack EV's, go with swords dance and stone edge.

Defense EV's go with Aerial ace and taunt. As it lets you take hits and stop stat uppers et cetera.

Special defense EV's go with Swords dance and stone edge.

SD + stone edge and 40 special def ev's lets you only take 35% from Zapdos's Heatwave, Swords dance and roost up accordingly and then take it out with stone edge.

[Silent Storm]

Made some changes.

[randomspot555]

Really, the best I can do right now is be nit picky.

Earthquake is better paired with Explosion on Metagross. If you want it to survive throughout the game, then Meteor Mash might be better due to the +atk possibility. But if it's going to go BOOM early on, Earthquake so you can knock around other Metagross and Heatran-switch ins.

With no spinner, you'll have to be very careful on switching Zapdos in repeatedly. All that bulk will mean nothing if it has to come in a lot and doesn't get any time to roost.

Finally, Tyranitar. While two STABs are appealing and probably get the best coverage as an individual Poke, as a team, you might want something more.

Fire Punch can knock around Scizor but leaves you open to a bunch of others.

Brick Break, Focus Punch or Superpower can hit Scizor for neutral damage and Heatran for SE.

I could go on, but Tyranitar has a ton of moves to choose from. I think it can do a bit better by ditching Stone Edge for something else.

Also, because Stone Edge has a low amount of PP.

I also get a feeling that Zapdos and Gliscor are fulfilling similar roles, but I can't quite bring up enough thought to justify it. Maybe I'll edit this post with more later.

[GGfan]

Quite a good team, but I have a few things.

On metagross, use meteor mash instead of explosion.As azelf is no. 1 again, we need something to hit it for a 2HKO.Explosion is not really all that useful as you may think.Metagross is just a more offensive swampert, so play it like that.And use occa berry, seriously, infernape leads are very popular.

Another thing, nasty plot nape could sweep your entire team.I reccomend a bulky gyara over zapdos, with restalk, dragon dance, waterfall;252hp, 252def, 4spdef, impish.You can not be ohkoed by grass knot(even with sr), and if that nape is not nasty plot variant, you can easily set up on it.Every scizor is a set up fodder for this gyarados, by the way.

Rock slide instead of stone edge on T-tar imo.

Last thing, you have not got a safe switch to mixmence, altough nothing is considered "safe".try cresselia instead of uxie, as I brick break salamence would even sweep your team.Ice beam, reflect, light screen, lunar dance;252hp, 188spdef, 66def, 4spatkallows you to survive draco meteor + outrage and you will ohko salamence with ice beam.Cresselia is also a little bit bulkier than uxie.

the team looks quite good, I like it.

[Enkidu]

He's right though, you have a Mixmence ( who doesn't? ) and Infernape weakness.

Anyway try this out, replace Uxie for Latias

Latias @ Life Orb

252 Speed / 252 Special attack/ 6 Hp

Ability: Levitate

Timid Nature (+Speed -Atk)

-Grass Knot/Thunderbolt

-Recover

-Surf

-Dragon Pulse/Draco meteor

This gives you a solid Infernape counter, decent special wall to take out the now popular SpecsJolt and although weak to Ice ( Ice beam/avalanche ) Latias is bulky enough even with no investment to take a Non CB or boosted attack ( If you come in on a curse, Grassknot is a OHKO, If you come in on a Non CB predicted Avalanche, you can live through it and OHKO back with grassknot. ) Or you can use Thunderbolt which helps check Bulky waters and Gyarados.

This does give you a bit of a Scizor/ Tyranitar weakness however the usefulness of this can't be denied, and if you predict a Tyranitar switch in, You can 2HKO it with Surf + Draco meteor, something that Surf + dragon pulse fails to do.

You also outspeed Salamence and can OHKO it with Dragon pulse/Draco meteor, however switching into it is not an easy task as any of its STAB dragon moves can OHKO Latias.

The EVs are so that Gliscor can have as much health and speed as possible while having a ok attack and defense stats, I haven't used this set in a while so I don't know remember it fares against Lucario

The set lets you take out opposing Zapdos alternating between swords dance and roost as heatwave does 35% at max, and getting a KO with stone edge. You outspeed all Lucario bar Choice scarf variants and get a OHKO with earthquake. He can wall weaker physical hits and is relatively good at taking on Infernape ( physical variants ) Heracross and Machamp ( that like ice punch ) .

He's also immune to spikes, toxic spikes and pairs up well with Tyranitar for that purpose.