Samson Agonistes

[wraith89]

Samson Agonistes

Introduction:

This is some old team I made from a while ago, but I decided to post up an RMT for this. It has been going through heavy modifications for a while. I am sure there are still many holes in this team but I just want to make sure. I do not really battle anymore but I hope a very competent battler will be able to make this team shine.

Objective of this team:

This team was designed to help Heracross, a vastly underrated bug Pokemon (although I beg to differ and say Pinsir/Scyther/Butterfree/Venomoth are), to sweep through the Standard metagame.

Other Notes:

• This team was designed for Shoddy Battle, a battle simulator for Generation IV Pokemon metagame. Since I do not possess a Latias in game, I cannot use this team in Wifi. Nor do I have perfect IVs on my anyone and I do not possess a Blissey capable of Wishing. Therefore, assume IVs are all 31 unless otherwise stated. Also assume they are all level 100.
  
• This team used to have a Scizor in place of Forretress.
  
  Dalila the Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
  Adamant Nature
  Technician
  80 HP/240 Attack/176 SpDef/12 Speed
  - Bullet Punch
  - U-turn
  - Pursuit
  - Superpower
  Your standard Choice Banded mindless U-turn spammer... with a slight twist in the EVs, sacrificing a FEW attack points for some durability. The idea was to spam those moves enough to get the enemy into KO range so that Hera can destroy them all. Why not have both work on the same team instead of pitting them against each other? They are both magnificent bugs.

• The name is taken from John Milton's Samson Agonistes, his take on the famous Bible Story, Samson and Delilah.
  

The Roster:

"I SERIOUSLY LOVE THIS GUY!"

~ UnderXRay

Manoah the Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash

Jolly Nature

Snow Cloak

252 Attack/6 SpDef/252 Speed

- Stealth Rock

- Protect

- Ice Shard

- Earthquake/Endeavor

Mamoswine has proven to be an effective lead that seems to counter the other leads very well. Sporting the 3rd strongest Earthquake in this metagame (Garchomp ties with Mamo, Rhyperior is 2nd place, and Groudon is the king of all Earthquakers), it can even OHKO a Shuca Berry Heatran lead and severely dent Metagross leads. It also hits Abomasnow for a lot of damage with Earthquake, despite how it resists it. Fake Out Infernapes are easy to predict as they will always Fake Out first (as long as you are not a Ghost) and Mamoswine can use Protect, which works against general Fake Out leads. Then proceed to Earthquake the monkey and Ice Shard to KO it (hope they do not possess Mach Punch/Vaccum Wave). Ice Shard also 2HKOs Aerodactyls and OHKOs those anti-lead Dragonites who do not invest anywhere in HP. Salamence is also no problem. Tyranitar leads get destroyed by EQ + Ice Shard combo and sand will do nothing to Mamoswine. This guy, however, has problems with stuff like Azelf, Swampert, and Weavile. Weavile leads generally accomplish nothing though, but Protect through Fake Out and hope that Weavile either runs Counter to hit your Earthquake and set up Stealth Rocks. If they are going to Taunt, just Earthquake twice for the KO... but Weavile is sneaky and requires prediction to beat. Swampert is just plain annoying as Earthquake barely dents it and it can just Roar Mamoswine out, but it will not stop Mamoswine from setting up Stealth Rocks anyhow. Azelf can Taunt Mamo and just Flamethrower it and set up Rocks in impunity. That is why Endeavor can also be another good choice I believe... as with prediction even the almighty Azelf can go down. But generally I found Earthquake to be more useful. Unfortunately, this guy will not stop anyone from setting up Rocks, which can be detrimental but it can still take down the opposing lead. Manoah is the name of Samson's father... his mother's name is never mentioned I believe.

"With someone like this who needs Cresselia?"

~ Every competitive players and their brothers

Agonistes the Latias (F) @ Expert Belt

Timid Nature

Levitate

12 Def/252 SpA/244 Speed

IVs: 6 Attack/30 SpA/30 Speed

- Dragon Pulse

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Surf

- Thunderbolt

If this thing ever gets banned I will have to find someone else to deal with those dangerous Scizors/Salamences/etc. And no, Latias does not outclass Cresselia, despite what everyone says. Anyhow, this Latias feigns the Choice Scarf variants, although not too well, but she hopes to lure in those pesky Scizors after I keep spamming Dragon Pulses. Hidden Power Fire will destroy them... period. If they start suspecting she is a Choiced version, they will normally Pursuit or U-turn, so I can just burn them with ease. Dragon Pulse takes care of Salamences and to a lesser extent, Dragonite. Surf hits Heatrans and grounders like Hippowdon while Thunderbolt deals with bulky waters (specifically Gyarados). I do not bother maxing out her speed as Hidden Power Fire screws up my speed IV to 30, so I dropped it to 347 Speed which outpaces max speed Infernapes, who are OHKOd by Surf. This gal definitely counters Infernapes and Zapdos very well, except those who like to spam U-turn... which are annoying... VERY annoying. Even with max SpA though I found Latias incredibly weak... no clue why. Agonistes is just taken from the title...

"STEROIDS..."

~ Mewtwo EX raging as I sweep him with a Gyarados

Regained the Gyarados (F) @ Leftovers

Careful Nature

Intimidate

248 HP/212 Def/8 Spd/40 SDef

- Waterfall

- Taunt/Roar

- Thunder Wave

- Substitute

Steroids is the name Mewtwo EX affectionately gave to Gyarados. Anyways, this is a very odd Gyarados set, as it does not intend on sweeping as a normal healthy destructive Gyarados would, but rather a defensive wall. The numbers are quite arbitrary, as it hits 393 HP to round off Stealth Rocks damage, 270 SpDef, 200 Speed, and the remnants dumped into Defense. No Scizor is getting past this thing. Neither is Lucario without Thunderpunch (I barely see that move on it anyhow). I usually bring this thing into stuff that normally do not like Gyarados, which tend to switch out. Then I Substitute to scout what they bring, and if they end up a speedy threat, I paralyze them with Thunder Wave (hopefully it is not Jolteon or Electivire), or if it is the two, I Waterfall them. Waterfall from this set, though, will not OHKO Infernape, dealing 97% damage or something crazy... but with Stealth Rocks, that isn't a problem. Thunder Wave really helps out Heracross to sweep so that it is not outsped by something like Ape or Mence. Defensive Pokemon who employ non-attacking moves and stuff are Taunted, like Swampert. Sometimes I like to be a sinister villain and run Roar to rack up Stealth Rock damage. It is really odd, as this team was meant to help Heracross sweep, but sometimes, contrary to this Gyarados's nature, it ends up sweeping by itself. I have no clue why though. This Gyarados suffers from the lack of damage recovery and its weakness to Stealth Rocks, but fortunately, I have that covered with two other Pokemon. Regained is taken off "Paradise Regained", another work from John Milton (we all know of Paradise Lost more but I don't like to name someone "Lost").

"I... NEED... YOU."

~ Wraith89

Paradise the Forretress (M) @ Shed Shell

Sassy Nature

Sturdy

252 HP/44 Atk/212 SpDef

0 Speed IVs

- Spikes

- Rapid Spin

- Gyro Ball

- Payback

Yeah... I usually cannot play through a team without this guy. I had Scizor in place of this before, but due to the problem of Stealth Rocks, I REALLY REALLY needed this thing to spin them away. Now, he comes with a new trick: Payback. Payback will severely injure Rotoms who think they can come in and block my spin (hopefully without Overheat/Will-o-Wisp). I hear 44 Attack EVs will do a minimum of 50% to Latias without any defensive EVs, so that is also good news. Gyro Ball is there for STAB and it still hurts stuff a lot. It does not take much physical attacks like the physically defensive variants, but it still takes them fairly well. I was thinking of a physically defensive one with Counter, but I feel it is overspecialized and it is a one time use utility Pokemon then, which is not a good thing. This guy also lays down Spikes, which is ideal for an offensive team like this. Paradise is taken from "Paradise Lost/Regained"... another one of Milton's work.

"WHHHYYYY?????!!!!!!!!!"

~ Everyone who gets their Alakazam sweep ruined by Blissey

Dalila the Blissey (F) @ Leftovers

Bold Nature

Natural Cure

252 Defense/80 SpA/32 SpDef/144 Speed

- Wish

- Protect

- Toxic/Thunder Wave

- Flamethrower/Seismic Toss

To ease up your eyes I made the font red now. Flamethrower really eats Scizors alive and outspeeds most variants. This is my normal Special Wall, but it's very cliched... but I really love this gal, not because she is the most effective special wall, but she is just one of my personal favorites. Hey, don't look at me like that, don't blame me for Gamefreak making her effective at what she does. Anyhow, Dalila (alternate spelling found in Milton's poem) is the deceptive woman Samson loved... who got him caught by the Philistines in the end. She is very deceptive, as people readily switching in their Steel Pokes get fried by Flamethrower, and taking physical damage much better than one would think. She also casts status on the enemy by either Poisoning or Paralyzing them (I have to decide which one works), and passes Wishes to injured teammates. Taunt Gliscor is a problem, but I have others to deal with that. I might want Aromatherapy but I am not so sure. I already have Scizor checks everywhere however, so I am not entirely sure what to do with this Blissey. I know she will be Wishpassing, because that is what this team desperately needs.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha that thing? How is it going to beat up my shiny red Sci-"

~ A battler before getting his Scizor eaten by a Choice Band Close Combat from Heracross

Samson the Heracross (M) @ Leftovers

Adamant Nature

Guts

252 Attack/80 Defense/176 Speed

- Swords Dance

- Night Slash/Facade/Stone Edge (can't decide)

- Close Combat

- Megahorn

Question... if Heracross has wings, how come it cannot Roost? Mhh, I can't help it but I get a huge smile in my face whenever a Scizor gets eaten by Heracross... but it does not always happen. This is a more offensively geared Heracross, and it switches into a Will-o-Wisp from a Rotom and then proceeds to eat it up with Night Slash or something. The goal was to get stuff paralyzed since everyone complains about Heracross's 85 Speed. 85 is okay actually, and Heracross's stat distribution could not have been any better, and it has just the right moves to eat stuff alive. I don't know what people are complaining about then. Anyhow, the dual STAB hurts a lot of stuff, even though it is resisted by Salamence and Gyarados, those two can be handled by Latias and even my own Gyarados. I bring this guy in late game, much like how one brings Scizor in to clean up. Heracross has at least superior speed (this one hits 250 Speed though) and has much harder hitting moves. Yes, Lucario is even scarier thanks to Extremespeed but unlike Scizor and Lucario, Heracross resists Earthquake and Fighting moves and can live through multiple special assaults with its base 95 SpDef. Also, it benefits from Will-o-Wisp instead of getting crippled by it (although burn still hurts mind you) and special Lucarios do not mind burn as much. The other two resist Dragon moves though but like I said, Gyarados can handle Salamence to a certain extent or even cripple it with Thunder Wave (I must watch out for other Taunting Gyarados however). Samson is the main protagonist of the story Samson and Delilah. He is a physically powerful man who was able to destroy armies with a jaw of a donkey at one point. His strength was within his hair. However, he is deceived by the beautiful Delilah, who hands him over to the Philistines and cutting off his hair, his only weakness. Mhh... I guess there is no parallel to having Heracross usurped by Lucario/Scizor... but that's the closest I can get... having been in a high position for a long time but has fallen down ever since. So what happens to Samson in the end?

Samson is taken into a temple that the Philistines build for their deity Dagon for having him defeated. Many of them gathered there, watching the humbled hero crippled and maimed. Samson asks a servant to help him lean against a pillar.

"Then Samson prayed to God, "remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judges 16:28)"

After this Samson destroyed the two pillars he was leaning on, killing many Philistines, but he died along with them.

A big fundamental problem with this team is that I tend to forget that I was supposed to sweep with Heracross and end up sweeping with some other Pokemon instead. Whoops

[Shogun]

On Mamoswine I really recommend using Jolly with Endeavor, Earthquake, Stealth Rock and Ice Shard on the lead versions. Also Choice Scarf Tyranitar is too common nowadays, and you should consider using Grass Knot on one of the moves on Latias. In fact I would not recommend Latias at all. Forretress is better off with Explosion over Gyro Ball. You really should try using a Ghost with Spikes, so that Rapid Spin doesn't blow away your Spikes. Blissey should use Seismic Toss in every set. You could use Thunderwave, Softboiled, and Flamethrower... Heracross needs a better team with Flying counters... And a lot of other things that I could recommend, but feel a bit sick right now T.T

Hm... Over all your Stall weak and offensive weak. Sword Dance Lucario, Sword Dance Scizor, Dragon Dance Gyarados... Some other things all can cause a lot of damage to your team. I am not so good with recommendations, but you should test a Gliscor. Also your team is a ballanced team, but it lacks any general strong point, synergy and well a I would recommend that you rebuild this team... Sorry if I seem mean with my criticism.

Contact me if you want help rebuilding your team.

[wraith89]

I think my Gyarados can take care of SD Luke/Scizor quite readily... I haven't fallen to them yet, but overly relying on Gyarados isn't a good idea anyhow. And I absolutely NEED to run Protect on Mamoswine because of Infernape.

The only ghost with Spikes is Froslass, and although I really love that thing I do not know if it belongs in this team.

I had Explosion on Forretress before but I'll adjust to what I need. But it sounds like a good idea.

The only two that I know runs Flying moves are Skarmory and Togekiss. Skarmory can be dealt with Latias and perhaps Blissey, and Togekiss the same. Gyarados can Taunt Skarmory and have fun with it. Gyarados with Bounce is also another "Flying" user... and those rare Aerial Ace Gliscor and Dugtrio, but I have yet to see them. I suppose Gyara still beats the latter two but has nothing on enemy Gyarados. I can TWave that Gyara to cripple it at least.

Blissey always needs work... because its role is usually too generic. Without Seismic Toss I am screwed over by Raikou or Jolteon... so that might work? I'm running Toxic so that Zapdos does not outstall me.

The biggest threat is probably a DD Gyara with Taunt. So far, that has always been my biggest problem. Why is it that Scarf Tyranitar is so common nowadays? It's like everyone runs a Skarmory lead along with a Scarftar together... I think Gyara can handle Tar but not if it Stone Edges. Heracross scares Tyranitar out anyhow. I think my biggest weakness is overly relying on Gyarados to take hits. I haven't faced stall yet so I do not know exactly how that works.

[memjee]

lol I like how you implemented the bible story.

[rocklee clone]

umm, latias is now uber soo.....what would be her replacement ??? sorry for bumping the thread but im curious. love your teams wraith =D