Preface
My personal style and preference is to use slow bulky set up sweepers. I have never been a fan of playing stall, however I still like tanky pokemon that wall the enemy so bulky set up sweepers is a compromise that I still enjoy playing. Weather resetting is a play style that I have been experimenting with recently and I have been enjoying it quite a bit. This team is my results of these experiments and hopefully you enjoy it.
Team Building Process
Snorlax and Suicune are my two favorite pokemon to use ADV OU. They are both great set up sweepers that have opposite strengths. Snorlax is a special wall that is a physical booster, Suicune is a physical wall that is a special booster.
Curse Snorlax requires Magneton and even Suicune doesn’t like to deal with Skarmory’s Roar. Using a Rapid Spinner makes sense when using Magenton to never have to deal with Spikes afterwards. I had played prior versions of this archetype with Claydol however Claydol tends to get chipped down over time even with Refresh and bulk investment. Also Claydol lacks the agency that Starmie has and Starmie also fits several over roles like status absorber, paralysis spreader and revenge killer. Suicune,Snorlax,Magneton and Starmie act as the core of the team and the last two remaining Pokemon are more for rounding out the team.
I am a big fan of using Zapdos leads on just about any team because it’s never bad against almost any other leads, it’s my “Ol' Reliable”. Moltres rounds out the team and it was the last Pokemon that I added, I was originally using Celebi however it was the weakest link so I changed it to Moltres.
Set Analysis
(Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 188 HP / 36 Def / 252 SpA / 32 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Toxic
- Roar
Overview: Zapdos is an incredibly good and reliable lead. It was the second most used lead in SPL XV for a reason.
Moves: From my experience Hidden Power Grass on Zapdos is just not that good and Ice is almost always better unless you're using mixed Zapdos or you really want the Thunder Wave and need to hit Swampert. There's a reason why it’s called BoltBeam not BoltDrain. Because I am not using Hidden Power Grass it is important to use Toxic to hit Swampert, Toxic also hits other things like Jolteon and Porygon2 but Swampert is the main target. Roar is to deal with set up sweepers like Ninjask,Celebi, Snorlax, etc. There's no spikes so Roar is pure utility.
EV Spread: This EV spread might look complicated at first glance but it’s actually quite simple. 32 speed EV’s are for outing speeding Tyranitar. 188 HP is for hitting Leftovers recovery benchmarks. The remaining is spent in Def. The reason why I have Def over Sp.Def is to help with Rock Slide from Tyranitar. Max SpA with Modest Nature ensures that you hit as hard as possible with that insane 125 base SpA. Max SpA turns three shots into two shots and sometimes lucky crits give you a massive advantage that you would not get with less SpA. The reason why I am running so little speed is that speed doesn’t matter that much. Most leads are either going to be slower then 244 or they're going to be faster than 328. Against opposing Zapdos I would rather hit harder than leave it up to coin flips.
(Moltres) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 124 HP / 20 Def / 252 SpA / 112 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sunny Day
Overview: Moltres like Zapdos has an insane 125 base Sp.A that allows it to hit very hard. It also has utility that this team needs.
Moves: Moltres has two options for its main fire type attack Flamethrower and Fire Blast, on this team the reliability of the 100% accuracy is more important also having more PP matters from time to time. Will-O-Wisp is standard; it can be game changing if it hits the right target. It makes switching into Moltres very difficult because physical attackers get crippled. Sunny Day allows you to reset the weather. Having two weather resetters gives you more consistency. Sunny Day also gets rid of your water weakness and makes your already strong Flamethrowers hit even harder.
EV Spread: This EV spread is more or less the same as Zapdos. 244 speed, Leftover benchmark, max SpA, remaining in Def.
(Magneton) @ Magnet
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sunny Day
- Metal Sound
Overview: Magneton is a one trick pony, it traps Skarmory. Also sometimes it gets Metagross and other steel types.
Moves: Hidden Power Fire is much better than Grass on this team because Fortress still spikes you. Magneton has two flex moves, Sunny Day is the more important one for weather resetting. Metal Sound doesn’t come up much but it prevents set up sweepers every once in a while.
EV Spread: Standard EV’s to kill Skarmory.
(Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Surf
- Thunder Wave
Overview: Starmie is the utility role compressor for the team. Does a little bit of everything. Most importantly it removes Spikes.
Moves: Rapid Spin gets rid of spikes to allow Snorlax and Suicune to come in freely. Instead of Rapid Spinning on the first turn of Starmie being on the field you should usually Thunder Wave to scout for Gengar. Thunder Wave is also just a great support move that is never bad to have on a team. Surf is the best 100% accuracy attack you have. Also Surf has more PP than Hydro Pump, Starmie tends to stick around for a while against stall and balance teams so the higher PP tends to matter a lot. Also missing a Hydro Pump against Tyranitar can be game losing. Recover allows Starmie to be deceptively bulky especially with a paralyzed target.
EV Spread: Enough speed to outspeed Gengar. Max HP for bulk and the rest into SpA to make revenge killing easier and it allows Starmie to be a decent attacker.
(Snorlax) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Shadow Ball
- Rest
Overview: Snorlax is one the win conditions of the team, it's an incredibly strong set up sweeper.
Moves: When using CurseLax you have the choice between Return and Body Slam. On this team the greater utility is far more important than the extra damage. Also we are aiming to boost Snorlax’s attack to insane levels anyway so the extra power isn’t that relevant most of the time.
Ability: Thick Fat is considered to be unusual on CurseLax because Immunity is seen as being better however I challenge the belief that Immunity is better because Rest gets rid of Poison anyway. The extra damage reduction will sometimes save Snorlax from dying and it gives Snorlax extra entry points.
EV Spread: 12 Hp Ev’s hits the Leftover benchmark. Max SpD to wall special attackers and the rest into Def.
(Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Substitute
- Surf
Overview: Suicune has some unique advantages over Snorlax like better typing and the ability Pressure which is oftentimes a big deal especially against Leech Seed and Giga Drain. Suicune also fits the role of the bulky water
Moves: Substitute is an incredibly underrated move on Suicune because it protects you against crits and also allows you to survive an Explosion from Metagross which is something that happens often. Blissey also has to use Seismic Toss twice to break a substitute which allows you to set up on Blissey. The downside of this set is that if the opponent has a Vaporeon you get walled but Vaperon is so rare that it’s basically irrelevant. Most Vaperons are hyper offensive leads so usually it won’t even matter in the rare event you see a Vaperon. You also have Snorlax if they do have one.
EV Spread: Max Hp gives you 404 Health which in turn gives you 101 health Substitutes. Max Def lets you check Dragon Dance Tyranitar
Threat List:
Blissey is very difficult to deal with because we can’t trap it or Explode on it and it walls four of our Pokemon.
Cloyster is difficult to deal with because you can’t trap it like Skarmory and it has Explosion which we don’t have a great way to deal with.
Leech Seed Celebi makes setting up difficult. PP stalling Leech Seed is sometimes the best option.
Replays:
Vs Fortress Stall 1714 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2116881671-qgjxpj01a3jp59vl5xm9gr6ax7bcmkipw
Vs Physical Offense 1782 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2116982655-53jock4dwv3faidu5vqdksld4tqfk0apw
Vs Balance 1845 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2117828231
Vs Mixed Offense 1685 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2117681402
Vs Pursuit Breloom 1776 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2117632930
Vs Poliwrath Offense 1660 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2117615103
Vs Physical Offense 1782 Elo
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2116982655?p2
Vs Special Offense 1622 Elo (Peak)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2117086788?p2
Proof of Peak
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/ac127954ef04a368
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