Odd movesets that work

[quack98]

Hey everyone! I was trying out a team online, and I noticed quite a few of the movesets I use as a gimmick actually work quite well.

Special Tyranitar @ Leftovers

Nature: Modest
Evs: 252/0/0/252/0/4
-> Thunder Wave
-> Thunder
-> Fire Blast
-> Focus Blast

Firstly, I'll give you an example of how this works (this is an actual example)

I send out Tyranitar, they send out Blissey
They switch out Blissey (in danger of physical sweeper) for Drizzletoed
I use thunder wave
I use thunder.

As you can see, this set can work suprisingly well when the opponent assumes tyranitar is physical. The beauty of it is, Tyranitars special attack is by no means awful, just inferior to physical, so it still has quite a lot of power.

Another interesting 'mon I use is altaria:

Set-up Altaria @ Sitrus Berry (might change this)

Nature: Careful
Evs: 252/0/0/0/252/4
-> Cotton guard
-> Outrage
-> Dragon Dance
-> Roost

Only Outrage is needed to attack, as only steel resists it. First use cotton guard twice, then use dragon dance as long as you can afford to, roosting when necessary. Finally use outrage.

That's two of my favourite sets to use online, just because of the surprise factor. Does anyone else have any odd sets that have worked for them?

(Note to Mods: I'm not entirely sure where this should go, as it's not really standard movesets, so it couldn't go there, and it's sort of team building, or at least I thought team building was the most accurate place, but if you feel it's better elsewhere just move it)

[Richard and Blaziken]

Thunder still wouldn't KO standard Politoed, though, and you'd lose the weather war to rain as it OHKOs back with a rain boosted Scald or Hydro Pump. Switching Politoed directly into Tyranitar also isn't a thing that happens, because the opponent isn't going to let their Politoed die and lose the weather war.

I'd say Mixed TTar is still the way to go. Fully special TTar loses out to a lot of Pokemon it could normally beat, but MixTar beats many of of his usual counters while still retaining his ability to beat the likes of Blissey, Latias and the like.

Leftovers would still be superior on the Altaria set, allowing it to heal as it Outrages. It still dies in one hit to Ice Beam, which is why Cotton Guard isn't used very much.

I've used a few experimental sets in my time. Back when I could use my favorites team in 4th gen OU, I noticed Gardevoir's Calm Mind set wasn't overly useful with her poor Defense stat, so I made use of her other moves:

Gardevoir@ Choice Scarf
{Trace}
Timid nature (+Speed, -Attack)
EVs: 252 Speed / 200 HP / 58 Sp. Attack (Kinda bs'd this at the time, I'd run calcs nowdays to make it efficient)
Trick
Will-o-Wisp
Focus Blast
Thunderbolt

The main idea here is that Tyranitar would switch into Gardevoir a LOT, so I'd usually lead with this Gardevoir and launch Will-o-Wisp or Focus Blast right away, depending on what they lead with. Trick ruined Blissey while Thunderbolt and Trace served to deal with Gyarados. This isn't viable in 5th gen, but it was pretty fun back in the day.

[quack98]

I wonder if a similar set could be used against medicham? Tracing pure power would be very unexpected, and then a tricked choice item would ruin their fun. Bit too dependent on the opponents team to be viable though, but would be amazing when it worked.

And against the politoed; it was online so it probably wasn't perfect ivs or maybe wasn't ev trained the way smogon has (after all, I rarely use smogons ev spreads, and when I do it's by chance.)

[Richard and Blaziken]

I believe standard Medicham actually runs Choice Scarf or Band, so you'd be best off just Will-o-Wisping it. Even if it wasn't Choiced before, giving it a Scarf could turn it against you pretty quickly if you're not careful!

[quack98]

Yeah, I suppose you could use choice specs, that wouldn't help them at all. Choice band would be painful if it backfired...

[Laprabi]

Set-up Altaria @ Sitrus Berry (might change this)

Nature: Careful
Evs: 252/0/0/0/252/4
-> Cotton guard
-> Outrage
-> Dragon Dance
-> Roost

Only Outrage is needed to attack, as only steel resists it. First use cotton guard twice, then use dragon dance as long as you can afford to, roosting when necessary. Finally use outrage.

This idea has massive move-slot syndrome. As it is it's very vulnerable to being burned, which mean you'll have to switch out and lose your boosts (Natural Cure removes the burn). It needs a move like Substitute or Heal Bell, but you can't go without Cotton Guard, as it's the crux of the set. A better moveset in my opinion would be:

Altaria @ Leftovers
{Natural Cure}
Careful Nature
252HP / 252SpD / 6Spe
- Cotton Guard
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Substitute / Roost / Heal Bell

Cotton Guard for the defence boosts means you don't need any Defensive EVs, leaving you free to max our HP and Special Defense. Dragon Dance for setting up and Outrage for smashing everything in sight. Only resistant type is Steel, which will still probably take a lot from a +6 Outrage (need damage calcs but cba to do any). Substitute would probably be the best choice after you get a Cotton Guard up, probably better than Roost because while you lose the instant healing, you gain status immunity on top of maxed out Defences. Roost is an option obviously if you have some other way to deal with status other than Heal Bell, which means this Pokemon can double as a cleric.

Haven't posted in Team Building in so long, so not sure how good those sets will be.