Well lately I've been having trouble picking a new lead for my team. Partly because I think the brainstorming session will be beneficial, I wanted to start a thread for interesting leads. The first two Pokemon to enter a match determine the entire outcome of the fight, to some degree. This metagame, loaded with entry hazards, is very much an advantage game. If your lead can gain the advantage, it can be very hard for your opponent to strike back. The lead showdown is also the part of each battle where creative movesets will pay off the most -- yet it's all too common to see the same tired-out tricks over and over. Share your favorite lead Pokemons here. It doesn't matter if it's yours, a friend's, or an opponent's. What we want to see is leads that have potential, yet don't fall into the typical Smogon standard sets. Obviously, an original set for a common lead like Azelf is great -- but if it's just the typical Smogon lead or only a minor variant, it's not as interesting, is it? :P Format: Pokemon @ Item (nature) EVs: HP / ATK / DEF / SPE / SpA / SpD (IVs if important) -Move 1 -Move 2 -Move 3 -Move 4 I guess it's my turn first. This is the lead I've been using up to this point on Pokemon Online. A lot of you have probably seen me use it, though it didn't leave as big of an impression in some battles as I hoped. Gengar @ Choice Scarf (Timid) EVs: 4 HP / 252 SPE / 252 SpA -Shadow Ball -Trick -Will-o-Wisp -Explosion / Focus Blast On a vast majority of leads, it just Tricks away the Choice Scarf (usually locking them on Stealth Rocks or another setup move, or stealing their Focus Sash in the case of certain Apes/Azelfs to allow Gengar to survive a hit and switch to an appropriate counter.) On the inevitable switch, Gengar uses Will-o-Wisp to nail the incoming attacker. Naturally, most teams are prepared to deal with Trick leads, so it's gonna be Gengar's best counter coming out to meet the burn -- typically Scizor, Weavile, Tyranitar, or Snorlax, all of whom are rendered near-useless by having their attack cut. Gengar can also escape the first three of those now, since a burned Pursuit still won't kill Gengar. Later on, it can be used again for revenge kills with its two remaining attacking moves, as Gengar's speed is beastly without a Scarf anyway. The downside is that leads with scarfs (Heatran, Jirachi) and some other scenarios will ruin everything. When I first used it on Shoddy and PO I caught tons of people off-guard, but now the set's counters are more common so I'm retiring it from my team. :(
The mods are able to move it themselves if that is the case. ------------------------------------------- OU team: Tryin2Fly (Yanmega) @ Focus sash (Modest) 255 SpA / 255 SpE -Toxic -Air Slash -Bug Buzz -Hidden Power (Ground) I generally prefer fast pokemon as leads, the winner is the quicker. My stratergy mostly sees me praying for flinch hax (courtesy of Air Slash), which actually works 80% of the time. Toxic takes care of potential stallers such as Snorlax and forces Blissey to switch out. Air Slash, as previously stated, hax ordinary Pokemanz, but is pretty powerful in its own right especially against other Yanmega and baton passing Ninjask. Bug Buzz is 'Fly's most powerful attack, but I don't use it normally as it doesn't cause flinching. However, it OHKO's pretty much all phsycic types, with the exception of Metagross, Lugia, Bronzong and Medicham, it's very handy against Uxie leads. Hidden Power (ground) is exclusively there for Heatran which OHKO's it most of the time, but is also pretty handy against electric types. 'Fly's biggest fear is the dastardly Skarmory. Toxic can't poison it, Hidden Power doesn't affect unless it roosts, and Air Slash and Bug Buzz are uneffective, not to mention its flying type attacks that wall 'Fly. Rotom forms are other threats but they're not quite as bad. Another disadvantage of Yanmega is the fact that Stealth Rock causes 50% damage on entry - which somewhat forces you to not switch out Yanmega even if he's likely to KO. Overall, I'm very happy with it. I usually manage to KO a lead before 'Fly's last breath, but more often than not I also get a three KO advantage over my opponent, not to mention the occasional ragequit win due to flinching >.> I only have this left to say: THANK YOU SMOGON! Amiright guize?
My favorite lead for OU and UU has always been Scarf Venusaur: Venusaur @ Choice Scarf Nature: Timid 220 SPE / 252 SPA / 56 HP - Sleep Powder - Sludge Bomb - Leaf Storm - Earthquake Since I rarely need/want to use earthquake, my version goes all the way into special with enough speed to outspeed even things such as Aerodactyl leads. The idea here is to open with a sleep powder and disable the unsuspecting opponent from the get-go. Certain leads (Swampert, Donphan etc) get Leaf Stormed right away. This hit and run tactic is especially fun when combined with my dugtrio. Many an Infernape lead has fallen to sleep powder + arena trap earthquakes. I do have trouble with Chansey/Blissey, but I play around it. It's much more important to get rid of Stealth rock leads. My favorite moments are the smart-asses who try to trickscarf me (Jirachi, I'm looking at you) only to find that I've got a scarf too, and so they're now stuck with trick because I missed sleep powder and have to weigh the pros and cons of staying in, or I've put them to sleep and I'm switching out anyways. Ever since discovering this pokemon, I've had a hard time using anything else.
I finally settled on a very Smogon-based Starmie lead as my final choice, but here are two anti-leads I liked before I chose this one: Honchkrow @ Focus Sash (Brave) Ability: Insomnia 4 HP / 252 ATK / 252 SpA - Sucker Punch - Night Slash - Heat Wave - Drill Peck Thanks to the Focus Sash and Sucker Punch, in combination with Insomnia which stops sleep leads from stopping it, Honchkrow is guaranteed at least two hits on the opponent's lead. Night Slash is for Azelf and is preferred STAB over Drill Peck, trading only 10 BP for a higher critical rate. Drill Peck is mostly for Infernape and Roserade. Heat Wave will rip through most Steel-types. Sucker Punch ensures a second, powerful STAB hit after the Focus Sash is used in case the opponent isn't exactly the type to set up on their first turn. Thanks to Honchkrow's relatively high Attack and good Special Attack, it can 2HKO a lot of OU's leads. It can often kill leads without taking any damage, leaving it open to attempt an early sweep. However, it absolutely HATES seeing Gyarados and Aerodactyl. Togekiss @ Focus Sash Ability: Serene Grace 4 HP / 252 Spe / 252 SpA -Extremespeed -Air Slash -Flamethrower -Thunder Wave Very similar to the Honchkrow (though not usually as effective,) Togekiss focuses on opening up multiple possibilities for a kill. Against faster leads, it can ensure a chance to use Thunder Wave and attempt to flinch-hax them to death. Steel-types will fall on the receiving end of a Flamethrower instead, and if anything uses a Focus Sash to survive a non-paralyzed fate, Extremespeed clears up the problem. This one runs into trouble with Tyranitar most of all.
@Lum berry/leftovers adamant, 252 atk/spe, 4hp -Sub -Dragon dance -Waterfall -Outrage I didnt test this much, but in the feww games it worked quite well. just sub when they set up stealth rocks, DD and start "sweeping". The speed allows you to outspeed everything witout a scarf, and outrage+waterfall provide very good STAB coverage, but i admit i mostly designed it because kingdra is one of my favorites.
Azelf @Sash 252 atk/252 spd/4 def jolly Zen Headbutt Explosion Fire blast Stealth ROck and then theres weavile @lefites 252 attack/252 speed/4hp hasty ice shard fake out night slash taunt
One lead that I have been utilizing with some consistency now is this interesting Zong, designed to take on faster leads and counter some of the common leads often seen: Bronzong@Macho Brace Heatproof Brave 252 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Sp.def 0 Speed IV's Gyro Ball Earthquake Explosion Stealth Rock Heatproof is the main selling point here. It lets Zong beat Heatran, Infernape, and laughs off HP Fire from Gengar, etc. Most people assume Levitate, and so do not atttack with EQ or Earth Power. This guy is really very good at getting rocks up, and beats Azelf, Gengar and Aero easily. Most people switch in Gyra on him, only to get a nasty suprise when he blows up in their face, always KO'ing. In short, a really nice lead.
Hm... Usually Heatproof's a bad idea, but for a lead where even one free turn before you die can make the difference, it's pretty cool.
You need to use an Occa Berry on this Bronzong, or else Heatran's Fire Blast is still a straight 2HKO through Heatproof. I should know, I used to run this Bronzong all the time in early DP. Either that or run a Pokemon that can take a Fire Blast and OHKO him with a Water move, such as Suicune or Starmie. Other than that, the only problem is facing the decent battlers who will presume that your Bronzong has Heatproof and use Earthquake with their Metagross, Swampert, Gliscor or Hippowdon (and maybe even others), and sleep leads. Sleep Talk Gyarados would seem to be the ideal partner with this lead Bronzong then, as he can absorb the sleep move from the sleep leads, threaten Heatran with STAB Waterfall, and avoid Earthquake due to being the Flying type. It's a cool lead though. It's just a shame that it doesn't really stop Stealth Rock from being set up =/
Admittedly, with Aerodactyl and Azelf existing, it's near impossible for any lead that isn't named Crobat to stop rocks 100%...
Sad but true Oak. All the same, heatran switch ins (which are very common) are destroyed by this Zong. I will definetly try Gyra as a partner. Many thanks for the help.
Tbh Akusu, I dunno why you wouldn't just run scarf Loom. You wouldn't miss with sleep. Besides, Venu loses to Heatran and Nape if it misses :( .
Why would you scarf a breloom? It's slower than Venusaur, has no OP moves that benefit from Scarf (Leaf Storm vs Focus Punch, doesn't even have Close Combat) and preventing it from using Substitute should be a crime haha. You'd basically have a pokemon that's useless after the first move. In my experience it's worth the risk/reward. You're also unlikely to find a Heatran or Infernape lead that won't try to cook Venusaur, so it's pretty easy to work around. As a bonus, most of the time those pokemon stay in hoping to wake up, meaning you can switch to Dugtrio or something equally menacing and rinse, repeat. Sure, Crobat can taunt anything but he then has to weather attacks from the opponents that know that's what he'll do. I've been finding alot of people hold back rocks in the wings anyways, and it gets annoying when you perfectly execute an anti-lead strategy to prevent them and it happens anyways.
Spore / Superpower / Stone Edge / Seed Bomb (too many S's...) is actually a very effective set. The 100% sleep helps, and the extra Speed (despite being locked into a move) really helps, as anything slower than Aerodactyl is slower than Scarf Breloom. However, as I just mentioned, Aerodactyl leads beat it, Taunting him to prevent the Spore and either forcing the switch or getting Stealth Rock up before Superpower 2HKOs thanks to Focus Sash. So that is one area where Venusaur's higher Speed helps. As for Scarf Breloom vs Heatran, he'd just OHKO Heatran with Superpower, nevermind the Sleep. Venusaur cannot OHKO with any move due to Shuca Berry, and thus only has a 75% chance of beating Heatran, compared to Breloom's 100% chance (either with Spore or Superpower). Infernape leads will Fake Out both Pokemon, but Breloom has the 100% accurate Sleep move compared to Venusaur's 75% chance. The main thing about Venusaur is that Sleep Powder is only 75% accurate, and thus it doesn't stop Azelf and Aerodactyl from setting up Rocks 100% of the time. Also, any Lum Berry leads (Metagross and Machamp are the main two I can think of) will seriously threaten you, as well as Breloom.
against Champ, venu Leaf Storms for a hefty amount of damage - you could do that, unless Ice Punch is an OHKO, in which case it is probably advisable to switch. against metagross... well, most leads are helpless against metagross :P note, however, that Occa Berry is the preferred choice on Leadmeta, not Lum - Lum is the preferred choice on supporting lead meta. It's a bit weird, but that's what works best most of the time. Edit: I'll contribute an interesting lead as well since I posted. This one brought us a lot of laughs, and it's not meant to be played seriously against good opponents, but if you want to ensure a swift win against some weirdo who challenged you, it is fun to use. Incidentally, this poke has 6-0'd more teams than any other I've ever used. So here it is, my infamous Trollkiss: Trollkiss (Togekiss) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Serene Grace EVs: 252 HP / 188 Def / 68 SDef Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk) - Air Slash - Roost - AncientPower - Ominous Wind You can guess where this is going. The EV's make Trollkiss VERY bulky. So bulky, that UnSTAB'd SE hits or neutral STABs don't touch it most of the time, unless they're on dedicated sweepers or choice band/specs users. You don't need speed or Sp. Atk - they will be provided by Ancienpower and Ominous Wind, along with incredible defenses after the boosts. If it doesn't get going, you're unlucky; if it does... 6-0 most of the time, courtesy of air slash flinches from a boosted special attack.
Ice punch is never a OHKO from the standard lead Machamp(62.9% - 74.3%), who never carries it anyways. In fact I'm not sure anything short of a STABed Ice Punch from Weavile can OHKO it with Ice Punch, Venusaur is pretty bulky. Regardless, I suppose it was a stretch to say that Venusaur is a 100% counter to Aerodactyl, but I stand by my determination that most will fall to it, especially since most try to just brave bird it instead of taunting or setting up rocks since they rarely expect a Venusaur to outrun them. At least.... that's what I've noticed when they actually get to attack. Maybe I'm just lucky :P
One immensely entertaining (not to mention supringly effective!) lead that I have been playtesting is OU Ledian: Ledian@Focus Sash Jolly Nature 252 Speed, 252 Sp.def Aqility Swords Dance Encore Baton Pass Of course, this appears to be entirely outclassed by Ninjask-in the most part, it is. However, against slower leads, this guy is invaluable. He can Agility or Swords Dance first, then Encore their Stealth Rock, or simply Baton Pass away if they attack. If it manages to Encore SR, it will force a switch, often to Heatran or Scizor. It can then pass the boosts to a sweeper. Kingdra pairs well here, laughing off Bullet Punches and Fire Blasts, and using Rain Dance next turn in conjunction with Swords Dance to make a truly epic sweeper :D . Seriously, this guy is just a bit of novelty, but he's good novelty.
My favourite lead, one of my favourite pokemons, and still a beast *-* Yanmega@Focus Sash Trait: Speed boost Modest Nature 252 Speed, 252 Sp.atk Ancient Power Hidden Power [Ground] Air Slash Bug Buzz What to say? the only problems comes with particular bulky leads like Swampert, Hippowdon and Tyranitar, well you can hope in a bit of luck and kill the first 2 spamming air slash and hoping to make them flinch, for tyranitar, if he starts with stealth rock you can kill him easily with 2 bug buzz (it does near 60% of damage), if he starts with stone edge, well...you are dead. Gyarados is 2HKOed by Ancient Power (and you can always hope in a boost, for extra sweeping xD), Zapdos too, sometimes people switch in Heatran as a "bulky" fire type, which is 0OHKOed by HP ground, except from versions with Shuca Berry (but normally he is in lead position when he carries it). It's bad when Azelf use Flamethrower and burns you, but it's not a big problem though. Salamence is 2HKOed by Ancient Power. The problems are Jirachi and Blissey, which walls this set completely
I have actually used this set many times, and found it to be, as Luck>Skill points out, very effective. However, I tend to run Hypnosis over Ancient Power. While I appreciate the power against Gyra and Dos, I feel the Hypnosis is a better overall utility move, and it's still a good thing to put Gyra and Dos to sleep XD.