Tom's Teams: E4 Reimagined - Lance
Alright, this week, we're finishing up the Elite 4 reimagination for Johto/Kanto from Generation II. We're finally at the end of the Elite Four with the Champion of Kanto and Johto by the end of Generation II. He was also the Champion in Gen I until Gary/Blue/Your Rival defeats him in an epic showdown. His forte is Dragon-types and those that look like they should be Dragons, and his name is Lance:
Lance is the only member of the Johto Championship Gauntlet to have all six of his slots filled, and he does so mostly with Dragonites. In fact, those are the only Dragons on his squad. The other three are "Dragonesque," for lack of a better word. Back in Gen II, there were only 2 fully evolved Dragon-types, and why Lance didn't use Kingdra, I don't know. Now, there's no excuse for not having a fully varied Dragon-type team. However, with the ubiquitous Ice-weakness, maybe it's good to keep more than one non-Dragon around, right? Here's his team from then:
Gyarados, Dragonite, Dragonite, Aerodactyl, Charizard, Dragonite
So, let's take a pass at it, shall we?
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature, 252 EVs in Atk, 188 in Spd, 72 in HP
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Taunt
Ah yes, Red Gyarados. In the game, your character ends up catching Gyarados. In the manga/anime, Lance does. I decided to follow the latter, just because I wanted to shake things up a bit :p. This set may look a little standard, but Lance knows that he has to prevent leads from setting up on him as well as having to have enough attack to anticipate Taunts himself. Waterfall and Earthquake give some pretty decent coverage, while Dragon Dance boosts the important stats to sky-high levels.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Jolly Nature, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd, 4 in HP
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
Yes, Garchomp is banned (zomg) from standard OU play via the Smogon decision-makers, but it's a banning I personally disagree with. I don't want to make this a referendum on Chompy, because a) it's only banned on the Smogon Shoddy Server and b) these are fun entries, not DRAMA LLAMA entries. But back to Lance, he's the League Champion, so you know he should probably have the most powerful iteration of the most powerful non-Legendary Pokémon. It's a shame it can't learn Fire Punch via the Pt Move Tutors, so Fire Fang is its lone weak spot in terms of moveset. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Lonely Nature, 252 EVs in Spd, 160 in Atk and 96 in SpAtk
- Dragon Dance
- Body Slam
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor
Although Kingdra works best in the rain, Rain Dance would hurt other members of Lance's team. Therefore, the Dragon Dance variant is what the Dragon Master will go for here. The only physical Dragon-STAB option that Kingdra gets is Outrage, so instead of potentially overusing that move (yes, there will be an Outrage user on this team!), Lance opts to have his Kingrda be a mixed attacker. Draco Meteor provides the Dragon-STAB, and boosted Waterfalls provide it on the Water side. Body Slam, which is a 3rd Gen move tutor, provides coverage with Waterfall that is only resisted by Shedinja and Empoleon when combined with DM. While Shedinja will need attention from Garchomp's Fire Fang, Empoleon will still eat it hard if Lance boosts its other moves up high enough.
Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Adamant Nature, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd, 4 in HP
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Thunder Fang
- Fire Fang
Aerodactyl is faster than every Pokémon except 3 of 4 Deoxys forms, Ninjask and Electrode. Lance uses that natural speed to his advantage and has equipped his Rocky Flyer with some moves that will provide coverage to give the easy-KO to some key weakened threats. The power boost from the Choice Band can turn shaky KOs into surefire kills. Rock Slide is key against Ice-types that want to prey on the Dragons, Earthquake for Rock-types that kill this team, Thunder Fang for bulky Waters and Fire Fang mainly for Skarmory and Bronzong. Aerodactyl is pretty fragile, so Lance knows he has to hit it and quit it to maximize efficacy. But then again, that's why it's got a Choice Band.
Charizard @ Salac Berry
Modest Nature, 252 SpAtk and Spd, 4 HP
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
SalacZard without Belly Drum? Say it ain't so, but the strategy here for Lance would be to try and sub three times, activate Salac and then sweep. DracoFist makes a return, and Flamethrower is for STAB and for more expedited kills of Combo-Steel types that aren't SE to Focus Blast. This Charizard provides Lance a very good security blanket against non-Water Ice-types, although it can't safely switch into a Rock-type attack at all, and this team hates Rock types more than anything else.
Dragonite @ Persim Berry
Adamant Nature, 252 HP and Atk, 4 SpDef
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Brick Break
Poor Dragonite has been recently outpaced as a DDRager by both Kingdra and Salamence, but that doesn't deter Lance from using his favorite Pokémon. It does have a few advantages in that it's bulkier and it's the only one of the three that gets Thunder Wave, so it can combine bulk and speed in a way the other two can't... well, unless you get Rain Dance up. Lance doesn't go for Rain Dance, so here it is. Quite straightforward.
There you go. As always, all thoughts, questions, comments, criticisms and other things are not only welcomed, but are encouraged.
Lance is the only member of the Johto Championship Gauntlet to have all six of his slots filled, and he does so mostly with Dragonites. In fact, those are the only Dragons on his squad. The other three are "Dragonesque," for lack of a better word. Back in Gen II, there were only 2 fully evolved Dragon-types, and why Lance didn't use Kingdra, I don't know. Now, there's no excuse for not having a fully varied Dragon-type team. However, with the ubiquitous Ice-weakness, maybe it's good to keep more than one non-Dragon around, right? Here's his team from then:
Gyarados, Dragonite, Dragonite, Aerodactyl, Charizard, Dragonite
So, let's take a pass at it, shall we?
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature, 252 EVs in Atk, 188 in Spd, 72 in HP
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Taunt
Ah yes, Red Gyarados. In the game, your character ends up catching Gyarados. In the manga/anime, Lance does. I decided to follow the latter, just because I wanted to shake things up a bit :p. This set may look a little standard, but Lance knows that he has to prevent leads from setting up on him as well as having to have enough attack to anticipate Taunts himself. Waterfall and Earthquake give some pretty decent coverage, while Dragon Dance boosts the important stats to sky-high levels.
Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Jolly Nature, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd, 4 in HP
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
Yes, Garchomp is banned (zomg) from standard OU play via the Smogon decision-makers, but it's a banning I personally disagree with. I don't want to make this a referendum on Chompy, because a) it's only banned on the Smogon Shoddy Server and b) these are fun entries, not DRAMA LLAMA entries. But back to Lance, he's the League Champion, so you know he should probably have the most powerful iteration of the most powerful non-Legendary Pokémon. It's a shame it can't learn Fire Punch via the Pt Move Tutors, so Fire Fang is its lone weak spot in terms of moveset. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory.
Kingdra @ Life Orb
Lonely Nature, 252 EVs in Spd, 160 in Atk and 96 in SpAtk
- Dragon Dance
- Body Slam
- Waterfall
- Draco Meteor
Although Kingdra works best in the rain, Rain Dance would hurt other members of Lance's team. Therefore, the Dragon Dance variant is what the Dragon Master will go for here. The only physical Dragon-STAB option that Kingdra gets is Outrage, so instead of potentially overusing that move (yes, there will be an Outrage user on this team!), Lance opts to have his Kingrda be a mixed attacker. Draco Meteor provides the Dragon-STAB, and boosted Waterfalls provide it on the Water side. Body Slam, which is a 3rd Gen move tutor, provides coverage with Waterfall that is only resisted by Shedinja and Empoleon when combined with DM. While Shedinja will need attention from Garchomp's Fire Fang, Empoleon will still eat it hard if Lance boosts its other moves up high enough.
Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Adamant Nature, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd, 4 in HP
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Thunder Fang
- Fire Fang
Aerodactyl is faster than every Pokémon except 3 of 4 Deoxys forms, Ninjask and Electrode. Lance uses that natural speed to his advantage and has equipped his Rocky Flyer with some moves that will provide coverage to give the easy-KO to some key weakened threats. The power boost from the Choice Band can turn shaky KOs into surefire kills. Rock Slide is key against Ice-types that want to prey on the Dragons, Earthquake for Rock-types that kill this team, Thunder Fang for bulky Waters and Fire Fang mainly for Skarmory and Bronzong. Aerodactyl is pretty fragile, so Lance knows he has to hit it and quit it to maximize efficacy. But then again, that's why it's got a Choice Band.
Charizard @ Salac Berry
Modest Nature, 252 SpAtk and Spd, 4 HP
- Substitute
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast
SalacZard without Belly Drum? Say it ain't so, but the strategy here for Lance would be to try and sub three times, activate Salac and then sweep. DracoFist makes a return, and Flamethrower is for STAB and for more expedited kills of Combo-Steel types that aren't SE to Focus Blast. This Charizard provides Lance a very good security blanket against non-Water Ice-types, although it can't safely switch into a Rock-type attack at all, and this team hates Rock types more than anything else.
Dragonite @ Persim Berry
Adamant Nature, 252 HP and Atk, 4 SpDef
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Brick Break
Poor Dragonite has been recently outpaced as a DDRager by both Kingdra and Salamence, but that doesn't deter Lance from using his favorite Pokémon. It does have a few advantages in that it's bulkier and it's the only one of the three that gets Thunder Wave, so it can combine bulk and speed in a way the other two can't... well, unless you get Rain Dance up. Lance doesn't go for Rain Dance, so here it is. Quite straightforward.
There you go. As always, all thoughts, questions, comments, criticisms and other things are not only welcomed, but are encouraged.