ORAS OU (First) RMT: Banded Azu + Bulky Swords Dance Scizor

[Pocopoco]

Heya everyone, I have been playing Showdown for like two years now (basically every tier, but I prefer OU and UU the most). Today I decided to join the Smogon forums, since I am kind of stuck at 1500-1600 ELO (68ish GXE). I have also been lurking the forums for a few weeks now and I must say that the community looks great and the effort that people put into this website is simply amazing.

I consider myself a decent battler, however I can't seem to get higher up the OU ladder. There are always some threats that I am weak to even though I try to cover as much as I can. I realised that I am often very weak to setup sweepers. Anyways, on to the team.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 44 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

I wanted to build a team around this guy. For me this guy has always been doing a great job. It has great bulk, an amazing typing and great offensive stats. I decided to run a little bit less attack and invest a bit in defence so I can take physical hits (from the likes of Lopunny, Azu, etc) a tiny bit better. The decrease in attack is tiny in my opinion. With this guy I pivot around with U-turn, Roost when necessary when I get low on health, setup on pokemon that can't touch me and use it as a late-game sweeper when threats are dead.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic

Next I chose heatran because it has great type synergy with Scizor. It's also able to take hits very well. Lava plume is there to threaten grass types (that can possibly threaten Azu, like Serperior). Earth Power is there to hit opposing Heatrans as I don't need Stealth Rock since I have that on Landorus-T already. Taunt is good to kind of deal with Stall. Toxic is there to punish switch-ins (bar Steel and Poison types and Gliscor). I went for magma storm and max sp att before, but the misses really sucked so I decided to go for this set.

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost
- Defog

After that I decided to put Latios on my team. It covers the water, ground and fighting weakness of Heatran. I wanted to use the standard set since I felt like it's the most beneficial for my team. I tried out moves like T-bolt and Hidden Power Fire but they were too situational. Draco Meteor just hits insanely hard, Psyschock hits Clefable, Venusaur, etc. Roost is to heal up on pokemon that can't really touch me, like Keldeo. Defog is there to get rid of hazards. My team isn't really weak to hazards but I like to switch a lot so I want hazards gone.

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Then I wanted a good wallbreaker, so I went for Azumarill. It is extremely powerful and has access to a really useful priority move in Aqua Jet. Play Rough and Aqua Jet hurts a lot of pokemon and Superpower is mainly there for Ferrothorn that likes to switch in, but I might swap it for Knock Off since it could be more useful. I run 84 speed evs to outspeed certain pokemon and 172 HP evs so it can take hits pretty well as well.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge

The standard Lando set. It's just so good that it fits on almost all of my teams. It checks so many physical attackers. Rocky helmet is there to punish U-turners for chip damage. Earthquake hits decently hard (kills Excadrills, Heatrans, etc.). Stealth Rock so pokemon get hurt on the switch in. U-turn for much needed momentum on the team.

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 68 Atk / 188 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Knock Off
- Superpower
- Hidden Power Ice

Im trying to find the last pokemon that fits my team. Before I had clefable but it ruined my momentum and doesnt do a lot for me. This mixed Thundurus has been doing a bit better. T bolt to wreck manaphy, knock off for latios and other psychics, superpower for chansy and grass knot for bulky water-grounds. Thundurus also deals with keldeo. Basically it kills many pokemon that threaten Mega Scizor (Like bulky waters). Hidden Power ice to hit pokemon that are 4x weak to ice like Garchomp and Gliscor.

Threats that I've come across so far:

Tail glow + rain dance Manaphy. As soon as Latios dies this pokemon becomes a huge threat.

Hits most of my team for huge damage.

Once Lando dies this thing sweeps my team easily.

Rotom-W is just really annoying because it can volt switch around my team, burn stuff and hydro pump my lando.

Choice specs variant hits most of my team really hard. Rain teams are tough to deal with as well.

Thanks for taking some time to read this. If I made any mistakes or if you have any tips, feel free to tell me.

 

[Pocopoco]

Bump :(

 

[Swaqfeq]

ive literally built the exact same team as u with speedy wisp tran and rotom > thundy as the only differences. i managed to get up to the 1800s and 1900s with that because i think the ability of rotom to come in and pivot to other mons as well as being obviously more fat than thundy is something the team rly appreciates. also try running bug bite over u-turn on scizor. i generally prefer than but if u dont like making fat predonkers and prefer the safeness - but sometimes annoyance - of u-turn good luck to ya.

 

[Sun]

hello Pocopoco, very nice team you has here, after making your team's analysis I noticed that Electric pokemons such as NP Thundurus, Raikou, Specs Magnezone and Mega Manectric can be very boring to deal with since they run Ice coverage and Fire coverage and they can very easily knock down Landorus and Latios like the rest of the team , also Offensive Starmie its hard to switch into since it can run BoltBeam coverage and then it can beat every pokemon in your team, with this rate I will try to make your team more functional against threats mentioned keeping the team idea.

>

First of all, since your Manaphy, Volcanion , Starmie and Electrics weakness i'd suggest you to use Assault vest Raikou over Thundurus, Raikou thanks to AV can switch into these pokemons and threaten them, it manages to revenge kill Pinsir-mega, Keldeo and mega Medicham very well, Raikou is also a good momentum generator which is pretty good to put pressure on opponents team.

As you said, Rotom-w (specifically Rotom-w + pursuit trapper) is can easily break your momentum volt switching against all members on your team, to solve this problem i'd suggest using 27 ivs speed and remove 8evs on speed from Landorus, this change ensure a slow u-turn useful to be slower than Rotom-w's Volt switch and others Landorus's U-turn and then gaining momentum for your team.

Sets

Raikou @ Assault Vest
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 27 Spe
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

The team suffer a bit SD Bisharp, but you have some ways for weaken/kill him in a 1v1 with Lando-t, Scizor and Azumarill, an option is to use Surf over Defog on Latios, this is useful to do a better damage to Bisharp and ensure the 2HKO to Heatran which trouble Scizor, that's all man, hope i've helped.