Not Another OU Team...[Plz rate]

[Notesalot]

Hi y'all! This is my second RMT, and this time my team is completely my own from the ground up and not pieced together from other teams on the forum. :) After stepping back from the team-building process, I realized that my team is pretty predictable and full of common pokemon in today's metagame (which is what I wanted to avoid), but they are popular for a reason I guess. Please rate/comment on anything you can possibly think of, even the format of the RMT! Without further ado, let me introduce the team!

At a Glance

Team Building Process

I first asked myself, "What is one of the most dangerous threats in the game right now?". The answer was clearly Salamence. I decided I would start with him and build my team around this bad boy.

The I needed a good partner for Salamence. Magnezone immediately came to mind, as he can remove many of the steel counters like Scizor or even Jirachi once I get a substitute up. Magnezone I decided was essential to the team, so in he went.

I had decided on a MixMence set with Fire Blast, so now I saw a biiiiiiiig Heatran and Gyarados weakness. Oops. I needed a bulky water lead with Stealth Rock, and Swampert fit the bill.

Of course, if Swampert is taken out my core is ruined. At this point, I also don't have a real special sweeper nor a lot of speed, so Latias was the next candidate to make the cut with her excellent special defense and Calm Mind ability.

Ok, so now I just really increased my DDanceGyarados weakness. I also needed an effective revenger killer to cover my two set-up sweepers. I felt comfortable putting Scizor in to fit this role. He also takes any grass attacks aimed at Swampert.

But I don't truly have an answer for DDGyarados. My team is relatively slow too. I needed something fast and powerful and. I had a lot of trouble filling this spot, but the best I could come up with so far has been TrickScarf Gengar. Why not another special sweeper? He also acts as a steel lure for zone so I don't have to reveal my Salamence so early in the game, and gives me a much-needed immunity to BOOMS.

Well, there you have the final team. Let's look a little more in depth.

Descriptions and Synergy

Swampert (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
---
Typical Lead MixPert. I love this guy. EV'd to take a beating on the physical side. I chose Roar over Protect/Surf because my team lacks a phazer, and I'm pretty good at predicting switches. Ice Beam over Surf so I can have a pseudo-counter to Salamence and Gyarados. The only thing I regret is I don't have any recovery support on this team for him, like Wish. I've been experimenting with Lum Berry for Smeagle and Roserade leads, but I can't decide between the two items.

Swampert vs Top Ten Leads

Azelf - Most carry Taunt, so I Ice Beama couple of times and switch to Gengar when I predict an Explosion.

Metagross - First I stealth rock, then EQ or Ice Beam. I use Ice Beam because if they were to switch to a EQ resist it usually hit them harder.

Swampert - Stealth Rock then switch to Scizor or Salamence.
Aerodactyl - Again they will Taunt me first, so I Ice Beam til its dead or if they switch, then I SR.

Jirachi - Stealth Rock then switch to Magnezone.

Infernape - SR, then I pray for no Grass Knot.
Roserade - I will switch out to Scizor to take the grass move. If I'm carrying Lum Berry, I'll stay in and use SR then switch, but that's risky.

Heatran - SR switch to Gengar for the BOOM.
Smeargle - Switch to Latias to take the Sleep, then switch to anything.

Hippowdon - SR then Ice Beam or switch to Latias. A pain in the ass.

Salamence (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk/252 Spd/24 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
---
I opted for MixMence set because I like having a back-up plan with Fire Blast in case my Magnezone is KO'd. Plus, after a DD most people expect Outrage or Dragon Claw, so it's a nice surprise. Naive is for Modest ScarfGar, Timid ScarfRoserade, and Jolly ScarfLucario. Mence forms the core of my team, as he works so incredibly well with Zone, covering Zone's weaknesses perfectly. And once steel-types are out of the way, I can quickly set up and Outrage the rest of the opponents team without too much trouble.

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 172 HP/84 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
- Explosion
- Hidden Power [Ice]
---
If I get a chance to get Substitute up, this guy is a beast for steel-types. Explosion is the perfect move (instead of Magnet Rise) because it lets me squeeze out of tight situations. Plus, nobody expects an explosion from behind a Substitute, giving me the element of surprise. Both Salamence, Latias, and Gengar all love this guy, since I can eliminate any steel-types I scout with RoarSwampert and give my dragons free reign to sweep. Hidden Power Ice over HP Grass since I can switch Gengar on Earthquakes from Swampert, and also gives me an insurance policy on Gliscor and Flygon if I'm behind a substitute.

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 128 HP/252 Spd/128 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Surf
---
This is my special set-up sweeper. The benefit of having two main dragon-type sweepers is that I can send this girl out, draw out the Scizor counter, and bring in Magnezone, closely followed by Salamence. This is also my main Heatran counter.

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
---
My revenge killer. He is essential for the survival of my Swampert and Gengar, as he resists their weaknesses perfectly. Bullet Punch has saved me countless times, as it is my only priority move on my some-what slow team. U-turn is great for scouting when combined with Swampert's Roar, and many times I've seen over half my opponents team by the time Swampert is knocked out, which is a huge advantage for me.

Gengar (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick
---
This is the speed of my team. Latias is pretty fast, but in a pinch this guy is great, especially if I can predict an EQ aimed at Magnezone or an Explosion for Swampert. I run Trick over Explosion because once Gengar has done his job, and assuming I've scouted much of my opponents pokemon with Swampert/Scizor, I can can cripple a pokemon of my choice with Choice Scarf. I run Tbolt so I can have a decent Gyarados counter, provided it hasn't DD'd, because then I'm screwed. As a bonus, he fits into my core really nicely, acting as an excellent steel-type lure for Magnezone.

__________________________________________________________________________

Here are some of my concerns:

• Opposing Salamence and DD Gyarados. I think I have Salamence covered, but in a mediocre way with Swampert and Zone. If DD Gyarados gets set up, it's lights out for this team
• The lack of a Grass-type move
• I'm not really sure if Latias and/or Gengar are the right choices to complement the core. Are there any better suggestions?
• 4 of my 6 pokemon are in the Top Ten in today's metagame. This gets predictable, but they are there for a reason. Is there any way to overcome this?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Notesalot]

Threat List

Coming very, very soon.

 

[iShedinja]

Cool, not much to say as this is your typical OU team :P.
Swampert: FYI, Infernape leads have to be retarded if they carrey Grass knot. Other than that, it's fine.

Salamence: Magnezone does a good job putting Scizor and Skarmory at bane, so why not run a jolly nature on salamence? You can test it out, no harm done there.

Magnezone: Switch the set a bit to:

Magnezone @ LO
Naive | 40 Atk / 252 SpA / 216 spe
Explosion , HP grass , Thunder bolt , substitute

This does a good job killing both Blissey and steel types. Metagross doesn't stand a change against this. The atk EVs guarantee that Blissey will get ohko by an explosion.

Latias: Again, magnezone kills scizor. So why use the bulky calm mind (thanks engineer pikachu) set?

Latias @ Life orb / Leftovers
Timid | 4 hp / 252 satk / 252 spe
Calm mind, Dragon pulse, Recover , Surf



That's pretty much it. Watch out for Weavile, as they completely wreak this team!

-iShedinja

Happy Holidays!

 

[Engineer Pikachu]

Agreeing with iShedinja here, it is a pretty typical team.

Since your team looks like a [kind of] bulky offense team and getting rid of certain pokemon so Salamence can sweep mixed in one, I think that Rotom-A would work well, giving you the same synergy as Gengar, as well as improving its defensive stats from 60/60/75 to 50/107/107. If you worry about lacking a Grass-type move, you can use Rotom-C with Leaf Storm to OHKO Swampert. Both the Standard set with (Thunderbolt/Discharge)/Will-O-Wisp/Shadow Ball/[probably Leaf Storm] and the TrickScarf set with Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/[probably Leaf Storm]/Trick will work well, the TrickScarf set making it even more like your Gengar.

And iShedinja, did you mean the Bulky CM set when you said "Bulky DD" under Latias' section or did you put it in the wrong section?

 

[WoOoShoOo!!]

Hi,

This seems a pretty good team. But it is really weak to Scizor and Lucario. Scizor heavily weakens your team. Gengar is OHKO'd with Bullet Punch so as pursuit bait, Latias is Pursuit bait, Magnezone has no HP[Fire] and gets OHKO'd by Superpower, Salamence takes a lot from Bullet Punch, Swampert takes a lot from U-Turn. Lucario sweeps the rest, OHKO's weakened Swampert with Close Combat, OHKO's weakened Salamence with Extremespeed. Yes, those may seem harsh but they need good predictions.

To solve your problem with those two. I suggest Gliscor over Swampert. Hey, Gliscor has a great synergy with Magnezone. With Gliscor, Scizor and Lucario are a no-no to this team. Gliscor resist both of their STAB move, Close Combat and Bullet Punch. So, having Gliscor in this team is really great. Gliscor is fast enought to use taunt. Sand Veil cause Choice Band Tyranitar rules this metagame.

Gliscor | Leftovers | Sand Veil
Impish Nature | 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Earthquake / Stealth Rock / Roost / Taunt

You problem against DDGyara and Salamence. Magnezone can easily OHKO Salamence with HP[Ice] if trapped in Outrage. On DDGyara, Trick your Scarf when they Waterfall and let Magnezone take it. Magnezone has enough defenses to survive that and OHKO back with Thunderbolt. I hope this helps! Good Luck!