ORAS OU The Smash Bro - A Lucario OU Team, and a rusty player

[lilbigman]

Hey, so this is my second RMT. I've been away for a while because I've been playing smash bros and working, but I decided to play mons again. As usual, I felt the need to use Lucario, my favorite mon, on my new team. The goal of this team is to cripple my opponent's team enough for Lucario to sweep. I've had some success in the ladder; it's definitely a good offensive team (has a bulky offense feel), but I feel like it could be better. Like I said, I've been away and I know the meta has changed, so there may be glaring issues to fix. Anyway, here's the team:

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Tail
- Swords Dance

Despite being UU, Lucario is definitely viable and a fearsome sweeper/wallbreaker if played right. He can OHKO so many things after just one swords dance, which is usually not so hard to set up. If my opponent lost his Lando, Mew, or Slowbro already, this thing will sweep their entire team 90% of the time. Besides being a great sweeper, this thing can break walls very reliably. It OHKO's Chansey/Heatran with CC and Clef with Iron Tail without a boost, and if boosted, the only thing that doesnt die to this is a full health Lando (which is rare because people love switching it in) or a Slowbro. Watch and laugh as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Garchomp, Rotom, etc. all die to STAB Close Combat. Besides that, this thing is there to check dark types and pick off weakened sweepers with Espeed. It also beats most Scizor 1v1. Adamant for more power, but sometimes I wish it had more speed to beat Jolly Driller and such. Justified is nice to get a boost from a Knock off if I decide to switch it in, but I usually prefer keeping Life Orb.

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 16 HP / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Roost
- Ancient Power

Lucario appreciates picking off weakened teams, and I thought no mon is better at weakening opposing teams than Zard-Y. Resisting doesn't mean not dying when Fire Blast 2HKO's everything except Heatran and Chansey, which Lucario kills anyway. Definitely a threat to any team, and a great wallbreaker. Solarbeam destroys all water types and Garchomp. Roost for longevity. Finally, I used to run EQ to catch Heatran on the switch, but I found that this team appreciates Bulky Talonflame and opposing Zard gone or weakened more (Lucario, Rotom, and Landorus can all deal with Tran just fine). Also, TTar is not a problem for Lucario at all, so I really dont mind him. Modest nature for power and 2HKOs. EV spread allows to outspeed Pinsir before Mega evolving, and a little bit of extra bulk.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Standard Defensive Landorus-T is great for this team because of Intimidate, Rocks, U-turn, and Rocky Helmet. The goal of this pokemon is to set up rocks, provide switches, and wear down physical sweepers so that priority moves can pick them off. Not much else to say, everyone knows why this pokemon is so good haha. I feel like its checks are covered by the rest of my team, but its hard to deal with coverage Ice moves from Mega Medicham and such.

Bisharp @ Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 192 HP / 220 Atk / 96 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit

Bisharp is amazing in tandem with Lucario, who appreciates its Pursuit trapping and Knock-offing power. I used to run standard black glasses, but Although the extra power was nice, I felt like I needed more bulk to reliably switch into Lati and check fairy types better. This thing can easily tank Moonblasts and Hyper Voices from the strongest fairies and retaliate with Iron Head. Keep in mind that the goal of this tea is to weaken opposing teams enough for Lucario to sweep, and this thing has enough punch to do hat fine. Other than that, its there to spam Knock-Off and weaken or kill sweepers with sucker punch. Defiant is nice to keep rocks up and scare Intimidaters. EV's are standard for AV.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Rotom is a great pivot that checks/walls some of Lucario's greatest threats including Landorus, Scarf Chomp, Keldeo, and Fighting type megas. WIll-o-Wisp can cripples opposing Pokemon, Volt Switch creates a nice VoltTurn core with Lando, and Hydro Pump is a nice way to hit ground type Pokemon hard. Fairly standard, but very useful and supportive. I don't remember off the top of my head what the EV's do (deals with Azu maybe?), and I'd actually like to change them to something more up to date.

Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Healing Wish

Because I run Mega Charizard as my main wallbreaker, a hazard remover was highly necessary. Defog is reliable, and Lucario doesn't mind dealing with +2 Bisharp if push comes to shove. Life Orb ensures that I hit hard, and dropping Dracos is a nice way to kill something when fairies are gone. Psyshock helps deal with Amoongus, Mega Venusaur, Keldeo, and Conkeldurr, which all give Lucario trouble. Finally I chose Latias over Latios because I needed more bulk to deal with Thundurus and other special attackers, and Healing Wish allows me to be more reckless. I've been thinking about running a Latios with Memento lately, but this would change the overall feel of the team to a more Hyper Offensive playstyle. What do you think???


Here are a few known threats to my team, I notice the trend is speedy and powerful pokemon:

-Mega Lopunny: This thing is fast, hits hard, and deals with all of my bulky Pokemon because of its coverage. Ice Punch kills Landorus. I hate this thing.
-Mega Medicham: Almost the same as Mega Lopunny, except it actually OHKOs Rotom. However, Latias can deal with it if I sack something.
-Thundurus: The problem with this thing is it hits hard, and has priority thunder wave. My only reliable checks at full health are Latias and Bisharp, which my team does not appreciate being worn down or thunder waved. I hate when people lead with it.
-Mega Manectric: Same as Thundurus, but not as strong. Bisharp loves Intimidate, but most people have a counter to that.
-Weavile: Its fast and hits hard, annoying to deal with. Most Pokemon can take a hit at full health, but flinch chance from Icicle Crash is annoying. It weakens my team and forces me to play more careful.
-Breloom: Spore. Just spore.
-Luck: Ive fluctuated from 1700's to 1400's and back on the ladder just based on luck... Fire Miss, Stone Miss, Hydro Miss, Will o Miss, Iron Miss, Draco Miss... As well as opposing flinches, burns, and crits. I feel like landing these hits is sooo important for this team, especially when dealing with stuff like Sub Mega Heracross or Mega Sableye. Honestly, its annoying how much Luck is needed to win, but I dont wanna give up the extra power. Its part of the game, but I fell like it can be improved.

Feel free to comment the good, the bad, and the ugly, as well as make suggestions. Thanks!

 

[zbr]

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick luke team my man. i've been meaning to use a luke team and this is kinda what i want to use considering zard y and luke are both threats that punishes the faults in team building. ofc that would mean that i had to make some minor adjustments to suit my style as well to improve on the problems that you've listed. so let me tell you what i've noted and changed from the main team. not a lot of major changes since this team is already quite solid as it is already.

first of all, let's deal with zard y's moveset. modest sun boosted fire blast is crazy intense as fuck power but im sure we don't need that as much as we do need consistency. personally, i rather use modest flamethrower with earthquake. this is such that tran and ttar cannot effectively come in to cockblock you and you can weaken it without having to rely on shitty ancientpower (which is shit imo) so that luke can come in to save the day by clicking the relevant stabs as well as allowing you to bypass msab and mcross with consistent stab.

next, bisharp may be amazing but what you need is something with immediate power that can come in on latis, trap them and kill them and potentially deal with shit like mlop, mcham and weavile. that mon is actually the elusive and rare choice scarf scizor. haha this has to be the weirdest change yet to be made to someone elses team but this is actually a mon that is pretty interesting to use. jolly scarf hits 376 which outpaces lati and mcham, lati which you can come in on a draco then u-turn out as he expects you to stay in and die to hpfire where as mcham, you can u-turn out into lando-t so that it is now in range of bp from zor. for mlop, hjk fails to kill sciz and sciz proceeds to superpower to victory. use this set if you feel like using unexpectedness to your advantage. if not, cbzor actually works fine here but you need to play a bit smartly so that you can use it to end games that luke can't clean. i personally used scarfzor and i had a lot of hilarious games with my friends

the reason why you have problems with fast electrics is because 5/6 of your mons are forced out due to their inherent low speed and high wallbreaking power. meaning that you have to either play really aggressively or run roost over healing wish on lati to make it a more solid electric sponge. if your opponent is using nasty thundy then you have to play around it with your prio mons and pressure it with rocks since there isn't much ways around this simply because of the style of your team and the way it's centered around luke zard y.

honestly, zard y and luke would indicate that the playstyle leans more towards a heavy offense-ish style of playing so you gotta put your balls on the line when you're playing your games otherwise you'll just lose with regret ;-; anyway, i hope these suggestions have been helpful to your team and your laddering experience~ /cheers/

 

[Ryfi110]

You know what rhymes with Lobbied By A Mall? Bodied By Stall.

This team only has CharY for stall, which gets walled by chansey. You don't really have a way of beating chansey, so it kinda takes away your only chance of beating stall. Yes, you have lucario, but that is going to take 100 every time Chansey uses Toss, and when you set up, and are walled by Slowbro and/or Skarm and/or Sableye.

Run Banded Tyranitar (just the basic spread) over Bisharp. It gives you a way of destroying Latis, and gives you a solid stallbreaking core in Ttar + CharY. Between the two, you should be winning most stall matchups when you play well.

This change would make it so you could keep HWish on Lati, if you want to maintain the ability to bring back Zard or Luc late game.


Also, if you feeling flashy, run Yache Berry on Landorus, so you have a backup check to ice types, as well as a functional check to Lopunny.

 

[lilbigman]

ZANBAKUResh Resh, do you think Flamethrower would be effective at securing OHKOs and 2HKOs? Ive considered it but I think BLast's power is too good to pass up. This move makes it so that literally nothing can switch in if not named Chansey Heatran or TTar, also if any of them is worn down, Zard can deal with them. As for Eq... It just needs more punch IMO. I started out using it and I found that its generally better to kill opposing zard and talonflame (especially bulk up).

Choice Scarf Scizor sounds hilarious, I might try it. I actually used banded szor before, my problem was it couldn't tank hits well. Draco does about 50%, even with investment, which is kinda unreliable for trapping if they have HP fire. I need a Lati switch in because people love bringing it in on Zard. Like you said, you have to play super smart. Superpower or BB for Scarf Szor? Also, Bisharp's utility from Knock is amazing.

I like the idea of roost to beat electrics, but then I'd have to play more conservative and probably get a status sponge. Resto-Chesto Rotom?

Ryfi110 I've actually noticed that stall is hard to beat with this team. I usually rely on a hard read to kill either the Slowbro or Chansey and proceed to kill everything with Zard. I'm familiar with the ridiculous power of cb Ttar, it would make a good core, but I think the lack of priority makes me even more vulnerable to mcham and mLop. Not to mention the inability to trap gengar (focus blast), which is a problem. Yache berry is cool on Landorus, would help againsy Metagross as well, however, Eq would fail to kill Lopunny and Medicham from full (and if they predict a switch it's pretty much GG), so idk if Rocky Helmet's ability to wear them down might be better overall. I used to run CHomp to have them take a lot more damage and beat them with priority. I think I need to find a check outside of those 4 mons if I'm going to run it. Im thinking that running support Celebi over lati and a different form hazard control might help. Or maybe a bulkier Lati variant. What do you think?

I'll play around with both if your changes and post what I find works

 

[BreloomMyHomie]

Hey man, nice team you have there, though I have a couple of suggestions. I think that one of the biggest threats to this team is Mega Diancie. It's very difficult for you to switch into its STABs, as every Pokemon on your team atmost gets 2HKOed by Moonblast, Diamond Storm, and Earth Power. Kyurem-B is a huge threat to the team as well, due to the lack of switch-ins as well as checks. For instance, since Lucario is running Adamant nature, it's going to be outsped by Kyurem-B and get OHKOed by Earth Power. Weavile is annoying Pokemon to deal with on your team as well, due to the intimidating offensive STABs it has access to, as well as the Fighting coverage. Dragon Dance Altaria is a huge threat to the team as well, due to the fact that it can stall out Charizard Y's Fire Blasts, set up, and potentially sweep. This is because Lucario is lacking Bullet Punch, and Altaria resists Bisharp's priority. The only way for you to deal with Altaria is to keep Rotom-W healthy so it can take +1 Return and retaliate with Will-O-Wisp. However, if it's running Heal Bell or Refresh, it's pretty much gg. Lastly, I don't like your matchup vs stall, since none of your Pokemon really have a chance to break defensively oriented teams.

My first suggestion will be to replace Charizard Y with Mega Scizor. Mega Scizor is one of the best Mega Diancie checks in the game and can switch into anything it wants to go for bar HP Fire. Mega Scizor is also a solid Kyurem-B switch-in, not being 2HKOed by Fusion Bolt and Earth Power and is only worried about HP Fire; in addition, it isn't 2HKOed by Weavile's Knock Off. Lastly, Scizor is a good check to Altaria, not being 2HKOed by +1 Earthquake or Return and can retaliate back with 2 unboosted Bullet Punches; also, Scizor gives your team a win condition that can sweep late game.

My next suggestion will be Choice Band Tyranitar>Bisharp. CB Tyranitar, like Bisharp, can Pursuit the Lati-Twins for SD Lucario. Not only that, but Tyranitar gives your team a nice win condition vs defensively oriented teams, 2HKOing the majority of defensive Pokemon in the metagame with its STABs and fighting coverage. It also a Pokemon that appreciates the Healing Wish support that Latias has, especially since if Tyranitar is crippled by Burn, it's almost always useless.

• One thing you can do is change Rotom-W's EV spread to 252 HP 252 Def 4 SPD for more Physical bulk, and also since Jolly Azumarill isn't really common at the moment.

New Team

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Close Combat
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Tail
- Swords Dance

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Latias @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 100 HP / 252 Atk / 156 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split

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

Good luck m8 :]

 

[lilbigman]

BreloomMyHomie Hey thanks for the advice, I actually also noticed that Diancie and Kyurem are also a problem. However, they are usually easier to pick off with bisharp or Lucario than the megas. Mega Scizor is great but this team's build makes me rely on physical attackers too much, physical walls like Quagsire and status would be a pain. And I wouldn't like relying on Ttar to break walls. However, it is nice to have Scizor around for a nice and powerful U-turn. Lucario is my main win con, so idk if I should get another set up sweeper. Maybe if I give Zor defog and pair him with Mixed Kyurem black and Celebi over lati and rotom it could work... Really not sure :/