First time OU teambuilding - Advice is welcome!

[BattleForTheSun]

Hello all!

Hey all,

I recently got Pokemon Platinum, the first Pokemon game I've played in YEARS. After hearing about and getting into competitive battling for the first time recently, checking out some of the articles and the Strategy Pokedex, I decided I'd like to build a party in Platinum that I can use in online battles as well. So, an in-game party that can serve as a competitive OU team as well.

Since I'm building a team for the first time, I'm starting from the very simple premise:
- Pick a sweeper
- Build a team around this sweeper: choose a number of Pokemon that can, first of all, eliminate threats to your sweeper, and second of all, allow your sweeper to set up.

This idea has gotten me as far as the following team of Pokemon, based around DDTar as a late-game sweeper... This team has been tested in a couple of battles on Shoddy, and it seems to work, but as a n00bz I may be overlooking a couple of obvious flaws.

The line-up:
In no particular order, except for my LeadApe and late-game sweeper DDTar:

In detail:

Infernape @Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Hasty nature (+Spe, -Def)
- Fake Out
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast/Flamethrower
- Close Combat

I really like this LeadApe set, it seems effective in getting rid of a lot of the common leads. I'm using Infernape as a lead because it often succeeds in setting up SR, getting rid of the opposing lead, and surviving regularly as well. I might need him to counter or revenge kill Scizor later on, because of the huge threat it poses to my sweeper, DDTar.

(Note that I may opt for Flamethrower over Fire Blast since I'm using this Pokemon in-game as well, and it's not exactly handy to have 2 moves with 5PP to beat the E4 with, for example... I'll probably go with Fire Blast after all)

----------

Bronzong @Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
IVs: 0 Spe || EVs: 252 HP / 86 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SpD
Sassy nature (+SpD, -Spe)
- Gyro Ball
- Grass Knot
- Earthquake
- Hypnosis

Bronzong is my mixed wall who serves the main purpose of taking care of bulky Ground-types who pose threats to TTar, such as Donphan, Hippowdon, Rhyperior and especially Swampert. This is basically the Standard Wall set from the StrategyDex, but with Grass Knot replacing Stealth Rock (LeadApe takes care of SR, Grass Knot shreds those Ground-types). There may be better movesets that suit the role Bronzong fits on this team, though, so let loose your suggestions!

----------

Gyarados @Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 108 Atk / 100 Def / 144 Spe / 156 Hp
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake/Taunt

I'm a bit in doubt about this moveset. This BulkyGyara covers some of TTar's threats, such as the bulky Ground types I just mentioned (bar Swampert). Also, Ice Fang helps take care of Gliscor and the common dragon threats (Mence, Nite). Taunt was suggested in order to prevent being walled by the likes of Blissey, but I might need Earthquake to take care of Lucario. Any ideas? Since I've been suggested I shouldn't be worrying too much about Blissey walling a TTar sweep, I'll go with EQ over Taunt.

----------

Magnezone @Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Fire
- Magnet Rise
- Explosion/Substitute

Steelkiller Magnezone is supposed to rid opposing teams of Steel-types such as Metagross, Scizor, etc. who pose threats to TTar. The 216 Spe EVs are supposed to make Magezone able to outrun Scizor, to whom I wouldn't have a decent response otherwise. It'll fall easily to HP Fire, though. I'm not sure what to use the 4th slot for, Sub or Explosion.
Other than that, Magnezone pairs up well with Gengar (offensively, see below) and Gyarados (defensive coverage).

----------

Gengar @Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 100 Atk / 156 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty nature (+Spe, -Def)
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Grass/Explosion

Gengar pairs up with Magnezone well, by drawing out Scizor and other significant threats that Magnezone can proceed to pick off. Explosion has saved me from a couple of tricky spots so far, but with Magnezone carrying Explosion now, I can give Gengar HP Grass to take care of Swampert. Suggestions to improve this moveset are still welcome...

----------

Tyranitar @Life Orb
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake/Fire Punch

Fairly straightforward: this is the guy it's all about. DDTar is the late-game sweeper I'm hoping to be able to let loose after the rest of my team has taken care of all possible threats. DD to set up a sweep; Crunch and Stone Edge for two powerful STAB attacks; and Earthquake to sweep away with, or Fire Punch to get rid of the extremely dangerous Scizor or other Steel threats if necessary.

----------

To finish things off, have a look at my weakness/resistance chart:

--------------------

So, to summarize, this is the first OU team I ever created, and for a first try I feel confident that I did a fairly decent job. However, I know I'm probably skilled below average and you guys can probably spot a couple of obvious flaws that I might have missed. Also, you probably know of better movesets for some of the Pokemon I chose, so they can fill their roles in more effectively. So, if you have any tips or advice to share with me about this team, feel free to do so!

Thanks!

EDIT: CHANGES IN ITALICS.

 

[gorm]

getting rid of gyara's dd is probably a bad idea. you'd sooner go for eq over taunt.

cmcune looks like it could bug you, especially the offensive LO variant. opposing stone edging ddgyara will also cause you grief. swampert is a bitch too, here's hoping you lure him out with zong (although many will be wary of explosion, especially if they guess how worried your team is about it!)


i'd consider hpfire on gengar, you'll be safe from the scizors you lure with your sub up, and it's not like fire punch will help if scizor bullet punches you for the ohko, so maybe eq over that on tar. another "anti scizor insurance" is hp fire on zone, as TB won't ko as they ko you with superpower, or switch out with uturn. there's also the old babiri (steel resist) berry that you could lob on to tar.

blissey would be a welcome addition given your general fear of bulky waters, and she would bring a status absorber in to the team, which you currently lack. twave/flamethrower/stoss will help you deal with scizor, but a wish variant would also help support the team. you could test her over magnezone. your luke weak isn't abetted by this, so thing of running focus blast on gengar as insurance if you do test bliss.

 

[boredomisbliss]

i like this team a lot by the way =)


ok, first off im not exactly sure what bronzong is doing here, if you need an answer to bulky grounds you already have your answer in gyrados and gengar
id use a standard SD lucario over bronzong here, it adds to your ground weakness (which doesnt really exist) but heres why i would do it. you dont want them you know you have a tyranitar but at the same time you want to draw out the counters to your tyranitar and lucario and tyranitar have pretty much a lot of the exact same counters. besides lucario can rip through a lot of the midgame, and even sweep by himself

on magnezone put hpgrass over ice if you can, solves the swampert problem well

im not exactly sure thats the gengar you want, 2/3 of its attacks are physical for one, and they dont really help address your counters. HP fire handles scizor, though you have magnezone for that, and hp grass handles swampert. focus punch handles blissey but seriously, is blissey going to stop a t-tar sweep?
you should be worried about bulky ghosts who can will-o-wisp your t-tar, stuff that gengar has no trouble 2HKOing behind a sub. focus blast can provide fighting coverage, and if you opt for lucario then focus punch becomes very redundant very fast

good luck ^^

 

[BattleForTheSun]

getting rid of gyara's dd is probably a bad idea. you'd sooner go for eq over taunt.

Gotcha, I was thinking I should. But should I keep the bulky EV spread in that case?

i'd consider hpfire on gengar, you'll be safe from the scizors you lure with your sub up, and it's not like fire punch will help if scizor bullet punches you for the ohko, so maybe eq over that on tar. another "anti scizor insurance" is hp fire on zone, as TB won't ko as they ko you with superpower, or switch out with uturn. there's also the old babiri (steel resist) berry that you could lob on to tar.

I'm not keen on using HP attacks like I said in the first post, since I'm building this team in-game. Getting the right IVs for the desired HP type is a pain, not to mention the base power variance... So thanks for the suggestions, but because I'm making this team in-game, I'm not going to have much use for the "optimal solution" being HP moves.

blissey would be a welcome addition given your general fear of bulky waters, and she would bring a status absorber in to the team, which you currently lack. twave/flamethrower/stoss will help you deal with scizor, but a wish variant would also help support the team. you could test her over magnezone. your luke weak isn't abetted by this, so thing of running focus blast on gengar as insurance if you do test bliss.

In a previous team I tested (but didn't post because it didn't work well) I used Blissey, but I didn't like it in general. I know I'm lacking a status absorber, I'm trying to fit me an offensive playstyle, so yeah... :) but thanks, I'll try sometime!

ok, first off im not exactly sure what bronzong is doing here, if you need an answer to bulky grounds you already have your answer in gyrados and gengar
id use a standard SD lucario over bronzong here, it adds to your ground weakness (which doesnt really exist) but heres why i would do it. you dont want them you know you have a tyranitar but at the same time you want to draw out the counters to your tyranitar and lucario and tyranitar have pretty much a lot of the exact same counters. besides lucario can rip through a lot of the midgame, and even sweep by himself

Another one I'm going to have to try out, thanks! Bronzong is one of my favourites on this team for how he surprised a good few of my opponents a couple of times, switching in on EQ and dissing out Grass Knot where they expect EQ and vice versa :D I'll testrun Luke sometime, though...

on magnezone put hpgrass over ice if you can, solves the swampert problem well

im not exactly sure thats the gengar you want, 2/3 of its attacks are physical for one, and they dont really help address your counters. HP fire handles scizor, though you have magnezone for that, and hp grass handles swampert. focus punch handles blissey but seriously, is blissey going to stop a t-tar sweep?

Again, I avoid HP attacks, because they're so impossible to obtain with the right type and power in-game. Other ideas, maybe?

you should be worried about bulky ghosts who can will-o-wisp your t-tar, stuff that gengar has no trouble 2HKOing behind a sub. focus blast can provide fighting coverage, and if you opt for lucario then focus punch becomes very redundant very fast

Now this I can use, because I've noticed that very annoying things happen to my team when Spiritomb pops out :D thanks, I'll try that out!

Any more ideas? Thanks to you guys! ^^

Also:

i like this team a lot by the way =)

Yay ^^

 

[ImMrCow]

First of all, I noticed that 5 out of the 6 members of your team get sweeped by CB Dugtrio, and the last one(Bronzong) by Heatran. All of your members are outsped and OHKO'd by Equake, Night Slash and Stone Edge. Now, since you have Bronzong to counter it, we need to work on killing Bronzong's counter: Heatran. A lot of your team is killed by him too, but you have Gyara. I personally don't like having one counter for each threat, and would switch Gengar out for Latias. She provides you with a reliable Heatran counter, and Dugtrio doesn't dare switch into her thanks to Surf.
Latias@Choice Scarf
Timid
252Satk/252Spe/4HP
-Surf
-Draco Meteor
-Thunderbolt
-Trick

This set fails to outspeed Duggy, so bring Bronzong back in when he comes out. Look out for Night Slash damage though, as it may hurt a bit more than you would expect. Sorry that a good Latias is impossible to get in-game, but if you like shoddy, this is the best I can think of.

 

[BattleForTheSun]

Sorry that a good Latias is impossible to get in-game

Unfortunately, this is the bottom line. It's all supposed to work in-game. I'll keep your tips in mind though and try Latias out in Shoddy, but I'll need something to work with in-game as well...

 

[kingbattlus]

if you're willing to take the time to EV-train something "in-game" then you should also be willing to take the time to breed something with the correct HP type and a base power in the mid 60s. The RNG abuse thread in wifi can show you how to get the exact IVs you want for flawless HP breeding, or you can just use traditional, tried and true patietence and breed your way there swapping out desirable IVs when you get better parents. I'm sure many people in the wifi section would even be willing to loan you some mediocre parents. Genderless Magnezone might be tougher to breed but it's far from impossible.

As far the actual team, it's decent. You may want to take the above suggestion for a Lucario, and unless you don't have wifi, you can easily obtain a Latias from somebody out there, and she would also fit in there nicely. I think Gengar would be the weakest link, so start looking for tweaks there.

 

[FinnRagetti]

Magnezone needs an HP fire to be a successful steel trapper. It helps take out steel types more quickly and efficiently. Also, my suggestion is to drop substitute for Explosion. It can allow you to take two pokes for the price of one, clearing more TTar threats and allowing TTar a chance to come in and sweep

 

[BattleForTheSun]

Thanks for the suggestions, everybody. I'm considering putting a SD Luke in the team, but unfortunately that would make half of my team weak to both ground and fire, making Heatran a huge problem. As long as I can't get a good Latias (and I mean a GOOD one, I can get a Latias with ease but it needs good IVs, etc... to get one of those in-game is not easy) I'm going to have to keep looking for other options.

I'll first try to make the movesets on my current team of 6 Pokemon better (not forgetting Hidden Power moves this time, I'll just spend more time getting them right then), and maybe replace Gengar with a better alternative. I'll update this thread or post a new one in a while.

Thanks!