Team Balance-Beam // An OU Balanced-Offensive team

Changes in PURPLE
Too lazy to find Rotom-h sprites

INTRO
:
I'm am fairly new to competitive battling in the sense that I understand more or less everything about it but wish to improve. Sure, my teams are okay but they could obviously be better. I'm always experimenting with different pokemon and I think I've finally found a team that's working for me. I think 8 wins 2 losses says so anyways.

TEAM BUILDING:

After being totally destroyed by a Porygon-z, the user informed me that after 1 Nasty Plot, Porygon-z could 2HKO virtually everyone in the OU metagame. I was extremely shocked and figured I'd give it a shot. Of course I've ended up with a similar set that works a bit differently but just as well, but I must say, Porygon-z really is amazing when you use him right.



What good is a balanced team without counters? It's fairly easy to have a back up for a single weakness. Fighting doesn't hit ghosts so I brought it down to Gengar and Dusknoir. But then, after choosing Gengar, Rotom-h was recomended due to lacking firepower. (Pun Intended)



Rotom-h is only weak to Dark and Ghost so I would go Jirachi but that would make me a hypocrite considering how much I despise it. Hey! Bronzong would work! Ghost and Dark still do neutral damage but his defences make up for it!



Bronzong only has 1 weakness which is easily covered because Flash Fire is not just immune to it, but gets a boost too. Easy decision right? Wrong. To me, there was no one with that ability that really appealed to me besides Houndoom and Heatran which are both susceptible to the same weakness as Porygon-z. For this role, I realised that one of the single best Fire counters is Kingdra who takes a small 25% damage from fire. I'd rather have a 25% Fire and 100% Fighting than 0% Fire and 200% Fighting anyday.



Much like Bronzong, Kingdra only has 1 weakness as well. Another reason why I chose Kingdra over the Flash Fires. With only 1 type to resist Dragon, I had to choose a Steel type. After all, every team should be able to down a Salamence because Dragon hits neutral to virtually everything. That leaves you 2 options. Outspeed and OHKO with something like Ice Shard or any Ice Attack before a Dragon Dance. But, if you have adragon yourself, you should have a second resistance to it to cover for it. So I figure, why not be able to hit hard with Ice and resist it? Empoleon, get your penguin butt over here.



Lastly, someone to cover Fighting, Ground and Electric. Obviously, the best Electric counter is Ground and the best Ground being Flying which also resists Fighting! Gliscor you say? Hey, that just might work!



A perfectly balanced team! Awesome! Hmmmm. Actually, I heard recently that Metagross is the 1# lead in OU. With 2 Ground immunities I think it's safe to substitute Bronzong and Metagross. It's the same typing so the Ground weakness is a small price to pay.





(Bar the 1 Psychic weakness, too annoying to update for such a small change.)

So now, I bring you,

THE TEAM: At a Glance,



The Lead:



Metagross @ Occa Berry
Adamant - Clear Body
228 HP / 238 Attack / 12 Defense / 32 Speed

~Bullet Punch
~Earthquake
~Stealth Rock
~Explosion

The basic Metagross, you might think. True, it's extremely similar. Near identical exact. But you'd be wrong. There is a minor change. 32 extra Speed EV's. Why? Because being ranked the 1# lead, he's very common in the OU metagame. Therefore, I never have to worry about Speed ties. Pretty smart, eh? I think so. If you think it wasn't such a good idea, how about the fact that I killed 3 pokemon on a team with this thing. The last being explosion of course. ;)

The Special Sweepers:



Porygon-z @ Silk Scarf
Modest - Adaptability
4 HP / 252 Speed / 252 Sp. Attack

~Nasty Plot
~Dark Pulse
~Hidden Power [Fighting]
~Tri Attack

The reason for the team, the incredible Porygon-z. After simply 1 Nasty Plot boost, it can 2HKO every legit pokemon in OU. The only issue is his speed. The good news is that he's highly effective even if the Agili-pass from Gliscor doesn't work out. Even Special walls are easily taken out. Fear him. ;D



Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
Timid - Levitate
4 HP / 252 Sp. Attack / 252 Speed

~Trick
~Thunderbolt
~Overheat
~Shadow Ball


Rotom-h plays the role of Special Sweeper and Anti-Spinner. He's also my only source of Fire to take out Forretress, Scizor and others. He actually suits the role very well and the fire power is definetly worth the switch over Gengar.

The Physical Sweepers
:



Kingdra @ Leftovers
Adamant - Swift Swim
168 HP / 188 Attack / 152 Speed

~Rest
~Sleep Talk
~Dragon Dance
~Outrage

Kingdra is just a filler pokemon that suits the role of physical sweeper. Mostly for coverage but also posesses the abilty to Sweep if played correctly. Except instead of Anti-Spinner, he's a Rain intercepter. Nuff' said? Apparently not. Isn't that just lovely? I've already well explained his role in the Team Building section so I'll add that Dragon can even dent steel with some boosts from DD and I'll move on.



Empoleon @ Leftovers
Adamant - Torrent
248 HP / 252 Attack / 8 Speed

~Aqua Jet
~Earthquake
~Drill Peck
~Swords Dance

Here, I used the same tactic as Metagross. The extra point in speed can really make all the difference in a battle when it comes down to a speed tie. Empoleon isn't as common as Metagross but it should be. This penguin lacks Nasty Plot to boost his great Sp. Attack but boosting with Swords Dance is the next best thing. Especially since no one sees it coming. It's amazing how many people let this thing Swords Dance 3 times thinking, "Oh, what harm could it do." I wish I could see the look on their face when I 1HKO with a Priority move. This is a force to be reckoned with. Seriously.

The Team Support:



Gliscor @ Yache Berry
Jolly - Hyper Cutter
252 HP / 40 Attack / 216 Speed

~Agility
~Earthquake
~Roost
~Baton Pass

Completing the circle of balance, this beast not just packs a punch but also is able to Agili-pass to Porygon-z in order to attempt a sweep. This guy is literally just support to everyone on the team. I'm sure they all appreciate his efforts in supporting and able to fend off offenders as well. Truly the glue of this team. There's nothing much to say about this because his greatness is expressed in few words.

I really don't feel a threat list is necessary because no one is a huge issue at all. Happy rating!
 
Empoleon has no moves.

I would also recommend running a Rotom forme over Gengar. As a spin-blocker, Gengar is too frail to repeatedly switch into Forry's Payback or Starmie's special attacks.

Rotom-H is probably your best bet, running Trick-Scarf. Overheat takes care of Forretress (and you lack Fire attacks elsewhere), Thunderbolt/Charge Beam/Discharge covers Starmie, and then Trick and Shadow Ball deal with miscellanious other problems like Blissey or opposing Ghosts.

Download is usually the better ability for Porygon-Z; Adapatability boosts one move, whereas Download will typically boost all of them if you send him out at the right time.
 
Wow, thanks for noticing Empoleon. xD

And yeah, Rotom-h seems like a good idea. Thanks. :D

Oh, and Adaptability is the better option in my oppinion so I can throw him in anytime and is what makes Sweeping with Tri Attack possible.

Oh, and just for the record, Gliscor's not working out for me. Instead of Speed passing, simply paralyzing others works well too. so keep that in mind while recommending a replacement. Oh, and Rotom-h isn't working great either. I would much rather have Gengar with HP Fire again. The Sp. Attack drops aren't exactly helping. Of course, any other Ghost with a fire attack is plausible too. Fire Punch Dusknoir perhaps? But if the ghost is going to be a physical sweeper, I'll make Kingdra Special just for balance. Unless a ration of 3:1 physical to Special is a better idea.

Okay, so far, I'm planning a ParaPhazer Latias instead of Gliscor because it takes 50% from Fighting, 0% from ground and 50% from Electric but only 200% instead of 400% from Ice. Also, I'm thinking I want Gengar back. He still packs a fire move like Rotom-h but is much more reliable in my opinion. -2 Sp. Attack has always made me cringe and Gengar makes up for the lost power with a higher Sp.Attack. Those are just my thoughts though and I'd like to hear a more professional opinion.
 
Bump! Been more than 24 hours since last post and no one seems to be noticing this thread. I know double posting is bad, but I'd really like some suggestions. D:
 
I'll try to help a little.

Metagross is standard I guess. The 4 EVs can help people who follow the analysis, but I'm sure others have also thought of possibly small boosts. Not saying it is bad, but just don't be surprised when it doesn't outspeed. It can't OHK other Grosses anyways =\ so it doesn't matter. Well I guess it does the second attack, but it normally doesn't go EQ EQ > KO, because someone will SR or switch.

I'm not liking the Kingdra. They might be pretty bulky, but I'm not sure he can handle Restalking to boost up. If it works great, I just haven't tried it, so I don't know. Rain isn't a big deal.

I think the question really is do you need an anti-spinner? Also not Dusknoir, he really doesn't pack any punch.

I'm not sure how well this team works, but I'd prefer another wall or something. 3 set-up sweepers seem a bit much.
Also if you replaced Empoleon you could get a steel type to counter steels (Heatran/Magnezone) otherwise you'd have a big ground weakness.
 
In terms or threats, the only problem I see is that rotom could get pursuited easily by tar and you can then be swept by gyara. You can play around that, but it does involve a few double switches. You gotta be a bit paranoid of the tar basically.

You're also really mence weak, but that's only if you allow it to set up. A scarfed overheat could really lock you in though.

I would personally swap kingdra for a flygon. That's a jolly flygon with thunderpunch. It at least gives you more outs against common threats.

You can then switch the scarf on rotom for another item/set. I think you need to trick though to beat stall. A trick on bliss can really help you with the PZ sweeping. So yeah, keep that.

Good luck with the team!
 
Thanks, guys! I must say Gengar is really working out for me over Rotom. Perhaps Trick on Gengar? And I'm perfectly okay with Switching Kingdra for Flygon. Sounds great actually. I'm also willing to switch Empoleon for something. any ideas? and just for the record, I modified Metagross' EV's again. 32 Speed EV's should be plenty, right?
 
Well why are you adding the speed evs? If it is for Gross v Gross, you might as well quit, because you won't OHK standard leads (no calc, but I've never done it). So in that case it is best to just switch out to dodge the EQ, if they are actually willing to stay in for the threat.
If the other Gross does want to get into an EQ war, you would win then (assuming they don't boost speed). But I don't think that is a very favorable position.
 
It pretty much is for Gross vs. Gross but I do switch out often. Helps me Splode on something late game when Latias has hopefully Paralyzed most of their team.

I've been playing with Gengar with Trick and Flame Orb and Latias with a set like this:

Latias @ Leftovers
Bold - Levitate
252 HP / 100 Defence / 100 Speed / 56 Sp. Defence

~Recover
~Dragon Pulse
~Thunder Wave
~ Roar

Along with a Flygon set like:

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Jolly - Levitate
80 HP / 252 Attack / 176 Speed

~Outrage
~Earthquake
~U-Turn
~Thunderpunch

This team has done really well so far and I'm considering keeping it. But I think the Flame Orb might interfere with the ParaPhazing so perhaps I should switch that for a choice item. Suggestions?
 

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