Sweep ALL the things!

[ImmortalDreamer]

I'm new to the competitive scene, but this is a team I've been playing against friends who are also getting into playing competitively and it has been doing pretty well. Two recent changes were replacing Aegislash with Chandelure as I felt he was clunky compared to the rest of my team and Skarmory replaced Tyrantrum as my Stealth Rocker. Open to all suggestions and not opposed to replacing any team members, moves, or items.

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird
- Roost

Skarmory is my lead, with it's main goal being to set up Stealth Rock and then start phasing opposing Pokemon. Brave Bird is there to prevent it from being Taunt locked and Roost compliments Skarmory's high physical defence. I wasn't 100% sure what item to put on him as Gastrodon already had Leftovers.

Noivern @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
Nature: Modest
EV's: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Focus Blast
- U-Turn

Noivern is there for scouting and outspeeding a lot of threats. There isn't much Draco Meteor can't at least 2HKO. Focus Blast cuts through Rock types that would give me issues. U-Turn is great for scouting or for switching out after a Draco Meteor and Flamethrower gives some nice coverage vs opposing steel types. The Infiltrator ability means that Noivern is also my sub breaker and can do some massive damage to SubPunch Breloom or SubDisable Gengar.

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpD/ 252 HP / 4 SpA
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Ice Beam

My Gastrodon is interesting in that while it still is a great special tank, mine can hit hard as well. Gastrodon is my biggest check for Rotom-W as my team tends to have issues with him. Scald's burn effect can cripple opposing physical sweepers like Tyranitar, Mawile, and Garchomp. Earthquake is for opposing steel types. Swapped Toxic with Ice Beam to help combat dragons and grass types.

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Naive
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- Crunch
- Pursuit

One of my three main sweepers. Tyanitar usually ends up being an early game sweeper if I'm playing a weather team, and later game if not. Assault Vest + Sandstorm gives him amazing bulk and his move set allows him to hit (often with STAB) a variety of different threats. He's especially good at taking out opposing Aegislash. STAB pursuit is devastating when I call my opponent's switches correctly.

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
- Dragon Dance
- Extremespeed
- Fire Punch
- Outrage

My late game sweeper. Once I can get a Dragon Dance off, Dragonite is second to none in terms of raw power. The Lum Berry takes care of the confusion from the initial Outrage or if my opponent attempts to burn him before I can sweep. Extremespeed takes out immediate threats with low Hp and Fire Punch deals with pesky steel and ice types that can give me issues. I've swept entire teams with Dragonite and felt he was a better choice than a mega on this team (Mega Mawile originally held this spot).

Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball
- Memento

My spin blocker and special sweeper, Chandelure's job is literally to destroy opposing Rapid Spin users. Overheat takes out Avalugg, Excadrill, and Fortress. Energy Ball takes care of Starmie, Blastoise, and Rock or Ground type spinners. Shadow Ball does massive STAB damage with Choice Specs for sweeping. Memento helps Dragonite set up or sets up Pursuit kills with Tyranitar.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[GenXXZ]

Hey, cool team! You almost got a bulky offense thing going on, and I think that can be a pretty effective strategy. You also seem to have a pretty defined win condition in the form of Mawile, which is great! All teams need a strong focus, and I don't see any lack of that here. If this is your first team, it's a pretty good start off! Here are some things that I would recommend:

First off, run Choice Scarf over Choice Specs on your Chandelure, and run Fire Blast over Overheat. All of the spinners you mentioned are destroyed by even a unspecs'd Fire Blast anyways, so having the extra speed will really help you. It also gives you a pretty fast and safe alternate win condtion; Mawile is great, but you still have to rely on shaky priority when using her. A Scarf Chandelure late-game sweep is much less high risk if you play your cards right.

Synergy wise, you don't have any Psychic resists, but that's just something you gotta watch out for. Chandelure can take care of it if a Psychic type nets a kill. Overall, the team synergises like a team should. Nice work!


That's it from me! Good luck.

 

[Arthy]

How much mileage does Tyranitar get out of those speed EVs? Tyranitar's pretty slow to begin with, so I don't know how much important stuff you'll be outspeeding outside of Aegislash. I recommend switching those EVs from speed to HP, as this would let you switch in more and take more hits. You want to use him as a sweeper and not a tank, though, so going with Mega Tyranitar's (awesome) Dragon Dance set might be a good option for you. It retains some awesome bulk and even buffs his physical defense. It would also mitigate the need for Mega Mawile, who is too fragile for my taste.

Another thing would be to try out Fire Blast if you stick with AV. It lets him mix up his attacking and provides some sweet coverage and absolute steal KOs if you predict switch-ins correctly. (Shitake Brelooms taste great roasted.) It also prevents him from becoming set-up bait for Ferrothorn and Skarmory, who might try and lay down spikes and force you to switch out. Plus, Aegislash would lose the ability to wear you down with King's shield.

I'm tempted to list Superpower as another coverage option, but that was only any good for me in gen 5 doubles, where that little bugger Scrafty was running around.

 

[ImmortalDreamer]

How much mileage does Tyranitar get out of those speed EVs? Tyranitar's pretty slow to begin with, so I don't know how much important stuff you'll be outspeeding outside of Aegislash. I recommend switching those EVs from speed to HP, as this would let you switch in more and take more hits. You want to use him as a sweeper and not a tank, though, so going with Mega Tyranitar's (awesome) Dragon Dance set might be a good option for you. It retains some awesome bulk and even buffs his physical defense. It would also mitigate the need for Mega Mawile, who is too fragile for my taste.

Another thing would be to try out Fire Blast if you stick with AV. It lets him mix up his attacking and provides some sweet coverage and absolute steal KOs if you predict switch-ins correctly. (Shitake Brelooms taste great roasted.) It also prevents him from becoming set-up bait for Ferrothorn and Skarmory, who might try and lay down spikes and force you to switch out. Plus, Aegislash would lose the ability to wear you down with King's shield.

I'm tempted to list Superpower as another coverage option, but that was only any good for me in gen 5 doubles, where that little bugger Scrafty was running around.

I'll try switching up his EVs and see how much of a difference that makes. I really like AV Tyranitar though. I actually was already testing out Fire Blast last night and it worked great, so I think I'm replacing Earthquake with it.

Gonna update the first post with the stuff I've changed for sure.

 

[Mjolnir128]

Looks like a great team, I like that you take advantage of pokemon with abilities that provide immunities + boosts, that's one of the best ways to run an offensive team that can perform switches without losing momentum or pressure. I like it a lot! This is hardly a weakness of the team, but if you ever get the chance to run that noivern set with Frisk instead, it'll perform the duty of scout all the better. Infiltrator works well for the purposes of the team however.

 

[Anty]

Noiverns niche is to scout and you dont even have frisk on it. I recomend chainging chandelures ability to infiltrator and replacing noivern with specs latios, as it is bulkier and much stronger (especcially with hurricane in the sand).

Also there is no reason of running dark pulse on chadelure STAB shadow ball is mostly better, change that to trick. Gastrodon doesnt need earthquake with pokebank, so change it to earth power or toxic or keep earth power and change ice beam to toxic (set should be scald, recover, and either earth power and/or ice beam and/or toxic).

Ttars speed evs dont look right, im not sure what the standard set is and you dont want jolly with fireblast.

Overwise it is good. There is also a typo on dragonites ability (multiscale not marvel scale)

 

[xSTxPhoeniXx]

I may be wrong and please if someone could correct me id be happy but are you sure that chandelure would stop Blastoise from spinning? As I was looking for a spinner myself and heard that Mega Blastoise could go through ALOT of spinblockers with its mega launcher + Dark pulse.

I haven't played competitive for so long so I could probably be wrong but if I remember isnt blastoise alot bulker than chandelure? And doesnt his ability basically act like giving dark pulse a STAB bonus coming from a 405 s.atk?

Surely that would OHKO chandelure especially if it has even a slight bit of damage on it?

 

[ImmortalDreamer]

If I was up against Mega Blastoise, I'd obviously play it a bit differently (more than likely not worry about blocking and just reset rocks later if Skarmory is still live). I have yet to play a team in OU using Mega Blastoise as their spinner though, so at the percentages its being used, its not seeming like a problem I'd run into often.

Noiverns niche is to scout and you dont even have frisk on it. I recomend chainging chandelures ability to infiltrator and replacing noivern with specs latios, as it is bulkier and much stronger (especcially with hurricane in the sand).
Also there is no reason of running dark pulse on chadelure STAB shadow ball is mostly better, change that to trick. Gastrodon doesnt need earthquake with pokebank, so change it to earth power or toxic or keep earth power and change ice beam to toxic (set should be scald, recover, and either earth power and/or ice beam and/or toxic).
Ttars speed evs dont look right, im not sure what the standard set is and you dont want jolly with fireblast.
Overwise it is good. There is also a typo on dragonites ability (multiscale not marvel scale)

I can't even count the times Infiltrator has saved me vs substitute users getting ready to sweep. I'd rather have it over frisk. Earth Power over Earthquake is a much better call, I'll be swapping that ASAP.

 

[The Great Gastly]

Use Memento (or Trick) over Dark Pulse on Chandelure!

Memento can give your Dragonite a free turn to set up, but Trick can fuck up a wall or something -- there's no use for Dark Pulse when it already has Ghost STAB. :D

 

[ImmortalDreamer]

Tested out Memento last night and as long as I call the switch correctly, its been working pretty good at either giving Dragonite a chance to set up like you suggested or for forcing a switch on Tyranitar allowing him to use Pursuit.