First Team: Hyper Offence

Hello! I'm quite new to competitive battling, and this is my first RMT, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me how to improve both my team and the RMT in general. I have tried/tested a couple of teams on Pokemon Showdown, but none of these teams seemed to work too well, so I looked into Hyper Offence. One thing to note is that because I am a beginner, most of these sets are taken directly from Smogon. The team below is based on special attack. Without further ado, let's begin!


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Klefki @ Light Clay

Ability: Prankster

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

- Reflect

- Light Screen

- Thunder Wave

- Foul Play


Every HO team needs a dual-screener, since the Pokemon in those teams are usually quite frail (I think), as is the case with mine. With its dual screens, which act as a temporary Def and SpD buff, which my whole team needs, since it is relatively frail. This tactic is especially useful for Volcarona, my setup sweeper, since it greatly appreciates the extra bulk, usually necessary for setting up more than one Quiver Dance. It can also stop impending sweeps with TWave, thus rendering any speed boosts useless, and Foul Play helps with physical setup sweepers such as DDancing Salamence.


Volcarona @ Life Orb

Ability: Flame Body

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)

  • Fiery Dance
  • Bug Buzz
  • Quiver Dance
  • Roost

As mentioned above, Volcarona is the setup sweeper of the team. After three Quiver Dances, nothing can stand in its way. My basic strategy with this is getting dual screens up, switching Volcarona in, setting up Quiver Dances and Roosting off the damage, before sweeping. The set listed is weird, because I have no bulk invested but am carrying Roost. However, the dual screens act as pseudo-bulk and it works alright. The problem is, after setting up, Volcarona usually has its HP below half, and since I’m running a LO set, it can seriously inhibit any attempt at a sweep, but Roost helps with that.


Alakazam @ Focus Sash

Ability: Magic Guard

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

  • Psyshock
  • Focus Blast
  • Signal Beam
  • HP Rock

I don’t really know what to do with Alakazam, it feels like I just added it in for no reason. I don’t really see Psyshock’s usefulness either, it 4HKOs defensive Chansey, and has around a 40% chance to 3HKO Blissey, which is why these two Pokemon in particular wall my team. I’m running HP Rock, which is unusual (I think), but it’s there because it OHKOs Talonflame 100% of the time, even with some HP investment, regardless of how many SDs or Bulk Ups it has. The opponent won’t expect it either, and they’ll leave their Talonflame in to attack my Alakazam. I’m not sure about Signal Beam, since I have yet to use it in a battle, but I’m considering changing it to Dazzling Gleam, because it also provides a way to deal with Dragons. Focus Blast is there for Ttar, which would wall it otherwise, but it seems a little repetitive since Dazzling Gleam is also super effective.


Gengar @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

  • Shadow Ball
  • Energy Ball
  • Dark Pulse
  • Dazzling Gleam

I don’t know about Gengar either. This set is completely attacking, but to be honest, I haven’t used Energy Ball and Dark Pulse at all, so I’m considering a SubSplit set with Focus Blast. This would be incredibly useful for Chansey or Blissey, since they completely wall my team. It would also provide some form of recovery for Gengar, because it doesn’t have any options otherwise. However, it is quite unreliable as in order to make it useful, Gengar has to be at low HP.


Noivern @ Choice Specs

Ability: Frisk

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

  • Draco Meteor
  • Hurricane
  • Flamethrower
  • U-Turn

I’m trying out Noivern mainly because of its speed. Slap a Choice Specs on it and it turns into a fast, decently hard-hitting revenge killer. The set is quite standard; Draco Meteor hits substantially harder than DPulse, and since I’m choiced, Noivern is probably going to be switching out anyways. Hurricane is its strongest Flying-type STAB move, but I’m considering Air Slash because of its reliability. Flamethrower hits Pokemon like Scizor and Genesect hard, but since Genesect is often Scarfed, it doesn’t really see too much use against it, since an Ice Beam is definitely going to OHKO. Finally, U-Turn is there to retain momentum, and also deal some damage (though most likely not very much) to a Pokemon it can definitely outspeed before it switches out.


Lucario @ Lucarionite

Ability: Steadfast / Adaptability

Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

  • Aura Sphere
  • Dragon Pulse
  • Flash Cannon
  • Nasty Plot

Last but not least, we have Mega-Lucario. I personally think that Mega-Lucario has much better coverage on the special side of the spectrum, and it also gets Nasty Plot. Combine that with Adaptability boosting stab moves by 2x instead of 1.5x, and not many Pokemon are going to want to mess with it. Lucario also really appreciates the speed boost from base 90 to base 112, and this set fully capitalizes on this, with a Timid nature. Aura Sphere is a staple on special-attacking Lucario – it’s much more reliable than Focus Blast, which is really the only other Fighting-type special move. DPulse is incredibly useful for Dragons, since with base 112 Speed, it hits threats such as Salamence, Garchomp and Dragonite first, which deals massive amounts of damage (but not enough to OHKO, which will be discussed later). Flash Cannon is for any Fairies running around, such as Sylveon and Togekiss. Lastly, Nasty Plot is special-attacking Lucario’s best boosting move – it is an instant +2 and makes Mega-Lucario even more powerful.


Checks:


Status is a huge problem on any fast and frail offensive team, especially paralysis. After any of my Pokemon bar Klefki are paralyzed, they are pretty much useless because their speed is 75% lower. Take for example, a battle I had a few days ago. My Volcarona was up against a Ferrothorn with TWave, but at the time, because I was and am a beginner, I didn’t realize that Ferrothorn could learn and carry TWave, because whenever I used him, I opted for Gyro Ball since Ferrothorn is so slow anyways. Not realizing my Volcarona was at risk of being severely crippled, I proceeded to Quiver Dance. And then the Ferrothorn used TWave. That ended my Volcarona, since the turn after, my opponent sent out a Gliscor to set up a Sub, I got parahax, and Gliscor EQd to finish me off. Because my Volcarona was the only counter to my opponent’s Scizor and Genesect (and perhaps this is the problem), they was free to completely destroy my team. And it happened. Just like that.


Another thing that can severely wound my team is anything that can outspeed it, such as Mega-Manectric, with its gargantuan base 135 Speed. The only thing that can beat it is Volcarona with Bug Buzz (around 50% chance to OHKO without boosts), and since Mega-Manectric can outspeed and hit with TBolt, it leaves my Volcarona with around half-health factoring in LO recoil (if it is at full HP). If Bug Buzz fails to OHKO, then it is dead, and Mega-Manectric can proceed to deal a substantial amount of damage to the next Pokemon I send out before it faints. But now that I think of it, a +1 LO Volcarona will outspeed and OHKO it, again leaving it at half-health, but getting rid of the risk that Volcarona will faint, and Volcarona can proceed to Roost off the damage or deal a lot to the next Pokemon my opponent sends out.


Next up is Chansey/Blissey. These two Pokemon completely, completely, completely wall my team, mainly due to the fact that it is a special-attacking HO team. I simply can’t seem to get around either of them. And because they wall my team, they are often times the status afflicters that are the bane of my team’s existence, with either TWave or Toxic. The only member of my team that can do decent damage without boosts is Alakazam, but even then, it’s a shaky check.


Here are some damage calcs:

252 SpA Alakazam Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 178-211 (25.2 - 29.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

252 SpA Alakazam Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 244-288 (34.1 - 40.3%) -- 42.4% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


Blissey is a bit easier to KO, but the both of them are still going to tank the hits. And what’s to say they won’t use Wish or Soft-Boiled? As mentioned earlier, a TWave to Alakazam or anything else would completely cripple it, and Chansey/Blissey definitely have time to afflict any one of my Pokemon with status.


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So, what do you think? How can I improve? What needs to be changed?


Personally, I really want to keep Volcarona on the team – it is my favorite Pokemon. Noivern is also a Pokemon that I want to try out. I feel that a dual-screener is necessary for a HO team, but if something else works, it works. Also, I mentioned that I would discuss that Mega-Lucario cannot OHKO Salamence/Garchomp/any other Dragon-type sweeper with DPulse, unless of course, it has gotten a Nasty Plot up. And don’t even talk about Multiscale DNite. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when there’s a situation like this? Bingo, Stealth Rocks. Viable dual-screeners which learn both the dual-screens and SR are Mew, Bronzong and Azelf (I believe). Out of all three, Azelf is the most likely to get at least SR or a screen up, but is also the most frail. However, I’m unsure is there is even a need for SR, so suggestions are greatly appreciated, as is the same for the rest of the issues with my team.


That’s it for now! I hope to hear your comments and suggestions! Criticism is appreciated (though it may hurt).
 
Alright, since you're new, one thing to bring up is that you shouldn't run a team completely off of Special Attackers. It throws a team off the rail in my opinion as any good special walls will stop your team in the dust. Now, let's start off with what I think needs to be changed: some Pokemon.

You're team has no actual physical attacker. Whilst this can be good against certain teams, it just makes you unable to do much else to anybody else. So, from what I've seen, the Pokemon that helps you the least is Gengar. Even with the buff to their attacks along with the Dark Type, you already have good enough Pokemon that can take out anything Gengar can. Alakazam for example already does the job. Seeing as how your team has trouble with Chansey and other steel types, this is one of the suggestions that I can hand out, but I'll give you two possibilities with their sets:


Landorus-T @ Choice Scarf/Life Orb
Intimidate
Adamant/Jolly Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk./252 Spd.
Moves:
-Earthquake
-Knock Off
-U-Turn
-Superpower/Rock Slide

Alright, so this is the first set I'm going to go over. Let me just say this now, I love this guy for this generation. He's really useful for taking out annoying stallers with the improvement to Knock Off, he hits like a truck, and his moveset covers about mostly every type in the game with neutral/super-effective coverage. Another perk to it is that with Intimidate, it is able to force out any physical sweeper with sense, which allows this guy to be run with a bulky set too, but this is hyper-offensive. Since he outspeeds about every non-scarfer in the game, it makes him a valuable Pokemon to use in any opinion. Also, your team can already take every hit somebody would send at him for kills. Volcarona can take any ice move with ease because of resist, Water moves are like a drink of water to Noivern, and it takes neutral from Grass attacks due to it's nature, same with the case of Rock moves. Either way, I think he works great, especially since he can't be paralyzed, and then you can switch to take any status with your team now. But here's another option:


Excadrill @ Choice Scarf/Air Baloon
Mold Breaker
Jolly/Adamant Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk./252 Spd.
Moves:
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Iron Head
-Shadow Claw/Swords Dance/Rapid Spin

Another fine example of a Ground Sweeper who is back for action from Ubers. Now, Scarf on this Pokemon has become very popular due to it's sheer power and the ability to let it destroy any Rotom (scarring Rotom-Air) with one Earthquake. Besides this insane ability to it's advantage, it can crush any flying type not named Talonflame, crushes all Fairies and Rock Types with his Iron Head, but just has so much power to boot for a ground type it's crazy. Although not as fast Lando-T with a scarf, he still brings the work to town. Playing him can be a little more difficult, but it pays off in the long run.



Moving on from Pokemon suggestions, I believe you have some rearranging to do. I know you want this to be a special attacking team, but it won't work completely sorry to say. But for now, you have a really good and solid team, these are just what I think you should change:

Lucario should be a physical attacker. It's literally one of the best perks of it, the only time I believe you should run special attacker is in a steel mono. For now, we'll go with the best set I've seen with great success that about everybody could use, which I think you should to:

Change EVs to something similar to 252 Atk. and speed. Run a Jolly Nature, you'll need that speed to hurt what you want to.
Moveset:
-Earthquake
-Extremespeed
-Close Combat
-Swords Dance.

It has the power to boot, uses it's ability correctly, and we all know how much Espeed can hurt to anybody that isn't prepared for it. Earthquake is to cover Aegislash and other threats to him, but feel free to use Ice Punch instead of you are scared of Multiscale DNite and Gliscor.

On Alakazam, replace Signal Bug with Shadow Ball. It isn't needed for covering Dark Types with Focus Blast anyways :3

If you don't need to worry about Fighting Types, replace Hurricane with Boomburst, the damage from it is insane. Otherwise, run Air Slash instead.

On Volcarona, I'd suggest using Leftovers instead. It already hits like a truck, no need for it to anymore. If you don't want to worry about statuses, run a nice Lum Berry.

Personal Opinion, use Swagger on Klefki. It's very haxorish, but it's just so fun to screw around with people on. Plus, it throws off other special attackers.



Well, that's all I really have to say for now, good luck with your team. If you need any more reasons for these changes to be backed up, I will do so. Good luck in competitive battling :D
 

Ignus

Copying deli meat to hard drive
Hey! Welcome to Smogon. I'm going to try to help you the best I can, and maybe make a few suggestions.

Let's first talk about the concept of hyper offense. The entire strategy is defined by a age-old phrase: the best defense is a good offense. The idea is that no matter what the opponent does, you are one switch, one prediction ahead. Mainly, through offensive pressure you stop them from setting up, whether it be boosting moves, entry hazards, or status. HO's prediction heavy style makes it extremely important to understand two different things. The first is the vast array of useful sets a Pokemon can use. A large knowledge base of what's commonly used helps prediction an enormous amount. The second is a grasp of speed tiers. Knowing how fast your opponent is will help you make the correct decisions. If you really want to improve your battling ability even without improving your team composition, look to those things first. Read lots. It may help you more than anything anyone will tell you in the RMT forums.

Of course, having a strong team helps too ;)


First of all, you may want to look towards what will really hurt your team's ability to keep momentum. As you've already stated, is quite the smack to your team's overall composition. There are a couple ways to handle this, some of which you are already doing.
The first is magic guard, which you already have. This can easily render burn and poison useless, but alone that still leaves another two to three (depending on if you count freeze, Which is stupid and OP) types of status that can severely cripple your team. There are a couple ways to handle this, the most turn efficient being Magic Bounce. Magic bounce not only reflects all status moves, but it also deals with entry hazards, roar and whirlwind, and anything from taunt to leech seed. This is usually required for most HO teams, as they usually lack any reliable form of status absorption, and rapid spin (for entry hazards) usually makes you waste a valuable turn that could be used for boosting or killing your opponent.

As of now, there are two pokemon with magic bounce that play well on hyper offensive teams. The first is Espeon. The great thing about Espeon is that it can play a dual role, depending on what you choose for it to do. The first is just a boosting sweeper, running calm mind. The second, and maybe the best for your team, is dual screens. As you said earlier, a dual screener is extremely valuable to a HO team, if only for the fact that it allows more team versatility (more switch ins, more scary things killing things!) This is my first suggestion to you, but, like many other things, it's not perfect. Espeon is still extremely frail. It doesn't have the glorious defensive typing of Klefki, nor does it have the offensive pressure of Alakazam. But it does handle status better the Alakazam, and it does posses enough pressure to outshine Klefki.
If you ain't feeling the Espeon, take a look at mega Absol. It also has magic bounce, but is able to more reliably sweep and has better coverage than Espeon, at the cost of dual screens. The immunity to psychic gives it even more switch in opportunities, something that can be extremely useful.


So think about changing that around. It's worth a look, at the very least.

You also mentioned revising your Gengar set. Personally, I'm of the opinion that no set (mega Gengar excluded, but he's banned) on Gengar should ever be without substitute and leftovers/black sludge. Gengar's damage comes from his unique coverage options, and substitute allows him to abuse his plethora of immunities. Here's a tried and true Gengar set; one that will always be useful.

Gengar @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
  • Shadow Ball
  • Focus Blast
  • Substitute
  • Disable
This set handles 99% of Blissey and Chansey sets. And Ferrothorn sets. And Skarmory sets. And... Everything that has utility. It's stupid. And an extremely good wall breaker.

Last suggestion will just sound like repetition from previous people. You need physical attackers. Without them, you'll die to every pink blob(blisschansey), every calm mind user will tear you a new one. Lucario is the most obvious choice. He's already on your team! And you're right. Special Lucario is better. But not on your team. You need that duality so you can handle any defensive threat that comes your way. The strength of offense is that it forces the opponent to respond, rather than initiate, and throwing all of your eggs in the same basket tends to make them crack.

So give this a thought. Good luck!
 
Alright, since you're new, one thing to bring up is that you shouldn't run a team completely off of Special Attackers. It throws a team off the rail in my opinion as any good special walls will stop your team in the dust. Now, let's start off with what I think needs to be changed: some Pokemon.

You're team has no actual physical attacker. Whilst this can be good against certain teams, it just makes you unable to do much else to anybody else. So, from what I've seen, the Pokemon that helps you the least is Gengar. Even with the buff to their attacks along with the Dark Type, you already have good enough Pokemon that can take out anything Gengar can. Alakazam for example already does the job. Seeing as how your team has trouble with Chansey and other steel types, this is one of the suggestions that I can hand out, but I'll give you two possibilities with their sets:

Landorus-T @ Choice Scarf/Life Orb
Intimidate
Adamant/Jolly Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk./252 Spd.
Moves:
-Earthquake
-Knock Off
-U-Turn
-Superpower/Rock Slide

Alright, so this is the first set I'm going to go over. Let me just say this now, I love this guy for this generation. He's really useful for taking out annoying stallers with the improvement to Knock Off, he hits like a truck, and his moveset covers about mostly every type in the game with neutral/super-effective coverage. Another perk to it is that with Intimidate, it is able to force out any physical sweeper with sense, which allows this guy to be run with a bulky set too, but this is hyper-offensive. Since he outspeeds about every non-scarfer in the game, it makes him a valuable Pokemon to use in any opinion. Also, your team can already take every hit somebody would send at him for kills. Volcarona can take any ice move with ease because of resist, Water moves are like a drink of water to Noivern, and it takes neutral from Grass attacks due to it's nature, same with the case of Rock moves. Either way, I think he works great, especially since he can't be paralyzed, and then you can switch to take any status with your team now. But here's another option:

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf/Air Baloon
Mold Breaker
Jolly/Adamant Nature
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk./252 Spd.
Moves:
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Iron Head
-Shadow Claw/Swords Dance/Rapid Spin

Another fine example of a Ground Sweeper who is back for action from Ubers. Now, Scarf on this Pokemon has become very popular due to it's sheer power and the ability to let it destroy any Rotom (scarring Rotom-Air) with one Earthquake. Besides this insane ability to it's advantage, it can crush any flying type not named Talonflame, crushes all Fairies and Rock Types with his Iron Head, but just has so much power to boot for a ground type it's crazy. Although not as fast Lando-T with a scarf, he still brings the work to town. Playing him can be a little more difficult, but it pays off in the long run.
Thank you so much for the suggestions! Yes I was considering adding physical attackers, but I read on some site that "most HO teams attack from only one side of the attacking spectrum (physical or special)", so I was a bit unsure, but with this confirmation I'm definitely going to add one to deal with those annoying pink blobs. I really like the look of both your suggested Pokemon; Landorus-T has very good synergy with the rest of my team, like as you said, its weaknesses are covered by other members of my team, whist a Volcarona/Excadrill core is very very tempting, because of Excadrill's quad-resist to Rock and ability to wreck any Rock types – the bane of Volcarona's existence.

EDIT: As for Scarf vs LO on Landorus and Scarf vs Air Balloon on Excadrill, which ones would you suggest? Or should I just experiment with each of them and see which one works best?

Lucario should be a physical attacker. It's literally one of the best perks of it, the only time I believe you should run special attacker is in a steel mono. For now, we'll go with the best set I've seen with great success that about everybody could use, which I think you should to:

Change EVs to something similar to 252 Atk. and speed. Run a Jolly Nature, you'll need that speed to hurt what you want to.
Moveset:
-Earthquake
-Extremespeed
-Close Combat
-Swords Dance.

It has the power to boot, uses it's ability correctly, and we all know how much Espeed can hurt to anybody that isn't prepared for it. Earthquake is to cover Aegislash and other threats to him, but feel free to use Ice Punch instead of you are scared of Multiscale DNite and Gliscor.
You're right, I do need at least some priority and more physical power on my team, it can really help, especially since ESpeed is now priority +2, so it always goes first against any other forms of priority bar Sucker Punch. A Physical Lucario with an Adaptability-boosted Close Combat is going to handle those blobs really well, not to mention it kind of walls Toxic carrying variants. The set you listed seems really strong, I like the nice EQ coverage for Electric types, since yes, I have no Ground-type moves otherwise, and it also covers powerful and popular threats like Aegislash.

On Alakazam, replace Signal Bug with Shadow Ball. It isn't needed for covering Dark Types with Focus Blast anyways :3

If you don't need to worry about Fighting Types, replace Hurricane with Boomburst, the damage from it is insane. Otherwise, run Air Slash instead.

On Volcarona, I'd suggest using Leftovers instead. It already hits like a truck, no need for it to anymore. If you don't want to worry about statuses, run a nice Lum Berry.

Personal Opinion, use Swagger on Klefki. It's very haxorish, but it's just so fun to screw around with people on. Plus, it throws off other special attackers.
Yeah Signal Beam was kinda redundant, since I'm getting rid of Gengar, Shadow Ball will be appreciated for extra coverage. Also, do you think HP Rock is alright for Talonflame? He's really popular at the moment and otherwise he could wreck my team with +1 Priority Brave Bird, but Landorus might be able to handle it.

Boomburst is extremely powerful: a 140 BP move with no negative drawbacks whatsoever? Definitely going to consider it – it's more reliable than Hurricane.

I think I might run the Lum, because after I set up, I'll be free to completely destroy anything in my path, but Leftovers would be useful for recovery.

Perhaps, but +1 Priority TWave is nice, but Foul Play could be removed, but I could risk becoming Taunt bait.

Well, that's all I really have to say for now, good luck with your team. If you need any more reasons for these changes to be backed up, I will do so. Good luck in competitive battling :D
Thank you so much! You have really helped me with competitive battling, and made my first experience on Smogon really enjoyable!
 
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Let's first talk about the concept of hyper offense. The entire strategy is defined by a age-old phrase: the best defense is a good offense. The idea is that no matter what the opponent does, you are one switch, one prediction ahead. Mainly, through offensive pressure you stop them from setting up, whether it be boosting moves, entry hazards, or status. HO's prediction heavy style makes it extremely important to understand two different things. The first is the vast array of useful sets a Pokemon can use. A large knowledge base of what's commonly used helps prediction an enormous amount. The second is a grasp of speed tiers. Knowing how fast your opponent is will help you make the correct decisions. If you really want to improve your battling ability even without improving your team composition, look to those things first. Read lots. It may help you more than anything anyone will tell you in the RMT forums.
Thanks for the tips here, I'm definitely going to play around more and read more on popular and common sets to give me an edge over my opponent.

First of all, you may want to look towards what will really hurt your team's ability to keep momentum. As you've already stated, is quite the smack to your team's overall composition. There are a couple ways to handle this, some of which you are already doing.
The first is magic guard, which you already have. This can easily render burn and poison useless, but alone that still leaves another two to three (depending on if you count freeze, Which is stupid and OP) types of status that can severely cripple your team. There are a couple ways to handle this, the most turn efficient being Magic Bounce. Magic bounce not only reflects all status moves, but it also deals with entry hazards, roar and whirlwind, and anything from taunt to leech seed. This is usually required for most HO teams, as they usually lack any reliable form of status absorption, and rapid spin (for entry hazards) usually makes you waste a valuable turn that could be used for boosting or killing your opponent.

As of now, there are two pokemon with magic bounce that play well on hyper offensive teams. The first is Espeon. The great thing about Espeon is that it can play a dual role, depending on what you choose for it to do. The first is just a boosting sweeper, running calm mind. The second, and maybe the best for your team, is dual screens. As you said earlier, a dual screener is extremely valuable to a HO team, if only for the fact that it allows more team versatility (more switch ins, more scary things killing things!) This is my first suggestion to you, but, like many other things, it's not perfect. Espeon is still extremely frail. It doesn't have the glorious defensive typing of Klefki, nor does it have the offensive pressure of Alakazam. But it does handle status better the Alakazam, and it does posses enough pressure to outshine Klefki.
If you ain't feeling the Espeon, take a look at mega Absol. It also has magic bounce, but is able to more reliably sweep and has better coverage than Espeon, at the cost of dual screens. The immunity to psychic gives it even more switch in opportunities, something that can be extremely useful.
Yeah Magic Bounce would be really useful to counter status inducers, and give them a taste of their own medicine. Espeon does seem very tempting, but I'm worried about its ability to survive a hit because it is so frail. But indeed, Espeon would be a great lead since as you said, it reflects pretty much everything, such as Taunt, which can be a real pain because it prevents me from putting up my screens. So yeah, I'm definitely going to consider Espeon.

EDIT: But what do you think about Azelf and its ability to set up rocks, as well as things like Jirachi that are bulkier than Espeon.

You also mentioned revising your Gengar set. Personally, I'm of the opinion that no set (mega Gengar excluded, but he's banned) on Gengar should ever be without substitute and leftovers/black sludge. Gengar's damage comes from his unique coverage options, and substitute allows him to abuse his plethora of immunities. Here's a tried and true Gengar set; one that will always be useful.

Gengar @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
  • Shadow Ball
  • Focus Blast
  • Substitute
  • Disable
This set handles 99% of Blissey and Chansey sets. And Ferrothorn sets. And Skarmory sets. And... Everything that has utility. It's stupid. And an extremely good wall breaker.
Definitely going to consider this, but I really have no clue how to use this (I'm not dissing you), and this is partially the reason why I had such a weird Gengar set in the first place. Would I set up a Sub, and then proceed to disable their moves and hit them with Shadow Ball/Focus Blast? I really have no clue since I'm a beginner and I have never really played around with Gengar. But yes, I'm going to consider this.

Last suggestion will just sound like repetition from previous people. You need physical attackers. Without them, you'll die to every pink blob(blisschansey), every calm mind user will tear you a new one. Lucario is the most obvious choice. He's already on your team! And you're right. Special Lucario is better. But not on your team. You need that duality so you can handle any defensive threat that comes your way. The strength of offense is that it forces the opponent to respond, rather than initiate, and throwing all of your eggs in the same basket tends to make them crack.
Definitely, definitely, definitely going to change my team to have physical attackers, it is more reliable than Gengar's set and is a very useful way to break through. I couldn't have said it better myself.

So give this a thought. Good luck!
Yup! Thank you so much for your suggestions, they've really helped me with my team and can hopefully improve my battling skills as well! You two have really made my first experience on Smogon so enjoyable (just watch me get hit with a wave of sarcasm)!
 
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I actually think that running a team on one side of the spectrum is actually not a bad idea. It essentially means any physically defensive pokemon on the opposing team is dead weight, and it also means that the few specially defensive pokemon are put under severre pressure. There is one problem to targetting the special spectrum though : Assault Vest. I guess since GF felt bad about throwing around will-o-wisps (Especially priority ones), Intimidate, and scald, they decided this gen to nerf the special attacks. Still, you wont run into a full team of assault vests usually, which will pretty much limit your opponents switch ins to just AV users, Specially Defensive Pokemon, and Resistances.

To deal with the first two problems, I would suggest running Switcharoo on Noivern. A well timed Switcharoo can cripple Blissey and Chansey, and devestate your opponents team. The once great wall to your team has been turned into set up fodder. The same applies for Assault Vest users, as swapping a Choice Specs on a Conkeldurr is sure to cause some rage.

You could also run Taunt on Gengar. Gengar can lure in the predicted Chansey switch, and taunt, gengar may or may not learn trick, I do not recall. Taunt however, wont be as permanent as giving the Pink blobs a choice specs.

I see Talonflame giving your team problems, but thats why you have screens I suppose.
 
I actually think that running a team on one side of the spectrum is actually not a bad idea. It essentially means any physically defensive pokemon on the opposing team is dead weight, and it also means that the few specially defensive pokemon are put under severre pressure. There is one problem to targetting the special spectrum though : Assault Vest. I guess since GF felt bad about throwing around will-o-wisps (Especially priority ones), Intimidate, and scald, they decided this gen to nerf the special attacks. Still, you wont run into a full team of assault vests usually, which will pretty much limit your opponents switch ins to just AV users, Specially Defensive Pokemon, and Resistances.
To deal with the first two problems, I would suggest running Switcharoo on Noivern. A well timed Switcharoo can cripple Blissey and Chansey, and devestate your opponents team. The once great wall to your team has been turned into set up fodder. The same applies for Assault Vest users, as swapping a Choice Specs on a Conkeldurr is sure to cause some rage.

You could also run Taunt on Gengar. Gengar can lure in the predicted Chansey switch, and taunt, gengar may or may not learn trick, I do not recall. Taunt however, wont be as permanent as giving the Pink blobs a choice specs.

I see Talonflame giving your team problems, but thats why you have screens I suppose.
Thanks for replying! I'm definitely going to consider your suggestions. You're right, Assault Vest is a problem, especially on things like Goodra. Switcheroo on Noivern is very tempting, and I have tricked a Choice Specs on a Conkeldurr before using Rotom-W, making it pretty much useless. I didn't even know Gengar got Taunt, so that is really nice, since most of the blobs (unless CM) are 3 status moves and one attack, and if they have Seismic Toss, than Gengar completely walls them. Talonflame would be a problem, but that is why I have HP Rock on Alakazam – it ensures an OHKO on non-bulk invested and 216 HP invested Talonflames.
 

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Ah, I guess you're right. Gengar is kind of a pain to use. Let me give you some examples to help you understand how it works. Let's use Genesect as an example opponent. As a reminder, this doesn't work in every situation but it's a great example due to how common the scenario is.

You have just killed an opponents pokemon with Alakazam. Your opponent, knowing that the scarfed Genesect is faster than Alakazam, sends it out.

You' now in a tough situation. If you stay in, your Alakazam will have to tank a +1 u-turn, which will certainly break your focus sash. This isn't terrible, but you have a better option. Instead, you switch to Gengar.

Looking at the calcs, +1 attack boost U-turn does between 25-29% of your health. A scratch compared to the hit Alakazam would take.
But the best part is that this set eases prediction. You know Genesect has a choice scarf, and therefore can't switch moves. So even if your opponent predicts a switch and uses a different move, such as ice beam, thunderbolt, or flamethrower (they all have the same base power), you only take 45%-53% of your health, which, with leftovers recovery, is not enough to 2hko you. If they keep attacking, you can disable their only move and force them to struggle or switch out. If they u-turn, often times you can substitute freely and preform many of the same antics.

This is the first use of disable. It creams choice users.

The second use goes towards utility pokemon.
First of all, it should be mentioned that almost every single utility pokemon or defensive pivot (think Rotom-w) has trouble with Gengar. Blissey is the best example of this.

Blissey almost never carries more than one attacking move, and, often times, that one move is seismic toss. In this case, you literally cannot take damage from Blissey's attacking moves, leaving only status to cripple you. Substitute fixes this problem.

However, not being able to take damage is not enough. You must be able to kill the opponent. This is where disable comes in. Being able to disable Blissey's recovery allows you to 4hko her. So, yeah. You win man.

The same applies to other walls, but in many situations, such as Jellicent and Ferrothorn, you can just substitute and kill them. Pretty simple.

So there you have it. Two contrasting examples on how to use super cool disable Gengar. Let me know if you have any more questions/concerns.
 
Ah, I guess you're right. Gengar is kind of a pain to use. Let me give you some examples to help you understand how it works. Let's use Genesect as an example opponent. As a reminder, this doesn't work in every situation but it's a great example due to how common the scenario is.

You have just killed an opponents pokemon with Alakazam. Your opponent, knowing that the scarfed Genesect is faster than Alakazam, sends it out.

You' now in a tough situation. If you stay in, your Alakazam will have to tank a +1 u-turn, which will certainly break your focus sash. This isn't terrible, but you have a better option. Instead, you switch to Gengar.

Looking at the calcs, +1 attack boost U-turn does between 25-29% of your health. A scratch compared to the hit Alakazam would take.
But the best part is that this set eases prediction. You know Genesect has a choice scarf, and therefore can't switch moves. So even if your opponent predicts a switch and uses a different move, such as ice beam, thunderbolt, or flamethrower (they all have the same base power), you only take 45%-53% of your health, which, with leftovers recovery, is not enough to 2hko you. If they keep attacking, you can disable their only move and force them to struggle or switch out. If they u-turn, often times you can substitute freely and preform many of the same antics.

This is the first use of disable. It creams choice users.

The second use goes towards utility pokemon.
First of all, it should be mentioned that almost every single utility pokemon or defensive pivot (think Rotom-w) has trouble with Gengar. Blissey is the best example of this.

Blissey almost never carries more than one attacking move, and, often times, that one move is seismic toss. In this case, you literally cannot take damage from Blissey's attacking moves, leaving only status to cripple you. Substitute fixes this problem.

However, not being able to take damage is not enough. You must be able to kill the opponent. This is where disable comes in. Being able to disable Blissey's recovery allows you to 4hko her. So, yeah. You win man.

The same applies to other walls, but in many situations, such as Jellicent and Ferrothorn, you can just substitute and kill them. Pretty simple.

So there you have it. Two contrasting examples on how to use super cool disable Gengar. Let me know if you have any more questions/concerns.
Okay, I think I get it now. Thanks for the explanation! However, I don't know where I should put it on the team, because I think I need at least two physical attackers. As I said before, I really want to keep Volcarona, and surprisingly, Noivern seems to be pulling its weight as well, scoring some crucial KOs though it may not get more than one in a match. Alakazam is doing alright I guess, but Shadow Ball definitely helps.

Another thing I wanted to ask you is how Azelf performs, since it can learn dual screens, SR and Taunt, but to be honest I haven't tried Espeon yet, since I haven't had time. Also, with regards to Veteran Faith's post, do you think I should go with Landorus-T or Excadrill, and which set? I played some matches today and realised I had a gaping Fire and Water weakness, and I got destroyed by a Fire Fang Garchomp. For Volcarona, do you think I should go with a ChestoResto set? This would be to get as many boosts as possible and heal off the damage and status with a well-timed Rest.

Again, thanks for replying! Also, should I provide some replays (though I may play quite poorly)?

EDIT: I have tested the team with Scarfed Landorus-T a bit, and I must say, it seems to be a better option than Excadrill. It outsped and 2HKOed a Garchomp for me after my Noivern was down, and often finds time to switch into a CBd EQ. However, some advice would still be appreciated! Actually, now that I think of it, Alakazam isn't really doing much on the team. It's just...there, and I usually guard it in order to maintain its Sash, but this means sacking another Pokemon if I want a safe switch-in, and even then, it often doesn't kill anything at all. With this in mind, I'm thinking of replacing Alakazam. Should I put SubDisable Gengar in this spot or something else? What would you recommend?
 
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I don't know if I can double post (I didn't see anything regarding that), so sorry if I broke some rules, but I'm back from some testing and I realised my team has a pretty big weakness to Rotom-W. Excadrill may be a viable option, but it is slower than Landorus-T with a Scarf, which can be a problem for handling certain threats. Gengar completely walls my Lucario – it is immune to every move, and every time I switch it into Blissey, the opponent just switches to Gengar. This makes me think that if I utilised Crunch, I could predict a switch-in and destroy the Gengar, but I lose out on either some important priority or powerful coverage.

When testing, I also realised that my team has a huge weakness to Scarfed Genesect. It outspeeds pretty much every member of my team, and can hit half of my team for super effective damage, and the other half suffers from powerful neutral coverage. I know you said that Gengar can deal with this, but the problem is, it gets a 1.5 SpA boost from half my team as well, and is a common switch-in to Landorus-T. I haven't found Knock Off all too useful, but should I put HP Fire on something to act as a lure, predict the switch-in and hopefully OHKO the Genesect? Another thing to note is that a non-boosted Flamethrower from Genesect fails to OHKO 0 SpD Excadrill, since it doesn't get the 1.5 SpA boost that Landorus-T gives it, but an EQ from Excadrill is a 2HKO, so either I switch out to something that can resist Flamethrower since the Genesect is choice-locked, or I sack Excadrill. Volcarona would be the obvious check, but I'm running Modest, so I would need at least two Quiver Dances to outspeed and OHKO it, but I may need some kind of lure that would bring out potential counters such as Heatran and OHKO that. Do you have any suggestions?

Perhaps I should switch to a standard offence, because I'm really having trouble with this HO team.
 
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