Other OU Teambuilding

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I definitely want to give this a shot. Not very experienced with this, but here I go!


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Leech Seed / Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball / Power Whip

Role: Mixed Wall / Lead / Hazard Setter

What It Does: Ferrothorn is one of the most common and effective defensive mons around, with a fantastic typing that grants him nine resistances, one immunity, and only two weaknesses. He also has access to two of the most common hazards, Stealth Rock being the most important as it can seriously harm any Fire-type switch-ins. Along with his sturdy defenses, it's not uncommon for him to be able to set up SR and a layer or two of Spikes. Leech Seed and Thunder Wave are both solid options, with Leech Seed giving him additional recovery if he holds Leftovers while stacking passive damage from Iron Barbs (and a Rocky Helmet, if he holds one). Thunder Wave, meanwhile, takes care of just about anything that cares about its Speed. Lastly, Gyro Ball and Power Whip are two hard-hitting moves, even without investment, and having one means that Ferrothorn doesn't necessarily need to switch out if Taunted. The EV's in this spread (which I graciously stole from Smogon's BW analysis) capitalize Ferrothorn's sturdy bulk and nearly even out his defenses; however, they can be easily adjusted if you want him to specialize in a certain defense, especially with powerful Physical sweepers running amok, including Talonflame, Azumarill, and Aegislash. Leftovers is arguably the best item for Ferrothorn, especially when paired with Leech Seed, since he has no other means of restoring his health. Rocky Helmet on the other hand is an interesting option that can subtract 25% of an enemy's health if they make contact with him, which is especially harmful to Rapid Spinners.

Good Teammates: Ferrothorn's supportive characteristics and unique typing make him a good teammate for just about anyone! Heatran is a clever ally, as it can switch into Fire-type attacks that threaten Ferrothorn for a boost from Flash Fire, and Heatran benefits greatly from Thunder Wave support due to its low speed. However, Politoed is a useful teammate, as Rain on the field means that Ferrothorn will only take 2x damage from Fire- attacks instead of 4x damage. Ferrothorn can also form a defensive core with bulky Ground-types like Hippowdown, as the two can easily cover their partner's weaknesses.

What Counters It: Quite literally any Fire-type, or anything with powerful Fire-type coverage. Even with defensive stats totaling above 300, Ferrothorn will quickly fall to the flames with a double weakness, and most Fire-types resist both of his STAB moves. Ferrothorn must also be aware of Trick users; a Scarfed Ferrothorn is practically useless. Magic Bouncers like Espeon can also reflect his hazards, though most don't have Fire- coverage and fall to Gyro Ball or Power Whip. Many more counters lie in the Steel-type, such as Excadrill (who can spin away hazards and Leech Seed, is immune to Thunder Wave, and can set up on Ferrothorn) and Magnezone (another that can set up with Charge Beam or KO with HP Fire, ignore Thunder Wave and even Leech Seed with Substitute, and trap with Magnet Pull). Fighting-types are also common counters, such as Lucario and Conkeldurr, but they should deal with Ferrothorn quickly or risk being paralyzed or seeded, as well as taking a few bruises from Iron Barbs.

Any Additional Info: Ferrothorn can run offensive sets with Curse, Swords Dance, or a Choice Band, though this is strictly for a defensive, more standard set. Other decent options are Toxic with Protect as well as Explosion. He also has Anticipation as a hidden ability, but I only listed this to say that you should never, ever use it.
 
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What to use:

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Chesnaught @ Leftovers
Trait: Bulletproof
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk -OR- 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spiky Shield
- Hammer Arm
- Spikes / Earthquake / Filler
- Leech Seed

Role: Physical Wall, Hazard Setter

What It Does: With its stellar base 122 Defense and solid 88 base HP, Chesnaught eats physical sweepers for breakfast, and due to its unique Grass/Fighting typing, it resists the famous EdgeQuake combo that a lot of those sweepers carry. This Pokemon basically comes in on physical sweepers and wears them down with the combination of Leech Seed + Spiky Shield. Because Chesnaught has a respectable 107 attack stat and high BP STAB moves, it can take out a number of said sweepers after a round or two of Leech Seed and Spiky Shield. Chesnaught is not limited to physical walling, for it can also support its team by setting up spikes. What makes Chesnaught stand out is its exclusive ability, Bulletproof, which protects it from ball and bomb moves, such as Shadow Ball and Focus Blast. In addition, it gets the exclusive move, Spiky Shield, which is basically a Protect that damages those who come in contact, enabling Chesnaught to scout for sets and wear down the opposition in conjunction with Leech Seed, as mentioned. Because of its typing, ability, and bulk, Chesnaught can effortlessly switch into things like Landorus-t, Tyranitar, Aegislash, Excadrill, Breloom, Ferrothorn, Breloom, Mega Gyarados, and Bisharp, beating them one-on-one the majority of the time.

Good Teammates: Chesnaught pairs up well with Heatran, which resists Fairy, Flying, Psychic, and Ice type moves, while being immune to Fire, all of which Chesnaught falls to. Pokemon that can eliminate Grass types, such as Mega-Pinsir and Staraptor, are Chesnaught's homies. Special sponges and clerics, such as Chansey, are also good teammates because they can Wish pass to Chesnaught, heal it from status, and tank powerful special blows that Chesnaught cannot possibly stomach. Pokemon that can scare defoggers out, such as Thundurus-t, as well as Ghost types, make nice teammates as they both ensure Chesnaught's spikes stay on the field. Although Chesnaught is a stellar physical wall, it doesn't have the best defensive typing, so Pokemon like Slowbro can compliment Chesnaught in walling the opposition's physical sweepers by tanking the powerful Fire, Flying, Ice, and Psychic type moves aimed at Chesnaught, while Chesnaught tanks the electric, dark, and grass moves aimed at Slowbro. In short, a complementary physical wall that resists Chesnaught's weaknesses, is a good teammate.

What Counters It: Flying types such as Mega Pinsir, Skarmory, and Talonflame, Fairy types such as Clefable and Sylveon, and powerful special attackers such as Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus, Latios, and Noivern, counter Chesnaught rather well. Mega Venusaur basically walls Chesnaught to hell and back, like it does with about 60% of OU, if not more. Gengar carrying Sludge Wave or Dazzling Gleam counters standard Chesnaught. Finally, the Grass/Ghost duo, Trevenant and Gourgeist, easily wall Chesnaught and use it as set up bait (Will-O-Wisp, Substitute, Curse, etc.).

Any Additional Info: The first EV spread, 252 HP / 252 Def, maximizes Chesnaught's physical bulk, allowing it to tank the mightiest of blows. The second spread, 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD, is a niche one I came up with in order to better take on Aegislash's that carry Flash Cannon, as well as to take un-stabbed special attacks better. If spikes are not needed, one can easily run a coverage move such as Earthquake or Shadow Claw (I run the latter for Aegislash and Gengar).

Chesnaught does get Synthesis which could replace Leech Seed, allowing it to gain a lot more health compared to what it gains from Leech Seed. Because it has a nice base 107 attack stat, Chesnaught can run an offensive lure set with max attack and Rock Slide to nail Flying type switch ins. Moreover, it can run a specially defensive set, making it a pretty sweet mixed wall, tanking un-stabbed special attacks quite well, which lets it deal with Thundurus, Gengar, and other OU threats, with the apporiate niche coverage move. It also makes for a great Aegislash check or counter, depending on Aegislash's set, and one can specialize their Chesnaught's EVs and moves to better deal with the Royal Sword.

In conclusion, setting up spikes, wearing down the opposition with Leech Seed, scouting with Spiky Shield, stopping a large number of OU threats with its incredible bulk, giving its team an immunity to Spore, Leech Seed, and powder moves, as well as ball and bomb moves, make Chesnaught a valuable and solid Pokemon that any team would appreciate having.
 
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Aragorn the King

Literally a duck
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
I definitely want to give this a shot. Not very experienced with this, but here I go!



What It Does: Ferrothorn is one of the most common and effective defensive mons around, with a fantastic typing that grants him seven resistances, one immunity, and only one weakness.

What Counters It: Quite literally any Fire-type, or anything with powerful Fire-type coverage. Even with defensive stats totaling above 300, Ferrothorn will quickly fall to the flames with a double weakness, and most Fire-types resist both of his STAB moves. Ferrothorn must also be aware of Trick users; a Scarfed Ferrothorn is practically useless. Magic Bouncers like Espeon can also reflect his hazards, though most don't have Fire- coverage and fall to Gyro Ball or Power Whip. Many more counters lie in the Steel-type, such as Excadrill (who can spin away hazards and Leech Seed, is immune to Thunder Wave, and can set up on Ferrothorn) and Magnezone (another that can set up with Charge Beam or KO with HP Fire, ignore Thunder Wave and even Leech Seed with Substitute, and trap with Magnet Pull), and many Fighting-types can handle Ferrothorn's attacks and hit back hard.

Any Additional Info: Ferrothorn can run offensive sets with Curse, Swords Dance, or a Choice Band, though this is strictly for a defensive, more standard set. Other decent options are Toxic with Protect as well as Explosion. He also has Anticipation as a hidden ability, but I only listed this to say that you should never, ever use it.
Ferrothorn is also weak to fighting. Be sure to add fighting types, especially specially based ones, to the counters list!
 

aVocado

@ Everstone
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Come on guys, seriously, stop posting terrible sets/pokemon. Regular Rotom and Raichu? Seriously? They should go under NOT to use, really. And even that I wouldn't really recommend because their viability in the OU metagame is zip.

Anyway, here's something to USE:


Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch / Poison Jab

Role: Pivot, support

What It Does: Assault Vest Conkeldurr is a pretty solid Pokemon that can really stop some Pokemon, including Kyurem-B, Gengar, Heatran and Rotom-W in their tracks, and it's an excellent switch-in to them, not only because it likes to get burned -in Heatran and Rotom-W's case-, but also because it can completely shut down Kyurem-B and is a very solid check to a lot of special attackers, such as Greninja (lacking Extransensory) and as mentioned before, Gengar. It can easily come in early- or mid-game and start punching things to oblivion, Knocking Off items and throwing Pokemon off-guard in the process.

Good Teammates: Since Conkeldurr struggles against Fairies and Talonflame, having something that can counter them is a good idea: Heatran comes to mind first. Being able to take on Fairies and easily set-up Stealth Rock and Toxic them, and it can somewhat manage Talonflame. Pokemon who would like special attackers' gone also like to be partners with Conkeldurr, Pokemon like mega Charizard X and Garchomp. Rotom-W can be relied on to take down Talonflame, but it can't really do much against fairies or Mega Venusaur. Which brings us to another good teammate, which is Talonflame, as it can seriously hurt Mega Venusaur with Brave Bird.

What Counters It: Sadly, Conkeldurr lacking Poison Jab is extremely countered by Fairies. Sylveon out-right counters it and does a lot of damage with Pixilated Hyper Voice. Clefable does the same thing except it can also set-up Cosmic Power or Calm Mind, and shrug off the damage. Physically defensive Mew can also counter it, not caring about Knock Off. Mega Venusaur shuts it down, resisting it's STAB and not caring about either Ice Punch or Knock Off thanks to the fact that it has Thick Fat and a mega stone. Talonflame can easily come in on any of Conkeldurr's attacks and kill it off with a Brave Bird, and it can also revenge-kill it if it's afraid to take a Drain Punch.

Any Additional Info:
 
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Not to nitpick but as a new-ish player myself, I'd really like to see sets which are actually used in OU. Suggesting something like regular Rotom and Raichu (of all things) as something to use is definitely not helping new players in making viable OU teams, which is what the whole thread was for. At least try and post something which people regularly see in OU.

Also for those suggesting pokemon not to use, shouldn't there be a dedicated section explaining why not to use them? It would be more helpful if they were done that way.
 
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What do you mean, while they might not be OU, they are definatly not something to just put off as weak. If you were to use Raichu (or Rotom) correctly, then they will help your team greatly. This goes for most nearly all pokemon. Look at slowbro, Keldeo, and Jolteon. All are still UU but they are still threats.
 
What do you mean, while they might not be OU, they are definatly not something to just put off as weak. If you were to use Raichu (or Rotom) correctly, then they will help your team greatly. This goes for most nearly all pokemon. Look at slowbro, Keldeo, and Jolteon. All are still UU but they are still threats.
You can't compare Keldeo to Rotom. Keldeo is UU because people are overestimating the effect that the weather nerf had on it. Rotom is UU because it literally does not break 100 in a single stat. Same goes for Raichu except that it has decent speed (still 100% outclassed by Jolteon, which is itself pretty bad).

The point of this thread is to find major OU threats. Rotom and Raichu are not major threats by any use of the word. Therefore they do not belong here.
 
You can't compare Keldeo to Rotom. Keldeo is UU because people are overestimating the effect that the weather nerf had on it. Rotom is UU because it literally does not break 100 in a single stat. Same goes for Raichu except that it has decent speed (still 100% outclassed by Jolteon, which is itself pretty bad).

The point of this thread is to find major OU threats. Rotom and Raichu are not major threats by any use of the word. Therefore they do not belong here.
Keldeo is UU because new top tier threats like Azumarill and Talonflame shit on it. It can still be effective but clearly its not as good as it was.
 

Aragorn the King

Literally a duck
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnus
You can't compare Keldeo to Rotom. Keldeo is UU because people are overestimating the effect that the weather nerf had on it. Rotom is UU because it literally does not break 100 in a single stat. Same goes for Raichu except that it has decent speed (still 100% outclassed by Jolteon, which is itself pretty bad).

The point of this thread is to find major OU threats. Rotom and Raichu are not major threats by any use of the word. Therefore they do not belong here.
Yeah, but why would I want to use Raichu when I could instead use Raikou? Raikou is faster, hits harder, has a better movepool, and is bulkier. There's also Thundurus who hits harder still, both psychically and specially. Jolteon and Mega Manectric are also way, way faster, and again, hit harder. Really, if I want an offensive electric type I'd go with any of those four without even thinking of Raichu.



Because they have the stats, moves, typing, and/or abilities to be threats. Raichu doesn't. UU absolutely has a number of things that are usable in OU, but Raichu is outclassed even in UU.

Just a nitpick - Raichu's Choice Band set is actually pretty threatening, and is not outclassed by Jolteon or Thundurus or Raikou at all. However, I agree that it obviously isn't a major OU threat and doesn't deserve to be here.
 
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If you were to use Raichu (or Rotom) correctly, then they will help your team greatly. This goes for most nearly all pokemon.
Yeah, but why would I want to use Raichu when I could instead use Raikou? Raikou is faster, hits harder, has a better movepool, and is bulkier. There's also Thundurus who hits harder still, both psychically and specially. Jolteon and Mega Manectric are also way, way faster, and again, hit harder. Really, if I want an offensive electric type I'd go with any of those four without even thinking of Raichu.

Look at slowbro, Keldeo, and Jolteon. All are still UU but they are still threats.
Because they have the stats, moves, typing, and/or abilities to be threats. Raichu doesn't. UU absolutely has a number of things that are usable in OU, but Raichu is outclassed even in UU.
 
252 SpA Choice Specs Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Rotom: 217-256 (71.3 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 261-307 (85.8 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 211-250 (69.4 - 82.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 SpA Rotom Volt Switch vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 292-348 (87.9 - 104.8%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

Rotom is not weak. Let me remind you that Choice Specs Rotom-W is a popular wall breaker in OU, Gyarados is at +1, and thats Mega Charizad X with Tough Claws, on no defense rotom.
 
Keldeo is UU because new top tier threats like Azumarill and Talonflame shit on it. It can still be effective but clearly its not as good as it was.
It's definitely not as good as it was - it's dropped from S rank all the way to A rank. Huge downfall there. Keldeo should still be solid OU, the usage of a lot of stuff is just kinda screwed up right now (see Deoxys-S, Kyurem-B, and Manaphy in UU).

Also Finncent, Thundurus can go physical as well, with Wild Charge and more speed and attack and better defenses and more coverage. Combined with Defiant it's pretty decent.

252 SpA Choice Specs Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Rotom: 217-256 (71.3 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 261-307 (85.8 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 211-250 (69.4 - 82.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 SpA Rotom Volt Switch vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 292-348 (87.9 - 104.8%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

Rotom is not weak.
If it has a chance not to OHKO full offensive Gyarados with a 4x effective STAB move, that's pretty weak. Also notice that it cannot switch into any of the other attacks you mentioned, that Gyarados has a chance to OHKO which is much higher after Stealth Rock, and that Mega Charizard will always OHKO it at +1. For a defensive (assumed from the EVs) pokemon, the amount of damage it is taking from these moves is completely unacceptable.

EDIT: also, Mega Charizard could just Flare Blitz it for a chance to OHKO without a boost.
 
Yea let me rephrase that, I know how I just posted stats from some of OU's wallbreakers, but Rotom will not really want to ever come in on these things. Wants its going to do is come in on Ground and Fighting types, Will O' Wisp then Volt Switch out. I posted those just to show that Rotom just doesn't die from anything like most people would expect.
 
Yea let me rephrase that, I know how I just posted stats from some of OU's wallbreakers, but Rotom will not really want to ever come in on these things. Wants its going to do is come in on Ground and Fighting types, Will O' Wisp then Volt Switch out. I posted those just to show that Rotom just doesn't die from anything like most people would expect.
So basically you're saying it's good because it has immunities and it has Will-o-Wisp. I'll give you that much - but then why not use, say Chandelure, who has better offensive and defensive stats and a more useful STAB? Or any of the other Rotom formes (probably W or H), which have more special attack and defenses in exchange for losing the fighting immunity? If I really desperately wanted a fighting immunity or a spinblocker, there are many more useful ghosts, practically all of which get Will-o-Wisp as well. Rotom is so heavily outclassed that there is really no reason to use it in OU.
 

aVocado

@ Everstone
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
The aim of this project is to help newer players know what is, and isn't, viable to use on their OU teams and finding niches for less than common Pokemon that you haven't thought of.
Except Raichu and regular Rotom have 0 niches in OU. Raichu is outclassed by every. single. electric. type. including but not limited to regular Manectric, Eelektross, Jolteon, and Raikou.

Rotom is just pathetically weak, frail, and it's only real "niche" is spinblocking which is done better by other spinblockers ala Trevenant, Gourgeist, Jellicent, Aegislash.

252 SpA Choice Specs Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Rotom: 217-256 (71.3 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 261-307 (85.8 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 211-250 (69.4 - 82.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 SpA Rotom Volt Switch vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 292-348 (87.9 - 104.8%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

Rotom is not weak. Let me remind you that Choice Specs Rotom-W is a popular wall breaker in OU, Gyarados is at +1, and thats Mega Charizad X with Tough Claws, on no defense rotom.
So, you're calcing a STAB, x4 super-effective move on a Pokemon that's not supposed to take electric moves like Gyarados, and it doesn't even guarantee an OHKO against it? I would actually call that PATHETICALLY weak rather than "not weak."

Also, Choice Specs Rotom-W is usually Modest. Charizard's calc should be done at +1 which will kill it, and should be using Outrage over Dragon Claw. You're manipulating calcs to your advantage and even then, it shows how pathetically useless regular Rotom is.

Let's stop spreading this thread with cancer and post OU Pokemon that are actually viable (or not).
 
How about we stop talking about electric types that are outclassed by powerhouses such as Jolteon.



Manectric @ Manectite
Ability: Lightningrod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Overheat / Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Role: Pivot

What It Does: Sporting ridiculous speed, great special attack, Volt Switch, Flamethrower and Intimidate, Mega Manectric is an excellent pivot. It can check many threats that depend on priority Flying/Steel moves, such as Mega Pinsir, Scizor and Talonflame. Thunderbolt and Overheat/Flamethrower gives it excellent coverage, and HP Ice allows it to defeat many ground Pokemon such as Garchomp, Landorus, and Gliscor.

Good Teammates: Mega Manectric is great on teams with many VoltTurn users, like Rotom-W, Landorus-T and Scizor. Landorus-T is an especially good partner, as their two Intimidates combined can effortlessly cripple a physical attacker. Furthermore, Manectric's sole weakness is to ground, which Lando-T is immune to.

Before Manectric mega evolves, it has the ability Lightning Rod, allowing it to get a boost to its special attack when hit by an electric attack. At +1, Mega Manectric, combined with its speed and coverage, can cause a lot of damage. Opponents should be wary of freely using electric attacks, lest they give Manectric a free boost to its power. As such, electric-weak Pokemon are good partners, as an unevolved Manectric's presence will deter the use of electric attacks. Gyarados is especially good, as it, too, has Intimidate.

What Counters It: Ground types are immune to Electric and can block Volt Switch, and unless they have a quad weakness to Ice or weakness to Fire, none of Manectric's attacks will hit them particularly hard, and any remotely powerful Earthquake is likely to OHKO Manectric. Special walls such as Blissey take pitiful damage from any of Manectric's attacks, but don't block Volt Switch as ground types can.

Any Additional Info: While Flamethrower doesn't have the nasty side effect of halving your special attack, Overheat guarantees a number of OHKOs that Flamethrower can't, such as vs. Excadrill. The special attack drop is not much of an issue anyway, since Manectric is very much a hit and run attacker.
 
And now, ladies and gents, I am proud to present one of the more underrated anti-metagame prodigies ever to set...metal plating in the OU environment.....

ROTOM-HEAT!!!

Rotom-H @ Leftovers / Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split / Rest

Role: Support, Pivot

What It Does: Rotom-H's unique typing gives it plenty of useful resistances, and along with it's good defensive stats, it is tailored to be able to check some of the metagame's most dangerous threats, such as Mega Charizard Y, Talonflame, Genesect, and Thundurus, while being able to provide your team with much appreciated support. The choice of status move falls down to preference: Will-O-Wisp cripples any physical attackers while slowly chipping away at their health, while Thunder Wave cuts the opposing Pokemon's Speed significantly. Despite it's inconsistency, Overheat is Rotom-H's only Fire-type STAB, and is still capable of threatening many threats that Rotom-H counters. Volt Switch lets Rotom-H maintain momentum and switch out to a more favorable matchup. Rotom-H is capable of switching in to an extensive amount of attacks courtesy of it's numerous resistances, so using Volt Switch on a timely switch from the opponent will do wonders. Lastly, Rotom-H has two options as means for recovery: Pain Split can be put to decent use with Rotom-H's low base HP. On the other hand, Rest heals Rotom-H's HP completely and ails possible Toxic status, albeit a one-time use only. If using Rest, have Rotom-H hold a Chesto Berry. Maximum investment in Special Defense lets Rotom-H comfortably stomach the assaults of special attackers such as Volcarona and Thundurus. If desired, however, a physically defensive spread with 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD and a Bold Nature allow it to take on physical attackers such as Talonflame and Mega Pinsir better.

Good Teammates: Rapid Spin or Defog support is vital, as Stealth Rock damage will be a great burden on Rotom-H's defensive properties. Starmie, Lati@s, Mega Blastoise, Scizor (Mega), Empoleon, and Tentacruel are all synergetic Rapid Spinners or Defoggers for Rotom-H. Particularly offensive teammates appreciate Rotom-H crippling dangerous threats with either of it's status moves and gaining momentum throughout the battle.

What Counters It: Specially defensive walls such as Goodra, Blissey, and Chansey all take a pittance from Rotom-H's attacks and all have means of wearing it down. Water/Ground-types, such as Gastrodon and Quagsire, shrug off Rotom-H's dual STABs and can hit it hard with Water-type attacks. Naturally faster or Choice Scarf-wielding foes carrying an attack that hits Rotom-H supereffectively can possibly bring it down to KO range, but they must be wary of switching into Rotom-H's status-inflicting moves. Setup sweepers also carrying Substitute can avoid being crippled by status and set up on Rotom-H.

Any Additional Info: Rotom-H faces competition from Rotom-W, whom has a Water STAB and lack of a Stealth Rock weakness. However, Rotom-H has more resistances, and handles specific or different threats better than Rotom-W. It is important to distinguish the two in order to best determine which may be more suitable for a team.
 
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Keldeo is UU because new top tier threats like Azumarill and Talonflame shit on it. It can still be effective but clearly its not as good as it was.
These mons shouldn't affect keldeo's usage that much at all, as its best set, specs keldeo, is meant to be a wall breaker first, and a late game sweeper under the right conditions. Anyways, Tyranitar was always one of specs keldeo's best partners and it continues to be so (it can OHKO talonflame with pursuit). The weather nerf actually helped it in this instance since it no longer takes passive sandstorm damage all match.
 
So I'm assuming since there will be a bunch of analyses in the future, the main post will become like a table of contents and there will be direct links to the post of the pokemon. For example

Keldeo: *insert URL*
Landorus-I: *insert URL*
 
As the one who posted the Raichu set, I can understand why people are disregarding it upon first inspection. I also neglected to read the part about only posting "common threats", and so I acknowledge that this is a post I should have made a much later point down the road. I'm even willing to leave this alone after this. However! The vast majority of people who have disregarded my set are not looking at this with impartiality, but clearly through previous bias. Things have changed for Raichu, and while I never claimed that he was a revolutionary in his roles, I will stand here and explain to you with facts why some of you need to change the way you're looking at things.

You can't compare Keldeo to Rotom. Keldeo is UU because people are overestimating the effect that the weather nerf had on it. Rotom is UU because it literally does not break 100 in a single stat. Same goes for Raichu except that it has decent speed (still 100% outclassed by Jolteon, which is itself pretty bad).

The point of this thread is to find major OU threats. Rotom and Raichu are not major threats by any use of the word. Therefore they do not belong here.
First, Jolteon does NOT outclass Raichu, because not only do they serve different purposes, but they also have entirely different sets of checks and counters because this Raichu set uses an entirely different attacking stat. Let's take Blissey, for example. Jolteon and any other Pokemon mentioned is outright walled by Blissey, but because this Raichu is physical, it can cleanly 2HKO what the opponent thinks is a counter.

252 Atk Life Orb Raichu Volt Tackle vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 360-425 (50.4 - 59.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

And that's both with full defensive investment on Blissey and with Raichu not even at full power. Because of this simple truth, you cannot possibly claim that Jolteon (or Raikou and Mega Manectric, for that matter) outclass Raichu.

Yeah, but why would I want to use Raichu when I could instead use Raikou? Raikou is faster, hits harder, has a better movepool, and is bulkier. There's also Thundurus who hits harder still, both psychically and specially. Jolteon and Mega Manectric are also way, way faster, and again, hit harder. Really, if I want an offensive electric type I'd go with any of those four without even thinking of Raichu.

Because they have the stats, moves, typing, and/or abilities to be threats. Raichu doesn't. UU absolutely has a number of things that are usable in OU, but Raichu is outclassed even in UU.

Again, this is not true, solely on the basis that Raichu serves a completely different purpose and uses an entirely different attacking stat. And in the case of Thundurus, when are you ever going to find Thundurus using Wild Charge instead of Thunderbolt? And even then, Thundurus using Wild Charge does not hit as hard as Raichu's Volt Tackle.

252+ Atk Thundurus Wild Charge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 268-316 (37.5 - 44.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Therefore, Raichu is not outclassed by Thundurus physically.

Also, by that logic, you are stating something like Tyrantrum is worthless in OU. Tyrantrum, despite being outclassed by M-Tyranitar in most roles, has an undeniable niche as an excellent user of STAB, recoil-free Head Smash. It does not matter that he is not in OU; something switching into that is getting hurt. While not the exact same situation, Raichu is similar in that just because he's "outclassed" (which we already established is not) does not mean that he is not a threat in OU. I'm not claiming he's a major threat, but only that he has a threatening niche that wins matches.

Also, let me remind you that Talonflame's Brave Bird is coming off a base 81 Attack stat, and it still hits like a truck on neutral hits. Raichu has base 90 attack and also using a STAB 120 base power move, and even less common OU Pokemon resist it. And, by the way, it can deal with Ground-types much better than Talonflame can deal with Rock types.

4 SpA Life Orb Raichu Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Hippowdon: 270-320 (64.2 - 76.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

And before you bring up Gale Wings, we aren't talking about speed or priority here, but how hard a move hits. Gale Wings and greater speed are irrelevant here, so don't bring it up unless you can back up your reasoning.

When I came to Smogon, I expected impartial judgments based on the facts presented, but it's abundantly clear through the facts that a good deal of you have not properly looking into this, and are basing your arguments on assumptions. I'd even argue that a couple of you didn't even look at the set when you made your posts. I'm willing to leave this alone from here on out, like I said earlier, but let this post be a reminder that you cannot write something off based on assumptions. Or have you guys forgotten about how we thought Talonflame and Mega-Pinsir were going to be worthless before we discovered everything there is to know about them?
 
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