Gen 3 Ninebreaker - OU team

Hi guys, i'm looking for a bit of advice on my current GoTo team. So far, it seems to hold up well enough if I don't get matched up with someone highly experienced or someone running rampant with a team full of legendaries, and it typically puts up a bit of fight if i'm lucky. but before anyone starts considering ideas to give to me, please keep in mind, i want to do this without any actual legendaries, so please refrain from suggesting them with this team. no sense in jumping on a motorcycle when you still fall off a bicycle, just saying. without further adieu, here is Ninebreaker!

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA
Relaxed Nature
- Toxic
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam

Aerodactyl @ Choice Band
Ability: Rock Head
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Double-Edge

Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 124 HP / 252 Atk / 96 Def / 36 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Sludge Bomb

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 16 HP / 200 Atk / 120 Def / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Hidden Power [Bug]
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Illuminate
EVs: 252 HP / 40 SpA / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Punch
- Ice Punch
- Hypnosis


so far, i've found it both best, and relatively risky to open with swampert, given the rest of the team's typing, and so on. it gets a bit of support for anti-spike with starmie being the group's spinner too, which helps swampert stick a round for a little longer. gengar has been the team's major troublemaker, due to his unpredictable movesets and variations, always leaves people guessing by one mean or another. tyranitar is there because...well, tyranitar! but in all seriousness, ttar has his place in the team too, he's been able to make running those powerful salac munching, end/revers using punks a major threat...to themselves. metagross is my goto guy for breaking out intense damage without mercy, and sports a fancy immunity to poison attacks as well as a heavy hitting "exit" move; explosion. last but certainly not least, is aerodactyl, my revenge killer and high speed sweeper, i went with the standard choice bander set with this one due to the limited movepool and high potential that aerodactyl actually carries.

while running the team, i've found that trying carefully to predict my opponent's moves to be an absolute necessity to achieve any success at all, due to my inexperience on a grand scale, this is something that i simply MUST learn to get better with, since any good team will not walk itself and will need a skilled trainer at the helm steering it. with that said, does anyone have any suggestions on how i can improve my team, or any tips and pointers on how i could use my team to its best potential?

thanks guys and girls for your time in reading this novice's thread and thanks for any feedback you can offer!

cheers!
 
I have a few minor nitpicks.
Ttar should carry Taunt over HP Bug, you could even use Fire Blast.
What's up w/ Starmie's IV's?

edit: lol, 2 of your 6 pokes have the same BST as most legendaries, if not more.
 

MoxieInfinite

Banned deucer.
use hp grass metagross over cb (and sludge bomb) to beat swampert more reliably. a switch to a rock/ghost/steel/something that can be sacked can easily be done on a predicted boom, and thus you cant really break swampert too easily.

hp bug is good on ttar. beats celebi/claydol etc. taunt>fire blast anyway on dd imo.
 
Oh, I just realized. You can't break any of the bulky waters very easily. Starmie can barely take out CroCune once it gets going, and as MoxieInfinite stated above, Swampert isn't really killed easily by your team.
 
what are you're guys collective thoughts about swapping fire punch for giga drain on gengar? as for the IV's on starmie, i have no idea what the hell that is about xD i just copy/pasted the info from showdown and those were there. it is possible that i was using HP something or other on starmie previously...wait i remember now, i was trying HP Fire originally just to see if that helped by using an element of surprise.
 

MoxieInfinite

Banned deucer.
fire punch lets you deal with hp ghost spdef forry (which is uncommon but exist) and resttalk mag (common gar answer on physical offense teams). gengar doesnt force swampert in though, so it isnt 100% reliable for getting rid of it, but if you hide it very well, it can probs work. then again, swampert is usually an issue early-mid game more than lategame, so idk if its too effective. but its definitely a legit option.
 

Jorgen

World's Strongest Fairy
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Don't use Sludge Bomb on Metagross. Almost anything else would be better. Sludge Bomb's only use is Ludicolo, which is really only relevant in ADV 200.

Starmie seems to belong the least. You could probably most afford to replace that with something else. Perhaps Magneton, perhaps Snorlax, idk, somebody else might have a better idea.
 
I think this team could use some spikes to help break down bulky water types better, you could put this over the metagross maybe, not sure. If you opt for spikes, i think making the gengar a lot bulkier would be better. This gives it better utility as a spin blocker, while allowing you to make better use of its support moves, and don't be mistaken, it is still quite offensively threatening, even more so with spikes down. If you do opt to keep the metagross, an hp grass set as moxieinfinite suggested would probably be best. I think a magneton could also be useful, probably over the starmie, as it sort of eliminates the need for a spinner. It also gives you a kinda sorta half answer to gengar, which currently you don't have anything for it seems. If you opt not to use spikes i would get rid of the gengar altogether honestly and replace it with like a celebi or something that can handle opposing gar.
 
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hmm, how does dropping gengar for magneton with hp fire/grass sound in the team as an adjustment, as well as maybe switching starmie out for forretress as spin/spiker? that could be a possibility right?
 
This compounds your problem with gengar even further though. Also if you do want spikes, the gengar would really help a lot, although keeping your own gar and adding spikes leaves you more vulnerable to opposing gar, with magneton as your only real answer (if you decide to add that). Dropping the gengar and the starmie for magneton and celebi might be the best answer. Celebi can also give you an intermediate answer to bulky water types until you can take them out with metagross. Although, as this leaves you more dugtrio weak, it might be possible to add a zapdos or even a curselax instead of celebi to perform a similar role as an answer to bulky waters and gengar.
 
eh, until i get more practice, i'm not touching legendaries. but curselax sounds like an interesting one to try and add in. i've played against them and they are an absolute nightmare
 
curselax is probably the worst option as it has a lot of difficulty with swampert, and zapdos isn't particularly over powered a number of the pokemon on your team currently are considerably stronger than zapdos is competitively, tyranitar being by far the strongest pokemon in the tier, and gengar being right up there, so i don't think that should really be an issue.
 

Jorgen

World's Strongest Fairy
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Why do you think that using legendaries is some sort of skill reserved only for elite players? You're really only handicapping yourself with this restriction.
 
it is an intentional handicap. if i cant learn to balance myself on a bicycle, i shouldnt try to balance on a motorcycle going even faster. for me, learning under a more strict and difficult structure will help soften the blow when i transition into playing with legendaries, or at least that is the theory. i hope that analogy made at least some sense regarding it.

Oh, I just realized. You can't break any of the bulky waters very easily. Starmie can barely take out CroCune once it gets going, and as MoxieInfinite stated above, Swampert isn't really killed easily by your team.
i just had to scroll back up and re-read everyone's messages and just realized that i saw something that i didnt quite understand and wanted to take a moment to ask for a quick elaboration on; can you explain what "CroCune" is for me please? i have no clue what you mean there.
 
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it is an intentional handicap. if i cant learn to balance myself on a bicycle, i shouldnt try to balance on a motorcycle going even faster. for me, learning under a more strict and difficult structure will help soften the blow when i transition into playing with legendaries, or at least that is the theory. i hope that analogy made at least some sense regarding it.
Zapdos has less Base Stat Total than Tyranitar and Metagross.

Your restriction only makes sense applying to Big Legends (the 670/680 BST ones, of Mewtwo's ilk). And everyone agrees with you on that one which is why they're all Uber.
 
try giga drain/will-o-wisp instead of fire punch for gengar, since will-o-wisp also gets rid of forretress and can weaken a restless swampert. as for metagross, hp grass and leftovers over cb sludge bomb wrecks swamperts even if they are resttalk, allowing for aero and ttar to sweep later. a bulkier gengar spread would also be helpful in surviving a hit from +1 mence/tar/gyara and allows u to counter w/ hypnosis/tbolt or will-o-wisp depending on the situation.
 
hmmm gengar with tbolt, ice punch, willowisp, and hypnosis.....that sounds deliciously evil!!! and very flexible for situational needs :D

as far as the EVs go, do you have a recommended split? i'm not very confident in setting that sort of thing up
 
here's a gengar spread I think cowboy dan made awhile back:

Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 32 SAtk / 60 SDef / 72 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

hp and def to survive +1 hp fly from mence if gengar's at full, 301 speed to beat neutral-natured base 100 mons. the SpDef evs are to take some special hits better, but if u find this gar to not hit as hard as u want, then feel free to move those SpDef evs to SpAtk.

also, if u get tired of hypnosis missing, u can replace it with any move of ur choice, like fire punch for resttalk magneton/steels, giga drain for even more swampert hate (careful of torrent-boosted hydro pumps tho), or destiny bond/taunt, which are surprisingly effective against unsuspecting players. will-o-wisp and taunt is often paried together tho, but still works against low-hp burnt zapdos trying to rest, or blisseys trying to softboil up, so play gengar carefully cuz u don't want it to take unnecessary damage, and predict accordingly.
 
thanks for the tip :)

i'm still getting used to the whole stat base thing and the like, so i'm not really sure of what i should run, etc. it might explain a bit as to why my pokemon hit hard, but have a really bad glassjaw. i'll give that EV spread a try and see how it pans out. wish me luck!
 
Don't neutral-natured base 100s max out at 299?

Or is 301 just speed-creep on things that aim to "just" beat 299s?
yeah, it's to speed creep slow gengars, as well as 200 speed ddtars at +1, etc., but tbh not many people run the bare minimum 300 speed so the speed stat can be adjusted to exactly 300, or up to 310 or higher to speed creep other bulky gengars (even those w/ few speed creep evs). speed creep is such a fickle thing xD
 
I think Cloyster over Metagross would work better, giving you a more reliable switch against Swamperts, an Explosion against Calmcune and Spikes that with the help of your pretty good offensive will help preventing a new setup from the calmbeast.

I find your Starmie (give it Natural Cure please) a bit useless, especially with that set. A Surf over something would be more helpful (over Ice Beam or Rapid Spin). But maybe Claydol would help more (?) for example against Raikou with Calm Mind + Dugtrio. You can give him cool moves like psychic, explosion, reflect/light screen (not all together probably)

Also Giga Drain on Gengar is a good idea. And Taunt on Tyranitar can be better against Curselax.
 
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