Other OU Teambuilding V3

[Celticpride]

Enki , are sets already posted that are not in the OP still being considered, or do they need to be updated? Anyways:

What to use:

Scizor (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal -> Technician
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite/Knock Off
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Role: Physical Sweeper

What it does: Where to start. Mega Scizor is a monster with numerous positive traits, and very few drawbacks. Often understated and overlooked because its other sets don’t heavily invest in it, Mega Scizor sports a very high 150 base Attack. When fully invested, as it is in the above set, Mega Scizor reaches 438 Attack unboosted. After an SD, there are very few things that can stomach an attack and still be able to hit back. Scizor also gets has many set-up opportunities in the current meta. Gliscor, Sylveon, Mega Venusaur, Clefable, Mega Gardevoir and the Lati twins are just some of the things that Scizor can set-up on. Of course some of those things carry Fire-type coverage, but once you scout those things and figure out they aren’t carrying HP Fire/Fire Blast, go forth and set-up cleanly. Mega Scizor is also very bulky and can be hard for an unprepared team to break down. 70/140/100 with only one weakness gives it a ridiculous amount of natural bulk, even without investment. 75 base Speed is also more than enough to speed creep a lot of things (I’ll explain the speed creeping down below).

Down to the moveset and the choices within it. Bullet Punch is your attack of choice, a 40 BP priority move that, after STAB and Technician boosts, is essentially a 90 BP priority attack. Coming off of that 150 base attack, Bullet Punch is all you need to clean up against weakened teams. Bullet Punch at +2 cleanly 2HKOs even staple HO attackers that resist Steel. Bug Bite is a very strong and spammable STAB that Technician only makes stronger. Bug Bite wears down a lot of common threats on switch-ins to the point that Bullet Punch can pick them off in short order. Knock Off is slashed in that slot for a few reasons. One, it provides more utility in matches where you cannot find a chance to set-up. Two, it can punish Scarf Landorus-T for switching in on Mega Scizor. With prediction Knock Off can cripple Lando-T on the switch, often sidelining a very common Scarfer for the duration of the match. Third, it allows Scizor to Knock the Shed Shell off Skarmory, allowing Magnezone to trap Skarm. Skarmory, while not unbeatable for Scizor, often times requires guessing the set correctly and taking chip damage to come out on top. Using Mag is a much more efficient way of dealing with Skarm, and Knock Off allows Mag to hold the dang Metal Bird down. Finally, Knock Off hits Talon, Thundy-I, Gyarados, Zapdos and Doublade neutrally, all of Scizor’s other coverage moves are resisted by those threats. Knock Off vs Bug Bite mainly comes down to strong STAB vs utility. Superpower is essential for powering through Chansey, Tyranitar, Heatran, Ferrothorn and other bulky Steel types.

Overall, Scizor really doesn't fit one offensive category well. I would say it fits the role of a physical sweeper best, but it can be an efficient cleaner of weakened teams with STAB Bullet Punch. It can also break down some common defensive cores, allowing it to fit the role of a wallbreaker after an SD.

Good teammates: Sylveon and other cleric Fairies are great teammates, they can provide valuable Wish Pass and Heal Bell support, which is very important because this set does not use Roost. Scizor also helps Fairies because it can take virtually any Steel or Poison attack aimed at Fairies. While Scizor can handle slower Heatran easily, faster Heatran can force it out easily. Bulky Waters are also good teammates to take all the Fire attacks aimed at Scizor. AV Azumarill in particular absorbs every Fire Blast and Overheat aimed Scizor’s way. Dragon types are also good options, because they give teams using Scizor+Fairy a well-rounded Fairy-Steel-Dragon core.

What counters it: Most Fire types give Scizor a lot of trouble. Both Charizards, some Talonflame, Skarmory and faster Heatran are the biggest hard stops to Scizor. While not countering it, anything that carries Will-o-Wisp or can reliably burn it can often force Scizor out.

Additional information: 136 Speed EVs speed creeps Rotom-W, and also allows him to creep past SDef Heatran as well. After speed creeping and maxing out Attack, the leftover EVs are put into HP for maximum overall bulk. The extra EVs can also be put in either Def or SDef for taking on specific threats and maximizing physical or special bulk.

 

[Albacore]

What to use :

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Recover
- Reflect Type

Role: Hazard Remover

What It Does: Removes hazards very well indeed. Bulkie Starmie is arguably the best dedicated hazard remover in the tier. It can deal with defensive rock setters like Ferrothorn and Skarmory thanks to its decent bulk and access to reliable recovery, as well as beat offensive rock setters such as Terrakion or Mamoswine 1v1 thanks to its high speed. It's also a very good answer to both Heatran and Keldeo. Reflect Type is very important on this set since it lets it completely block Ferrothron, and stops it from being trapped by Bisharp and Tyraniter 'though Tyraniter can play around this. It also helps against the likes of Landorus-T and Rotom-W. Scald is a must to beat most Rock setters (Heatran, Landorus-T, etc...) and stall out Ferrothorn. Starmie's great speed is one of its best selling points, and greatly aids it to spin in a pinch. Natural Cure is also a very good ability, letting Starmie be pretty much indifferent to Toxic and Thunder Wave.

Good Teammates: SR weak Pokemon such as Talonflame fit very well alongside Starmie. Ferrothron provides great defensive synergy too, and also sets rocks of its own.

What Counters It: Fast Electric Types such as Thundurus, Raikou, and Mega-Manectric, Faster and Scarfed Pokemon in general (particularly those who carry super-effective moves) like Weavile and Talonflame, and Grass types like MVenusaur and Celebi can switch into it and force it out but they don't really stop it from doing its job of spinning. No, what really puts Starmie in a bad position are Ghost types such as Gengar, Doubalde, and Gourgeist, who spinblock it and can therefore keep Hazards up which can be devastating for the team Starie is one. Tyranitar can equally be very annoying, since if it's Scarfed you have to predict it coming in and Reflect Type, and if not it can just EQ or Superpower you as you Reflect Type. Clefable, Chansey and Mew get a special mention for being some of the only rock setters that can actually beat Starmie. Garchomp can also be a problem since Starie doesn't do quite enough damage to it and takes recoil from spinning on it.

Any Additional Info: Very good on stall and balanced team which need a reliable SR remover+counter to Keldeo and Heatran. Be very careful and conservative with it if the opponent's hazard setter, Heatran or Keldeo is still alive, however, don't be too afraid to play recklessly with it otherwise. Starmie's job is very well defined and specialized, and if you don't need it, you don't need it, so it might be in your best interests to simply sack it.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Hydro Pump
- ice Beam
- Dark Pulse / Grass Knot

Role: Hazard Setter/Special Sweeper

What It Does: Greninja might seem like a mediocre Spike stacker, what with its nonexistent bulk, but don't be fooled, since it's huge offensive presence makes it arguably the best Spiker in the tier. Most teams' way of dealing with Greninja is scouting its moveset via switching and Protect. It can easily abuse this by setting up Spikes on the free turns this gives it. Greninja is also excellent at keeping hazards up : after all, no Defogger in their right mind would attempt to remove hazards in front of it. More often than not, the spikes Greninja sets will stay for the remainder of the match. This set gives Greninja a lot of utility against balanced and stall teams it usually struggles against, and although it's less of a threat to offense, it's still quite tough to switch into. Spikes also gives Greninja a temporary Ground typing, which lets it dodge Volt Switches and Thunder Waves from the likes of Rotom-W, Raikou, and Chansey. Hydro Pump and Ice Beam are obvious givens, and while Dark Pulse may seem like an odd choice since it leaves Greninja walled by Keldeo and Azumarill, but it does enable it to hit Mew and Starmie who can otherwise defog/spin hazards away. Grass Knot is also an option to hit bulky waters, and it still hits Starmie.

Good Teammates: This set is best used on Hyper Offense teams which makes good use of entry hazards, particularly HO teams which use sash leads to set rocks, since as explained above Greninja is extremely good at making sure hazards do not go down. Magnezone is also a good partner, since it traps and removes Ferrothorn who walls this particular Greninja set. Also, a Keldeo+Azumarill counter, or at the very least a good check, is absolutely necessary if Dark Pulse is ran.

What Counters It: Since this set has to forfeit a coverage move, it has more counters than your average Greninja set. Obviously, Chansey, SpD Clefable and Sylveon all beat this set, as do bulky Grass types that don't particularly care for Ice Beam such as Ferrothorn or MVenu. Depending on the coverage move, Keldeo, Azumarill, MGyara, Suicune, Mew and Jirachi can all wall this set.

Any Additional Info: Play this set very agressively, sending Greninja on Pokemon it can OHKO, or even Pokemon it can't touch but can bluff a coverage move against such as Keldeo or Ferrothorn, and proceed to lay down Spikes. Once you have revealed said Spikes, it will be very difficult to set a second layer since the opponent will know what set you are running and will know for certain which one of his Pokemon walls Greninja. Therefore, you should heavily pressure the opposing hazard remover and stop it from Defogging at all costs.

What to not use:

Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch / Gyro Ball

Role: Hazard Setter/Hazard Remover

Why You Shouldn't Use It: On paper, Forretress doesn't seem too bad : it has access to SR, Spikes, Rapid Spin, and even has Volt Switch to gain momentum and get something in for free. However, it lacks all of the qualities you need in both a hazard setter and remover. As a hazard setter, it neither has any offensive presence to stop opposing Defoggers from doing whatever they want to it, not reliable recovery to set Rocks up repeatedly throughout the course of the match. It gets worn down extremely easily, and doesn't actually wall that many threats. As a hazard remover, it loses to basically all defensive rock setters. Even though it does beat a few offensive ones, said offensive setters can set rocks up, die to repeated Gyro Balls (if it carries it, otherwise it loses to all rock setters period), and be forced out to never come back in again to spin, because any good offensive team can easily maintain enough momentum to not let something as slow an passive as Forretress do anything whatsoever. That's another problem with Forretress : lack of speed. It can't find enough opportunities to spin against offense due to its terrible speed which translates itself into a complete lack of flexibility, and, unlike Starmie, is unable to remove hazards in a pinch. And it's very ineffctive against defensive teams too, since it cannot touch bulkier rock setters at all and just ends up dying. All in all, Forretress is both a poor hazard setter and a poor hazard remover.

What You Should Use Instead: A combination of Bulky Starmie and Ferrothorn does everything Foretress could possibly hope to do and much, much more. Alternatively, Skarmory has acess to Spikes, Stealth Rock, Defog, has the huge advantage of reliable recovery, and walls a much wider range of threats

 

[Fourth Inversion]

What to use:

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off / Superpower

Role: Revenge Killer/Pivot

What it does: Landorus-T is currently the most used pokemon on the upper OU ladder, and also sees very high usage in tournaments. Although the Choice Scarfed set was less common in early XY OU, in recent months, it has established itself as the most popular Landorus-T set. Landorus-T is an excellent Choice Scarf user; arguably the best in the current OU metagame, as its high base 145 attack, reasonable base 91 speed, access to U-Turn combined with a good physical movepool and the ability Intimidate allows it to outspeed the entire unboosted tier, and consequently check and revenge kill a large number of pokemon. Earthquake is mandatory as Landorus-T's best STAB, and in addition, it can allows Landorus-T to threaten to sweep if the opponents Flying/Levitate/Air Balloon pokemon are removed. U-Turn is the other crucial move on the set, as this is one of Landorus-T's major advantages over faster physical Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp, Terrakion and Excadrill. A Rock type move is used in the 3rd slot, as Landorus-T is an excellent check to Thundurus, and can also soft check other Rock weak pokemon, including non Swords Dance sets of Talonflame. Stone Edge is the more common choice for the added power, but Rock Slide is sometimes used for the additional accuracy, although both moves can still miss at crucial moments. The final slot is a choice between Knock Off and Superpower. Generally, Knock Off is preferred for the coverage, perfect accuracy and general utility of removing a pokemon's item, but Superpower allows Landorus-T to safely kill +1 Mega Tyranitar and +1 Mega Gyarados after Stealth Rocks. Landorus-T does have access to Aerial Ace, as a Flying type STAB, and it is a niche option if you really want to OHKO Mega Heracross and Breloom. Explosion could also be used, as it OHKOes frailer pokemon immune to Earthquake such as Latios, although it fails to achieve a guaranteed OHKO on Mega Heracross. Explosion is a risky move to use in general, as it requires prediction, and sacrifices Landorus-T in the process; as Landorus-T is difficult to revenge kill, in many cases, it may be better to U-Turn instead and allow a teammate to take on the threat. Landorus-T can also run some more obscure lures, such as Hidden Power Ice to reliably 2HKO opposing Landorus-T and Landorus, although this may be better covered by teammates.

Jolly is the preferred nature for Landorus-T, and with 232 Speed EVs, it allows it to revenge kill Adamant Mega Charizard-X after a Dragon Dance. This comes at the cost of a little bit of power - for example Adamant Scarfed Landorus-T can potentially OHKO Greninja and Mega Gardevoir, while Jolly Scarfed Landorus-T needs a little prior damage (generally from Stealth Rocks) to achieve the same result, but the ability to check Mega Charizard-X is usually considered to be more important. It's also possible to run 252 speed, which is currently more common than the 232 speed set on the OU ladder; the additional 20 EVs in defense are relatively inconsequential, so it's more a preference of if your team would benefit from outspeeding or at worst speedtieing with other Scarfed Landorus-T, while potentially risking losing the Choice Scarf to Knock Off, or if it would benefit more from having a slightly slower U-Turn, allowing for the switch initiative.

Good teammates: Choice Scarfed Landorus-T is an effective 'glue' of sorts for a lot of offensive and balanced teams. Many Stealth Rock setters often share some of Landorus-T's weaknesses, so Ferrothorn is a common partner, who also cover Landorus-T's lack of utility against Rain teams. Scarfed Landorus-T does not threaten stall directly, and is commonly being paired with at least one wallbreaker, which can include many Mega Pokemon, such as Heracross, Gardevoir or Medicham, as well as non-mega pokemon such as Keldeo, Staraptor, Crawdaunt, Kyurem-B or Victini. Landorus-T can be used as part of a volt-turn core, and can be combined with Mega Manectric, Rotom-W, Raikou and Mega or normal Scizor. A Defog or Rapid Spin user helps Landorus-T to avoid Stealth Rock damage, although the most common choices, Latios and Latias share an Ice weaknesses with Landorus-T; if this is a problem, then pokemon like Scizor, Starmie, Mega Blastoise or Empoleon could also be used. It should be noted that part of the opportunity cost of using Landorus-T is being unable to utilise Landorus, who is a less effective Choice Scarf user, but with Sheer Force and Life Orb, hits even harder then Landorus-T, and is much more unpredictable.

What counters it: Choice Scarfed Landorus-T is difficult to directly counter, as it can potentially U-Turn out of unfavourable matchups, and Intimidate allows it to potentially survive even Life Orb Ice Shards from Mamoswine and Weavile. Intimidate activates Bisharp's Defiant, and at +1 and with a Life Orb, Bisharp has a guaranteed OHKO with Sucker Punch after Stealth Rocks. Landorus-T is difficult to switch in to special attackers, as uninvested 89/90 bulk, and weaknesses to Ice and Water attacks, and although Landorus-T has a better time switching into physical attackers thanks to Intimidate and useful physical resistances and immunities, Knock Off is very common, and cripples Scarfed Landorus-T. Bulky walls such as Slowbro, Mew, Mega Venusaur and Mega Scizor with Roost can use their recovery to outlast Landorus-T. Stealth Rocks also help, as without Wish or Healing Wish support, Landorus-T will be quickly worn down. Most teams should pack at least one Flying-type or Levitate pokemon to counter general Earthquake and Earth Power spam, and this prevents Landorus-T from locking into Earthquake and threatening to sweep in the mid to late game. Landorus-T is outsped by faster Choice Scarf users, although only Keldeo is the only common scarfer with the ability to OHKO Landorus-T. Finally, Rain teams can effortlessly take out Landorus-T with a Swift Swim user.

Any additional info: Don't lock into a move other than U-Turn unnecessarily, especially if the opponent has a healthy setup sweeper; for example, Earthquake can be a free Swords Dance for Mega Pinsir or Talonflame or a free switchin for Thundurus and Charizard, Knock Off can be a free Calm Mind for Clefable and Stone Edge is a free switchin for Excadrill and Garchomp. While the threat of Choice Scarfed Landorus-T may deter an opponent from setting up too early, this can equally be used to bait in an attack from Landorus-T before switching out, potentially locking Landorus-T into an undesirable attack.

Enki, would it be possible to add more of the sets to the OP?

 

[Enki]

Added more stuff to the OP.

 

[Enki]

More stuff is now in the OP.

 

[MaRchZ]

Nice to see that this thread is moving along nicely.

 

[Exbo]

What to use:

Medicham (M) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Zen Headbutt
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
- Fake Out / Substitute / Bullet Punch / Thunder Punch

Role: Wallbreaker

What it does: Brings walls to the ground begging for mercy. Anything that doesn't like having an HJK in the face will be forever injured by his Pure Powered STAB's, and if still someone dares to claim fear nothing from it will be equally destroyed by his amazing coverage. After MegaEVO, Mega Medicham gains an new incredible dangerous 100 base stat on both his speed and attack, which is further boosted by his awesome ability, Pure Power, literally doubling the number to an unbelievable 200 BS.

After Aegislash ban, Mega Medicham certainly was one of the most benefited from the dramatic shift of the metagame, followed by Mega Gardevoir / Heracross... Since then, Medicham rise will probably continuing to grow, meaning that the more popular he gets, he also will get more dangerous.
Good teammates: After Mega EVO, Mega Medicham in most cases doesn't need any help to wallbreak a threat (hell, he even doesn't need setup!), however being extremely frail often cause it headaches to safely switch, even in a resisted move... To fix that, pair him with an effective VoltTurn core can help a lot when you need switch into, let's say, an Gliscor, but you would hate being Toxic'd; To do so, ChestoRest Rotom-W can be very helpful, taking status that would otherwise cripple Medicham, gaining an huge chunk of momentum with his slow Volt Switch and countering the ever present Talonflame, who further limits MCham sweeper actions. To finish the VoltTurn core, Greninja is also another great option, since he can easily pass through the Lati@s twins, threaten Landorus-T and put a lot of pressure into any Ghost Type like Gengar.

Pairing sweepers along MCham is something that you absolutely needs to do, with him softening or even killing Physical Walls can open a big hole to dangerous Revenge Killers / Late Game Cleaners like Terrakion or Choice Band Azumarill to pass through.

Having an middling 100 BS on speed isn't bad for an wallbreaker, but if you are considering using Mega Medicham as an sweeper, he will be constantly outspeed by many other Revenge Killers; A good way to remediate this is attach something like Sticky Web Shuckle or Prankster Thunder Wave Thundurus... In both cases, slowing key threats like Mega Gardevoir or Keldeo can be the difference between win or lost in some desperate situations at the late game.
What counters it: Thanks to your sheer force being so recognized, a lot of people actually put Mega Medicham as another "Threat without Counter", just like Terrakion or Mega Heracross. While this can appear believable, ironically it just made the life who put an end to him more easy, since because when this kind of people start to make a team arround MCham, they forgot to put checks to these mentioned counters. Knowing that, Slowbro is the best candidate to wall Mega Medicham, since Slowbro will easily eat all of your moves, taking laughable damange from HJK and 3HKOing with Scald, while having the chance of fishing a burn; And if you tell me Thunder Punch:

252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 184-218 (46.7 - 55.3%) -- 14.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

...In the meantime, Slowbro can easily switch back, restoring an good amount of HP with Regenerator and still give MM the middle finger. Thanks to its pure Psychic Type, Mew is another great shot at Cham, holding him relatively well to an stallbreaker, since he can either force Medicham out, or he can burn it with WoW, making Pure Power worthless... And since I speak about Psychic Types: Most of then can be considered an check / counter in potential, like Victini or Latias

Another possibility of quickly kill Mega Medicham are using very fast Revenge Killers, especially when they have powerfull priority into their movesets... In this category: CB BB Talonflame, Aqua Jet Azumarill are all dangerous, and if Medicham already has taken some damange, LO Sucker Punch Bisharp will also easily take it out

And finally, any Ghost Type that outspeeds Mega Medicham can limit their moveset into just 3 attacks since the risk of taking recoil from HJK into an predicted switch is gonna be so high that you will need to be 2x more careful as usual, making special mentions to Sableye. Equipped with Prankster WoW, Sableye can come anytime into both of MCham STABs, burn him and restore all the collateral damage with Recover, all at 0 cost.

Any Additional Info: If you are using Mega Medicham as an sweeper rather than an wallbreaker, Drain Punch can be used into the 1°st moveslot to minimize predictions and also being an passive way of restoring HP, however sacrifice Power by stability isn't recommended into an pure wallbreaker set, especially with MCham's strongest STAB. On the other hand, using Bullet Punch into an Physical Sweeper set is more recommended to use instead of Fake Out, since after used in the first turn, it becomes an dead slot... But again, into an WB set, the broken saches and cheap damande that FO provides can be pretty neat.

[EDIT] Changed some things thanks to users TerrorDave and The Bravest Bird suggestions

Sorry if I come off as rude, it's not my intention. This set is lacking and the post is inconsistent.

First, Jolly is never bad at base 100. (Btw BP is Base Power, BS is male cattle feces)
Second, Adamant is not bad either, but if you write an Adamant set, you make Adamant calcs (hint: you 2hko Slowbro now)

Third, you might want to mention that Fake out AND Bullet Punch KO mega Gardevoir, even with Jolly, by a large margin. Not that losing coverage to have double priority is a good option, just saying because you mentioned M-Garde.

 

[Puralux]

What to use:

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Outrage / Dragon Claw
- Earthquake

Role: Hazard Setter/Physical Sweeper

What it does: Garchomp is generally useful in a lot of situations thanks to its versatility , this set doesn't make exceptions , since it can instruct multiple roles in one battle. An example is as revenge killer , which finds his way to revenge kill thanks to Focus Sash. May also instruct the Physical Sweeper role due to Swords Dance in which , thanks to that move , can find a way to sweep entire teams or at least can knock out a couple of pokemon if there's no Sashed Revenge Killer opponent or a dangerous fast threat while Garchomp has its sash useless. Swords Dance can mainly provide wallbreaking , stallbreaking power and can help to knock out Ferrothorn while you don't have Fire Blast , on your Garchomp. Stealth rock gives a great support and is obviously the best support move that you can put on a Garchomp. As you probably know , they can change the fate of a battle thanks to their damage when your opponent's pokemons enters the field , that's why it is enormously important. Focus Sash will guarantee to set Stealth Rock if there's no faster pokemon that can taunt him , moreover as i said above , Focus Sash can give to Garchomp revenge killing power. Outrage and Earthquake provides Garchomp to do a high damage thanks to the STAB in both moves , and provides also a nice coverage. You can also use Dragon Claw to avoid the annoying lock and the confusion , but does a lower damage than Outrage and then , unfortunately , a lower STAB. With Jolly nature and max speed Evs Garchomp can outspeed all 100 base speed non-scarfed or boosted pokemons such as Mega Medicham , Charizard (Mostly the Y because the X has commonly Dragon Dance) , Staraptor ecc.. The rest of Evs are put on Attack to maximize the power of the two powerful STAB moves and to have a very high attack after you used Swords Dance. Rough skin can be useful in some situations to maximize the recoil on the opponent and to knock out easily the opponent's pokemon with your teammates , can be also useful to make useless focus sashes or sturdy from contact move users when your opponent was not damaged by rocks. However , Rough Skin is still a situational ability.

Good Teammates: A good teammate is someone that benefits by the stealth rocks and can create serious problems to weakened teams , such as Pinsir , which also draws benefict from Magnezone because can trap and counter Pinsir's steel type checks , especially Skarmory , which is also a check to this Garchomp set if you don't have Fire Blast. To benefict from the opponent's defogs which removes Garchomp's Stealth Rock you can also use Bisharp , which , thanks to Defiant , boosts its attack by 2 and can be a powerful threat to your opponent's team. Gengar can be an alternative to Bisharp , because blocks Rapid Spin. Another pokemon that likes Stealth rocks and can be a threat to weakened teams is banded Talonflame , because as banded has a high attack , a great speed and two powerful STAB moves (one with priority) , and is absolutely a perfect late-game sweeper.

What counters it: This Garchomp set has only two coverage moves: Outrage and Earthquake , both of these moves does not have effect to one type each . These respective types are Fairy for Outrage / Dragon Claw and Flying types for Earthquake , Levitate included. There's a pokemon with these both types , it's Togekiss , which counters this Garchomp set totally and forces him to switch . Another counter can be Support Physically Defensive Unaware Clefable , which has immunity to Outrage and resists to earthquake enough to recover and counterattack with moonblast. These two pokemons actually doesn't counter Garchomp in general , because in some sets you can also use Iron Head , which creates serious problems to these two pokemons. Physically Defensive Landorus-T can be another threat , as gains more physical bulkyness from Intimidate and is immune to Earthquake , making Garchomp obliged to use Outrage which moreover locks Garchomp and makes him an easy prey 'cause the decrease of the attack due to intimidate. If you use Dragon claw he is easily walled by Landorus-T and can counterattack with Earthquake.

Any additional info: Don't worry , use him as first everytime , or at least almost always. Put the rocks everytime , they can change the fate of a battle as i said above, and can weak teams seriously. Do not gamble with Swords Dance , try to find always the right time to use it or it will be useless.

 

[Fourth Inversion]

What to use:

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll -> Thick Fat
EVs: 192 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Synthesis
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Role: Bulky Attacker

What it does: Whilst Mega Venusaur's typing, ability and support movepool suggest that it is best suited for a supporting role, Mega Venusaur also has a decent 122 base special attack, reaching 377 with maximum investment and a Modest nature. Although other Mega pokemon reach much higher numbers while also having stronger STABs, Mega Venusaur is powerful enough to 2HKO most offensive pokemon in OU, with its 80/123/120 defenses making it very difficult to OHKO in return.

Synthesis is a key move for Mega Venusaur, giving it access to reliable recovery. The standard three attacks that Mega Venusaur runs are Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb and Hidden Power Fire. Giga Drain is the best Grass STAB, as it gives Mega Venusaur an additional source of recovery. Mega Venusaur is one of the best checks to Water types, and offensive Rain in general and a Grass STAB is essential for taking on Water type pokemon, as well as Rain teams. Grass attacks also help against Ground and Rock type pokemon that resist Poison. Sludge Bomb is Mega Venusaur's strongest move, and it helps to check Bold Clefable, as well as hitting pokemon resistant to Grass and Fire moves on the switch, such as most Dragon types, preventing pokemon like Latios and Dragonite from freely switching in. With maximum special attack investment, Sludge Bomb is able to do over 50% to setup sweepers such as Mega Charizard X and Dragonite, overcoming the damage recovered by Roost. Hidden Power Fire is far too common to surprise the opponent, but it is an essential move for offensive Mega Venusaur's coverage, otherwise it is unable to touch Steel-types, and the threat of Hidden Power Fire will make pokemon like Ferrothorn and Scizor reluctant to switch in. Other than Hidden Power Fire, the next most obvious coverage move is Earthquake, to lure Heatran, but even with a neutral nature, Venusaur fails to OHKO 0HP variants; additionally, Heatran can potentially scout for Earthquake with Protect.

0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe are the optimal IV choices to give Mega Venusaur Hidden Power Fire whilst reducing Foul Play and confusion damage. 252 SpA with a Modest Nature allows Venusaur to hit with maximum power. Although Mega Venusaur would like to have as much bulk as possible, it's useful to run some speed EVs to enable Mega Venusaur to better check a few threats. Suicune's CroCune set has a minimum speed of 206, and Adamant maximum speed Crawdaunt reaches 209 speed. 60 speed EVs (factoring in the 30 Speed IV necessary for Hidden Power Fire) reaches 210 speed, which also helps speed creep any Suicune sets with minimal investment. The remaining EVs are placed into HP, as Mega Venusaur's base HP stat is lower than either defensive stat, so this makes Mega Venusaur as bulky as possible on both sides of the spectrum.

Good teammates: Offensive Mega Venusaur fits very well on bulky offense, balanced and stall teams. Heatran is its most popular teammate, as they have perfect type synergy, with each covering the others weaknesses, forming the so called VenuTran core. Stall teams may prefer to use Specially Defensive Heatran as their Stealth Rock setter, while more offensive teams can used Choice Scarf Heatran as their check to Flying spam. A Water type is also often added, to complete the Fire/Water/Grass core, with Azumarill, Keldeo, Slowbro, Suicune or Quagsire all being options. Assault Vest Bisharp can Pursuit trap Latios and Latias, while also taking on other Psychic types. It's useful to run a non-grounded pokemon to help take on Sand Rush Excadrill, as Mega Venusaur is 2HKOed by Life Orb Earthquake, making physically defensive Gliscor and Landorus-T good partners.

While Mega Venusaur seems like it would fit well on Rain and Sand teams, it's risky to reduce the power of Synthesis by pairing Mega Venusaur with a weather starter on your team. Although Tyranitar seems like a good teammate, as it can Pursuit trap Psychic types while helping to cover for Mega Venusaur's Flying weakness, Mega Venusaur can only recover 25% of its HP with Synthesis under sand, and will also take residual damage in the process. If the two are used together, then it may be better to run a set like Choice Scarf Tyranitar, rather than a Smooth Rock variant. Mega Venusaur is a poor choice on Rain teams, as unlike Sand teams, Rain teams benefit from always having their preferred weather up, and despite the fantastic offensive and defensive synergy it provides, the reduced recovery of Synthesis makes Mega Venusaur too easy to wear down.

What counters it: As mentioned above, Heatran is a very hard counter to Mega Venusaur. Most Psychic and Flying type pokemon outspeed Mega Venusaur, but while Choice Banded Talonflame and Mega Pinsir can both comfortably OHKO this set, attacks as powerful as Mega Alakazam's Modest Psychic are not guaranteed OHKOes. Gothitelle can trap Mega Venusaur, and can potentially OHKO Mega Venusaur with Choice Specs Psychic (although Mega Venusaur can 2HKO Gothitelle with Sludge Bomb, making it difficult to directly switch in). Kyurem-B's Teravolt negates Mega Venusaur's Thick Fat, enabling it to be hit super effectively by Ice Beam. Although some powerful physical or special attackers can beat Mega Venusaur 1v1, by 2HKOing it, such as Landorus, Greninja, Mega Heracross and Choice Specs Raikou, they are unable to switch directly into Mega Venusaur, as it can 2HKO them in return.

Although offensive Mega Venusaur is bulky, it doesn't enjoy taking powerful neutral hits either, Mega Charizard Y can threaten to OHKO with Fire Blast if Stealth Rocks are up. Even if a team cannot take down Mega Venusaur in one hit, Synthesis only has 8 PP, making it vulnerable to PP stalling. Stealth Rocks and Will-O-Wisp or Scald burns pressure Mega Venusaur into using Synthesis more often, and if Mega Venusaur has been hit by Thunder Wave, then it can no longer switch out at a low amount of health, lest it be outsped and KOed when it switches in.

Any additional info: Offensive Mega Venusaur is very bulky, but should not be treated like a wall and freely switched in on wallbreakers or every setup sweeper; instead, its function is to reliably dispatch pokemon it checks and remain at a healthy amount of HP, whilst having enough offensive power to prevent its checks from safely switching in.

 

[robotic jo]

What to use:

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast

Role: Special Wall and Special Sweeper

What it does: So basically, this is a usual set. It is used to wall Pokemon and set up cosmic powers. When it goes to a point where you might be ohkoed in a few turns, just Soft-Boil and continue cosmic powering up. With its great special defense, it is a great special wall and could be at the same time a physical wall and a special sweeper. The magic guard ability helps it not take residual damage (etc. Stealth Rocks and Burn). It can stall Pokemon and get it to max defences and stored power away! It can also hit dark types that switch in with a nice moonblast. Most Pokemon can't get rid of this Pokemon. It can be a great when you send it out first like you sending out this Clefable and the opponent sending out a Garchomp. They will switch out allowing you to set up and eventually stored power the whole opponent's team.

Good teammates: Clefable has a variety of good teammates. Pokemon such as a scarfed Excadrill. If you send in this Clefable and you see a Toxicroak, chances are him using a poison jab or gunk shot(I doubt they would run that) and you switch into Excadrill it would be immune. They wouldn't outspeed because scarfed Excadrill with Earthquake should kill a Toxicroak with Excadrill's great attack because most Toxicroak are offensive. Another example is scarfed Cobalion. It is used like the Excadrill.

What counters it: Shedinja is one unusual counter. Its wonder guard prevents all this so the Clefable would be useless against this. Luckily, like 80% or something of OU teams don't bring Shedinjas. Another counter to this Pokemon are physical steel types with great attack that can outspeed or are scarfed like Cobalion and some others. Pokemon with prankster and taunt (like Sableye) can lead you into just moonblast or stored power. Luckily, if it was Sableye you are up against, chances are, they stay in and die to a moonblast. But most would just switch into special walls or Pokemon that resist it.

Any additional info: If you are versing your best friend, DON'T use this set. It is very troll and could make them angry them if they are short-tempered. Just saying for friendship issues >-> Also be prepared to get high ratings.

 

[boltsandbombers]

What to use:

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Stored Power
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast

Role: Special Wall and Special Sweeper

What it does: So basically, this is a usual set. It is used to wall Pokemon and set up cosmic powers. When it goes to a point where you might be ohkoed in a few turns, just Soft-Boil and continue cosmic powering up. With its great special defense, it is a great special wall and could be at the same time a physical wall and a special sweeper. The magic guard ability helps it not take residual damage (etc. Stealth Rocks and Burn). It can stall Pokemon and get it to max defences and stored power away! It can also hit dark types that switch in with a nice moonblast. Most Pokemon can't get rid of this Pokemon. It can be a great when you send it out first like you sending out this Clefable and the opponent sending out a Garchomp. They will switch out allowing you to set up and eventually stored power the whole opponent's team.

Good teammates: Clefable has a variety of good teammates. Pokemon such as a scarfed Excadrill. If you send in this Clefable and you see a Toxicroak, chances are him using a poison jab or gunk shot(I doubt they would run that) and you switch into Excadrill it would be immune. They wouldn't outspeed because scarfed Excadrill with Earthquake should kill a Toxicroak with Excadrill's great attack because most Toxicroak are offensive. Another example is scarfed Cobalion. It is used like the Excadrill.

What counters it: Shedinja is one unusual counter. Its wonder guard prevents all this so the Clefable would be useless against this. Luckily, like 80% or something of OU teams don't bring Shedinjas. Another counter to this Pokemon are physical steel types with great attack that can outspeed or are scarfed like Cobalion and some others. Pokemon with prankster and taunt (like Sableye) can lead you into just moonblast or stored power. Luckily, if it was Sableye you are up against, chances are, they stay in and die to a moonblast. But most would just switch into special walls or Pokemon that resist it.

Any additional info: If you are versing your best friend, DON'T use this set. It is very troll and could make them angry them if they are short-tempered. Just saying for friendship issues >-> Also be prepared to get high ratings.

*What not to use
Edit: In all seriousness, cosmic power Clefable is flat out bad. It is completely outclassed by the calm mind, unaware, and stealth rock sets. The abundance of steel types in this meta overwhelms any fairy type without a fire type coverage move, and it will have little opportunity to set up.

 

[Puralux]

Moreover , the cosmic power stored power clefable is walled easily by some dark type pokemons as they are immune to stored power. This Clefable can't boost its SpA to increase the power of moonblast , is also walled easily by steel type without flamethrower. I would add that Clefable set to "What not to use" instead of "What to use".

 

[robotic jo]

^^^ Thanks alot -_-

 

[Puralux]

^^^ Thanks alot -_-

Sorry bro , i'm sorry for all of users that contradicted you , included me , and i just feel you. Everyone makes mistakes , and there are lot of people that doesn't have much experience, but this just pushes us to get better and makes us learn.

 

[Puralux]

What to use:

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze -> Tough Claws
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake / Roost
- Flare Blitz

or

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze -> Tough Claws
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Roost / Earthquake
- Flare Blitz




Role: Physical Sweeper

What it does: Generally , Charizard Mega X is considered one of the best pokèmons in the XY Overused Metagame and , sometimes , an overpowered Pokèmon. He has some incredible characteristics and capacity of doing things that no other pokémon have or can do , this is one of the reasons of why he is S ranked. First of all , he is immune to burn , so its attack cannot be halved without a move or ability that decreases the attack. He takes 1x from Fairy Type moves , this makes Charizard-mega X more advantaged. He has balanced Attacks and Great Defenses ; Actually the perfect stats for his roles and for being ideal to be in Overused tier. He is the best Dragon Dance user in the OU metagame , a great move for him that increases its general versatility and makes him a really dangerous threat for most of the pokemons in the Overused Metagame , especially when you have the perfect time to setup with it like in switch predicts , in pokèmons walled easily by Charizard Mega X that are locked on a move due to Encore or Choice items, or when there's one setup fodder like Manectric , Magnezone , Jirachi or sometimes Mew , on your opponent's side; The fact that there are two Charizard mega evolutions makes him further unpredictable and can catch the moment of setupping a Dragon Dance , or sometimes a Roost. After two or three Dragon Dance uses in a row , Charizard mega X outspeeds all viable scarf pokemons in the OU metagame , and can be considered an extremely dangerous threat or impossible to counter or stop ; at least , stoppable only by a few pokemons like Stockpile Toxic Quagsire , which is not so common at the moment. Charizard Mega X can use two powerful STAB moves with pretty good base power , both powered by Tough Claws , an ability that makes 1.33x the power of contact moves and makes that moves extremely powerful after an attack boost by Dragon Dance , moreover provides to make more his move still powerful after a reduction of the attack by common Intimidate users. Dragon Claw is a pretty good Dragon type move that doesn't have the annoying lock and confusion of Outrage , and has a good STAB power gain. Flare Blitz is a fire type coverage and STAB move very useful and powerful on Charizard mega X ; is better than Fire Punch in almost every situations , because if you can't setup more than 2 times with Dragon Dance (it's really not easy) Fire Punch cannot give you the power to sweep entire teams due to a low base power and a poor STAB gain. Roost helps for the recoil of Flare Blitz , also this move can generally give to Charizard mega X more longevity and possibilities to boost with Dragon Dance further. Earthquake is an excellent move on him , that is used mainly for coverage against pokèmon that would stop him and without it , such as Heatran or Azumarill. With 160 Evs in Speed and two Speed boosts by Dragon Dance he can outspeed Sand Rush adamant excadrill in Sandstorm; Full Attack evs and favorable natures provides him to do the max possible damage with the the two Stab moves and Earthquake , making him more hard to stop. With the other set he gains more bulkyness and resistance against the common moves. The things that does not make him broken in the Overused tier is that if you want full coverage you have to renounce to Bulkyness and recovery , because you cannot put them both together; Moreover , if you renounce to one coverage move for a recovery move you will have more Threats. Another thing is the fact that is uncovered to Earthquakes and general hazards.

Good Teammates: Pokèmons that helps against Charizard's threats , obviously depending on the coverage that you have , but there are also threats for both three coverage move. Ferrothorn or Breloom can be really useful against them , especially Power Whip Ferrothorn , that helps against Quagsire , Slowbro and Rhyperior. These teammates must allow him to sweep in late-game when that threats are gone. Other useful teammates can be Defoggers like Mandibuzz , Latios , Latias , or Spinners like Excadrill , Starmie etc.. , because they can protect Charizard mega X from stealth rocks before and after he mega evolves , and for other hazards like Spikes or Toxic Spikes after he mega evolves , which may be really annoying for him as he no more levitates. Other good teammates can be Heal Bell / Aromatherapy users.

What counters it: His counters depends mostly on his coverage. His general counters are Quagsire and sometimes Slowbro , which resists to all three coverage moves and can put Charizard in serious difficulty due to Toxic or Thunder Wave plus recovery move. A counter of the Dragon Claw + Flare blitz can be Heatran , a pokèmon that can Toxic him and Stall him with Protect , or Belly Drum (Rare) / Choice Band Azumarill , which is immune to dragon claw and very resistant to Flare Blitz. Counters of Dragon Claw + Earthquake are Togekiss , which is immune to both moves and can counterattack heavily ; Skarmory , which is immune to Earthquake , very resistant to Dragon Claw and can safely setup hazards and spam whirlwind , making Charizard's user team weaker , as well as Charizard. General Scarfed Pokèmons with Earthquake can be also a problem for Charizard mega X

Any additional info: Find always the moment to setup dragon dance , never use it randomly or it will be catastrophic for Charizard mega X .

 

[robotic jo]

Charizard X is also has a huge weakness to ground so scarfed ground types with EQ or faster ground types than Charizard X could OHKO it. But it is still a great poke.

 

[Puralux]

Charizard X is also has a huge weakness to ground so scarfed ground types with EQ or faster ground types than Charizard X could OHKO it. But it is still a great poke.

Absolutely true , even if at 2x they cannot outspeed him , except Sand Rush Jolly Excadrill in sandstorm , which is rare.

 

[Lord Ninjax]

Put Scarf Landorus-T in the 'What counters Charizard' list, Lando-T outruns most Zard-X sets even at +1, can run bulk and Intimidate to tank Outrage, and its EQ, even uninvested, will wreck Zard.

 

[Puralux]

Put Scarf Landorus-T in the 'What counters Charizard' list, Lando-T outruns most Zard-X sets even at +1, can run bulk and Intimidate to tank Outrage, and its EQ, even uninvested, will wreck Zard.

Counter is one thing , Check is another.

 

[silver97]

What to use:

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze -> Tough Claws
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe or 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw / Roost
- Earthquake / Roost
- Flare Blitz / Roost

Role: Physical Sweeper

What it does: Generally , Charizard Mega X is considered one of the best pokèmons in the XY Overused Metagame and , sometimes , an overpowered Pokèmon. He has some incredible characteristics and capacity of doing things that no other pokémon have or can do , this is one of the reasons of why he is S ranked. First of all , he is immune to burn , so its attack cannot be halved without a move or ability that decreases the attack. He takes 1x from Fairy Type moves , this makes Charizard-mega X more advantaged. He has balanced Attacks and Great Defenses ; Actually the perfect stats for his roles and for being ideal to be in Overused tier. He is the best Dragon Dance user in the OU metagame , a great move for him that increases its general versatility and makes him a really dangerous threat for most of the pokemons in the Overused Metagame , especially when you have the perfect time to setup with it like in switch predicts , in pokèmons walled easily by Charizard Mega X that are locked on a move due to Encore or Choice items, or when there's one setup fodder like Manectric , Magnezone , Jirachi or sometimes Mew , on your opponent's side; The fact that there are two Charizard mega evolutions makes him further unpredictable and can catch the moment of setupping a Dragon Dance , or sometimes a Roost. After two or three Dragon Dance uses in a row , Charizard mega X outspeeds all viable scarf pokemons in the OU metagame , and can be considered an extremely dangerous threat or impossible to counter or stop ; at least , stoppable only by a few pokemons like Stockpile Toxic Quagsire , which is not so common at the moment. Charizard Mega X can use two powerful STAB moves with pretty good base power , both powered by Tough Claws , an ability that makes 1.33x the power of contact moves and makes that moves extremely powerful after an attack boost by Dragon Dance , moreover provides to make more his move still powerful after a reduction of the attack by common Intimidate users. Dragon Claw is a pretty good Dragon type move that doesn't have the annoying lock and confusion of Outrage , and has a good STAB power gain. Flare Blitz is a fire type coverage and STAB move very useful and powerful on Charizard mega X ; is better than Fire Punch in almost every situations , because if you can't setup more than 2 times with Dragon Dance (it's really not easy) Fire Punch cannot give you the power to sweep entire teams due to a low base power and a poor STAB gain. Roost helps for the recoil of Flare Blitz , also this move can generally give to Charizard mega X more longevity and possibilities to boost with Dragon Dance further. Earthquake is an excellent move on him , that is used mainly for coverage against pokèmon that would stop him and without it , such as Heatran or Azumarill. With 160 Evs in Speed and two Speed boosts by Dragon Dance he can outspeed Sand Rush adamant excadrill in Sandstorm; Full Attack evs and favorable natures provides him to do the max possible damage with the the two Stab moves and Earthquake , making him more hard to stop. With the other set he gains more bulkyness and resistance against the common moves. The things that does not make him broken in the Overused tier is that if you want full coverage you have to renounce to Bulkyness and recovery , because you cannot put them both together; Moreover , if you renounce to one coverage move for a recovery move you will have more Threats. Another thing is the fact that is uncovered to Earthquakes and general hazards.

Good Teammates: Pokèmons that helps against Charizard's threats , obviously depending on the coverage that you have , but there are also threats for both three coverage move. Ferrothorn or Breloom can be really useful against them , especially Power Whip Ferrothorn , that helps against Quagsire , Slowbro and Rhyperior. These teammates must allow him to sweep in late-game when that threats are gone. Other useful teammates can be Defoggers like Mandibuzz , Latios , Latias , or Spinners like Excadrill , Starmie etc.. , because they can protect Charizard mega X from stealth rocks before and after he mega evolves , and for other hazards like Spikes or Toxic Spikes after he mega evolves , which may be really annoying for him as he no more levitates. Other good teammates can be Heal Bell / Aromatherapy users.

What counters it: His counters depends mostly on his coverage. His general counters are Quagsire and sometimes Slowbro , which resists to all three coverage moves and can put Charizard in serious difficulty due to Toxic or Thunder Wave plus recovery move. A counter of the Dragon Claw + Flare blitz can be Heatran , a pokèmon that can Toxic him and Stall him with Protect , or Belly Drum (Rare) / Choice Band Azumarill , which is immune to dragon claw and very resistant to Flare Blitz. Counters of Dragon Claw + Earthquake are Togekiss , which is immune to both moves and can counterattack heavily ; Skarmory , which is immune to Earthquake , very resistant to Dragon Claw and can safely setup hazards and spam whirlwind , making Charizard's user team weaker , as well as Charizard. General Scarfed Pokèmons with Earthquake can be also a problem for Charizard mega X

Any additional info: Find always the moment to setup dragon dance , never use it randomly or it will be catastrophic for Charizard mega X .

i think you should make a division between 2 sets, bulky dd with roost and the simple dragond dance are 2 different sets that perform slightly different roles. dd+3 moves is usually good to try to setup even earlier in the game and take advantage of better coverage to sweep (difficult vs prepared teams) or open huge holes in the opponent team for another sweeper to run through weakened mons, while still being one of the best late game sweepers in the meta; you usually want more to invest in speed than in bulk on this set to make it less vulnerable to scarfers and sweep/wallbreak with more ease. The bulky dd is slightly different, you drop a move for roost (it should be always eq, i don't see how dropping one of the STABs can be better than dropping the coverage move) and invest evs in bulk, this will make the specific role of cleaning late game very easier at the cost of losing some coverage, thus making wallbreaking and sweeping in midgame harder and losing offensive pressure on things like tran and azu.

 

[silver97]

What to use:

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet

role: wallbreaker or physical sweeper

what it does: basically it wrecks things. crawdaunt is one of the most fearsome pokemon in the metagame, boasting solid base 120 atk further improved by life orb boost and one of the strongest ability of the game: adaptability. this trait gives crawdaunt the strongest knock off of the meta and makes it able to not only get rid of annoying items but also hit like a truck in the process; the other STAB move, crabhammer, is ridicoulously strong, with adaptability and LO boosts it reaches an amazing 260 power. These two moves together make crawdaunt very scary to switch in even for those pokemon who resist its moves, in fact crawdaunt usually doesn't run coverage moves because even if the coverage with its STABs is not the best there is really nothing that can switch on it for free. Swords dance is used to take advantage of free turns to gain more power, although it is usually very difficult to setup, but if it manages to do it the opponent will have a hard time at stopping it. Aqua jet is a powerful priority that helps a lot with faster pokemon and makes crawdaunt good at cleaning in late game with weakened pokemon.
Anyway it has some flaws; this thing is way too frail and slow to use its positive traits at best, so it needs a lot of support from its teammates but if used in the right way crawdaunt will help a lot at beating the opposing team. it is used effectively mainly on hyper offensive or balanced teams. In the first case it helps the teammates by opening holes in the opposing team for another sweeper to clean or can take advantage of its teammates' job to sweep itself; in the second case it can benefit of more bulky teammates support that can help it coming in safely with slow volt-turn to fire off its strong attacks. crawdaunt perfoms at his best vs stall because with speed investment it can outspeed nearly every defensive pokemon but some like mew or gliscor (that are anyway threatened by craw) and with a swords dance boost becomes nearly impossible for defensive mons to stop it.
here some calcs:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 312-368 (77.8 - 91.7%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 294-348 (88 - 104.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 354-416 (89.8 - 105.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

what counters it: nothing lol. using the word counter with this thing is almost always not correct, the only real counter is probably chesnaught and mega gyarados can use it as a setup fodder. other things that can switch into resisted moves more or less safely are keldeo, azumarill, mega venusaur and ferrothorn. but then there are a long list of faster offensive threats that can resist an aqua jet and retaliate with powerful attacks that will often KO it; some of them are fast electric types (thundy, raikou, m-manectric, scarfzone), latwins, birdspam that always carries powerful priority moves, kyu-b and many others.

good teammates: a poke that synergizes well with crawdaunt is mega venusaur, especially when it runs hp fire, it can counter/check all the pokemon listed before as pokemon that give craw troubles. Other pokemon that perform well with it are pokemon with similar traits like diggersby and mega pinsir that can help in HO teams to overwhelm the opponent with hard hits.

Any additional info: i found this pokemon to be one of the most fun to use alongside other hard hitters like diggersby, use it carefully and you won't regret having it on the team. there are some other option to use crawdaunt, like a band set that runs crunch to hit harder megas or superpower to hit mega gyarados or ferro, but it is overall inferior to LO imo. also you can run adamant but i think jolly is better because it outspeeds some relevant pokemon like lando-t without investment and rotom-w.

 

[Enki]

More stuff is now in the OP... we reached the max number of characters (65 000) lol.

 

[asdfCookie]

What to use:

Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- crabhammer
- Knock Off
- Aqua Jet

role: wallbreaker or physical sweeper

what it does: basically it wrecks things. crawdaunt is one of the most fearsome pokemon in the metagame, boasting solid base 120 atk further improved by life orb boost and one of the strongest ability of the game: adaptability. this trait gives crawdaunt the strongest knock off of the meta and makes it able to not only get rid of annoying items but also hit like a truck in the process; the other STAB move, crabhammer, is ridicoulously strong, with adaptability and LO boosts it reaches an amazing 260 power. These two moves together make crawdaunt very scary to switch in even for those pokemon who resist its moves, in fact crawdaunt usually doesn't run coverage moves because even if the coverage with its STABs is not the best there is really nothing that can switch on it for free. Swords dance is used to take advantage of free turns to gain more power, although it is usually very difficult to setup, but if it manages to do it the opponent will have a hard time at stopping it. Aqua jet is a powerful priority that helps a lot with faster pokemon and makes crawdaunt good at cleaning in late game with weakened pokemon.
Anyway it has some flaws; this thing is way too frail and slow to use its positive traits at best, so it needs a lot of support from its teammates but if used in the right way crawdaunt will help a lot at beating the opposing team. it is used effectively mainly on hyper offensive or balanced teams. In the first case it helps the teammates by opening holes in the opposing team for another sweeper to clean or can take advantage of its teammates' job to sweep itself; in the second case it can benefit of more bulky teammates support that can help it coming in safely with slow volt-turn to fire off its strong attacks. crawdaunt perfoms at his best vs stall because with speed investment it can outspeed nearly every defensive pokemon but some like mew or gliscor (that are anyway threatened by craw) and with a swords dance boost becomes nearly impossible for defensive mons to stop it.
here some calcs:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 343-404 (85.1 - 100.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 322-382 (96.4 - 114.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Life Orb Adaptability Crawdaunt Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 385-458 (97.7 - 116.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

what counters it: nothing lol. using the word counter with this thing is almost always not correct, the only real counter is probably chesnaught and mega gyarados can use it as a setup fodder. other things that can switch into resisted moves more or less safely are keldeo, azumarill, mega venusaur and ferrothorn. but then there are a long list of faster offensive threats that can resist an aqua jet and retaliate with powerful attacks that will often KO it; some of them are fast electric types (thundy, raikou, m-manectric, scarfzone), latwins, birdspam that always carries powerful priority moves, kyu-b and many others.

good teammates: a poke that synergizes well with crawdaunt is mega venusaur, especially when it runs hp fire, it can counter/check all the pokemon listed before as pokemon that give craw troubles. Other pokemon that perform well with it are pokemon with similar traits like diggersby and mega pinsir that can help in HO teams to overwhelm the opponent with hard hits.

Any additional info: i found this pokemon to be one of the most fun to use alongside other hard hitters like diggersby, use it carefully and you won't regret having it on the team. there are some other option to use crawdaunt, like a band set that runs crunch to hit harder megas or superpower to hit mega gyarados or ferro, but it is overall inferior to LO imo. also you can run adamant but i think jolly is better because it outspeeds some relevant pokemon like lando-t without investment and rotom-w.

Your set is Jolly yet the calcs are Adamant?

 

[robotic jo]

nice crawdaunt. sorry i dont know how to do the quote thingy . But :( u dont run clawdia

 

[silver97]

Your set is Jolly yet the calcs are Adamant?

sorry fixed it, it doesn't make a lot of difference tho