XY OU XY Laddering Team OU:Physical Phase Gyarados

Not sure if this post has all the necessities but I tried. I have been laddering repeatedly with this team and haven't really been able to put in the time necessary to reach good ranking with it. I believe I have a good thing going with this team and would like to ask the more experienced users/posters for their opinions. It may not be worth much but I have also had limited use this team on X Y Wi-Fi to decent success thus far.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Waterfall
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

This Gyarados set is a pretty unique(to me) one I picked up over at Pokebattle.com's Strategy Dex. It really helps out against a lot of physical/physical set up Pokes that gave me fits such as Mega Medicham, Mega Pinsir, Mega Heracross, Mega Scizor, Dragonite, other Gyarados etc. It also helps phase other things I don't match up particularly well with. Combined with hazard support this Gyarados is really helpful against a lot of different Pokes and eliminates Sashes I see on the Ladder. It also draws electric attacks so Garchomp and Zard X are easy switch in options provided you're not facing Mega Manetric, Zard X deals with him better. Also works well as a status absorber in certain situations but it does not appreciate Stealth Rocks so be mindful of HP and don't hesitate to hit that Snooze button.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor

Bread and Butter Physical Scarf Terrakion He did work in BW/BW2 OU and his ability to revenge kill has shown to be timeless. The Edge/Quake combo reliably checks most forms of Charizard X/Y (as relaible as the Stone Edge side of the combo is anyway). I also have X-Scissor on this set it takes care of annoying Psychic types Reuniclus, Mew, Espeon, Latios(If not Scarfed), and the rare but always annoying Alakazam-M.

Garchomp @ Lum Berry
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw

A Lead Chomp set I know used by tons of other players he provides Rocks support and offensive pressure for the team. EQ handles other leads like T-Tar, Fire Blast 2HKOs and eliminates Scizor, Skarmory and Ferros who would otherwise have little problem switching in and other steel types that potentially wall this team. It's brother Dragon Charizard can switch in to the Ice Moves coming for Chomp and he can switch in to the Electric moves targeting Gyarados(Or the rock moves coming for Charizard). Great Anti-Lead for Smeargle as he has a Lum Berry that has universal benefits like avoiding Rotom's Wisp for a turn, Chansey's Toxic or the local favorite Crobat/Milotic Hypnosis. Has trouble against Lando-T/Mega Mane but what lead doesn't?

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

Functions similarly to Garchomp provides offensive pressure on the special side and has utility as an Anti-Lead against Smeargles, Baton Pass teams that lead with Scolipede or Mew and does nicely patching this teams weakness to Fairy types at times. Good Solid attacker and switches in on most Earthquakes(Uggh Mold Breaker Excadrill) and Toxics. It also switches in on Fighting moves coming for Terrakion or Porygon 2 but be weary of Conkeldurr's Knock Off. Good solid Poke.

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Atk / 188 SpD / 40 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Dragon Claw
- Roost
- Earthquake

This is the Tank Zard set I personally first saw used by Pokeaimmd. Remedies the teams weakness to Mega Mane, can switch in on Will-o-Wisps, Roost stalls a lot of physical attackers after catching them on the switch with it's own Wisp. It also doesn't fear Thundurus, even the Nasty Plot variant. It prevents guessing games with Sucker Punch Bisharp and reliably Wisp/Roost stalls him. Like any Zard it's worried about Rocks but Roost mitigates that damage over time. I liked using this variant of Zard because It also takes down Heatran after switching into Zard's Will-o-Wisp with Earthquake and avoids Ferro's Iron Barbs. It also synergizes well with Gyarados as it switches in on most Electric attacks coming towards Gyara.

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam
- Tri Attack
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

This is the Bulkmeister himself, Porygon 2 helps with other Pokes that I really had a hard time against :Lando-T and Gliscor. It threatens both and gains Lando's Intimidate on the switch and easily Recovers any damage from his U-Turn or Superpower next turn. It can also work as a Scout to switch in and sack if need be to reveal an opponent's set and it's bulky enough to usually get off at least 1 attack if he has to take neutral damage. I personally prefer Tri-Attack for the wheel of statuses it affords me but Toxic can be used if you favor that playstyle or just need something with it on your team. It also acquires Gliscor's Poison Heal and can reliably 2HKO after rocks damage on Physically Defensive Glis with Ice Beam. Switches in to most Greninja variants and gains Protean to become a Mini Sweeper duck. T-bolt is helpful for Talon switch ins planning to Bird it and other Pokes that may try to come in for free risk paralysis. It also reliably switches in to any Gyarados that isn't a Mega.
It appreciates most Fighting types gone and most Knock Off users gone as without it's Eviolite he can only take special hits decently. Fun to play, many teams don't expect him and as a result he can do solid work.
 

Cynara

Banned deucer.
Hey man, this is looking like a pretty solid team, not really my style of play, but it looks good. The Gyarados set is interesting however. I don't really have much to suggest on it besides a 1 change.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

taking a stab at the Gyarados defensive set from things i've seen been used while battling. I honestly feel like thunder wave is a better option over waterfall. waterfall doesn't really do much on a defensive set in my opinion. Thunder wave paired with dragon tail allows for Para shuffling and phazing out threats, I don't feel Waterfall has much usage on the set and spreading paralysis throughout the opponents team can really help to support your team. another reason i'm suggesting this change is because Fire/ground types aren't really an issue to your team, you have many ways to deal with fire types on the team, including a 4x resist. Fire types don't really wanna switch into a gyarados anyways. Paralysis could really save your team in situations. This also allows you to slow down faster relevant threats to your team such as greninja and Keldeo and the Lati@s.


I hope this helps out and hope you take my thoughts into consideration :)
 
Hey Atrocious, pretty solid team you got going for you, really like the idea of defensive gyara.

Something that I noticed while looking at your team is that your team looks quite weak to CM Clefable if gengar gets taken out or weakened which is a very real possibility because of its frailty. Clefable sets up on every single member on your team bar gengar making it extremely dangerous to your team. So something that I think could help you a bit is swapping Terrakion for Scarf Excadrill. Excadrill while dying down a bit as a scarf user, is still a great user of the item. Excadrill also has access to the edgequake combo and has access to STAB Iron Head which will severely dent clefable as well as Rapid Spin. Your team does not have a form of hazard control yet, so having rapid spin support will be extremely helpful especially with bulky gyara and zard on your team, 2 mons that hate Stealth Rock. A lot of players dislike having scarf rapid spin, so I wouldn't expect you to like it right away, but I believe that this change could really benefit your team.

Another small thing that is more of a nitpick than anything else is switching Tri Attack to Toxic on Porygon. The BoltBeam coverage that Porygon already has is great and hits nearly everything in the tier of neutral damage. Toxic also allows you to get passive damage on bulkier mons so that you can take them out easier with your sweepers.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SpD
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Hope I helped! Happy battling :]
 
Yo. Pretty awesome team there and a rather unusual gyara set. Also chara-x seems a bit underwhelming imo and I'll suggest running the standard DD set on char-x to maximise the damage output of your team . A good set would be DD, Dragon claw, flare blitz and roost. also you could swap terrakion for choice scarf excadrill like hairy toenail said.

Hope I helped glhf battling
 
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Hey man, this is looking like a pretty solid team, not really my style of play, but it looks good. The Gyarados set is interesting however. I don't really have much to suggest on it besides a 1 change.
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

taking a stab at the Gyarados defensive set from things i've seen been used while battling. I honestly feel like thunder wave is a better option over waterfall. waterfall doesn't really do much on a defensive set in my opinion. Thunder wave paired with dragon tail allows for Para shuffling and phazing out threats, I don't feel Waterfall has much usage on the set and spreading paralysis throughout the opponents team can really help to support your team. another reason i'm suggesting this change is because Fire/ground types aren't really an issue to your team, you have many ways to deal with fire types on the team, including a 4x resist. Fire types don't really wanna switch into a gyarados anyways. Paralysis could really save your team in situations. This also allows you to slow down faster relevant threats to your team such as greninja and Keldeo and the Lati@s.


I hope this helps out and hope you take my thoughts into consideration :)
To Cranham, your comments are duely noted I think I can try out the set with T wave but Waterfall just gives Gyarados STAB for passive damage and allows me to conserve Dragon Tail's PP as it doesn't hit 100% of the time. I acknowledge this teams lack of Hazard control and it's weakness to CM Clefable. As far as hazard control goes I have thought about maybe incorporating a Defog Scizor as he could help address both issues. Hairy Toenail I'll copy the team over and add your suggestions and see how it goes I know Excadrill is a beast of Pokemon often regardless of item choice, but I usually am a skeptic when it comes to using frail Pokemon. This team was my attempt at Bulky Offense and as a Rookie teambuilder I'm sincerely open and appreciative to the criticism you all gave and look forward to building more teams and posting them in the future.
 

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