Greetings Smogon, and welcome to my RMT! After a few teams where I've struggled with what kind of victory I want, flitting between half stalls and half offensives, I've created what I think is quite a nice balanced team, able to fulfill many roles, take many hits, and deal out more. Hence the title; stallbreakers and sweepers are all well and good, but they need balance to back them up - a good core, good type coverage, good allies, that ensure my sweepers aren't heading head-first into treacherous salt water.
So, let's get straight to the team!
The team at a glance:
I wanted to try out a balanced FWG core, and after looking through the available grass sweepers, I settled on M-Sceptile. To further the core, I added a Specially Defensive/Special attacker Rotom-W (I'll explain the EVs later). This forms the Sp.Def backbone to the team. Heatran rounds off the core, filling in the weaknesses of the others, and along with Sceptile actually provides complete immunity from status effects. I then needed to look at what else I needed in my team: the FWG core is all well and good, but a Dragon/Grass picks up a nasty ice weakness, so I needed something to break that. I also needed another quick mon, and a ground immunity can never hurt. I settled upon Hawlucha, who fulfills all those roles for me, and gives me a nice win-con with it's speed and strong moves. With the addition of the fighting type (along with my dragon type) my teams suffers a bit to fairy types, and poor Heatran would have been working overtime to keep those at bay. Enter: Scizor. Not only boasting a priority move, but access to a set-up move and recovery is nothing to sniff at. This guy is the MVP of my team, able to completely sweep with it's mix of steel and bug, which hit a surprising amount of mons for neutral damage, and not much can stop a +6 adamant Scizor with 349 base attack.Lastly, I needed a nice defensive tank, one that could set some hazards, another ground immunity (it's always nice) and has access to recovery/status effects too. Skarmory filled this role for me, so I tagged him on the end, though I'm not entirely set on him just yet. I needed a good Special Defence wall, that could tank for me, heal, and counter Mega Sableye, as my team hates burns. Enter: Clefable.
The team in more detail:
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest/Timid nature
IVs: 30 HP
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
-Energy Ball HP Fire
- Earthquake
Alright, so the mon I was so hyped to try out was Mega Sceptile, and after looking at it's stats it's easy to see why: it gets 145 base speed and special attack, placing one at 389 and the other at 427 depending on the nature. Undecided on the nature yet: timid gives me 427 speed, useful for outspeeding base Alakazam, but without it it doesn't have enough power to OHKO latios with dragon pulse, which modest gives me while still outspeeding it. It doesn't have the power to bring down Latias, but with a modest nature it still deals 83% damage, grabbing a very near kill after SR and making it real easy to revenge kill. If it's timid, however, it will outspeed mega Alakazam and 2HKO it, since his psychic fails to net the kill straight off. It's ability is intriguing though, and after transforming steals all the momentum from Volt-switchers, and making it immune to every electric attack including thunder wave - perhaps the best status ailment for crippling a fast poke'mon. Standard moveset, a strong STAB grass and dragon move, giga drain there for some longevity, as it can heal off things even neutrally, and proceed to kill. Lacking a set-up move, it can seem rather underwhelming, but it does still hit relatively hard, and provides a very decent check indeed to Lati@s, Chomp (108%+ on all variants, since Sp.Def chomp is rare, and even if it appears it lacks the damage for the kill) and Dragonite after Multiscale, giving an OHKO after SR damage (essential since a banded outrage kills it almost 3 times over). Earthquake is just a coverage move really, since the movepool is sadly quite poor. HP Fire is there to get the jump on mons that might be lured into a Sceptile.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs:252 HP / 136 SpA / 120 SpD 252 HP / 218 Def / 44 Spe
Calm Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom is one of my favourite mons to spring up in this meta because of it's amazing stats; a spread of 107 base defences plus 105 base sp.atk is nothing to sniff at, backed up by a respectable 304 HP, all the more so off a base of only 50. With an uninvested SpA or Sp.Def stat it still reaches quite high numbers, giving 304/344/250 with 247 SpA. It still has enough damage to hurt Keldeo, Gyarados and Azumarill as well as Garchomp (I WoW'd, pain split and hydro'd a mega Chomp - he had no chance after I tanked his SD'd Dragon Claw). I'm real wary to use moves that have an accuracy drop, but H-pump is it's only water move available save HP water (Please Nintendo, let it learn scald), and it hits pretty hard really, so the accuracy drop is manageable at least. WoW for some control and for shutting down physical sweepers that don't carry a lum, and pain split for very strange and situational healing alongside lefties. EVs are for maximum bulk while outspeeding max speed Azumaril and volt-switching to someone else to bring the pain.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
To round off the core, I have my fire type. There's not much to choose from in OU, and I didn't want to use the fire birds in another team (I like variety to some degree) so they were out of the question. I toyed with Arcanine (dem base stats) but I liked the steel control that Heatran brought, plus the fact that I can fake the set due to it's versatility. Stealth rock is there incase I get the chance to use it, namely against teams with D-nite to pop the mulitscale, giving Scpetile an easy OHKO (92% after M-scale). Lava plume for reliable STAB; invested, his special attack hits at 396, so I can hit really hard. Ancient power for a second answer to T-flame, a check to Mega Char-Y and some neutral damage on Lati@s which I completely wall, especially with the new changes to the EV spread, where earth power gives me a good answer to Char-X and enemy heatrans.
Hawlucha @ Power Herb
Ability:Mold Breaker Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
-Aerial Ace Acrobatics
-Thunder Punch Sky Attack
-Rock Slide Swords Dance/High Jump Kick
Next up is Hawlucha. As said above, I needed someone who could smash through ice types, reliably killing Weavile after an ice shard, and draining the damage back off with D-punch, and making short work of Mamoswine too, though I'll have to consider running HJK to get the OHKO on Mamo - 92% Drain punch won't cut it. It also goes through things like Mega Bunny, who can't kill me with Ice Punch/Return + Fake Out, while Hawl heals it all off. The combination of Power herb, Sky attack and unburden gives me a total of 736 speed with a one turn attack of 140 power, as well as making acrobatics jump up to 110 base, making short work of anything that tries to threaten me. The last slot is reserved for either SD or HJK, and I can't decide between either.
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs:248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD 248 HP / 176 SpD / 84 Att
Adamant Nature/Impish nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
The hero of the team. I can't even count the amount of times this thing has saved my life. If the enemy allows it to reach +6 they deserve to get face rolled by it. It OHKOd a defensive Empoloen with a resisted Bug bite. It's seriously incredible, and possessing both a set-up move and recovery allows it to safely create some room for itself. The technician ability boosts B-Punch to 60, making it very strong after boosting. EV spread to maximise it's bulk, allowing it to take a few hits to ensure it can keep going. It's just the unexpected damage that I love from this guy: an unboosted B-punch deals 71% damage to a Mega Gardevoir - with an SD or crit it's an easy OHKO, crippling and shutting down a team's mega. Scizor is far and away the go-to poke'mon to sweep, placing it just behind M-Sceptile in terms of preserving it, making sure I tick off those fire-type counters before bringing it out.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower
Clefable (as suggested by Mega Slutbunny) rounds off the team really nicely with a mixed defensive set, using calm mind to boost it's special defense and having a nicely invested defense stat to work off, allowing it to set-up and heal without support. She has a surprising amount of bulk, and can tank a lot of threats. It's also a great answer to Mega Sableye (as it's weak to fairy) and anyone who tries to hit her with status effects thanks to magic guard. It's can even 2HKO Scizor if on the switch, as bullet punch deals 52% while Flamethrower deals 61% unboosted. Soft boiled is there for reliably recovery after setting up, and moonblast gives me a really strong STAB that can decimate dark, fighting and dragons, working alongside my Mega Sceptile to take out the big dragon threats.
THANKS TO
Yoda2798
Charilax Blastler
Mega Slutbunny
Conclusion
So there's the team! In my opinion a nice balanced team (if we get the defensive tank nailed). Apologies to spelling mistakes, it's late and the screen is full of red squiggly lines. I haven't complied a threat list because I haven't tested it enough for regular threats to appear, though it looks like I'll have a hard time with T-flame/Mega Char-X and Mega Metagross since I don't have access to ghost or dark.
Happy reading!
So, let's get straight to the team!
The team at a glance:
I wanted to try out a balanced FWG core, and after looking through the available grass sweepers, I settled on M-Sceptile. To further the core, I added a Specially Defensive/Special attacker Rotom-W (I'll explain the EVs later). This forms the Sp.Def backbone to the team. Heatran rounds off the core, filling in the weaknesses of the others, and along with Sceptile actually provides complete immunity from status effects. I then needed to look at what else I needed in my team: the FWG core is all well and good, but a Dragon/Grass picks up a nasty ice weakness, so I needed something to break that. I also needed another quick mon, and a ground immunity can never hurt. I settled upon Hawlucha, who fulfills all those roles for me, and gives me a nice win-con with it's speed and strong moves. With the addition of the fighting type (along with my dragon type) my teams suffers a bit to fairy types, and poor Heatran would have been working overtime to keep those at bay. Enter: Scizor. Not only boasting a priority move, but access to a set-up move and recovery is nothing to sniff at. This guy is the MVP of my team, able to completely sweep with it's mix of steel and bug, which hit a surprising amount of mons for neutral damage, and not much can stop a +6 adamant Scizor with 349 base attack.
The team in more detail:
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest/Timid nature
IVs: 30 HP
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
-
- Earthquake
Alright, so the mon I was so hyped to try out was Mega Sceptile, and after looking at it's stats it's easy to see why: it gets 145 base speed and special attack, placing one at 389 and the other at 427 depending on the nature. Undecided on the nature yet: timid gives me 427 speed, useful for outspeeding base Alakazam, but without it it doesn't have enough power to OHKO latios with dragon pulse, which modest gives me while still outspeeding it. It doesn't have the power to bring down Latias, but with a modest nature it still deals 83% damage, grabbing a very near kill after SR and making it real easy to revenge kill. If it's timid, however, it will outspeed mega Alakazam and 2HKO it, since his psychic fails to net the kill straight off. It's ability is intriguing though, and after transforming steals all the momentum from Volt-switchers, and making it immune to every electric attack including thunder wave - perhaps the best status ailment for crippling a fast poke'mon. Standard moveset, a strong STAB grass and dragon move, giga drain there for some longevity, as it can heal off things even neutrally, and proceed to kill. Lacking a set-up move, it can seem rather underwhelming, but it does still hit relatively hard, and provides a very decent check indeed to Lati@s, Chomp (108%+ on all variants, since Sp.Def chomp is rare, and even if it appears it lacks the damage for the kill) and Dragonite after Multiscale, giving an OHKO after SR damage (essential since a banded outrage kills it almost 3 times over). Earthquake is just a coverage move really, since the movepool is sadly quite poor. HP Fire is there to get the jump on mons that might be lured into a Sceptile.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs:
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom is one of my favourite mons to spring up in this meta because of it's amazing stats; a spread of 107 base defences plus 105 base sp.atk is nothing to sniff at, backed up by a respectable 304 HP, all the more so off a base of only 50. With an uninvested SpA or Sp.Def stat it still reaches quite high numbers, giving 304/344/250 with 247 SpA. It still has enough damage to hurt Keldeo, Gyarados and Azumarill as well as Garchomp (I WoW'd, pain split and hydro'd a mega Chomp - he had no chance after I tanked his SD'd Dragon Claw). I'm real wary to use moves that have an accuracy drop, but H-pump is it's only water move available save HP water (Please Nintendo, let it learn scald), and it hits pretty hard really, so the accuracy drop is manageable at least. WoW for some control and for shutting down physical sweepers that don't carry a lum, and pain split for very strange and situational healing alongside lefties. EVs are for maximum bulk while outspeeding max speed Azumaril and volt-switching to someone else to bring the pain.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power
- Ancient Power
To round off the core, I have my fire type. There's not much to choose from in OU, and I didn't want to use the fire birds in another team (I like variety to some degree) so they were out of the question. I toyed with Arcanine (dem base stats) but I liked the steel control that Heatran brought, plus the fact that I can fake the set due to it's versatility. Stealth rock is there incase I get the chance to use it, namely against teams with D-nite to pop the mulitscale, giving Scpetile an easy OHKO (92% after M-scale). Lava plume for reliable STAB; invested, his special attack hits at 396, so I can hit really hard. Ancient power for a second answer to T-flame, a check to Mega Char-Y and some neutral damage on Lati@s which I completely wall, especially with the new changes to the EV spread, where earth power gives me a good answer to Char-X and enemy heatrans.
Hawlucha @ Power Herb
Ability:
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Drain Punch
-
-
-
Next up is Hawlucha. As said above, I needed someone who could smash through ice types, reliably killing Weavile after an ice shard, and draining the damage back off with D-punch, and making short work of Mamoswine too, though I'll have to consider running HJK to get the OHKO on Mamo - 92% Drain punch won't cut it. It also goes through things like Mega Bunny, who can't kill me with Ice Punch/Return + Fake Out, while Hawl heals it all off. The combination of Power herb, Sky attack and unburden gives me a total of 736 speed with a one turn attack of 140 power, as well as making acrobatics jump up to 110 base, making short work of anything that tries to threaten me. The last slot is reserved for either SD or HJK, and I can't decide between either.
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs:
Adamant Nature/Impish nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
The hero of the team. I can't even count the amount of times this thing has saved my life. If the enemy allows it to reach +6 they deserve to get face rolled by it. It OHKOd a defensive Empoloen with a resisted Bug bite. It's seriously incredible, and possessing both a set-up move and recovery allows it to safely create some room for itself. The technician ability boosts B-Punch to 60, making it very strong after boosting. EV spread to maximise it's bulk, allowing it to take a few hits to ensure it can keep going. It's just the unexpected damage that I love from this guy: an unboosted B-punch deals 71% damage to a Mega Gardevoir - with an SD or crit it's an easy OHKO, crippling and shutting down a team's mega. Scizor is far and away the go-to poke'mon to sweep, placing it just behind M-Sceptile in terms of preserving it, making sure I tick off those fire-type counters before bringing it out.
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower
Clefable (as suggested by Mega Slutbunny) rounds off the team really nicely with a mixed defensive set, using calm mind to boost it's special defense and having a nicely invested defense stat to work off, allowing it to set-up and heal without support. She has a surprising amount of bulk, and can tank a lot of threats. It's also a great answer to Mega Sableye (as it's weak to fairy) and anyone who tries to hit her with status effects thanks to magic guard. It's can even 2HKO Scizor if on the switch, as bullet punch deals 52% while Flamethrower deals 61% unboosted. Soft boiled is there for reliably recovery after setting up, and moonblast gives me a really strong STAB that can decimate dark, fighting and dragons, working alongside my Mega Sceptile to take out the big dragon threats.
THANKS TO
Yoda2798
Charilax Blastler
Mega Slutbunny
Conclusion
So there's the team! In my opinion a nice balanced team (if we get the defensive tank nailed). Apologies to spelling mistakes, it's late and the screen is full of red squiggly lines. I haven't complied a threat list because I haven't tested it enough for regular threats to appear, though it looks like I'll have a hard time with T-flame/Mega Char-X and Mega Metagross since I don't have access to ghost or dark.
Happy reading!
Sceptile @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Earthquake
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 218 SpA / 44 Spe
Serious Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ancient Power
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
Hawlucha @ Power Herb
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sky Attack
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 176 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower
- Moonblast
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Earthquake
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 218 SpA / 44 Spe
Serious Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ancient Power
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
Hawlucha @ Power Herb
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Sky Attack
- Drain Punch
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Atk / 176 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower
- Moonblast
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