XY OU The Name Game

[tibbz]

Alright, here goes. This is the semi-final iteration of the first team I've ever built. I never really got into playing competitively until recently, but I'm hooked so I'm working this team. This is an offense-oriented team, because I've never been one for complex tricks and setup. I do like to play with words, however, thus the names. Tell me what you think and let me know what changes you think I might make for better coverage/any glaring weaknesses you see.

One Trick Pony (Gengar) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast

I usually lead with Gengar because I Don't have a volt switcher or a u-turner (on purpose). The variety of attacks I can pull out gives me a good shot to sweep right up front and get ahead quickly, which I find has good synergy with he rest of the team. I typically use him until he's fainted. It does tend to cause problems when I'm forced to switch, I've noticed. I go back and forth between hidden power and thunderbolt, also. Thoughts?

The Oncoming Storm (Gyarados) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Ice Beam
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch

Is that a hurricane coming this way? I had to have my favorite pokemon on the team! Only thing I wonder about is whether I should stick with Ice Beam or switch to STAB Bounce.(EDIT: After reading the RMT rules i realize this may need more description. So much for brevity being the soul of wit. Where's Willy Shakes when you need him?) Crunch gets STAB after mega evolution, dragon dance ups Gyarados' stats and Waterfalls gets STAB at all times. Ice beam counters dragons, which is nice because Mega-Gyarados can take a hit if he absolutely needs to, but like I said Bounce does get the STAB and I don't have a ton of options on my team to deal with the likes of Serperior and Venusaur. Grass is definitely a lacking point. It's not a crazy common type in the metagame, but still. Doing what I can.

Vine So Serious (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Leech Seed
- Protect

Pretty typical Ferro setup. I just wish he'd smile more. (SEE ABOVE EDIT) Oh fine, less jokes and more strategy. Ferrothorn does what ferrothorn does best, stalls and creates hazards. I'm getting a lot of stall time from the combination of leftovers, leech seed, and protect. I don't like stalling but I realized I needed a team member who could REALLY take some hits while status took its toll on bulkier opponents. Also walls fairies and hits back with Gyro Ball, which is great especially given the prevalence of speed-raising moves. Otherwise I'm mostly looking to get stealth rock setup to chip away at the other team and leech seed which is always nice to switch into.

You Snow Nothing (Kyurem-Black) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Rock Slide

KB is sort of an incautious creature, but he's got a good heart. He gives me the opportunity to rock those two pesky Fire/Flying types that you all like so much, and he provides another counter to Dragons. Like I sad though, he is a bit reckless. It gets him killed sometimes, which makes me sad, but I usually have a pretty good feeling I'll see him again soon. After all, Winter Is Coming.

Not So Fast (Gardevoir) @ Life Orb
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Taunt
- Focus Blast

Another dragon counter, the newest addition to the team. He's got a little case of the "new guy" syndrome, but I'm trying to snap him out of it. He doesn't know how good he is yet, but I needed him. Actual real question: moveset recommendations?

Yeah, yeah. -- We have focus blast for coverage against steel types, taunt to stop common stallers like Sableye. Moonblast is absolutely devastating all-round. I considered Hyper Voice, but I'm not really sure why I see it so often when Moonblast gets STAB and it doesn't? Psyshock gets the usual spot, to counter Venusaur. I have considered Psychic instead. Stronger base damage, but no tricky defense swap. Thoughts?

Eyedream of Genie (Thundurus) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Nasty Plot
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Groan. Another recent addition because that's how I felt every time a Thundurus jumped out at me. That's back when I was running Keldeo (RIP, "Marco!"). Thundurus gives me coverage I Really needed against water types, especially once I took Thunderbolt away from my Gengar, which I'm still not sure is a decision that's going to stick. Nevertheless, we've got nasty plot to increase damage and lots and lots of STAB, with Thunder Wave to cripple the opposing team. I thought about Fly for it's better base damage, but I figured that since it takes two turns to execute it really destroys the point of Prankster and Thundurus' general speed, right? Yeah, okay, I thought so.

What do ya'll think? Don't hold back, the best criticism leaves marks.

 

[iamQmai]

I'm not so good with the other Pokes, but mega Gyarados I can help with ;)

I'd recommend putting Ice Fang on it, and give it either an Adamant or Jolly nature. Looking at your team, you don't have too much for Mega Lopunny, so I'd advise a Jolly nature so you can outspeed it after a DD. Waterfall will KO after a little bit of prior damage, or if you like lower accurate moves, you can Aqua Tail for the guaranteed OHKO.

+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Waterfall vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Lopunny: 235-277 (86.7 - 102.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Aqua Tail vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Lopunny: 262-310 (96.6 - 114.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

So my recommendation is

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Jolly Nature
252 Atk / 248 Spe / 8 Def
-Waterfall/Aqua Tail
-Crunch
-Ice Fang
-Dragon Dance

You don't need the final 4 ev's in Speed because the only other thing that you could speed tie is other Gyara, which already resists all the moves you have! You will be able to outspeed anything under 145+ Speed tier, which includes, Mega Sceptile, Mega Beedrill, Mega Lopunny etc after a Dragon Dance. I personally like to use Sub as my 3rd move, and others also use Taunt, but this is more offensive/sweeper based, so I'd recommend Sub or Ice Fang, depending on your playstyle. Subbing on a Rotom-W is always fun, they either go away with Volt Switch or they fail to burn you! Good luck :]

 

[Dorn Macoda Hadrada]

Alright, you team is off to a pretty good start, although I will recommend changing gardevoir to clefable. Gardevoir is simply not as viable in OU as clefable unless it carries Gardevoirite (which is why you see hyper voice so much due to Gardevoir-mega's pixilate ability. Clefable exchanges offense for defense, providing a reliable switch in to fighting types which can destroy your team as is, while also providing a reliable and defensive dragon switch in as well.

As for the set:

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower/ Thunder Wave/ Ice Beam

This set allows you to take on multiple hits and provides great defensive synergy for the team. Clefable also can act as a status absorber which could cripple you offensive mons like Gyarados while dishing out thunder waves in return. Calm Mind allows clefable the flexibility of becoming an offensive presence if needs be, maintaining the offensive playstyle of this team while adding some bulk. I hope this helps and good luck

 

[tibbz]

Alright, you team is off to a pretty good start, although I will recommend changing gardevoir to clefable. Gardevoir is simply not as viable in OU as clefable unless it carries Gardevoirite (which is why you see hyper voice so much due to Gardevoir-mega's pixilate ability. Clefable exchanges offense for defense, providing a reliable switch in to fighting types which can destroy your team as is, while also providing a reliable and defensive dragon switch in as well.

As for the set:

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower/ Thunder Wave/ Ice Beam

This set allows you to take on multiple hits and provides great defensive synergy for the team. Clefable also can act as a status absorber which could cripple you offensive mons like Gyarados while dishing out thunder waves in return. Calm Mind allows clefable the flexibility of becoming an offensive presence if needs be, maintaining the offensive playstyle of this team while adding some bulk. I hope this helps and good luck

So, yeah. Pixilate is a really good ability. Let's say I was willing to give up Mega-Gyara for Mega-Gardevoir, would you recommend it? I see the benefit of Clefable and I have considered the possibility efor ebut there's something about Clefable that I Just don't like. Just doesn't suit my style I think. And I'm totally out of clever Three Word Names, so that's unacceptable obviously.

I'm kidding of course but not being able to have both Mega-Gyarados and Mega-Gardevoir makes that decision difficult, which obviously you already figured out or you'd have recommended it. Clefable, though... I don't know. I'll run it and see how it goes.

For that fourth move, what would you recommend? I could probably use more fire offense on the team, and that would let me put thunderbolt back on Gengar....

 

[GotR]

Looking at what everyone else has said and I mostly agree. I have a couple other things I want to say as well, but first thing's first, right? Also I'll include a summary because I wrote quite a lot.

So basically, it's never worth running 2 megas on the same team in smogon tiers. In VCG or BattleSpot it can sometimes work, because you don't bring all your pokemon, but in singles you just end up with a useless item. Obviously this has already been covered, but keeping that in mind, Gardevoir really isn't worth using in OU without it's mega stone, and Mega-Gyara offers your team a lot more than Mega-Gardevoir in my opinion (also you might want to update the OP because if its mega bounce isn't STAB).

Basically this means you should replace Gardevoir. Clefable is definitely a decent pokemon to consider, but something like Specs Sylveon would give you the same typing with more immediate offensive presence. I'll put recommended sets below. As a side note, Taunt usually shouldn't be used against Sableye anyway because if it mega evolves, the Taunt just gets reflected, and Hyper Voice is used over Moon Blast because it has more power and gets STAB with pixilate - the mega ability.

Clefable Set

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower

Specs Sylveon Set

Sylveon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power Fire/Hidden Power Ground/Shadow Ball
- Baton Pass

HP Fire is for Scizor/Ferro, HP Ground is for Heatran, Shadow Ball is for Lati@s/Jirachi/Metagross. Pick whichever gives you coverage against what you struggle with the most.

Ok now on to minor set issues. I recommend:

Taunt > HP Fire on Gengar. You no longer have Taunt on Gardevoir (having removed it... right?) so this is really helpful for destroying stall mons. Further, HP Fire is only really used for Ferrothorn and Scizor, and Ferro gets destroyed by Focus Blast anyway while Scizor is pretty scared of powerful special attacks such as Shadow Ball and probably won't switch in anyway. For example:
252 SpA Life Orb Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 176 SpD Mega Scizor: 144-172 (41.9 - 50.1%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
And that's about the most specially bulky Scizor you'll see, AND it's mega.

Earthquake > Ice Fang/Ice Beam with an Adamant Nature on Gyarados. Your team actually doesn't have a huge issue with Dragons - you have solid switch ins with Ferro and whichever Fairy pokemon you end up choosing. Earthquake gives Gyarados much better neutral coverage, and gives it an option Steel types that might otherwise annoy it, as well as Levitaters such as Rotom-W and Gengar (with Mold Breaker). Having said that, Ice Fang is definitely still a viable move, and is definitely better than Ice Beam - if you decide you still want to run it use it over Crunch. Oh, and this also means you can put the 4 SpA EVs in Def... because efficiency.

A spread of 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD on Ferrothorn. The special defense EVs allow Ferro to live 2 Ice Beams from +3 Manaphy while still retaining as much physical defense as possible. Basically it just gives Ferro overall better mixed bulk.

Fusion Bolt > Rock Slide and an EV spread of 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Speon Kyurem-Black. Basically Fusion Bolt still gives you coverage against those pesky birds while also giving you a way to hit bulky waters - just overall better coverage. The EV spread basically just lets you hit slightly harder with your special moves, while still allowing you to outpace Scarf Landorus-T. You could also consider using Iron Head over Earth Power for a way to hit Fairies on the switch if they're an issue for you.

I am aware that I wrote quite a lot here, so here's a summary in case it was tl;dr.

Replace Gardevoir. Possible replacements include Clefable and Specs Sylveon.
Taunt > HP Fire on Gengar.
Earthquake > Ice Fang and Adamant nature on Gyarados.
EV change on Ferro.
Fusion Bolt > Rock Slide and slight EV tweak on Kyu-B

OK, I've waffled on quite enough. A lot of my changes are pretty minor so just remember that if it isn't working for you, change it to whatever will help more - just because some random said it was a good idea on the forums doesn't necessarily mean it will work in practice. Hope I helped and have fun battling!

 

[MaChew94]

Hey man, nice looking team! I've got a few suggestions for you!

Ok, so most 'hyper offence' teams actually carry a suicide lead that sets stealth rock up. This is important for 2 reasons: one, SR turns some 2HKOs into OHkOs, and second suicidinh your lead gives you major momentum, which hopefully is bad news for that team. I used a focus sash Azelf as my lead, with full attack and speed EVs, carrying explosion, ice punch, stealth Rock and anther move of your choice. That's usually how these teams are built, rather than having a hazard er that you can recycle and keep bringing out, as most offence games are over very quickly due to sheer power.

Your poke choice is a alright, actually, and I can also recommended a magic guard clef over base gardy as this gives you a win con too.

Your choice of Kyurem is a bit baffling if I'm honest. He's got a really nice wallbreaking ability but since you didn't say you chose him for that, and instead said he's a bird spam counter, I'm gonna go ahead and suggest dragon dance Tyranitar in its place. This gives you another win con, and if you run a pursuit variant, you have a guaranteed lati@s Ohko with a fully invested attack T-tar. He also handles the fire birds with no problems at all (expect mega Zard X Earthyqake and Y solar beam, what about for those. If you manage to pull off a rock slide, you have an OHKO there, so that's nice, and if I'm not mistaken mega Zard X EQ OHKOs your choice of Kyurem too.

I'm on my cell so I can't post the sets, but I'll jot them down:

Azelf @ focus sash, with ice punch, EQ, stealth rock and explosion, with 252 attack and speed and 4 hp. This actually counters mega card X because you can EQ it since you out speed it.

Tyranitar @ black glasses/life orb; with dragon dance, crunch/earthquake, pursuit and rockslide/stone edge, and full attack and speed and 4 defence.

Check smogon for the Clefable set, I believe it's 174 defence, 86 sp. def and 252 hp, but don't quote me on that.

Happy playing :)

 

[GotR]

Hey man, nice looking team! I've got a few suggestions for you!

Ok, so most 'hyper offence' teams actually carry a suicide lead that sets stealth rock up. This is important for 2 reasons: one, SR turns some 2HKOs into OHkOs, and second suicidinh your lead gives you major momentum, which hopefully is bad news for that team. I used a focus sash Azelf as my lead, with full attack and speed EVs, carrying explosion, ice punch, stealth Rock and anther move of your choice. That's usually how these teams are built, rather than having a hazard er that you can recycle and keep bringing out, as most offence games are over very quickly due to sheer power.

Your poke choice is a alright, actually, and I can also recommended a magic guard clef over base gardy as this gives you a win con too.

Your choice of Kyurem is a bit baffling if I'm honest. He's got a really nice wallbreaking ability but since you didn't say you chose him for that, and instead said he's a bird spam counter, I'm gonna go ahead and suggest dragon dance Tyranitar in its place. This gives you another win con, and if you run a pursuit variant, you have a guaranteed lati@s Ohko with a fully invested attack T-tar. He also handles the fire birds with no problems at all (expect mega Zard X Earthyqake and Y solar beam, what about for those. If you manage to pull off a rock slide, you have an OHKO there, so that's nice, and if I'm not mistaken mega Zard X EQ OHKOs your choice of Kyurem too.

I'm on my cell so I can't post the sets, but I'll jot them down:

Azelf @ focus sash, with ice punch, EQ, stealth rock and explosion, with 252 attack and speed and 4 hp. This actually counters mega card X because you can EQ it since you out speed it.

Tyranitar @ black glasses/life orb; with dragon dance, crunch/earthquake, pursuit and rockslide/stone edge, and full attack and speed and 4 defence.

Check smogon for the Clefable set, I believe it's 174 defence, 86 sp. def and 252 hp, but don't quote me on that.

Happy playing :)

Going to have to disagree with using T-tar, a) because Bish already has the pursuit niche (which should be used) and b) because D-dance sets on non-mega T-tar are gimmicky at best, and you're not going to run a D-dance set with pursuit because you would lack coverage.

Having said that, the point about Kyu-B and the bird check is pretty valid, as is the fact that Ferro might just end up losing momentum. You could solve these both at once by using an offensive Heatran - you don't lose momentum, as it offers solid offensive potential, and you keep rocks and and excellent defensive typing that shuts down most birdspam, especially Talonflame.

I think this is a better idea than using Azelf simply because you don't have a momentum based team that can keep up the early pressure that it provides, as well as the fact that Azelf is very predictable and can often be played around.

This would open up another spare slot on the team, and I have no idea what you'd want to do with that at the moment. I'll put some thought into it if no other good idea comes up. Of course you could always just change Kyu-B to a more standard wallbreaker set. It would definitely be useful to break stuff that irritates the rest of your pokemon.