SM OU PORY-Z.exe

[JustoonSmitts]

This banner was created by myself.
​

OU is no doubt, a fierce metagame at the moment. I have the most fun playing when I use Pokemon that are often unexpected, using borderline and UU Pokemon to mix things up a little. Porygon-Z got one of the biggest buffs imaginable thanks to Z-Conversion acting as a psuedo-Protean and gaining +1 in all of its stats. I don't see it very often on the ladder which is why I wanted to try and make a team for it. So far it's performed excellently for me and I wanted to share my process and possibly learn from the more seasoned veterans.

Team Building Process

The team started with the glitched robo-rubber duckie, Porygon-Z. It's a pretty underrated wallbreaker and late game cleaner in my book.

Porygon-Z has trouble with Choice Scarf Pokemon like Tapu Lele, so the best partner I could think of to combat them was Mega Metagross. It nails Tapu Lele and can punish switchers with Pursuit.

The next problems I faced were the possibilities of hazards, status, and phasers. Tapu Lele was brought on thanks to being able to outpace and Taunt most walls and hazard stackers, Defog them away, and being immune to status thanks to Misty Terrain.

Next was getting hazards of my own so that Porygon-Z has an easier time sweeping. Landorus-Therian is the most reliable Stealth Rocker in my opinion and fits with the offensive nature of Porygon-Z. A slow U-turn also gives momentum.

Porygon-Z has a problem with priority users, so Tapu Lele was brought in to set up Psychic Terrain, making the team immune to priority.

I needed a reliable answer to Chansey and other stall 'mons. I initially had Banded Tyranitar for the Suspect Test, but I quickly replaced it with Dugtrio once the results were in. It traps and revenge kills a lot of Pokemon I can't normally touch.

While the team was fairy balanced and I thought it was good, there were some notable flaws such as dealing with Ferrothorn and Ash-Greninja. As good as Dugtrio is, mixed Scarfed Garchomp provided more power and a better answer to both of these Pokemon. So to deal with stall better, Tapu Lele was instead a stallbreaking Calm Minder That proved to be even better than Dugtrio at dealing with Chansey. Also, HP Ground has been replaced with Recover on Porygon-Z, since I have reliable answers to Magnezone and Heatran in Garchomp. I want to give special thanks to Lord Wallace for the advice.

Lord Wallace also suggested that I try Spikes Greninja to have a stronger offensive presence.

The Team​

PORY-Z.exe (Porygon-Z) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Conversion

Z-Conversion is the tool that lets Porygon-Z become a powerful wallbreaker thanks to gaining +1 in every stat except HP, changing its type to the type of the first move it has, and Adaptability multiplies STAB by 2 instead of 1.5. The BoltBeam combo is an excellent STAB combination that nails almost everything in OU for neutral damage and Electric is neutral to priority and immune to the crippling Thunder Wave. Recover is for keeping it healthy so it can continue to sweep.

Megatron (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt

Mega Metagross makes a great partner for Porygon-Z since it can really do damage to Mega Venusaur and deal with Choice Scarf Pokemon, something Porygon-Z can't do. Meteor Mash is for STAB and getting a nice attack boost. Earthquake is for any Fire or Steel-type that switches in. Zen Headbutt deals with Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss. Bullet Punch is purely for speed control and dealing with Pheromosa, a huge threat otherwise to this team.

Kermit (Greninja) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Gunk Shot

Spikes Greninja is a Pokemon I don't see very often but it does put a lot of pressure on Tapu Fini thanks to Protean Gunk Shot, which my team appreciates. Spikes can also catch any slower Electric user off guard by absorbing Volt Switches and Thunderbolts. Ice Beam is a great attack alongside Hydro Pump, giving it pretty good neutral coverage and a way of denting Steel-types relatively okay.

Shere Khan (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Ah, David Bowie's tiger. Landorus-Therian is a great partner for Porygon-Z since not only is it bulky, it fits with the offensive nature of my MVP. This is the most reliable Stealth Rocker in the game thanks to Intimidate increasing its physical bulk and a slow U-turn for momentum. Earthquake is its STAB of choice. Hidden Power Ice deters any Dragon Dance sweeper, Dugtrio, or rival Landorus-Therian.

Tapu Snuggie (Tapu Lele) @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast

Tapu Lele is a great priority controller that also works as a stallbreaker. Argueably better than when I had Dugtrio. It's a simple set to use: Calm Mind once or twice and then start denting opposing walls. Psyshock is ideal for Chansey and any other specially defensive Pokemon. Moonblast is its second STAB of choice and deals with Dragon, Fighting, and Dark types. Focus Blast is for any Steel type that comes in like Ferrothorn.

• +1 252+ SpA Tapu Lele Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 328-388 (93.1 - 110.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
• +1 252+ SpA Twisted Spoon Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 4 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 513-604 (79.9 - 94%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes

Jawsasaurus (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast

After playing with it, mixed Scarfed Garchomp proved to be a reliable revenge killer.

Team Problems

This team might have trouble dealing with this monster should I lose Landorus-Therian or Garchomp somehow. I need to play mind games against this thing should I come across it.

Rival Protean and Ash-Greninja can be a problem should I lose both or not get set up with Porygon-Z. I often have to sack something to combat it.

• Entry hazards are this teams biggest nightmare. Should you opt to replace Greninja with Tapu Fini, it's not as big a problem.
• Since the team isn't especially bulky, powerful setup sweepers or choiced Pokemon can be a problem.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-538909501
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-538916702
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-538914919
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-539957116
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-540313380
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-540831944
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-540919849

Conclusion​

This team isn't perfect but it has served me well on the ladder. I love Porygon-Z and I'm glad I found the best team I could make for it. Any comments or criticisms are welcome as this is the third (and probably best) team I've made and I want to get better at it. Thank you for reading and I hope you have fun using the team.

Original Importable

PORY-Z.exe (Porygon-Z) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Conversion

Megatron (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Pursuit
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt

Tapu Fogi (Tapu Fini) @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Nature's Madness
- Moonblast
- Defog

Shere Khan (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Tapu Lolz (Tapu Lele) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Holy Moley (Dugtrio) @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aerial Ace
- Sucker Punch

New Importable

PORY-Z.exe (Porygon-Z) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Conversion

Megatron (Metagross-Mega) @ Metagrossite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Earthquake
- Zen Headbutt

Jawsasaurus (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Fire Blast

Shere Khan (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Tapu Snuggie (Tapu Lele) @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast

Kermit (Greninja) @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Gunk Shot

Special thanks to Lord Wallace.

 

[readytolose]

Hi friend. First off I'd like to say that I love the artwork, it's super cute. The team itself looks really stable too, but I have some ideas that could make it better.

Tapu Fini > Mantine

Mantine is much less used than Tapu Fini but I think Mantine could be a good fit for your team. It checks some of the threats your team has trouble with. Compared to Tapu Fini, it has a much better matchup against Protean Greninja, since it can easily take special attacks as well as Gunk Shot, and it only falls to the uncommon HP Electric. Although it struggles to switch in if Rocks are up, it doesn't outright lose like Tapu Fini does. It also takes Charizard-Y's attacks relatively well, sponging a Fire Blast and healing back up. The Ferrothorn matchup is still kind of rough but if it lacks Power Whip, it can outlast it with Roost, taking Gyro Balls and Leech Seed while fishing for burns with Scald. It can Defog too, which is nice. Haze is crucial to prevent Volcarona from having too much fun; incidentally, you are incredibly weak to Volcarona. The general longevity offered by Roost and the ability to wear things down with Scald burns lets you defeat some passive mons that otherwise check much of your team, like Bronzong, Mega Scizor, and Celesteela. A set like this could work:

Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Roost
- Defog
- Haze

4 Atk Life Orb Protean Greninja Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mantine: 146-173 (39 - 46.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mantine: 121-144 (32.3 - 38.5%) -- 2.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mantine in Sun: 117-138 (31.2 - 36.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Charizard-Mega-Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mantine: 113-134 (30.2 - 35.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery


Earthquake > Hammer Arm

Putting Hammer Arm over Earthquake on Metagross allows you to deal with Ferrothorn easier, which still hitting Heatran and Excadrill super effectively. Although you forfeit your matchup against Mega Charizard-X, Mega Metagross, and Jirachi, ideally you can check those with Landorus-T or trap them with Dugtrio anyways. Alolan Marowak is a stumbling point too, but with HP Ground on Porygon-Z it's not going to be stopping your sweep. Hammer Arm deals more to Bronzong, Celesteela, and ruins anyone foolish enough to switch directly into Greninja. Most of the missed targets are picked up by the other Ground moves on your team, and being able to weaken Ferrothorn which can hamper Porygon-Z is crucial.

Aerial Ace > Memento

Aerial Ace is probably the most expendable move on Dugtrio's moveset. It doesn't actually hit Amoonguss or Venusaur harder than Earthquake does, since they have a neutrality to Ground moves. The main target inimical to a Porygon-Z sweep that Aerial Ace hits is Tangrowth, but it only does about 36% to the Assault Vest set meaning that it's oftentimes useless in practice. Memento is a much more solid option that synergizes perfectly with Porygon-Z, granting it a setup opportunity against something it normally wouldn't be able to, and is a great use of Dugtrio if it has already trapped all the threats it needs to. Being able to come in on something and weaken it without it potentially switching out is incredibly useful.

I hope you like the changes I suggested :) best of luck, traveler

 

[MFJK]

Hello ArtistSmeargle1991, you have a really solid teams which just has a few weaknesses. The main weakness I can find with your team, is the weakness to Pheromosa which can use U-Turn on everything on your team and revenge kill Porygon-Z and use Poison Jab when you switch in your Tapu Fini. Stall is also hard to face even with CB Dugtrio which doesn't 2HKO Chansey with Earthquake. However, you have Pursuit M-Metagross which can weaken it but it's weak to Skarmory and M-Sableye and the combination of those three really annoy your team. M-Scizor is also a huge threat to your team because it can get the momentum with U-Turn and setup on M-Metagross and Landorus-T since it doesn't have HP Fire.

Ghost over Electric : Since your team has troubles against Pheromosa and Chansey, I would suggest you to run Ghost Porygon with Shadow Ball/HP Fighting/Nasty Plot/Conversion. With the Ghost type, you are immuned to Pheromosa's High Jump Kick and to Chansey's Seismic Toss. U-Turn doesn't do many damages on Porygon-Z (around 22%) and Ice Beam has a low chance to 3HKO it (Ice Beam also does it with the Electric one but I just wanted to say that). Nasty Plot and HP Fighting are here to do a lot of damage to Chansey and Tyranitar and Bulkier Teams in general. Even though Chansey can Toxic you, if you have weakened it enough you can kil it.

AV

> Scarf

AV Magnezone over Scarf Tapu Lele : AV Magnezone gives you a reliable check to M-Scizor and Skarmory because it can trap them as well as a pokemon able to take hits from Tapu Lele, Greninja and Tapu Koko. It also gives you another slow Volt Switch to bring your other pokemons easier. Tapu Lele was covering your lack of speed but it has made your team very weak to Steel Types like M-Scizor and Skarmory. M-Scizor can Stall out the Psychic Terrain turns with Roost and KO you with Bullet Punch. Skarmory (SpDef) can even stup its Entry Hazards since its only 3HKOed by HP Fire. With Magnezone, you can definitely eliminate them. You use Thunderbolt/Volt Switch/Flash Cannon/HP Fire with a 128 HP/252 SpA/128 Spe spread with a Modest Nature or a Bulkier Spread of 252 HP/4 Def/252 SpA with the same Nature.

For the last changes, you have two options :

1-

Scarf > Band

Pursuit : Scarf Dugtrio helps to cover the lack of speed created by the replacement of Scarf Tapu Lele. With it, you can Revenge Kill +1 Volcarona and +1 M-Charizard X. With its speed, it can use Memento without many problem since it will be faster than the opponent most of the time, allowing to Porygon-Z to setup more easily. With Earthquake/Stone Edge/Aerial Ace/Memento it has the nacessary coverage to Revenge Kill what it has to, and, as I said Memento to allow to Porygon-Z to setup more easily. You already have Pursuit on M-Metagross but I just want to say that it works particulary well with Scarf Dugtrio.

2-

Screech Sash > Band

Bullet Punch : Screech Sash Dugtrio is an option to be sure to eliminate Chansey and Tyranitar for Porygon-Z's sweep. If you choose it, Bullet Punch M-Metagross gives you a strong priority to "cover" the lack of speed. Screech Sash Dugtrio can still Revenge Kill Volcarona and M-Charizard X if its Focus Sash is intact. You use Earthquake/Reversal/Screech/Memento

I hope this rate will help you. Good Luck ^_^

 

[Lord Wallace]

I kind of see what you're going for with this team, but in order for Pory-Z to have any credible chance of sweeping Tapu Lele shouldn't be your first choice as a revenge killer / offense killer, if anything Lele should be your choice to kill stall instead of having to dedicate a slot solely to Dugtrio.....to....not kill Heatran because you have HP Ground? Basically what I'm trying to say is there's better options for Chansey killing than Dugtrio and you can use that slot for better purposes.

Anyway, what you could do is have Scarf Garchomp > Dugtrio and Stallbreaker Tapu Lele > Scarf Lele

For your particular team I'd recommend the CM version of that particular Lele set to beat down stall from the get go to set up Porygon for the sweep, and it'll still hit hard without boosts versus more offensive teams, which we're going to address with Scarf Garchomp, a mon you can use to revenge kill stuff like Protean Ninja (baiting Gunk Shot with Fini gives Chomp a free switch in) which currently messes you up pretty badly, and checks things like Pheromosa, +1 Volcarona and +1 Gyarados.
I pretty much made this exact suggestion on another team but you can feel free to run Naive Fire Blast on this Chomp to lure in the likes of Ferrothorn and Skarm and 2HKO each if you want to. This gives you an answer to Zard Y to an extent too.

I'd also drop HP Ground from Porygon entirely and just use Recover for longevity since you'll be reasonably bulky at +1/+1, and will be able to heal off cumbersome residual damage that may otherwise cut your sweep short ranging from hazards, weather, status, etc. and will just grant more utility than HP Ground in general, which doesn't even hit Tyranitar harder than Tbolt and Magnezone can't really touch you once you Z-Conversion and takes a ton from +1 Adaptability Bolt anyway. Heatrans are mostly offensive these days so they drop to TBolt too and you have Tran pretty much covered especially if you take my Garchomp suggestion.

This next suggestion is kind of optional but considering how offensive this team is already, it may be optimal to replace Tapu Fini as well with Protean Spikes Greninja and just have Landorus-T as your blanket check to stuff. The reason being is that even at +1 Porygon-Z still just doesn't kill everything except on the most hyper offensive teams, but that can be fixed with some valuable Spikes support. Additionally, you can run HP Fire on it to lure in and eliminate Ferrothorn and beat Scizor 1v1, relieving a lot of pressure your team undergoes having to deal with them, as well as clearing up that moveslot on Garchomp in exchange for Dragon Claw for consistency or Poison Jab for Tapus. Gunk Shot on Protean Greninja also deals considerable damage to Chansey and is one of the most consistent ways of getting up hazards against stall in general due to Sableye not taking Life Orb Hydros very well, and gives you another relatively fast threat at your disposal to combat opposing offense teams. You also aren't particularly weak to hazards so Defog isn't truly mandatory.
However, replacing Fini does open you up somewhat to threats like Pheromosa and Battle Bond Ninja so in the end choosing to implement this change just kind of comes down to your playstyle (whether you wanna focus on tearing down Pokemon that keep you from sweeping or defend from opposing threats) but I'd recommend being more aggressive if you're gonna try and use P-Z.

So in summary:
Scarf Chomp > Duggy
CM Tapu Lele > Scarf Tapu Lele
Recover > HP Ground on Porygon-Z
(optional) Spikes Greninja > Tapu Fini

Sets:

Hide

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly or Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Claw / Fire Blast

Tapu Lele @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid or Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast / Hidden Power [Fire]

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump / Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot

 

[JustoonSmitts]

Thank you so much for the advice, everyone. After testing everyone's suggestions, I found Lord Wallace's additions the most useful. So I updated the team page and I'll update the banner later. Thank you, everyone. :)