[OU]-A team built around Shaymin-First RMT!

Hey everyone!

As you can see, I"m pretty new to smogon, and I don't have a lot of competitive battling experience,
but I'm trying to create a nice team to really start out. My lack of experience is the reason why I didn't
include a threat list, and I'm hoping that you guys can point out the flaws and maybe mistakes of this team!
Changes that are made will be in red

So, this is my team at a glance:

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Now a more in-depth look:
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Metagross @ Occa Berry
Nature: Adamant (+Atk / -SpAtk)
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 8 Spe
~Meteor Mash
~Stealth Rock
~Bullet Punch
~Explosion / Fire Punch

Metagross is my lead, because it's got great typing and a high attack stat. I'm not sure about the last move,
but I tend to go for explosion. It's pretty much the standard lead Metagross. I didn't take EQ because there
are already 1 or maybe 2 EQ users in my team and Shaymin has Earth Power.
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Snorlax @ Leftovers
Nature: Careful (+SpDef / -SpAtk)
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 168 HP / 120 Def / 220 SpDef
~Body Slam
~Curse
~Crunch / Earthquake
~Rest

I really like the curselax, because it's a beast. I've used this guy before and he always helped a lot.
I went for body slam over return because of the paralyze chance, and rest is so that snorlax can can
absorb status moves. He's the main defensive pokemon in my team. With EQ, this snorlax is useless against
Gengar and it will be especially dangerous if it carries Focus Punch, so maybe Crunch is the better option here.
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Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
~Surf
~Thunderbolt
~Ice Beam
~Trick

I changed trick Rotom-W for Trick Starmie to get STAB water attack, and the typings of both special sweepers,
Starmie and Shaymin, have good synergy. (Thanks to DrkSlay)
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Infernape @ Life Orb
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
~Close Combat
~Mach Punch
~Fire Punch
~Swords Dance

I kinda made this moveset by mixing some of the smogon movesets. Its like the NP Infernape but instead
of SpAtk it's Atk, so I swapped NP for SD and I changed the EV spread. The team also lacked a rock move,
and Infernape seemed like a good candidate for Stone Edge, mainly to take on Gyarados that switches in.
I don't know if this moveset is any good, since I kinda made it up myself, at least I haven't seen it anywhere,
so I'm not sure if it's any good.

~CHANGE: Overheat is kinda wasted here, it's better to go with Fire Punch, since SD helps to power it up.
Also to have something vs TTar and mainly Scarf ones, Mach Punch was added. I didn't need any SpAtk EVs
anymore so I changed that to full Atk and Spe and made it Jolly nature. (Thanks to DrkSlay)
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Dragonite @ Leftovers
Nature: Adamant (+Atk / -SpAtk)
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 224 HP / 84 Atk / 200 Spe
~Dragon Dance
~Outrage
~Earthquake
~Roost

This is actually the last pokemon that I added to the team. Because the only super effective move
against dragons that I had was HP Ice on Shaymin, a dragon type had to be added to deal with
the massive threat of the other dragon types. I chose Dragonite over Salamence / Flygon because of it's better defences.

~CHANGE: Nite should be a more bulky one, but I would like to keep DD and Roost, any suggestions
on the set? (Thanks to Res Ipsa Loquitur)
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Shaymin @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid (+Spe / -Atk)
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 32 HP / 252 SpAtk / 224 Spe
~Seed Flare
~Earth Power
~Hidden Power Fire
~Rest / Synthesis (?) Any comments on which to pick?

I've tried to make OU teams before, and they always had a weakness to Swampert and Starmie and
other water types. So this time, I started with a grass type to be sure to eliminate this weakness.
Shaymin is chosen over Celebi because of Seed Flare (best move EVAR ), and because Celebi has
more weaknesses. I don't know if Earth Power is really useful, but I wouldn't know what to switch it for.
Maybe I should swap one of the EQs on either Snorlax or Dragonite, I don't know....

~CHANGE: Scarf Shaymin was too predictable, so the Choice Scarf was replaced by a Life Orb,
and HP Fire for steel types. (Thanks to DrkSlay)
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Here is the weakness / resistance thingy from Marriland's team builder.



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SO, that's the team I made up. Of course, I didn't just post it here to show it. If you see any mistakes or
improvements, small or big (I'm sure there are a whole lot), please tell. You'll probably see quite some things
that have to be improved, and I'd really like to get a decent / good team to get my online battling going.
I have (just a little) tested this team, and it worked out pretty nicely, but it were too few battles to take any conclusions.

Thanks all in advance, I hope you guys help me get this team up to a nice level! :nerd:

a scarTTAR will be able to mess you up quite a lot. Pursuit/ Crunch will destroy Rotom and EQ will kill nape, and gross. Stone Edge will take out nite. to a lesser extent, a sub + 3 attack machamp will also destroy you team. Dynamicpunch really hurts gross and basically everyone, because you don't have any lum berry to absorb it. Payback will be dealing 100 damage esp. since rotom is scarfed and stone edge will hurt dragonite. Dynamicpunch also kills snorlax.

Anything that sets up can give you problems, since Snorlax invites them to come in and your team has no Haze or phazing. For example, Breloom can switch into Snorlax, then use Substitute on the switch (or on the sleep). Focus Punch is a OHKO on Snorlax (even at +2), Shaymin, and Infernape. Metagross takes over half from it, then Breloom switches out having lost only 1/8 of its health and gotten its Toxic Orb off. Depending on set, in can also threaten Dragonite and/or Rotom with 2HKOs using other moves like Stone Edge and Seed Bomb.

I could run similar calculations for Lucario, which also threatens much of your team after a Swords Dance. Ditto Togekiss, etc.

One option would be to bulk up your Dragonite and give it Roar. This would solve many of these, since very few things can OHKO Dragonite after just one turn of setup. Ice Punch Lucario can manage it, but that's not all that common. Another option would be Swampert, also with Roar. It could replace Metagross as a lead. If you do replace Metagross, you will need something else to switch in to Draco Meteors. You might replace Rotom-W with Jirachi to do this.

Hey there! It's late, so I don't have time for one of my patented long rates, but since this team uses Shaymin, I just had to do a quick rate. :)

I see little to no reason to have two Scarf users on one team, even if one has the ability to Trick. I personally don't see the benefits (typing wise especially) of having Rotom-H on the team, except the Fighting immunity (Machamp is still a pain anyway, though). May I suggest another Trick user, one who also gets a STAB Water attack?


Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 2 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Nature: Modest
Moveset:
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Trick

Starmie is actually a really nice fit for the team. It draws in Electric and Grass types moves that Shaymin resists, which helps a ton when Shaymin switches in, and Starmie resists the Fire and Ice moves that Shaymin is weak to. Starmie also outspeeds +1 Salamence with a Scarf with a Modest nature, something Rotom OR Shaymin cannot do. It fires off STAB Surfs, and hits the Dragons and Gyarados hard with Super Effective moves. You can opt for Timid over Modest for even more speed against opposing Scarfers, but you might want to then select Hydro Pump to compensate for the power loss. You should test both and see which is more beneficial.

Yes, you guessed it: I'm going to recommend that you un-Scarf Shaymin. While it's tempting to abuse Base 100 Speed with a Scarf, Shaymin's movepool is rather predictable, and locking Shaymin into one move will make switching into it rather easy. Shaymin isn't frail, but it won't like constantly switching into attacks to have its move completely walled. Having personal experience with Shaymin, offensive specifically, I personally believe that this is the best Shaymin for this team:


Shaymin @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 32 HP/252 SpA/224 Spe
Nature: Timid
Moveset:
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- HP Fire
- Rest/Synthesis

Out-speeding Positive Base 95 Pokemon is nothing to sneeze at, after all. The Life Orb will greatly be appreciated, boosting Shaymin's Seed Flare and cover moves to astronomical proportions after a -2 SpD drop. Note that while Celebi is the ultimate Scizor bait, Shaymin is the ultimate Heatran bait. Earth Power catches Heatran switch-ins off guard for OHKO's, which is huge. Usually, I recommend HP Ice to KO the Dragons, but since this team has two Pokemon (assuming you adopt Starmie) that easily deal with these threats, HP Fire will be handy against the Steels that would wall this set, including Scizor, Forretress, and Skarmory. These three give your team some slight troubles anyway, so HP Fire will be appreciated. Rest is the primary option, to abuse Natural Cure. However, if your team cannot afford the switching, Synthesis is a decent option. Note that, with all the Latias running around, TTar has become a staple on most teams, making Synthesis less useful. It still has merit, though (I personally use it still).

A few more nitpicks:

I like the direction in which you took Infernape, but it seems extremely impractical. What are you hitting hard with Overheat that a +2 Fire Punch won't? Heck, a +2 Fire Punch will OHKO Skarmory after SR, for goodness sake. Since this team is overall weak to ScarfTar and Lucario, I recommend a spread of 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe with a Jolly nature and Life Orb, and the moveset Close Combat/Fire Punch/Mach Punch/Swords Dance. You will lose a Rock move, but with SR down and a good number of Dragon/Flying counters on the team, Infernape can shine with Mach Punch, which OHKO's TTar, Lucario, Heatran, and the rare Dugtrio after SR damage. The Pokemon that give SDInfernape trouble generally fear Shaymin, which is a huge plus for this kind of moveset anyway.

Hope this helps!

Okay guys, thanks a lot for the feedback so far. I hadn't noticed the TTar weakness at all, good thing you guys pointed it out and I understand most of the flaws you pointed out. I'll be making changes now based on the comments =).

I'm just going to do a quick nitpick here. Change Shaymin's EVs to 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe and give it Hidden Power Ice. The ability to tie with other Base 100s is huge. I know you have a ScarfMie already, but HP Fire Shaymin is the biggest Latias and Salamence magnet ever. Scizor is 2HKO'd with Earth Power after 2 SR switch-ins anyway. Life Orb HP is nice, but Speed is more important.

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