Who knew a lawnmower could do this? (OU)

After the release of the May Server Stats, I decided to create a team that can counter most of OU's major threats. A difficult task, even I admit, especially with the prevelence of Stealth Rock to damage switch-ins.

Changes from the Original are in Red

Well, after much thinking, I came across a lead that can defeat ALL of the 'Big 12' leads, with these 12 combined having 50% of the total lead useage.

The Anti-Lead

Modest Nature
Choice Specs
252 Sp.A / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Thunderbolt
Trick
Shadow Ball
Leaf Storm

I calculated damage on all of the standard lead sets for the 'big 12' barring Ninjask, who is OHKO'ed by most things, and has Sash anyway, and the results were pleasing. Please note that these are in useage order.

Metagross: Thunderbolt = 66.76% - 78.57% (Outsped)
Azelf: Thunderbolt = 192.72% - 226.44% (Sashed, but can't 2HKO)
Swampert: Leaf Storm = 237.16% - 279.05% (Outsped)
Jirachi: Thunderbolt = 58.53% - 68.77%
Aerodactyl: Thunderbolt = 186.75% - 219.54% (Sashed, but can't 2HKO)
Infernape: Thunderbolt = 100.34% - 118.09%
Hippowodon: Leaf Storm = 110.24% - 129.76% (Outsped)
Ninjask: Thunderbolt = 2HKO due to Sash
Bronzong: Thunderbolt = 53.85% - 63.31% (Outsped)
Tyranitar: Leaf Storm = 91.27% - 107.23% (Outsped)
Heatran: Thunderbolt = 65.43% - 77.16% (Outsped without + Speed)
Abomasnow: Shadow Ball = 66.98% - 78.82% (Outsped)

As you can see, only Metagross, Jirachi, Heatran, Abomasnow and Bronzong are not OHKO'ed (Tyranitar CAN live), and of these, only Heatran and Abomasnow can do anything significant back, unless Jirachi flinchaxes it's way past. Rotom is immune to Explosion, that so many Suicide leads carry, and also Fighting types, and EQ. Rotom is bulky enough to take a hit or two with it's inferior speed, barring possibly Tyranitar, and KO the lead back, especially as most will either set up rocks, or switch. In the event of a switch, anything that is not a Ground type will take a heavy blow from Thunderbolt, those who are not Normals will be hurt by Shadow Ball, and Leaf Storm brings the pain on almost anything else not with a X4 resist.

Bronzong, although a possible 3HKO due to lefties, can hardly scratch Rotom, due to it's low speed, and resistance to Gyro Ball, and Immunity to Explosion and Earthquake. Same with Metagross's Meteor Mashes.

Basically, Rotom can stop about half of the common leads from setting up Rocks, and score a OHKO on half of them as well.

I then thought about Rotom's common switch-ins. Normal types to cushion Shadow Balls, Steels for Leaf Storms and Shadow Balls. Which pokemon can take both of those types on...


Mild Nature
Life Orb
64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Flamethrower
Close Combat
Hidden Power Ice
Grass Knot

Yep, it's a Specially Based MixApe! Not only great for cracking stall teams wide open, and killing Scizors, non-scarfed Heatrans, Skarmbliss, ect, but also great for dealing with Rotom Counters! The likes of Snorlax and Blissy will run away at the sight of this thing, as will most Steel Types. In come the dragons or Bulky Waters, to be Knotted or HP Iced as I need.

Mild is chosen because Infernape's main physical threat is Earthquake, something that can be sponged by Rotom, or other flyers on my team.


Timid Nature
Leftovers
Natural Cure
136 HP / 156 Sp.A / 216 Spe

Rapid Spin
Surf
Thunderbolt
Recover

A Spinner Starmie... or is it? Sure, Starmie does Spin, it's arguably the best in OU at that job. However, Starmie also rids of those pesky Ground Types who just want to come in on Rotom's predicted Thunderbolts at the start of the game. Surf deals with most of them. Recover helps with general bulkyness, and allows multiple switch-ins on things that are forced out, with Starmie being able to take the switch-in attack, and recover on the switch-out of it's foe. Spin clears the way for my lategame sweepers. Starmie also plays the role of drawing Electric Attacks in the Midgame...


Naughty Nature
Choice Scarf
80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe

Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Blast
U-Turn

Scarfgon loves to come in on an Electric Attack, free switch-in, after all, and the Electric type goes running to something that flys. If I know that there is something like Bronzong on their team, Fire Blast shall be the option. Earthquake is for when I KNOW that there are no flyers. Outrage is for when I expect something like a Salamance, or, I come in on a locked Dragon, outspeed, and OHKO. U-Turn is for scouting, after all, if I don't know what's coming, I can't select any move. Fire/Dragon/Ground is unresisted. Naughty over Adamant because I'm using Fire Blast.


Bold Nature
Trace
Leftovers
252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA

Thunderbolt
Ice Beam
Recover
Thunder Wave

Porygon 2 fits it's description in the 'defensive duck' section of it's suggestions. Heatran, Salamance, Jolteon, Garados, Vaporeon, Electrivire, Magnezone, Gengar (To some extent), the list goes on and on of the pokemon Porygon 2 can counter. It takes little short of a Fighting-Type Attack to OHKO this thing, and Recover and Thunder Wave make it very hard to KO unless it's done in one Hit. For this role of 'Garados and Jolteon counter' I had to choose between Gardevoir giving me another Ghost Weakness, or this little guy, giving me a Ghost Immunity.

Basically, as well as countering several big names, this guy provides good synergy, and support.


Bold Nature
Leftovers
252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe

Thunderbolt
Heat Wave
Roost
Hidden Power Grass


Zapdos provides one of the best checks against most Steel and bulky-water pokemon, while filling a unique niche as a 'Bulky Electric' with a reliable recovery move, namly Roost. Zapdos is a threat in terms of power in it's own right, and I often save Zapdos for when I need it, and Stealth Rock is ridden, or, for the late-game, leaving my foes blissfully unaware of this monster lurking in my team. Fire+Grass+Electric is a rather good attacking combination, with very few pokemon resisting the entire combination, namly Latias, Latios, and the Pure Dragons (All of which are NFE). Zapdos is very hard to stop when Porygon 2 has spread Thunder Waves, and Rotom/Starmie have killed Ground/Rock types.


So, what do you think?

One small thing. I believe that Recover may be your best option on Starmie over either Thunderbolt or Ice Beam. Here's why -

P2 is already running bolt/beam. Porygon 2 also handles two huge main threats (Salamence and Gyarados) easily with this moveset. Starmie is a common spinner, and you will find that ghosts are incessant in today's metagame - Recovering off entry hazards or resisted switch-in's is crucial to Starmie's effectiveness and survival. I actually recommend that you lose Ice Beam, as you are otherwise completely walled by Vaporeon with just Surf and Ice Beam.

Hello, here's what I have to say about your team.

As I look at your team as a whole, it seems like you have a pretty big SD Lucario weakness. Zapdos is one of the best Lucario counters, but with the EVs you run, it won't be able to take in a Life Orb boosted ExtremeSpeed with Stealth Rock in play, doing 87-103% damage assuming the Lucario is running max Attack with a +Attack nature.

If you would like to solve this problem, I suggest that you change your Zapdos into a more defensively oriented version.

Zapdos @ Leftovers l Pressure
Bold nature l 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Roost / Thunderbolt / Heat Wave / Hidden Power Grass

This way, you are able to take on Lucario's ExtremeSpeed as it will do 47-55% damage and OHKO Lucario back with Heat Wave. Thunderbolt is obviously used as a STAB move, but you can use Discharge if you want that paralysis chance. Hidden Power Grass is recommended to surprise Swampert switch-ins, and can help against bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon. Also, once Infernape is gone, CursePert can be of some trouble since you have nothing powerful enough to threaten it, so that gives you more of a push to use Hidden Power Grass.

Now, adding Zapdos won't necessarily solve your Lucario weakness, since once it's gone, Lucario can come in again and attempt to sweep. You have to make sure that Zapdos is kept healthy until your opponent has lost its Lucario. But if you want to make sure that Lucario will have a hard time sweeping your team, I suggest changing your Rotom to Rotom-h and use a Choice Scarf version to use it as a revenge-killer instead of a lead. This allows you to switch into a Close Combat and hit Lucario with a powerful Overheat. This way, Lucario will have some trouble sweeping your team. The set is:

Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf l Levitate
Timid nature l 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Trick / Shadow Ball / Thunderbolt / Overheat

Since you might be replacing your Rotom lead, you can try using the standard LeadApe.

Infernape @ Focus Sash l Blaze
Naive l 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Fake Out / Stealth Rock / Fire Blast / Close Combat

You can really benefit from having a Stealth Rock user, and Infernape is almost always guaranteed to have Stealth Rock set up. Fake Out beats up Sashed leads like Aerodactyl and Azelf, and Fire Blast and Close Combat are perfect STAB attacks.

I think that's enough for me to say, sorry for the long post. I know this will be changing your team a lot, but I hope you take these into consideration.

An alternative to swapping Rotom-C for Rotom-H (which seems to go against the premise of this particular lead) and making Infernape the lead, if you still want to deal with SD Luke, is to replace Flygon with a Gliscor.

Gliscor @ Leftovers l Hyper Cutter
Jolly l 252 HP | 40 Atk / 216 Spe
Swords Dance / Roost / Earthquake / Stone Edge

You're not losing much in the way of coverage when swapping Flygon for Gliscor since you already have multiple ice-type moves for dragons that Outrage would hit, and both Infernape and Zapdos have fire-type moves of their own. If you find that you're not setting up Swords Dance often, you can swap it for Aerial Ace to hit the occasional Heracross and Machamp, or Stealth Rock which your team lacks at the moment. As it is, an unboosted Earthquake is a guaranteed OHKO on Lucario anyway.

Thanks for the Suggestions.

Changes to be made:

EV changes to Zapdos, and HP Change to Grass.

Swapping Ice Beam for Recover on Starmie.

However, I would like to point out that Lucario will have trouble setting up on my team. I cannot set on on Infernape, or be OHKO'ed, and the same applies to Zapdos. Starmie takes a large chunk out of it as well, and Flygon is more than capable of doing so too, with Earthquake or Fire Blast. Only Rotom and Porygon can be set-up on. Thanks for the pointers, however, and I will take them into consideration.

I might try Gliscor over Flygon, or consider a different SR user altogether. I'll weigh up the options and test Gliscor out.

Rotom is working wonders for me right now, getting a KO a game usually at least. Rotom also is not a suicide lead. It's often recalled, to hit hard later in the game with Super-Effective Specs Attacks. As mentioned, the Top 12 leads are all countered by this little lawnmower.