First Ever OU Team

[tnoc2]

So I'm new into competitive pokemon. When I started my new job, I was surprised so many people played. Not only did they play Pokemon, but they played competitively! I soon learned the ins and outs of EV training, types, ect. Here is my first team that I have put together. I'd like to know what you all think about it, as well as if you had any suggestions.



Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252 Speed/252 Special Attack/4 Special Defense
Naive Nature (+Speed/-SpAtt)
-Stealth Rock
-Psychic
-Taunt
-Explosion

Azelf primarily comes out and sets up Stealth Rock. If I just hang on with my focus sash, I usually come back with explosion. Taunt stops others from setting up on me, and psychic is to pack a punch thanks to Azelf's high special attack.



Volcarona (F) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EV's: 160 HP/252 Special Attack/96 Speed
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Attack)
-Psychic
-Bug Buzz
-Fiery Dance
-Quiver Dance

Volcarona (or Mothra as I've nicknamed her) is my favorite Pokemon on this team. It regularly gives my friends problems, and if it gets just one Quiver Dance in, he can sweep through a team. Fiery Dance is a solid move with STAB, and with a chance to have Special Attack raised, becomes an even more solid move. Bug Buzz also has STAB, and with one quiver dance, a STAB Bug Buzz can take out a Cresselia with a OHKO. The Lum Berry is used because I've had friends recently try and paralyze Volcarona to stop his sweeping abilities.



Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EV's: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature (+Attack,-Sp.Att)
-U-Turn
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Quick Attack

Scizor is my revenge killer. He can come out and clean up on anybody, and his U-Turn, Bullet Punch, and Quick attack with his technician ability and choice band actually pack a good punch.



Ferrothorn (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EV's: 252 HP / 48 Atk / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature (+SpDef,-Speed)
-Spikes
-Leech Seed
-Power Whip
-Protect

This guy is unreal. My favorite wall, has 361 Defense and 341 Special Defense at level 100. He can cripple attackers with his iron barbs and rocky helmet, and once Leech seed is down, good luck taking him out unless you have a fire type move.



Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Speed, -Attack)
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Rapid Spin

Starmie is very important to my team. The reason being, he can get rid of Stealth Rock with Rapid Spin which is really harmful to Volcarona. Starmie is quite fast, and is able to get an Ice Beam on Dragon types. Thunderbolt comes in handy, as my friends do not expect him to have it.



Cofagrigus (M) @ Ghost Gem
Ability: Mummy
EV's:252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Bold Nature (+Defense, -Attack)
-Calm Mind
-Shadow Ball
-Will-O-Wisp
-Haze

Cofagrigus is new to my team, which I originally made due to an annoying Dream World Bibarel that a buddy had (Mummy removes his ability). Lately, I have been using him thanks to his great defense and Will-O-Wisp. He has fared relatively well for me recently, and has squeaked his way onto my team. Sometimes I replace him with Hippowdon for similar defense, or Dragonite/Machamp if I want to be more offensive.



Let me know what you think! Keep in mind this is my first team I have ever put together, and also my first team posting to Smogon. Thanks!

[Honus]

Hey I saw no one rated your team and figured I would. This team actually has a lot of potential on the surface, I feel like you could just make some changes so that it can perform better. I think you could replace Azelf with a Calm Mind Espeon because Starmie is easily beaten down thanks to the fact that it takes Life Orb damage and lacks Recover, so it would be easier for an opponent to lay hazards after it's dead, thus hindering Volcarona's sweep and spelling doom for your team. Espeon makes it substantially harder for Volcarona to get up a sweep with its ability Magic Bounce, which can keep hazards off of the field. I think you can take a few more steps to facilitate a Volcarona sweep as well. For one thing you should give Volcarona Rest over Psychic, which allows it to absolve of any damage it has taken and recover without having to sleep thanks to your Lum Berry, essentially buying you extra time to boost. This is extremely useful for getting past special walls like Blissey which you need multiple boosts to beat. I also suggest throwing Pursuit on Scizor over Quick Attack, again Volcarona sweeping is the main goal of this team and Scizor is able to trap one of its biggest counters in Blissey, as well as many other Pokemon with Pursuit. Heatran is another one of Volcarona's counters that you'd need to take out for it to sweep, and I think putting Bulldoze on Ferrothorn to lure it in and greatly damage Heatran would be a beneficial option for this team as damaging Heatran with a 4x supereffective move will make it easier for Volcarona to take it out and sweep. Finally I think you should use Leftovers as the item on Cofagrigus to increase its longevity.


Espeon @ Light Clay / Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 104 HP / 152 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Reflect
- Light Screen

Change Summary:

Volcarona:
Rest-> Psychic

Scizor:
Pursuit-> Quick Attack

Ferrothorn:
Bulldoze-> Protect

Cofagrigus:
Ghost Gem-> Leftovers

[tnoc2]

I think I'm going to give that Espeon a try. I've actually thought of making a dual screen Espeon, but I was always afraid of being set up on. That was before I just found out about his amazing new dream world ability!

As for confagrigus, the ghost gem was just a fill in because I didn't know which item to put, but Leftovers makes more sense.

While the idea to protect against Heatran by putting bulldoze on Ferrothorn makes sense, luckily the only people I battle are the 10 people at work, and remarkably I have yet to see a Heatran from any of them. Perhaps I should invest some time to make one myself :)

Also, Pursuit for Quick Attack is a good fix, as I have a lack of dark moves and there is no need for double priority moves on Scizor.

Thanks for checking out my team!

[Honus]

Originally Posted by Fat tnoc2

I think I'm going to give that Espeon a try. I've actually thought of making a dual screen Espeon, but I was always afraid of being set up on. That was before I just found out about his amazing new dream world ability!

As for confagrigus, the ghost gem was just a fill in because I didn't know which item to put, but Leftovers makes more sense.

While the idea to protect against Heatran by putting bulldoze on Ferrothorn makes sense, luckily the only people I battle are the 10 people at work, and remarkably I have yet to see a Heatran from any of them. Perhaps I should invest some time to make one myself :)

Also, Pursuit for Quick Attack is a good fix, as I have a lack of dark moves and there is no need for double priority moves on Scizor.

Thanks for checking out my team!

No problem, Bulldoze on Ferrothorn is probably the most liberal/gimmicky of my suggestions as its not standard and can come in useful too, but it can definitely prove to be a helpful tool for helping Volcarona achieve a sweep.

[Rwhite84]

Try Hidden Power [Ground] > Psychic on volcorona, psychic adds limited coverage where as HP ground helps you out with fire types noteably heatran