Approved by Harsha and Pocket, credit to DittoCrow for the original idea.
OU Team Building
By Asek, Huntofthelion, and Novaray
Do you ever see something on ladder and stare in amazement at your opponent for using it? Do you know a great niche Pokemon that isn't seeing enough usage? Are you tired of these two baffling scenarios?
If so welcome to the OU Team Building thread! The aim of this project is to help newer players know what is, and isn't, viable to use on their OU teams. We want you guys to post sets that function well, or not so well, in the current OU metagame and explain why they do or don't succeed. This project is all about discussing which pokemon are good at all the "roles" there are in OU. From Physical Sweepers to Hazard setters, we're looking to find what pokemon are good at doing the job. Considering the usage stats, new players maybe confused as to what is good to use in the tier.
That's where you guys come in! By posting your favorite sets with a quick little description you can help save new users everywhere from using some of that more terrible sets, as well as helping them fill out their team by giving them a quick list of what fills different roles. Also feel free to post sets that people should not be using, yet still do. Remember however this is not the place to post over specialized / gimmick sets. Those sets belong in one of the creative move-set threads located in the OU sub-forum.
Other users can then comment on the set and discuss if it should be placed on the good or bad side of the fence. Discussion on sets is encouraged so don't worry about jumping in and offering your input on a posted set! If a pokemon fits under more than 1 category list the job it is geared towards the most first followed by the other roles it can perform with the same set. This is a great way for you people new to OU to see what are good additions to your teams so check in regularly to see which pokemon work so you can improve your team building skills!
Now as if having fun posting sets wasn't enough incentive for you we'll be using a point system. For every set you contribute you will be awarded two points, and for every quality discussion post based on a previously posted set. The user with the most points at the end of this project will receive a cool custom title to show off. This project is also a great way to get noticed for that super cool Community Contributor badge that everyone wants, or if you already have it you can work towards keeping it, so don't feel like you need to be the winner to win!
This is what we'd like your posts providing sets to look like, and remember to export the set from a simulator so it's easily importable!
Quote:
[SET]
Role: Special Wall, Rapid Spinner, Physical Wall, Wallbreaker, Physical Sweeper, Special Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner, Hazard User, Revenge Killer, Bulky Attacker, Tank, Lure, Mixed Attacker, Support (weather support...) etc.
What It Does: mention what it counters and why it is good at its role OR say why it's bad if you're purposely posting something not to use
What It Does: With the release of Technician, Breloom began to shine even more.
His main selling point over other sweepers, is his access to maybe, the best move in the entire game : Spore. This 100% accuracy sleeping move, given the new sleeping mechanism and the fast paced metagame, can be compared to a killing move. Moreover, with Low Sweep you cripple the pokemon switching in, and with Sword Dance you put the enemy is a tough situation if he doesn’t switch.
But limiting Breloom to Spore would be a mistake. Sporting a massiv 130 base Atk, a godsend in Technician, and a moveset made to abuse this ability, Breloom sweeps a large part of the OU metagame and is fairly hard to revenge kill since he has access to a Stab, Technician boosted priority.
Good Teammates: There are two things that Breloom hates over all. The pokemons resisting his Stabs, and the Pokemons faster than him.
Tyranitar is a perfect team mate, he can switch on any Psychic move (or Fire, Ice) casted toward Breloom, and Pursuit the wrongdoer (Ghosts immute to Fighting moves, Psychic pokemons etc.)
Starmie is another good team mates. With his blazing speed and its movepool, the star can take care of anything threatening Breloom. His resistance to Ice Shard and Bullet Punch patches another of Breloom’s weaknesses. All in all, they share a perfect typing synergy (like Tyranitar).
What Counters It: As mentioned, pokemons resisting Stabs like Lati@s, Celebi, Skarmory can switch in pretty easily thanks to their bulk, and even kill it. Dragonite and Salamence can also switch on a Grass attack and kill Breloom.
Priority users like Weavile and Mamoswine (jolly) are faster, and kill Breloom with Ice Shard. Scizor can take a +2 Mach Punch and deal a solid ~80% to Breloom.
Gengar, while frail, have a good shot at survive a Bullet Seed, and can Disable it (or just switch on a predicted Fighting move). His immunity to Mach Punch allows him to always move first, some Gengar’s versions can also just kill Breloom with HP [Fire].
Any Additional Info: An Adamant version is viable, but the user must be aware of the Speed tiers (you don’t outspeed Tornadus-T after Low Sweep anymore for instance), however the boost of power helps a lot to get some extra kills. Rock Tomb is a possible move over Low Sweep since it gets the boost from Technician but the accuracy isn’t perfect. Fight Gem is anoher viable option but you lose a lot of power overall in comparison of Life Orb, this can only be considered if the recoil is too annoying (for instance in a Sand Storm summoned by Tyranitar).
Author: Remedy
Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Outrage
- Earthquake/ Fire Punch
Role: Physical Sweeper
What It Does: Dragonite can sweep through teams quickly and efficiently given the chance. Good bulk + Great Attack with usable speed, Dragonite has the stats that beg to be used to sweep. Dragon Dance lets you abuse this and with if you have multiscale intact you can pretty much get a guaranteed Dragon Dance up and then go to town on the other team. After Dragon Dance Dragonite is only countered by Skarmory and Air Balloon Heatran, and can rampage through the tier to his hearts content once those 2 are out of the picture. ExtremeSpeed lets you beat weavile and other sufficiently weakened checks. EarthQuake hits Jirachi, Heatran and all other non levitating steels that wall your dynamic STAB outrage, which is nearly impossible to contain if your steel types are gone. Fire Punch remains an option to hit skarmory, scizor, forretress and ferrothorn harder.
Good Teammates: Rapid Spin is something almost nessecary for this Dragonite to be worth using over salamence. Starmie remains the best teammate out there for Dragonite, with rapid spin being the best support move for Dragonite. Starmie also removes Mamoswine, Skarmory, Heatran and Gliscor from the picture which is very useful if dragonite is to sweep through a team. Forretress on the other hand can Rapid Spin and provide hazard support for Dragonite, which is nessecary to rack up damage on offensive checks such as Weavile, Scizor, and Scarf Salamence among others. Forretress handily disposes of Mamoswine with Gyro Ball as well. A way to get rid of Sand and hail is also appreciated, so Politoed and Ninetales can make good partners. Ninetales also rewards you with a stronger Fire Punch to nail skarmory with if your running that. In rain Aqua Tail also becomes an option to beat gliscor without having to lock into outrage.
What Counters It: Air Balloon Heatran with its Air Balloon intact and HP [ICE] is a surefire offensive counter to Dragonite, forcing it to use Outrage while you OHKO once multiscale is broken. Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Forretress counter sets lacking Fire Punch well and can do reasonable damage back with Gyro Ball/ PHaze out. If its lacking Earthquake all Heatran, and most steels in rain will be countering you fairly easy. Mamoswine and Weavile can revenge it once multiscale is broken. Scarf Latios and Salamence also fall into that boat.
Role: Physical Sweeper (preferring but not requiring rain support)
What It Does: Though it was virtually non-existent in the Genesect metagame, with one of it's premier checks removed from OU, DD Gyarados has a serious chance to shine again. Despite being uncommon, it's surprisingly deadly - it can destroy most teams once faster threats have been removed. The EVs have been modified slightly from the standard set so that Gyarados can outspeed Tornadus-T at +1. While Gyarados may not be as strong or as fast as other DD users, its talents lie on getting multiple boosts. Its typing, despite giving it a Stealth Rock weakness, works in its favour: Water, Fire, Fighting, Ground, Bug and Steel are all common attacking types, and Gyarados can easily take advantage of them to get a safe switch-in. A lot of teams still depend on Rotom-W to check Gyarados, which Substitute easily gets around as few run Thunderbolt. After getting one or two DDs (or more), Gyarados can quite happily clean up whole teams, especially when you take into consideration how frail many offensive teams tend to be in this metagame. Waterfall does massive damage in the rain, and even has the flinch rate to boot, which can be game-changing. Though Sharpedo tends to pull off late-game sweeps more easily, Gyarados has bulk and resistance to common priority moves (i.e. Mach Punch) on its side. I've slashed Intimidate first since it goes well with Substitute, giving Gyarados an easier time setting up, though you can get some pretty insane snowballing going on with Moxie once you've got at least one DD.
Good Teammates:Electivire Although it's not doing it any favours in terms of defensive synergy, Politoed is one of the best teammates for Gyarados as it provides it with the infinite rain needed to boost Gyarados' Waterfall STAB. In terms of support, Ferrothorn pairs up fantastically with Gyarados since it can set up entry hazards needed to weaken a team, and also has complementary resistances. Forretress can function similarly, with the added ability to spin away Stealth Rock from your side of the field. Another solid choice of spinner is Tentacruel, whom also benefits from rain. It can lure Rotom-W and Toxic it, or set up Toxic Spikes to weaken grounded bulky Waters. Gyarados can absorb the Ground attacks aimed at Tentacruel. Offensively, Lati@s go together well with Gyarados as they can Trick an unwanted Choice item onto some of Gyarados' main checks, such as Ferrothorn and Porygon2, and also lure in Scizor, giving Gyarados a switch-in opportunity. Rotom-W is similarly good, whom can lure in and burn many of things that could halt a Gyarados sweep. Magnezone can trap and kill bulky Steels such as Ferrothorn and Skarmory. Landorus-T can absorb Stone Edges aimed at Gyarados thanks to Intimidate, and can set up Stealth Rock. Despite poor defensive synergy, Thundurus-T forms a great offensive partnership with Gyarados. It can absorb Electric attacks for 25% healing, and with Nasty Plot and Life Orb, it can easily destroy almost all of Gyarados' counters, leaving a mess for the latter to clean up.
What Counters It: There are few solid counters to Gyarados since Water/Flying has fantastic neutral coverage, and Waterfall could always flinch at the crucial moment. Nonetheless, Eviolite Porygon2, Ferrothorn, Skarmory and bulky Waters are your best bet. All of the following can shrug off a boosted hit and cripple Gyarados or force it out. In terms of bulky Waters, Rotom-W does well provided it has Thunder(bolt), otherwise Gyarados will be able to keep setting up Substitute on its Volt Switches. Politoed can't hurt it outside of Toxic or the rare HP [Electric], but it can stop its sweep with Perish Song. Vaporeon can force it out directly with Roar. Jellicent can't scare it off, but it can limit its setup with Taunt. Whilst "countering" Gyarados is exceptionally difficult, it can easily be checked however with faster Pokémon: almost all the common Scarfers will outspeed Gyarados after one DD - examples include Thundurus-T, Salamence, Terrakion, Landorus-I, Hydreigon, Keldeo, Gengar, Lati@s, Politoed etc. Some Pokémon, such as Jolteon and Aerodactyl, are naturally faster than a +1 Gyarados even without any boosts. However, none of these Pokémon can safely switch in on Gyarados, so you're restricted to revenge killing it with them. Kingdra can use permanent rain against it to outspeed and nail it with a STAB Draco Meteor or Outrage.
Any Additional Info: Also try Moxie Jolly @ Life Orb w/ DD / Waterfall / Bounce / Earthquake. It's more difficult to set up, but hits much harder and is less easily revenge killed.
Author: DarkBlazeR
Terrakion @ Salac Berry / Rock Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Nature: Jolly
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
Role: Physical Sweeper / Wall Breaker / Late Game Cleaner
What It Does: Probably the best physical sweeper in the OU metagame. Due to it's great offensive presence it can easily force a lot of switches getting a free turn where you SD or Sub. Then using Sub as you're protection from revenge killing and status (use SD first only when you can predict right), set up and sweep. If you're using Salac Berry,the trick is to keep subing on a faster mon(but slower when terrak is at +1 spd) till Salac berry is activated. Then you'll be faster and you can set SD as you're Sub is broken. Then start your sweep.However,priority users and faster threats should be eliminated for a clean sweep. You can also cause a lot of damage with the use of Sub when you're not in good position to activate salac berry.Rock Gem is an alternative item suited for wallbreaking OHKOing Gliscor, Def Celebi and Def Amoongus at +2 with Stone Edge and things like OHKOing Landorus after Rocks at +0.
Good Teammates: Tyranitar is good teammate who can provide Sand making it easier to set up and making it harder to break the sub for weak defensive mons. It also gives you weather control for dealing with annoying chloro sweepers. TTar can also eliminate Scarf Latios. Dragon Types such as Salamence, Dragonite and Latios make good partners due to their nice offensive and defensive synergy. Gothitelle is a cool partner thanks it ability to trap and kill physical walls like Gliscor and Hippodawn who give Terrakion some trouble and scarf Versions can reliably beat Breloom, one of Terrakion biggest enemy.
What Counters It: Not much thanks to Terrakion's incredible dual STABs with high attack stats. But Hippodawn, Gliscor and Physically Defensive Celebi can tank a +2 hit and hit back with STAB super effective attacks. But the later two much be weary of Rock Gem.None of them can OHKO terrak without prior damage so you can go for an additional SD if you're at full health but don't risk Twave paralysis on Celebi. Scizor and Breloom can revenge kill Terrakion with their priority attacks.Scarf Latios can also revenge kill it.And anything faster with strong / super effective attacks can KO terrak if it doesn't have the speed boost like Latias, Genger, Starmie, Tornadus-T etc. Sub helps against revenge killing.
Author: White symphoni
Toxicroak @ Life Orb
Trait: Dry Skin
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
- Sucker Punch
Role: Physical Sweeper
What It Does: Toxicroak sweeps through teams, but it needs a bit of help from some teammates first. Toxicroak has bad bulk, average speed and average attack, so that begs the question: why use Toxicroak? Well, Toxicroak has amazing coverage, priority, ability, and typing. Toxicroak's bulk is made up for with the 12.5% of it's health it recovers every turn and recovers 25% of it's health every time it's hit with a water-type move, a form of recovery in Drain Punch, typing that's only weak to Psychic, which is very uncommon, never used for coverage, so only Psychic types use it and they're taken out with Sucker Punch, Flying, which is common, but it's only really used by Tornadus-T who is taken out by a +2 LO Sucker Punch after Stealth Rock and Skarmory who will be covered in the "Good Teammates" section, and finally, Ground, which you would think would used often due to it's great coverage, but alot of pokemon who have access to Ground coverage also have access to Fighting coverage, which is generally chosen over Ground due to Fighting's superior coverage. Toxicroak's typing also allows it to resist both Terrakion and Keldeo's (doesn't just resist water, it's immune to it too) dual STABs as well as not being weak to any priority and not being hit super-effectively by alot of common coverage moves. It makes up for what it lacks in speed with it's priority, coverage and again, it's typing (most of the things that it can't outspeed or take out with it's priority move can't hit Toxicroak Super-effectively and they're taken out with Drain Punch / Ice Punch.)
Good Teammates: Gothitelle is probably the best partner for Toxicroak out there. With a Choice Scarf set it easily removes a large majority of Toxicroak's most solid counters, eg. Skarmory, Hippowdon, fast Gliscor, Landorus-T, Landorus-I, Jellicent etc. Rain is something that Toxicoak cherishes deeply due to Dry Skin, so Politoed is obviously going to make an amazing teammate. Skarmory makes a pretty awesome teammate, as it not only sets up hazards that makes Toxicroak's sweep easier, it also resists all of Toxicroak's weakness' as well as being immune to one of them (ground.)
What Counters It: There's very little that can truly counter Toxicroak at +2, but Skarmory, Hippowdon, fast Gliscor, Landorus-T, Jellicent, Landorus-I, Jellicent, and Kyurem-B all do a decent job of countering it.
Any Additional Info: Toxicroak is particularly good in the current metagame due to it's effectiveness against rain teams (which is one of the most dominant forces in this metagame.)
What is Does: My, my, where to start. Well, this ex-Uber has an astounding base 130 Attack stat that hits an Attack stat of 718 after a Swords Dance, assuming it's Jolly Natured. (Pity, Gamefreak didn't teach this thing Dragon Dance) It has solid bulk, boasting 108/95/85 Defenses, making this Land Shark far from frail. It has a pitiful Ice Shard Weaknesses, but can be easily taken care of with correct Team Building. Packing Life Orb, it usually doesn't always need a Dance to wreck havoc. It can run in and out unlike Dnite and Mence thanks to it's Ground typing. This guy is a real team player being able to switch in and out and eventually when the chance presents itself, Sweep. Lacking a Stealth Rock Weakness, Lacking Pursuit Trap Weakness and not being weak to Super common attacking moves, Garchomp really shines above Dnite, Mence, Latios, Latias and Hydreigon.
Good Teammates: Haven't played with this guy as in depth as I have with Lucario just yet; however, I have used this Pokemon before. This particular set loves Sun. Fire Fang gets a Pseudo STAB and with a LO +2, Drought boosted Fire Fang, even Skarmory will be a bit weary about confidently walking in with its' tin ass. (75% chance to OHKO. How you feelin' Skarm?). Garchomp loves the support of Rotom-W, taking in Ice Moves and smashing Mamoswine who is a pain with a capital P. Tyranitar is yet another great partner as it eliminates the Lati twins. Ttar and Rotom-W have great synergy as well. This easily forms a three-way core that works pretty well.
What Counters it: I guess Air Balloon Offensive Heatran is one. +2 Outrage is a 2HKO, while a +0 is like a 3-4HKO. Choice Scarf Politoed can revenge the Chomp. TBH, nothing straight up counters this Chomp set (...I think. Can't think of a Mon besides Tran that can take most of Chomp's moves). Chomp is always switching in and out, scaring here, setting up there, pokin' holes over here. Chomp can only be checked by faster offensive threats. However, thanks to his bulk, he can usually take one down. Terrakion Scarfed will fall to Garchomp 1v1. Banded, Garchomp still has a chance.
Any Additional Info: Sun or Sand. He prefers one of these weathers to help his sweep
Author Tabuu
Scizor @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
Adamant or Jolly Nature
-Swords Dance
-Bullet Punch
-Bug Bite
-Super Power
Roles: Physical Sweeper, Revenge Killer, Late Game Sweeper
What It Does: In this fast pace meta with very little stall Priority users are able to flourish with sweeping potential. Scizor has been used for sweeping in past gens and is still showing off his claws. When people see Scizor they think is it Choice Band or Life Orb. Due to Scizor’s large attack stat (394 or base 130) along with his powerful technician boosted stab moves he is usually a threat. Many teams are prepared for Choice Band Scizor, but the massive power Swords Dance Scizor has sweeps much more efficiently. The speed on Swords Dance Scizor is simple to outspeed Pokemon in his range of base 65 to 80, and more specifically other Scizors and slow Heatrans. Scizor is able to 2hko or OHKO absolutely everything in the metagame with this amount of power with these powerful moves. Super Power enables Scizor to 2HKO Skarmory and Forretress after one use of Swords Dance, so this set is the most deadly of all Scizor sets.
Good Teammates: Scizor’s only weakness of fire is a huge plus to using him over other priority users. Dragonite, who is weak to ice, dragon, and rock is one of the best team mates for Scizor, because they coverage each other’s weaknesses except rock. Dragonite is also a good choice due to his versatility and resistance against water typed moves, which have potential to OHKO Scizor in rain and some out of rain. Another good teammate for Scizor is Rotom-Wash. Rotom-W covers Scizor’s fire weakness, tanks water typed moves, and provides your team with bulky support that has the access many moves that prep the way for Scizor to sweep. They are Will o Wisp, Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, Thunder Wave, and Painsplit. Needless to say Scizor functions best on Sand and no weather teams although sometimes in rain weak hidden power fires won’t KO him.
What Counters It: Scizor even at +2 isn’t strong enough to take out some Pokemon. Full health Skarmory, fast Heatrans, Jellicent, most Celebi’s with Hidden Power Fire, Zapdos, and Taunt Gliscors are general Scizor counters. Ways around these counters would be all up to prediction and of course the rest of your team! Bulky Water types that outspeed Scizor are also a threat to Scizor, because of Scald’s 30% burn rate.
Any Additional Info: This moveset is definitely perfect for the current metagame, but not everyone wants to run max speed on Scizor due to his potential bulk with only a little investment. Make sure you are aware Choice Band and other Scizor’s sometimes are also running speed, so better safe than sorry. Jolly is generally too weak to get as many OHKOs as I’m sure you’d like with Bug Bite, but has been used in BW OU before. An extreme variation of this set is the bluff set, which is usually bulkier with Uturn, Bullet Punch, Roost, and Sword Dance. This uses Iron Plate or Insect Plate to bluff about the same damage as Choice Band Scizor.
Author: HardCore
Sharpedo @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Zen Headbutt
- Protect
Role: Physical Sweeper
What It Does: Sharpedo sweeps through teams with its monster Attack stat, great coverage, STAB that's boosted by the most common weather: rain, and unmatched speed after a few speed boosts. The current metagame is incredibly frail and heavily dependant on speed, therefore anything that can hit hard and outspeed almost everything, even scarfers, after one turn of setup is likely going to be a force to be reckoned with. Sharpedo takes this to a new level, it dosen't even have to hit a setup move to boost it's speed, it just gets a boost every turn. All sharpedo needs is one Pokemon it can come in on, Protect, then outspeed and KO it at +1 (which is a huge portion of the metagame) and then it'll be at +2 (nothing in OU can naturally outspeed him at +2, other than Scarf Jolteon which is lol), because even if they switch out on the Protect, then the Protect will fail and you can just Protect again. The fact that the metagame is currently dominated by rain, which boosts Sharpedo's main STAB, boosts Sharpedo's effectiveness to staggering levels. Overall, Sharpedo can outspeed and OHKO pretty much the entire metagame without even having to take a hit in the process of gaining speed, it's like having a Swift Swim user that can still easily sweep in any weather once priority users are removed.
Good Teammates: Both Specs Magnezone and Specs Gothitelle are great partners for Sharpedo, they both trap Sharpedo's best counter: Ferrothorn. Gothitelle is probably better though, as it synergizes better with Sharpedo and can easily remove almost all common user of priority, and seeing as priority is pretty much the only thing preventing a Sharpedo sweep on most offensive teams, removing it from the battle very important. Politoed is obviously going to help out a lot by boosting Sharpedo's main STAB with Drizzle, but it's worth noting that the two of them have bad synergy and rain is the most common weather anyway, so you can take advantage of the rain your opponent is likely to have. Hazards are going to be a huge help with wearing down Sharpedo's checks, so the likes of Deoxys-D are great partners.
What Counters It: There are very few true counters to Sharpedo, as an Adamant, Life Orb boosted, rain boosted, STAB Waterfall is going to put a huge dent in even bulky Pokemon who resist it. A few Pokemon such as Virizion, Breloom, Toxicroak, and Keldeo all resist Sharpedo's dual STABs and can OHKO back, but that's what Zen Headbutt is for, Sharpedo's coverage is amazing. There are obviously going to be a few pokemon that can take a hit from Sharpedo then OHKO back and stop it's sweep, but they're easily worn down with a bit of help from hazards and teammates. The only true counter to Sharpedo in OU is Ferrothorn, who has a massive defensive stat, resists dual STABs, takes pitiful damage from Zen Headbutt, and it's Iron Barbs combined with Sharpedo's Life Orb recoil will rack up fast, but it's trapped by both Magnezone and Gothitelle. Sharpedo's biggest problem is priority in general, but, as mentioned in the Good Teammates section above, Gothitelle can trap most common users of priority, making it very difficult to stop Sharpedo.
Any Additional Info: Sharpedo is fast :)
Author: The Great Mighty Doom
Feraligatr (F) @ Mystic Water
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Superpower / Crunch
Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner
What It Does: Feraligatr its a really underrated sweeper under rain which can work against both offensive and defensive team. Thanks to its great attack and his overall decent speed it can spam strong waterfall boosted under rain, which after a sword dance can demolish pretty much any phisical wall like Skarmory, which is koed after stealth rock damage, and sometimes it can even beat bulky water like Politoed or tentacruel, if scald does not burn you. Its movepool, while its not that good apparently have some few move that can come in handy to stop some water resistors commonly used. Superpower its such a good move to hit water absorbers like Vaporeon or Gastrodon, as well as Ferrothorn, while crunch hits hard Jellicent and Celebi. One of the best thing about feraligatr is that its really hard to get a ko on it if you are using defensive pokemon, since even supereffective moves like Giga drain of Celebi will fail to do any significant damage, meaning that you can set up a sword dance even against some of your checks. As you may noticed, one of its worst stat is his speed, which is not enough to ouspeed any significant offensive pokemon, but this is somewhat compensated by its priority move. Aqua jet after a sword dance hits hard anything that does not resists it, and after others sweeper on your team have eliminate some of his counter you are free to spam aqua jet and ko everything.
Something that should really be mentioned its his ability. Torrent its such a great power up for feraligatr, once you reach 33% or less your water moves can do some fondamental koes which helps it sweeping a lot. If you are wondering why i use that spread, is mainly to outspeed 100 base speed pokemon without significant investiment on speed, like Jirachi, celebi, tentacruel or gliscor.
Good Teammates: well, obviously Politoed. Scarf keldeo can be really annoiying if you use crunch to baitkill jellicent, celebi and defensive latias. Also any lurer of dragon types like Choice band terrakion, which can spam strong close combat to fight resistors like Celebi, Jellicent, lati@s, Dragonite and Salamence, in order to weaken them enough so that you can sweep with acqua jet later. Mamoswine should be mentioned, since its one of the best thing to get rid of dragons types right now. Breloom should definetly be mentioned also, with a jolly nature it can spore Lum berry dragonite as well as weaken the same poke i said before, i found a great set in the past which is orbed focus punch just in order to get something like a ko after stealth rocks on dragons and Lati@s. Dugtrio maybe can come in handy to trap kill tar and Ninetales, which are obviously annoying due to Sandstorm and Drought.
What Counters It: Depending on the move, Celebi, ferrothorn, jellicent, gastrodon, any other bullky water with scald and a lot of luck. Ninetales also give problem due to the sun, since waterfall will do nothing. Dragonite, Salamence, Latios, celebi, Rotom-w and basically any water resistor which can take a +2 aqua jet and are faster than feraligatr, for example choice specs keldeo and even Garchomp, which can take an hit with his massive bulk.
Any Additional Info: Do not use Life orb people. Mistic water is the ebst item, the life orb recoil is something that you should really avoid.
Author: Neliel Tu Oderschvank
Heracross @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie/Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Stone Edge
- Sleep Talk/Night Slash
Role: Physical Sweeper / Revenge Killer
What it does: Though Heracross is UU it is still a potent sweeper in OU, base 125 Attack combined with helpful typing and access to two ridiculously powerful STAB (Close Combat and Megahorn) moves has always made Heracross hard to handle. With a couple Moxie boosts not many Pokes are going to appreciate taking a hit from it. Sleep Talk may be an odd move to have but this can absorb Spores from Breloom and still be a use to your team with Sleep Talk. Guts makes Heracross a better sleep absorber than Moxie. Gut also gives you the ability to take burns without being completely crippled and still be effective where Moxie couldn't be.
Good Teammates: Heatran makes an exceptionally good teammate for Heracross as they cover each other's weaknesses well. Heatran can take fire and flying moves that Heracross despises. Jirachi, Bronzong and Specially Defensize Zapdos make good partners since they pose a good way to deal with Tornadus-T. Hazards are going to be very helpful towards being able to pull off a sweep with Heracross so Deoxys is a good partners to have.
What Counters It: Flying Types notably Tornadus-T, Gliscor and Skarmory can trouble it if it is Choice-locked into the wrong move. In addition to a handy Flying typing, Landorus-T even has Intimidate to survive multiple hits. Jellicent is an issue if you are not running Night Slash. Faster Scarfers are also an issue due to Heracross pretty low speed.
Any Additional Info: Jolly is preferred over Adamant since you outspeed more threats and Moxie compensates for not having Adamant
What it does: Mamoswine is a very powerful physical attacker that can rip through offensive and defensive teams alike. His STAB priority Ice Shard coming off of his mammoth (pun intended) base 130 Attack is extremely threatening especially to the many Pokemon in OU that have an Ice type weakness such as Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T, Dragonite, Garchomp, etc. Icicle Crash is a powerful STAB attack that has a nice flinch chance while a player can opt for Icicle Spear which has an average damage output less than that of Icicle Spear but has the advantage of being 100% accurate and a multihit attack so it can work through Substitutes and Sturdy/Focus Sashes. Superpower is used to hit things that Ice and Ground moves cannot touch, namely Rotom-W. Many players may wonder why they should use Mamoswine when they can just use Weavile, a much faster physical Ice type. One of the main advantages Mamoswine has over Weavile is his secondary Ground typing. This lets Mamoswine spam Earthquake, one of the most powerful attacks in the game and beat Steel types such as Heatran, Magnezone, and Ferrothorn, Pokemon that Weavile can not really touch. Another advantage Mamoswine has over Weavile is bulk. With Black and White 2, Mamoswine can now use the Thick Fat ability with every set, essentially giving him a resistance to Ice type attacks and a neutrality to Fire. Mamoswine is a great choice to fit on any team as he is one of the few Pokemon that does well against all 4 types of weather. Against Sun, Mamoswine can destroy the likes of Ninetales and Heatran with Earthquake while hitting Venusaur with a Super Effective Ice Shard that bypasses Venusaur's speed from Chloyophyll. Against Rain, Mamoswine checks Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T, and Tentacruel. He can easily carve up rain stall teams that include Pokemon such as Chansey, Tentacruel, and Ferrothorn. With his Ice/Ground typing, he takes no residual damage from both Sand and Hail and can beat Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow barring Scarf sets. It's important to use a Jolly nature and not Adamant so Mamoswine's Ice Shard outspeeds Jolly Breloom's priority Mach Punch.
Good Teammates: Thundurus-T makes a good partner for Mamoswine as his powerful Electric STAB attacks can easily dispose of Skarmory as well as the bulky Water types that Mamoswine can not easily take out. Another offensive partner that works well with Mamoswine is Technician Breloom. Breloom creates a powerful priority attacking core alongside Mamoswine that can easily cover each other's weaknesses. Mamoswine struggles against the likes of Terrakion and bulky Water types which Breloom easily handles with Mach Punch and Bullet Seed respectively. On the other hand, Breloom struggles with Pokemon such as Landorus, Latios, and Tornadus-T, all of which Mamoswine can pick off with Ice Shard. Another good offensive partner for Mamoswine is Latios who outspeeds Mamoswine checks such as Terrakion and Keldeo and disposes of them with Psyshock and also beats physical walls such as Skarmory and Slowbro. Starmie also makes a good teammate as he can outspeed Terrakion and Keldeo and threaten them with moves like Hydro Pump or Psyshock and can also Rapid Spin away entry hazards which is helpful due to Mamoswine being susceptible to all forms of entry hazards. A defensive teammate that works well with Mamoswine is Jellicent who can easily switch into the Fighting, Steel, Water, and Fire type attacks then threaten Mamoswine. Jellicent can then proceed to the likes of Terrakion and Scizor, Mamoswine checks that are severely crippled by burns.
What Counters It: Two of the best offensive counters to Mamoswine are Terrakion and Keldeo who do not fear Ice Shard and can easily knock out the mammoth with their Fighting STABs. Another offensive check to Mamoswine is Scizor who threatens with a STAB Technician Bullet Punch. Scarf users who can take Ice Shards and beat Mamoswine with powerful STABs such as Jirachi, Heatran, and Rotom-W all make solid checks to Mamoswine. Mamoswine also has a hard time breaking through bulky Water types such as Politoed, Jellicent, and Vapoereon who can take an Earthquake and hit hard and possibly burn Mamoswine with Super Effective Scalds. Lastly, the bane of physical attackers, Skarmory can take Icicle Crashes and set up entry hazards in Mamoswine's face while healing off damage with Roost and dealing damage with Brave Bird.
What it does: Conkeldurr, with this set, punishes everyone that does not take care not to use a good Fighting-type resist that can beat Conkeldurr back. It has some difficulty trying to get an intact Substitute due to Hurricanes, rain-boosted Water-attacks, and Psychic-type attacks, but once Conkeldurr gets that Substitute, I am sure that you will not like taking a hit from this monster. I've used this set and managed to defeat even Alakazam with this.
Focus Punch is the main attack, and Conkeldurr has the strongest Focus Punch from the game, even stronger than that of Breloom. Even Pokémon that resist it will take massive damage if they don't have good Defense. Mach Punch has priority and usually finishes the job if Focus Punch was not sufficient. It's also useful against Lucario.
The last slot provides important coverage: choose wisely. It hits things that resist Focus Punch. Ice Punch is the main option because it hits Dragon-types, Landorus, and Gliscor, as well as Venusaur, Amoongus, Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T, all of which are capable of taking Focus Punch. However, Payback hits Psychic-types, as well as Ghost-types, which would wall Conkeldurr otherwise. Ice Punch is usually preferred because the former mentioned threats are more omnipresent than the latter, but Payback is very viable, especially if your team has problems against Ghosts.
Focus Punch is so powerful that it can 2HKO even Skarmory, which is considered the best of physical walls. As for Hippowdon, the bulkiest physical wall, takes at least 52% of its health. That means that Hippowdon must constantly use Slack Off to not be 2HKOed. If it tries to phaze Conkeldurr, it will be instead KOed by the next Focus Punch. If it tries to Slack Off, Conkeldurr can annoy him with Focus Punch, until Slack Off's PP finishes (Focus Punch has the double PP of Slack Off). When Slack Off's PP reaches 0, there's nothing that prevents Hippowdon from being smashed by Focus Punch. Specially defensive variants don't stand much of a chance either, as they take about 75% damage from Focus Punch, and can be finished off by Ice Punch. The Speed EVs are exactly there for this reason, as Conkeldurr can outspeed Hippowdon and finish it off if it's sufficiently weakened. 212 HP EVs lets Conkeldurr create 101 HP Substitutes (which will not be breaked by Seismic Toss), and 252 Atk lets Conkeldurr hit as hard as possible. The other EVs go to Special Defense to give him at least some special bulk.
Good Teammates: Conkeldurr loves Wish support, as it lacks reliable means of recovering HP lost from Substitute; he must rely on Leftovers, which are often not sufficient. Specially defensive Jirachi works well because it can check Lati@s, which can be problematic. Jirachi also tanks most special hits that would give Conkeldurr problems, and can even use Stealth Rock, which helps Conkeldurr even further. Dual screen support is suggested because it facilitates Conkeldurr in regard of preserving its substitutes. There aren't much good Pokémon to do this job, but there are 2 that stand out: Bronzong and Espeon. The former can setup Stealth Rock and check Tornadus-T. The latter can escape from Pursuit using Baton Pass, and Conkeldurr has no problem tanking a Pursuit due to its resistance and excellent physical bulk. Depending of the coverage move chosen, Conkeldurr may have problems with Ghost-types, or Flying-types. If Payback is chosen, a Water-type or Grass-type like Rotom-W or Celebi are appreciated as partners, to take out the Ground-type physical walls that Conkeldurr will not like. Both can also dispose of Slowbro. Something that can check Dragon-types that resist Focus Punch is also appreciated. Mamoswine, Thundurus-T, or a Dragon-type of your own are helpful then. If Ice Punch is chosen, something that can take out Ghost-types is appreciated. Tyranitar can Pursuit them, but sandstorm may negate the Leftovers recovery, which is a problem. Scizor also has Pursuit, but some Ghost-types like staying on Scizor instead of switching out of him. Nevertheless, both can also take out Psychic-types not weak to Ice, which give Conkeldurr many problems. Starmie can OHKO most Ghost-types with Psychic, rain-boosted Hydro Pump, or Thunder(bolt).
What Counters It : Reuniclus and Conkeldurr are your best bets at countering this Conkeldurr. They take Focus Punch with ease, take little damage from Ice Punch, and thanks to their slow speed, they also take little damage from Payback. They can then use their powerful Psychic-type attacks to defeat Conkeldurr. Ghost-types are immune to Focus Punch, and can break its Substitutes, and heavily damage him or worn him down. Just be wary that most of them take massive damage from Payback due to their high speed. Gengar is OHKOed by Payback. However, it can come in on a predicted Focus Punch, use Substitute, take a Payback, and Disable that Payback, forcing Conkeldurr out since it will lack any means of damaging Gengar.
If Conkeldurr lacks Payback, Jellicent counters it very well, by Taunting and preventing another Substitute, and worning it down with Scalds, or Shadow Balls. Without Ice Punch, Conkeldurr will have problems with Landorus-T and Gliscor, both of which are capable of easily tanking Focus Punch and Payback, and worning it down with repeated Earthquakes. The latter can even outright OHKO with Acrobatics.
Make sure that Conkeldurr is not behind a Substitute if trying to check him. Remember that even many resists take massive damage from Focus Punch. Psychic-type and Flying-type attacks often OHKO Conkeldurr. Rain-boosted Water-type attacks, as well as sun-boosted Water-attacks, will also usually OHKO Conkeldurr. Its bulk is not that perfect, and Conkeldurr will take massive damage from some high-powered attacks, like Terrakion's Close Combat. Generally, you want to avoid Conkeldurr grabbing a Substitute, since it will certainly take out something on your team.
What it does: Who was the liar who said that Tornadus can only act as a special sweeper using Hurricane? Tornadus is actually an excellent physical sweeper, as it sports a good 115 base Attack, as well as a good speed, and Prankster!
The good of this Tornadus, is that it is not dependent from rain. Thus, it can function even on sandstorm, even on sun teams! However, the main reason to use this set over the special set on a rain team, is that Tornadus is able to lure the opponent's special walls, and destroy them with the appropriate move! For example, standard Blissey is never OHKOed by standard Tornadus' Superpower. However, after a Bulk Up, Blissey is always OHKOed by Physical Tornadus' Superpower! (according to the calculations: I am thinking that this calculator is somewhat messed up)
Bulk Up is Tornadus' only means of powering up its Attack, unfortunately. Although Tornadus wish that it had Swords Dance, Bulk Up is still very effective, and boosts Tornadus' Defense as well, letting it survive some physical attacks. For example, after a Bulk Up, Tornadus has a tiny chance to survive Scarf Terrakion's Stone Edge!
Acrobatics is Tornadus' best physical STAB. It has as much power as Hurricane, and is incredibly powerful after a Bulk Up and a Flying Gem boost. Superpower is the recommended coverage option. Like Focus Blast, Superpower is able to defeat most things that resist Acrobatics, such as Steel- and Rock-types. Although Superpower negates Tornadus' Bulk Up boosts, Superpower is much more powerful than Brick Break. Brick Break can still be used for this reason; however, it is less powerful than Superpower. To give you a idea, +1 Brick Break is weaker than a +0 Superpower!
The last slot gives Tornadus some utility. Taunt means that Tornadus is able to use Pokémon like Skarmory as setup fodder, and prevents them from phazing. Thanks to Bulk Up's defense boosts, Tornadus is also able to take little damage from Skarmory's Brave Bird. However, Tornadus can only really 2HKO Skarmory after 4 Bulk Ups. Substitute is handy against status, and to prevent revenge kills from the likes of Scarf Landorus, Scarf Thundurus-T, Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Terrakion, and Starmie. Finally, Tailwind gives Tornadus a chance to sweep, especially against teams where it does not need the Bulk Up boost to wreck avoc. However, it may be extremely difficult to get both a Bulk Up, and a Tailwind boost.
As a last note, you can use Fighting Gem instead of Flying Gem if you want to power up Superpower, and grab less Bulk Up boosts to OHKO things like Skarmory or Jirachi, but it is not recommended as the main move of this set, Acrobatics, will be very weak until you use Superpower.
Good Teammates: Politoed is not an essential partner to this set, as physical Tornadus does not need rain to use Acrobatics. Acrobatics is always 100% accurate no matter on which weather you use it, unlike Hurricane; thus, it can be used on sun, sandstorm, hail, or even weatherless teams. That said, Politoed is still suggested as a partner because Tornadus can fool your opponent, making him thinking that you are using a special Tornadus. This set still has the same problems against Steel-types that are not weak to Fighting; thus, Heatran or Keldeo are recommended as partners. Heatran is able to destroy every one of them with its super-effective Fire-type moves; Keldeo can do the same with Hydro Pump, which is not super-effective but is able to 2HKO or OHKO most Steel-types, especially when boosted by rain. Something that can defeat Electric-type Pokémon is appreciated, since Tornadus has problems with any Electric-type not weak to Fighting. Thus, Ground-types like Mamoswine, Garchomp, and Landorus, are good partners. Ferrothorn is also able to check most Electric-types, but it cannot defeat those that are resistant to its attacks, especially Magnezone, which is able to defeat Ferrothorn with Hidden Power Fire, unless it is raining (Specs variants can defeat Ferrothorn even on rain). Celebi is also able to check some Electric-types, and as a bonus, can wall Choice Scarf Keldeo, a problematic Pokémon for Tornadus since it can outspeed and OHKO with Hydro Pump.
What Counters It : Jirachi can still counter Tornadus, even with no investiment in defenses. It takes little damage from Superpower, and can paralyze Tornadus, and take it down with repeated Iron Heads. CM Variants can setup and OHKO with Thunderbolt. Bronzong share the same typing as Jirachi, and can also defeat Tornadus with Gyro Ball, and as a bonus, it does not fear Dugtrio thanks to Levitate. However, it lacks reliable recovery. This Tornadus is six of one, half of a dozen, compared to special variants, because while it defeats special walls, it is stopped cold by physical walls. Thus, Hippowdon and Skarmory are able to wall this Tornadus, although they must watch out for Taunt, especially Hippowdon, which cannot, when taunted, do anything to Tornadus, other than using Ice Fang. If it lacks this move, Tornadus can simply boost to the point that Hippowdon is 2HKOed by Acrobatics (although sandstorm damage will annoy Tornadus). Also, it is always wise to rememer that Tornadus is still vulnerable to revenge killing, thus, Mamoswine, Weavile, Azumarill, Jolteon, and most Choice Scarf users are able to revenge kill Tornadus before it can continue its sweep. Take not that thanks to Bulk Up's defense boosts, revenge killing Tornadus with physical moves may be somewhat difficult, although Tornadus is not that bulky even after a boost.
Author: Dark Fallen Angel
Special Sweeper
Volcarona @ Life Orb
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain / Hidden Power [Ground] / Hidden Power [Rock]
Role: Special Sweeper
What It Does: Quite possibly my favourite new Pokémon from the 5th generation, Volcarona is an absolute terror that can destroy whole teams on a daily basis, especially under the sun. Whilst at a glance it may appear to be mediocre due to its typing, which gives it an "awesome" x4 Stealth Rock weakness - on further inspection you'll be drawn to its incredible base 135 Sp. Attack and decent base 100 Speed, but more importantly its access to Quiver Dance. Essentially getting a Calm Mind and +1 Speed at once is nothing to take lightly, that's for sure. All it takes is a single boost for this set to start wrecking havoc. Although it takes a little more prediction to set up than the bulkier variants, Timid LO Volcarona is far more dangerous when it does get a boost from QD. Between Fire Blast, Bug Buzz and your coverage move of choice, you've got the power to break through virtually anything. Giga Drain is my personal preference, as it easily KOs Politoed, Jellicent, Rotom-W, Terrakion and Keldeo after a boost, taking many of its counters out with only one move. This set excels at luring out Politoed and taking out with Giga Drain, whereas before you'd have to sacrifice Volcarona to heavily cripple it as defensive Politoed would be able to survive a +1 Bug Buzz at full health. Giga Drain is also useful for mitigating the damage from LO recoil. HP [Ground] is necessary if you want to be able to get past Heatran though, however it can be easily dealt with by teammates. HP [Rock] could be used to hit Dragon/Flying types and Gyarados, though they'll all be hit very hard by a boosted Fire Blast in the sun, and can still be KOd after Stealth Rock damage. Although Volcarona's effectiveness was limited somewhat in BW1 with the ubiquity of scarfers such as Landorus and Terrakion, with the fall of the former two and the rise of Scarf Keldeo and Scarf Lati@s, Volcarona can sweep more reliably than ever before.
Good Teammates: You absolutely need Rapid Spin support, as Volcarona will not be able to sweep very easily if it loses 50% of its HP upon switching in. Forretress, Starmie, Tentacruel etc are all excellent choices for the job. Drought support from Ninetales is recommended, though Volcarona can also function well in Drizzle conditions from Politoed if you swap Fire Blast for Hurricane, and possibly swap Giga Drain for Fire Blast so still have coverage against Steels. Offensively, Dugtrio is one of the best partners as it can remove Heatran from play, which is one of Volcarona's most effective checks. It can also grant it a free setup opportunity with Memento. Landorus-T is another good choice as it can sponge the Stone Edges aimed at Volcarona thanks to Intimidate, can set up Stealth Rock and cause heavy damage to the special tanks that have a chance against a +1 Volcarona. Under strong sunlight, Mixed Venusaur with Earthquake makes for an interesting offensive teammate, as it can bait and KO Heatran without having to rely on Dugtrio trapping it. It can also take out Dragons with HP [Ice], and put something to Sleep with Sleep Powder.
What Counters It: There are no true Volcarona counters, given its sheer power. However, it does have a number of checks. As aforementioned, Heatran is amongst the best as it only fears HP [Ground], and can deal great to Volcarona with Fire Blast even after a QD, Toxic it or just force it out with Roar. Dragonite, Salamence and Gyarados can all survive at least one hit and KO with their respective STAB moves, though they have to watch out for boosted double STAB Fire Blasts or HP [Rock] (though Dragonite will be absolutely fine if Multiscale is not broken). If the rain is up, Tornadus-T gets a resistance to both its STABs and can blast it with a Super Effective, STAB Hurricane, though it is KOd by HP [Rock] at +1. Keldeo can take on sets lacking Giga Drain quite comfortably. Although they have problems switching in, Scarf Landorus-I and Scarf Terrakion will both be able to easily revenge kill a +1 Volcarona. If it manages to come in without having its sash broken, Dugtrio will be able to survive a hit with its sash and KO Volcarona with Stone Edge. The pink blobs (Blissey/Chansey) will be able to come in and try to force it out with Toxic, though they cannot repeatedly take boosted Fire Blasts.
Any Additional Info: Volcarona can actually function surprisingly well in this metagame, despite rain being present on so many teams.
What it does: TR Reuniclus is an amazing pokemon in the current metagame as most pokemon are very fast and TR can mess up someones momentum vastly. Reuniclus packs one big punch and its speed is usually its main falter. Once it uses its decent bulk to get a TR safely, you have 5 turns to wreck absolute havoc. You will outspeed nearly every single pokemon in the metagame and do massive damage coming from reuniclus' base 125 SpA stat. Focus Blast, Psyshock, and Shadow Ball are good coverage options for Reuniclus to do as much damage in that 5 turns of Trick Room.
Good Teammates: Conkeldurr is a classic teammate for Reuniclus as it can take out Chansey/Blissey with ease and their typing works well together. Another good partner is Heatran. Heatran is really good at killing threats to Reuniclus such as Scizor, Jirachi and Metagross while Reuniclus can handle the Fighting types that Heatran hates. Another excellent partner would be Infernape. Infernape has the capability of destroying Scizor, Jirachi, Chansey, Blissey, Metagross, Bronzong and other pokemon. It is rather fast though so you can't send Infernape in while trick room is still up.
What Counters It: As said above, its main counters are Scizor, Chansey, Blissey and Jirachi. Scizor's Choice Band boosted U-Turns can OHKO Reuniclus while Reuniclus can't OHKO it unless you forego one of these moves with Hidden Power Fire. Chansey and Blissey are extremely threatening as it can take any of its special moves and wear it down slowly with Seismic toss while it can heal off any damage. Jirachi is another great poke to counter it as it resists it's STAB and can ParaFlinch it or set up Calm Mind's on it.
Other Notes: Be careful though, TR reuniclus can cause a lot of forfeits.
Author: The Unlucky One
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Thunderbolt / Thunder
-Psyshock / Flash Cannon / Water Pulse
Role: Special Sweeper, Stallbreaker
What it Does: Jirachi is a great sweeper, and even a pseudo-mixed sweeper if you choose Psyshock as the last move. It is one of the few special sweepers that laugh at Blissey/Chansey, as it can use Substitutes that will not be broken by Seismic Toss, and can use them as setup bait. Calm Mind slowy strengthens Jirachi, and also boosts its Special Defense, which means that if your opponent doesn't have a super-effective physical attack against this thing, Jirachi can potentially boost to the point that it will be unstoppable.
Calm Mind is there for obvious reasons. Substitute protects Jirachi from status, and facilitates prediction. For example, if your opponent brings something like Infernape (not that someone experienced would use him), and Jirachi uses Substitute as it switches-in, Infernape will be OHKOed by Psyshock.
An Electric-type attack is necessary to achieve the best neutral coverage possible with the last move. Thunderbolt is the primary option, but on a rain team, Thunder can replace it, as it is not only stronger, but thanks to Serene Grace, has a rage-inducer 60% chance of paralyzing your opponent.
The last move comes down to preference. Psyshock is the recommended option, as it has great coverage with Thunderbolt, and maims the common Fighting-types, such as Terrakion on the sand. Psyshock also lets Jirachi easily bypass the pink blobs after two or three CM boosts. With Psyshock, Jirachi is somewhat of a mixed sweeper, as it can hit specially defensive Pokémon with it, and physically defensive Pokémon with Thunderbolt. Flash Cannon is another great option. It lets Jirachi bypass Celebi, Tyranitar and physically defensive Ground-types like Gliscor, because the former two are resistant and immune, respectively, to Psyshock, and take little damage from Thunderbolt, and the latter doesn't take much from Psyshock because of their enormous physical defense.
However, on a rain team, Water Pulse is another great option. It is weak and doesn't have that much neutral coverage with Thunder (in fact, it misses out Dragon-, and Grass-types) but it has a 40% chance to inflict confusion status. Thogeter with Thunder's 60% chance of paralysis, your opponent will actually have a hard time trying to defeat Jirachi, and will be defeated one time or another with repeated Thunder/Water Pulse and confusion damage. If this doesn't happen, at least your opponent will be crippled by paralysis.
Good Teammates: Anything that has resitances and/or immunities to Ground AND Fire is a good partner. This includes: Dragon-types like Lati@s, Salamence, Dragonite, Hydreigon, as well as Balloon Heatran, and Gyarados. They are generally capable of switching-in on Jirachi's weakness, and then wrecking avoc by defeating whatever Jirachi has problems taking down. As you may noted, Jirachi has serious problems against many Ground-types. For this reason, Grass-types are amazing partners, especially Ferrothorn and Celebi. The former has hazards that facilitate Jirachi's work, and the latter can defeat almost any Ground-type, and can even check dangerous Pokémon for Jirachi, such as Sheer Force Landorus. Politoed is another amazing partner. Politoed checks most Ground-types, and summons a rain that negates Jirachi's weakness to Fire. Not to mention that Jirachi is able to use Water Pulse + Thunder to hax the opponent.
What Counters it: As was mentioned numerous times above, Ground-types are good counters for Jirachi, most of time, especially if they are physically defensive. Hippowdon and Gliscor deserve mentions, as they laugh at most atempts of Jirachi to do anything. The former can even phaze Jirachi if she dares boosting even more. Even if Jirachi carries Water Pulse, it is better off switching-out. Dugtrio traps and kill Jirachi before it can do anything. Jirachi's only chance is if Dugtrio do NOT carry Focus Sash (or if Stealth Rock is on field) and Jirachi has 1 CM Boost, an intact Substitute and Psyshock (or Water Pulse on rain). This way, as Dugtrio breaks Jirachi's substitute, it is OHKOed by Psyshock (or Water Pulse on rain). However, this is a very obscure situation that is unlikely to happen most of time, so Dugtrio remains a serious threat to Jirachi. However, the worst of them all is Quagsire, as it ignores all Jirachi's boosts.
Apart from Ground-types, Jirachi has problems with Fire-types, although they are less effective than Ground-types in terms of taking down Jirachi, for three reasons. The first is that all of them are weak to Stealth Rock, with exception of Heatran and Infernape (I am only speaking of common Fire-types). The second is that most of them aren't immune or resistant to Electric, so Jirachi can simply hit them with Thunder(bolt) and then switch-out as they break its Substitute. The third is that Jirachi's Fire-type weakness can be negated by rain, and in fact, on rain, expect Jirachi to carry Water Pulse, a move to which Fire-types are weak.
Ferrothorn resists all attacking moves that Jirachi can possibly use, but if Jirachi has an intact Substitute, Ferrothorn can't annoy him with Leech Seed, and Ferrothorn risks being haxed by Water Pulse + Thunder variants. The same applies to Magnezone, which although can trap Jirachi, actually has problems taking her down as Jirachi can boost her Special Defense to the point that Magnezone can't effectively trap her.
Tyranitar is an annoyance to variants with Psyshock, as Jirachi has to boost various times to OHKO with Thunderbolt, and Tyranitar can easily break Jirachi's substitutes with Crunch. Specially Defensive Celebi resists all moves that Jirachi uses, apart from Flash Cannon, and can use Perish Song to force her out. The same applies to Latias, that can phaze Jirachi. It can even CM alongside Jirachi, but unless it packs phazing, Jirachi will almost always win the CM war due to her double resistance to Psyshock and the fact that she almost always carry Psyshock herself.
Any Additional Info: Jirachi is an amazing Pokémon for teams that want an versatile special sweeper that can even take down the uncommon stall teams. The good of using Jirachi is that it doesn't actually require Rapid Spin support, as it is immune to Toxic Spikes and resistant to Stealth Rock. Actually, Jirachi is one of the special sweepers that require the less support possible. Jirachi is an special sweeper that inspires a fear on the trainer's hearts, that as Jirachi slowy boosts, it become more and more impossible to take down. Expect teams without Earthquake to lose to Jirachi if they don't have another way to defeat her.
Author: DarkFallenAngel
Venusaur (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 76 HP / 252 SAtk / 180 Spd
Timid Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Role: Special Sweeper
What It Does: This guy is probably the best Chlorophyll pokemon in OU and a major threat in the sun. With a Growth under its belt, very few things can take a boosted sludge bomb. These EV's let it outspeed Scarf Lati@s in sun, and +2 sludge bomb will do massive damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Giga Drain 2hko's tentacruel, and HP fire destroys Jirachi. Almost nothing besides Blissey, Chansey, and Heatran can come in, and Blissey/Chansey without T-wave or flamethower get set up on to +6 with giga drain keeping you healthy.
Stuff it works well with: Ninetails is absolutely essential to Venusaur's success. Other good partners include Dugtrio to trap Heatran, the worst check. Other things that kill Politoed, Tyranitar, and Hippowdon are good to have. Heatran can take fire moves aimed at Venusaur, and trap other weather users.
What Counters It: Heatran, Blissey and Chansey are just about the only things that beat Venusaur. Tran is not at all worried by this set. Blissey and Chansey use their massive Special Defense to wall you, although toxic/S-toss variants are set-up bait.
Venusaur is also notable with its difficulty to revenge kill. Powerful priority even has trouble killing you, with Mamoswine and Weavile being the only ones able to handle you. Since Venu is so fast, only a very small amount of Choice Scarf users can kill him, and Scarf is rarely seen on any of them.
Weather Starters are also threatening, so make sure anything that can ruin your sun is dead. However, not many of them can take boosted giga drains, so they need to be wary coming it.
Any Additional Info: Venusaur is a top sun abuser, so either have a way of dealing with the weather, or dealing with it.
What it does: Thundurus-T has a mammoth 145 base SpA, the highest of any non-Ubers (tied with Chandelure), and outspeeds everything in the metagame after an Agility, so it is easily one of the best special sweepers you'll find in OU. If you use a Modest nature, the only things which can dream of safely switching in on you are the blobs and to a lesser extent Gastrodon (which can be easily removed by running Grass Knot). With its decent defensive typing, Thundurus can set up on choice locked ground and electric moves, choice locked Scizor etc. and wreak havoc on your opponent's team. Due to its speed after a boost, it's also very difficult to revenge kill without Weavile / Mamoswine. It's a good idea to keep it back for late game sweeps after walls have been weakened and things like Mamoswine removed.
Depending on whether you run Timid or Modest, you should adjust the IVs. For Modest, dropping the Speed EVs to 188 is good idea; this lets Thundurus-T outspeed Timid Venusaur in sun and Jolly Stoutland in sand after a boost. The rest of the EVs can go in Defense. If you wish to use Superpower with Modest, you can put the remaining IVs in Attack to 2HKO the blobs.
Good teammates: Politoed is an obvious option here for allowing Thundurus to use the significantly more powerful Thunder. Thundurus can also come in on predicted electric attacks aimed at Politoed. Thundurus has trouble beating Blissey, Chansey or Gastrodon, so physically based wall-breakers like Terrakion are good partners for it. It also appreciates both hazards and rapid spin support, so Ferrothorn, Deoxys-D and Forretress are good partners. Of these, Forretress can both lay down hazards and spin away Stealth Rock. Starmie is also a good choice for a rapid spin user as Thundurus-T can set up on some of Starmie's counters like Ferrothorn.
What counters it: Few true counters for Thundurus-T exist. The closest thing to counters are specially defensive Water / Ground types like Gastrodon or Quagsire. The pink blobs are good counters as well, but if Thundurus-T is running Superpower, they'll get 2HKOd. Latias can take a hit and kill Thundurus-T with Draco Meteor. Mamoswine is a great check for it as it can easily KO with Ice Shard. SpDef Hippowdon is also dangerous as it only fears HP Ice and removes the rain which Thundurus-T likes.
Any Additional Info: I have had decent success using Magnet, faking a choice set early game and sweeping late game. As previously mentioned, Superpower is a good option for taking out Blissey / Chansey.
What it does: Keldeo has beautiful, beautiful attacking stats: 129 Special Attack and 108 Speed. This is something that, in conjunction with his powerful stab in Hydro Pump and his ability to hit really hard bulky Specially defensive pokemons with Secret Sword, can destroy the opponent team once it is weakened. The best item for him is choice scarf because it allows the user to outspeed almost everything except Scarf gengar, scarf jolteon, scarf tornadus-t, scarf Latio@s and scarf Durant, yes, it has 109 base speed. Fortunately, this pokemons are rarely seen holding a choice scarf (except for Latios and Latias). With the appropriate teammates, it is capable to sweep at the late game with Hydro Pump or Secret Sword depending on the situation.
Good Teammates: Choice band Tyranitar. Nothing else. T-tar can trap and kill 99% of keldeo's counters. Let's think about it. Lati@s is OHKO'ed by pursuit even if he/she decides to stay. Jellycent is also OHKO'ed by crunch and pursuit if decides to switch. Celebi too. Defensive gastrodon receives HUGE damage from stab crunch of CBtar. Blissey is either trapped by tar or killed with Secret sword. Tentacruel, trapped and killed too (with the help of the sandstorm) just be careful about getting burned with scald. Toxicroak, this guy is the only thing that Tyranitar can't kill so the company of landorus-T or Latios is always good received.
What counters it: As mentioned before, Keldeo gets walled by bulky water or grass type pokemons. Jellycent can take keldeo's hits forever. Toxicroak absorbs Surf and forces Keldeo to switch. Celebi resists his stab. Latios, Latias and Tentacruel too.
Additional info: Once CBtar has removed Keldeo's counters and the sand or hazards have weakened the opponent's team, Keldeo is ready to go out and spam the correct stab attack. If you are battling a rain team you can take advantage of it and maybe let the rain stay so your surfs or hydro pumps will be stronger than usual.
Author:LilOuOn
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest/Timid Nature
- Flame Charge
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice/Grass]
Role: Special Sweeper/Late-game Sweeper
What it does: Any veterans of the DPP OU Wi-Fi battles will know Heatran as one of the most dangerous threats of the era. Despite the increase of Fighting types this generation, Heatran's threatening 130 base Special Attack and above average 91/106/106 defenses, as well as an immunity to Toxic and Will-o-Wisp and a great ability leave it as one of the best sweepers around. His typing grant some handy resists, such as the ever so present Hidden Power Ice as well as Fire and Grass, making him one of the best counters to Sun based teams in the game. Ironically, he is also one of the most fearsome Sun sweepers. The only downside is his somewhat lackluster base 77 speed. Don't let his broken shell fool you into thinking this turtle is too slow though, because this one has a little trick to help you beat the hare. Heatran gets access to the TM-wide Flame Charge, allowing you to boost that speed up to reasonable levels. It's not particularly hard to get that boost up either, as with those handy resistances and decent bulk, you can take most non-priority moves well and proceed to knock out the opposing Pokemon. Unfortunately, it does have that nasty 2x weakness to fighting, and an even worse 4x weakness to ground. Air Balloon can remedy the latter somewhat, though don't expect to be taking too many Mach Punches. With Drizzle Politoed somewhat rampant, you also have to watch taking those boosted Surf's and Hydro Pumps, not to mention the power decrease in Fire Blast due to the rain.
Good teammates: If you plan on using such a Pokemon, it's a good idea to use something that will resist Fighting and Ground. Scarf Heracross is an excellent example of such a Pokemon, taking not-very effective damage from both and can hit hard with his STAB Close Combat's and Megahorn's. Yanmega's is a pretty decent partner as well, 4x resisting Fighting and being immune to Ground, as well as sporting high special attack and two great abilities. Just watch out for Stealth Rocks and Stone Edge if you decide to use such a Pokemon. A weather starter isn't too bad either, as Tyranitar's Sand Stream helps wither opponents down, and Ninetales Drought boosts Fire Blast to ridiculous levels (if you also obtain a Flash Fire boost, Heatran's Fire Blast will essentially come off of a 985 special attack stat!). Sun can also provide you a very powerful SolarBeam to use, though with weather starters all the rage, you might want to stick to using HP Grass. Another thing that's almost essential to have are some entry hazards, as without Life Orb you will be missing some valuable KO's. Heatran himself can setup Stealth Rocks, though with you already using Flame Charge, it's better if you leave it to someone like Forretress, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, or Deoxys-D who all have access to both Spikes and Stealth Rocks. Just make sure to watch out for opposing Magnezone's and Magnetron's if you're going to use the former three.
What counters it: As much praise as I can give this molten turtle, it is by far no means invincible. The most obvious counter is Dugtrio, who can trap it if it's Air Balloon is popped and easily KO with an Earthquake. However, it cannot come in on the switch if your Heatran is +1 and Jolly, otherwise it will find itself outsped and most likely KO'd with a STAB Fire Blast. Fighting types with access to Mach Punch will ruin Heatrans day, such threats such as Conkeldurr normally pack the special bulk to sponge a non-Sunny Day or Flash Fire Fire Blast and retaliate with a Drain Punch; even if it doesn't kill, likely a Mach Punch will. Other fighting types that fall into this category are Hitmontop and Scrafty. Others, such as will easily KO you with there high powered moves. Water types, though normally you can sponge one hit, still cause problems, as some aren't even 2HKO'd by HP Grass. A lot of Choice Scarf users will have a field day on Heatran, such as Terrakion, Mienshao and Landorus, to name a few. Forgoing HP Grass also leaves you completely helpless to most Dragon-types in the tier, who in return normally carry Earthquake to KO or threaten you out.
Addition info: Other items could be used instead of the Air Balloon. A Life Orb is probably the next best thing, as it helps turn some lost kills otherwise into OHKO's. Chople Berry can help alleviate one Fighting type move, which actually can come in handy. The Shuca berry turns Ground type moves into 2x super effective moves instead of 4x, while being more reliable than the Air Balloon. However, even a 2x Ground type move will most likely KO if the opposing Pokemon gains STAB on it, so it's not recommended.
What it does: Tornadus destroys even the bulkiest of Pokemon, and proceeds to outspeed and OHKO everything in its path. sporting a sky-high Special Attack stat, high Speed, and a base 120 STAB power move with a great offensive typing and 100 accuracy under the rain, it even has access to priority Tailwind, which can really help save your team from tight spots, Tornadus is truly a force to be reckoned with. Tornadus' combination of speed and power allow it to destroy both offensive and defensive teams alike, and there are very, very few Pokemon that can switch in on Tornadus and live to tell the tale. Overall, Tornadus is simply one of the best Pokemon a rain team could ever ask for.
Good Teammates: Politoed is pretty much an essential partner, as it provides permanent rain to give Tornadus' Hurricane 100 accuracy. Dugtrio is a great partner because it traps Tornadus' best counter: Jirachi, Dugtrio also traps many of the the Electric, Steel, and Rock types that resist Tornadus' Hurricane, not only that. but Dugtrio can set up Stealth Rock, making the already horrendous task of trying to switch in to Tornadus even more difficult. Anything that can remove Tornadus' counters, remove Stealth Rock with Rapid Spin, set up Stealth Rock, etc will be a great partner.
What Counters Weavile: Scizor is one of the most notable threats to Weavile, taking neutral damage from Low Kick and threatening it with Bullet Punch for a quick OHKO or U-turn to punish attempts at escape. Jirachi, another Steel-type neutral to Low Kick, and fairly light itself, also cares little for what Weavile can throw at it. This is even more true for Wish variants, who can paralyze Weavile with Body Slam and then smash it with Iron Head, or set up Calm Mind with little risk (Night Slash's high critical hit rate should be kept in mind though). Keldeo is another Pokemon who isn't really threatened by Weavile. Bulky water-types in general, such as Politoed and Tentacruel, can prevent any headway by Weavile, and even Jellicent scoffs at it if Weavile chooses Ice Punch. Chansey is a particularly humiliating counter, since it can tank Weavile's hits due to Eviolite and its low weight.
Other Notes: There's almost nothing that can counter Tornadus, but Specially Defensive variants of Rotom-W, Blissey, Jirachi, and Bronzong do a decent job. They all have their flaws though (Bronzong has no recovery, both Jirachi and Rotom-W have somewhat unreliable recovery, Blissey really has no place on any team other than Stall, which is an incredibly uncommon playstyle atm.)
Any Additional Info: Tornadus can really shine now that Tornadus-T is gone, especially considering people won't be preparing for Flying type moves as much now.
Author: The Great Mighty Doom
Alakazam @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
Role: Special Sweeper / Revenge Killer
What it does: Alakazam is one of the best Special Sweepers in the OU metagame with his high Special Attack stat, blazing speed, great coverage, and a great -ability in Magic Guard. Alakazam's base 135 Special Attack stat is higher than that of Latios' and his base 120 Speed allows him to outrun speedy threats such as Starmie, Latias, Latios, and Gengar. Magic Guard is a great ability as it makes Alakazam immune to residual damage which includes that from entry hazards, weather effects, status effects, and Life Orb recoil. This means Alakazam can use a Life Orb to greatly bolster its attacking prowess without worrying about recoil. Psyshock is a godsend to Special Attackers like Alakazam as it calculates damage using the defending Pokemon's Defense stat instead of its Special Defense stat, allowing Alakazam to defeat the bane of all Special Attackers, Blissey. Shadow Ball hits Ghost types hard as well as the Psychic types that resist Psyshock. Focus Blast is a crucial attack on this set in order to hit Steel types such as Heatran and Ferrothorn as well as Tyranitar. Alakazam is great in that he outspeeds even Scarf Tyranitar and can OHKO with Focus Blast even in Sand, granted that the attack hits. In the last moveslot, Hidden Power Fire is useful for things such as Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Skarmory while Hidden Power Ice is an option for Dragon types and other Pokemon that are 4x weak to Ice including Gliscor and Landorus. Focus Sash is slashed with Life Orb as the item for Alakazam because Alakazam can work as a great revenge killer if the user opts for the former item. Because Alakazam's Magic Guard prevents all residual damage including entry hazards, Alakazam will usually enter the battle at full health. This means that his Sash will be intact so he can be brought in against a set up sweeper or a Choice Scarf user, live a hit with Focus Sash and revenge kill with the appropriate coverage move. Alakazam serves as a great Special Sweeper and/or Revenge Killer that can fit on a large number of teams and can easily tear apart opposing teams.
Good Teammates: Alakazam, like many sweepers, really appreciates Stealth Rock and Spikes support in order to turn 2HKO's into OHKO's and 3HKO's into 2HKO's. Deoxys-D makes a great teammate as Deoxys-D hads great bulk and speed so can quickly get up Stealth Rocks and a few layers of Spikes. This extra damage really helps Alakazam carry out his job of sweeping. Other Pokemon that can set up entry hazards such as Forretress and Skarmory can also work well in this role. Magnezone is another good partner for Alakazam as he can trap the likes of Jirachi and Scizor, common Alakazam check, with his Magnet Pull ability and proceed to set up Charge Beams on them or take them out directly with HP Fire. Choice Scarf users such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Thundurus-T can all outspeed and take out Alakazam easily due to his low defensive stats so a good teammate is a faster Scarf user such as Scarf Latios.
What Counters It : Due to Alakazam's pitiful defenses, anything that can outspeed it will almost certainly be able to 2HKO it at worse. Tornadus-T outspeeds Alakazam naturally and can dispose of it easily with a Hurricane. Weavile outspeeds it as well and traps it with Pursuit. Dugtrio can trap Alakazam with Arena Trap and take it out with Sucker Punch or Earthquake. Choice Scarf users such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Latios can all take out Alakazam with their STAB attacks. Another way to easily handle Alakazam is with priority attacks that bypass its Speed. Scizor's Bullet Punch, Toxicroak's Sucker Punch, and Dragonite's Extremespeed are all good options in this regard. A defensive counter to Alakazam is Specially Defensive Jirachi who can easily take any attack, paralyze it with Body Slam, and proceed to Iron Head it to death. Chansey is another solid defensive counter to Alakazam as she does not take much damage from it due to having massive defense from Eviolite. She can heal off all damage using Softboiled, cripple Alakazam with Thunder Wave, and deal damage using Seismic Toss.
Author: Novaray
Mixed Sweeper
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
Naive Nature ( +Spd, -SDef)
Evs: 162 Atk / 92 SpAtk / 252 Spd
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Fake Out
Role: Mixed attacker , Lure
What It Does: Mienshao is quite a fast pokemon at 100 base speed. It is a good early game scout, which can take weak neutral hits, and u-turn out, while taking little damage due to regenerator. Like most physical attackers gliscor is a common switch in, however unlike others mienshao is able to ohko with 0 prior damage with hp ice. Mienshao can also revenge kill weakened pokemon, which may have set up too much with fake out. The evs may seem strange but they let mienshao ohko glicor, the drop in attack may be off putting however it is rarely noticeable.
Good Teammates: Anything which enjoys gliscor being dead. Tyranitar is a good teammate as it can trap and kill the latis as well as other psychic and ghost type pokemon which resist or are immune to hjk respectively, as can scizor.
What Counters It: Mienshao is quite hard too counter because it is failry fast, but also packs a punch from both sides of the spectrum. Most ghost types can switch into hjk and activate the recoil causing Mienshao too lose huge amounts of HP. Gengar can easily switch in and ohko with a much faster shadow ball.
Any Additional Info: entry hazards benefit mienshao greatly turning 2hkos into 0hkos also mienshao may be hard too weaken due too regenerator and is a good pick for any team looking for a fast scout!
Author: WikeCharlie
Cloyster @ Life Orb
Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Hydro Pump
Role: Mixed Sweeper
What it does: Most OU players are familiar with the deadly sweeper that is Shell Smash Cloyster. With arguably the best setup move in the game in Shell Smash that increases Cloyster's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed by 2 stages at the cost of lowering his Defense and Special Defense by 1 stage, Cloyster can easily plow through teams after a single turn of setup. With his Skill Link ability, Cloyster's multihit attacks, Icicle Spear and Rock Blast will always hit 5 times, essentially making them 125 base power attacks. However, they have the added benefit of being able to break through Focus Sashes, Sturdy, and Substitutes and each hit is considered an individual attack so you have 5 chances of landing a critical hit. Icicle Spear is Cloyster's primary STAB attack, and its power is shown in the fact that a +2 Icicle Spear with LO guarantees an OHKO on the standard 252 HP / 88 Def positive natured Ferrothorn. Rock Blast provides coverage alongside Icicle Spear, being able to hit Fire types and Water types that resist Icicle Spear. Hydro Pump in the last slot helps against Steel types such as Scizor, Forretress, and Skarmory, hitting them harder due to their weaker Special Defense.
Good Teammates: Forretress is a good partner for Cloyster as he has access to both entry hazards and Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin is important as Cloyster is weak to Stealth Rock, susceptible to Spikes, and will have very limited survivability if it is poisoned by Toxic Spikes. Forretress can lay Stealth Rock and Spikes which helps Cloyster sweep, turning 2HKO's into OHKO's. Mamoswine is also a solid partner for Cloyster because he can take out Scarf Latios and Modest Chlorophyll Venusaur with Ice Shard, both of which outspeed Cloyster even after a Shell Smash. Mamoswine also cant handle Breloom who is another threat to Cloyster as Ice Shard outspeeds Breloom's priority Mach Punch. Espeon is a great supporter for Cloyster as she can set up Reflect and Light Screen, giving him an easier time to set up as well as preventing entry hazards from going up with Magic Bounce. Lastly, Magnezone can trap and take out the Steel types that can give Cloyster some trouble.Forretress is a good partner for Cloyster as he has access to both entry hazards and Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin is important as Cloyster is weak to Stealth Rock, susceptible to Spikes, and will have very limited survivability if it is poisoned by Toxic Spikes. Forretress can lay Stealth Rock and Spikes which helps Cloyster sweep, turning 2HKO's into OHKO's. Mamoswine is also a solid partner for Cloyster because he can take out Scarf Latios and Modest Chlorophyll Venusaur with Ice Shard, both of which outspeed Cloyster even after a Shell Smash. Mamoswine also cant handle Breloom who is another threat to Cloyster as Ice Shard outspeeds Breloom's priority Mach Punch. Espeon is a great supporter for Cloyster as she can set up Reflect and Light Screen, giving him an easier time to set up as well as preventing entry hazards from going up with Magic Bounce. Lastly, Magnezone can trap and take out the Steel types that can give Cloyster some trouble.
What Counter It: Cloyster is not too difficult to counter if it has not set up. With his pitiful base 45 Special Attack, most special attacks can take him out, even resisted attacks such as Hydro Pump in rain will easily OHKO. Entry hazards are a solid way to cripple it, especially Toxic Spikes. However once he has set up, the number of counters diminishes significantly. Scarf Latios and Chlorophyll can still outspeed Cloyster after a Shell Smash and take it out with a Draco Meteor and Giga Drain respectively. Mach Punch users namely, Breloom and Conkeldurr can pick off Cloyster even after he has set up. Other priority users such as Extremespeed Dragonite and Bullet Punch Scizor can take out Cloyster after it was suffered some residual damage from Life Orb, sand, and entry hazards.
Author: Novaray
Stall Breaker
Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Trait: Justified
EVS: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Electric] / Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Icy Wind / Surf
Role: Wallbreaker, late-game sweeper
What it does: Keldeo is peharps the best user of Choice Specs on OU, and for good reason. Keldeo has the same stats of the monstrous Terrakion (only the SpA and Atk are reversed). Can't run a Fire-type Pokémon or Fire-type attack to defeat Steel-types? No problem, Keldeo is there to defeat all Steel-types that you are going to encounter. Scizor is always OHKOed by Hydro Pump, even outside rain, while Skarmory is also OHKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Secret Sword 2HKOes both Ferrothorn and Heatran, while Forretress, can't survive a Hydro Pump, even when not boosted by rain. Metagross is also another Steel-type that can't survive Hydro Pump, even when not boosted by rain. Even specially defensive Jirachi is 2HKOed by Hydro Pump, OUTSIDE rain! Keldeo has a lot of things that separate him from other Specs users, first, is its resistance to Stealth Rock. The second is Secret Sword, which bypasses Blissey and Chansey, making Keldeo the only special sweeper that can easily defeat them (without any prior setup) on the entire game. The third is a good speed (same as Terrakion) and a respectable bulk (Keldeo is not OHKOed by Starmie's Thunderbolt)
Hydro Pump is the main Keldeo's STAB. It unfortunately has a bad accuracy (same as Stone Edge, the "worst attack on the game"), but its sheer power compensates for that. The things said above just show how the last thing that you would want is to understimate Hydro Pump's power. Secret Sword is the secondary STAB, that has an amazing effect; it hits opposing Pokémon on their physical defense instead of their special defense (similar to Psyshock). This means that Keldeo can easily bypass the bane of most other special sweepers, the pink blobs! Blissey is always OHKOed, while Chansey is always 2HKOed, but has a chance to be OHKOed after Stealth Rock damage! Secret Sword is also a good attack with amazing neutral coverage, good to use in situations where you cannot miss with Hydro Pump. It's important to note that Secret Sword 2HKOes Gastrodon, which means that Keldeo can use Hidden Power Electric instead of wasting it on Hidden Power Grass. Almost all other Water-types must use Hidden Power Grass because for them, catching Gastrodon is more important than to catch Gyarados and Tentacruel.
Speaking of Hidden Power Electric, it is the main option on the third slot. It offers much-needed coverage, hitting super-effectively things that resist both of its STABs, such as Tentacruel, Gyarados, and especially Jellicent (a pokémon that is immune to both Hydro Pump and Secret Sword). Hidden Power Electric also hits most bulky Water-types slighty harder than Secret Sword, as long as they aren't specially defensive. Hidden Power Ghost is an alternative that, while not hitting Gyarados and Tentacruel for super-effective damage, catches Lati@s and Celebi, two things that resist both Keldeo's STABs AND Hidden Power Electric. It's best used on rain teams, where Hydro Pump will be boosted enough to 2HKO Gyarados and Tentacruel with it.
The last slot is reserved to Icy Wind. Sure, it's a mediocre, weak attack, but it has enough power to, when boosted by Choice Specs, 2HKO Latios, 2HKO some Latias, and OHKO Salamence and Garchomp and 2HKO Haxorus without having to resort to Hydro Pump. It can also 2HKO Dragonite (OHKO if Multiscale has been broken). It also catches Venusaur, while serving as a more accurate attack than Hydro Pump to OHKO both Landorus and Gliscor. Its side effect is nice, as even if you predict wrongly, you can possibly switch to something that can beat the opponent when its speed is lowered. However, Icy Wind can be replaced by Surf. Surf is a good alternative to use, instead of Hydro Pump, when you cannot afford a miss. It's best used on rain teams, in tandem with Hidden Power Ghost, where Surf will be used as the main attack, OHKOing or 2HKOing the aforementioned Steel-types without having to resort to Hydro Pump's bad accuracy, while Hydro Pump will be used against Pokémon that resist it, as most of them will be 2HKOed anyway due to rain.
Good Teammates: This Keldeo doesn't need specific teammates, as it has sheer power, and enough coverage to get past of most of its counters. In fact, it's the Pokémon that will want to be partnered with Keldeo, as its wallbreaking power allow many Pokémon to sweep late-game. That said, Politoed and Tyranitar stand out as the best partners to Keldeo. The former boosts Hydro Pump to insane levels, transforming Hydro Pump on an atomic bomb capable of powering through many Pokémon that resist it! The latter defeats Latios, Latias, Celebi and Jellicent, allowing Keldeo to spam Hydro Pump without much problem. Tyranitar also appreciates the fact that Keldeo defeats some of its biggest enemies, such as Scizor.
Paralysis support is nice, so that Keldeo becomes somewhat of a sweeper. On rain teams, this can be provided by Jirachi, but Celebi is also another good option. Jirachi is a good partner in general because it can defeat Tornadus-T, a problem to Keldeo if it manages to switch-in safely. Again, this Keldeo doesn't really need specific partners in general, as it can wreck avoc on every non-sun team by itself.
What counters it: This Keldeo has no true counters, as Keldeo, with the right move, can bypass all of them. Slowking, Specially defensive Jellicent and Specially defensive Celebi are the closest things to true counters that Keldeo has. Specially defensive Celebi can wall Keldeo that don't carry Hidden Power Ghost, but it's 2HKOed by that move after Stealth Rock damage. However, Keldeo has many checks that it must watch out for. Such checks are Tornadus-T, Choice Scarf Thundurus-T, Jolteon Lati@s. All of them can, if they manage to get on battle safely, OHKO Keldeo with the appropriate move. Starmie can also do this, but Thunderbolt will not OHKO a full-health Keldeo, so Starmie needs Psyshock to effectively always OHKO Keldeo. Choice Scarf Landorus and Choice Scarf Terrakion do about 80% damage to Keldeo with Earthquake (on the sandstorm) and Close Combat, so Keldeo must still watch out for sandstorm teams. Should Keldeo lose the speed tie, it's murdered by a Choice Band-boosted Close Combat from Terrakion. On sun teams, most Chlorophyll sweepers, such as Venusaur, can outspeed Keldeo if the sun is shining, and OHKO him with Grass-type attacks.
Role: Wallbreaker / Special Sweeper
What it Does: Smashes everything in its path. Tornadus-T is one of the deadliest things for teams to face and under rain with an amazing base 121 Speed and a decent base 110 spA backed up by STAB Hurricane, nothing really can stand up to it. Taunt shuts down Pokemon like Blissey and Heatran that try to come in, almost making Tornadus a Stall Breaker as well. U-turn is also a great asset to his movepool as Tornadus can get out if it's up against Jirachi or something that can actually take his onslaught. By far one of the scariest SpA attackers in OU.
Good Teammates: Politoed obviously is a great teammate to allow 100% Accurate Hurricanes which Tornadus-T will be using most of the time. Dugtrio is also an amazing partner as it takes down Rock, Electric, and Steel types, the only things that can take hurricanes, and traps popular Tornadus-T Counters like Jirachi. Tornadus-T also likes the removal of Stealth Rock as it kind of negates Regenerator, one of its greatest assets.
What Counters It: Really it only has two or three "Good" Counters. Bronzong and Jirachi stick out, but Bronzong has no recovery and Jirachi is trapped by the everpresent Tornadus + Dugtrio Combo. Specially Defensive Zapdos is also an amazing counter and can also threaten Tornadus-T's common teammates like Politoed, Keldeo, and Ferrothorn, who even in Rain gets battered by 3-4 Heat Waves.
Any Additional Info: Consider Tornadus-T on any Rain Team, it's amazing!
Author: ThunderBlunder
Kyurem Black @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd/ 252 Attack/ 4 Def (You can spread the attack with the Special attack)
Naďve Nature
-Outrage
-Ice Beam
-Earth Power/ Focus Blast
-Fusion Bolt/ Draco Meteor / Subtitute
Role: Stall Breaker / Mixed Sweeper
What It Does: Since its suspect test, Kyurem Black’s usage has dropped a little, however due to its typing, bulk, and power it is perfect for breaking stall and sweeping two or three Pokemon while doing it. In a rain dominated metagame you need something that breaks stall and rain cores. With Life Orb Kyurem Black can 2hko ferrothorn on the switch, (which will happen) with Ice Beam and then Focus Blast. A lot of people don’t suspect Outrage after you use special moves for some reason so when you pump out that base 170 Life Orb Outrage, which 2hkos most steels in OU other than Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress the opponent has a completely new devastating threat on its hands. Kyurem Black can tank a Hydro Pump on the switch and then use Draco Meteor or Ice Beam instead of using Outrage to save Outrage for a more propitious, or advantageous situation. Don’t forget you could safely outrage from the protection of a bulky substitute.
Good Teammates: Good teammates for Kyurem Black in general are spinners, Magnezone, and other steel types. If you clear out the few steels that Kyurem Black can’t handle on its own and hazards Kyurem Black’s bulk and power do the rest of the work. Kyurem Black is most synergetic with offensive teams, therefore partners such as Scizor, Landorus forms, Garchomp, Terrakion, Keldeo, Politoed, and Lati@s are perfect for Kyurem Black. If you add the amount of inundating power Kyurem Black brings onto an offensive team you can’t go wrong. At least not easily. Personally I will give you guys a huge tip listed here first (pretty sure I made this combo up), which is Tornadus I with Prankster using Tailwind. Kyurem Black wants Agility or Dragon Dance well the next best thing is a late game Tail Wind to give him more than enough speed at max t out speed Scarf Latios.
More Teammates: Having Kyurem Black on your team means your team should be well prepared for steels, so having a clean up Scarf Mence/ CB/ DD Dragonite that doesn't have to worry about steel types will be to your advantage. Also, instead of using Magnezone who has all to common weaknesses you can make use of Scarf / Specs Gothitelle with Shadow Tag.
What Counters It: As I have already listed Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress are all bulky enough steel types to switch directly into an Outrage. However if you are using the Substitute option then you can seriously wreck anything that comes out especially if you are lucky with confusion hax. Choice Band Scizor is a top threat for Kyurem Black, because it’s usually a KO. Keep in mind if you invest a few evs in bulk and have full health you can live LO bullet punch and if the damage roll is right Choice Band Scizor’s Bullet Punch. Your best bet against these Pokemon are simply the partners I have listed above and Pokemon that carry similar roles with those Pokemon.
Additional Info: Kyurem Black has so much potential that you can make him hard to handle for your opponent. Tailwind Tornadus is frail so when you use the move before you die Kyurem Black is ready to sweep.
What it does: Hydreigon is one of the best stall breakers in the game. It has great attacking stats that allow it to hit hard from both sides of the spectrum, sporting a base 105 Attack stat and a base 125 Special Attack. With these stats, it has the coverage moves to freely abuse them. Hydreigon also has solid bulk for such an offensive Pokemon with base defense stats of 92/90/90 and with the arrival of Black and White 2, it gained access to a recovery move in Roost that greatly augments its bulk. Draco Meteor is the main weapon in Hydreigon's arsenal, being able to smash anything that is not a Steel type or a pink blob. Fire Blast provides great coverage alongside Draco Meteor, being able to destroy Steel types such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Scizor attempting to sponge a Dragon type move. In Black and White 1, these 2 moves alone made Hydreigon a terrifying threat, however it struggled with the likes of Blissey, Tyranitar, and Heatran. Granted it did have Focus Blast, but no one wants to use a move that always seems to miss. With the advent of Black and White 2, the move tutors gave Hydreigon a gift in the form of Superpower so he could now take out what had previously walled him by using his physical strength. It also allows him to stay in and attack even after suffering a Special Attack drop from Draco Meteor. With these three attacks, Hydreigon can break apart even the sturdiest of defensive cores. In the last moveslot, Roost is the primary option to heal off residual damage from Life Orb and provide Hydreigon with greater longevity so he can wreak even more havoc. Earthquake is an option to hit Tentacruel and Jirachi in rain harder while Dark Pulse can be used as a secondary STAB if one does not want to always use the nuke button that is Draco Meteor.
Good Teammates: Deoxys-D is a good teammate for Hydreigon to set up Stealth Rock and Spikes. Because of Hydreigon's attacking prowess, he will often be forcing many switches so the residual damage from entry hazards will really rack up. Entry hazards also help turn 2HKO's into OHKO's. Latios is a great offensive partner for Hydreigon as he can outspeed the likes of Keldeo, Terrakion, and Salamence which all threaten Hydreigon, and take them out with a Draco Meteor of its own. Hydreigon works well with Latios as they have similar defensive checks and the former can wear down a team's walls, leaving the latter free to come in and finish off the opponent. Latios can also resists the Mach Punches that are deadly to Hydreigon and so he can help deal with Breloom. Defensive partners that work well with Hydreigon include Specially Defensive Jirachi and Celebi. Both of these can check Terrakion and Keldeo to some degree and spread paralysis which really helps Hydreigon as his base speed of 98 is slightly too slow to sweep. Skarmory is also a solid defensive partner as her immense physical bulk easily handles the likes of priority users such as Breloom and Scizor who threaten Hydreigon as well as Dragon types such as Salamence and Garchomp. Skarmory can also lay down the entry hazards Hydreigon appreciates in order to deal more damage.
What Counters It : Due to Hydreigon having a middling base Speed stat of 98, faster Pokemon that can outrun him and hit him with a Super Effective attack are typically the best checks. These include things such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Salamence, Garchomp, and Latios who all have a STAB attack that can OHKO Hydreigon. Powerful priority users such as Scizor, Breloom, and Mamoswine can also give Hydreigon trouble. Rain teams are tough for Hydreigon to deal with as they often pack Tornadus-T and Keldeo and also because his Fire Blast is weakened so Steel types will be able to live some hits. When it comes to defensive counters however, there really aren't any due to the sheer strength of Hydreigon's wall breaking ability and his great coverage.
What it does: Weavile is an extremely versatile revenge-killer. Its Ice Shard allows it to deal with things like +1 Dragonite, Choice Scarf Salamence, or weakened Chlorophyll Venusaurs, while its naturally high Speed allows it to checkmate many Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon. Weavile can dispose of Lati@s and Gengar with ease, and can even trap a weakened Tornadus-T or outright OHKO a healthy one with Ice Punch. It's also capable of sweeping teams lategame if they lack a suitable answer to it, as its STABs give a surprising amount of super effective coverage, which Low Kick complements quite nicely.
Good Teammates: Pokemon that appreciate a dead Latios or Latias, such as Keldeo, Landorus, or Breloom benefit from Weavile's presence, especially if the sand Tyranitar would produce would be detrimental. It is especially worth noting Weavile's ability to remove Latios/Latias/Gengar when paired with Swords Dance Breloom or Sheer Force Landorus, as both of these Pokemon are devastating sweepers that can have difficulty getting through those Pokemon. Keldeo does have the benefit of not being overly troubled by Scizor, though. Rapid Spinners also appreciate Weavile's ability to remove Gengar with little hassle, and its ability to trap a weakened Deoxys-D or Jellicent. Teams that need these niches filled, but are also weak to Dragon-types, benefit the most from Weavile. Magnezone can remove Scizor and Ferrothorn or bait Lati@s and Volt Switch into Weavile, while your own Recover Lati@s can switch into Keldeo with near impunity.
What Counters Weavile: Scizor is one of the most notable threats to Weavile, taking neutral damage from Low Kick and threatening it with Bullet Punch for a quick OHKO or U-turn to punish attempts at escape. Jirachi, another Steel-type neutral to Low Kick, and fairly light itself, also cares little for what Weavile can throw at it. This is even more true for Wish variants, who can paralyze Weavile with Body Slam and then smash it with Iron Head, or set up Calm Mind with little risk (Night Slash's high critical hit rate should be kept in mind though). Keldeo is another Pokemon who isn't really threatened by Weavile. Bulky water-types in general, such as Politoed and Tentacruel, can prevent any headway by Weavile, and even Jellicent scoffs at it if Weavile chooses Ice Punch. Chansey is a particularly humiliating counter, since it can tank Weavile's hits due to Eviolite and its low weight.
Other Notes: A very cool Pokemon, but it can be a bit difficult to get full mileage out of it. There will be some games where it's an allstar, racking up two or three kills or ending the game itself in a lategame sweep, and there are others where it fails to kill anything important or is pitiably walled by something. It has gotten better with Genesect's ban, since it tended to be a walking U-turn target. Try it out for yourself.
What It Does: Stoutland is an incredibly effective pokemon under the sand, and it's amazing in it's 2 primary roles: revenge killing and late game sweeping. Stoutland has a strong STAB, good bulk, good coverage and a decent Attack stat. These aren't the traits of a top-tier OU threat are they? Well, Stoutland really shines because of it's ability: Sand Rush. Under the sand Stoutland's speed is doubled, this gives Stoutland a speed stat of 518, just one point lower than Choice Scarf Keldeo / Terrakion. Stoutland has lower Speed and Attack, it also has very similiar bulk and a weaker primary STAB. But Stoutland's ability to run a Choice Band and a +Atk nature rather than Choice Scarf and a +Spd nature and still have similiar Speed makes it a much better pokemon under the sand. Not only that, but Stoutland's STAB is only resisted by Rock (there's only Terrakion and Tyranitar in OU and they're both hit by Superpower), Ghost (there's only Jellicent and Gengar in OU, Jellicent is 2HKOd by Wild Charge and Gengar is trapped with Pursuit) and Steel (almost all of these can be trapped by Magnezone and most of them are hit by Superpower.) After getting rid of these 3 types (not really a difficult task with a bit of team support) and factoring in Choice Band and +Atk nature, Stoutland has perfect coverage with it's STAB as well as the speed of a Choice Scarfer with the Attack of a Choice Bander. A truly deadly combination.
Good Teammates: Sand is essential for Stoutland to be viable, so either Tyranitar or Hippowdon are great teammates. Hippowdon is usually the superior option due to much, much better synergy. Anything that can trap Steels makes a perfect partner for Stoutland. Both Choice Specs Gothitelle and Choice Specs Magnezone do this job well, but Choice Specs Magnezone is overall better at the role, because of it's superior Special Attack and resistance to Scizor's U-Turn, Scizor's Bullet Punch, Ferrothorn's Power Whip, Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball, etc. Either a Pursuit trapper or defensive pivot is also pretty useful. The likes of Tyranitar can Pursuit trap Gengar and Jellicent, and the likes of Rotom-W can keep Jellicent at bay and it can switch in on Gengar and Volt Switch out to Stoutland so it can KO with Pursuit.
What Counters It: Not much really. Pretty much every pokemon in OU is 2HKOd with the correct coverage move. Only healthy Gliscor's, Landorus-T's and Hippowdon's are the only things that really scare Stoutland once it's resistances are dealt with, but they can be taken care of with a bit of offensive pressure.
Any Additional Info: Stoutland is a dog and dog spelt backwards is god :o
Author: The Great Mighty Doom
Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor
- Rock Slide / Earthquake / Sacred Sword
Role: Revenge killer, Late game cleaner (?)
What it does: Terrakion, like its fellow musketeer Keldeo is an excellent revenge killer, sporting 108 base speed, allowing it to outspeed everything upto +2 neutral natured base 80 speed Pokemon (read +2 Dragonite, Modest Venusaur and Adamant Stoutland in their preferred weathers). Its STABs cover pretty much the entire metagame, notably getting super effective hits on all speed boosting dragons, Volcarona, Stoutland, Gyarados, Tornadus-T, Scarf Thundurus-T and other threats. Stone Edge and Close Combat are obvious options, being STAB moves; X-Scissor dents Celebi and Lati@s. In the last slot, Rock Slide is usually preferred being more reliable than Stone Edge. Earthquake can help you damage Toxicroak who walls you otherwise, while getting a good hit on Jirachi, but is easy to take advantage of due to the abundance of Levitating or Flying type Pokemon. Sacred Sword ignores all boosts, so can be useful for hitting... Dialga? Honestly, you only need Stone Edge and Close Combat to succeed, use whatever in the last slot that helps your team most.
Good teammates: Generally, a scarfer is chosen if it can remove specific threats which can, having set up, destroy your team. Therefore teams which appreciate DD dragons, Volcarona etc. being removed are those in which Scarf Terrakion fits best in. Generally, your team should have something which can defeat Gliscor, Landorus-T etc. which wall Scarf Terrakion easily, so Rotom-W is a good partner. Tyranitar increased Terrakion's SpDef, giving it superior bulk, but adds a crippling weakness to priority in general. Gyarados works well with Terrakion, being able to set up on Scizor, Landorus-T and Gliscor pretty easily. The Lati@s also work well, being able to lure in Dark type attacks, giving Terrakion what is effectively a CB boost, though it is pretty unreliable.
What counters it: Unlike Band Terrakion, Scarf Terrakion can be more easily played around. Gliscor and Landorus-T are excellent switch ins; they force Terrakion out due to taking insignificant damage from its moves. Slowbro, Celebi (as long it avoids X-Scissor), Donphan, Hippowdon etc. also force it out as they are not 2HKOd. Jellicent can also take a hit, cripple Terrakion and recover its HP. Without Earthquake, Toxicroak is a good counter. Scizor, Breloom and Conkeldurr have STAB super effective priority moves which will kill Terrakion, so are good offensive checks.
Additional comments: Terrakion may no longer be the best revenge killer among the musketeers, but it is still pretty damn great at its job.
What It Does: The king of the DPP OU Metagame still thrives in the BW2 era, even more so now that its Bug/Steel parter in crime, Genesect, has been banished to the Uber Tier, ridding Scizor of one more dangerous counter. Choice Band Scizor trades the power of its Life Orb+SD set for more coverage and more immediate power. A staple on many Hyper Offense teams for its ability to trap and kill the more prominent spinners and walls (Starmie, Lati@s, Gengar), it's best known for its STAB + Technician Boosted Bullet Punch, one of only two Priority moves in the game not walled by Ghost types (the other being Ice Shard), and only resisted by a small handful of types. Superpower is for one of those type, the highly defensive Steel type. Superpower can OHKO Ferrothorn and Magnezone no problem, and while Skarmory, Jirachi, and Forretess wal this choice a bit, Scizor still carries it's second best weapon, U-Turn, to swap out for a more suitable check to the opponents new choice. With this EV Spread, Scizor gains a bit of Bulk over Speed, meaning other Priority attacks will usually beat it. However, gaining a bit of staying power can be a good thing when mispredicting a switch (HP Fire Latias can usually survive a Pursuit if not switching out) and give Scizor a "second life" so to speak.
Good Teammates: Heatran, especially Balloon variants, are great Scizor partners. With Flash Fire, Tran can come in on any usual Fire type and absorb the attack, giving its own Fire attacks a boost. Another good partner is Magnezone. Magnezone counters the Water types and other Steel types (barring Heatran and EQ-carrying Forretress) that can wall Scizor.
What Counters it: Fire. This steel bug HATES fire. This is bad, as it is a very common offensive type, with almost everything carrying something Fire-based. Even some pokemon with low Special Attack can carry Hidden Power Fire and destroy Scizor with little or no investment, as a 4x weakness, coupled with middling 80 Special Defense leaves it wide open to such an assault. Bulky Water-Types, specifically Jellicent, can pretty much Hard Wall almost anything Scizor will toss out, barring Pursuit on the switch.
Additional Info: Scizor also has access to Bug Bite, which, with only 60 BP, gets a Technician Boost, which U-turn does not, making Bug Bite far more powerful that U-Turn in terms of pure power.
Author BlankZero
Landorus (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice] / Explosion / Superpower
Role: Revenge Killer
What It Does: Peharps the best revenge killer for sandstorm teams. While Terrakion, Stoutland and Keldeo seems like they are better choices, Landorus has much more advantages over each. Landorus has much less weakness than Terrakion, and thus offer better defensive synergy, and has more chances to switch-in and wreck avoc. Landorus is also less dependent from sandstorm than Stoutland, as Landorus retain its speed outside sandstorm. If you were to rely on Stoutland to revenge kill outside sandstorm, you would be put on a bad position if it was raining, for example. As for Keldeo, Landorus is simply stronger, as Keldeo would have to rely on rain to revenge kill effectively. While Landorus doesn't get a good Flying-type move, it can still be an effective revenge killer with the moves above.
Earthquake is the best STAB that Landorus has. On sandstorm, it is stronger than even Outrage from Dragon-types. Stone Edge rounds off the coverage. It allows Landorus to revenge kill most Dragon-tyes, as well as Volcarona and Tornadus-T. U-Turn provides a way to mantain momentum for Landorus, and also OHKOes Celebi, something that none of Landorus' other attacks can do. Hidden Power Ice is the best move to use on the last slot, as it allows Landorus to defeat opposing Landorus, Landorus-T and Gliscor, something that Stone Edge cannot do. Also, Hidden Power Ice is a more accurate attack to use against Dragon/Flying-types (like Salamence and Dragonite) as long as they have taken prior damage (as otherwise Stone Edge would be stronger). Not to mention that it's Landorus' best attack against Garchomp. Another option, if you can reliably deal with the above threats, is Explosion. Explosion is a stronger attack than even Earthquake on sandstorm, and despite the nerf that it received on this generation, it's a good, last-resort attack to use to guarantee that something on your opponent's team will die. Another option is Superpower. It is good against Air Balloon users (especially Heatran) and Ferrothorn. However, it is rather lackluster otherwise, and has redundant coverage with Earthquake. The advantage of not using Hidden Power Ice, is that Landorus can use a Jolly nature and preserve its decent Special Defense.
Good Teammates: Tyranitar and Hippowdon must be used as partners, so that Landorus can have a boost on its Earthquakes. It's suggested that you use something that can defeat Skarmory and Bronzong, as they are very problematic for Landorus. Thus, Heatran, Magnezone and Keldeo stand out as partners. Speaking of Keldeo, it can be also problematic, as Scarf variants of him can outrun and defeat Landorus with Hydro Pump. Thus, it's recommended that you use something like Celebi or Jellicent to deal with Keldeo. Other Pokémon to be considered are Pokémon with U-Turn and Volt Switch, like Scizor, Rotom-W, and Forretress, to form a VoltTurn chain with Landorus.
What Counters It: Skarmory and Bronzong are the best counters. They take little damage from every attack that this Landorus can use against them. The former can phaze Landorus, while the latter can simply defeat it with Hidden Power Ice. However, Landorus has U-Turn to scout them and bring the appropriate counter. Mamoswine and Weavile have Ice Shard to promptly OHKO Landorus. Scizor can also defeat Landorus with Bullet Punch, but will need it very weakened, as otherwise Bullet Punch fail to OHKO. Slowbro is another good Pokémon that can tank everything that Landorus can throw at him, and can OHKO with Scald or Ice Beam. However, Slowbro hates taking repeated Earthquakes. This should not be a problem as Slowbro has reliable recovery, unless Slowbro has been weakened. Gliscor take little damage from most of Landorus' attacks, but fears Hidden Power Ice. Faster scarfers like Lati@s and Keldeo can deal with Landorus, but the latter cannot switch on Earthquake.
Author:Dark Fallen Angel
Late Game Sweeper
Landorus @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest / Timid Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rock Polish
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
Role: Late-game Cleaner, Special Sweeper
What It Does: Landorus is one of the most dangerous special sweepers in the OU tier, capable of 2HKOing a lot of bulky 'mons in the metagame. For instance, 4/252+ Blissey has 95.7% chance to be 2HKOd after Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes from a Modest Landorus Focus Blast. Landorus is an excellent late game cleaner, as with its good defensive typing (which also makes it immune to Thunder Wave), it can usually get one chance to set up (scarf Terrakion Close Combat for example) and is immediately threatening afterwards. The given moves provide perfect neutral coverage, and both Earth Power and Focus Blast are boosted by 30% by Sheer Force. Moreover, there is no Life Orb recoil on Sheer Force boosted moves, so the opponent cannot rely on recoil to kill Landorus. While Timid is usually the preferred nature as you outrun max speed positive nature base 100s, Modest is slashed because of the previously mentioned 2HKO on Blissey and the high chance to 2HKO SpD Rotom even without hazards.
Good Teammates: Landorus is incapable of beating some specially bulky Pokemon like SpDef Celebi, Latias and Chansey, so its best teammates are Pokemon which can beat its counters. Tyranitar is a solid choice as a teammate, being able to pursuit trap Celebi and Latias (and other psychic and ghost types), and beat/severely damage Chansey. Moreover it can make your opponent think you are running a Sand Force set, and allow you to set up a Rock Polish on their physical wall. Scizor is also a good choice as a partner as is Jirachi as they can beat Landorus' counters. Landorus also loves hazards support to convert many 2HKOs to OHKOs and 3HKOs to 2HKOs, so something like Ferrothorn is useful. Generally strong attackers like Terrakion and Specs Keldeo make good partners for Landorus to weaken its counters and allow it to effectively sweep.
What Counters It: Landorus, despite its immense power, has some good counters. Chansey, SpDef Celebi, Latias, Gyarados, SpD Jellicent are good counters to it. Rotom-W and Blissey also work well, but they risk being 2HKOd by Modest Focus Blast (although Focus Blast probably won't hit two times in a row). Gengar can also switch into Focus Blast as well as Earth Power, but doesn't like taking Hidden Power Ice. Landorus however has some good checks; Mamoswine and Azumarill destroy it with STAB super-effective priority, ignoring its speed boosts. If it has not got a boost, Landorus is easily checked by pretty much half of OU due to its average unboosted speed and defenses.
Any Additional Info: Calm Mind sucks. Psychic > Focus Blast is actually pretty good, but you lose to Rotom-W, Skarmory, Bronzong, Tyranitar etc., so Focus Blast is generally better. Landorus is quite underused in the metagame (lower than Infernape and Jolteon!), so I think it should be used more considering how good it is.
What it does:
Arguably the best late game sweeper in the OU metagame, Salamence is a Pokemon that every team should be prepared for. Boasting great 135 attack and 100 speed offenses, Salamence more than fills the requirements for a Scarfer. In this metagame where offense is king, Salamence really stands out among other Scarfers in OU. This is mostly down to Salamence's ability, Moxie. Each time Salamence nets a kill, it gains an attack boost, further increasing it's sweeping capabilities. This makes Salamence especially hard to deal with, as even if you try to fodder something in hope of revenging, you're only making Salamence an even bigger threat. Salamence is a universal Choice Scarf user, in the sense that it can fit on literally any team and work well. With this set, Salamence also retains excellent coverage, the only weakness being whatever move you lock yourself into, as Salamence can be fairly predictable at times. However, do not let this deter you from using Salamence, as there are very few Pokemon in the tier who can do the job as well.
Good Teammates:
One of Salamence's main problems is that to sweep it really needs to lock itself into Outrage, baiting in Ferrothorn or Skarmory. Anything that does a good job of removing these pesky Steels will suffice, as nothing else really wants to switch into a +1 / +2 Outrage. Variants of Magnezone do a good job, while CB Terrakion can also work for powering through Skarmory while beating Ferrothorn and not allowing Jirachi to switch in. Physically Defensive Jellicent could also work in that position, as common attempts to beat Salamence are through priority or simply outspeeding it with their own Choice Scarf user. Jellicent can switch into Scarf Keldeo's Hidden Power [Ice], Scarf Terrakion, Mamoswine's Ice Shard, while still being able to beat the aforementioned Steels fairly well with Taunt + Will-O-Wisp + Recover. Will-O-Wisp is also good for making it easier for Salamence to switch in on burned attackers. Starmie could also work, spinning away hazards making it easier to switch in, while also faring well against Keldeo and Terrakion.
What Counters It:
Given Salamence's excellent coverage, there are very few things that can counter it. The main way to beat it is through predicting what move it is going to lock itself into. The most common Salamence counters are things such as Offensive Air Balloon Heatran, Ferrothorn in Rain, Specially Defensive Skarmory. Unfortunately for Salamence, these are all Pokemon that are very common in today's metagame. Salamence generally has troubles with Steels despite Fire Blast + Earthquake coverage, so do be wary of that.
Any Additional Info:
I'd highly advise using a Rapid Spinner alongside Salamence, or an offensive partner that can break through Salamence's counters for the best results.
Author: Jimbon
Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Hp / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner
What it does:
Lucario, with the banning of genesect, is having his own little coming out party in the ou metegame. Lucario is an amazing sweeper and cleaner that after one boost can often spell gg for the opponent. With its amazing steel/fighting typing Lucario has many chances to set up a swords dance such as, choice locked dragon, ice and rock moves which are all incredibly common. ExtemeSpeed is the main selling point of Lucario and one of the huge reasons to use him over any other fighting type (unlike terrakion he can actually beat techniloom because of this). It hits many, many pokemon with neutrality and after one SD can one hit a majority of them, especially late game. Close combat is busting down steels and walls such as magnezone, It can even 2hk0 skarmory. Bullet punch may seem like an interesting choice but I really prefer it in this metagame, as you can beat the very common terrakions and gengars of the world.
Good Teammates:
When it comes to support, Deoxys-D and lucario go hand in hand. Extremespeed, albeit fast, isn't backed up by stab and has middle of the road base power. That's where deo-d's spikes and stealth rock support come in, making a e-speed sweep much, much easier. As far as taking out his counters mamoswine is a good candidate, beating both gliscor and dragonite. T-Tar can also be a great partner, especially choice band with its ability to easily dispose of jellicent. Strong wall breakers/sweepers that attract choice locked ice or rock moves such as dragonite and landorus also make great partners.
What Counters It:
Gliscor is one of its best counters, shrugging off its main stabs and taking extremespeed pretty handily. Hippowdon is also a solid counter, taking any of lucarios hits with ease and hitting back with a super effective earthquake. Jellicent is another pokemon that compeltely walls lucario.
Any Additional Info:
I highly suggest Deo-D support. (Or just spikes and stealth rock in general!)
Author:gengarnemisis
Landorus-Therian @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 70 HP /252 Atk / 188 Spd
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Role: Physical Sweeper
What It Does: Double-Dance Lando-T is one of those Pokemon that doesn't get nearly enough recognition in this metagame with its cousin RP Lando-I running around with Sheer Force. Regardless, this guy means business when he comes out onto the field. Running a Double-Dance setup sweeper means learning to read a team in team preview and know that you have what you need to break a team, whether you need Rock Polish up to outspeed a team of high-powered and fast threats, or whether you're facing down a Stall Gauntlet and need some Wall-Breaking power on your side. Either way, Double-Dance Lando-T is your guy, with EdgeQuake coverage on his side, a bit of bulk in the way of Intimidate, and plenty of power coming off of his meaty 145 Base Attack. His slightly disappointing 91 Speed is a bit of a bummer, but you can remedy it by going for Max speed over a bit of Bulk. Overall, as has been mentioned elsewhere before, Double Dance Lando-T is like a Double Dance Terrakion with better typing, bulk and brute force.
Good Teammates: Good team mates for Landorus include those that can take ice and water attacks for it and Hazard Setters. This means, things like Celebi and Ferrothorn who can come in on the Water Types, and Jirachi who can eat Ice all day long. Also, things that can take out its biggest rival, Skarmory, who walls this set too well for words, where even with Stone Edge, Lando must be at +4 to even bring Skarm down to Sturdy, where Skarm can just Whirlwind it away. This makes things like Heatran, Thunderus-T, and any other Fire/Electric STAB user a very good pairing for Landorus, so long as the Water/Ice weakness is covered also.
What Counters It: Skarmory, Bronzong, Defensive Gliscor, Hippodown, and anythign else that can live a +2 SE or EQ and hit back or phaze out and heal up. BalloonTran and Celebi packing HP Ice, or Mamoswine and Weaville and even Cloyster with Ice Shard will make Lando fall easily as well. Basically, anything that can survive a hit and hit back with Ice, or that can use Ice Shard are Landorus-T banes.
Any Additional Info: Another set for this Landorus involves a Gravity team. With Gravity, you can replace Life Orb with Soft Sand and Stone Edge with Gravity for continued setup. Gravity makes everything immune to Ground attacks suddenly very confused. Skarmory and Bronzong, and even Gliscor to a smaller degree suddenly find the Earth Tiger very threatening, as does Lati@s if Lando manages to secure enough boosts.
Author: BlankZero
Tank
Latias @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 72 HP / 184 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock / Hidden Power [Fire]
- Surf / Hidden Power [Fire]
- Recover
Role: Tank
What It Does: Latias is an incredibly effective tank. It utilizes its devastating Special Attack, amazing speed, and outstanding Special Defense to tank hits and pound teams with its Draco Meteor's. The most amazing thing about Latias is probably it's typing. It has some of the most important resistances to have in the current metagame: Electric, Fire, Fighting, and best of all; Water. These resistances, combined with Latias' stellar Special Defense, allow it to take down almost every offensive threat commonly found on rain teams (Politoed, Rotom-W, Keldeo, Thundurus-T, etc) which is a ridiculously good trait to have in a metagame where rain is everywhere. Not only that, but the fighting resistance and access to STAB Psyshock gives Latias the ability to check pretty much every single OU Fighting type and there's alot of them. If that wasn't enough, Latias' Fire resistance combined with multiple other traits, allows it to check almost all of the pokemon commonly found in the current standard team archetypes. That's alot of great resists. There's not really much else to say about Latias, it's resistances, bulk, etc allow it to tank alot of hits, retaliate with powerful hits, check both sun and rain etc.
Good Teammates: Specially Defensive Rotom-W is an amazing teammate for Latias, it'll give your team a second water resistance (which is almost a neccessity atm) and it checks pretty much all the Special attacking threats that Latias will struggle with (Tornadus-T, Gengar, Starmie etc), has great synergy with Latias, gives your team a second check to alot of the things that Latias is only a shaky check too etc. Anything that can eliminate pursuit trappers, primarliy Scizor and Tyranitar, the pink blobs, Specially Defensive Steel types, eg. Bronzong, Jirachi and Ferrothorn, is greatly appreciated. Choice Specs Magnezone can trap Scizor, Ferrothorn, Bronzong and Jirachi then kill them off with either Thunder or Hidden Power [Fire]. Dugtrio can trap Tyranitar, the pink blobs, and Jirachi. Physically orientated pokemon with Fire / Ground coverage are perfect for expunging all the aformentioned threats, the likes of Garchomp, Salamence etc fill this role perfectly. Finally, Latias hates status, so a cleric and / or some kind of status absorber would make a great teammate.
Any Additional Info: Latias is a much better tank than Latios, her old brother, in any team that's not Hyper Offense because Latias' superior Special bulk is just too important to reliably check / counter a majority of the pokemon mentioned earlier.
Author: The Great Mighty Doom
Heatran @ Air Balloon / Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVS: 56 HP / 252 SAtk / 200 Spd (An spread of 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef is also viable; always use 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd if you use Flame Charge)
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) (Modest should be used if you run a bulky spread)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Flame Charge / Will-O-Wisp / Toxic / Stealth Rock / Taunt
Role: This is actually hard to define. This Heatran is somewhat of a supportive attacker, since it's more offensive, but has ways to support the team. But with Flame Charge, it could instead be classified as a special sweeper. I would define Heatran's hole as a Tank, Support, Late-game sweeper (if it runs Flame Charge)
What it does: Heatran is peharps one of the best, if not the best offensive supporter for teams. It has a lot of applications that are extremely useful for all teams. First, it acts as a check to Dragons that lack Fighting- or Water-type attacks. Second, it defeat almost all Steel-types with its STAB Fire Blast, and even opposing Heatran, the only Steel-type that laugh at Fire attacks, are defeated by Earth Power, as long as they don't carry Air Balloon themselves. Third, Heatran is the best counter to sun sweepers, and if you manage to get rid of Dugtrio, Heatran can easily annoy a sun team to the hell. Finally, it can have a different role, depending of its last move.
Fire Blast is an obvious option for STAB. It defeats all common Steel-types, except opposing Heatran, and also defeats the ubiquitous Grass- and Bug-types, that are actually very common on the metagame. Earth Power is there mainly because otherwise, opposing Heatran would wall him. But Heatran is also useful on other situations against Rock-types, or against Magnezone on rain, or when you cannot afford a miss with Fire Blast against Lucario or extremely weakened Steel-types. Hidden Power Ice is there to defeat Dragon-types, Gliscor, and Landorus. This is the move that allows Heatran to check Dragon-types. With that EV spread, Heatran can outspeed max speed Adamant Dragonite, and after Stealth Rock, OHKO him. Hidden Power Ice also OHKOes Garchomp, as long as it doesn't hold Yache Berry, and can OHKO any Salamence that lacks Brick Break.
The last move has a lot of useful options. Flame Charge is the main one, as with it, Heatran can be a late-game sweeper. Also, Flame Charge allows Heatran to beat Dugtrio if it opts to not use Air Balloon. After it uses Flame Charge on the switch, Heatran can use HP Ice (or Fire Blast, but HP Ice is more accurate and OHKOes Dugtrio anyway) to OHKO Dugtrio, since not only Heatran outspeeds Dugtrio after a Flame Charge, but Flame Charge breaks Dugtrio's Focus Sash. However, there are other moves that Heatran can also run. Will-O-Wisp and Toxic are two viable status moves that Heatran can use. The former surprises Fighting-types (except Conkeldurr) and Gyarados, expecting to be able to defeat Heatran. They are crippled for the rest of match if they switch on this move. Toxic, on other hand, is more effective against bulky Water-types, as they would be able to stall out Will-O-Wisp if they pack reliable recovery. As no Steel-type is going to switch on Heatran, Heatran is almost guaranteed to badly poison an opponent. Toxic is also the only way which Heatran is going to defeat Volcarona 1x1, as apart from a Fire Blast critical hit, despite being able to wall Volcarona, Heatran can't actually do much back. Apart from these three options, there is a fourth. If there are no other Pokémon on your team to setup Stealth Rock, Heatran is always there to do this job. However, there are many other, more reliable users of Stealth Rock. Only use this if there are absolutely NO OTHER viable users. Taunt is the final viable option. With it, Heatran can beat Forretress without letting him setup hazards. Heatran can also surprise Chansey/Blissey switch-ins, as well as disrupt CM Jirachi on rain, and surprise many other setup sweepers. However, Will-O-Wisp is a more effective way to surprise physical setup sweepers, while Toxic is more effective against special ones. However, Taunt is able to catch both in one move, and Toxic is not effective against the aforementioned CM Jirachi.
The EVs let Heatran outspeed Adamant Dragonite (even with 252 Speed EVs) and OHKO him with HP Ice after Stealth Rock damage. As Heatran will be using HP Ice, there is no point to run max Speed, since Heatran will never be able to outpace opposing Heatran that don't run HP Ice, and there's nothing notable that you outspeed by running max Speed. So, the leftover EVs go to HP, to give Heatran a little more bulk. If you use Flame Charge, however, always use 252 Speed EVs. Another viable EV spread is a bulky one, with 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef and a Modest nature. This lets Heatran act as a more efficient tank, and Heatran can now actually take Dragon-type attacks better. For example, Heatran only has a small chance to be 2HKOed by +1 Adamant Dragonite's Outrage after Stealth Rock, and without Stealth Rock, it's never 2HKOed. However, Heatran is now outsped by a lot of things, the most notable ones being defensive Gliscor and Adamant Dragonite. Look the benefits of each EV spread, and choose wisely.
As for the item choices, the main one is Air Balloon, because it's that item, combined with the move Hidden Power Ice, what lets Heatran check Dragon-types. Heatran can also avoid Earthquake/Earth Power on other situations, like against Hippowdon and Celebi. It can also reliably defeat opposing Heatran that pack Earth Power, as long as they don't have Air Balloon themselves. Heatran actually acts as a great check to Hippowdon if it chooses to use Air Balloon, and even a counter, if Hippowdon doesn't have Ice Fang, as Heatran can avoid an Earthquake and 2HKO with Fire Blast if Hippowdon doesn't invest on Special Defense (even without Life Orb, Fire Blast is a 2HKO). A Life Orb is also a viable option if you choose to run Flame Charge on the last slot, as Heatran will pack much more of a punch that is needeed to sweep. However, Heatran can no longer effectively check Dragon-types, and even Air Balloon is still a viable option with Flame Charge.
Good Teammates: Ninetales is a good partner because Heatran has its Fire Blast boosted by the sun. Heatran can also take care of some Dragon-types that are problematic for sun teams. With Earth Power, it can also get rid of opposing Heatran, which are also problematic for sun, especially if they lack Dugtrio.
This is not to say that Heatran is not effective outside sun teams. Sand teams can also use Heatran to a great extent, since they actually have problems dealing with sun sweepers that have boosted their stats. Heatran can also deal with Skarmory, a big headache for most sandstorm sweepers. Weatherless teams also benefit from the fact that Heatran is protecting them from being swept by sun teams.
A good partner is Jellicent because with Air Balloon, your opponent is forced to use Water- and Fighting-type attacks to deal with Heatran, but Jellicent at same time discourages that your opponent use these attacks, since they are free switch-ins to Heatran. Jellicent can also spinblock in case that Heatran decides to use Stealth Rock, and the opponent wants to spin it away. Celebi is peharps the best partner to Heatran that exists. Not only Celebi resists all Heatran's weakness and vice-versa, but Celebi can also deal with the bulky Water-types that Heatran can't touch, while Heatran deals with the Dragon-types that Celebi has problems with. The only type that the two don't resist thogeter is Rock. Starmie also resists Water and Fighting, and can get rid of most Water-types using Electric-type attacks. Latias and Latios are also two other good partners that resist Fighting- and Water-type attacks.
What counters it: Chansey and Blissey are the best counters to Heatran. They shrug off anything that Heatran throws at them. Even if Heatran packs Toxic, they have Natural Cure to get rid of poison. Even if Heatran surprises them with Taunt, they can simply use Seismic Toss to slowy kill Heatran. However, if the pink blobs decide to use Toxic + Flamethrower/Ice Beam, Heatran actually walls them. Any bulky Water-type that is not weak to Ground (because of Earth Power) can effectively counter Heatran. They take little damage from Earth Power, resist Heatran's other moves, and can defeat him with Water-type attacks. Politoed is peharps the worst of them, since it can summon a rain that greatly cuts Heatran's effectiveness. However, all of them, except Hydration Vaporeon and Starmie, must avoid Toxic, and those that don't pack reliable recovery, like the aforementioned Politoed, must also avoid Will-O-Wisp. Gyarados is another Water-type that can beat Heatran, but on a offensive way, however, it must avoid Will-O-Wisp, and is weak to the Stealth Rock that Heatran is capable of laying.
Breloom is the only Grass-type that actually beats Heatran, since it is also a Fighting-type, and can OHKO with Mach Punch. Bulky versions of Heatran can even be outsped and KOed by Low Sweep. That said, Breloom must avoid Fire Blast or Will-O-Wisp on the switch, since it will be OHKOed by the former, and crippled by the latter. Also, Poison Heal versions of Breloom can actually be beaten by Heatran, as long as they aren't behind a Substitute, since they don't pack Mach Punch, and are outsped and OHKOed by Fire Blast.
Speaking of Fighting-types, they are also great checks in general, though most of them must avoid Will-O-Wisp. Conkeldurr and Keldeo are two exceptions: the former actually has its attack boosted by Will-O-Wisp (or Toxic) thanks to Guts, and the latter doesn't mind burns, as it is a specially-based attacker. However, Conkeldurr is 2HKOed by Fire Blast (even if Heatran does not use Life Orb), so it's not completely safe. Terrakion is a good check, but besides Will-O-Wisp, it is 2HKOed by Earth Power (except on sandstorm). If it manages to switch-in safely, however, Terrakion can wreck avoc. The next switch-in will certainly take a lot of damage from Choice Band-boosted Close Combat. Lucario outspeeds Heatran even with an Adamant nature, but it must avoid Fire Blast, Earth Power and Will-O-Wisp, so Lucario is hard-pressed to find a good oportunity to switch-in on Heatran.
If you manage to pop Air Balloon, Heatran gains many other checks. For example, Gliscor only needs 236 Speed EVs to outspeed and OHKO Heatran with Earthquake. Hippowdon becomes a good check, as it can survive one Fire Blast and retaliate with Earthquake. Choice Scarf Landorus can outspeed Heatran even after one Flame Charge boost, and OHKO with Earthquake or Earth Power. Gastrodon can also use Earth Power to defeat Heatran, although most Heatran are going to switch out anyway, for the fear of Scald.
If none of these options can be used, there's always one thing that can defeat Heatran: the surprise factor. For example, Scizor can OHKO Heatran with Superpower. However, Scizor must hit Heatran on the switch, as the only way which it can outspeed Heatran is if it does not run speed EVs, and Scizor does run. As long as Air Balloon has been poped, Venusaur can make a nasty and rage-inducing surprise to Heatran with Earthquake. Venusaur with Hidden Power Fighting can also surprise Heatran. Venusaur doesn't generally run those moves because it's going to lose coverage on other, more relevant threats, so rest assured as Venusaur is hardly going to use these moves. Avoid trying to check Dragonite partnered with Politoed, since it's certainly going to use Waterfall. The only time where you can check this Dragonite is after Stealth Rock, if Dragonite hasn't boosted its Speed with Dragon Dance, and it doesn't use a Jolly nature. However, many Dragonite can actually surprise Heatran with Superpower, even outside rain teams. Like Venusaur, Dragonite rarely carry those moves, so you can rest assured. Dragonite generally don't run Waterfall anyway, as it is going to be walled by Ferrothorn otherwise, and Ferrothorn is an arguably more relevant threat than Heatran (especially to rain teams). Heatran laughs at almost all moves that Celebi carry, but if it has Earth Power, then Heatran is fucked. And to a magma monster, it will be very embarrassing to lose to a little cute fairy.
What it does: Substitute Calm Mind Latias is a dangerous set up sweeper that can easily sweep unprepared teams. This set takes advantage of all the main attributes of Latias: her great bulk, speed, numerous resistances, and decent special attack. Latias has lots of opportunities to come in and set up against offensive and defensive Pokemon alike. She can set up in front of common defensive Pokemon such as Politoed, Tentacruel, and Celebi by setting up a Substitute to block status moves and Leech and then start boosting with Calm Mind to send her Special Attack and Special Defense stats soaring. Substitute is extremely important on this set as it protects her against status moves that would severely cripple her, especially Toxic and Spore. Latias can also set up in front of offensive Pokemon such as Latios and Keldeo that are Choice-locked into a resisted move. Having great base defensive stats of 80/90/130 and a dual typing that allows her to resist common attacking types such as Fire and Water, opponent's will have a very difficult time taking out Latias or even breaking her Substitutes. While setting up, Latias can heal off damage using Recover to achieve even more Calm Mind boosts under her belt. Dragon Pulse is used as the only attacking move on this moveset as it provides great neutral coverage, being resisted by only Steel types. With all the Rain and Sun teams running around in the current OU metagame, Latias will find plenty of opportunities to set up and pull off a sweep. A main advantage Latias holds over other special sweepers is that she can easily shift from the role of an offensive Pokemon to a defensive Pokemon that is capable of stalling with Sub+Recover if her sweeping capabilities are not needed.
Good Teammates: Magnezone is quite possibly the best teammate for Latias. With its Magnet Pull it can trap the Steel types that Latias cannot touch including Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Jirachi. Magnezone can take advantage of the Steel types that switch in to take Latias' Dragon Pulses by setting up a Substitute, boosting its Special Attack stat with Charge Beam, and then eliminating the Steel type with Hidden Power [Fire]. Dugtrio also makes a good partner because it can trap one of Latias' main counters, Tyranitar, and take it out with Earthquake or Reversal. Dugtrio also traps Heatran and easily gets rid it of with Earthquake. Breloom is a good partner as he can dent the majority of Steel types in OU with Mach Punch and cripple Skarmory and Bronzong with Spore. Terrakion also makes a fine offensive partner for Latias as he can fire off powerful STAB Close Combat that can easily eliminate most Steel types. Terrakion can also switch into the Dark type attacks that threaten Latias in order to grab an Attack boost through Justified, making him even more powerful. Ferrothorn is a solid defensive partner for Latias as it can take the Dragon, Ice, and Dark type attacks aimed at Latias, handle Tyranitar that lack Fire Blast, and set up entry hazards that let Latias sweep more easily. Latias in turn benefits Ferrothorn in that she resists the Fire and Fighting type attacks that threaten the metal plant.
What Counters It : Due to Latias carrying only one attack in Dragon Pulse, its main counters are Steel types. Skarmory can set up Spikes, Roost off damage, and phaze it out with Whirlwind. Bronzong can get up Stealth Rock against Latias and fire powerful Gyro Balls against her. Heatran can also set up Stealth Rock and simply Roar Latias out. Another primary counter to Latias is Tyranitar. Tyranitar has great Special Defense bulk with the boost from Sandstorm so he can tank Dragon Pulses and trap her with Pursuit to prevent her from switching out. If Latias is not behind a Substitute, than Choice Scarf Dragons such as Salamence, Garchomp, and Haxorus can all outspeed her and easily OHKO with Outrage. Likewise, priority attacks such as Scizor's Bullet Punch and Mamoswine's Ice Shard take out Latias if she is not behind a sub. Weavile can outspeed Latias and trap it with a STAB pursuit. Lasty, Blissey takes pitiful damage even from boosted Dragon Pulses and can wear down Latias with Seismic Tosses or severely cripple it with Toxic.
What it does:
Slowbro is an excellent defensive pokemon, capable of tanking the most fearsome physical attacks in the tier with little to no trouble at all - even Rock Gem Terrakion needs Slowbro to have taken prior damage to KO at +2; which is not easy thanks to Slack Off and Regenerator. These gifts from the fight generation ensure Slowbro will always be healthy enough to take a hit for you.
Offensively, Slowbro is not dead weight at all, thanks to its 100 uninvested special attack and great coverage. Scald is as infuriating as always, providing a solid STAB move with a 30% chance to cripple the opponent. Psyshock provides an alternate STAB that can reliably take out Terrakion during a sandstorm; but Psychic can be used instead to better deal with Conkeldurr. Fireblast roasts Ferrothorn and other Steel-types that try to set up on our derpy friend. Ice Beam is a great option if your team struggles with Dragon-types, since Slowbro is one of the few non-steel types that can take a +1 Outrage from Salamence or Dragonite. Thunder Wave can be used if your team has slow set-up sweepers - paralysis support will make their job worlds easier.
Good Teammates:
Slowbro's best friend in this metagame is none other than Amoonguss. It can absorb pretty much every special attack that would otherwise defeat our derpy behemoth. Both have access to Regenerator, which makes them incredibly tough to take down. Since both mons are defeated by Tornadus-T in the rain; a steel-type that can take it on is advised. Jirachi completes a very powerful three-mon core, and can provide Wish and paralysis support to make both Slowbro and Amoonguss even more annoying. This core works best with sandstorm support, where Hydro Pumps, Hurricanes, Thunders, Fire Blasts and V-creates are easier to take for the two.
What Counters It:
Any neutral Special attack will 2HKO Slowbro at worst. Draco Meteors and Thunders are Slowbro's biggest nightmares. Poisoning or burning Slowbro will severely limit its regenerating capabilities, forcing it to stay in and Slack Off every now and again. Jellicent is a great answer to Slowbro - healing from his Water-type moves and resisting most of its coverage; while retaliating with a STAB super effective Shadow Ball and Taunt to prevent Slowbro from healing up.
What it does: Ever since Skarmory's release in GSC, the metal bird has been one of the most prominent physical walls in the game. With his massive base 140 Defense stat, Skarmory can wall the numerous physical attackers in OU including but not limited to Scizor, Breloom, and Landorus-T. His Steel typing allows Skarmory to resist Dragon type attacks, putting a stop to the likes of Dragonite, Salamence, and Haxorus who could otherwise easily sweep through a team. Sturdy allows Skarmory to live any attack if he is at full health. Roost is a great move to provide instant recovery but users must beware of the fact that Roost removes Skarmory's Flying type for the remainder of the turn, making him susceptible to Ground and Fighting type attacks. Skarmory works as a great phazer with Whirlwind to negate any stat boosts and rack up entry hazard damage and the bird can set up some of his own entry hazards with Spikes. Brave Bird is a powerful STAB even with Skarmory's low Attack stat and prevents him from being completely shut down by Taunt. Skarmory is a combination of great physical wall, entry hazard setter, and phazer.
Good Teammates: Special walls are the best partners for Skarmory so together they can wall most attacks the opponent tries to throw at them, the most notable being Blissey. Blissey's massive Special Defense bulk easily handles the special Fire, Electric, and Water attacks while Skarmory takes the physical Fighting attacks that would take out Blissey. Another great partner to Skarmory is Specially Defensive Heatran who is immune to Fire type attacks with his Flash Fire ability and so can switch into a predicted Fire type attack aimed at Skarmory and grab a free boost. Heatran also makes a great Stealth Rock setter to complement the Spikes Skarmory can set up. Specially Defensive Tyranitar also makes a good partner with his high Special Defense stat boosted by Sandstorm's effect. Tyraniatar handles threats to Skarmory such as Latios, Latias, and Starmie and Skarmory returns the favor by walling common threats to Tyranitar such as Scizor, Breloom, and Terrakion.
What Counters It: Powerful Special Attackers are the primary counters to Skarmory, especially those that carry Fire and Electric type attacks including Latios, Heatran, and Jolteon. Due to Skarmory's low Special Defense stat and lack of investment even resisted Special attacks can break through the bird such as Tornadus-T's Hurricane. Magnezone is especially troubling as his Magnet Pull ability prevents Skarmory from switching out and he can easily take out the bird with his Electric STAB. Rain teams are troublesome some for the bird as he can not take Rain-boosted Water attacks and is severely crippled by Scald burns. Taunt users that are not bothered much by Brave Bird such as Deoxys-D can set up entry hazards in Skarmory's face and heal up using Recover. Forretress can Rapin Spin away all the Spikes Skarmory sets up while setting up his own hazards and hitting hard with Volt Switch.
AuthorNovaray
Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
Role: Physical Wall
What it does: Although Tangrowth is seen less than it should be in OU, with an amazing ability in regenerator, an okay defensive typing and access to moves such as Leech seed and Sleep power, Tangrowth can make a very effective wall and defensive pivot as a niche Pokémon. Sporting a great base 125 defence and base 100 HP, Tangrowth can wall or check a number of treats seen commonly in OU including Terrakion, Landorus-T, Dragonite (physical), Garchomp, Jirachi (physical), Breloom, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Sharpedo, Hippowdon, Lucario and more. A sleep inducing move like Sleep Powder is great for almost any team and with Regenerator as an ability, Tangrowth can make maximum use of it due to the many switches it creates, the same applying to Leech Seed. Tangrowth’s base 110 Special Attack is not too shabby either, allowing it to perform somewhat as a tank. With leftovers recovery, Leech Seed recovery, access to Giga Drain and Regenerator as an ability, Tangrowth can often just refuse to go down.
Good Teammates: Although it’s defence it godly, Tangrowth’s special defence is well, somewhat lacking. With base 50 Spd you’re not going to be taking special hits from anyone and in a metagame dominated by rain boosted hydro pumps, hurricanes and sun boosted fire moves without support Tangrowth won’t last long. Therefore Tangrowth appreciates special walls that can switch into the special attackers that threaten it, with Tentacruel and Heatran being notable partners. They can both further benefit Tangrowth by proving (and removing in Tentacruel’s place), hazards. This is incredibility useful when using Tangrowth as it’s a Pokémon that will not only be causing a lot of switches, but switching a lot itself. Another specially defensive Pokemon I have found as a great partner to Tangrowth is Jellicent, and I have had good success with a trio core of Tangrowth/Jellicent/Heatran which walls the majority of things. Finally, I can’t forget old Slowking, who with Tangrowth provides a ‘Tanking’ Regenerator core to rival that of Amoongbro. Slowking is an amazing counter to rain, and can take many of the special hits meant for Tangrowth, whilst also supporting the team with moves such as Dragon Tail. Being a wall Tangrowth hates status, so one of the pink blobs, Blissey or Chansey and do a great job in supporting Tangrowth with Heal Bell and taking special attacks aimed towards it. Whilst Tangrowth takes the physical ones they attract.
What Counters It : As I mentioned previously, any half decent special attacker will tear Tangrowth to shreds, with a poor base 50 Spd with speed being the same, anything that outruns Tangrowth and hits it’s special defence will ruin it. Tangrowth cannot even take resisted moves such as Hydro Pump/Surf/Scald efficiently (never mind in the rain). Furthermore, bulky grass types like Celebi being immune to leech seed can wall or set up on Tangrowth rather easily, whilst dishing out a lot of damage with the particular Hidden Power they may be carrying, the same applies to bulky fire type Pokémon, especially those who carry a balloon like Heatran (who can avoid Earthquake if you choose to run it). Finally there are a few psyical attackers who can cause problems Tangrowth, such as those carrying STAB ice type moves such as Weavile and Mamoswine.coverage.
Any Additional Info : A solid niche Pokémon who can excel when played to it’s strengths! Oh and a spread with Hidden Power Fire and 136 speed EVs can be used to outspeed Scizor and function as a kind of lure.
Author: Sagey
Special Wall
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain / Psychic
- Recover
- U-Turn / HP Ice / HP Fire
- Thunder Wave / Perish Song / Stealth Rock
Role: Special Wall
What It Does: Celebi is awesome to stop most threats that infest the metagame right now. Rain teams will have nightmares with this set, since only Tornadus-T can easily defeat it, and it must be careful not switching into T-Wave or U-Turn. Everything else just have troubles breaking its defenses. Keldeo can't do much (SE Specs Hidden Power a measly 35% chance to 2HKO with Rocks onto the field), Politoed need Specs to be threatening with Ice Beam (and you can then just go to a resistance), Jirachi can't touch it with its common moves (CM with Flash Cannon is hyper-rare, and they will get Perish Song'd anyway), and many other Rain abusers share similar situations. Even outside Rain, Celebi stops many dangerous things: Lando-I needs SR and 2 layers of Spikes to have an absymal chance to 2HKO with LO HP Ice, LO Latios needs SR to 2HKO with Draco Meteor, and Rotom-W is basically helpless as even Specs HP Ice fails to 2HKO. Celebi also has huge utility factor in Perish Song, status moves, status absorbing properties, and U-Turning capabilities.
Good Teammates: Rotom-W and Heatran both cover the most problematic weaknesses of Celebi (Flying, Fire, and Ice) while being awesome mons themselves. Also, a Steel type can work, since Celebi is not happy to take Draco Meteors anyway, and said Steel type could use choice-locked Dragon attacks as set-up opportunities. Many other things are good with Celebi, since it usually doesn't require support, it provides support patching holes in teams and having an awesome typing in today's meta.
What Counters It: Ferrothorn can, unfortunately, come in and start setting up as it pleases if Celebi lacks HP Fire or Rain is up. CB Scizor can destroy with U-Turn while not being OHKO'd by HP Fire, not caring much about paralysis, and being able to retain momentum whatever choice the Celebi user does.
Other things, like Volcarona, Dragonite, Gengar, Heatran and Ninetales can all threaten Celebi quite hard, although they must avoid switching into T-Wave (or the correct Hidden Power in Nite's case), or carry a Lum Berry. Also, the fact that Celebi can carry U-Turn makes it quite difficult to take advantage of, and it usually boils down to who can predict better. Even things like Skarmory can somewhat stop Celebi, since Brave Bird will do quite a number of damage, and barring HP Fire, Skarmory doesn't care about Celebi's attacks at all.
Any Additional Info: Genesect was just banned, and this made Celebi a lot more viable. No +1 SpA / +2 Spe LO Ice Beams, and no readily available U-Turn spam can only improve my favourite pixie.
What It Does: Rain is the dominant weather in this metagame and specially defensive Rotom-W happens to be one of the best checks to Tornadus-T, the poster boy of rain offense. It can also check Starmie, Politoed and other water types and severely damage them with Volt Switch. It's also a decent enough check for other special attackers like Rock Polish Landorus-I and few others. The 28 SpA EVs are needed to OHKO Gliscor without rain, while the other EVs are invested in HP and SpDef to give maximum special bulk. If you use Thunder Wave instead of Will-O-Wisp, you can cripple offensive Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo, Venusaur etc. while Will-o-Wisp cripples Ferrothorn, Scizor, Breloom etc. Pain Split is a semi reliable method of restoring your HP.
Good Teammates: SpDef Rotom-W has problems in dealing with Lati@s, Celebi, Ferrothorn and the pink blobs, so Choice Band Scizor is a great partner, as it can beat these threats and also maintains momentum with its STAB U-turn. Celebi is also a great partner, as it can defeat problematic Pokemon like Breloom and Thundurus-T. Ferrothorn is a great partner as well, being a decent check to the Lati@s, physical dragon types as well as Water / Ground types like Gastrodon. Heatran is another Steel type with the ability to beat the problematic bulky grass types. Gliscor and Landorus-T also work well, as they have great synergy with Rotom-W. In fact, a combination of Landorus-T / Gliscor, Rotom-W and Ferrothorn gives your team resistances to every offensive type in the game.
What Counters It: Latias, Blissey, Chansey and Celebi are the best defensive Rotom-W counters. Several physical offensive Pokemon like Dragon types and Breloom also give it trouble. Lum Berry Dragonite can come in on Hydro Pump and set up a Dragon Dance easily. Ferrothorn is a good check, but is scared of Will-o-Wisp which cripples it. However, with its propensity to Volt Switch out of its counters, beating Rotom-W becomes difficult, so it's best to have Stealth Rock on the field and hit it with strong STAB moves as it switches in.
Any Additional Info: HP Fire or Ice are options to defeat specific threats. Either way, SpDef Rotom-W is a great Pokemon with the ability to beat a lot of Pokemon in the common rain teams.
What It Does: Well Blissey walls pretty much every single special attacker in the tier that lacks Psyshock with her massive base 255 Hp and big base 135 special defense and acces to reliable recovery in Softbioled. Not only is Blissey a great wall but she also provides great support to teams being able to use Stealth Rock or cure team mates of status with Aromatherapy. Blissey can also spread status around with Toxic or Thunderwave. Seismic Toss is a nice move to do consistent 100 damage to your opponent. Flamethrower is also a nice alternative to hit a lot of Steel-types super effectivly that would either set up on Blissey (Ferrothorn, Forretress) or just outright damage it (Scizor).
Good Teammates: Physical Walls are nice partners for Blissey so together they can atttempt to wall what ever your opponent throws at it, Skarmory and Forretress would have to be the most notable Skarmory being able to wall most physical attackers that threaten Blissey and beat fighting-types with Brave Bird as well as set up hazards. In turn Blissey walls the special attackers that could harm Skarmory. Forretress works similarily except Forretress can Rapid Spin hazards that can wear out Blissey and if Blissey has Wish, he can provide Forretress with some recovery. Rapid Spinners are also good team mates so Blissey doesn't get worn out by hazards again Forretress is great but so is any rapid spinner really.
What Counters It: Physical sweepers are the number 1 enemy to Blissey due to her pitiful base 10 defense and weakness to Fighting-type attacks. I am not even going to bother naming specific pokemon because honestly every physical sweeper you can think of can break through Blissey. Sub+CM Jirachi is also quite a threat having 101 Hp Substitutes that are not broken by Seismic Toss and Psyshock to get past Blisseys massive Special Defense.
Any Additional Info: some people like to run 252 Def and bold but i think thats a waste imo base 10 defense is not enough to work with.
Author: Superpowerdude
Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def/ 252 SpD
Sassy /Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast / Superpower / Stone Edge
Role: Special Wall
What It Does: With Sand Stream boosting Tyranitars Special Defense he becomes a mean special wall capable of walling a lot of special attackers. one of Tyranitars biggest perks is his ability to Pursuit trap a lot of threatening special attackers like Starmie, Latios and Latias. Tyranitar still remains a big offensive threat with a good physical move pool and base 134 attack despite his defensive abilities. Sand Stream is also not only good for helping Tyranitar get a boost in special defence but also providing support for team mates, it gives Stoutland and Sandslash double speed and helps wear down opposing pokemon. Tyranitar is a great candidat for the move Stealth Rock and the last moveslot just goes down to what your team needs most really.
Good Teammates: Pokemon that can take fighting-type moves are great Amoongus is good having a Fighting-type resist as well as water two types that annoy Tyranitar. Pokemon that can abuse the Sandstorm are also great Stoutland and Sandslash are notable due to their ability Sand Rush. Pokemon that can lure in Latios and Latias for Tyranitar to trap are also good such as Celebi who can U-turn out into Tyranitar.
What Counters It: Like Blissey Tyranitar hates Fighting-type moves. Probally even more then Blissey due to his 4x weakness to the type. Even Special Attacks that are Fighting like Focus Blast are threatening to Tyranitar. Example of this would be Breloom, Keldeo, Conkeldurr, Terrakion. Although they cant switch in Focus Blast users like Gengar, Reuniclus in Trick Room and Alakazam can all beat Tyranitar with Focus Blast. Defensive pokemon that don't mind Sandstorm like Gliscor and Hippowdon can either Toxic Stall Tyranitar or threaten it with Earthqauke.
Any Additional Info: Tyranitar also looks bad ass please use it!
Author: Superpowerdude
Heatran @ Leftovers
Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Roar
Role: Special Wall
What It Does: Heatran is a great Special wall that can fit on almost any type of team: balanced, stall, sun, sand, hail, anything other than rain. With the above EV spread, Heatran's Special Defense hits 342 and this coupled with his Fire/Steel typing allows him to take most Special attacks. Heatran is one of the best switch ins to common powerful Specal attacks in the current metagame including the likes of Tornadus-T's Hurricane and Latios' Draco Meteor. Specifically, Heatran is likely the best check to Sun teams as he 4x resists Grass and Bug type attacks which puts a stop to common Sun sweepers such as Venusaur and Volcarona. As an added bonus, Heatran's Flash Fire ability provides him with an immunity to Fire attacks and can nab a boost to Lava Plume's damage output if he switches into a Fire type attack. Heatran makes a great Pokemon to set up Stealth Rock with his many resistances and Special bulk. He can even set up rocks in the face of bulky water types outside of Rain and he does not have to fear burns from Scald or being Toxiced. Lava Plume is a powerful STAB attack even without any Special Attack investment as Heatran has a massive base 130 Special Attack stat and has a 30% to burn which cripples the physical attackers that could threaten Specially Defensive Heatran. Protect is a good option to regain extra Leftovers recovery and also for the fact that many Heatran checks are Choiced such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Landorus so Heatran can scout what the opponent locks himself into and decide whether to switch out or stay in if the opponent has overpredicted. Roar in the last slot removes stat boosters and racks up entry hazard damage.
Good Teammates: Celebi is a great partner for Heatran as Celebi resists the Water, Ground, and Fighting type attacks that threaten Heatran while Heatran resists Flying, Bug, and is immune to Fire, all of which are super effective against Celebi. Celebi checks many of the Pokemon on rain teams that Heatran has trouble with such as Politoed, Rotom-W, Tentacruel, and Gastrodon. Skarmory is also a solid partner for Heatran with his massive Physical bulk and ability to set up Spikes which racks up entry hazard damage alongside Heatran's Stealth Rock. Latios makes a good offensive partner for Heatran as Heatran resists all of Latios' weakness and Latios can return the favor by being able to outspeed and dispatch of threats to Heatran such as Keldeo, Terrakion, and Landorus. This Heatran set also can not touch opposing Heatran as well as Blissey so a powerful Fighting type such as Terrakion makes a good partner. Lastly, Ninetales makes a decent teammate with Drought being able to weaken Water type attacks as well as boosting Lava Plume's damage output.
What Counters It: The best offensive counters to Heatran are physical attackers that pack a super effective attack to hit Heatran. These include Pokemon such as Terrakion, Mamoswine, and Breloom who can all take out Heatran if they avoid being burned by Lava Plume. Rain teams with the likes of Politoed and Keldeo that fire off Rain boosted Water attacks can also take out Heatran and can prove especially troublesome if the Heatran user does not have a method of changing the weather. Defensive counters to Heatran include Jellicent and Blissey. Both have great Special Defense bulk, do not fear burns from Lava Plume, and can wear Heatran down with Scald and Seismic Toss respectively. Lastly, the above Heatran set can not touch opposing Heatran and opposing Heatran can hit it with Earth Power.
Author: Novaray
Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serence Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
Careful Nature
-Iron head
-Body Slam / Thunder wave
-Wish
-U turn / Protect / Stealth Rock / Fire Punch
Role: Special Wall / Support
What it does: Everybuddy knows the power of parahax Jirachi. His good 100 /100 / 100 defensive stats and his awesome typing makes Jirachi one of the best specially defensive pokemons of the game. He only takes 53% from Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump in rain and can take Specs Latios' hits all the day proceeding to just use body slam and start the pain. Once Jirachi paralyzed the victim you have 3 options to do. Wish to recover your own health or a teammate's health, use rocks, or start flinching. You know...this is very annoying and can make you win the battle sometimes. Apart from paraflinching he is really nice at taking any special hit. Just thing about it. Tornadus-T's hurricanes, Latios' Draco Meteors and Psyshocks, Keldeo's Surfs, and so on. His role as support pokemon allows other pokemons of the time sweep easier or set-up freely while recovering health. Iron head is the main move here. Because of serene grace it gets 60% of flinching every turn. The second moveslot is for the paralyzing move. There are three options: Thunder, thunder wave or body slam. Thunder is fine, but if you are not in rain it is not going to be helpful, body slam has 60% of paralyzing and still makes some good damage but you can't hit ghost types, and last is thunder wave; you can use it if you want to get the paralysis asap but ground types laugh at your face. Wish is there to recover health easy and the last move is optional. U turn is there to make a good synergy with wish as well as to gain momentum, protect to get free wish recovery and stealth rocks if you need a pokemon to set up them. Good Teammates: Jirachi's parahaxing abilities make him a good supporter for slow but powerful pokemons such as Dragonite. Defensively speaking, Dragon type pokemons that are not affected by ground attacks are best partners. Dragonite is one of them because Jirachi resists all Dnite's weaknesses and Dnite resists all Jirachi's weaknesses. Latios, Latias and Hydreigon are good partners too. Breloom also appreciates his support due its capability to switch against Lati@s attacks and Tornadus' hurricanes.
What Counters It : Nothing really...this pokemon is not there to sweep. He is only to make a partner's sweep easily so talking about a counter is not appropriate. But thinking a little, powerful defensive pokemons that are not affected by his paralysis like Poison Heal Gliscor. Hippowdon, Landorus-T and other ground types are also nice options but they have to be careful about the body slam. Hydration pokemons such as Vaporeon are also there resisting iron heads and absorbing thunder waves while resting the damage.
Author: LilOuOn
Hazard Setter
Deoxys-Defense @ Rocky Helmet / Mental Herb / Red Card
Trait: Pressure
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP /4 Def / 252 Spe
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat / Night Shade
Role: Hazard Setter
What It Does: Sets hazards, and usually dies. Its excellent mixed bulk allows it to almost always get 1-2 layers of hazards set up, and possibly more. Can be used late game to take Specs Latios' Draco Meteors if hazards are already up. Also can break stall with Taunt or Magic Coat.
Good Teammates: Any sweeper that appreciates hazard support. Good examples are Dragonite and Lucario. Ghost types are also good teammates because they spinblock the hazards that Deoxys has set. Gengar is a good choice, as it is fast and has an offensive presence on the field. Tyranitar can defeat Xatu, Starmie, and Espeon that prevent Deoxys from setting up.
What Counters it: Magic Bouncers and Rapid Spinners mostly. Specs Zoroark can OHKO with Dark Pulse. Bug Gem Scolipede can also OHKO with Megahorn and set up its own hazards.
Any Additional Info: Use this on Hyper Offense and with Lucario.
Author: doublenikesocks
Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Adamant nature
244 HP / 64 Atk / 200 Def
-U-Turn
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
Role: Hazard User, Bulky Attacker, Tank, Pivot
What It Does: Move over Gliscor, there's a new bad boy in town.With Intimidate and decent bulk, Landorus-T has more immediate physical bulk than Gliscor- and makes it extremely good at switching into physical hitters. This, in turn with its massive physical attack even when uninvested, its ability to U-Turn, as well as its ability to set hazards, makes it one of my favorite bulky physical tanks.
One of the most notable things bulky Lando is capable of is being a great counter to Sand teams. It is one of the best counters to both Tyranitar and Terrakion, using Intimidate to lower their attack stats so that you can set up on them or just plain OHKO them with EQ. It also outspeeds the new SDef Bulky Totom-W, U-turning into a partner so that it can be dealt with accordingly. Common Sand sweepers such as Stoutland or Sandslash need either boosting moves or SE coverage in order to beat this guy as well.
Aside from just walling Sand in general and being a huge threat to every Ttar in existence, Lando can also wall fighting, dragons, and many other prominent physical attackers. Dragons are one thing Lando is great at walling- as none of them can OHKO full health Lando with any physical move after Intimidate (not even Kyu-B) Lando in turn can 2HKO Mence, Kyu-B and Dnite with Stone Edge, 2HKO Chomp with EQ, and 3HKO Lati@s with U-Turn. This is extremely useful for people that want a check to all of the above threats.
Lando's also great at beating down special walls such as Jirachi / Blissey / Tentacruel with its powerful EQ, which at least 2HKO's all of them. He can counter Volt Turn easily too, being able to defeat Scizor easily hands down everytime, and switch in to cause problems to a choice locked Rotom-W (though it's not recommended you do so) With SR up its sleeve, you don't have to worry about squeezing it in on another teammate- as U-Turn / EQ / Stone Edge is all Lando really needs to function well. With SR as a bonus, you can easily set hazards as your opponent scrambles for momentum after all of the clever plays you can make with this guy.
Good Teammates: There is a long list of pokemon I can name that work well with Lando-T- but one of the exceptional ones are Rotom-W. It forms a great pair with Landorus, resisting Ice and Water for it, as well as chasing away all of the really powerful rain sweepers like Keldeo-R or Tornadus-T. It can also form a VoltTurn core with Lando, utilizing Lando's SR to deal hazard damage, as well as their powerful pivot moves to inflict pain. Rotom's strong water STABs are useful for taking out Gliscors and other ground types, and its Volt Switches help beat bulky water types. TWave also helps Lando overcome it's low speed.
Another great partner is SpDef Jirachi. It as well can take the numerous amount of water / ice spam in common rain teams that Lando hates, as well as parahax Lati@s to death. Jirachi's fire punch is also quite useful at removing Forretress / Ferrothorn, two pokemon Landorus-T doesn't like. Jirachi's Wishes can also keep Lando healthy.
In general, Landorus-T works well with almost any team, because of it's good bulk and power, rare and useful typing, and neat ability. I've used it and loved it on Rain teams to counter Sand / Fighting, but it of course can also be used in Sun for the same purpose. Nonweather likes it too because it isn't really dependent on any weather to work well, and it counters Sand effectively and Sun decently.
What Counters It: Really, only Rain spam, Ice spam, and powerful special hitters can truly defeat Lando (or gradual SR damage) Bulky water types are hard for Lando to handle, since they can do a hefty chunk with their STABs. Ice types such as Mamoswine or Kyu-B can do a lot with their powerful Ice moves. Special attackers like Specs Latios or SubD Gengar can also be painful to deal with.
Author:Electrolyte
Deoxys @ Fire Gem Lv. 100
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SAtk / 188 Spd
Timid Nature
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psycho Boost
- Stealth Rock
Role: Hazards Settler
What it does: Deoxys-D is the best choice to set up hazards. Most sets you'll run into will just get hazards and the die. With this set you outspeed CB Scizor and get off an HP Fire to OHKO. You also able to OHKO phsysically defensive Forretress and dealing 65.9 - 78.4% to standard Ferrothorn. Psycho Boost also gives you a STAB to hit Tentacruel for Super Effective damage dealing 71.42 - 84.61% to 252 HP / 0 SpD Tentacruel.
Good Teammates: Gengar and Jellicent are good teammate for Deoxys-D in order to keep the hazards on the field. Others include sweepers that appreciate hazards support such as Keldeo, Tornadus-T , Lucario, Dragonite, Landorus-I, Heracross and Thundurus-T so on. Anything that can take care of Magic Bouncers such Espeon and Xatu. Weaville is another great partner for this as it can actually beat Starmie, where Gengar loses to all Psychic packing variants.
What Counters it: Magic Bouncers and Rapid Spinners are the main counters to Deoxys-D. Specs Zoroark can OHKO with Dark Pulse, Scarf Heracross can outspeed and OHKO with a Megahorn.
Any Additional Info : Have a Spin Blocker on your team to avoid having Deoxys's work gone in vain
Author:Black Russian
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect / Power Whip
- Gyro Ball
Role: Hazard Setter
What it does: Ferrothorn is one of the major additions to the OU metagame that was brought along in the fifth generation. Having base defense stats of 74/131/116, and a a unique Grass/Steel that offers it numerous resistances to popular attacking types such as Dragon, Water, and Electric, Ferrothorn is one of the best mixed walls in the game. These great defensive attributes allows Ferrothorn to shine as an entry hazard setter who benefits from having access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes. Spikes is the preferred option on the set as its distribution is more limited and Ferrothorn often has the ability to set up multiple layers of Spikes with his great bulk. Iron Barbs is a good ability to punish anyone who Rapid Spins away Ferrothorn's hazards. An interesting scenario to note is that if a Pokemon Rapid Spins and faints from the ensuing Iron Barbs damage, entry hazards will not be cleared away. Ferrothorn also has Leech Seed which drains 1/8 of the opponent's HP and gives it to Ferrothorn on top of the Leftovers recovery Ferrothorn already will be recovering each turn, slowly wearing down the opponent's HP and greatly increasing Ferrothorn's longevity. To add to this, Protect is used in the third moveslot to provide an extra turn of healing from Leech Seed+Protect which can frustrate opponents and make Ferrothorn a very difficult Pokemon to take out. Protect is also a great move as many Ferrothorn checks are often Choiced such as Terrakion and Scizor and so the Ferrothorn user can scout the opponent to see what to switch out to or stay in if the opponent overpredicts. Many players will also try to cripple Ferrothorn by Tricking it a Choice item from the likes of Rotom-W, Jirachi, or Latios and so Protect also helps to scout for that. Power Whip is an option over Protect so Ferrothorn can better deal with bulky Water types. Gyro Ball is used as the primary attacking move on Ferrothorn. This attack has tremendous because its damage output is determined by the difference between the user's speed and the defending Pokemon's speed. With Ferrothorn's Speed stat being one of the slowest in the game, Gyro Ball will often be hitting at max or near max power. Relaxed nature benefits in slowing down Ferrothorn even more so that Gyro Ball is more powerful. Ferrothorn can fit on almost any type of team other than Sun. It's a natural fit on Stall teams with its great bulk and ability to chip away at the opponent. Offensive teams can also benefit from using Ferrothorn to set up some layers of Spikes so sweepers can OHKO Pokemon they normally would not be able to.
Good Teammates: One of the best teammates for Ferrothorn is Jellicent. Ferrothorn and Jellicent form a potent defensive core named Ferrocent that was very popular at the beginning of Black and White. These two Pokemon cover each others weaknesses and together, can wall a large portion of the OU metagame. Jellicent resists Fire type attacks and is immune to Fighting type attacks, both of which threaten Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn returns the favor by resisting Jellicent's weaknesses which include Electric, Dark, Ghost , and Grass. Politoed makes a good partner for Ferrothorn as the the frog's Drizzle ability weakens the Fire type attacks otherwise destroy Ferrothorn. On a Rain team, Tentacruel is another good partner who functions similarly to Jellicent in terms of resistances but can provide Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin support. Tentacruel can handle Fire types such as Infernape and Heatran. An offensive partner who works well with Ferrothorn is Tornadus-T who's powerful STAB Hurricane easily disposes of the likes of Conkeldurr, Terrakion, and Keldeo, Fighting types that threaten Ferrothorn.
What Counters It : The most notorious counter to Ferrothorn is Magnezone. Magnezone traps Ferrothorn with its Magnet Pull ability, can set up a Substitute to block Leech Seed, use Charge Beam to boost its Special Attack, and then knock out Ferrothorn with HP Fire. Most offensive Pokemon that pack a powerful Fighting or Fire type attack can typically deal with Ferrothorn. Terrakion can easily eliminate it with Close Combat, Keldeo doesn't mind Leech Seed or Gyro Ball and can beat Ferrothorn with Secret Sword, and Breloom can put Ferrothorn to sleep with Spore and proceed to set up Sword Dances and then Mach Punch. Ferrothorn can not touch Heatran and Heatran can easily take out Ferrothorn with its Fire STAB. Conkeldurr can easily come in and start Bulking Up in front of Ferrothorn while healing up with Drain Punch and not having to fear Gyro Ball due to his slow speed. Sub Dragon Dance Gyarados can come in, Intimidate Ferrothorn, set up a sub to block Leech Seed, and then proceed to set up Dragon Dances. Reuniclus is another counter to Ferrothorn as he is very slow and so takes little damage from Gyro Ball and his Magic Guard ability provides immunity from Leech Seed. Defensive counters to Ferrothorn include Sableye who can Taunt Ferrothorn and then use Will-o-Wisp to weaken Gyro Ball. Whimsicott can Taunt it as well and does not fear Gyro Ball. SubToxic Tentacruel can burn Ferrothorn with Scald and spin away any Spikes he tries to set up.
Author: Novaray
Rapid Spinner
Sandslash @ Expert Belt / Ghost Gem
Sand Rush
12 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Shadow Claw
- Swords Dance / Stone Edge / Stealth Rock
Role: Sand Spinner, Anti spinblocker / Sweeper
What it does: Sandslash works similarly to how Excadrill works in Ubers - he spins and can defeat spinblockers with the appropiate move. An Expert Belt Shadow Claw will always OHKO standard Gengar (the most common spinblocker in OU) after SR damage; and Jellicent can be OHKOed after SR by a +2 Ghost Gem Shadow Claw. If one prefers, Sandslash can assume a sweeping role, but it is outclassed by RP Landorus (special or physical) in that regard. He can also set SR if you're desperate.
Good Teammates: Sandslash needs a Sand Stream 'mon with him. Tyranitar is preferred because it compounds Grass, Water and Ice weaknesses with Hippowdon. He also requires something that can get Skarmory, Gliscor and Landours-T out of the picture. Mixed Tyranitar with Ice Beam and Fire Blast can work as a great lure for those pokes and can also provide SR.
Counters: As stated above, Skarmory, Gliscor and Landorus-T are Sandslash's biggest nightmares. Anything else that is immune or resists Earthquake and takes neutral damage from Stone Edge and Shadow Claw is a roadblock for Sandslash. Defensive Celebi, for example, takes 60% from an LO Shadow Claw, so it has a chance to take a hit and take Slash out with a Grass-type move. Hydreigon will always survive a hit and dispose of Sandslash with pretty much any special move. Both of these checks can be beatet with X-Scissor; but Sandslash won't be able to defeat spinblockers without Shadow Claw and lacking Stone Edge means any Flying-type will wall Sandslash, because Bug/Ground coverage isn't all that hot.
Additional Info: Be warned that Sandslash is a very, very niche Pokemon. It should be used on sand-based teams that need a spinner that can get past OU's common spinblockers or as a physical sweeper. At any other possible role, he'll be largely outclassed. Sandslash can beat scarf Terrakion one-on-one (he takes 65% from CC); and is also pretty resilent to priority. Bullet Punch from CB Scizor / Mach Punch from LO TechniLoom / Ice Shard from LO Mamoswine will never OHKO Sandslash (around 70% damage each). With the given EV spread, Sandslash can outpace anything under scarf Terrakion/Keldeo. This includes +1 offensive and +2 bulky Volcarona.
What It Does: Starmie has been OU since RBY, and this has a reason: is one of the bests, if not the best Rapid Spinner that have appeared in Pokémon. This star is the fastest Pokémon able to use Rapid Spin in the metagame - excluding the ones with Sand Rush during sandstorm. It also is the perfect counter to Deoxys-D/Gengar core, thanks to it guaranteed OHKO in the not-friendly ghost with its STAB Hydro Pump, even outside of rain. Natural Cure helps Starmie to the nearly-perfection. With it, status ailments aren't problem, alowing Starmie to ignore poison (especially from Toxic Spikes), sleep and freeze, things that can be problematic to usual Rapid Spinners. With blazing Speed and a decent Special Attack stat, max Spe/SpA are the options to turn Starmie more efficient. That amazing STAB Hydro Pump is not all what Starmie has. BoltBeam coverage is a excellent pack to the actual metagame, allowing it to check Dragon-types, Gyarados, Breloom, Cloyster, and some others threats. In a metagame dominated by heavy rain, it can also opt for the most powerful Thunder, allowing it to 2HKO the only Ghost-type that can otherwise stop it - Specially Defensive Jellicent.
Good Teammates: Starmie has problems with Pursuit-users, as they can prevent Starmie role latter in the game. These includes Tyranitar and Scizor, so, bulky Fighting-types and Magnet Pull users are great options. Conkeldurr and Breloom are both good teammates, hindering Tyranitar actions. Magnezone is Starmie's best friend, not only trapping a incoming Scizor, but also Ferrothorn that attempt to wall Starmie and doing heavy damage to it while using Rapid Spin against it. Magneton can also be used with a Choice Scarf, replacing some power for speed, outrunning things like Tornadus-T. Politoed's support is very appreciated by Starmie. In rain, its Hydro Pump have unimaginable power, OHKOing Gengar even without Life Orb. It also turns Thunder a viable option, allowing Starmie to forgo the weaker Thunderbolt and use its more powerfull version.
Pokémon that dislikes entry hazards are always great teammates for Starmie. Some of theses are Volcarona, Dragonite and Salamence. Starmie can not only remove Stealth Rock that difficult they sweeps, but also helps against threats that can stop it, as Heatran and Terrakion. Otherwise, they can help Starmie against its counters and checks. Ferrothorn, Scizor and Blissey are some examples.
What Counters It: Pursuit-users are the biggest problem for Starmie, as they can simply come in a Rapid Spin and defeat the seastar. Tyranitar is bulky enough to take a Hydro Pump, and will take back without pity. Take in mind, however, that if Starmie stay in, Tyranitar will fail to OHKO it with Pursuit, and will get defeated on the second hit. In those situations, the Armor Pokémon can simply Crunch the star to the death. Weavile is faster than Starmie and can easily defeat it with a STAB Night Slash or trap it with the previously mentioned Pursuit. It can also opt for a Focus Sash to prevent being defeated if Starmie choose to stay in. Choice Band Scizor has great chances to defeat Starmie with Pursuit even if it stay in or can simply choose to U-turn the switch-in, as Starmie will never KO the defensive variants with Hydro Pump outside of rain.
Pokémon with massive bulk, as Ferrothorn and Blissey, can easily limit Starmie offensive presence. Despite Ferrothorn can not easily heal off as Blissey, it can take Starmie health with Iron Barbs (and more if it carry a Rocky Helmet) every time that it use Rapid Spin. They will not stop Starmie from spin away entry hazard, but note that if Starmie get defeat by Iron Barbs or Rocky Helmet recoil, the battlefield will not get clean from entry hazards. Rotom-W has a impressive bulk. Thanks to it, Starmie rarely will get a 2HKO, and take heavy damage from a Electric-type STAB attack. Some Pokémon with less usage, like Lanturn and Porygon2, can also wall the star, but be awary for a rain-boosted Hydro Pump, as some Pokémon that can usually stop Starmie will fail to do it.
Despite having a great Water-type, and Psychic-type providing some useful resistances, Starmie is a bit frail with 60/85/85 defenses. Every time that it spin away some hazards with a Life Orb equipped, 10% of its health is taken away. Without Recover, passive damage is a great way to stop Starmie, but if it have this move, some coverage will disappear.
Any Additional Info: ---
Author: isr
Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
252 HP / 24 Def / 8 SpA / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock / Thunder Wave / Hail / Reflect / whatever support move you need more
- Recover
- Rapid Spin
Role: Rapid Spinner, Support, Utility Counter
What it does: Defensive Starmie is a bulkier version of your standard Offensive Starmie that you probably used a million times for your Spinning needs. This time, however, Starmie adopts a more defensive approach to Spinning, and this is ideal for those teams that are absolutely crippled by hazards or Stealth Rock alone, and cannot afford to lose their Spinner easily. Starmie's very decent defensive typing, speed, and movepool, make it a very valuable support pokemon, being capable to absorb status, switch into common, non-excessively-powerful attacks (like Breloom's Mach Punch, Keldeo's Secret Sword, and all those pesky Scalds that try to burn your precious physical attackers), shrugging off the damage with Recover, and crippling its checks itself via Scald or Thunder Wave. Just in case you're asking youself, EVs are tailored to give maximum bulk while outspeeding everything up to base 111 (yeah, Tornadus-I is rare, but it's foolish to let it outpace you just for 1-2 more Defense points). 8 SpA EVs ensure the unconditional OHKO on 4/0 Gengar with Psyshock. The rest should be pretty much straightforward.
Good Teammates: Since Starmie is a support pokemon, this should be probably seen the other way around: what pokemons can have Starmie into their lists of Good Teammates? The list is quite comprehensive, to be honest: everything that desperately need Rapid Spin support, like Gyarados, non-Roost Dragonite, Volcarona, Cloyster, all Fire types not named Heatran, and many, many others, benefit greatly from Starmie's durability and Spinning capabilites. Other good teammates are Gliscor and Ferrothorn, that both can take advantage of Starmie's resistances while providing type synergy and forming a good defensive core with it (obviously there's still some weakness to be covered by teammates, but that's kinda normal). Magnezone or Dugtrio can alleviate Starmie's Pursuit weakness (and the latter also loves hazards removal), thus they can be good teammates, too.
Any Additional Info: Not much, really. I'd just suggest to test it before dismissing as garbage, I used to dislike it myself, then I tried it and really loved how it works.
Author:ganj4lf
Support
Abomasnow @ Expert Belt
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 252 Atk / 112 SAtk / 144 Spd
Lonely Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
Role: Weather Support
What It Does: Abomasnow brings the big chill. It's good at what it does...because it's the only thing that does it! But more seriously, Abomasnow's stats wouldn't seem to indicate that it's a particularly great pokemon, which is true. However, Abomasnow is outstanding at filling particularly niches and, if used correctly, can be a great addition to a team. This set can be used in two ways - either as a way to screw with opposing weather teams, or to set up a dedicated hail team. Its typing and coverage allow it to most importantly destroy other weather starters. This speed investment outspeeds and OHKOs every standard Politoed barring Choice, and every standard Tyranitar barring mixed variants. Earthquake also does a number on Ninetales on the switch, OHKOing many variants after Stealth Rock. While this is useful, it's not all Abomasnow can do. Ice/Grass typing sticks you with many weaknesses, but useful resistances to common BoltBeam coverage, as well as Ground and Water. This allows you to wall threats like Starmie, tank Volt Switches from Rotom, and much more. The coverage moves allow you to dent many common switches. EQ hits things like Jirachi, Heatran and Tentacruel. HP Fire handles Scizor and Forretress and 2HKOs Ferrothorn. Finally, Ice Shard allows you to revenge many potent attackers in the current metagame with some prior damage - think Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence, all three Therians, and Latios.
Good Teammates: This depends on whether you are using a dedicated hail team, or simply screwing with your opponents. If it's the latter, then Abomasnow is fairly independent. If you are using a hail team, then look for pokemon who can use the hail to their advantage. Things like Kyurem or Kyurem-B love a 100% accurate Blizzard to spam, and defensively, pokemon like Stallrein can wreak havoc. No matter what, however, Abomasnow needs Rapid Spin support, being weak to Stealth Rock and vulnerable to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Good spinners to partner with Abomasnow include Tentacruel, who patches up Fire and Fighting weaknesses, as well as Donphan, who can tank physical hits.
Edit (Credit @Milos): Another great teammate is Heatran, who absorbs fire attacks and Will-o-Wisp which screw Abomasnow, while setting up Stealth Rock and providing some offensive presence. Heatran also shuts down sun teams, which Abomasnow has the most trouble with.
What Counters It: Many things counter Abomasnow, including some of the things it's designed to handle, as this set is much more about picking your spots and punishing switch-ins than facing opponents straight up. Be sure to scout Politoed and Tyranitar beforehand to be safe - Abomasnow can't take a Focus Blast or Fire Blast. Chansey and Blissey don't enjoy taking a Wood Hammer, but can heal off the damage, and the recoil will kill Abomasnow eventually. CM Latias can shrug off Ice Shard with recover and boost up to kill Abomasnow. Scarfed pokemon like Keldeo finish off Abomasnow with their speed, but often dislike taking hits on the switch. Fighting types like Breloom, Infernape and Terrakion hurt, but dislike Ice Shard and EQ, respectively. Finally, Volcarona sets up all over this thing. Again, though, it's all about whether any of these opponents can get in safely, which is often not the case.
Any Additional Info: This set is not something you can just slap on a team! As mentioned previously, Abomasnow has too many weaknesses to be viable anywhere. It's outstanding at very particular roles, but don't try to make it something it isn't.
[b]Author:[b]jaredz99
Magnezone @ Choice Specs / Choice Scarf / Air Balloon
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch / Substitute
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
- Flash Cannon
Role
Support / Trapper / Special Attacker / Volt-turn
What It Does: Traps and eliminates Skarmory, Forretress, Ferrothorn efficiently (the latter two if running HP Fire). Can also absorb Scizor's Bullet Punch and trap it but Choice Band Superpower OHKOes or U-turn lets it escape. In short, try to switch in on the same turn as Scizor so you don't have to worry about this situation. If running Air Balloon, can switch in on Jolly ScarfChomp, set up Substitute (if it uses Earthquake, since Outrage can break its subs), and nail it with Hidden Power Ice.
Choice Specs gives it the second most powerful Volt Switch in the game (bested only by Thundurus-T), filling the role of VoltTurner quite well. Thunder(bolt) are also incredibly powerful.
Good teammates: Dragon-types! It is simply the best eliminator of defensive Steel-types
Special attackers in general hate Ferrothorn, while physical attackers hate all of Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory, so Magnezone can handily defeat all of them.
What counters it: Who better than Chansey and Blissey? Garchomp or other Ground-types can switch in on Choice Thunder(bolt) and OHKO with Earthquake. Dugtrio with Focus Sash can revenge kill Substitute versions.
Additional Info: I sort of mashed all of Magnezone's offensive sets into one; the slash-itis is deceptive because there are concrete reasons why each option is listed. Not much else to say here but that this Magnezone is way better than the next one...
Role: Stallbreaker, support, special wall (to some extent)
What it does:
Jellicent is one of the best support Pokémon and one of the best Pokémon to use if you have problems with rain teams. With Water Absorb, your opponent must think twice about spamming that Choice Specs, Rain-boosted Hydro Pump that would otherwise nuke your entire team. Your opponent must also think twice about spamming Close Combats, Surfs and Return (from Stoutland). Jellicent has an excellent typing, with amazing resistances or immunities to Fire, Ice, Water, Fighting, Steel and Bug. It counters many top-threats on the metagame, such as Politoed, Hippowdon (to some extent), Keldeo, Jirachi (watch out for CM sets or SpD sets with Thunder), Scizor and, if you prorpely EV Jellicent, it can counter even Sheer Force Landorus. Jellicent always offer amazing defensive synergy to most teams; unless your team is already loaded with Electric-, Grass-, or Dark-type weakness, there is no reason not to consider Jellicent to your team.
Surf is the best STAB that offers the best possible neutral coverage, and is the strongest of its reliable options in this regard. Scald can replace it. It's weaker, but has a chance to burn. Recommended if you go with Toxic on the third slot. Shadow Ball is another STAB that can be used, but leaves Jellicent walled by Steel-types that are not half-Psychic, although now, Celebi and Lati@s must think twice about coming in. It is best used on sun teams, as Surf will be weakened on them.
Recover is there for... Well, the name says all. Will-O-Wisp is the recommended option on the third slot. Will-O-Wisp is what allows Jellicent to reliably counter Hippowdon, Jirachi and Scizor. It also augments Jellicent's physical defense, which somewhat turns Jellicent in a great mixed wall. Toxic can also be used if you want to kill threats faster, but Steel-types are immune to it and it doesn't augment Jellicent's physical defense. As Jellicent will generally scare out Fire-types with its Water STAB, there is little reason not to use Will-O-Wisp.
The last slot is pretty flexible. Taunt allows Jellicent to counter even more threats, like Forretress: it stops Baton Pass chains, stops phazing, stop hazards, stops status, and more importantly, stops setup. Taunt forms a deadly combination with the rest of Jellicent's moves, as it allows him to shut down some walls and break stall. Shadow Ball is another option if you want to take out Psychic- and Ghost-types without relying on your Water STAB. Lastly, Ice Beam covers Dragons, Gliscor, and Landorus, although the latter two are already maimed by Surf anyway. Please keep in mind that without Taunt, Jellicent is not going to stallbreak. So, if you are using either Shadow Ball or Ice Beam, those speed EVs can be transferred to Special Defense, as they are there only to outspeed defensive Politoed and Taunt him before it can use Toxic.
It's importante to note that Jellicent, as a Ghost-type, can spinblock. Starmie can't 2HKO (most of time) Jellicent with Thunderbolt because of the SpD EVs, while Jellicent can stall him out with a combination of Recover and Will-O-Wisp, or defeat him straight away with Shadow Ball. Forretress can't touch Jellicent at all, but you must watch out for Volt Switch Forretress partnered with Tyranitar. Other, more uncommon spinners, like Donphan, Cloyster, and Hitmontop, also struggle to defeat Jellicent.
Good Teammates:
2 Pokémon stand out as the best partners for Jellicent: Ferrothorn and Heatran.
The former has almost perfect defensive sinergy with Jellicent, only missing out Ground- and Flying-type attacks. In fact, Jellicent resists Fire and is immune to Fighting (the two weakness of Ferrothorn) and Ferrothorn doubly resists Grass and resists Ghost, Dark, and Electric, all of which Jellicent is weak to. Thogether, the two form a combo that can destroy almost every Water-type.
The latter, on other hand, is another great partner, that has some defensive sinergy with Jellicent, although not as much as Ferrothorn. Jellicent is immune to both Water and Fighting, two weakness of Heatran, while Heatran doubly resists Grass, and resists Ghost and Dark, three weakness of Jellicent. Heatran and Jellicent, in fact, resist almost all types, with the three exceptions being Rock, Electric, and Ground. Jellicent appreciates Heatran as a partner, as Heatran can defeat some of Jellicent's counters, such as Grass-types, and can defeat Dragon-types that may be headaches for Jellicent to deal with. On other hand, Heatran likes being partnered with Jellicent, especially if it uses Air Balloon. Air Balloon forces your opponent to use Fighting- and Water-type attacks to defeat Heatran, but Jellicent discourages your opponent using them, which means that when played well, Jellicent can protect Heatran from being ever defeated!
Other good partners include Ground-types, which can defeat Tentacruel, a common sight on stall teams, which Jellicent struggles to defeat. Dugtrio is then a good partner, because it can trap Tentacruel. Dugtrio can also defeat Tyranitar, another dangerous Pokémon to Jellicent. Things that can lure Water-, Fighting-, Ice-, and Fire-type attacks love being parnered with Jellicent, as those attacks are generally free switch-ins to Jellicent. Terrakion is one of them, as it is generally target of Fighting- and Water-type attacks. Jellicent also protects Terrakion from Scizor, and Terrakion protects Jellicent from most Dark-types. Jirachi is another potential partner that can lure Fire-type attacks, and Jellicent can deal with most bulky Water-types that Jirachi has difficulty trying to damage (as they resist Iron Head).
What Counters It:
Generally, Grass-types are good counters, because Jellicent rarely carry something that can shut them down, such as Ice Beam (and most Grass-types attack on the special side, so they don't fear burns). Celebi is one of them, and is the best. Although it has to watch out for Shadow Ball and Ice Beam, it's uncommon for Jellicent to carry those moves. So Celebi can generally safely come in and defeat Jellicent with Giga Drain or Leaf Storm. Celebi also has Natural Cure, which means that even Will-O-Wisp and Toxic aren't a problem for him. Rotom-W is one of the few bulky Water-types that is a problem for Jellicent. This is because it has Electric-type attacks that defeat Jellicent, although with a specially defensive spread, Jellicent can take one or other Volt Switch, and Recover the damage. Tyranitar must watch out for Will-O-Wisp and Scald. However, if it predicts correctly, or is lucky to not be burned by Scald or if Will-O-Wisp misses, Tyranitar can put Jellicent in a check-mate position by either defeating him with Crunch or using Pursuit if it predicts a switch-out. Hydreigon and Scrafty defeat the combination of Jellicent with either Ferrothorn or Heatran. Lastly, Toxic Spikes, and in fact, being statused in general hinder Jellicent's work, either by limiting its life-span (toxic or burn) or slowing him down so that Jellicent cannot outspeed and Taunt some walls (paralysis).
Author: Dark Fallen Angel
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
- Magma Storm
- Sunny Day
- SolarBeam
- Earth Power / Hidden Power [Ice}
Role: Anti-Weather / Lure
What It Does: Heatran is a staple if you run any kind of Anti-Weather setup, and is used frequently on Sun and Sand Teams, and even some rain teams. This one I use in all of my non-weather teams. It lures, traps, and kills Politoed, and with Earth Power, can kill T-Tar and Ninetails, or with HP Ice can kill Hippodown and dragons. With these EVs, you can come in on nearly anything on a rain team and start off with Sunny Day. this guy outspeeds all non-scarfed Politoed as well, and if you setup Magma Storm on the turn it switches in, you win the weather war right there. Hit Sunny Day the next turn, followed by a no-charge Solar Beam to the face.
Good Teammates: Latias is a great team mate due being able to absorb Fighting type attacks aimed at Tran, and Levitate makes EQ fail after the Balloon falls off.
What Counters It: Depending on the move set, a few things can counter this guy, namely Keldeo, Terrakion, Scarfers, anything that can live a hit or two and hit back with fighting/ground type moves, especially STAB ones.
Any Additional Info: This guy works in and out of weather-teams, and is pretty good as a backup weather inducer for sun teams.
What It Does: What doesn't it do might be a better question. Abilities are a crucial part of a pokemon's success and thanks to Trace, Porygon2 manages to turn the opponent's against them. Come in on a setting up Gyarados/Salamence and grab Intimidate. Not only does this set them back a turn, but you can hit them for super effective damage. Trace also enables Porygon2 to get a safe switch-in against pokemon that have defensive abilities such as Water Absorb Vaporeon, or Magic Bounce Espeon (also reflecting their own status moves back to them if they're not careful). With the eviolite boosting your defenses, you can Toxic a bulkier pokemon and stall it out with Recover.
Good Teamates: Porygon2 is meant to be tacked onto an offensive team that struggles to deal with hard-hitting opponents. Don't place it on a dedicated stall team, as there are better dedicated walls such as Blissey or Skarmory. Porygon2 needs help overcoming Fighting Types, ghost and psychic types are useful teammates. That being said, do not base a team around Porygon2. It serves to be added after the main team is completed to check outside threats.
What Counters Porygon2 : Porygon2 has three main weaknesses that prevent it from being on every OU offensive team. First, Porygon2 is destroyed by Fighting types such as Conkeldurr or its antithesis Breloom, who can easily spore it and then obliterate Porygon2 with Fighting attacks. Porygon2 also hates status, particularly toxic (unless you grab an ability like Poison Heal), which cuts its walling capability. And lastly, Porygon2 can't cover a relentless barrage of offensive pokemon. Against a hyper offensive team, Porygon2 will be able to defeat 1-2 pokemon, then be KO'd. Porygon2 is a pokemon that needs to use Recover liberally, so denying it this chance will easily limit its staying power.
Other Notes: Beware Trick / Knock off. Either one of those moves essentially makes you a sitting duck for the rest of the match.
Author: HackerKing
Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Trait: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
IVs: 21 HP
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Reversal
- Stone Edge / Sucker Punch / Memento
Role: Support, Revenge Killer
What It Does: Helps trap certain Pokemon that can either make other Pokemon easier to sweep with or gain something, like weather support. It helps you revenge kill Pokemon like Blissey, Espeon, Heatran, Infernape, Jirachi, Tyranitar, Terrakion, Ninetales, Magnezone, Tentacruel, Toxicroak and weakened Pokemon like Garchomp, Gastrodon, Keldeo, Politoed, Starmie, etc. Plus after it has done its job of revenging it can further help you by seting up Stealth Rock or using Memento to help support your sweepers to set up easier after its death.
Good Teammates: Generally weather based Pokemon like Ninetales and Politoed loves Dugtrio support as it helps beat Pokemon like Tyranitar or Nintales (for Drizzle teams), Heatran (for Drought teams) that always threatens their teams goals. Another Pokemon that loves Dugtrio is Volcarona as it helps deal with things like other weather setters, Heatran, Terrakion, Blissey all things that can trouble Volcarona.
What Counters It: Well it's pretty hard to counter something that you can't switch into, but Dugtrio does have it fair shair of checks. Flying/Levitating types are it's biggest problems as they are the only Pokemon that can switch out from Dugtrio. Pokemon with some priority, like Mamoswine, Breloom, Scizor can trouble Dugtrio as it cannot abuse its speed to get around those moves, note it can use Sashed Reversal to either kill or greatly some of these checks. Hazards can ruin this set can it needs to he at full health to perform it's role.
Author: AfroThunderRule
Gothitelle (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psyshock / Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice] or [Fire]
- Trick
Role: Support, Revenge Killer
What It Does: Like with Dugtrio, it can help support your team by removing a big threat for your team, with Scarf Gothitelle can become a great revenge killer as with Scarf it gets in a very nice speed tier (356 speed) as it barely outspeed Tornadus-T. It can safely revenge kill half depending on its move selection thanks due to its ability. Some problematic Pokemon that Gothitelle can revenge and eliminated are Blissey/Chansey (Trick), Breloom, Conkeldurr, Dragonite (HP Ice), Ferrothorn (FP Fire), Forretress, Garchomp, Gengar, Keldeo, Landorus, Politoed, Salamence, Starmie, Tentacruel, Tornadus-T, Terrakion and much more.
Good Teammates: Almost anything can benefit from having one or two of their biggest checks eliminated. A good teammate for Gothitelle can be Dugtrio, it helps remove pesky steels types to help Gothitelle do its job and can form into the GothTrio combo that can frustrate teams with their ability of trapping Pokemon.
What Counters It: It's impossible to counter Gothitelle because you can't switch in due to Shadow Tag, but with with Scarf and a non special attacking nature it does have a hard time to power through some threats. Scizor and other Steel types are very good checks to Gothitelle lacking HP Fire as they can easily take any attack and retaliate. With U-Turners, even weak ones, can check Gothitelle as they can switch out to a Counter/check while dealing significant damage.
Any Additional Info: Note, if you opt for Hidden Power Fire for this set you'll only be able to speed tie Tornadus-T
What It Does: Mamoswine makes Dragons cry. Really, that is one of the only reason is is OU. But that doesn't mean that's all it's good for. With access to Stealth Rock, it becomes a great Sash Lead, guaranteeing Rocks, and still having enough offensive presence to smash face. Although it lacks the ability to stop other setup leads, except maybe Ferrothorn with Supwerpower, it can make your opponent think twice about sending out the Outraging Dragon to grab a quick kill.
Good Teammates: Mamoswine does well on nearly every team, from Sand, Hail, HO, Stall, and even some Sun Hybrid teams. It is one of the only real counters to DragMag nowadays as well, killing Magnezone easily, and still killing all the dragons out there, barring maybe Latias and Multiscale Nite. Even Hydregion falls to a well timed Superpower or Endeavor after Sashing down to 1. That being said, anything that can cover its weaknesses to Rock, Fighting, Grass, and Water (all common mover types) would make Mamoswine a very happy Ice Pig. Also, Rapid Spin support is great, especially on this version, as Mamo suffers SR weakness. Starmie would be a good team mate due to its RS ability as well as sponging Water attacks aimed at Mamo, while Mamo can absorb the thunderbolts coming after Starmie.
What Counters it: Mach Punch, Bullet Punch or a fast CC are Mamoswine's bane, making Lucario, Terrakion, Scizor, and even Breloom (Jolly Breloom outspeeds Adamant Mamo) send Mamoswine running scared. Also, any high powered Grass attacks, like Venusaur's Giga Drain, or Rain-Boosted Water attacks can send Mamoswine back into semi-extinction.
Additional Info: Mamoswine is the best Dragon check out there offensively. If you find yourself Dragon Weak, try Mamo out.
What it does: Ah, Xatu... Peharps the best counter to Deoxys-D, and the best way to "get rid" of hazards, without actually having to use Rapid Spin and lose your momentum. Not to mention that Magic Bounce cannot be blocked by those nasty Ghost-types. What Xatu has over its competitor, Espeon, is a better physical bulk (and most hazard setters attack on the physical side), Heat Wave (so it doesn't have to use the weaker Hidden Power Fire) and reliable recovery!
U-Turn is there, as always, to ease prediction, and gain momentum. Toxic is the primary option because almost all things that Toxic cannot touch are defeated by Heat Wave or Psychic. With Toxic, Xatu is able to stall out some defensive threats, and thus, Xatu becomes a valuable stallbreaker. For example, it can stall out Blissey and Hippowdon! However, Thunder Wave can be used instead, as there are many offensive things that love switching-in on Xatu otherwise, such as rain sweepers and Rock-types. The best way to deal with them is punishing them with paralysis. Roost is one of things that differentiate Xatu from Espeon. While Espeon will have to be wary of taking repeated hits, Xatu doesn't have this problem, and is in fact, very durable. Xatu can even remove its weakness to Ice, Rock and Electric, which helps against walls that use Rock- or Ice-type attacks.
The last move comes to preference. Heat Wave is the recommended option because most hazard setters are weak to it. You don't want Ferrothorn either stalling out Xatu, or coming latter to setup hazards, so you must dispose of him as quickly as possible, after reflecting its hazards. On rain teams, unfortunately Heat Wave is weakened. Psychic is an option because it has STAB, is useful against Fighting-types (though be wary that many Fighting-types can still defeat Xatu regardless), and more importantly, defeats Tentacruel. Tentacruel is a hazard setter that gives problems to Xatu that choose Heat Wave because it resists Heat Wave and is immune to Toxic, and can take Xatu down with repeated Scalds. Night Shade doesn't quickly dispose of threats like Heat Wave or Psychic would do, but it has consistent damage, and is harder to stall out than a resisted Heat Wave/Psychic.
Good Teammates: Heatran makes an exceptionally good teammate for Heracross as they cover each other's weaknesses well. Heatran can take fire and flying moves that Heracross despises. Jirachi, Bronzong and Specially Defensize Zapdos make good partners since they pose a good way to deal with Tornadus-T. Hazards are going to be very helpful towards being able to pull off a sweep with Heracross so Deoxys is a good partners to have.
What Counters It: There are some things that setup hazards, that can easily beat Xatu. With good prediction, they can take him down and setup hazards with impunity. Those are Rock-types like Tyranitar and Terrakion, as well as Heatran, that is immune to Toxic and Heat Wave, and can take Xatu down with Fire Blast. Fortunately, most of those are weak to Dugtrio, so it's easy to U-Turn them out to a Dugtrio. Tentacruel gives problems to Xatu, as it is immune to Toxic, resists Heat Wave, and can take Xatu down with repeated rain-boosted Scalds, and as Scald is an attacking move, Xatu cannot avoid being burned by it. However, Tentacruel has to watch out for Psychic. Finally, anything that doesn't mind either Toxic or Heat Wave and packs a super-effective move or a strong special neutral STAB move can be considered a counter to Xatu. This includes Rotom-H, Choice Rotom-W, Gengar, and Keldeo.
Author: Dark Fallen Angel
Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt / Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Role: Support / Physical Sweeper
What it does: Lead Terrakion is a very unique support option for any team. With the arrival of Black and White 2, Terrakion gained access to Stealth Rock, being one of the fastest Pokemon to be able to set them up. This makes it a great option to be able to get rocks up quickly during a match, to immediately start wearing down your opponent's team every time they switch in. With Focus Sash, Terrakion is almost guaranteed to get up rocks and usually get them off and fire off at least one attack. Terrakion can also easily set up rocks as he tends to force many switches due to opponent's expecting the common Choiced sets and switch in order to scout what he would otherwise lock himself into. He can also easily take out the Magic Bounce users, Espeon and Xatu, with Stone Edge so the opponent is stuck without a way prevent rocks from going up. This Terrakion set makes a great lead against the common Deoxys-D Hyper Offense teams and can often shut them down. Taunt can shut down Deoxys-D and prevent it from getting any hazards up and opponent's will often have to leave Deoxys-D in to faint as to not risk letting their frail sweepers such as Lucario and Alakazam get him by one of Terrakion's STABs. Deoxys-D cannot Taunt Terrakion back so he can get up the Stealth Rocks that cripple Pokemon they often carry such as Dragonite and Salamence. Terrakion is unique in that not only can he use Taunt and set up Stealth Rocks, trait akin to many defensive Pokemon, he also presents a massive offensive threat with base 129 Attack and 108 Speed. If one opts to use Swords Dance instead of Taunt, they can easily nab a boost at the beginning of the game by forcing a switch and putting immediate pressure on the opponent. Swords Dance also allows Terrakion to be a deadly setup sweeper late game after he sets up rocks as even the bulkiest of physical walls are 2HKO'ed by Terrakion's STABs at +2.
Good Teammates: Rapid Spin users are solid partners for Terrakion especially if you are using Swords Dance over Taunt. Having the field cleared of entry hazards means that Terrakion can switch out and come back in at full health with its Focus Sash intact or come back in at 1 HP. The most notable Rapid Spin user who partners well with Terrakion is Starmie. Starmie has great Special Attack and coverage moves and can easily beat physical walls that check Terrakion such as Skarmory, Gliscor, and Landorus-T. Terrakion returns the favor by easily disposing of Blissey who walls Starmie and also of Tyranitar who could Pursuit trap Starmie. Spinblockers also make good partners for Terrakion in order to prevent Stealth Rock from being spun away. Gengar is a good choice to be able to spinblock and also beat some of the Pokemon that can trouble Terrakion such as Jellicent and Breloom. When using Taunt, Terrakion can keep entry hazards off its side of the field so setup sweepers such as Quiver Dance Volcarona and Dragon Dance Dragonite are good partners that can come in and setup without the fear of hazards. Latios is another good partner for Terrakion as he can easily handle the physical walls that Terrakion might not be able to break and the two have solid defensive synergy with each other. Latios resists Grass, Water, Fighting, and is immune to Ground, all of which are Super Effective against Terrakion.
What Counters It : There aren't many things that can straight up counter Lead Terrakion. Prankster users such as Whimsicott and Sableye can be troublesome as they can use a priorityTaunt to prevent Terrakion from getting up rocks and then cripple it with status, Stun Spore and Will-o-Wisp respectively. If Terrakion is not carrying Swords Dance, then physical walls such as Gliscor, Landorus-T, and Skarmory can all stop Terrakion to some degree. Gliscor and Landorus-T can both take out Terrakion with Earthquake while Skarmory is not as effective as Terrakion can Taunt it to prevent it from Roosting but the metal bird can still do some solid damage with Brave Bird. Priority users, especially Scizor are able to limit Terrakion to just one move as their first attack knocks it to its Sash and the second KO's. Lastly, Choice Scarf users such as Keldeo and Latios can all outspeed and take out Terrakion and are all able to live one unboosted attack.
What it does: Donphan is a great utility Pokemon that can serve a number of roles. He can lay down Stealth Rock, a move critical in this metagame to cripple the many threats that are weak to Stealth Rock including Dragonite, Salamence, Volcarona, and Thundurus-T. He can serve as a team's Dragon check with his great bulk that allows him to tank Outrages and fire off priority Super Effective Ice Shards. However, the key role that Donphan serves is his ability to Rapid Spin. With Donphan's massive base 120 physical Defense and Sturdy ability, he is a very reliable Rapid Spinner that benefits teams that have Stealth Rock weak Pokemon or several Pokemon that are susceptible to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Donphan is a great choice to use on a Sun team due to common Sun team Pokemon being weak to entry hazards (Ninetales, Volcarona, Victini) and the fact that other OU spinners are not as effective in the Sun. Forretress already has a 4x weakness to Fire type attacks, and in the sun is murdered by the lightest tickle of fire. Starmie and Tentacruel both have their STABs weakened and are better fits on Rain teams. This leaves Donphan as the premiere spinner and Stealth Rock setter for Drought teams. Donphan also is a good choice to spin as his nifty Stealth Rock weakness means he can switch in, have Leftovers to heal him back to Sturdy, and basically guarantee that he will be able to at least Rapid Spin because any attack barring Multihit attacks or attacks from Pokemon with the Mold Breaker ability will leave him with at least 1 HP. He also functions great in non-Sun teams as his bulk allows him to serve as a solid physical wall. He can easily take attacks from the likes of Tyranitar and Terrakion and finish them off with a STAB Earthquake that is quite powerful even without any Attack investment.
Good Teammates: Good teammates are Pokemon that are more special defensively oriented that can switch in and take the Special attacks that threaten Donphan. Blissey is one of the premiere Special walls in OU and she can easily take special attacks all day. She can cripple Special attackers and wear them down with Toxic and also provide Donphan with Wish support for extra survivability. Another good partner for Donphan is Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn can easily sponge the Water, Grass, and Ice type attacks that would destroy Donphan and lay down Spikes alongside Donphan's Stealth Rock to provide even more residual damage from entry hazards. Ninetales and Drought teams also work well with Donphan. Donphan is the most easily fitter Rapid Spinner on these Sun teams that desperately need entry hazards cleared away and Donphan also provides a solid check to opposing Sand teams. Ninetales returns the favor as sunlight negates Donphan's Water type weakness and she can easily switch into the Grass and Fire type attacks that threaten the elephant.
What Counters It : The main offensive counters to Donphan are powerful special attacks that can take priority Ice Shards. Despite a weakness to Ice, Latios and Latias can easily take an Ice Shard and eliminate the elephant with Draco Meteor or Surf. Rain teams give Donphan lots of trouble as almost any Rain boosted Hydro Pump will surely take the elephant out and Scalds will deal massive damage with the chance to burn. Starmie, Keldeo, and Rotom-W all outspeed and easily take it out with Hydro Pump. Setup sweepers such as Bulk Up Conkeldurr, Swords Dance Breloom, and Sub Dragon Dance Gyarados can all take advantage of Donphan and set up over it. Defensive counters to Donphan are namely bulky Water types such as Jellicent and Vaporeon that can easily take Earthquakes from Donphan, heal off damage with Recover and Wish respectively, and hit Donphan hard with Scad and possibly burning him. Gengar also gives Donphan some trouble as a spinblocked as Donphan cannot touch him with Earthquake and Ice Shard does pitiful damage, allowing Gengar to set up a Substitute and deal damage with Shadow Ball.
What it does: By in far the most under appreciated Pokemon in my opinion, Sableye is one of the best supporters in the game. Although at a passive glance all you see is really crummy stats, he makes up for it in Prankster and a good movepool to take advantage of it. With access to Will-o-Wisp, he can easily burn many attackers that would otherwise destroy your team with +1 priority, and with Taunt he prevents Pokemon from setting up hazards or setting up in general. He also sports Ghost-typing, a boon this generation as it allows you to switch into Fighting-type moves for free and spinblock. While still not up to par defensively, he is a great asset to any team that hates physical attackers, and should always be considered as a support Pokemon.
Good Teammates: If you're revolving teammates around Sableye, you're doing it wrong. Sableye is one of the last Pokemon you would put on a team, as it can easily cover up for defensive weaknesses. If you honestly must, go take a good long look at the OU page and look at the long line of Pokemon weak physically defensively.
What Counters It: As a supporter, Sableye does not have specific counters per say, but some Pokemon will muscle there way through Sableye due to his poor defenses, like Haxorus, Salamence or Dragonite at +1 or holding Choice Bands. Pokemon that carry the Lum Berry can take a Will-o-Wisp and counter back with whatever move they want, though they can't hard switch into a Will-o-Wisp and expect to win. Special attackers as a whole don't care much if they're burned and can power their way through Sableye eventually. Pokemon that outspeed with priority, such as Scizor, can OHKO after a little residual damage. Failure to burn the opponent, due to missing most of the time, will often serve as Sableye's downfall. I still cannot stress enough how pathetic his defenses are. The biggest problem is that he cannot tank enough hits that he really needs to without burning the opponent first, leaving him weak to just about damn near every special attacker in the tier. Although he does have priority healing, its easy to abuse the turns he will heal and setup on his face or just continue the onslaught, and he will eventually be worn down.
Any Additional Info: Not much, really. Toxic could be used to help break down walls, which can come in handy. Foul Play is an interesting move that uses the opponents attack stat instead of yours, though it can be very inconsistent. If you're hellbent on pissing someone off, you can always use Confuse Ray and hope the opponent hits himself in confusion.
Author: TheWaddleDeeKing
Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP /244 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind / Ice Fang
Role: Support / Physical Wall
What it does: Hippowdon is a great Pokemon to use that provides Sand Stream support, has access to Stealth Rock, and can serve as a premiere physical wall. Sandstorm is a great form of support as it cancels out opposing weathers which is great in this metagame filled with Rain and Sun teams. Sand residual damage is useful at providing residual damage, chipping away at walls, and negating Leftovers recovery. It also provides Rock types such as Terrakion with a Special Defense boost and activates the Sand Rush ability of Stoutland and Sandslash. Hippowdon also has access to Stealth Rock which he can easily lay down to rack up damage every time the opponent switches in. With a massive base 108 HP stat, 118 Defense stat, and access to a reliable form of recovery in Slack Off, the only weather starter to have reliable recovery, Hippowdon is also one of the best physical walls in OU. He can easily take hits from some of the top physical attackers such as Terrakion and Scizor, heal off damage with Slack Off and fire off Earthquakes. Ice Fang provides some coverage alongisde Earthquake, hitting things such as Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Dragon types while Whirlwind is also a nice option to phaze out opponents and rack up hazard damage and remove setup boosts.
Good Teammates: Ferrothorn is a decent teammate for Hippowdon, especially Specially Defensive variants. He can set up Spikes alongside Hippowdon's Stealth Rock and take the Ice, Water, and Grass types that threaten Hippowdon. Hippowdon returns the favor by being a rebliable switch in into Terrakion, Dragonite, and Salamence, some things that gives Derrothorn trouble. Specially Defensive walls such as Jellicent and Heatran can also prove valuable partners with Hippowdon to cover both sides of the attacking spectrum. Forretress is another good partner because he can set up entry hazards as well as clearing the field of entry hazards that cripple Hippowdon himself, namely Toxic Spikes. Hippowdon cannot touch Skarmory and also Landorus-T and Gliscor if he is not carrying Ice Fang so powerful special attackers like Latios and Keldeo are useful to healp deal with them.
What Counter It: A number of physical walls easily counter Hippowdon. Gliscor can take even Ice Fangs and cripple the hippo with Toxic and eventually stall it out. Skarmory can set up layers of Spikes in front of Hippodon and not worry about anything from him. Special Attackers such as Latios and Keldeo can easily take out Hippowdon with a powerful STAB attack due to his lackluster Special Defense stat. If Hippowdon lacks Whirlwind, then set up sweepers such as Dragon Dance Gyarados can proceed to setup as much as they want in from of him.
Author: Novaray
Magneton @ Eviolite/Choice Scarf
Trait: Magnet Pull
EV's: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Substitute / Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
- Flash Cannon
Role: Support
What it does: New players getting into the game probably brush Magneton by in favor of Magnezone, who is actually shown in the OU tier page and is the most commonly used of the two. However, in order to say Magneton is outclasses is far from the truth, as it has two very nice things going for it that Magnezone doesn't: Eviolite and 10 higher base speed. While the latter seems of little importance, it matters a lot, as it allows Magneton to outspeed neutral-natured base 80's, such as Gyarados and Dragonite, which can be a huge threat to teams. Eviolite is always a nice item, boosting Magneton's subpar defenses to a frightening good level (so good, it survives a Banded Fire Punch from Dragonite!). It also retains a very nice base 120 special attack stat, only ten lower than Magnezone's. So why is he used less, you may ask? Well, besides the fact that he resides in RU, no Leftovers, Air Balloon or Life Orb hurt him a bit, and therefor most people would rather use Magnezone. Don't let that discourage you though, for he is a very good supporter when needed.
Good Teammates: Magneton doesn't rely on its teammates that much, as you should be using Magneton based on your teammates. It resists Stealth Rocks and is immune to Toxic Spikes (though for some reason it does take damage from Spikes :#). If it appreciates anything though, it's definitely hazards, as without the boost of Life Orb it may find itself losing out on KO's.
What Counter It: As a supporter, its "counters" are fairly hard to nail down. However, it's extremely weak to Fighting-types and Earthquake, both of which are popular throughout the tier. Fire-types will also ruin its day, as Magneton can't really do anything against them and they can in return OHKO or 2HKO. Threats that manage to get to +2 speed laugh at Magneton if its carrying a Choice Scarf, though the Eviolite build might just have enough bulk to sponge a hit. If you're not running Hidden Power Ice, most Dragon-types will laugh in its face at any attempts to hurt them, meanwhile if not running Hidden Power Fire, Steel-types can continue pounding on him until he's dead.
Any additional info: Signal Beam could potentially be used to hit certain Pokemon for more damage, though in the long run its not worth it. Hidden Power Grass can nail Gastrodon, but is relatively worthless outside of this. In the same vein, Hidden Power Ground can nail Heatran if its a problem, but it doesn't due much else. Charge Beam can increase your special attack with some luck, and is slightly more viable with an Eviolite on Magneton than Magnezone, though in the long run you'll get revenge killed anyways. You could always run Dual Screens, though without Eviolite, Magnezone does it better, and even then there's a lot of competitors for that role. In short, you should probably stick to the items and moves listed above.
Author: TheWaddleDeeKing
What NOT to use:
Physical Sweeper
Aggron @ Choice Band
Rock Head
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Head Smash
- Superpower / Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail / Shadow Claw / Payback
Role: Physical Sweeper
What it does: An easy win for your opponent. No seriously, if he is your physical sweeper you are going to have a bad time. But if anyone insists on using it, I'll start explaining. The first thing you'll notice is his humonguos base Defense which is 180, followed by his base Atck of 110. This means that if you slapped a Choice Band it would hit the other team like a truck right? In theory yes, but in practice is not the same story. The first problem with Aggron is the general low base Speed Rock and Steel type Pokemon have, in his case 50 base Speed. Next up is his SpDef stat and trust me, with 60 base SpDef you aren't going to survive for long especially in a metagame where Rain is almost on every team. Now let's move to the moveset, Aggron has the EdgeQuake combo but he has a stronger Stone Edge in the form of HeadSmash but it has the same accuracy so you will still be missing some hits. Superpower lets you hit Ferrothorn super-effectively but you can also choose BrickBreak if you don't like the stats drop. If you haven't got nausea from all this then prepare yourself, in the last slot you can use either of those moves depending on what you wish to hit but it's gonna be useless because Aggron won't survive that much. And that's the best moveset you can have. You can use StealthRock in the last slot too, at least that's a useful move.
Good Teammates: Really? You are going to use Aggron? Okay... Anything that can resist a Ground, Fighting and Water types is a good teammate for him. Celebi is a good partner because he resists all those types and can eliminate the Water types plaguing Aggron, Celebi also attracts Dark, Ghost and Bug attacks which Aggron shrughs off easily giving Aggron a slight opportunity to attack, that is if he isn't outspeed and OHKO'd. Tyranitar and Hippowdon give you sandstorm so you can increase your pathetic SpDef but they share common weaknesses so it could end backfiring. Chansey and Blissey can take special hits aimed at Aggron and heal him back with Wish. Aggron also needs to have someone setting up hazards so that Aggron can attempt to sweep. Paralysis support is also important so that Aggron can outspeed something. Magnezone is also a good partner because he can take out the Steel types that wall Aggron, like Skarmory and Bronzong just to name a few. Pokemon that can set Trick Room, especially Slowbro, can be of tremendous help to Aggron by eliminating his bad Speed stat for a few turns.
What Counters It : Skarmory walls Aggron all day, every day. A Band'd HeadSmash with max investement in Atck and positive nature won't kill Skarm even after rocks and Skarm can just Roost off the damage like nothing happened. Bronzong is the same history but less effective even when Bronzong lacks of a reliable recovery. Defensive Gliscor also walls him, Landorus-T can set rocks in his face or even get a RP and SD in. Forretres also sets on his face, as well as Ferrothorn, just be careful if he uses Superpower on the last one. Jirachi can also come in a HeadSmash and be all cool. Almost everything can revenge kill him. Fighting types, Ground types, Water types and most special attackers can threaten him or start boosting up if Aggron is locked in a not very effective move. Aggron in Trick Room is easily killed by priority in the form of MachPunch and AquaJet though he might survive thanks to his Defense. Aggron doesn't likes burns either so a good Will-o-Wisp can shut him down for the entire match.
Any Additional Info : Aggron can also learn the elemental punches if you want to have some coverage, and you can change the last slot for one of this.If you plan on using Aggron as a setup sweeper then you'll have to use either HoneClaws or Autotomize. I don't know why the newer players put Aggron in their team, just because it looks tough doesn't mean it will be good.
Author:: lu1z
Archeops @ Flying Gem
Trait: Defeatist
EV's: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Fire / Roost
Role: Physical Sweeper
What it does: Archeops is one of those Pokemon that you just hate to... hate. It has fantastic base attack, special attack and speed. In fact, un-experienced players my find this guy to be a hidden gem from OU, with such great sweeping roles. However, then they see Defeatist. Defeatist cuts your attacking stats in half when you yourself reach half health. Combined with the fact that he his weak to Stealth Rocks and is extremely vulnerable to all types of priority (Scizor is the number one used Pokemon in OU right now, by the way), you'll never find yourself sweeping teams with this guy. Even if you get past these flaws, without any boosting moves, even that gargantuan attack will fail to get past the most dedicated of walls. Why he can dish out some incredible power, most of the time he will become dead weight due to his ability. He his yet another Pokemon with great potential that fell to the hands of Game Freak.
Good Teammates: Spinners. A spinner is absolutely necessary in order for Archeops to switch in and do damage to something, although even with one you'll find Archeops falling to prey of priority moves and Scarfers. Magnezone is a decent teammate in order to get passed walls like Skarmory, Forretress and Ferrothorn. Faster Fire-types also fill this roll rather nicely. Hazards are always nice to have, though Archeops is one of the sweepers that doesn't need them all the time. Something to WishPass is very helpful indeed, as it potentially allows Archeops to come back in and attempt another chance at a sweep. Teammates that take some of its super effective hits, like Scizor for Ice-type attacks or Rotom-W for Water-type attacks, will help elongate Archeop's life.
What Counters It: A lot. Anything that holds a Choice Scarf has a very, very good chance of ruining Archeops's day. Priority moves, such as Scizor's Bullet Punch, will easily take out Archeops due to non-existent defense, as well Mamoswine's Ice Shard and Azumarill's Aqua Jet. Breloom may not take it out with its Mach Punch, but it will certainly cause it to go into Defeatist range. Revenge killers will easily put him in a checkmate position. As long as it has higher than base 60 speed, a positive nature max speed Pokemon can normally put Archeops into Defeatist range at the very least. Some Pokemon are naturally faster, such as Starmie or Jolteon, who can easily KO with an Ice Beam or Hidden Power Ice. Most importantly, Stealth Rocks ruin Archeop's day by removing 1/4th of his health upon switch in, so keeping those on the field will aid in his removal.
Any Additional Info: Archeops can run a set using Head Smash and a Rock Gem to essentially get a free OHKO on anything, though he might find himself within Defeatist range afterwards. A more mixed set can be used, though it doesn't really help him out much. Choice Scarf can be used, but he still falls prey to priority, and certain Pokemon can come in on resisted hits. I could list any amount of items but no matter what I list, he's going to lose.
Better candidates for this position: In terms of mixed or physical sweepers, there's a lot of them, and luckily most of them can function as well as they do at 100% health as they can at 1% health. Haxorus, Dragonite, Salamence, Garchomp, Terrakion... I could list Pokemon all day, though for your sake and mine, just look at the OU tier page and organize the Pokemon by physical attack base stats.
Author: TheWaddleDeeKing
Special Sweeper
Charizard @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
Role: Special Sweeper (requires Sun)
What It Does: I hope I shouldn't have to explain to any competent player why Charizard isn't viable in OU. Whilst the same lack of recommendation could be said about virtually any NU Pokémon, I have a bone to pick here. The amount of low ranked players on the OU ladder I've seen utilising Scarf Charizard on their sun teams is rather startling. It makes sense in a way - the idea of a sweeper with an automatic x1.5 boost to both Sp. Attack and Speed, combined with a double-STAB Fire Blast seems very glamorous to new players. However, rookies listen out: Charizard is terrible in this metagame, and has no niche whatsoever. Why so? Sure, Fire Blast hits like a truck, but good luck spamming it in a metagame where rain and sand teams are ubiquitous. The worst thing about Charizard though, and the main reason you should never use it, is that it has a 4x Stealth Rock weakness. On top of that, the 10% damage from Solar Power each turn will quickly add up, meaning that in a realistic game scenario, Charizard will not last more than about 2-3 turns. It might get one kill if you're lucky, but most of the time it'll be dead weight. Whilst you may wonder why Volcarona is OU if it shares this crippling SR weakness - does Charizard get access to Quiver Dance, Bug Buzz and Giga Drain? I don't think so. At least if you're desperate to use a Fire/Flying type, use Moltres as it has superior bulk and access to Hurricane, which it can actually hurt rain teams with. If you're looking for a Scarfed Fire type, Heatran possesses much higher Sp. Attack outside of sun, and has some useful resistances (and isn't SR weak!).
"Good" Teammates: So you've ignored my warning and still want to use Charizard so badly. Very well. Obviously you'll need Drought support from Ninetales if you want to actually hurt anything. I cannot stress enough how mandatory Rapid Spin support is. Donphan is a good candidate as it resists the Rock and Electric attacks that Charizard so loathes, and can hurt some of the Water types that like to switch in on it, such as Jellicent, with a powerful STAB Earthquake. You'll also need to make sure your team can check other other weathers, as without Solar Power, Charizard will hit little harder than a wet paper towel. Trappers such as Gothitelle/Dugtrio can go to great lengths in helping to win the weather war. Teammates that can take strong Water attacks, e.g. Latias, are also beneficial.
What Counters It:
Any Water type with a little bulk will easily wall this set. Politoed is by far Charizard's biggest nemesis, as it will take away the sunlight it depends on. Most Dragons, especially Lati@s, will also do a fine job of dealing with this set, as Charizard has to risk being fodder by locking itself into the weak Dragon Pulse to hurt them. Heatran, Terrakion and Tyranitar also make fantastic checks, though do need to watch out for the occasional Focus Blast. The easiest way to check Charizard though is to just set up Stealth Rock - it won't have the bulk to survive any neutral STAB attacks with only 50% of its HP.
Any Additional Info:
I think I've said anything that needs to be said. Please consider something else before you use Charizard: it just isn't cut out for the OU metagame. I know it seems unnecessary to write about a NU Pokémon in an OU thread, but Charizard still seems to be a favourite of inexperienced players - this needs to stop.
AuthorDarkBlazeR
Clefable @ Leftovers
Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Cosmic Power
- Softboiled
- Stored Power
- Lucky Chant / Seismic Toss / Toxic / Calm Mind
Role: Special Sweeper
What it does: Nothing useful.
Ok, but I am forced to write a description about this thing, so let's say why it should not be used. Many n00bs look for this thing when looking for a special sweeper, due to the combination of Cosmic Power and Magic Guard, an combination shared only with Sigilyph. This, in theory, should let Clefable slowy boost to the point that she will be unkillable, due to Magic Guard protecting her from Toxic/Burn damage, so the only thing that can deter her, is either phazing, or critical hits.
However, the reality is that Clefable is either going to be shut down by Taunt, or be killed by Fighting-type attacks, which are very common considering the abundance of Fighting-type Pokémon on OU. Also, Clefable simply has to boost too many times to be really threatening, and even after 6 boosts, there are many things that can take her down, or resist/be immune to her attacks. If you still want to use this thing, then lets go...
Cosmic Power, as said above, transforms Clefable into an "unkillable" wall. With a few boosts, the only thing that can defeat her are STAB Fighting-type attacks, and with even more boosts, not even this. Softboiled is Clefable's only means of recovery. Stored Power is the main attacking option because with some boosts, it gains an massive boost on its base power, although be warned that Clefable does not receive STAB on it (unlike Sigilyph), and even after 6 Cosmic Power boosts, Clefable may still be too weak to sweep. The last slot is up to you, although again, you are doing this wrong. Lucky Chant protect Clefable from the only two things that could defeat her after 6 Cosmic Power boosts: critical hits. However, it does nothing to protect her from phazing, unless she is the last Pokémon on the team (although at this point Clefable may have been killed anyway). Seismic Toss is Clefable's best option against Dark- and Steel-types. Alternatively, Toxic can be used to slowy kill the opponent as it try to defeat Clefable and she laughs at its weak attacks, and grab more boosts, although if this really happen, then your opponent should be a worse noob than you. Calm Mind may seem like a joke option, but it boosts Clefable's Special Attack stat, which makes Stored Power stronger. Let's be honest, however, using Clefable is already a joke on itself.
Alternatively, you can use an Adamant nature, 252 EVs on Attack, Toxic Orb as the item, and Facade as the attacking option. Facade receives STAB and is initially stronger, and does good damage to... Okay, I'll stop, my fingers are begging that I stop using them to write bullshit.
Good Teammates: Then, even after all things that I said, you still want to use Clefable? Then, do not say that I didn't warned you. Hippowdon is peharps a good partner because it summons the sandstorm that doesn't affect Clefable. Also, Hippowdon checks most Fighting-types that give Clefable problems. Also, as Clefable slowy boosts, the sandstorm slowy kills the opponent. Another "good" partner is Jellicent, which is immune to Clefable's only weakness (Fighting), and counters Keldeo, which is capable of countering the combination of Hippowdon and Clefable. Anything that can defeat Fighting-types is appreciated, thus, Flying-types like Tornadus and Gliscor are "good" partners. However, let me warn you of one thing. If you use any of these Pokémon as partners for Clefable, their hapiness rating will quickly drop to zero.
What Counters It : Almost the entire metagame can deal with her, but if you want to know about specific Pokémon, then let's do that. Tyranitar is immune to Stored Power, and can use Stone Edge, hoping for a critical hit, or use Crunch, which has a defense-dropping effect and still has a chance to critical hit, letting Tyranitar defeat Clefable 1x1 as long as she doesn't carry Toxic. In fact, most Dark-types can shut Clefable down, although Tyranitar is the best of them, because it's the only one that have reliable attacks to use against Clefable.
Anything with Taunt will quickly shut Clefable down and leave her with a face like that of the Okay internet meme. Peharps the best for that is Heatran, as Heatran resists Stored Power, and can kill Clefable with repeated Fire Blasts, and after using Taunt, Heatran can prevent Clefable from recovering.
Even after one Cosmic Power boost, most Fighting-type attacks can OHKO her. Terrakion, Keldeo, Lucario, Breloom, and even Infernape can defeat her no matter how many boosts she have. Even Stored Power does little damage to them, unless Clefable has many Cosmic Power boosts. Rain-boosted Water-type attacks, and Sun-boosted Fire-type attacks, also pose problems, as Clefable simply doesn't have the bulk to tank them without many Cosmic Power boosts.
Another thing that annoy Clefable is phazing. So, you screwed up yourself and allowed Clefable to boost a lot of times? This is not a problem if you have phazing. Clefable is very vulnerable to moves like Whirlwind and Roar, as well as Dragon Tail/Circle Throw if Clefable doesn't have Substitute. Be warned, however, that this is only a temporary solution, and that Clefable cannot be worn down by entry hazard damage due to her immunity to passive damage, thanks to Magic Guard.
Lastly, Clefable should be very wary of Perish Song, especially if she is the last Pokémon on the team.
Any Additional Info : Use Jirachi. It's simply better. Jirachi has a better typing, better initial bulk, and while Jirachi doesn't have Stored Power, it has better STAB and actually has coverage options. Jirachi can even support the team with Wish, if necessary. If you still want to abuse the combination of Magic Guard and Cosmic Power, Sigilyph does that much, much better. Although Sigilyph has more weakness, it is faster, receives STAB on Stored Power, and can spread burns, which are arguably much more benefical than Toxic, due to being able to affect Steel- and Poison-types. For this reason, Sigilyph can actually potentially win against Tyranitar 1x1 due to burn damage halving the latter's attack, and slowly killing him.
Author:: Dark Fallen Angel
Mixed Sweeper
Electivire @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Motor Drive
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Mild Nature
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Cross Chop
- Hidden Power Ice
- Flamethrower / Earthquake
Role: Mixed Sweeper
What it does: Makes your opponent laugh so hard that he will lose by timeout if he doesn't stop laughing.
Ok, but I am forced to write a description about this thing, so let's say why it should not be used. Electivire's only value lies on its fantastic coverage. Even then, it is simply not enough to make Electivire a good sweeper. It is slow, and is actually weak to the point that there are times when even its good super-effective coverage is not enough to OHKO the opponent. Not to mention that it is frail. With a reliance on a speed boost from Motor Drive, Electivire is hardly going to sweep, especially with Team Preview warning your opponent to not use Electric-type attacks until Electivire is eliminated. In short, there are many better mixed attackers than Electivire, and some of them don't even have the same amazing coverage that Electivire has, but they make up for that with bulk, speed or sheer power.
Thunderbolt is there because of STAB. However, it can be replaced by Thunder if you are using a rain team. However, Electivire rarely uses Thunder because on rain teams, you can as well use Thundurus-T, or even Jolteon, both of which do a better job than Electivire.
Cross Chop is obligatory coverage, hitting many things for super-effective damage, such as Tyranitar, Terrakion, Chansey, and Blissey, all of which are generally capable of taking Thunderbolt.
Hidden Power Ice is Electivire's best option against Dragon-types, and thus is also obligatory. It also hits Ground-types, such as Hippowdon, which don't fear Thunderbolt or Cross Chop. The only other really viable alternative is Hidden Power Grass, which still hits Ground-types, but is also hits Gastrodon, Quagsire and Swampert, three things that take little damage from Hidden Power Ice. However, it's not recommended because Electivire will lose coverage on Dragon-types.
Finally, Flamethrower hits Steel-types, especially those that don't fear Electivire's other coverage moves. It also hits Grass-types. It also hits Ferrothorn much more reliably and harder than Cross Chop. However, Flamethrower is rendered useless on rain teams, where it can be replaced by Earthquake, giving Electivire coverage on Fire- and Poison-types, as well as still hitting Jirachi super-effectively. Despite having redundant coverage with Cross Chop, Earthquake can also hit some Pokémon more accurately, when you don't want to risk a Cross Chop miss, such as against Heatran.
Good Teammates: There are some good partners for Electivire, although be warned that there is always a superior option if you use that partner. For example, Politoed attracts Electric-type attacks that Electivire can abuse, but at this point you are using an inferior Thundurus-T. Gyarados was considered the best partner for Electivire, as Gyarados' 4x weakness to Electric-type attacks virtually begs that your opponent use Electric attacks to deter him, but Electivire at same time discourages this. But again, why not use Thundurus-T instead? If you still want to use Electivire, then here's an advice: Electivire actually is amazing when Baton Passed an Shell Smash boost. However, there may be better recipients for your Shell Smash, and Shell Smash Baton Passes are hard to pull off.
What Counters It : Actually, there aren't much counters for Electivire, due to its amazing coverage and decent power. However, most things on OU can either outspeed him and defeat him with their STAB attacks, or can survive one attack and retaliate back. Even after one boost from Motor Drive, Electivire is outpaced by many Choice Scarf users, such as Terrakion, Salamence, and Landorus (there are more examples, however), all of which are capable of taking Electivire down with either Ground-type, or STAB moves. Electivire will also fall to rain-boosted Water attacks, or sun-boosted Fire attacks. Dugtrio is peharps the best way to get rid of Electivire. As long as the latter doesn't have an Motor Drive boost, Dugtrio can outspeed, and OHKO with Earthquake. Rotom-H actually resists everything that Electivire commonly uses, altough with a weakness to Stealth Rock, Rotom-H is a shaky counter at best. Lati@s take little damage from most of Electivire's moves, even Hidden Power Ice, and can defeat Electivire with their Dragon-type moves.
Any Additional Info : If you want to use a mixed attacker on OU, here's a list of alternatives that are actually good: Jirachi, Keldeo (it is techincally a mixed attacker due to Secret Sword's effect), Kyurem-B, Hydreigon, Salamence, and Dragonite. Each of them have advantages that far outshine the fact that Electivire has fantastic coverage. You must learn something: It's not because it can hit almost every Pokémon super-effectively, that it is good. Terrakion and Keldeo are there to prove this. The former doesn't have a good super-effective coverage that can be said "oh my gosh, see how this Pokémon can hit half of OU super-effectively", however, Terrakion makes up for that by having fantastic neutral coverage with only its STAB moves. On OU, only Toxicroak resists both of its STAB moves, and there are very few Pokémon that do the same, all of them are on low tiers and generally aren't good on OU. Terrakion also has excellent power and speed, which makes him a superior sweeper to Electivire in every way. Keldeo also has the same characteristics, and although its STABs offer less neutral coverage, Keldeo more than makes up for that with sheer power, especially under rain, where it can defeat even Pokémon that resist its Water STAB, using its Water STAB!
Author: Dark Fallen Angel
Pikachu @ Light Ball
Trait: Lightning Rod
EV's: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Fire
- Encore / Grass Knot
Role: Special Sweeper
What it does: I really shouldn't even have to tell you why Pikachu shouldn't be used in OU. At a passive glance, he looks like a frail sweeper with good attack stats (with Light Ball equipped) and a decent movepool to make use of it. However, in OU, he attack stats are only slightly above average, and most Pokemon can sponge one of his hits and attack back, almost certainly KO'ing it. The idea behind this set is simple: set up a Substitute to allow Pikachu to sweep, or at least sponge a hit. But who the hell are you gonna set up on? The best of walls couldn't care less what this guy is running and will just straight up attack or setup on his face. He is extremely prone to priority hits, not being able to sponge any of them. Even with maximum defenses he is going down. His speed is too mediocre to get anything done and is much to frail for a sweeper. I sometimes see him on joke teams, which could work on timed battles, most people would laugh at you for running him until they run out of time. Please don't use Pikachu, not even for fun.
Good Teammates: YOU'RE STILL TRYING TO USE THIS THING??? Holy sh*t. Well, the only way I can see the potential of him working is if you Baton Pass a bunch of speed boosts or something. Shell Smash Gorebyss fits the description nicely, as does anyone else who can Baton Pass Agility, though the problem with this is that they'll probably Baton Pass first, meaning your Pikachu will get hit by the opponent. Defensive walls can make up for his lack of defense (except not really), so running Skarmory or Jellicent or something can help you elongate Pikachu's life another turn or two.
What Counters It: Does it contain a move, is faster or bulky enough to take a hit, and has enough attack power to KO? It counters it (that's every Pokemon in OU, by the way).
Any Additional Info: You could always run a mixed set, as Light Ball doubles his attack too. You might as well, he's not gonna last anyways.
Better candidates for this position: Everything that's not Luvdisc or Farfetch'd. So, if you're having trouble with those two, Pikachu might finally have a chance to shine!
Author: TheWaddleDeeKing
Porygon-Z @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EV's: 96 HP / 252 SAtk / 160 Spe
Nature: Modest
IV's: *0 Atk
- Agility
- Tri Attack
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
Role: Special Sweeper
What it does: Porygon-Z at a first glance looks like the Pokemon that could sweep teams if it got a Download boost, but sadly, this is not the case. Even with Agility to boost its middling speed, it still lacks the defenses to sponge hits. Priority moves are common in OU, as are Fighting-types, either of which will ruin Porygon-Z's day. Although sporting the BoltBeam combo, it's not enough, and even at +1 it lacks the power to get through the best of walls in OU. Although it seems good due to monstrous special attack, it's bulk is ultimately its downfall, and its typing leaves it wide open for all types of attacks to come in and hurt him bad.
Good Teammates: Due to a weakness to Fighting-types, Jellicent is perhaps one of the best teammates it could use, Will-o-Wisping physical attackers. Hazards are almost always necessary, so any Pokemon that can lay them down (Ferrothorn, Forretress, Skarmory, etc.) is a highly appreciated teammate. The Lati twins are also nice teammates, scaring out most physical attackers due to their coverage and STAB moves. Pokemon that attract more physically oriented walls are nice to have, allowing you to switch in and grab a special attack boost with Download. Magnezone/Magneton are always nice to have to get rid of meddling Steel-types.
What Counters It: Due to low defenses, anything that can sponge a hit and hit hard back will probably lead to his demise. Terrakion can normally take one, especially if in Sandstorm, and hit back with a STAB super-effective Close Combat, easily OHKO'ing. Technician Breloom can also come in and hit hard with its Technician boosted, STAB super-effective Mach Punch. Mamoswine can sponge one hit and hit hard back with Ice Shard. Steel-types, such Scizor, have the bulk to sponge a hit and hit back hard. Magnezone takes pitiful damage from all of Porygon-Z's attack, and can setup a Substitute in its face. Ultimately, the best way to take care of Porygon-Z is to let it not setup its Agility, be it by sheer force or threatening it with powerful sweepers.
Any Additional Info: You could always run a Chople Berry to help with its Fighting weakness, though in the long run this won't help much. A Choice Scarf is somewhat helpful, as Porygon-Z has the coverage to hit everything, but ultimately fails to outclass Starmie in this degree. Recover could always be used, though it won't matter much in the long run, not to mention you really want three coverage moves on Porygon-Z. A Nasty Plot set is viable, until one realizes that Porygon-Z is rather average in the speed aspect. You could try a bulky attacker set, though his little brother Porygon2 outclasses him due to the defense boost from Eviolite. Hidden Power Fire could always be used to hit Steel-types, though if you die, make sure to change the attack IV's back to its appropriate number.
Better candidates for this position: Porygon2 by far outclasses him, sporting the bulk to take hits and still having good coverage. Starmie also does his job but with actual good speed. Rotom-W also has a pseudo BoltBeam combo, and has Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave along with good defensive typing. The Lati twins also sport better bulk and better coverage, as well as better attacks to utilize. Alakazam is faster, has Magic Guard, and sports much better coverage.
Supposed Role: Special Wall, Rapid Spinner, Supporter
What it's supposed to do: Oh boy, here we go. The king of hazards Forretress is renown for being one of the best physical walls in the entire game, sporting excellent typing and every support move you'd want on such a wall. That's the beauty of it, you can switch into almost any physical attack and take little to no damage from it. However, this is all do to its base 130 Defense. So why would you ever want to use this thing to absorb any special attacks with that base 60 Special Defense? Beats me, but apparently some people do it. Even if you're trying to stop supposed Draco Meteors, any Choice Spec Draco's are going to take more than 50% of your health away, even with maximum special defense and HP. In fact, ANY choice spec attack will probably kill you in 2-3 hits if you have yet to spin away your rocks, which is likely the only reason you'd want to bring this thing in on a Dragon-type. And to top it all off, your base defense has just gone way, way down due to little investment. 2HKO's on the physical side will be MUCH more prevalent due to this. I cannot hate on this thing enough. If you absolutely need a special wall, Ferrothorn actually has a good special defense stat. Tentacruel is known for being a special wall, and can rapid spin hazards away as well. Better yet, both Chansey AND Blissey takes special hits like a sponge. If you're really hell bent on using a specially defensive steel type, use a specially defensive Skarmory. At least THAT can Roost off the damage.
Good teammates: Well, if you've read this far, you must be one of those people who shrug off insults and wish to find something good about this Forretress, or you're just interested in what else I have to say. Well, if you're basing teammates around Forretress, which is funny because normally you pick Forretress based on other teammates, you might as well go for something that's weak to Stealth Rocks. Dragonite doesn't want its Multi-Scale broken, and furthormore hates Specs Draco Meteors more than anyone. Volcarona loses 50% of its health on the switch, so if you spin away those rocks you could have a giant molten moth on your team to scare your opponents into forfeit. Yanmega is another Bug-type with a 4x weakness that can do work. Salamence, Ninetales, Thundurus-T, Tornadus-T, Gyarados, and Farfetch'd are all Pokemon that don't like Stealth Rocks. Now sure, Farfetch'd is as shitty as you get, but as long as we're using a Specially Defensive Forretress I assume we're throwing all logic out the window.
What counters it: If it carries Hidden Power Fire, or ANY Fire-type move, expect to lose, no matter how much defense you've invested. Even if you're in the rain or carrying the Occa Berry for some reason (it only makes sense, if you think about it), you will lose to Fire-type moves. If it's reasonably strong and has a neutral STAB physical move, you will be worn out. If it's reasonably strong and has a neutral special move, you will be worn out. If it can breath, chances are, it can potentially counter you. Now, that's extremely over-exaggerated, but honestly. C'mon.
Additional info: Any additional info I can add would be the move set, item choice and nature. You can use any combination of the three hazards you want, as Forretress learns them all. So, if Toxic Spikes are your thing, you might as well use them. The choice between Earthquake, Volt Switch and Gyro Ball is up to you; Earthquake can hit Heatran for a reasonable chunk on the switch, while Volt Switch can give your team momentum, and Gyro Ball hits hard due to your slow speed. If you're using the latter two, you should always decrease your speed in order to bring in your next Pokemon safely or hit hard. Earthquake can use either, as you can always ensure a Rapid Spin against slower Stealth Rockers with lower speed. You may opt to use a Shed Shell over Leftovers, if you're scarfed of Magnezone and Dugtrio, as you should be with such pitiful defenses. You should probably use a Relaxed nature, to boost your now lower defense, though as long as you're using a specially defense Forretress, you might as well use a Sassy nature.
Better candidates for this position: Ferrothorn, Magnetron, Cobalion, Tentacruel, Jellicent, Chansey, Blissey, Deoxys-D, Rotom-W, Tyranitar, and Specially Defensive Skarmory. Even UU Pokemon such as Registeel, Umbreon, Dusclops, and Milotic all have there benefits over Forretress. Hell, even REGICE, a NU Pokemon is better for this position.
What it does: Claydol is one of those Pokemon that sees much more use than it really should. At a passive glance, you'll notice that it laughs in the face of the EdgeQuake combo, resists Fighting-types and is immune to Electric-type moves. So, one might assume that this guy would be a great physical wall if you pump a lot of EV's into defense. Well, that is not the case. In reality, it can wall the most threatening physical sweeper, Terrakion, and in theory, it can wall Landorus and Conkeldurr, but in reality the ladder two can U-turn out or retaliate with Payback or Ice Punch. That's how must of it goes, unfortunately. Almost wall a physical sweeper just for them to U-turn out or get hit with a super-effective move. It doesn't help that he has garbage attack stats, so no matter what you do it's not like you can do anything other than Toxic them or spin rocks away (which physically defensive Forretress does 100x better, by the way). Sure, it walls Terrakion, but that's it, and that's hardly enough for a metagame filled with rain teams that can OHKO with Hydro Pump and the list of special attackers that will hit for super-effective damage. This isn't including the part where he has no recovery outside of Leftovers and Rest.
Good Teammates: Well, if you're looking for teammates, you might as well go for some weak to Terrakion and Stealth Rocks. Volcarona, Staraptor, Gyarados, etc. I don't know what else you want me to put here, honestly. You could always run Farfetch'd in tangent, but...
What Counters It: Just about everything besides Terrakion. Landorus can use U-turn or Hidden Power Ice to do massive damage and possibly switch into the appropriate counter. Kyurem-B and Haxorus take a dump on it with their STAB Outrage, which easily will take out Claydol in one or two hits, meanwhile Claydol can't do anything in return. Conkeldurr and Metagross can hit him for super-effective damage with Ice Punch, and Salamence can use Aqua Tail or Hydro Pump to hit Claydol. Mamoswine totally bones it with priority Ice Shard. Breloom can use Bullet Seed or Seed Bomb to hit it hard, after it gets put to sleep, that is. Banded Scizor can either hit it enough times with Bullet Punch or with a super-effective STAB U-turn.
Listen, I could list as many counters as there are OU Pokemon. Just take my word for it, okay?
Any Additional Info: You could always get rid of Toxic for both coverage moves (in which case use a Relaxed or Sassy nature). Hidden Power Fire could always be used to nail Scizor or Forretress, you might as well, you're not getting anywhere with those two coverage moves anyways. Explosion in tangent with Normal Gem could get you a surprise KO sometimes. If you're worried about your opponent healing for some reason, Heal Block is always there to comfort you. Rest could be used to heal, though that just lets your opponents Scizor set up on you.
Better candidates for this position: The only other two Pokemon that have Stealth Rocks and Rapid Spin are Forretress and Donphan. Luckily for you, they completely outclass Claydol due to Sturdy and should always be used over him.
Author: TheWaddleDeeKing
Support
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
Role
Support / Trapper / Special Sweeper / Bulky Attacker
What It Does
Traps Ferrothorn and sets up on it. In theory, it traps Forretress and Skarmory, but those two can Volt Switch / Whirlwind anyway. Forretress can even Earthquake you. Takes forever to boost, boring your opponent to death. Charge Beam is very weak and takes forever to work. Has tricky coverage and gets boned by Mamoswine after you spend all that time boosting. In the mean time, Ferrothorn just sets up all the hazards it can while Magnezone can't really hurt it back. Can use Power Whip a couple times to break Substitute, but this doesn't put much pressure on Magnezone so it's usually okay.
(Supposedly) Good Teammates
Kyurem-B - allows it to forgo running a mixed set with Hidden Power Fire.
Latios / Latias - allows it to forgo Hidden Power Fire.
Starmie, for Ferrothorn at least.
What Counters It
In theory, not much counters it; but in practice it's a different story. Chansey breaks its Substitutes with Seismic Toss and can use Wish or Softboiled or do whatever it wants to do. Mamoswine laughs at it. The only reason Magnezone would run Flash Cannon is to beat this guy, but it loses valuable coverage on Dragons and Landorus-(T) Dugtrio with Focus Sash can revenge kill by trapping it, surviving Hidden Power whatever while breaking its Sub, then killing it.
Additional Info
I copied the EV spread from the analysis which suggests Charge Beam, but here I made it the focus since Sub Magnezone almost always has it. Honestly, get rid of Charge Beam guys. It takes forever to boost, it's predictable, and you're not really bluffing against Ferrothorn. Either you're running Hidden Power Fire and Ferrothorn will lose anyway, or you'll Substitute and start boosting while Ferrothorn lays hazards. Trust me, Substitute Magnezone is great, but you really want three move coverage.
For those of you still confused on how to post heres an example of how to do so
What to use
Dragonite (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Outrage
- Earthquake/ Fire Punch
Role: Physical Sweeper
What It Does: Dragonite can sweep through teams quickly and efficiently given the chance. Good bulk + Great Attack with usable speed, Dragonite has the stats that beg to be used to sweep. Dragon Dance lets you abuse this and with if you have multiscale intact you can pretty much get a guaranteed Dragon Dance up and then go to town on the other team. After Dragon Dance Dragonite is only countered by Skarmory and Air Balloon Heatran, and can rampage through the tier to his hearts content once those 2 are out of the picture. ExtremeSpeed lets you beat weavile and other sufficiently weakened checks. EarthQuake hits Jirachi, Heatran and all other non levitating steels that wall your dynamic STAB outrage, which is nearly impossible to contain if your steel types are gone. Fire Punch remains an option to hit skarmory, scizor, forretress and ferrothorn harder.
Good Teammates: Rapid Spin is something almost nessecary for this Dragonite to be worth using over salamence. Starmie remains the best teammate out there for Dragonite, with rapid spin being the best support move for Dragonite. Starmie also removes Mamoswine, Skarmory, Heatran and Gliscor from the picture which is very useful if dragonite is to sweep through a team. Forretress on the other hand can Rapid Spin and provide hazard support for Dragonite, which is nessecary to rack up damage on offensive checks such as Weavile, Scizor, and Scarf Salamence among others. Forretress handily disposes of Mamoswine with Gyro Ball as well. A way to get rid of Sand and hail is also appreciated, so Politoed and Ninetales can make good partners. Ninetales also rewards you with a stronger Fire Punch to nail skarmory with if your running that. In rain Aqua Tail also becomes an option to beat gliscor without having to lock into outrage.
What Counters It: Air Balloon Heatran with its Air Balloon intact and HP [ICE] is a surefire offensive counter to Dragonite, forcing it to use Outrage while you OHKO once multiscale is broken. Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Forretress counter sets lacking Fire Punch well and can do reasonable damage back with Gyro Ball/ PHaze out. If its lacking Earthquake all Heatran, and most steels in rain will be countering you fairly easy. Mamoswine and Weavile can revenge it once multiscale is broken. Scarf Latios and Salamence also fall into that boat.
Any Additional Info: Dragonite is so much better with genesect gone, get around it
EDIT: Had a brain fade, mixed up ttars and dnites speed stats for a sec, good pick up Ginku / CSC
__________________
Not good enough mate
Last edited by Asek; Dec 8th, 2012 at 1:34:42 AM.
Reason: got my speed tiers mixed up
What It Does: Best revenger killer in the OU metagame. Seriously imagine Scarf Terrakion if Stone Edge had a 1.5x boost in Sand and had a move to smash physical walls with; now you have Keldeo. Plus late-game with Water-type resists out of the way, this little pony is one of the most potent late-game cleaners.
Good Teammates: Politoed is the big number one because it gives Keldeo that powerful Drizzle boost. Breloom also makes an excellent teammate as they share a lot of common switch-ins like Latios and Latias; also Breloom helps get rid of pesky Jellicent and Gastrodon.
What Counters It: Jellicent is the biggest counter as its immune to Keldeo's two STABs. SpDef Amoonguss also handles Keldeo quite well. Latios and Latias are perhaps the best offensive Keldeo checks in the OU metagame.
Any Additional Info: Use Keldeo more, seriously.
Don't Use
...
Infernape @ Life Orb
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Mach Punch
- U-Turn
Role: Physical Sweeper
What It Does: Not a whole lot. Revenges Terrakion with Mach Punch and can be kind of threatening in the Sun, but for the most part due to the prominence of Drizzle and Pokemon like Tornadus-T, Infernape doesn't really have any legs to stand on.
Good Teammates: Ninetales. Maybe other Fighting- or Fire-types to weaken resists.
What Counters It: Tentacruel, Latias, Latios, Dragonite, Salamence, RAIN!
Any Additional Info: This really goes for any Infernape set, don't use it. 9 times out of 10 there'll be a better suited Pokemon for the job.
What It Does: Abomasnow brings the big chill. It's good at what it does...because it's the only thing that does it! But more seriously, Abomasnow's stats wouldn't seem to indicate that it's a particularly great pokemon, which is true. However, Abomasnow is outstanding at filling particularly niches and, if used correctly, can be a great addition to a team. This set can be used in two ways - either as a way to screw with opposing weather teams, or to set up a dedicated hail team. Its typing and coverage allow it to most importantly destroy other weather starters. This speed investment outspeeds and OHKOs every standard Politoed barring Choice, and every standard Tyranitar barring mixed variants. Earthquake also does a number on Ninetales on the switch, OHKOing many variants after Stealth Rock. While this is useful, it's not all Abomasnow can do. Ice/Grass typing sticks you with many weaknesses, but useful resistances to common BoltBeam coverage, as well as Ground and Water. This allows you to wall threats like Starmie, tank Volt Switches from Rotom, and much more. The coverage moves allow you to dent many common switches. EQ hits things like Jirachi, Heatran and Tentacruel. HP Fire handles Scizor and Forretress and 2HKOs Ferrothorn. Finally, Ice Shard allows you to revenge many potent attackers in the current metagame with some prior damage - think Dragonite, Garchomp, Salamence, all three Therians, and Latios.
Good Teammates: This depends on whether you are using a dedicated hail team, or simply screwing with your opponents. If it's the latter, then Abomasnow is fairly independent. If you are using a hail team, then look for pokemon who can use the hail to their advantage. Things like Kyurem or Kyurem-B love a 100% accurate Blizzard to spam, and defensively, pokemon like Stallrein can wreak havoc. No matter what, however, Abomasnow needs Rapid Spin support, being weak to Stealth Rock and vulnerable to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Good spinners to partner with Abomasnow include Tentacruel, who patches up Fire and Fighting weaknesses, as well as Donphan, who can tank physical hits.
Edit (Credit @Milos): Another great teammate is Heatran, who absorbs fire attacks and Will-o-Wisp which screw Abomasnow, while setting up Stealth Rock and providing some offensive presence. Heatran also shuts down sun teams, which Abomasnow has the most trouble with.
What Counters It: Many things counter Abomasnow, including some of the things it's designed to handle, as this set is much more about picking your spots and punishing switch-ins than facing opponents straight up. Be sure to scout Politoed and Tyranitar beforehand to be safe - Abomasnow can't take a Focus Blast or Fire Blast. Chansey and Blissey don't enjoy taking a Wood Hammer, but can heal off the damage, and the recoil will kill Abomasnow eventually. CM Latias can shrug off Ice Shard with recover and boost up to kill Abomasnow. Scarfed pokemon like Keldeo finish off Abomasnow with their speed, but often dislike taking hits on the switch. Fighting types like Breloom, Infernape and Terrakion hurt, but dislike Ice Shard and EQ, respectively. Finally, Volcarona sets up all over this thing. Again, though, it's all about whether any of these opponents can get in safely, which is often not the case.
Any Additional Info: This set is not something you can just slap on a team! As mentioned previously, Abomasnow has too many weaknesses to be viable anywhere. It's outstanding at very particular roles, but don't try to make it something it isn't.
Last edited by jaredz99; Dec 7th, 2012 at 12:07:02 PM.
What to use Magnezone @ Choice Specs / Choice Scarf / Air Balloon
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch / Substitute
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
- Flash Cannon
Role
Support / Trapper / Special Attacker / Volt-turn
What It Does
Traps and eliminates Skarmory, Forretress, Ferrothorn efficiently (the latter two if running HP Fire). Can also absorb Scizor's Bullet Punch and trap it but Choice Band Superpower OHKOes or U-turn lets it escape. In short, try to switch in on the same turn as Scizor so you don't have to worry about this situation.
If running Air Balloon, can switch in on Jolly ScarfChomp, set up Substitute (if it uses Earthquake, since Outrage can break its subs), and nail it with Hidden Power Ice.
Choice Specs gives it the second most powerful Volt Switch in the game (bested only by Thundurus-T), filling the role of VoltTurner quite well. Thunder(bolt) are also incredibly powerful.
Good teammates
Dragon-types! It is simply the best eliminator of defensive Steel-types
Special attackers in general hate Ferrothorn, while physical attackers hate all of Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory, so Magnezone can handily defeat all of them.
What counters it
Who better than Chansey and Blissey?
Garchomp or other Ground-types can switch in on Choice Thunder(bolt) and OHKO with Earthquake.
Dugtrio with Focus Sash can revenge kill Substitute versions.
Additional Info
I sort of mashed all of Magnezone's offensive sets into one; the slash-itis is deceptive because there are concrete reasons why each option is listed. Not much else to say here but that this Magnezone is way better than the next one...
What not to use
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
Role
Support / Trapper / Special Sweeper / Bulky Attacker
What It Does
Traps Ferrothorn and sets up on it.
In theory, it traps Forretress and Skarmory, but those two can Volt Switch / Whirlwind anyway. Forretress can even Earthquake you.
Takes forever to boost, boring your opponent to death. Charge Beam is very weak and takes forever to work.
Has tricky coverage and gets boned by Mamoswine after you spend all that time boosting.
In the mean time, Ferrothorn just sets up all the hazards it can while Magnezone can't really hurt it back. Can use Power Whip a couple times to break Substitute, but this doesn't put much pressure on Magnezone so it's usually okay.
(Supposedly) Good Teammates
Kyurem-B - allows it to forgo running a mixed set with Hidden Power Fire.
Latios / Latias - allows it to forgo Hidden Power Fire.
Starmie, for Ferrothorn at least.
What Counters It
In theory, not much counters it; but in practice it's a different story.
Chansey breaks its Substitutes with Seismic Toss and can use Wish or Softboiled or do whatever it wants to do.
Mamoswine laughs at it. The only reason Magnezone would run Flash Cannon is to beat this guy, but it loses valuable coverage on Dragons and Landorus-(T)
Dugtrio with Focus Sash can revenge kill by trapping it, surviving Hidden Power whatever while breaking its Sub, then killing it.
Additional Info
I copied the EV spread from the analysis which suggests Charge Beam, but here I made it the focus since Sub Magnezone almost always has it. Honestly, get rid of Charge Beam guys. It takes forever to boost, it's predictable, and you're not really bluffing against Ferrothorn. Either you're running Hidden Power Fire and Ferrothorn will lose anyway, or you'll Substitute and start boosting while Ferrothorn lays hazards. Trust me, Substitute Magnezone is great, but you really want three move coverage.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Melee Mewtwo
If RBY Cloyster didn't have Clamp hax, would you stick your dick in that?
What It Does: With the release of Technician, Breloom began to shine even more.
His main selling point over other sweepers, is his access to maybe, the best move in the entire game : Spore. This 100% accuracy sleeping move, given the new sleeping mechanism and the fast paced metagame, can be compared to a killing move. Moreover, with Low Sweep you cripple the pokemon switching in, and with Sword Dance you put the enemy is a tough situation if he doesn’t switch.
But limiting Breloom to Spore would be a mistake. Sporting a massiv 130 base Atk, a godsend in Technician, and a moveset made to abuse this ability, Breloom sweeps a large part of the OU metagame and is fairly hard to revenge kill since he has access to a Stab, Technician boosted priority.
Good Teammates: There are two things that Breloom hates over all. The pokemons resisting his Stabs, and the Pokemons faster than him.
Tyranitar is a perfect team mate, he can switch on any Psychic move (or Fire, Ice) casted toward Breloom, and Pursuit the wrongdoer (Ghosts immute to Fighting moves, Psychic pokemons etc.)
Starmie is another good team mates. With his blazing speed and its movepool, the star can take care of anything threatening Breloom. His resistance to Ice Shard and Bullet Punch patches another of Breloom’s weaknesses. All in all, they share a perfect typing synergy (like Tyranitar).
What Counters It As mentioned, pokemons resisting Stabs like Lati@s, Celebi, Skarmory can switch in pretty easily thanks to their bulk, and even kill it. Dragonite and Salamence can also switch on a Grass attack and kill Breloom.
Priority users like Weavile and Mamoswine (jolly) are faster, and kill Breloom with Ice Shard. Scizor can take a +2 Mach Punch and deal a solid ~80% to Breloom.
Gengar, while frail, have a good shot at survive a Bullet Seed, and can Disable it (or just switch on a predicted Fighting move). His immunity to Mach Punch allows him to always move first, some Gengar’s versions can also just kill Breloom with HP [Fire].
Any Additional Info: An Adamant version is viable, but the user must be aware of the Speed tiers (you don’t outspeed Tornadus-T after Low Sweep anymore for instance), however the boost of power helps a lot to get some extra kills. Rock Tomb is a possible move over Low Sweep since it gets the boost from Technician but the accuracy isn’t perfect. Fight Gem is anoher viable option but you lose a lot of power overall in comparison of Life Orb, this can only be considered if the recoil is too annoying (for instance in a Sand Storm summoned by Tyranitar).
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We must not let daylight in upon the magic.
VM me for a rate in BW2 OU, my advices are free for now
Terrakion @ Salac Berry/Rock Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Nature:Jolly
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
Role: Physical Sweeper/Wall Breaker/Late Game Cleaner
What It Does:Probably the best physical sweeper in the OU metagame.Due to it's great offensive presence it can easily force a lot of switches getting a free turn where you SD or Sub.Then using Sub as you're protection from revenge killing and status (use SD first only when you can predict right),set up and sweep.If you're using Salac Berry,the trick is to keep subing on a faster mon(but slower when terrak is at +1 spd) till Salac berry is activated.Then you'll be faster and you can set SD as you're Sub is broken.Then start your sweep.However,priority users and faster threats should be eliminated for a clean sweep.You can also cause a lot of damage with the use of Sub when you're not in good position to activate salac berry.Rock Gem is an alternative item suited for wallbreaking OHKOing Gliscor,Def Celebi and Def Amoongus at +2 with Stone Edge and things like OHKOing Landorus after Rocks at +0.
Good Teammates: Tyranitar is good teammate who can provide Sand making it easier to set up and making it harder to break the sub for weak defensive mons.It also gives you weather control for dealing with annoying chloro sweepers.TTar can also eliminate Scarf Latios.Dragon Types such as Salamence,Dragonite and Latios make good partners due to their nice offensive and defensive synergy.Gothitelle is a cool partner thanks it ability to trap and kill physical walls like Gliscor and Hippodawn who give terrakion some trouble and scarf Versions can reliably beat Breloom,one of terrakions biggest enemy.
What Counters It: Not much thanks to terrakion's incredible dual STABs with high attack stats.But Hippodawn,Gliscor and Physically Defensive Celebi can tank a +2 hit and hit back with STAB super effective attacks.But the later two much be weary of Rock Gem.None of them can OHKO terrak without prior damage so you can go for an additional SD if you're at full health but don't risk Twave paralysis on Celebi.Scizor and Breloom can revenge kill Terrakion with their prority attacks.Scarf Latios can also revenge kill it.And anything faster with strong/super effective attacks can KO terrak if it doesn't have the speed boost like Latias,Genger,Starmie,Tornadus-T etc.Sub helps against revenge killing.
Any Additional Info: Use this guy,He's awesome!
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Last edited by White symphoni; Dec 8th, 2012 at 3:28:55 AM.
What it Does: Smashes everything in its path. Tornadus-T is one of the deadliest things for teams to face and under rain with an amazing base 121 Speed and a decent base 110 spA backed up by STAB Hurricane, nothing really can stand up to it. Taunt shuts down Pokemon like Blissey and Heatran that try to come in, almost making Tornadus a Stall Breaker as well. U-turn is also a great asset to his movepool as Tornadus can get out if it's up against Jirachi or something that can actually take his onslaught. By far one of the scariest SpA attackers in OU.
Good Teammates: Politoed obviously is a great teammate to allow 100% Accurate Hurricanes which Tornadus-T will be using most of the time. Dugtrio is also an amazing partner as it takes down Rock, Electric, and Steel types, the only things that can take hurricanes, and traps popular Tornadus-T Counters like Jirachi. Tornadus-T also likes the removal of Stealth Rock as it kind of negates Regenerator, one of its greatest assets.
What Counters It: Really it only has two or three "Good" Counters. Bronzong and Jirachi stick out, but Bronzong has no recovery and Jirachi is trapped by the everpresent Tornadus + Dugtrio Combo. Specially Defensive Zapdos is also an amazing counter and can also threaten Tornadus-T's common teammates like Politoed, Keldeo, and Ferrothorn, who even in Rain gets battered by 3-4 Heat Waves.
Any Additional Info: Consider Tornadus-T on any Rain Team, it's amazing!
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[12:20:58 PM] Cased Victory: Blimlax's computer is literally made from Popeyes
Celebi @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Calm | 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
- Giga Drain / Psychic (thanks to YoYoNerd)
- Recover
- U-Turn / HP Ice / HP Fire
- Thunder Wave / Perish Song / Stealth Rock
Role: Special Wall
What It Does: Celebi is awesome to stop most threats that infest the metagame right now. Rain teams will have nightmares with this set, since only Tornadus-T can easily defeat it, and it must be careful not switching into T-Wave or U-Turn. Everything else just have troubles breaking its defenses. Keldeo can't do much (SE Specs Hidden Power a measly 35% chance to 2HKO with Rocks onto the field), Politoed need Specs to be threatening with Ice Beam (and you can then just go to a resistance), Jirachi can't touch it with its common moves (CM with Flash Cannon is hyper-rare, and they will get Perish Song'd anyway), and many other Rain abusers share similar situations. Even outside Rain, Celebi stops many dangerous things: Lando-I needs SR and 2 layers of Spikes to have an absymal chance to 2HKO with LO HP Ice, LO Latios needs SR to 2HKO with Draco Meteor, and Rotom-W is basically helpless as even Specs HP Ice fails to 2HKO. Celebi also has huge utility factor in Perish Song, status moves, status absorbing properties, and U-Turning capabilities.
Good Teammates: Rotom-W and Heatran both cover the most problematic weaknesses of Celebi (Flying, Fire, and Ice) while being awesome mons themselves. Also, a Steel type can work, since Celebi is not happy to take Draco Meteors anyway, and said Steel type could use choice-locked Dragon attacks as set-up opportunities. Many other things are good with Celebi, since it usually doesn't require support, it provides support patching holes in teams and having an awesome typing in today's meta.
What Counters It: Ferrothorn can, unfortunately, come in and start setting up as it pleases if Celebi lacks HP Fire or Rain is up. CB Scizor can destroy with U-Turn while not being OHKO'd by HP Fire, not caring much about paralysis, and being able to retain momentum whatever choice the Celebi user does.
Other things, like Volcarona, Dragonite, Gengar, Heatran and Ninetales can all threaten Celebi quite hard, although they must avoid switching into T-Wave (or the correct Hidden Power in Nite's case), or carry a Lum Berry. Also, the fact that Celebi can carry U-Turn makes it quite difficult to take advantage of, and it usually boils down to who can predict better. Even things like Skarmory can somewhat stop Celebi, since Brave Bird will do quite a number of damage, and barring HP Fire, Skarmory doesn't care about Celebi's attacks at all.
Any Additional Info: Genesect was just banned, and this made Celebi a lot more viable. No +1 SpA / +2 Spe LO Ice Beams, and no readily available U-Turn spam can only improve my favourite pixie.
Importable
Celebi @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Spd / 232 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- U-turn
- Recover
- Perish Song
What not to use
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
Role
Support / Trapper / Special Sweeper / Bulky Attacker
What It Does
Traps Ferrothorn and sets up on it.
In theory, it traps Forretress and Skarmory, but those two can Volt Switch / Whirlwind anyway. Forretress can even Earthquake you.
Takes forever to boost, boring your opponent to death. Charge Beam is very weak and takes forever to work.
Has tricky coverage and gets boned by Mamoswine after you spend all that time boosting.
In the mean time, Ferrothorn just sets up all the hazards it can while Magnezone can't really hurt it back. Can use Power Whip a couple times to break Substitute, but this doesn't put much pressure on Magnezone so it's usually okay.
(Supposedly) Good Teammates
Kyurem-B - allows it to forgo running a mixed set with Hidden Power Fire.
Latios / Latias - allows it to forgo Hidden Power Fire.
Starmie, for Ferrothorn at least.
What Counters It
In theory, not much counters it; but in practice it's a different story.
Chansey breaks its Substitutes with Seismic Toss and can use Wish or Softboiled or do whatever it wants to do.
Mamoswine laughs at it. The only reason Magnezone would run Flash Cannon is to beat this guy, but it loses valuable coverage on Dragons and Landorus-(T)
Dugtrio with Focus Sash can revenge kill by trapping it, surviving Hidden Power whatever while breaking its Sub, then killing it.
Additional Info
I copied the EV spread from the analysis which suggests Charge Beam, but here I made it the focus since Sub Magnezone almost always has it. Honestly, get rid of Charge Beam guys. It takes forever to boost, it's predictable, and you're not really bluffing against Ferrothorn. Either you're running Hidden Power Fire and Ferrothorn will lose anyway, or you'll Substitute and start boosting while Ferrothorn lays hazards. Trust me, Substitute Magnezone is great, but you really want three move coverage.
SubMag prevents Scizor from revenging, gets a free strong attack on Skarm and Forry, and kills rain Ferro. Something choiced Mag can't do.
HEY GUESS WHAT
Rain Ferro is the most popular Ferro.
SubMag > Choicemag.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat ganj4lF
USE!
Celebi @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Calm | 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- U-Turn / HP Ice / HP Fire
- Thunder Wave / Perish Song / Stealth Rock
Role: Special Wall
What It Does: Celebi is awesome to stop most threats that infest the metagame right now. Rain teams will have nightmares with this set, since only Tornadus-T can easily defeat it, and it must be careful not switching into T-Wave or U-Turn. Everything else just have troubles breaking its defenses. Keldeo can't do much (SE Specs Hidden Power a measly 35% chance to 2HKO with Rocks onto the field), Politoed need Specs to be threatening with Ice Beam (and you can then just go to a resistance), Jirachi can't touch it with its common moves (CM with Flash Cannon is hyper-rare, and they will get Perish Song'd anyway), and many other Rain abusers share similar situations. Even outside Rain, Celebi stops many dangerous things: Lando-I needs SR and 2 layers of Spikes to have an absymal chance to 2HKO with LO HP Ice, LO Latios needs SR to 2HKO with Draco Meteor, and Rotom-W is basically helpless as even Specs HP Ice fails to 2HKO. Celebi also has huge utility factor in Perish Song, status moves, status absorbing properties, and U-Turning capabilities.
Good Teammates: Rotom-W and Heatran both cover the most problematic weaknesses of Celebi (Flying, Fire, and Ice) while being awesome mons themselves. Also, a Steel type can work, since Celebi is not happy to take Draco Meteors anyway, and said Steel type could use choice-locked Dragon attacks as set-up opportunities. Many other things are good with Celebi, since it usually doesn't require support, it provides support patching holes in teams and having an awesome typing in today's meta.
What Counters It: Ferrothorn can, unfortunately, come in and start setting up as it pleases if Celebi lacks HP Fire or Rain is up. CB Scizor can destroy with U-Turn while not being OHKO'd by HP Fire, not caring much about paralysis, and being able to retain momentum whatever choice the Celebi user does.
Other things, like Volcarona, Dragonite, Gengar, Heatran and Ninetales can all threaten Celebi quite hard, although they must avoid switching into T-Wave (or the correct Hidden Power in Nite's case), or carry a Lum Berry. Also, the fact that Celebi can carry U-Turn makes it quite difficult to take advantage of, and it usually boils down to who can predict better. Even things like Skarmory can somewhat stop Celebi, since Brave Bird will do quite a number of damage, and barring HP Fire, Skarmory doesn't care about Celebi's attacks at all.
Any Additional Info: Genesect was just banned, and this made Celebi a lot more viable. No +1 SpA / +2 Spe LO Ice Beams, and no readily available U-Turn spam can only improve my favourite pixie.
Psychic is more useful than Giga Drain because of coverage and the fact that it more reliably kills Breloom and Keldeo (the power boost helps a lot).
Especially Breloom, which special Celebi walls AMAZINGLY.
Psychic/Recover/Uturn/Thunder Wave
Perish Song if your team really needs it and Giga Drain ditto. Good shit in general though.
Last edited by Pocket; Dec 7th, 2012 at 2:00:31 PM.
Psychic is more useful than Giga Drain because of coverage and the fact that it more reliably kills Breloom and Keldeo (the power boost helps a lot).
Especially Breloom, which special Celebi walls AMAZINGLY.
Psychic/Recover/Uturn/Thunder Wave
Perish Song if your team really needs it and Giga Drain ditto. Good shit in general though.
Yeah, should have added it as a slash. Although I find highly annoying not to have Grass STAB to hit Water types. While Psychic does "something" anyway, it won't hit anywhere hard enough, especially when they're hitting back with boosted Ice Beams.
YoYoNerd, he's talking about SubCharge Magnezone in particular. Charge Beam lets it remove Rain Ferro, but really you should be packing something else to deal with Ferrothorn. Like, I don't know, any strong Fighting-type?
I'll add some stuff under what not to use later; nobody likes doing that side. Basically every shitmon I've ever used in OU and why you have to be crazy to run it over something much better.
Role: Physical Sweeper (preferring but not requiring rain support)
What It Does: Though it was virtually non-existent in the Genesect metagame, with one of it's premier checks removed from OU, DD Gyarados has a serious chance to shine again. Despite being uncommon, it's surprisingly deadly - it can destroy most teams once faster threats have been removed. The EVs have been modified slightly from the standard set so that Gyarados can outspeed Tornadus-T at +1. While Gyarados may not be as strong or as fast as other DD users, its talents lie on getting multiple boosts. Its typing, despite giving it a Stealth Rock weakness, works in its favour: Water, Fire, Fighting, Ground, Bug and Steel are all common attacking types, and Gyarados can easily take advantage of them to get a safe switch-in. A lot of teams still depend on Rotom-W to check Gyarados, which Substitute easily gets around as few run Thunderbolt. After getting one or two DDs (or more), Gyarados can quite happily clean up whole teams, especially when you take into consideration how frail many offensive teams tend to be in this metagame. Waterfall does massive damage in the rain, and even has the flinch rate to boot, which can be game-changing. Though Sharpedo tends to pull off late-game sweeps more easily, Gyarados has bulk and resistance to common priority moves (i.e. Mach Punch) on its side. I've slashed Intimidate first since it goes well with Substitute, giving Gyarados an easier time setting up, though you can get some pretty insane snowballing going on with Moxie once you've got at least one DD.
Good Teammates:Electivire Although it's not doing it any favours in terms of defensive synergy, Politoed is one of the best teammates for Gyarados as it provides it with the infinite rain needed to boost Gyarados' Waterfall STAB. In terms of support, Ferrothorn pairs up fantastically with Gyarados since it can set up entry hazards needed to weaken a team, and also has complementary resistances. Forretress can function similarly, with the added ability to spin away Stealth Rock from your side of the field. Another solid choice of spinner is Tentacruel, whom also benefits from rain. It can lure Rotom-W and Toxic it, or set up Toxic Spikes to weaken grounded bulky Waters. Gyarados can absorb the Ground attacks aimed at Tentacruel. Offensively, Lati@s go together well with Gyarados as they can Trick an unwanted Choice item onto some of Gyarados' main checks, such as Ferrothorn and Porygon2, and also lure in Scizor, giving Gyarados a switch-in opportunity. Rotom-W is similarly good, whom can lure in and burn many of things that could halt a Gyarados sweep. Magnezone can trap and kill bulky Steels such as Ferrothorn and Skarmory. Landorus-T can absorb Stone Edges aimed at Gyarados thanks to Intimidate, and can set up Stealth Rock. Despite poor defensive synergy, Thundurus-T forms a great offensive partnership with Gyarados. It can absorb Electric attacks for 25% healing, and with Nasty Plot and Life Orb, it can easily destroy almost all of Gyarados' counters, leaving a mess for the latter to clean up.
What Counters It: There are few solid counters to Gyarados since Water/Flying has fantastic neutral coverage, and Waterfall could always flinch at the crucial moment. Nonetheless, Eviolite Porygon2, Ferrothorn, Skarmory and bulky Waters are your best bet. All of the following can shrug off a boosted hit and cripple Gyarados or force it out. In terms of bulky Waters, Rotom-W does well provided it has Thunder(bolt), otherwise Gyarados will be able to keep setting up Substitute on its Volt Switches. Politoed can't hurt it outside of Toxic or the rare HP [Electric], but it can stop its sweep with Perish Song. Vaporeon can force it out directly with Roar. Jellicent can't scare it off, but it can limit its setup with Taunt. Whilst "countering" Gyarados is exceptionally difficult, it can easily be checked however with faster Pokémon: almost all the common Scarfers will outspeed Gyarados after one DD - examples include Thundurus-T, Salamence, Terrakion, Landorus-I, Hydreigon, Keldeo, Gengar, Lati@s, Politoed etc. Some Pokémon, such as Jolteon and Aerodactyl, are naturally faster than a +1 Gyarados even without any boosts. However, none of these Pokémon can safely switch in on Gyarados, so you're restricted to revenge killing it with them. Kingdra can use permanent rain against it to outspeed and nail it with a STAB Draco Meteor or Outrage.
Additional Information: Also try Moxie Jolly @ Life Orb w/ DD/Waterfall/Bounce/Earthquake. It's more difficult to set up, but hits much harder and is less easily revenge killed.
Don't Use
...
Charizard @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Solar Power
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Air Slash
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
Role: Special Sweeper (requires Sun)
What It Does: I hope I shouldn't have to explain to any competent player why Charizard isn't viable in OU. Whilst the same lack of recommendation could be said about virtually any NU Pokémon, I have a bone to pick here. The amount of low ranked players on the OU ladder I've seen utilising Scarf Charizard on their sun teams is rather startling. It makes sense in a way - the idea of a sweeper with an automatic x1.5 boost to both Sp. Attack and Speed, combined with a double-STAB Fire Blast seems very glamorous to new players. However, rookies listen out: Charizard is terrible in this metagame, and has no niche whatsoever. Why so? Sure, Fire Blast hits like a truck, but good luck spamming it in a metagame where rain and sand teams are ubiquitous. The worst thing about Charizard though, and the main reason you should never use it, is that it has a 4x Stealth Rock weakness. On top of that, the 10% damage from Solar Power each turn will quickly add up, meaning that in a realistic game scenario, Charizard will not last more than about 2-3 turns. It might get one kill if you're lucky, but most of the time it'll be dead weight. Whilst you may wonder why Volcarona is OU if it shares this crippling SR weakness - does Charizard get access to Quiver Dance, Bug Buzz and Giga Drain? I don't think so. At least if you're desperate to use a Fire/Flying type, use Moltres as it has superior bulk and access to Hurricane, which it can actually hurt rain teams with. If you're looking for a Scarfed Fire type, Heatran possesses much higher Sp. Attack outside of sun, and has some useful resistances (and isn't SR weak!).
"Good" Teammates: So you've ignored my warning and still want to use Charizard so badly. Very well. Obviously you'll need Drought support from Ninetales if you want to actually hurt anything. I cannot stress enough how mandatory Rapid Spin support is. Donphan is a good candidate as it resists the Rock and Electric attacks that Charizard so loathes, and can hurt some of the Water types that like to switch in on it, such as Jellicent, with a powerful STAB Earthquake. You'll also need to make sure your team can check other other weathers, as without Solar Power, Charizard will hit little harder than a wet paper towel. Trappers such as Gothitelle/Dugtrio can go to great lengths in helping to win the weather war. Teammates that can take strong Water attacks, e.g. Latias, are also beneficial.
What Counters It:
Any Water type with a little bulk will easily wall this set. Politoed is by far Charizard's biggest nemesis, as it will take away the sunlight it depends on. Most Dragons, especially Lati@s, will also do a fine job of dealing with this set, as Charizard has to risk being fodder by locking itself into the weak Dragon Pulse to hurt them. Heatran, Terrakion and Tyranitar also make fantastic checks, though do need to watch out for the occasional Focus Blast. The easiest way to check Charizard though is to just set up Stealth Rock - it won't have the bulk to survive any neutral STAB attacks with only 50% of its HP.
Additional Information:
I think I've said anything that needs to be said. Please consider something else before you use Charizard: it just isn't cut out for the OU metagame. I know it seems unnecessary to write about a NU Pokémon in an OU thread, but Charizard still seems to be a favourite of inexperienced players - this needs to stop.
EDIT: Turns out Charizard is actually used more in OU than some genuinely viable Pokémon, like Zapdos, Slowbro, Stoutland, Amoonguss, Gothitelle, Cresselia, Sharpedo, Feraligatr and Sandslash x_x
Last edited by DarkBlazeR; Dec 7th, 2012 at 10:09:56 AM.
@jaredz99: also note that Heatran makes a great partner along with Abomasnow + Tentacruel. Not only does it absorb stray Will-o-Wisps and Flamethrower/Fire Blasts, but it also can set up Stealth Rock for your team. It can also singlehandedly destroy sun teams, provided you steer clear of Dugtrio, which is something you can mention. It also helps you deal with CB Scizor, Jirachi, Skarmory, etc, something all hail teams can appreciate.
@ThunderBlunder: mention specially defensive Skarm as one of the best Tornadus-T counters. Takes pitiful damage from Hurricane, U-turn, Superpower/Focus Blast and cannot be trapped by Dugtrio. After SR + Leftovers, the chances for Torn-T to even 2HKO 252/252 Skarmory with 2 consecutive Focus Blasts is a meager 5.39%.
What not to Use:
Espeon @ Focus Sash
Trait: Magic Bounce
EV's: 252 HP/ 252 Spec Att / 4 Spec Def
Quiet Nature
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Hidden Power (Fire)
- Shadow Ball/ Grass Not
Role: Support (Trick Room) What it Does:
Gets Trick Room up as a lead every single game. Espeon cannot be Taunted, Cannot be put to sleep and prevents hazards something no other trick room supporter can say. There are exactly 2 ways that an opponent can prevent Espeon from getting up Room; Fake out and a multi-hit move both of which you can easily switch out of or kill Cloyster with psychic. While 110 speed is way to fast for a conventional Trick Roomer the whole point is to get up trick room and faint to allow something else to come in. Also don't shy away from Tyranitar as thanks to sandstorm Espeon with likely fall at the end of the first turn giving you an extra turn to sweep
Good Teammates:
Any slow sweeper that can come in and out-speed everything under Trick Room. However it is usually good to pair this with Slowbro as Espeon is mostly going to be sacked in the first two or three turns. Thanks to Regenerator and slack off Slowbro can come in many times to maintain Trick Room
What Counters it:
As I said there are exactly 2 things that will prevent Trick Room from being set up by Espeon: Fake out and a Multi-Hit move. Both of which are relatively rare. The other solid Counter is Stealth Rock if Espeon isn't the lead however one should never use Trick Room outside of the lead position as it is wholly outclasses by other Pokemon once its Sash is gone
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Prismatic Core Online
Last edited by ginganinja; Dec 7th, 2012 at 8:56:39 PM.
If you're going to use that set (even though Bronzong, Porygon2, Slowbro, etc. are all more reliable TR setters who can actually abuse it), having enough Speed to outspeed Jolly Breloom is a must so you can KO it with Psychic.
Landorus @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Modest / Timid Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rock Polish
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
Role: Late-game Cleaner, Special Sweeper
What it does: Landorus is one of the most dangerous special sweepers in the OU tier, capable of 2HKOing a lot of bulky 'mons in the metagame. For instance, 4/252+ Blissey has 95.7% chance to be 2HKOd after Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes from a Modest Landorus Focus Blast. Landorus is an excellent late game cleaner, as with its good defensive typing (which also makes it immune to Thunder Wave), it can usually get one chance to set up (scarf Terrakion Close Combat for example) and is immediately threatening afterwards. The given moves provide perfect neutral coverage, and both Earth Power and Focus Blast are boosted by 30% by Sheer Force. Moreover, there is no Life Orb recoil on Sheer Force boosted moves, so the opponent cannot rely on recoil to kill Landorus. While Timid is usually the preferred nature as you outrun max speed positive nature base 100s, Modest is slashed because of the previously mentioned 2HKO on Blissey and the high chance to 2HKO SpD Rotom even without hazards.
Good teammates: Landorus is incapable of beating some specially bulky Pokemon like SpDef Celebi, Latias and Chansey, so its best teammates are Pokemon which can beat its counters. Tyranitar is a solid choice as a teammate, being able to pursuit trap Celebi and Latias (and other psychic and ghost types), and beat/severely damage Chansey. Moreover it can make your opponent think you are running a Sand Force set, and allow you to set up a Rock Polish on their physical wall. Scizor is also a good choice as a partner as is Jirachi as they can beat Landorus' counters. Landorus also loves hazards support to convert many 2HKOs to OHKOs and 3HKOs to 2HKOs, so something like Ferrothorn is useful. Generally strong attackers like Terrakion and Specs Keldeo make good partners for Landorus to weaken its counters and allow it to effectively sweep.
What Counters It: Landorus, despite its immense power, has some good counters. Chansey, SpDef Celebi, Latias, Gyarados, SpD Jellicent are good counters to it. Rotom-W and Blissey also work well, but they risk being 2HKOd by Modest Focus Blast (although Focus Blast probably won't hit two times in a row). Gengar can also switch into Focus Blast as well as Earth Power, but doesn't like taking Hidden Power Ice. Landorus however has some good checks; Mamoswine and Azumarill destroy it with STAB super-effective priority, ignoring its speed boosts. If it has not got a boost, Landorus is easily checked by pretty much half of OU due to its average unboosted speed and defenses.
Additional Information: Calm Mind sucks. Psychic > Focus Blast is actually pretty good, but you lose to Rotom-W, Skarmory, Bronzong, Tyranitar etc., so Focus Blast is generally better. Landorus is quite underused in the metagame (lower than Infernape and Jolteon!), so I think it should be used more considering how good it is.
Last edited by Qwertyuiop; Dec 7th, 2012 at 12:39:27 PM.
Reason: rm caps
What it does:
Arguably the best late game sweeper in the OU metagame, Salamence is a Pokemon that every team should be prepared for. Boasting great 135 attack and 100 speed offenses, Salamence more than fills the requirements for a Scarfer. In this metagame where offense is king, Salamence really stands out among other Scarfers in OU. This is mostly down to Salamence's ability, Moxie. Each time Salamence nets a kill, it gains an attack boost, further increasing it's sweeping capabilities. This makes Salamence especially hard to deal with, as even if you try to fodder something in hope of revenging, you're only making Salamence an even bigger threat. Salamence is a universal Choice Scarf user, in the sense that it can fit on literally any team and work well. With this set, Salamence also retains excellent coverage, the only weakness being whatever move you lock yourself into, as Salamence can be fairly predictable at times. However, do not let this deter you from using Salamence, as there are very few Pokemon in the tier who can do the job as well.
Good teammates:
One of Salamence's main problems is that to sweep it really needs to lock itself into Outrage, baiting in Ferrothorn or Skarmory. Anything that does a good job of removing these pesky Steels will suffice, as nothing else really wants to switch into a +1 / +2 Outrage. Variants of Magnezone do a good job, while CB Terrakion can also work for powering through Skarmory while beating Ferrothorn and not allowing Jirachi to switch in. Physically Defensive Jellicent could also work in that position, as common attempts to beat Salamence are through priority or simply outspeeding it with their own Choice Scarf user. Jellicent can switch into Scarf Keldeo's Hidden Power [Ice], Scarf Terrakion, Mamoswine's Ice Shard, while still being able to beat the aforementioned Steels fairly well with Taunt + Will-O-Wisp + Recover. Will-O-Wisp is also good for making it easier for Salamence to switch in on burned attackers. Starmie could also work, spinning away hazards making it easier to switch in, while also faring well against Keldeo and Terrakion.
What counters it:
Given Salamence's excellent coverage, there are very few things that can counter it. The main way to beat it is through predicting what move it is going to lock itself into. The most common Salamence counters are things such as Offensive Air Balloon Heatran, Ferrothorn in Rain, Specially Defensive Skarmory. Unfortunately for Salamence, these are all Pokemon that are very common in today's metagame. Salamence generally has troubles with Steels despite Fire Blast + Earthquake coverage, so do be wary of that.
Additional information:
I'd highly advise using a Rapid Spinner alongside Salamence, or an offensive partner that can break through Salamence's counters for the best results.
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Last edited by Jimbon; Dec 7th, 2012 at 11:38:44 AM.
What it does:
Slowbro is an excellent defensive pokemon, capable of tanking the most fearsome physical attacks in the tier with little to no trouble at all - even Rock Gem Terrakion needs Slowbro to have taken prior damage to KO at +2; which is not easy thanks to Slack Off and Regenerator. These gifts from the fight generation ensure Slowbro will always be healthy enough to take a hit for you.
Offensively, Slowbro is not dead weight at all, thanks to its 100 uninvested special attack and great coverage. Scald is as infuriating as always, providing a solid STAB move with a 30% chance to cripple the opponent. Psyshock provides an alternate STAB that can reliably take out Terrakion during a sandstorm; but Psychic can be used instead to better deal with Conkeldurr. Fireblast roasts Ferrothorn and other Steel-types that try to set up on our derpy friend. Ice Beam is a great option if your team struggles with Dragon-types, since Slowbro is one of the few non-steel types that can take a +1 Outrage from Salamence or Dragonite. Thunder Wave can be used if your team has slow set-up sweepers - paralysis support will make their job worlds easier.
Good teammates:
Slowbro's best friend in this metagame is none other than Amoonguss. It can absorb pretty much every special attack that would otherwise defeat our derpy behemoth. Both have access to Regenerator, which makes them incredibly tough to take down. Since both mons are defeated by Tornadus-T in the rain; a steel-type that can take it on is advised. Jirachi completes a very powerful three-mon core, and can provide Wish and paralysis support to make both Slowbro and Amoonguss even more annoying. This core works best with sandstorm support, where Hydro Pumps, Hurricanes, Thunders, Fire Blasts and V-creates are easier to take for the two.
What counters it:
Any neutral Special attack will 2HKO Slowbro at worst. Draco Meteors and Thunders are Slowbro's biggest nightmares. Poisoning or burning Slowbro will severely limit its regenerating capabilities, forcing it to stay in and Slack Off every now and again. Jellicent is a great answer to Slowbro - healing from his Water-type moves and resisting most of its coverage; while retaliating with a STAB super effective Shadow Ball and Taunt to prevent Slowbro from healing up.
EDIT:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat ganj4lF
If you're relying on a not-so-fast, but extremely powerful poke to sweep (SubDD Terrakion? DD Garchomp? NP Celebi?), [/SIZE]
I hope you mean SD Garchomp :3
SUPER EDIT:
Quote:
SubMag prevents Scizor from revenging, gets a free strong attack on Skarm and Forry, and kills rain Ferro. Something choiced Mag can't do.
HEY GUESS WHAT
Rain Ferro is the most popular Ferro.
SubMag > Choicemag.
Actually, SpecsZone 2HKOes Rain Ferro. If Ferro uses Leech Seed or T-wave as you switch Magnezone in, then your Zone is boned and you have to switch out, giving Ferro free turns.
And on top of that, SpecsZone can do something that isn't trapping Ferrothorn.
Another nice thing of the SpD Jirachi + Slowbro duo is that they spread paralysis like little other cores can do. If you're relying on a not-so-fast, but extremely powerful poke to sweep (SubDD Terrakion? DD Garchomp? NP Celebi?), paralysis is hugely appreciated, and running such a core makes you able to switch into almost any kind of attack and threaten to paralyze the switch-in or the attacker, if it doesn't run away.
Yeah, I used the core with NP Togekiss. I must say it was hugely funny, although not very effective. It even enabled me to switch Slowbro into Scalds thanks to Heal Bell...
Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Hp / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner
What it does:
Lucario, with the banning of genesect, is having his own little coming out party in the ou metegame. Lucario is an amazing sweeper and cleaner that after one boost can often spell gg for the opponent. With its amazing steel/fighting typing Lucario has many chances to set up a swords dance such as, choice locked dragon, ice and rock moves which are all incredibly common. ExtemeSpeed is the main selling point of Lucario and one of the huge reasons to use him over any other fighting type (unlike terrakion he can actually beat techniloom because of this). It hits many, many pokemon with neutrality and after one SD can one hit a majority of them, especially late game. Close combat is busting down steels and walls such as magnezone, It can even 2hk0 skarmory. Bullet punch may seem like an interesting choice but I really prefer it in this metagame, as you can beat the very common terrakions and gengars of the world.
Good teammates:
When it comes to support, Deoxys-D and lucario go hand in hand. Extremespeed, albeit fast, isn't backed up by stab and has middle of the road base power. That's where deo-d's spikes and stealth rock support come in, making a e-speed sweep much, much easier. As far as taking out his counters mamoswine is a good candidate, beating both gliscor and dragonite. T-Tar can also be a great partner, especially choice band with its ability to easily dispose of jellicent. Strong wall breakers/sweepers that attract choice locked ice or rock moves such as dragonite and landorus also make great partners.
What counters it:
Gliscor is one of its best counters, shrugging off its main stabs and taking extremespeed pretty handily. Hippowdon is also a solid counter, taking any of lucarios hits with ease and hitting back with a super effective earthquake. Jellicent is another pokemon that compeltely walls lucario.
Additional information:
I highly suggest Deo-D support. (Or just spikes and stealth rock in general!)
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Last edited by gengarsnemisis; Dec 7th, 2012 at 1:26:11 PM.
Feraligatr (F) @ Mystic Water
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Superpower / Crunch
Role: Physical Sweeper, Late-game Cleaner
What It Does:
Feraligatr its a really underrated sweeper under rain which can work against both offensive and defensive team. Thanks to its great attack and his overall decent speed it can spam strong waterfall boosted under rain, which after a sword dance can demolish pretty much any phisical wall like Skarmory, which is koed after stealth rock damage, and sometimes it can even beat bulky water like Politoed or tentacruel, if scald does not burn you. Its movepool, while its not that good apparently have some few move that can come in handy to stop some water resistors commonly used. Superpower its such a good move to hit water absorbers like Vaporeon or Gastrodon, as well as Ferrothorn, while crunch hits hard Jellicent and Celebi. One of the best thing about feraligatr is that its really hard to get a ko on it if you are using defensive pokemon, since even supereffective moves like Giga drain of Celebi will fail to do any significant damage, meaning that you can set up a sword dance even against some of your checks. As you may noticed, one of its worst stat is his speed, which is not enough to ouspeed any significant offensive pokemon, but this is somewhat compensated by its priority move. Aqua jet after a sword dance hits hard anything that does not resists it, and after others sweeper on your team have eliminate some of his counter you are free to spam aqua jet and ko everything.
Something that should really be mentioned its his ability. Torrent its such a great power up for feraligatr, once you reach 33% or less your water moves can do some fondamental koes which helps it sweeping a lot. If you are wondering why i use that spread, is mainly to outspeed 100 base speed pokemon without significant investiment on speed, like Jirachi, celebi, tentacruel or gliscor.
Good Teammates: well, obviously Politoed. Scarf keldeo can be really annoiying if you use crunch to baitkill jellicent, celebi and defensive latias. Also any lurer of dragon types like Choice band terrakion, which can spam strong close combat to fight resistors like Celebi, Jellicent, lati@s, Dragonite and Salamence, in order to weaken them enough so that you can sweep with acqua jet later. Mamoswine should be mentioned, since its one of the best thing to get rid of dragons types right now. Breloom should definetly be mentioned also, with a jolly nature it can spore Lum berry dragonite as well as weaken the same poke i said before, i found a great set in the past which is orbed focus punch just in order to get something like a ko after stealth rocks on dragons and Lati@s. Dugtrio maybe can come in handy to trap kill tar and Ninetales, which are obviously annoying due to Sandstorm and Drought.
What Counters It: Depending on the move, Celebi, ferrothorn, jellicent, gastrodon, any other bullky water with scald and a lot of luck. Ninetales also give problem due to the sun, since waterfall will do nothing. Dragonite, Salamence, Latios, celebi, Rotom-w and basically any water resistor which can take a +2 aqua jet and are faster than feraligatr, for example choice specs keldeo and even Garchomp, which can take an hit with his massive bulk.
Any Additional Info:
Do not use Life orb people. Mistic water is the ebst item, the life orb recoil is something that you should really avoid.
Last edited by Neliel; Dec 20th, 2012 at 5:26:33 AM.
Role: Stallbreaker, support, special wall (to some extent)
What it does:
Jellicent is one of the best support Pokémon and one of the best Pokémon to use if you have problems with rain teams. With Water Absorb, your opponent must think twice about spamming that Choice Specs, Rain-boosted Hydro Pump that would otherwise nuke your entire team. Your opponent must also think twice about spamming Close Combats, Surfs and Return (from Stoutland). Jellicent has an excellent typing, with amazing resistances or immunities to Fire, Ice, Water, Fighting, Steel and Bug. It counters many top-threats on the metagame, such as Politoed, Hippowdon (to some extent), Keldeo, Jirachi (watch out for CM sets or SpD sets with Thunder), Scizor and, if you prorpely EV Jellicent, it can counter even Sheer Force Landorus. Jellicent always offer amazing defensive synergy to most teams; unless your team is already loaded with Electric-, Grass-, or Dark-type weakness, there is no reason not to consider Jellicent to your team.
Surf is the best STAB that offers the best possible neutral coverage, and is the strongest of its reliable options in this regard. Scald can replace it. It's weaker, but has a chance to burn. Recommended if you go with Toxic on the third slot. Shadow Ball is another STAB that can be used, but leaves Jellicent walled by Steel-types that are not half-Psychic, although now, Celebi and Lati@s must think twice about coming in. It is best used on sun teams, as Surf will be weakened on them.
Recover is there for... Well, the name says all. Will-O-Wisp is the recommended option on the third slot. Will-O-Wisp is what allows Jellicent to reliably counter Hippowdon, Jirachi and Scizor. It also augments Jellicent's physical defense, which somewhat turns Jellicent in a great mixed wall. Toxic can also be used if you want to kill threats faster, but Steel-types are immune to it and it doesn't augment Jellicent's physical defense. As Jellicent will generally scare out Fire-types with its Water STAB, there is little reason not to use Will-O-Wisp.
The last slot is pretty flexible. Taunt allows Jellicent to counter even more threats, like Forretress: it stops Baton Pass chains, stops phazing, stop hazards, stops status, and more importantly, stops setup. Taunt forms a deadly combination with the rest of Jellicent's moves, as it allows him to shut down some walls and break stall. Shadow Ball is another option if you want to take out Psychic- and Ghost-types without relying on your Water STAB. Lastly, Ice Beam covers Dragons, Gliscor, and Landorus, although the latter two are already maimed by Surf anyway. Please keep in mind that without Taunt, Jellicent is not going to stallbreak. So, if you are using either Shadow Ball or Ice Beam, those speed EVs can be transferred to Special Defense, as they are there only to outspeed defensive Politoed and Taunt him before it can use Toxic.
It's importante to note that Jellicent, as a Ghost-type, can spinblock. Starmie can't 2HKO (most of time) Jellicent with Thunderbolt because of the SpD EVs, while Jellicent can stall him out with a combination of Recover and Will-O-Wisp, or defeat him straight away with Shadow Ball. Forretress can't touch Jellicent at all, but you must watch out for Volt Switch Forretress partnered with Tyranitar. Other, more uncommon spinners, like Donphan, Cloyster, and Hitmontop, also struggle to defeat Jellicent.
Good teammates:
2 Pokémon stand out as the best partners for Jellicent: Ferrothorn and Heatran.
The former has almost perfect defensive sinergy with Jellicent, only missing out Ground- and Flying-type attacks. In fact, Jellicent resists Fire and is immune to Fighting (the two weakness of Ferrothorn) and Ferrothorn doubly resists Grass and resists Ghost, Dark, and Electric, all of which Jellicent is weak to. Thogether, the two form a combo that can destroy almost every Water-type.
The latter, on other hand, is another great partner, that has some defensive sinergy with Jellicent, although not as much as Ferrothorn. Jellicent is immune to both Water and Fighting, two weakness of Heatran, while Heatran doubly resists Grass, and resists Ghost and Dark, three weakness of Jellicent. Heatran and Jellicent, in fact, resist almost all types, with the three exceptions being Rock, Electric, and Ground. Jellicent appreciates Heatran as a partner, as Heatran can defeat some of Jellicent's counters, such as Grass-types, and can defeat Dragon-types that may be headaches for Jellicent to deal with. On other hand, Heatran likes being partnered with Jellicent, especially if it uses Air Balloon. Air Balloon forces your opponent to use Fighting- and Water-type attacks to defeat Heatran, but Jellicent discourages your opponent using them, which means that when played well, Jellicent can protect Heatran from being ever defeated!
Other good partners include Ground-types, which can defeat Tentacruel, a common sight on stall teams, which Jellicent struggles to defeat. Dugtrio is then a good partner, because it can trap Tentacruel. Dugtrio can also defeat Tyranitar, another dangerous Pokémon to Jellicent. Things that can lure Water-, Fighting-, Ice-, and Fire-type attacks love being parnered with Jellicent, as those attacks are generally free switch-ins to Jellicent. Terrakion is one of them, as it is generally target of Fighting- and Water-type attacks. Jellicent also protects Terrakion from Scizor, and Terrakion protects Jellicent from most Dark-types. Jirachi is another potential partner that can lure Fire-type attacks, and Jellicent can deal with most bulky Water-types that Jirachi has difficulty trying to damage (as they resist Iron Head).
What counters it:
Generally, Grass-types are good counters, because Jellicent rarely carry something that can shut them down, such as Ice Beam (and most Grass-types attack on the special side, so they don't fear burns). Celebi is one of them, and is the best. Although it has to watch out for Shadow Ball and Ice Beam, it's uncommon for Jellicent to carry those moves. So Celebi can generally safely come in and defeat Jellicent with Giga Drain or Leaf Storm. Celebi also has Natural Cure, which means that even Will-O-Wisp and Toxic aren't a problem for him. Rotom-W is one of the few bulky Water-types that is a problem for Jellicent. This is because it has Electric-type attacks that defeat Jellicent, although with a specially defensive spread, Jellicent can take one or other Volt Switch, and Recover the damage. Tyranitar must watch out for Will-O-Wisp and Scald. However, if it predicts correctly, or is lucky to not be burned by Scald or if Will-O-Wisp misses, Tyranitar can put Jellicent in a check-mate position by either defeating him with Crunch or using Pursuit if it predicts a switch-out. Hydreigon and Scrafty defeat the combination of Jellicent with either Ferrothorn or Heatran. Lastly, Toxic Spikes, and in fact, being statused in general hinder Jellicent's work, either by limiting its life-span (toxic or burn) or slowing him down so that Jellicent cannot outspeed and Taunt some walls (paralysis).
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Last edited by Dark Fallen Angel; Dec 7th, 2012 at 8:29:59 PM.
Dec 6th, 2012, 11:56:25 PM
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