Slow Volt-turner

Hello everybody.

I would like to show you a team I've been using a lot during the last weeks. I find it very interesting to use because mind game is really important, and it's not too bad in term of efficiency (over 1800 on PS when I'm not too tired). But I think i still need to improve it, so I would be interested in any well-explained advice to make it better.


Team Building process




Team at a Glance






Team in detail

So Mienshao is really doing is job well, even if it's a pity he doesn't have a slightly higher speed. I have thought of Ampiboon (stab Fake Out + Technician, and a better speed) or Infernape (two useful stab and a slightly higher speed) for this spot, but Regenerator is a really amazing ability, that make Mienshao better in my opinion.





This one is a real behemoth. The highest attack stat of OU behind Kyurem-B and Haxorus is something you have to consider before switching in, and his u-turns are quite strong.
Thanks to Intimidate, he can comes in many physical threat, and set Stealth Rock without problem, or punish them if they wish to stay. Rocks are absolutely necessary, as i will force many switches thanks to the volt-turn, and Landorus is able to set them many time if needed.
Earthquake is the obvious stab, and demolishes what doesn't resist it. Stone Edge is a good choice for the coverage, and punishes flying types who think they can come on a "predicted" Earthquake.
Landorus has a really good bulk, and at full health, he can stay alive against +1 Outrage or Hurricane from Tornadus-T. But I'm not sure of the Ev spread, I might try something different. Outspeeding standard Tentacruel for example, or standard Jirachi would be really useful.

Gliscor have been considered, because of his immunity to the biggest threat for this team : statuses. But I would really miss the offensive pressure and Intimidate.




Rotom is my only real special attacker, so I need him to hit hard. But I also appreciate a lot his set of resistances, so I choose a bulky offensive set. This pokemon is really amazing, he destroy annoying walls or cripple them with WOW (hi, Ferothorn !), and he can comes in against a huge amount of common monsters, such as Politoed (hope he won't use toxik), Heathran (same problem), Gliscor (again), Landorus or Mamoswine... He is also usefull to kill unusual threat such as Bulk-up Conkeldur, who can be really hard to deal with otherwise.
Nothing really new to say about the two stabs, they are just nice and strong. Wow is a really good tool, makes switch-in even harder. I might try Thunder Wave, because paralysing is nice to deal with the low speed of many of my pokemons, but for the moment I find passive damage more useful here.
I really don't know what to put on the last slot. Pain Split is mainly a filler, I have tried HP grass for Gastrodon, but I don't often see him. Maybe HP ice, or HP fire for Ferothorn and Forestress ? Or another status ? or Rain Dance because Sun Teams often sacrifice Ninetailes ?

It's hard to explain it, but Rotom might be the most important member of the team, the one I need to keep alive, especially against rain. No possible change for this one.




Typical Dragon Dance Salamence, don't think I have to explain the obvious coverage moves. Just notice that balloon from Heathran is easy to remove thanks to Volt-turn from Foretress and Jirachi, that helps Salamence to sweep . Lum Berry is a really amazing item, helps against the numerous statuses that are sent against Salamence (Thunder wave from Ferothorn, random Scald burns, Spore...). I don't think I will change the ability, because Salamence is often used as a pivot to tank resisted hit, and need Intimidate to start dancing without fear.
I choose Hasty nature rather than naïve because I use Salamence to take many special hits, for example coming from Venausaur, who could otherwise hurt too much with Sludge Bomb, and sweep the rest of the team easily.
I have thought of the moxie + Choice scarf set, but in this team, a stall breaker is more important than a revenge killer.
Dragonite could take this spot, because of Multiscale and Extremspeed. But he's a bit too slow, and the slightly lower special attack make it more difficult to deal with Ferothorn and Skarmory.




This adorable pixie is the last member I needed to have an optimal balance. I chose the specially defensive set because I already have many things to deal with physical attacker (Wow, Intimidate, Forestress). Body slam is really cool to spread paralysis, and hit more useful things than Thunder Wave. Not perfectly reliable, but it also deals damage (don't laugh, that can count). Iron Head is the obvious rage-inducing stab. I don't like using flinching, because I find it too annoying for the opponent, but sometimes it's the only way to survive...
And Wish is the icing on the cake. Often uses it for himself, when he has to check a special attacker, but Rotom and Salamence are also easy to heal, thanks to their good typing synergies with Jirachi.
Considering the changes, I have thought of ScarfRachi as a surprising revenge killer, but I would miss my special tank...



Just a few things to add about the strengths and weaknesses of this team.
I really lack speed. Mienshao is the quickest mon, and he's slower than musketeers and Lati@s. But it's surprisingly not such a problem. I have found no room for a scarfer, but if you have an interesting one who wouldn't spoil the balance of the team, I'm interested.
The defensive balance is really good. No attack can hit more than two pokemons for super effective damage, and every type (except ghost, which is not an issue) is resisted by at least two pokemons.
I'd really like to add a cleric (Heal Beal or Aromatherapy user) because statuses are really annoying. Burns are especially disturbing, because of my high number of physical attackers. Mew, Celebi, Meloeta and Lanturn are the only usable Clerics that learn U-Turn or Volt-switch, but I haven't found any room for them.

Concerning the Threat List, I'll just point out the most annoying things. Notice that nothing is a real trouble maker alone, most of them are just hard to face when their counter is weakened.
- Sub Toxik Tentacruel. I just hate it. He can set up a sub against half of my team, outspeed Landorus and Rotom, and don't stop healing himself. Salamence can take care if I'm able to break the sub and if the Lum Berry is still here.
- Keldeo : Scarf can revenge +1 Salamence and sweep late game, spec has no reliable switch-in, calm mind can clean everything if Jirachi and Rotom are weakened. I really need to take care of Rotom to deal with him, or to paralyse him if I can.
- Jelicent : not awful, but he made it really hard for Mienshao and Foretress to do their job. Happily, Landorus can 2 Ko with Earthquake if he's not burnt, and can tank one scald. tenexfix is another annoying ghost, but doesn't like Hydro Pump.
- Some sun sweepers, such as Volcarona or Venausaur if Salamence is too weakened, and Darmanitan (he dies quickly thanks to recoil, but often kill two pokemons.
- Gastrodon : can' Oko him, often have to sacrifice something (Mienshao or Landorus) to weaken him. Not often seen.


Thanks for reading this presentation, I'm waiting for your advice and comment. Feel free to test the team.


Importable :





PS : I've seen that another interesting team based on volt-turn is being rated, and I read the comment carefully, but our play styles are a bit different, so feel free to give me other ideas (or the same if you think they fit both teams, obviously).

Hey there,

Nice team! To start off, I'm going to suggest a better Landorus spread for you- and trust me, it will help, and I'll tell you why soon. I'd suggest a spread of 244 HP / 64 Atk / 200 Def Adamant. For one, this change makes Landorus a much better tank and wall, easing some pressure off of Forretress's back. There are a couple things Labdorus is better at walling- Fighting types, because it prevents them from setting up and in general hits them a lot harder, Steel types, since EQ at least 2HKO's most offensive Steels in OU, and Sand teams- as it's immune to EQ and neutral to Stone Edge, a trait that not many other pokemon can boast.

To help beat Rain teams, some of which could be a bit problematic (SepcsDeo Spamming HPump in Rain) I'd suggest you make your Rotom-W a bit more bulkier. A spread of 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD Calm. Why is this better? Well, it helps you beat Rain a whole lot easier- as it resists Water and Flying, as well as is neutral to Electric. With more bulk, pokemon like Keldeo, Jellicent, Jirachi, or Tentacruel will be much less problematic. I'd also use Thunder Wave instead of WoW. This is one beneficial change you can make with the added physical bulk in Landorus-T. TWave cripples special attackers and physical attackers alike- letting your Salamence set up / revenge kill. With a bulkier Rotom-W, you'll be able to take hits and support your team for a longer amount of time.

Solid team!

Hi, cool team you have here. It' really solid and the only big threat I found to your team was opposing sun teams. You have nothing that can take a sun-boosted fire-type attack, bar Rotom-W, who can't really deliver a blow back under the sun. Salamence isn't really meant to take hits with the type of set you are using as you lack any recovery moves on him. Jirachi can provide Mence with Wish support, but it will be just roasted by any fire-type move, making it difficult to even get a Wish up. This brings me to my first suggestion, which is to switch your DD Mence into a MixMence set with 3 attacks + Roost. Salamence is still able to act as a stallbreaker and can take on sun teams better since it can heal any damage it switches into with Roost. This can also be useful against rain if Rotom-W just doesn't cut it. Also, Life Orb boosted STAB attacks really hurt, and Salamence provides it from both ends of the spectrum. As far as small changes go, you can try using Protect over U-Turn on Jirachi. This can guarantee you a healing turn and is good to keep on walling Tornadus-T and the Lati twins.

Cool team and hope I helped.

Set:

Thanks for the encouraging rates !

@ Electrolyte :
- I will try the EV spread for Landorus, seems interesting. But don't you think a bit of speed could be used, to outspeed uninvested base 100 ?

- I'll definitely give Thunder Wave a try on Rotom. What about putting it instead of Pain Split, to have a nasty and versatile double status ?

- I'm more reluctant about the defensive EV spread for Rotom. Yes, that would help against Keldeo, but I really need a strong special attacker, or I'm unable to destroy physical walls or some Bulk-uppers. And if Tentacruel and Jelicent can easily take two Volt Switch, i won't have real answer against them bar the frail Salamence.


@ Shining Latios :
- Hum, Mix Mence seems interesting. I might miss the ability to check Starmie and many other frail sweepers late game, but I definitely need to try him. The only really annoying thing is that I lose my only "status absorber" (aka Lum Berry).

- You point out the sun weakness, and it seems indeed annoying (I've not faced too much sun teams, and I've most of the time been able to play around strong attackers). What about Rain dance as the last offensive slot for Rotom if I can forget Wow or Thunder Wave ?

- I've thought of protect for a long time on Jirachi, but I have found few situation when I would really need it, whereas I use U-turn a lot, so I think I will keep it.

Hi, nice team!

Forretress you really need? In analyzing the things your team has only very weak to Stealth Rock Salamence that anyway once entered the field in theory should use Dragon Dance and attack only, the Spikes, you Landorus that is immune, immune Salamence that Nee, Rotom-W is immune, Mienshao would suffer damage, but with Regenerator during the switch can in a sense compensate a bit '. The only weak Pokemon you to Spikes would Forretress itself and Jirachi. A Toxic Spikes instead you only have one Pokemon faint.
Forretress I do not see nlo so important, would place the Spikes agree, but you do not even have a spin-bloker for all Hazards that you want to set a single Rapid Spin, and I will remove all of them.
Then I would try to raise some Pokemon Forretress to help you against Sunny Day Team, especially against Venusaur, against which you are very open, I would try to use specially Defensive Heatran> Forretress, we lose only removing Volt Switch Forretress, while Heatran gains that we solve the weakness of the Sun Team.
In addition to better withstand especially in Landorus Sheer Force, I would change the Evs spreads Rotom-W in this 252 HP / 232 SDef / 26 SAtk, with Calm nature. Also Landorus-T would change Evs spread in 244 HP / 64 Atk / 200 Def, this is to collect the best Fight move and to make it more durable in general. Another change I would do is put Naive> Hasty Nature to Salamence, it's more convenient to reduce the special defense Salamence because I do not think it'll never leave to collect special moves, in this way Salamence with Naive nature can resist a Bullet Punch Scizor for example and kill it with Fire Blast. That is all.
Good Luck, with your team!

Hi Smilodon

This is a solid team that can wear down your opponent with your Voltturn core and then pull off a late game sweep with Dragon Dance Salamence. Looking at your team, Sun teams are a major threat to it. Chlorophyll Venusaur outspeeds your entire team under sunlight and can easily sweep with its coverage moves of Giga Drain / Sludge Bomb / Hidden Power [Fire]. Volcarona is also very threatening to your team as it outspeeds and deals massive damage to your entire team after a Quiver Dance boost. Salamence is the only Pokemon that resists both of the moth's STABs but he is taken out by a +1 Fire Blast in the sun after Stealth Rock damage. For these threats, I recommend replacing Forretress with a Specially Defensive Heatran with a moveset of Stealth Rock / Lava Plume / Toxic / Roar. Specially Defensive Heatran is one of the best checks in the metagame to Sun teams due to his 4x Resistances to Bug and Grass attacks as well as his Flash Fire ability that makes him immune to Fire type attacks. He is easily able to take out Venusaur with Lava Plume and deal with Volcarona by wearing it down with Toxic or just Roar'ing it out to rack up Stealth Rock damage. Heatran carries the Stealth Rocks that Forretress currently does and they are crucial in this metagame where top threats such as Dragonite, Salamence, and Thundurus-T are all crippled by SR. Heatran makes a great choice to set up rocks as his numerous resistances will provide him many opportunities to. Lava Plume is a great move with the 30% burn chance that can easily cripple common Heatran checks such as Terrakion and Landorus-T if they switch into the move. Toxic helps to wear down walls and is nice for Pokemon that don't really worry about burn and Roar helps stop set up sweepers and racks up SR damage. Forretress is the move replaceable member on your team as Mr. Green mentioned as you don't really need Rapid Spin and the constant pressure your Voltturners will be putting on your opponent will prevent them from getting very many hazards up.

Now for some smaller changes. I recommend changing Rotom-W's EV spread to a Specially Defensive spread of 248 HP / 28 SAtk / 232 SDef with a Calm nature. This will allow you to handle Rain teams more easily as Rotom-W can take Rain-boosted Hydro Pumps as well as Hurricanes which is important in this metagame infested with Rain teams. Even without much Special Attack investment, Rotom-W can still hit hard with its Dual STABs. Lastly, I would recommend a Naive nature on Salamence instead of Hasty. Naive lowers Special Defense which is not as crucial as Physical defense because as you have set up and are sweeping your opponent, the only thing that will really stop you is priority attacks such as Bullet Punch and Extremespeed which are Physical so it is beneficial to have a nature that doesn't decrease Physical defense.

Hope I helped and good luck with your team!


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