Clearing the Path!

Introduction:

So recently, I came back to try out OU once more after stopping for like...say 2 years. A lot have changed, really! I'm a nobody so don't fret it if you haven't seen me before(if you're even fretting :P) so yeah. I never gone far with my lackluster team 2 years ago, and 2 years later, I'm back with a new team and see if this works out. ;)

The League:


Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Aqua Tail


I was browsing through The Smog and came across this interesting article. Underrated movesets in OU. Intriguing. I've been wanting to use a Salamence since forever and it just so happen that I have a Salamence in-game at my disposal so why not, right? Now that Moxie is released, Choice Scarf becomes terrifyingly powerful. At least it should be. Outrage for obvious reasons, Earthquake to get rid of pesky steel-types that Magnezone can't handle(Heatran and Jirachi). Dragon Claw is there because there are times when being trapped in Outrage is just...not good. Aqua Tail for Gliscors and it's pretty much there as a filler basically since I'm running a rain team.

There's something I have to admit though...Salamence doesn't really "sweep" for about 80% of the games I played. >_> Although it does help out cleaning and weakening 1-2 pokes.



Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Aww, cheerful Magnezone. Magnezone is my trusty partner for clearing the path for the Salamence's sweep. For a Dragon type to sweep, the obvious steel types must be cleared and the best candidate to fill this slot is Magnezone. This guy is SO valuable. It traps Ferrothorns which are common as hell. Substitute and go to town. I'll usually get at least 2 kills with this guy. Sub on a steel type, Charge Beam and Thunder away, while behind my sub. I chose Thunder because of the 100% accuracy in Rain and it does help score some KOs too. HP Ice is there for dealing with things like...Gliscor and Dragons. Seriously, I think you're supposed to use Charge Beam to kill things like Ferrothorn and not HP Fire. Besides, HP Fire would be useless as it will be severely weakened in the rain.

Deoxys-Defense @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Seismic Toss

I found this set under the underrated movesets in OU article too. I tried this and never looked back. This shuts down Smeargle, Breloom and basically Baton Pass leads(with the exception of maybe Ninjask but I haven't faced one yet so...). This acts as a suicide lead. It basically gets SR and Spikes up. Even without investments, this thing is bulky as hell, withstanding every attack thrown at it. I haven't got OHKO before(even when crit is accounted in).

Politoed @ Leftovers
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Perish Song
- Toxic
- Protect

The rain starter, Politoed. Weather is THE definition of OU I believe. I chose the defensive variant of Politoed for various reasons. 1) I like to last longer than other weather starters. This ensures that I have an upper hand at all times. Thunder would be ineffective without rain anyway. 2) The movesets are tailored to suit my needs. Scald is there to put a halt to the Physical attackers. Dragon types are rampant out there and it is crucial to ensure that they are crippled by burn or poison. Perish Song is kinda like my "last resort" thing even though I find myself using it frequently. It stops Baton Pass teams, set-up sweepers, force switches to rack up residual damage from my hazards and most importantly, when I'm out ideas, I bring the opponent down with me. Toxic is another form of status(duh) and it's there to annoy the shit out of the opponent. Toxic -> Protect -> Perish Song. Hoho.



Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast
- Volt Switch

I'd like to call this beast, the MVP of this team. This guy does so much for the team. So, so much. It gives an offensive pressure to the opponent's team and Volt Switch ensures that the momentum is always in my favour(well, at least most of the time). Thunder strikes hard, OH-2HKOing almost anything that doesn't resist it. HP Ice to deal with pesky Dragons and the annoying Gliscors and Landorus. Focus Blast to get rid of Heatrans and other threats such as Lucario etc. I'd choose Grass Knot over Focus Blast because Gastrodon is really a bitch to play around but at least it can be maneuvered past. This guy usually sweeps more than Salamence, which defeats the purpose isn't what I visualized at all. :( Oh well, it's all good. At least it gets the job done.



Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Lastly, the all mighty Scizor. Priority is so important, gosh. Bullet Punch helps ease the weather war with Tyranitar and defeat things like Landorus and Terrakion when weakened. I send this guy out if I don't wanna risk other scarfers outspeeding my Salamence. U-Turn keeps the momentum along side with Volt Switch from Thundurus-T. Superpower decimates Heatrans and Pursuit traps things like Latios and Latias. Both cannot hope to OHKO me with Draco Meteor while I finish them off with CB Pursuit. Basically acts as a revenger killer.

That's it, folks! This is my team and it's winning matches for me so far with 1595 points in PS. I'd like to improve my team even further though, so I hope you all will guide me along. :)
 
Hey nice team there. You have a really sweet core of Magnezone supporting Salamence while Scizor provides good priority and Thundurus-T just decimates things.

Now, your main problem is the lack of a rapid spinner, especially since two of your guys are weak to Stealth Rock. Now while Deoxys-D can help a little by shutting off leads from using hazards with taunt, it's not consistent and reliable enough with your team being pretty weak to hazards.

For a spinner, I can suggest an offensive spinning Starmie in replacement of Salamence. This alleviates a SR weakness as well as providing some great firepower boosted by Politoed's rain. As for why Salamence, like you said, it wasn't doing too much for the team, and it shares some weaknesses with Thundurus-T, especially Stealth Rock.
Here's the Starmie set:

Starmie @Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 SpA /4 SpD /252 Spe
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunder
-Rapid Spin

You can replace surf with hydro pump if you wish, but I prefer surf for its better accuracy. So that's pretty much it and good luck.:)
 
Hey nice team there. You have a really sweet core of Magnezone supporting Salamence while Scizor provides good priority and Thundurus-T just decimates things.

Now, your main problem is the lack of a rapid spinner, especially since two of your guys are weak to Stealth Rock. Now while Deoxys-D can help a little by shutting off leads from using hazards with taunt, it's not consistent and reliable enough with your team being pretty weak to hazards.

For a spinner, I can suggest an offensive spinning Starmie in replacement of Salamence. This alleviates a SR weakness as well as providing some great firepower boosted by Politoed's rain. As for why Salamence, like you said, it wasn't doing too much for the team, and it shares some weaknesses with Thundurus-T, especially Stealth Rock.
Here's the Starmie set:

Starmie @Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 SpA /4 SpD /252 Spe
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunder
-Rapid Spin

You can replace surf with hydro pump if you wish, but I prefer surf for its better accuracy. So that's pretty much it and good luck.:)
Hey, thanks for the tip! I'll try that once I get home.

Keep the rates coming guys. :)
 

Shurtugal

The Enterpriser.
is a Tiering Contributor
Hello there!

Your team currently struggles to do anything to the likes of DD Dragonite / Scarf Keldeo / Double Dance ThundyT / RP Landorus / Growth Venu etc.

Politoed and Magnezone accomplish virtually nothing. Scarf Mence is a lategame sweeper so DeoD's hazard and your teammates can weaken steels into OHKO range by the time Mence wants to sweep anyway without the aid of Magnezone.

I would replace Politoed for LO Latias. By using an EV spread of 72 HP / 184 SpA / 252 Spe (Timid), Latias is a great staple mon that can either check or counter all of the aforementioned threats to this team. It also helps with Terrakion, which can come in on anything bu Scizor and immidetely threaten the team with its amazing strength.

I would also change that DeoD spread a bit. I would swap Leftovers for Mental Herb since this team is way too offensive to keep a suicide lead alive for too long, and then I would go ahead and replace Seismic Toss for Thunder Wave.

I'm a bit concerned that this DeoD team has nothing that can abuse it by setting up on the opponent. Why not use Double Dance Thundurus-T over your current Expert Belt one? With an EV spread of 40 Hp / 96 Def / 252 SAtk / 16 SDef / 104 Spe (Modest and Leftovers), ThundyT is bulky enough to really abuse hazard support as well as getting easy boosts. It does a bit more than your current EB ThundyT (since EB is a really bad bluff on ThundyT when the scarf set is almost non-existant).

I would finally replace Magnezone for SubSalac Terrakion. Currently, your fairly weak to sand teams with the replacement of Politoed and I feel that having a fighting STAB as well as a sand fighter would be most benefitcial. Terrakion is a great lategame sweeper as well and can really abuse hazards, especially with ThundyT and Latias as partners, as they have amazing offensive synergy.

Lastly, use 248 over 252 HP evs on Scizor so it can switch into SR one extra time, and put the extra 4 evs into speed.

Good Luck with this team! :)
 
hey!

Looking at this team I don't see why you are using Politoed. Your team doesn't really benefit from it excpet for Thunderous-T and Magnezone to use Thunder. Even then they both have high SpA and are very capable of just using Thunderbolt. Politoed makes your team very week to Water-type Pokemon as it boosts the power of their water-type moves which only Politoed and Salamence resist on your team. Salamence is your late game cleaner and Choice Scarf user so while it does boast a Water-type resist it can't really abuse it and will still be beaten easy by continous boosted Hydro Pumps. Fire Blast should be used instead of Aqua Tail on Salamence anyway to help it hit Steel-types. Choice Scarf Keldeo stands out as the number one threat to this team. Because it outspeeds everyone on your team and with Secret Sword, Hydro Pump and an Ice-type move it can hit half of your team super effectively and the Deoxys-D is a suicide lead while him and Scizor can't take a boosted Hydro Pump to well anyway.

I full agree with Shurtugal in using LO Latias>Politoed. Because as I mentioned your team doesn't benefit from rain at all and Latias provides you with one of the best anwsers to Keldeo in the game and also rain in general. The immediate power that Life Orb brings really fits in to this teams style of offensive pressure. With Psyshock and Hidden Power [Fire] Latias can hit a some of the more common Rapid Spinners super effectively like Tentacruel and Forretress which is nice seeing as your team lacks a spin blocker. With this change comes using Thunderbolt>Thunder on both Magnezone and Thunderous-T and Fire Blast>Aqua Tail on Salamence with a Naive nature because these moves are much more practical outside of rain obviously. Fire Blast lets Salamence roast Steel-types that attempt to switch in.

My only other suggestion is Taunt>Focus Blast on Thunderous-T. Taunt is such a good move on Expert Belt Thunderous-T because it is never expected and the combination of Taunt+Volt Switch is great so you bring in one of your Pokemon without your opponent statusing it, set up hazards, set up boosts or phaze it out. It lets you grab momentum very easy and with Superpower on Scizor, Fire Blast on Salamence, HP Fire on Latias and Magnezone you have Steel-types covered well enough. Also just between Volt Switch and HP Ice Thunderous-T has the legendary "boltbeam coverage."

Good luck with the team I hope I helped!

Sets

Latias @ Life Orb | Levitate
Timid | 72 Hp / 184 SpA / 252 Spe
Draco Meteor | Recover | Psyshock | Hidden Power [Fire]

TL:DR
Politoed--->Latias

Thunderous-T
.Thunder--->Thunderbolt
.Focus Blast--->Taunt

Magnezone
.Thunder---Thunderbolt

Salamence
.Jolly--->Naive
.Aqua Tail--->Fire Blast



~Superpowerdude
 

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