Rate / Criticize my OU team :)

No theme on this team. I think the strong point of this team is switch-ins. Let me know everything you think :)
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Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP.
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock

Aerodactyl is my personal favorite lead because he outspeeds all other OU stealth-rockers. Taunt prevents other stealth rock leads from doing their job. If I see a Metagross lead, for example, I can expect a Bullet Punch keeping me from using Taunt and Stealth Rock together, so I'd just Stealth Rock early, and switch Gyarados in to do the taunt keeping his Stealth Rock from going up. That way I can still use Aerodactyl later in a tight spot, or if I need an Earthquake switch in if Gyarados goes down. I choose Rock Slide over Stone Edge because of the accuracy and the flinch rate that Aerodactyl's high speed can utilize. I know that hoping for a flinch is just getting lucky, but then again, hoping for Stone Edge to hit is also a matter of luck.
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Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 212 HP, 16 Atk, 180 Def, 100 Speed.
-Waterfall
-Taunt
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake

I love BulkyGyara. This set rarely lets me down. The HP and Defense EV's and it's already high base Sp. Def let it switch in easily. Taunt goes up to keep people from Roaring, etc. Then I start the Dragon Dancing. Usually, I won't need more than two to start sweeping, but in some cases, I do three or four. Waterfall is my main attack; I use it on anything that it is either normal or supereffective against, with the exception of Electric. For everything that resists water, Earthquake usually does the trick. Gyarados is also amazing at baiting Electric moves for Electivire to switch in on for Motor Drive boosts.
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Electivire @ Expert Belt
Ability: Motor Drive
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 6 HP.
-ThunderPunch
-Ice Punch
-Cross Chop
-Earthquake

Electivire is my favorite Pokemon of all time, for four reasons. 1) Moves, 2) Ability, 3) Looks, 4) Name :D. Now why am I using him on my team? He has such a great diverse movepool, with moves supereffective against most types, hence the Expert Belt. I know I should have a Jolly nature, but I don't. Electivire's purpose is to sweep after taking a Motor Drive boost, giving him the speed he's missing out on. My Electivire works very well with my Gyarados. When Gyarados is threatened by an Electric move user before he has set up, I switch to Electivire for Motor Drive. And when Electivire is threatened by an Earthquake user, I can switch back to Gyarados (or Aerodactyl just in case Gyarados was taken down).
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Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EV's: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Speed
-Bullet Punch
-Brick Break
-Roost
-Swords Dance

Scizor is one of my favorite Pokemon, I used him a ton when I was just playing the story back in GSC before I knew competitive battling even existed. I can't get enough of Technician Bullet Punch. I chose Brick Break over Superpower because after Swords Dance, Brick Break takes care of those resistant to Bullet Punch just fine. And I don't have to worry about losing half a Swords Dance in the process, as well as defense. Roost recovers HP lost while Swords Dancing and from Life Orb. Also great at taking Bug attacks for Umbreon, and Electric attacks for Gyarados if Electivire was taken down.
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Umbreon @ Leftovers
Ability; Synchronize
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP, 130 Def, 128 Sp. Def
-Toxic
-Protect
-Payback
-Wish

Umbreon should have never been moved to the UU tier in my opinion. Umbreon is great at passing Wish around, being able to switch into most non-fighting moves. Toxic is how Umbreon takes enemies down. Once he gets Toxic down, he just needs to stall with Wish and Protect, and he outlasts most enemies. If a steel switches in to prevent Toxic, Payback can do a bit to that, despite it being weak against steel. The 100 power does a decent amount, along with my luckiness at getting a perfect 31 Attack IV Umbreon :P The only exceptions to all this are Machamp, Infernape, Scizor, and Salamence. Umbreon can't keep himself up against Machamp, Infernape, or Salamence for the time needed to get the first Toxic and Wish; They 2HKO him. Scizor walls the Toxic, and is 4x resistant to Payback. But hey, what the hell is switching out for then?
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Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
Nature: Hasty
EV's: 26 Atk, 252 Sp. Atk, 232 Speed
-Flamethrower
-Close Combat
-Grass Knot
-Nasty Plot

Infernape is also a favorite of mine. He just covers the holes for the rest of the team here while being able to set himself up as well. Flamethrower is for STAB and countering enemy Scizors with a 4x Steel resistance. Close Combat takes care of special walls that might switch in (Blissey, anyone?) and also gets STAB. Grass Knot is for Swampert / Rhyperior / Milotic, etc. Nasty Plot sets him up to special sweep. The only bulky water that he can't take down is Vaporeon, but of course you wouldn't keep Abomasnow in against Heatran, would you?
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Thanks in advance for any advice or criticizm, I really appreciate it!

I have some other already EV trained Pokemon that I could use if you think it's necessary, I'll just give a short summary.

Starmie (Hasty, Natural Cure, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed)
Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Surf, Psychic
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Kingdra (Modest, Sniper, 118 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 140 Speed)
Surf, Ice Beam, Dragon Pulse, Flash Cannon
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Gengar (Timid, Levitate, 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed)
Psychic, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt
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Tyranitar (Adamant, Sand Stream, 252 Atk, 252 Speed)
Crunch, Brick Break, Stone Edge, Earthquake
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Thanks Again!

Hi,

I'm not going to do a full rate right now. I just want to point out things that could cause you trouble. Spore Puncher Breloom with Substitute can easily wreck your team. Breloom outspeeds Umbreon, putting it to sleep, then getting a Sub and sweep. Infernape, Electivire, Umbreon and Scizor are OHKO'd by Focus Punch, Gyarados is 2HKO'd by Seed Bomb(Stealth Rock included), if Aerodactyl is still alive at that point, it is OHKO'd by Seed Bomb. Also, watch out for Trickers as they may ruin your fun. Like, Tricking Latias' Scarf for your Infernape's Life Orb, Scizor's Life Orb, Gyarados' Leftovers and Electivire's Expert Belt, Yes, you may OHKO Latias with Ice Punch however, it may open an Empoleon sweep. So, watch out! I hope this helps! Good Luck!

Thanks, I appreciate it. What if I were to give Aerodactyl a flying-type attack in place of Earthquake to deal with Breloom?

dmatthews94 said:

Thanks, I appreciate it. What if I were to give Aerodactyl a flying-type attack in place of Earthquake to deal with Breloom?

Click to expand...

No, that isn't a good idea. It's a suicide lead, designed to get Stealth Rock on the field. You can try SubBounce, however you need to run 124 Speed EV's inorder to outspeed Breloom. So, when Breloom switches in, just get a Sub and Dragon Dance then OHKO it with Bounce. Even without attack EV's, Gyarados is still able to reach an attack stat of 429 and with 124 Spe EV's Gyara is able to reach a speed stat of 343. By the way, nice synergy on Gyarados and Electivire, I like that. :)

Thanks, it's my favorite combo :)

I would be running SubBounce on Gyarados, you say?

Scizor should pack Superpower instead of Roost as otherwise it is bait to Magnezone. And as for the threat of Brelloom, I wouldn't reccomend SubBounce on Gyarados. When Gyarados goes into the charging phase of Bounce, Brellom can easily switch out. Instead, you can switch Electivire for a Heatran. Choice Scarf-Heatran can easily outspeed Brelloom, flamethrower, and then (if it survives) follow up with another Flamethrower. But why change Electivire?, it is because most of the Electric type attacks you can power up Motor Drive with, are going to be coming from Rotom-A, which can Will-o-wisp Electivire, rendering him useless for the remainder of the match.

Marble101: I have Brick Break for Magnezone and other Steels. Superpower only undoes what Swords Dance worked so hard for :)

And Heatran won't save me from Spore Punch Breloom for three reasons, 1) Because the Breloom would have Sub up, and would OHKO Heatran with Focus Punch. 2) It may just decide to Spore the Heatran. And 3) If Heatran were to counter Breloom, it would be hit by the Focus Punch after switching in, and it would never survive a second if it survived the first. And Electivire is much more useful than you'd expect; Motor Drive would make it outspeed Rotom. Based on the counter you've suggested with Flamethrower, I could just do that same thing with Infernape.

Just a thought...If my Gyarados outspeeds the Breloom, I can just Taunt when it comes out. Would that help at all?

dmatthews94 said:

Just a thought...If my Gyarados outspeeds the Breloom, I can just Taunt when it comes out. Would that help at all?

Click to expand...

Yes. Just moving 24 EV's into speed. Also, you might want to lessen your EV's in Defense, since you have Intimidate and add a bit more in Special Defense or Attack. By the way, good job on the Taunt idea. Good Luck!

I'll switch those EV's around then.

Thanks a ton, I appreciate it.

A weakness I see is to SD lucario that can come in on umbreon and sweep after gyarados is gone. It might seen like a very specific situation but umbreon looks like your main support and good players take advantage of that. You could fix that by changing your gyara completely to a resttalk set, but that would take the purpose of it away.

Just wanted to give you the heads up so you can play around it carefully.

Also change Earthquake to Stone Edge on Gyarados to hit important flyers like salamence,latias, and zapdos. Good Luck!

If you want to keep SD Lucario in check, as well as Dragon Dance Tyranitar, I suggest altering your Infernape to the "Physically Based MixApe"set. This my favorite Infernape set to date. Why? Mach Punch. From all my experiences on Shoddy Battle, no one is expecting Mach Punch. It keeps so many threats in check. One of my favorite scenarios is when my opponent brings in their Tyranitar on my Latias, instead of switching out fearing the Pursuit, I stay in. Either to inflict more damage with my Choiced Attack, or let the opposition purposely set-up. Once Latias, has died, and that green monster has +4, I bring in Infernape and Mach Punch it to death. So hilarious, yet so unexpecting.

In addition to the aforementioned Lucario and Tyranitar, it can pick off weakened Scizors, Mamoswines, OHKOs Weavile, etc. However, yes, you do lose quite a bit of type coverage, Dragons in particular. Unless, the Salamence is bulky, from the looks of it, simple prediction can take down such Salamence. The good thing about that set is you can sacrifice some physical attack strength and run Grass Knot as well, OHKOing most Swamperts.

Now, I noticed your Electivire contains ThunderPunch. While it may look tempting to utilize that impressive Attack status, in reality, investing in Special Attack in tandem with Thunderbolt is a far better choice. Why? Well, lets take a look at it. When against top-tier physical walls, such as Skarmory, ThunderPunch will actually do less due to Skarmory's much higher physical defense status. A lot less.

56-66.8% with ThunderPunch vs. 132-155% with ThunderBolt.

In addition to Skarmory, ThunderBolt also inflicts greater damage against Vaporeon and Suicune before a Calm Mind boost. Furthermore, ThunderBolt is unaffected by Intimidate. Therefore, I highly recommend taking a glimpse at the
"Mixed Attacker" set.

For first I would change set of this Electivire. You have only one chance to use it (good player won't fall for electric attack again on Gyarados) as it's really easily walled. To be honest I would recommend to replace him, but if you like it so much, we'll work on it to make it more effective ;). Hippowdon, Donphan, Rotom-H, Swampert, Defensive Metagross (easily survives Earthquake and OHKOes you back), Cresselia, Uxie, Tangrowth, Bronzong, Forretress, Zapdos, Celebi... and the list goes on. Seriously, pure physical E-Vire is just too easily walled. I would go with MixVire as it as least goes through some walls much easier. Or you may give a shot Meditite set. After Meditite Zapdos goes down with Ice Punch, you beat Celebi 1on1, but still things like Swampert, Rotom-H and Hippowdon troubles you alot. E-Vire and Scizor will appreciate if you get rid of them. So it would be nice to have something to lure them out and dispose of them. I think you may replace one pokemon - Umbreon. Your team is quite offensive and Umbreon just doesn't fit here. Also it gives so many free switches, forcing you to stay at defensive and your team isn't that bulky to take repeated hits. My advice here is to go with Mixed Metagross.

Mixed Attacker
Life Orb / Expert Belt
Naughty Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 124 SpA / 132 Spe
~ Meteor Mash
~ Earthquake
~ Hidden Power Fire / Shadow Ball
~ Grass Knot / Shadow Ball

It's so rare and yet underrated. It lures so many counters to normal Metagross like Swampert (Grass Knot for OHKO), Forretress (HP Fire), Shadow Ball (Rotom-H). Hippowdon fails to Meteor Mash + Grass Knot and you survive Earthquake from defensive version. With them gone E-Vire have a field day and may sweep teams without his counters. Another bonus is that Gyarados hates Rotom-H, so it's really worth a shot.

I also agree with using physical Infernape. Babiri DDTar may sweep your team (especially with Stone Edge) when you switch Scizor in and it dies to Fire Punch, while TTar easily survives Bullet Punch. I would also agree with adding Mach Punch on Infernape, even if you need to sacrifice Close Combat. You have many physical attackers, so Blissey won't bother you that much. I hope that helps ;).

Well, you definitely need to change Scizor's HP EVs to 248. Why? Well, with your current number of EVs, Scizor will instantly die on its 8th switch-in to Stealth Rock. Not only does it take greater Stealth Rock damage, it also takes greater damage from moves like Leech Seed. For this reason, you should change the number of HP EVs to 248, to minimize damage like this. For further understanding on this subject, read this article.

Right now, you are pretty weak to Gyarados. Nothing can really stop it besides Umbreon, but Umbreon can be setup on, as Toxic damage doesn't kill instantly. Your Gyarados can't do anything - it doesn't have Stone Edge! I don't actually recommend putting Stone Edge on it though. The opposing Gyarados can still Stone Edge it. However, I do think changing your Electrivire. First off, physical Electrivire doesn't get much done. It's stopped completely by any sort of physical wall, such as Swampert, Skarmory, or Hippodown. It can be easily U-turned on by Scizor, and revenge killed by Choice Scarf Latias. Rotom-A can come in and wall it horribly or just kill it. There's a reason physical Electrivire isn't used much. It just simply doesn't fit in with today's metagame to the point where it can sweep at all. However, you can change it to a Jolteon. Jolteon solves your Gyarados problem well enough. It can't outspeed a Jolly +1 Gyarados, but it does just fine vs. Adamant variants. Jolly is hardly common on Gyarados, so it isn't too big of an issue. Jolteon can also fill Electrivire's role as a sweeper with a Life Orb set.

Jolteon @ Life Orb
Timid
Volt Absorb
252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
~ Thunderbolt
~ HP Grass / HP Ice
~ Shadow Ball
~ Substitute / Baton Pass

Shadow Ball is for Rotom-A and Latias, doing good damage to each of them. Thunderbolt is an obvious STAB move. For Hidden Power, there are two options. HP Grass pretty much specifically gets rid of Swampert. HP Ice is for the Dragons. I would actually recommend HP Grass. Despite being more specific, HP Ice is kind of redundant. One Dragon, Salamence, is pretty much already stopped by Thunderbolt (72.5% - 85.2%, likely KO counting Stealth Rock and any other damage.). Flygon is usually carrying a Scarf, so you can't really do anything to him anyways. If you do choose Substitute, you will be able to OHKO it. Dragonite is about 2HKO'd, or OHKO, depending on previous damage and the spread it's running. It can also be used for Gliscor, but frankly that's just setup bait for Gyarados and Umbreon. The last slot is between Substitute and Baton Pass. I would say Substitute. You can sweep better, as it eases prediction. However, you can always use Baton Pass to scout for counters in a U-turnish way (albeit not doing any damage).

Edit: I support the suggestion of changing Infernape's set to Physically mixed. It really does an excellend job of revenge killing Lucario and Tyranitar, and I believe it's all around more effective in this metagame.