The best of the best!

[Vemane]

Here is a Thread to post (in your opinion) the best pokemon in each of the following categories. Not only is this a nice way tofind a few underrated pokes but also just as a guide to newer members of reliable choices.

Set-Up Sweeper:
Non Set-Up Attacker:
Wall:
Annoyer:
Spinner:
Phazer:
Priority User:
Underrated Threat:

Ex.
Set-Up Sweeper: DD Moxie Mence. Has the ability to tear apart a team with just one kill. After 1 or 2 moxie boosts and DD, becomes unstoppable.
Non Set-Up Attacker: Standard Banded Azumarill: Reaches almost 650 attack with priority Aqua Jet... damn.
Wall: Protect+Leech Seed+Spikes+Gyro Ball Ferrothorn. With leech seed+protect, you can stall out many threats an heal yourself. Can take a hit extremely well.
Annoyer: Standard para-shuffle dnite. Can paralyze a whole team with ease... taking out a few members with hazards up.
Spinner: Tentacruel. Has plenty of utility to go along with rapid spin including hazards of its own.
Phazer: See Annoyer
Underrated Threat: Drifblim. With Ghost Gem+CM+Shadow Ball+2 Coverage, Blim can grab a CM boost, shadow ball for boosted power and unburden boost, and sweep with double speed and great spatt.

[bluemon]

Set-Up Sweeper: Volcarona
Non Set-Up Attacker: Scizor
Wall: Ferrothorn and skarmbliss
Annoyer: rotom-w
Spinner: starmie
Phazer:skarmory
Underrated Threat: sharpedo

[TM13IceBeam]

is this even approved


Set-Up Sweeper: Bulk Up Scrafty
Non Set-Up Attacker: Specs Latios
Wall: Ferrotroll
Annoyer: Sableye
Spinner: Hitmontop
Phazer: Skarmory
Underrated Threat: Sableye

[min min]

Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite, because it abuses Multiscale. Switch it into Choiced EQs, or use it with Wobb support, and you can set it up as per normal. Then in comes the counter, and you abuse Multiscale to live the hit and DD again. That's 2 guaranteed boosts, something not a lot of other sweepers can boast.

Non set-up sweeper: Latios with Specs is an obvious one. Specstios, though easily revenged by Pursuit, was and is a massive metagame threat with its STAB Draco Meteors.

Wall: Gliscor, becoming a top physical wall that people have to run HP Ice for. It also beats Ferrothorn.

Annoyer: I'd be tempted to put Sableye, but Jirachi also sort of counts, whether in Rain with CM and parafusion, or on defensive teams with Iron Head and Body Slam/Thunder Wave.

Spinner: Starmie is another obvious choice for this; it beats every spinblocker save for really bulky ghosts like Jellicent and Dusclops.

Phazer: Skarmory. Despite it not being as hyped as stuff like Parashuffle Dragonite, Skarmory has time and again proved its worth against foes like Scizor, Landorus and Tyranitar, where it takes hits, and Whirlwinds them out for residual-damage-stack-up fun.

Underrated threat: Haxorus. It's a matter of eliminating all steels, but when it comes to spamming CB Outrages against a paralysed enemy, no one else does it better. Except maybe Moxie Choice Band Salamence, but it's got a weakness to Stealth Rocks so a Moxie Outrage sweep can probably only be pulled off once or twice, especially without Intimidate.

[Nerffie]

Set-Up Sweeper: Reuniclus if you want to count Trick Room as setup
Non Set-Up Attacker: This can go to a number of things but I'll give a nod to Terrakion because I like it as a Bander. Spec'd/Expert Belt Hydreigon as well if only due to personal bias, but it can deal with Ferrothorn and T-Tar easily whereas Latios cannot.
Wall: Ferrothorn, doesn't need to be explained
Annoyer: Jirachi, also needs no explanation
Spinner: Hitmontop, but it's really the only one I like using anyway. To it's credit though it is fairly easy to get in and do what it needs to do thanks to Intimidate and resisting Rocks.
Phazer: Heatran, good tank in general as well
Underrated Threat: Hippowdon, can take great pain, hit decently hard, recover, support, and has Sand Stream to boot. I know that people have an understandable T-Tar boner but this thing should never to be overlooked.

[Xephyr]

Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite
Non Set-Up Attacker: Terrakion
Wall: Skarmory
Annoyer: Jirachi
Spinner: Starmie
Phazer: Gyarados
Underrated Threat: Gyarados

[Gregar]

Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite. Multiscale+Roost+Dragon Dance+Outrage+Filler is definite destruction!
Non Set-Up Attacker: Either Latios with Specs or Terrakion with band. So essentially one answer for each attack stat.
Wall: Is there another answer than the steel durian Ferrothorn? Fun fact: Durian fruit smells like raw eggs but tastes sweet and creamy. Also, you can't punch a durian without sustaining 12.5% of your health in damage.
Annoyer: ParaShuffle Dragonite or Prankster Sableye. Both are really, really, REALLY annoying. Protip: Red Card on Sableye makes sure you status at least 2 pokemon.
Spinner: Everyone has said Starmie/Hitmontop, I'd like to add Tentacruel. Rain dish+immunty to Toxic Spikes anyway makes it very durable.
Phazer: RestTalk Gyarados or ParaShuffle Dragonite. Skarmory and Heatran get special mentions for being generally awesome and you can splash Whirlwind/Roar on every set.
Underrated Threat: Scarftran. Not all Heatran throw up rocks and shuffle. Special High Five for Sawsbuck, but he's not all that common.

[The LoudWendle]

Originally Posted by Fat bluemon

[B]Set-Up Sweeper: Volcarona
Non Set-Up Attacker: Scizor
Wall: Ferrothorn and skarmbliss
Annoyer: rotom-w
Spinner: starmie
Phazer:skarmory

This is pretty much a standard team. lol.

[OmegaPit]

Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite, a bulky set with Sub and screen support can absolutely destroy teams, if they don't have a phazer it's GG because you're guaranteed DD's and pokes are going to fall just trying to break the subs.
Non Set-Up Attacker: SpecsLatios' Draco Meteors are too powerful to ignore, and once it's tired of it's Specs you can always just trick it onto a wall.
Wall: Gliscor, this bastard can be a serious pain in the arse if you're not ready for it or your counter has fainted. Protect scouts your moves and helps it regain health, toxic to screw over enemy walls and everything else for that matter.
Annoyer: Whimsicott and Sableye, switch in on the stat up move and encore it or in Sableyes case just pick Wow or Toxic. Then you can subseed stall or just stall the other guy out with priority recover.
Spinner: Tentacruel, in rain with rain dish this pokémon is really hard to take down, especially if it has protect. It's bulk allows it to come in and spin easily without worrying about damage something Starmie can't do unless you're running recover. You also have the bonus of sucking up Toxic Spikes.
Phazer: Skarmory, the undisputed phazer. It can take hits, heal up and phaze out the enemy poke and get the entry hazard damage rolling.

[PK Gaming]

Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite (I feel that every other answer given is wrong, even the mighty Volcorona is inferior to Dnite imo)
Non Set-Up Attacker: Terrakion
Wall: Its hard to say, usually you use walls that benefit your team. I'm leaning towards Ferrothorn for being a useful "all purpose" wall.
Annoyer: Rotom-W
Spinner: Starmie
Phazer: Skarmory?
Underrated Threat: Your favorite pokemon to use in BW OU at the moment. Galvantula is pretty viable now that Exca is gone.

[FastFlygon]

Set-Up Sweeper: It is impossible to answer this question with anything other than Dragonite. Multiscale is a godsend and he has a movepool so massive you could cram a Wailord into it.
Non Set-Up Attacker: Gengar is brilliant at weakening teams at the moment. Shadow Ball still hits like a truck even totally unboosted and despite a movepool lacking in great options, he has a number of great sets to beat anything your team lacks.
Wall: This is pretty subjective and depends on the team but Gastrodon is still an absolute boss. Recover+Storm Drain+enough bulk to take any hit it needs to combine for the best slug ever.
Annoyer: Dragonite once again.
Spinner: The only difficult choice on this list. Starmie and Tentacruel are both cool, but Forretress isn't a bad spinner either.
Phazer: Skarmory absolutely and without question. It does it's job better than any other pokemon you can think of and despite lacking any real versatility it is still good enough to inspire offensive teams to seek new and unique methods of defeating it.
Underrated Threat: Staraptor

[jessifer]

Set-Up Sweeper: Volcarona
Non Set-Up Attacker: Latios
Wall: Blissey/Chansey
Annoyer: Jirachi
Spinner: Starmie
Phazer: Skarmory
Underrated Threat: Hail Teams

[Fawfulmk-II]

Set-Up Sweeper:/(tie)

Non Set-Up Attacker:

Wall:/(tie)

Annoyer:(singles), (dubs)


Spinner:(RIP Excadrill!)

Phazer:

Underrated Threat:/(tie)

[Tenodera]

Set-Up Sweeper: Gonna have to go with Bulkarona on this one! It just takes advantage of at least one mon on every team.

Raw Attacker: Although Hydreigon gives plenty of competition, I love Tyranitar. SubPunch or Choice.

Wall: SO STANDAHD! Ferrothorn.

Annoyer: Regigigas (I do not jest) takes the cake but doesn't eat it due to lacking a mouth.

Spinner: This one's hard. Sorry Starmie, I've had more spinning success with Forretress.

Phazer: Zapdos is fun. So is Steelix, but y'know...

Underrated: Staraptor. Scarf makes an excellent lead, and I even run Jolly in order to revenge slightly weakened Scarfed mons or Dragon Dancers.

[Spaniard]

It really depends on the team, but there are my current favourites:


Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite.
Non Set-Up Attacker: Hydreigon.
Wall: Chansey.
Annoyer: I think annoyers are a complete slot waste. If I'm forced to pick then Sableye because at least it spinblocks.
Spinner: Tentacruel.
Phazer: Skarmory.
Underrated Threat: Feraligatr.

[Vader*]

If you guys don't start providing reasoning to your choices I'm gonna have to lock this thread.

[Axmaster68]

I'd just like to post one of these now:

Underrated Threat: Curse Ferrothorn

Running a set of Curse/Power Whip/Gyro Ball/Leech Seed, this guy has made many-a-sweep from 4-1 or 3-1 to a 1-0. The dual attacks allow for great coverage, LS for general annoyance, and Curse to boost Attack, make Thorn more of a physical tank, and the speed drop, which doesn't really matter, with the speed of Ferro. This guy can be a powerful attacker, and one thing everyone should watch out for: Not every Ferro means hazards. I would certainly reccomend it!

[Float Upstream]

Set-Up Sweeper: Haxorus, I have amazing results with running dragon dance and swords dance on the same set. It lets you increase power against threats you already outspeed.
Non Set-Up Attacker: Hitmontop in UU, I run Mach punch, fake out, bullet punch, and sucker punch with a life orb because I love priority and it is amazingly effective.
Wall: Quagsire. Unaware is already a brilliant ability, but with 3 stockpiles under its belt and recover the only things that can stop it are critical hits and ridiculously strong grass moves.
Annoyer: Again, I'll have to go with Quagire. Annoys opponents when it comes down to luck to kill it.
Spinner: Tentacruel. I'm not a big fan of using spinners, but this thing seems to do well against me a lot.
Phazer: Skarmory. Whirlwind, we know how it works.
Underrated Threat: Staraptor, I rarely see this thing in OU, but when I use it I usually get at least 1 KO a game with it.

[voltblizzard]

Set-Up Sweeper: Lucario. Swords dance, Nasty plot, Agility, and moves like Close Combat, Aura Sphere, Crunch, Ice Punch, and Dark Pulse.
Non Set-Up Attacker: Technitop. The Technician Fake-out + Mach Puch combo is devastating.
Wall: Gastrodon. With only one weakness, recover+toxic, and resistances to water, fire, and rock, Gastro is a great wall.
Annoyer: Dragonite. Multiscale, roost, and leftovers makes it frustrating to kill. Parashuffling is even worse, as it can be difficult to touch it while you're team keeps taking hazard damages.
Spinner: Starmie. Easily the best rapid spinner because of its speed, and recover for spikes/rocks and natural cure gets rid of poison.
Phazer: Skarmory. Whirlwind is its primary phazing move, and it gets the job done easily with spikes to wrack up hazard damage and its naturally high defense.
Underrated Threat: Archeops. Even though its ability sucks, it has massive attack, good speed, and the ability to attack slower or paralyzed pokes (usually KOing them) before his ability can activate.

[Honus]

Sorry about half of the sprites being animated and half being static, I couldn't find any animated B/W Icons x-x.


Set-Up Sweeper:
Dragonite
With the advent of multiscale, Dragonite's ability to set up this generation is completely unparalleled. While CM Reuniclus is an amazing sweeper and a very potent threats to Stall Teams, it often finds its sweep stopped short by Jirachi or a clean OHKO at the hands of Choice Band Tyranitar; this is the principal difference between the sweeping abilities of Dragonite and Reuniclus. Dragonite's sweeps are so potent because they can't be ended by an attack that OHKO's Dragonite, as only a handful of moves in the metagame can actually OHKO Dragonite when Multiscale is active. There's also the fact that, Dragonite also has the ability to run many viable moves on Dragon Dance sets, so while you could be expecting the standard set, and send in your Heatran to beat it, Earthquake comes out of nowhere and takes it out, Hurricane does the same to Tangrowth, and SubDD troubles even the most consistent 'counters' to Dragonite's only carrying a Dragon Attack and possibly a fire attack to go along with it. Dragonite's absolute dominance over many walls in the OU Metagame always leads me to consider Tangrowth as my first option when choosing a Physical Wall, when I'm teambuilding, as Tangrowth is one of the few Pokemon that can stand up to the standard set; it walls a ton of other stuff, but that's a huge sell. Dragonite's sheer versatility and the fact that it can set up so easily with Multiscale and its amazing bulk absolutely solidify it as the best setup sweeper of BW OU, in my mind.

Non Set-Up Attacker:
Terrakion

Had to give this to my boy Terrakion, or rather, his Choice Band set. Choice Band Terrakion is by far one of the most powerful Pokemon in the tier, and his astonishing strength is backed by a respectable 346 Speed with Max EVs/Jolly, allowing it to outspeed a good amount of the tier while beating them down via its powerful STAB Attacks. Speaking of STAB Attacks, Terrakion's CB Close Combat is absolutely insane and even 2HKOs Pokemon that resist it, like Zapdos [Offensive], without any need for Stealth Rock on the field, while Stone Edge provides even more potent STAB to round out Terrakion's coverage nicely in conjunction with X-Scissor and Earthquake/Quick Attack. In addition to all of this, Justified is a very underrated ability, if Terrakion comes in on a Crunch or another Dark attack, then there are only a handful of Pokemon that can expect to survive the impending attack afterwards, Terrakion is that powerful. Terrakion is also one of the better Scarfers in the metagame, hitting a higher speed than even Garchomp, while maintaining a beneficial Attack stat of 357 with a full EV Investment. Again, Justified helps the Scarf set a lot as well, as you basically have a Choice Band Terrakion after the Scarf Set gets hit with a Dark Type move, except it has a Speed Stat of 519 [again, assuming 252/Jolly].

Wall:
Tangrowth

I already gave Tangrowth a mention in the bit about Dragonite, but I feel that I should expand on why he's arguably the best physical wall in OU. I do realize that the title is "wall", so I'll just give the title of best "Special Wall" to Blissey and continue on about Tangrowth. Anyhow, Tangrowth received the amazing ability Regenerator via Dream World, allowing it to get multiple chances to take down a threat, or just get its health back in general, which in some cases, is more beneficial than a move like Recover. While Tangrowth may not have the greatest defensive typing, it boasts a Base 100 HP Stat and a Base 125 Defense stat, giving it nearly unrivaled Physical bulk, too. Tangrowth also has the ability to "hit back" and with a base 100 Attack Stat and Base 100 Special Attack, does so well. Between Power Whip/Giga Drain, Hidden Power [Ice] and Earthquake, it's going to be quite hard for a Pokemon actually set up on Tangrowth without losing a large chunk of its HP, and Leech Seed adds pressure, Sleep Powder is yet another potent tool that Tangrowth uses to halt sweeps. All in all, Tangrowth is just so amazing and reliable, I always find myself making sound plays with it and its survivability is amazing. If you already haven't, take Tangrowth for a test drive.

Annoyer:
Rotom-W
No Pokemon rivals Rotom-W in its ability to be annoying. Rotom's amazing defensive typing and powerful dual STAB make it a force to be reckoned with on both the offensive and defensive side of the spectrum. In addition to this, Rotom-W rips through Stall and Offensive teams alike by forming what is one of the greatest tandems in the metagame with Scizor and spamming Volt Switch like there's no tomorrow, while Scizor takes care of what Rotom doesn't. If it didn't get any worse, Rotom also carries Will O Wisp, which cripples Pokemon that would otherwise tank its attacks and then beat it, like Specially Defensive Choice Band Tyranitar and building up residual on Pokemon like Gastrodon all the same. Finally, Rotom can totally turn the tides on a situation with Pain Split, annoying the likes of many Pokemon that were previously at full health, especially Blissey, which loses a nice 50% of its health to Rotom and ends up having to waste some of Softboiled's PP.

Spinner:
Starmie
I think Starmie retains its spot as the premier spinner this generation, it's offensive capabilities as a spinner are unparalleled now that Excadrill is gone, and it beats the majority of Spinblockers out there. Starmie is also in an excellent speed tier and gets good coverage with Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt/Ice Beam, although the former is usually better on a dedicated spinner due to the fact that it beats Jellicent. In addition to this, Starmie gets access to Recover, while it's not bulky by any means, this certainly comes in useful, as many other Spinners can't heal off the damage they take from incoming Entry Hazards.

Phazer:
Skarmory

I'd say that Skarmory deserves the title of "Best Phazer" in OU, although it isn't able to stop Baton Pass teams like Dragon Tail Dragonite, it's Phazing is just so effective, that it wouldn't be wise not to call it the Best Phazer. With its amazing Physical Defense and access to the revamped Sturdy, it's able to get a sometimes crucial Whirlwind off on so many threats, something not every Pokemon can do. Not only that, but Skarmory's Whirlwind just becomes so much more threatening with the Spikes that it lays. Phazing a threat is beneficial in itself, but Phazing a threat and having that same Pokemon take 25% residual? Yes please. Skarmory is just such a potent user of Whirlwind and almost always seems able to use it, it's ability to Phaze so well is certainly one of the selling points it has over other Physical Walls. While it may be hard to call a Pokemon the "Best Phazer", due to the nature of Phazing moves, Skarmory's ability to Whirlwind with ease, in tandem with the Spikes it bombards the opponent with, solidify it as the "Most Effective" Phazer in the OU Metagame.

Underrated Threat:

Durant
As much as Sharpedo is deserving of this, I think it's time the Hustla' spends some time in the spotlight. Durant is so powerful it's incredible, it has an adorable 109 Base Speed, allowing it to outspeed a good portion of the tier, as well as nearly edge past the Muskateers and Infernape. With a Jolly Nature and a 252 EV Investment, Durant hits an attack stat of 475, thanks to Hustle. While most of its attacks [Stone Edge in particular] have a good chance of missing initially, Durant kicks it into hyperdrive after a Hone Claws boost, retaining its lost Accuracy and boosting its Attack Stat up to 712. Durant also has the Defense to shrug off a Physical Hit and can disregard Status that would otherwise hinder it by holding a Lum Berry. I've always found Durant to be an underrated sweeper with amazing potential, and while it may be "gimmicky", it's one of the few offensive Pokemon I love to play with, due to it's sheer power and Speed Tier to pull off a feasible sweep.

[Spaniard]

Originally Posted by Fat Vader

If you guys don't start providing reasoning to your choices I'm gonna have to lock this thread.

What is wrong with a post making only a list of your favourites? I could write pages trying to convince why x is the best pokemon out there and you could still argue. There's not such a pokemon that is always superior to the others (team synergy, usage trends, metagame).

We all know what most pokemon do. Why waste time explaining how tentacruel works when we all already know? What use would that be?

The way I see it, this is just a opinion thread, not a strategy discussion one.

[TM13IceBeam]

Originally Posted by Fat rules for posting in DST in that announcement at the top

6. Please keep threads competitive in nature. There are a few exceptions to the rule such as in-game challenges, like the Scramble Challenge.

@vader: do you mean this

[Taylor]

I feel it is fair if I showcase what I believe to be the best but also for team synergy as well as power, execution and general support for the teams momentum.

Set-Up Sweeper: Lucario

~ lucario laughs at residual damage from sandstorm and sr damage, he can switch in using his resistances and seeing as though spikes is not easy to just scatter around so easily, lucario can take advantage of any given moment and pose a wicked threat with its raw power.

Non Set-Up Attacker: Salamence

~ salamence gives your team the ability to experiment with and assemble your invidiual pokemon with finely-tuned movesets because its standard mixed set covers so much of the metagame, it wins you ohkos when it shows up and allows your team to be creatively offensive.

Wall: Ferrothorn

~ ferrothorns typing and genuinely high defenses is why it can hold out for any team it is placed on and leave a mark. he hits as hard as he covers up with iron barbs, paralysis/leech seed and using protect to restore its hp. setting up stealth rock and spikes and the ability to curse its way to levels metagross dreams of reaching means its that good in such a metagame where it seems to hold its weight superbly well.

Annoyer: Jirachi/Rotom-W

~ both these pokemon work on alsorts of teams because theyre so diverse; you know that they'll deliver your team some sort of problem and you find yourself looking to avoid falling into a "trap" so to speak. they can both paralyze; one takes full advantage while the other can opt to burn physical threats whilst focusing its evs in to sponge special attacks better. jirachi has access to calm mind (less notably, sets up stealth rock and wields wish to restore hp; rotom-w relies on the less reliable but all principles considered, pain split, with which rotom-w can utilize rather well, while rotom-w's hydro pump, in common rain conditions, hits astonishingly hard and yet it is also supported with stab electric moves to boot.

Spinner: Smeargle/Forretress

~ smeargle does gets rapid spin, and can use it because its moveset should be designed to effectively ensure spore is successful, which techinically leaves you a free turn to rapid spin; though funnily enough, in this case switching will remove your focus sash and therefore this sentence holds no bearing whatsoever. ~o~ that aside, forretress would be my ideal spinner in most cases because it has the survivabilty to remain present and to top off what forre brings to the team, volt change allows it to escape from magnezone.

Phazer: Skarmory

~ skarmory has been around since generation 3 and though it starts off slowly, the metagame finds his typing and movepool to abuse its walling traits to the maximum. you can stack sdef and still mock choice banded outrages all the way back to roosting them off. it is so easy to set spikes on the field whilst simultaneously phazing your team inside-out.

Underrated Threat: Scrafty

~ Scrafty (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 212 HP / 44 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Crunch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch

~ not that scrafty is underrated for what we know it is capable of doing, it's the fact that on paper, its moveset looks like a godsend from where most of us are sitting because it seems like it could do so much. the fighting weakness hinders scrafty-designed teams from really getting off the benchmark.

[dragonmaster951753]

Set-Up Sweeper: Arceus.... oh wait OU lol, espeon -_- Simply because phazing it is hard, and you can't taunt it. Dragonite is good but espeon is harder to get off the field once it starts setting up
Non Set-Up Attacker: banded dragonite. It takes out a lot of its common DD set's counters with a banded outrage and hazards, quite the threat.
Wall: mixed vaporeon in the rain. Its incredibly hard to take down and if someone tries setting up on it, it roars them away and can either burn or toxic its foes to death.
Annoyer: rotom-w & gliscor, they are just super annoying and everywhere
Spinner: Starmie, being able to be an offensive threat while supporting the team with removing hazards. It can restore its own health and doesn't have to rely on the weather to do so.
Phazer: Skarmory, its the only pokemon i can think of that always reliably can phaze something away, despite its boost, thanks to sturdy.
Underrated Threat: Specs jolteon, it make an amazing check almost counter to thundurus, and can outspeed most pokemon and sweep with STAB thunderbolt/thunder, late game. Losing a ground type means jolt can lol over teams.

[shrang]

Set-Up Sweeper: Dragonite / Lucario
Non Set-Up Attacker: Terrakion / Scizor
Wall: Skarmory / Blissey
Annoyer: Ferrothorn / Jirachi
Spinner: Tentacruel
Phazer: Skarmory
Underrated Threat: WOBBUFFET / Kyurem