Drugs Kill (Gen IV OU Offensive)

The goal of this team is have 5 very potent offensive threats that share no common weaknesses, it accomplishes just that with the following:








Caffeine (Azelf) @ Colbur Berry Trait: Levitate
EVs: 8 HP / 140 Atk / 144 SDef / 216 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Explosion

This lead is apparently becoming a standard, it appears to be a pretty good lead, standing up to common threats of the standard Azelf. It can get Stealth Rocks out against anything that it's faster than and usually guarantee that they do not. If it sees a Taunt from a faster lead, U-turn to anything that can dispose of it.


Nicknamed "Caffeine" because he gets the team going.





Crack (Scizor) (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Scizor has always been one of my favorite sweepers. Jolly nature allows it to always outspeed a nonscarfed Magnezone and OHKO it with Superpower. The rest of the moves are pretty self explanatory. U-turn for scouting, Pursuit for Ghosts that are revenge killed with this beast, Bullet Punch is STAB+Priority. It is no surprise that this little bug has held the number 1 spot in OU for quite some time until that lavadome passed it.


Nicknamed "Crack" because he's a rock.



LSD (Starmie) @ Life Orb Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Recover


Naturally bulky sweeper: Starmie. Hydro Pump is for STAB of course. Thunderbolt can deal with Gyarados, Grass Knot for Swampert. I think the combonation of Recover and Life Orb is the optimal balance between power and survivability. Really not much to say here. I chose not to use Rapid Spin because I could not find a spot to put it in.

Nicknamed "LSD" because he is trippy to say the least





Opium (Dragonite) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Roost


This is most sweeping oriented Dragonite that I could warrant using. Dragonite is possibly the bulkiest Pokemon on this team, barring Starmie. He is my switch in for Heatrans which run rampant, and he can set up with ease against them as long as they don't have Dragon Pulse... If they do, I'm pretty screwed. Roost allows me to get as many Dragon Dances in without fearing the Life Orb's damage. Dragon Dance and Earthquake provide perfect coverage except for Levitating/Flying Steel Types.


Nicknamed "Opium" because there is a slang term of Chasing the Dragon which means to do opium.





Xenical (Snorlax) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 188 HP / 104 Def / 216 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Curse
- Body Slam
- Fire Punch
- Rest


Slowest of my team of sweepers. He is bulky enough to get away with it. Snorlax doubles as a Special Wall which counters Suicune (who he walls) and other threats to my team that Starmie doesn't quite dispose of. He should be my last out, so he can get as many Curses in as possible until he is near invincible. Rest should allow him to clear himself of whatever status the enemy tried to throw. Body Slam and Fire Punch provide good coverage. Body Slam has a chance at Paralyzing the enemy which makes the kill even simpler. Fire Punch hits the Steel that resist Body Slam. Heatran seems to wall this, but cannot kill it under normal circumstances.

Nicknamed "Xenical" beacuse Xenical is a weight loss drug.





Pot (Infernape) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Blaze
EVs: 248 Atk / 64 SAtk / 196 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge

Infernape always swept my old teams, so I decided to try it out. He's great, but fragile... as are most of my Pokemon. Infernape is more or less my last resort sweeper before Snorlax is sent out, if all else fails Infernape goes out. I haven't used an Infernape in quite a while (last time was around 2007/2008). I decided on the Mixed varient after a rater suggested it. It allows me to take out Bronzong/Skarmory with ease. The remaining 3 attacks are physical and can take care of Blisseys, Tyranitars, Gyarados, etc.


Nicknamed "Pot" because his ability is Blaze.

Well that's my team...

Switches
Lead Zapdos -> Lead Azelf
NP Azelf -> SpecsStarmie
NP Porygon-Z -> CurseSnorlax
SpecsStarmie -> LOStarmie
LOScizor -> CBScizor
Extremespeed->Roost (Dragonite)
Return/Thunderpunch/Crunch -> Body Slam/Fire Punch/Rest (Snorlax)
SDInfernape -> MixInfernape


Retired Members

Well, you say Azelf is not bulky enough, according to you, and quite a comparable Pokémon, movepoolwise, is Jirachi, though it's slower and not as strong. You can try out an offensive Calm Mind set, seeing as you like stat-boosting. It does bring an extra Fire-weakness to the team, but if you can get around that, it might work.

Cool team.

Rating upon request by OP. This seems like a pretty decent team you have here, as you're implementing a unique play style and strategy while also incorporating a couple of cool new sets (Zapdos for example). I admire the creativity and deviation you used to construct this team, but I see it having both major and minor problems with a a plethora of Pokemon. Nearly any set-up sweeper can cause heavy damage to your team if it can set up as you lack reliable means of revenge killing; most notably, dragon dancers like Gyarados, Dragonite and Tyranitar seem to be your team's foremost problems as in my view they seem to be the most lethal given they set up. Other Pokemon like offensive Infernape and Lucario also seem to present formidable threats, the former being able to punch large holes into your team even before setting up swords dance or nasty plot.

To remedy these problems, I'm going to be suggesting a couple of changes which may interfere with the team's play style, but in my opinion they will be significantly beneficial. First of all, I suggest replacing your lead; I like the creativity you're using but a baton passer seems unnecessary on such a team, so I'll suggest a more suitable lead which will be able to get stealth rock down, which will help better the efficiency of your sweepers; the lead will also be able to start the battle with momentum, upon which your sweepers can easily set up. I recommend replacing Zapdos with a lum berry Metagross for all of the aforementioned reason and also due to the fact that it can easily deal with many of today's common leads.

Along with the removal of Zapdos and addition of Metagross, I also suggest your remove one of your sweepers for a revenge killer which will help keep up your team's momentum throughout the battle allowing your Pokemon to freely sweep. I would suggest replacing Azelf as it seems to be the weakest link, although you're free to try this change on any of your other offensively orientated Pokemon. Personally, I would choose Flygon to be your revenge killer as it can revenge kill a large array of threateing Pokemon, while also having the capability of keeping up momentum through U-Turn, although if you're not satisfies with Flygon, choice scarf Jirachi can be used instead, as it is also able to revenge kill a large array of opposing Pokemon while simultaneously keeping up momentum through U-Turn. Although if you opt for Jirachi, I recommend using Thunder Punch somewhere as this will allow you to revenge kill Pokemon like dragon dance Gyarados as well as offensive Suicune, both of which give your team problems. I hope this has helped, and good luck!

Rating upon request, I sort of agree with Aerrow in that the team idea isn't always going to work as well as you might think. You might try forgoing the idea of speed passing and trying just to simply run a more offensive team. I'll tell you how I might go about that while simultaneousnessly changing as little as possible.

Firstly, try switching Azelf and Zapdos' sets. NP Azelf is hardly ever effective, especially when you consider that it's walled by the most common Pokemon in OU. Colbur Azelf is a good lead nowadays for an offensive team such as this, and you DEFINTELY, DEFINITELY DEFINITELY need rocks if you want to try setting any kind of sweep. Azelf almost always gets them up, except against stupid leads like Electrode or Aerodactyl. In Zapdos' position, you have a myriad of options, but in keeping with the theme of the team, Offensive Zapdos is surprisingly potent in the current metagame, people hate Zapdos' power electric moves and the only common Pokemon that can stop these gets slaughtered by HP Ice. Zapdos also stops your current Gyarados weakness rather nicely.

Aerrow also suggested Scarf Flygon, which I'd highly recommend, except over Porygon-z. The metagame today has so much priority and with speedy revenge killers already running rampant, trying to get a Porygonz sweep is going to be difficult, even with the ridiculous speed passes. He's also so frail that even getting the time to boost up is going to be an issue, and more often than not I think you'll find him a dead weight. Flygon patches up many of your problems with set up sweepers, and U turn will absolutely come in handy for a momentum-centered team such as this.

That's all I can suggest, sorry for changing around so much. I sincerely think this will and hope this does help!

Ok, so I understand I should add a Revenge Killer to my team.
If I add Flygon I'll have 2 Ice/Dragon Weaknesses.
Would ScarfStarmie be effective as a Revenge Killer? It seems to only have a problem with Suicunes.

A way I can see to remedy this is to put in a ThunderPunching Curse Snorlax in place of Porygon-Z.

This would make the team consist of
Azelf/Metagross/Jirachi (Lead)
Scizor
Starmie
Dragonite
Snorlax
Infernape

Opinions?

For your reason behind calling Infernape 'Pot', why not put because his ability is BLAZE? ;D

Cool team though, already looks better after the changes you've made. Question, why ThunderPunch on Snorlax? I know you said it's for Suicune, but I think either Earthquake or Fire Punch would be much better in that slot if you're going for Curse + 3 attacks. Your current set means that basically any steel Pokémon comes in and walls you all day long before you accumulate enough boosts to deal with the problem at hand. Dropping ThunderPunch for Earthquake allows you to nail all those steel types (except for Skarmory and Bronzong) that try to ruin your fun for at least neutral damage. Fire Punch is a weaker option, but it does get the super effective hits on Skarmory and Bronzong, but still leaves you walled by the most used steel type, Heatran. Alternatively in that slot, you could consider Rest as an option. If Snorlax is your last Pokémon and therefore cannot be phazed out, Rest is essential to the set. You can Curse all the way up without worries, then Rest off all status and damage you take and proceed to sweep. Also, it's worth considering Body Slam instead of Return. While weaker in base power, that 30% paralsys chance on a team with no other status inducers could come in handy, but that is entirely a matter of personal opinion.

tl;dr - Drop ThunderPunch for either Eathquake/Fire Punch to hit steels, or Rest to make Snorlax a much stronger endgame sweeper.

HI MXIIA, this looks like a decent offensive team. One issue that I'd like to point out is that you may want to consider cutting down on your number of stat-up sweepers. This is a pretty common problem that pops up on offensive teams, sometimes leaving you open to opposing threats. Your team is quite good attacking-wise, but it suffers a bit defensively. For example, Fighting-types like Lucario and Infernape can be pretty problematic late-game, considering the former can basically set up for free on Snorlax and proceed to 6-0 your team, while the latter forces you to rely on a choiced Starmie as your only precaution.

To begin with, I'd like to suggest a couple of fairly minor changes to your Pokemon's sets. Starmie would likely be better off running the defensive set below.

[box]
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin
- Recover[/box]
Specs Starmie is a hard hitter, but it doesn't have much survivability and reqiures a lot of correct predictions to use successfully. This set gives you a better answer to Infernape and Gyarados, while providing helpful team support in the form of Rapid Spin. Additionally, Recover keeps you healthy over the long run. For Snorlax, definitely replace Thunderpunch with Fire Punch. A Fire-type attack is much more useful for Snorlax, as it gives you extra coverage against Steels that would otherwise wall you completely. Finally, you could try out Choice Scarf Scizor in place of your current set to fix up your Lucario issues. Your team already has a pretty strong offensive presence, so an extra stat booster may not be necessary. Scarf Scizor helps to trap threats like Gengar and opposing Starmie, opening up opportunities for Infernape to sweep through. Additionally, it can use Superpower to check SD Lucario.

Good luck!

Hi MXIIA,

This looks like a decent team so far. When I first looked at your 6 members, I assumed X had Y set, although when I took a closer look, most of the sets I thought were efficient turned out to not be on the team. So, simply put, I don't think you have to change anything drastic, but rather, you should focus on making your sets better for the current metagame. First off, I think Scizor should be a Choice Band variant rather than your current SD Variant. The reason for this is simple, in that you could use a psuedo-revenge killer and CB Scizor's bulk is a great pivot point for an offensive team like this.

The 2nd change deals with what Faladran suggested. Specs Starmie is a creative idea, but it's definitely not a good revenge killer. Also, part of what makes Starmie great is that if one of its moves is resisted, it usually has a move that is super effective to deal with the Pokemon that resisted it's earlier move. To remedy this, a simple change from Specs to Life Orb would be greatly beneficial.

The next change is a pretty small one, and that is to give Dragonite Roost instead of ExtremeSpeed. Since Dragonite with that EV spread is meant to shrug off a couple hits, there's no reason not to maximize it's survivability.

Ok, the next change deals with Snorlax, and like Dragonite it's purely a move variation. I think you should definitely run Rest and Fire Punch instead of Crunch and ThunderPunch. Rest is a good move because it will allow you to Curse more than you would regularly use the move because you can recover health. It also make's you quite the problem for Stall teams to deal with because they rely on phazing Stat-uppers like Snorlax in order to beat them. Fire Punch is mainly a coverage move, and it allows you to defeat, or at least weaken Steels like Skarmory.

The last change is to turn SD Infernape into Mix Infernape. TBH, Mix is just a better set. Infernape almost never finds the time to get an SD, and never reliably; plus your team could use some wall breaking power.

Here are the sets:

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Bullet Punch
- Uturn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

---------

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Sp Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Nature: Timid
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- ThunderBolt
- Rapid Spin

-------

Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Roost

-------------

Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 188HP / 104 Def / 216 Sp Def
Nature: Careful
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Fire Punch
- Rest

------

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Sp Atk
Nature: Jolly
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch
- Stone Edge

Click to expand...

Good luck with your team!