A Dragonite Team FINALLY!

[CelticBlastoise]

Team DRAGONITE (FINALLY!)

Dragonite the original Garchomp, the original Salamence, and now finally it is back on top as the supreme dragon Pokemon for OU. I have waited since the Latias ban for Salamence to finally be out of the picture. No more “you can use Dragonite if you want but it is “outclassed” by Salamence.” Now I can finally no longer be ridiculed for a team based on my favorite Pokemon! With that I present team DRAGONITE! (Standard 2v2 battle)
Changes are BOLDED

TEAM BUILDING PROCESS

Of Course my team has to include Dragonite that is the whole point :D.

Next is the need for a wall, I’m not much for Blissey so I chose Snorlax.

A bulky water is essential to just about any team, Suicune anyone?

Next I need my two leads; something that combined has excellent coverage. Gengar and Mamoswine.

Finally I need something to pull my team together basically a Wall Breaker Infernape

Party:

Gengar @Expert Belt
Ability: Levitate
EV's: 252 Spe/ 252 SpA/ 4 HP
Nature: Timid
- Substitute
- Shadowball
- Thunderbolt
- Pain Split
Standard concept for a Gengar with a little move pool twist. Life Orb is essential to a good offensive Gengar. Hypnosis just for the sheer annoyance of it, but I am wondering if another attack might serve better in this spot. Shadowball to deal with the common Azelf lead is a nice STAB move that deals a fair amount of damage to most types. Thunderbolt is great to take care of Gyrados and at least dent a Vaporeon. I hope that Gengar is able to take out most Starmies before it has a chance to sweep but I haven’t run into that many of them as of yet. Giga is used when it can be to restore, if only a little, the damage done by life orb. I have found that it works wonders if anyone is using a Rhyperior because they don’t normally see a Gengar with Giga Drain. Speed and Special Attack EV’s for maximum sweeping ability.
Changed my creative move set to old reliable. Substitute Pain Split makes Gengar a vicous sweeper. Thanks to ginganinja, Shizzle, and scarloc. Gengar is one of my two leads for Double Battle.

Mamoswine @Focus Shash
Ability: Snow Cloak
EV's: 252 Att/ 252 Spe/ 4 Def
Nature: Adamant
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavour
Mamoswine is one of my two leads in this team. Protect gives me a free turn to stop a lead Infernape from using any fire move. Ice Shard is probably the greatest asset of Mamoswine, its priority allows it take a chunk out of any dragon or flying type. Earthquake is a perfect move to use in conjunction with Gengars Levitate ability. Stone Edge is a great move and is on nearly every team, but I do not find myself using it all that much so I’m looking for other options. The Muscle Band adds as a perfect complement to the 252 Attack EV’s and maxing out speed on Jolly is essentially a given. If the off chance I run into a Hail Team Snow Cloak is useful and I’ll take that over the Oblivious ability. This Mamoswine is able to take on the half Steels in Jirachi and Heatran well with timed protects and an Earthquake than Ice Shard if need be. I really think Mamoswine deserves more credit as a lead because while its typing isn’t superb its stats and move pool more than makes up for it.
With this move set and EV spread Mamoswine looks more like a lead, thanks to Shizzle. Mamoswine is the other lead on my team for double battle.

Dagonite @Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EV: 252 HP/ 52 Att/ 204 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Roost
Dragonite is the center point of this team. Dragon dance once or twice if possible. Between Outrage and Earthquake every Pokemon should be at least faint with two hits. I actually prefer the strength of Aqua Tail over the accuracy of Waterfall. This guy has been my trusty side kick since the days of Pokemon Blue. Lum Berry to cure the confusion from Outrage. The EV Spread is fairly simple. Dragonite lacks some initial speed. I’m wondering if Roost would be better in place of Aqua Tail because it does not get used anywhere near as often as Outrage or Earthquake. With Dragonite I am able to counter Flygon, Jarachi, Hetran, and many other late game sweepers.
Replaced Aqua Tail with Roost to be able to recover instead of having a filler move that did not really get used much. Thanks to Shizzle for the EV distribution and Nature fixes.

Snorlax @Chesto Berry
Ability: Thick Fat
EV's: 252HP/ 252 Att/ 4 Def
Nature: Adamant
- Rest
- Body Slam
- Curse
- Fire Punch
Snorlax can be and possibly is the most annoying Pokemon to deal with. The potential as a wall is only amplified by the Curse factor. The goal is to use Curse until HP gets low use Rest and have the Chesto Berry wake him up. Curse again until HP is low or until maxed and then use Crunch or Rest/Sleep Talk. I have found that Snorlax can have a problem with Machamp using Dynamic Punch or even Cross Chop. I hope that by the time Snorlax is out the Machamp leads have already been taken care of. MixApe has also done some damage with Close Combat, but Infernape is countered by almost every member of my team. The EV spread is fairly common for a Snorlax. Max out the Special Defense and be generous with the HP.
EV change to allow it to more offensive and suit my team. Fire Punch is for the steel types and Body Slam for STAB and paralysis factor. Thanks to Scimjara.

Suicune @Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EV's: 252 HP/ 252Def/ 4 Spe
Nature: Bold
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Toxic
- HP Electric
Suicune is most effective when you look at all the bulky waters. I was tired of the basic and predictable Swampert set. Substitute and Lefovers is nothing new and I think Suicune is underrated. Calm Mind to raise stats and then sweep with Ice Beam and Surf. With just these two moves I am able to take out Infernape, Zapdos, Dragonite, and Togekiss to name a few. The EV spread adds bulk to Suicunes outstanding defenses and 200 Special Attack for added sweeping potential. Not to mention doesn't Suicune just look cool?
DD Gyrados was a big threat on this team so the HP Electric is a nice change and can also deal with the Starmie problem as well. Toxic is a great annoyer, thanks to Shizzle ginganinja and to Scimjara.

Infernape @Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Spe/ 252 SpA/ 4 HP
Nature: Niave
- Grass Knot
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- U-Turn
For Infernape I wanted it to be able counter and revenge kill a lot of different threats. Grass Knot works wonders on Swamperts. Close Combat breaks Blissey and Snorlax and also easily takes care of Porygon Z as a bonus, not to mention the fact that Infernapes duel typing makes this a STAB move. Fire Blast for the STAB base power AND burn factor that is just too many pluses to resist over the more accurate Flamethrower. I like having the U-Turn “just in case factor” because Infernape is taken out with ease by a Vaporeon who can last a Grass Knot. I’m not sure if Infernape is the best revenge killer for this team, but it always seems to come in handy. (Hates stealth rock though >:( )
So Gengar and Infernape switched items to give it the ever important Life Orb. Nature change so I don't take away any power from Close Combat. Thanks to EVERYONE for Infernape help.

Overall:
I like this team because of its power and its creative use of defense. The Gengar and Mamoswine leads work well together and is able to deal with most leads. I like Dragonite as focal point and this team has had relatively good success. I would say the main threats are Trick Room tends to be a problem as well as well timed uses of either Gyrados or Heatran.
Thanks too everyone for their comments and ideas!! It was much appreciated!!!

 

[ginganinja]

Hi, welcome to Smogon.

Firstly can you put your lead first as its currently difficult for me to find out what you are leading with. (its Mammoswine right?)

First I can really see Starmie causing you issues. Pretty much everthing you have it outspeed and KO'ed by it short of Snorlax. To this end I believe that a Sub + DD Kingdra over your Suicune fits very well. It can switch into pokemon such as Starmie and set up on them. In essence it still doing a similar job to Suicune but with an offensive mindset.

Also you are not "countering" Flygon and Jirachi with your Dragonite. By definition a counter is something that can switch in on a pokemon with little or no risk to itself. This is why Jolteon is not a gyarados counter, rather a possiable check for it. Therefore Scarf Jirachi and Scarf Flygon still beat your Dragonite set with ease.

I am not really sure what Mammoswine is doing so I will sugest a Mixpert lead over Mammoswine since it sets up SR for your team which you currently lack.

Next your Gengar set is interesting but with Hypnosis's 60% chance to hit I would prefer you tried something else. Substitute should be tried over Hypnosis and Focus Blast over Giga Drain. Giga Drain has little real use in OU and if you are facing Rhyperior commonly then perhapes your team needs to get a little highier on the ladder.

Just my 2 cents, Will do a full rate later if I have time.

Have a Nice Day!

 

[scarloc]

hi,
your teams seems to be rather offensive with things like DDNITE, Infernape, Mamoswine etc. Because of this, i think that you don't really need to treat snoralx like a wall. offensive teams are made for quickly defeating opponents and minimizing prediction which is a mjor problem for all battlers. So i would replace rest with selfdestruct as it means your Snorlax can wall in the late or mid game, then explode(or destruct) against one of your opponents heavy attackers (e.g. specs porygonz).
as ginganinja said, your gengar set isn't very good. Energy ball over giga drain if you really want a grass type move since giga drains HP restore factor is useless for something as frail as Gengar. Hypnosis should be used with substitute otherwise, if you miss, it's over. With a sub up, you can be more daring. If you don't want to lose two move slots, then try standard life orb gengar

 

[Shizzle]

If you could present this nicer, it would be better, by that I mean keeping the entire text [bar headings] in size 2 font, and listing your Lead first. Not sure why you have "2 Leads", as a Lead is generally tainted to be a lead, changing its role on a team. So basically you are a lead, or you aren't.

I will assume that Mamoswine is your Lead. Firstly, you need Focus Sash, and I mean NEED, otherwise you get OHKOd by just about every common lead out there. The moveset for a lead is rather silly, Stone Edge doesn't exactly help your cause either, and Protect isn't helping much either. Use the following Move spread, Ice Shard/Earthquake/StealthRock, and for your last move, use Endeavour or Toxic, both work great against bulky leads such as Swampert, as well as severely hurting possible switch ins.

On Infernape, I cannot stress enough how much Life Orb is needed, he quite literally needs LO to get the KOs he needs, otherwise many of his checks become counters, and he will lack the power to get through some walls. Also a Naive nature is better, Infernape's huge bonus in OU is outspeeding base 100s who really dominate the game, running a Modest nature is rather useless, not to mention it cuts your attack, thus a weakened Close Combat. In regard to the EVs, running Max Speed will have no effect, other than outspeeding other Infernapes, so a spread of 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe

Your Gengar set is extremely strange, and you should realise that using Shadow Ball / Focus Blast grants you all the coverage you need, and Giga Drain is a pathetic move, only useful against Swampert, and Thunderbolt does the job against bulky waters much better. Also you may want a Substitute user, considering that Gengar can force lots of switches, a SubPainSplit variant, using the same EVs and ShadowBall/FocusBlast/PainSplit/Substitute may work better. Although a Sub LO set with Thunderbolt/FocusBlast/ShadowBall could work too.

On Dragonite, the spread you have given is rather pointless, why reach 284 speed? In fact, why run a Jolly nature? Running an Adamant set and 204 EVs will allow you to outspeed not only Max Speed Starmie after a single Dragon Dance, but also CS Tyranitar. So you could run a set like this, 252 Atk / 52 Def / 204 Spe or 252 HP / 52 Atk / 204 Spe, the reason I put the leftover EVs into Def, is because Scizor is likely to be your revenge killer [although don't hold me to that, as his usage is likely to plummet, only time will tell, if Scizor's usage does drop, then change the Def EVs to SpD]. Also Aqua Tail, what does it do? Nothing to be honest, Fire Punch or Roost would be better here, as it allows you to heal off residual damage. I personally prefer Dragon Claw over Outrage, as on Dragonite, you have the ability to set up more Dragon Dances easier thanks to natural bulk, and with Stealth Rock damage, Dragon Claw should be doing enough, just as an example, with Stealth Rock up, and after one Dragon Dance, with 52 Atk EVs and an Adamant nature, you have a 74% chance to OHKO 0/0 Starmie, who is another popular revenge killer. Also Dragonite does not counter either Flygon or Jirachi, as both are known to carry Outrage/Ice Punch respectively, and they both outspeed you after a Dragon Dance if they carry Choice Scarf.

Change Suicune to a Physical Wall set, you need some Physical Bulk on this team, and another Sweeper isn't helping when you already have a team full of scary threats. A set similar to this should do the job:
Suicune @ Leftovers
Bold - Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Moves:
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Toxic / Rest
~Hidden Power [Electric] / Sleep Talk

And God forbid, I cannot even comprehend a worse set for Snorlax. Crunch has terrible coverage, and even leaves your team even more weak to Machamp. Crunch has the most pathetic typing for an offensive move when its not STABd on a mono attacker. Lets see, Scizor, Lucario, Infernape, all of which beat you, and Crunch does lol damage to them. You don't need another set up pokemon, but rather something that can cripple opposing fast pokemon that can threaten Dragonite's sweep late game. So here, I recommend a FlinchHaxJirachi, simply to weaken the other team, and also to spread Paralysis, while also being to Wish Pass effectively to Dragonite, as Dragonite resists both of Jirachi's weaknesses.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Impish - Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 76 SpD / 32 Spe
Moves:
~ Wish
~ U-turn
~ Body Slam / Thunder Wave
~ Iron Head / Ice Punch

Good luck with the team!

 

[Toby]

If you could present this nicer, it would be better, by that I mean keeping the entire text [bar headings] in size 2 font, and listing your Lead first. Not sure why you have "2 Leads", as a Lead is generally tainted to be a lead, changing its role on a team. So basically you are a lead, or you aren't.

The guy clearly states this team is for 2v2 battling.

 

[Slingshot279]

This team is very well made and thought out. I hate to write so little but the only thing I can find wrong with this team is Infernape with Expert Belt. If you do not like the recoil I understand, but Life Orb can help him deal out a significant amount of damage when compared to Expert Belt.
Just some advice,

~Slingshot279

 

[Scimjara]

Hello Celtic Blastoise.

Interesting team you have there, I have a few suggestions that may help your team out. Many of the move sets could be changed.

After looking through your rmt gyarados poses as one of the biggest threats for this team. A dragon dance gyarados with +1 can sweep this entire team. Gengar is the only pokemon who has a super effective move but gets out speed and ohko'd by waterfall after one dragon dance. Relax with the big font and when you make a future rmt try putting the pokemon in your team in order starting with the lead not the pokemon you decided to base the team around. Assuming that mamoswine is your lead you shouldn't use muscle band instead use focus sash endeavor set Shizzle suggested.

I don't understand your snorlax move set you use chesto berry on rest+sleep talk. Then what is the point of using sleep talk? That just limits your coverage and you only use crunch as your attack. Which leaves you walled by scizor and infernape and you still wont do any damage to neutral pokemon with crunch's poor attack base stat. So you would be better of using rest / curse / body slam / fire punch set since that gives you a stab move body slam having 30% chance of paralysis and lets you hit steel types with fire punch.

On suicune you should drop subsitute for hp electric because of your gyarados weakness. Substitute is completely useless and just limits suicunes coverage having hp electric ohko's most gyarados. Even with that spread you can survive any +1 gyarados attack because of suicunes bulkiness and ohko most gyarados with hp electric.

Shizzle has basically summed up the rest of what I was going to comment about. Which was infernapes nature and the use of wish u-turn jirachi to help dragonite set up.

Good Luck with the team!