Ask a Simple Question; Get a Simple Answer & General Resources (OU Edition)

[Shouting]

Heracross
Celebi w/ Psychic/HP-Fire/U-Turn.
Starmie w/ Psychic/Signal Beam/HPFire

Heracross? I'm almost positive that celebi wouldn't switch into nor stay in against a heracross of any kind. Megahorn probably does chunks to amoongus so would probably only come in on a close combat...

Celebi is cool, but HP fire is kind of a standard these days and it isn't doing a whole lot to Amoongus.

Starmie would be perfect. Psyshock / Signal Beam would be awesome lures but for some dumb reason Starmie doesn't learn Signal Beam :( Unless it got it as a move tutor?

Instead of luring them, you probably ought to just trap them with Choice Specs Gothitelle. It learns Psyshock and Signal Beam, and can use HP fire for Ferrothorn.

And get trapped? All three of these are commonly found on sandstorm teams. There's a reason why you never see choiced Psychic types in OU very often, if at all.

 

[Zacchaeus]

Starmie would be perfect. Psyshock / Signal Beam would be awesome lures but for some dumb reason Starmie doesn't learn Signal Beam :( Unless it got it as a move tutor?

Starmie gets Signal Beam as a BW2 tutor move

And get trapped? All three of these are commonly found on sandstorm teams. There's a reason why you never see choiced Psychic types in OU very often, if at all.

They can't switch out so they can bring in a revenge killer but that just gives them 1 turn with something that scares Gothitelle away

 

[Thorhammer]

Starmie gets Signal Beam as a BW2 tutor move

They can't switch out so they can bring in a revenge killer but that just gives them 1 turn with something that scares Gothitelle away

Or, in Tyranitar's case, traps and kills Gothitelle with Pursuit.

Gothitelle is a fantastic Pokemon, but that's definitely an issue. And it'll only grow as people start adapting to it by using Pursuit more often. But that's just because there's so much reason to use Gothitelle already.

 

[Shouting]

They can't switch out so they can bring in a revenge killer but that just gives them 1 turn with something that scares Gothitelle away

Well, the main issue is that if I trap and kill Ferrothorn or Amoongus, Tyranitar comes in and I can say goodbye to my trapper. Especially ineffective if there happens to be more than one of them on a team. Though I must admit I'd rather deal with a Tyranitar than a Celebi or Amoongus any day.

 

[Zacchaeus]

You could bluff the Specs with Expert Belt and use HP Fighting for the 2-3 hit kill on Tyranitar depending on if it's specially defensive or not. But of course that cuts the 61-72% against Ferrothorn with HP Fire to 30-36% with HP Fighting. Relevant calcs:

Hide

252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Signal Beam vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Celebi (+SpDef) : 61.63% - 73.51%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Psyshock vs 252 HP/0 Def Amoonguss: 86.57% - 102.31%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Hidden Power Fighting vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Ferrothorn (+SpDef) : 30.68% - 36.08%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Hidden Power Fire vs 252 HP/252 SpDef Ferrothorn (+SpDef) : 61.36% - 72.16%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Hidden Power Fighting vs 180 HP/0 SpDef Tyranitar: 55.96% - 67.1%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Signal Beam vs 180 HP/0 SpDef Tyranitar: 30.31% - 36.01%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Hidden Power Fighting vs 252 HP/120 SpDef Tyranitar (+SpDef) : 43.81% - 52.23%
252 SpAtk Expert Belt Gothitelle (+SpAtk) Signal Beam vs 252 HP/120 SpDef Tyranitar (+SpDef) : 23.02% - 27.72%

 

[shofly12]

Personally, I haven't seen too many Ferros and Amoongus being run on the same team, so i wouldn't really worry about that, especially with the huge damage drop against Ferro

 

[cooloolcool]

Well they're very similar so it's a bit of a hard choice. Jolteon has more power with specs but is significantly slower, which can be important for a number of dragon dancers. Spec Jolteon can't even outspeed Dragonite at +1 if it opts to run Jolly.

However Jolteon does have a big advantage in that it is not weak to Stealth Rock, an important feature for a choiced Pokemon. It also isn't weak to Ice Shard, which given how common Mamoswine is these days is a big deal. Of course you won't be KOing a full health Mamoswine anyway, but it does help against other Ice Shard users like Cloyster and Weaville. On the other hand, Tornadus-T is immune to spikes, which, while not as important as the SR weakness, does make up for it a bit. It also has better coverage, which is fairly important as long as you're good with predictions.

Ultimately I think it comes down more to weather you want power or revenge killing potential. If you have other means with which to deal with Dragon Dancers then Jolteon is likely to be better, but Thundurus-T does check more things. If you don't really know which to use, I suggest you just try them both. You're not likely to go wrong either way.

Thank you. I've been using a Jolteon on my team, but I think I'll switch. I've had a lot of trouble with Spikes lately. And Dragons have been a bit of a problem. Hopefully Thunderus-T will work better.

 

[hotcoldyay]

Ive been poking around my team and found that quagsire might actually fit since he can wall set up-ers. Im not sure about making him specially or physically based, since my gliscor and jirachi already cover that. Is there a viable mixed spread for quagsire in ou?

 

[Ames]

Could Cloyster successfully run a set like this or is Icicle Spear just too valuable to give up?

Cloyster @ Life Orb/White Herb/Kings Rock
Naive | Skill Link
-Shell Smash
-Ice Shard
-Razor Shell/Hydro Pump
-Rock Blast

In theory it might solve a few issues it has with priority while maintaining decent coverage. I guess Scizor still ruins you though if you don't run white herb.

 

[Himanattsu]

How do I connect to #Pokemon IRC? The link to #Pokemon in this thread isn't working.

 

[Cinccino]

What is Sun's best bet against Agility Thundurus-T and Conkledurr?

Those two always ruin my team of Sunny Day Tales, Sash Dugtrio, Scarftran, Venusaur, Bulky Starmie, and SubRoost Kyurem.

 

[Nix_Hex]

How do I connect to #Pokemon IRC? The link to #Pokemon in this thread isn't working.

It depends on what client you are using. Mibbit is literally the easiest client, and that link works for me. If you don't want to use Mibbit (I advise against it despite its ease of use since you can't run scripts or do anything remotely cool), mirc is your best bet. Check Smogon's IRC tutorial for more info. Here's the tutorial for mirc.

What is Sun's best bet against Agility Thundurus-T and Conkledurr?

Those two always ruin my team of Sunny Day Tales, Sash Dugtrio, Scarftran, Venusaur, Bulky Starmie, and SubRoost Kyurem.

I can't think of a Pokemon that single-handedly handles both Thundurus-T and Conkeldurr. I recommend removing Kyurem. It gets murdered by Conkeldurr and takes 25% from Stealth Rock every time it comes in. Sure, it has Roost to recover the SR damage but quicker Pokemon and priority users (see Conkeldurr) apply a ton of pressure to it. You can replace it with Victini, who is quite deadly under the sun:

Victini @ Choice Scarf

Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
- V-create
- Fusion Bolt
- Brick Break
- U-turn

Modest Life Orb Thundurus-T Thunder @ Victini 304-358 (75.24 - 88.61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (guaranteed OHKO with Stealth Rock).
aaand Victini @ Thundurus-T: 390-459 (138.79 - 163.34%) in sun -- guaranteed OHKO.

Assuming SR is not in play, Victini can switch in while Thundurus-T does what it does. If it goes for the Thunder, hope it misses or if it hits, it doesn't paralyze. Outspeed and OHKO. If you switch in on Agility, survive whatever attack that comes at you and murder it. You better hope you have Stealth Rock not on the field yet or this strategy is screwed. Luckily you have Starmie who should have Rapid Spin.

Also, Victini does fine against a 120 HP Conkeldurr who has not used Bulk Up yet, a possible OHKO and guaranteed 2HKO. If it has used Bulk Up, V-create should still OHKO.

 

[TopTier]

New here!

Hello everyone!

I'm brand new here and I have no clue about what is what so I'm sorry if this is the wrong section or something.

Long story short, I recently picked up pokémon again after about 10 years of abscent. My last game was pokémon gold & silver so I have no clue what is going on.

Anyway, I want to buy a new game (and a ds) and play again. I read alot about competitions online wich seems like alot of fun!

I used smogon to figuer about what team I should use and I came up with this :

Salamence, Skarmory, Tyranitar, Metagross, Blaziken and Scizzor.

However, I see that there are things like sweepers and such. I have no clue were to start with this whole thing.

So it would be great if someone could PM me a link or tell me right here what I need to understand about pokémon that I've mist in the past years.

Sorry for my english it's not my native language.

 

[Stratos]

Could Cloyster successfully run a set like this or is Icicle Spear just too valuable to give up?

Cloyster @ Life Orb/White Herb/Kings Rock
Naive | Skill Link
-Shell Smash
-Ice Shard
-Razor Shell/Hydro Pump
-Rock Blast

In theory it might solve a few issues it has with priority while maintaining decent coverage. I guess Scizor still ruins you though if you don't run white herb.

ice shard is too weak without a SS to KO any of the things you want it to without prior damage and if you've Smashed then you're outspeeding them anyway, so no i don't see much of a point in running priority on Cloyster. Try fitting it somewhere else on your team instead.

Ive been poking around my team and found that quagsire might actually fit since he can wall set up-ers. Im not sure about making him specially or physically based, since my gliscor and jirachi already cover that. Is there a viable mixed spread for quagsire in ou?

you could use Stockpile if you really wanted to, but your best bet for a mixed spread would be a Specially Defensive set with Curse:

Quagsire @ Leftovers
Careful
Unaware
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
-Curse
-Waterfall
-Recover
-Earthquake

however, you'll probably find that Jirachi and Gliscor would be more than enough to stop most stat-uppers. If there's any in particular you're having trouble with, i'd appreciate elaboration so i could suggest a more tailored counter - but Tentacruel completes a three-mon core with those two quite well.

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lol

 

[ganj4lF]

Could Cloyster successfully run a set like this or is Icicle Spear just too valuable to give up?

Cloyster @ Life Orb/White Herb/Kings Rock
Naive | Skill Link
-Shell Smash
-Ice Shard
-Razor Shell/Hydro Pump
-Rock Blast

In theory it might solve a few issues it has with priority while maintaining decent coverage. I guess Scizor still ruins you though if you don't run white herb.

I don't think so. Running such a moveset means you're walled by a plethora of common pokemons like Scizor, Gastrodon, Ferrothorn, Celebi (it even fails to 2HKO on defensive sets most of the time...). Conkeldurr is more annoying than ever since you fail to OHKO with Hydro Pump, while Icicle Spear gives you a good chance to kill it in one hit. BU Toxicroak can even set up on you and OHKO, recovering health via Dry Skin and Drain Punch. The list probably goes on, so I don't think it's a great idea to run such a moveset, unless you plan to remove those threats before attempting to sweep. However, they are quite diverse (it's not like, say, a Dragon that only requires you to remove Steels), so I don't think it's viable at all.

 

[Joeyboy]

Hello everyone!

I'm brand new here and I have no clue about what is what so I'm sorry if this is the wrong section or something.

Long story short, I recently picked up pokémon again after about 10 years of abscent. My last game was pokémon gold & silver so I have no clue what is going on.

Anyway, I want to buy a new game (and a ds) and play again. I read alot about competitions online wich seems like alot of fun!

I used smogon to figuer about what team I should use and I came up with this :

Salamence, Skarmory, Tyranitar, Metagross, Blaziken and Scizzor.

However, I see that there are things like sweepers and such. I have no clue were to start with this whole thing.

So it would be great if someone could PM me a link or tell me right here what I need to understand about pokémon that I've mist in the past years.

Sorry for my english it's not my native language.

:) you've come to the right place, so the best link I think I can give you would be to the Battling 101 Thread. Here you can get a premier Smogon Player to tutor, or teach, you the ways of competitive pokemon battling; and you've come at the perfect time. The next sign-up time is tomorrow, so be sure to sign up as early as possible.

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[Arceus Nui]

Alright, My team was Banded Terrakion, Specs Keldeo, Scarfed Hydreigon, Sp. Def. Heatran, CM+Refresh Latias and Taunt Gliscor and it had been doing pretty well for me... until I ran into a lot of stall teams lately...

Because of this, I made Hydreigon mixed, and I'm going to trash Gliscor, since everything carries Ice Punch and HP Ice, so what could be I good revenge killer to take Hydreigon's old spot?

Also, Latias (not so much), and especially Heatran (very much) also don't feel like they fit on the team, because I'm more of an offensive player, so what could I replace these guys with? (In the meantime, I'll keep Heatran and Latias, but change out Gliscor for Scarfed Landorus-T)

 

[emirinho]

Alright, My team was Banded Terrakion, Specs Keldeo, Scarfed Hydreigon, Sp. Def. Heatran, CM+Refresh Latias and Taunt Gliscor and it had been doing pretty well for me... until I ran into a lot of stall teams lately...

Because of this, I made Hydreigon mixed, and I'm going to trash Gliscor, since everything carries Ice Punch and HP Ice, so what could be I good revenge killer to take Hydreigon's old spot?

Also, Latias (not so much), and especially Heatran (very much) also don't feel like they fit on the team, because I'm more of an offensive player, so what could I replace these guys with? (In the meantime, I'll keep Heatran and Latias, but change out Gliscor for Scarfed Landorus-T)

Moxie Scarf Salamance is extremely good in revenge killing and sweeping when he gets a kill. You should keep Gliscor, but you should take out Latias and put in Lilligant or Shaymin as you have nothing to hit water with...
Hope i helped

 

[Lavos]

Alright, My team was Banded Terrakion, Specs Keldeo, Scarfed Hydreigon, Sp. Def. Heatran, CM+Refresh Latias and Taunt Gliscor and it had been doing pretty well for me... until I ran into a lot of stall teams lately...

Because of this, I made Hydreigon mixed, and I'm going to trash Gliscor, since everything carries Ice Punch and HP Ice, so what could be I good revenge killer to take Hydreigon's old spot?

Also, Latias (not so much), and especially Heatran (very much) also don't feel like they fit on the team, because I'm more of an offensive player, so what could I replace these guys with? (In the meantime, I'll keep Heatran and Latias, but change out Gliscor for Scarfed Landorus-T)

yikes, well, it seems like you want to redo your entire team. i'll give this my best shot.

i'll start with the end of your post. you mention changing out gliscor for a scarfed landorus-t. i cannot advise strongly enough against this. instead, use regular landorus, as its base speed of 101 makes it absolutely ideal for revenge killing stuff.

Scarf Landorus

Landorus @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- U-Turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]

going back to the top of your post, you said you wanted to replace hydreigon with something. might i suggest expert belt latios? since most of the members of your team are choiced, an ebelt pokemon that still hits hard but has that option of versatility will be a breath of fresh air for your team.

Expert Belt Latios

Latios @ Expert Belt
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]

so right now your team is band terrak, specs keldeo, ebelt latios, and scarf landorus. for the last two, i'm going to be obnoxiously generic and suggest you change heatran to an offensive air balloon set, while changing latias to a specially defensive tyranitar. this should give your team a check against sun and a weather of its own to check opposing weather abuse teams, while still fitting the "offensive" style of play that you said you prefer. in fact, i'll make heatran a 4 attacks set since you can have stealth rock on tyranitar and keep up the offensive pressure while getting a nice check to gastrodon as well.

Air Balloon Heatran

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Dragon Pulse

Tyranitar

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast

i hope this helped you out, and sorry if i went a little overboard on the changes. your team should be a pretty solid sand offense now, just get stealth rock up and then begin hitting stuff hard. good luck!

 

[Arceus Nui]

Thanks Lavos Spawn! The only thing I wanted to keep was CB Terrrakion and Specs Keldeo anyways lol, I'll edit this post with a few more thoughts, but I have to go.

 

[Lavos]

no problem, glad i could help

 

[SoulRed12]

Can someone help me explain this? I'm not sure how this could have possibly happened. I was playing PO, and a scizor came in against my haxorus. He swords dances as I E/Q, then I decide to switch to my magnezone to trap and finish him off. Buuuuut...somehow he went faster than my magnezone, which was both holding a scarf AND it had maximum speed EVs + timid nature (I just verified this). As you can see below the Scizor didn't have a scarf not only because he changed moves but also because of the lefties message. So how is this possible? There was no tailwind.

The relevant part of the battle log:

Hide

soulred12 sent out Haxorus!

Haxorus has Mold Breaker!

Start of turn 9
Opponent called Gyarados back!
Opponent sent out Scizor!

Haxorus used Dragon Dance!
Haxorus's Attack rose!
Haxorus's Speed rose!

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

Start of turn 10
Haxorus used Earthquake!
The foe's Scizor lost 68% of its health!
Haxorus is hurt by its Life Orb!

The foe's Scizor used Swords Dance!
The foe's Scizor's Attack sharply rose!

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

Start of turn 11
soulred12 called Haxorus back!
soulred12 sent out Magnezone!

The foe's Scizor used Bullet Punch!
It's not very effective...
Magnezone lost 49 HP! (17% of its health)

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

Start of turn 12
The foe's Scizor used Superpower! [<---- RIGHT HERE]
It's super effective!
Magnezone lost 233 HP! (82% of its health)
Magnezone fainted!
The foe's Scizor's Attack fell!
The foe's Scizor's Defense fell!

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

So how did he move first with Superpower as I tried to use HP Fire?

 

[Mylo Xyloto]

Can someone help me explain this? I'm not sure how this could have possibly happened. I was playing PO, and a scizor came in against my haxorus. He swords dances as I E/Q, then I decide to switch to my magnezone to trap and finish him off. Buuuuut...somehow he went faster than my magnezone, which was both holding a scarf AND it had maximum speed EVs + timid nature (I just verified this). As you can see below the Scizor didn't have a scarf not only because he changed moves but also because of the lefties message. So how is this possible? There was no tailwind.

The relevant part of the battle log:

Hide

soulred12 sent out Haxorus!

Haxorus has Mold Breaker!

Start of turn 9
Opponent called Gyarados back!
Opponent sent out Scizor!

Haxorus used Dragon Dance!
Haxorus's Attack rose!
Haxorus's Speed rose!

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

Start of turn 10
Haxorus used Earthquake!
The foe's Scizor lost 68% of its health!
Haxorus is hurt by its Life Orb!

The foe's Scizor used Swords Dance!
The foe's Scizor's Attack sharply rose!

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

Start of turn 11
soulred12 called Haxorus back!
soulred12 sent out Magnezone!

The foe's Scizor used Bullet Punch!
It's not very effective...
Magnezone lost 49 HP! (17% of its health)

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

Start of turn 12
The foe's Scizor used Superpower! [<---- RIGHT HERE]
It's super effective!
Magnezone lost 233 HP! (82% of its health)
Magnezone fainted!
The foe's Scizor's Attack fell!
The foe's Scizor's Defense fell!

The foe's Scizor restored a little HP using its Leftovers!

So how did he move first with Superpower as I tried to use HP Fire?

Was Magnezone maybe paralyzed?

 

[Ames]

Quick claw? lol.

 

[SoulRed12]

Was Magnezone maybe paralyzed?

I'm a total, complete, and utter idiot. I re-checked the full log again and saw Zone had been paralyzed by a miltank a few turns prior.

I'm going to go sit in a corner now.

=p