Dragonite + Landorus Duo

[Subject 18]

Hey Smogon, I'm back with another OU team. I've been working on making new teams recently since my laptop's hard drive failed and lost most of my old team. So instead of trying to remake them, I chose instead to make new. Mainly as a way to improve on my team building skills. The idea for this team came from seeing Dragonite on the PS and felt like using it myself. I've tried the team quite a bit and have had some success but a lot more struggles.

Team Building Process​

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Like I mentioned in the intro, I want to use a Dragonite on my next team. So I started off with it and began to surround him help.

Next I added Landorus-I as Dragonite's offensive counter part. Dragonite takes care of the specially defensive pokemon Landorus can't kill while Landorus deals with the physically defensive pokemon Dragonite can't deal with. This also created a strong offensive core.

With Landorus and Dragonite this created a huge weakness to Mamoswine and other Ice Shard user. So I added Starmie to deal with Donphan and Mamoswine and be able to spin to keep Dragonite's Multiscale intact.

Next I figured I needed hazards to help out Landorus and Dragonite in their sweeps.

Here is were I began to struggle with the team members. I added Jellicent as a way to deal with Keldeo and to spread status to cripple opposing sweepers.

Lastly Xatu was added as a way to help keep hazards off my side of the field. I dont really know why I thought this would fit on the team. After trying it out for a few matches I saw it just didnt work.

I replaced Xatu with Scizor to add third offensive member to the core of Dragonite and Landorus. After trying it out I didnt feel like this helped any and I didnt know how to fix the team. So I came here for help.
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In Depth Look​

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Outrage
- Fire Punch

So for Dragonite started out running the Choice band set but I didn't really like since it was too "hit and run" which didn't really fit my style of play. So I changed it a DD set instead. I chose Fire Punch over Earthquake to hit Steel types and switch in thinking I'm going to Outrage or Extreme Speed.

Landorus @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rock Polish
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

Landorus is the offensive counter part to Dragonite dealing with things that Dragonite can't easily dispose of. The moveset is the standard Life Orb Sheer Force set and since I've had success with it in the past and was comfortable with using it. I used Timid over Modest in order to speed tie Thundurus-T, which I changed after a battle with Electrolyte while I was testing the team.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Recover
- Ice Beam

The addition of Starmie was to deal with Mamoswine and other Ice shard users that threaten Landorus and Dragonite. I went with a more defensive set for longevity to last long enough to for me to take out the opposing hazards settler and be able to spin and keep hazards gone for good. Ice Beam is carried for Dragons and Thundurus-T, Landorus, Celebi, Breloom and Flying pokemon.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

Ferrothorn is my hazards settlers. Getting hazards up is crucial if I hope to sweep with either Landorus or Dragonite by chipping health away and turn 2HKOs to OHKOs. When I had Xatu on the team I just carried Spikes and relied on Xatu to bounce them back and I wouldn't put too much pressure on Ferro to do get both up. When I replaced Xatu, I then added SR in the place of Leech Seed. I also tried Shed Shell as my item to escape Magnezone and keep Ferro around for later in case I would need it.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 56 Def / 116 SDef / 88 Spd
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

Jellicent's set is standard. It comes in to take a Water move, Will-O-Wisp something to get residual damage. Taunt is prevent thing from setting up and Scald is the only attack on the set in hopes to catch something on the switch and burn it. Looking at it now having both Scald and Will-O-Wisp is redundant, so Will-O-Wisp is going to be replaced for Toxic.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Scizor's addition was to add more offensive since if both Dragonite and Landorus go down I'm in a huge hole and have little chances of winning. However, Scizor hasn't worked for me also ins't working for me so swapping this out isn't an issue.

Conclusion​

So this is the team I have so far. I've tried making changes and not much has been help so I'm open for suggestions. Any an all help is welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read and the help you give.

 

[Adrian Marin]

Excellent team!, But to murder more easily why not consider these options?.. If a foe were to set up when scizor is already dead,
How can you counter the opposition without getting seriously hurt? A good example is Salamence.. Although Ferrothorn laughs at Salamence's Outrage. It will be very easy to predict a switch when Dragonite is active. The key to a good team is not being an excellent predictor, but the precision to win by having a team that can cover everything. Assuming you can beat a masterfully done team, Its not because your team was better its only because you were better. but you wont win all the time because a prediction is predicting the common mind, not the odd ones

Your team is fairly good and they all compliment each other but you won't win all the time because its harder to predict with this type of team. One misprediction could be fatal so I intend to aid you in this matter. Your team also seems to be vulnerable to burns and paralysis so you could add a Mew set which I have been using, Alas I do not have replays of its potential but I guarantee it will help a lot if you choose to use it.

Just trying to be honest here so I apologize if this goes against your belief in your pokemons.

I suggest max physical bulk but use what you see fit
-Heal Bell
-Will-O-Wisp
-Roost
-Taunt/Psychic/Psyshock/Zen Headbutt/Any attacking move

Mew is the only pokemon with this combination of moves and it does the job really well. Although I don't know where to fit it in your team, The choice is up to you.

Further more this team seems to use rocks and spikes effectively abusing speed to kill weakened foes. You could also use the Multiscale Shuffler Dragonite set. It is extremely effective and it may be a game changer, but it will be harder to use without Politoad or Ninetales.

Over all you have a great team and the most important part is to use a team that has an easier time predicting (Learned by making a very well covered team and saw the difference) you could make it a reality, I have high confidence for this team.

Good luck, hope you win,win,win...

 

[Prinz]

Hey!

Cool team BlackRussian, looking at it, I see that your biggest threats are Venusaur and Volcarona which can setup on Jellicent and Ferrothorn quite easily and then can be both very troublesome for your team. To solve your weakness without change any Pokemon of your team, I suggest you to change Dragonite's set in a Choice Band one because a Choice Band ExtremeSpeed can help you a lot against both Volcarona and Venusaur and against fast setup such as Landorus and Thundurus-T as well. A standard EV spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe with a moveset of Outrage, ExtremeSpeed, Fire Punch and Superpower, with an Adamant nature and with Choice Band should work fine on your current team.

Then, another problem for your team can be DragMagn teams, which can trap and kill easily both your Scizor and Ferrothorn with Magnezone and then Dragon-types such as Dragonite, Salamence, Kyurem-B, Garchomp, Latios, Latias and Kingdra can be threatening for your whole team. Therefore, I suggest you to use Shed Shell instead of Leftovers on your Ferrothorn, it allows to avoid Magnezone's Arena Trap and to save Ferrothorn, which is really a useful Pokemon against DragMagn teams since it can check Dragon-types such as Latios, Latias and Kingdra quite well if used correctly. You should use Leech Seed instead of Protect too, if you decide to use Shed Shell on Ferrothorn I think Leech Seed is an important move on Ferrothorn because it allows to recover some HP and to keep alive Ferrothorn longer accordingly.

After that, you should consider Scald instead of Hydro Pump on your Starmie, which is usually better than Hydro Pump on a Defensive Starmie as yours since it has a very useful chance of burning powerful physically attacking such as Tyranitar and Scizor which can both Pursuit your current Starmie without any problem, also Scald has a better accuracy than Hydro Pump, which can miss, and that's always a nice thing if you hate miss.

As last thing, you should try an EV spread of 48 HP / 252 SAtk / 208 Spd on your Landorus with a Modest nature, this EV spread allows to outspeed all the relavant threat after a Rock Polish such as Venusar under sun and to have more staying power too which is useful to setup and to tank some attacks more easily. Credit to Lavos Spawn for this EV spread anyway.

Good luck!

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey BlackRussian, nice team you have here!

This is a pretty soild team with good cores offensively and defensively so good job with that. However, you do have a few weaknesses that could be patched up so hopefully I can help.

First of all, your whole team is very vulnerable to Life Orb Mamoswine, especially your sweeping core. While he can be revenge killed with either Starmie or Scizor, they don't want to be switching in to EQ so you will likely have to sac something if Jellicent or Ferrothorn are not at full health since Ferrothorn takes 71-84% from Adamant Life Orb Superpower, and Jellicent takes 65-77% from EQ. Therefore, I would recommend replacing your current Jellicent with Rotom-W. Not only is Rotom-W the best answer to Mamoswine in OU right now, but it also forms a great Volt-Turn core with Scizor, giving you better synergy, more offensive presence, and the ability to scout for chances to set up with Dragonite or Landorus.

It also seems your team has some problems with Breloom as you mentioned , and after the above change, Keldeo poses a much larger threat. Therefore, I would recommend using Celebi over your current Ferrothorn. Celebi does a great job dealing with Breloom as he can take sleep well with Natural Cure and resists both of Breloom's STAB options. Against Keldeo, Celebi also resists both STAB's and has great special bulk to even take icy wind or hp ice. Plus Celebi can still set up Stealth Rocks for your team.

Hopefully you find these changes are useful. Here are the sets and good luck with the team!

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Rotom-W @ leftovers
Calm nature
248 hp/ 28 sp att/ 232 sp def
Hydro Pump
Volt Switch
Will-o-Wisp
Pain Split

Celebi @ leftovers
Calm nature
252 hp/ 236 sp def/ 20 speed
Giga Drain/ Psychic
Recover
Stealth Rock
Baton Pass