Okay, so this is my first RMT, so I apologize if I mess up in any way during this post :) Its a team based around setting entry hazards with a certain metal bird, then trying to shuffle the opponent's team around with either whirlwind or SubDisable Gengar, then sweeping up the remains with either Lucario or Starmie.
Team at a glance
Espeon is a personal favourite of mine and I wanted to use him. I know it isn't the most substantial reason in the world, but I like to play with my favourite pokemon, especially when they're viable, and dual screens never hurt, right? So, I started off with an espeon.
Now, i had to find something that would really appreciate what espy was offering.
And Skarmory likes dual screens a lot, since he can set up spikes much more reliably. So, he got in too.
Buuuuut, the entry hazards wouldn't be worth it if i didn't have something to force switches. Enter SubDisable Gengar.
After that, I decided I needed a physical and a special late game sweeper, which would take care of the weakened mons after the entry hazards and gengar have done their job. So, I decided to use lucario, another personal favourite, not to mention the fact that he is perfectly tailored to do the job of a late game sweeper.
Now, on the special side, there wasn't much choice in OU, and i decided to go with starmie, because... well, that's what I got from 3 different people asking for a specially based OU sweeper as the first and only response.
So I came down to the last pokemon. I still didn't have anybody to set up SR on the team, and I knew i needed it. And my team was still lacking offensive presence, so I chose mamoswine for the job.
(changes in italic)
Hydreigon
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
I had a problem with psychic types, so I discovered Hydreigon, the only dark type in the OU tier besides Tyranitar. I chose Dark Pulse first, and then Fire Blast as the best coverage move. So, I had a choice between Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse. I decided to take both since surf didn't have any important type coverage. And to fix the awkward speed, scarf is the remedy.
Skarmory
Importable:
Skarmory @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Brave Bird
An invaluable member of my team, who sets up entry hazards. I ended up switching the original brave bird for stealth rock, since I usually had the room (speaking about HP of course) for another layer of hazards, but I already set up the spikes. So, he proved to be a more reliable SR setter than mamoswine, and I figured I could stand being shut down by taunt, since even with the brave bird, he was pretty much down when taunted, seeing as that didn't do wondrous amounts of damage anyway, plus it was giving me recoil, which, on a wall, is never appreciated. The EV spread is the standard smogon set, so that isn't anything special but hey, it works, so, don't fix what isnt broken. Skarmory is one of the members I'm most satisfied with, so i don't think he should be recieving major changes.
I did change the set to the custap lead, and indeed the results have bettered. I don't get all four layers up like I did with the espeon/standard skarm combo, but there is significantly less stuff setting up, or laying entry hazards of their own. So yes, the momentum has significantly improved.
GengarImportable:
Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Disable
I cannot emphasize enough how much synergy Gengar has with Skarmory. In addition to forcing switches with SubDisable, he also spinblocks, something this team needs. A lot. So, if Skarmory sets the hazards up, gengar abuses them, and does an amazing job at it. I pretty much have nothing else to say about his moveset, since no move is replaceable in order for the sub disable thing to work.
Lucario
Importable:
Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance
- Ice Punch
Again, a personal favourite, and a stellar late game sweeper. Close combat has nice coverage on its own, especially after a justified or a swords dance boost, extremespeed helps to take down anything fragile when its below a third, which happens a lot when a grounded pokemon switches in for a second time. Ice punch is there just because you can never have too many ice type attacks, especially after mamoswine was kicked out.
He was left unchanged, because i noticed giving him crunch significantly limited his sweeping capabilities, and he was getting walled. I eventually fixed the problem by switching espeon for Hydreigon, thus ending my bane of psychic atacks :)
Jirachi
Jirachi @ Life Orb
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot
I chose this set because I needed offensive pressure while avoiding the problem of having 3 scarfers on a team. I also didnt have a boosting mon here yet, and I love those :) Jirachi also has an awesome typing which actually goes together well with heatran (baiting the flash fire)
Heatran
Heatran (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 236 Spd / 160 SAtk / 112 HP
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Flamethrower
Alrighty then, the new member of the team. It is the scarfer of the team and a Jack-of-all-trades, which I feel this team needs. It carries fire blast for primary stab, Earth power to hit stuff like terrakion, a hidden power Ice so it doesnt get walled by stuff like dragonite and flamethrower is pretty much filler. The EV spread allows him to outspeed stuff that is base 120 speed. This, much like mamoswine beforehand, i feel doesn't quite do that much for the team and is kind of a filler pokemon. It does help with certain threats to this team, like scizor, but other than checking scizor, it doesn't do much. A switch for him would be extremely helpful, so any ideas, the great minds of smogon?
Reuniclus
This guy is bad news. Above all, the thing that is most threatening is magic guard. Magic guard negates all of my entry hazards and the only thing that has a super-effective attack against it is hurt by its stab.
My best bet at taking care of it is phazing it out with whirlwind to prevent it from setting up, but that is just a temporary fix. Also, to make matters worse, it usually carries focus blast, which kills most hope of heatran taking care of it.
Alakazam
Reuniclus 2.0. Magic guard, and lack of coverage to kill it. Especially the focus sash set could provide me with quite some trouble. Even though Heatran outspeeds it, if it carries a sash and hits the focus blast, I'm in trouble again.
Scizor
This is the reason I got heatran in the first place. While stuff like ferrothorn could at least be taken care of by Lucario's CC, scizor's bug type negates thefighting type weakness. The best thing here is again to shuffle it around and wall it with skarmory (provided i get rid of heatran).
WHAT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL?
A special wall. My team has trouble taking special hits, but something that isnt the pink blobs. I have previously tried blissey out, and it didn't work as I still need something with an offensive presence. I was thinking something along the lines of specially defensive jirachi, but that wouldn't help my scizor problem. Additionally, something fiery would be nice.
So, any help, the bright minds of RMT forums? And I know this prolly has mistakes, it's my first RMT so, try to ignore it somehow, okay :)
So, I have done a sort of an analysis, even though it isn't perfect, but again it's my first RMT, so don't be too harsh okay ;)
Team at a glance
Espeon is a personal favourite of mine and I wanted to use him. I know it isn't the most substantial reason in the world, but I like to play with my favourite pokemon, especially when they're viable, and dual screens never hurt, right? So, I started off with an espeon.
Now, i had to find something that would really appreciate what espy was offering.
And Skarmory likes dual screens a lot, since he can set up spikes much more reliably. So, he got in too.
Buuuuut, the entry hazards wouldn't be worth it if i didn't have something to force switches. Enter SubDisable Gengar.
After that, I decided I needed a physical and a special late game sweeper, which would take care of the weakened mons after the entry hazards and gengar have done their job. So, I decided to use lucario, another personal favourite, not to mention the fact that he is perfectly tailored to do the job of a late game sweeper.
Now, on the special side, there wasn't much choice in OU, and i decided to go with starmie, because... well, that's what I got from 3 different people asking for a specially based OU sweeper as the first and only response.
So I came down to the last pokemon. I still didn't have anybody to set up SR on the team, and I knew i needed it. And my team was still lacking offensive presence, so I chose mamoswine for the job.
In-Depth
Hydreigon
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
I had a problem with psychic types, so I discovered Hydreigon, the only dark type in the OU tier besides Tyranitar. I chose Dark Pulse first, and then Fire Blast as the best coverage move. So, I had a choice between Draco Meteor and Dragon Pulse. I decided to take both since surf didn't have any important type coverage. And to fix the awkward speed, scarf is the remedy.
Skarmory
Importable:
Skarmory @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Brave Bird
An invaluable member of my team, who sets up entry hazards. I ended up switching the original brave bird for stealth rock, since I usually had the room (speaking about HP of course) for another layer of hazards, but I already set up the spikes. So, he proved to be a more reliable SR setter than mamoswine, and I figured I could stand being shut down by taunt, since even with the brave bird, he was pretty much down when taunted, seeing as that didn't do wondrous amounts of damage anyway, plus it was giving me recoil, which, on a wall, is never appreciated. The EV spread is the standard smogon set, so that isn't anything special but hey, it works, so, don't fix what isnt broken. Skarmory is one of the members I'm most satisfied with, so i don't think he should be recieving major changes.
I did change the set to the custap lead, and indeed the results have bettered. I don't get all four layers up like I did with the espeon/standard skarm combo, but there is significantly less stuff setting up, or laying entry hazards of their own. So yes, the momentum has significantly improved.
GengarImportable:
Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Disable
I cannot emphasize enough how much synergy Gengar has with Skarmory. In addition to forcing switches with SubDisable, he also spinblocks, something this team needs. A lot. So, if Skarmory sets the hazards up, gengar abuses them, and does an amazing job at it. I pretty much have nothing else to say about his moveset, since no move is replaceable in order for the sub disable thing to work.
Lucario
Importable:
Lucario @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance
- Ice Punch
Again, a personal favourite, and a stellar late game sweeper. Close combat has nice coverage on its own, especially after a justified or a swords dance boost, extremespeed helps to take down anything fragile when its below a third, which happens a lot when a grounded pokemon switches in for a second time. Ice punch is there just because you can never have too many ice type attacks, especially after mamoswine was kicked out.
He was left unchanged, because i noticed giving him crunch significantly limited his sweeping capabilities, and he was getting walled. I eventually fixed the problem by switching espeon for Hydreigon, thus ending my bane of psychic atacks :)
Jirachi
Jirachi @ Life Orb
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Grass Knot
I chose this set because I needed offensive pressure while avoiding the problem of having 3 scarfers on a team. I also didnt have a boosting mon here yet, and I love those :) Jirachi also has an awesome typing which actually goes together well with heatran (baiting the flash fire)
Heatran
Heatran (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 236 Spd / 160 SAtk / 112 HP
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Flamethrower
Alrighty then, the new member of the team. It is the scarfer of the team and a Jack-of-all-trades, which I feel this team needs. It carries fire blast for primary stab, Earth power to hit stuff like terrakion, a hidden power Ice so it doesnt get walled by stuff like dragonite and flamethrower is pretty much filler. The EV spread allows him to outspeed stuff that is base 120 speed. This, much like mamoswine beforehand, i feel doesn't quite do that much for the team and is kind of a filler pokemon. It does help with certain threats to this team, like scizor, but other than checking scizor, it doesn't do much. A switch for him would be extremely helpful, so any ideas, the great minds of smogon?
THREATS
Reuniclus
This guy is bad news. Above all, the thing that is most threatening is magic guard. Magic guard negates all of my entry hazards and the only thing that has a super-effective attack against it is hurt by its stab.
My best bet at taking care of it is phazing it out with whirlwind to prevent it from setting up, but that is just a temporary fix. Also, to make matters worse, it usually carries focus blast, which kills most hope of heatran taking care of it.
Alakazam
Reuniclus 2.0. Magic guard, and lack of coverage to kill it. Especially the focus sash set could provide me with quite some trouble. Even though Heatran outspeeds it, if it carries a sash and hits the focus blast, I'm in trouble again.
Scizor
This is the reason I got heatran in the first place. While stuff like ferrothorn could at least be taken care of by Lucario's CC, scizor's bug type negates thefighting type weakness. The best thing here is again to shuffle it around and wall it with skarmory (provided i get rid of heatran).
WHAT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL?
A special wall. My team has trouble taking special hits, but something that isnt the pink blobs. I have previously tried blissey out, and it didn't work as I still need something with an offensive presence. I was thinking something along the lines of specially defensive jirachi, but that wouldn't help my scizor problem. Additionally, something fiery would be nice.
So, any help, the bright minds of RMT forums? And I know this prolly has mistakes, it's my first RMT so, try to ignore it somehow, okay :)
So, I have done a sort of an analysis, even though it isn't perfect, but again it's my first RMT, so don't be too harsh okay ;)
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