My First OU Team

[JessePinkman]

Hi Smogon!

I'm JessePinkman, thank you for taking the time to view and hopeful offer suggestions to make my team more efficient! I'm fairly new to both competitive battling and the forums and would appreciate any help you guys could give me.

Team-Building Process

So as I'm new to competitive battling, I figured the easiest place to start would be by using someone else's team as a starting point, and making changes from there. So for my starting point I chose Gary2346's Team of Elites.

(Don't know what happened here, it's meant to just be a row)

However, I soon realized I was having trouble with both fire (Forretress/Breloom) and ice (Thundurus/Latios/Breloom)type attacks, as I didn't really have anything that wanted to take those attacks. In attempt to combat this, I replaced Breloom with a Bulky Rotom W set (I personally wasn't using Breloom very successfully) and I replaced Volcarona with a bulky Heatran (as he didn't have to worry about stealth rocks, has an immunity to fire type attacks and a resistance to ice). Since these changes, I've been much more successful with the team.

This, plus a few minor moveset changes, puts my team where it's at now.

The Actual Team:

Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Rain Dance
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Explanation: Along with Terrakion, this guy is one of my solid revenge killers. Thunderbolt is an obvious STAB move, and does very nice damage to anything that doesn't resist it. I honestly rarely use Focus Blast, but it's there just in case. Hidden Power Ice lets this guy decimate any Dragon/Flying type, and if I predict a switch into Gliscor to take a T-Bolt, can easily OHKO that as well. Rain Dance is a move I very recently changed because of the problems I was having with Chlorophyll Venusaur. I find that as the opponent doesn't see any automatic weather inducers on my team, they play much less cautiously with their Ninetales. Once I take it out, I can Rain Dance with Thundurus to cripple their team for the rest of the game.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
- Volt Switch

Explanation: Forretress acts as my Physically Defensive wall and sets up my Stealth Rocks. Rapid Spin lets me get rid of opposing entry hazards, which, while less important since I got rid of Volcarona, still do a good chunk of damage to my Thundurus-T. Gyro Ball lets him do great damage to any speedy threat that comes in looking to set up on him. Volt Switch is mostly there so Forretress can escape Magnezone/Magneton, but also allows free switches into my other team members, as Forretress pretty much always moves last.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 144 Spd / 112 HP / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump

Explanation: Since putting this Pokemon on my team I have fallen in love with the thing. I generally use him as my lead as he can do great damage to a variety of threats with T-Bolt and Hydro Pump, while taking returning hits like a champ. If a switch is obvious, I can either Will-O-Wisp to cripple the new Pokemon or Pain Split to regain a large portion of my HP back.

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

Explanation: Specs Draco Meteor is a force to be reckoned with, and does massive damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Psyshock is there for additional coverage, and makes this Pokemon a good counter to Breloom if it's already Spored something. HP Fire let's Latios easily takeout enemy Forretress and Ferrothorns. Trick is a very infrequent move for me, but it allows me to cripple any Stalling pokemon or Entry Hazard Pokemon.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- X-Scissor

Explanation: Absolutely the MVP of my team. This Pokemon has amazing coverage and can revenge kill almost anything with it's great speed and attack. Not much else to cover with this Pokemon, as it's very simple, but extremely effective.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Sunny Day
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- SolarBeam

Explanation: Another one of my favorite pokemon on this team. This guy has great synergy with Forretress, as Forretress just begs for something to take it out with a x4 Fire type move. However, if I can successful predict this I can switch in Heatran to get the Flash Fire Boost. Which lets me put huge holes in the enemy team with STAB/Flash Fire Fire Blasts. Earth Power is for coverage. Sunny day is yet another move I recently put on the team to cripple weather teams. Same sort of strategy, the opponent plays less cautiously with their Politoed/T-Tar since they don't see automatic weather inducers on my side. Once I take them out I can bring in Heatran and Sunny Day to cripple their team for the rest of the game.

Major Threats:

The biggest threat to me on this team is Chlorophyll Venusaur, as it can outspeed and OHKO most of my Pokemon. Forretress does fairly well against it, but if Forretress is down and I didn't get a chance to put up a Rain Dance before this guy came in, he can destroy my team.

That's all folks! Thank you for taking the time to read and hopefully offer advice on how I can make this team more efficient. I look forward to posting and participating more in the future and being a part of the great community that is Smogon.

-JessePinkman

 

[ssraditz94]

Hey, nice team you have here. only real question is why are you running rain dance on Thundurus? is it to negate Sand/Sun or you didn't think of a good 4th move? if the latter, i recomend Volt Switch to hit and run

 

[PDC]

Hello, and welcome to competitive battling! Now this team is pretty solid on it's own already as it was taken from an already sturdy team, but I feel some minor edits could make it a bit better.

First off I suggest changing Forretress's EV spread to one of 252 HP / 176 Def / 80 SDef Relaxed | 0 Speed IV to aid it in taking weaker special attacks. This is more efficient than your current spread. You also should change up Heatran a little. I suggest using a simpler offensive set with Hidden Power Ice and Stealth Rock over Sunny Day and Solarbeam along with Air Balloon over Leftovers. With Stealth Rock on Heatran, I suggest trying Spikes on Forretress.

Now as a bit of a preference, I suggest changing Thundurus - T into a Nasty Plot set to aid in breaking stall. You already have Terrakion as a very solid Choice Scarfer, and with this Thundurus - T can really make a better use as a sweeper that really benefits from the hazard support given by both Forretress and Heatran. A good spread is 252 SAtk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Timid @ Life Orb Nasty Plot / Thunderbolt / Focus Blast / Hidden Power Ice to give it the best possible coverage possible.

Good luck!

 

[JessePinkman]

Hi there ssraditz94, thanks for the quick reply. I actually have the explanation for that move in the explanation. I have a lot of trouble with Chlorophyll Venusaur, so I have rain dance on there as an attempt to deal with that. Not sure if there's a better way. I did have grass knot in that spot.

PDC: Thanks for the reply. I'll try out those sets!

 

[Jimbon]

Hi there!

Nice team you have here, a lot of offensive presence forces your opponent to be switching around a lot, coupled with the hazards by Forretress, you can make for some pretty easy sweeps. Like you said, one of the biggest threats to this team is Venusaur, being able to outspeed everything on your team under Sun, while also being able to set up Growths against choice locked Terrakion, -2 Latios and Rotom. Sleep Powder sets also have no trouble crippling one Pokemon on your team with Sleep, while also being able to hit everything on your team hard with it's great coverage. To help with this, I would recommend a Calm Mind Latias over your current Choice Specs Latios. With this change, you gain the ability to combat Venusaur, as well as other Chlorophyll abusers too. Latias sports much better Special bulk than Latios, and the loss of power is made up for by the fact Latias can boost it's special stats using Calm Mind. Between Latias and Heatran, I really don't think Sun will be that much of a problem for you to face. Latias also helps you out against Keldeo, who does look annoying for you to face. Choice Specs sets pretty much grab a kill everytime they switch in, and if you mispredict with your best answer to it in Latios, you may find yourself on the wrong end of a Keldeo sweep. Latias also has reliable Recovery, unlike your current Latios. This is great because Latias has much more durability than Latios, being able to switch into much larger number of Pokemon.

Also looking over your Heatran set, I didn't really understand what it was doing for your team. Nothing else bar Heatran directly benefits from Sunny Day support, and if anything, it only further exposes your weakness to Heatran. While I understand it does aid against Rain teams, you really shouldn't be having much troubles with them if you choose to go with Latias. I'd recommend you try out Taunt > Sunny Day and Hidden Power [Ice] > Solarbeam on Heatran. If you go with these changes, I'd also recommend you try out an Air Balloon over Leftovers on Heatran too. Air Balloon allows you to check Volcarona better, and with Taunt you can shut down Volcarona, as it can't use Roost to heal up or Quiver Dance to boost. Air Balloon also helps you out against Dugtrio who traps Venusaur clearing the way for Chlorophyll abusers, while also giving you a secondary check to mixed Venusaur carrying Earthquake. Hidden Power [Ice] on the other hand allows you to hit Dragonite as it tries to set up. Given that Timid Heatran outspeeds pretty much every Dragonite set, (Jolly Dragonite is non existant), you can hit it hard before it tries to set up, heavily deterring it from staying in and causing problems for your team. This also works well against other Dragons such as Haxorus and Latios, as the small bit of prior damage is all you need for Terrakion to be able to revenge these threats.

Finally, I noticed something on your Thundurus-T set. It doesn't really seem to me like you need a second scarfer, given that Choice Scarf Terrakion also revenges everything Thundurus-T does, while also not sharing the same weakness to Ice Shard and neutrality to Extremespeed. I really think you should change your Thundurus-T to an Agility set. Your team really does lack a hard hitter if you go with Latias > Latios, and Agility Thundurus more than makes up for it. It takes full advantage of the work Rotom-W and Terrakion do, weakening down many threats putting them into KO range for Thundurus-T. Thundurus-T can set up an Agility on a weakened Forretress or Ferrothorn, and easily plow through a team given it's monstrous Special Attack stat. It benefits from your Forretress's Rapid Spin support, as Thundurus-T will be quickly worn down by Life Orb and potential Sand / Hail. Overall, it takes much better advantage of your team support, as you severely lack a late game sweeper.

Good luck!

Sets

Latias (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Dragon Pulse
- Psyshock / Substitute
- Recover
- Calm Mind

Thundurus-T (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

 

[Nachos]

I don't see how you're making it past stall. A simple core of say Tyranitar/Skarmory/Blissey/Jellicent stops this cold. Only Terrakion and Latios can touch Blissey, and the former is walled by Skarm while Latios is beaten by any Tyranitar running SDef EVs and Pursuit. Put Surf > HP:Fire, so Latios isn't 100% stopped by TTar at least, and you have Heatran for Ferrothorn/Forry anyway.

A Banded Terrakion is also a problem. It can come in on Heatran, Terra locked on SE, and Thund-T locked on anything bar Focus Blast and do mega damage to literally everything with Close Combat. Having a Gliscor would help, as it also can become a stallbreaker with a set of Taunt/Earthquake/Toxic/(Protect or Roost). The last option is what you find most preferable, but I like Protect personally. Having a physically defensive based EV Spread would be best, the 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe Impish one on the onsite analysis works fine. Gliscor should probably be put over Thund-T, as Terrakion is faster, beats Volcarona better, and because you don't need two choice scarfers.

With Thund-T gone, you're now more open to water spammers like Politoed and Starmie. Even now, you're only really relying on Rotom-W to tank all the specs hydro pumps, two from Starmie will probably KO Latios in the rain. For that reason, I think you should use Dragonite over Forry and use Stealth Rock on Heatran. Heatran is easier to explain, so I'll start with him. Forry is going to be slowing down the tempo of the team, and also seems somewhat out of the place. The team lacked some sort of goal to be working towards, and seemed like a bunch of offensive mons pasted together. I think you should start using this team with a mindset of getting a type advantage constantly via double switching, baiting and guessing predictions well in general. Your powerhouses are going to be your dragons at this point, you need to be getting them in constantly to spam their immense dragon moves. Forry kinda detracts from this, and only really provides Volt Switch. The stuff that usually gets sent in via Forry is stuff like Heatran and Ferrothorn, and you don't want to be sending in your dragons against those. Back to the team at hand, use an Offensive Heatran with a set of Fire Blast/Earth Power/Stealth Rock/HP Grass with either a Life Orb or Air Balloon. The Balloon will help with random Earthquakes, but LO will let you do more damage to Starmie/Politoed switch-ins that come in for free.

Onto Dragonite, firstly he gives this team more power, and secondly, he's a good answer to Venusaur. Extremespeed will let you do a significant amount of damage to it, especially if you're running Choice Band, and helps with Starmie as well. It's a good anti sun/rain mon in general. He also provides another water resist. Finally, it's also decent way to with annoying Voltturn teams that somewhat gave you trouble previously, as Thund-T and Heatran won't take a Hydro Pump from Rotom-W very well. I'd say the Choice Band set onsite with Fire Punch and EQ has the last two moves would suffice.

You should take risky moves more often when you play. Keeping momentum on your side is vital with an offensive team, and you can easily be overwhelmed should the opponent take it away from you and set up with something. Oh and for the record, I only rated your team because Breaking Bad is awesome.

Good luck.