XY OU Newbie's first competitive team

[slurpy_mac]

Hey! I've been reading you guys for a long time! I've entered the competitive world in the last months and I didn't want to start battling until I found a good team after testing it in Showdown since first I wanted to see which was the battling way that I liked the most and I feel more comfortable with. So after some tests and some discards I've finally found a team that I like and I feel comfortable using it on Showdown but the results aren't quite the expected ones. I've a 55-60% Win percentage but that's not enough in my opinion, and that's why I come here to see if you guys can give me some valuable advice on changing my team a bit :). So here it is:

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Icy Wind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Flying]

This is the poke I like to use first (obviously depends on the opposite team, but there are a lot of galvantulas/Landorus-T/Dragons and this is a good choice (I think)).
A Timid nature is used to allow Keldeo to outspeed important threats such as Garchomp, Landorus, and Kyurem-B. Choice Specs are great, they lock me into one move but it hits really hard and it is super fast! As I said, it is fast and helps me defeat Dragons, Landorus etc which are everywhere. It has a Psychic weakness, and thus I have a Sylveon which I think is a good partner due to its Special Bulk. I was wondering if Hidden Power Electric would work better but HP Flying doesn't work that bad.

Sylveon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic

Ahhh... Sylveon. My beloved Special Wall. I love this pokemon. Great Bulk, and as it doesn't take Physical Hits really good, I've chosen a Bold Nature to take them in an emergency scenario. I think only SpD would be great but I'm not sure... Wish+Protect combo vs checks is absolutely amazing, it's frustrating and some matches have been forfeited due to this combo + Toxic and because they didn't have any counter left in their teams. 110 Base SpA hits hard specially with the Pixilate Ability with Hyper Voice. I was wondering if Heal Bell or Shadow Ball would work better just to check more pokes but I wasn't really sure. Psyshock from Latios is taken amazingly as well! And Leftovers is a great item for this pokemon tank!

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Here we have my Mixed Wall. I love how it takes hits, and its typing is not bad (obviously I have to kill every single Fire mon that the other trainer might have before). Impish nature works great on this poke, and Gyro Ball hits pretty hard, as well as Power Whip. I'm not feeling comfortable enough using Leech Seed (perhaps I do not know how or when to use it, I don't know..), and Stealth Rock doesn't need any explanation. This poke takes mixed hits, mostly physical but it can also sweep when a special move is threatening my team. Keldeo helps me counter Ferrothorn's Fire counters with Hydro Pump so as long as I kill Fire types and Landorus, ... that can kill my Ferro easily, this poke gives me enough bulk. When it gets KOed, it's normally a OHKO, so I have to understand better the metagame I guess :/.

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake

The mega. MY mega. I've tested this set and to be honest, it is not as good as it seems. I thought TTar had better Defensive Stats, but it turns out that it gets OHKOed or 2HKOed, and its Speed never allows me to sweep it in and use a DD safely... I like the Sand Stream ability. I thought Chomp would be a great partner with its Sand Veil ability instead of the current Rough Skin, but it works 1/10 times and I don't know if it's really worth it. Actually, TTar makes me doubt if the MEGA-Spot is well taken, as I think that maybe other Megas fit in my team better. Earthquake destroys it in a second, and trust me, every single poke that I face has earthquake. Stone Edge to deal with Flying types and Talonflame, and DD to increase stats but as I said I can't use it most of the times.

Garchomp @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

Chomp. A poke that I love. Its ability is Sand Veil instead of the current Rough Skin as I thought that it'd work better with TTar but as it turns out that is not true. Outrage hits really hard but you know... Choice Scarf and confusion doesn't convince me at all. Rock Slide was chosen due to the 30% Flinch. Iron Head is used to kill Sylveons/Florges and it normally works. I don't know, I found this set a bit weak to be honest. I thought it could resist more but it normally gets 1 or 2HKOed easily. I was thinking on changing the mega and maybe change the ability on chomp. Or maybe I'm not using him the right way, or I don't know when I should sweep him. When all the fairies are dead, a Choice Scarfed Outrage is deadly, that's true though.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SpA / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
- Defog
- Heat Wave​

Finally, Zapdos! I once faced an opponent which had a Zapdos and I thought it'd be pretty easy to defeat but he destroyed me. I din't really know how to counter it. This set is thought to be defensive. Physically defensive. It has thunderbolt and Heat wave to kill some difficult mons and then it has a compulsory move which is Roost. I thought that Toxic was pretty good but Sylveon does already have it in its moveset and I don't have Rapid Spinners and this stuff so Defog is pretty necessary. Leftovers is again a good object for this kind of poke, but I think that I'm abusing of that object though hahaha. I know it's not designed to take special hits but I don't know how, in every battle I end up facing a special attacker due to Zapdos typing and they normally KO him with Icy Wind, Ice Beam or something like that... I needed an Electric poke so this was one of the best choices over magnezone in my opinion.​

And finally a Typing chart and a Stats chart (created using Marriland editor):

I would say it's a pretty balanced team, isn't it?​

So that's it! Feel free to criticise it as much as you think is needed because it's one of the first teams that I build and I'm still a newbie and need huge help. I will consider all of your suggestions and any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!

 

[Cinna The Poet]

Hey there! Pretty nice team you got here, though i would say swap Hydro Pump for Scald, because the ability to cripple Physical attackers is preffered over the extra power, and you still get the important KOs.

 

[slurpy_mac]

Hey there! Pretty nice team you got here, though i would say swap Hydro Pump for Scald, because the ability to cripple Physical attackers is preffered over the extra power, and you still get the important KOs.

Actually, in my Y cartridge I have Scald over Hydro Pump on Keldeo, but on Showdown I just tested Hydro Pump and it worked really well. I wasn't sure Scald could kill as well so I'll give it a try! Thanks :)

 

[slurpy_mac]

Here I post a REPLAY from Showdown, that's how I use my team (I know I'm a noob lol):

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-173794390

 

[TheEnder]

Hi there slurpy_mac, this is a decent team you got :) I think it can be improved though, so I am going to propose some changes I think would help your team out. First off, your team is pretty weak to Landorus as it is, seeing as how it 2HKOs or OHKOs everything on your team. This problem is easily solved by running more investment in Special Defense on your Sylveon. This also let's you take on Thundurus and opposing Keldeo much better, which is something the rest of your team appreciates. The drop in physical bulk isn't really noticable becuase the pokes you walled with maximum physical bulk are still walled even if you remove some of it. I would also advise using Heal Bell isntead of Toxic which lets you heal Tyranitar and Ferrothorn when they get statused, which is something they hate. After Aegislash and Mawile got banned, there is no reason to run Eartquake on Mega Tyranitar, outside of hitting Heatran for super effective damage. Becuase bulky Psychic-types like Mew and Slowbro are quite hard for your team to take on, I think using Crunch over Earthquake on Mega Tyranitar is beneficial. This lets you take out Lati@s without worrying about missing Stone Edge, which is a huge relief. Another change I think would help your team is running Sand Rush Excadrill over Garchomp. This gives you a great sweeper versus offensive teams, and with Swords Dance, it's a major problem to any balanced team lacking extremely bulky Physical Tanks. In addition to this, it gives you a way of revenge killing the same threats Garchomp took care of when in sand. It also has the edge over Garchomp becuase of the ability to change up moves while still outspeeding everything, which is why it is such a threat to many teams. Lastly, having Scald over Icy Wind on Keldeo is something i prefer, as having a 100 % accurate, very much spammable Water-type STAB on Keldeo is very nice. That was all I had, hope I helped you with your team :]

Summary

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic


Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Crunch

→

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance


Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Flying]

 

[Alfalfa]

Hi there slurpy_mac, this is a decent team you got :) I think it can be improved though, so I am going to propose some changes I think would help your team out. First off, your team is pretty weak to Landorus as it is, seeing as how it 2HKOs or OHKOs everything on your team. This problem is easily solved by running more investment in Special Defense on your Sylveon. This also let's you take on Thundurus and opposing Keldeo much better, which is something the rest of your team appreciates. The drop in physical bulk isn't really noticable becuase the pokes you walled with maximum physical bulk are still walled even if you remove some of it. I would also advise using Heal Bell isntead of Toxic which lets you heal Tyranitar and Ferrothorn when they get statused, which is something they hate. After Aegislash and Mawile got banned, there is no reason to run Eartquake on Mega Tyranitar, outside of hitting Heatran for super effective damage. Becuase bulky Psychic-types like Mew and Slowbro are quite hard for your team to take on, I think using Crunch over Earthquake on Mega Tyranitar is beneficial. This lets you take out Lati@s without worrying about missing Stone Edge, which is a huge relief. Another change I think would help your team is running Sand Rush Excadrill over Garchomp. This gives you a great sweeper versus offensive teams, and with Swords Dance, it's a major problem to any balanced team lacking extremely bulky Physical Tanks. In addition to this, it gives you a way of revenge killing the same threats Garchomp took care of when in sand. It also has the edge over Garchomp becuase of the ability to change up moves while still outspeeding everything, which is why it is such a threat to many teams. Lastly, having Scald over Icy Wind on Keldeo is something i prefer, as having a 100 % accurate, very much spammable Water-type STAB on Keldeo is very nice. That was all I had, hope I helped you with your team :]

Summary

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic


Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Crunch

→

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance


Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Scald is not only a reliable Water STAB, it is used mostly to whittle away at Keldeo's checks by inflicting burns on most of them. But yeah, I would go Scald > Icy Wind, Scald is pretty much a necessity for most Keldeo sets due to its ability to burn its checks. I also do not like TheEnder's suggestion of LO Sand Rush Drill without a Smooth Rock Ttar, but eh, if slurpy_mac feels like he needs more sand turns, he can change it.

 

[slurpy_mac]

Hi there slurpy_mac, this is a decent team you got :) I think it can be improved though, so I am going to propose some changes I think would help your team out. First off, your team is pretty weak to Landorus as it is, seeing as how it 2HKOs or OHKOs everything on your team. This problem is easily solved by running more investment in Special Defense on your Sylveon. This also let's you take on Thundurus and opposing Keldeo much better, which is something the rest of your team appreciates. The drop in physical bulk isn't really noticable becuase the pokes you walled with maximum physical bulk are still walled even if you remove some of it. I would also advise using Heal Bell isntead of Toxic which lets you heal Tyranitar and Ferrothorn when they get statused, which is something they hate. After Aegislash and Mawile got banned, there is no reason to run Eartquake on Mega Tyranitar, outside of hitting Heatran for super effective damage. Becuase bulky Psychic-types like Mew and Slowbro are quite hard for your team to take on, I think using Crunch over Earthquake on Mega Tyranitar is beneficial. This lets you take out Lati@s without worrying about missing Stone Edge, which is a huge relief. Another change I think would help your team is running Sand Rush Excadrill over Garchomp. This gives you a great sweeper versus offensive teams, and with Swords Dance, it's a major problem to any balanced team lacking extremely bulky Physical Tanks. In addition to this, it gives you a way of revenge killing the same threats Garchomp took care of when in sand. It also has the edge over Garchomp becuase of the ability to change up moves while still outspeeding everything, which is why it is such a threat to many teams. Lastly, having Scald over Icy Wind on Keldeo is something i prefer, as having a 100 % accurate, very much spammable Water-type STAB on Keldeo is very nice. That was all I had, hope I helped you with your team :]

Summary

Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic


Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Fire Punch
- Crunch

→

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance


Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Flying]

Hey TheEnder! First of all, thank you very much for the analysis you did. I think it was pretty impressive. I've got a few questions relation to the suggestions you've made. To start with, do you think that M-Tyranitar fits well in this team? The mega spot can be filled with plenty of great megas and as it seems I do not know exactly how to use M-Tar (I'm getting used to it atm). Secondly, don't you think that Excadrill is a bit weak? 60/65 Base Stats in Def/SpD don't seem quite enough to take 2 hits, but perhaps I'm wrong, I don't know. And finally, I know that Icy Wind is pretty weak (how I wish Keldeo could learn Ice Beam...), but isn't a bit innecessary having 2 STAB Water moves in the same moveset? Am i not losing coverage?

Thanks in advance! :)

 

[slurpy_mac]

Scald is not only a reliable Water STAB, it is used mostly to whittle away at Keldeo's checks by inflicting burns on most of them. But yeah, I would go Scald > Icy Wind, Scald is pretty much a necessity for most Keldeo sets due to its ability to burn its checks. I also do not like TheEnder's suggestion of LO Sand Rush Drill without a Smooth Rock Ttar, but eh, if slurpy_mac feels like he needs more sand turns, he can change it.

Hey Alfalfa! Do you think that there are better options? Perhaps changing both M-Tar and Chomp or just M-Tar for another mega? Perhaps a Sand Rush Excadrill isn't appropriate due to its lack of bulk and that if I sweep him and then the sandstorm stops it gets useless? I don't know.

Thanks!

 

[TheEnder]

Hey TheEnder! First of all, thank you very much for the analysis you did. I think it was pretty impressive. I've got a few questions relation to the suggestions you've made. To start with, do you think that M-Tyranitar fits well in this team? The mega spot can be filled with plenty of great megas and as it seems I do not know exactly how to use M-Tar (I'm getting used to it atm). Secondly, don't you think that Excadrill is a bit weak? 60/65 Base Stats in Def/SpD don't seem quite enough to take 2 hits, but perhaps I'm wrong, I don't know. And finally, I know that Icy Wind is pretty weak (how I wish Keldeo could learn Ice Beam...), but isn't a bit innecessary having 2 STAB Water moves in the same moveset? Am i not losing coverage?

Thanks in advance! :)

I think Mega Tyranitar is a great Pokemon, it just needs some support to work out. I think your team does a really good job at supporting a sweep, having a cleric and some good wallbreakers. Excadrill isn't necessarily the bulkiest poke out there, but it's sure dangerous when it gets a free switch and sand support. As for Keldeo, having a reliable move to spam (that also conveniently has a great 30% chance to burn) without having to worry about missing is really great :) As you have both Ferrothorn and Tyranitar, Lati@s arent really a problem, so I would give up Icy Wind for Scald any day.

If you do not like Mega Tyranitar, Mega Charizard X is a great Dragon Dance user. I can leave a set suggestions at the end of this post, if you want to test it out. As for Garchomp, I think having a Ground-type is a must on every team. You also lack Speed on your team, so you options are Scarf Lanodrus-T, Scarf Excadrill (as you don't have sand support if you take away Tyranitar), and the option your are currently running, Scarf Garchomp. Personally, my favorite is Scarf Lanodrus-T, as it sports a lot of momentum for any team I put it on.

Here are the sets, if you want to try them out :)

Sets

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 96 HP / 220 Atk / 8 SDef / 184 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Dragon Claw


Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

 

[Eik00c]

Hello there!

So you don't want Sand Rush Excadrill do to its lack of bulk and you're considering changing Garchomp for the same reason. I have the solution for you! Change Garchomp to Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Superpower

With Lando-T, you can be both (decently) bulky and a revenge killer/late game cleaner. Earthquake is the nice and powerful STAB (try not to spam too much unless nothing resists/is immune to it). Stone Edge pairs with EQ for the Edgequake combo; it's also the move to use to prevent the game of "Which Charizard is it?" U-turn is to gain momentum. Superpower is to hit mons that are holding an Air Balloon such as Heatran. It can be switched for Knock Off to catch the Lati twins on the switch and for useful utility.

That's all I can think of atm. I don't currently see a huge problem with your team so far. Good luck with it!

 

[Alfalfa]

Hello there!

So you don't want Sand Rush Excadrill do to its lack of bulk and you're considering changing Garchomp for the same reason. I have the solution for you! Change Garchomp to Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 24 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Superpower

With Lando-T, you can be both (decently) bulky and a revenge killer/late game cleaner. Earthquake is the nice and powerful STAB (try not to spam too much unless nothing resists/is immune to it). Stone Edge pairs with EQ for the Edgequake combo; it's also the move to use to prevent the game of "Which Charizard is it?" U-turn is to gain momentum. Superpower is to hit mons that are holding an Air Balloon such as Heatran. It can be switched for Knock Off to catch the Lati twins on the switch and for useful utility.

That's all I can think of atm. I don't currently see a huge problem with your team so far. Good luck with it!

Yeah, if you do not want Sand Rush Excadrill, Scarf Landorus-T is probably one of the best Choice Scarf users in the current metagame, and probably the best replacement for Excadrill.

 

[slurpy_mac]

Sure guys! Thank you very much! I'll try them out this weekend and I'll let you know the results ASAP :)