No pain, no gain.

Doubt · Jul 27, 2012

A little prefix, this is my first experience with OU (I have done a lot of random battle, though). When I originally created this team, I had no experience with B/W white whatsoever. I then played through Black, and gained a little bit of experience. I added Volcarona to my team and then went and tested. The threat list for this team is at the bottom. All advice and comments are helpful, if this post is breaking some normal format, please let me know so I can fix it ASAP. Here's the team, and thanks in advance.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch

I originally put in metagross to lead, but I don't think I've lead with it yet. I normally end up leading with Rotom-W against weather teams, which seem to form the bulk of OU. Overall, this guy hasn't seen much use and the typing doesn't seem to help it against common threats.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 Atk / 252 Spd / 12 HP
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Stone Edge

I really love Breloom, and the combination of Spore and Focus Punch is really appealing to me, so I use this guy to inflict sleep, especially on switches, then Focus Punch away. I put Stone Edge on there for greater coverage, and substitute because it was in the set I used. I don't end up using it much, so I would rather I could get a better coverage move in there. I'm thinking swords dance for now, as some people like to keep their sleeping pokemon in there.

Volcarona @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 160 HP / 96 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Rest
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz

I put this guy in here over a Salamance, which just wasn't working out for me. I'm using a chesto-rest set, but usually I can only get off a quiver dance or two, sometimes none, before I have to rest. This guy really helps in killing off physic and bug/grass/fire types, and overall seems to be working out better than the salamance did.

Deoxys-Defense @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Recover
- Night Shade

I love taunting Deoxys-D. This guy usually hits the opponent first, and has often taken out their attempt to set up. Toxic hits non-steel types well and with recover and Night Shade, it allows me to stall out many un-boosted threats.

Rotom-Wash @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 236 SAtk / 252 Spd / 20 SDef
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

I originally had a starmie in there, using rapid spin to remove hazards. It was suggested to me while playing with the team to change it for a bulkier water type, so I used Rotom-W. This guy is my ideal lead against sandstorm and rain teams, letting me hit Tyranitar if it stays in, and also provides excellent coverage many weather teams. Pain Split helps keep it healthy, but substitute doesn't see much use again.

Scizor @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost

This guy is my sweeper. U-turn is excellent in scouting switches, and bullet punch can take a decent hit out of many things. Roost and Swords Dance aren't seeing much use, as this thing is too frail to take many hits. I'm considering going with a different, less bulky set to suit my needs better.

Anyway, that's the team. As for threats, weather teams, especially rain, can chew this team up and spit it out if played right. I have no defense against boosted things, and I found that a grass type (whimsicott, in the recent instance) using encore can really hurt this team bad.

I'm looking for some help here, who to change out, what to change it to, moveset changes, etc. any advice at all would be appreciated, so feel free to suggest anything.

Exportable version:

Metagross @ Leftovers
Trait: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Bullet Punch

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 Atk / 252 Spd / 12 HP
Adamant Nature
- Spore
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Stone Edge

Volcarona @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 160 HP / 96 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Rest
- Fiery Dance
- Bug Buzz

Deoxys-Defense @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Recover
- Night Shade

Rotom-Wash @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 236 SAtk / 252 Spd / 20 SDef
Serious Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt

Scizor @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Doubt · Jul 28, 2012

One-day bump.

False Sense · Jul 29, 2012

Hi! Nice looking team. You mentioned that rain teams give you trouble. I'm thinking that maybe a standard Bulk Up Breloom set could help there. With the defensive investment the set has, Breloom can easily take and Water or Electric type attacks usually seen on rain teams, and can usually survive an Ice Beam too. Once it uses Spore to cripple something, it can proceed to set up and easily decimate the opponents team is certain threats have been removed.

Asek · Jul 29, 2012

Hey,

Nice team you have here Fighterman481, but I did notice some big threats. Swords Dance Lucario with Crunch looks like he can decimate your team once boosted up, which is easy if he switch's into Deo-D and from there he can take off and beat you to pieces. Dragons like Salamence, Latias, Dragonite and to a lesser extent Latios, look hard for you to stop as your 2 resists will get smacked by their coverage moves and Bullet Punch will not KO them with without a lot of prior damage. Dragon Dance Gyarados also looks like a major threat, out speeding everything at +1 and promptly sweeping your team.

Looking at some of your sets, they look a bit iffy to me. Volcarona now has access to Roost, which is a far more reliable source of Recovery than Rest. So Volcarona should be running Roost > Rest and Lum Berry / Leftovers > Chesto Berry. Metagross's set is a bit iffy for a SR setter. Metagross far prefers Zen Headbutt > Meteor Mash to offer better coverage in general. Also an EV spread of 252HP / 220Atk / 36Spe gives you enough Speed to beat important stuff that I can't remember right now. For Rotom-W, I think a Choice Scarf set suits your team far better, as you lack a revenge killer right now and Rotom likes that Speed to beat many threats to it, such as +1 Dragonite and even if you don't want to use the Scarf set, definitely give Rotom a Modest Nature > Serious. But I think this is a typo. Also Bug Bite > U-Turn on Scizor because you are going for a sweep and U-Turn caused you to lose all the boost's you have accumulated and is counter productive for any sweeper to do. If you are going for a pivot then Choice Band Scizor works far better in this role for scouting and Revenge killing purposes.

Although I mentioned a Change for Volcarona earlier in the rate, I think there is a far better fit for your team in this slot. I think your team would love a Dragon type to help your team beat down stuff to the point where one of your boosters can come in and sweep what is left over. Looking at your team I think Volcarona is the weak link as without Rapid Spin support, it is crippled horribly by Stealth Rocks.Thats why I think using Choice Band Dragonite > Volcarona would be a good fit for the team. Dragonite can help Scizor in getting him to sweep by using powerful attacks to break through the opposing team to the point where Scizors counters are either dead or crippled to the point where Scizor can mop up what's left.

GL with the team, sets below

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Nature : Adamant (+Atk -SpA)
Trait: Multiscale
EV's: 8HP/ 248Atk / 252Spe
Outrage /Fire Punch / Superpower / Extremespeed

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid (+Spe -Atk)
Trait: Levitate
EV's: 4HP / 252SpA / 252Spe
Volt Switch / Hydro Pump / Hidden Power [ICE] / Trick

Scizor @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant (+Atk -SpA)
Trait: Technician
EV's: 248HP / 252Atk / 8Spe
Bullet Punch / U-Turn / Superpower / Quick Attack

Cerulean21 · Jul 29, 2012

Hey there.
Nice team. You mention that rain is giving you trouble (I think bulky Water types in general could be bothersome) and Gastrodon walls your entire team.

Now, as Asek suggested, Bulk Up Breloom works wonders against rain Teams as it can set up on most of their defensive pivots such as Ferrothorn and Rotom-W (who usually won't trick you once it's seen Toxic Orb).

I'd also suggest going for the Bulky Attacker set on your Rotom-W (Substitute doesn't seem to cut it for you anyway). The set:

Again, supporting Asek in suggesting Roost over Rest and Lum Berry/Leftovers over Chesto Berry on Volcorona.
I actually make out quite a weakness to Fire type attacks and sun teams. That's why I'd suggest changing Metagross to Heatran, which will help a lot against sun teams. Since you use your Metagross more offensively, I'd suggest the Offensive SR Set, though Specially Defensive Tran might also have it's merits:

I don't see Deoxys-D doing much for your team, tbh, and I would suggest replacing it with something that can take on the Dragon types that plague this team. You could go for Specially Defensive Jirachi, which could at least take on the Latis, but Mence/Nite would still pose a threat. I'd therefore suggest Mamoswine. It can't switch in directly but it can revenge kill them quite nicely. It also has an Electric immunity and a resistance to Ice with Thick Fat, which is always beneficial. The set:

Hope this helps. GL with the team.

Doubt · Jul 29, 2012

Thanks for all the help, my team has been seeing vastly better performance since I made changes (heatran>metagross, Dnite>volcarona, mamoswine, etc).

No pain, no gain.

Doubt

Doubt

False Sense

Asek

Banned deucer.

Cerulean21

Doubt

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