OU: Sweet Libations
Introduction:
Hello, this is an ou team that I’ve had a lot of success with of late. This is a bulky offence team that I’ve been using for a while, and I’m quite proud of it. It focuses on team synergy and pivoting out of threats. While it is quite solid, there are some huge weaknesses that I would like to be fixed, so I appreciate all your suggestions in advance!
Team-building Process:
I started this team with what I consider some of the best offensive pokemon at the moment, which was sub sd Terrakion and mega gardevoir. They happened to compliment each other very well, with Terrakion taking care of things like chansey and some steel types for gardevoir and gardevoir beating the really bulky physical walls like slowbro and clefable that plague ou.
I realised that certain fat steel types, like mega scizor and skarmory, could wall the two pokemon I had. I then did the obvious and got a specs magnezone with magnet pull, which traps and kills every defensive steel bar heatran.
I wanted some defencive presence,as well as a pokemon that could set up rocks, because none of my pokemon were that good at taking hits. I went for a good defencive core in ferrothorn + slowbro. The two compliment eachother rather well, and they can often switch into attacks aimed at each other.
I realised I had no revenge killer, and I also needed a ground resist. I decided to go for scarf Landorus-t. It synergised with my team very well, especially magnezone. Magnezone and Landorus form a very potent volt-turn combo that gains momentum pretty easily and between them they resist a lot of types.
A Closer Look:
Ability: Trace
EVs: 24 Def / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Mega Gardevoir is one of the pokemon that benefited quite a bit from the aegislash ban, and is currently the best special nuke in ou. It’s this teams premier way of dealing with stall, as well as being the main special attacker.Its stab pixilate hyper voice does insane damage and next to nothing likes switching into it. Psyshock is the obligatory secondary stab, hitting the poisons who resist fairy very hard. I chose Psyshock over Psychic because it allows me to hit special walls such as chansey much harder if I need to. Focus blast is so I can 2hko heatran, ferrothorn and magnezone. Taunt is really cool on gardevoir, as its pretty much a fullstop to most stall pokemon when combined with Gardevoir’s insanely strong moves. The 24 defence evs are to avoid the 2hko from latios’ psyshock and the modest nature is for maximum wall breaking potential.
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Sub Swords Dance Terrakion is, for some reason, a really underrated set. This pokemon is probably the main sweeper of the team, and often gets the most kills. It can set up on a plethora of defensive pokemon, i.e mew, gliscor, defencive Landorus etc. and it only really needs its two stabs, as they provide amazing coverage. Air Balloon may seem like an odd choice, but it can be really helpful vs. things like Gliscor, Landorus and Tyranitar. Swords Dance boosts his attack to insanse levels and his two high-powered stabs threaten most of the tier at +2.
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
Magnezone’s main role on this team is to trap bulky steels that give my other members trouble, like mega scizor, skarmory and ferrothorn. He has choice specs to maximise his power, and this allows him to ohko lots of common defencive mons, like, clefable, skarmory, most variants of scizors and most ferrothorns. Thunderbolt is the strongest stab, Flash cannon is for fairies like clefable, Volt switch is great for getting up momentum and works really well in tandem with Landorus’ U-Turn. Hidden Power Fire is what makes this set so effective, as it traps steels with magnet pull then does a lot of damage with HP Fire. 252 Special Attack is for the most damage possible, 128 speed evs allows him to hit 187 speed (outspeeds 0 speed mega scizor) and the rest in hp for optimal bulk.
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
Slowbro is my main physical wall, and also serves as a good pivot into strong attackers thanks to regenerator. Scald is pretty much mandatory on any bulky water, as the chance to burn physical attackers is really good. Psyshock lets me hit keldeo, Conkeldurr and M-Venu hard, Thunder Wave is to cripple threatening set up sweepers like gyarados and charizard-x, and slack off is a more reliable recovery than regenerator. Max HP and Max defence allows me to take some of the strongest physical hits. Rocky Helmet punishes physical attackers like medicham.
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 248 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
-
- Protect
Designated mixed wall, this thing takes on so many threats and just doesn't die (especially in conjunction with slowbro, whos typing helps it). Stealth rock is most important move in the game, Leech Seed to make up for his lack of recovery, while also sapping health from the opponent, gyro ball is the main attack, and is chosen over power whip because it hits things like lati's way harder. Protect is to scout for choice locked pokemon and to regain health back from leech seed without taking a hit. I'm not too sure what these evs are for to be honest, but they seem to work for me and I'm pretty sure they're the standard.
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Landorus-T, when equipped with a choice scarf, becomes a revenger, a pivot and a strong cleaner all in one. I mainly use landorus to switch into resisted hits and pivot out early game, giving me momentum, and then late game i tend to just spam earthquake with that 145 base attack. Earthquake is a strong, reliable stab, Stone Edge hits most things that eq can't, Knock off is mainly to cripple things like chansey and landorus-i (sort of) who rely on their item. U-Turn, probably the most important move, allows me to scout and pivot out of various things. For example, when the opponent has a skarmory, they'll want to bring it on landorus. But if landorus uses U-Turn, then he can just go straight into magnezone and that skarmory is dead as a doorknob.
How I use it:
First, I look at the opposing team and try to figure out which pokemon has stealth rock. Most rocks setters are pressued out by landorus-therian, so about 90% of the time I'll lead with him. If the situation isn't in my favour, then i can easily U-Turn out. Generally, I'll try and set up sr early, then pressure the opponent with volturn and try to get gardevoir in for free. Gardevoir has tonnes of offencive presence, and normally when it comes in something dies. If the opponent has a bulky steel that can go into gardevoir, then I'll try and get magnezone in on them with double switches and trap them. I generally save Terrakion for a late game sweep.
Importable:
Sprite (Gardevoir) (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Red Bull (Terrakion) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Pepsi (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
Mountain Dew (Slowbro) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
7up (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Protect
Coca-Cola (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
Red Bull (Terrakion) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
Pepsi (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Volt Switch
Mountain Dew (Slowbro) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
- Slack Off
7up (Ferrothorn) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Protect
Coca-Cola (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn
Threat-List:
-Wall breaker megas:
I have no safe switch ins for these guys, and only really have 1-2 good checks for each of them
-Fast special attackers with coverage:
These pokemon outspeed my whole team sans lando, and because of their wide coverage they can hit my whole team super effectively.
Ok so that's the team! Thanks for reading, and any suggestions will be appreciated.
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