OU VoltTurn Guide Updates

[Trinitrotoluene]

OU Guide to VoltTurn Offense
Written by Harsha and Trinitrotoluene | Art by Swaggersaurus

Alright. The current guide to OU VoltTurn Offense is a tad outdated. I'll be updating this, but before I get to work, I need your opinion on the following updates I have planned for it.

List of Changes to be Made (Please read this!)

• New entries for Therian formes, Victini, Azelf, and Magneton in the VoltTurn Users to Consider section
• New entries for Starmie, Tentacruel, Gothitelle, and Dugtrio in the Teammates for VoltTurn segment
• New entries for Terrakion, Kyurem-B, Salamence, Keldeo, Garchomp, and Chlorophyll sweepers in Threats to VoltTurn section
• Updates for existing Pokemon entries to reflect metagame changes
• Added emphasis on the dangers of entry hazards and powerful Choiced attackers for VoltTurn teams
• Downplay Virizion (which really isn't common these days) in Threats to VoltTurn section
• Have Pokemon and move names actually hyperlink to their respective pages (may need a bit of help from someone more adept with HTML for this one)
• Possibly list out a few sets?
• Possibly find a new hazard setter entry for Deo-D's place

New Pokemon Entries:

VoltTurn Users to Consider:

• Volt Absorb lets it absorb incoming Electric-type attacks aimed at your team
• Most powerful Volt Switch in the game, barring Specs and LO variants of certain Pokemon
• Gets great coverage with Volt Switch, Focus Blast, and HP Ice
• Again, works well with Politoed
• Grass-types even more valuable as teammates because Gastrodon walls Thundurus-T entirely
• Works with Keldeo, Tornadus-T, and / or Latios to form a 1-2 punch that most offensive teams cannot keep up with
• Powerful Water-type sweepers should be considered to weaken walls Thundurus-T has trouble beating; Starmie especially notable because Rapid Spin support and powerful Water-type sweepers
• RAPID SPIN SUPPORT ABSOLUTELY NEEDED FOR THUNDURUS-T BECAUSE SR WEAK AND NO REGENERATOR
• Scarf versions w/out Grass Knot beaten by Gastrodon, Ferrothorn, and pink blobs; Specs variants troubled by faster Pokemon and Gastrodon (again, assuming a lack of SR)

• Can lay hazards without a hitch
• Can actually beat Terrakion and many other physical sweepers because typing and Intimidate
• More of a utility VoltTurner than sweeper VoltTurner, unless CB is used
• Can work with other defensive mons (e.g. Specially Defensive Rotom-W) to form a defensive VoltTurn core of sorts
• Very strongth with Choice Band
• Works well with Rotom-W as a defensive and offensive VoltTurn core, Rotom-W resists all of Landorus-T's weaknesses
• Shares many counters with Incarnate forme, but can actually take a non-STAB Ice Shard from Donphan
• Breloom, Celebi, and Virizion resist EQ and Stone Edge, but none can switch into a CB Landorus-T's Earthquake repeatedly (w/ exception of Celebi)
• Mamoswine kills Landorus-T without any problems
• Skarm can wall bulky versions

• Close Combat and Brave Bird give Staraptor insane power
• Return or Reckless Double-Edge very good STAB
• Two great abilities in the form of Intimidate and Reckless, the former giving Staraptor slightly easier switch-ins, and the latter more powerful attacks, at the cost of more recoil
• Beats Breloom and Celebi
• Choice Band makes Staraptor a powerful wall-breaker; Choice Scarf makes Staraptor a fast, great revenge killer
• Works with teams that like fast, powerful Flying-type coverage without being bound to Politoed or walled by Chansey / Blissey
• Countered by Skarmory; Zapdos resists Close Combat + Brave Bird, but won't like taking a Return
• Original Rotom resists all 3 of Normal / Fighting / Flying coverage, but cannot take 2 Brave Birds

• V-CREATE punches holes under sun, giving Victini copious amounts of POWER
• Beats Grass-types that torment Rotom-W and other VoltTurners (e.g. Breloom, Amoonguss)
• Has Psychic STAB (but it's worth crap nowadays)
• Works well with sun teams, thanks to V-CREATE and Bolt Strike granting it immense power
• For above reasons, CB remains Victini's best item
• Scarf has some merit in forcing revenge kills
• something about a move called final gambit and how it can be used to force a 5-5 situation or something like that
• Ninetales nearly mandatory to amp up V-CREATE's power and weaken Water-type moves
• Something that can beat Terrakion and TTar is appreciated; Fighters, Scizor, and Landorus-T work well
• Countered by Terrakion, but Terrakion won't like a V-CREATE or Brick Break; same for TTar
• Weather shifts rob V-CREATE of power, so Politoed, Hippowdon, & TTar great counters
• Faster Pokemon w/ super-effective STAB (e.g. Garchomp, Landorus, Gengar, Starmie) can check Victini

• Frailty may make Azelf seem like bad choice for VoltTurn, but powerful Psychic STAB, Explosion, and ability to go mixed truly set it apart from other VoltTurners
• Incredible base 115 Speed, which allows Azelf to get the jump on many Pokemon considered fast (main examples: Terrakion, Latios, Gengar)
• Can set SR in a pinch
• Choice Band powers up halfway decent Psychic STAB in Zen Headbutt and a moderately powerful Explosion that complements U-turn; Scarf set revenges almost everything @ +1
• Good teammates include Magnezone, which can trap and deliver pain to Scizor and Jirachi, as well as Fighting-types that can smite Tyranitar and Heatran
• Beaten out by Tyranitar (Dark STAB), Scizor (powerful as nails Bullet Punch), Jirachi (paralysis sucks), Heatran (stomachs everything that Azelf can throw at it)

• Faster, (ever-so-slightly) weaker Magnezone; does most of the same
• Can actually trap Scizor without worrying about being outsped
• Eviolite gives Magnezone great bulk at the cost of running another item
• If you're seriously thinking about running Scarf Magnezone, go with Magneton instead. It's faster and a better Scarf abuser than Magnezone.
• Ideal teammates would be Pokemon that can beat away at Fire-type attacks; Politoed good wih Scarf Magneton as Drizzle allows it to run Thunder
• Same counters as Magnezone

Teammates for VoltTurn:

• Hazards are any good VoltTurn team's bane, and Rapid Spin is the bane of hazards. Starmie just happens to be OU's most offensive Rapid Spinner, so it's a natural fit for VoltTurn teams.
• Very powerful if EVed right, and potent in rain
• Beats Keldeo and other fighters like Breloom
• Synergizes well with many common VoltTurners and can keep offensive momentum going
• Can be more defensively EVed to act as a reliable pivot
• Counters include opposing Scizor, TTar, and Ferrothorn
• Magnezone an excellent teammate since it can trap Scizor and Ferrothorn; Fighters welcome teammates to beat apart pesky Darks

• A more defensive spinner than Starmie that can lay TSpikes

Threats to VoltTurn:

 

[tehy]

Well, Deo-D was banned, so you might want to take that down

 

[GatoDelFuego]

I would say Keldeo is also a threat to voltturn, as it can't exactly switch in but it has massively powerful attacks that nobody on a voltturn team wants to take (hydro pump, secret sword, even icy wind can kill momentum). It fits the description of "powerful choiced attacker" better than pretty much everything else on the special side. I'd also mention Landorus a bit less, as it's more commonly used as a special attacker.

 

[Professor Birch]

Im no pro at this but I do not see why Terrakion is a threat. The common core of Scizor and Rotom-W have no problem with it. Scizor just has to come in Bullet Punch and switch out while Rotom-W can just hit it with a STAB Hydro Pump and switch out without really being threatened by it.

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

Im no pro at this but I do not see why Terrakion is a threat. The common core of Scizor and Rotom-W have no problem with it. Scizor just has to come in Bullet Punch and switch out while Rotom-W can just hit it with a STAB Hydro Pump and switch out without really being threatened by it.

Terrakion is a threat simply because no common VoltTurner, with the exception of Landorus-T, likes switching into its STAB-boosted (and possibly Band-boosted) moves. SubSD variants can also exploit VoltTurners locked into the wrong move by using them as set-up fodder. Yes, there are ways to check it, as you mentioned in your post, but such methods usually result in the loss of at least one Pokemon. However, Scarfed variants are no problem for VoltTurn teams since they don't hit hard enough.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

I would mention under tentacruel that it should be used only on more bulky volt-turn teams, perhaps with a base of Landorus-T, Specially Defensive Rotom-W, and Bulky Scizor. Voltturn often wants to just stick with heavy offense and use starmie if any spinner, so tentacruel needs a team niche to give it a reason to be used at all.

 

[Jukain]

hey man, I know you wanted to have the Pokemon link to their analyses in the guide. I went in and cleaned up some rather ugly line spacing the scms glitched and put in. do you want links to the first mention of each Pokemon's name or image hyperlinks?

 

[Trinitrotoluene]

Something like what the OU Sun guide does is preferred.

 

[Jukain]

I've added links