Smashing My Way To Victory

[Homeslice]

Introduction​

Hey everyone, Homeslice here with my first 5th gen RMT. Let me start off by saying this team was a HUGE step for me, as I have very little experience and still struggle to know what common sets are for Pokemon in OU. This team hasn't been stellar, but it does have the ability to go on some major rampages. This team is completely centered around Shell Smash Cloyster, pokemon to help Cloyster, remove his threats, etc. Let's begin.

All changes will be made in Bold

Team Building Process (Original Team)

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So when I first wanted to make this team, I wanted to center it around that one Pokemon that was put in OU because it is either extremely useless or extremely useful. As soon as I saw Cloyster in OU I knew he was what I wanted. He's a great sweeper when he can pull it off, and I've taken down walls with him multiple times. Shell Smash with Skill Link was just too much to resist.

The first problem that popped out to me with Cloyster was his weakness to Stealth Rock. I never really enjoyed most rapid spinners bar Forretress and Tentacruel, and I went with Forretress simply because he can also put up hazards and can't get OHKO'd due to sturdy. He also has a bit of attacking power, getting me some crucial kills on Pokemon that have boosted their speed with Gyro Ball. Probably one of the most irreplaceable Pokemon on this team.

Problem number two when it came to Cloyster: Steel types. They completely wall him. I loved Magnezone so much from Gen 4 that he immediately came to mind when this problem popped up. He can also counter rain for me, which is huge upside to one Pokemon supporting two roles.

And yet another problem popped up: Priority users would wreck Cloyster. Even with his massive defense, A mach punch from Breloom and Conkeldurr still scared me. Bullet Punch Scizor is nothing to joke about either. There are plenty of other priority users too, and most are SE against Cloyster bar Aqua Jet. As most priority moves that were troublesome were fighting, I decided to add some Psychic support. My first thought was Alakazam.

And then I realized his defenses were terrible. I needed a pokemon that could actually take a hit. Reuniclus stuck out, and he has done his job. He takes the priority, and can scare away fighting types, while having the chance to set up. He can sweep away some physical walls for Cloyster, leaving the special walls for Cloyster to pick off.

One problem not related to Cloyster had appeared: Lack of physical attackers. I was thinking about who to use, as there as so many Physical threats in OU. I remember one of my friends telling me how dangerous Terrakion was and how he could sweep so easily, so I went for him. He gives me some more type coverage with his STAB Rock and Fighting, two of the best attacking types in the metagame. I have completely fallen in love with him ever since I started using him.

Now, two things are true about the OU tier: There is a massive amount of weather, and there are a massive amount of Dragons and Steels. Dragons always worry me the most out of any pokemon, and I realized I had no reliable check or counter. I needed another steel type of my own that was either moderately or extremely bulky that could stop dragon types. My favorite steel type came to mind: Jirachi. Most of the time, just the simple sight of Jirachi scares away dragons, and for good reason too.

Importable:​

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Cloyster (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Razor Shell

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

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 184 HP / 4 Def / 144 SAtk / 176 SDef
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Charge Beam

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor
- Sacred Sword

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 76 SDef / 32 Spd
Bold Nature
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Stealth Rock

Team In-depth​

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Cloyster

Cloyster (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Razor Shell

Cloyster is the bedrock of this team. He has an insane ability to sweep. He can easily take down walls, including physical walls because of Skill Link, essentially give him around a 125 base power ice STAB move and rock move. Although Shell Smash raises both attack and special attack, I never liked the idea of mixed attackers, so I opted for Razor Shell on Cloyster, as it also has a 50% chance to lower defense, which appealed to me. I changed the EV spread to 4 in HP rather than Sp Atk, and used a jolly trait to outspeed HP Fire Scarf Latios and Modest Nature Venusaur in the sun. White Herb is used to restore Cloyster's insane base 180 Def, while still allowing it to cushion some weaker special attacks.

Latios

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

Latios, while at first I was skeptical about, has found his place perfectly on this team. He is a solid revenge killer, takes care of heatran, and takes care of ground types. He can also cripple Ferrothorn or Jellicent with Trick. He allowed me to straight-out kill other scarfed Pokemon instead of trying to take a hit or trap them into a Pokemon who resists their move, which has help so much. His synergy with Magnezone has helped too, as Magnezone can take out Steels that resist Latios' Draco Meteor.

Rotom-W

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 184 HP / 4 Def / 144 SAtk / 176 SDef
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Rotom-W has been a great improvement over Reuniclus. He can hit more, take care of rain, and take care of the priority Reuniclus tried to stop. He can even cripple most Physical attackers with will-o-wisp, and it even helps against walls. It essentially has BoltBeam from HP Ice, and Hydro Pump has full accuracy in the rain- something OU with completely filled with. He has been a great help in dealing with the rain, as I don't need Magnezone to deal with almost every Pokemon on the other team in a rain team. He also has helped remove of Heatran and Ground types, which were huge problems for this team.

Magnezone

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Charge Beam

Magnezone has been a god-send for this team, removing pesky steel threats that so easily wall this team. Substitute prevents any status ailments from Jirachi, Jellicent, or even Politoed. Thunderbolt is used as the most reliable STAB move, as it can hit all steels for neutral damage and typically hit rain teams for SE damage on around 4 Pokemon. Hidden Power Fire usually OHKO's Scizor and Forretress, can 3HKO Ferrothorn in rain, and hit Metagross, Jirachi, and Skarmory for SE damage. Very useful move. Charge Beam has effectively replaced Flash Cannon, giving Magnezone the extra power he needs to kill off Heatran with a boosted Thunderbolt and SR damage.

Terrakion

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor
- Sacred Sword

Let me start this off by saying I personally believe this set is the best Physical Sweeping set in the game. Choice Band STAB Close Combats combined with a base 129 Attack is just too much to handle. Especially for Tyranitar, which is Terrakion's main job- to counter him. Tyranitar puts huge holes in this team, but Terrakion can easily come in after I fodder away another poke and get the OHKO. Stone Edge allows me more STAB coverage, while X-Scissor can handle some Psychics who think they can outspeed me. Terrakion also fills in as the only Physical attacker besides Cloyster that can break walls if needed.

Jirachi

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 240 HP / 160 Def / 76 SDef / 32 Spd
Bold Nature
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Stealth Rock

This Jirachi has helped tremendously when it comes to crippling the other team. He spreads paralysis, can throw down rocks, heal up, then iron head to almost eliminate the chance of the other team attacking. He also can still take care of Dragon types, which is what his main purpose was to do in the original team. My only problem with him is sometimes he cannot get off rocks, or his wish can't be passed to someone else on my team.But overall, his new set was a major improvement.

Current Struggles With the (Original) Team​

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• Heatran- FIXED- Latios and Rotom-W have both been reliable enough to take down Heatran.
• Lack of Physical Attackers- Fixed- Jirachi's new set allows for more Physical coverage
• Reuniclus' lack of impact- FIXED- Rotom-W has replaced him and done fantastically.
• Steels after Magnezone is KO'd- SOMEWHAT FIXED- Rotom-W has helped, but they can still be an annoyance.
• Ground Pokemon- FIXED- Latios and Rotom-W have covered up the average ground type's infulence.
• (NEW)Lack of Rapid Spinner- After the removal of Forretress, hazards could really end up destroying my team. I plan on addressing this later.

Pokemon I Have Considered to Swap In​

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• Suicune- Provides A bulky water type to deal with grounds and Heatran.
• Mamoswine- Physical attacker that could stop ground types and steel types.
• Bronzong- Could replace Jirachi as a wall for dragons, Levitate provides resistance to grounds.
• Any Dragon- Added
• Ferrothorn- Can kill ground types, wall, use leech seed, and set up hazards.

Original Pokemon that were Removed​

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

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic

Original Importable:

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Cloyster (M) @ White Herb
Trait: Skill Link
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Razor Shell

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

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Calm Mind
- Psychic

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 36 HP / 252 SAtk / 220 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- X-Scissor
- Sacred Sword

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spd
Bold Nature
- Wish
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon

 

[Gehenna]

Hey Homeslice,

Good team! I rarely see Cloysters nowadays (strange with it's mediumish usage), but it's a pretty fearsome sweeper when used correctly. Anyways, looking at your team, I notice one thing immediately: rain. Your only water resistance is Cloyster, who can't do anything to Politoed or Keldeo. For this reason I recommend a Bulky Rotom-W over Reuniclus.

Leftovers
Modest
184 HP / 4 Def / 144 SpA / 176 Spe
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hydro Pump
~ Will-O-Wisp
~ Hidden Power Ice

Rotom-W is a good check to a lot of rain abusers, and really helps to patch up some weaknesses there. You also seem to be lacking a Scarfer, allowing opposing team's Scarfers to outspeed you unopposed. For this reason I recommend a Scarf Latios over your Forretress. Latios is an excellent Pokemon that is very fast and hits like a truck, and has excellent synergy with Magnezone.

Choice Scarf
Surf
Hidden Power Fire
Draco Meteor
Trick

In addition, I have a few moveset alterations for you.

Firstly, I recommend Charge Beam over Flash Cannon on Magnezone. Steel isn't a very good offensive type, and Charge Beam + Substitute can help Magnezone do some real damage after KOing a trapped Steel-type.
Next, for your Jirachi I recommend changing your Calm Mind Jirachi to a Sp. Defense variant.

Leftovers
Bold
240 HP / 160 Def / 76 SpD / 32 Spe
~ Iron Head
~ Body Slam
~ Wish
~ Stealth Rock

The Paralysis support of the Sp. Defensive version can really help your team out, as your team is overall really slow, while also providing SR.

Overall, nice team!

 

[Homeslice]

Love those ideas, I'll try them all out now. If it works, I'll keep it, but I may switch some different Pokemon out in the end.

 

[Leftiez]

Hi there.
It is a team very interesting and very effective, I see that you possess Cloyster a very strong pokemon, he can kill many Pokémon at the end of match, good suggestion, but you can't do anything against Volcarona if he has Hidden power Ground, because it kills Forretress-Cloyster-Jirachi is OHKO by Fire Blast, and Magnezone also, you know, Terrakion is a good counter for Volcarona because it can tank Fire Blast/Bug Buzz and Terrakion can outspeed Volcarona if He has the Choice Scarf, so I suggest you to put Terrakion in Choice Scarf, when it has this item, Terrakion can outspeed Dragonite/Volcarona/Salamence after a Dragon Dance/Quiver Dance, it can be a very good Revenge Killer, then I see that you are weak against Rotom-W and VoltUrn because you have nothing to take the Volt Switch and Jirachi can be burn with Will O Wisp, Terrakion also.

Then I see that you are very disadvantaged against Sun Teams because Venusaur has Hidden power Fire, and he kills Magnezone, Jirachi, Terrakion, Cloyster, I suggest you put Latias LO on Forretress, Latias is a great counter to the Sun Team, Venusaur can not kill him and then now you can come on Ninetales without problem and then Latias can tank Volt Switch and it 2HKO Rotom-W with Draco Meteor/Psyshock.

Then I see that your Reuniclus has Rest/Sleep Talk, but it's useless for your team, Reuniclus has its ability (Magic Guard) is not getting hit by Toxic/Will O Wisp/SandStorm/Hail/Life Orb/Spikes/Stealth Rock, Jirachi can not come to kill Reuniclus because you possess Magnezone, I suggest you put Focus Blast and Recover on Reuniclus, you can now kill Tyranitar/Magnezone/Ferrothorn/Skarmory/Forretress/Heatran and then you can treat you with Recover.

Latias

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Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf/Hidden Power Fire
- Recover

Reuniclus

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Reuniclus (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Recover
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind

Tl;dr

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Terrakion--->Choice Scarf
Forretress--->Latias
Reuniclus--->Recover/Focus Blast

Hope I Helped and Good Luck with your Team.

 

[Jimbon]

Hi there,

Interesting team you got here, I really don't see a lot of teams utilize Cloyster successfully, so good job on that. Anyway, the main thing I noticed was the redundancy of Magnezone with this team. The main reason to use Magnezone is to trap Steels that get in the way of your sweepers, but with Choice Band Terrakion on the same team I doubt you have troubles with that, given that Terrakion 2HKOs every commonly seen Steel type. I think you'd make much better use of a Heatran in Magnezone's position, as they perform very similar roles. Either the Specially Defensive or Offensive Stealth Rock set would work, either help you out against Sun while also beating Steels just like Magnezone could. Magnezone in general is just very mediocre in this metagame, especially given the set you're running. I think you'll get a lot more use out of Heatran, and it'll definitely give you an easier time against Sun Teams.

Also looking over your Latios set, I noticed something that you should definitely change. The main merit of Latios as a Scarfer is that realistically, it is the fastest common user of Choice Scarf you're likely to face, so you'll want to make the most of that. You should definitely be running a Timid Nature so that you can beat Modest Venusaur under Sun, but more importantly Scarf Terrakion / Keldeo, who look more threatening. You may also want to run Psyshock on your set somewhere too, probably over Surf or Hidden Power [Fire], whichever you feel is less effective. This allows you to hit Terrakion and Keldeo much harder without having to lock yourself into Draco Meteor, forcing you to switch out again. It also allows you to further hit Breloom harder, which is important because Breloom looks quite annoying given that nothing on your team really appreciates a Spore.

If you choose to go with the Heatran set, you'll notice that it already carries Stealth Rock, meaning you don't need to run it on Jirachi. This opens up another moveslot on Jirachi to run an additional move, I'd suggest either Protect or U-Turn. Protect allows you to reliably heal up easier, given that Jirachi has a great typing and baits a lot of switches, you can easily switch into Tornadus-T, Latios and other Special attackers and get a free Wish up, making up for the fact you have no spinner. U-Turn works because Jirachi forces switches with it's typing, and you can capitalize on their switch especially when you're running something as potent as Choice Band Terrakion. If you go with U-Turn, I suggest you change your EV spread to 240 HP / 160 Def / 108 SDef, mainly because you will want a slower U-Turn than your opponent so you don't need to be running any Speed investment. You'll also want to change your nature, as Bold decreases the power of Jirachi's attacking options -- try a Careful Nature, so that Jirachi isn't turned into complete setup fodder.

Also a small change, drop the 4 HP EVs on Cloyster and put them into Defense. 4 HP EVs gives you an even number, meaning you can switch into Stealth Rock 4 times. Having an odd HP number means you can switch in once more, which may be important in a scenario when you need to Shell Smash to win the game.

Good luck!

heatran sets

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

or

Heatran @ Air Balloon / Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 248 SDef / 12 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Roar
- Stealth Rock