Team Lax: the True OU Balanced Team

[Kongo]

Team LAX​

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Roserade (J-Wow) @ Choice Scarf
Natural Cure - Modest
252 SpA / 252 Spd / 4 HP
- Sleep Powder
- Grass Knot
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Analysis:​

The main idea for this team was to make it as douchey as possible, and what better way than to start with a Scarfed Sleep Powederer? J-Wow is actually the weakest link in my team, and is there mainly to scope out the opponent’s lead. She Powders lead trap layers such as Skarmory, G-Knots Hippowdon, T-Tar, and Swampert, switches out to Spiritomb to take care of Machamp, and switches out to Swampert for Aerodactyl, Metagross, and Ninjask. Seldom used as a suicide lead, she can switch back in later to sponge Toxic Spikes or get quick revenge kills using HP [Ground] for weakened Steel types, Magnezone, and Heatran.

Crobat (Brobat) @ Leftovers
Inner Focus - Jolly
252 Spd / 156 Atk / 100 HP
- Brave Bird
- U-Turn
- Roost
- Whirlwind

Analysis:​

Crobat is probably the bro-est looking Pokémon, Brobat being no exception. With 4x resistances to Grass, Bug, and immunity to Ground, Brobat can switch into many Fighting types Pokémon such as Heracross and Breloom and 1HKO with B-Bird and sometimes U-Turn. He has bulky offensive stats and moves. 100 HP EVs let him take neutral and not-very-affective hits on the switch-in and recover that and Stealth Rock damage with Roost. Brave-Bird is a powerful STAB attack that puts a huge dent even in Scizor, superior to Heat Wave. He can also predict and W-Wind out Substituters. Did I mention how cool, rad, and EXTREME he looks?

Swampert (Tank Top) @ Leftovers
Torrent - Bold
252 HP / 200 SpA / 52 Def
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Analysis:​

Tank Top gets his name both for his tanking capabilities and his yoked biceps. He does not have Earthquake so that he does not have to split EV’s. Surf is better to use on Pokémon like Magnezone because they often switch out to other Pokémon like Gliscor or use Magnet Rise.

Infernape (Naddy) @ Focus Sash
Blaze - Naïve
252 Spd / 180 Atk / 76 SpA
- Close Combat
- Flamethrower
- Endeavor
- Mach Punch

Analysis:​

What would a LAX team be without a bro named Naddy? Naddy is the ultimate bro. He uses Flamethrower over Fire Blast for the accuracy reliability, and it still puts dents in switches such as Togekiss. Endeavor is used over U-Turn because Close Combat or Flamethrower already devastates T-Tar or Celebi. Endeavor also racks in the revenge kills for Starmie, Crobat, or Roserade when Naddy is down to his last ounces of HP against a wall. Finally, Mach Punch is a funny move to piss Weavile off and Focus Sashers.

Starmie (Lacrosse Star) @ Life Orb
Natural Cure - Timid
252 Spd / 156 SpA / 100 HP
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Psychic

Analysis:​

Lacrosse Star is a powerful special attacker. It can also sponge status attacks and Recover during predicted switch-outs. Psychic is not usually anticipated but is powerful due to STAB; it can surprise a Fighting Pokémon or two. Thunderbolt is for Gyarados, of course. 100 HP EVs allows it to be a veritable switch-in for Scizor or Water Pokémon.

Spiritomb (T-Bag) @ Leftovers
Pressure - Hardy
252 HP / 200 SpA / 56 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sucker Punch
- Taunt
- Psychic

Analysis:​

With all due respect to the people at Nintendo, Spiritomb is a very ugly Pokémon, deeming him the name T-Bag because that is what he looks like. 56 attack EVs are given for Sucker Punch, guaranteeing him a 1HKO on Gengar and sometimes Rotom. 200 SpA ensures a 2HKO against Machamp. A Hardy nature instead of Sassy makes him faster than all neutral speed Snorlax, allowing him to Taunt it. Taunt also comes in handy for Substituters, letting T-Bag break their Substitutes and forcing switches. Taunt also goes well with Sucker Punch. It’s also funny to read on the log, “T-Bag used Sucker Punch!”

Final Words:​

And there you have it: the douchiest team in all the Pokéland. I’ve considered using a 252 SpA/ 252 Spd / 4 HP EV spread on Starmie for the extra power; also using Choice Scarf over Life Orb to deal with D-Dance Gyarados, but I value the freedom of choice more. I’ve also considered a Timid nature over Modest for Roserade so I can out-speed Taunting Aerodactyl. Feel free to butcher my team any way you wish.

P.S. I will not, though, use any legendaries (yes, Heatran is a legendary) or Dragon types (I have a personal vendetta against over-powered Dragons with their huge Achilles Heels [which Nintendo has resolved in Gen V!])

 

[Aerrow]

Hi there, nice team you’ve got here. Although it seems quite solid in general when factoring in the decent synergy being made, some of your strategies don’t look very viable and also, it looks like your team is quite weak to Agility Metagross while also having slight problems with offensive Zapdos and Starmie variants. First of all, I suggest changing your current Infernape set as its strategy will quickly be destroyed through any form of entry hazards; I recommend changing to the current variant with the Nasty Plot set which is quite more effective and can also help deal with some of the threats I mentioned before namely offensive variants of Zapdos.

Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SpAtk/4 SpDef
Timid nature (+Spd,-Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- Thunderbolt
- Trick

Also, since it seems that you're team is lacking a proper check to Agility Metagross, I recommend removing your current Spiritomb set which quite frankly, seems like the least useful Pokemon on your team and replacing it a choice Scarf Rotom-H. Not only will this Pokemon be able to deal with the Pokemon your Spiritomb was meant to check, it can also help deal with any Metagross lacking Zen Headbutt while also being a decent check to LO Starmie, offensive Zapdos and also nasty plot or swords dance Infernape which also look like they could present formidable threats to your team.

 

[3v3rnoob]

Not much time for a rate now, but maybe switch out Tomb for the nasty plot set. Scare out something that can't kill it and do more damage than every should come off of a spiritomb.

 

[irkkk]

just a nitpick, on spiritomb, run hp fighting over psychic. HP fighting + shadow ball= perfect coverage. And where did you get those back sprites?

 

[Faladran]

While I do agree with replacing Spiritomb with Rotom (who tends to be the superior choice in the majority of cases), your Agiligross weakness can also be cleared up with one simple change: adding Earthquake on to Swampert's moveset. While I can see your reasoning about not wanting to "split EVs," Earthquake is an invaluable move for Swampert to have, as it allows you to check threats such as Metagross and Tyranitar. I would personally replace Surf, as its primary function is only to hit harder on physically-defensive Pokemon who are immune to Earthquake, such as Skarmory.

To help make your team more solid, there are a couple of additional changes that I'd like to suggest. Since you have a spinblocker and a phazer or two, I feel that it would be beneficial for Roserade to have at least some form of entry hazards at its disposal. Therefore, Toxic Spikes could be worth trying out over Sludge Bomb, which seems to be the least useful move on Roserade's set. Being choice-locked into a Poison-type move puts you in a difficult position due to the large amount of Steels in OU. Regarding Crobat, the use of Whirlwind seems out of place. Crobat is not a particularly bulky Pokemon, so it is not a very effective user of a phazing move. Either Super Fang or Taunt would likely be a better option in the last moveslot; these two choices will greatly increase Crobat's effectiveness against stall, in particular.

Finally, I'd like to address Infernape's set. Focus Sash + Endeavor may seem good on paper, but in reality it is quite gimmicky and simply not as effective as many of Infernape's other sets. Stealth Rock will also ruin Focus Sash users that are placed outside of the lead position, so Infernape's item will be rendered useless. The set you're using seems to be most similar to the Physically-baed Infernape set listed on the analysis page, so I would recommend simply switching to that instead:

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpA / 192 Spe
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Overheat
- Mach Punch
- Close Combat
- U-turn

This set is great at maintaining offensive momentum throughout the match, and even going for a sweep later in the game. Close Combat and Mach Punch give you a powerful STAB move and a solid priority attack, respectively. Overheat is the most useful choice for a Fire-type move due to the set's physical nature, as it allows you to hit hard without worrying too much about the special attack drop. U-turn is a great move for forcing switches and putting pressure on the opponent, and Infernape is a great abuser of it due to his tendency to cause a lot of switches anyway.

Good luck with your team!

 

[TehPlatypusss]

just a nitpick, on spiritomb, run hp fighting over psychic. HP fighting + shadow ball= perfect coverage. And where did you get those back sprites?

Bulbapedia has all of the sprites of all of the Pokemon.

 

[Kongo]

Psypokes b/w picdex

 

[Kongo]

Rotom formes, in my humble opinion, are legendaries, which I don't care much about for. I also have another personal vendetta against them since, again IMHO, they unbalance the game.