Team NINJA!

[musiquev24]

TEAM NINJA

Concept: I thought it would be fun to make a team based around ninja's, while still being as effective as possible so its not just a gimmick. I've spent quite a bit of time on this team so far, but of course one man cannot see everything, and that is why I'd like more input from YOU!

Changes will be in Bold, and anythings I might undecided about will be in red.
Without further ado, here is the team!

Quick Ninja (Ninjask) @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
EV's: 248 HP / 52 Atk / 184 Def / 24 Spe
Nature: Adamant
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
-Protect
-X-Scissor

Ninjask fills the role of lead perfectly. He is a ninja right down to the name, and he passes speed boosts (and on a lucky day, a substitute!) to my other ninja's for sweeps. I have him set to a set almost entirely for getting speed boosts because I find I rarely have time to swords dance. Protect is great for stopping choice scarf tricks, scouting attacks, prevents me from getting phased, and getting a free speed boost in. The Hp / Def EV's stop me from being OHKO'd from powerful priority moves, like Ice shard from a CB Weavile.

Head Ninja (Scyther) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 Def
Nature: Adamant
-Aerial Ace
-Brick Break
-Pursuit
-X-Scissor/Quick Attack

Scyther is not only my favorite pokemon, but is definitely a ninja. He is to recieve speed boosts and then tear things up. I really wanted a pursuit on the team, and right now he fills the slot fairly well with a choice band. With no HP EV's he has an odd amount of HP so he can switch into Stealth rock twice.

I am tempted to change to a swords dance set so I'm not locked into a move after the speed boosts, as I'd like to make as much use of them as possible. Scizor and Weavile are other alternatives, but are not as 'ninja', and I don't feel fit as well in this team the way it is set up so far. I can utilze his speed over Scizor and can take speed boosts better than Weavile (due to him already being faster than many things). Scyther can also switch into Fighting and Ground attacks (and bug as compared to weavile), both of which hurt them.

Now you've proabably already gone 'wow this team gets 6-0'd by stealth rock lolol' (exaggerating of course), and that is where the next Ninja comes in.

Shuriken Ninja (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EV's: 252 Hp / 56 Def / 200 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Rapid Spin
-Surf
-Recover
-Grass Knot

Starmie is in fact two shurikens put together, easily putting him at Ninja status. Starmie is very important for this team for several reasons. Rapid spin gets rid of Stealth Rocks, a move that hinders 1/3 of my team greatly. Starmie also resists ice and fire, which are both detrimental to my team. The EV's let Starmie take quite a few hits, while still outspeeding a lot of pokemon; one namely being Jolly Mamo. Starmie can also act as a bit of a Status absorber. I have chosen Grass Knot, almost specifically for coverage against Swampert; I can switch in on any of swamperts attacks and hit back with a likely OHKO. I do not need thunderbolt to counter DD Gyara, as handling DD Gyara is best done with the next Ninja on my team.

Disguise Ninja (Porygon2) @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
EV's: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA
Nature: Bold
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Recover
-Thunder Wave

As we all know, Porygon2 is just a ninja disguised inside a plastic duck-shaped tank. He certainly is a powerful ninja worthy of this team, capable of handling Salamence, Gyarados, and Heatran, among others. He can switch into any attacks from them, take minimal damage, and then hit back for a OHKO (except on Heatran) with the respective move. Porygon2 can also switch into the likes of Vaporeon and Jolteon, and thanks to trace will eat their STAB moves and gain HP. Thunder Wave goes great on my team, as it slows down incoming sweepers, which also makes it easier for the rest of my team to Sweep, with or without speed boosts. Scyther can also switch into oncoming fighting attacks toward this guy.

Robo-Ninja (Metagross) @ Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EV's: 208 HP / 76 Atk / 224 SpDef
Nature: Adamant
-Stealth Rock
-Ice Punch
-Earthquake
-Bullet Punch

Metagross is a ninja encased in a robot suit - he is quick, powerful, deadly, and is made of Steel, like a Katana. If that doesn't do it for you, I'm sorry, but it does for me, and he's important to the team. That asside, he lays Stealth Rock down for me, becomes very scary with speed boosts, and also resists ice and rock, among many other types. He has an Occa berry so he can take hits from Heatran and Infernape and KO back. I like Bullet Punch over Meteor Mash... I can't stand its lack of accuracy, and I tend to find BP's priority more useful, especially in the end of the game. The EV spread makes him quite bulky.

Bat Ninja (Gliscor) @ Life Orb
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Nature: Jolly
-Swords Dance
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang

Gliscor is a bat-scorpion ninja, and is quite frankly scary. It definitely achieves ninja status after recieving a Speed boost and using Swords dance, making it fast and quite deadly. He is another main sweeper, also immune to ground moves, and with a few resistances. Between Stone Edge and EQ, he hits almost everything in OU for at least neutral damage. He provides a great answer to Zapdos, as long as he isn't carying HP ice, but even then can get a stone edge off and deal a lot of damage, potentially OHKO'ing depending on the Zapdos spread and whether I have an SD boost or not.

That is my team, I hope you enjoyed reading it! Rate away please!
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[Matthew]

Ninjask isn't doing a whole lot for your team. The one pokemon you're passing speed boosts to is a Choice Band pokemon, who shares every single weakness you Ninjask does. Instead of pass on Ninjask and change your lead to Jirachi. Jirachi is the msot effective anti-lead in the game at the moments. He handles, Aerodactyal, Azelf, Infernape, Tyranitar, and also comes back for a late game sweep occasionally.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Jolly Nature
80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
- Iron Head
- Zen Headbut
- Ice Punch
- Thunder Punch

Ok, so this Jirachi will outspeed a Salamence after a single Dragon Dance and OHKO with Ice Punch, she also outspeeds Gyarados after a single Dragon Dance and OHKO's with Thunder Punch. Iron Head is for Tyranitar, Aero and Azelf leads, who you have a 60% chance in stopping due to flinch. Zen Headbut is for Infernape who should be 2HKO'd. Same odds as stopping the above pokemon. This Jirachi will heklp your late game clean up, and stop your opponent from getting Stealth Rocks down (usually)

Scyther is, for the most part, outclassed by his brother, Scizor. Scizor recieves a 90 BP Priority move in Bullet Punch, and gains a steel typing which helps him shrug off hits easier. Though he loses the STAB Flying attacks. It will make the game a whole lot easier if you picked Scizor of Syther since he's bulkier and is stronger, you can keep the choice Band on Scizor since it seems you like it.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Technician Ability
Adamant Nature
252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 Def
- U-Turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Ok, this set is extremely viable because it gives your team an advantage, almsot constantly. In early to mid game Scizor should just be U-Turning, slowly weakening pokemon and allowing other to get past their defenses. Late game is where you can Bullet Punch things to their death. Superpower is used if you have a predictable opponent who will continually send a Heatran or Magnezone out to meet their demise. Pursuit is if you see a Blissey who likes to switch out and you want to leave a lasting gift before you leave as well.

Starmie needs more of those defense EV's if you want her to be able to get 3HKO'd by a Gyarados's Earthquake and OHKO back with Thunder bolt 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe Timid. That is the set for the standard Starmie. This allows her more bulk and she still outspeeds Infernape and OHKO's with Surf.

On your Metagross, I don't feel that Reflect will be needed since you have a Gliscor backing up your Weaknesses. I know how you do not like Meteor Mashes shakey accuracy, so instead of that I'm going to suggest Explosion instead of Reflect. Explosion gives you one last hurrah as you take down a pokemon with you, as long as they're not a Ghost type.

As for Porygon and Gliscor you seem pretty good to me.

 

[musiquev24]

Thank you for the reply Empoleon. I believe I made a lot of changes while you were replying, as I realized the same lack of passing that you did, so I made Metagross and Gliscor much more dangerous on the attack aspect. This also makes Ninjask a lot more helpful to my team, giving me 3 pokemon to pass to.

My starmie is not EV'd to take out Gyara, because Porygon2 does that much better, and thats one of the main reasons he's there for. My Starmie is there to spin away rocks, and take out Swampert (among others).

I'm still considering the Scizor change, I know how powerful he is in the game today, but I want to test more with scyther to see if he can fit in.

 

[Olimarman]

I know you may like scyther, but scizor just has waaaay more to offer. Though you have a spinner, SR is going to eat away at scyther till theres nothing left of him, giving you only a single switch due to the 4x weakness, where scizor takes neutral damage, has BP and a stonger fighting move, while allowing you to scout with U-turn. Gliscor would also do fine with roost over fire fang, as the ability to heal yourself is just too great to overlook. Meteor mash over bullet punch on metagross might work out nicely as you could have ninjask pass it speed, SR on the switch then start pummeling your opponent, in which case I'd run 252 Hp 252 Atk 4 SpDef, but thats up to you. Besides maybe gliscor, nothing really needs the speed pass. Or, you could keep the setup you have now and put explosion over ice punch to go out with a boom when your almost done, but thats up to you.

Overall, nice team.