Weatherless offense (currently #63)

[Josemi]

Hi everyone here at Smogon, I was hoping to get some suggestions on how to improve my current OU team. I've been doing decently with it so far, and I'm currently at #63 on the ladder with 2120 points, but the team most definitely needs improvements and if someone could help me that would be great. Let's get on with the team:

Celebi @ Leftovers:
Trait: Natural Cure
Nature: Calm (+Spdef, - Atk)
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Spdef / 20 Def / 8 Spe

- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain
- Recover
- Baton Pass

Standard specially defensive Celebi with Stealth Rock, just because it was the only way I managed to fit it on the team. Helps me take more or less any special hit and stops things like Keldeo sweeping me. Great against rain. Giga Drain for STAB, recover to keep itself healthy and Baton Pass to avoid being Pursuit trapped.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Serene Grace
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk / 252 Spe

- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Healing Wish

Scarf Rachi for scouting and revenge killing. The flinch hax with Iron Head comes in handy a lot too. U-turn is for scouting and gaining momentum, Iron Head is STAB and has a nice 60% flinching chance, Ice Punch is for dragons trying to set up or just to revenge kill them. Healing Wish is handy late game to sack Jirachi and heal one of my sweepers up to full, turning the tides for me.

Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, - Spatk)
EVs: 112 HP / 188 Atk / 208 Spe

- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Next we have Double Dance Landorus-T, but not fully offensive. Basically the way this set works is that during most of the game I use him as an offensive pivot, but in the late game, if I get a chance I either Swords Dance, Rock Polish, or both and sweep. It still conserves a lot of physical bulk, especially with Intimidate, and is really powerful even without SD. Leftovers are for prolonged longevity.

Dragonite @ Choice Band
Trait: Multiscale
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Spatk)
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk / 252 Spe

- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Extremespeed
- Outrage

Choice Banded Dragonite is very welcome on this team seeing as it helps against sun and hits like a truck. Earthquake hits steels like Jirachi and Heatran harder than Fire Punch, Fire Punch is mainly for getting a heavy hit on Skarmory, Extremespeed is much appreciated as it is the only priority on the team, and Outrage just wrecks everything.

Volcarona @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
Modest Nature (-Atk, +Spatk)
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Spatk / 184 Spe

- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance

Volcarona is my main set up sweeper and it is a monster. The team is based around this thing sweeping and it is very easy to do so. Lum Berry is to absorb any status and earn a free turn of setup, Giga Drain helps a lot against Keldeo, Jellicent and the like and also allows me to regain HP. Bug Buzz and Fiery Dance are the main STABs and Fiery Dance's chance to raise Spatk is pretty useful.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 4 Spatk / 224 Spe

- Rapid Spin
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Scald

For a team like this, a spinner is mandatory, and Starmie is the best fit. Rapid Spin is to get the Rocks out of there, Ice Beam is for coverage, Psyshock and Scald are STAB and Scald gets that nice 30% burn chance. I used to have offensive Starmie but it died too quickly and spinning is mandatory for this team. I do however wish I had Recover.

Well that's the team. suggestions are much appreciated!

 

[Yellow Tokiwa]

Nice team, Josemi!

My suggestions would be:
- for Celebi, replace baton pass for t-wave to stop a Venusaur (with sludge bomb, giga drain, sleep powder, growth) sweep as a sleep powder followed by growth would be disastrous for your team.
- T-wave also makes cloyster in the rain more manageable, stopping it from tearing through the majority of the team, especially when your starmie is weakened.
- for starmie, replace psyshock for thunderbolt, jirachi with iron head deals with blissey just as well. TB also nails the most annoying spinblockers like jellicent, one of the main reasons to use starmie.
- You could also consider superpower instead of fire punch for hitting bloon heatran and also ferrothorn in the rain.

Good luck with your team!~

 

[MCBarrett]

Hey Josemi, very nice team! You have very nice team synergy so I'll just give you a few EV spread/ move set suggestions.

First of all, with your Landorus-T I would suggest running 252 speed EV over your current spread. This lets you outspeed Adamant Lucario and Timid Heatran which is pretty nice, plus you don't lose an overwhelming amount of bulk from doing this so I don't think it would be too much of an issue.

Next, on your Starmie I agree with the above post in saying that you should really be running TBolt to get some nice damage off on Jellicent. You absolutely need Stealth Rocks off the field for your team so this is pretty necessary. I would even go so far as to suggest trying out an offensive set again. I think LO Analytic Starmie but with Recover over Ice Beam or Psyshock for extra longevity could really be beneficial. Hitting SpinBlockers as hard as possible should be priority number one and LO Analytic boosted Hydro Pumps/ Thunderbolts on the switch-in will definitely help in that department.

Hopefully my suggestions helped! Let me know how it works and nice job with the team!

 

[Yellow Tokiwa]

Hey Josemi, very nice team! You have very nice team synergy so I'll just give you a few EV spread/ move set suggestions.

First of all, with your Landorus-T I would suggest running 252 speed EV over your current spread. This lets you outspeed Adamant Lucario and Timid Heatran which is pretty nice, plus you don't lose an overwhelming amount of bulk from doing this so I don't think it would be too much of an issue.

Next, on your Starmie I agree with the above post in saying that you should really be running TBolt to get some nice damage off on Jellicent. You absolutely need Stealth Rocks off the field for your team so this is pretty necessary. I would even go so far as to suggest trying out an offensive set again. I think LO Analytic Starmie but with Recover over Ice Beam or Psyshock for extra longevity could really be beneficial. Hitting SpinBlockers as hard as possible should be priority number one and LO Analytic boosted Hydro Pumps/ Thunderbolts on the switch-in will definitely help in that department.

Hopefully my suggestions helped! Let me know how it works and nice job with the team!

Personally, offensive starmie is my favourite sweeper. However for this team, bulky starmie is more needed due to a huge weakness to Cloyster. At full health, the original starmie will survive rock blast provided that none is a critical hit. Starmie cannot afford to lose health because of its important role as a spinner in this team to keep the sweepers alive. Analytic acts as an additional life orb provided that starmie moves second or the opponent switches. You won't need this little extra power when Volcarona can still smack the opponent with a +4 attack

 

[MCBarrett]

Personally, offensive starmie is my favourite sweeper. However for this team, bulky starmie is more needed due to a huge weakness to Cloyster. At full health, the original starmie will survive rock blast provided that none is a critical hit. Starmie cannot afford to lose health because of its important role as a spinner in this team to keep the sweepers alive. Analytic acts as an additional life orb provided that starmie moves second or the opponent switches. You won't need this little extra power when Volcarona can still smack the opponent with a +4 attack

This is not for sweeping purposes, it is to hit SpinBlockers for as much damage as possible. With his current spread Thunderbolt is a 25% chance to 4HKO Specially Defensive Jellicent after SR. Against standard Jellicent this is a 3HKO. With a LO Analytic spread on the switch, this becomes a guaranteed 2HKO and it is still a guaranteed 2HKO against the standard set, doing 70- 83% on the initial switch. Getting rid of things like Jellicent for as much damage as possible is extremely important if he wants to get rocks off the field and let his Volcarona sweep later on. It will be much harder to sweep starting at 50% (or lower if there is spikes).

 

[Halcyon.]

Hey Josemi, really solid team. It's no wonder why you were able to peak in the top 100 with this team, since there aren't many threats you haven't got covered.

The one thing I am noticing is that sun teams can be a bit of a problem for you. Venusaur in particular looks to be a pain to deal with, since nothing can handle its attacks when it gets to +2, and it can set up on Celebi or Jirachi locked into Iron Head. If that happens, it's essentially gg, especially if they're rocks on the field. You can't even reliably revenge kill Venusaur with Dragonite, since it needs to be at abut half helath fro you to KO with Extremespeed. Victini can also be a problem, since it OHKOs everything with Scarf V-Create, even Landorus-T and Dragonite (though the chance is small, it forces you to Extremespeed, which can be easily exploited). Theres only two real changes I would suggest to deal with this better. the first change would be to switch Celebi for Latias. Latias can more reliably take a hit from +2 Venusaur's Sludge Bomb, and OHKO back with Psyshock. It also provides similar resistances to keep the synergy of the team in tact. Latias is also similarly good against rain, taking on threats like Politoed, Tentacruel, Keldeo, and Ferrothorn so that should be covered as well. Latias' weakness to Pursuit is actually a blessing in disguise as well, since it allows you to set up with Volcarona on Pursuit locked Scizor and Tyranitar, which can turn the loss of your special tank into a Volcarona sweep. The one thing Celebi did that Latias can't do is set up Stealth Rock. Because of this, I suggest you use a defensive spread on Landorus-T. Landorus-T can provide Stealth Rock to your team, and you don't really need the extra win condition that Double Dance Landorus-T gives you. Instead, this gives you a better defensive pivot in the place of Celebi. It also lets you deal with things like Victini better, since the defensive set can live a V-Create and OHKO back with Earthquake. And Landorus-T forces most dragons to lock themselves into Outrage, making them easier to revenge kill with Jirachi, and since things like Dragonite and Salamence can both tank hits from Volcarona, you need Dragons gone before you can attempt a sweep.

Anyway, I like the team! Hope I was able to help. Good luck!

EDIT: Oh, I also totally support MCBarrett's change to LO Analytic Starmie. You have to keep rocks off the field, and that means taking out any and all spin blockers. Starmie can only do that if it's offensive!

Sets

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 244 Def / 64 Atk / 200 HP
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Spd / 88 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Roost

 

[chimpact]

Hey pretty solid team so far.

First of all I think you should go with a Passho berry over lum berry on volcarona. Keldeo is a common checkto volcarona. With a passho berry and giga drain you can heal up to full and take care of a big threat at the same time. The main problems to passho are scarfed 100 + base speed physical pokemon, heatran, and bulky pokemon that are at a good amount of health (which late game is rare).

Additionally, i think you should change your lando set to a mixed lando with stealth rock. Your team already has quite a bit of set up and u-turn lando could definitely benefit your team. It remains a great pivot but with a mixed set you can weaken other pokemon for dragonite to take it out or so volc doesn't have a problem with them later on.

Landorus-T (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 136 HP / 252 Atk / 248 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)a
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
- U-turn

Speed EVs are used to outspeed Adamant base 90s (mainly Lucario).

Additionally I would just replace Celebi with Expert Belt Keldeo. It doesn't lose you a lot of momentum, can net you some surprise KO's thinking its choiced, and it has great STABs. Best of all it's not vulnerable to the main forms of priority.

 

[Yellow Tokiwa]

Personally, offensive starmie is my favourite sweeper. However for this team, bulky starmie is more needed due to a huge weakness to Cloyster. At full health, the original starmie will survive rock blast provided that none is a critical hit. Starmie cannot afford to lose health because of its important role as a spinner in this team to keep the sweepers alive. Analytic acts as an additional life orb provided that starmie moves second or the opponent switches. You won't need this little extra power when Volcarona can still smack the opponent with a +4 attack

This is not for sweeping purposes, it is to hit SpinBlockers for as much damage as possible. With his current spread Thunderbolt is a 25% chance to 4HKO Specially Defensive Jellicent after SR. Against standard Jellicent this is a 3HKO. With a LO Analytic spread on the switch, this becomes a guaranteed 2HKO and it is still a guaranteed 2HKO against the standard set, doing 70- 83% on the initial switch. Getting rid of things like Jellicent for as much damage as possible is extremely important if he wants to get rocks off the field and let his Volcarona sweep later on. It will be much harder to sweep starting at 50% (or lower if there is spikes).

If this is the case
then starmie should drop ice beam for recover for more longetivity. This way, it'll still hit hard and still be able to spin throughout the game.

Use this set :

Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Analytic
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
EVs: 4HP/ 252 Spatk / 252 Spe

- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt
- Recover
- Hydro Pump

 

[Leftiez]

Hey There.
It is a very interesting team that you have there, I can't really rate your team because it seems correct to me, but I can give you an advice, I notice that your team is a little weak to Keldeo Ebelt, the opponent can easily kill Celebi with Hidden power Bug/Dragonite/Volcarona/Starmie/Landorus and Jirachi can not do anything, I suggest you to put Volcarona @ Passho berry with Quiver dance + Giga drain + Hidden power Ice + Fire Blast, This set work perfectly with your team because you are weak to Keldeo and this set allows you to attract Keldeo and kill him after because with the Passho berry you are not OHKO by Hydropump, you can also choose to set up a 2nd quiver Dance depending on the situation, with Hidden power Ice you can kill the Dragons as Dragonite/Salamence/Garchomp.

I hope I Helped and Good luck with your team.

 

[High Impulse]

Hey there,

Solid team you have here, however I do notice that Sand Stall maybe a little torublesome to deal with. I suggest using a DD Dragonite > Banded Dragonite as in conjunction with Double Dance Landorus-T you should be able to put enough pressure Sand Stall enough to break it's physical walls and eventaully one of the two should be able to achieve a sweep. I also suggest trying a 252 Sp.a/252 Spd Starmie with Hydro Pump/Thunderbolt/Recover/Rapid Spin Hydro Pump with the given Ev's will enable you to 2hko a Tyrnitar that tries to switch in and Thunderbolt will allow you to beat Jellicent 1v1 and will also eventaully allow you to spin hazards off the field.

I also agree with Chimpact's suggestion of using Passho Berry over Lum Berry on Volcarona. Volcarona is often checked by keldeo and Passho will allow you to take a hit from Keldeo and proceed to either kill Keldeo or set up on it.

Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

Anyway as I said solid team. Hope I helped!