Constructive Criticism for my OU/UU team!

dmatthews94

First off, I'd like to say that I know that it's not the best idea to have UU pokemon on a team with OU pokemon. I know that Feraligatr is largely outclassed by Gyarados. I know that Arcanine doesn't have the movepool of Infernape. I just like these two Pokemon alot, and I decided to build my team with them :)

Despite all that, I would really appreciate some constructive criticism to make this team work. Thanks in advance!

This is what I have trained and taught:

Lead:
AERODACTYL @ Focus Sash
Jolly Nature / 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Pressure
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock

My suicide lead; set up a stealth rock and taunt to keep them from setting up any entry hazards or stat boosts. If the target flies and avoids Earthquake, the STABed Stone Edge should do the job. Focus Sash is there to ensure that my stealth rock goes down, it's the difference between a OHKO and a 2HKO.
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ELECTIVIRE @ Expert Belt
Adamant Nature / 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Motor Drive
-ThunderPunch
-Ice Punch
-Cross Chop
-Earthquake

Electivire is one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, I love his movesets. Motor Drive makes him my favorite Electric counter, especially because he can learn Earthquake. He has a super effective move for most typings, so I gave him the Expert Belt.
-----------------------------------------
FERALIGATR @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature / 140 HP, 252 Attack, 118 Speed
Ability: Torrent
-Waterfall
-Ice Punch
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake

I've grown fond of this set, I prefer the solid Water typing over Gyarados's 4x electric weakness. I'd rather take two mild weaknesses over a big one anyday. Waterfall is for STAB and type coverage. Ice Punch handles flyers and dragons. Earthquake knocks the rest out.
-----------------------------------------
UMBREON @ Leftovers
Calm Nature / 252 HP, 130 Defense, 128 Sp. Defense
Ability: Synchronize
-Mean Look
-Confuse Ray
-Toxic
-Moonlight

I love Umbreon. Each time he takes a powerful hit, I doubt that he'll survive, only to see him barely take a scratch. Mean Look prevents them from setting me up. Confuse Ray is just to stall and annoy, and it works. Toxic is pretty self-explanatory; stalling is pointless if you're not waiting for anything. Three reasons why I have Moonlight and not wish. 1) I just couldn't find the time to get a father with Wish. 2) I find the instant self-recover more reliable, it's harder to place Wishes so that Umbreon will heal himself just in time. 3) If by chance, I face a team that utilizes Sunny Day, It'll be a breeze with a 75% HP heal.
-----------------------------------------
ARCANINE @ Muscle Band
Jolly Nature / 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Flash Fire
-Flare Blitz
-Crunch
-Extremespeed
-Thunder Fang

Personally, I like Arcanine's movepool more than Infernape in a few points. The biggest reason is Extremespeed. I love cleaning up low health targets with an Extremespeed. Flare Blitz is a move that both Arcanine and Infernape learn, so no comparison there. Thunder Fang is nice to take care of water types. The only type that really walls my other three moves is ground. This is where Crunch helps, because it can do decent damage to ground pokemon, while also handling psychics and ghosts. I know that Flash Fire isn't the usual ability for Arcanine, but I'd like a fire counter that instead of countering by reducing damage, just absorbs the whole thing and uses it to his advantage.
-----------------------------------------
GENGAR @ Brightpowder
Timid Nature / 252 Sp. Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Levitate
- Hypnosis
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt

I'm actually debating whether to get rid of Will-O-Wisp for Energy Ball, because I don't have any Swampert coverage anywhere else on my team. I could use some advice here. Shadow Ball is for sheer STAB, Thunderbolt works well, especially against Skarmory / Gyarados. As of now, Hypnosis / WoW are simply aiming for double status; put one to sleep, and when they switch, burn the next one, especially if it's a physical sweeper, which the enemy would most likely switch in.
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All suggestions and criticism will be greatly appreciated, thanks!
 
I prefer Rock Slide on Aerodactyl; Aerodactyl has a lot of power, but it can't afford to miss so Rock Slide's superior accuracy is better and secures most of the same 2HKOs, and the flinch chance coupled with Aerodactyl's great speed is helpful too.

Two mild weaknesses is not better than one big one, because you should be able to steer around being hit if you have your major weakness. This is harder to do when you have multiple weaknesses.

For a start, Gyarados is just better than Feraligatr at that same role. Not to mention, it makes a perfect bait for an Electric attack to switch to Electivire and let 'er rip.

On the subject of Electivire; Thunderpunch, despite being the iconic move of the species, is actually a worse option than Thunderbolt. In fact, I strongly recommend that you switch the build from Physical to the Mixpert set. Many teams are built with a Mixvire weakness because it's not particularly common, so that enables you to really get into the chinks in opponent's army when you pair with Gyarados.

Umbreon's Moonlight will rarely be effective enough; Sandstorm is extremely common in OU. Wish+Protect helps you with the instant-recovery problem you have, but also gives options to heal the rest of your team. Mean Look seems to be doing nothing, however. You'll simply be trapping their switch-in, but you don't really have anything to deal with the common offensive switch-ins, and you can't really stop many of them setting up.

I think Roar/Toxic, Payback, Wish, Protect is the moveset to be using, but I think Vaporeon will generally fill the same role, but better (using Surf, Roar/Ice Beam/HP electric/roar, Wish, Protect. It has a better ability and generally better bulk due to its resistances.

Your Gengar set is much better suited for a Rotom Forme; Hypnosis is generally not used anymore, though, because it is too inaccurate. Furthermore, Gengar is likely to be killed by physical attackers even with Will-o-wisp, because of it's abysmal defence. You could run a bulky Rotom-C, giving you Will-o-wisp, Thunderbolt/HP Fighting, Shadow Ball/HP Ice, and Grass Knot for Swampert.

Arcanine should be running a Life Orb, but even so it is totally outclassed by Heatran and Infernape. Scarfed Heatran doesn't need priority to revenge kill, and it has much better special attacking capability and many better resistances, including neutrality to Stealth Rock.

Infernape has better attacking stats, and a 60 BP priority move once STAB is taken into account, so Arcanine really doesn't have any advantages over it. One of these two should be used over Arcanine.
 
dmatthews94 said:
AERODACTYL @ Focus Sash
Jolly Nature / 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Pressure
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Taunt
-Stealth Rock

Using Stone Edge may not really do too much harm. Its miss rate can be pretty disappointing. Rock Slide is good enough to leave a small dent and it hits more often. Aerodactyl is fast and can utilize the flinch rate well.
-----------------------------------------
ELECTIVIRE @ Expert Belt
Adamant Nature / 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Motor Drive
-ThunderPunch
-Ice Punch
-Cross Chop
-Earthquake

Electivire is one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, I love his movesets. Motor Drive makes him my favorite Electric counter, especially because he can learn Earthquake. He has a super effective move for most typings, so I gave him the Expert Belt.

Pretty good. I'd use a Jolly Nature though, with 216 Speed EVs, or 220 to outspeed most Gliscor.
-----------------------------------------
FERALIGATR @ Leftovers
Adamant Nature / 140 HP, 252 Attack, 118 Speed
Ability: Torrent
-Waterfall
-Ice Punch
-Dragon Dance
-Earthquake

I've grown fond of this set, I prefer the solid Water typing over Gyarados's 4x electric weakness. I'd rather take two mild weaknesses over a big one anyday. Waterfall is for STAB and type coverage. Ice Punch handles flyers and dragons. Earthquake knocks the rest out.

Gyarados can use that huge weakness to attract electric moves to raise the speed of your Electivire. Gyarados also has the immunity to the only type that Electivire is weak too. If you really want to use Feraligatr, at least use a set that isn't done better by Gyarados. Try a Dancing SubBerry set to make use of that Torrent ability.

Feraligatr @ Salac/Liechi Berry
Jolly/ 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Speed
-Dragon Dance/Swords Dance
-Waterfall/Aqua Jet
-Return/Flail
-Substitute

There are many options. If you use Aqua Jet, go Adament, Liechi, and Swords Dance. With Waterfall, stay Jolly and use Dragon Dance. Dragon Dance makes this a similar physical version of Empoleon's Agility SubPetaya set. What I like about this version is that you can repeatedly raise the attack power of your attacks, so walls become less of an issue. If you see yourself using Dragon Dance alot, stay with the Liechi Berry, as the number of foes that outspeed you decrease heavily, while there is no such thing as overkill Attack.
Flail only has more power than Return when you are at 7% of HP or less, so geting that amount of HP is situational, and you're vulnerable to get killed. I'd rather you stay Return, so you have something to attack other Water or Grass types while youre still healthy. If you are really interested in the power of Flail, make sure you are really fast.
 -----------------------------------------
UMBREON @ Leftovers
Calm Nature / 252 HP, 130 Defense, 128 Sp. Defense
Ability: Synchronize
-Mean Look
-Confuse Ray
-Toxic
-Moonlight

I used to use this... a long time ago. Steel types and Taunt users make this useless. Most of the time you'll see weather that reduces the amount of HP that Moonlight will heal.
-----------------------------------------
ARCANINE @ Muscle Band
Jolly Nature / 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Flash Fire
-Flare Blitz
-Crunch
-Extremespeed
-Thunder Fang

Heatran and Swampert screw you over. I love Arcanine too but he can't really keep up in Standard OU. Infernape can replace this as he has an answer to both of Heatran and Swampert with Close Combat and Grass Knot, and has a boosting stat-upper in Swords Dance or Nasty Plot. I'd recommend Nasty Plot since you seem to have enough physical attackers.
-----------------------------------------
GENGAR @ Brightpowder
Timid Nature / 252 Sp. Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Ability: Levitate
- Hypnosis
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt


Gengar is not really good for being a double status user. He is too frail, and a miss on Hypnosis or Will-o-Wisp can be fatal. I'd either use Gengar as a sweeper or Rotom as a double status user, with a STAB Discharge, and Will-o-Wisp, or Toxic. Spiritomb can use both Hypnosis and Will-o-Wisp as well.
Click to expand...

Replies in bold. Your team seems weak to Tyranitar. I highly recommend the switch of Arcanine to Infernape.
 
Okay about the Feraligatr set, forget Aqua Jet. Many Pokemon don't care about it. Even if you get 6 attack boosts, Skarmory is not 2HKOd, and will gladly Whirlwind your attack boosts and Substitutes out, while all the HP used in making Subs are wasted.
 
If you're using an Electivire, then you please use Gyarados > Feraligatr. It has an Electric 4x weakness, which is GOOD. Electivire gets Motor Drive boosts, and without it it's useless. Also, Gyarados easily takes out Electrics with Earthquake.
Use this set:
Gyarados @ Leftovers/Life Orb
Adamant/Jolly
252atk/252spe/4def
~Dragon Dance
~Waterfall
~Earthquake/Ice Fang
~Stone Edge/Ice Fang
 
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