Going for 1700 ELO and Beyond

TheWhitestLotus

TheWhitestLotus

Hey, everyone. My name is John and I'm crazy about OU battles. I play a lot of different Pokemon teams but this is my 'No Nonsense' main team. I just switched over to Showdown from PO recently and my current rating is 1600 ELO. I'm trying to get as high up there as possible. Without any more delay, please rate my team and help me optimize it!

Shuffle (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 152 SAtk / 104 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Pain Split

For a while I was using the standard physically defensive Rotom-W set, but I decided to add a couple surprise elements due to the ubiquity of the Pokemon. With a Choice Scarf comes two very large advantages. The first one is out-speeding several large threats including Excadrill and Gliscor (Both of which are OHKO'd by Hydro Pump) as well as being able to safely scout Charizard leads (That's not to say that Rotom-W has any business switching into Charizard. I'm talking about leading with Rotom-W and safely Volt Switching to see whether it's an MCX or MCY). The second large advantage is Trick. Since my team has a marginal weakness to MCX and Gliscor, the decision seemed obvious.

This specific Rotom-W barely outspeeds Starmie and Gengar (less relevant but why not?) and takes approximately 35% (+/-4%) from your standard Talonflame (whom I also rely on Rotom-W to check). 252 HP investment allows Rotom-W to transition into a bulky state after Relinquishing its Choice Scarf. I've had a ton of success with this set. It shuts down walls (as well as the terrifying Hydration Manaphy) and can still tank most of the threats it is typically responsible to check.


Razer (Scizor) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Defog
- Swords Dance

Scizor was an easy choice as well, since he provides me with a Steel type, access to Defog, a safely net in its strong priority Bullet Punch, as well as forming what is widely regarded as the most effective Volt-Turn combo in OU. Swords Dance is where I start feeling unsure, however. If anybody has advice for ways that I can improve my Scizor, I would really appreciate it. Due to the high utility of this set, it can at times feel incomplete / trying to do too many things at once. It's been difficult for me.


Bramble (Venusaur) (F) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Leech Seed
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Synthesis

I hate Conkeldurr. I think that Knock Off is absurdly overpowered this Generation, and I needed a strong physical wall that would make big physical threats null. I tried Skarmory, Gliscor, Hippowdon, but none of them were doing it for me. But as soon as I learned that Mega Stones can't be Knocked Off (thank god) I instantly chose Venusaur.

He's perfect. Conkeldurr fails to clear 25% even with Ice Punch. MegaV completely walls every physical threat in OU except for Brave Bird users and a small selection of Mega Evos. I elected Leech Seed over Giga Drain because Leech Seed offers consistent recovery while I can use other moves, and it forces switches. HP Fire will 2HKO Scizor, Forretress and Skarmory (all of which would otherwise freely set up on MegaV). Synthesis is reliable recovery (I'd actually argue that it's better than Roost and friends due to the high presence of MCY).


Misery (Sableye) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 56 Def / 192 SDef / 8 Spd
Careful Nature
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Knock Off

This guy is grinning for a reason. He has single handedly shut down entire teams right from turn 1 on several occasions. He's an incredible stall breaker and he causes a LOT of disruption. Taunt, WoW and Recover are all absolute staples here. The combination of the three allows Sableye to shut down and beat an absurd amount of sweepers and walls alike, simply by burning with WoW, denying recovery with Taunt, and sustaining with Recover. Since Sableye's priority WoW gives him such high effective physical bulk anyways, I've decided to EV him specially defensively. These specific EVs allow him to switch in on Mega Lucario with Stealth Rock during his setup turn, survive an Adamant +2 Bullet Punch on the next turn (after leftovers) and Will-o-Wisp. I've also chosen to speed creep such that I can consistently Taunt (and therefore defeat) other Sableye.


BBG (Chansey) (F) @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic
- Aromatherapy
- Soft-Boiled

Chansey is probably the single most OP Pokemon of all time. Thanks to Eviolite she can 1v1 Garchomps, eat up psyshocks and shrug off focus blasts. There is virtually nothing that can't be walled between Chansey, Sableye and Mega Venusaur. I've chosen aromatherapy because often times I choose to stall into late game, and getting rid of burns / paralysis is too good to pass up on.


Skyscourge (Garchomp) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

Finally, the guy that makes it happen. Despite the introduction of the Fairy type, Garchomp remains an effective hyper speed revenge killer. He can sweep in the late game after the rest of my team was whittled down the opponent, or he can have a more immediate impact if the situation is right. Although Stealth Rock and Choice Scarf is a bad combination, in my experience it has always been very easy to simply get in, SR and get out.
 
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not a bad team, but as many other pretty slow teams, you'll have a hard time dealing with Mega Zard X, especially the DD variants. If it manages to get a boost (which is easy, considering you have Scizor), it'll start rampaging your team and there's nothing much you can do to stop it, since your scarfer, Rotom-W, is slower than it. One way to deal with it efficiently is to carry a faster Pokemon that can revenge kill it. I'd give Scarf Chomper a try over your current Hydreigon, since it outspeeds even boosted ones and can OHKO it with Earthquake. I think that Scarf Chomper is going to be very useful for your team too as it can clean weakened teams very easily because it has great STABs, it's strong, and fast. To be fair, I think it's going to do a better job than Hydreigon at cleaning teams, simply because it is much faster. Also, if you do that change, make sure to give Rotom-W a different set since running 2 scarfers on a stallish team isn't really useful.

Also, I think your Scizor set could use some improvement. Swords Dance doesn't really seem appropriate on a Defog set like this one. I'd use Roost instead, with Leftovers over Sitrus Berry. This will make sure Scizor lives all throughout the match so that your walls don't get worn down by Stealth Rock and Spikes, which could give you problems against an offensive team.

Also, since Venusaur appears to be your main defense against Water type Pokemon, I'd use Giga Drain on it, over either one of your attacking moves, as otherwise things like Mega Gyarados could wear it down more easily.

Here's the Garchomp set:
chomper (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dual Chop
- Stone Edge

good luck in your laddering endeavors!
 
Great team. Not much to say, other than your team is susceptible to many threats if Chansey were to die (Char Y, for example). It's easy to bring in any Charizard/Fire type on, say, a Will-O-Wisp from Sableye. Your Sableye could switch in, take damage, and think he's about to neuter a physical attacker, only to be used as bait. How do I know? I do it all the time with my Dragonite/Chrizard Y. I would vouch for the Garchomp jirachee suggests above. Although, you're clearly a skilled battler, and probably knew all this anyway.
 
Jirachee said:
not a bad team, but as many other pretty slow teams, you'll have a hard time dealing with Mega Zard X, especially the DD variants. If it manages to get a boost (which is easy, considering you have Scizor), it'll start rampaging your team and there's nothing much you can do to stop it, since your scarfer, Rotom-W, is slower than it. One way to deal with it efficiently is to carry a faster Pokemon that can revenge kill it. I'd give Scarf Chomper a try over your current Hydreigon, since it outspeeds even boosted ones and can OHKO it with Earthquake. I think that Scarf Chomper is going to be very useful for your team too as it can clean weakened teams very easily because it has great STABs, it's strong, and fast. To be fair, I think it's going to do a better job than Hydreigon at cleaning teams, simply because it is much faster. Also, if you do that change, make sure to give Rotom-W a different set since running 2 scarfers on a stallish team isn't really useful.

Also, I think your Scizor set could use some improvement. Swords Dance doesn't really seem appropriate on a Defog set like this one. I'd use Roost instead, with Leftovers over Sitrus Berry. This will make sure Scizor lives all throughout the match so that your walls don't get worn down by Stealth Rock and Spikes, which could give you problems against an offensive team.

Also, since Venusaur appears to be your main defense against Water type Pokemon, I'd use Giga Drain on it, over either one of your attacking moves, as otherwise things like Mega Gyarados could wear it down more easily.

Here's the Garchomp set:
chomper (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Dual Chop
- Stone Edge

good luck in your laddering endeavors!
Click to expand...

It's funny you should say that, because I've actually been switching between this Hydreigon and Scarfchomp regularly! As for MCX, you're absolutely right. Do you see any value in keeping Hydreigon, or is everybody in agreement that Garchomp brings more to the team? Because another great thing about Chomp is the electric immunity...

EDIT: Also, what is the reasoning for bringing Dual Chop? Which Substituters/Sashers is it specifically for? And what EVs would you recommend for Scizor?
 
Dual Chop has a very good chance of scoring a OHKO on sash Alakazam, which while it's not too common, it's certainly very useful to have something that can do that. It's also pretty useful to use against weakened Sub or just frail ones in general, like Gengar. As for Scizor's EVs, you should probably use a bit more SpDef if you don't mind dropping the Attack. 248hp/44atk/216spdef works fine and it gives you extra insurance against things like Psyshock Latios that can be hard to deal with for slow teams
 
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