ORAS OU Balance - Not So Toothless

[wite_shrine]

Not So Toothless
Balance in ORAS Over Used
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The team at a glance:

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So as a first note, I've been lurking on smogon for years but have hardly ever posted anything let alone something as long as an RMT. What changed? Well basically a couple of people asked if they could have my team which I guess means it can't suck too much. As such I figured in for a penny, in for a pound. I hope you guys enjoy giving this team a whack.



The star player:

Ibuki (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam

Bulky Variety (old set, still good depending on your preferences)

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Ibuki (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpD / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect Type
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

Okay, that was bad. I'd leave but I need to finish this rmt first. Puns aside bulky starmie really puts in its fair share of work for this team. Rapid spin is the main use (to save charizard from that crippling 50% on rocks), but even apart from rapid spin Ibuki can be quite useful. When you expect a ferrothorn switch, or anything that carries sleep simply reflect type to render that useless. This really messes up ferro in particular who will normally try and whip you or go for seeds. Situations like this are where natural cure comes into its own, as even if they thunder wave you or something uses toxics is no real biggie. On top of this, if you really have to you can reflect against scizor and fish for burns.


If bulky Starmie isn't your cup of tea, use the analytic set as you can still spin away rocks, deal with Keldeo, and get more damage output in general. It should be noted though, that you are not as guaranteed to keep rocks off the field. On the upside though, you will keep a little more momentum.



The (not so) Toothless Wallbreaker:

Toothless (Charizard-Mega-Y) (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Roost

Toothless is your lead if you expect a mega sable from your opponent. Caution should be taken if you see a heatran on their team, as though Fire Blast 2ko's sable they normally know this. Considering this, take the obvious option and go for a focus blast if it seems like they will switch (focus blast is a 2ko on standard specially def heatran). Apart from this, fire blast just rips things to pieces under the sun and solar beam deals with water types. Rotom-w & Slowbro are always 2KO'd or (if you have rocks up), KO'd.



Lead Ahoy!

Neo (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 168 Def / 100 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Endure
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Neo is your standard bulky chomp lead with EV's I stole from someone (gotta speed creep those other chomps right), along with the idea of Endure. Unlike a lot of leads K can put in a fair bit of work after he gets rocks up so try and keep him alive. I'm sure you know what Dragon Tail and Earthquake are for (phasing and stab respectively), but I'll elaborate anyway. K is your main answer to Excadrill who can otherwise do a lot of damage to this team, especially sand rush varieties. Thankfully with these EVs (barring a critical hit) life orb drill can only do a maximum of 54.7% while chomp KOs with EQ.

The last thing to talk about is Endure. Endure can come in handy in a pinch against physical attackers such as swords dance Scizor or Talonflame by ensuring you will survive the next hit, meaning that they will take a minimum of 60% damage from rough skin + helmet. This is especially useful when you are at low health and they attempt a revenge kill so try and keep it a surprise.



In Hot Pursuit!

Gaara (Tyranitar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Crunch

Gaara and his smexy scarf is your answer to the latis, and always survives a draco metor barring a crit. Switch him in and pursuit away unless you think they will go for a Healing Wish. In that case, Crunch all the things. Apart from this gaara makes a good Talonflame switch in (though be ware of WoW) and you can use Superpower to kill off metal fire lizards and bi-curious sharp things. Super simple stuff.

As a last note on Ttar there are some things to be aware of. First is that you won't outspeed mega zam (you hit 364 speed) even with your scarf but Staraptor will, so use raptor for that purpose. Second is that Char X can give you a lot of trouble if you let Gaara expire too early, and even if you keep him alive WoW can do a number on you. You still have a 41.8% chance to 2KO bulky Mega X with SE while burned after sandstorm damage, but honestly that isn't great. To that end try and make sure that you get rocks up if you see a Charizard in preview as this will make your life a whole easier since you can outspeed and KO with your scarf.



I Don't Believe In Fairies.

Hook (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Hook is a decent lead if you're not really sure what to expect. Knock off and uturn are good if you expect a switchin. Knock off because you can remove scarfs from things like heatran, and uturn to get the hell out of there. Bullet punch will 2KO standard calm mind Clefable and has a 75% chance to OKO, but Clef normally gets the OKO in return with flame thrower. As such it doesn't hurt to ensure it has taken a little damage before you bring Hook in, and avoid switching him in as a check since it is rather obvious.

Apart from this, if you see Slowbro try and keep scizor alive if Charizard and Tyranitar have bitten the dust since hook will be your best chance to pull through. Same goes for keeping him alive to deal with Weavile who can do a number on you otherwise.


Satan is Pink

Serenity (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Thunder Wave

Originally I had a third choice mon (the Staraptor set below) as a revenge killer, but as Tricking pointed out that can be a little limiting sometimes. Instead this set (courtesy of the aforesaid) still allows you to check Alakazam easily enough, while also letting you spread paralysis around to help Mega Zard outspeed things (this is good because Zard has a modest nature for that bit more power).

Softboiled is the normal move on this set (and the one recommended to me) however I've had great success with Wish since I can pass a little health along to another team member that needs it. This can be particularly useful if you can predict a switch as it lets another member have another shot at the game with minimal loss on your behalf.

Alt Member - Staraptor:

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Rest In Revenge

Mikasa (Staraptor) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Double-Edge
- Brave Bird
- U-turn

Staraptor is your second scarf mon and an amazing revenge killer. BB and DE are both powerful stab moves boosted by reckless, with BB particularly useful for dealing with Brelooms who have lost their sashes and the rare chestnut thing. Uturn is good for scouting (especially against things like Heatran who will normally switch from fear of a CC) and lets you keep momentum.

One important thing to note is that once Charizard is down the water pony (keldeo) can inflict a lot of hurt on your team, so try and use Staraptor to kill it off when a chance presents itself. Basic stuff and a basic spread/moveset, but if you give him a chance Mikasa will become one of your favourite members on this team.

In Summary (TL;DR)

- Garchomp: If you see a Charizard get rocks up and keep them there, otherwise X is a pain in the posterior. Use endure when you will be KO'd by a phys attacker for 60% of their health, earthquake on the second turn in case they try and heal.

- Raptor: Revenge kills things. Also outspeeds and KOs mega zam with U-turn.
- Clefable: Sets up against special attackers, checks mega Zam, spreads paralysis to help zard. If you run Clefable over Raptor beware of Breloom

- Starmie: Walls things after RT and can spin away anything. Recover and spam scald, switch if you need to get rid of status.

- Tyranitar: Traps latis and starmies. Does 50% on slowbro with crunch. Your main check against Bisharp and good for killing Heatran, plus also good for messing with rain and opposing Charizards.

- Charizard Y: OKOs or 2KOs most things under sun. Use it to punch holes early or mid game. Don't forget what I said about removing rocks.

- Scizor: Eats fairies and destroys Diancie who can otherwise give you trouble. A good lead when you're not sure what they will do.


So there you have it, the not so toothless balanced ORAS OU team. If you give the team a go and like it feel free to post some good replays and I'll link them in the main thread. Apart from that all I ask is that you keep my punishably bad names if you use the team and link anyone this thread if they ask.

Happy battling,

~DePariah (wite-shrine).

Replays:

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http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-285028032
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-285031068
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-285034252

Copy and paste data:

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New Version:
Serenity (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Thunder Wave

Toothless (Charizard-Mega-Y) (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Roost

Neo (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 168 Def / 100 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Endure
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Gaara (Tyranitar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Crunch

Ibuki (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam

Hook (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Knock Off
Old Version:
Mikasa (Staraptor) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Double-Edge
- Brave Bird
- U-turn

Toothless (Charizard-Mega-Y) (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Solar Beam
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Roost

Neo (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 168 Def / 100 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Endure
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Gaara (Tyranitar) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Crunch

Ibuki (Starmie) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 16 SpD / 244 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Reflect Type
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

Hook (Scizor) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Knock Off

Damage Calcs

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I'm really lazy, but I'll add them when I get around to it. Conversely feel free to put some relevant ones in the comments and I'll add them

Charizard Y:
252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Mega Sableye in Sun: 247-292 (81.2 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 192+ SpD Heatran: 244-288 (63.3 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Tyranitar:
252 Atk burned Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Mega Charizard X: 153-181 (42.6 - 50.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and sandstorm damage

Scizor:
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Togekiss: 338-398 (90.6 - 106.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 172 Def Clefable: 338-402 (85.7 - 102%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

Staraptor:
252+ Atk Staraptor U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Weavile: 224-264 (79.7 - 93.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock (Weavile can do 82% with ice shard so use this with caution).
252+ Atk Staraptor U-turn vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Alakazam: 294-348 (117.1 - 138.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Lopunny: 510-602 (188.1 - 222.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Garchomp:

 

[Tricking]

Hi DePariah,

nice concept! I noticed that you have a lot choice-locked Pokemon. This is cool when you are facing fast teams, but it's detrimental when you are facing solid balanced teams. So, you can replace Staraptor with Clefable. You should be still able to check Mega Alakazam, and it helps with Diancie, Gyarados as well. Thunder Wave works well with Charizard Y.

Clefable

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Then, I have a few minor suggestions for your team: give Charizard a Timid nature; you don't have solid switch-ins to Medicham and Gardevoir, so having the possibility to outspeed Jolly Medicham and Timid Gardevoir is pretty cool. Finally, use max speed on Starmie in order to speed tie with opposing Starmie, Azelf, and Raikou which could sometimes be useful. You can also give Scizor a few EVs in Speed to deal with Belly Drum Azumarill and have higher chances to outpace it.

However the team is cool, hope I helped, good luck with your team.

 

[wite_shrine]

Hi DePariah,

nice concept! I noticed that you have a lot choice-locked Pokemon. This is cool when you are facing fast teams, but it's detrimental when you are facing solid balanced teams. So, you can replace Staraptor with Clefable. You should be still able to check Mega Alakazam, and it helps with Diancie, Gyarados as well. Thunder Wave works well with Charizard Y.

Clefable

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Then, I have a few minor suggestions for your team: give Charizard a Timid nature; you don't have solid switch-ins to Medicham and Gardevoir, so having the possibility to outspeed Jolly Medicham and Timid Gardevoir is pretty cool. Finally, use max speed on Starmie in order to speed tie with opposing Starmie, Azelf, and Raikou which could sometimes be useful. You can also give Scizor a few EVs in Speed to deal with Belly Drum Azumarill and have higher chances to outpace it.

However the team is cool, hope I helped, good luck with your team.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you like the team so far. I'll have an experiment with clefable as a raptor replacement in the morning when I'm less tired. I'm a little worried it could let Breloom screw me over, but I'll see how it works out.

As for Charizard and Starmie, with Starmie I honestly can't remember what the 16SpD EV's were for so I might try and figure that out before I change anything there. With charizard I'm not sure if I'll change to timid since I like a little extra power in a wallbreaker and with tank chomp and scizor I've not had too much trouble with Medicham and Gardevoir respectively. That might change if I get rid of raptor though, since raptor revenge kills both of those easily at the moment.

 

[Evan Smith]

Cool team, but there are a few glaring weaknesses. The first one I noticed was keldeo. Starmie is your switchin, but it doesn't do much back. You should use Offensive Starmie>Defensive Starmie because it gets one free switchin to keldeo and ohkos with psyshock, and also synergises better with your team because it keeps up offensive pressure. Other than defensive starmie, the current team is all HO, and starmie is a bit too passive to perform well on that sort of team. Another threat is weavile. You have a good offensive check in scizor, and tyranitar beats the most common variant 1v1, but other than that, it sweeps your team with rocks up. Scizor can only switch in for free once. After that, the only thing you can do is play around it. A weavile with low kick ohkos tyranitar, so it is not the most reliable check. You also have very poor dragon switchins. I suggest you run Klefki>Staraptor for these reasons. Klefki cripples a lot of the dragons and fast mons, including weavile, that it switches into. I would use this as opposed to Tricking's suggestion of clefable because it essentially does the same thing, but gives spikes support which can be very important for offense. It does not handle mega diancie as well as clefable, but klefki baits it in for scizor to ko it. The seemingly strange evs on the set I gave you allows it to switch into mega gardevoir after rocks, and the rest was put into defense to take physical attacks better. Another thing to change is Fire Blast>Endure on garchomp. Without it, a scizor with rocks up destroys you, even without setting up. I hope these were good suggestions, and good luck with testing them.

Sets

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise
- Foul Play

Neo (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 168 Def / 100 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam

 

[wite_shrine]

Cool team, but there are a few glaring weaknesses. The first one I noticed was keldeo. Starmie is your switchin, but it doesn't do much back. You should use Offensive Starmie>Defensive Starmie because it gets one free switchin to keldeo and ohkos with psyshock, and also synergises better with your team because it keeps up offensive pressure. Other than defensive starmie, the current team is all HO, and starmie is a bit too passive to perform well on that sort of team. Another threat is weavile. You have a good offensive check in scizor, and tyranitar beats the most common variant 1v1, but other than that, it sweeps your team with rocks up. Scizor can only switch in for free once. After that, the only thing you can do is play around it. A weavile with low kick ohkos tyranitar, so it is not the most reliable check. You also have very poor dragon switchins. I suggest you run Klefki>Staraptor for these reasons. Klefki cripples a lot of the dragons and fast mons, including weavile, that it switches into. I would use this as opposed to Tricking's suggestion of clefable because it essentially does the same thing, but gives spikes support which can be very important for offense. It does not handle mega diancie as well as clefable, but klefki baits it in for scizor to ko it. The seemingly strange evs on the set I gave you allows it to switch into mega gardevoir after rocks, and the rest was put into defense to take physical attacks better. Another thing to change is Fire Blast>Endure on garchomp. Without it, a scizor with rocks up destroys you, even without setting up. I hope these were good suggestions, and good luck with testing them.

Sets

Klefki @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Calm Nature
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave
- Magnet Rise
- Foul Play

Neo (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 240 HP / 168 Def / 100 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam

Thanks for the suggestions. I've changed Starmie to a more offensive variety and we will see how that goes. You are right that without psyshock etc it can be a bit lacking in presence, but it does also seem less able to keep rocks off the field. Ups and downs to everything in life hey. Regarding Klefki and Garchomp, I might test Clefable for a little while and then give Klef a go if that doesn't work out. On the side of Garchomp I'm not sure if I'll add fireblast or not. I enjoy the ability to be able to switch into Lopunny and Cham, take the fake out and then endure the ice punch. As long as they don't predict the switch I get 90% of their health for free unless they switch, in which case their switch in will get hit by an EQ or tail since I don't normally try to endure twice in a row.

 

[Evan Smith]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've changed Starmie to a more offensive variety and we will see how that goes. You are right that without psyshock etc it can be a bit lacking in presence, but it does also seem less able to keep rocks off the field. Ups and downs to everything in life hey. Regarding Klefki and Garchomp, I might test Clefable for a little while and then give Klef a go if that doesn't work out. On the side of Garchomp I'm not sure if I'll add fireblast or not. I enjoy the ability to be able to switch into Lopunny and Cham, take the fake out and then endure the ice punch. As long as they don't predict the switch I get 90% of their health for free unless they switch, in which case their switch in will get hit by an EQ or tail since I don't normally try to endure twice in a row.

I don't think endure does very much for you. For lopunny, you have either klefki or clefable depending on which you choose. Both of which can switch in, klefki with the right prediction, and cripple it. For medicham, you have tyranitar and scizor which can switch in on a good prediction and deal a lot of damage to it, getting the ko after rocky helmet+rough skin from chomp and a few rounds of sr or sand damage. As for klefki, I highly suggest testing it, even if clefable works out really well. Prankster t-wave helps a lot vs setup sweepers. Volcarona for instance destroys you, and it takes pressure off of scizor and tyranitar in crippling zard-x and mega alt. Spikes also makes it much easier to weaken checks to your win con, therefore making it more easy to win. Offensive starmie should only have to spin once or twice a game. On an offensive team like this one, you can keep rocks off the field by pressuring the opponent and keeping up momentum. If you really feel the need to though, you can run psyshock on defensive starmie.

 

[wite_shrine]

I don't think endure does very much for you. For lopunny, you have either klefki or clefable depending on which you choose. Both of which can switch in, klefki with the right prediction, and cripple it. For medicham, you have tyranitar and scizor which can switch in on a good prediction and deal a lot of damage to it, getting the ko after rocky helmet+rough skin from chomp and a few rounds of sr or sand damage. As for klefki, I highly suggest testing it, even if clefable works out really well. Prankster t-wave helps a lot vs setup sweepers. Volcarona for instance destroys you, and it takes pressure off of scizor and tyranitar in crippling zard-x and mega alt. Spikes also makes it much easier to weaken checks to your win con, therefore making it more easy to win. Offensive starmie should only have to spin once or twice a game. On an offensive team like this one, you can keep rocks off the field by pressuring the opponent and keeping up momentum. If you really feel the need to though, you can run psyshock on defensive starmie.

Taken on board. I'll have another round of testing once I get past my exam block and get back to you then :)