SM OU The Electric Dome

[Eightscer]

Hello everyone! This is my first RMT on this site (and my first post ever on the forums :P), and after some building, play testing, editing, and one complete overhaul of a team, I would like to share my team for the public to see and try it out. This is a balance team that occasionally plays mind games with its opponents, pivots a lot, and tries to find an opportunity to set up Mega Gyarados to wreak as much havoc as possible. This team is nowhere near perfect (no team is, and that's okay), but I have had some moderate success overall. Feedback is greatly appreciated, as I would love to improve this team as much as I can to improve as a player and team builder!

The Process:

I wanted to start out with Magnezone and Mega Gyarados since both pokeomon seem to go well together in practice. Magnezone provides a slow volt switch to safely bring out Gyarados unscathed and then dragon dance before Mega evolving, if necessary. Magnezone can also trap steel types and check fairy types that trouble Mega Gyarados, and Gyarados returns the favor by wrecking ground and fire types that cripples Magnezone.

While everyone and their mother has a Lando-T in their team by now, I figured Lando-T would be a good addition to my team as he provides Stealth Rocks and a U-turn into something else. He also has intimidate, along with Gyarados, to put pressure on some physical attackers such as Garchomp or Mega Metagross.

I chose Amoonguss as my next Pokemon because he provides a useful utility in Spore and Foul Play, and he can also check certain threats such as the Tapus (bar Lele). He can deal considerable damage to threats that try to set up on him, or just spore to provide a safe switch to someone else while also getting healed by Regenerator.

With all the pivoting and switching going on during battle, I needed a Pokemon that could remove hazards so that my Pokemon wouldn't get whittled away by entry hazards. I chose Tapu Fini as my defogger as she can switch into many threats and then pull off a defog or check other Pokemon with Moonblast. She can also provide taunt support to prevent the opponent from setting up.

This last choice for a Pokemon might seem very odd to some, as Rotom-Heat is usually found in lower tiers, but he has provided this team with substantial support in a couple of games. One of the main jobs Rotom is supposed to do is to cripple physical attackers, volt switch into another team member, and to one-shot Mega Metagross with Overheat.

In Depth:

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This is your typical Magnezone set, one that usually finds its place on many OU teams. Magnezone is a nice steel trapper, being able to one-shot Skarmory, Celesteela, and Ferrothorn if they are not built to survive Magnezone's attacks. A Choice Specs set is used to hit as hard as possible and bulk is invested in HP and Sp. Def. to survive some special attacks, however Magnezone can still be knocked out fairly easily. Magnezone can also provide a slow volt switch - something that is incredibly useful for safely sending out Pokemon in this team.

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Waterfall

This Gyarados is the main hard-hitter sweeper of this team, being able to set up on a Pokemon he checks after an Intimidate drop and then destroys many things in his path. A Jolly max speed set is used to out speed as many threats as possible (for example, Tapu Koko at +1) while having max attack to deal as much damage as Gyarados can. The moves Waterfall and Crunch are 2 strong STAB moves while Earthquake is used for coverage. It's important to know when Gyarados should Mega Evolve, as he gains some crippling weaknesses when Mega Evolving such as fighting and bug.

Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

A pretty standard Landorus-Therian set to set up Stealth Rocks and U-Turn out of there. Earthquake is a pretty nifty STAB move to take down Heatran, Muk, and Marowak, and Stone Edge is a strong but risky coverage move. A Rockium Z is used here to take down unsuspecting threats such as opposing Gyarados, Salamence, or other weak Pokemon on the switch, along with a spread that maximizes Landorus-T's attack and speed for immediate power. With Intimidate, Landorus can be a nice Pokemon to pivot around with, however he should be aware of HP Ice users that one-shot him.

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Spore
- Foul Play

It's weird to think that even a pivot like Amoonguss would have 4MSS for me, as sometimes I cannot decide whether to run Stun Spore, HP Fire, HP Ice, or even Toxic and Synthesis. Anyways, this Amoonguss here is a specially defensive set (mainly to survive 2 ice beams from Pheromosa), with some defense added in for extra physical bulk. As said before, Amoonguss is useful for checking prominent threats in OU so far, such as the Tapus, Metagross, Ash-Greninja, and more. Giga Drain and Black Sludge allows for some recovery outside of Regenerator, Clear Smog acts as a pHazer, Spore cripples set up sweepers or utility pokes, and Foul Play can take down the likes of Kartana, Metagross, and Hoopa Unbound.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Taunt

Tapu Fini here is useful for removing entry hazards that severely hurts Gyarados and Rotom-Heat on the switch which limits their job. The spread was taken from the Smogon analysis, with HP and defense for nice physical bulk, 16 Sp. Def. & calm nature to reach an important jump point, and 52 speed to out speed defensive Landorus-T. Surf and Moonblast allows Tapu Fini to deal with threats such as Heatran, Salamence, and other fighting, dark, and dragon types. Taunt is a useful utility to shut down support Pokemon that dares to spam hazards or stat boosters.

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 120 SpA / 140 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Finally, I have a custom defensive Rotom-Heat set to cripple physical attackers with Will-O-Wisp. Rotom-Heat also acts as a pivot to volt switch out to other Pokemon and also holds Overheat to deal a considerable amount of damage to others at the cost of a special attack drop. Pain Split and Leftovers provide some recovery and to cut some of the opponent's health. However, there is one thing this Rotom-Heat does that is quite significant...

252 Atk Tough Claws Metagross-Mega Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Rotom-Heat: 159-187 (52.3 - 61.5%) -- 96.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

120 SpA Rotom-Heat Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Metagross-Mega: 302-356 (100.3 - 118.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Yes. One of the main purposes of Rotom-Heat is to cleanly OHKO Mega Metagross while still being able to survive at least one Zen-Headbutt before doing so. While it may not be the most reliable way of doing the dirty work, I would love to hear another way of taking down Mega Metagross with little trouble so I can consider it.

Conclusion:

Overall, I enjoy playing around with this team, as it is fun to play with the opponent with mind games and volt switching, but there are a lot of problems that hold this team back from doing its best. For example, a couple of threats this team faces against is:

• Stall: It's tough to deal with stall teams as they more often than not whittle away my whole team with toxic, shifting, and seismic tossing. I can never seem to break their defensive cores before they stall my whole team out, especially with Chansey running around lately.
• Baton Pass: A lot of baton pass teams give me trouble mainly because I don't how to deal with them. They spam subs and get their speed high enough to pass it on to then proceed to sweep my whole team in a breeze.
• Pheromosa: This monster always out speed my Pokemon and deal massive damage with its coverage moves. It also tends to one shot more things than it doesn't with High Jump Kick and just simply U-Turns out if I have a possible counter to it.
• Mega Metagross: Man do I wish this thing gets banned soon. In addition to it being everywhere, every Metagross I encounter always have an answer to every counter I suppose might deal with it. I can never tell whether some have Earthquake, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Bullet Punch, or the like. Possibly the most threatening to my whole team outside of Pheromosa.
• Mega Alakazam: Also has enough coverage to take down my Pokemon easily with its high speed and seemingly perfectly accurate Focus Misses. It's most annoying when it even has HP Ice to take down my Lando-T!
• Zapdos: While not common, it does deserve a mention as it checks my whole team with Heat Wave, HP Ice, and any electric type STAB move.
• Mega Venusaur: Craps all over my whole team while it stalls it out with Synthesis.
• Celesteela: Mainly offensive variants, but if Magnezone cannot take down any of them it becomes a huge problem. This also applies to Tapu Bulu.
• Suicune and Raikou with sub and calm mind: Too bulky after a couple of boosts, allowing them to breeze through my team afterwards.

Yeah... that's a long list. If anyone could find a way to improve my team enough to stop some of these threats without creating new ones, I am more than happy to listen!

Here are some replays if you want to check out what this team can do in battle. Be warned: I am far from being the best player out there, but I am conscious with the basics of competitive battling (I play random battle a lot :P). I chose the replays I personally enjoyed the most (usually the closest battles).

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521298207
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521318725
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521326729
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521329735
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521343725
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521357231
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521736441
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521745323
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521754989

I have also included some losses because I believe you can learn a lot more from seeing what I did wrong and discovering how to not make the same mistakes I did:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521759290
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521764887
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-521778275

More replays are available upon request.

Importable:

Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 120 SpA / 140 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Def / 216 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Spore
- Foul Play

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Surf
- Taunt


Any constructive feedback is very welcome, and I thank you all in advance for taking a look!

 

[Sun]

hi Eightscer , you have a pretty interesting team here, after giving a glance, I noticed few things, Rotom-H is not the best fire type in the metagame and its not a solid mega metagross answer since it get worn down easily by Zen headbutt and rocks damage, afterwards i think Tapu lele its very hard to switch into as well as the other threats that you mentioned above, tapu bulu is also a bit problematic because it has many opportunities to get into the field for example in front of tapu fini, that lacking scald, gives to bulu a free switch, same thing with mega gyarados, because it resists all attacks from it. my rate will try to cover these threats keeping the team idea.

First of all, since Rotom-h its not a good pokemon right now in overused i would replace it with Alolan marowak, this mon is able to check a lot of pokemon in the metagame like Pheromosa, mega Venusaur, tapu bulu, celesteela and tapu koko, its able to burn ground types like lando and garchomp using will-o-wisp, finally it provides also a huge offensive presence that made him a good stallbreaker, finally it's very synergic with mega gyara because cover its electric weakness very well.

After putting alolan wak, the team is really weak to mega Metagross, to solve this problem, i'd suggest using Rocky helmet tangrowth over Amoonguss , this change cover pretty well you're mega metagross weakness, i would say that tangrowth's main role is not only to deal with metagross, it also gives a strong support against Drillers, rotom-w and tapu bulu, can put to sleep pokemons, and can remove important items from switch ins.

At last, i'd suggest to use DD Flyinium Z landorus-t over the offensive rocker one, since you don't need a stealth rocker now because you have it in marowak, this offensive lando set might be a good wincon against both bulky and fast teams, i'd suggest an adamant nature to increase its fire power, due to z-Fly, Lando can do a lot of support breaking bulky grass pokemons the likes of tapu bulu, mega Venusaur and Amoonguss for an optimal mega Gyarados lategame sweep. The team still have issues with Tapu Lele, to solve this problem i'd suggest using Assault vest Magnezone over specs, the assault vest allows magnezone to switch into Lele pretty safe, also i'd use this spread 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe, with a modest nature, this amount of speed is enough to outpseed uninvested mega scizor, the rest in bulk is good to take more hits as possible. Finally, i'd recommend using scald over surf on tapu fini since it can burn tapu bulu and rotom-w, which can be crucial in the game.

Sets

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Bone
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Punch
- Will-O-Wisp

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Taunt

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Magnezone @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Knock Off
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain

The team is still weak to mega zam, but now you have some ways to play around him, for example, using dd Lando mega gyarados or Av Magnezone, that's all and hope i've helped

 

[Eightscer]

hi Eightscer , you have a pretty interesting team here, after giving a glance, I noticed few things, Rotom-H is not the best fire type in the metagame and its not a solid mega metagross answer since it get worn down easily by Zen headbutt and rocks damage, afterwards i think Tapu lele its very hard to switch into as well as the other threats that you mentioned above, tapu bulu is also a bit problematic because it has many opportunities to get into the field for example in front of tapu fini, that lacking scald, gives to bulu a free switch, same thing with mega gyarados, because it resists all attacks from it. my rate will try to cover these threats keeping the team idea.

First of all, since Rotom-h its not a good pokemon right now in overused i would replace it with Alolan marowak, this mon is able to check a lot of pokemon in the metagame like Pheromosa, mega Venusaur, tapu bulu, celesteela and tapu koko, its able to burn ground types like lando and garchomp using will-o-wisp, finally it provides also a huge offensive presence that made him a good stallbreaker, finally it's very synergic with mega gyara because cover its electric weakness very well.

After putting alolan wak, the team is really weak to mega Metagross, to solve this problem, i'd suggest using Rocky helmet tangrowth over Amoonguss , this change cover pretty well you're mega metagross weakness, i would say that tangrowth's main role is not only to deal with metagross, it also gives a strong support against Drillers, rotom-w and tapu bulu, can put to sleep pokemons, and can remove important items from switch ins.

At last, i'd suggest to use DD Flyinium Z landorus-t over the offensive rocker one, since you don't need a stealth rocker now because you have it in marowak, this offensive lando set might be a good wincon against both bulky and fast teams, i'd suggest an adamant nature to increase its fire power, due to z-Fly, Lando can do a lot of support breaking bulky grass pokemons the likes of tapu bulu, mega Venusaur and Amoonguss for an optimal mega Gyarados lategame sweep. The team still have issues with Tapu Lele, to solve this problem i'd suggest using Assault vest Magnezone over specs, the assault vest allows magnezone to switch into Lele pretty safe, also i'd use this spread 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe, with a modest nature, this amount of speed is enough to outpseed uninvested mega scizor, the rest in bulk is good to take more hits as possible. Finally, i'd recommend using scald over surf on tapu fini since it can burn tapu bulu and rotom-w, which can be crucial in the game.

Sets

Marowak-Alola @ Thick Club
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Bone
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Punch
- Will-O-Wisp

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Def / 16 SpD / 52 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Moonblast
- Scald
- Taunt

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Fly
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Waterfall

Magnezone @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 128 HP / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon

Tangrowth @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Knock Off
- Sleep Powder
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain

The team is still weak to mega zam, but now you have some ways to play around him, for example, using dd Lando mega gyarados or Av Magnezone, that's all and hope i've helped

Thank you so much for the rate! While initially I had some trouble getting used to the new changes, my performance greatly improved overall with the fixes. I never thought I'd see the day that I would pull off so many sweeps with a Landorus that knew Fly, or even using an assault vest Magnezone that was more successful than I thought!

The addition of Tangrowth had also fixed my problem with Mega Metagross and is much more reliable than the Rotom-H. As for Marowak, I opted for a bulkier spread, as it tended to survive more hits overall so I could maximize his potential instead of being death fodder now and again. I had used Marowak on my first OU team (Porygon-Z, Mamoswine, Tapu Lele, Marowak, Magnezone, Mega Gyara; it was below-average at best...), though I had always thought he had a different role that what he actually had.

Overall, the team had steadily improved without changing the idea, and I can't thank you enough for it. I was still able to play mind games with my opponents and I still have a blast playing around with this newly improved team. This replay is my favorite so far:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7pokebankou-522976711