SM OU M Venusaur Team Elo (1600+-)

[Luc]

introduction


Hello Smogon users :) !

First of i want to say sorry for my bad English. I should probably pay more attention to it in my classes.

Lately i have been struggling a lot to get the perfect team for myself. 2 Mons i definitaly wanted to use are Gren and Koko.
I was doubting wich sets to use. In the end i went for scarf gren and specs koko, as they are my favorite sets to use.
When finally knew wich sets i wanted to use i started building a team around them. I'll break it down.

This is the team i am currently using.



Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]


Koko and gren were the base of my team.
Koko is one of my favorites mons to use in competitive, cause it's so fast and hits really hard with specs.
Being able to blast trough some top tier threats like Toxapex, Lando ( with HP ice ) and loads of offensive mons that are slower then Koko.

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Spikes

Greninja has to be one of the best leads for me in OU atm. Almost outspeeds the entire tier with its base 122 speed and scarf of course.
Leading with it can provide hazards or a fast u-turn to get some momentum.
It also checks a quiver dancing Volcarona with Rock slide ( unless it has 2 speedboosts ).

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 156 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]

I wanted a mon that could take a hit from Kartana and then kill it afterwards.
I came up with venusaur as its able to check a unboosted Kartana and he is easily able to kill it with HP Fire cause of Kart's weak Spdef.
This fat boy is also able to wall some other top tier threats like Gren and Koko.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Protect
- Stealth Rock

I noticed that my team was pretty weak to Tapu Lele + Mega Zam.
So i came up with Spdef Heatran to at least take some hits from Lele and toxic it or do some damage to it with lava plume.
I put protect on it to stall out some turns , mostly to recover some damage with leftovers or to stack damage with toxic.
I also putt rocks on Heatran over Lando cause i wanted a full on offensive Lando.

Landorus-Therian @ Yache berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Rock Polish

I used Lando pretty much cause it's Lando u see it on almost every team and puts in so much work.
I was thinking of Hp ice to do damage to incoming Lando , i did go for rock polish in the end cause i have gren and Koko to OHKO Lando.
Yache berry gives me the option to stay in on a hp ice from koko and kill it afterwards.

Kartana @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Defog

Last but definitaly not least is Kart.
I absolutely adore using a Kart on my teams, cause of it's good speed tier and INSANE attack stat.
This boy will give u nightmares unless u are running something like a Zapdos.
Plus it has Defog which i still needed on this team.




I did find out that i am pretty weak to pokemon like Mega zard X, Lele and Hawlucha.

Overall, i really enjoyed using this team, but it could use some improvements.
I would like to get some advice on possibly changing the team or just change some sets.







​

 

[Flame from Heaven]

Hey dude, really nice team! You did a good job covering venusuar a weaknesses through Kartanas power and hazard control, Tapu Kokos speed, and Heatrans excellent synergy with Heatran. Now, it’s time for the rate!
The first thing I would like to do is swap Greninja for Mantine. Mantine covers Blacephalon, a huge threat for your team, and provides more reliable hazard control. It also fixes your teams huge weakness to rain.
So the team doesn’t get wrecked by stall, I would change defog on Kartana to Night Slash Darkinium Z to obliterate Amoonguss. Since I changed Greninja to Mantine, losing hazard control isn’t a problem.
Then I would make your Lando t set bulky scarf Lando to check ground types and Tyranitar whilst giving you a form of speed control. Here is the set.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion
Speed is for Mega Alakazam as you got Volcarona covered with Mantine.
Finally, I would change Heatran to the utitly set as it can still set up rocks, checks what the spdef set does, and gets up rocks more reliably against stall.
That’s pretty much it then.
Alternatively, if you want to keep Greninja since that was the base, I would change Landos set to a bulky defog set. This will let you check Zygarde, a huge threat to the team. This’s lets you run Stall Breaker Kartana. Here is the set.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Defog
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Importable of the rates team.
Mantine Version
https://pokepast.es/7000339b33f0e16a
Greninja Version.
https://pokepast.es/fa6adf39dd2fd1f3

 

[Luc]

Hey dude, really nice team! You did a good job covering venusuar a weaknesses through Kartanas power and hazard control, Tapu Kokos speed, and Heatrans excellent synergy with Heatran. Now, it’s time for the rate!
The first thing I would like to do is swap Greninja for Mantine. Mantine covers Blacephalon, a huge threat for your team, and provides more reliable hazard control. It also fixes your teams huge weakness to rain.
So the team doesn’t get wrecked by stall, I would change defog on Kartana to Night Slash Darkinium Z to obliterate Amoonguss. Since I changed Greninja to Mantine, losing hazard control isn’t a problem.
Then I would make your Lando t set bulky scarf Lando to check ground types and Tyranitar whilst giving you a form of speed control. Here is the set.
Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion
Speed is for Mega Alakazam as you got Volcarona covered with Mantine.
Finally, I would change Heatran to the utitly set as it can still set up rocks, checks what the spdef set does, and gets up rocks more reliably against stall.
That’s pretty much it then.
Alternatively, if you want to keep Greninja since that was the base, I would change Landos set to a bulky defog set. This will let you check Zygarde, a huge threat to the team. This’s lets you run Stall Breaker Kartana. Here is the set.
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Defog
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Importable of the rates team.
Mantine Version
https://pokepast.es/7000339b33f0e16a
Greninja Version.
https://pokepast.es/fa6adf39dd2fd1f3

Thanks for changes i will try them out ! :)
Scarf Lando does sound pretty good on this team. Greninja wasn't putting in that much work so. I did lose to Blacephalon 2 times so mantine will help the team a lot.

 

[Simia]

hello, cool balanced team. for the weaknesses, i dont find tapu lele particulary scary since heatran is able to take on its stab moves. however, i agree with you, char x and hawlucha are hard to deal with since you dont have a switch-in to the dragon and koko is easy to wear down, especially when you lack roost. i also find m-pinsir quite problematic because koko doesn't eat well an earthquake from it. ground-types such as zygarde are also threatening since, for example, your landot doesn't eat 2 tarrows. so, i''ll propose some suggestions!

major change

>

this change would help greatly against hawlucha as well as m-pinsir since it's a more consistent check to these threats than tapu koko. i also like the defensive utility it provides since it's able to switch-in into a lot of pokemon as well as being a great defogger. i'd run here the standard defensive spread with 2atk roost defog in order to better check hawlucha and m-pinsir.

minor changes

i'll be honest, double dance lando-t isn't good at all in this metagame due to others lando-t and thing like celesteela and generally it dies having killed one pokemon at best. that's why i would change this set for a defensive one. defensive lando-t would give you a solid answer to both char-x and zygarde, which are threats.

i'll keep this spd spread since it helps checking tapu lele and m-zam. however, however, since your rocker is now lando-t, i'd like to suggest the trapper set, so magma storm / taunt / epower. this set is able to remove toxapex for example, which helps your own gren and tbh i just feel like this set is better overall than the set you're currently using. protect becomes cooler too since you can get free chip damages with magma storm + protect.

i agree with BladeofFriendship, z night slash seems cool here because it can help out vs the likes of zapdos as well as stalls. losing defog isn't a problem at all since you have a more consistent defogger in zapdos.

team

Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 156 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Spikes

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Protect

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog

Kartana @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Night Slash

short rate, but i wanted to suggest you the changes i'd consider. hope this will help you somehow.

 

[Luc]

hello, cool balanced team. for the weaknesses, i dont find tapu lele particulary scary since heatran is able to take on its stab moves. however, i agree with you, char x and hawlucha are hard to deal with since you dont have a switch-in to the dragon and koko is easy to wear down, especially when you lack roost. i also find m-pinsir quite problematic because koko doesn't eat well an earthquake from it. ground-types such as zygarde are also threatening since, for example, your landot doesn't eat 2 tarrows. so, i''ll propose some suggestions!

major change

>

this change would help greatly against hawlucha as well as m-pinsir since it's a more consistent check to these threats than tapu koko. i also like the defensive utility it provides since it's able to switch-in into a lot of pokemon as well as being a great defogger. i'd run here the standard defensive spread with 2atk roost defog in order to better check hawlucha and m-pinsir.

minor changes

i'll be honest, double dance lando-t isn't good at all in this metagame due to others lando-t and thing like celesteela and generally it dies having killed one pokemon at best. that's why i would change this set for a defensive one. defensive lando-t would give you a solid answer to both char-x and zygarde, which are threats.

i'll keep this spd spread since it helps checking tapu lele and m-zam. however, however, since your rocker is now lando-t, i'd like to suggest the trapper set, so magma storm / taunt / epower. this set is able to remove toxapex for example, which helps your own gren and tbh i just feel like this set is better overall than the set you're currently using. protect becomes cooler too since you can get free chip damages with magma storm + protect.

i agree with BladeofFriendship, z night slash seems cool here because it can help out vs the likes of zapdos as well as stalls. losing defog isn't a problem at all since you have a more consistent defogger in zapdos.

team

Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 156 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Spikes

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Protect

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog

Kartana @ Darkinium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Night Slash

short rate, but i wanted to suggest you the changes i'd consider. hope this will help you somehow.

Thanks a lot! :)

I will definitely try out the changes.