SM OU New to competitive. Noob attempt at Team Building.

[Exter98]

I'm very new to PS and competitive play in general. I have tried making a team and doing kind of decent with it so far but that is probably because I'm low on ladder and probably won against other newbies.

Would appreciate any insights, criticisms or any adjustments regarding my team. If you feel like it is just a shitty team for the metagame and I shouldn't use it at all then by all means do feel free to say it.

Toxapex (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

The team is kind of based around Toxapex. I often a times open the round with Toxapex and use Toxic spike right away unless the opponent is using my weakness type. Once done double layering Toxic Spikes (which is usually not very hard due to it's high defensive stats) then I can either switch or I can keep using Scald to kill the opponent's pokemon if he is unable to do much damage against Toxapex. Haze doesn't let allow opponent stack up stats against Toxapex, while he is setting up Toxic Spikes.

Alakazam (M) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

Mega Alakazam works pretty good as a sweeper. I used Psyshock and Psychic both because it kind of makes it harder to tank against him because I can exploit the opponents Def or Sp. Def, whichever one is lower. I like to keep Shadow Ball incase Ghost types show up to kill Alakazam.

Mawile-Mega (F) @ Mawilite
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch

Another sweeper that I love using and I feel that I can rely on in tough spots. With Huge Power and a successful use of Swords Dance makes Mawile pretty dangerous for the opponent. Play Rough being it's STAB move. Using Sucker Punch to hit first any Speedster or Choice Scarf threat.

Mimikyu (F) @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough
- Shadow Sneak

Mimikyu my Z-move user. I use Mimikyu as my Z-Move user due to Disguise allowing me to do atleast one Swords Dance safely and then eliminating alot of threats by OHKO'ing with Z-move. I don't prefer to switch into Mimikyu if I haven't used my Z-Move yet (unless very necessary), because that would waste the disguise that could have been used for Swords Dance. Shadow Sneak can be helpful to clear any last bit of HP on a Speedster or it can be used to lay atleast a small hit on a speedster before it finishes Mimikyu off. Play Rough and Shadow Claw are obvious.

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
Shiny: No
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Flare Blitz
- Thunder Punch

Another hard hitter on my team. Flare Blitz being it's main STAB. Dragon Claw is obvious I guess. Thunder Punch really surprises the foes and often OHKO them when they switch into a Water type against Charizard.

Excadrill (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head


Excadrill would probably be my least favorite on this team. While I realize it's considered pretty good for the meta game, it just doesn't seem to work that well for me. Anywho it can still be useful at time, specially due to it's variety of move types. If luck is on my side, the flinching on Rock Slide and Iron Head can prove to be very helpful.



That's it.

I guess my team doesn't have a very specific style of play but basically my tactic is laying Toxic Spikes and then using all hard hitting pokemons after that.

 

[Twilight]

I'm not going to rate the team properly, but why do you have 3 megas?? You can only mega evolve once making two items redundant in a match and most of them without their mega evolution just don't do enough in the OU tier. If you build a team pick one mega or don't use one at all correct this then it can be properly rated bro. If you need more help on team building feel free to ask me for any help over pms for example, if not try using the smogon pokedex page and the useful forums available

 

[patlop2307]

Hey there Exter98! If I am completely honest, the team is not that good. However, that does not mean the team cannot be improved.

What is your team weak to?

Ok, to be fair, you are weak to a lot of Pokémon and any team that is halfway decent because of the three Mega-Pokémon that you carry with yourself. Also, the Toxapex looks out of place on this team, which we could change, though. But that also forces me to change quite a few Pokémon on your team.

How can you improve the team?

>

: I decided to make the team a Bulky Offense/Balance, so the first change I had to make is Landorus-Therian over Excadrill. Landorus gives you a lot of options and a lot of sets to fare with: Choice Scarf, Rocky Helmet, Defensive Flyinium Z, just to name a few.

>

: The first Mega-Pokémon we have to replace is Mega-Alakazam. Metagross, I thought, was a nice addition to the team posing as a Tapu Lele counter, as well as a trapper. I think psychic-spam has a hard time beating it. It also deals well with Heatran and Tapu Bulu.

>

: Since I am going to make this a Bulky Offense/Balance, I think Mimikyu is kind of counterproductive to the team. I took the opportunity to fit a Spiker and speed control on the team. Greninja also provides U-Turn support for Mega-Mawile and Metagross.

>

: The team as it was seemed kind of weak to Hawlucha, so I decided to fit in a Zapdos. Zapdos is an excellent remover, being able to para almost everything with Discharge, as well as countering Pokémon such as Ferrothorn or Scizor with Heat Wave.
Toxic > Toxic Spikes (

) [OPTIONAL]: Both moves fit well on the team and both moves have their up- and downsides to them, so it is just personal preference.



As a closer I would like to say that this was quite a lot of work to do. But I hope I helped ypu with this rate and good luck in getting higher on the ladder and have fun ^^

 

[Exter98]

I'm not going to rate the team properly, but why do you have 3 megas?? You can only mega evolve once making two items redundant in a match and most of them without their mega evolution just don't do enough in the OU tier. If you build a team pick one mega or don't use one at all correct this then it can be properly rated bro. If you need more help on team building feel free to ask me for any help over pms for example, if not try using the smogon pokedex page and the useful forums available

Yeah, that was dumb of me. I hadn't realized the 1 mega only thing when I wrote this, still have lots to learn.

 

[Exter98]

Hey there Exter98! If I am completely honest, the team is not that good. However, that does not mean the team cannot be improved.

What is your team weak to?

Ok, to be fair, you are weak to a lot of Pokémon and any team that is halfway decent because of the three Mega-Pokémon that you carry with yourself. Also, the Toxapex looks out of place on this team, which we could change, though. But that also forces me to change quite a few Pokémon on your team.

How can you improve the team?

>

: I decided to make the team a Bulky Offense/Balance, so the first change I had to make is Landorus-Therian over Excadrill. Landorus gives you a lot of options and a lot of sets to fare with: Choice Scarf, Rocky Helmet, Defensive Flyinium Z, just to name a few.

>

: The first Mega-Pokémon we have to replace is Mega-Alakazam. Metagross, I thought, was a nice addition to the team posing as a Tapu Lele counter, as well as a trapper. I think psychic-spam has a hard time beating it. It also deals well with Heatran and Tapu Bulu.

>

: Since I am going to make this a Bulky Offense/Balance, I think Mimikyu is kind of counterproductive to the team. I took the opportunity to fit a Spiker and speed control on the team. Greninja also provides U-Turn support for Mega-Mawile and Metagross.

>

: The team as it was seemed kind of weak to Hawlucha, so I decided to fit in a Zapdos. Zapdos is an excellent remover, being able to para almost everything with Discharge, as well as countering Pokémon such as Ferrothorn or Scizor with Heat Wave.
Toxic > Toxic Spikes (

) [OPTIONAL]: Both moves fit well on the team and both moves have their up- and downsides to them, so it is just personal preference.



As a closer I would like to say that this was quite a lot of work to do. But I hope I helped ypu with this rate and good luck in getting higher on the ladder and have fun ^^

Seems like a interesting team, I'm going to try it now and see how it goes. Thanks alot for taking your time making these changes.