SM OU 1600s Psyspam HO Team

[nimzowitsch]

When I ventured into the Ubers tier, I was introduced to the vast power of Psyspam cores. A Deoxys-Attack hurling Psychic Terrain-boosted Psycho Boosts at your team is certainly a magnificent, if unpleasant sight to behold. I decided to adapt the "Psyspam" strategy in OU, hoping to achieve similar results. So far, the results have been mixed, and performance is highly matchup-dependent. With a favorable matchup, victory can be achieved in less than 20 turns! Against a well-constructed Trick Room team, I might as well simply click "x."

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball/HP Fire

Tapu Lele forms the crux of this team, not only offering crucial Psychic Terrain support (negating pesky priority moves), but also serving as an excellent revenge killer/late game cleaner with Choice Scarf. Psychic and Moonblast are standard on any Tapu Lele set and Focus Blast nails irksome Steels types such as Heatran.

Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Energy Ball

Mega Alakazam is the primary beneficiary of Psychic Terrain. Not only does Psychic Terrain block priority moves such as Sucker Punch, it also boosts the power of Psychic to absurd levels, allowing Mega Alakazam to obliterate anything not resistant/immune or a pink blob. The remaining moves are for coverage and serve to further enhance Mega Alakazam's offensive prowess.

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Psycho Cut

The blistering pace of the current metagame forces many teams to run an additional Choice Scarf user, and this team is no exception. Scarf Kartana is an excellent late game cleaner thanks to Beast Boost serving as a pseudo-Moxie of sorts. Leaf Blade and Smart Strike are the two obligatory STAB moves. Sacred Sword slices apart annoying Steel types, and Psycho Cut is additional coverage that also helps Kartana abuse Psychic Terrain, which affords a 50% boost to all Psychic moves from grounded units.

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Chansey is exceptionally infuriating for special attackers to face, so a Fighting type that carries a (pseudo-)physical move is absolutely necessary. This move is Secret Sword, which uses Keldeo's high Special Attack, but strikes the opponent's vulnerable physical Defense. Scald is standard on Keldeo, and helps burn potential checks/counters. HP Electric catches Toxapex and Jellicent off guard, and Icy Wind is useful coverage for slowing down (very important) and severely damaging Lati@s on the switch, ensuring they do not nuke the crap out of this team.

Greninja @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Extrasensory

Greninja is a rather unique and unpredictable Pokemon. Not only does it have two viable and popular formes, but it's Protean variant adds yet another layer of versatility to this deadly and graceful sweeper. I absolutely relish using Greninja to play mindgames with my opponent, bluffing coverage moves and forcing them to guess what I'm going to do next. All four moves are quite common on Protean Greninja sets, but I chose Extrasensory specifically to take advantage of Psychic Terrain, as well as to remove that vexatious spawn of Satan, Toxapex.

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

Stealth Rock, for better or worse, is one of the defining features of the modern metagame. Every team needs a Stealth Rock setter, and I decided to choose what is possibility the most overused Pokemon in OU history for this role. In addition to Stealth Rock, this Landorus-Therian carries the famous EdgeQuake combo, combined with U-turn to grab momentum.

 

[Stoward]

Hi, cool looking team you've got there. I'm quite a fan of psyspam in ubers, and yes, psyspam is a thing in ou, and it can be a very deadly thing when executed properly, however, there are quite a few things that threaten your team
1. Other Tapus. In ubers, Tapu lele has the luxury of just setting terrrain and not having to deal with other tapus who can freely switch in and remove it. Tapu koko is pretty unviable (currently sitting at the bottom of C+ rank) and the other tapus don't even make it onto the ubers viability ranks list. However in ou, Tapu Koko is on 19% of teams, and can put a lot of pressure on lele by doing 67-80% to it or simply clicking u-turn, which keeps the electric terrain up, and can easily bring in a mon that can either a) check lele or b) gain momentum for your opponent and put you under a lot of pressure. Scarf Tapu koko is especially threatening, as it can remove the psychic terrain, and revenge kill Alakazam by clicking u-turn, and give your opponent more options to revenge kill Alakazam, since it'd no longer be immune to priority.
2. Greninja - Especially scarf protean Greninja, especially scarf is capable of outspeeding Mega Alakazam and other common scarfers and OHKOing or 2HKOing the rest of your team with the coverage moves that it has access to, and unfortunately, due to the nature of psyspam, you have no means of revenge killing faster scarfed mons, and since your team is hyper offensive by nature, this means that every single mon has to get worn down (or you have to sacrifice a mon) every time that these mons come in.
3. Setup mons - Especially Shift Gear Magearna and Volcarona after one Shift Gear or one Quiver Dance you have nothing on that team that's able to comfortably able to tank a hit from these mons, nor are you able to revenge kill it, especially since Kartana doesn't really have a brilliant offensive typing so isn't able to ohko any of these mons with any sort of coverage move, and due to its poor defenses, is barely able to tank any hits, even those that it resists, and both of these mons outspeed Choice Scarf Tapu lele after a single stat boost and are easily able to OHKO it or 2HKO it.

4. Trick Room another sort of playstyle that is considered to be completely unviable in ubers, however very threatening in OU is Trick room, due to the very nature of the team that you have now, trick room poses as being very threatening as none of the mons have the bulk to tank any hits from trick room abusers, nor are they running taunt to prevent trick room from being set, and furthermore, due to the nature of the psyspam team, you have no means of priority that could threaten trick room abusers, so as you said yourself, if you end up facing trick room, you might as well "simply click x".
5. Strong Wallbreakers - Especially Mega Charizard Y Charizard Y is known for being one of the strongest wallbreakers in the SM OU metagame, with the combination of its base 159 Special Attack and its ability Drought it breaks through the majority of the OU and with the right coverage move can OHKO every single mon on your team.

Due to the flaws that I have listed above, I do not believe that a Hyper Offensive playstyle is possible for a lele + mega alakazam, however I do believe that if you're okay with having more of a bulkier offense team, then the psyspam that you wish to use could possibly be a very effective playstyle in SM OU, however you'll have the necessary support to be able to use lele + alakazam to the best of their potential.

MAJOR CHANGES

>

As I mentioned above, I'm not a fan of choice scarf Kartana since its typing means that it's not very effectively able to revenge kill common setup sweepers and it's also to frail to be able to actually tank any hits. I believe that by adding Ferrothorn to your team, you're able to have a decent rain check, as well as provide you with a spikes setter so that you're able to put pressure on your opponent and make it easier to sweep with psyspam. Also due to Ferrothorn's bulk and poor speed, you're able to have a better match-up vs trick room teams, which given your current situation, is something that you really need, and furthermore gives you a decent check to Tapu Koko. The set I have in mind for this is the standard analysis set.

Ferrothorn Set

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off

>

Toxapex is one of the best mons in the OU tier. It has a brilliant defensive typing and also helps with the sort of checks it needs to deal with offense teams. It is one of the few mons in the tier that is able to comfortably switch into Mega Charizard Y. It can also reliably switch into both variants of Greninja (with the exception of extrasensory), can deal with a number of setup mons with haze - which is incredibly useful against Veil Offense and furthermore, it can set toxic spikes, which puts a lot of pressure on your opponent and makes it easier for you to sweep with psyspam. The set I have in mind is also a pretty standard set, that's been taken straight from the analysis

Toxapex Set

Toxapex @ Shed Shell
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

MINOR CHANGES

Tapu lele is one of the most crucial mons to your psyspam core, so I feel like it's necessary to give it more of a supportive role. The first change I feel is necessary to do this is to remove the choice scarf and replace it with a Terrain extender. That way you're able to keep the psychic terrain going for 7 turns instead of 4 turns, which can be crucial when you're trying to clean late-game with Mega Alakazam. The second change I made was replacing Focus Blast with Taunt, that way you're able to deal with set-up mons, mons who try and set hazards on your side of the field as well as gives you a decent advantage vs stall, who heavily rely upon status and recovery moves. Also since you're adopting more of a supportive role, I thought that Natures Madness was a nice addition to Lele's movepool, and is much more spammable than Focus Blast or Hidden Power Fire since it takes 50% of your opponent's health, so therefore it's more efficiently able to wear down your opponent's mons so that they're in range of any sort of attack from Mega-Alakazam. Psychic was replaced with Psyshock, so that you're able to do more damage to specially bulky mons such as Chansey, and Moonblast was still kept so that you can easily threaten Mega Sableye and due to the offensive typing of Fairies, it'll hit the majority of the tier for neutral or super-effective damage, so it's pretty spammable. Anyway, this is the set that I have in mind:

Tapu Lele Set

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Nature's Madness

Keldeo is a brilliant mon to have on psyspam teams, since it threatens many of the mons that threaten Alakazam such as Tyranitar and Greninja. However, since I've removed your two choice scarfed mons, it's necessary for your team to have some speed control so that you're able to revenge kill common setup sweepers, such as Volcarona and Mega Charizard X. I've decided to go with the standard analysis set, however I've got Icy wind as the 4th move, so that this team can have a better match-up vs Scarf Latios and Mega Latias, as well as any other scarfer that outspeeds keldeo and could pose as a threat to the team. However this change is not mandatory, so you could still perform perfectly fine with the dual water stabs.

Keldeo Set

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Stone Edge
- Scald/Icy Wind

As you mentioned earlier, Stealth Rock is one of the defining features of the modern metagame, and Landorus is highest ranked mon in the viability ranks, and one of the most defining mons in the SM ou metagame, however the set that you have isn't using it to the best of it's potential. The set that I feel would be the most necessary for your team right now is the defensive set, since you're able to comfortably switch into choice band Zygarde and force it out with Hidden Power Ice, as well as threaten opposing Landorus' and Garchomp, as well as the not as common Dragonite and Salamence with the same move. Earthquake is Landorus' main stab move and hits anything super hard that doesn't resist it, and U-turn is brilliant for gaining momentum. Anyway, the EV spread is once again taken straight from the analysis, and can be found below:

Landorus Set

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Mega Alakazam is obviously the star of the team and is the main win-con and a brilliant late game cleaner. For the most part, I have no objection to the set that you have, but I felt like you weren't hitting anything with energy ball that you weren't already hitting super hard with psychic, especially under psychic terrain. Due to the nature of Alakazam on this team, I see it forcing a number of switches as it is, so you're easily able to set up with calm mind, which boosts its already ridiculously high Special Attack and with with Psychic terrain being up, means that it'll be even more harder to revenge kill. Anyway, just to follow suit the Set I have for the Alakazam set is:

Mega Alakazam Set

Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind

Anyway, I had a lot of fun working with this team, as I love using Psyspam in Ubers and Anything Goes, and I've been curious to try it in OU myself. I apologise that this team doesn't fit the playstyle of hyper offense anymore, however I feel that the ultimate goal that you had in mind was to have an offensive team that used lele + zam, so in order to use those to the best of their potential, I deemed it necessary to go with something a little bulkier. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the changes that I made to your team, and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask :)

Oh and last of all:

Importable with changes

Tapu Lele @ Terrain Extender
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Taunt
- Nature's Madness

Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Stone Edge

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off