4th Gen OU Creative Title

[shinzura]

I can't think of a creative title! Anyway, on to the meat of the thread:

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Att, 4 Spe
Nature: Adamant

• Meteor Mash
• Stealth Rock
• Bullet Punch
• Explosion

Metagross, with his solid defense and attack, makes a great overall lead. Standard EVs for power and bulk. Lum Berry is a surprise for status leads, or lead Machamp. Meteor Mash is chosen over Earthquake to 2HKO Azelf and to hit lead Ninjask hard before it can set up, possibly scoring a boost in the process, and for it's neutral STAB packing a bit more power than Earthquake. Meteor Mash always 2HKO's lead Machamp, who can only hit once with Dynamic Punch (Lum Berry prevents confusion Bullet Punch compensates for Metagross's poor speed, and can score some much needed 2HKOs in tandem with Meteor Mash. Stealth Rock is used if I get the chance or to play it safe in front of possible counter leads, and Explosion is useful for taking out bulkier Pokemon, specifically bulkier waters, with a bang.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Spe, 4 SpD
Nature: Timid

• Surf
• Thunderbolt
• Rapid Spin
• Ice Beam

This is the standard Smogon Rapid Spin Starmie set with Ice Beam chosen over Recover to hit Dragon-types like Dragonite and Flygon. HP EV's for maximum coverage, Speed EVs and nature to outspeed a large bulk of the metagame (including Infernape, a lead who gives Metagross some trouble) Surf is mandatory STAB, useful for hitting fire-types like Heatran and Infernape, neither of whom can outspeed Starmie without a Scarf. BoltBeam is chosen for further coverage, and Rapid Spin is chosen simply because of it's overall usefulness.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD
Nature: Impish

• Spikes
• Brave Bird
• Roost
• Whirlwind

Skarmory makes an epic physical wall and shuffler. The EV spread maximized physical bulk, while Impish raises Skarmory's defenses further without losing any meaningful stats. Spikes is used to rack up residual damage, Brave Bird is used to prevent taunt-bait (and can hit Gyarados hard, assuming I switch in and avoid Intimidate), Roost is used to stall, and Whirlwind is used to shuffle. I chose Leftovers over Shed Shell simply because I don't usually run into a Magnezone. Starmie tends to draw the electric Pokemon out, and later Pokemon make an excellent counter. This set is hit very hard by special attacks, but I don't usually stay in long enough for that to happen.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 SpD
Nature: Timid

• Hydro Pump
• Thunderbolt
• Shadow Ball
• Trick

Rotom-W is a spinblocker who compliments the rest of my team nicely. His ground type immunity is very nice, and he can switch into the likes of Close Combat Infernape or Lucario and threaten them with a powerful STAB. Trick is just plain fun. I've had problems with Hydro Pump's accuracy, but I usually don't rely on it in a pinch unless I REALLY need to. Trading off Jolteon for Rotom-W lost some raw power, but gained a good, fast Spinblocker

Dragonite @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 40 Attack, 232 Speed, 236 SpA
Nature: Mild

• Extremespeed
• Superpower
• Draco Meteor
• Flamethrower

Dragonite, one of my personal favorite Pokemon, acts as this team's stallbreaker. The EVs ensure it can outspeed Jolly Tyranitar, a fellow wallbreaker who could otherwise do great harm to this team. The rest of the EVs are put into the two attacks, and a Mild nature gives Flamethrower and Draco Meteor extra power to compensate for their average stats, while Life Orb boosts both attack stats. Superpower is used against Blissey, Heatran and Tyranitar, scoring an OHKO on the latter and at least a 2HKO on the former two. Draco Meteor is used on bulkier Pokemon, while Flamethrower hits Skarmory, Forretress and Jirachi. Extremespeed compensates for his abysmal speed and can usually knock out a pre-damaged Infernape after Close Combat, as well as damage any special walls without dropping Dragonite's attack.

Kingdra @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 144 HP, 156 Attack, 168 Spe, 40 Special Defense
Nature: Adamant

• Rest
• Outrage
• Waterfall
• Dragon Dance

Chesto Rest Kingdra has several niches it fills all at once. Chesto Berry allows it to become a status absorber and lure opposing Pokemon into a false sense of security while allowing Kingdra to set up Dragon Dance without worrying about being hampered by Burn and Paralysis. The EVs are slightly modified so that Kingdra always outspeeds an opposing ChestoRest variety. Waterfall hits hard, and Outrage hits harder. This set is also a good Blissey counter. Flamethrower is nothing to Kingdra, and he can rest off any status while being safe from Seismic Toss (theoretically, he could stall out a Blissey with Rest for 3 turns at a time while Blissey uses all her Seismic Tosses)

Type-wise, I can't see any glaring threats except a slight weakness to electricity. Anyway, this team has worked very well so far, but no team is perfect, so I'm asking the Smogon community to Rate My Team

Threats:
Jirachi: Jirachi's versatility makes it very painful to deal with. The Wish bulkier Wish variety can usually wear out Dragonite, forcing Life Orb recoil to take its toll while stalling it out. It can usually paralyze Kingdra with Thunder Wave or Serene Grace Thunderbolt, but that may just be my bad luck that I get double parahax'd before I can rest the damage off.
Zapdos: My team has a rather annoying weakness to Electricity, with only one resister. It's not too bad, but a high special attacker like Zapdos is quite annoying

 

[2sly4u]

The weak link for this team seems to be Skarmory. The rest of your team seems to be offensively oriented, and you don't even have a spin-blocker to save the Spikes he puts down. It's not that Skarmory's bad, it's just a poor fit for this particular team, which works by maintaining offensive pressure. I would replace him with a Breloom. Breloom removes an Electric weakness from your team, and provides your team with something it otherwise lacks: Status. Spore is arguably the best move in the game, and offensive teams love it when a problematic pokemon is removed from the match. Here's the standard set set:

Breloom@ Toxic Orb
Adamant/Jolly Nature, 252Att/4Def/252Spe
Spore
Substitute
Focus Punch
Seed Bomb

This Breloom is a master at playing mind games with your opponent. Should they switch in a less useful pokemon to take a Spore- risking a powerful Focus Punch- or should they stay in and attack but risk getting put to sleep? Substitute let's you fire off Focus Punches at will, even if your opponent attacks, and Seed Bomb is a secondary STAB. As an added bonus, Breloom gives you another status absorber once his Toxic Orb has been activated, and gives you a useful immunity to the annoying Leech Seed.

If you use Breloom, you can replace HP Grass on Jolteon with something more generally useful, such as HP Ice. HP Ice handles Gliscor and Dragons nicely, while Breloom uses Swampert-HP Grass's only target- as a free Substitute.

I'd consider giving Metagross Earthquake over one of his other moves, while switching his item to an Occa Berry. Sleep leads are fairly uncommon nowadays, and EQ+Occa lets him beat more common leads such as Heatran, opposing Metagross, and Jirachi.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[Zephyr]

Hey man, nice team you have going for ya. I don't see anything really glaring at me, but I do have a suggestion for you. I think a Scarf Rotom-W could be a good replacement for Jolteon. The first and biggest perk for this would be, while keeping a fast Electric-type Pokemon on your team, you now have a valuable Rapid Spin blocker, which your team sorely needs since you have both Stealth Rock and spike support on your team. It also provides an extra check to set up sweepers like Dragon Dance Gyarados and Swords Dance Lucario, the latter of which doesn't have much opportunity to set up, but if it does, it'll sweep you cold. Rotom also gives you a Fighting-type switch in, which you don't have at all, and trick which can help you out a lot against stall.

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Nature @ Timid
evs: 252 spatk / 252 speed
-Hydro Pump
-Trick
-Shadow ball
-Thunderbolt

Hope this helps!

 

[BKC]

As Zephyr mentioned, Scarf Rotom-W in Jolteon's place is the way to go. The EV spread is inefficient, however; try 252 HP / 40 SpA / 216 Spe. The bulk is desperately needed if you want to take on the most dangerous spinner in the game, Life Orb Starmie, who would OHKO you after Stealth Rock otherwise. With entry hazard support, the loss of power isn't too noticeable.

Now that you've established a solid spin blocker, let's address the main threat this team faces - SubRoost Zapdos. It can scare Skarmory out to set up and then you have no way to stop it from slowly picking apart your whole team between Toxic, Pressure, incredible bulk and instant recovery; Kingdra is your best check and it has a high chance of being 2HKO'd after Stealth Rock damage, plus you don't want to use your late-game sweeper as a check to something.

My suggestion is to move Dragonite to the lead slot (keep your current set; it is one of the most dangerous attacking leads in the metagame, especially against stall teams) and to then exchange Metagross for a specially defensive Heatran. This set is one of the best Zapdos counters out there and it's a better SR partner to Skarmory than Meta was because Meta/Skarm share weaknesses, but Tran/Skarm set up against common switchins to each other. For example, if a Vaporeon comes in to wall Heatran, it's a free spikes layer for Skarm (in order to do this, use a specially defensive spread - this lets you set up on not just Vappy, but also defensive HP Fire Celebi and Flamethrower Blissey). If an electric type is threatening Skarm out, Heatran is happy to come in to tank it for days.

Heatran @ Leftovers | Calm | EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Stealth Rock | Lava Plume | Protect | Roar

Good luck with your team!

 

[shinzura]

Thanks for the input. I'm replacing Jolteon to try that set because I honestly haven't had too much use of Volt Absorb and am way to weak to Heatran.

BKC: I think I'll keep Metagross simply because he's an excellent lead who can take out Machamp, who otherwise would be a huge pain in the ass. Otherwise, they can pretty much hit the same guys without being Weavile weak

 

[Soulfly]

I would relace skarmory's spikes with stealth rock.
This so any flying type and levitate'rs will also get a bit of dammage dealt .
Other then that , nowadays people like to have a trapper in their team just for skarmory and other steel type walls.
There for a shed shell instead of leftovers would be nice , so u wont loose your wall that easely as you can still switch out.

 

[shinzura]

SR is on Metagross, and Magnezone is the only real trapper, and he's not too common.

 

[Soulfly]

SR is on Metagross, and Magnezone is the only real trapper, and he's not too common.

Oh i misread on metagross hehe.
Ok then leave spikes :)

Last 10 battles i had 6 times there was a magnezone .
Either i have bad luck , or he is pretty common :P

 

[shinzura]

I think you have bad luck. For me, Magnezone is more like 1/10

 

[Soulfly]

I think you have bad luck. For me, Magnezone is more like 1/10

Yeah you are right .
Last 5 battles i had had 0 magnezones .
Still be wary of it but yeah lefty's should be ok :)

 

[shinzura]

I'm thinking of switching out Dragonite for Mixnape to hit Jirachi harder. Good or bad idea?

 

[shinzura]

yeah, Mixnape fell flat

 

[tiya]

Meteor Mash always 2HKO's lead Machamp, who can only hit once with Dynamic Punch (Lum Berry prevents confusion Bullet Punch compensates for Metagross's poor speed, and can score some much needed 2HKOs in tandem with Meteor Mash. Stealth Rock is used if I get the chance or to play it safe in front of possible counter leads, and Explosion is useful for taking out bulkier Pokemon, specifically bulkier waters, with a bang. If you use Breloom, you can replace HP Grass on Jolteon with something more generally useful, such as HP Ice. HP Ice handles Gliscor and Dragons nicely, while Breloom uses Swampert-HP Grass's only target- as a free Substitute.

 

[shinzura]

I replaced Jolteon a long time ago, and I know that about Metagross