ORAS OU A Momentum Disrupting Semi-Sand Team

[medagross999]

Hello everyone. This is a balanced team dedicated to stopping the opponent from using Volt Switch and punishing the opponent for using U-Turn. In other words, this is an anti-momentum team. What I noticed with a lot of my other teams is that if my opponent used such moves as the VoltTurn combo, it meant instant momentum for them. Learning from my mistakes I decided to make this team.

To start off this team, I needed a defensive core that could punish U-Turn, and be immune to Volt switch. The volt switch absorbent also has to be able to take common coverage moves that come with Volt switch users. The 4 mons I came up with were: Chomp, Ferro, Hippo, and Excadrill. In Good Cores thread, I found a core consisting of Hippo, Ferro, and Starmie. Because I needed a fully defensive core, I just swapped Starmie for Slowbro. This core can take a hit from a large portion of the metagame, and punish attempts to grab momentum.

Next, I needed some offensive prowess for the team. Infernape completes my FWG core and gives my team wallbreaking power. Few things can switch in on mixape, and it could break past some walls to help a wincon that I would add later sweep.

The team lacked a defogger and a mega. Scizor checks a lot of mons and could grab momentum with U-turn. It also gave my team a much needed priority move.

The team at this point had no way of dealing with stall, lacked a wincon, and was weak to Serp and Char-Y. Talonflame filled all these roles and gave my team more revenge killing ability.

The Current Version
Ok, the Rotom weakness was so massive that it scared my into making some more changes before even testing. Hippowdon now runs Sand Stream, Slowbro is now a CMing win condition, Ferro now has T-wave instead of dual STABs, Scizor and Talon are replaced with M-Alt and Exca.

IN DEPTH

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Stone Edge
​

Hippowdon is an absolute beast. It can easily tank hits from both the physical and the special side of the spectrum. It also provides Excadrill with sand support so it can sweep/revenge kill. EQ for STAB, Stealth Rock for hazards, Slack Off for recovery, and Stone Edge for flying types and things that are immune to EQ.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers/Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip
​

Ferrothorn's typing allows it to wall quite a few things, and Iron Barbs can be an annoyance to physical attackers. Together with Hippo, it walls a large chunk of the metagame. Leftovers could help Ferrothorn wall, but Rocky Helmet could help it better do its job against U-turn users. Leech Seed for chip damage and decent recovery, Protect is to stall for Leech Seed and to scout, thunder wave is to cripple sweepers, and Power Whip hits water types that Ferro is supposed to take care of.

Slowbro @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock

Slowbro patches up a lot of Ferrothorn and Hippo's weaknesses and forms 1/3 of a FWG core for my team. It also is a great bulky win condition for my team. Colbur Berry over Lefties because it gets enough recovery anyway and it can eat Knock Offs this way. Scald for the broken skill-less tactics, Slack off for recovery, CM to sweep late game when Slowbro's counters are gone, and Psyshock to hit both the physical and special sides of the spectrum which could help it sweep.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist/Blaze
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch/HP Ice
- Gunk Shot​

MixApe is seeing a lot off attention lately and for good reason. With mons like Bisharp and Weavile running around Nape becomes much more viable. It completes my team's FWG core and gives it wallbreaking capability. CC and Fire Blast are powerful mixed STABs, Mach Punch is for priority, but I could use HP Ice to cover my Tankchomp weakness, and Gunk Shot lures in unsuspecting fairies like Azu and Clefable.

I'm not using the static mega-alt sprite. That's ugly as shit.
Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Fire Blast
​

Defensive support Altaria covers a lot of my teams weaknesses. Namely Rotom and Garchomp. It also provides my team with status recovery. Roost for longevity, Hyper Voice for STAB, Heal bell to rid itself and others of crippling status conditions, and fire blast for coverage.
​

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin​

Excadrill provides my team with Rapid Spin support, and makes use of Hippowdon's Sand Stream for sweeping and revenge killing. EQ and Iron Head for STABs, Rock Slide for coverage, and Rapid Spin to get rid of hazards.

SCARY THINGS
Team yet to be tested.

importable

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Fire Blast
- Mach Punch
- Gunk Shot

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Stone Edge

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Protect
- Leech Seed
- Thunder Wave
- Power Whip

Slowbro @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock

Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Bold Nature
- Roost
- Hyper Voice
- Heal Bell
- Fire Blast

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

Thanks for reading this. If you have any suggestions to make please tell me below. n_n

​

 

[Crzyzyko]

Hi. I like your team overall and how it uses Infernape. However, Water is a huge weakness for this team. Infernape is powerful, but also frail, and is checked by the majority of OU. I suggest Psyshock over Psychic on Slowbro because that allows Slowbro to stay in on opposing Chanseys. You may want to remove Gunk Shot and have HP Ice instead. You already have a Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn to deal with said Fairies. A Banded Talonflame may be a better choice, as it revenge kills easier. Running Bulk Up is not the best option, because Talonflame has absolutely no attack without having to set up. Defog on Scizor isn't such a good idea, as it's usage is wasted if it's trapped by Magnezone. I suggest switching Defog for Knock Off and changing your spread to 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Sp. Def. Other than that, your team seems fine! Good luck with it!

P.S. A Mega Menctric can definitely dent the majority of your team with the help of it's teammates, so wathc out for that

 

[medagross999]

Hi. I like your team overall and how it uses Infernape. However, Water is a huge weakness for this team. Infernape is powerful, but also frail, and is checked by the majority of OU. I suggest Psyshock over Psychic on Slowbro because that allows Slowbro to stay in on opposing Chanseys. You may want to remove Gunk Shot and have HP Ice instead. You already have a Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn to deal with said Fairies. A Banded Talonflame may be a better choice, as it revenge kills easier. Running Bulk Up is not the best option, because Talonflame has absolutely no attack without having to set up. Defog on Scizor isn't such a good idea, as it's usage is wasted if it's trapped by Magnezone. I suggest switching Defog for Knock Off and changing your spread to 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Sp. Def. Other than that, your team seems fine! Good luck with it!

P.S. A Mega Menctric can definitely dent the majority of your team with the help of it's teammates, so wathc out for that

Hi. Water is not a huge weakness for this team when Ferro and Slowbro wall most of them. Nape is no pushover, and is a B- on the viability ranking and being nommed for B/B+. Slowbro doesn't want to stay in on Chansey because it risks getting Toxiced and Chansey is pretty passive anyway. Gunk Shot on nape is a staple as luring in its common switch-ins is a big yes. HP Ice is a great change, but if anything is gonna go, it's going to be Mach Punch. Scizor and Ferro lose to Clef if it carries Flamethrower. Banded T-flame is pretty bad in this meta tbh, and my team needs to have something to set my opponent up to die to. Bulk Up Talon is probably the 2nd most used T-flame set next to SD and annihilates stall. Getting rid of Defog on Scizor is suicide when I have a Talonflame on the team. Finally, a bulky spread is preferred on Scizor to allow it to better fulfill its role as a defensive pivot.

I'm really sorry to have turned down all those suggestions, but most of them seemed to hinder more than help.

 

[Celticpride]

Hi medagross999 ,

It appears it has not been two weeks since you last posted a RMT (June 19). This is in violation of rule #6 on the RMT resource thread. As such I will be locking this thread for the time being. Feel free to contact me via VM/PM when two weeks has passed since the date of your last posted RMT at which point I will unlock this thread (July 3 at the earliest).

Have a nice day.