Hey all, I'm pretty new here but definitely not to competitive battling. The reason why I'm here is because I would like to garner some constructive comments and suggestions regarding this team which I have been using and improve it further! This team has performed decently so far though I still have a very strong hatred towards crits cos it means my key pokemon fainting which often results in a loss. Otherwise, with some prediction, it has actually done pretty well though there's definitely room for improvement.
This is a clear sky team which struggles against rain teams in particular. Sandstorm and Drought teams aren't as bad and are somewhat easier to dispose of.
Jirachi @ leftovers
Careful
Serene Grace
252 HP/ 224 Sp Def/ 32 Spe
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Fire Punch
- Body Slam
My standard choice scarf revenge killer jirachi. Iron head flinch hax is really too good to pass on, easily 2HKO tyranitar leads who may otherwise threaten my team. This fellow has secured me a lot of victories before with its iron head flinch, sometimes able to decimate 1/2 an opponent's team alone. Trick cripples walls, magnezone who otherwise can set-up with impunity and other annoying mons like calm-minding reuniclus. Elemental punches for coverage against fellow steels, genies and dragons.
Only problem with it is that certain pokemon often comes in on it for free like excadrill and seriously destroys my little jirachi. Tricking away the scarf sometimes early in the game also means I lose my revenge killer. After which, a hell lot of things outspeeds jirachi.
EDIT: Jirachi has been changed to a special wall and has saved my ass a no. of times. This is a great suggestion.
To remedy the excadrill problem, I included this fellow:
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
Impish Nature
252HP/ 176 def/ 80 speed
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
This guy really puts a stop to any breloom, conkeldurr, excadrill, skarmory, blissey, ferrothorn etc from having a hey-day with me and has proven to be invaluable to this team by providing a strong fighting resist though water and ice attacks are everywhere. Taunt any attempts at setting up from the likes of conkeldurr, breloom, skarmory especially and swords dance for a victory move. This thing has the potential to sweep especially when its counters are gone and yes, it has happened before! It has to run from any bulky waters especially from the likes of rotom and jellicent who can otherwise cripple it via will-o-wisp should I not be careful.
EDIT: Merely the change in ev spread, nothing major. Still as awesome as before.
In order for gliscor to have an easier time, a bulky water would also be ideal and this is my bulky water of choice:
Milotic @ Leftovers
Bold Nature
252HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp. Atk
- Scald
- Ice beam
- Dragon Tail
- Recover
A standard defensive milotic with scald to punish physical attackers who otherwise threatens milotic pretty badly and for STAB. Toxic is for dealing with opposing bulky waters. Most steels wouldn't dare to switch into milotic bar ferrothorn and empoleon although neither likes a burn from scald. Toxic is ideal on milotic to assist milotic in spreading more statuses around. Haze is an invaluable move as it ruins any attempts at baton passing whilst dragon tail bypasses taunt. Both have their uses and I interchange the two quite a lot just for testing. It also synergises well with jirachi and gliscor by sponging those nasty fire, ice and water attacks at them. It's able to toxic stall opposing dragons sometimes although ice beam would be wonderful but alas, I have no moveslot for it.
Just to add on, haze sometimes has its niche over dragon tail. Sometimes there are opponents who sub and start stat boosting. Besides the fact that dragon tail can't knock a sub out, haze promptly eliminates any attempts of stat boosting and sometimes, milotic has the capability of beating them one-on-one using haze and toxic eg sub calm-minding latias or heatrans. There are times when I don't wish to phase but certainly wish to get rid of all forms of stat boost and haze really does it well. But of course, getting taunted is a big problem for milotic but otherwise, it has worked really well.
I do not think milotic is outclassed by vaporeon, jellicent or gyarados. It has so far, held its own in OU very well in my opinion. They all have their unique traits. I picked milotic as it's able to instantly recover and have toxic which standard vaporeon - scald, wish, protect, roar can't do (unless you replace roar with toxic and use another phazer which may work too), isn't pursuit weak and does not have a nasty stealth rock weakness. of course, I give up the resistances which jellicent and gyarados may offer but I'm ok with it as you will see why later. Next:
EDIT: Milotic now has ice beam to slay dragons like dragonite who has had a surge in usage lately. Toxic has been removed as I now have forretress to set up toxic spikes so milotic can still toxic stall and ice beam is for coverage as I realise I have a problem with some dragons.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Calm
252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 Sp. Def
- Toxic Spikes
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Forretress is really good with its ability to set up multiple entry hazards and spin those on my side away. Volt switch allows it to escape from magnezone and prevent being set-up fodder. It trumps ferrothorn in this aspect in my opinion.
Rotom-W @ leftovers
levitate
Modest Nature
252 Sp. Attack/ 252 HP/ 4 Speed
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-o-wisp
- Pain Split
To an extent, rotom-w has eased my battle against rain teams quite tremendously. With its dual stabs, even ferrothorn takes considerable damage from hydro pump in the rain and it doesn't appreciate a burn either. The only time it fails is when miss hax happens like 3 times in a row, very vexing indeed. Pain split trolls anything that switches into it when at full health. Even with 252 hp, rotom-w's hp stat is still kinda pathetic. I thought of making it a little bulkier as I felt that it wasn't outspeeding many things for me either way. But I'm considering using the trick variant with either scarf/specs as that seem to be more effective.
Lastly, I needed a pokemon with a lot of raw fire power and able to heavily dent my opponent's team. I choose him as it is currently one of OU's top threats and being my favourite dragon:
Latios @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Timid Nature
252 Sp. Atk/ 252 Speed/ 4HP
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Trick
- Psyshock
Latios is under pretty intense pressure on my team as I rely on it a lot. I use expert belt to bluff a choice set though I'm thinking of changing it already as it simply doesn't hit hard enough. Tyranitar and Scizor are major threats to it so I ensure that those two are eliminated at all cost. Scizor often appears later so I carry HP Fire to score the KO and hit ferrothorn as well. Surf hits tyranitar and opposing gliscors who sometimes fall for the choice trick.
As a levitating dragon, it synergises well with jirachi especially and heatran as well. Milotic sponges the ice attacks aimed at it although the most common form of killing latios is via revenge killing by opposing dragons.
EDIT: Latios with a choice scarf is one of the best revenge killer in the metagame now. My only gripe with it, is the lack of immediate raw power which is kinda disappointing at times. Psyshock for stab and has proven its usefulness to me, not too bad at all. I have more than enough counters to tyranitar and scizor. Trick allows me to cripple walls as well.
All in all, I know I have not taken in too many of the suggestions. I have tried some of the suggestions given just that they either didn't meet my expectations or maybe I just didn't know how to use them properly. Sp def jirachi was a great addition. I'm considering a sp def heatran in place of milotic though. Pls suggest thanks!
This is a clear sky team which struggles against rain teams in particular. Sandstorm and Drought teams aren't as bad and are somewhat easier to dispose of.
Jirachi @ leftovers
Careful
Serene Grace
252 HP/ 224 Sp Def/ 32 Spe
- Iron Head
- Wish
- Fire Punch
- Body Slam
My standard choice scarf revenge killer jirachi. Iron head flinch hax is really too good to pass on, easily 2HKO tyranitar leads who may otherwise threaten my team. This fellow has secured me a lot of victories before with its iron head flinch, sometimes able to decimate 1/2 an opponent's team alone. Trick cripples walls, magnezone who otherwise can set-up with impunity and other annoying mons like calm-minding reuniclus. Elemental punches for coverage against fellow steels, genies and dragons.
Only problem with it is that certain pokemon often comes in on it for free like excadrill and seriously destroys my little jirachi. Tricking away the scarf sometimes early in the game also means I lose my revenge killer. After which, a hell lot of things outspeeds jirachi.
EDIT: Jirachi has been changed to a special wall and has saved my ass a no. of times. This is a great suggestion.
To remedy the excadrill problem, I included this fellow:
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
Impish Nature
252HP/ 176 def/ 80 speed
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
This guy really puts a stop to any breloom, conkeldurr, excadrill, skarmory, blissey, ferrothorn etc from having a hey-day with me and has proven to be invaluable to this team by providing a strong fighting resist though water and ice attacks are everywhere. Taunt any attempts at setting up from the likes of conkeldurr, breloom, skarmory especially and swords dance for a victory move. This thing has the potential to sweep especially when its counters are gone and yes, it has happened before! It has to run from any bulky waters especially from the likes of rotom and jellicent who can otherwise cripple it via will-o-wisp should I not be careful.
EDIT: Merely the change in ev spread, nothing major. Still as awesome as before.
In order for gliscor to have an easier time, a bulky water would also be ideal and this is my bulky water of choice:
Milotic @ Leftovers
Bold Nature
252HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp. Atk
- Scald
- Ice beam
- Dragon Tail
- Recover
A standard defensive milotic with scald to punish physical attackers who otherwise threatens milotic pretty badly and for STAB. Toxic is for dealing with opposing bulky waters. Most steels wouldn't dare to switch into milotic bar ferrothorn and empoleon although neither likes a burn from scald. Toxic is ideal on milotic to assist milotic in spreading more statuses around. Haze is an invaluable move as it ruins any attempts at baton passing whilst dragon tail bypasses taunt. Both have their uses and I interchange the two quite a lot just for testing. It also synergises well with jirachi and gliscor by sponging those nasty fire, ice and water attacks at them. It's able to toxic stall opposing dragons sometimes although ice beam would be wonderful but alas, I have no moveslot for it.
Just to add on, haze sometimes has its niche over dragon tail. Sometimes there are opponents who sub and start stat boosting. Besides the fact that dragon tail can't knock a sub out, haze promptly eliminates any attempts of stat boosting and sometimes, milotic has the capability of beating them one-on-one using haze and toxic eg sub calm-minding latias or heatrans. There are times when I don't wish to phase but certainly wish to get rid of all forms of stat boost and haze really does it well. But of course, getting taunted is a big problem for milotic but otherwise, it has worked really well.
I do not think milotic is outclassed by vaporeon, jellicent or gyarados. It has so far, held its own in OU very well in my opinion. They all have their unique traits. I picked milotic as it's able to instantly recover and have toxic which standard vaporeon - scald, wish, protect, roar can't do (unless you replace roar with toxic and use another phazer which may work too), isn't pursuit weak and does not have a nasty stealth rock weakness. of course, I give up the resistances which jellicent and gyarados may offer but I'm ok with it as you will see why later. Next:
EDIT: Milotic now has ice beam to slay dragons like dragonite who has had a surge in usage lately. Toxic has been removed as I now have forretress to set up toxic spikes so milotic can still toxic stall and ice beam is for coverage as I realise I have a problem with some dragons.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Sturdy
Calm
252 HP/ 4 Def/ 252 Sp. Def
- Toxic Spikes
- Volt Switch
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
Forretress is really good with its ability to set up multiple entry hazards and spin those on my side away. Volt switch allows it to escape from magnezone and prevent being set-up fodder. It trumps ferrothorn in this aspect in my opinion.
Rotom-W @ leftovers
levitate
Modest Nature
252 Sp. Attack/ 252 HP/ 4 Speed
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-o-wisp
- Pain Split
To an extent, rotom-w has eased my battle against rain teams quite tremendously. With its dual stabs, even ferrothorn takes considerable damage from hydro pump in the rain and it doesn't appreciate a burn either. The only time it fails is when miss hax happens like 3 times in a row, very vexing indeed. Pain split trolls anything that switches into it when at full health. Even with 252 hp, rotom-w's hp stat is still kinda pathetic. I thought of making it a little bulkier as I felt that it wasn't outspeeding many things for me either way. But I'm considering using the trick variant with either scarf/specs as that seem to be more effective.
Lastly, I needed a pokemon with a lot of raw fire power and able to heavily dent my opponent's team. I choose him as it is currently one of OU's top threats and being my favourite dragon:
Latios @ Choice Scarf
Levitate
Timid Nature
252 Sp. Atk/ 252 Speed/ 4HP
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Trick
- Psyshock
Latios is under pretty intense pressure on my team as I rely on it a lot. I use expert belt to bluff a choice set though I'm thinking of changing it already as it simply doesn't hit hard enough. Tyranitar and Scizor are major threats to it so I ensure that those two are eliminated at all cost. Scizor often appears later so I carry HP Fire to score the KO and hit ferrothorn as well. Surf hits tyranitar and opposing gliscors who sometimes fall for the choice trick.
As a levitating dragon, it synergises well with jirachi especially and heatran as well. Milotic sponges the ice attacks aimed at it although the most common form of killing latios is via revenge killing by opposing dragons.
EDIT: Latios with a choice scarf is one of the best revenge killer in the metagame now. My only gripe with it, is the lack of immediate raw power which is kinda disappointing at times. Psyshock for stab and has proven its usefulness to me, not too bad at all. I have more than enough counters to tyranitar and scizor. Trick allows me to cripple walls as well.
All in all, I know I have not taken in too many of the suggestions. I have tried some of the suggestions given just that they either didn't meet my expectations or maybe I just didn't know how to use them properly. Sp def jirachi was a great addition. I'm considering a sp def heatran in place of milotic though. Pls suggest thanks!
