Alakawham [OU]

Ulver

Introduction: At first this was just a really dumb random team I made in literally five minutes to get some quick fun. It ended up being a lot of fun but some of the choices, such as Drifblim existing solely for the purpose of baton passing one Stockpile, were obvioulsy not to be taken seriously. Since it was a lot of fun and I ended up winning more with it than I usually do I decided to make it again only with slightly more serious ideas behind it. The goal is to spam residual damage at my opponent and then use Alakazam to finish off whatever is left on their team (often 3 or 4 pokemon).

TEAM ALAKAWHAM AT A GLANCE:


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Stealth Rock / Explode / Priority
376Metagross.png

Metagross (M) @ Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Atk / 12 Def / 12 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
-Meteor Mash
-Bullet Punch
-Stealth Rock
-Explosion
Overview: Originally when I made my team I used Ambipom as my lead, but not having a lead to get stealth rock up wasn't a very good idea. Occa berry is to survive fire attacks of course. I used a Metagross with Earthquake for a while and while it's a great move I think it is only a great move if used together with coverage for flying type pokemon. I gave Metagross Meteor Mash for more attacking and killing opportunities (such as against Azelf, the most common lead). Bullet Punch is a very useful priority move of course. While normally beating the crap out of my opponent right away is the way to go, with this team Stealth Rock has a lot more priority. Explosion is an obvious choice and can often be used later to kill a pokemon or do significant damage to one. I gave my Metagross one more speed point than normal because Metagross is a pretty common lead and I think it's worth the stupid attack point to get an early lead in about 7% or so of the games I play. It should be noted that Bullet Punch can save your life should your opponent set up a deadly sweep. Considering my focus on residual damage and the fact that sweepers will likely carry Life Orb, STAB Bullet Punch could probably save my life quite often.

Spiker / Phazer
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Skarmory (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 16 Spe
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
-Brave Bird
-Spikes
-Roost
-Whirlwind
Overview: Magnezone can be my guest and take out my Skarmory. I'm really not that worried about him and if he does show up I can usually just switch into Tyranitar or something and things won't be so bad (and of course I'll still get one layer of spikes). Spikes are here to help increase residual damage on the team and Whirlwind is useful to Phaze and maybe, if I'm lucky, do a bit of shuffling (although that's not a goal). Roost is to heal of course and I chose Brave Bird for STAB so I could severely injure one pokemon or maybe even get a KO. Chances are I won't use it more than once so I don't care much about the 10% damage.

The Powerhouse
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Salamence @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 Atk / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive (+Spe, -SpD)
-Outrage
-Fire Blast
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail
Overview: This thing, fragile as it may be, is usually used as a suicidal offensive attack to remove key members of my opponent's team and make it more difficult to work around my game plan. Outrage kills just about anything except bulky defensive steel types, which Fire blast handles. Earthquake can be a good choice but only if there are no flying types on my opponent's team. Aqua Tail is a good move against ground type.

The Shuffler
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Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 176 HP / 84 Def / 248 SpD
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
-Stockpile
-Slack Off
-Roar
-Earthquake
Overview: My goal here is to become indestructible and then use Roar until my opponent's team is severely damaged or even completely dead. For that reason I chose Stockpile over Curse. I still put Earthquake on this set because it is often dangerous to rely on a pokemon set that has absolutely no offensive capabilities as I discovered on my previous version of this team that used Stealth Rock. I would have liked to run Hippowdon as a lead but I really wanted to use this set because it is really one of the main points of this team and has won me many games. Occasionally a really strong pokemon like Machamp will take this thing out but other than that this thing has to either be sweeped quickly or statused. In the case of the latter I have Earthquake to make sure Hippowdon isn't a waste before he dies.

Sleep Talker / Anti-Spin
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Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 SpD
Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Discharge
-Hydro Pump
Overview: I go to this guy primarily when I fear a fighting attack or a rapid spin. I needed a slot on the team for a ghost type since I'm running Stealth Rock and Spikes and I chose Rotom-W because of his great defenses and offensive capabilities. So far he has proven to be a very well-rounded player in the team and can help out against just about anything.

Revenge Killer / Sweeper
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Infernape (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 24 Atk / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
Nature: Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
-Fire Blast
-Close Combat
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-U-Turn
Overview: Infernape is my end game sweeper and revenge killer. He offers a wide range of attacks with brutal power and blistering speed. He can usually find one move to finish off my opponents team or at least do serious damage to things with Fire Blast and Close Combat. Hidden Power [Ice] is a worse choice usually but can be useful. U-Turn is for scouting and might provide me a good chance to switch into Hippowdon.


Suggestions, criticisms, and comments are welcome! Thank you.
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From the get-go, this team has poor synergy against one of the most common offensive types: Fighting. The only Fight resist is the rediculously frail Alakazam which is Bliss switch-in fodder. So a team with, say, Blissey and any OU Fight type, can really hurt you, bad.

So I have several suggestions. First off, Alakazam is generally outclassed by Nasty Plot Azelf for the special sweeper role (though the extra speed does allow Kazam to ouspeed some of the slower Choice Scarf users), due to better stat-up move, better attacking moves, and the fact that Azelf is already blisteringly fast. Take Azelf.

But much like Alakazam, Azelf is also a huge Blissey lure. For this reason, I recommend you change CurseTar to CB Tyranitar with Pursuit -or- CB Scizor with Pursuit. I recommend Scizor due to his access to priority moves, Technician (AKA lackof Sandstream), and to remove one of your Fight weaknesses. With Pursuit, you can keep Blissey from switching in to rain on Azelf's parade all day.

Secondly, I don't like Hippowdon. Sandstorm greatly shortens the length of time you can sweep, so I suggest you replace him with a sleep talker. Sleep Talk Rotom-H works, and of course counters the omnipresent Scizor locked into anything besides Pursuit (or anything on the SD set) and really helps patch up that Fight weakness you had.

However, this leaves you Pursuit-weak. I'm not sure what to do.
 
So Mixape weak dude. Or Heracross. Or Machamp. Like the guy above me said, OU fighting types are beating you. Curse and Lefties aren't gonna save you either.

Maybe Scarfmie with Psychic over zam?
 
To the above user, +SpD means +Special Defense, not +Speed.

As for the team in general, what are you truly trying to do? This team does not make sense strategy-wise, there is no synergy whatsoever, but I will try and see the best I can do. First of all, why do you have two phazers on this team? They do not truly do anything to support the team, you only need one. You also have two Pokemon that set up Sandstorm for you, why? You only really need Tyranitar. I would replace Hippowdon with Rotom-W. This helps you deal with any rapid spinners that might come your way. This is an invaluable resource as you are taking two spots on your team to set up two layers of Spikes and one layer of Stealth Rock. Would you want these to just be futile turns that you could have used better in the long run? Rotom-W also eliminates that Infernape weakness that everyone has already mentioned.

As for that Blissey + any other Fighting-type combination, I believe Machamp would be best fit. This allows you a status absorber, a physical tank, and the ultimate counter to Tyranitar. The DynamicPunch of Machamp has been provided perfect accuracy and confusion. Blissey will be OHKO'd, so will many Fighting types such as Lucario, and Heracross, which also both give you many problems. I would not switch Machamp in directly unless you are sure that the Lucario will be using ExtremeSpeed or that the Heracross will be using a futile attack.

The Machamp set I would recommend should have No Guard and Leftovers. The EVs would have to be 188 HP / 98 Atk / 216 Def / 8 Spd. This allows Machamp to have a Leftovers number of HP, and have the attack power to OHKO a few extra Pokemon. You will always outspeed Blissey with this EV spread. You can also take a few extra hits, such as a Close Combat, Fire Blast, etc. The moveset would be the following: Rest / Sleep Talk / Dynamic Punch / Stone Edge.

Now that you have Machamp as a SleepTalker, you can change Tyranitar, to either CBTar or CBScizor. Scizor allows you a priority attacker, and a great physical sweeper. Tyranitar on the other hand, can help set up Sandstorm for the team, adding to your residual damage. Tyranitar would provide a safer switch to Latias, but in the end, it all comes down to what Pokemon you prefer.

Alakazam is unneeded in this team, and you could easily find a better end game sweeper / revenge killer. Choice Scarf Infernape might be your best bet though. Choice Scarf Infernape should be the last Pokemon that your opponent sees, and by then you should be able to rip the opponent apart. Choice Scarf Infernape can also be used to scout Pokemon. The Choice Scarf Infernape you should be running, should be the following. It should obviously have Choice Scarf at an EV spread of 224 Speed / 252 SpA / 24 Atk.

Ambipom should be replaced by CBMence. I have to go, I will edit later with more info.
 
Edited:
Added Pokemon:
Rotom-W (Sleep Talker)
-Discharge
-Hydro Pump
-Rest
-Sleep Talk
Salamence (Choice Band)
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
-Aqua Tail
Infernape (Choice Scarf)
-Fire Blast
-Close Combat
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-U-Turn

Removed:
Tyranitar (Sleep Talker)
Ambipom (Silk Scarf)
Alakazam (Life Orb)

I kept Hippowdon because everyone I run into has a lot of trouble with him and he's the best pokemon on my team with spikes and stealth rock in play. Rotom-W is a needed ghost type to fight rapid spin and fighters. Salamence hits hard and might help with fighting types more. Lastly Infernape is a faster sweeper at the end of the game. I'll test it out to see how it goes.
Just looking at it I think I would need a Starmie with rapid spin, but I'm not really sure what to remove and everything. Best would probably be to replace CB Salamence with CB Scizor. I'll probably do that soon. Thanks for the help guys.

Edit: I'm 3-0 or 4-0 with this version of the team so far. I mentioned replacing Salamence with Scizor but Salamence is actually doing really good to take up the "Powerhouse" position that my Tyranitar originally had, only with good speed and flexibility. I'm still happy with my decision not to replace Hippowdon as he is still my best pokemon. I lost 60% of his HP to a hydro pump from a water type in rain dance. That was with zero stockpiles. He's absurdly hard to kill and a great choice for steel types. Sometimes people use explosion on him which is basically a free kill unless maybe it is Metagross and I have no stockpiles. Skarmory isn't doing so hot but I'm not really sure what would be a better choice for a spiker. Smeargle would probably do a better job but I can't switch him in as often and my team is pretty rigid. Any suggestions for a good spiker?

I might replace Salamence with Machamp.
 
If you want Infernape to sweep lategame, Life Orb is the better option over a choice item. Choice items are poor in general for late game sweeps because the whole idea of a late game sweep is to take each weakened pokemon out with one shot--if you're locked into, say, close combat against gengar (as an example), your sweep has ended and you have to regroup.
 
I agree with nape being life orb instead of choice. I actually think you should just run grass knot on him because swampert can be a threat once mence is out. On a smaller note, just move those 4 evs from spd back to attack or even defense because I don't see what difference it will make if you can outspeed an enemy gross due to the lack of EQuake. Speaking of gross, the main reason to run occa berry is to allow you to defeat the lead with a SE ground move which you don't have. Either replace occa with something like lum berry or give him EQuake. I suppose the berry can help out in getting rocks down but it isn't really enough to have over another item. The team seems pretty good but the only problem I see is how it can play late game. Gross will most likely explode, CBmence gets revenged with ease, and infernape isn't lasting very long with or without life orb. If your opponent has atleast two strong attackers they have a chance at beating you because you will lack a strong attacker but I suppose that can be considered situational.

Now I see a slight weaknes to latias. If you go with the life orb nape then it will be even more of a threat. Max speed lati with surf and dragon pulse is quite cmmon and can take your team down with little trouble once it gets a cm. Your best bet would be phazing it with skarm but even he can't take multiple +1 surfs. This will force you to have to predict it's switch and attack accordingly. You can always try a more deffensive approach to the team. GL
 
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