Anna See; Anna Do

[Annalysia]

So, if you visit the forums, I posted an old team of mine a while back. However, I did not enjoy Roserade as my lead. The team itself relied way too much on her setting up, and with sleep powder's so-so accuracy, that made it even worse. So, I decided to make my own team that holds onto a few of the Poke's loved in the previous team, but inviting new ones in.

Yes, I will need help. No, it's not perfect.
And yes, I use two UU Pokes right now. And no, I don't think that puts me at a huge disadvantage. However, I do think they could be replaced, if someone has a good replacement idea. [=

At a glance!

Here we go!

Ambipom@Silk Scarf
Jolly -- Technician
EV(252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD)
Moveset:
~Fake Out
~Taunt
~Double Hit
~Low Kick

This is my lead, and he's actually pretty useful. I enjoy him, and it helps that he's adorable. Silk Scarf for an even stronger Fake Out and Double Hit without the pesky recoil damage of a life orb. Fake out is the obvious Technician option, while taunt has proven to be amazing on others who think they can set up on him. Double Hit for a strong STAB that can also break annoying Subs and get another hit in. Low Kick for those troublesome rocks and steels that attempt to switch in. My main problem? Ghosts, which Ambipom can attract. However, I enjoy the current move pool, so tips are greatly appreciated.

Vaporeon@Leftovers
Bold -- Water Absorb
EV(188 HP / 252 Def / 68 Spe)
Moveset:
~Wish
~Protect
~Surf
~Toxic

Oh how I love this aquatic beauty. Wish for herself or other teammates, especially Arcanine having a SR weakness. She's also here to absorb water moves directed at him. Protect to get her own wish, to stall, or to scout. Surf for a STAB and Toxic to win stall wars. This is probably one of my favorites on this team, and there's no way I'm willing to replace her. [=

Arcanine@Life Orb
Adamant -- Flash Fire/Intimidate
EV(120 HP / 152 Atk / 236 Spe)
Moveset:
~Flare Blitz
~Extremespeed
~Morning Sun
~Crunch / Will-o-wisp

Okay, so this is my other Pokemon that I use that is technically in the UU tier. I know he's outclassed by Infernape, but I can't stand that damn ape. Flare Blitz for a really powerful STAB, Extremespeed for a pretty strong priority move, and morning sun to shrug off SR and recoil damage from Flare Blitz and Life Orb. Crunch is in his current move pool to help take care of my pretty strong ghost weakness; however, I'm debating to switch him over to a Will-o-wisp set to help cripple physical attackers.
A problem for me is whether to go for Intimidate or Flash Fire. Flash fire is pretty useful for fire attacks aimed at Skarmory, then proceeds to power up his already powerful Flare Blitz. However, Intimidate helps with his decent bulk.

Gengar@Leftovers
Timid -- Levitate
EV(4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
Moveset:
~Substitute
~Shadow Ball
~Focus Blast
~Thunderbolt

I'm pretty happy with this guy, has immunities with a fair amount of attacks, such as EQs aimed at Arcanine, and can almost always get a nice Sub set up, helping gain another attack or stopping a status. Shadow ball for a powerful STAB, Focus blast for steels or darks, and thunderbolt for all around coverage. HP [Fire] would be better, but I was unable to attain one on my actual Wifi team. Leftovers for a little more bulk and more Subs.

Skarmory@Shed Shell
Impish -- Keen Eye
EV(252 HP / 64 Atk / 176 Def / 18 Spe)
Moveset:
~Brave Bird
~Stealth Rocks
~Whirlwind
~Roost

Yea, I know he has an odd position on my team, but I've honestly never found anyone better to fill his role that isn't a Legendary. He almost always gets up SR and has Whirlwind for stat-whores. Roost easily helps him shrug stuff off and Brave Bird is a valuable STAB attack that can actually dent a lot of things.
I'm not a fan of Spikes, so I try to avoid it and didn't really enjoy it on this particular team. SR is enough for me. [=

Flygon@Choice Scarf
Adamant -- Levitate
EV(252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD)
Moveset:
~Outrage
~Earthquake
~Stone Edge
~U-turn

I absolutely love this guy. An amazing scout with powerful moves. Adamant nature over Jolly since Mence is out of the picture. Can usually take out quite a few of the opposing members with ease. I seriously have no plans of replacing him, because I find him to be an important part of my team.



Thanks for everything in advance.

-Annalysia-

 

[Darkamber8828]

T.T people are using Adamant Flygon already...

That Ambipom is outclassed very bad by a Lead Infernape, speed tie with Azelf set aside. Hell, it even has Taunt.

This team has a rather large SubJolteon weakness. I recommend running a Choice Band Ttar over Arcanine. It destroys Jolteon (and ghosts) and still resists fire. It also breaks stall, which this team is rather weak to.

 

[Annalysia]

That's something I can try out, though I'm not a fan of Sandstream, even if half of my team wouldn't be affected by it.

I'll definitely test it out and see how it goes. Arcanine has proved useful, but he's pretty lackluster.

Thanks. [=

 

[tab]

Hey. I really wouldn't recommend using an Ambipom in OU, as there's simply far too many common pokemon that can easily deal with anything it can throw out. I'd suggest using an anti-lead Machamp with Bullet punch/DynamicPunch/Payback/Ice Punch instead, which gives you a similar kind of lead, but one that is much more dangerous offensively instead, which is going to be useful as your team could use a bit of power. The full details of the set can be found in Machamp's analysis.

On Vaporeon, I'd use Roar instead of Toxic - it does an extremely similar job, apart from Roar will allow you to make use of Skarmory's Spikes (I'll get to that later) with all of the switches Vaporeon forces against the likes of Heatran and Infernape.

Arcanine is a lot more useable than Ambipom, but again it's not something I'd recommend. You can easily use a Shuca Heatran with Fire Blast/Earth Power/Stealth Rock and HP Grass or Explosion here for a much more useful fire type for this team.

On Gengar, I think a Life Orb set with Sub/Pain Split/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast would be a big improvement, giving you the offensive punch that you'll often be lacking with your current set, while being a nightmare for stall to deal with. With Pain Split, you'll also find that Gengar is a lot more durable, as you'll be able to use Sub to scout for Pursuit users more freely, as well as getting plenty of opportunities to recover against bulky pokemon Gengar forces out.

You're definately going to want Spikes over SR on Skarmory - which you can easily do with the inclusion of a Heatran over Arcanine. Spikes are incredibly useful, even a single layer in combination with Stealth Rock makes switching around incredibly difficult for your opponent, and with phazing moves on both Skarm and Vaporeon, you're going to be making your opponent do plenty of switching. Not only will they make it much harder for your opponent to switch about and play offensively against you, but Gengar in particular will benefit hugely from the extra 12-25% damage on pokemon that come in against it.
I'd also suggest using a Careful nature and 252 HP/216 SpD/40 Spe on Skarmory, which makes it much easier to set up Spikes, as well as absorb the occasional special hit, most notably Draco Meteors, making use of Skarmory's great defensive typing. Even without the physically defensive EVs and nature, you're still going to be able to take every physical attack that you need to.

Finally, you might want to try out Fire Blast on Flygon instead of Stone Edge. Even with a -SpA nature and 0 EVs, you'll be able to do 40% + to Skarmory switch ins, which is extremely important as you don't really have much else that can deal with them reliably, especially as your team is going to hate having Spikes down.

Good luck!

 

[Delko]

Hello

I'm a very big fan of Ambipom leads in OU. Although I use a slightly different set myself. Most people underrate Ambipom as an effective lead so that could work in your favor. I suggest one with a Jolly nature, 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe EV's , Technician ability, holding a Life Orb and a moves Fake Out / Low Kick / Ice Punch / Aerial Ace.
Altough the creator of this set (The King of Harts) uses Seed Bomb over Low Kick to kill Swampert leads I prefer the ability to hit Steel type and Tyranitar harder.
Like I said before this lead makes a very effective lead as it can win against all anti-leads and a lot of set-up leads as well. I listed what Ambipom can do against most common leads bellow, so you can see it's effectiveness.

Machamp: Fake Out + Aerial Ace
Roserade: Fake Out + Aerial Ace
Smeargle: Fake Out + Aerial Ace
Heatran: Fake Out + Low Kick
Tyranitar: Fake Out + Low Kick
Infernape: Fake Out + Aerial Ace
Gliscor: Fake Out + Ice Punch
Dragonite: Ice Punch
Abomasnow: Fake Out + Aerial Ace
Azelf: Fake Out + Aerial Ace (!speed tie!)
Aerodactyl: Fake Out + Ice Punch
Starmie: Fake Out + Aerial Ace (!speed tie!)
Hippowdon: switch
Metagross: switch
Skarmory: switch
Swampert: switch
Forretress: switch

As you can see Ambipom does counter a large number of leads and the one it looses against are affraid of Taunt so Stealth Rock is prevented from being set up most of the time. Aerial Ace (90 BP with Technician) even KO's Gengar with SR damage, so you can use Ambipom later in the game as well.

You are still using the old Vaporeon EV spread. I suggest replacing it with a more updated spread. 188 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spe / 56 SpD.

Although Arcanine seems like a great pokemon because it has instant recovery but in OU Sandstorm is a very common sight so Morning Sun isn't that effective. Instead of Arcanine I suggest a Heatran, preferably Subtran, since it can come in against Will-o-wisp against Ambipom and Flygon and Substitute on the switch. If you do use one I suggest a moveset of Substitute / Flamethrower / Earth Power / Hidden Power Electric.
This way you can deal with Gyarados switch-ins who tend to give your team some problem as he can Taunt and set up against Vaporeon (a good Gyarados counter if it has HP Electric).

On Gengar you could try using Life Orb as your item so your attack are boosted and so dealing more damage. Instead of Thunderbolt you can try Pain Split so you can beat Gengar's most common counters. Gengar's low HP makes Pain Split a great move against the likes of Blissey and provides Gengar with somewhat a recovery move to heal up from Life Orb recoil damage.

Hope this helped and good luck with the team!

 

[haunter]

I don't really like aerial ace on Ambipom, other than Machamp you'll hit every other common lead harder with return. Btw using fake out aginst Dragonite leads is pretty dumb because they won't flinch thanks to inner focus.

I agree with pretty much everything Tab said, just one thing: I suggest hp electric on Vaporeon if only because taunt Gyarados can cause massive troubles to this team, especially if you remove stone edge from Flygon's moveset.

Also, if you decide to keep Arcanine, which you shouldn't, drop morning sun (TTar is extremely common in OU) for thunder fang (see the above mentioned Gyarados weakness).