I won't bore everyone with a super long intro... Name's TRG and I've been playing competitive Pokemon since Gen 4, but I had a hiatus after Gen 6 OU first dropped and am now getting back into the groove of things. This will be my first RMT. Cool? Cool.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the team. I've always been a fan of bulky offensive teams due to their ability to adapt to almost any situation; they take hits well and hit back hard. This team is no different, and mostly relies on the foundation of a solid FWG core that has worked well for me (FWG cores have almost always proven to be solid throughout the history of competitive Pokemon... hence the name "Back to the Basics"). So far this team has given me the most success on the ladder but I feel as though it can be even better, so without further adieu...
TEAM PREVIEW
On paper this looks like your typical bulky offensive team but it actually has a few sneaky tricks up its sleeve to quickly punch holes through the opponent's defenses at any given moment. Defensively this team's synergy is extremely solid, but at the same time it puts a lot of offensive pressure on the opponent due to the fact that every member has a way to either set up in your face (which is half the team) or severely cripple you with SR, paralysis, or the almighty Knock Off. Basically when played right the opponent isn't allowed to have any "free" switch ins. Instead of focusing on sweeping the primary goal usually involves punching enough holes through the opponents defenses and limiting their options.
Due to the hit and run nature of the team it relies HEAVILY on making solid reads on your opponent, so I doubt this team would do well in the hands of an inexperienced battler... but make the right reads and you'll likely leave your opponent scratching their head wondering "what just happened?"
Lets break the team down... First with the FWG core and then the latter 3.
THE TEAM (changes in red)
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
-
Out of every member of the team Heatran is the most standard and least offensively oriented (for good reason). Instead of punching holes through the opponent's team Heatran's primary goal is to support mine through SR, check a ton of problematic sweepers such as Talonflame, Mega Scizor, Zard Y w/o Earthquake, Volcarona etc, and stop those pesky baton pass teams in their tracks. Occasionally spreading burns with Lava Plume doesn't hurt either... Needless to say he does his job as the "glue" of the team extremely well, and this team simply wouldn't be able to function without him. Not much explanation needed here.
Celebi @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 60 HP / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Leaf Storm
- Earth Power
- Recover
Say hey to a blast from the past... Tinkerbell Celebi! She partners up with Heatran to create the infamous "CeleTran" defensive core. She doesn't receive nearly as much usage as she used to thanks to the prevalence of Mega Venasaur and lack of rain teams, but this little pixie is still able to hold her own and then some. The fact that she's not used as often is what makes this particular Celebi so dangerous. At first glace most assume I'm running a defensive set with those weaksauce Giga Drains, and then they quickly pay the price right after their Heatran/Bisharp/Aegislash get KOed by Earth Power or their Tyranitar gets shredded to pieces by the sheer power of Leaf Storm. Anything that resists the two attacks most likely end up crippled by Thunder Wave, which makes this particular Celebi very difficult to switch into on most occasions. Recover makes sure she's able to stick around and keep Rotom-W/Keldeo in check.
The Modest nature and SAtk EVs ensure Celebi hits like truck while the speed EVs are there to make sure I can outspeed everything up to max speed Mamoswine. The rest go into HP to help retain some of her overall bulk. With a Life Orb equipped Celebi is ensured to nuke whatever switches in as hard as possible. Here are some calcs that show off this Celebi's power:
252+ SpA Life Orb Celebi Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 335-398 (82.9 - 98.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Life Orb Celebi Earth Power vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 312-369 (111.8 - 132.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Celebi Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Heatran: 322-385 (83.4 - 99.7%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Even the almighty Thundrus that resists all of Celebi's moves will have to think twice before switching in:
252+ SpA Life Orb Celebi Leaf Storm vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Thundurus: 152-179 (50.6 - 59.6%)
Goes without saying that Celebi is an extremely crucial member of the team due to her ability to spread paralysis, keep bulky waters in check, lure Steels, and punch holes in the opposing team. Oftentimes entire matches will be determined based on how well she's played.
Azumarill @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
Azumarill rounds out my FWG core. This little guy was chosen thanks to his amazing synergy with the CeleTran combo. He's able to handle stuff the CeleTran combo can't such as Conkeldurr, Infernape, Latios/Latias (with Surf), and quite a few others. He also has nice use as an insurance policy against Keldeo in case Celebi prematurely goes down for whatever reason. It's also always a good idea to have a priority user on a team without a dedicated Scarf user.
Assault Vest was chosen over Choice Band to sacrifice power for longevity and the freedom to change attacks. With the AV and EVs Azumarill becomes so bulky on the SpD side that not even Charizard Y can OHKO it with Solarbeam... WITH SR and 2 layers of spikes on the field. Having this amount of bulk allows me to stay in on threats that would normally expect me to switch and surprise them with a STAB move of choice or cripple them with Knock Off. Adamant nature and max Atk EVs allow Azumarill to hit like a truck even without a Choice Band.
Speaking of Knock Off... KO is what makes this set so great. Like Celebi most teams will have a rough time switching into this guy due to the fact that the switch in is either going to get hit hard by a STAB move or crippled by having their item knocked off (look out for Mega Venasuar though). Overall Azumarill always gets the job done.
Now we move on to the remaining members...
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 226 HP / 96 Atk / 188 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
Here we have another fantastic hole puncher... SD Lando-T. Defensively this dude helps the overall bulk of the team by Intimidating stuff and taking on physical threats my FWG core can't always handle. The ground immunity is also nice, but offensively is where the real fun begins. This set catches a lot of opponents off guard when they assume I'm the typical offensive pivot set, and then they start panicking once they watch me SD in their face mid/late game. With a SD boost this guy's attack stat becomes downright scary. Any switch in that resists EdgeQuake gets their item knocked off (notice the trend?). The combination of SD and Knock Off makes this Lando-T a serious threat that a lot teams just aren't prepared for.
188 speed EVs are there so I can outpace the standard offensive pivot Lando-T (being able to Knock Off opposing Lando-T's Leftovers is a pretty big deal for Terrakion). The rest are dumped into HP for bulk and Atk for power... I can't really remember why I chose these 2 particular EV spreads exactly but I'm completely open to any suggestions if anyone has a better EV spread for this guy.
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Say hello to one of the most underrated wall breakers in Gen 6 OU. This is the basic double dancer set that wrecked Gen 5 OU but with a small twist: EQ instead of Rock Polish. What Terrakion loses in sweeping potential he gains in punching huge holes in the opposing team. The thing that makes this small change so effective is simply because of that fact that so many teams are unprepared for it. Most people think they can just slap an Aegislash on their team and assume Terrakion will pose no threat at all... I can't even count the number of Aegislashs I've demolished with this guy. In addition to taking out one of the most common threats in the current metagame EQ also has a nice niche as a safe method to destroy a lot of Poison types that resist Close Combat without having to rely on the shaky accuracy of Stone Edge, such as Tentacruel and Nidoking/queen, Toxicroak, Dragalge, and Drapion.
The way this dude works is extremely simple... Switch him into something that wants nothing to do with him (Heatran, Tyranitar, Kyu-B, Zard-Y, etc), Swords Dance in their face while they switch to their "counter," and watch their switch in get wrecked almost every time.
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 398-468 (122.8 - 144.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Tentacruel: 536-632 (147.2 - 173.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Nidoking: 351-413 (115.4 - 135.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Not even tanks/physical walls such as Mega Venasaur, Gliscor, and Landorus Therian are safe vs this guy (especially if my Lando-T has already softened them up).
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Mega Venusaur: 352-417 (96.7 - 114.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 184+ Def Gliscor: 274-324 (77.4 - 91.5%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 347-409 (90.8 - 107%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
As you can see Terrakion is easily one of hardest Pokemon to switch into in the current metagame. Pretty much every time he's switched in something either gets KOed or takes massive damage. With enough paralysis support from Celebi he even gets some late game sweeps of his own at times.
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Mega Scizor might be the best momentum grabber in the OU metagame at the moment. The sheer amount of stuff this guy can switch into and set up on is flat out nuts. Most bulky grounds, Kyu-B, Mamoswine, Alakazam, Gengar, Lati@s (without HP Fire), Reuniclus, Mega Venasaur (without HP Fire), opposing CB Scizor locked into Bullet Punch/Pursuit, and tons of other common threats are turned into nothing but set up/U-Turn fodder thanks to this one Pokemon.
In addition to keeping so many threats at bay, revenge killing, and getting my other Pokemon into play safely, Mega Scizor is also very good at pulling off late game sweeps once the appropriate threats are gone. After U-turning enough a lot of opponents will assume that you're running some sort of support set, which makes Swords Dance a great late game surprise.
Overall Scizor is easily the most important member of the team due to his ability to tank, rack up damage/keep momentum via U-turn, revenge kill, and clean up late game. This team definitely wouldn't be nearly as good without him.
Threat List (that I can currently recall)
Mega Pinsr - Easily the biggest threat to this team... Once it gets a single SD it's pretty much GG for me. When I see it in Team Preview I have to go out of my way to make sure it doesn't set up, which often means sacrificing a Pokemon or two just to make sure it doesn't get a free SD.
Rotom-W (when combined with Scizor) - If I end up losing Celebi early game thanks to becoming Pursuit trapped by Scizor after switching into Volt Switch Rotom-W becomes a huge problem for this team since nobody wants to take a WoW and Heatran can't handle it 1 v 1. Luckily I haven't run into this core in a while but whenever I do it's not pretty.
Mega Heracross - THANK GOD more people don't use this guy... Heatran/Azumarill are usually out-sped and OHKOed, Celebi/Landorus can't touch it, and Mega Scizor/Terrakion usually have to sacrifice themselves just to weaken it.
Greninja - Have to make sure Azumarill stays alive or else this ugly mofo runs a train through my team.
Conclusion/Importable
Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment below on how I can improve this team I'm open to any suggestions I can get. If anyone wants to try this team I hope you enjoy it! It's a lot of fun when played right.
Azumarill (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 240 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 226 HP / 96 Atk / 188 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
Celebi @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 60 HP / 252 SAtk / 196 Spd
Modest Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Leaf Storm
- Earth Power
- Recover
Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Ancient Power
Terrakion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
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