SM OU Badly Balanced Fire/Water/Grass Balance featuring Hippowdon


Badly Balanced Balance
I'll let y'all in on a secret. I'm bad at 'mons. Well, at least the teambuilding part. I played at the end of gen 4 with an ingame team w/ blaziken in ubers, ocassionaly played in gens 5-6 with very offensive and/or gimmicky teams, but recently I've decided to try and git gud. Since I've just hit 1500 for the second time ever, and with a playstyle I'm not at all used to, I thought I'd make an RMT with the team I did it with, because I'm certain it could be improved in places but I'm not sure how.

Importable

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Defog

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpD / 36 Spe
Calm Nature
- Heal Bell
- Leaf Storm
- Synthesis
- U-turn

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

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SpA / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Roost
- Focus Blast

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance

Analysis


Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Defog

As I started out with the more defensive side of this team, Rotom was the first Pokemon I added, as it's one I not only find very reliable, but also fills quite a few vital roles. Defog is mandatory on a team running Zard Y, WoW allows it to cripple any inbound physical 'mons that might want to switch in on Rotom (Kartana, Kyurem-B and Landorus to name a few), Volt Switch allows Rotom to work as a bulky pivot and Hydro Pump prevents it from being a sitting duck against ground types like Lando and Gliscor. Unfortunately, Rotom is seriously hurt by lack of reliable recovery, and is usually the first to get KO'd.


Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpD / 36 Spe
Calm Nature
- Heal Bell
- Leaf Storm
- Synthesis
- U-turn

Next up was Celebi, an UU Pokémon that covers Rotom's flaws quite well. Heal Bell mitigates the team's weakness to Toxic, Synthesis allows it to heal off massive hits if the sun is up, and U-Turn once again allows it to pivot. It's 4x weakness to bug is unfortunate, as staying in on an U-turn can really cripple it against Pokemon it'd usually try and hit hard with Leaf Storm (Greninja comes to mind).


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

With two specially defensive Pokémon, I needed a physical wall to patch up the other side of the spectrum. With an absolutely bog-standard set, Hippowdon eats almost any physical attack coming its way, set up rocks and phases out the incoming counter before healing up with Slack Off. The sheer number of Pokémon this counters is incredible, Landorus, Zygarde, Tapu Koko and Hoopa-U to name a few. It's also one of the few things that can handle setup sweepers relatively well with Whirlwind and that incredible bulk.


Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 248 HP / 152 SpA / 108 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Roost
- Focus Blast

With three defensive/support Pokémon, I needed something that could immediately put pressure on the opponent. The EV spread is a bit unusual but it's served me well in the past and definitely works with the fatter nature of this team. HP is at 248 to maximize bulk while not being divisible by 8 (to reduce rocks damage by 1%), the speed is one point above max speed base 70's and the rest is in SpA. The extra bulk gives it some much needed longevity and reduces some of the pressure on switching into resisted attacks, and the only matchups that are really affected by the loss of speed can be walled by Hippowdon.


Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Flamethrower
- Calm Mind

Next up is Clefable, a decent special attacker that's far more self-sufficient than Zard. Moonblast and Softboiled are standard, while Calm Mind and Flamethrower are for the switches. Flamethrower OHKOs Ferrothorn and Scizor under the sun and seriously dents other steel types, while Calm Mind increases its uninvested bulk against inbound special attackers.


Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance

In the last slot I needed to slot in both a physical sweeper and some form of speed control, and since I already had Hippowdown, why not use Sand Rush Drill? Excadrill functions as a potent lategame sweeper in sand against offensive teams and as a wallbreaker against slower teams. Adamant over Jolly since there's not much that needs outspeeding even outside of sand and Drill benefits from all the power it can get.

Strengths and Weaknesses
  • Very good at wearing down balanced and bulky offensive teams down with residual damage from rocks, sandstorm and good prediction.

  • Easily handles Hyper Offense teams that can't break through Hippowdon or get outplayed in trying to do so.
  • Somewhat good at preserving momentum in practice thanks to U-Turn/Volt Switch and Charizard/Clefable working as bulky pivots.
  • Absolutely destroys your standard Swampert/Pelipper/Koko/Ferro rain team, as well as any veil offense teams thanks to two weather inducers.
  • Very resistant to Tspikes and status in general thanks to Heal Bell and plenty of flying/status-immune 'mons.
  • A few wallbreakers, most notably Mega Medicham tear through the entire team like butter.
  • Rotom is a very important part of the defensive backbone (Charizard needs defog and Hippo needs an ice resist) yet is one of the most susceptible to getting KO'd due to a lack of recovery and the sheer number of hits it needs to take.
  • Clefable doesn't hit nor take hits as well as I'd expect, and I'm not exactly sure what to do with the set(or slot even).
  • Excadrill's endgame sweeps don't always succeed, especially if the omnipresent Landorus (which is easy to wall but hard to KO) gets an intimidate in. (LO -> Band maybe?)

So yeah, that's my team. I'd appreciate feedback and suggestions, especially with the why things need changing.
 

DKM

Are you feeling nervous? Are you having fun?
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Sup Kierany9, cool team. The FWG core with Charizard Y is a nice idea. Charizard Y + Sand Rush Excadrill is a tried and true core that's been used since ORAS, and I'm glad to see it again here.

The team has a few weaknesses though, and some of the EV spread choices seem a bit strange to me. So I'll mention a couple of the threats that this team struggles with and then bring up changes that should help in dealing with them.

Threats to the team:

658-a.png: Ash-Greninja is really tough for this team to deal with, especially if Rotom gets weakened or flinched by Dark Pulse. Clefable can't switch into Hydro Pump and Celebi can't switch into Dark Pulse, so once Greninja gets a turn to attack it can be very awkward trying to play around it.

381-m.png: Both of the M-Lati twins are hard to deal with as they wall half of the team. Only fearing Clefable's Moonblast and Excadrill's boosted Iron Head. M-Latios can hit the whole team hard with Psychic, Excadrill with Earthquake and even Celebi with Ice Beam. M-Latias being bulkier can wall out the whole team apart from Clefable, but is still annoying regardless.

Major Changes

465.png > 251.png: The first major change would be using AV Tangrowth over Celebi. This gives you a better answer to Ash-Greninja as it's able to switch into both Dark Pulse and Hydro Pump. It also still acts as a good counter to Zygarde and Tapu Koko, and thanks to Regenerator it can stay healthy without costing you momentum. Tangrowth also comes with the Utility of Knock-Off and the ability to hit Heatran and other steel types with Earthquake.


248.png > 450.png: Next I suggest using Choice Band Tyranitar over Hippowdon. This allows you to Pursuit trap the M-Lati twins which helps Charizard Y alot. It also traps other Psychic types such as Reuniclus, Hoopa-U and Tapu Lele locked into Psychic. Along with still being a sand setter, Tyranitar adds alot more power to the team with CB Stone Edge and Crunch which are very hard to switch into and help weaken the opponents team to allow for an Excadrill sweep. The set is mostly standard, the speed allows you to outspeed standard SpDef Bulu, Aqua Tail allows you to hit Hippowdon who is on certain stall teams and usually walls Tyranitar, so this should help in the stall matchup. It also hits Landorus and Gliscor, but if you don't find it useful you can use Fire Punch or Earthquake to hit steel types instead.

Minor Changes

479w.png iapapaberry.png> leftovers.png| Spread Change: On Rotom I suggest using an Iapapa berry instead of Leftovers, this usually lets you take an extra hit from something like Heatran which can be crucial since it's your only hazard removal. As for the spread, you should use a more physically defensive one to help you better take on M-Swampert, Gyarados (the Flyinium Z set which beats Tangrowth) and the occasional M-Pinsir. 56 speed EVs lets you outspeed opposing Tyranitar so you can burn it before it starts breaking holes in the team.

006-my.png Spread Change: I don't really understand the EV spread on Charizard, but I still think max Speed and SpAtk to hit as hard and fast as possible is the way to go, along with a Timid Nature to outspeed as much as possible and tie with other base 100s. Charizard's typing alone let it switch into resisted hits from the likes of Tapu Bulu and Scarf Kartana, so I don't feel like a bulky spread is needed.

036.pngStealth Rock > Flamethrower | Spread Change: Since I removed Hippowdon who was your Stealth Rocker setter I suggest using it on Clefable instead. Thanks to its bulk, Clefable is one of the best Stealth Rockers in the tier. With Calm Mind to boost your SpAtk you can keep up rocks against M-Sableye, Tornadus and Zapdos since they can't stay in on a boosted Moonblast. As for the spread, you should run physically defensive with a Bold Nature to help take on M-Medicham, Hawlucha, Zygarde and M-Lopunny better.

530.png steeliumz.png > lifeorb.png| Jolly > Adamant [optional]: Lastly, on Excadrill I suggest running Steelium Z over Life Orb. At +1 with a Jolly nature, Corkscrew Crash OHKOs bulky scarf Landorus and almost always OHKOs defensive Landorus after rocks. It also OHKOs bulky Zygarde and Gliscor at +2 and is just a nice nuke to have, making sure your sweep doesn't get stopped. Jolly is an option to try over Adamant, as you outspeed Timid Heatran and Gliscor outside of sand and you still hit really hard with Jolly. But if you find Adamant better then keep it.



~~~~



I hope you like these changes and that the new team does well. Below I'll leave the Import of the new team along with a few threats to watch out for. Good luck :]
786.png065-m.png: Psychic spam cores with M-Alakazam and Tapu Lele can threaten this team thanks to their power and coverage, Tyranitar and Excadrill are hit by Focus Blast or Moonblast. Tangrowth can pivot in but can't take too many hits. M-Alakazam can also Trace Excadrill's Sand Rush and outspeed it. Your best out is to get up sand to pressure with Excadrill and using Tangrowth to take a hit from M-Alakazam.

658.png: Protean Greninja can threaten pretty much any team with the right coverage. But most of them run Ice Beam or Gunk Shot which hits Tangrowth, making it a huge pain to play against. They don't run Water Shuriken though, so Excadrill can revenge kill.

303-m.png: SD M-Mawile can break the team with Sucker Punch + Play Rough. At +2 Sucker Punch OHKOs Charizard and Excadrill. Rotom can take a hit however and burn it which is really useful. Tyranitar can also outspeed it, but unless you run Earthquake or Fire Punch you can't OHKO it. Try not to give it a free setup or let Rotom get too weakened.


Rotom-Wash @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Defog

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Aqua Tail

Charizard-Mega-Y @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Solar Beam
- Roost
- Focus Blast

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Calm Mind

Excadrill @ Steelium Z
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance
 

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