SM OU Balanced 1600+

[Kennerlad]

Hello there!
This team has been built from scratch by myself and it works pretty good. However, since I am still a beginner by most standards, I would love to get some advanced criticism on some of my personal dilemmas with the movesets on the team.

As a beginner/intermediate player I would say that this team fits the "cookie cutter" role for beginners to use.

The team:


Defensive cores:

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 176 HP / 252 Def / 80 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn

There is hardly any reason to not have a landorus on an OU team, but I'll go over its role anyways. As you can probably tell, Landorus serves as the rocker on the team. However her/his primary role is to pivot on physical threats such as Mega-Scizor and Alolan-marowak. The spdef investment is especially helpful for taking opposing Landorus's HP ices, but i would recommend avoiding it, since the lack of speed investment forces Landorus to be healthy for longevity.

Scizor-Mega @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 96 Def / 164 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Defog
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

Scizor is an all around great pivot. What made me put scizor on the team is its great ability to support the team with defog and stab U-turn, whilst keeping up offensive pressure with bullet punch. My advice for using scizor on the team is to be careful around possible switch-ins during turns that scizor roosts or defogs, since fire type attacks run around everywhere leaving you in a situation of either sacrificing Scizor, or taking heavy damage on your switch.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Toxapex is the team's sponge and does it well. Setting up t-spikes is very beneficial for weakening opposing threats for a late game sweep. An alternative to toxic would be haze, since it is easy to lose momentum with toxapex, making it useful to deny potential setup sweepers like Gyarados, Salemence, etc.

Offensive pokemon:

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot
- Rock Slide

This is probably the most experimental set on this team. Ice beam, U-turn and Rock Slide all have fairly standard uses. However, i also put grass knot on the set. This allows Greninja to 1hko Swampert or Mega-Swampert on switch in, 2hko offensive mega- or regular Tyranitar. Overall it would maybe be better to use this slot for some other move. I am gladly open to changes.

Magearna @ Electrium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shift Gear
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Aura Sphere

Magearna serves as a sweeper and does its job well. My two biggest tips for using him/her on the team is to be careful around using shift gear. It is easy to over-estimate Magearna's strength, which often leads to disappointing 2hkos followed by revenge kills from priority. Therefore, leading me to tip two, use the Z-move in smart situations. When you see a possibility for sweeping, use the Z-move to change a what would be 2hko to a 1hko, which will then lead to the soul-heart boost followed by your sweep.

Volcarona @ Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Psychic

All around, I think Volcarona is the weakest link on the team. However this is not because of Volcarona itself, but more so its spot on the team. Volcarona's offensive coverage is needed for the team to get rid of threats like Ferrothorn, Scizor etc, but being the only pokemon with fire coverage whilst being 4x weak to stealth rock forces the whole team to revolve around heavy hazard control. I thought about switching Volcarona for Heatran, but having another ground weakness was to dangerous. Please leave some suggestions to this problem.

 

[temp]

Hi Kennerlad! I like how this RMT explains each Pokemon's purpose and how you even separate it into the defensive mons and the offensive mons. Looking at this team, the 30/31 IVs for Speed on Scizor is questionable, but I'm assuming that it's for slower U-turns. The mixed-defense EVs for Landorus-Therian coupled with a lack of Leftovers will make your Landorus-Therian a lot worse when dealing with physical threats. Anyways, let's hop into the rate.

OVERVIEW

Looking at this, the match-up against Mega Swampert is very tough. Your primary counter play is Scizor, whose only option is to pivot with U-turn and Greninja outspeeding with a Scarf Grass Knot. Heatran, especially Groundinium Z Trapper sets, can trouble this team. Also, Tapu Koko is free to pivot around this team. If a Specs set uses HP Ice against Landorus, it freely clicks Thunderbolt for the rest of the game. Given that keeping Lando-T alive to switch in to Electric-type moves is paramount, the opposing Tapu Koko user will likely play very aggressively towards it. You have a solid U-turn based core too, allowing to chip down Pokemon easily. Your two set-up sweepers, Magearna and Volcarona, heavily benefit from hazards wearing down opponents. With that in mind, it's great that you have Toxic Spikes on this team, but I do think that Spikes will assist you as well. Also, how exactly does this team break Celesteela + Toxapex + Tangrowth / Celesteela + Mega Venusaur? It seems very hard to punch through these defensive cores, given that they're constantly chipping away mons. It isn't as simple as clicking Quiver Dance with Volcarona and beating the cores, as they'll always have checks like Scarf Garchomp or Keldeo in the back—both of which will either hard-switch on the QD or revenge kill. I'll address these weaknesses and more in this rate, so enjoy!

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TEAM CHANGES

- [248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe + Hidden Power Ice] is a bit of an unconventional spread, but I believe it'll greatly help this team. The 20 Speed EVs, while slightly cutting out of your bulk, allows you to speed creep the standard Defensive Landorus-Therian spread. The rest is dumped into Defense EVs, allowing you to better handle the likes of Zygarde, Zard X, another threat given the lack of Leftovers (meaning you're getting worn down easily), etc. Hidden Power Ice allows Landorus to punish opposing Landorus. In a Lando v Lando lead match-up, Hidden Power Ice and then follow up with rocks. This allows you to get immediate chip, ~52-70% depending on the set.

- [248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe] This lets you outspeed Adamant Alolan Marowak and U-turn out, avoiding a deadly Flare Blitz or Fire Punch while still getting off some minor chip damage. Any damage helps your sweepers, so it's a nice trade-off.

- [Spikes > Grass Knot + Male Gender] Given that Greninja has an amazing speed stat, it can easily get up at least one layer. Mega Venusaur hates Spikes as well, as it's very prone to getting worn down due to Synthesis' poor PP. Making Greninja a Male is quite the unknown tactic, but it ensures that your Greninja can never be revealed to be Protean until you click a move. Ash Greninja will never be Female or shiny, so ridding of that small chance to get a Female Gren is necessary, even if it is minor. Given that the possibility to be Ash form is still 50%, assuming your opponent hasn't identified it yet, you can still force switches. This is why U-turn is such a great tool on Scarf Gren; it gains offensive momentum easily. However, against teams that are weak to it, setting up a Spike isn't a bad option, as it makes your sweeps a lot easier.
Also, your EVs were messed up, so assuming that you copy pasted the sets and were testing the team prior, you were playing with a 0 SpA Greninja.

- [Hidden Power Fire > Aura Sphere] - Weakens Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor for itself (and Tapu Bulu below). Focus Blast is a solid option as well for Heatran. Aura Sphere, though, is a pretty poor option. It's weak, meaning Magearna will barely ever get those valuable kills, disabling its snowball effect.

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- Tapu Bulu helps you a lot against Rain. It can Sub on Ferrothorn successfully, as most Rain teams don't pack a Gyro Ball Ferrothorn (generally Power Whip and/or Knock Off). It SDs up, allowing it to break at least one Pokemon. Hopefully, you can KO Ferrothorn or a rain abuser like Kingdra or Mega Swampert. It also sets up Grassy Terrain, weakening EQ damage to Magearna and healing your team overtime.

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OTHER OPTIONS

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- Specs Latios can help against Mega Venusaur and Celesteela, assuming you get the right reads. The combination of Psychic STAB and a Thunderbolt leaves this defensive core in shambles, but you lose that added benefit of being able to check rain easier with Bulu. Overall, this is a decent option that trades one weakness patched for another.

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original team:
rated team (bulu):
(latios):

*EDIT: here's a tlt tournament replay showcasing the Latios variant: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-654834023 !

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This team is very solid! I only changed one Pokemon given how defensively and offensively equipped it was. I hope my switch away from Volcarona, a mon you also felt was lackluster on this team, helps any threats like rain or Tapu Koko. Try and weaken Pokemon with your wallbreaker, Latios, U-turn chip and hazards to win with Magearna late- or mid-game. I hope you liked the rate, man!

 

[wutisudoin]

Defensive wise, your core is alright. Pex Lando and Scizor can wall a large amount of things, however, specs Koko can become a huge problem for your team. Stone edge on Lando can be replaced by HP ice, as it has for more usage such as dealing with the opposing lando, as well as zygarde and garchomp. Heatran is a huge problem for your team, as it can take down toxapex with taunt+earth power, and walls volcarona and gren completely, while at the same time firium breaks through your landorus. The main problem I can see is that you have 2 pivots, but no wall breaker to complement them. As you have highlighted, this team is weak to ground once Landorus is gone. Tapu Lele shreds through your team, as Scizor is not a very good Lele switch in, especially if they predict and go HP fire.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 248 HP / 164 SpD Scizor-Mega in Psychic Terrain: 141-166 (41.1 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Another threat includes Manaphy, who can run through your defensive core and sweep your entire team, although it is not that common. Grass knot does minimal dmg to manaphy. However, you have outlined grass knot on Greninja for rain, so that is nice.

Offensive wise, its quite weak. You have 2 set up sweepers, and a Greninja as your revenge killer. All of them are special attackers, and none of them can break through Chansey. You need a wallbreaker, otherwise pivoting is not very useful. Life Orb on Volcarona is sub optimal, as it can get worn down too easily, especially if Rocks are up and flamethrower misses out on important KOs. Heatran can set up these rocks, and proceed to wall your offensive threats, as well as preventing scizor from coming in. Aura sphere on Magearna is not worth is, as the lack in fire power is too much, making it difficult to begin your snowball.

Changes:
Volcarona--->Wallbreaker e.g. Mawile, Medicham, KyuremB, Mega Pinsir
You desperately need a physical wall breaker, otherwise your team just cannot break through chansey. Mega pinsir allows you to reliably revenge kill opposing volcarona.

Greninja--->Scarf Latios
Scarf latios can provide defog support, while still allowing you to revenge kill threats. Can hit harder than Gren to safely revenge kill threats.

Magearna--->Koko
(optional) Koko can pair extremely well with KyuremB to break through the opposing team. Specs Koko can destroy Celesteela and Toxapex, while providing you with volt switch pivoting. Specs Koko allows you to break through clefable as well. If you choose to continue using SG mage, switch out Aura sphere for Focus blast.

Scizor--->Ferrothorn
Your weakness to Koko is mitigated by ferrothorn. Although it can't provide you with pivoting, it provides you with hazards, and you have Landorus to pivot. Although it doesnt have hazard removal, it can set up its own. It also handles your weakness to manaphy.

Your team is also very weak to hyper offense, as Gren is not the best at revenge killing on HO, but most balance teams are weak to HO.

These are my suggestions, and I hope you take these into account.