This is by far my most successful team to date, taking me all the way to 1550 on the ladder, a full 150 points higher than my previous best. I designed the team around a pseudo defensive core of Sylveon and Charizard X, with Sylveon as a special wall/cleric and Charizard as my physical wall/setup sweeper. I then grabbed Thundurus - I and Excadrill to act as sweepers while providing status and rapid spin support. Finally, I needed a lead so I settled on Deoxys-D as my hazard setter, and paired him with Bisharp to round out my team.
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
Sylveon is my Cleric. This EV spread counters Greninja, who otherwise can be very annoying. Hyper Voice does some serious damage to a lot of threats, more consistently than the other clerics I considered. Sylveon forces switches on a ton of frail special attackers, 2HKOing the likes of Greninja, Thundurus, and Alakazam, and both Lati@s'. Unfortunately she can't switch into Psyshock, but she can stall against users of it if she comes in on a different move.
Generally speaking I bring her out to reset my Charizard once his sweep has been stopped. Having a cleric prevents Thundurus and other pranksters from crippling it with Paralysis or forcing it out with Toxic, which is the main thing that can stand in my way.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
The biggest part of my team, defensive Charizard X is an absolute monster. Extremely hard to take down, and very easy to set up. Almost nothing can wall it, and once it gets a couple Dragon Dances there are no safe switch ins. Prankster users can Twave or Confuse Ray and pray to the RNG that they don't get sacrificed, but other than that, once he gets to +2 he speed ties even timid Deoxys-S, meaning that Focus Sash is the only way anyone is going to hurt him. As an added bonus, Dragon + Fire Coverage is almost perfect, giving at least Neutral damage on every relevant poke except for Azumarill, who loses to this anyways.
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast
Thundurus is just so good. Prankster Thunderwave cripples so many things that would otherwise threaten my team, and he backs that up by hitting hard. Due to how frail he is and also because I sometimes have to sac him to stop a sweep with Twave, I run life Orb for maximum damage because he probably isn't getting many turns out there. I'm finding that his damage is just a bonus as his main usefulness comes from guaranteed paralysis which makes setting up my Charizard much easier(I can come in against threats that normally outspeed me for a 2HKO and just roost until paralysis makes them lose a turn). The fact that he can kills things is a plus.
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 248 Atk / 160 HP / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
My hazard removal, functions as a physical sweeper on the side. Gave him bulk to increase the odds of him getting his job done and removing Rocks for Charizard. Not much else to say. I wasn't sure what to give him for his last move slot. For now it's Rockslide but I'm wondering if I might get better coverage with something else. 100 Speed EVs let him outspeed uninvested base 100s like Mew, Celebi, Tentacruel, while 160 HP EVs give him enough HP to tank 4 seismic tosses. The rest went to attack for obvious reasons
Deoxys-Defense @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
My hazard setter. Grabbed him as the most reliable hazard setter available. Gives me some needed special bulk and gets rocks out, period. Seismic toss gives me a reliable way to damage things, and recover lets me waste PP/see the enemy's moveset, as well as potentially getting me an extra layer of spikes.
Bisharp @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
When I was looking at the last slot for my team, I definitely wanted more offense, but I wasn't sure what to put in. I didn't have any priority on my team, so I decided to grab a priority user. I ended up choosing Bisharp as he synergizes super well with Deoxys and deals with Gengar, a poke my team has some serious trouble with. This also has the added bonus of repping a Charizard Y by making my team physical damage heavy, which has tripped up several people to my advantage already.
Here's a couple battles I've done with this team:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-117648267
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-117653868
Suggestions, comments, criticism? Everything is welcome
Sylveon @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Wish
- Protect
- Heal Bell
Sylveon is my Cleric. This EV spread counters Greninja, who otherwise can be very annoying. Hyper Voice does some serious damage to a lot of threats, more consistently than the other clerics I considered. Sylveon forces switches on a ton of frail special attackers, 2HKOing the likes of Greninja, Thundurus, and Alakazam, and both Lati@s'. Unfortunately she can't switch into Psyshock, but she can stall against users of it if she comes in on a different move.
Generally speaking I bring her out to reset my Charizard once his sweep has been stopped. Having a cleric prevents Thundurus and other pranksters from crippling it with Paralysis or forcing it out with Toxic, which is the main thing that can stand in my way.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
The biggest part of my team, defensive Charizard X is an absolute monster. Extremely hard to take down, and very easy to set up. Almost nothing can wall it, and once it gets a couple Dragon Dances there are no safe switch ins. Prankster users can Twave or Confuse Ray and pray to the RNG that they don't get sacrificed, but other than that, once he gets to +2 he speed ties even timid Deoxys-S, meaning that Focus Sash is the only way anyone is going to hurt him. As an added bonus, Dragon + Fire Coverage is almost perfect, giving at least Neutral damage on every relevant poke except for Azumarill, who loses to this anyways.
Thundurus (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Focus Blast
Thundurus is just so good. Prankster Thunderwave cripples so many things that would otherwise threaten my team, and he backs that up by hitting hard. Due to how frail he is and also because I sometimes have to sac him to stop a sweep with Twave, I run life Orb for maximum damage because he probably isn't getting many turns out there. I'm finding that his damage is just a bonus as his main usefulness comes from guaranteed paralysis which makes setting up my Charizard much easier(I can come in against threats that normally outspeed me for a 2HKO and just roost until paralysis makes them lose a turn). The fact that he can kills things is a plus.
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 248 Atk / 160 HP / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
My hazard removal, functions as a physical sweeper on the side. Gave him bulk to increase the odds of him getting his job done and removing Rocks for Charizard. Not much else to say. I wasn't sure what to give him for his last move slot. For now it's Rockslide but I'm wondering if I might get better coverage with something else. 100 Speed EVs let him outspeed uninvested base 100s like Mew, Celebi, Tentacruel, while 160 HP EVs give him enough HP to tank 4 seismic tosses. The rest went to attack for obvious reasons
Deoxys-Defense @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Seismic Toss
- Recover
My hazard setter. Grabbed him as the most reliable hazard setter available. Gives me some needed special bulk and gets rocks out, period. Seismic toss gives me a reliable way to damage things, and recover lets me waste PP/see the enemy's moveset, as well as potentially getting me an extra layer of spikes.
Bisharp @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
When I was looking at the last slot for my team, I definitely wanted more offense, but I wasn't sure what to put in. I didn't have any priority on my team, so I decided to grab a priority user. I ended up choosing Bisharp as he synergizes super well with Deoxys and deals with Gengar, a poke my team has some serious trouble with. This also has the added bonus of repping a Charizard Y by making my team physical damage heavy, which has tripped up several people to my advantage already.
Here's a couple battles I've done with this team:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-117648267
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-117653868
Suggestions, comments, criticism? Everything is welcome