Balanced OU: Unleashing the Ape

[Radzinsky]

After focusing on UU for the past few months, I decided I'd try my hand at OU for a change of pace. After studying and facing the current popular threats and strategies, I eventually came up with a an idea; a simple one at that. Cause as much damage to the opponent in order for Mixape to come in and finish what's left. I tried to cover as many of the main threats as I possibly could, while still keeping in mind the overall goal of Ape's clean-up. I wanted to feature an Anti-Lead and strong defensive core that could wittle down the opposite team, and 2 sweepers to accompany Ape to cause further damage and KO as many threats as possible.

Overview

In Depth

The Anti-Lead

Dragonite@Life Orb
Quiet Nature (+Sp attack, -Speed)
EVs: 252 Attack/252 Sp attack/4 Speed
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-Superpower
-Extremespeed

My favorite Anti-Lead in the game. It makes quick work of most leads, with the combination of a high base power attack + Extremespeed. Azelf and Aerodactyl fall to this combination, while bulkier SR/Spiker leads are 2hko'd by Draco Meteor. Fire Blast is for Forretress/Skarm and Superpower is for Ttar and Heatran leads. What I like about this is that it frequently returns late game to act as a wall breaker. Dnite puts me off to a good start almost every time and is sure cause major damage for the opposite team.


The Defensive Core

Physical Tank

Swampert@Leftovers
Relaxed Nature (+Defense, -Speed)
EVs: 252 HP/4 Attack/252 Def
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Surf
-Ice Beam

The first pokemon of my defensive trio, Swampert gets up the ever-important Stealth Rock, and is able to defeat or atleast weaken most of OU's physical sweepers. One thing I tried to fulfill in this team's defensive core was to actually be doing damage with my tanks, not just simply walling/stalling threats out. Swampert's terrible weakness to grass and fairly low sp defense stats allow most special sweepers to KO it quickly. This is where the second part of the core comes in.

The Special Tank

Zapdos@Leftovers
Nature: Calm(+ Sp. Def, -Att)
EVs: 248 HP/224 Sp Def/36 Speed
-Roost
-Thunderbolt
-Heat Wave
-Light Screen

Specially defensive Zapdos came to mind not only because it takes care of Swampert's grass weakness, but because it can handle OU's special sweepers with ease. With this set, I can defeat Roserade, Gengar, Yanmega and Togekiss. This is important because the second two pokemon as well as some versions of Togekiss all pose a threat to Ape. This version of Zapdos also catches some people by surprise, not expecting a specially bulky set. It also scares away most Gyarados who haven't set up yet, allowing more Stealth Rock damage to be done to it.


The Offensive Trio


The Bulky Special Sweeper

Suicune@Life Orb
Nature: Timid(+Speed, -Att)
EVs: 4 Def/252 Sp Attack/252 Speed
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power Electric
-Rest

I decided to go with something else that would catch people off guard to be my special sweeper. It excellent coverage and a recovery move, even if it puts it out of commission for 2 turns. It's bulky enough to combat DD Gyarados and Salamence to an extent, and makes quick work of Heatran. This is one slot I'm uncertain of, though. Is there anything that's better for this slot?


The Trapper/Revenge Killer

Scizor@Choice Band
Nature: Adamant (+Att,-Sp Att)
Ability:Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Attack/8 Speed
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-U-turn
-Pursuit

With Infernape's threats in mind, I realized I needed a pursuit user to take care of Latias and Starmie, and at this point a revenge killer was something my team needed. So of course, CB Scizor is perfect in this slot, and also provides needed physical power on the team. There's no question as to why Scizor is the most used OU, it's the game's best revenge killer and provides so many things in one set, its hard to not include on every team.


The Late Game Sweeper

Infernape@Life Orb
Nature: Naive(+Speed, -Sp Def)
EVs: 64 Att, 252 Sp Att, 192 Spe
-Close Combat
-Fire Blast
-Hidden Power Ice
-Grass Knot

The centerpiece of the team. Everything that happens sets up for Ape to sweep. It's high offensive stats and move pool make it the ultimate late game sweeper. If it has to come out midgame, it still holds itself well, because it gets a super effective hit on the majority of OU.


Synergy:

Fire: Swampert, Suicune, Dragonite, Infernape
Water: Suicune, Dragonite
Grass: Dragonite, Zapdos, Scizor, Infernape
Electric: Swampert
Flying: Zapdos, Scizor
Poison: Swampert, Scizor
Dark: Scizor, Infernape
Psychic: Scizor
Ghost: Scizor

Fighting: Dragonite, Zapdos
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Steel: Swampert, Zapdos, Suicune, Infernape
Rock: Swampert
Ground: Dragonite, Zapdos
Normal: Scizor
Bug: Dragonite, Zapdos, Scizor, Infernape
Dragon: Scizor
Ice: Suicune, Scizor, Infernape


Closing: First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this.
I've tried to cover as much as I could, but I need help with anything else this team might have trouble with, and how to change that. I'm up to any changes that will make it better.



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[Radzinsky]

Bump

 

[Plus]

Hello

This is a very nice team, but for the threats that Infernape has trouble with, namely Starmie and Latias, he won't be too reliable against having both threats in the same team, mostly because things such as Life Orb Starmie nearly kill Scizor with rocks up, while Specs Latias gets a chance to 2hko your Scizor with Draco Meteor, which isn't reliable for two really important threats such as those. For a quick change, I would suggest you try out a more bulkier Scizor spread with Sdef, mainly the Ubers Trappers spread which is 176 HP / 100 Atk / 232 SpD. Sure, it's ubers, but trust me -- it works like a charm in OU too ^^.

I don't think Suicune is making the best work of that slot there, especially without as much sweeping prowess as other CM variants, and the inability to sweep through stuff such as Blissey as well. Against faster threats, your team really lacks the ability to pick up the speed against anything 110 and above, meaning you are putting a really big burden on your Scizor and Bullet Punch to get yourself out of a pickle. What I would suggest, however, is something that helps you better against stall and the faster paced offensive threats, such as DD Gyarados, Starmie, Gengar, and whatnot.

Scarf Latias should work very well on your team, as it keeps the fire resist and your team can deal with Scizor and Tyranitar pretty well. Scarf Latias should be able to threaten out fast mons with ease, as nothing much really runs Scarf who is faster than Latias, bar Gengar who is at risk to lose to Latias if it runs HP Fire, effectively lowering it's speed point. Latias has synergy with Scizor, and should you find yourself having been pursuited by Tar or Scizor, it leaves you an opening to counterattack with Scizor or even Infernape, which you want to bring out at a good time -- that is one of the best times to bring it in.

Latias @Choice Scarf
Timid 252 Spa / 252 spe / 4 def
Draco Meteor / Surf / Dragon Pulse / Trick

I realize that you are running 192 speed on Infernape from the analysis, however I would suggest you run at least one point higher so you can outspeed more Infernape instead of having to hope for a speed tie. Many people also choose to run max speed on their Infernape to tie all Infernape bar scarf, which is also a good idea. The 64 Attack EVs are simply there to boost your attack a bit, if you don't mind the pretty small drop in attack then you should really consider running max speed.

I am not sure if you are finding Light Screen useful on Zapdos, but Swampert seems pretty annoying to this team so I would say that running HP Grass should be a pretty good choice over Light Screen so you can get a quicker kill on it. You may have Scizor and whatnot to deal with it, but you will be worn down faster on the switches if you should choose to fight swampert like so. At least with Zapdos, you can opt to severely damage it instead of bringing out your big gun Infernape and attempt a Grass Knot. However, should you find Light Screen more useful to your team, nothing's stopping you from keeping it, this is merely a suggestion.

Your Dragonite's EVs could use a little work. At the moment you fail to outspeed even lead Metagross, something you should really aim to beat, and it's not hard to win against it even with a Quiet nature. take some evs out of your Attack, and run 28 EVs in Speed so you can outspeed 180s, and 181s as there are many who like to hit that number to outspeed 180. This is also a pretty miniscule investment, so you won't notice much of a difference when using Draggy.

I'm a bit concerned about your Lucario weakness to an extent, as your Zapdos fails to outspeed it and it can set up on Latias and Scizor. To start off with Zapdos, run an additional EV point so you can beat defensive Celebi. This makes you hit 246, again, a miniscule investment for a pretty important outspeed. Onto Infernape, however, consider running Mach Punch over Grass Knot so you can get the extra priority you need to beat Lucario. So long as you have Zapdos, bulky waters should be a lot easier to deal with.

Good luck with your team!