I've played OU in past generations but this one hadn't really excited me. All of the super powerful moves from last generation were toned down a notch, but pokemon feel even more fragile than they used to be. It's tough to counter anything any more, when being uncounterable used to send a pokemon to ubers.
I mostly made this team so that I could climb the ladder a bit and people would take my whining more seriously :). I've gotten into the 1300's in PO, winning most of my games so far. Maybe that's enough to at least be allowed to have a dialogue.
The team is based on three cores, a balanced, a defensive, and an offensive. It tries to be super versatile and have an answer to everything. Please let me know what I missed!
Death (Tyranitar) (M) @ Tyranitarite
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
- Low Kick
- Stone Edge
I started building this team with Tyranitar, going with my fear of rain from last generation. He still stops a very powerful threat in Mega Charizard-Y very soundly, as well as the most annoying pokemon this gen Talonflame, and has incredible base stats. He's a great start offensively and defensively. I can't really add much for why he's here other than as a general base.
I don't use Dragon Dance immediately. Usually I poke some holes with a strong Stone Edge and some sandstorm damage. From time to time, this guy can still perform a sweep though. He outspeeds base 130 speed (Aerodactyl, Jolteon, Crobat) after 1 Dragon Dance, and has almost perfect coverage with his moves.
I don't use Superpower because I generally need the fighting move against heavy pokemon, and I don't want my potential sweep to be interrupted. Superpower is better on a Choice TTar.
Grief (Gengar) (M) @ Safety Goggles
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hex
- Sludge Wave
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
Gengar and Tyranitar fit each other defensively quite well, while maintaining an offensive punch. Gengar is immune to Ground and Fighting and resistant to Fairy, while Tyranitar is resistant to Dark, immune to Psychic, and generally takes neutral attacks with ease, while Gengar folds to anything neutral. Offensively, they mostly get in strong neutral hits, poking holes for my other pokemon. They form the balanced core of my team.
The Hex on this Gengar builds off of Toxic Spikes from Dragalge. Even if there is no status on the enemy, it's really only slightly weaker than Shadow Ball. I have found this to be an extremely potent combo.
Taunt lets Gengar beat Chansey/Blissey, which would otherwise give my team a lot of trouble, and prevents Fairies from using Wish.
Sludge Wave is mostly for Fairies, but also provides a backup strong neutral hit, really helpful when using Hex instead of Shadow Ball.
The most unorthodox thing about this Gengar is his Safety Goggles. The main use is because I have trouble with Mega Venusaur. It also lets Gengar counter Smeargle and Breloom, which is just great to have against those gimmick teams which occasionally work. As a nice side effect, it prolongs his longevity a bit with Sandstorm out from Tyranitar.
Madness (Dragalge) (F) @ Black Sludge
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Dragalge is the beginning of my second core, this one the defensive core. He is a special wall who easily counters Water, Electric, and Fire pokemon that Skarmory has trouble with. He can't tackle strong physical Fire hits, but that's okay because Stealth Rock and Tyranitar can work around them.
Toxic Spikes give this guy something to do when they just switch in their special wall. Predicting this, I usually start off a battle with Toxic Spikes, instead of the usual plan people have of Draco Meteoring everything. I find my opponents are usually well prepared for that, so even with offensive EV's, I find plenty of time to Toxic Spikes on the switch. I had to keep the offensive EVs or else DM and SW would do nothing, and I have never had problems defensively anyway.
HP Fire is really weak on this guy, but does the job against Scizor and Ferrothorn, and there is nothing else better in the moveslot that I could think of.
This guy is super duper viable in OU, and would love for more people to give him a shot on the Toxic Spikes set, instead of the useless attacker set.
Sanity (Skarmory) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind
This is simply a generic counter to physical pokemon to complement Dragalge. Not as much synergy with the team, but provides sorely needed support with Stealth Rock. He handles U-Turners with his Rocky Helmet, while Dragalge handles Volt Switchers. Without Skarmory, Landorus-T would be a pain in the butt, but I find him manageable with a counter this hard.
The Rocky Helmet is absolutely necessary to wear down U-Turn users.
Ponder (Dragonite) (M) @ Choice Band
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Iron Head
- Superpower
Finally we get to the offensive core. Volcarona takes care of Fairies and Steels offensively, while Dragonite takes care of anything else. If I see a team susceptible to it, I will start the match off with Dragonite and just use Outrage. Some teams do not have any switchin that takes less than 50%, even their Steel-type.
In the late game, a CB Espeed is often just what I need to revenge kill so many things. I don't really enjoy the aesthetic of Dragonite, but he is the last pokemon that I added to my team to make it work, and he really did. I started winning a lot when I added Dragonite.
Carnage (Volcarona) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Quiver Dance
- Roost
In most games, Volcarona comes out as a finisher, or not at all. I use a defensive spread with the goal of killing enough of their team that the only pokemon left will deal <50% damage if I can get one Quiver Dance off. I've won a ton of battles with this concept, and don't really see how I would have won just trying to power through them with an offensive spread - it won't add another 2x damage.
The Lum Berry lets me set up on Thunder Wave and Toxic users. Being a fire type, I can be assured that it will never be wasted on a Will-o-Wisp. It also provides another backup against cheesey Spore users. This is something people have argued with me tooth and nail online, but I am trying to show how it works.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My biggest threat at the moment is redundant Dragonite counters - having Landorus-T, Skarmory, Clefable, and Heatran on the same team really hurts me. I rely on Dragonite to get me some early KO's to allow the rest of my team some breathing room, as many of them take a wide number of threats on their shoulders without reliable recovery.
The biggest Dragonite counter that also counters everything else is Mega Diancie. I have Iron Head to combat her on a switch in, but that's some heavy prediction reliance. Everything on my team takes >50% from Mega Diancie if she picks the right move. I don't know if anything in the game can actually counter her.
Pokemon with Knock Off and a move Ttar is weak to (Bisharp, Landorus-T, Azumarill, Gallade, etc.) give me a hard time. Since my Ttar has a mega stone and is resistant to Dark, he normally is the best thing in the world to counter Knock Off. Unfortunately a lot of the carriers can own him one way or another.
Stealth Rock sucks against my team with Volcarona and Dragonite, but there's not much I can do about it. I can't fit in a Defogger or Rapid Spinner anywhere. I've already tried Excadrill to combo with Ttar, but it's too much Ground/Fighting weakness. I've tried Latias and Scizor instead of Dragonite as Defoggers, but I lose SO much power. Since my tanky Volcarona's goal is to be able to take <50% damage and Roost it off anyway, SR is NOT a death sentence for her. Dragonite doesn't care as much as a normal one since he is mostly into forcing switches or using E-Speed rather than tanking hits. He has enough resistances and immunities that Multiscale is really just an icing on a cake for him.
Other than that, Will-o-Wisp Talonflame fucks up Tyranitar, and I pretty much just have to kill it with residual damage - SR, Rocky Helmet, Sandstorm, and its own recoil. Luckily I haven't faced too many, but I know that it counters my team. If I ever faced some kind of WoW/Acrobatics/Roost/SD Talonflame, I would probably autolose.
Finally, Chansey really sucks. Dragonite can 2hko her, but Softboiled enough times and I will go into confused mode. I don't like switching around because none of my pokemon really like to be statused or take a chunk of their health away. I do have ways to deal with her, but she sucks.
PO exportable:
I mostly made this team so that I could climb the ladder a bit and people would take my whining more seriously :). I've gotten into the 1300's in PO, winning most of my games so far. Maybe that's enough to at least be allowed to have a dialogue.
The team is based on three cores, a balanced, a defensive, and an offensive. It tries to be super versatile and have an answer to everything. Please let me know what I missed!
Death (Tyranitar) (M) @ Tyranitarite
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Dragon Dance
- Low Kick
- Stone Edge
I started building this team with Tyranitar, going with my fear of rain from last generation. He still stops a very powerful threat in Mega Charizard-Y very soundly, as well as the most annoying pokemon this gen Talonflame, and has incredible base stats. He's a great start offensively and defensively. I can't really add much for why he's here other than as a general base.
I don't use Dragon Dance immediately. Usually I poke some holes with a strong Stone Edge and some sandstorm damage. From time to time, this guy can still perform a sweep though. He outspeeds base 130 speed (Aerodactyl, Jolteon, Crobat) after 1 Dragon Dance, and has almost perfect coverage with his moves.
I don't use Superpower because I generally need the fighting move against heavy pokemon, and I don't want my potential sweep to be interrupted. Superpower is better on a Choice TTar.
Grief (Gengar) (M) @ Safety Goggles
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hex
- Sludge Wave
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
Gengar and Tyranitar fit each other defensively quite well, while maintaining an offensive punch. Gengar is immune to Ground and Fighting and resistant to Fairy, while Tyranitar is resistant to Dark, immune to Psychic, and generally takes neutral attacks with ease, while Gengar folds to anything neutral. Offensively, they mostly get in strong neutral hits, poking holes for my other pokemon. They form the balanced core of my team.
The Hex on this Gengar builds off of Toxic Spikes from Dragalge. Even if there is no status on the enemy, it's really only slightly weaker than Shadow Ball. I have found this to be an extremely potent combo.
Taunt lets Gengar beat Chansey/Blissey, which would otherwise give my team a lot of trouble, and prevents Fairies from using Wish.
Sludge Wave is mostly for Fairies, but also provides a backup strong neutral hit, really helpful when using Hex instead of Shadow Ball.
The most unorthodox thing about this Gengar is his Safety Goggles. The main use is because I have trouble with Mega Venusaur. It also lets Gengar counter Smeargle and Breloom, which is just great to have against those gimmick teams which occasionally work. As a nice side effect, it prolongs his longevity a bit with Sandstorm out from Tyranitar.
Madness (Dragalge) (F) @ Black Sludge
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Adaptability
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 Spd
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Dragalge is the beginning of my second core, this one the defensive core. He is a special wall who easily counters Water, Electric, and Fire pokemon that Skarmory has trouble with. He can't tackle strong physical Fire hits, but that's okay because Stealth Rock and Tyranitar can work around them.
Toxic Spikes give this guy something to do when they just switch in their special wall. Predicting this, I usually start off a battle with Toxic Spikes, instead of the usual plan people have of Draco Meteoring everything. I find my opponents are usually well prepared for that, so even with offensive EV's, I find plenty of time to Toxic Spikes on the switch. I had to keep the offensive EVs or else DM and SW would do nothing, and I have never had problems defensively anyway.
HP Fire is really weak on this guy, but does the job against Scizor and Ferrothorn, and there is nothing else better in the moveslot that I could think of.
This guy is super duper viable in OU, and would love for more people to give him a shot on the Toxic Spikes set, instead of the useless attacker set.
Sanity (Skarmory) (F) @ Rocky Helmet
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Brave Bird
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind
This is simply a generic counter to physical pokemon to complement Dragalge. Not as much synergy with the team, but provides sorely needed support with Stealth Rock. He handles U-Turners with his Rocky Helmet, while Dragalge handles Volt Switchers. Without Skarmory, Landorus-T would be a pain in the butt, but I find him manageable with a counter this hard.
The Rocky Helmet is absolutely necessary to wear down U-Turn users.
Ponder (Dragonite) (M) @ Choice Band
Shiny: Yes
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Extreme Speed
- Outrage
- Iron Head
- Superpower
Finally we get to the offensive core. Volcarona takes care of Fairies and Steels offensively, while Dragonite takes care of anything else. If I see a team susceptible to it, I will start the match off with Dragonite and just use Outrage. Some teams do not have any switchin that takes less than 50%, even their Steel-type.
In the late game, a CB Espeed is often just what I need to revenge kill so many things. I don't really enjoy the aesthetic of Dragonite, but he is the last pokemon that I added to my team to make it work, and he really did. I started winning a lot when I added Dragonite.
Carnage (Volcarona) (F) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Bug Buzz
- Fiery Dance
- Quiver Dance
- Roost
In most games, Volcarona comes out as a finisher, or not at all. I use a defensive spread with the goal of killing enough of their team that the only pokemon left will deal <50% damage if I can get one Quiver Dance off. I've won a ton of battles with this concept, and don't really see how I would have won just trying to power through them with an offensive spread - it won't add another 2x damage.
The Lum Berry lets me set up on Thunder Wave and Toxic users. Being a fire type, I can be assured that it will never be wasted on a Will-o-Wisp. It also provides another backup against cheesey Spore users. This is something people have argued with me tooth and nail online, but I am trying to show how it works.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My biggest threat at the moment is redundant Dragonite counters - having Landorus-T, Skarmory, Clefable, and Heatran on the same team really hurts me. I rely on Dragonite to get me some early KO's to allow the rest of my team some breathing room, as many of them take a wide number of threats on their shoulders without reliable recovery.
The biggest Dragonite counter that also counters everything else is Mega Diancie. I have Iron Head to combat her on a switch in, but that's some heavy prediction reliance. Everything on my team takes >50% from Mega Diancie if she picks the right move. I don't know if anything in the game can actually counter her.
Pokemon with Knock Off and a move Ttar is weak to (Bisharp, Landorus-T, Azumarill, Gallade, etc.) give me a hard time. Since my Ttar has a mega stone and is resistant to Dark, he normally is the best thing in the world to counter Knock Off. Unfortunately a lot of the carriers can own him one way or another.
Stealth Rock sucks against my team with Volcarona and Dragonite, but there's not much I can do about it. I can't fit in a Defogger or Rapid Spinner anywhere. I've already tried Excadrill to combo with Ttar, but it's too much Ground/Fighting weakness. I've tried Latias and Scizor instead of Dragonite as Defoggers, but I lose SO much power. Since my tanky Volcarona's goal is to be able to take <50% damage and Roost it off anyway, SR is NOT a death sentence for her. Dragonite doesn't care as much as a normal one since he is mostly into forcing switches or using E-Speed rather than tanking hits. He has enough resistances and immunities that Multiscale is really just an icing on a cake for him.
Other than that, Will-o-Wisp Talonflame fucks up Tyranitar, and I pretty much just have to kill it with residual damage - SR, Rocky Helmet, Sandstorm, and its own recoil. Luckily I haven't faced too many, but I know that it counters my team. If I ever faced some kind of WoW/Acrobatics/Roost/SD Talonflame, I would probably autolose.
Finally, Chansey really sucks. Dragonite can 2hko her, but Softboiled enough times and I will go into confused mode. I don't like switching around because none of my pokemon really like to be statused or take a chunk of their health away. I do have ways to deal with her, but she sucks.
PO exportable:
Last edited:
