Hi guys, I've been playing around with this team for awhile and have grown quite fond of it. I've basically combined a lot of my favourite tanky pokemon and put them together to create a slow team that can take a massive beating and still come back for more. I have a lot of issues with weather teams, so I was looking for some critique to help make this team better.
Team Building
As to the team building process, I initially started with a defensive roserade set that I had used to great success on other more balanced teams. I also found it had great defensive synergy with jellicent, so I decided to make them the core of my team.
Now what goes better with a water type and a grass type? A fire type of course. So heatran became the best option due to his bulk and immunity to toxic. He also has great defensive synergy with roserade and jellicent. I also needed a rapid spinner and a physical tank. I also had no immunity to electric, so donphan was a logical choice to include.
I now felt that I needed another physical tank, and something to sweep late game. After looking for awhile I came upon the physical tank set of slowbro which I immediately fell in love with. I personally have not seen many dark types in OU other than tyranitar, so I found his psychic/water typing not to be a huge issue. He is also incredibly bulky on the physical side and can tank many hits and hit back with T-wave or scald. He is perfect for killing dragons as well with ice beam.
Then I needed a great late game sweeper with the ability to cripple opposing walls that my team has difficulty beating. I eventually settled on a choice specs latios just for the sheer power it can bring down with draco meteor. It can also abuse psyshock to hit special walls (like blissey) and can trick it's choice specs to cripple walls if need be.
The Team
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
The rock setter and rapid spinner of the team. My team isn't particularly weak to hazards but keeping them off the field definitely helps with the longevity of the team. The moveset is pretty self explanatory: Earthquake for powerful STAB, Stealth Rock, Ice shard for revenge killing dragons or Gliscor/Landorus and Rapid Spin to get rid of entry hazards. I've found him to be incredibly bulky on the physical side, but the lack of recovery really hurts him in the long run. He also dies incredibly easy to any special attack. Against any weather team he is essentially useless because rain either becomes more powerful, or on sun teams they carry solarbeam or other grass types. Rotom-W is definitely one of the biggest nuisances to this set, but any bulky pokemon with special moves really ruins his day. The 8 speed EV's allow him to outrun the standard Smogon set, giving me the advantage if I ever face another donphan.
I am still considering replacing him with hippowdon purely for the recovery it has access too, but I don't think sandstorm helps my team very much. Ice shard is also the only priority I have on this team, and it has proven quite useful. If I put a hippowdon on instead I won't miss rapid spin very much, but losing ice shard wouldn't be very good.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Slack Off
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Thunder Wave (Psyshock)
Slowbro. Who would have guessed Slowbro could perform so well in OU? I really underestimated him since he is in UU, but I have been very impressed with him provided you play smart. Nobody expects a T-wave from him, so I have gotten surprise paralysis and then kills on pokemon like tyranitar and terakion. He also dies fairly easily to strong special attacks, and is fairly useless in the rain short of spreading paralysis. His moveset focuses on keeping him alive with Slack Off and Regenerator while spreading paralysis and hitting back with Ice Beam and Scald.
Gengar and other ghosts and bugs pose a huge threat to him, usually because they're packing supereffective STAB and are often special attackers. However he also walls most physical attackers in the metagame excluding Breloom. I find he has been very good and may just be the MVP of the team. Seriously guys, use Slowbro more
Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Spd / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Roar
- Protect
Defensive Heatran, not a lot to say honestly. Earth Power and Flamethrower provide great coverage, and Roar allows me to get some phazing when I have lots of hazards up. Protect allows me to scout moves and allows me to play safely, which is kind of the theme of this team. He forms a great defensive core with Roserade and Jellicent, but I have found his 4x weakness to be hugely detrimental. His role is essentially limited to phazing or spamming flamethrower late game or else he gets killed very easily. He also dies very easily in the rain, which doesn't help with my weakness to weather. Heatran is supposed to crush sun teams however but with this set I have found that not really to be true. Especially against other heatran with balloon or dugtrio. I have put 4 speed EV's on the set just to outspeed other defensive heatran. I haven't faced many however so I'm not really sure if it has been worth it or not.
He is my only steel type on the team, and is necessary for the 1/4x resist to ice which has proven very useful. However dies very easily to common attacking types, and is absolutely destroyed by any ground pokemon such as Landorus or Mamoswine. I would definitely consider replacing him if a pokemon with better synergy with my team could be found.
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunder
- Trick
Specs Latios, damn you scary! The late game sweeper/revenge killer I use on this team. I have used this set on a bunch of different teams and have always found it to always be effective. He outspeeds a lot of stuff, so the extra power from Specs allows it to nuke other pokemon with Draco Meteor or Thunder in the rain. Trick also allows him to mess up other walls such as Blissey that my team struggles with otherwise. Psyshock is also chosen specifically for Blissey, but also hits the common fighting types in the tier.
Normally it is used late game to great affect, but if I'm forced to bring it out early it tends to die quickly due to the lack of leftovers and residual damage. Pokemon that outspeed it are my main concern, specifically choice scarfed dragon pokemon that can OHKO it. Gengar also scares me, but it is frail enough that I can either OHKO it or kill it with another pokemon. Generally I am really impressed with this pokemon, and I am actually having trouble not putting it on teams I make.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Rest
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Roserade, another pokemon that teams usually aren't prepared for. Spikes allows me to set up more entry hazards, and I chose them over toxic spikes because I felt a lot of pokemon weren't easy to deal with once they have poisoned because it prevented me from putting other status on them such as paralysis. Plus the lack of instant damage wasn't that great. Giga Drain is a great STAB attack, but unfortunately is resisted by a lot of pokemon. I was considering changing to Leaf Storm for the higher damage, because I usually end up healing myself with Rest instead. Rest works really well for healing due to Natural Cure, but makes me very predictable because I will almost always switch out after I use it. Hidden Power Fire allows me to hit steel types and other grass types out of the rain, but becomes too weak to use in the rain usually.
I really like this set, because I have used it on many teams to great affect. However my team needs a cleric but I cannot decide on another move to remove instead. I also feel like Celebi would work well in this slot, but I don't want too many dark weaknesses because of Slowbro and Latios. Sun really hurts her as well because many of the pokemon they run resist both giga drain and HP fire. Her damage output isn't very high regardless so it's hard for her to kill anything that it doesn't hit supereffectively.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 (36) Def / 252 (220) SDef
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Giga Drain (Shadow Ball)
- Scald
- Toxic
The necessary spinblocker, great for its immunities to water and fighting. Aside from that I don't like it very much. I have been tweaking the set a lot so that it can effectively kill other bulky water type pokemon with toxic and giga drain. Scald is used to hit anything that resists giga drain as well, but its effectiveness drops significantly in the sun. I initially ran a set with Recover, Scald, Ice Beam and Taunt but found it overlapped with Slowbro too much. I tried Will-O-Wisp as well but was very disappointed with the low accuracy because I missed constantly. I've found this set to be effective, but I still find it to be useless outside of its immunities a lot of the time.
I have considered using a Gengar set just to have another fast pokemon, but I found that it didn't fit in with the theme of my team really. Tentacruel would be a great option as well, and it would allow me to replace Donphan with Hippowdon and still have a spinner on my team. However another sweeper or revenge killer may be beneficial as well. This thing dies easily to T-bolts or Solarbeams as well as powerful physical attacks. I would definitely consider changing this out as well.
Conclusion
Well thanks for reading, and I would definitely appreciate any critique or suggestions from you guys. I may try out Hippowdon/Tentacruel instead of Donphan/Jellicent, but I am definitely curious to see what you guys think as well.
Edit: Fixed some spelling/grammar and made a few changes in BOLD
Team Building
As to the team building process, I initially started with a defensive roserade set that I had used to great success on other more balanced teams. I also found it had great defensive synergy with jellicent, so I decided to make them the core of my team.
Now what goes better with a water type and a grass type? A fire type of course. So heatran became the best option due to his bulk and immunity to toxic. He also has great defensive synergy with roserade and jellicent. I also needed a rapid spinner and a physical tank. I also had no immunity to electric, so donphan was a logical choice to include.
I now felt that I needed another physical tank, and something to sweep late game. After looking for awhile I came upon the physical tank set of slowbro which I immediately fell in love with. I personally have not seen many dark types in OU other than tyranitar, so I found his psychic/water typing not to be a huge issue. He is also incredibly bulky on the physical side and can tank many hits and hit back with T-wave or scald. He is perfect for killing dragons as well with ice beam.
Then I needed a great late game sweeper with the ability to cripple opposing walls that my team has difficulty beating. I eventually settled on a choice specs latios just for the sheer power it can bring down with draco meteor. It can also abuse psyshock to hit special walls (like blissey) and can trick it's choice specs to cripple walls if need be.
The Team
Donphan @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spd
Impish Nature
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
The rock setter and rapid spinner of the team. My team isn't particularly weak to hazards but keeping them off the field definitely helps with the longevity of the team. The moveset is pretty self explanatory: Earthquake for powerful STAB, Stealth Rock, Ice shard for revenge killing dragons or Gliscor/Landorus and Rapid Spin to get rid of entry hazards. I've found him to be incredibly bulky on the physical side, but the lack of recovery really hurts him in the long run. He also dies incredibly easy to any special attack. Against any weather team he is essentially useless because rain either becomes more powerful, or on sun teams they carry solarbeam or other grass types. Rotom-W is definitely one of the biggest nuisances to this set, but any bulky pokemon with special moves really ruins his day. The 8 speed EV's allow him to outrun the standard Smogon set, giving me the advantage if I ever face another donphan.
I am still considering replacing him with hippowdon purely for the recovery it has access too, but I don't think sandstorm helps my team very much. Ice shard is also the only priority I have on this team, and it has proven quite useful. If I put a hippowdon on instead I won't miss rapid spin very much, but losing ice shard wouldn't be very good.
Slowbro @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Slack Off
- Ice Beam
- Scald
- Thunder Wave (Psyshock)
Slowbro. Who would have guessed Slowbro could perform so well in OU? I really underestimated him since he is in UU, but I have been very impressed with him provided you play smart. Nobody expects a T-wave from him, so I have gotten surprise paralysis and then kills on pokemon like tyranitar and terakion. He also dies fairly easily to strong special attacks, and is fairly useless in the rain short of spreading paralysis. His moveset focuses on keeping him alive with Slack Off and Regenerator while spreading paralysis and hitting back with Ice Beam and Scald.
Gengar and other ghosts and bugs pose a huge threat to him, usually because they're packing supereffective STAB and are often special attackers. However he also walls most physical attackers in the metagame excluding Breloom. I find he has been very good and may just be the MVP of the team. Seriously guys, use Slowbro more
Heatran @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Spd / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Roar
- Protect
Defensive Heatran, not a lot to say honestly. Earth Power and Flamethrower provide great coverage, and Roar allows me to get some phazing when I have lots of hazards up. Protect allows me to scout moves and allows me to play safely, which is kind of the theme of this team. He forms a great defensive core with Roserade and Jellicent, but I have found his 4x weakness to be hugely detrimental. His role is essentially limited to phazing or spamming flamethrower late game or else he gets killed very easily. He also dies very easily in the rain, which doesn't help with my weakness to weather. Heatran is supposed to crush sun teams however but with this set I have found that not really to be true. Especially against other heatran with balloon or dugtrio. I have put 4 speed EV's on the set just to outspeed other defensive heatran. I haven't faced many however so I'm not really sure if it has been worth it or not.
He is my only steel type on the team, and is necessary for the 1/4x resist to ice which has proven very useful. However dies very easily to common attacking types, and is absolutely destroyed by any ground pokemon such as Landorus or Mamoswine. I would definitely consider replacing him if a pokemon with better synergy with my team could be found.
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunder
- Trick
Specs Latios, damn you scary! The late game sweeper/revenge killer I use on this team. I have used this set on a bunch of different teams and have always found it to always be effective. He outspeeds a lot of stuff, so the extra power from Specs allows it to nuke other pokemon with Draco Meteor or Thunder in the rain. Trick also allows him to mess up other walls such as Blissey that my team struggles with otherwise. Psyshock is also chosen specifically for Blissey, but also hits the common fighting types in the tier.
Normally it is used late game to great affect, but if I'm forced to bring it out early it tends to die quickly due to the lack of leftovers and residual damage. Pokemon that outspeed it are my main concern, specifically choice scarfed dragon pokemon that can OHKO it. Gengar also scares me, but it is frail enough that I can either OHKO it or kill it with another pokemon. Generally I am really impressed with this pokemon, and I am actually having trouble not putting it on teams I make.
Roserade @ Black Sludge
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Rest
- Spikes
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Roserade, another pokemon that teams usually aren't prepared for. Spikes allows me to set up more entry hazards, and I chose them over toxic spikes because I felt a lot of pokemon weren't easy to deal with once they have poisoned because it prevented me from putting other status on them such as paralysis. Plus the lack of instant damage wasn't that great. Giga Drain is a great STAB attack, but unfortunately is resisted by a lot of pokemon. I was considering changing to Leaf Storm for the higher damage, because I usually end up healing myself with Rest instead. Rest works really well for healing due to Natural Cure, but makes me very predictable because I will almost always switch out after I use it. Hidden Power Fire allows me to hit steel types and other grass types out of the rain, but becomes too weak to use in the rain usually.
I really like this set, because I have used it on many teams to great affect. However my team needs a cleric but I cannot decide on another move to remove instead. I also feel like Celebi would work well in this slot, but I don't want too many dark weaknesses because of Slowbro and Latios. Sun really hurts her as well because many of the pokemon they run resist both giga drain and HP fire. Her damage output isn't very high regardless so it's hard for her to kill anything that it doesn't hit supereffectively.
Jellicent @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 (36) Def / 252 (220) SDef
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Giga Drain (Shadow Ball)
- Scald
- Toxic
The necessary spinblocker, great for its immunities to water and fighting. Aside from that I don't like it very much. I have been tweaking the set a lot so that it can effectively kill other bulky water type pokemon with toxic and giga drain. Scald is used to hit anything that resists giga drain as well, but its effectiveness drops significantly in the sun. I initially ran a set with Recover, Scald, Ice Beam and Taunt but found it overlapped with Slowbro too much. I tried Will-O-Wisp as well but was very disappointed with the low accuracy because I missed constantly. I've found this set to be effective, but I still find it to be useless outside of its immunities a lot of the time.
I have considered using a Gengar set just to have another fast pokemon, but I found that it didn't fit in with the theme of my team really. Tentacruel would be a great option as well, and it would allow me to replace Donphan with Hippowdon and still have a spinner on my team. However another sweeper or revenge killer may be beneficial as well. This thing dies easily to T-bolts or Solarbeams as well as powerful physical attacks. I would definitely consider changing this out as well.
Conclusion
Well thanks for reading, and I would definitely appreciate any critique or suggestions from you guys. I may try out Hippowdon/Tentacruel instead of Donphan/Jellicent, but I am definitely curious to see what you guys think as well.
Edit: Fixed some spelling/grammar and made a few changes in BOLD
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