SM OU CAffeine (OU, Offensive/Borderline HO Team)

[wir3s]

New to this teambuilding thing in general, this is one that's been working pretty well for me in the ladder so far. I'm sure some improvements can be made, though.

Edit: I've swapped Blacephalon out for Mega Alakazam and gave Tapu Koko an Electrium Z. Now that Alakazam has ice coverage against Lando and other ground/dragon types, I've taken HP ice off of lando and replaced it with Stone Edge for better coverage and better damage against flying types and Pinsir. Thanks to aqualad33 for some great suggestions : )

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Flash Cannon
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Part of a bulky core with lando, still able to dish out a huge amount of damage. Lando and Magearna are pretty much the only tanky mons on this team. Mage makes up the special part of this core, and the assault vest makes it so I can switch into most special attacks without worry. I pretty much have all coverage/STAB moves to get some good damage in. HP fire helps to counter against mons like ferro, mag, and opposing magearnas. volt switch adds good coverage against fini and other water types as well as adds to the giant switch core I have going on. Fleur cannon is used against greninja (followed by a switch out) and is massive damage in general, especially with soul-heart. Flash cannon helps take down rock types (such as t-tar) and is solid STAB in general.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Standard tank Lando. He's the physical part of the tank core. Same thing as Mage, really: can switch into physical attackers quite easily, maybe set up a stealth rocks or whatever and U-turn out into one of my HO mons if Lando is slower. I've considered Stone Edge over HP Ice as I have enough counters against lando, but I still run it for ground/dragon types. Stone Edge, as said above counters flying types, such as Zapdos, and does good damage against pinsir. I usually only set up stealth rocks if it will be super effective against something or I have a completely free chance to. Earthquake is solid STAB and gets rid of Koko (if he doesn't switch).

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

IMO the most important mon in this team. Thunder bolt is good STAB, does good damage against Celesteela and takes out Charizard Y, HP ice is solid coverage (thinking about HP fire though) and does massive damage against ground/dragon types and lando (although thats not what I use too counter lando usually), and I use volt switch and U-turn to pivot. I use both so I can switch out against ground types with U-turn, but still do good damage against water or flying types (or just better damage in general) with Volt Switch. I use Tapu to setup my Hawlucha and do a lot of switch damage with Staraptor. Electrium Z allows Koko to pump out a ton of damage and easily deal with and even OHKO some tanks (toxapex mainly).

Staraptor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn

I literally use Staraptor in every team, it's just so solid for me. Choice scarf allows it to get solid speed and outspeed some slower scarfed mons. It can still do a surprising amount of damage (can one-shot Charizard-Y with no EVs in HP/defense) and is really solid for cleaning up weaker mons that were hit by Mage or Lando. Yes, this is the 3rd flying type among 2 much better ones, but I've tried greninja and it honestly can't get the same damage down as Staraptor, although it may be faster. Its normal typing also lets it switch into ghost attacks. Staraptor completes a 4-way switch core. It's typing also doesn't really matter, as it's extremely frail and exclusively used for doing damage and switching into a tank.

Hawlucha @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 36 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
- High Jump Kick
- Roost

A ridiculously good counter to Lando. I lead Koko in pretty much all of my games, so if they lead with a lando, I can easily U-turn into this guy. If it's a scarfed lando, Koko will easily go down to an earthquake, but the sacrifice is worth it as I can easily get 1-2 swords dances off on hawlucha and get usually at the very least 2 mons before going down. If lando isn't scarfed, I know that I'm either switching into a stealth rocks, earthquake, or, if the opponent predicts the switch, a rock move (which basically does nothing). If they choose to keep lando in at this point, I basically win as I can get multiple swords dances off while roosting up and eventually sweeping. If they chose to swap it out into something else and then swap lando back in and reduce my attack, I'll just roost and swords dance in their face no problem. Acrobatics is huge damage after Electric Seed is dropped, High Jump Kick is great stab and gets rid of Heatran, Celesteela, and ferrothorn in one hit (after a swords dance). Roost is viable here because hawlucha has pretty solid defensive bulk after the Electric Seed is used. It's very hard to counter.

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Alakazam is a very powerful special late-game sweeper, balancing out with Hawlucha and Staraptor. HP ice allows Ala to OHKO Lando, Zygarde, Garchomp, Gliscor, and anything with the 4x weakness, really. Psychic is solid stab damage, and Shadow Ball helps deal with other Alakazams, Mew, Reu, and any other troublesome psychic types. Its also just solid coverage in general. I chose Shadow Ball over Focus Blast because lucha and Staraptor already have fighting moves, while no one else has ghost coverage and staraptor is the only other one who can counter Ala. Magic Guard lets me switch into entry hazards painlessly, and trace allows me to copy an ability that may serve to my advantage. These combined make Ala a great lead-Heatran counter, as I can switch into the Stealth Rocks easily and copy flash fire. Overall, Ala is here as a special late-game sweeper, covers some holes in coverage, and deals with a few pesky tanks which would otherwise give me trouble.

 

[aqualad33]

I'm on the new side but have grinded ladder a lot with a hawlucha team as well.

First thing is the koko, first what does magnet do for it? Does the extra damage yield any ohkos or 2hkos that it did not already have? It might be more worth it to go for shuka or specs. Second, having both turn moves isn't worth sacrificing roost, defog, or taunt. If guarantee switch is important (like on specs) go for uturn. If not (like on shuka) go with switch.

Second is about lucha teams in general. In order to sweep with lucha you need to know the counters and be able to lure&kill/win without lucha.

#1 enemies:
Zapdos: this guy directly switches in, resists both attacks, has huge bulk, has both static and a 30%para move (which invalidates unburden). You must kill or sevearly weaken this month before any hope of using lucha. Seems like a big threat to your team right now as you have nothing to check it.

Clefable: unaware us straight brick walls lucha. While magic guard is still really bulky and can deal with lucha if it's been damaged. It can take on all your physical attackers, heal up and switch out against koko or blaceph

Tapu koko: also resists lucha and has enough punch to ohko it. This one you can wear down of it doesn't have Roost otherwise he's going to be challenging. Note that lando does not counter shuka koko.

If the opponent brings any of these common Mon and keeps them healthy lucha becomes invalidated and your team will need to operate without it.

#2 enemies: revenge killers with priority. Although they can't directly switch into an unboosted move, they are fine with being worn down a bit because they can kill lucha without being touched

Ash green: although less popular than protean, it's still pretty popular. Water Shuriken has a high chance of ohkoing lucha especially with specs. Also it deals a lot of damage to anything on your team aside from mage.

M-pinsor: kills lucha with aerialate quick attack. Your check currently looks like landorus? Koko? Be aware that they typically pack Earthquake, hitting koko/mage on switch in.


Suggestions:

Drop staraptor: although it hits hard and fast it gets hit by common ice coverage moves and doesn't help deal with the threats to the team. My recommendation for this slot may be z trap heatran who can deal with zap and clef.

Blaceph seems a little out of place but fine. I'm not sure who it's supposed to check that the team cares about.also it has a stealth rock weakness on a team without Defog. You may want mega Alakazam over this. It's a better special sweeper that comes in with magic guard and can blast big holes in your opponents defences and baits out Ash gren.

Hope that helps.

 

[aqualad33]

Oh, just remembered something. The 3rd threat to lucha sweep is the three other tapus but those get covered by my suggestions.

Heatran covers bulu (bulu might have superpower so be careful. Otherwise, heatran is usually faster and firium z ohkos).

Alakazam and heatran cover lele in tandum and can punish many switch ins hard.


Tapu koko covers tapu fini pretty well on it's own but you also have magearna (who also hits all the other tapus.

 

[wir3s]

I'm on the new side but have grinded ladder a lot with a hawlucha team as well.

First thing is the koko, first what does magnet do for it? Does the extra damage yield any ohkos or 2hkos that it did not already have? It might be more worth it to go for shuka or specs. Second, having both turn moves isn't worth sacrificing roost, defog, or taunt. If guarantee switch is important (like on specs) go for uturn. If not (like on shuka) go with switch.

Second is about lucha teams in general. In order to sweep with lucha you need to know the counters and be able to lure&kill/win without lucha.

#1 enemies:
Zapdos: this guy directly switches in, resists both attacks, has huge bulk, has both static and a 30%para move (which invalidates unburden). You must kill or sevearly weaken this month before any hope of using lucha. Seems like a big threat to your team right now as you have nothing to check it.

Clefable: unaware us straight brick walls lucha. While magic guard is still really bulky and can deal with lucha if it's been damaged. It can take on all your physical attackers, heal up and switch out against koko or blaceph

Tapu koko: also resists lucha and has enough punch to ohko it. This one you can wear down of it doesn't have Roost otherwise he's going to be challenging. Note that lando does not counter shuka koko.

If the opponent brings any of these common Mon and keeps them healthy lucha becomes invalidated and your team will need to operate without it.

#2 enemies: revenge killers with priority. Although they can't directly switch into an unboosted move, they are fine with being worn down a bit because they can kill lucha without being touched

Ash green: although less popular than protean, it's still pretty popular. Water Shuriken has a high chance of ohkoing lucha especially with specs. Also it deals a lot of damage to anything on your team aside from mage.

M-pinsor: kills lucha with aerialate quick attack. Your check currently looks like landorus? Koko? Be aware that they typically pack Earthquake, hitting koko/mage on switch in.


Suggestions:

Drop staraptor: although it hits hard and fast it gets hit by common ice coverage moves and doesn't help deal with the threats to the team. My recommendation for this slot may be z trap heatran who can deal with zap and clef.

Blaceph seems a little out of place but fine. I'm not sure who it's supposed to check that the team cares about.also it has a stealth rock weakness on a team without Defog. You may want mega Alakazam over this. It's a better special sweeper that comes in with magic guard and can blast big holes in your opponents defences and baits out Ash gren.

Hope that helps.

Hey, thanks for the suggestions. Definitely gonna give alakazam a try.

So, the way I currently counter Zapdos is using volt switch (from either Koko or mage) into staraptor, which is an easy cleanup. Ash greninja is also countered by staraptor (close combat, and I think even double edge/brave bird one shots it anyway). The only thing that would give it trouble is scarf greninja, but this is easily countered by tanky Mage. Clefable is also countered by Mage, who can tank its hits while throwing back a solid flash cannon. Tapu Koko can be one shot by double edge from staraptor (who also can outspeed and beat any screens). I’ve tested all this and guess I should have elaborated more on staraptor’s role.

I also can run stone edge on lando to counter Zapdos, but this isn’t as effective.

Also, after the electric seed is used, an unboosted quick attack from mega pinsir cannot OHKO lucha.

Again, thanks very much for your suggestions and I’ll be sure to try out some of them, however staraptor counters or helps to counter all of the weaknesses you described. :)

 

[wir3s]

Oh, just remembered something. The 3rd threat to lucha sweep is the three other tapus but those get covered by my suggestions.

Heatran covers bulu (bulu might have superpower so be careful. Otherwise, heatran is usually faster and firium z ohkos).

Alakazam and heatran cover lele in tandum and can punish many switch ins hard.


Tapu koko covers tapu fini pretty well on it's own but you also have magearna (who also hits all the other tapus.

All of the tapus except Fini can be OHKO’d by staraptor (May need to be weakened slightly if they have some defensive investment). :)