Clear Skies undemised

[Twisted Cosmos]

Overused Clear Skies Team.

Hi everybody, thanks for clicking on my RMT. This is my first thread on smogon as I have just recently joined the forum. I have decent experience with the OU metagame and I have played a total of 935 games on PO and peaked at 1369 points. I will present my team along with a detailed threat list.
Here's an overview of the team:

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I have tested this team for 1 week and I competed in the Smogon Frontier using it. I already got knocked out, unfortunately. This is a Clear-Skies team that can both set up effectively and hit hard directly. However its main problem is that it heavily relies on one pokemon, Porygon-Z, in countering some major threats. When I lose this pokemon, I can safely say I'm in trouble.

Detailed Description:

Jingle Bells- Bronzong @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Def, 252 Sp.Def, 4 Atk
Nature: Careful (+Sp.Def, -Sp.Atk)
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Rest
- Earthquake

Bronzong mainly serves as a stealth rock lead, it also proved to be useful in countering Excadrill with its reliable Levitate ability. Thanks to its defensive sturdiness, it can safely switch into powerful moves such as Draco Meteor and prevent serious damage to my team. It also helps covering the two Ice weaknesses that my team possesses, along with Jellicent. I have been considering giving it an Iron ball along with the move Trick instead of Rest to cripple down some flying types and to double the power of its Gyro Ball, but sometimes I just need to heal again.

Bastard- Conkeldurr @ Leftovers
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Hp, 252 Atk, 4 Spd
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
- Bulk up
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Rock Slide

Conkeldurr helps me switch into incoming status moves and setting up effectively using Bulk up thanks to its amazing bulk. I also use it to switch into Dark-types trying to hit Jellicent. I used Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge due to my horrible experience with the latter's unreliable accuracy. I've also tried using a Flame Orb to activate Guts but I've found myself losing a lot of Hp facing Sandstorm teams just from residual damage, not to mention Ferrothorn's Iron Barbs and sometimes its Rocky Helmet.

Liz- Lilligant @ Wide Lens
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power Ground

Now some of you may question the wisdom of using Lilligant on an OU team. First of all this is my favorite pokemon. Its not bad at all actually, It can be useful to shut down slow pokemon trying to set up such as Reuniclus, Ferrothorn, Sigilyph, Skarmory etc... I refrained from using an item other than the wide Lens, I have been using this pokemon for about a month now and I can assure you, it really makes a difference with Sleep Powder's pathetic accuracy. She can also be used to lure out Heatrans and OHKO with Hidden Power Ground after a Quiver Dance boost on the switch.

Jelly Belly- Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP, 172 Def, 88 Spd
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Surf
- Recover

There's not really much to say about this pokemon, with 3 immunities it can safely switch into Fighting-type attacks pointed at my Porygon-Z, Taunt them and maybe even burn the switching pokemon. I've put 88 EVs on speed solely to outspeed Skarmory and prevent it from setting up entry hazards and/or Whirlwind me. It also helps in covering the two Fire weaknesses on my team, along with Haxorus.

Blackout- Haxorus @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 56 Hp, 252 Atk, 200 Spd
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
- Outrage
- X-Scissor
- Earthquake
- Dual Chop

This is my angry sweeper, Outrage speaks for itself. I also use Haxorus to switch WITH Dragonite and prevent it from setting up Dragon Dances when my Jellicent is down. Since it is scarfed, the choice between Outrage and Earthquake depends on my prediction skills, as Mold Breaker lets me hit any switching in Steel-types (unless they are on an Air Balloon). I previously had Night Slash instead of Dual Chop, but the first lacks power and its claim to fame as having a high critical-hit ratio doesn't fit into my plan. Instead, Dual Chop is STAB, helps me break subs and gradually inflicts damage too.

Joystick- Porygon-Z @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 Sp.Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Hp
Nature: Modest (+Sp.Atk, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power Fire
- Trick

This is easily the most useful pokemon on my team, with its wide movepool it can take care of some major threats; Dragons, Gliscor, Ferrothorn, Thundurus etc... When download works out for me, Its Sp.Atk reaches a legendary 601, therefore a STAB boost becomes unnecessary. Trick can be useful in late-game by locking pokemon into setting-up moves or spoiling a Gyro Ball. The scarf also permits me to switch into frail Ghosts (a.k.a Gengar) and zapping them before a focus blast. Making this pokemon survive is vital for me.

Threat List:

Landorus: Ground/Flying. 101 base Spd, 125 base Atk. The scarfed version of this pokemon is what really scares me, it can outspeed my entire team and inflict huge amounts of damage during sandstorm. Even its Stone Edge heavily dents Bronzong and Conkeldurr. I lost to Kevin Garett because of this pokemon in the Smogon Frontier.

Dragonite: Dragon/Flying. 80 base Spd, 134 base Atk. Dragon Dance on this pokemon is its major threat. If it succeeds in setting up, I can kiss the match good bye. Most of them have Fire Punch, and so Bronzong wouldn't be able to resist anything. Jellicent is OHKOed by an Outrage, therefore there's no hope in Burning it. Extremespeed deals huge amounts of damage to Haxorus and it can die to it, if I let it take damage before. I also have the same problem with Salamence, but I do not see it as often.

Conkeldurr: Fighting. 140 base Atk, 105 base Hp, 95 base Def. I have no super-effective attack against this pokemon, furthermore, burning it would only make it worse. My only hopes are putting it to sleep through Lilligant. Porygon-z cannot take care of it since Conkeldurr wields Mach Punch, and Jellicent suffers from Payback being super-effective. I often use my Conkeldurr to counter other ones.

Gliscor / Ferrothorn / Breloom / Gyarados / Nidoking / Scizor: All of these pokemon can be major threats if I foolishly let my Porygon-Z die before exterminating them.

Kingdra: Dragon/Water. 95 base Atk, 85 base Spd, 95 base Sp.Atk. This is not a particular threat I see too much, but letting a previous pokemon set up a Rain Dance for Kingdra will cost me hugely, and can potentially cost me the game. It often wields a Lum Berry so even if Jellicent survives an Outrage, burning it will be futile. If it is specially-offensive though, I can send in Lilligant after having sacrificed a pokemon and survive a Dragon Pulse and proceede to lull it to sleep (after wasting its Lum Berry), I can then regain a portion of my health back via Giga Drain.

If you notice some other threats please inform me, and Please suggest any adjustments to my team. Thanks you for reading.

 

[Delko]

Hi

This is an original looking team. It's hard to build a non weather team so kudos for that.

Half the threats in your threatlist can fixed by running Hidden Power [Ice] on Bronzong. This allows it to deal with DD Dragons, Landorus, Gliscor, etc much easier. Preferably instead of Rest as the other moves are to important to loose. Since you are using Gyro Ball it's best to use a -Spe nature so Gyro Ball will have a higher base power and thus will be stronger. A Sassy nature will fit better. I also suggest a slightly different EV spread, a spread of 252 HP / 84 Atk / 80 Def / 92 SDef is a good one.

There is no need for Wide Lens on Lilligant so I suggest Leftovers instead. And on Conkeldurr, Stone Edge is preferred due to the higher base power, Conkeldurr is slow anyway and cannot abuse the flinch rate from Rock Slide while the higher crit chance from Stone Edge is more useful as well.

To help you with the remainders of your threatlist (Breloom, Ferrothorn, Gyarados, Nidoking, Scizor) you could try Choice Specs Latios instead of Porygon-Z. With a moveset of Draco Meteor / Surf / Hidden Power [Fire] / Trick Latios deals with the aforementioned threats. With Trick you can also screw over stall who could be a bit annoying for your team.

On Haxorus you could consider Brick Break instead of X-scissor so you can hit Ferrothorn harder. it might also come in handy whenever you're fighting a team which uses Screen support. You are also using the Dragon Dance set EV's, but since you don't use that set, you might as well use a simple 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe so you can outspeed other Dragons with a Dragon Dance boost.

Hope these suggestions helped and good luck with the team!

 

[Rofellos]

I would agree that hp ice on bronzong instead of gyro ball would work so much better. Unless you use a trick macho brace bronz gyro ball never does all that much. And you must tell me about liligant! I've been I interested to find a new grass type for the metagame!

 

[Twisted Cosmos]

Thank you very much Delko for the suggestions, I really appreciate your help. I will try Latios right away. Good luck with the World Cup ^^

Rofellos: Yeah Lilligant can be useful sometimes, but sleep powder is somewhat unreliable, its misses can be fatal. But if you want to lure out Fire types such as chandelure, infernape etc, Quiver Dance on the switch and they are doomed, especially if its a Heatran.