Hello again, Smogon! This is my second RMT!
I attended the pokemon seminar on battling 101 a while ago and made a team based off of its recommendations, the 1-2 combo, the 3-5 core and the 6 glue thing (if you have not read the seminar log, do so. It is insightful). It is the best team I have made so far, netting me about a 4:1 winning average I'd estimate. Most of the losses I incur are because I am still an inexperienced player and I make game-breaking mistakes. This means that I think I've come up with a team that's better than I am, and I want to see how it could be improved.
changes in bold
TEAM AT A GLANCE:
The name really has nothing to do with this team other than the lead.
1-2 combo:
My lead and its switch in are a viable yet slightly underused offensive core. I use this 1-2 combo to gain early offensive momentum, punch through defensive holes where I see them and clean up late-game.
1
Crobat
@Leftovers
Jolly nature
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 104 HP / 152 Atk / 252 Spe
~Brave Bird
~U-Turn
~Taunt
~Roost
Crobat is an exceptional anti-lead. Brave Bird STAB does extraordinary damage to common fighting leads like Infernape and Machamp, U-Turn is an excellent scouting move that I use on Azelf and Tyranitar, while Taunt coming from base 130 speed stops any other setups. Aerodactyl is the lead that Crobat cannot handle and needs to switch out on. Even if crobat wins the speed tie, U-turn will do pathetic damage (though sometimes breaking the sash is tempting). My general pattern for switching into Aerodactyl is either to switch into Scizor or Starmie. Either work, but this decision determines the flow of the game. Jirachi leads can also be problematic because while I can taunt it to stop thunder wave and Inner Focus prevents flinch hax, I cannot prevent it from using an electric attack, and U-turn only does decent damage while forcing crobat out. I considered Focus sash on crobat, but that would not be optimal given that Brave Bird has hefty recoil damage.
Crobat's weaknesses include Ice, Psychic, Electric and Rock attacks. The simplest way to form a combo that gives great offensive momentum and defensive momentum is to have two pokemon that complement eachother's resistances. Therefore, the second pokemon in my combo would logically be:
2:
Magnezone
@Choice Scarf
Naive nature
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~Thunderbolt
~Hidden power Ice (30 Def and 30 Atk IVs)
~Flash Cannon
~Explosion
So, yep, Magnezone. The idea here is to not only have a reliable revenge killer, but also a counter to most of Crobat's troubling leads. Jirachi will be taunted because of Crobat and slightly weakened due to U-turn. Thunderbolt should do enough damage to KO it before Jirachi can do more than one Fire Punch. Explosion is there as a last resort against Blissey in case Scizor has been knocked out due to me playing terribly. However, Explosion becomes impossible to use if I can't find a way to get rid of Gengar or Rotom-A, who are two major problems to this team.
When I decide to unleash HP Ice, it will be because I have successfully scouted a ground-type or a Dragonite on their team that I can easily predict switching in. In order to accomplish this, I have to bring in my 3-5 core, which essentially functions as a huge scouting squad, with a bit of power.
note: I used to run the Steel Killer set with Magnet rise, but there were many teams prepared with fire attacks that I couldn't handle without speed, so I chose to run choice scarf and it has worked much better.
Final note: The one type weakness that Magnezone has that crobat does not take well is fire. The only fire type lead I've seen in OU, however, is Infernape, who is handled swiftly by Crobat. The rest of the fire users give me the perfect opportunity to switch into Swampert, who starts off my next core.
3-5 core:
This core focuses on switching one of these pokemon in as counters to common OU metagame threats that aren't handled by my 1-2 combo like Heatran, Jolteon, HP Fire and HP Grass users like Celebi, and walls like Blissey, Snorlax, etc. Then, I proceed to take the opportunity caused by a forced switch-out to scout for other pokemon by means of U-turn or Roar, or damage them heavily with Toxic or Paralysis.
3:
Swampert
@Leftovers
Relaxed nature
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpD
~Stealth Rock
~Earthquake
~Ice Beam
~Roar
Swampert can be a powerful mixed attacker, but I have found little success using him as such. Instead, I prefer to use him to scout the opposing team when I feel that I'm losing momentum, which is absolutely necessary for me to succeed. As soon as all or close to all the pokemon have been seen, I can use him to attack, but by that point he is usually pretty weak from taking a few attacks. I set up stealth rock if I find an opportunity to do so, but usually I'd prefer to give my opponent a bit of uncontrollable switching on swapmert's first turn (they switch to a counter, I make them switch to something else, free advantage!) If that works out well for me, then stealth rock is usually appropriate because they might anticipate another roar. I try my best to play it by ear. Its biggest weakness, grass types, are easily handled by both Crobat and Magnezone, as well as Scizor, who appears later in this section.
4:
Porygon2
@Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Bold nature
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA
~Discharge
~Ice Beam
~Toxic
~Recover
Porygon2 is so great in OU you guys. Sure, it gets shut down by most other defensive types, but, look, Trace is so fantastic. Really. Trace does many things: It stops Heatran's momentum, it prevents Gyarados from setting up a dragon dance while threatening an easy 2HKO with Discharge, it scouts against Blissey for status effects, while tracing her Natural Cure. The same goes for Celebi, who is hurt pretty hard with Ice Beam. LO Starmie also eats pain from Discharge or Toxic if I predict it coming in. The best part about Trace, however, is using it against a Shedinja. Armed with Toxic, Porygon2 has the capability of walking away with immunity to all attacks except fighting types and phazing. To top it all off, it has reliable recovery, a skill whose advantages are numerous.
Porygon2's weakness to fighting is an excellent lure for fighting types that Crobat can easily switch in on. However, it is also a lure for Togekiss, so I have to be careful when dealing with the flying white triangle.
5:
Scizor
@Choice Band
Adamant nature
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
~U-turn
~Superpower
~Bullet Punch
~Pursuit
Scizor is an exceptional scout, even with a choice band. Forcing switches is his forte. Unfortunately, I'm still rusty using him, so often I do stupid things like leave him in on Celebi users who obviously run HP fire. Regardless, even though I use him to scout, his choice banded attacks can punch instant holes in teams I have properly scouted. Scizor also functions to scare off Aerodactyl, even though by that time it will have done its job.
I feel like Scizor's current state is hindering my team somehow with the limiting nature of Choice Band. Perhaps running Baton Pass with SD to pass to Crobat would be the best course of action? I haven't had time to try it out. Feedback on this point would be appreciated.
6: The Glue
Since Crobat plays such an integral role to my team's synergy, Rapid spin support is needed. Since this team is offensive in nature, a fast rapid spinner who can pack a bit of a punch is needed.
Starmie
@Leftovers
Timid Nature
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe
~Rapid Spin
~Thunderbolt
~Surf
~Recover
Starmie's primary course of action is to get entry hazards off the field after I have scouted for ghosts and potential pursuit users. Its second course of action is to be a back-up for Swampert and Porygon2, threatening things that are weak to water and electric attacks (even though Swampert doesn't use Surf). It then gets off the field as fast as possible because I need it alive. As mentioned before, I can switch into Starmie against Aerodactyl leads so I can try to surf or rapid spin away its stones. Surfing is the better option generally as I can do a bit of damage to an incoming ghost type.
That's basically all I have for Starmie though. If anyone comes up with a better "glue" for my team, please let me know.
So, that's basically my team, and here are a few problems:
Aerodactyl: It beats Crobat
Gengar: Gengar has attacks that an OHKO, like, 5 of my team members. The best I can do is revenge kill it with either crobat or magnezone. Somebody, please help me.
Rotom-A: For the fact that Magnezone can't revenge kill it, Rotom-A also gives me problems, especially the -H forms. Perhaps my glue should focus on taking care of these threats.
Celebi: While porygon2 can switch into it, it can't kill it, and Celebi can cause a lot of problems otherwise.
Life Orb Starmie: It hurts a lot. With prediction, I can wear it down or kill it with Porygon2 or Scizor.
Those are the threats off the top of my head. If you have any more problems for this team, feel free to rate my team! Thanks for reading!
Changes that I'm testing:
Zapdos over Scizor Failed because Blissey walls everything I've got - crobat does a measley 35.3% - 41.6% to blissey with BB, swampert does 29.6% - 35% with EQ. Scizor stays.
Zapdos over Starmie, keeping scizor Failed because stealth rock rips my team apart without rapid spin. I can't do well without entry hazards being blocked.
Tentacruel over Starmie
I attended the pokemon seminar on battling 101 a while ago and made a team based off of its recommendations, the 1-2 combo, the 3-5 core and the 6 glue thing (if you have not read the seminar log, do so. It is insightful). It is the best team I have made so far, netting me about a 4:1 winning average I'd estimate. Most of the losses I incur are because I am still an inexperienced player and I make game-breaking mistakes. This means that I think I've come up with a team that's better than I am, and I want to see how it could be improved.
changes in bold
TEAM AT A GLANCE:
The name really has nothing to do with this team other than the lead.
1-2 combo:
My lead and its switch in are a viable yet slightly underused offensive core. I use this 1-2 combo to gain early offensive momentum, punch through defensive holes where I see them and clean up late-game.
1
Crobat
@Leftovers
Jolly nature
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 104 HP / 152 Atk / 252 Spe
~Brave Bird
~U-Turn
~Taunt
~Roost
Crobat is an exceptional anti-lead. Brave Bird STAB does extraordinary damage to common fighting leads like Infernape and Machamp, U-Turn is an excellent scouting move that I use on Azelf and Tyranitar, while Taunt coming from base 130 speed stops any other setups. Aerodactyl is the lead that Crobat cannot handle and needs to switch out on. Even if crobat wins the speed tie, U-turn will do pathetic damage (though sometimes breaking the sash is tempting). My general pattern for switching into Aerodactyl is either to switch into Scizor or Starmie. Either work, but this decision determines the flow of the game. Jirachi leads can also be problematic because while I can taunt it to stop thunder wave and Inner Focus prevents flinch hax, I cannot prevent it from using an electric attack, and U-turn only does decent damage while forcing crobat out. I considered Focus sash on crobat, but that would not be optimal given that Brave Bird has hefty recoil damage.
Crobat's weaknesses include Ice, Psychic, Electric and Rock attacks. The simplest way to form a combo that gives great offensive momentum and defensive momentum is to have two pokemon that complement eachother's resistances. Therefore, the second pokemon in my combo would logically be:
2:
Magnezone
@Choice Scarf
Naive nature
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~Thunderbolt
~Hidden power Ice (30 Def and 30 Atk IVs)
~Flash Cannon
~Explosion
So, yep, Magnezone. The idea here is to not only have a reliable revenge killer, but also a counter to most of Crobat's troubling leads. Jirachi will be taunted because of Crobat and slightly weakened due to U-turn. Thunderbolt should do enough damage to KO it before Jirachi can do more than one Fire Punch. Explosion is there as a last resort against Blissey in case Scizor has been knocked out due to me playing terribly. However, Explosion becomes impossible to use if I can't find a way to get rid of Gengar or Rotom-A, who are two major problems to this team.
When I decide to unleash HP Ice, it will be because I have successfully scouted a ground-type or a Dragonite on their team that I can easily predict switching in. In order to accomplish this, I have to bring in my 3-5 core, which essentially functions as a huge scouting squad, with a bit of power.
note: I used to run the Steel Killer set with Magnet rise, but there were many teams prepared with fire attacks that I couldn't handle without speed, so I chose to run choice scarf and it has worked much better.
Final note: The one type weakness that Magnezone has that crobat does not take well is fire. The only fire type lead I've seen in OU, however, is Infernape, who is handled swiftly by Crobat. The rest of the fire users give me the perfect opportunity to switch into Swampert, who starts off my next core.
3-5 core:
This core focuses on switching one of these pokemon in as counters to common OU metagame threats that aren't handled by my 1-2 combo like Heatran, Jolteon, HP Fire and HP Grass users like Celebi, and walls like Blissey, Snorlax, etc. Then, I proceed to take the opportunity caused by a forced switch-out to scout for other pokemon by means of U-turn or Roar, or damage them heavily with Toxic or Paralysis.
3:
Swampert
@Leftovers
Relaxed nature
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpD
~Stealth Rock
~Earthquake
~Ice Beam
~Roar
Swampert can be a powerful mixed attacker, but I have found little success using him as such. Instead, I prefer to use him to scout the opposing team when I feel that I'm losing momentum, which is absolutely necessary for me to succeed. As soon as all or close to all the pokemon have been seen, I can use him to attack, but by that point he is usually pretty weak from taking a few attacks. I set up stealth rock if I find an opportunity to do so, but usually I'd prefer to give my opponent a bit of uncontrollable switching on swapmert's first turn (they switch to a counter, I make them switch to something else, free advantage!) If that works out well for me, then stealth rock is usually appropriate because they might anticipate another roar. I try my best to play it by ear. Its biggest weakness, grass types, are easily handled by both Crobat and Magnezone, as well as Scizor, who appears later in this section.
4:
Porygon2
@Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Bold nature
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpA
~Discharge
~Ice Beam
~Toxic
~Recover
Porygon2 is so great in OU you guys. Sure, it gets shut down by most other defensive types, but, look, Trace is so fantastic. Really. Trace does many things: It stops Heatran's momentum, it prevents Gyarados from setting up a dragon dance while threatening an easy 2HKO with Discharge, it scouts against Blissey for status effects, while tracing her Natural Cure. The same goes for Celebi, who is hurt pretty hard with Ice Beam. LO Starmie also eats pain from Discharge or Toxic if I predict it coming in. The best part about Trace, however, is using it against a Shedinja. Armed with Toxic, Porygon2 has the capability of walking away with immunity to all attacks except fighting types and phazing. To top it all off, it has reliable recovery, a skill whose advantages are numerous.
Porygon2's weakness to fighting is an excellent lure for fighting types that Crobat can easily switch in on. However, it is also a lure for Togekiss, so I have to be careful when dealing with the flying white triangle.
5:
Scizor
@Choice Band
Adamant nature
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
~U-turn
~Superpower
~Bullet Punch
~Pursuit
Scizor is an exceptional scout, even with a choice band. Forcing switches is his forte. Unfortunately, I'm still rusty using him, so often I do stupid things like leave him in on Celebi users who obviously run HP fire. Regardless, even though I use him to scout, his choice banded attacks can punch instant holes in teams I have properly scouted. Scizor also functions to scare off Aerodactyl, even though by that time it will have done its job.
I feel like Scizor's current state is hindering my team somehow with the limiting nature of Choice Band. Perhaps running Baton Pass with SD to pass to Crobat would be the best course of action? I haven't had time to try it out. Feedback on this point would be appreciated.
6: The Glue
Since Crobat plays such an integral role to my team's synergy, Rapid spin support is needed. Since this team is offensive in nature, a fast rapid spinner who can pack a bit of a punch is needed.
Starmie
@Leftovers
Timid Nature
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe
~Rapid Spin
~Thunderbolt
~Surf
~Recover
Starmie's primary course of action is to get entry hazards off the field after I have scouted for ghosts and potential pursuit users. Its second course of action is to be a back-up for Swampert and Porygon2, threatening things that are weak to water and electric attacks (even though Swampert doesn't use Surf). It then gets off the field as fast as possible because I need it alive. As mentioned before, I can switch into Starmie against Aerodactyl leads so I can try to surf or rapid spin away its stones. Surfing is the better option generally as I can do a bit of damage to an incoming ghost type.
That's basically all I have for Starmie though. If anyone comes up with a better "glue" for my team, please let me know.
So, that's basically my team, and here are a few problems:
Aerodactyl: It beats Crobat
Gengar: Gengar has attacks that an OHKO, like, 5 of my team members. The best I can do is revenge kill it with either crobat or magnezone. Somebody, please help me.
Rotom-A: For the fact that Magnezone can't revenge kill it, Rotom-A also gives me problems, especially the -H forms. Perhaps my glue should focus on taking care of these threats.
Celebi: While porygon2 can switch into it, it can't kill it, and Celebi can cause a lot of problems otherwise.
Life Orb Starmie: It hurts a lot. With prediction, I can wear it down or kill it with Porygon2 or Scizor.
Those are the threats off the top of my head. If you have any more problems for this team, feel free to rate my team! Thanks for reading!
Changes that I'm testing:
Zapdos over Scizor Failed because Blissey walls everything I've got - crobat does a measley 35.3% - 41.6% to blissey with BB, swampert does 29.6% - 35% with EQ. Scizor stays.
Zapdos over Starmie, keeping scizor Failed because stealth rock rips my team apart without rapid spin. I can't do well without entry hazards being blocked.
Tentacruel over Starmie
