Dual Birds of Goodness

[Bizpit]

This is my take on the dual bird strategy currently flying around in OU:

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn


Bird one - the obvious one:

• Choice Band is there purely for the extra power. As Talonflame gets used to punch holes or to clean up lategame; the option of switching moves is irrelevant.
• Jolly + maxed Speed Talonflame purely so that Flare Blitz is actually useful, and to tie with any other Talonflames.
• Will-O-Wisp is there for the ability to get off the burn on certain walls that the rest of the team struggles with (Mandibuzz is an example).

Staraptor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn

Bird two - still obvious, but with a twist:

• Scarf + the EV spread is enough to outspeed any positive natured base speed 150 Pokemon. I found Choice Band Staraptor awkwardly slow in most games whereas the Scarf allows it to nab a lot of extra KOs/OHKOs that are unexpected.
• Brave Bird/Double Edge + Adamant + Reckless make an amazing combination. Throw in the Close Combat for coverage and U-Turn for shenanigans and you have one hell of an annoying Pokemon.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch

The Washing Machine - you've gotta have clean clothes.

• Typical bulky attacking Rotom-W. Modest nature + EV spread + Lefties to ensure maximum damage whilst still maintaining considerable bulk. I skipped on investing any on Speed purely due to Rotom-W typically coming in off a U-Turn and ultimately forcing a switch.
• Will-O-Wisp again to burn the odd wall or bulky non-Conkeldurr.

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin

The Spinner - while he spins Rotom-W is ultimately better at cleaning.

• I originally tried an Air Balloon setup with this though decided that the Scarf was the much preferable way to use Excadrill. The Scarf helps to guarantee the Spin, plus is allows Excadrill to act as a backup late-game sweeper.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spd
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn

The Pivot - I honestly can't think of anything silly to say here.

• Defensive physical pivot. Enough speed to outspeed certain other walls and threats, while still bulky enough to easily set up Rocks and get some damage out.
• U-Turn is purely due to Landorus forcing a -lot- of switches.

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Earthquake
- Leech Seed
- Synthesis

That god-damn plant - the flower of my life.

• Purely specially defensive as the rest of the team can struggle against strong special attackers.
• Leech Seed + Synthesis as a large recovery option, plus Giga Drain and EQ to be able to throw some damage around.

Rotom-W handles most 'mons that the Birds struggle with, which in turn Landorus and Venasaur handle most switch ins on Rotom. Excadrill is primarily there to Spin off rocks, though it is more than capable of scoring random KOs.

The team functions by pumping holes in the opposing team with Staraptor/Talonflame, and then using the rest to clear up at the end. It mostly only struggles with Stall teams that can take a few hits of Brave Bird and don't mind getting burnt. Plus is can struggle with Mandibuzzes if Rotom-W gets lost too soon.

I've mostly been considering -something- over Venasaur, or trying an alternate move set at least, and trying a spinning Starmie over the Excadrill. Any input at all would be welcome.

 

[Baconman]

The way your team looks I would definitely say to try Starmie over Excadrill. Your core is two really powerful physical attackers, so another special attack may fit well. Additionally, Starmie is fast without having to use a choice scarf. Something along the lines of Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Rapid Spin with life orb looks like it would be good on your team. Also, it can help defeat Mandibuzz, if that's giving your team trouble. You would really need to watch out for Pokemon who can pursuit trap, however.

I think you should stick with Venusuar, as it works well on the team as a special wall, especially not many pokes can have as much recovery as Venusaur does. You could potentially switch it to Chansey or Blissey for Wish passing, and maybe heal bell for team support, but I wouldn't try it, as there is no other spot on the team for a Mega.

I personally would say use tailwind over will-o-wisp on Talonflame. You can already burn with Rotom-W, and a sudden boost in speed is usually quite helpful for the rest of the team.

Other than that, the team and gameplan look solid.

 

[Maestro Arena]

You can try Mega-Blastoise as hard-hitter spinner. Or sub Landorus-T for Taunt and Toxic Gliscor to stop Mandibuzz.

EDIT: I've been testing Defog Scizor. Great sinergy with the entire team in my opinion.

 

[DR4G0Nx]

Awesome TEAM !!! i give it a 7

 

[Bizpit]

The way your team looks I would definitely say to try Starmie over Excadrill. Your core is two really powerful physical attackers, so another special attack may fit well. Additionally, Starmie is fast without having to use a choice scarf. Something along the lines of Surf/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Rapid Spin with life orb looks like it would be good on your team. Also, it can help defeat Mandibuzz, if that's giving your team trouble. You would really need to watch out for Pokemon who can pursuit trap, however.

I think you should stick with Venusuar, as it works well on the team as a special wall, especially not many pokes can have as much recovery as Venusaur does. You could potentially switch it to Chansey or Blissey for Wish passing, and maybe heal bell for team support, but I wouldn't try it, as there is no other spot on the team for a Mega.

I personally would say use tailwind over will-o-wisp on Talonflame. You can already burn with Rotom-W, and a sudden boost in speed is usually quite helpful for the rest of the team.

Cheers!

Other than that, the team and gameplan look solid.

Yeah, I agree with the Starmie. I'm going to be trying basically the same set you listed though running Hydro Pump over Surf. I also might try Sleep Talk over Will-O-Wisp on Talonflame since there are very few times that I'd actually try to set up the Tailwind.

You can try Mega-Blastoise as hard-hitter spinner. Or sub Landorus-T for Taunt and Toxic Gliscor to stop Mandibuzz.

EDIT: I've been testing Defog Scizor. Great sinergy with the entire team in my opinion.

I've been considering the idea of using Defog Scizor, but I'm way overboard on physical attackers as it is. Still worth the consideration though. Thanks!

 

[aVocado]

I played against this team today.. a crit from your Talonflame against my Garchomp cost me the entire game, and I raged, but it was a good one nonetheless.

I've also used a very similar team before, with CB Talonflame, CB Staraptor, Lum Excadrill and SpD Megasaur - the latter two are excellent support for the smogon burds so I recommend that you don't change Megasaur. It helps you counter Rotom-W.

That being said - you mentioned stall giving you problems, and I can see why: Talonflame is pretty much mostly pathetic against stall teams, and thats why it usually needs CB Staraptor to help it pick off walls such as Hippowdon (which you could barely break through, when I used it against your team. It wasn't even physically defensive hippo.), Slowbro, Heatran, Rotom-W and Mandibuzz. That's why I suggest changing your current Staraptor set into this one:

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

This lets you OHKO 252 HP Heatran with CC, and do as much damage as possible to the walls of your opponent's team before falling and letting Talonflame clear the rest. It 2HKOs pretty much all relative physical walls in the meta, and Double-Edge can kill Rotom-W if it switched into Talonflame and took a u-turn, or if it had any sort of prior damage beforehand:

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-W: 252-297 (82.8 - 97.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

And here are some other calcs against OU's physical walls:

calcs

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mandibuzz: 255-301 (60.1 - 70.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 246-291 (62.4 - 73.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 235-277 (55.9 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 386-456 (100 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 242-286 (68.7 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 267-315 (69.8 - 82.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 184+ Def Gliscor: 237-279 (66.9 - 78.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Poison Heal

You can ditch the scarf because you don't really need it - you have scarf Excadrill, and hell, even Talonflame, to revenge-kill. Also, DEFINITELY change Talonflame's nature to Adamant. There is 0 reasons why Jolly is better - tying with other Talonflames isn't an acceptable arguments because other Talonflames don't run Jolly anyway, and it's main role is spamming incredibly strong priority Brave Birds. You really miss out on some important KOs without the Adamant nature.