Empoleon sweep(ish) (OU RMT)

[supermarth64]

So one day, I decided to make a team surrounding a Subpetaya Empoleon sweep. That's all of the backstory.

Team building process:
Well, I started out with Empoleon, because that's what I wanted to centralize it around.

Empoleon is stopped by Blissey (the fatass that she is). Obviously, a Fighting type Pokemon would be helpful. Looking at the counters list for Blissey, Machamp, Heracross, Lucario, Scizor, and others all countered her. Machamp never really worked well in my past teams, so that's gone. Heracross is a bit too slow for my likings, and Scarf would limit my options. I didn't want a second sweeper, so Lucario was out. Scizor would be helpful, but wouldn't my Blissey problems yet.
I continued looking down until I saw Infernape. It's base 108 speed was what I had in mind, so onto the team it went.

Afterwards, I looked at the Empoleon analysis. Empoleon prefers Paralysis on the opponent, and since I wanted to run Ice Beam over Grass Knot, I also needed something to take down bulky waters. Only one real Pokemon fit this requirement: Celebi. It also pairs well with Empoleon resistance-wise.

Next, I wanted something to apply pressure onto the opponent. Scizor immediately came to mind, with STAB Technician Bullet Punch and STAB U-turn.

I needed a rock resist besides Empoleon, otherwise a Ttar would deal quite a bit to my team. There are few bulky fighting Pokemon viable in OU, so no fighting Pokemon for that job. No steel types either because that would leave me with 3 ground weak Pokemon (Infernape, Empoleon, and the steel). That left me with ground.
Mamoswine was dual typed, so it's neutral to rock types. Same goes with Gliscor. Rhyperior was too slow for my liking. Flygon and Dugtrio aren't walls, which left Swampert, Donphan, and Hippowdon. Donphan is terrible, and I didn't want sandstorm on my team, so no Hippo. That left Swampert, which I put into the lead spot.

Last but not least, I wanted something that could revenge kill and apply pressure onto the opponent. Scarfed Flygon came to mind, and it also provides a useful ground resist.

And there's my team. Now for the in-depth part! Bold indicates changed parts.

Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 SAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake: STABed attacks for steels.
- Ice Beam: To take down any dragons.
- Surf: STABed attack, very useful for attacking.
- Stealth Rock: To provide residual damage.

My lead, Swampert. It's a reliable lead, as it is very bulky and can set up Stealth Rocks. It also provides a useful Rock and Fire resistance. This is the MixPert set from the analysis, and it works wonders. Allows for residual damage.

Roles:
Rock and Fire resistance.
Sets up Stealth Rock.
General Physical wall.

Grass attacks go to Celebi, Flygon, and Infernape.

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- U-turn: Scouts enemy team, also causes switches.
- Bullet Punch: Obligatory STAB, also useful for revenge killing.
- Superpower: Useful for Blissey and steel types.
- Pursuit: In case of switching Blisseys or ghosts.

Surprisingly enough, this is my secondary harasser (Flygon is my first with SR resistance). It provides handy revenge killings for my team, and can rack up residual damage with U-turn. Once it weakens/kills enough of the opponent's team, then Empoleon comes in and sets up.

Roles:
Revenge killer.
Damage dealer.

Fire attacks go to Swampert, Flygon, and Infernape.

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Earthquake: More STAB to get rid of Steels/other things that are weak to ground.
- Outrage: More STAB in case I need the power.
- Stone Edge: Something to get rid of flyers.
- U-turn: Residual damage and causes switches.

My main annoyer, as it can outspeed many things. Max speed EVs are there so it can at least tie with +1 speed base 100s, and outspeeds any other Flygons that don't run max speed EVs with a Scarf. It's speed allows me to kill Empoleon's problems, and to mainly cause damage.

Roles:
Annoyer.
Damage dealer.
Revenge killer.

Ice attacks go to Swampert, Scizor, Empoleon, and Infernape.
Dragon attacks go to Scizor and Empoleon.

Celebi @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 232 HP/32 Spd/244 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Thunder Wave: Provides paralysis for Empoleon to sweep.
- Leaf Storm: Rids the team of bulky waters.
- Hidden Power [Fire]: Kills unsuspecting Scizors that thinks they can U-turn out.
- Recover: Heals off damage taken from Life Orb.

Tinkerbell is amazing, providing what this team really needs: Paralysis and a way to take out bulky waters. Celebi and Empoleon have many resistances with each other. Thunder Wave is my main paralysis support for Empoleon to begin its sweep. Leaf Storm is necessary for bulky waters. Recover over Rest because I don't want to have to switch out after I heal, as that would cause problems for me.

God I wish Shaymin learned Stun Spore...

Roles:
Bulky water taker outer.
Paralysis support.

Bug attacks go to Scizor, Empoleon, and Infernape.
Lol Flying attacks (go to Empoleon).
Lol Poison attacks (go to Empoleon and Scizor).
Ghost attacks go to Empoleon and Scizor.
Fire attacks go to Swampert and Flygon.
Ice attacks go to Swampert, Scizor, and Infernape.
Dark attacks go to Infernape, Empoleon, and Scizor.

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk/192 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast: Useful Fire STAB for those that are weak to it.
- Close Combat: Main Blissey killer, also has 100% accuracy.
- Grass Knot: Useful for bulky waters.
- Hidden Power [Ice]: Useful for unboosted dragons.

My Infernape is my main Blissey solution, as Close Combat is a clean OHKO. With its base 108 speed, it can outspeed base 100s and attack/kill them before they can do the same to Infernape. Grass Knot is for in case Celebi fails to take out those bulky waters, while HP Ice is for dragons.

Roles:
Blissey solution.
Secondary damage dealer with its wide coverage.

Lol Flying attacks (go to Empoleon).
Ground attacks go to Flygon and Celebi.
Water attacks go to Celebi and Flygon.
Psychic attacks go to Celebi, Scizor, and Empoleon.

Empoleon (M) @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 12 HP/12 Def/232 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Agility: To outspeed most things in its path (except for random scarfers).
- Substitute: To sub down to Torrent and Petaya range, also to block statuses.
- Surf: STAB + Petaya + Torrent = Ouch.
- Ice Beam: Something for dragons.

Finally, the star of the show! Ice Beam vs Grass Knot was a tough choice, but Empoleon can take a +1 Outrage from Salamence and be in perfect range for a Petaya Berry. Also, with 2 grass attacks on Celebi and Infernape, my only problem would be Vaporeon, whom Empoleon can't do much against anyway.

Roles:
Sweeper.
Resistancer (though I don't use him for that).

Electric goes to Swampert, Flygon, and Celebi.
Fighting goes to Celebi.
Ground goes to Flygon and Celebi.

And there's my team. Sometimes, I can get a win without even having Empoleon appear. Other times, that's what clinches it for me.

Problems with this team:
Hail stall: Only one match, but that guy was smart.
Random leads with enough special attack to OHKO Swampert: No SR or rock resistance or random attacks.
Fighting moves: I realized when I typed this RMT that I only have 1 fighting resist. I usually deal with them fast enough beforehand though.

Go ahead, RMT!

 

[supermarth64]

Bumpage.

 

[supermarth64]

Bump again.

 

[Bloo]

Alright, I see a Lucario weakness, particularly a Swords Dance Lucario weakness. After a Swords Dance, Lucario can sweep this team quite easily, since Close Combat OHKOes Empoelon, Scizor, and Adamant Lucario after a Swords Dance with Life Orb OHKOes Swampert; 700 Atk vs 297 Def & 401 HP (120 Base Power): 394 - 465 (98.25% - 115.96%). Also note that your Swampert is rarely going to be full health when Lucario comes around and sets up a Swords Dance. Your Infernape and Flygon are killed by a ExtremeSpeed after a Swords Dance boost and Celebi has no chance of surviving Crunch, as Crunch OHKOes as well.

Now you may wonder when Lucario can set up a Swords Dance. It can easily setup a Swords Dance on a locked Pursuit from Scizor or even Stone Edge from Flygon, set up a Swords Dance, and do some massive damage. We do not need to replace any Pokemon on your team to help you more with Lucario. By changing your Infernape set, you will be able to deal with Lucario more effectively. So, what I suggest you do is change your Infernape with Mach Punch/Stone Edge/Overheat/Close Combat, Naive, 252 Atk/232 Speed/24 Special Attack, Life Orb. With Mach Punch, Infernape will be able to OHKO a Lucario after a Defense drop from Close Combat. With max Attack, Vaporeon can actually risk being 2HKOed by Close Combat after Stealth Rock damage. Pokemon that resist Close Combat such as Gyarados and Salamence, risk being killed by Stone Edge. Stone Ege also allows gives Gyarados little chance to set up on Infernape, which is excellent because this team has problems against Bounce Gyarados, as your Celebi is OHKOed after a Dragon Dance. Overheat serves as your STAB and hits quite hard as well. It also hits Pokemon immune to Close Combat, such as Rotom plenty hard! Close Combat is your secondary STAB move to hit Pokemon such as Blissey, Snorlax, etc. harder then Mach Punch would.

I would advise that you use Toxic Spikes on this team. 2 layers of Toxic Spikes is an excellent way to help your Empoleon sweep. With Toxic Spikes in play, Empoleon can set up Blissey and Vaporeon one-on-one by using Substitute as they get worn down by Toxic Spike damage. Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes will also help in weakening Grass-types like Celebi by putting them in the KO range of Ice Beam. Once you have set up these key entry hazards, there is only a small number of Pokémon that can stop Empoleon from a sweep. With that support, your Empoleon will have a much easier time sweeping with Empoleon. One option you have for Toxic Spikes is Roserade. Roserade can work over Celebi while you can use Roserade as the lead over Swampert. Roserade will usually be able to set up 2 layers of Toxic Spikes reliably while making an opponent go to sleep as well with Sleep Powder. Roserade also kills bulky Water-types with a powerful Leaf Storm, similarly to what Celebi was doing. Water-types will be much easier to deal with when Toxic Spikes is on the field.

With entry hazard sbeing set up, I would then us Roar on Swampert over Surf so you can shuffle around your opponent to build up Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock damage. Roar will also allow Swampert to phaze away threats that may threaten your team.

Lastly, Bounce Gyarados with Dragon Dance/Bounce/Earthquake/Waterfall can give you some problems as well. After a Dragon Dance, Bounce will KO your Celebi, as it does not invest heavily in Defense EVs. After Celebi is gone, Waterfall will deal with Scizor, Swampert, Flygon, Infernape, and Earthquake will kill Empoleon. If you do decide to replace Celebi with the Roserade lead, there are a couple of options you have. One option is to use a Choice Scarf Latias in place of Flygon. Choice Scarf Latias basically does what Flygon was meant to do; revenge kill. Latias with Choice Scarf revenge kills Gyarados with ThunderBolt in addition to Pokemon like Kingdra, Salamence, etc. Latias also serves as Pursuit bait, attracting the likes of Tyranitar and Scizor to come in and Pursuit you, allowing Empoleon to set up! Latias, Scizor, and Empoleon cover each others weakness' well too, making it a good choice.A set of ThunderBolt/Draco Meteor/Trick/Surf should suffice and serve all of your revenge killing needs. Another option you have is Rotom-h who will block the entry hazards of Toxic Spikes and Stealth Rock from being set up, also acts as Pursuit bait for Empoleon to set up, and gives you more insuarance against Gyarados, in addition to Scizor. Rotom-h can fill the roles that Celebi was doing, killing bulky Water-types with a STAB Electric-type attack. You can make Rotom-h defensive if you want to handle Scizor more effectively and Gyarados as well. Once again, Rotom-h has excellent synergy with Empoleon and Scizor, making it fit well into the team. This team is good, it has many options that you can choose from, so it is up to you to decide which path you want to take. Good Job on creating an excellent team!

 

[supermarth64]

Thanks for the rate Bloo (I'll update the OP later.)

That Infernape actually saved my hide once, as a Lucario set up, but I killed it ^_^. I worry about the lack of Grass Knot though, but that should be fine.

The thing with Roserade is that it can't really come back in later on to threaten with Leaf Storm unless I play smartly. The Toxic Spikes have been useful though.

Roar is fun, and I'm not really missing out on Surf.

I've been trying a Scarf Azelf with Psychic/Flamethrower/Thunderbolt/U-turn, and it's been working fine, except it feels a little... weak. Idk, maybe because it's a Scarfer, not a Specszelf.

Rotom-H wouldn't really work, as even though it has more help against Gyarados and Scizor, there's not much I can switch it out for (maybe my Scizor, though I lose out on steady damage), and that it also doesn't help me out with a +1 DD Mence.

 

[Luxormaniac]

Bloo's rate is amazing. I'd do almost all of that, bar Rotom. Rotom only solves the Bounce Gyara problem, which I'd say is rare enough that ignoring it wouldn't be tragic. Actually, if you use Scarf Gengar over Scizor and keep Flygon, you can deal with Dancing Dragons and other things. Porygon-2 could even work if you're that paranoid. Honestly, not much to say. Bloo's rate was the best I've seen in a while.

 

[supermarth64]

Ok, slight new update.

So I've switched 3 members. Scizor, Flygon, and Celebi are out. Latias, Forretress, and Shaymin are in. I kept the Infernape set and Roar>Surf on Swampert, and I also used Scarf Latias like Bloo said.

Shaymin for Seed Flare, Forretress for Toxic Spikes. Shaymin is amazing, while Forretress sometimes gets up Toxic Spikes, sometimes doesn't.

Eh, idk. Toxic Spikes Pokemon suck.

Also, I tried Scarf Gengar over Flygon before, but it sucked. I really missed U-turn. Porygon2 doesn't really work on this team, as it does... nothing except for counter Gyarados and Salamence, something that Latias can already do.