So this teams original form got me to an OU ranking of 1670 which I was pretty happy with but I crashed pretty hard and it seems to sit around 1550 on average so I'm trying to find a way to climb back up even higher.
Originally I designed it as a very hardcore volt turn team, with Mega Manectric instead of talon flame in the 6th spot and only regular scizor. I wanted pokemon that could effectively check each other's weaknesses and switch ins and constantly keep turning it around. The team as a whole has evolved a bit, and I'm looking for advice anywhere I can get it.
Looming Threat (Breloom) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Technician
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
I actually just enjoy Breloom immensely for some reason. One of personal favorite physical attackers in the entire tier, perhaps for no entirely justified reason, but I enjoy it a lot nonetheless and thusly decided to make it the primary offensive threat of my entire team. If I somehow switch into something breloom has the bulk to take on, I can spore the switch-in, swords dance, and bullet seed/mach punch easily a few enemies down. Another option is just hoping for an outspeed with spore, but Breloom has pretty abysmal speed. I've always debated dropping swords dance for rock tomb but I feel it removes a lot of Breloom's offensive potency.
General Electric (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
I used to always and exclusively use scarf rotom-w with hydro pump, volt switch, hp ice, and trick. I've recently switched over to this set and I enjoy it a lot. 2 standard STAB moves that hit pretty hard, will-o-wisp is just a great move to have for status and crippling physical attackers in general, and pain split can keep rotom-wash in the game for a nice long time, especially when I'm running a very slow set on him so he will be taking hits. Volt switch was part of the original volt turn strategy. Can switch into a lot of things for the others on my team.
Tigger (Landorus-Therian) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
I never liked choicing pokemon, and Landorus is the only stealth rocker on my team, which is quite important when running a strategy like VoltTurn, in which both parties will undoubtedly be switching a lot. Earth Plate EQ hits really awesomely hard which is great, and stone edge is good coverage. U-Turn as part of the volt turn strategy. Can switch into EQs by mold breaker Excadrill and physical fighting types like conk who aren't running ice punch.
Scissors (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
This guy has gone through quite an overhaul on my team. Initially made as an offensive defogger, I changed him into my team's mega and replaced defog with roost to give him more survivability. One SD makes bullet punch actually hit really really hard, and he has the bulk to take hits along with roost to heal them off. U-Turn again as part of the Volt-Turn strategy. Can switch into a wide variety of physical moves.
Dental Work (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Toxic
- Protect
- Roar
- Lava Plume
As soon as I put scizor on my team, I knew I needed something to take fire type hits, and my team also was sorely in need of a defensive pokemon, and Heatran has accomplished both admirably. I run a great general utility set, and I used to use air balloon but I find I have plenty of switching power on my team to keep him out of the way of ground type moves, along with the leftovers bonus can give me like 12% extra health with protect. He takes all special attacks very well so he's a solid switch in on any of them, but I do wish he could heal better than leftovers only.
Whoosh! (Talonflame) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Swords Dance
The newest addition to my team. I always though talonflame was overrated. Originally this was mega-manectric, who I found just was too squishy and without any reliable way of OHKOing anything due to lack of boosting raw power. I switched to Keldeo, who I just wasn't really finding had any defensive synergy with the rest of my team. Talonflame on the other hand has actually fit this role surprisingly well after a friend suggested I try it. I run a slightly unorthodox set with acrobatics+lum, as this leaves me very reliant on GETTING him statuses, which is a bit counterintuitive. But I find a lot of people try to status talonflame, and 110 acrobatics without the recoil of brave bird is great, and allows me to utilize swords dance+gale wings in a way that brave bird prevents. Flare blitz tends to be my primary STAB until I get rid of the berry, and talon flame is fast enough to pull off flare blitz anyways.
So yeah, any advice is appreciated. I used to struggle with mega-venusaur and scarf-moldbreaker exca but talonflame has helped a lot with those. One thing I still struggle with is stealth rocks, and I have no idea where I can fit in defog or spinner because every single move on the entire team serves its purpose and every pokemon serves to check the weaknesses of the others.
Originally I designed it as a very hardcore volt turn team, with Mega Manectric instead of talon flame in the 6th spot and only regular scizor. I wanted pokemon that could effectively check each other's weaknesses and switch ins and constantly keep turning it around. The team as a whole has evolved a bit, and I'm looking for advice anywhere I can get it.
Looming Threat (Breloom) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Technician
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Swords Dance
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
I actually just enjoy Breloom immensely for some reason. One of personal favorite physical attackers in the entire tier, perhaps for no entirely justified reason, but I enjoy it a lot nonetheless and thusly decided to make it the primary offensive threat of my entire team. If I somehow switch into something breloom has the bulk to take on, I can spore the switch-in, swords dance, and bullet seed/mach punch easily a few enemies down. Another option is just hoping for an outspeed with spore, but Breloom has pretty abysmal speed. I've always debated dropping swords dance for rock tomb but I feel it removes a lot of Breloom's offensive potency.
General Electric (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Def
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
I used to always and exclusively use scarf rotom-w with hydro pump, volt switch, hp ice, and trick. I've recently switched over to this set and I enjoy it a lot. 2 standard STAB moves that hit pretty hard, will-o-wisp is just a great move to have for status and crippling physical attackers in general, and pain split can keep rotom-wash in the game for a nice long time, especially when I'm running a very slow set on him so he will be taking hits. Volt switch was part of the original volt turn strategy. Can switch into a lot of things for the others on my team.
Tigger (Landorus-Therian) @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
I never liked choicing pokemon, and Landorus is the only stealth rocker on my team, which is quite important when running a strategy like VoltTurn, in which both parties will undoubtedly be switching a lot. Earth Plate EQ hits really awesomely hard which is great, and stone edge is good coverage. U-Turn as part of the volt turn strategy. Can switch into EQs by mold breaker Excadrill and physical fighting types like conk who aren't running ice punch.
Scissors (Scizor) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
This guy has gone through quite an overhaul on my team. Initially made as an offensive defogger, I changed him into my team's mega and replaced defog with roost to give him more survivability. One SD makes bullet punch actually hit really really hard, and he has the bulk to take hits along with roost to heal them off. U-Turn again as part of the Volt-Turn strategy. Can switch into a wide variety of physical moves.
Dental Work (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Toxic
- Protect
- Roar
- Lava Plume
As soon as I put scizor on my team, I knew I needed something to take fire type hits, and my team also was sorely in need of a defensive pokemon, and Heatran has accomplished both admirably. I run a great general utility set, and I used to use air balloon but I find I have plenty of switching power on my team to keep him out of the way of ground type moves, along with the leftovers bonus can give me like 12% extra health with protect. He takes all special attacks very well so he's a solid switch in on any of them, but I do wish he could heal better than leftovers only.
Whoosh! (Talonflame) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Acrobatics
- Flare Blitz
- Roost
- Swords Dance
The newest addition to my team. I always though talonflame was overrated. Originally this was mega-manectric, who I found just was too squishy and without any reliable way of OHKOing anything due to lack of boosting raw power. I switched to Keldeo, who I just wasn't really finding had any defensive synergy with the rest of my team. Talonflame on the other hand has actually fit this role surprisingly well after a friend suggested I try it. I run a slightly unorthodox set with acrobatics+lum, as this leaves me very reliant on GETTING him statuses, which is a bit counterintuitive. But I find a lot of people try to status talonflame, and 110 acrobatics without the recoil of brave bird is great, and allows me to utilize swords dance+gale wings in a way that brave bird prevents. Flare blitz tends to be my primary STAB until I get rid of the berry, and talon flame is fast enough to pull off flare blitz anyways.
So yeah, any advice is appreciated. I used to struggle with mega-venusaur and scarf-moldbreaker exca but talonflame has helped a lot with those. One thing I still struggle with is stealth rocks, and I have no idea where I can fit in defog or spinner because every single move on the entire team serves its purpose and every pokemon serves to check the weaknesses of the others.
