Finally made a team worth rating. Gen 5 OU

[rh2012]

A TEAM WORTH RATING

I've been playing Gen 5 since the start, but have had IMMENSE trouble making a team that suited me. I just could never find a team that could get me into the high ranks (granted I’m not ranked high right now, but I get haxed to death with this team on probable wins), so for a while I’ve just been planning. Thinking, researching, even stealing. I do what I want. Any who, I’ve finally created a team that I’m confident with (for the most part). I got to just over 1200 before the hacks God's hit me with everything in their power. Not to come off douchy, but there wasn’t one battle I lost that wasn't at least MOSTLY due to Hax. And i know 1200 sucks, but I Laddered for like.. 45 minutes-an hour? Idk. Anyway, I’ll get to the team. (P.S. - I'd make some flashy, pretty RMT but this team still needs a little tweaking, and I’ll make a good one if this team can get into the 1400’s).

TEAMBUILDING

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I started with these schmexy fellas. I've never been one for a shuffler team, but i thought.. What the heck? I stole these puppies from Fried Rhys's "Team Walrus" to see what they could do.

So i got to thinking, and since i'm going to be shuffling quite a bit, I’ll be racking up hazard damage. Sweet. So since i'm taking sooo much health off per turn, I figure i'll go for priority in Scizor, and some Speedy Powerness with Excadrill. Not to mention these two have virtually the same counters (fuck you Skarmory, you too Gliscor), so they can help each other out.

This step here was the toughest to decide. I racked my brain for hours tryin to figure out what I needed.. No. Obviously I need sand for Excadrill to FSU! And as much as I love hippo's, what I love more is trapping those Lati twins and KO'ing them with pursuit. It's much more fun that way.

The final pokemon I added... really just for synergy, and I don’t like it. I already HATE having more than 2 pokemon weak to a particular type on one team, and I like to have my resistances at least equal to my weaknesses, so I always have a safe switch. So I had 3 fire-weak, and 2 resists; 2 fighting-weak, 1 resist; 2 water-weak, 1 resist. Well, gyara resists fire, fighting, and water for me like I needed, so jump on the train you wannabe dragon (BAN ME PLEASE)!

Now, the good stuff.. :naughty:

Tyranitar @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EV's: 236 HP / 56 SpA / 216 SpD
Nature: Sassy ( + SpD / - Spe)
- Stealth Rocks
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Pursuit

I’ve never been a huge fan or T-tar, honestly. To me, it just doesn’t get a whole lot done. But what it DOES do, it does to perfection. Stealth Rocks are because everyone loves little pointy stones, Fire Blast is for Ferrothorn and Scizor (kinda), and Pursuit is to trap and kill those stupid Lati-queers, along with Non SubDisable Gengar (although those are the only ones nowadays), and Espeon. Ice beam is for Gliscor I suppose.. But Gliscor won’t come in on T-tar anymore. We all know T-tar almost always has ice beam, so it really gets no use (not to mention I’d rather go to Skarm and get free spikes vs. Gliscor). I honestly think I need to change that out for either Superpower or Stone Edge. (Superpower will help against Heatran, and SE to get those Thundurus.) Chople Berry is to take those Focus Blasts from special attackers I want to kill, but maybe I should just switch to lefties? It helps occasionally though.

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EV’s: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
Nature: Impish ( +Def / -SpA)
- Spikes
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

I love defensive Skarm. He’s just as Wall-y as a wall can be. Standard set pretty much, Max HP for longevity, lots of Defense to say FOXXX you to Physical attackers not named Machamp, or Breloom, or Darmanitan, or Victini. Whirlwind the shit out of fools. That’s pretty much what I do with this team. Game plan: Whirlwind until their team is in range to get BONED by Excadrill. Really not much to explain here.

Latias @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EV’s: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid ( + Spe / -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Roar
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover

I tried to run bulky Latias sets in Gen 4, but I was never able to have much success with them. You know why?? Because it wasn’t this one. With no defensive investments, Latias takes hits like a champ. It’s so fast as well, making it a great switch-in to speedy fire or fighting types. It can also take on Thundurus decently, as long as there isn’t a NP up BEFORE I switch in. This thing is a GREAT shuffler in tandem with Latias, as they have excellent typing synergy, and take on each other’s counters quite well. After 1 calm mind, even with no SpA invested, it hits surprisingly hard. I love when Blissey switches in take a FUCKTON of hazard damage, while I calm mind, then roar it away, as most likely it will wish. Then it comes in again while I CM again, and after another FUCKTON of hazard damage is just oh so easy to pick off :)Stupid fat whore..

Scizor @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EV’s: 248 HP / 248 Atk / 12 Spe
Nature: Adamant ( + Atk / - SpA)
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Scizor is here to go along with Excadrill in cleaning up after SS + Spikes + Rocks + Pahazing has taken its toll on the opponent. It does a decent job, but to be honest, Excadrill does the job on his own. He helps a little now and then picking someone off quickly if I get reckless with Excadrill, but that’s about it. I don’t really need him for dragon resist as Skarm takes on the Physical ones like a champ, while Tyranitar can takes the Lati’s and (if I add superpower) Hydreigon. I wouldn’t mid replacing this thing, as it adds a third fire weakness that I don’t exactly appreciate. Anyone wanna help?

Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Trait: Sand Rush
EV’s: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant ( + Atk / - SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Substitute

I love this mole. I actually refused to use it until I made this team, but I’m glad I gave it ago. While looking through the moves it has, and debating over X-Scissor, Return, or Brick Break, I saw Substitute. Then I realized.. X-Scissor isn’t really hitting anything I need to (Reuniclus is set up on by Latias), Return is just… unnecessary, and Brick Break is useless because I had Skarm for opposing moles. And substitute works GREAT. It buys turns. Rotom-W can be beaten by SubMole as you can Sub, SD, then if Hydro Pump didn’t miss already, sub for a miss, then SD again and Rock Slide. Although I can’t beat Gliscor without FlinchHax, it is worth noting that Ice Fang usually won’t break my Sub without a SD, buying me more setup if I’m feeling ballsy. Adamant is for the extra power because, as I said, Jolly would only be for the speed tie vs. other Excadrill. Which I don’t need because of Skarm (plus I usually Sub first turn anway, so I can hit it from behind my subby). Since I’m not going for speed ties, would it be advisable to reduce speed some and add to my HP for better Subs?

Gyarados @ Leftovers[/FONT]
Trait: Intimidate[/FONT]
EV’s: 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spe
Nature: Adamant ( + Atk / - SpA)
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Bounce

This thing was put on my team for synergy purposes. I don’t like it here. The only thing a like about it is Taunt. Other than that, it’s stealth rock weak, and my team has zero need for a spinner without it. It has gotten an occasional mini-sweep, but nothing game changing. Honestly this thing needs to go; it is the weak link on this team. Not to mention, I really should have another special attacker.


OPTIONAL CHANGES:

I’d like to change out Gyarados for Rotom-W, most likely. Keeps the Water and Fire resists that I wanted with Gyara, BUT it isn’t fighting resistant :/ So, I may make this change, and then change Scizor for some Poke that resists fighting, I just need an idea of who! (Reuniclus?) I really don’t want to rely on Latias only to take on fighting poke’s (especially Conkeldurr). [/FONT]


Threats (specific only):

HEATRAN is a dick to most pokemon on my team. ESPECIALLY the Sub + Toxic version. Those things give me a ton of trouble. I think using Superpower on T-tar will help to alleviate this. A lot actually. Rotom-W would also help with this toxic spamming whore.

VAPOREON is like THE biggest threat to my team. Nobody reliably beats it. Once again, Rotom-W can help with this a lot.

SKARMORY can wall all of my sweepers. Hmm… Rotom-W beats him. Weird trend we’re seeing here?

GLISCOR can handily take care of my sweeps as well. Gee, I wish I could think of a pokemon that is immune to EQ and can shake off ice fangs like nothing, then hit back with a Super Effective stab attack. Maybe if there was some sort of washing machine pokemon?

TOXIC in general is often times the bane of this team. :(


Well, I hope you enjoyed this RMT, and will be willing to help me out. I know it isn’t the greatest, but I tried to make it neat and fairly extensive seeing how it annoys me when I see 1 sentence descriptions, no pictures, etc. Anyway, later Smogoners, please leave a rate on the way out :)

 

[Nobody Special]

Why not use a Gliscor in place of Skarmory? Better counter to Conkeldurr, the main counter to your Excadrill. And for an offensive team like this, I doubt Spikes will be neccessary. And as you said, Toxic is usually the bane of your team (actually Gliscor blocks all status). Gliscor completley alleviates that problem. Also, Latias doesn't need phaze, you should be controlling the pace of the battle. Use Refresh or HP Fire. I don't know about replacing Scizor but Starmie seems viable as a rapid spinner/revenge killer.

 

[Paradoxus]

Needs moar spinblock. Mono- Attacking Latias is good because it can shuffle the opponent and then entry hazards do serious damage to them.Try Dusknoir, as Dusclops doesn't have lefties so will be taking damage from SS. Speaking of Latias, use 252 HP / 252 Def for your EV spread, as Mono-Attackers want to be bulky, not fast.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Why not use a Gliscor in place of Skarmory? Better counter to Conkeldurr, the main counter to your Excadrill. And for an offensive team like this, I doubt Spikes will be neccessary. And as you said, Toxic is usually the bane of your team (actually Gliscor blocks all status). Gliscor completley alleviates that problem. Also, Latias doesn't need phaze, you should be controlling the pace of the battle. Use Refresh or HP Fire.

Gyrados does a much better job at countering Conk then skarmory. If anythign your arguement shoudl be for gyrados vs. gliscor.

Anyway, since it does usually end up countering fighting types, you might want to run a more bulky spread listed in the analysis.

 

[Dr Jones]

I'm not sure what your thoughts on him are, but Garchomp might be a good substitute for Scizor. It wouldn't have to worry much about Heatran (or other threatening fire attacks) and it gets a boost from your Sandstorm already. The only issues I can think of is the loss of priority and that it would make Vaporeon and Gliscor more of a threat, but as you mentioned, a Rotom-W would be able to take them out.

 

[jc104]

Hi there.

I'm not great at rating gen 5 teams (probs why I lost my TR badge), but since you said your Gyarados was there purely for typing purposes, might I suggest that you try Jellicent instead? It is more suited to taking attacks of the types listed, being much more durable, and will of course block rapid spin for you, which would otherwise be something of a pain.

Also sub on Excadrill doesnt make much sense really. Apart from anything, you are completely wasting your balloon every time you use it. Excadrill is faster than everything; you dont really need to predict what the opponent will switch in - swords dance followed by EQ does the same amount as a sub followed by 2 EQs. As for what to use instead, Return/Frustration and X-scissor do have their uses, but you could consider Rapid Spin - I tend to find that this sort of team has trouble with heavy stall, and this might help.

Good luck.

 

[Mike Legend]

Hi this is a nice team; Skarmory/Latias is a very good core and I'm glad to see people using it. Anyway, I'm really not liking Gyarados on your team. Even you say it's not doing much and I think there's an easy replacement, Jellicent. Jellicent has the same resistances barring the ground immunity which isn't an issue thanks to Skarmory and Latias, and can also handle all the Pokemon on your threat list very well. Jellicent also provides you with a spin blocker which I think you will find useful, particularly against opposing stall teams.

Jellicent @ Leftovers | Water Absorb
Bold | 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Scald / Recover / Taunt / Will-O-Wisp

Anyway this was already a good team, but I think Jellicent will improve by a lot. gl

 

[rh2012]

Why not use a Gliscor in place of Skarmory? Better counter to Conkeldurr, the main counter to your Excadrill. And for an offensive team like this, I doubt Spikes will be neccessary. And as you said, Toxic is usually the bane of your team (actually Gliscor blocks all status). Gliscor completley alleviates that problem. Also, Latias doesn't need phaze, you should be controlling the pace of the battle. Use Refresh or HP Fire. I don't know about replacing Scizor but Starmie seems viable as a rapid spinner/revenge killer.

Skarmory is there for phasing, and to block Physical dragons (which Gliscor cannot do). Sure, they status immunity is nice, but he doesnt fill the role that skarm does.

Gyrados does a much better job at countering Conk then skarmory. If anythign your arguement shoudl be for gyrados vs. gliscor.

Anyway, since it does usually end up countering fighting types, you might want to run a more bulky spread listed in the analysis.

Gyarados takes so much stealth rock damage, it's hard to switch in and out

I'm not sure what your thoughts on him are, but Garchomp might be a good substitute for Scizor. It wouldn't have to worry much about Heatran (or other threatening fire attacks) and it gets a boost from your Sandstorm already. The only issues I can think of is the loss of priority and that it would make Vaporeon and Gliscor more of a threat, but as you mentioned, a Rotom-W would be able to take them out.

This isnt a bad suggestion. I'll check his synergy and see if he is worth a test. Thanks.

Hi there.

I'm not great at rating gen 5 teams, but since you said your Gyarados was there purely for typing purposes, might I suggest that you try Jellicent instead? It is more suited to taking attacks of the types listed, being much more durable, and will of course block rapid spin for you, which would otherwise be something of a pain.

Also sub on Excadrill doesnt make much sense really. Apart from anything, you are completely wasting your balloon every time you use it. Excadrill is faster than everything; you dont really need to predict what the opponent will switch in - swords dance followed by EQ does the same amount as a sub followed by 2 EQs. As for what to use instead, Return/Frustration and X-scissor do have their uses, but you could consider Rapid Spin - I tend to find that this sort of team has trouble with heavy stall, and this might help.

Good luck

I think i may try jellicent... It is immune to fighting, and can spinblock, so that's dandy. As for Sub on excadrill... It DOES have uses. Speed isnt everything. Someone can predict my SD and attack. They could switch in conk / azumarril to take me out while I SD, then I have to switch out immediately. When i sub first, I can AT LEAST put a big hit on someone and i dont have to switch out immediately. I dont think i need Rapid Spin annyway. Skarm flies, doesnt care about SR, Lati levitates and doesnt mind SR too much, excadrill won take spikes with balloon and resists SR, gyara is getting the boot, tyranitar usualy ends up as death fodder once it's job anyway, and so it's really just scizor that matters (and he may also get booted, and is immune to Toxic Spikes)

Thanks everyone for the rates so far, i'm gonna get to testing

 

[rh2012]

Hi this is a nice team; Skarmory/Latias is a very good core and I'm glad to see people using it. Anyway, I'm really not liking Gyarados on your team. Even you say it's not doing much and I think there's an easy replacement, Jellicent. Jellicent has the same resistances barring the ground immunity which isn't an issue thanks to Skarmory and Latias, and can also handle all the Pokemon on your threat list very well. Jellicent also provides you with a spin blocker which I think you will find useful, particularly against opposing stall teams.

Jellicent @ Leftovers | Water Absorb
Bold | 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Scald / Recover / Taunt / Will-O-Wisp

Anyway this was already a good team, but I think Jellicent will improve by a lot. gl

Thanks! If you look in the teambuilder, i actually mentioned i took it off of your RMT, Fried :P and yeah, i think i'm gonna test it, thanks!

 

[Faladran]

You seem to have put heavy consideration into the Rotom-W change already. I think the standard set with HP Fire adds a lot to this team - Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump hit hard with Spikes support, and you can 2HKO Ferrothorn (limiting it completely if you catch it on the switch). Rotom's immunity to Spikes and moveset allow it to take out most entry hazard users and hit hard without prior setup. You do lose the extra Fighting resistance, but I feel that Skarmory is more than capable in this regard (although some variants of Terrakion could be problematic).

Rotom-W

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 104 HP / 252 SAtk / 152 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Pain Split

Standard set, but with some extra EVs in Speed to outpace Jolly Tyranitar, Adamant Scizor and Breloom, and standard Gliscor.

I actually think you should keep Scizor. Without it, you will certainly become more vulnerable to Reuniclus. Tyranitar doesn't do enough with Pursuit, and your phazers only postpone it from sweeping. U-turn at least provides a guaranteed way check to Reuniclus. However, you could try out the bulky SD set and give Tyranitar Leftovers instead. This change will make it a lot easier to switch into special attacks and potentially sweep opponents; Tyranitar will also appreciate the extra recovery. Good luck!