SS OU First attempt at building a team - Urshifu-R and Dragapult core

[Ajah]

Hi all,

So this is my first attempt at creating a team that I am looking to use competitively in SS. I have tweaked it resulting in mixed success. Any criticism or improvements would be greatly appreciated, along with any general advice for team building! Thanks!

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet
- U-turn

Standard set for Urshifu-R for quick switch-ins and -outs. Urshifu has worked really well in revenge killing common threats with Aqua jet and has powerful STAB including close combat and surging strikes. The U-turn allows Urshifu to fulfill its role as a good switcher and has worked well as a physically attacking wall-breaker.

Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Flamethrower

Dragapult has a similar role as a wall-breaker, this time specially attacking. I have made use of Dragapult's expansive move-pool. Dragapult also makes up for walls that would block Urshifu using flamethrower, along with the STAB moves shadow ball and draco meteor.

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic

Toxapex has worked well as a SpD wall and is one of my favourite pokemon to use as I am a fan of quick switch-ins. We've got scald for a bit of damaging but obviously there's more of a focus on toxic stalling. It's high Def along with SpD has made it versatile as a mixed wall. It has also been useful as a pivot due to the threat of toxic.

Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Roost
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz

Volcarona is a good bulky mon and has proved useful in setting up. I was torn between Bug Buzz and Psychic but went with bug buzz for the STAB. This is likely due to the fact that I am playing in the lower tiers, but the heavy-duty boots have yet to prove vitally useful.

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

Landorus-Therian, although a boring choice, has high defensive capabilities and yet can also pack a punch. I do feel the move-set I have chosen is a bit of a nothingness as it is not quite a set-up mon, nor a sweeper but it has been useful in taking down a range of threats, as well as providing good typing and some much needed variation of move-typing.

Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Ice Shard

I am the least sure about Weavile and even less sure about which held item would be best. The typing and resulting STAB moves have proved useful in forcing a switch or taking out powerful threats to the rest of the team. I would love some advice as to how this spot could be better utilised.

Apologies if this is not worded perfectly, as I said, any criticism and advice in both team building and how to use this website would be appreciated. Thanks again!

 

[Clone]

I like the premise of this team, especially with shifu + pult to punch holes in opposing teams, backed up by the sweeping potential of volc and weavile. The odd man out here is toxapex, as it's quite a momentum sink and doesn't mesh well with the rest of your team. I'm gonna suggest Slowking in its place. Future Sight + Teleport will help shifu break opposing fat cores more reliably, and slowking is one of the best special sponges in the tier and allows you to pivot without losing momentum thanks to Teleport. Furthermore, it gives you breathing room against specs lele, which is otherwise a big threat to the team, while simultaneously giving you a bit of a sponge against against heatran and shifu, though it doesn't take them on as reliably.

Another thing I'd like to suggest is a change to the Volcarona set. Bulky Quiver Dance is definitely the way to go, but the EVs can be optimized to get more out of the mon. I'm going to recommend the set that's going to be in the analysis. Your team handles blissey and heatran pretty well (especially with the slowking change, so psychic as the last move is definitely the best option in my opinion. The EVs for the set I'll suggest outspeed Koko at +1, always OHKOes rillaboom with Flamethrower, and has the rest of the EVs in Def and HP for bulk. I can provide an alternative spread with some spdef if requested to help against kyurem and opposing volcaronas, so just ask.

Finally, I think landorus T could use a bit of a set change. Nothing too drastic, but Toxic > Stone Edge and the speed EVs in spdef cushions you more against volcarona and torn while giving you an option to wear down. Fatmons like opposing Landos, torn t, Hippo, slowking, etc. You could probably run even more spdef than that but I'll leave that up to you. I don't think the speed is necessary given meta trends nowadays and it helps to underspeed opposing landos for the slow u turn.

I'll provide the sets below. Hope the changes help. If you have any questions let me know

sets

Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 156 Def / 16 SpA / 88 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Flamethrower
- Psychic
- Roost

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Toxic

Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Scald
- Slack Off
- Teleport