After battling in 4th Gen pretty extensively and then taking a full hiatus for all of 5th Gen, I once again felt motivated to do some Pokemon battling. I started out playing VGC 2014 on my Cartridge and climbing the Battle Spot Ranks with solid success. It got dull fairly quickly though so I decided to dive back into my old passion of 6v6 OU which I enjoyed during the D/P/Pt/HG/SS era. I started with carelessly thrown together teams on my 3DS but the bar was extremely low for WiFi battle, which is why I decided to go with showdown instead. This team was thrown together about a week ago and is my first real attempt at XY OU and I have to say that it went better than I expected. This Team peaked out at 1580 Elo but I feel like I could do better with it if I got some solid criticism of more experienced 6th Gen players.
Enough preface, here it is:
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Roost
Staraptor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- Double-Edge
- U-turn
I decided early on that i would want the popular dual bird core of Talonflame and Staraptor, banded and scarfed respectively. I decided on the scarf because, from what I have seen, scarfed jolly Staraptor outspeeds most common scarfers these days and has enough power with Reckless. The option to U-Turn is great because i find myself threatening the opponent out quite a lot and the gained momentum really helps. The Talonflame is fairly standard as well but I feel like I need to address Roost on a banded set. If I ever feel like my opponent is going to switch out because he feels threatened, I can make a choice between Roost and U-Turn. Generally I tend to use U-Turn, but i have used Roost to ease of Stealth Rock/BB damage when predicting a switch into a Pokemon that i can counter with ease.
Aside from Roost on banded Talonflame, this core seems pretty common. My objective is to hurt the checks and counters for these birds and use them to clean lategame, which works really well. Early on in the match, these guys don't do a lot, especially when facing SR, which segues into my next guy.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Starmie is my spinner. This guy does work, but I am also very concerned about his role in the team. The set needs no words and is pretty straight forward, Hydro Pump is a great STAB and BoltBeaming puts so much pressure on a lot of teams. Rapid Spin is very clutch for this team, which is exactly my problem with Starmie. With Aeagislash running around and Gengar being quite popular from what i can tell, I'm really not happy with having a Ghost weakness on my spinner, a problem that has existed for as long as i play this game. After some frustrating matches where i just couldn't clear the field for my birds to sweep I switched to a defogging Latios with DM + BoltBeam, but I wasn't too happy with removing my own Rocks, which is why i swapped back to Starmie. Mindgames are really Important with this guy if i need to Rapid Spin, and I find that deciding matches. Any sugeestions are appreciated.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
Heatran works very nicely these days and I knew I needed a flying resist early on, it's indispensable these days. It's great that i don't need to rely on Talonflame to hurt anything Fire Weak and Stealth Rocks are just so so so important with the dual bird core, because they do crucial damage that helps with KO's and provides an incentive for my opponent not to switch, which makes prediction easier, something that I have learned to love because of the fact that my main sweepers do a lot of recoil to themselves. Air Balloon helps with getting the SR up in a lot of cases and HP Ice proved to be very valuable when dealing with Dragonite and other dragons.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
Assault Vest Conkeldurr was put on this team because I felt like i needed another priority move as well as more fighting support, as Staraptors CC most likely won't suffice. Ice Punch+Drain Punch are fairly standard I guess and I'm happy with how Conk functions in this team. He takes special attacks like a champ and is extremely important as he is my only Dark resist. He also is my go-to guy to eat WoW's (Heatran and Talonflame don't appreciate Rotom-W...) or T-Waves. The EV-spread might need some finetuning, as I lack physical bulk, which, in some situations, would certainly be really great, even at the cost of some firepower.
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SAtk
Quiet Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
Venusaur is my mega of choice. The fighting resist is very good because neither Talonflame nor Starmie can hold up to the sheer power that stuff has these days. It also helps with my Electric Weakness and is pretty much my only great answer to Rotom-W. My team isn't to fairy weak, but Sludge Bomb certainly helps. I have thought about Scizor-M for this slot, mainly because of the extra priority (so important these days!) but for now, Venusaur has worked well in most battles.
That's it. If you have any suggestions please let me know, I might add a threatlist soon if I find the time. Thanks for reading.
Enough preface, here it is:
Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Roost
Staraptor @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- Double-Edge
- U-turn
I decided early on that i would want the popular dual bird core of Talonflame and Staraptor, banded and scarfed respectively. I decided on the scarf because, from what I have seen, scarfed jolly Staraptor outspeeds most common scarfers these days and has enough power with Reckless. The option to U-Turn is great because i find myself threatening the opponent out quite a lot and the gained momentum really helps. The Talonflame is fairly standard as well but I feel like I need to address Roost on a banded set. If I ever feel like my opponent is going to switch out because he feels threatened, I can make a choice between Roost and U-Turn. Generally I tend to use U-Turn, but i have used Roost to ease of Stealth Rock/BB damage when predicting a switch into a Pokemon that i can counter with ease.
Aside from Roost on banded Talonflame, this core seems pretty common. My objective is to hurt the checks and counters for these birds and use them to clean lategame, which works really well. Early on in the match, these guys don't do a lot, especially when facing SR, which segues into my next guy.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Starmie is my spinner. This guy does work, but I am also very concerned about his role in the team. The set needs no words and is pretty straight forward, Hydro Pump is a great STAB and BoltBeaming puts so much pressure on a lot of teams. Rapid Spin is very clutch for this team, which is exactly my problem with Starmie. With Aeagislash running around and Gengar being quite popular from what i can tell, I'm really not happy with having a Ghost weakness on my spinner, a problem that has existed for as long as i play this game. After some frustrating matches where i just couldn't clear the field for my birds to sweep I switched to a defogging Latios with DM + BoltBeam, but I wasn't too happy with removing my own Rocks, which is why i swapped back to Starmie. Mindgames are really Important with this guy if i need to Rapid Spin, and I find that deciding matches. Any sugeestions are appreciated.
Heatran @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earth Power
Heatran works very nicely these days and I knew I needed a flying resist early on, it's indispensable these days. It's great that i don't need to rely on Talonflame to hurt anything Fire Weak and Stealth Rocks are just so so so important with the dual bird core, because they do crucial damage that helps with KO's and provides an incentive for my opponent not to switch, which makes prediction easier, something that I have learned to love because of the fact that my main sweepers do a lot of recoil to themselves. Air Balloon helps with getting the SR up in a lot of cases and HP Ice proved to be very valuable when dealing with Dragonite and other dragons.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Mach Punch
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch
Assault Vest Conkeldurr was put on this team because I felt like i needed another priority move as well as more fighting support, as Staraptors CC most likely won't suffice. Ice Punch+Drain Punch are fairly standard I guess and I'm happy with how Conk functions in this team. He takes special attacks like a champ and is extremely important as he is my only Dark resist. He also is my go-to guy to eat WoW's (Heatran and Talonflame don't appreciate Rotom-W...) or T-Waves. The EV-spread might need some finetuning, as I lack physical bulk, which, in some situations, would certainly be really great, even at the cost of some firepower.
Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SAtk
Quiet Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
Venusaur is my mega of choice. The fighting resist is very good because neither Talonflame nor Starmie can hold up to the sheer power that stuff has these days. It also helps with my Electric Weakness and is pretty much my only great answer to Rotom-W. My team isn't to fairy weak, but Sludge Bomb certainly helps. I have thought about Scizor-M for this slot, mainly because of the extra priority (so important these days!) but for now, Venusaur has worked well in most battles.
That's it. If you have any suggestions please let me know, I might add a threatlist soon if I find the time. Thanks for reading.
