ORAS OU First OU Team: Charizard X & Co

[Intellijest]

Hey everyone! I am trying to get into competitive battling, so I made a team after stalking these forums and the strategy dex quite a bit. I have practiced a bit with this team on showdown, going 8-3. So far it works if I eliminate charizard's threats early, but I tend to need to use him early in the matches to take out certain pokemon. I feel some experienced eyes could help me improve on this team and point out holes in matchups. So here it goes:

=== [ou] First OU ===

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

My bread and butter. Dragon dance as soon as I get a favorable opponent, and then proceed to wreak havoc with perfect coverage in dragon claw and flare blitz. Roost helps sustain him, as he has trouble with stealth rocks and flare blitz also causes recoil damage.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
Calm Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

I chose Clefable because it always manages to get off stealth rocks as my lead and can cripple some of its threats with thunder wave. I went with the Smodex suggested EV spread since it helps Clefable survive various hits from both kinds of attackers.

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

I use Lando as a revenge killer and momentum builder with U-Turn. This choice set gives pretty great coverage and outspeeds unsuspecting opponents. Works great as a revenge threat thanks to intimidate. Pairs nicely with Charizard as far as checking Heatran and the like.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Icy Wind
- Sludge Bomb
- Taunt

Gengar is here because he is unmatched in terms of special attack and speed for all ghost/poison OU pokemon. Sludge bomb wrecks opposing unboosted clefables and especially slowbros. Taunt is useful for defensive pokemon and can make for a safe switch in for charizard/lando. Icy wind can take out unsuspecting dragons, landorus, and gliscor. He is also among my favorite pokemon :)

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Azumarill is another pokemon that can check many of charizard's threats. Choice band makes it hit hard. It has great coverage and is capable of taking a couple hits thanks to its bulkiness. Makes for a pretty good pivot. Aqua jet is my only priority move on this team, so it comes in handy.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Scald
- Thunder Wave

Starmie plays an important role in being a spinner. Without starmie, Charizard can have a rough time getting in due to its massive SR weakness. Starmie is set up to survive and dish out burns or paralysis when possible.

 

[HappyHoopa05]

Nice team for a first try. I suggest using psyshock or ice beam > thunder wave Starmie. Also i suggest using defensive lead Landorus over Scarf, since your team basically is destroyed by bird (The last slot for clefable can be Calm Mind)

 

[Fireflame]

This is a very nice team for your first attempt at team building. I helped build a Mega-Charizard X team for a friend a while ago so I hope that I can help with this team too. The changed sets will be at the end.

First off, you don't need to have Stealth Rocks on Clefable since you have one of the best setters in the game, which is Landorus-T. Therefore, Calm Mind > Stealth Rock. Calm Mind gives Clefable a greater offensive presence and can actually work as a secondary win con.

Your Landorus-T can use a bit of work. Having choice scarf on Landorus is unnecessary since you have Azumarill with Aqua Jet as well as Gengar. Therefore, we are going to make Landorus defensive. Rocky Helmet > Choice Scarf so you can check your threats in an easier fashion. Furthermore, Rocky Helmet does nice chip damage to opposing U-Turners and other walls so that Charizard can sweep them later. Since we got rid of stealth rocks on Clefable, we are going to use replace Knock Off with Stealth Rock on Landorus-T since its bulk and momentum make it an excellent SR setter. Now, make Landorus-T have a physically defensive spread with 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD /8 Spe EVs and an Impish nature. This will make Landorus extremely bulky, as your team lacks any bulk outside of Clefable.

So Gengar is fine but consider running Focus Blast to 2HKO Ferrothorn and SpD Heatran. Your set is also walled by Bisharp, so having Focus Blast can eliminate him from a match.

For Azumarill, I would recommend a spread of 216 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Spe EVs to outspeed uninvested base 60s such as Clefable, outspeed support Tyranitar (who has base 61 speed), and have maximum bulk while also having an odd number of HP. Furthermore, you have no true special wall (Landorus-T is your true physical wall), so you can run Assault Vest instead of choice band for more SpD, but Choice Band is fine.

Lastly, Starmie. Although having Thunder Wave is nice, I think Psyshock > Thunder Wave since you already have Thunder Wave on Clefable. Furthermore, since Landorus-T is your physical wall, you don't need the Def EVs. A spread of 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SpA with a Timid nature is optimal since Starmie works best as a fast and bulky support, and it is crucial to have max speed. The 4 SpA EVs are used so Psyshock is guaranteed to OHKO Gengar.

Also, remember to change Clefable, Gengar, and Starmie's Atk IVs to 0 so they take minimum damage from Foul Play.

Well, that's my rate! Hopefully I helped your team, and good luck!

Sets

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk
Calm Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunder Wave

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 8 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Icy Wind/Focus Blast
- Taunt/Focus Blast

Azumarill @ Choice Band/Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 216 HP / 252 Atk / 40 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SpA
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Scald
- Psyshock