SS OU First Post! OU Balance Clefable Buzzwole Core w/ Specs Latios! Looking for Feedback :)

[Hinguu]

Introduction

​

Hi all, my IGN is Hinguu, this is my first time posting a rate a team, so please be kind. I am around 1400 on the SS OU ladder right now so I am definitely still learning. Historically I've mostly copied other peoples teams or played random battles and this is my first real go at trying to build a decent team on my own. Any feedback(or words of encouragement) would be greatly appreciated!
##############################################################################################################

The Team:

​

The team is built around a Clefable and Buzzwole defensive core that I feel is pretty strong. With specs Latios as a wall breaker. Swords dance Garchomp is a good setup sweeper to deal with tankier teams, Ferrothorn is a good hazard setter utility mon to wear down pivots and knock off items. Scarf Urshifu-R is good speed control that covers a lot of the teams weaknesses and is a reasonable switch in for most of them.
After playing probably 20ish games with this team I've identified some of its main weaknesses, Fairy Types in General but specifically Tapu Lele, also Heatran and Zapdos Galar.
##############################################################################################################

Latios:

Description:​

Latios is the main wall breaker on the team, with a specs boosted Draco Meteor its able to break through some seriously fat tanks, it OHKOs most offensive mons that don't resist it and it 2HKOs Toxapex and Specially defensive Landorus, it also 2HKOs defensive Blissey and specially defensive Clefable with psyshock. With Draco and Psyshock coverage it can break almost any non steel type in the tier, with Thunderbolt it also 2HKOs Corviknight. Latios is a really strong breaker IMO and has generally been the MVP of this team. One thing I'm considering changing is dropping trick for something like flamethrower or aura sphere to try to break steel types. I don't want to put scarf on this because I really like the breaking power specs Latios has, I know that with specs its weak to stuff like Dragapult and Weavile. This mon is definitely something I enjoy using and I would be willing to make other changes to the team to cover its weaknesses.

Damage Calcs:​

• 252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 235-277 (77.3 - 91.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 200 Def Clefable: 199-235 (50.5 - 59.6%) -- 84.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blissey: 357-420 (50 - 58.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• 252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 264-312 (69.1 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

##############################################################################################################

Set​

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
##############################################################################################################

Clefable:

Description:​

Clefable is the lone special wall on the team, and forms a really strong defensive core with Buzzwole. This Clefable set uses thunder wave and stealth rock to support the rest of the team. I really like using thunder wave here to cripple stuff like Dragapult and Weavile so that Latios can take them out later on. Clef can tank most special attacks and wall a lot of stuff, its a good special switch in and probably the most important part of the team. Tanks lots of special threats in the tier, however specs Blaceph is a bit of a problem, but if you can get a thunderwave on it then Latios or Urshifu can easily take it out.

Damage Calcs:
​

• 252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 127-150 (32.2 - 38%) -- 1.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Zapdos Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 135-160 (34.2 - 40.6%) -- 53.5% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
• 0 SpA Tornadus-Therian Hurricane vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 100-118 (25.3 - 29.9%) -- 0.1% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
• 252 SpA Blacephalon Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 156-184 (39.5 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

##############################################################################################################

Set​

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave

##############################################################################################################

Ferrothorn:

Description:
​

Ferrothorn's purpose on this team is to wear down stallier teams with spikes and leech seed and also to be a switch in for strong physical attackers like Rillaboom and Weavile. I know that Ferrothorn is a strong mon and I have definitely seen it shine but I feel like I'm sort of using it wrong. I like knock off on it for sure to get rid of leftovers, boots, choice items. Gyro ball is pretty solid for dealing damage to faster mons. Ferrothorn is pretty weak to swords dance Rillaboom with superpower which I believe 2HKOs after 1 swords dance. I will include a section for damage calcs here just to show some of the hits Ferrothorn can tank as a switch in, however on this team Ferrothorn is mostly a hazard setter utility mon.

Damage Calcs:​

• 252+ Atk Life Orb Rillaboom Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 218-257 (61.9 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and Grassy Terrain recovery​
• +2 252 Atk Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 225-264 (63.9 - 75%) -- approx. 2HKO after Leftovers recovery ​
• 252 Atk Choice Band Kartana Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 226-266 (64.2 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery​
• 252+ Atk Melmetal Superpower vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 184-218 (52.2 - 61.9%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery ​

##############################################################################################################

Set​

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Knock Off
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball

##############################################################################################################

Garchomp:

Description:​

Garchomp is super strong with one swords dance and its useful for breaking special walls that Latios can't, sash might not be a great item consider the lack of a defogger or rapid spinner. Its main role on the team is to set up swords dance and take out any threats that Latios will have trouble breaking, its my main counter for things like Heatran and Ferrothorn. Specifically Garchomp is this teams main Heatran switch in, it can easily tank a magma storm or even an eruption and then threaten a OHKO on Heatran. One potential change I've considered making is switching out Garchomp for an Excadrill, this would alleviate some of the teams weaknesses by getting a rapid spinner, and having a setup sweeper that's immune to toxic. It would also be a good counter to fairy types but would remove this teams best Heatran switch in.

Damage Calcs:​

• 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 176-210 (57.8 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
• +2 252 Atk Garchomp Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 220 Def Zapdos: 396-466 (103.3 - 121.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• +2 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 195-229 (55.3 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
• 252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tyranitar: 302-356 (74.7 - 88.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

##############################################################################################################

Set​

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Scale Shot
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

##############################################################################################################

Urshifu-R:

Description:​

Scarf Urshifu is the speed control for the team, its not as strong as banded Urshifu but it outspeeds pretty much every non scarfer and a lot of common scarfers like Lando and Tapu Lele. Specifically Urshifu outspeeds scarf Lele and has a really high chance to OHKO with surging strikes after rocks. Urshifu also outspeeds scarf Heatran and OHKOs it, Urshifu also cleans up Dragapult after some chip and easily OHKOs weavile with close combat. It can also eat a dazzling gleam and usually lives a psychic from Gengar and will always OHKO with surging strikes. It also outspeeds a 1 quiver dance Volcarona and OHKOs it with surging strikes. Urshifu has a strong niche on this team and pairs well with Clef and Ferrothorns hazard stacking.

Damage Calcs:​

• 252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Lele on a critical hit: 237-282 (84.3 - 100.3%) -- approx. 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran on a critical hit: 360-432 (93.2 - 111.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
• 252 Atk Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 208-246 (65.6 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
• 252 Atk Urshifu Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 248 HP / 156 Def Volcarona on a critical hit: 432-510 (115.8 - 136.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• -1 252 Atk Urshifu Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 164+ Def Landorus-Therian on a critical hit: 312-378 (81.6 - 98.9%) -- approx. 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

##############################################################################################################

Set​

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Close Combat
- Surging Strikes
- Ice Punch

##############################################################################################################

Buzzwole:

Description:
​

Defensive Buzzwole is a beast, this thing can take pretty much any neutral hit and the only things it needs to avoid on the physical side are flying type attacks and strong super effective hits like Banded V-create. I actually looked at some calcs and I'm pretty sure the only non flying type non boosted physical moves that can guaranteed OHKO this set are banded V-create and adamant life orb sheer force Darmanitan flare blitz. This thing is a total beast, it can shrug off +2 Earthquakes from Garchomp and 2HKOs it with ice punch, +2 leaf blades from Kartana and OHKOs with CC. The main drawback is that Buzzwole cannot take a special hit to save its life and its weak to Zapdos-G, however paired with Clefable it forms an insanely strong core that can handle pretty much any offensive threat(except Zapdos-Galar).

Damage Calcs:​

• 252 Atk Choice Band Victini V-create vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 420-494 (100.4 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Darmanitan Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 439-517 (105 - 123.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 436-516 (104.3 - 123.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
• 252+ Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole on a critical hit: 174-207 (41.6 - 49.5%) -- approx. 3HKO

##############################################################################################################

Set
​

Buzzwole @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch
- Roost

##############################################################################################################

Team Building Process:

​

Latios:

I started this team out with specs Latios because I wanted to give him a try. I figured there were very few switch ins that could easily take a specs draco meteor and there is nothing more satisfying than dropping a chunky draco on something and OHKOing it.

Latios+Clefable+Buzzwole:

I decided to add a specially defensive Clefable as a defensive core for the team, specifically its good against some of Latios's worst matchups like Dragapult and Weavile and also just handles a lot of strong stuff in OU. I decided to give it T-wave to support Latios's speed tier against some of the faster mons in the tier. I decided to pair Clefable with Buzzwole to create a strong defensive core, Buzzwole can eat pretty much any physical hit and has fighting and ground coverage to hit a lot of strong mons in the tier, also with rocky helmet it can get chip on U-turn and flip turn.

Latios+Clefable+Buzzwole+Ferrothorn:

I added Ferrothorn, as a defensive utility mon to spread hazards and knock off. It's also got the best matchup against a lot of tankier mons with leech seed and knock off to remove leftovers.

Latios+Clefable+Buzzwole+Ferrothorn+Garchomp:

Swords dance Garchomp is a good well rounded setup sweeper and an important electric immunity. It's also the best switch in for Heatran and other fire types, if it switches into Volcarona on a QD it can live any big hit and then kill with stone edge.

Latios+Clefable+Buzzwole+Ferrothorn+Garchomp+Urshifu:

Scarf Urshifu is good speed control, it outspeeds most OU threats and has enough power to clean up most sweepers after some chip from hazards.

##############################################################################################################

Thanks for Reading :)

​

If you're here thank you so much for taking a look at my team. If you've got any suggestions for changes I could make to shore up some of the weaknesses my team has that would be super appreciated, or just leave a comment if you enjoyed reading about my team(or not I'm not your boss).

​

 

[3d]

yo cool team. latios seems pretty cool and i haven't seen much of it at all this generation so i like that you're giving it a shot. i noticed 3 main problems with this team. 1. this team stacks fairy weaknesses and only one steel isn't enough late game to keep you safe vs something like lele spamming moonblast or psychic, especially late game. what really makes this annoying is that lele can either come in on latios or come in to revenge kill after latios picks something off so its a constant threat.2. there isn't really much counterplay to a volcarona after QD if chomp takes a little bit of chip and throwing stone edge there doesn't really fix that much problems. 3. latios has no real way of coming in besides off doubles. the rest of the post will be addressing these 3 main problems.

-> replacing garchomp with heatran fixes a lot of the aforementioned problems. heatran is the best volcarona answer in the game so as long as heatran is relatively healthy you will be fine vs opposing volc. it also 4x resists fairy which is something this team desperately needed. heatran also walls opposing heatran with air balloon but i prefer leftovers to add longetivty as a lele/volcarona answer. you don't immediately lose to opposing heatran as heatran can always earth power it, and urshifu can switch in a couple times, which works well enough throughout the course of a game. heatran also helps this teams matchup vs stall which was pretty annoying as well.

i suggest changing aqua jet to u-turn. aqua jet on a scarf urshifu doesn't provide as much value as uturn does, mainly because u already outspeed most things anyway and the priority comes into play much less frequently than uturn. uturning out on on stuff like slowbro/pex/buzzwole gets specs latios in for free and ready to do what it does. scarf urshifu with uturn is probably latios' best partner for this reason.

heatran set

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Toxic

 

[Freezerman]

Hi welcome to the RMT forums!
first off, the team idea looks cool but I feel there are some problems this will face.
1) I think latios being your breaker vs and is very much concerning, not to mention the fact that clefable casually wins with cm(you gotta play tough 50/50s to not just make it a sack war) and moonblast is generally free vs anything but ferro(just gets 1v1'd by clef)
2) I feel the team just lacks momentum to abuse the spikes and does not let spikes + choiced breakers work well.
3) Lack of a flying resist means torn, specs zapdos, galarian zap and some unconvential stuff are gonna be real annoying (Ik clef does deal with special attacks but tornadus could turn the tides w a nasty plot up and hurricane is a bitch).
4) As 3d pointed out, counterplay is hoping chomp is at high health.
5) Lack of hazard removal means that other spikes based teams or even teams with only rocks will bully you.
Changes I'd recommend:
1) for gives you a good option to deal with volc and gives you a good answer to cm clefable, I'd recommend a spdef invested set with rocks(maybe not if you feel better with clef as a rocker) and heavy slam(for clef). It just blanket checks most special attackers and has amazing offensive presence.
2) Changing the to a physically defensive support set or potentially a calm mind set(If you like the rocks heatran idea). I think running spdef is worthless because it makes you unable to switch into mild physical hits such as landorus earthquake. CM is a reslly nice wincon which you lack at this point. I feel either rocky helmet, life orb or sticy barb work well.
3) Specially defensive for garchomp, I know this kinda ruins your heatran answers but hear me out, this mon is one of the best pivots, hazard removal option and a great check to multiple threatening speial attackers.
4) u-turn for aqua jet allows you to use urshifu for momentum and lets latios in on stuff urshifu is scared out of such as pex, slowbro or buzzwole. aqua jet doesn't provide much here.
5) can use a different spread such as the set in the teambulder or a 252HP/144def+/-spatk/112speed spread. buzzwole is already bulky to take on threats and would prefer speed to snipe off threats such as spdef heatran and landorus.
6)An interesting idea is to change the set to protective pads, going for future sight on and switching to a flying type like with afformentioned changes. This allows the team more momentum and tornadus can use interesting movesets such as assault vest,taunt or toxic with the presence of defog lando. This idea of the team is more offense oriented. though it's gonna be a struggle switching into stuff like rain barraskewda and it kinda misses with your original idea of a team.

Pretty well written RMT with a cool format, I hope this helped and feel free to reply for further query. Have a good one!