SM OU First team in 7 years. Bulky Offense

[deathadder99]

I used to play a lot, but life sort of got in the way. I'm now back and able to take this somewhat seriously. I'm still getting used to the meta, but I decided to make my own team from scratch based on what I could remember, and I'm having reasonable success with it (went from 1000-1500 ish in a day), now I'm hovering around 1500 mostly because I'm bad, but I am wondering if there is anything I can add to make my team better.

At a glance:

Teambuilding:

I wanted to build this team around a core of Jirachi & Zapdos. After that I added Zygarde, as I really liked his capability as an offensive sweeper, and Dragon is still an excellent type. I had a look at what I was weak to, and added a Tyranitar to cover Dark and Ghost resistances, and Ghost and Normal type coverage offensively. I still needed Water resistance, and I didn't want to add any more Ice weakness, so the first thing I thought of was Ferrothorn, especially as I was lacking entry hazard support. For the last spot, I knew I was still missing a strong Water type, and I had issues with Sableeye, so I chose Tapu Fini.

The Team:

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Zapdos has long been one of my favourite mons. I really like him as he's bulky while doing a lot of damage. He's an excellent check against Excadrill, Metagross, Scizor and Ferrothorn. I chose HP:Ice as it is a great surprise against Landorus-T, and Garchomp who often think they can switch in with impunity. This also makes Zapdos incredibly useful as he can kill many threats who lay entry hazards. As the team is more offensive, I can deal with the chip damage from hazards, and don't think Defog is all that useful.

He's got great coverage, and can take a hit while giving one back. The Ground immunity is just icing on the cake.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Heart Stamp
- Healing Wish


Jirachi is another of my favourites, and Scarf Jirachi is a great revenge killer and scout. Healing Wish lets me recharge another sweeper, and Iron Head is just fantastic with the abundance of Fairy types running around - not to mention the Flinch hax.

I'm not entirely sure about Heart Stamp, I like the coverage it has and it's saved me quite a few times against the likes of Venusaur, but sometimes I find myself wishing for Fire Punch. Jirachi is also really great to bait out Earthquakes, and give a free switch into Zapdos.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower


Banded Tyranitar is a great wallbreaker, and Pursuit has won me many a game, allowing me to trap and kill threats, and rendering the Lati@s twins completely useless. Stone Edge is really powerful, and Superpower gets rid of quite a few threats that might otherwise stop the team in its tracks such as Ferrothorn and Chansey. Not many people seem to expect the Superpower either for some reason.

The Sandstorm is also not to be underestimated - the chip damage really hurts the other team, while not doing very much to the bulky Ground and Steel types in mine.

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock


Ferrothorn is a great defensive pivot, and a perfect check for bulky water types such as Rotom-W and Gastrodon who otherwise can give my team a bit of bother. He's also a great switch in to anything that does physical damage, as Iron Barbs can do a good amount of chip damage, and he can take a lot of hits. Gyro Ball also does a surprising amount of damage.

I opted to go for Spikes and Stealth rocks over Power Whip, as anything that Ferrothorn can threaten with Power Whip, he can basically stay in indefinitely against with Leech Seed, so while he does that he may as well place entry hazards. Spikes and Stealth Rock together add up to a whole lot of chip damage, but I have to be careful about defog as that seems to be more common nowadays.

Zygarde @ Life Orb
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed


This guy is my physical set up sweeper. I opted for Dragon Dance, as hitting first seemed to be more important than bulk. Thousand Arrows is great, and because it hits any flying or hovering enemy is a really good choice for spamming.

Outrage is excellent vs other dragons, and when all their Steels are dead, but I tend to opt for Thousand Arrows in most cases. Extreme Speed is really good as +2 priority for finishing off annoying enemies, and makes Zygarde a decent revenge killer too.

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Taunt


This guy is a bulky special set up sweeper. I was looking for something that had a Fairy type move, and was a bulky Water type and this guy really fit the bill. I tried the Defog set, but I felt I needed Water type coverage. There are so many opportunities that this guy has to sit and set up, especially as he is immune to status and he becomes quite tanky after a Calm Mind or two. I'm not quite as sure of this guy, but he seems to pull his weight.


Weaknesses:I don't know the meta well enough to know my main weaknesses, but mons I've had trouble with include Sableye, Hippowdon, and Charizard Y. Hippowdon and Sableeye I tried to solve with Tapu Fini going to a Calm Mind set, which seemed to go ok.

Charizard Y is capable of killing my entire team in one hit bar Zygarde and Zapdos, and Tapu Fini is not strong enough to tank hits from him.

Importable

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Heart Stamp
- Healing Wish

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Zygarde @ Life Orb
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Stealth Rock

Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Spe
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Moonblast
- Taunt

 

[CopyKirby]

Hello! Always great to see someone coming back into the meta!
Lets get this out of the way.
Fire Punch > Heart Stamp on jirachi
heart stamp isn't really all that good of a move. and is a niche option at best with a laughable base power of 25 (max 40). sure that %60 chance of a flinch might seem tempting, but it falls short everywhere else.
Thunderbolt > Discharge on zapdos
thunderbolt has an extra 10 base power turn most 50/50's into a %100 chance. the only real thing discharge has in its favor is an extra %20 chance to paralize. which is left entirely to RNG.
thats all for my thoughts. hope you have fun returning to the meta!

 

[Tyke]

Hello! Always great to see someone coming back into the meta!
Lets get this out of the way.
Fire Punch > Heart Stamp on jirachi
heart stamp isn't really all that good of a move. and is a niche option at best with a laughable base power of 25 (max 40). sure that %60 chance of a flinch might seem tempting, but it falls short everywhere else.
Thunderbolt > Discharge on zapdos
thunderbolt has an extra 10 base power turn most 50/50's into a %100 chance. the only real thing discharge has in its favor is an extra %20 chance to paralize. which is left entirely to RNG.
thats all for my thoughts. hope you have fun returning to the meta!

Heart Stamp has 60 base power.

 

[Webcamparrot]

TEAM OVERVIEW: This team seems as if it's extremely weak to a lot of common team archetypes right now. It has a poor matchup against stall, webs and the Tapu Koko+Mega medicham/mawile cores we see everywhere on the ladder right now. Mega Medicham in particular is worrying as the entire team bar Jirachi is slower than it and you have no switch ins for it. Bulky grasses like Tangrowth and Mega Venusaur are going to be nearly impossible to break with this lineup as well. As you've mentioned in the post Zard Y could easily be an issue as as your only real answer is to go to Tyranitar to get sand up and to then go into Fini on the focus blast. Considering how many flaws this team has i'm likely going to have to make quite a few changes. I'm going to recommend one minor change (a) and 3 major changes to this team (1,2,3).

1: DD

is great on offensive teams but on a team as slow and bulky as this it just doesn't have the support to function in the way you want it too. A Sub+Coil set is going to be a lot more effective for you. Sub+Coil Zygarde can tank hits from things like Volcarona, Heatran and Zard Y without much of a problem and can throw out a thousand arrows or toxic. The huge 100+ health subs give it a great match up against stall as it can sub on Toxapex and Chansey. It also lures in things like Tangrowth which lets you toxic them either as they switch in or from behind sub.

importable

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 240 HP / 212 SpD / 56 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Coil
- Thousand Arrows
- Toxic

2: Tapu fini doesn't seem to do much here other than beat Mega Sableye. There is a pokemon that is much much better at this than Tapu Fini though and it brings a lot more up front power to the table as well. This why I recommend

be replaced with a defensive willo wisp

set. Heatran acts as a check to things like Mega Mawile, Magearna and Tapu lele, it packs a fast Taunt which can prevent sticky webs from leading Smeargle and stealth rocks allow it to free up a slot on Ferrothorn. Having Heatran and Sub+Coil Zygarde also gives you a decent chance at beating the common stall archetypes.

importable

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Magma Storm
- Stealth Rock

a) As Heatran is now bringing rocks for you, you can afford to run powerwhip on

in it's place. This stops Tapu Fini from being able to come in on it and defog your hard earned hazards away. Hazard removal is extremely rare right now aside from Fini so this really helps to maintain your stack of spikes.

3: Tyranitar hits really hard with choice band but a lot of what it was doing for the team (like checking Volcarona and beating down fatter teams) is now being performed by Heatran and Zygarde. As you also don't have a mega I recommend replacing

with

. Mega Metagross really helps against more offensive teams and can even be useful against webs as it will not be slowed prior to mega evolving. It's faster than Mega Medicham and can take hits from things like Lele, Salamence or Pinsir if needed. It's also capable of breaking through certain defensive nuisances like Mega Venusaur. I'm going to recommend a set with bullet punch to further aid the match up against offensive teams as the other coverage options are not as vital on this team.

importable

Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt

 

[deathadder99]

TEAM OVERVIEW: This team seems as if it's extremely weak to a lot of common team archetypes right now. It has a poor matchup against stall, webs and the Tapu Koko+Mega medicham/mawile cores we see everywhere on the ladder right now. Mega Medicham in particular is worrying as the entire team bar Jirachi is slower than it and you have no switch ins for it. Bulky grasses like Tangrowth and Mega Venusaur are going to be nearly impossible to break with this lineup as well. As you've mentioned in the post Zard Y could easily be an issue as as your only real answer is to go to Tyranitar to get sand up and to then go into Fini on the focus blast. Considering how many flaws this team has i'm likely going to have to make quite a few changes. I'm going to recommend one minor change (a) and 3 major changes to this team (1,2,3).

1: DD

is great on offensive teams but on a team as slow and bulky as this it just doesn't have the support to function in the way you want it too. A Sub+Coil set is going to be a lot more effective for you. Sub+Coil Zygarde can tank hits from things like Volcarona, Heatran and Zard Y without much of a problem and can throw out a thousand arrows or toxic. The huge 100+ health subs give it a great match up against stall as it can sub on Toxapex and Chansey. It also lures in things like Tangrowth which lets you toxic them either as they switch in or from behind sub.

importable

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 240 HP / 212 SpD / 56 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Coil
- Thousand Arrows
- Toxic

2: Tapu fini doesn't seem to do much here other than beat Mega Sableye. There is a pokemon that is much much better at this than Tapu Fini though and it brings a lot more up front power to the table as well. This why I recommend

be replaced with a defensive willo wisp

set. Heatran acts as a check to things like Mega Mawile, Magearna and Tapu lele, it packs a fast Taunt which can prevent sticky webs from leading Smeargle and stealth rocks allow it to free up a slot on Ferrothorn. Having Heatran and Sub+Coil Zygarde also gives you a decent chance at beating the common stall archetypes.

importable

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Magma Storm
- Stealth Rock

a) As Heatran is now bringing rocks for you, you can afford to run powerwhip on

in it's place. This stops Tapu Fini from being able to come in on it and defog your hard earned hazards away. Hazard removal is extremely rare right now aside from Fini so this really helps to maintain your stack of spikes.

3: Tyranitar hits really hard with choice band but a lot of what it was doing for the team (like checking Volcarona and beating down fatter teams) is now being performed by Heatran and Zygarde. As you also don't have a mega I recommend replacing

with

. Mega Metagross really helps against more offensive teams and can even be useful against webs as it will not be slowed prior to mega evolving. It's faster than Mega Medicham and can take hits from things like Lele, Salamence or Pinsir if needed. It's also capable of breaking through certain defensive nuisances like Mega Venusaur. I'm going to recommend a set with bullet punch to further aid the match up against offensive teams as the other coverage options are not as vital on this team.

importable

Metagross-Mega @ Metagrossite
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt

Thanks for the in depth rate. I made the changes you suggest and it feels much more solid now. I'm feeling like Jirachi is not pulling its weight though. Any suggestions there?

I feel like scarf Landorus could be a good fit. Lots of the team is weak to Earthquake and Jirachi and Metagross have pretty redundant coverage.

 

[StraightEdgeNexus]

Hello! Always great to see someone coming back into the meta!
Lets get this out of the way.
Fire Punch > Heart Stamp on jirachi
heart stamp isn't really all that good of a move. and is a niche option at best with a laughable base power of 25 (max 40). sure that %60 chance of a flinch might seem tempting, but it falls short everywhere else.
Thunderbolt > Discharge on zapdos
thunderbolt has an extra 10 base power turn most 50/50's into a %100 chance. the only real thing discharge has in its favor is an extra %20 chance to paralize. which is left entirely to RNG.
thats all for my thoughts. hope you have fun returning to the meta!

Heart stamp is 60, you must have seen PP lol. But yeah heart stamp is bad. And discharge Zapdos is a legit set and discourages switch ins like ZardX and kyurem