ORAS OU First team in a while

[Microchango]

First and foremost, it's been a while since I've built a team, or played competitive pokemon in general. I hope that you guys can give some criticism and possibly replace some of the pokemon listed with better alternatives.

I wanted a fast, special sweeper that didn't need to set-up. My first thought was Mega Alakazam, of course. (I kept getting ----d by ferrothorn, so that's why I added hp fire).
Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

Folks need heroes, chief. Or in this case, a good switch in. I also need some water coverage, so that's why rotom is here. Plus, it doesn't fall victim to spikes, nor does it have a weakness to stealth rocks. And I really, really needed electric coverage.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

I wanted a fast set-up sweeper with access to knock off, and that's basically why Weavile is here. Plus, ice is always nice on a team.
Weavile @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Icicle Crash
- Knock Off

Oh boy. I love this one. I wanted a fast revenge killer/late game sweeper, and excadrill was my poke of choice. I'm honestly debating whether or not I should keep rapid spin, considering how he's scarfed. Steel is for the fairies (duh), and mold breaker earthquake is for rotom.
Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide

A basic, normal OU set. I hate getting locked into outrage, so I prefer dragon claw here. I also needed priority coverage, so that's the reasoning behind extremespeed.
Dragonite @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake

If I had a nickel for every time I ran into one of these guys...well this IS OU after all. Anyways, I wanted a safe physical switch in. That's pretty much all the reasoning I had. Intimidate is always a nice thing to have on a team as well. Protect is simply there to scout out move sets.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Protect
- Stealth Rock

Whoever reads all these threads and constantly gives out advice deserves a cookie. Seriously though, RMT is a long, brutal read. Thank you for sitting through all of this.

 

[yuruuu]

Alright I'll give it a go.

I'd first drop Landorus-T, which doesn't seem to be doing much for your team. Instead, I'd replace it with Stealth Rock Clefable. This lets you check Mega Medicham, as well as Mega Sableye, which can give Mega Alakazam trouble, Mega Medicham through Fake Out + Bullet Punch (or two Fake Outs), and the other needing you to have an obscure lure in Dazzling Gleam (which I am going to suggest you replace) to hit it. It also lets you spread paralysis, which synergizes well with Encore Mega Alakazam and DD Dragonite, which I will suggest later.

Now that that is out of the way, I'm going to suggest tweaks for every single one of your Pokemon sets, as they are not the most viable and can be optimized.

HP Fire Alakazam is fine, but I would suggest Encore over Dazzling Gleam. This gives you a better match-up against Stall teams, and gives it more utility against Defensive mons such as Clefable. I would also suggest an EV spread of 20 Def, which always lets it live uninvested Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball from full. I would also suggest a defensive spread for Rotom-W, as this is your check to sand teams, as well as to Azumarill and Scizor. I would suggest, however, running more speed in order to get the burn off on Scizor. An EV spread of 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 Spe Timid lets you outrun all variants of Mega Scizor, and surprise them with a fast burn before they Bug Bite you at +2. Volt Switch over Thunderbolt gives your team more momentum, and synergizes well in bringing Mega Alakazam and Dragonite in safely. Your Weavile lacks EVs, and should not be running X-Scissor, which hits absolutely nothing in OU. Instead, place a Life Orb on it, and run 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Jolly. I would recommend you try out Pursuit Weavile, as this lets you trap dangerous Pokemon such as Gengar and Latios for your team. Ice Shard is also important to revenge kill dangerous threats such as +1 Mega Altaria. Choice Scarf Excadrill should run Jolly in order to outrun things like +1 Dragonite. I would also run a Lum Berry over Sitrus Berry on Dragonite, as this lets it heal off status once against things like Thundurus, which is often used to check it with Thunder Wave.

sets

Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Trace
EVs: 20 Def / 236 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Encore
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 Spe
Timid Nature
- Pain Split
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 29 HP
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Pursuit

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake

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

Hope this rate helps you out a bit!

 

[Albacore]

First things first, most of your sets can be improved. Alakazam should defenitely be running Focus Blast, otherwise Tyranitar and Heatran easily wall it.You're a bit weak to both Mega Sableye and Mega Scizor, but given that Mega Scizor is easier to play around, and that HP Fire overlaps a lot with Focus Blast, replacing HP Fire makes more sense, though this depends what you end up weaker to in the end. You could run Fire Punch over Earthquake on Dragonite if you're conerned about scizor, you are walled by Heatran and Dianice but you don't seem too weak to these two anyway.

Rotom should be running a physically defensive set, since all of the things it wants to switch into (Excadrill, Talonflame, Keldeo, etc) hit it on the physical side, so SpD doesn't help it at all. More importantly, Rotom should use Volt Switch over Thunderbolt to gain momentum and get your frailer Pokemon in for free. In fact, I also notice you're not using U-Turn on Landorus-T which is really wierd, since the fact that it forms a VoltTurn core with Rotom-W is what makes this pairing so popular in the first place, especially given how useless Protect is on Lando-T, so use it over that.

Weavile's set is pretty bad, not only is X-Scissor completely useless on it (run Ice Shard over it to hit faster POkemon and slower priority users), but a Focus Sash is a poor item for Weavile since it renders it very easy to wall, you should run a Life Orb on it, this enables it to hit significantly harder. Also, given your mild weakness to Weavile and huge weakness to Bisharp, you should defenitely run Low Kick on Weavile, SD isn't exactly bad on it, but it's still very hard for it to find an opportunity to set up due to its bad defenses.

Also, and this is pretty minor, but defenitely run a Lum Berry on Dragonite. This will help a ton against Will-O-Wisp and Scald users like Sableye, Rotom-W and Keldeo, all of which are really annoying for your team.

Okay, now that the sets are a bit better, I'd like to suggest a couple of Pokemon changes. Firstly, I would run Hippowdon over Landorus-T. 2 reasons for this : first of all, it makes you less weak to Bisharp, and secondly, it gives you a Sand setter. This means you can use Sand Rush Excadrill over Scarf Excadrill, a much better cleaner and spinner. Although you do need to keep Sand up to use it, Hippowdon is very durable and can set sand up against many threats, and trust me, Excadrill's strength as a sand sweeper is well worth the support you7 need to provide.

The sand does conflict with Multiscale Dragonite a bit. This, as well as your mild weakness to Keldeo and other Water-types, makes me want to suggest Latios over Dragonite, it's a better answer to Keldeo and Water-types in general than Dragonite, and its access to Defog means you can run SD over Rapid Spin on Excadrill, which lets you break through bulkier teams, but you may well want to run a coverage move or Roost on Latios, it's up to you.

Unfortunately, this makes you weaker to Weavile, which is already a problem in the first place. In order to fix this, I suggest Banded Azumarill over Rotom-W, Rotom isn't really that necessary for your team since Excadrill, Latios and Hippowdon are able to replicate most of its roles besides checking Air Baloon Excadrilll, which Azumarill does well enough anyay. Azumarill also gives you a Dark-resist as well as secondary Dragon resist, both of which are very important for your team since you can't always rely on Hippowdon and Excadrill to switch into Dark- and Dragon- moves respectively (especailly Excadrill since it lacks recovery, and isn't exactly bulky or hard to wear down), and helps a ton vs Ssableye. However, if you do this, you lose a pivot, which would be very useful for you to have, and you also become weaker to Scizor (definitely run HP Fire on Latios btw, and maybe even keep it on Alakazam) but I still think the advantages of using Azumarill outweighs the downsides.

sets

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Dazzling Gleam / Hidden Power [Fire]

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- U-Turn
- Stealth Rock

Weavile @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Low Kick

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Extreme Speed
- Fire Punch / Earthquake

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Toxic

Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance / Rapid Spin

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Defog / Roost / Thunderbolt / Earthquake

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD (normally I'd suggest around 176 speed, but for this team, bulk seems more important)
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Superpower