First Team (OU)

[Robo-Ky]

Hello everyone, this is my first team here on Smogon. I know many of the movesets are pretty standard, but I'm still learning more of the game. This team has gotten me several wins on Shoddy, but I still feel that it can be improved. Give constructive criticism, please!

AT A GLANCE

UP CLOSE

Swampert @ Leftovers
240 HP/ 52 Atk/ 216 Def
Impish Nature
Torrent
-Earthquake
-Avalanche
-Stone Edge
-Stealth Rock
I tried the Swampert lead that was suggested, and found that it works quite well. It sets up SR and can KO more reliably than the Aerodactyl set I used to run, and doesn't suffer that crippling Meteor Mash weakness that Aerodactyl had. It also provides some much-needed bulk to the team, now that Dusknoir has been retired.

Salamence @ Life Orb
80 Atk/ 252 SpA/ 176 Spe
Naive Nature
Intimidate
-Draco Meteor
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
-Roost
The first half of my sweeping game. MixMence is an absolute menace, and here I’m running the newer version of the set. Outrage was originally in place of Draco Meteor, but I changed it back to accommodate the strategy of luring out physical walls that Imran mentioned. The EVs have been changed to match this as well. Roost allows this to shrug off extra SR and Life Orb damage without extensive Wish support from Vaporeon.

Lucario @ Life Orb
252 Atk/ 4 Def/ 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
Inner Focus
-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-Extremespeed
-Crunch
The other half of my sweepers. It was really hard to choose between this set and AgiliGross, as both sets provide great coverage and cover weaknesses perfectly along with Salamence. Eventually, though, I chose Lucario for this spot for the pure destruction it can cause with just a single Swords Dance. I originally ran a Jolly nature instead of Adamant, but since Extremespeed is this guy's main method of attacking, he doesn't really need that extra speed. With Swampert now carrying Stone Edge, Lucario now gets Crunch so he can hit Ghosts and Psychics harder. However, with this thing’s low defenses and Life Orb, it needs lots of Wish support from Vaporeon.

Heatran @ Leftovers
4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Flash Fire
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Substitute
-Toxic
I was originally running Forretress with Spikes and Rapid Spin support here, but I discovered that I really needed a revenge killer, and Heatran fills that spot quite nicely. This used to be a ScarfTran, but I took Peachfuzz's advice and changed it to a SubToxic set since Rotom-h received a Scarf. This is a great set for luring out bulky Waters, poisoning them, and sending in Vaporeon to stall them to death. Flamethrower has been retired in place of Fire Blast for the extra power.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
188 HP/ 252 Def/ 68 SpD
Bold Nature
Water Absorb
-Wish
-Protect
-Surf
-Ice Beam
For Wish support, I was juggling between Vaporeon and Jirachi. After doing some comparison, I found that I liked Vaporeon better. Vaporeon also makes a good scout with Protect. Ice Beam is here instead of HP Electric for Salamence, Gliscor and decent damage to Gyarados. The last 68 EVs are in Special Defense instead of Speed to allow it to take special hits a little better.

Rotom-h @ Choice Scarf
64 HP/ 252 SpA/ 192 Spe
Modest Nature
Levitate
-Overheat
-Thunderbolt
-Shadow Ball
-Trick
The overwhelming consensus was that Dusknoir didn't fit on this team, so I took Peachfuzz's advice and decided to use Rotom-h as my spin blocker. It works quite well, and it can take a few hits and dish out the pain with 2 great STABs and Overheat. It's not very defensive, but it still finds a nice niche on my team and continues the offensive theme. NOTE: I didn't use the back sprite because I couldn't find a site with the back sprite that isn't blocked on my school laptop.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I tried all the suggestions, and used the ones that I felt fit best into the team.
Changes will be made in bold

 

[Peachfuzz]

You have the makings of an excellent offensive team already, with the combination of MixMence and Lucario to decimate stall teams, a suicide lead, and two defensive pokemon to back them up.

The only thing that isn't doing much is Dusknoir. It doesn't seem to fit at all. With that said, I would change Dusknoir to a Choice Scarf Rotom-h. The moveset Overheat/Thunderbolt/Shadow Ball/Trick seems good with max special attack, speed to outpace a 280 speed DDMence, and the rest in HP. The spread is 64 HP/252 Sp Att/192 speed. If you feel insecure about the lack of defense to take things like Scizor Bullet Punches (though you have Heatran), take some out of special attack and put them in HP. Still keeps a spin blocker, but also checks A LOT of the top metagame threats, such as steels, Lucario, Gyarados (Jolly DD outruns you but won't be doing much damage to Rotom or Vaporeon), and Latias.

Two choice scarfers isn't necessary, so I believe Heatran should be changed to the Sub Toxic version. This lures in bulky waters, who may give your team problems, and wears them down for Vaporeon to stall out. With the bulky water gone, your sweepers have a much easier time rampaging through the opposing team. The spread straight from the analysis is 4 HP/252 sp att/252 speed with a Timid nature and Fire Blast/Sub/Toxic/Earth Power. If you want Explosion over Earth Power just change the nature to Naive. It's an option because you have plenty of Heatran/Infernape coverage and can take out countless problem pokemon.

The team looks good. Nice job for your first team.

 

[Lorerer]

You have 2 electric weaks and no electric resists. Also, aerodactyl lead always loses to the most common OU lead, being metagross.
You can cover this two thing by changing your lead to a swampert.

Swampert@Leftovers
Relaxed 240hp/216def/52SpA
-Earthquake
-Ice beam
-Stealth rocks
-Roar/Toxic

Last slot is tricky, if you fear the baton pass teams, use roar, and if you don't just use toxic.

At the heatran, i recommend changing flamethrower->Fire blast. Sure, you can miss, but it helps a lot with the OHKO and the 2HKO in several pokes.
Also, hp: ice > Dragon pulse. You lose coverage on kingdra, but you win a ohko in bulky salamances without stealth rocks, and i can say to you that this helps a lot.

Lucario is fine, but if you use stone edge>crunch you should use a jolly nature for that zapdos that run rampant over the ou tier.

Also, on Dusknoir, pain split is a must. Is the reason why it's OU.

 

[Bloo]

Let's start from the top. I feel Aerodactyl does extremely little for this team right now. It doesn't even get up Stealth Rock up that reliably, with Pokemon like Metagross and Jirachi giving it a run for its money. I feel that this lead spot can be used more productively, with something that will help your team much more as a whole. I recommend you drop Aerodactyl and replace it with a Swampert lead like Lorerer suggested.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Ability: Torrent
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge / Roar

Swampert will immediately bring a variety of things to the team. Firstly, it gives your team the much needed Electric immunity, which is greatly appreciated. It adds some bulk to your team, and gives you a lead that is capable of lasting a lot longer than the first couple of turns, allowing you to play with a full team, while still letting you get up SR early. In the current metagame, with Metagross, Jirachi and Heatran common leads, Swampert works really well since it can hit those aforementioned Pokemon for super effective damage with a STAB Earthquake. A fully physical version of Swampert is chosen to help you against Calm Mind users, in particular Latias. Avalanche will hit it very hard if it doesn't switch. It also allows you to take out Salamence quite easily. Earthquake is for many of the opposing leads I already mentioned. In the final slot, I would be leaning more towards Stone Edge than Roar. With Stone Edge, you can threaten Gyarados in particular, to which you have quite a bad weakness currently since Vaporeon is without Hidden Power Electric. Roar can be used if you want a Pokemon capable of phazing away problematic threats.

Dusknoir is outclassed by Rotom as a RestTalk user. Dusknoir may have higher Defenses, but Rotom's Electric typing with Levitate gives it a significant defensive advantage, since it can effectively counter Scizor with little to no problem, Metagross, Scarf Jirachi, etc, all of which give Dusknoir some pain. Both Dusknoir and Rotom share one main threat, CB Tyranitar, who can OHKO both with Crunch. Rotom is quicker, has the ability to use more powerful attacks, , has better typing, is immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, can one or two-hit KO every Rapid Spinner in OU, and has more status inducing options while being able to carry out more than one strategy unlike Dusknoir. For those reasons, I suggest using Rotom-W over Dusknoir. I suggest Leftovers, 252 HP/200 Def/56 Spd, Bold, Thunderbolt, Hydro Pump/Will-o-Wisp, Rest, Sleep Talk. The ghost to block rapid spin role is filled by Rotom. Rest and Sleep Talk allow Rotom to serve as your new status absorber if you decide to use it. Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump let Rotom beat every spinner, from Starmie to Donphan to Tentacruel. Hydro Pump also puts a dent on Tyranitar who loves switching in. You can use Will-o-Wisp if you prefer reducing an opposing Pokemon's Attack stat in half and crippling them. Defense EV's are there so it can take on Scizor and Gyarados more effectively.

This is a small suggestion, however, use Naive over Lonely on Salamence. Lonely lowers Salamence's Defense. Even though Salamence has Intimidate, it is best to have a nature that lowers another stat such as Special Defense. With a Lonely nature, Salamence will not enjoy switching into Physical attacks that it normally like to switch into such as U-Turn, Close Combat etc.

 

[Imran]

I have always said, Standards are standards because they work. If you stick around here at all, you will learn Smogon's philosophy, to be as competitive as possible. Use what you need to win, and nothing else =)

First of all, I am unsure as to what Dusknoir is doing on your team. Seeing as your strategy totally depends on offensive momentum, Dusknoir does little for you, and probably helps your opponent out, giving them free turns to set up! I think something that can continue your offensive momentum could go there. Opposing SD Lucario may give you a few problems without Dusknoir, as ScarfTran is already doing a lot for you. I really think Aldaron's Tyranitar will be useful to you, so that is what I am going to suggest. This may leave you a little more open to opposing SD Lucario, as Heatran is your only real check for it, so we will see how it goes for now, Heatran is already doing a lot for you. Here is the Tyranitar set, for reference:

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt
Relaxed Nature / Sandstream
EVs: 184 HP / 36 Atk / 108 Def / 152 SpA / 28 Spe
~ Crunch
~ Earthquake / Stone Edge
~ Ice Beam
~ Fire Blast

This is the perfect lure for an SD Lucario team. It helps beat some of the Pokemon that give it trouble, such as Gliscor, and even Skarmory and Forretress if you find it hard to get that Swords Dance in. The rest is explained in that thread, should you wish to read it =) Stone Edge would be to threaten Zapdos, but Crucn and Earthquake already do this is you play intelligantly.

Secondly, I want to discuss Vaporeon's Spot. What is it really passing Wishes too? If you want to coverage of a Bulky Water, it is probably better to be running Swampert. It holds offensive teams together more, and will provide you with a handy electric resist. The set that Lorerer suggested will work fine for you, although I would keep it as a generic member of your team, not as a lead, and I would also suggest running Surf or Hydro Pump over Roar or Toxic. Swampert also checks SD Lucario as it cannot set up on Swampy so easily!

I don't think Lucario should be running Jolly, to be honest. Any sensible Zapdos that want to be outspeeding Lucario will be beating Jolly versions anyway, and they will be hit extremely hard by a SD ExtremeSpeed. I do think you should change your Salamence set, ever so slightly. As we have seen with Tyranitar, Luring out Physical Walls and beating them is going to be a key feature for this team, so running a wall-breaking MixMence will really help you out, and If you insist on running Roost (which is a good thing IMO) running the Classic MixMence will benefit you much more!

Salamence @ Life Orb
Naive Nature / Intimidate
EVs: A little tricky
~ Roost
~ Draco Meteor
~ Fire Blast
~ Brick Break

Eh, there are a lot of things you can do with the EVs here. I want to run + Spe because it acts as a check to SD Lucario, and other Salamence, but you really need Max Speed to beat other Mence, or at least to have a chance of doing so. I like 80 Atk / 252 Spe / 176 SpA, or 80 Atk / 252 SpA / 176 Spe. it really is up to you at the end of the day! Test some out, see how they go etc...

I think that is all. Perhaps you could consider Crunch on Lucario now we have Tyranitar to take out Zapdos. Best of luck with your team. Be sure to get back to me on what you want. I can do a more in depth analysis on Salamence's EVs should you Wish, I did gloss over that area a little bit. Best of luck with your team.

 

[Robo-Ky]

I really think Aldaron's Tyranitar will be useful to you, so that is what I am going to suggest. This may leave you a little more open to opposing SD Lucario, as Heatran is your only real check for it, so we will see how it goes for now, Heatran is already doing a lot for you. Here is the Tyranitar set, for reference:

Tyranitar @ Expert Belt
Relaxed Nature / Sandstream
EVs: 184 HP / 36 Atk / 108 Def / 152 SpA / 28 Spe
~ Crunch
~ Earthquake / Stone Edge
~ Ice Beam
~ Fire Blast

This is the perfect lure for an SD Lucario team. It helps beat some of the Pokemon that give it trouble, such as Gliscor, and even Skarmory and Forretress if you find it hard to get that Swords Dance in. The rest is explained in that thread, should you wish to read it =) Stone Edge would be to threaten Zapdos, but Crucn and Earthquake already do this is you play intelligantly.

Who would Tyranitar be replacing? My guess is Dusknoir, but I'm not sure, since you didn't really specify...
Anyway, thanks for the feedback everyone! I'll be making edits soon!

 

[Imran]

Sorry, I did mean Dusknoir.

 

[supermarth64]

Why run Naive on Heatran if it loses SDef instead of just running Timid since it has no Explosion?

Edit: Yea, I meant Timid. Wasn't thinking there.