SS OU First try at building a competitive team after years. Standard OU team.

ManuKesna

Hello! First time in 6 or so years posting in this board and I need help building my first competitive team in the SS pokemon games. I want to start using pokemon I have never used and that I like, with that said, here it goes. I know its pretty standard but I need to start with something.


Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic (edit)

Toxapex as a physical wall with an entry hazard to poison the opponent. I want to try and use it as a way to stall the oponent while it receives damage from poison and I use Haze on the opponents that try to boost their stats over and over again until I force it to switch pokemon. If poison fails I can always try to burn it to reduce its attack plus I have several pokemon weak to fire, specially Ferrothorn, so I need a water pokemon to counter this. Recover helps me to last longer and I can always switch this pokemon out so it recovers health with its ability


Darmanitan-Galar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Gorilla Tactics
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
- U-turn

A really popular pokemon this gen and with a good reason. This one is a physical attacker beast with Gorilla tactics plus it crazy fast. Choice scarf instead of Band to give it more speed since I think it has more than enough attack already. Good against dragon types like Dragapult that is also common these days and a good wallbreaker with fire or ground weakness. Weak to fire but i am hoping Toxapex has this covered.


Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock off (edit)

Another physical wall that complements Toxapex really well since they cover each other weakness. I really love entry hazards and make chip damage, that why I am using both Spikes and Leech Seed on this pokemon. Power Whip is a must imo to try and take down pokemon like Seismitoad that is popular in OU teams. Gyro ball for those annoying fairy pokemon like LO Clefable tho I have been thinking on using Protect to stall a bit with Leech seed, still unsure.


Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt

I really like how this pokemon look plus I love how it uses the babies as ammo. Sadly I needed a special attacker so I wont be using Dragon darts plus Phantom force is not that reliable since it need 2 turns to attack. So I am using Dragapult as a special atacker since it has good coverage and a good special movepool. Draco meteor to kill other dragons, Fire blast for popular steel pokemon like Ferrothorn, Corviknight and Thunderbolt for that annoying Toxapex. Plus I need more pokemon that resist fire and electric.


Excadrill @ Focus sash (edit)
Ability: Mold breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head/Rapid spin
- Rapid spin

This guy here might be little but everyone know how good it is, tho for some reason I feel like it doesnt quite belong in this team but I cant find a good replacement. Like I said, I live entry hazards so I must use Stealth rock. He will be using that first most of the time. Earthquake because well....its STAB earthquake. Iron Head for the damn fairy pokemon and Rock Slide for flying types that think they are safe battling this guy. Now, I want to put Rapid spin on this pokemon if I ever fight someone that loves entry hazards like me but unsure what to replace it with.


Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror armor (edit)
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 136 SpD / 88 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Substitute
- Roost
- Bulk Up

Finally, the regional bird! Best regional bird ever. How can you not love this pokemon? It looks amazing and not only that, it is really good at competitive battles. If the opponent give me the chance to substitute and Bulk up once then most of the time its over for the other trainer. I can Brave bird´d everything to death. (Well not really but still) Good special wall with the ability to kill rather easily.


Now, I am unsure who to choose as a lead in this team so I would love advices regarding that.
Also, I have been thinking on switching out Dragapult for a standard LO Clefable since I think it can fulfill the same role but a bit better maybe? Plus its a bit bulkier, it wont take damage to entry hazards or poison or life orb and its immune to Dragons.
 
Last edited:
chimp

chimp

Go Bananas
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To be honest I don't have too much to say about the team- it is very standard, atleast in terms of its structure. Because of that, I don't really have many major changes that I feel are pressing enough, it is a very through-and-through balance built. A couple of minor changes:

:Excadrill: Why run Sand Rush LO Excadrill? Your team has no way of setting up sand on its own. I suppose it could be useful for leeching off the opposing team's sand, but that seems pretty inconsistent. I would switch to Mold Breaker- this will allow Excadrill to click EQ with much less hesitation, since now it can hit levitating Pokemon like Rotom. I would also swap Life Orb with Focus Sash. You mention that a big reason for Exca on your team is Stealth Rock, and for that purpose you can't really beat Lead Focus Sash Excadrill. You don't really need the extra power granted from LO since Darmanitan/Dragapult cover that base pretty well. Lastly, I would fit in Rapid Spin by getting rid of Rock Slide. I can't particularly think of any scenario where Rock Slide would be preferable over either Earthquake or Iron Head- seriously, Ground + Steel is a wicked STAB combination. I suppose it hits Corviknight neutrally, but Exca is still going to lose that match-up, so Rapid Spin would have much more utility in the long run.

:Corviknight: I would consider swapping Pressure with Mirror Armor. This will help you a tad when faced with opposing Hatterene, which currently can breeze through your team in Trick Room. Mirror Armor will bounce back the Sp.A drop from Mystical Fire, allowing you to spam Roost until either Trick Room is gone or the Hatterene switches out.

Otherwise, your team looks pretty fine. Like I said, its a fairly standard structure, and solid though it may be, being overly standard can sometimes work towards your disadvantage. That said, you can definitely muscle through must team builds with careful play, especially if they have LO Clefable, who is particularly difficult for your team to deal with. You could minimize this a tad by swapping :Dragapult:Dragapult to LO :Clefable:Clefable, and this will help you out a bunch against other similarly standard builds. However, if you do this, I would replace Gyro Ball on :Ferrothorn: to Knock Off. This will help you in the match-up against Corsola-G by removing its eviolite.

Hope this helps!
 

ManuKesna

chimp said:
To be honest I don't have too much to say about the team- it is very standard, atleast in terms of its structure. Because of that, I don't really have many major changes that I feel are pressing enough, it is a very through-and-through balance built. A couple of minor changes:

:Excadrill: Why run Sand Rush LO Excadrill? Your team has no way of setting up sand on its own. I suppose it could be useful for leeching off the opposing team's sand, but that seems pretty inconsistent. I would switch to Mold Breaker- this will allow Excadrill to click EQ with much less hesitation, since now it can hit levitating Pokemon like Rotom. I would also swap Life Orb with Focus Sash. You mention that a big reason for Exca on your team is Stealth Rock, and for that purpose you can't really beat Lead Focus Sash Excadrill. You don't really need the extra power granted from LO since Darmanitan/Dragapult cover that base pretty well. Lastly, I would fit in Rapid Spin by getting rid of Rock Slide. I can't particularly think of any scenario where Rock Slide would be preferable over either Earthquake or Iron Head- seriously, Ground + Steel is a wicked STAB combination. I suppose it hits Corviknight neutrally, but Exca is still going to lose that match-up, so Rapid Spin would have much more utility in the long run.

:Corviknight: I would consider swapping Pressure with Mirror Armor. This will help you a tad when faced with opposing Hatterene, which currently can breeze through your team in Trick Room. Mirror Armor will bounce back the Sp.A drop from Mystical Fire, allowing you to spam Roost until either Trick Room is gone or the Hatterene switches out.

Otherwise, your team looks pretty fine. Like I said, its a fairly standard structure, and solid though it may be, being overly standard can sometimes work towards your disadvantage. That said, you can definitely muscle through must team builds with careful play, especially if they have LO Clefable, who is particularly difficult for your team to deal with. You could minimize this a tad by swapping :Dragapult:Dragapult to LO :Clefable:Clefable, and this will help you out a bunch against other similarly standard builds. However, if you do this, I would replace Gyro Ball on :Ferrothorn: to Knock Off. This will help you in the match-up against Corsola-G by removing its eviolite.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for the input! I know its pretty standard but I dont want to "innovate" too much since I am still learning. Pretty sure I will change some pokemon around the more I use this team. I am definitely changing both Excadrill and Corviknight abilities like you said because you are right and it makes sense.
Now, I am still unsure about switching Dragapult with Clefable and someone recommend me that, if I do that I should use a Defensive Clef instead of LO Clef.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect

With that I can use Thunder wave to make pokemon slower since I am losing my fastest pokemon if I switch out Dragapult. Moonblast to kill Dragon pokemon and Wish to recover other pokemon like Ferrothorn and myself when using it with Protect. This can also might counter LO Clefable but still not sure about this.
Another thing I have been told is that I have no good counter to Earthquake and that it might be a good idea to replace Excadrill with Gyarados but then I lose my Stealth rocker and the only electric immunity I have.
 
chimp

chimp

Go Bananas
is an official Team Rateris a Contributor to Smogonis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
ManuKesna said:
Thanks a lot for the input! I know its pretty standard but I dont want to "innovate" too much since I am still learning. Pretty sure I will change some pokemon around the more I use this team. I am definitely changing both Excadrill and Corviknight abilities like you said because you are right and it makes sense.
Now, I am still unsure about switching Dragapult with Clefable and someone recommend me that, if I do that I should use a Defensive Clef instead of LO Clef.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Calm Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect

With that I can use Thunder wave to make pokemon slower since I am losing my fastest pokemon if I switch out Dragapult. Moonblast to kill Dragon pokemon and Wish to recover other pokemon like Ferrothorn and myself when using it with Protect. This can also might counter LO Clefable but still not sure about this.
Another thing I have been told is that I have no good counter to Earthquake and that it might be a good idea to replace Excadrill with Gyarados but then I lose my Stealth rocker and the only electric immunity I have.
Click to expand...
I suppose Thunder Wave on Defensive Clef works, if that's what you want to do. I think Flamethrower might be better so that Clef isn't as easily walled, but speed control is always important so I'm sure you can get some utility out of it.

As for Earthquake, you have Corviknight who is immune, so I don't think that's too much of a problem considering Corviknight is considered one of the best Excadrill checks in the metagame right now, and can put decent work in against Hippowdon and Seismitoad in a pinch, as can Ferrothorn.

Let me know if you have any more questions.
 
xOliver

xOliver

Personally, having 3 hazard setters seems way too investing, simply changing toxic spikes in pex to baneful bunker solves that. Another thing I'd do is change lifeorb and sandrush on exca to moldbreaker/focus sash so you can set up on hatterne. Finally, and this is optional, change flare blitz on darmgalar to stone edge so rotomw and rotomh dont bake you.
 

ManuKesna

chimp said:
I suppose Thunder Wave on Defensive Clef works, if that's what you want to do. I think Flamethrower might be better so that Clef isn't as easily walled, but speed control is always important so I'm sure you can get some utility out of it.

As for Earthquake, you have Corviknight who is immune, so I don't think that's too much of a problem considering Corviknight is considered one of the best Excadrill checks in the metagame right now, and can put decent work in against Hippowdon and Seismitoad in a pinch, as can Ferrothorn.

Let me know if you have any more questions.
Click to expand...
Funny you say that, I was trying this team but with defensive Clef on showdown and it got walled pretty hard by a Corviknight and a substitute/aromatherapy Clef too. Ended up playing 100+ turns and I finally lost. Cinderance waa also a problem with heavy boots and that reverse thing which put all my entry hazards against me.
 

ManuKesna

xOliver said:
Personally, having 3 hazard setters seems way too investing, simply changing toxic spikes in pex to baneful bunker solves that. Another thing I'd do is change lifeorb and sandrush on exca to moldbreaker/focus sash so you can set up on hatterne. Finally, and this is optional, change flare blitz on darmgalar to stone edge so rotomw and rotomh dont bake you.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the more I use this team the more I notice that. Way too many entry hazards, plus most teams easily get rid of toxic spikes with another Toxapex or Gengar and heavy boots Cinderance gets annoying.
I was thinking on using Toxic instead of toxic spikes but Baneful bunker sounds interesting too.
 
xOliver

xOliver

ManuKesna said:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1034687954

Trying this team but with LO Clef instead of Dragapult, Toxic on Toxapex and Knock off on Ferrothorn. I still need to play better but I like those changes better.
I didnt know Overdrive could ignore substitute so I learnt something today.
I thought that Morpeko was going to sweep my team somehow but luckily it didnt.
Click to expand...
Run Baneful Bunker on Toxapex, its a better protect. Also run gyro ball on ferro.
 
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