SM OU Gen 7 Rookie Team



Hello party people! Welcome to my very first Gen 7 RMT. I haven't played competitively since HG/SS and haven't touched a Pokemon game since B/W (I wasn't a fan of the weather-centric meta in that gen), but Sun/Moon intrigued me enough to try my hand once again. I tinkered a lot with wildly different combinations, but this is the team I've mostly settled on. I feel that it's decent, but probably not great, so suggestions are appreciated. One thing I want to stress is that I will be creating this team in the actual game, and I do not have any of the previous titles. This means I don't have reliable access to the past gen legendaries. Although I'm sure that Heatran or one of the genies would be helpful on this team, please don't suggest them. I probably can't get them unless you happen to have a spare laying around. This team is legal in the pre-pokebank meta, but I've been testing it in the standard OU format on Pokemon Showdown and there are only a few minor changes I'm currently planning to make once the pokebank is available. Let's take a look at the team.




Mamoswine @ Focus Sash/Life Orb
Ability: Oblivious/Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash

Mamoswine serves as my lead nine times out of ten due to his ability to always at least set up stealth rock with Focus Sash and Oblivious. Ice Shard allows for big damage against common lead dragon, ground, flying, and grass types (looking at you, Garchomp), while Earthquake handles top threats like Heatran. Icicle Crash is good as a more powerful STAB ice attack, but I find myself rarely using it. I've considered swapping it for Knock Off (a fun surprise for Tapu Lele) or other coverage options like Freeze Dry or Superpower. Opinions here would be appreciated. Mamoswine will likely undergo the largest change on this team once Pokebank is available, as Thick Fat will become available (it's currently unobtainable to my knowledge). Once that becomes available, I'll likely also swap the Focus Sash for a Life Orb, netting an OHKO on Toxapex with Earthquake, and shifting Mamo's function to a wallbreaker who can also set up rocks.



Azumarill @ Normalium Z
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 92 HP / 252 Atk / 164 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Waterfall/Knock Off
- Belly Drum

Z Belly Drum is the crux of this set, allowing Azumarill to reliably set up in many situations, including after entry hazard damage. This seems to function best as a mid to late game sweeper, hitting anything that doesn't resist it for massive damage (I've used Aqua Jet alone to sweep through some teams). The EV spread was pulled directly from Smogon's Belly Drum set, which allows for outspeeding uninvested base 70 speed Pokemon while giving a bit of additional bulk. Azumarill can sometimes get away without even needing to set up, as Aqua Jet's priority and Knock Off's utility give it a ton of versatility. Right now I only have Waterfall slashed because Knock Off won't be available until Pokebank drops, but Knock Off seems to be far and away the preferred option.



Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Another pretty standard set, Magnezone serves as both a trapper for steel types and gives momentum utility with Volt Switch. HP Fire allows him to 2HKO Ferrothorn and Scizor, while Thunderbolt 2HKO's Celesteela (assuming she didn't Beast Boost her SpD, or isn't holding an Assault Vest). Flash Cannon is there for additional STAB, giving it a more reliable option against those pesky fairy types. As with any choice set, this set takes a fair amount of prediction, as it's not always advisable to be locked into any of these moves (especially Thunderbolt, damn Marowak).



Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Stone Edge
- Substitute
- Bulk Up

Tapu Bulu finds plenty of opportunities to set up a Substitute and nab a Bulk Up or two, but it honestly isn't even all that necessary. Leftovers, Grassy Surge, and Horn Leech give him outstanding recovery, and no one wants to take a terrain boosted Horn Leech from this guy. Grassy Surge also allows Bulu to safely switch into Earthquakes that threaten much my team. Stone Edge seems to be a bit of a surprise on this set, as it's common to see flying or fire types switched in such as Charizard X/Y, Tornadus, and Marowak. Many sets use Brick Break, but Stone Edge is a little more powerful and seems to give me better coverage (when it doesn't miss, that is). Both Mamoswine and Azumarill also appreciate a way to get Psychic Terrain off the field.



Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 148 Def / 112 SpD
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

Toxapex makes for a ridiculously sturdy wall with Black Sludge recovery, Regenerator, and Recover. He also has fantastic synergy with Tapu Bulu, resisting fire and poison moves that threaten him and soaking up even more recovery with Grassy Terrain (Earthquake is also not nearly as scary). I generally use Toxic on other walls and special attackers while Scald is very useful for crippling physical attackers (and prevents Tox from being Taunt bait). Haze is incredibly helpful in nullifying setups. I honestly pulled the EV spread and nature from his forum in the Uncharted Territory section of the site and don't remember exactly what it allows for, so if anyone has any better recommendations, I'd love to hear them.



Alakazam-Mega @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard/Trace
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Taunt

Alakazam works best as a late-game sweeper or revenge killer due to his paper thin defenses. His STAB Psychic is generally the move of choice, while Focus Blast and Shadow Ball give him near perfect coverage. Magic Guard allows Zam to switch into spikes/stealth rock without worrying about damage prior to mega evolving for Trace (which opens up for all sorts of fun possibilities) Smogon's analysis recommends Encore, but with Alakazam's high speed, I tend to get more use out of Taunt.


This team has some glaring weaknesses that I'm sure you've already noticed. I currently have no way of keeping hazards off my side of the field, one inaccurate fighting type move (Alakazam's Focus Blast), and no real way to deal with status ailments outside of Alakazam's Taunt. Metagross-Mega also tears through this team unless he's hit with a Belly Drum boosted Knock Off from Azumarill, or I get a lucky burn with Toxapex before he 2HKOs me with Zen Headbutt. Can't wait for your suggestions and advice.
 
Cool team, I like Z-Belly Drum Azu as well.

One thing I would change is Magnezone; make it Specs > Scarf.
The thing about scarf Magnezone is that it doesn't really outspeed anything that it needs to. Specs ensures that you can almost always OHKO high SpDef Ferrothorn and easily OHKO Bulky Mega Scizor. Plus it almost always OHKO's completely max SpDef w/ Calm nature Celesteela after rocks, which isn't even the most common Celesteela (usually sort of mixed bulky or even offensive). Also easily OHKO's Calm Skarmory.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Celesteela: 344-408 (86.4 - 102.5%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 332-392 (94.3 - 111.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Hidden Power Fire vs. 248 HP / 200 SpD Scizor-Mega: 360-424 (104.9 - 123.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Skarmory: 438-516 (131.1 - 154.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

My favorite set to use is this:
Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

It outspeeds most Skarmory sets to ensure it cant get up rocks/spikes before it dies, and you could even run more speed if you want to ensure to outspeed min speed Mega Scizor.

Also, for your Mega Alakazam, I definitely recommend Encore > Taunt. This is because if you know that your Alakazam is about to go down to something like a Dark Pulse you can encore them into it and switch straight into Azumarill to get off the Z-Belly Drum for free.

Also, this isn't really necessary, but you said you don't really click Icicle Crash on Mamoswine so maybe you could run Endeavor, since it brings mons like Ferro or Tapu Fini down to 1 HP if you can read their switch on your EQ and/or Ice Shard. It's kind of niche, but when it works it is amazing. I have caught lots of Tapu Fini switch ins with it.

Hope I helped, and good luck!
 
I had definitely noticed that Magnezone wasn't hitting nearly as hard as I wanted him to, so I'll be trying out that Specs set.

After a quick check on Serebii, it seems like Alakazam is capable of outspeeding and OHKOing most common threats that use Dark Pulse with Focus Blast (provided it hits, of course). There may be a specific threat that I overlooked, but it actually doesn't seem like he's all that scared of it. The Smogon analysis recommends using it to trap someone in Sucker Punch, but unless I'm misunderstanding how the move works, that would require Zam being able to live through a Sucker Punch before it could be used, so I feel like I'd be better off just switching out. It'd be fun to lock someone into a set-up move like Calm Mind, but I've never had anyone attempt to set up against Alakazam, and my go-to for setups is Toxapex with Haze. I toyed around with it for a while, but found it was generally more useful to just attack twice, rather than Encore and then attack.

Considering I don't have a ton of experience in this meta, I'm probably totally wrong, lol. If there are any specific threats that are generally better to Encore than to attack, I'd love a little further insight, as I generally only use Taunt as a pseudo-method to combat hazard setters and status users that Zam can't OHKO.

I'll definitely try out Endeavor on Mamoswine while I'm still running Focus Sash, as that sounds like a bit of fun.

Appreciate the rate!
 
I had definitely noticed that Magnezone wasn't hitting nearly as hard as I wanted him to, so I'll be trying out that Specs set.

After a quick check on Serebii, it seems like Alakazam is capable of outspeeding and OHKOing most common threats that use Dark Pulse with Focus Blast (provided it hits, of course). There may be a specific threat that I overlooked, but it actually doesn't seem like he's all that scared of it. The Smogon analysis recommends using it to trap someone in Sucker Punch, but unless I'm misunderstanding how the move works, that would require Zam being able to live through a Sucker Punch before it could be used, so I feel like I'd be better off just switching out. It'd be fun to lock someone into a set-up move like Calm Mind, but I've never had anyone attempt to set up against Alakazam, and my go-to for setups is Toxapex with Haze. I toyed around with it for a while, but found it was generally more useful to just attack twice, rather than Encore and then attack.

Considering I don't have a ton of experience in this meta, I'm probably totally wrong, lol. If there are any specific threats that are generally better to Encore than to attack, I'd love a little further insight, as I generally only use Taunt as a pseudo-method to combat hazard setters and status users that Zam can't OHKO.

I'll definitely try out Endeavor on Mamoswine while I'm still running Focus Sash, as that sounds like a bit of fun.

Appreciate the rate!
Yeah no problem man, glad I could help. By the way the way that Sucker Punch would work on an Encore is that since Sucker Punch has +1 priority and Encore does not, the opponent would use Sucker Punch and it would fail since you did not click an attack move (The move only works if you click an attack move). You click Encore, they are stuck on Sucker Punch, and you switch into Azu and can get a free Belly Drum. It may be good just keeping Taunt, or another option is to use substitute which is my favorite one since Zam forces lots of switch-ins.
 

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