Getting back into competitive, need some help

Thorn_bloodscale

The team is set in the OU tier, im sorry for the lack of pictures, my browser isnt letting me work with them for some reason at the moment.

Here's an at a glance list in place of pictures:
1. Zapdos
2. Heracross
3. Lucario
4. Dragonite
5. Houndoom
6. Suicune
______________________________________
moz-screenshot-3.png

1. Zapdos @ Choice Specs
Nature: Timid
80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Ice
-U-turn/heatwave
-Thunderwave

Lead Zapdos is actually doing me a fantastic job, often times im able to bring him out in the later game do to his better than average survivability. I really dont like dealing with swampert leads all that much, so id usually u-turn out to someone who i feel can better do the job. I chose timid over modest because with choice specs, im getting a boost of power so the speed is handy. I usually prefer heatwave, because with it i can revenge kill scizor, lucario, and metagross which is always great to have with their popularity.


2. Heracross @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
-Megahorn
-Close Combat
-Night Slash
-Stone Edge

I love me some heracross, hes an absolutely fantastic pokemon. He hits ridiculously hard, packing night slash for the toaster, and stone edge deals with flyings very well. I actually am using this in a very hit and run fashion lately and it works very well. It also takes out Tyranitar which is nice, ive actually seen a lot of those so their dismay. Starmie is also nicely dealt with by using heracross. A strategy that ive been able to employ multiple times is being able to predict a heatran to come kill him, and then make use of Houndoom's flash fire to soak up some fire and gain some added power, those two make quite a pair.


3. Lucario @ Choice Specs
Nature: Modest
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Vacuum Wave
-Aura Sphere
-Shadow Ball
-Close Combat

I decided to put close combat on there because of the btch that is blissey. It allows me to get through her after they realize i am not a standard physical sweep lucario, which is always nice. I dont see this ran too often which is always a plus. Shadowball and and Aura Sphere are a mean combination, sporting a great neutral coverage. Modest+Choice Specs makes for substantial sweeping power.


4. Dragonite @ Leftovers/Lum Berry [?]
Nature: Adamant
224 HP / 84 Atk / 200 Spe
-Roost
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake/fire punch [?]

This guy has great survivability and can pack quite a punch. I cant decide between the items, though ive leaned towards lum berry because of outrages confusion. im also undecided if i should move some HP EVs around or not. Once Hes DD'd up he can sweep with outrage like its nobody's business, aswell as packing earthquake. Its walled by Skarmory and Bronzong and is killed somewhat easily by scizor, so i may find myself putting fire punch in their, also as i introduced previously, houndoom fares excellently against such pokemon.


5. Houdoom @ Life Orb
Nature: Timid
40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
-Nasty Plot
-Flamethrower
-Will-O-Wisp
-Dark Pulse

Houndoom is extremely underused, yet i really enjoy having him in here for multiple reasons. Hes a great fire based special sweeper, and takes care of ghosts with Dark Pulse, and Will-O-Wisp is great for the physical attackers who come in, and in which case if they do id switch to suicune to put deal with most of them, as Houndoom is a little frail. As i said before, if i can take a fire attack from a heatran or anywhere else, this thing is literally a beast.


6. Suicune @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
-Surf
-Calm Mind
-Roar
-Ice Beam

Suicune massacres in the late game, its ridiculous. I take this puppy out after ive scouted for counters and know a little more about what im dealing with, and can roar through most things i dislike. Calm Mind puts my ice beam up in power, and it also takes care of dragons. Surfs a great stab. Hopefully i have taken care of gyarados, which i have ample moves on other pokemon to. If i can fire off 2 calm minds, this guy aint going down easy.


Closure: Overall i really like the pokemon on this team, i will say im a little unsure of both zapdos and dragonite; however i think theyre okay. Im probably happiest about suicune and Heracross. I tried to keep a pretty balanced team here, and realized that where i have a few frail pokemon, i tried to keep some bulkies in there aswell.
moz-screenshot.png
moz-screenshot-1.png
 
just a suggestion you could try flame orb on heracross instead of life orb since it will give you a bigger attack boost and will also allow heracross to absorb status for your team
 
Yeah, i was thinking about using that just without the swords dance, because setting up to much can be a burn although the added boost in power would be great. Im most worried about team synthesis though.
 
you could use the same set you have now it'll work fine but you should probably put facade in instead of stone edge because it'll have 140 base power with a burn and can help heracross take out it's usual counters. you don't need swords dance since you'll already have a boost from the flame orb and you can attack right away instead of setting up and giving your opponent the chance to counter you
 
Yeah very true, so ive tested this team out and im going at a pretty solid 2/3 wins, im 8/12. So far some problems ive had were doing with zapdos, idunno what specificallya bout him, but im thinking of using maybe a lead crobat??? i like zapdos's thunderwave cripple but really tahts almost all he's been doing for me as of late.
 
i use a crobat lead in my team and crobat would be able to help out your houndoom and lucario and prevent them from being taken out by fighting attacks and easily takes out most fighting type pokemon one on one and can prevent most leads from setting up their rocks. however, i noticed half your team is electric weak and SR weak, so you may want to put a donphan on your team, perhaps as a lead or replacing lucario since you dont have a stealth rocker of your own and you already have a suficient number of sweepers
 
Welcome back to competitive battling!

I see some big problems here, most notably no Electric resist leaving you quite open to Jolteon, and no Rock resist aside from Lucario along with three Rock weaknesses, giving you a CB Tyranitar problem. Since Suicune has no recovery, it will be down after repetitive beatings from the likes of DD Salamence, Gyarados and Tyranitar. Most offensive teams carry at least two of these pokemon, so Suicune will likely faint to the second after countering the first. Aside from Suicune, you are basicly torn apart by the threats mentioned beforehand, so the forst thing I advise is to turn Zapdos into a Defensive variant. This will ease in dealing with the trio mentioned earlier, as well as Joltoen. Now, how about swapping Houndoom for Heatran and making it a SR lead?

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
EVs: 6 HP | 252 SpA | 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
~Fire Blast
~Earth Power
~Stealth Rock
~Explosion

Houndoom doesn't do much to your team, giving you another SR weakness as well as being walled by Blissey and Heatran, so swapping it for a Heatran will likely be for the best. Now, for Zapdos:

Zapdos @ Leftovers
EVs: 248 HP | 228 Def | 32 Spe
Nature: Bold
~Thunderbolt
~Heat Wave
~Roost
~Hiddden Power Grass

Hidden Power Grass will help you in dealing with Swampert. Choice Specs Zapdos is generally inferior to other Specs users, and the bulk will help your team overall, making this a fine choice. Defensive Zapdos also gives you a fine check to Lucario, a blessing to have in any team.

Again mentioning your Jolteon problem, why not try Tyranitar? It can wall and set up on Specsed Jolteon locked on Shadow Ball, ScarfTran locked on Fire Blast, ScarfGar locked on Shadow ball and many more, and can weaken Dragonite's counters. Try this:

Tyranitar @ Leftovers / Babiri Berry
EVs: 6 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
~Dragon Dance
~Crunch
~Stone Edge
~Fire Punch

This Tyranitar can be your first / secondary form of weakening your opponents sweep for a Suicune / Dragonite sweep eventually. Adamant gives you much needed power and Jolly allows you to outspeed Azelf, Starmie and other base 115 speed pokemon. Babiri berry allows you to survive a CB BP from Scizor and KO back with Fire Punch, but the recovery from Leftovers is appreciate as well.

As for Lucario and Dragonite, Lucario is meant to be a Wall Breaker and Dragonite is meant to be a swppere, correct? In today's metagame, the opposite works much better, as Dragonite has a vast movepool and great stats, while Lucario has SD and Extremespeed to make it an excelent late game sweeper. Consider changing Dragonite to this:

Dragonite @ Life Orb
EVs: 112 Atk | 196 SpA | 200 Spe
Nature: Rash
~Superpower
~Draco Meteor
~Flamethrower
~Roost

This allows Dragonite to get rid of Blissey, Heatran, Tyranitar, slower Dragons, Skarmory, Forretress and more, reliably breaking a large portion of stall. Roost gives you reliable recovery.The EVs give you 246 speed (outrunning Jolly Tyranitar) and 332 Atk (a guranteed OHKO on Bold Blissey), while the rest is dumped into SpA for more power.

For Lucario:

Lucario @ Life Orb
EVs: 6 HP | 252 Atk | 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant / Jolly
~Swords Dance
~Crunch
~Close Combat
~Extremespeed

Most competitive battlers probably know this set by heart. SD Lucario is arguably the best Late Game sweeper in today's metagame, cleaning up after Tyranitar, Dragonite and Suicune have rampaged. The set is completely standard. Adamant or Jolly is again up to you.

After all this, I would recommend a Rapid Spinner as Dragonite and Zapdos won't love taking 25% damage on every switch-in. I would recommend swapping Suicune this time as the combination of Lucario, Dragonite and Tyranitar is enough to break most teams when played right. Standard Rapid Spin Starmie could help you against Gyarados and Adamant DD Tyranitar as well:

Starmie @ Leftovers
EVs: 136 HP | 156 Def | 216 Spe
Nature: Timid
~Surf
~Thunderbolt
~Recover
~Rapid Spin

The defensive EVs give you maximum defensive potential while 216 Spe and Timid give you 352 speed - passing Positive natured base 110 speed pokemon. Recover is for recovery, ovbiously.

Overall, I think these changes will only help your team win more matches, and I do realise that I changed almost your whole team, so you're welcome to take only some of my suggestions if you want.

Good luck!
 
Hmm, i definately feel like i didnt put enough thought/effort into the team, I think id rather take your suggestions, aswell as rethinking the team. Im gonna work on it tonight and tmrow and repost. If a mod could close this thatd be fantastic, thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top