ORAS OU Getting back into the game: balanced team.

[Raven8]

I haven't really played Pokemon in any form for around 2 years, but for some reason I've recently gotten the itch to begin messing around again. A ton has changed on the Smogon scene since last I played, so I figured that I'd post my current team of choice, complete with a few of my own more recent changes, to see what the current views are and try to catch up. This is a variant on a team that I've used since X/Y first came out, and it's almost exclusively used in the games themselves.

Mamoswine (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 ATK / 252 SPD / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Stealth Rock

Main Rolls: Rock Setter, Damage Dealer
My lead 'mon. This slot used to belong to Deoxys D, but... yeah. Fairly straight forward; Mamoswine's job is to get out stealth rocks and do some heavy damage right off the bat. I'd rather keep him alive, but he seems to fall fairly quickly due to his frailty and the fact that my opponent generally has a way to deal with him early on. I feel like there might be a better choice for this slot, but I'm not really sure what would fit the bill better.

Sylveon (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 S.DEF
Calm Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Toxic
- Wish
- Protect

Main Rolls: Mixed Wall, Status Inducer, Cleric.
Early on I was impressed with this deceptive mon, and I continue to really love using her to this day. She's part of my defensive triad, and acts as more of a mixed wall/cleric/general utility defensive 'mon. She spreads around Toxic to help support my defensive base, she heals herself or others with Wish, and she hits like a tank with Hyper Voice in spite of no investment. On top of that, she has fair type synergy with my other defensive 'mons, as you'll see soon.

Tyranitar (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 S.DEF / 4 ATK
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake

Main Rolls: Specially Defensive Wall, Pursuit Trapper, Weather setter
I absolutely love this guy. In-game, everyone expects a more offensively-oriented 'mon, so it's great fun to see super-effective hits go "tink". Anyway; I'm sure that everyone knows this already, but Tyranitar is an AMAZING special wall, and hits fairly hard even with such a tiny bit of offensive investment. Sylveon covers its weaknesses fairly well, and she can pass a Wish to keep him going for a LONG time. He also causes great pain to any psychic/ghost types that it switches into, generally scoring a quick kill. Sandstream isn't overly appreciated by Sylveon and a few of my others, but it generally makes up for that with sash/sturdy breaks, and really tends to mess with enemy weather tactics.

Skarmory (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 DEF / 4 S.DEF
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Defog
- Roost


Main Rolls: Defoger, Physical Wall, Phazer.
And here we have my physical wall. Skarmory takes a ton of damage and keeps on packing, which is why I love him. I've opted for Defog to make safe entry for an upcoming mon and whirlwind to phaze (and rack up some damage thanks to Mamoswine's rocks). Rocky Helmet has great synergy with his role, as he's frequently switched into physical hits, and Brave Bird keeps Taunt users from getting his goat too badly. His typing also synergizes fairly well with Tyranitar and Sylveon, as previously stated.

Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 S.ATK / 252 SPD / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Icy Wind
- Hidden Power (Ghost)

Main Rolls: Revenge Killer, Ceaner
I'm sure that this old build is probably "outdated" by now, but I still appreciate it greatly. It's about as straight-forward as it can be; get out there and start spamming Hydro Pump or Secret Sword, with Icy Wind and HP Ghost for coverage where needed. I don't really think that I need to say much about Keld, as this is as straight-forward a build as possible in my opinion.

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze>Tough Claws
EVs: 252 ATK / 252 SPE / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Dragon Dance
- Roost

Main Rolls: Boosting Sweeper, Cleaner
This roll has generally been filled by Mega Pinsir, with Quick Attack/SwordsDance/Return/Close Combat, but I'm giving this guy a try. My team used to have issues with physical Fire/Electric types, but Char X patches those up a bit. My general strategy is to let my other 'mons stall and weaken my opponent's team, then throw this guy out to wreck everything that remains. However, in spite of being one of the best 'mons in OU right now, I'm not 100% sold on his position in this team.




Anyway; that's my team. I know that it's not overpowering tourney-class, but it's got a solid mix of defense and offense that suits my style and makes it fun to use. Any advice that you may offer is greatly appreciated, especially given how long it's been since I really followed how Smogon's OU metagame has been shaping up. Thanks!

 

[Drop]

Quick note before you start: your Skarmory has way too many EVs.

This looks like a pretty solid team from what I can see! Two things that immediately stand out to me that can be improved are the Keldeo set and the fairy weakness.

Keldeo's biggest tool is arguably the move Scald. Scald is not only a decently-powered STAB but also has a good chance to burn. The secondary effect really lets it chip away at things like M-Venusaur and Latios, which normally come in on it. Also, HP Ghost is only to hit Jellicent, which is no longer relevant in Gen 6 OU. For this reason, I would recommend Scald over HP Ghost on Keldeo. In addition, I think you can use Choice Specs over Choice Scarf simply because Scarf Keldeo is really easily taken advantage of and this team lacks significant offensive presence outside of Char-X.

Next up, you have a big fairy weakness. Your fairy resist/Pinsir counter is Skarmory, and that's it. The fairly popular Magnezone + Mega Pinsir / Mega Altaria really shreds through your team. Since Skarmory has roost (as it should), I think you should opt for Shed Shell over Rocky Helmet on Skarmory to escape Magnezone.

There are probably other, less black-and-white areas that other people can discuss in later posts, but these are three changes that will improve the team without compromising it somewhere else.

 

[Raven8]

Eep, edited Skarm. It was 252 DEF / 4 S.DEF, guess I just got too used to writing 252 over and over.

And this exactly what I'm talking about; your insight into this team is invaluable. I never would have thought of running scald over HP Ghost, and would never have known about the increase in use on Magnezone, which would have DESTROYED my poor metal bird. If it's specially based, my Tyranitar handles fairy moves amazingly well. Heck, I've even seen him tank Focus Blasts from Mega Mewtwo Y. However, I do see what you mean. Any advice for patching up my weakness there? Perhaps I could sacrifice my Mamoswine to patch up my offensive/defensive issues?

 

[Apollo.]

Hello,good team but it have some problem :

• Weak to Zard-X
• Weak to Manaphy

I don't really like suicide leads in ORAS OU (or 6 gen if you want) because rapid spin/defog are everywere.Maybe you should change it for classic stealth rocker which can pair well with the rest of the team.
Skarmory is always used with Spikes its mendatory in him,Defog isn't really a great idea since you are using a Zard-X okay but i have one thing to say : how Skarmory defogging against Heatran/Garchomp(FB) which are the most common stealth rocker in the game ? remember your Zard-X is countered by Heatran since you are not using Earthquake.
Tyranitar with the AV its pretty useless,you will still trapkill Starmie/Lati@s without it,Scarf variant is better here i think since you want to beat main entry hazard remover since you are using Spikes(Skarmory) + Stealth rocker(Another setter).
Sylveon is outclassed by Clefable as Wish support.

I will try to say whats your team need :

• Entry Hazard remover which isn't weak to Heatran(Lati@s/Starmie/(Excadrill)
• A thing which can lure Heatran (Serperior Hp Ground/Lati@s EQ)
• A way to deal with Clefable
• A way to deal with Manaphy
• A way to deal with other Zard-x

I would recommend to start with the Zard-X + Serperior.Serperior can handle Water/Ground type which can give trouble to Zard-X(Hippowdon/Slowbro ..) and which can lure Heatran by using the hidden power ground when Zard-X handle M-Scizor ect.
Tyranitar allow you to trapkill Lati@s (and other threat like Starmie/Gengar depends of the set) which will help your Zard-X,Scarf is the better choice here since you will able to pursuit weakned mon and trapkill Lati@s/Starmie/Gengar.
Sand Rush Excadrill is a great revenge killer which work with Hippowdon/Tyranitar thanks to their ability to set the sand,a great late game cleaner and a good entry hazard remover.It will allow you to handle Clefable and to revenge kill a lot of mon (most notable are dragon dancer like Zard-X/Altaria)
Since you are using a 'revenge killer',Scarf Keldeo will be useless and we can notice in your team there are no fighting resistence and no keldeo checks.Azumarill will allow you to wallbreak well by using his choice band set.It will allow you to check Keldeo/Clefable.
You are so weak to Dark spam(Bisharp ect) and you still don't have a stealth rocker.Garchomp will fite perfectly in this role because it can set rocks and it can check scarf Landorus-T which can be really a big threat to your team since he can force your Zard-X out and will just use u-turn to gain momentum.Rocky helmet + rough skin will punish him for this.

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Serperior @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Glare

Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 168 HP / 252 Atk / 88 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Waterfall
- Aqua Jet
- Superpower

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Ice Beam

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

Garchomp @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
- Fire Blast

Mamoswine >>>

Garchomp

Tyranitar (Set)

Skarmory >>>

Excadrill

Keldeo >>>

Azumarill

Sylveon >>>

Serperior

I changed the team completly but it was to show you how to build around Zard-X in ORAS OU. hope it helped you to understand how much its important to handle dark spam/dragon dancer/Clefable ect

 

[Raven8]

I... um... wow. I had no clue that so much had shifted in the metagame. Your outline really gives me a lot to go on and think about in regards to moving forward. Holes are one thing, but it looks like my old team is downright fractured by many, many threats. It's a lot to soak in, but I'll give it a shot. Thank you very much!