Going on the Offensive (OU RMT)

[Upside]

Hey there! This is actually my first team built from scratch by myself. For the time that I've played, I've stolen teams off the forums and modified them to fit my playing style. Although I sometimes modified them pretty heavily, and they ran like a completely different team, I've never actually had to work out an entire team by myself. This also is the first heavily offensive oriented team I've made, as I generally play a more defensive Balanced team, so bear with me as I figure this out. My original idea for the team was to have a CMLatias/Lucario combo. Latias and Lucario cover eachother's weakness well, and Lucario loves to switch if Latias dies to pursuit. Enough chit-chat. Let's look at the team.

Changes are in oppositecolors.

The First Look:

From this, you can see that I only have one pokemon vulnerable to Toxic Spikes, two who are hit by spikes, and none of them, bar my lead, as weak to Stealth Rock. Entry hazards are not generally a problem for me, and I would gladly give Skarmory two turns to set-up if it meant getting two more layers of spikes out.

The Closer Look:

Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Destiny Bond
- Ice Shard

Strange as it my seem, I actually love this lead. Metagross leads with Bullet Punch can be an issue, and I just run from TTar, but other than that, I can consistently get off a layer of spikes and take the opposing lead down with me. More often than not, I can get two layers. Taunt prevents other leads from setting up, as well as forcing people to switch out or kill Froslass, who likely will have Destiny Bonded. Ice Shard is there for Aerodactyl leads, as they can outspeed and Taunt me, as well as for revenging random dragons if Froslass manages to live that long.

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- U-turn
- ThunderPunch

Flygon is definitely the weakest link on my team. I originally had him in because of his resistances to Electric, Ground, and Rock, but as the team has changed, he's become less and less useful; however, I can't find anything to switch him out for. He fills so many niches for the team. The problem is, he doesn't fill any of them particularly well. He usually follows right after Froslass DBonds, as he can U-turn out if the matchup is unfavorable.

Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP/216 Def/52 SAtk
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Stealth Rock

Mixpert is the newest addition to the team, and he has been working wonders. Stealth Rock is almost guaranteed to get up. He's also my DDMence check, as well as being able to take a hit from almost anything and deal half-decent damage back. He's the defensive staple of my team. Surprisingly, he's also the newest member of my team. I originally had a Scizor, added to Pursuit Ghosts who would counter Lucario. Unfortunately, both Gengar and Rotom have ways of taking out Scizor as well. He's really the only tank on the team, and he has no recovery. I generally have think about letting him take minimal damage in the early game.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 84 Atk/208 Spd/216 SAtk
Mild nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

MixMence is a very important member of the team, as it allows me to break down stall, as well as covering many of the bulkier pokemon by threating with OHKOs. He can threaten almost all the walls in the game, as well as being able to switch in with his many resistances. His job on the team is to punish the opponent for bringing out a slower pokemon, and hopefully help me gain momentum in the battle. On the flip side of thing, Dragon moves can give my team a huge problem, as my only Steel type is my sweeper and has a Life Orb.

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 128 HP/252 Spd/128 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Latias is the first half of this teams primary offense. I originally started with a 252 SAtk set, but it didn't quite have the survivability I needed. I simply changed to a 128/128/252 spread, but I have no idea if this is the most effective distribution of EVs. Fire and Dragon give perfect coverage on everyone but Heatran. I would consider Surf, but the ability to surprise Scizor's with an OHKO is too good to pass up. When I first made this team, Latias was killing things left and right. She was unstoppable, but as I made it higher up the ladder, I'm not able to drop as many thing with Latias. I'm consider going with a set that requires less set-up, such as Life Orb, or a bulky set not focused on sweeping.

Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed
- Close Combat
- Crunch

Lucario is, in my opinion, the best set-up sweeper in the game. I went with Ice Punch because I assumed I would be Pursuiting Ghosts, but I have since switched out my pursuiter, so I guess I'm just running because I don't have anything better to run. Honestly, there's not much to say here. The long term goal of this team is to coax Ghosts out into the open and kill them, opening a sweep for Lucario. I run Jolly, because being able to kill Salamence is crucial, and I have Spike onto of SR to get the extra damage needed for those OHKOs.

So yea, that's the team. It has some obvious flaws, and at higher levels of play, I know people will begin to exploit them. It feels like I'm too oriented on Offense, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm not accustom to playing offense or not. I realize that the RMT forum isn't really supposed to be a place where you come to have people fix your team, but I honestly think that my team building ability won't be able to take this team any farther. Anyways, rates and fixes are greatly appreciated ;)​

 

[frogbandit]

Just a nitpick.

I suggest you drop Fire blast on Flygon and replace it with Stone Edge. It allows you to revenge kill Gyarados and kill off weakened Zapdos.

 

[Seargeant Chilli]

This is a very nice team overall, and I love your use of Destiny Bond on your Froslass, very original xD. Just three small things to consider changing: one, you may want to change Ice Punch on your Lucario to Crunch, as half of your team is weak to Ghost moves, which this can help to remedy. Next, you will want to remove HP Fire on your Latias and replace it with Surf, as you already have Fire Blast on your Flygon, which will almost certainly OHKO Scizor, and Surf offers you much better coverage. And finally, you might want to swap Rorom-h for Rotom-c, as Scizor is not as big a threat to your team as you may be thinking, but you have no real counter to Swampert.

Overall, this is a very solid and well constructed team. Well done!

 

[Gideon]

this is a good team but i think you should change your flygon to choice band flygon. Firstly you have a revenge killer already and answer to salamence with swampert and latias. Secondly two choice scarfers usually isnt a great way to go. Thirdly because you are stall weak. Lucario being Jolly, cant ohko Skarmory and Swampert and you do much less to Hippowdon. Also with ice punch you lose the ohko on Rotom. A good idea also might be to give Lucario crunch. I would say make him adamant but you have spikes and you seem to like jolly on him so that works.

good luck with your team

Flygon@ Choice Band
Adamant
252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 6 Hp
Earthquake
Outrage
Fire punch
U-turn

If you want the 2hko on Skarmory change Fire punch to Fire Blast and make him naughty.

 

[Bad Ass]

cool team, frosslass is really underrated as a lead. i, though, prefer shadow ball over taunt as a way to beat azelf who will almost always taunt you turn 1. i really suggest that you at least test out shadow ball > taunt before you shoot it down ^_^

i also want some thunderpunch action on flygon over fire blast. thunderpunch is a good move on him, for the sole reason of beating up on gyarados. you could try stone edge, but the only thing you're going to be hitting is zapdos, and outrage only hits for 20 bp less, and besides, latias can cm all day on any zapdos. also stone edge is absolutely the worst move in the game due to the 30% accuracy it has...

use crunch on your lucario. you can outspeed all rotoms with jolly, and score an ohko with +2 crunches, so you dont have to lure them out. rotom's 86 base speed < lucario's 90, so even if the rotom is timid you'll be outspeeding it and avoiding the will o wisp or thunderbolt or whatever it throws at you.

your team has some massive problems with stall. lucario is the only traditional stallbreaker, but even that is stopped by the ever coomon gyarados. imo scarf rotom seems the least valuable, with flygon being a very sturdy revenge killer with his great offensive and defensive typing that includes a sr resist so he can just keep coming in and revenging everything. so you need a solid stallbreaker and you have one free slot. obvious choices are classic mixmence, sub charge rotom, and i think one of these would benefit you more than an 'undiscovered and underrated' stallbreaker such as subpunch eb gar. in fact, classic mixmence would be an excellent choice over rotom. only problem is lack of a proper dragon resist, which means lo latias and mixmence will give you some problems, but the power it gives you right off the bat would be much more valuable. good luck with the team, hope i helped some.

 

[Upside]

Thanks for the suggestions. Flygon will be given ThunderPunch. Dunno why I didn't have it before. Crunch will also be given to Lucario. Originally, when I made the team, it was very important for Lucario to be able to take on Mence, but with the addition of Swampert, it's not quite as needed. HP Fire is going to stay on Latias, as it hits a lot more things for super effective, as well as because I'm already taking Fire Blast off of Flygon.

Bad Ass's post deserves a paragraph all to itself, as it was extremely helpful. I will try out Shadow Ball on Froslass, as I haven't been using Taunt very often. ScarfRotom was originally a MixMence as you said, but I found the extra weakness to dragon to be a little bit much for the team, but since I've made some changes, I will definitely test it out. Charge Beam Rotom never even crossed my mind, and will definitely get extensive testing when I get some free time. I also went through the post and the wording a bit.

 

[tobi10]

If beating Aerodactyl leads is a major concern, I reccomned you to use Icy Wind, to use her better Special Attack.
Gtg for now, I hope I´d helped, good luck!

 

[Lucalibur]

If beating Aerodactyl leads is a major concern, I reccomned you to use Icy Wind, to use her better Special Attack.
Gtg for now, I hope I´d helped, good luck!

better special atack? both atacks are the same,the special movepool is better,i think that froslass should just keep ice shard,with ice wind,you need to hit at least once to later outspeed aero,when ice shard not only hit him in the weaker defense,but always hit first.

 

[frogbandit]

Yeah, both Atk and SpA are the same at 80.

I think you should really consider Ice Beam over Ice shard. With her speed, froslass almost always goes first anyways.

 

[Upside]

I got a chance to test MixMence, and it worked great. The change will probably be permanent, unless something begins to go horribly wrong. ChargeRotom hasn't been tested though, so Mence still has some competition. I tried Shadow Ball for a short time, but got then met 3 Smeargle leads in 5 matches. I believe Ice Shard is still a 3HKO on Azelf, so I'll probably just try throwing out a layer, and if it Taunts, simply Ice Shard it on it's SR, hit it again on the sash break, and finish it, giving me the advantage. If it doesn't Taunt, I get my spikes anyways. Ice Shard is definitely staying, as it's sole purpose is to beat Aerodactyl and revenge dragons (And I guess to beat Taunt Azelfs) and it does all those thing perfectly fine with the extra power from Ice Beam. Ice Beam would definitely be more useful than Ice Shard in the long run, but I generally use Froslass as death fodder, or to kill something with DBond. Thanks for the rates though. Keep 'em coming. The team is definitely getting better.