This is a team I've been finetuning for a while now as I familiarize myself with competitive Pokemon. This generation is my first official try at the competitive scene, but I've been doing a ton of research to build something that can pose a serious threat to most teams and catch some people by surprise! I've been testing it on PS! with mixed success that I feel is mostly due to my lack of experience, but I wanted to run this team through RMT to see if I'm correct and improve upon it as much as possible.
In case you're wondering about some strange EV values, I'm building this team for OU as well as Wi-Fi battles, so I tried to adjust all the values for set level 50 rules.
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
U-Turn/LO/Regenerator is just a great combo on Mienshao to keep momentum going and chip away at the other team. HJK is a no brainer, but having it there gave me the idea to use Knock Off. With the power buff its received this gen, it can dish out some serious punishment to ghosts. I've caught more than a few people by surprise expecting me to HJK right through their ghost types. Stone Edge is there for coverage against Fire and Bug pokemon, and gets me a powerful neutral hit in some situations as well. EVs are designed for maximum damage, and bit of extra survivability, and to outspeed Lucario before he mega evolves. I find myself using Mienshao to lead about 25% of the time, whenever I predict anything he can OHKO (Ferrothorn, Mamoswine, etc.) or when I want to lead with a U-Turn.
Gardevoir @ Red Card
Ability: Trace
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Def / 172 Spd
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Trick Room
- Moonblast
Most of the time, this is my lead. Trace is a great ability in soo many situations, but particularly with the popularity of Prankster Klefki, allowing me to get a Taunt in before he can cause any trouble. Combine that with Red Card, and I get a free Will-O-Wisp that often cripples (or at least hinders) the other team right away, or the option to go into Trick Room right away. With this moveset, I can shut down almost any trap setter with the exception of some the faster newcomers in Pokebank, but fortunately they'll only get one turn to do anything before Taunt and Red Card (or a lack of offensive moves) forces them out anyways. EVs are designed to outspeed Skarmory and take the Red Card hit without being too crippled to switch in later on in the match. That said, I'm open to replacing or revamping Gardevoir if I could could have much of this same functionality still in place on my team.
Chandelure @ Air Balloon
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 0 Spd
- Energy Ball
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
The Special Sweeper of the team, built for pure power to OHKO anything it threatens and take a significant chunk out of anything that dares to switch into it. This is where my playing needs to improve the most, honestly. When I predict switches right, Chandelure can do serious damage to anything shy of a dedicated special wall. Moveset is simply designed for best type coverage, the only problem I still have is when he is forced to deal with Sucker Punch. Air Balloon gives one of my sweepers the much needed invulnerability to Ground, giving me an opportunity to get the free switch and eliminate the threat. Unfortunately, aside from well predicted switches, he's only only an offensive threat in Trick Room. Opted for Infiltrator over Flash Fire because Chandelure really doesn't need the extra power and breaking through Light Screens and Subs is amazing.
Side Note: I'm toying with the idea of using Flash Fire instead for a double immunity, haven't had a chance to try it yet but I'm not sure if it'll be more valuable than bypassing Substitutes. Thoughts?
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
The Physical Sweeper, capable of decimating teams in and out of Trick Room. In Trick Room, I rely on my basic STABs for most of the damage, but Sucker Punch does a great job to cover priority in Trick Room as well. Outside of Trick Room, all it takes is one SD to sweep through most teams. I opted to go with Iron Head instead of Fire Fang due to Chandelure being my other main offense and for the extra STAB and flinch chance. The neutral coverage on Iron Head has worked out surprisingly well and the flinch provides just the little extra help needed to chip away at bulkier pokemon inside of Trick Room without taking too much punishment in return. EVs are setup for maximum bulk and just enough bulk to OHKO key threats.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Giga Drain
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Leech Seed
The Physical Wall and trap setter for this team. Originally used Tangrowth here, but the type advantage, contact damage, and Stealth Rock made this swap more than worth it. He can take physical and special hits better than Tangrowth, and Vaporeon covers his crippling weakness to fire. Opted to go with Toxic on him to get rid of any bulky pokemon so my sweepers can do their jobs, Giga Drain for extra survivability, and Leech Seed to pass health along to allies. EVs are based on a guide since I honestly don't know the optimal way to build his defenses...
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 192 HP / 200 Def / 116 SAtk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Ice Beam
- Wish
- Yawn
- Scald
The Special Wall, cleric, and main status user of this team. I use Yawn/Wish pivots to keep the switches in my favor as much as possible, with the extra offensive potential in Scald and Ice Beam to deal with specific threats as needed. EVs are designed to OHKO/2HKO key threats and the to take advantage of Leftovers without sacrificing bulk. I decided to go with 0 Speed in the IVs since Vaporeon can't really outspeed anything important, and having another potential option in Trick Room has only helped me get an extra Yawn or Wish off in some crucial situations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This team has been working really well for me when I feel like I'm playing well, I'm having a hard time identifying concrete weaknesses in my team's construction just due to a lack of experience. The only two pokes I know my team consistently have a hard time with are Mega Charizard-X and Mega Mawile.
Any and all criticism is vastly appreciated, as this is technically my first try at a competitive team even though I've been tweaking it around for nearly two months now. Thanks!
UPDATE: Raised Mienshao's Speed EV investment so that he can outspeed base 100 pokes and Landorus. Lowered HP, since it doesn't really matter on him anyways.
UPDATE: Changed Chandelure's fourth move from Hidden Power Fighting to Trick Room. Considered using Hidden Power Ground to eliminate Heatran, but it felt way to specific and Fighting just wasn't scaring away of the threats I wanted it to. This team performs substantially better when Trick Room is up, so having that available in two pokemon makes way more sense.
In case you're wondering about some strange EV values, I'm building this team for OU as well as Wi-Fi battles, so I tried to adjust all the values for set level 50 rules.
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 32 HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spd
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge
U-Turn/LO/Regenerator is just a great combo on Mienshao to keep momentum going and chip away at the other team. HJK is a no brainer, but having it there gave me the idea to use Knock Off. With the power buff its received this gen, it can dish out some serious punishment to ghosts. I've caught more than a few people by surprise expecting me to HJK right through their ghost types. Stone Edge is there for coverage against Fire and Bug pokemon, and gets me a powerful neutral hit in some situations as well. EVs are designed for maximum damage, and bit of extra survivability, and to outspeed Lucario before he mega evolves. I find myself using Mienshao to lead about 25% of the time, whenever I predict anything he can OHKO (Ferrothorn, Mamoswine, etc.) or when I want to lead with a U-Turn.
Gardevoir @ Red Card
Ability: Trace
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Def / 172 Spd
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Trick Room
- Moonblast
Most of the time, this is my lead. Trace is a great ability in soo many situations, but particularly with the popularity of Prankster Klefki, allowing me to get a Taunt in before he can cause any trouble. Combine that with Red Card, and I get a free Will-O-Wisp that often cripples (or at least hinders) the other team right away, or the option to go into Trick Room right away. With this moveset, I can shut down almost any trap setter with the exception of some the faster newcomers in Pokebank, but fortunately they'll only get one turn to do anything before Taunt and Red Card (or a lack of offensive moves) forces them out anyways. EVs are designed to outspeed Skarmory and take the Red Card hit without being too crippled to switch in later on in the match. That said, I'm open to replacing or revamping Gardevoir if I could could have much of this same functionality still in place on my team.
Chandelure @ Air Balloon
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature
IVs: 30 Def / 30 SAtk / 30 SDef / 0 Spd
- Energy Ball
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick Room
The Special Sweeper of the team, built for pure power to OHKO anything it threatens and take a significant chunk out of anything that dares to switch into it. This is where my playing needs to improve the most, honestly. When I predict switches right, Chandelure can do serious damage to anything shy of a dedicated special wall. Moveset is simply designed for best type coverage, the only problem I still have is when he is forced to deal with Sucker Punch. Air Balloon gives one of my sweepers the much needed invulnerability to Ground, giving me an opportunity to get the free switch and eliminate the threat. Unfortunately, aside from well predicted switches, he's only only an offensive threat in Trick Room. Opted for Infiltrator over Flash Fire because Chandelure really doesn't need the extra power and breaking through Light Screens and Subs is amazing.
Side Note: I'm toying with the idea of using Flash Fire instead for a double immunity, haven't had a chance to try it yet but I'm not sure if it'll be more valuable than bypassing Substitutes. Thoughts?
Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
The Physical Sweeper, capable of decimating teams in and out of Trick Room. In Trick Room, I rely on my basic STABs for most of the damage, but Sucker Punch does a great job to cover priority in Trick Room as well. Outside of Trick Room, all it takes is one SD to sweep through most teams. I opted to go with Iron Head instead of Fire Fang due to Chandelure being my other main offense and for the extra STAB and flinch chance. The neutral coverage on Iron Head has worked out surprisingly well and the flinch provides just the little extra help needed to chip away at bulkier pokemon inside of Trick Room without taking too much punishment in return. EVs are setup for maximum bulk and just enough bulk to OHKO key threats.
Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SDef
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Giga Drain
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Leech Seed
The Physical Wall and trap setter for this team. Originally used Tangrowth here, but the type advantage, contact damage, and Stealth Rock made this swap more than worth it. He can take physical and special hits better than Tangrowth, and Vaporeon covers his crippling weakness to fire. Opted to go with Toxic on him to get rid of any bulky pokemon so my sweepers can do their jobs, Giga Drain for extra survivability, and Leech Seed to pass health along to allies. EVs are based on a guide since I honestly don't know the optimal way to build his defenses...
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 192 HP / 200 Def / 116 SAtk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Ice Beam
- Wish
- Yawn
- Scald
The Special Wall, cleric, and main status user of this team. I use Yawn/Wish pivots to keep the switches in my favor as much as possible, with the extra offensive potential in Scald and Ice Beam to deal with specific threats as needed. EVs are designed to OHKO/2HKO key threats and the to take advantage of Leftovers without sacrificing bulk. I decided to go with 0 Speed in the IVs since Vaporeon can't really outspeed anything important, and having another potential option in Trick Room has only helped me get an extra Yawn or Wish off in some crucial situations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This team has been working really well for me when I feel like I'm playing well, I'm having a hard time identifying concrete weaknesses in my team's construction just due to a lack of experience. The only two pokes I know my team consistently have a hard time with are Mega Charizard-X and Mega Mawile.
Any and all criticism is vastly appreciated, as this is technically my first try at a competitive team even though I've been tweaking it around for nearly two months now. Thanks!
UPDATE: Raised Mienshao's Speed EV investment so that he can outspeed base 100 pokes and Landorus. Lowered HP, since it doesn't really matter on him anyways.
UPDATE: Changed Chandelure's fourth move from Hidden Power Fighting to Trick Room. Considered using Hidden Power Ground to eliminate Heatran, but it felt way to specific and Fighting just wasn't scaring away of the threats I wanted it to. This team performs substantially better when Trick Room is up, so having that available in two pokemon makes way more sense.
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