Here I go again with Goth-Gyara Offense.

[TryingOffense]

Here I am in another attempt for an ideal team for laddering. This team has worked quite well in my local league, but not that much on showdown. Ironically some other teams that gave me success on showdown made me lose like a noob in my local league...

As my local league has actual prizes for winning I will try to improve this team as much as I can.

Here we go:

Starting with the Defensive core:

Porygon2 @ Eviolite
Nickname: Ducktales
Ability: Download
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

I just this love this Duck. Ducktales can come in almost any special attack, even super effective ones. The satanic Mega Zard y fails to 2HKO this duck with it's Fire Blast, Greninja won't even scratch this thing, and these are 2 of the most dangerous special attackers of the tier! Landorus-I and Keldeo are the real theats to this one, as they can 2HKO Ducktales with fighting moves. It also has a very good physical bulk, being capable of stopping many physical sweepers with thunder wave, while tanking a hit.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Nickname: Flapjack
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spd
Bold Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Heat Wave
- Defog
- Roost

The Much needed Flying Check. I don't know why I use this nickname, don't question me about this. Flap can stop the dangerous mega pinsir from destroyng my team, checks talonflame, and has the necessary bulk to stop my physical threats. Defog is there for obvious reasons. Thunderbolt is the beatiful stab that hits water types and heat wave says fuck you to Ferrothorn and Scizor.

Next some all around attackers:

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Nickname: Dr. Alielson
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 224 Spd / 252 Atk / 32 HP
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head

What to explain here? Bisharp is just godly in the metagame. Maybe the only thing that needs explaining is the nickname, well it's a friend who likes dark types lol. Bisharp's main job is to pursuit opposing ghost and psych types like Lati@s and Gengar and kill fairies. It's also a good check to Aegislash IF it doesn't predict and goes for Sacred Sword. Sucker Punch is a beatiful priority and can sweep lategame.

Breloom @ Focus Sash
Nickname: El Sombrero
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Spore
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Rock Tomb

Usually the lead. This Mexican Mushroom ( I think that thing in Breloom's head looks like a Sombrero, don't judge me) catches many things off-guard. Faster than many leads it can put things to sleep, hurt them bad with STABs and still serves as an emergency button agains Pinsir,Talonflame and Zard y. I love this thing, special walls like sylveon can't do a thing against Spore+Bullet seed, and it also kills quagsire easily!

Now the Goth-Gyara core (GG) the pair that usually wins my games.

Gothitelle @ Choice Specs
Nickname: David
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SAtk / 36 HP / 220 Spd
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Trick

David, the male Gothitelle. David serves as a weakener on this core, killing Scizor, Ferrothorn, Conkeldurr, Mandibuzz, and tricking Chansey/Blissey . Almost anything that could stop Gyarados' sweeps are killed by gothitelle. It's also a very decent special attacker. Gothitelle David is one of my favourite pokemon in this meta.

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Nickname: Seadramon
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature

- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

Seadramon leaves the digital world to sweep the hell out of OU. After the counters are gone, Seadramon can just tear teams apart, these moves give me the best coverage, and mold breaker lets it kill Dragonite and Rotom with Ice Fang and Earthquake, respectively. Seadramon is just one of the best sweepers in the meta, and synergizes beatifully with Gothitelle David.

So...

The main problem that I found in the team is sableye, as I have nothing to effectively counter it. I thought of Sylveon in place of Porygon, but that would leave me without anything to counter cloyster and Mega Ttar after a DD, as Ducktales can tank a hit from them and paralyze to stop the sweep. So the ideal would be to completely change the defensive core, but I don't know what to use... help here!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Timpsu]

Hey! Gonna give a quick rate to the team.

I'd imagine Trace is a more useful ability than Download. The attack boost doesn't do anything remarkable for Pory, while Trace can very beneficial, from both defensive and offensive side. The standard EVs for Zapdos are 252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SpA / 20 Spe. Speed is needed to always outspeed Aegislash, and 68 SpA lets you always kill M-Pinsir. I would personally put Adamant on Breloom, as you don't outspeed anything notable with Jolly, but the extra power you get from Adamant can be invaluable. I would also like to ask, why have you chosen to use Psychic instead of Psyshock? Psyshock is generally more preferred, as that hits for more damage against Conkeldurr and Keldeo, while Psychic lets you get past M-Venu more easily.

Overall, I think the team is quite solid, having a clear win condition, and having smartly picked Pokemon who can fulfill the goal. There are still some top-notch Pokemon who can be very difficult for you to go past. Seeing as you often lead with Breloom, you miss out on using one of the most useful failsafes to the most hazardous boosting sweepers. When Breloom is gone, Char-X and Thundurus can easily boost against your team and wreak havoc. The only check to these is Bisharp, but even he can't take out everything with Sucker Punch. Also, with Breloom gone, M-Tyranitar can quite easily come on Zapdos and Gothitelle, and start to wreak havoc. Also, you should remember that most Char-Y carry Focus Blast, and that will deal heavy damage to Pory2. Also, your team is missing one important thing, Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock is mandatory on any good team, as the chip damage it provides is invaluable, and it works to break sashes of otherwise troublesome Pokemon. I suggest you make room for it. Good luck battling!

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Hi there, I'm here to rate your team.

So I'm guessing you've tried to make a generally offensive team with that Gothitelle + Gyarados core, as it's a pretty nice core to play around with. However, I think you've maybe gone a bit too defensive with Porygon 2 + Zapdos, considering you're generally trying to break down Gyarados' counters in order to sweep. There's also a few top tier threats that you don't really have a good answer to. Specs Keldeo seems like a big problem, as it takes on Gyarados, Porygon2, and Bisharp nicely. Azumarill is also a nuisance for this team as well. You're also missing a few key things that you generally need to have in order to be successful, like Stealth Rock, so I'll try to find room for that somewhere for you.

My first suggestion would be to replace Zapdos with Thundurus-I. It's generally a much better check to Keldeo and Azumarill due to it's naturally high speed and power. You could also run a set with Taunt which completely shuts down Sableye (something you mentioned as a threat, even though it's not too common). I think replacing Porygon 2 with Life Orb Latias could also be an idea, as it offers you a solid switch into Breloom and Keldeo while still maintaining offensive presence. You're probably better off with dropping Pursuit on Bisharp and just going with Stealth Rock instead. I really don't think the Pursuit support is needed, just because at +1 Latios, Latias, and other Ghost / Psychic types can't stop Gyarados from sweeping, while Stealth Rocks is extremely important for just about any team, even if you're using Defog. It really helps apply pressure on to your opponent, and wears down Gyarados' checks nicely.

Other than that, this looks like a pretty interesting team. Good luck, and I hope my suggestions helped you. n_n

 

[TryingOffense]

Hi there, I'm here to rate your team.

So I'm guessing you've tried to make a generally offensive team with that Gothitelle + Gyarados core, as it's a pretty nice core to play around with. However, I think you've maybe gone a bit too defensive with Porygon 2 + Zapdos, considering you're generally trying to break down Gyarados' counters in order to sweep. There's also a few top tier threats that you don't really have a good answer to. Specs Keldeo seems like a big problem, as it takes on Gyarados, Porygon2, and Bisharp nicely. Azumarill is also a nuisance for this team as well. You're also missing a few key things that you generally need to have in order to be successful, like Stealth Rock, so I'll try to find room for that somewhere for you.

My first suggestion would be to replace Zapdos with Thundurus-I. It's generally a much better check to Keldeo and Azumarill due to it's naturally high speed and power. You could also run a set with Taunt which completely shuts down Sableye (something you mentioned as a threat, even though it's not too common). I think replacing Porygon 2 with Life Orb Latias could also be an idea, as it offers you a solid switch into Breloom and Keldeo while still maintaining offensive presence. You're probably better off with dropping Pursuit on Bisharp and just going with Stealth Rock instead. I really don't think the Pursuit support is needed, just because at +1 Latios, Latias, and other Ghost / Psychic types can't stop Gyarados from sweeping, while Stealth Rocks is extremely important for just about any team, even if you're using Defog. It really helps apply pressure on to your opponent, and wears down Gyarados' checks nicely.

Other than that, this looks like a pretty interesting team. Good luck, and I hope my suggestions helped you. n_n

Quite Interesting suggestions, even though I still think pursuit is necessary ( I'm stubborn sorry) I'll try it. And also, what set do you think I should run on Latias? Maybe something more defensive, with enough speed to outpace Keldeo. Also, if I tried everything you said I could be a bit vulnerable to greninja, as I would have no switch ins, but I think I can play around it. Your suggestions are very clear and interesting, thank you very much!!

 

[TryingOffense]

Hey! Gonna give a quick rate to the team.

I'd imagine Trace is a more useful ability than Download. The attack boost doesn't do anything remarkable for Pory, while Trace can very beneficial, from both defensive and offensive side. The standard EVs for Zapdos are 252 HP / 168 Def / 68 SpA / 20 Spe. Speed is needed to always outspeed Aegislash, and 68 SpA lets you always kill M-Pinsir. I would personally put Adamant on Breloom, as you don't outspeed anything notable with Jolly, but the extra power you get from Adamant can be invaluable. I would also like to ask, why have you chosen to use Psychic instead of Psyshock? Psyshock is generally more preferred, as that hits for more damage against Conkeldurr and Keldeo, while Psychic lets you get past M-Venu more easily.

While most your comments are valid, I just think ShootingStarmie had more complete suggestions, so all I want to point out here are these 2 things bolded:

Jolly Breloom outspeeds Bisharp and Rotom-W, who always run neutral speed natures. This lets me catch my opponent off-guard and spore. This is personal preference.

But I have to disagree about Psyshock:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Gothitelle Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Conkeldurr: 372-438 (89.8 - 105.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Gothitelle Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Conkeldurr: 362-428 (87.4 - 103.3%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

While I know that the 236 SpD variant exists, I just think it isn't very common, I at least don't see it often. Thanks for rating my team!