Just Your Average Team

[Canada]

So this team started out with me (somewhat seasoned 4th gen veteran) finally getting into 5th gen OU. Like everyone else, I started out by not really constructing a competitive team, but a team full of the guys that I was really hyped on coming into gen 5. And that's how this team came to be. Of that initial test group, I found the most competitively viable one and formed a team around him and his weaknesses.

Ladies and gentlemen, the star of the show:

Slowking@Choice Specs
Regeneration
Modest
252 HP/252 spA/4 spD
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Flamethrower
-Psycho Shock
​

I chose to center my team around slowking for quite a few reasons. First, his incredible ability to survive for a LONG time caught my attention. He can come in on repeated weaker special attacks and fire off a surprisingly powerful attack from his wide arsenal. A specs-boosted surf from slowking hits like a truck and will 2HKO pretty much everything that does not resist it and doesn't have a healthy special defense. Flamethrower allows you to pick off the grass types that are sure to switch it to a surf. Most importantly, you outspeed and easily OHKO natty with flamethrower. Ice beam is standard as always on water types to OHKO pretty much all dragons while not being OHKOd by most of their outrages (I'm pretty sure as long as they aren't banded, you'll survive one). Psycho shock is what wins me over completely, however. Blissey is 2HKOd, I believe. It also prevents you from being walled by the likes of kingdra and Burungeru, who are both 2HKOd by a boosted psycho shock. Overall, a solid pokemon to anchor any team.

Bull Guy:

Baffuron@Leftovers
Herbivore
Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def
-Afro Break
-Megahorn
-Payback
-Revenge

​

Slowking as trouble against most grass types; he is outsped by them and he is very susceptible to leech seed. My solution: Baffuron. He packs a nice immunity to grass type attacks while also picking up an attack bonus every time he is hit by one. Of the 4 grass types that I encounter on a regular basis, only one is able to even touch baffuron. Natty can't touch him with his usual tricks (power whip, leech seed, and even gyro ball), Jarooda seldom carries any damaging move other than leaf storm, erufuun usually only carries leech seed, and skymin can't 3HKO with air slash. Afro break is what I have found to be the best option for a powerful stab, but return can be used for durability. Revenge and payback are really only there for the nice coverage they provide and for ghost/steel switches. Megahorn is there because I hate celebi (okay not exactly. it just provides excellent coverage). Overall, having a grass type immunity is more of a life saver than I can explain. It allows me to switch directly into breloom, pick up a boost, take a mach punch, send it back to hell (where it belongs), and have a good chunk of HP to spare. Priceless.

Kirikizan:

Kirikizan@Choice Band
Competitive Spirit
Adamant
252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 SpD
-Sucker Punch
-Pursuit
-Ankle Sweep
-Iron Head
​

Although a good start to a team, Slowking and Baffuron are not exactly the quickest guys in the world. This makes them susceptible to faster, more offensive foes to switch on on various resistances, and retaliate back. This problem was actually very difficult to solve. I started out by trying to fight fire with fire and add a really fast sweeper to overpower them, but that only ended with me playing the sacrifice game. And losing. That's when I figured I should stick with the idea of this team, and I went with a bulky trapper with handy resists. To a 4th gen veteran, that means one thing: Scizor. However, I didn't like the steel type priority in this metagame. Not with everyone's defensive core consisting of natty and that stupid ghost jellyfish. Kirikizan was my second choice, but the superior one. He packs nice resistances to dragon, dark, ghost, and ice. He can come in on lati@s and scare it away with sucker punch or pursuit, sucker punch starmie, and if you're feeling bold enough, come in on a shandera shadow ball and check-mate. Overall, a handy buffer that keeps me from getting run over by latios.

Birijion:

Birijion@Leftovers
Justice Heart
Timid
4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
-Calm Mind
-Giga Drain
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Focus Blast
​

I love the idea of this pokemon. It plays the way I always wished starmie could in previous generations. It's unique type combination as well as perfect speed tier allow it to dismantle teams that aren't prepared for it. After one calm mind, you're in business. Giga drain is a decently powered stab, but the more powerful you become, but more healthy you become! While I don't like relying on focus blast, I only use it when I absolutely have to (or when I'm trying to get rid of something that is weak to it, but can't really hurt me if I miss). Although hidden power ice leaves me walled pretty terribly by most poison and bug types, I chose it because of birijion's nice speed tier. It allows me outspeed to OHKO mence and chomp after one boost. If that didn't sell you on her, this will. She is able to completely shut down rain and sand teams. Use it as a lead against toed, calm mind, and then proceed to take apart the entire team one by one. Almost all rain sweepers are specially based and can't break her immense special bulk, while they are drained of HP. And the premier physical attackers of all weather, Dory, Kabutops, and Rando all can't touch birijion with their usual movepools. All are OHKOd by one of her moves while the standard quake/edge and waterfall can't touch her. Overall, a very consistent pokemon. It stays alive for a very long time and keeps some of the most terrifying threats of gen 5 at bay.

The Wall:

Weezing@Leftovers
Levitate
Bold
252 HP/252 Def/4 SpA
-Clear Smog
-Will-O-Wisp
-Dark Pulse/Hidden Power [Ice]
-Flamethrower

​

Ah, weezing. My old friend from gen 1 is back, and he's just as good as ever. Weezing acts as my safety net against all boosting sweepers. He got a nifty new move this generation in Clear Smog, which is a stab, 50 BP haze. That's right, taunt can no longer stop him! Will o wisp in conjunction with clear smog put ALL physical attackers on ice. No more dragon dancing for mence and gyara, no more swords dancing for chomp, and no more speed boosts for that whole crowd. Weezing isn't having any of that. I chose flamethrower and dark pulse as my attacking options. Flamethrower is necessary, but I'm willing to switch out dark pulse for something else, like HP ice maybe? Overall, not a star of the team, but it keeps foes like dory and rando from getting too much steam as well as shutting down baton pass.

Overkill:

Gyarados@Choice Scarf
Overconfidence(?)
Jolly
252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Ice Fang
​

Now raters, this is where I need your help more than anywhere else. I couldn't seem to pick a good 6th man for this team. I noticed a pretty big weakness to uglymoth (and to a lesser extent, blissey), which is why i chose gyarados. I was going to go for the standard DD taunt set, but I decided to try out his new ability. I still don't know which one is more effective, but I do really like the neutral coverage of water+choice scarf. Self explanatory set that really just attempts to bull-rush through a weakened team late game.

 

[kay-tay]

More of a nitpick if anything, but I'd suggest you replace Sucker Punch on Power Ranger, and replace it with Night Slash (or even Psycho Cut). Being locked into Sucker Punch is not a good thing.

 

[Canada]

If anything, I'd be willing to switch out ankle sweep for night slash only because sucker punch and pursuit are really the point of the set. It's meant to counter the faster, frailer sweepers that give my team fits

 

[kay-tay]

Well if you want a fighting move, I think he has access to Brick Break which packs a little more of a punch, unless you really like the speed drop from Ankle Sweep

If you're keeping sucker punch then, maybe try a life orb? It gives more flexibility at the cost of a little power drop, but he already has pretty good Attack.

 

[Canada]

I'll give it a try, thanks for the tips
And here is the threat list:
Threats

Aakeosu - Not a threat. Birijion can come in and force it out or put it below 50% HP with any of its attacks

Aerodactyl -Slowking and Birijion can come in and either KO or set up

Azelf -Kirikizan can either sucker punch or pursuit it

Baffuron -Weezing and Birijion can come in on it and force it out

Birijion -Baffuron can come in on a grass attack and pummel it, but it must be wary of focus blast. Gyarados with ice fang is a less risky option

Blaziken -Slowking takes next to nothing from all of its attacks and can OHKO with either STAB

Borutorosu -This one is a little tricky. Normally, I'd send in birijion in and set up, but I usually see him in the lead spot, which slowking occupies. I know this will drive you guys crazy, but he isn't OHKOd by thunderbolt and OHKOs this cloud monster with ice beam. And switching out gives you 30% HP back.

Breloom -Baffuron comes in and KOs easily with afro break

Daikenki -Birijion

Darkrai -I don't have much of an answer to this but neither do any teams. I'm really just waiting for it to become uber, like everyone else

Deoxys-S - I usually send in Kirikizan on the expected ice beam or t bolt, then I sucker punch it as it gets overzealous with superpower

Denchura -Birijion

Doryuuzu - Weezing and Birijion both take next to nothing from the ground/rock combo and easily take this little bastard out

Dragonite -Slowking's ice beam hits it like a truck and usually OHKOs

Electivire -Weezing for physically based and birijion for specially based. Birijion for mixed sets because it usually has physical STAB which birijion can resist.

Empoleon -Birijion (Boy, i really am getting tired of typing this)

Enbuoo -Slowking isn't afraid of much it has to offer

Flygon -Weezing walls him to oblivion

Gamageroge -Birijion

Garchomp -This is tricky. Generally, I send in weezing at first to scout out the set it's running. After I know for sure, I either burn/clear fog stall it all day long or send in birijion to set up and KO with HP ice

Gengar -Send in Kirikizan on predicted shadow balls and scare it off

Goruugu -Weezing walls this and birijion does to a lesser extent

Gyarados - I usually send in birijion and giga drain right from the start in order to keep up with the ridiculous damage I'm sure to take from Gyarados. But I can generally resist all of its attacking options

Heatran -Slowking is my best answer to heatran

Hihidaruma -This guy sucks. It's usually sent in as a revenge killer with a scarf, so i let it kill whatever it needs to, then usually sucker punch him. Slowking works alright, but will take some heavy hits

Infernape -Like all the other useless fire/fightings, slowking tears him up

Jarooda -Baffuron comes in on leaf storm, then wrecks either Jarooda or something else that switches in

Jirachi -While I don't really have one specific answer to jirachi, it doesn't really ever give me trouble. I usually just switch in Kirikizan on the predicted trick, then pursuit it as it is forced to switch out

Kerudio -Birijion and slowking both make short work of it

Kingdra -I usually only face it in the rain, and when birijion is already out with a CM or two, so it never really gives me trouble

Kojondo -Weezing

Kobaruon -Weezing

Kyurem -Weezing and kirikizan can come in on the STAB attacks and fire off one of their own.

Latios -I either let it KO whatever if I predict a draco meteor coming, then send in Kirikizan and pursuit it to death

Lucario -Weezing

Machamp -Weezing

Magnezone -Birijion can come in and set up on everything it's got

Mamoswine -Weezing and slowking to a lesser extent

Metagross -WEEZING

Ninjask -Weezing can come in and either flamethrower, or clear smog all of it's boosts away

Ononokusu -Same approach as Chomp

Randorosu -Birijion and weezing can both come in on resisted attacks and force it out or KILL it

Rankurusu -I usually either send in Kirikizan to pursuit it to death, but Baffuron works pretty well with the 2HKO from megahorn

Roobushin -Weezing all day baby

Roserade -Baffuron comes in on it and get's a boost one way or another (sleep powder, grass knot, etc) and KOs it

Salamence -Birijion outspeeds and OHKOs

Sazandora - Kirikizan can come in on the choiced sets and fire off pretty much any of the attacks. Pursuit and sucker punch are resisted, but pursuit has it's merits if it's switching out anyway and you just want to wear him down. Other than Kirikizan, slowking can come in on unSTABed attacks and scare it off

Scizor -Weezing. Weezing.

Shandera -Admittedly, I have some trouble with this guy, but with some careful prediction, it's not too hard to work around and revenge. However, Kirikizan usually finds a way to kill this bastard off, one way or another

Shaymin -Baffuron isn't afraid of anything he has

Shaymin-S -Baffuron doesn't especially like air slash, but it isn't even a 3HKO, so it's not too worrisome

Shibirudon - Birijion takes on special sets and weezing takes on the physical ones. I don't see him enough to really make a change

Shinboraa -Kirikizan pursuits away this annoying thing most of the time. If that doesn't work, birijion can KO him in a pinch and if ABSOLUTELY necessary, slowking can usually KO it as well

Shubarugo -I'm so unafraid of this guy it's not even funny.

Smeargle -Baffuron comes in and train wrecks any strategy he thinks he can pull off

Starmie -Tough to counter as always. Birijion isn't afraid of surf, thunderbolt, and ice beam can be worked around with a calm mind and giga drain

Terakion -Wee-Zing.

Togekiss - Slowking can be a makeshift counter with his indifference to being paralyzed and healthy special defense. Psycho shock and ice beam both put holes in this paper plane looking thing

Tsunbear -To my knowledge, giving this guy a coca-cola will neutralize him as a threat

Tyranitar -WeEzInG. Oh, and birijion can come in on 90% of its sets and set up on it.

Urugamosu -As stated, I have problems with him, but Gyarados has been working pretty nicely as a counter

Victini -Slowking murders this pixie-looking thing

Warubiaru -Birijion set-up fodder

Weavile -Weezing handles him pretty nicely. But if necessary, Gyarados can force it out

Zeburaika - Weezing stops physical sets; birijion sets up on the special ones (I get tired of typing that)

Zoroark -Tough to counter, but birijion can take most of its attacks

Zuruzukin -Weezing poops all over his gameplan

 

[MasterX]

I suggest you give your slowbro trick room to deal with the speed issue of your first three pokemon. This will allow you to turn the tables on rain dance and sandstorm dory for a while. I strongly suggest you give weezing pain split so it can heal hp or it will be worn out pretty quickly. You should change gyarados to a mixed dragonite set to take down blissey and kill the frail bug with extremespeed without being locked into a move.Dragonite also covers your fighting and fire weaknesses which plague half your team.
This is what you should replace gyarados with if you want:

Name:Wall Smasher
Dragonite@Life Orb
Rash +spa -sp def
208 SpA, 192 Spe, 108 Atk
-Draco meteor
-Fire Blast
-Extremespeed
-Superpower

Superpower smashes blissey, draco meteor gives you powerful stab, extremespeed lets you hit frail pokemon who outpace you first. Fire blast is for nattorei, skarmory and other steel types. It also works really well if you replace slowkings flamethrower with trick room
helping dragonite against quick sweepers.

 

[Canada]

I really like that idea. I've noticed that while gyarados counters the bug pretty well, he really can't do much else besides late game skull cracking. I gave mence a try in gyarados' place and it wasn't working exactly as I had hoped. I'll give this a shot right now. Thank you for the suggestion!

EDIT: I'm guessing you're going with the multi-scale ability? I only ask because I suppose I can see some merit in inner focus to keep kojondo under control.

 

[MasterX]

I don't know how the breeding and abilities of dream world work. If you can get multi scale which I think is better than get it but if you can't then inner focus will do. The reason is Multi scale will help you switch in on fighting attacks like nothing, works on the switch only because it only works at full health and life orb will break it. Either way it doesn't stop this set from doing what it's meant to do, give your team momentum.

Oh yeah i forgot to say this but you could change the nature to mild to boost your attack higher but your sp att will decrease a bit while rash boosts sp att and att isn't as high as mild. the choice between higher att and higher sp att is yours.

 

[Canada]

Yeah inner focus is all i can have. But still, ive played a few games with this set and it's working wonders

 

[Jaroda]

Dargonite can't have Multi Scale and Superpower.

I like this team. It's very unique and effective. If you're having trouble with Ulgamoth then you want Stealth Rock, which your team doesn't have. I suggest using a standard Swampert. Not only can it lay down the rocks but it's a nice bulky Fire resist on top of further luring grass attacks for your Baffuron to abuse.

I recommend your Kirikizan and Baffuron swap items though. Baffuron doesn't have the best coverage or bulk so hitting as hard as it can with a band or even a Life Orb are probably better options than Leftovers. Just don't use choiced Afro Break when Shandera is around!

Kirikizan on the other hand can utilize Leftovers and Sword Dance should replace Iron Head. SD Sucker Punch is a scary thing.

 

[Canada]

I'm going to try all of those things out. I have been noticing a pretty nasty electric weakness on this team. Aside from CM Birijion, I don't have much in the way of lightning rod zapdos and specs jolt running through my team. And you're right about choice band on baffuron; i did try that out and it was much, much more effective because it's able to break through even the strongest walls

Oh, and if you think I should go with leftovers on kirikizan, do you recommend swapping some HP evs to speed?

 

[Jaroda]

Hmm, so Baffuron actually has pretty decent bulk. 95/95/95. Still, you're not walling anything with a Normal typing and no investment unless your name is Porygon 2. Speed is crap though, a scarf would be pointless. Band is the way to go.

Hmm, Kirikizan only has base 70 Spe. That's not that great. Ankle Sweep could help somewhat but its HP is even worse than the speed. HP is probably best.

 

[Canada]

I've been trying out your suggestions and while I would agree that SD kirikizan sounds great on paper, it just lacks that initial power that I often need for sucker punch. It misses the KOs on pretty dangerous threats like skymin and latias with any defensive investment. I'll play around with it some more, though. Maybe a scarf might be worth trying?

EDIT: what i think i'm going to do is actually just give it a 252 atk/ 252 spe spread and just switch out pursuit with night slash and ankle sweep with brick break. It's time to just muscle through some teams

 

[Jaroda]

Meh, if you ask me SD Sucker Punch is all Kirikizan has going for it. Being 4x weak to fighting and not being Tyranitar make this guy UU material for a reason. There are many better and faster physical sweepers out there. Gyarados, Dragonite, Salamence, Hihidaruma, Roopushin, etc. In fact, why not replace him with a Sword Dance Scizor? Much better stats, typing, and Technician boosts many great moves.

 

[Canada]

I don't use tyranitar or scizor for one very important reason: Sucker Punch. That is pretty much the only reason I chose him. The only other sucker punchers of any worth are honchkrow and absol. One is a good pokemon but isn't right for my team, and the other is garbage