Learning to counter the meta (1450 so far and looking up)

[Acatia]

Good day everyone,
the name's Acatia and here's my hopefully super awesome RMT thread .... at least I hope.

Idealistic introduction (for lack of better wording)
This is the part you can feel free to skip if you want to jump to the nitty gritty, but it at least it gives on the thought process involved in the team, so if you're into that please be my guest, otherwise skip to the pictures.

I aim to make an original looking while still functional team. This implies I might not use the top ranking pokemons people at the top of the ladder would use, but I still try to aim at something more useful then a handful of half dead Caterpies and Wrumples. Also I do my darnest to only use stuff I can personally produce so this indeed roughly translates to "No Pokegen", awesome tool for those who want to use it, I just prefer not to, so even if I'd love to use a Heatran, Kyruem-B, Thundurus or Knock Off on everything odds are I either don't have the pokemon at all or it's far from in an optimal state (looking at you "Above Average" Sassy Landorus in my boxes).

Big picture team idea (hopefully I find a better title then that)
As I was testing some of my more quirky and "out there" teams I noticed while they looked good on paper they struggled in actual battle and I had a hard time working against prominent threats.... you know stuff like Zards, Pinsir... kind of stuff nobody uses.....right. So this time I started from there instead of finding a quirky core that would surely kick butt in lower tiers but struggles against "resident OU"

Team preview (I know, finally)

Team description (you know, the essence of a RMT)

Name: Jawsome
Gender: Female
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Outrage
-Rock Slide
-Poison Jab / Iron Head

So the first pokemon I saw everywhere and wanted to counter first was Mega Charizard Y. Aside from the odd Dragon Dance physical version (which I saw once), Garchomp can outspeed Zard Y everyday of the week and OHKOs with Rock Slide. Outrage and Earthquake are to put dents in about everything and are great STABs. The last slot is for Fairy purpose, so far Poison Jab has a bit more coverage then Iron Head so it's working good enough, plus on the uncommon occurances of Whimsicott it makes the job a lot faster.

Name: Rilakkana
Gender: Male
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.D
-Earthquake
-Scald
-Toxic
-Recover

Now Charizard X can be handled by Garchomp if he didn't start Dancing yet, but Quagsire is the failproof if I can't catch him on the switch before he does so. Quagsire also takes pitiful damage from Bisharp and will always hit Aegislash in his Blade Form thanks to Relaxed (hence the name), plus it doesn't take away from Scald damage ...not like that's what wins the fights, but lets be honest what would Quagsire outspeed that matters anyway :)
Toxic is there to hasten setup sweeper removing and also helps on bulky foes more then Body Slam gave me benefit. Recover should be fairly self explanary.

Name: Bolt Slash
Gender: Male
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.A / 4 Sp.D / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Ice
-Shadow Ball
-Volt Switch

While not a particularly new take on Jolteon, this lil guy allows me to revenge kill another big threat being Mega Pinsir. Jolteon will always outspeed forcing Pinsir to either use Quick Attack which Jolteon resists (not super well granted his defence but still) or take a Specs Thunderbolt/Volt Switch, and the flying beetle doesn't like. The same can be said about Talonflame and dealt with in exactly the same way. Hidden Power Ice and Shadow Ball are there for coverage reasons coming from Jolteon's respectable Sp.A the worst that could happen is leaving holes in Gothitelle or simply killing Gengar or Aegislash. Greninja is also terrified.

Name: NomNoms
Gender: Male
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Sp.D
-Body Slam
-Pursuit
-Rock Slide
-Earthquake

Being able to revenge kill some threats is nice, but being able to switch something in and THEN do some work is great too. Snorlax takes laughable damage from Charizard Y.... and anything special based going from there which sounds like a quick generalisation, but given Zard Y's power it should mean something to you when saying his Fire Blast can only 5HKO vs a guaranteed OHKO Rock Slide. Pursuit allows me to take real good care to feed my Snorlax with Psychic and Ghost types. Earthquake is a bit redundant with how many times I already have it on my team but until move tutors it's as good as I get while it does have the perks of taking care of Mega Manectric regardless of if he sports HP Ice or Grass. Body Slam is more functional then Return since it's effect rate is high enough to help out.

Name: Lonely
Gender: Female
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Sp.D
-Leech Seed
-Stealth Rocks
-Iron Head
-Thunder Wave

In the same spirit as Snorlax, Ferrothorn takes physical hits very well (on top of punishing contact). Stealth Rocks are always very useful hazards to have around whenever not to mention that and TWave allows for sort of a lead spot when I don't want to lead with Jolteon or Garchomp. Iron Head works surprisingly well with TWave, even for a Ferrothorn, plus it allows for a "better" coverage then Power Whip and isn't counter productive like Gyro Ball. 40 Sp.D Evs allow to avoid the 2HKO by Protean Greninja before getting hit super effectively by Iron Head.

Name: Blue Jon
Gender: Male
Item: Blastosinite
Ability: Mega Launcher (Torrent)
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 Spe
-Scald
-Rapid Spin
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam​

While I'm not TOO worried about hazards I'd be lying if I said I WANTED them to remain. Thankfully Blastoise sort of nullifies the fear of having a Ghost type spin block via Mega Launcher Dark Pulse which, even from a defensive set will put the hurt. I use Scald over Water Pulse for the far bigger utility then minor power boost and Ice Beam just rounds up the coverage. Blastoise at this point is probly the most replaceable member, but he isn't exactly dead weight either.
Side notes
At the moment I'm posting this I've been doing fairly well winning most of my battles, with that said I'm still testing and have started breeding for Wifi purpose.​

 

[Acatia]

Assault Vest allows easier switch ins on Zard Y and other special threats so Curse wouldn't work, I actually tried Curselax and eventually ended with Assault Vest cuz it worked on the purpose better, not to mention since he has no setup I can start Pursuiting and Sliding right away.

To this moment Jolteon's only upside to Mega Manny is his speed before Mega Evolution as a Mega Pinsir will speed tie on the turn Manectric evolves so it's at risk of EQ, of course after that it's better in nearly every way but Jolteon being able to revenge kill every time is kinda cool.

Still I should test Mega Manny and Tentacruel to at least see if they work well enough to replace Blastoise and Jolteon.
Oh and I don't use a Lonely nature, if you check back it's the name of my Ferrothorn, not her nature :)

 

[GlassGlaceon]

Good day everyone,
the name's Acatia and here's my hopefully super awesome RMT thread .... at least I hope.

Idealistic introduction (for lack of better wording)
This is the part you can feel free to skip if you want to jump to the nitty gritty, but it at least it gives on the thought process involved in the team, so if you're into that please be my guest, otherwise skip to the pictures.

I aim to make an original looking while still functional team. This implies I might not use the top ranking pokemons people at the top of the ladder would use, but I still try to aim at something more useful then a handful of half dead Caterpies and Wrumples. Also I do my darnest to only use stuff I can personally produce so this indeed roughly translates to "No Pokegen", awesome tool for those who want to use it, I just prefer not to, so even if I'd love to use a Heatran, Kyruem-B, Thundurus or Knock Off on everything odds are I either don't have the pokemon at all or it's far from in an optimal state (looking at you "Above Average" Sassy Landorus in my boxes).

Big picture team idea (hopefully I find a better title then that)
As I was testing some of my more quirky and "out there" teams I noticed while they looked good on paper they struggled in actual battle and I had a hard time working against prominent threats.... you know stuff like Zards, Pinsir... kind of stuff nobody uses.....right. So this time I started from there instead of finding a quirky core that would surely kick butt in lower tiers but struggles against "resident OU"

Team preview (I know, finally)

Team description (you know, the essence of a RMT)

Name: Jawsome
Gender: Female
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp.D / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Outrage
-Rock Slide
-Poison Jab / Iron Head

So the first pokemon I saw everywhere and wanted to counter first was Mega Charizard Y. Aside from the odd Dragon Dance physical version (which I saw once), Garchomp can outspeed Zard Y everyday of the week and OHKOs with Rock Slide. Outrage and Earthquake are to put dents in about everything and are great STABs. The last slot is for Fairy purpose, so far Poison Jab has a bit more coverage then Iron Head so it's working good enough, plus on the uncommon occurances of Whimsicott it makes the job a lot faster.

Name: Rilakkana
Gender: Male
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Sp.D
-Earthquake
-Scald
-Toxic
-Recover

Now Charizard X can be handled by Garchomp if he didn't start Dancing yet, but Quagsire is the failproof if I can't catch him on the switch before he does so. Quagsire also takes pitiful damage from Bisharp and will always hit Aegislash in his Blade Form thanks to Relaxed (hence the name), plus it doesn't take away from Scald damage ...not like that's what wins the fights, but lets be honest what would Quagsire outspeed that matters anyway :)
Toxic is there to hasten setup sweeper removing and also helps on bulky foes more then Body Slam gave me benefit. Recover should be fairly self explanary.

Name: Bolt Slash
Gender: Male
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Sp.A / 4 Sp.D / 252 Spe
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Ice
-Shadow Ball
-Volt Switch

While not a particularly new take on Jolteon, this lil guy allows me to revenge kill another big threat being Mega Pinsir. Jolteon will always outspeed forcing Pinsir to either use Quick Attack which Jolteon resists (not super well granted his defence but still) or take a Specs Thunderbolt/Volt Switch, and the flying beetle doesn't like. The same can be said about Talonflame and dealt with in exactly the same way. Hidden Power Ice and Shadow Ball are there for coverage reasons coming from Jolteon's respectable Sp.A the worst that could happen is leaving holes in Gothitelle or simply killing Gengar or Aegislash. Greninja is also terrified.

Name: NomNoms
Gender: Male
Item: Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Sp.D
-Body Slam
-Pursuit
-Rock Slide
-Earthquake

Being able to revenge kill some threats is nice, but being able to switch something in and THEN do some work is great too. Snorlax takes laughable damage from Charizard Y.... and anything special based going from there which sounds like a quick generalisation, but given Zard Y's power it should mean something to you when saying his Fire Blast can only 5HKO vs a guaranteed OHKO Rock Slide. Pursuit allows me to take real good care to feed my Snorlax with Psychic and Ghost types. Earthquake is a bit redundant with how many times I already have it on my team but until move tutors it's as good as I get while it does have the perks of taking care of Mega Manectric regardless of if he sports HP Ice or Grass. Body Slam is more functional then Return since it's effect rate is high enough to help out.

Name: Lonely
Gender: Female
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 Sp.D
-Leech Seed
-Stealth Rocks
-Iron Head
-Thunder Wave

In the same spirit as Snorlax, Ferrothorn takes physical hits very well (on top of punishing contact). Stealth Rocks are always very useful hazards to have around whenever not to mention that and TWave allows for sort of a lead spot when I don't want to lead with Jolteon or Garchomp. Iron Head works surprisingly well with TWave, even for a Ferrothorn, plus it allows for a "better" coverage then Power Whip and isn't counter productive like Gyro Ball. 40 Sp.D Evs allow to avoid the 2HKO by Protean Greninja before getting hit super effectively by Iron Head.

Name: Blue Jon
Gender: Male
Item: Blastosinite
Ability: Mega Launcher (Torrent)
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 Spe
-Scald
-Rapid Spin
-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam​

While I'm not TOO worried about hazards I'd be lying if I said I WANTED them to remain. Thankfully Blastoise sort of nullifies the fear of having a Ghost type spin block via Mega Launcher Dark Pulse which, even from a defensive set will put the hurt. I use Scald over Water Pulse for the far bigger utility then minor power boost and Ice Beam just rounds up the coverage. Blastoise at this point is probly the most replaceable member, but he isn't exactly dead weight either.
Side notes
At the moment I'm posting this I've been doing fairly well winning most of my battles, with that said I'm still testing and have started breeding for Wifi purpose.​

Why is garchomp
max sdef.
pls fix
max attack

 

[Acatia]

Holy Molly, I guess that's what late night proof reading does, thanks as you guessed it's obviously meant to be max Atk and not Sp.D (damn copy pasting my old template)

 

[Kazuma Yato]

Assault Vest allows easier switch ins on Zard Y and other special threats so Curse wouldn't work, I actually tried Curselax and eventually ended with Assault Vest cuz it worked on the purpose better, not to mention since he has no setup I can start Pursuiting and Sliding right away.

To this moment Jolteon's only upside to Mega Manny is his speed before Mega Evolution as a Mega Pinsir will speed tie on the turn Manectric evolves so it's at risk of EQ, of course after that it's better in nearly every way but Jolteon being able to revenge kill every time is kinda cool.

Still I should test Mega Manny and Tentacruel to at least see if they work well enough to replace Blastoise and Jolteon.
Oh and I don't use a Lonely nature, if you check back it's the name of my Ferrothorn, not her nature :)

Please do! Mega Manectric forms a mini intimidate core to check talonflames too. Check. Not Counter if they use flare blitz.

 

[Timpsu]

Hey! Gonna leave a few thoughts. First of all, while I do understand your principle of only using Pokemon you can moderately easily breed, I have to say that there are Pokemon, mostly legendary, who could very well cover some of the roles you have on your team. Legendary Pokemon are generally the best in the roles they can afford, and not because "zomg legendary", but because they can generally be quite bulky even uninvested, or hit for considerable damage even without investment. OU is quite a bad tier for people who, one reason or another, decide to stray away from the optimal, simulator style teams. However, on to the team.

I would consider using your Garchomp as a Choice Scarf user. 4 attacks set is perfect for it, and seeing as your team lacks a Choice Scarf user, I think it fits very well in your team. Outrage and Earthquake are mandatory to hit as hard as possible. Rock Slide is important to hit the myriad of Pokemon 4x weak to it. Stone Edge is an option, but usually Stone Edge hits hard enough. Fire Blast is to get past Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Scizor reliably. With Garchomp you don't have to worry about Flying-spam, and you get to revenge-kill a lot of dangerous boosting attackers, such as Char-X, M-Gyarados and M-Tyranitar. Garchomp can also survive one CB BB from Talonflame, and retaliate with Rock Slide. I also agree that you should get rid of Jolteon. It just doesn't hit hard enough, and its coverage is atrocious. M-Manectric is a good candidate, as he literally does everything Jolteon does, but better. I would also normally suggest Raikou as an offensive check, and Zapdos as a more defensive check who can also Defog, but seeing as they are not desired, I'm gonna leave it at that (see what I mean with legendaries being generally the best options?). The only real two options that can be considered in place of Jolteon are Talonflame and M-Aerodactyl, who can work as offensive checks to M-Pinsir and Talonflame, although they are quite different from Jolteon, outside of that trait.

Garchomp

move 1: Outrage
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Slide
move 4: Fire Blast
ability: Rough Skin
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

I would consider putting 252 EVs on SpDef on Snorlax. The main reason for this is that most Char-Y carry Focus Blast, and that actually hits hard. Modest FB has a 30% chance to 2HKO Snorlax after SR, while full special defense investment always avoids the 2HKO. Snorlax doesn't want to take physical hits anyway, so I don't think it's an issue to neglect physical bulk. The biggest issue with the team is that with the addition of M-Manectric, you can't use M-Blastoise. Someone suggested Tentacruel, but Tentacruel is very underwhelming in OU. It has to invest fully in either special or physical bulk in order to be any good in its role, and by investing in one side of the spectrum you utterly lose to the other spectrum. With a specially defensive set, you fail to wall threats like Azumarill, Talonflame, Scizor and M-Mawile, which you should courtesy of typing. If physically bulky, you lose against Char-Y and Aegislash. If you want a Rapid Spinner, I suggest using either Excadrill or Starmie. Excadrill is generally the better option, being a good offensive check to many Pokemon, while spinning easy. Starmie has the benefit of being less accounted for in teambuilding, and Life Orb boosted Analytic Hydro Pump hits hard. Starmie can also function well as a special attacker when there are no hazard to take care of. I hope my suggestions have been of help!

 

[Acatia]

Timpsu
I'm aware I could benefit from legendaries and frankly I always wonder if I shouldn't move to another tier but then there's always pokemons out of my reach in any, that and it doesn't feel like I'm invested as much if I just got someone to code for me.
However thanks for giving strong feedback and still allowing me my "ways".

I wasn't really sure what the difference was on Snorlax's spread, the damage looked fairly similar and I figured more hp = more recoil on Talonflame and such but that's a good point, I should probly reset my HP EVs.

Isn't Analytic sort of counteractive for a Starmie, it's pretty fast and not all that terribly bulky, sure its more aggressive then Natural Cure but does it come into play often enough? I do like that it's not accounted for as much, I love underdogs, especially effective ones lol.

I get your point on Tentacruel although I could sort of cover for a physical set as I already have moderate Zard Y and Aegislash control.

All in all I should probly start breeding for a Manectric, good thing I got that Manecite not long ago, knew it would come in handy, I only really got Jolteon at the moment cuz I was breeding Magic Bounce Timid Espeon and just like Jolteon in general.
That or keep Blastoise and use my Talonflame (although it's a Bulk Up one) and I feel TF is a lot more accounted in checks then Manectric.

With Jolteon gone I shouldn't have too many worries about stacking too many Choice Items so Chomp makes sense.

Why are people quoting me as "fat Acatia"? dafuk