This is my first RMT thread, so please cut me a little slack if it's not completely perfect :D
I start most of builds off with with one key goal: What are OU's current threats and how do I effectively shut them down. Sounds difficult? It is. It's darn near impossible to counter every OU Pokemon. I would always try making a team with limited success. But then I read an article in the recent issue of The Smog that talked about Weather. I enjoyed it because it was particularly helpful to me. I like building teams based around OU, OU is pretty much just weather, therefore I should build an anti-weather team. The final product ended up not being pure anti-weather, but it does threaten a few weather abusers, namely Excadrill.
I start most of builds off with with one key goal: What are OU's current threats and how do I effectively shut them down. Sounds difficult? It is. It's darn near impossible to counter every OU Pokemon. I would always try making a team with limited success. But then I read an article in the recent issue of The Smog that talked about Weather. I enjoyed it because it was particularly helpful to me. I like building teams based around OU, OU is pretty much just weather, therefore I should build an anti-weather team. The final product ended up not being pure anti-weather, but it does threaten a few weather abusers, namely Excadrill.
Team Summary
The Core
Normally Excadrill is a terror to play against. It was the main thing holding me back from winning 20-30 percent of my matches. Then I decided not to be stupid, and to have counters for the mole on my team. In my opinion, these two are quite possibly the greatest counters to it. Conkeldurr hits hard with SE priority and Gliscor can take Rock Slides as if they were pebbles being hurled at a tank. They aren't just for the Sandman; they're so great for blasting through teams when their counters are taken care of.
The Core
Normally Excadrill is a terror to play against. It was the main thing holding me back from winning 20-30 percent of my matches. Then I decided not to be stupid, and to have counters for the mole on my team. In my opinion, these two are quite possibly the greatest counters to it. Conkeldurr hits hard with SE priority and Gliscor can take Rock Slides as if they were pebbles being hurled at a tank. They aren't just for the Sandman; they're so great for blasting through teams when their counters are taken care of.
Team Analysis
Conkeldurr @Flame Orb
Guts
4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Special Defense
Adamant
~Bulk Up
~Drain Punch
~Mach Punch
~Payback
I usually send in Conkeldurr out against a wall or something using Scald that isn't a threat so that I can get the Flame Orb to activate for free essentially. After he's burned, he hits a a massive 624 Attack. I'm usually able to even get a Bulk Up in. Mach Punch becomes a OHKO against Excadrill even without the Bulk Up. Drain Punch is there for survivability and because it's more powerful than Mach Punch. If I can predict a switch correctly I can get a free Drain Punch healing turn. Payback is useful for Reuniclus and Slowbro and hits quite a bit for neutral damage. Paired with its Fighting STABs, it gets near-perfect coverage. As for the 252 Special Defense EV's, I realized that he needs them to survive against certain Shadow Balls/Scalds and the occasional non-boosted Psychic move aimed at me that I don't feel like switching out of. With Bulk Up I don't even need Defense EV's.
Gliscor @Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Defense
Impish
~Swords Dance
~Earthquake
~Ice Fang
~Fire Fang
Woah! A Gliscor set without Protect or Substitute?! Not even Taunt?! Yeah, I freaking hate stall in any shape, way, or form. Protecting for 2-3 turns in a row is stupid. SubStalling is stupid. Fight me, don't drain me~. Anyway, this is my own set that has proven to work well for me. All it needs is one Swords Dance and it'll start its sweep. EQ is obligatory STAB, et cetera. Ice Fang is for Dragons, mostly ones that are 4x weak to it. Fire Fang should be fairly obvious because Ferrothorn would wall Gliscor otherwise. As for Gliscor's main purpose, it can switch into Excadrill's EQ (or even Rock Slide, but EQ is the preferred move to switch into, of course) and threaten it even without a Swords Dance.
Ferrothorn @Rocky Helmet
128 HP / 252 Defense / 128 Special Defense 0 Speed IV
Sassy
~Stealth Rock
~Spikes
~Gyro Ball
~Power Whip
I know I needed a Water-resist and I also know that Ferrothorn has always been such an amazingly bulky Pokemon with all the right resists. She can even fight back with STAB Gyro Ball and 40 Speed (with a 0 Speed IV and a hindering nature anyway). I have Power Whip as well because of Quagsire and Gastrodon (mostly Gastrodon). Of course, this set set gets all messed up by Heatran, but I don't plan on keeping her in against Heatran, so that threat is irrelevant. I'll just switch Slowbro into the usual Lava Plume.
Haxorus @Choice Scarf
Mold Breaker
4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Adamant
~Outrage
~Dual Chop
~Earthquake
~Brick Break
Haxorus acts as both a sweeper and revenge killer. In order to set up a Haxorus sweep all I have to for the most part is take out the Steel-types and highly defensive Pokemon on the opponent's team. Once there aren't any Steels/walls left I simply smash through as many Pokemon as I can with non-resisted Outrage. Basically, this is my mid-to-late-game sweeper that acts as a revenge killer during the early turns. What's really fun is when the other team doesn't have any Steel types. That makes Haxorus' life a lot easier.
Gengar @Life Orb
4 HP / 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Timid
~Shadow Ball
~Focus Blast
~Thunderbolt
~Hidden Power [Fire]
I will only use offensive Gengar. SubSplit sets or whatever else are really irritating to me. This thing has Base 130 Special Attack; USE IT. DON'T WASTE IT. Gengar is an excellent counter to Tyranitar, Heatran, and Ferrothorn. However, Tyranitar will Crunch/Pursuit to OHKO Gengar if Focus Blast misses or doesn't KO it and Ferrothorn has Gyro Ball. The other thing this set has going for it is that Gengar isn't seen with Life Orb as often as it used to be. The opponent might predict Substitute or Will-o-Wisp or some other support move, but would end up getting blasted in the face and dying because they stayed in or switched to the wrong Pokemon.
Slowbro @Leftovers
Regenerator
252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Special Attack
Bold
~Calm Mind
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Flamethrower
I needed something that resisted Fire/Water/Fighting/Ice, and Slowbro was my choice. I didn't want to play this Pokemon like it normally would be used, but I still wanted to retain some elements of the bulkier sets. This is what I came up with. After Calm Mind, Slowbro reaches 356 Special Attack, which is fairly respectable, and it also reaches 294 Special Defense which allows for some mixed walling capabilities. Surf is a great STAB and is chosen over Scald for the little extra *umph* that Surf has. Ice Beam is for Dragons mostly (again, mainly for 4x weak ones) and for general coverage. Flamethrower is for Ferrothorn, although I might change it to Fire Blast seeing as it's bulky enough to handle missing once or twice.
Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. This is my first meaty posting on Smogon, so I hope I did it right~ Thank you very much for reading this and possibly helping me out.
Conkeldurr @Flame Orb
Guts
4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Special Defense
Adamant
~Bulk Up
~Drain Punch
~Mach Punch
~Payback
I usually send in Conkeldurr out against a wall or something using Scald that isn't a threat so that I can get the Flame Orb to activate for free essentially. After he's burned, he hits a a massive 624 Attack. I'm usually able to even get a Bulk Up in. Mach Punch becomes a OHKO against Excadrill even without the Bulk Up. Drain Punch is there for survivability and because it's more powerful than Mach Punch. If I can predict a switch correctly I can get a free Drain Punch healing turn. Payback is useful for Reuniclus and Slowbro and hits quite a bit for neutral damage. Paired with its Fighting STABs, it gets near-perfect coverage. As for the 252 Special Defense EV's, I realized that he needs them to survive against certain Shadow Balls/Scalds and the occasional non-boosted Psychic move aimed at me that I don't feel like switching out of. With Bulk Up I don't even need Defense EV's.
Gliscor @Toxic Orb
Poison Heal
252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Defense
Impish
~Swords Dance
~Earthquake
~Ice Fang
~Fire Fang
Woah! A Gliscor set without Protect or Substitute?! Not even Taunt?! Yeah, I freaking hate stall in any shape, way, or form. Protecting for 2-3 turns in a row is stupid. SubStalling is stupid. Fight me, don't drain me~. Anyway, this is my own set that has proven to work well for me. All it needs is one Swords Dance and it'll start its sweep. EQ is obligatory STAB, et cetera. Ice Fang is for Dragons, mostly ones that are 4x weak to it. Fire Fang should be fairly obvious because Ferrothorn would wall Gliscor otherwise. As for Gliscor's main purpose, it can switch into Excadrill's EQ (or even Rock Slide, but EQ is the preferred move to switch into, of course) and threaten it even without a Swords Dance.
Ferrothorn @Rocky Helmet
128 HP / 252 Defense / 128 Special Defense 0 Speed IV
Sassy
~Stealth Rock
~Spikes
~Gyro Ball
~Power Whip
I know I needed a Water-resist and I also know that Ferrothorn has always been such an amazingly bulky Pokemon with all the right resists. She can even fight back with STAB Gyro Ball and 40 Speed (with a 0 Speed IV and a hindering nature anyway). I have Power Whip as well because of Quagsire and Gastrodon (mostly Gastrodon). Of course, this set set gets all messed up by Heatran, but I don't plan on keeping her in against Heatran, so that threat is irrelevant. I'll just switch Slowbro into the usual Lava Plume.
Haxorus @Choice Scarf
Mold Breaker
4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed
Adamant
~Outrage
~Dual Chop
~Earthquake
~Brick Break
Haxorus acts as both a sweeper and revenge killer. In order to set up a Haxorus sweep all I have to for the most part is take out the Steel-types and highly defensive Pokemon on the opponent's team. Once there aren't any Steels/walls left I simply smash through as many Pokemon as I can with non-resisted Outrage. Basically, this is my mid-to-late-game sweeper that acts as a revenge killer during the early turns. What's really fun is when the other team doesn't have any Steel types. That makes Haxorus' life a lot easier.
Gengar @Life Orb
4 HP / 252 Special Attack / 252 Speed
Timid
~Shadow Ball
~Focus Blast
~Thunderbolt
~Hidden Power [Fire]
I will only use offensive Gengar. SubSplit sets or whatever else are really irritating to me. This thing has Base 130 Special Attack; USE IT. DON'T WASTE IT. Gengar is an excellent counter to Tyranitar, Heatran, and Ferrothorn. However, Tyranitar will Crunch/Pursuit to OHKO Gengar if Focus Blast misses or doesn't KO it and Ferrothorn has Gyro Ball. The other thing this set has going for it is that Gengar isn't seen with Life Orb as often as it used to be. The opponent might predict Substitute or Will-o-Wisp or some other support move, but would end up getting blasted in the face and dying because they stayed in or switched to the wrong Pokemon.
Slowbro @Leftovers
Regenerator
252 HP / 252 Defense / 4 Special Attack
Bold
~Calm Mind
~Surf
~Ice Beam
~Flamethrower
I needed something that resisted Fire/Water/Fighting/Ice, and Slowbro was my choice. I didn't want to play this Pokemon like it normally would be used, but I still wanted to retain some elements of the bulkier sets. This is what I came up with. After Calm Mind, Slowbro reaches 356 Special Attack, which is fairly respectable, and it also reaches 294 Special Defense which allows for some mixed walling capabilities. Surf is a great STAB and is chosen over Scald for the little extra *umph* that Surf has. Ice Beam is for Dragons mostly (again, mainly for 4x weak ones) and for general coverage. Flamethrower is for Ferrothorn, although I might change it to Fire Blast seeing as it's bulky enough to handle missing once or twice.
Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. This is my first meaty posting on Smogon, so I hope I did it right~ Thank you very much for reading this and possibly helping me out.
