Lost my Salamence, New Team (You Name it!) [OU]

[Inspire]

Hey everyone,

This team was first built for Wi-Fi and I’m now looking for advice on fixing it. I can't think of a name at the moment, but I want to get started building ASAP so I can prepare breeding these Pokemon :)
That being said, NO POKEMON HAS BEEN BRED YET, so I am willing to accept major changes!

Among my friends, we added other rules above the some of the typical clauses.

Additional Team Restrictions:
- No Legendary Pokemon

I do agree that lots of Legendaries are balanced, but it's just a rule for fun, and as long as it remains fun, that's why we're playing, right? :P


Team At a Glance:

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Earthquake
- Roost

Gliscor is chosen as a lead to be accompanied by Tyranitar, thereby having use later in the game after serving its purpose as a lead. Stealth Rocks allows it to set up entry hazards for easier sweeps by my attackers while Taunt messes up slower leads. Earthquake, Roost and a Sandstorm in play allow Gliscor to still be a nuisance late game.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Scizor is here as a revenge killer and a sweeper along with Stealth Rocks, and Anti-Spinner and a Rapid Spinner on the team, it should do the job quite well. U-Turn allows for early game scouting while Pursuit is here to take care of Rotom forms, Gengar and Starmie. Superpower allows for a super-effective move against walls like Blissey.

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk /252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Earthquake

Tyranitar effectively takes out Spin-Blockers thanks to Pursuit. Nevertheless, he sets up Sand Stream which most of my team can resist and is quite a formidable attacker. Tyranitar can also switch in safely against most Fire attacks aimed at Scizor and fight back with Stone Edge or Pursuit if predicting a withdrawal. Earthquake provides Tyranitar with additional coverage.

Testing switching either Scizor or Tyranitar for Infernape

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 HP / 156 Def / 216 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

Starmie serves as a Rapid Spinner in order to remove entry hazards for my sweepers, primarily Scizor, since they will be switching in a lot. In the meanwhile, Starmie can counter Gyarados by switching in when it comes in and hit it with a Thunderbolt after taking one hit, which it should survive with sufficient health. As such, Starmie should not be switching in and out frequently or else it will risk losing too much health to do its job right.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Protect
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Fire

Standard MYSTICgar to counter steel types with Protect + HP Fire while acting as a Spin-Blocker at the same time. The only problem I have been facing so far is sending Gengar in due to its frail defences. Otherwise, if he doesn’t die, he gets rid of Scizor and Tyranitar quite well (if Focus Blast does not miss on TTar).
I have been considering switching this to the Pain Split + Substitute Gengar, but then I’d be lacking a Fire Attack. I’m open for suggestions.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Def / 68 Spe
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Protect
- Wish
- Surf
- Toxic

I realized that my team was very weak to Water and lacked Electric attacks. Therefore, Vaporeon immediately came in mind as my wall with its ability Water Absorb and being able to hit Water types back with HP Electric. Originally, I thought of using Blissey for access to faster healing, and I’m still uncertain about my decision of choosing Vaporeon. Protect allows me to scout and stalls that turn for Wish to be granted, while Surf and HP Electric are for coverage.


Images taken from LegendaryPokemon and PokemonElite2000.

Well, thank you for reading!
All comments are much appreciated.

Thanks again!

 

[Starbuck]

A solid team but I don't like Gengar in here. It gives you another Pursuit weakness and is an awful Spin-blocker since Forretress can Payback on the switch and Starmie outspeeds. I'd recommend Magnezone in place of him; it wrecks Steels, including Scizor who can give you some trouble.

Also, HP Electric on Vaporeon is mainly for Gyarados, and since you already have Starmie for that, you should consider Toxic on Vaporeon.

Good luck.

 

[Faladran]

Hello,

I was reading through your descriptions and realized that you've been considering switching your Gengar to the SubSplit set. I would recommend this change, as SubSplit is easily the most effective set in the current metagame, and the use of Pain Split is very useful for recovering health and beating Blissey switch-ins. Substitute also is great for protecting from enemy Pursuit users. Remember that if you switch out of Pursuit while behind a Substitute, the Sub will be broken, but you will be unhurt.

Since this does give you a lack of Fire-type moves, I'd like to recommend trying out a replacement for Scizor. Since Scizor and Tyranitar's roles overlap somewhat, and both can take out Gengar and Starmie, I was thinking of a Physically-based Infernape in Scizor's place:

Infernape (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/192 Spe/64 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Overheat
- Close Combat
- Thunderpunch
- U-Turn

This will add a great fire-based sweeper to your team, as well as gaining a bit of a surprise factor. Thunderpunch will take out opposing Gyarados, while U-Turn eases prediction and allows you to scout your opponent's team.

Good luck with your team!

 

[Inspire]

Thank you for both your responses!

I will test out both before making changes. However, I will say that I like Scizor's playstyle more than Tyranitar. I brought in Tyranitar because it helped to back up Scizor's fire weakness and at the same time took care of occasional Rain Dance teams that showed up (once that I faced had several different Hidden Powers and large coverage that it made predicting very hard). That being said, if I were to take out either Scizor or TTar, I may take out TTar and find myself a new lead as well :)

Will test further and am open to suggestions!
For now, I will switch HP Electric for Toxic; this makes breeding easier and I agree that Starmie should be sufficient for Electric coverage.

Thanks again!

 

[Starbuck]

I would suugest dropping Scizor if you do end up deciding to use Infernape; you really need Tyranitar for opposing Gengar and Starmie.

 

[Stratos]

I don't like Tyranitar and Gengar on the same team, especially not your set. It will die way too easily, six attacks, one protect and it faints, assuming you NEVER take damage. That's just not right. I would take out the Tyranitar for an Ape as Gengar is a great addition to this team whereas Tyranitar is just like a scizor remake.

 

[IronBullet]

Hey,

Decent team. I second the suggestion to try out a SubSplit Gengar over your current one, it rips through stall and gains much more survivability through the use of Pain Split, which is pretty important considering the recoil from Life Orb + Sandstorm.

I'd recommend trying out U-turn over Roost on Gliscor. Roost IMO isn't really needed since the Pokemon Gliscor is supposed to check - Lucario, Tyranitar and the like, are aptly dealt with by the rest of your team. U-turn gives you an excellent move to use against suicide leads such as Azelf and Aerodactyl, as you can now break their sashes as they Taunt/SR and go to the appropriate Poke to finish them off. U-turn is great for scouting, and can be crucial in keeping up the momentum.

I don't really think you need to run a bulky Starmie, as Gyarados is already dealt with by Vaporeon. I'd suggest trying out a Life Orb version, which easily rips apart most teams with its amazing power and speed. A moveset of Hydro Pump/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Recover is ideal, as your team doesn't really benefit from Rapid Spin support, considering you have no SR weaknesses. If you use this set, it'd be best to go back to using HP Electric on Vappy.

Gl with your team!