Man the Sharpedos!!
Just when you thought it was safe to go swimming!
Howdy all Ninelol back with another B/W OU team. Unlike my previous team which was focused on not using common themes of todays B/W metagame, this team takes the common weather theme and puts a fun UU twist to it. In the last few months Sharpedo has clawed its way up from RU to be one of UU’s top tier sweepers. Like many awesome things in UU I had horrible success at trying to use Sharpedo, it required too much prior residual damage, even in the UU bracket, to work with my play style. Now playing in OU I have found the way to make the moderate damage of Sharpedo’s UU sweep scale to very silly levels, rain!
I wish I could think of any anime this team reminds me of besides… well you know besides Pokemon. I made sure this team was at least somewhat cohesive before making this rmt, laddering to the 1300’s with relative ease on the Beta server.
I’ll leave this team building process here in case anyone cares ;)
Alright well as the name implies this team started with nothing but a Sharpedo and a dream!... .. .. .. and a Politoed
Even in rain I knew I would need some residual damage to break through some bulky threats, I decided both spikes and SR were going to be needed. Not wanting to waste two slots I was left with only a few options being super original I decided to use Ferrothorn!
Having great success with this pokemon in my previous teams and also needing a fighting resist I decided to add a Scarf Latios to the team.
These four Pokes have been pretty constant; the last two slots saw a few revisions
After running into a wall for a while and seeing what was causing trouble for my sweeps, I decided to sit down and really take a stab at the last two slots.
First off my Sharepedo couldn’t deal with Bulky water types and common intimidate users, namely Gyarados, Salamence and Vaporeon. Skarmory also was a problem if it was at full health. For this slow I tried out a Pokemon that is to me in UU as Latios is to me in OU, Raikou! He out speeds most non-boosted threats and had great coverage for what I needed.
Next I needed someone who could break through Ferrothorn and other Bulky grass types that weren’t named Celibi. I wanted to keep up with the pace of the team and have it be somewhat quick; Another UU favorite hits the stage Heraboss!
With that I had my team!
Even in rain I knew I would need some residual damage to break through some bulky threats, I decided both spikes and SR were going to be needed. Not wanting to waste two slots I was left with only a few options being super original I decided to use Ferrothorn!
Having great success with this pokemon in my previous teams and also needing a fighting resist I decided to add a Scarf Latios to the team.
These four Pokes have been pretty constant; the last two slots saw a few revisions
After running into a wall for a while and seeing what was causing trouble for my sweeps, I decided to sit down and really take a stab at the last two slots.
First off my Sharepedo couldn’t deal with Bulky water types and common intimidate users, namely Gyarados, Salamence and Vaporeon. Skarmory also was a problem if it was at full health. For this slow I tried out a Pokemon that is to me in UU as Latios is to me in OU, Raikou! He out speeds most non-boosted threats and had great coverage for what I needed.
Next I needed someone who could break through Ferrothorn and other Bulky grass types that weren’t named Celibi. I wanted to keep up with the pace of the team and have it be somewhat quick; Another UU favorite hits the stage Heraboss!
With that I had my team!
The Team!
Politoed (NotKyogre) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Drizzle
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power grass
Physically bulky Politoed is nice but this bad biy right here offers me good support in and out of weather wars. Giving me chances to 0hko the other weather starters, and with the current speed investment I can either K.O. standard sub Breloom or put a large dent in BUloom with Ice Beam as well as the ever popular dragons. HP Grass to hit other Politoeds and Gastrodons trying to get a Storm Drain boost. Focus Blast Is there to miss 100% of the time and give the enemy a chance to switch in someone safe.
The guy is pretty much required on any Rain team. I tend to play aggressive with him, as even with unfavorable weather Sharpedo can sweep if the other team is dented enough. Kills all those Silly Brelooms that think they get a free Spore on this guy. Bulk up Breloom gets taken to easy revenge range by almost any person on the team.
Sharpedo (DisBitch) @ Life Orb
Trait: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Crunch
Mostly standard Sharpedo with the exception of Aqua Jet over Protect.
I chose Aqua Jet because
1. Rain boosted Aqua Jet hits stupid hard
2. Lots of priority thrown around in OU
3. Dragon Dancers everywhere
This guy is silly, punishing bad plays with sweeps. Most people don’t know about this guy in OU so they either don’t know the move sets or underestimate the power of rain boosted Waterfall. This Move set offers good coverage in the rain, earthquake and crunch take out Water resists Like the Lati twins Tentacruel and Jellicint Venusaur ect.
While this guy isn’t as powerful as many threats that came out this gen, Speed boost makes him all but unstoppable in the rain. With SR and Spikes on the field Waterfall scores a clean 0hko on Scizor, and with just SR up Skarmory can be 2hko on the switch. Everything isn’t all gravy though. He is scared of anything that packs Mach Punch or extreme speed; Intimidate users also stop his sweep as well as bulky water/ grass Pokemon. But that’s why it’s a team game right !
Ferrothorn (No Hugz) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
- Stealth Rocks
- Power Whip
The layer of the Hazards! Offering a much needed Electric/ Grass resist to my 2 man Rain core. Gyro Ball ruins Espeon / Terrakion / Scarfed switch ins as well as over eager Dragon Dancers. Also nice to use him to break Multi scale so Latios can revenge. Does a good job against lot of spinners, he usually gets foddered to get my safe switch in with Sharpedo. Wait till any Mons that wall him go down and spam hazards till death. Tried a Forretress in this spot with Rocky Helmet, It didn’t offer the resists I needed and even when built with special bulk It couldn’t take hits well. Overall I Like this guy but he gets setup on by one of my biggest problem pokemon Lucario.
Latios (I Got This) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
-Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
My favorite scarfer in OU, You can’t find anything that can hit these speeds while offering this much revenge power. Draco Meteor pretty much gets hit 70% of the time, unless I think a Scizor is going to dick his way in. Psyshock is there for the off chance that Blissy needs to get revenged by a Latios or to melt Virizion. Thunderbolt is for Bulky Waters and Skarmory. This guy does his Job well, covering all those pesky Dragon dancers and Scarfed Terrakion as well as most other choice scarf users. I'm on the fence about using Thunder over thunderbolt, as most target I want to kill abuse the rain as it is. Also it gives me two moves to 2Hko Scizor.
Raikou (Oni) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Aura Sphere
- Volt Switch
- Thunder
- Hidden Power: Ice
Having the speed to outpace max speed 100’s and Still pack a stupid punch with great coverage, made Raikou a great addition to this team. Raikou won this spot over Jolteon by sheer cool factor and by having access to Aura Sphere. The only time I miss shadow ball is vs Reuniclus outside of the rain. Aura Spere racks up damage on Ferrothorn and Tyranitar, while Bolt beam offers be the remaining coverage needed. This guy’s main Job is to spam Thunder in the rain which will pretty much melt anything’s face that doesn’t resist it, netting clean 0hkos on Scizor and Rotom-W. With SR up 0hkos on Terrakion, and 2hko’s on Sdef Heatran both which are covered by Aura Sphere but just as an example of an unfavorable switch.
Heracross (Mrs. Boss) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Mega Horn
- Stone Edge
-Earthquake
Another UU superstar coming to my rescue, having just the resists and coverage (lolcuzithitseverything) I needed. Heracross comes in as my grass/ Ferrothorn check and back up revenger in case Latios goes down. Equipped with a Scarf it’s still able to pull clean 0hkos on almost every pokemon I need it too, but can also outpace the nons-carfed meta game. Adamant nature is required to get a 0hko on Ferrothorn, but still lets me out speed some boosted threats like Max speed neutral natured +1 Dragonite, Heatran and Gyarados. Always nice to have him eat a Toxic or Burn aimed at Politoed / Sharpedo. Choice scarf isn't really a debateable item on this guy as he needs it to outpace Some of his main targets like Celibi, Shaymin, non scarf Terrakion ect. Adamant nature to make sure I can still get to 0Hko on Ferrothorn.
Threat list
My team has a couple things it struggles with and few that outright wipe me out, luckily I haven't seem any of these on a constant basis.
The Water / ground typing usually Forces many switches due to many of my pokes being Choiced. At times this can lead to Setup I can't stop or Just losing a Poke. Over the long haul this isn't a huge problem they Just are a huge Sharpedo cock block.
SD Lucario ruins my team, Can 6-0 me if It gets a SD off, and the only poke on my team that can survive a +2 Extreme Speed dies to Close Combat. Usually I only get swept by this If I let them switch him into Ferrothorn. I treat him like Magnezone or Dugtrio, bait then switch into something that kills it. This guy wasn't in my threat list when making the team, and I had to find out the hard day that +2 Extreme Speed KOs my team.
Sub CM Jirachi is another Poke that I don't see often, but when I do it tends to kill 2-3 pokes on my team before going down. If he gets too many CM's up its game for me as most of my Damage is Special based and many of these carry thunderbolt to ruin my day.
Weather wars are always a tough if the opponent knows what they are doing, Not running a bulky Toed Hurts and helps in some aspects, KOing leads but not surviving the long haul.
More to come !
The Water / ground typing usually Forces many switches due to many of my pokes being Choiced. At times this can lead to Setup I can't stop or Just losing a Poke. Over the long haul this isn't a huge problem they Just are a huge Sharpedo cock block.
SD Lucario ruins my team, Can 6-0 me if It gets a SD off, and the only poke on my team that can survive a +2 Extreme Speed dies to Close Combat. Usually I only get swept by this If I let them switch him into Ferrothorn. I treat him like Magnezone or Dugtrio, bait then switch into something that kills it. This guy wasn't in my threat list when making the team, and I had to find out the hard day that +2 Extreme Speed KOs my team.
Sub CM Jirachi is another Poke that I don't see often, but when I do it tends to kill 2-3 pokes on my team before going down. If he gets too many CM's up its game for me as most of my Damage is Special based and many of these carry thunderbolt to ruin my day.
Weather wars are always a tough if the opponent knows what they are doing, Not running a bulky Toed Hurts and helps in some aspects, KOing leads but not surviving the long haul.
More to come !
