Sceptile-Mega @ Sceptilite
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Dragon Pulse
When making this team, I wanted to start with a relatively underused mega, Sceptile. Although Sceptile may lack the raw offensive power of some other megas, he is an excellent revenge killer, and has the potential to easily sweep weakened teams, while checking some key threats. Leaf storm is Sceptile's strongest attack, and is perfect for eliminating dangerous threats, as Sceptile out speeds the entire un-boosted meta-game, and even some scarf users. Giga drain is a nice secondary option, and allows Sceptile to stay in longer, which is often necessary for the late game cleanup that Sceptile excels in. Focus blast allows Sceptile to take down Ferrothorn and Tyranitar, I opted to run focus miss over HP fire for the increased coverage and power it offers. Dragon pulse is the obligatory second stab move, and is perfect for taking down the Lati twins, and anything that resists giga drain surprisingly hard, taking down almost any dragon type in the Meta-game.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Leech Seed
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Gyro Ball
What is there to say about Ferrothorn? He's perhaps the best wall in the game, giving any physical attacker a second thought. He prevents Scizor from firing off bullet punches, Kyurem-B from spamming outrage, etc. In addition Ferrothorn is great at stalling out certain threats. Leech seed is to deal with Pokemon that would normally be able to wear Ferrothron down. This highlights one of Ferrothorn's other strengths, shutting down dangerous physical sweepers, if all other methods fail; the damage from iron barbs and rocky helmet will provide a much needed shift in momentum. Thunder wave serves a similar purpose, by allow Ferrothorn to slow down speedy threats, and make them vulnerable to revenge killing. Stealth rocks is fairly self explanatory, due to the fact that Ferrothorn forces many switch outs, it serves as a very effective rocks setter. I chose gyro ball as my last slot to have some wall of dealing damage, interestingly enough gyro ball is capable of taking down max speed Gengar in one hit.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
As most teams do, mine needed a way to remove hazards, and Starmie is one of the best around. Many teams have a sever weakness to Starmie, and with its blistering speed it's able to revenge kill many offensive threats including Landorus, Garchomp, and the Lati twins. In addition to being quick enough to get off a rapid spin in almost all situations, Starmie can take down the most common rocks steer, Garchomp, in one hit using ice beam, making it an effective tool to provide excellent coverage. Thunder bolt is to take down things like Keldeo, Gyrados, and others common water types that would normally force Starmie out. Hydro pump is the obligatory stab move, and dose nice damage to anything lacking good special bulk, including many key threats. Rapid spin is self explanatory, and when combined with Starmie's strong offensive presence, allows me to keep hazards off my side of the field effectively.
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Fire Punch
Although Rhyperior may seem like a strange and nonviable choice for an OU team it actually fills a key role and hard checks a shocking number of threats. If everyone's favorite Brave Bird spammer comes in, for example, Rhyperior can come in and easily take it out with Rock Blast. In fact Rhyperior can take down almost any physical attacker one on one. The list of Pokemon it can take down one on one includes key threats such as: Tyranitar, Garchomp, Landours-T, Scizor, Bisharp, etc. Move wise, Rock Blast is an effective stab move, taking down almost anything it hits for super effective damage while breaking mulitscale and focus sashes. Earthquake is the secondary stab move and hits like a truck, doing massive damage even on neutral hits. Fire punch is a great coverage move and can catch Scizor and Ferratorn by surprise, taking them down in one hit. Avalanche is another coverage move, and it takes advantage of Rhyperior's speed, hitting with a base power of 120 if Rhyperior has taken damage that turn, which is often.
Infernape @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot
- U-turn
When one thinks of fire types in OU, Pokemon like Charizard and Heatran come to mind, however when building this team I wanted to try something a little different. Infernape fills the role of an quick offensive fire, but it has some useful perks others don't get. I decided to opt for a scarfed set to give my team a strong counter to many other slower scarf runners such as Tyranitar and Jirachi, as well as provided a useful late game sweeper. Flare blitz and close combat are incredibly powerful stab moves, which can take down almost anything that doesn't strongly resist them in one or two hits. Gunk shot is a very useful coverage move, and it allows Infernape to easily check Clefable and any other fairy not named Klefki. U-turn rounds out this set and allows me to gain momentum easily while dealing heavy damage to psychic types.
Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Brave Bird
- Heat Wave
- Roost
Honchkrow is perhaps the most unconventional choice on my team, but nevertheless it fills a unique role on my team. Some may argue that Bisharp outclasses Honchkrow, however Honchkrow can do many things that Bisharp cannot, including taking down steel types such as Ferrothorn and Scizor, and easily checking slower fighting types, including mach punch Conkeldurr. Sucker punch is essential to mitigate Honchkrow's low speed, and it can hit incredibly hard after a moxie boost, taking down many dangerous threats that could otherwise threaten many members of my team. Brave bird is a useful secondary stab move, and it allows Honchkrow to hard check most fighting types, as well as providing a way threaten mega Venesuar, which otherwise causes some problems for my team. I opted to run a mixed set with heat wave to check many steel types that would otherwise wall Honchkrow entirely. Roost rounds out the set, and allows Honchkorw to heal life orb and hazard damage. I opted to run roost over a 4th attack, due to the lack of other useful attacks.
