My 1st OU RMT - Ghosts N Stuff

[Nothinggggg]

-Introduction-

I made this team about 1 month ago, at the beginning of September. My previous team was getting old and too slow to compete with the current metagame, so I knew I had to make changes. Ghosts N Stuff was born out of the faults in that team, and is a departure from all of my previous teams, which were all hyper offense or Baton Pass teams. However, Ghosts N Stuff has become my most successful team to date, allowing me to peak at 3rd place on the ladder with a CRE of 1649.

-Team Building-

1. I knew I wanted Metagross to lead my team, as it has done an admirable job of doing so in all of my previous teams.
2. Being a relative noob at team building, I used type resistances/immunities to choose my 2nd Pokemon. Seeing as Metagross had a weakness to Fire especially, I added Heatran to absorb the Fire attacks.
3. Both Heatran and Metagross have weaknesses to Earthquake, so I added Dragonite, whose Ice and Dragon weaknesses are covered by the former 2 Pokemon.
4. I knew that I wanted to try something new (specifically, a stall team), so I added Blissey to take special attacks.
5. Of course, Blissey is lonely by itself, so I complemented her with Skarmory to complete the famous SkarmBliss combo.
6. Finally, I needed something that could take the Fighting-type attacks, especially Dynamicpunch, that would overwhelm my team, and so I decided to top it off with Dusknoir.

Overall, my team relies on SR + 3 layers of Spikes to inflict entry damage, Toxic and Will-o-wisp to stall those who stay in, and Skarmory's Whirlwind to phaze and rack up entry damage. Blissey, Skarmory, and Dusknoir wall attacks as the enemy pokes are slowly killed. Heatran revenge kills, and it along with Metagross can explode on annoying targets. Finally, Dragonite cleans up after all the enemy pokes are revealed and heavily damaged.

And without further ado, here is the team in detail!

Changes are in Red.

-The Team-

Metagross @ Lum Berry: The Lead, SR, and Pseudo-Revenge Killer
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion

Metagross is my favorite lead in OU, simply because of its ability to set up Stealth Rocks, ability to take a decent amount of neutral/NE attacks with its great typing and decent Defense, and ability to do heavy damage when it needs to. Stealth Rock is a staple on this set, as well as Meteor Mash, because it provides a great STAB move that inflicts heavy damage. Bullet Punch was added instead of Earthquake because of the necessity to kill faster Pokemon (especially Baton Passers) such as Sash Ninjask, Smeargle, and other various pokes. In addition, it allows Metagross to function as a pseudo-revenge killer, killing low health sweepers with a 60 BP priority attack coming off a massive 405 Attack stat. Finally, Explosion allows Metagross to go out with a bang by killing things that would otherwise trouble my team like Swampert, Machamp, Hippowdon, and other fat pokes, and doing heavy damage to, if not OHKOing, things that resist it as well. Lum Berry allows Metagross to shrug off Dynamicpunch, Spore, and Thunder Wave, in order of annoyance, retaliate with Meteor Mash and finish it off with Bullet Punch, or Explode.
---

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers: The Special Wall, Healer, and Toxic Staller
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/6 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Seismic Toss
- Toxic

Blissey is one of the most annoying pokemon to face in all of OU (at least in my opinion). Its massive HP and Special Defense makes it the premier special wall, and is the perfect Pokemon to fit in with my strategy. Wish allows it to heal the pokemon that can't heal themselves, namely Metagross and Heatran. However, it's main use is to keep Blissey alive, as the 2 mentioned Pokemon are meant to explode at sometime in their careers anyway. Protect allows Blissey to scout and switch out to an appropriate resistance/immunity. Seismic Toss is a basic damaging move that allows Blissey to do some damage and at least interrupt Calm Minders from going on unhindered. Finally, the most important move on this set is Toxic. Toxic allows Blissey to poison and mess up all Pokemon that happens to switch into it, except Steel and Poison types (which is what Will-o-wisp is for). With a combination of Toxic, Protect, and Wish, Blissey can herself easily outstall specially-based Pokemon that happen to stay in, and those who switch are inflicted with another Toxic. Dusknoir switches in on physical attackers, Steels, and Poisons, and cripple them with Will-o-wisp.
---

Skarmory (F) @ Shed Shell: The Physical Wall, Spiker, and Phazer/Shuffler
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP/94 Spd/164 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- Roost
- Spikes
- Whirlwind

Skarmory completes the famous SkarmBliss defensive combo, and thus is also a staple in my stall-based team. It can switch in to quite a few of the physical threats that bother Blissey and proceed to set up or phaze them away, depending on the specific Pokemon. Taunt allows Skarmory to shut down other stall teams effectively, as well as certain stat boosters like Cradily that cannot be phazed out. Roost allows Skarmory to heal off entry damage and Brave Bird recoil, and allows it to really be a bitch in setting up and racking up entry damage. Spikes is probably the most important move on this set, as 3 full layers + SR = 37% damage just from switching in. Along with the final move on this set, Whirlwind, Skarmory can easily shuffle the enemy team and rack up large amounts of entry damage. In addition, Whirlwind lets Skarmory scout and phaze stat boosters. Shed Shell allows Skarmory to switch out against Magnezone to Blissey.
---

Dusknoir (F) @ Leftovers: The Spinblocker, Physical-attacker-crippler, and Mixed Wall
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/30 Atk/228 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Will-o-wisp
- Pain Split
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

Dusknoir is probably one of the most important players on my team, and is the namesake of it as well (as well as the awesome song by deadmau5). Although at first sight Dusknoir doesn't do much, but in reality, it does 3 important tasks. 1. Block Rapid Spin, 2. Cripple physical attackers, Steels, and Poisons, and 3. to a lesser extent, heavily damage fat pokes with massive HP while healing itself at the same time. For a team that greatly relies on entry hazards, status kill, and few hyper offensive Pokemon to kill enemy stall annoyances, Dusknoir fulfills all of these tasks and does a very good job at it. Will-o-wisp, the most important move on this set, cripples Steel and Poison types, as well as physical attackers that Blissey doesn't dare stay in against. On a side note, Dusknoir also switches into the Fighting-type attacks that Blissey is weak to with impunity, and proceeds to cripple them with burn. Pain Split allows Dusknoir to heal itself while simultaneously damage enemy Pokemon. Dusknoir having a relatively low HP, almost every enemy Pokemon will be damaged by Pain Split, so little prediction is required. Earthquake is used to kill Heatran, the one Pokemon that is immune to both Toxic and Will-o-wisps, as well as finish off slow Pokemon that have been greatly damaged by entry hazards/status. Ice Punch is just filler to hit Flying-types, which my team actually has no super-effective attacks against.

OR

Rotom-W @ Leftovers: The Spinblocker
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
---

Heatran (F) @ Choice Scarf: The Revenge Killer, Fire Absorber, and Annoying-thing-killer
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Spd/252 SAtk/6 SDef
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion
- Dragon Pulse

Heatran fulfills an important role in my team, and that is revenge killing. If a powerful sweeper manages to plow through my wall of SkarmBlissNoir, Heatran is required to OHKO it with the respective move. In addition, it switches into the Fire moves aimed at Metagross and Skarmory, and can retaliate with Earth Power or Fire Blast if one predicts that the other will switch out. Fire Blast is the basic STAB move and is boosted to 270 BP if Heatran switches into a Fire attack, courtesy of Flash Fire. Earth Power hits enemy Heatran as well as other fires for super-effective damage. Dragon Pulse covers the Dragons that resist Fire and are immune to Ground. Finally, Explode takes out the annoying things that no other members of your team really has a easy time with, but only when the enemy team is spent and weakened, except in special circumstances.
---
Dragonite (F) @ Life Orb: The Cleanup Guy, Late-Game Sweeper, and Stall Breaker
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 118 Atk/192 Spe/200 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Superpower
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Extremespeed

The final member of my team, Dragonite cleans up the remnants of the enemy crippled by entry hazards, status, and random explosions here and there. Superpower allows Dragonite to be a deadly stallbreaker by OHKOing Blissey, as well as Tyranitar, Heatran, and other things, due to its massive 403 Attack stat. Draco Meteor is a basic STAB attack and dents everything that doesn't resist it. Flamethrower provides coverage against Scizor, Forretress, and other Steels. Extremespeed gives Dragonite the ability to pick off weakened Pokemon that it could not outspeed otherwise. Life Orb maximizes Dragonite's attack output, changing many 2HKOs into OHKOs after entry hazard damage.

---

And there it is! Metagross, Blissey, Skarmory, Dusknoir, Heatran, and Dragonite combine their might to form Ghosts N Stuff. Now, I know this team is far from being a good team, so I would greatly appreciate any comments/criticisms on how to improve. Thank you!

 

[ShinyAzelf]

Hey,

Promised to get to rating your team, so here it is!

There were much less changes to this team than expected. Obviously, its a well built team!

First, I would suggest Extremespeed on your Dragonite. Replace it with Roost. Priority is important on Dragonite considering it doesn't outspeed that many Pokemon. Many Pokemon fall to a combination of Draco Meteor + Extremespeed.

This team is slightly Sub Machamp weak, and even Skarmory only has a chance of phazing due to Dynamic Punch's 100% guaranteed confusion. The way I see it, you often have to sacrifice a Pokemon to deal with it. You could try a Life Orb Azelf to solve the problem, though it has to switch in after a teammate faints. It also does well with late game sweeping.

How about trying this?

Azelf @ Life Orb
Naive Nature
4 Atk/252 Sp. Atk/252 Spe
-Psychic
-Fire Blast
-Grass Knot/Hidden Power Fighting
-Explosion

Its a good wall breaker late game, and can weaken the opponent's team a lot, while easing Heatran's Fire Blast sweep.

This team is pretty solid.

Good luck!

 

[Nothinggggg]

Thanks for the comments!

About my Dragonite, I often considered adding Extremespeed in, but didn't know what move to drop. After listening to what you said, as a late-game cleanup, Dragonite doesn't really need to heal off damage if it can out-prioritize and kill stuff before they damage back.

About the Machamp problem, I actually never came upon a Sub Machamp. Every Machamp I saw was either the lead version or the RestTalk version, the former on which I explode upon, and the latter on which I switch Heatran in and Fire Blast. Most Machamps DynamicPunched my Dusknoir switch-in, and Payback on my Skarmory switch-in, which OHKO's Machamp with Brave Bird. So what can I drop for Azelf? Most of my team has its own role, and imo, the only thing that I could drop is Dragonite, as it is not that vital to my team's success.

Anyone else?

 

[Siegrin]

The idea of this team is really good as a stall team, and you've obviously used some time to think this out. This is really a suggestion, not a flaw, but I was wondering, just in case if things went completely wrong, that you could get a mixed sweeper in place. Infernape just pops to mind, so I suggest you replace that with one of your pokemon and give it a shot

 

[ShinyAzelf]

The idea of this team is really good as a stall team, and you've obviously used some time to think this out. This is really a suggestion, not a flaw, but I was wondering, just in case if things went completely wrong, that you could get a mixed sweeper in place. Infernape just pops to mind, so I suggest you replace that with one of your pokemon and give it a shot

Why Mixape? Dragonite is already a mixed sweeper, and Draco Meteor hits like a ton or bricks, so I don't see why we need another mixed sweeper here, unless you really need wallbreakers which I don't see how this team does.

 

[aVocado]

Why don't you use an EV spread of 252 HP/30 Atk/228 SpD with a Careful nature on Dusknoir instead of your current EV spread ? It'll help your team take special hits better. Especially that it already has WoW to cripple physical walls.

 

[Nothinggggg]

@Belphagor, Thank you for your insight! However, after thinking about it, I think that Dragonite/Azelf (whichever one I use) can handle any extra threats well enough. Most things will be crippled by entry hazards, status, and at least 1 poke will have been exploded on, most of the time both. Azelf, especially, can easily finish things off with her speed, Life Orb, and high Special Attack and Explode on (BAN ME PLEASE)s like Blissey, which is about the only thing that is immune to status, can heal itself, and survive a Heatran Explode. I'm not trying to rebuke you, I'm just trying to make my team the best it can be without drastically changing everything!

@Arikado, Now that I think of it, investment in Special Defense makes sense, because, like you said, Will-o-wisp cripples heavy physical attackers and I actually never thought of that! The only thing I'm afraid of is switching Dusknoir into things like Stone Edge and other hard hitting things that I wouldn't want Skarmory to die to, because believe it or not, despite the name, Skarmory is usually more important than Dusknoir in the long run, due to its Spikes and phazing. However, I will try your suggestion in a few games and see how it works out. Thank you!

Anyone else? :D

 

[Faladran]

Hello,

I know that you've been quite modest about your achievements, but I'd just like to congratulate you on the 3rd place ladder peak. Making it that high on the leaderboard takes some dedication, as well as a fairly solid team. Since it's been quite successful for you already, I hope you don't mind if I just make a few minor suggestions, rather than going through a complete list of threats and problems.

Looking through your team, I can spot only one Pokemon that I'd like to recommend a replacement for: Dusknoir. While its ability to burn physical switch-ins is useful at times, it really is not the most useful choice to utilize as a spinblocker. Heatran is a common switch-in to Will-o-Wisp from Dusknoir, and LO versions can KO it with Fire Blast / Overheat after a Flash Fire boost. Blissey does make a good initial switch-in to Heatran, but you'll have to be wary of Explosion, which could take down your special wall and leave you open to a sweep from a specially-based attacker such as LO Starmie. This is a common strategy employed by offensive teams. Also, you r team is currently quite vulnerable to Taunt Gyarados.Therefore, I would like to suggest using defensive Rotom-A in place of Dusknoir, which would retain the ability to block Rapid Spin while giving you a solid Gyarados check:

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 Spe
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Relect
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt

I basically took the defensive Rotom set on-site and tweaked it slightly to perform better in the current metagame. With a Bold nature and the given EVs, Rotom can survive boosted attacks from Gyarados and OHKO back with Thunderbolt. Shadow Ball provides an additional STAB attack. Reflect is preferred because it gives you the ability to cripple physical attackers without the threat of Heatran switching in to grab a Flash Fire Boost, and also allows you to defend much better against any Machamp that carry Lum Berry. You can experiment with other Rotom forms, but I'm suggesting the Wash form because of its ability to deter Heatran and Tyranitar switch-ins due to the use of Hydro Pump.

As a minor nitpick, since this change will make you significantly less weak to Gyarados, you could try using Taunt over Brave Bird on Skarmory. Due to its defensive nature and ability to provide solid team support, Skarmory can function fine without any attacking moves. Taunt will help you out against opposing stall teams, allowing you to shut down their attempts at setting up.

Good luck with your team!

 

[Nothinggggg]

@Faladran, Thanks for the advice. I've been considering switching Dusknoir out, but I really appreciated the defense that it provided and also Will-o-wisp. I will use the Rotom that you recommended, but I think I'll replace Reflect with Will-o-wisp, simply because after a few games, Reflect didn't really see much use. Thank you anyway!

Anyone else?

 

[afterburn]

Hey buddy, got your VM, looks pretty good from a glance.

I think 66 Atk on Skarmory is kind of pointless, I don't see what you're trying to kill with those Evs. A better alternative would be to relocate those 66 Evs into Speed if you plan on going with Taunt, as you outspeed standard spread Skarmory with no Evs, and shut them down with Taunt. This speed will also allow you to outspeed Choice Band Tyranitar, and Roost-stall on its Stone Edge, give yourself a Rock-type immunity.

Another change you should test out is Choice Scarf Flygon over Heatran, you rely heavily on Skarmory to take on Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Offensive Dragonite, which are troublesome threats otherwise. Flygon can revenge these two in addition to everything else Heatran handles, with a set of Outrage or Dragon Claw/Earthquake/Fire Blast/U-turn 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe Jolly Nature. A very good scout, luring in troublesome Pokemon, making them eat hazard damage along with U-turn. I figured you have Gyarados covered with Rotom, so hitting the standard Skarmory with Fire Blast is excellent, when they expect an Earthquake/Outrage. I also suggest you go back to using Mixed Dragonite you had. Simply because, Stall is more troublesome now, and the way I see it, the rater suggested it to handle Substitute Machamp. He did mention that Azelf can revenge it IF its Substitute is down. Dragonite can also revenge it, given he is without a Substitute, with Draco Meteor, while still handle Stall, stay healthy with Roost, and function lategame as well after hazards have done their duty. Flygon also lures in many of the same things that counter Dragonite (because they also threaten Flygon), getting rid off them early game by Flygon luring in shit via U-turn, and sending in a counter to eliminate them, will mean Dragonite can sweep easier with counters eliminated+entry hazards. To top it all off, Flygon revenge kills threats like Mixed Infernape, Taunt Life Orb Heatran, Mixed Dragonite/Flygon, Mixed Tyranitar (a rare sight), which give stall teams a headache, getting rid off these guys, will allow your team to stall out and be a bitch to the foe's team more efficiently.

Sorry if this was short, but your team has most threats covered well, making too many changes will cause a team re-build and open you to other threats, so yeah good job, and sweet ladder peak!

GL

 

[Nothinggggg]

@LegendKiller, Thanks for the feedback! 66 Atk on Skarmory was actually a mistake, and now that I check the rest of my pokemon, a bunch of EVs are messed up (e.g. Dragonite has 192 SpD EVs, instead of Speed :/). As for my revenge killer, I will give Flygon a test drive. The only reason I'm considering keeping Heatran is for Flash Fire, which has been very useful so far. However, I guess I'll just use Blissey to absorb Fire attacks, except now Infernape/Heatran will be more of a problem with their Close Combat/Explosion respectively. I guess I'll have to learn to predict and switch into Rotom haha. As for Azelf/Dragonite, I'm still testing Azelf. So far, I'm leaning toward Dragonite because of its pure power, and I'm still not having much trouble with Machamps. And like you said, if Machamp gets a Sub up, I'll have to sack something, regardless of whether I have Dragonite or Azelf. However, two 4x Ice weaknesses is something to consider, as Ice Shard on Weavile will become quite a problem.

Thank you so much anyway!

 

[Nothinggggg]

Anyone else care to comment/rate this team?