SS OU My first attempt at teambuilding [tips would be welcome]

[Spoontech]

Hello all and welcome to my first RMT ever.



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While I'm not really a teambuilder, I've been playing on Showdown since Gen 5 or something. I never really bothered teambuilding, as every time I tried something I noticed some glaring weaknesses in my team which were pretty crucial. However I decided to yolo it and here's my first own team of this generation (not including the release of the generations as everybody just makes teams and learns about the meta at that point). I've tested this team for about 20 games now, and so far I'm 16/4, but to be fair I reset my rankings after I noticed this team was pretty fun. While this team isn't perfect, I would like to show it off. If you have any tips, or potential changes I would love to hear it as while I can say that I'm pretty knowledgable about the game itself, I'm not at all when it comes to teambuilding. That's enough rambling for now, so let's go to the team.



Creation process:

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I wanted to build this team mainly around Kyurem and teleport Clefable. Before this I've never used teleport Clefable, as I mainly was a huge fan of the LO clef set or just regular wishpassing with rocks in stead of teleport on Clefable. Every time I've faced specs Kyurem I usually lose a mon, or take heavy damage trying to check it. I've also been very interested into the teleport mechanic, and as Kyurem has a poor defensive typing I felt that Clefable wishporting complimented it very well.

No B :( (Kyurem) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Freeze-Dry
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

- Specs Kyurem is probally one of the best breakers the meta has to offer right now. Freeze dry and Ice beam are super spammable moves, nearly 3hko'ing every mon in the game. When I suspect my opponent uses a stealth rocker as a lead in a game, this mon is 9/10 times my opposing lead. It scares out the toad as Freeze dry is a 100% OHKO. My opponent knows that as well, and when I suspect they're going to switch into a pivot I either click Draco meteor (which is an 81.3% chance to KO physically defensive toad anyways) or Ice beam if I suspect a fairy or Corviknight coming in. There's just not much that can prevent this mon from spamming it's stabs and there's no true check for it if it's not choice locked yet.

252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Seismitoad: 402-474 (97.1 - 114.4%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 254-300 (83.5 - 98.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Conkeldurr: 450-529 (128.2 - 150.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 208+ SpD Corviknight: 184-217 (46 - 54.2%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Corviknight: 177-208 (44.2 - 52%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 169-201 (42.8 - 51%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Kyurem Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 240-283 (60.9 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

#1 (Clefable) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 232 HP / 252 SpD / 24 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Teleport
- Moonblast

Clefable is awesome. I think we all know that by now. It can be used for so damn many things. However one new mechanic that was introduced to Clefable was Teleport. Teleport makes it so that you can safely pass a wish to previously damaged mons, without the risk for a hard read KO'ing your mon and making your wish useless. It can come in at nearly any special attacker, and scare it out with Moonblast (Specs Dragapult, Kommo-o, Kyurem, Hydreigon, all Rotom forms and so on) or safely wish up. This is pretty much my special pivot, and it is amazing at that job. I run 24 speed just to be a bit quicker than other Clefables that have the same idea as me. This even allowed me to kill certain Clefables that have low hp and think of wishing up.



After I built this core, I noticed that these two cover a fair bit, but I can't pivot around steels or physical mons. That's why I decided to include a very defensive Corviknight and an a sash Excadrill.

#2 (Corviknight) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 228 Def / 4 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn
- Taunt


Corviknight is the #2 in the current meta and for a good reason. It's everything Skarmory wants to be and more. Investing most of my spread into physical defense and HP. Defog and Roost are mandatory for any Corvi, U-turn to gain momentum and taunt to shut down any walls or tanks that want to pull some shenanigans. This has proven very useful into scaring out Ferrothorn and opposing Corviknights. Once taunted, often the only thing people do is switching it out, allowing me to get in a fast mon or Clef to pass some HP to. Getting a fast U-turn on opposing Corvi sucks, but by not allowing it to keep roosting up, PP stalling and bulking up or iron defensing (which my team is fairly weak to) has proven very useful to me.

Whack a drill (Excadrill) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Iron Head


Drill does what Drill does. It sets up rocks, it dances with some swords and once Corviknight can't wall it this mon feasts. It's STAB's are super fucking spammable, and if I can keep rocks off my side it's a pretty damn good revenge killer for the Furry. I'm not a huge stealth rocker myself this gen, because there's just so many easy options to get rid of it, but it still adds some pressure to the opponent because people have the tendency to skip their entire gameplan and switch in Corvi to get rid of the rocks. Focus sash is very useful itself as well, and can be preserved with lots of defogging or Clefable teleporting it's HP into Drill again. This mon is just a huge threat, and has an amazing method of putting up the pressure by either dancing up or setting rocks, often allowing another mon to fly into and clear out the mon that wants to remove your rocks.




After this I still noticed my team really lacked some speed and raw power, so I decided to add the Furry and Dragapult into my team. At first I used Specs Pult, but it felt like a bit of overkill with Kyurem pretty much breaking anything that Pult has to break with specs. I wanted to use the Furry for a while now, as I think it's an awesome mon and has amazing coverage.

Dragapult @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- U-turn

Dragapult is the new Scarf-Kartana. It can lack raw power, but it's such an amazing revenge killer and it really can't get walled by any mon with this set. Scarf is not often seen over LO or Specs, so it catches people a lot by surprise too. The main reason I added scarf for it, is to make sure I don't get swept by a bulking Furry, or a Shell smashing Cloyster. While I'm not sure if I should but 252 speed into it, it hasn't been a problem for me as of right now. Draco Meteor OHKO's any Cloyster into oblivion, and does some serious damage on Zereora as well, usually enough to revenge kill it. Scarf pult is also an amazing scout, as it pretty much outspeeds every scarfed in the game bar Pult itself, so if you know a Hydreigon stays in on your U-turn, you know what's coming in the form of a Meteor thus switching into the pink teleporter.

252+ SpA Dragapult Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Zeraora: 232-274 (73.1 - 86.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Furry (Zeraora) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off



While this mon was underwhelming last gen, due to it's lack of power and ability to outspeed common scarfers, he is amazing this gen. Knock off is super fucking spammable, and plasma fists 2hko's pretty much anything that doesn't resist it. Knock Off nearly kills every Dragpult, which means that if your opponent isn't braindead it will never switch into this thing, or even thinks about staying in when chipped. I decided to go for Drain Punch as I feel that it is nicer to have some of it's own form of recovery rather than relying on Clef to pass it health. Bulk up is amazing to do on a +2 Bisharp, as that prevents you from being OHKO'd by a Sucker punch and it gives huge pressure on the opponent as Plasma Fists + Knock off is not something any mon wants to take at +1.





Threats:

- Opposing Zereora, once this thing gets a Bulk up in your face, it's incredibly hard to not lose a mon and potentially get swept.
- The biggest bitch in the meta right now, Dugtrio. with Drill and Furry being extremely prone to trapping, Dugtrio can singlehandedly ruin your physical core. However it's gonna be banned soon anyways, so this won't be a threat for long.
- Setup sweepers, a lot of setup sweepers can be a huge pain in the ass. Mainly Venusaur, Bisharp (if played well), Conk, and Aegislash.


Besides those mons, I haven't really faced any uncontrollable mon yet. Ofcourse it can get out of hand with a +2 speed Dragon dancing Dragapult, but if you allow that you're a retard ngl.



Importable:
https://pokepast.es/11045a6af224c9de








Final words:
Thank you for taking time to read this and check this out. Like I've said before, this is my first RMT, so any tips and tricks to make this team better is very welcome. I've had a lot of fun creating this team (took me 3 mins or so) and tweaking it, but it's far from perfect. Nevertheless I hope this team will inspire more people like me that often play but don't make teams to try out.

 

[theotherguytm]

Sorry for copy-pasting from elsewhere, but this team has a couple of common issues that I've already pointed out to others.
Ok... This team looks great, but...
Scarf Dragapult is an unset and you should never run it. Why? Because outside weather teams, every mon faster than Dragapult gets outsped by Scarf Hydriegon (who is wholly superior due to his much, much higher SpA) or can be adequately walled anyway (Scarf Gengar and Scarf Swords).

But that's not the point. Scarf Dragapult is claimed to be adequate counterplay against weather teams. But is it actually?
The answer is "no, it isn't". I've run loads of calcs on this several times, Modest and Timid, and I can sum up the results:
Sand
Modest is slower than Drill in sand and gets OHKOed by a +2 Drill, Timid misses the OHKO on Drill with Fire Blast even after rocks. Sand setters also switch into it for free.
Rain
There are two catagories of Rain abuser. The first is Water wallbreaker, which Scarf Dragapult sucks at dealing with compared to its harder-hitting cousins. The second is obviously the Swift Swim sweepers. And Scarf Dragapult loses 1v1 to all of them. Barraskewda (who no-one even uses) just outruns you even with the Scarf, Toad eats the hit and Knocks Off your Scarf before killing you, and Mantine uses you as setup fodder unless you have Thunderbolt explicitly for it (which is a terrible idea).
Sun
Probably Scarf Dragapult's best matchup. It forces out Venusaur as long as the sun is up (Venu lives Fire Blast outside of Sun lol), but then invites in a Sun wallbreaker like Darmantuan for almost free. And using Draco Meteor to try and outplay your opponent by nailing the switch-in risks your opponent leaving Venu in (as Draco Meteor misses the KO by miles). Plus Ninetales switches into you for almost free, Torkoal lives any hit from you... So it works, but there are far, far better ways of handling this one explicit niche matchup. It's like running Clear Body for Webs, except you lose far, far more than just screens and subs.
If you want to see the full gory details I can PM you the calcs.

So I would suggest Scarf Hydreigon instead.
Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Flash Cannon/Fire Blast
Timid over Modest so you outrun Adamant Cloyster, DD Haxorus, Scarf Darmantuan and Modest Mantine. Flash Cannon in the last slot to dent Fairy switch-ins, Fire Blast to roast Steels. Either works.

Also, LO Zeraora is not a set I would recommended. Zeraora likes some longevity so it gets multiple setup opportunities, and it's not worn down while breaking. For instance, you lose the 1v1 with Bulk Up Corv badly if you have to take continuous Life Orb chip. So I would suggest either Expert Belt or Leftovers to increase longevity. Belt keeps most of your firepower, Leftovers lets Zeraora come in many times a match to Bulk Up and attack without worrying about hazard chip.

As for your team in particular, I would suggest switching Excadrill from Focus Sash to Life Orb or (my reccomendation) Leftovers. Drill, as your Stealth Rock setter, is much more likely to get worn down rather than OHKOed thanks to its amazing defensive typing and HP stat, making Focus Sash on it redundant on anything but Hyper Offense teams as a suicide lead. Life Orb lets you hit harder while sweeping, and Leftovers removes the chip Drill is likely to take from resisted hits and Stealth Rock. As per the above paragraph, since Drill is your Rock setter and not just a flat-out wincon, I would suggest Leftovers.

Hope you like these changes!

 

[zbr]

Heyyos! Nice team you've got there! It really displays that you understand the game state and how it is right now. Considering that Arena Trap just got banned and the meta will probably see a power shift where Terrak, Toxtricity and other friends will see a rise to power, it is now probably the best time to give you some alteration advice to your squad. I noted your issues that you are facing so I'll try to give you some advice about your team that you might want to consider!

>>>

First of all, I don't think sash drill is a perfect fit for your team, much like what theotherguytm said in his rate earlier. I personally think that since your team is already really bulky, we should just stick to the defensive synergy that the team has. It is a toss up between which defensive glue that you want to play and feel more comfortable using. The two options I have for you to consider is Seismitoad and Kommo-o and personally I am leaning more towards Kommo-o because it is able to more able to deal with your threats and your potential threats in the future. Phys Def Kommo-o is incredibly good because it allows you to aptly deal with the problems you have seen

252+ SpA Life Orb Venusaur Giga Drain vs. 120 HP / 0 SpD Kommo-o: 70-83 (21.8 - 25.8%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Aegislash-Blade Iron Head vs. 120 HP / 248+ Def Kommo-o: 141-166 (43.9 - 51.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Zeraora Close Combat vs. 120 HP / 248+ Def Kommo-o: 73-87 (22.7 - 27.1%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

Phys Def Kommo-o still gives you access to Stealth Rock, which is key to the success of your team. Our last move on this mon is a split between Taunt, Toxic or Iron Defense and since that's more of a personal preference thing, you can give it a test drive to see which one you'd like more. Iron Defense is able to give you an alternate wincon if push comes to shove and makes you more able to deal with threats like Conk and Terrak but Taunt gives you the flexibility to deal with defensive threats with lesser than 240 Spe (i.e - Corviknight and Mandibuzz can't Defog, Seismitoad can't status you or set rocks). Btw, the spread might look a bit off because normally, we would cap out the HP first but personally, I have been using this spread whenever I pair it with a wish passer because you need a higher defense stat to ensure that you rack up damage using body press which is why I opted to max out the Defense first and wishpassing allows you to keep Kommo-o healthy so the loss in HP EVs won't be significant in longer grindier games.

>>>

Now this change might be a bit uncomfortable for you but I think this might be a pretty decent swap out. Having Dragapult is really good because it's able to wreck +2 Cloyster and is able to deal with Venu under the Sun but I think since we have already swapped out Drill for Kommo-o, this change is pretty decent because it retains the defensive backbone of your team while being able to lure in stuff like Mandibuzz, Hippowdon or Corviknight and applies ample pressure on fairies, which allows your other offensive pressure mons (Zeraora and Kyurem) to shine better because it is easier to gain momentum from there. We will run an Air Balloon set as this gives you a very good way to switch in to the most common spinner - Excadrill. Furthermore, Aegislash is already a very natural check to Cloyster which makes it a very good addition to your team.

Next for some small changes here and there, I don't agree that U-turn being the only offensive move is worth it on your team because you don't want to be caught in a last mon situation. I think we need to minimally run Brave Bird over Taunt because now we have an additional way to deal with Conk, considering you will need to be able to juggle your team around to deal with Conk aptly. Your EV spread also seems a bit weird to me considering that Taunt Corvi should run enough speed to Taunt min speed Mandibuzz (i.e - hitting 197 speed)

Nothing much I really think / feel requires much changes for your team although the meta might see some shifts as time progresses on due to the impact of the arena trap ban. Hope you enjoy the changes I've suggested for your team and stay safe during this time of pandemic. /cheers/

recommendations

Kommo-o @ Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 120 HP / 252 Def / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Defense / Taunt / Toxic

Aegislash @ Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Flash Cannon
- Close Combat
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak

 

[Jordy]

I really like these types of teams, but this team is a little outdated following the recent Arena Trap ban and definitely needed some changes regardless, so I figured I could help you out.

Major Changes

Corviknight → Hippowdon

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Your team is quite weak to Terrakion and Bisharp as is; Hippowdon can check these Pokemon as well as some other Pokemon like Excadrill, which Corviknight is important for here. Hippowdon can also provide Stealth Rock support, meaning you can turn Excadrill into your entry hazard removal with Rapid Spin. This ultimately means that dropping Corviknight isn't as impactful as it may seem.

Dragapult → Hydreigon

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I don't think Choice Scarf Dragapult's a good fit on these kinds of teams. I'd like to suggest Hydreigon instead, which provides much more utility to your team as a Ghost-resistant Pokemon that can still keep offensive threats like Zeraora in check. Even though you have a specially defensive Clefable, a Ghost-resistant Pokemon is still super important because it aids against Pokemon like Aegislash and Dragapult. Helping out against the former is particularly important here. You also mention that Dragapult keeps Cloyster in check, but that's really not that important when you take the fact that Cloyster doesn't have a good opportunity to set up without Corviknight on your team into consideration. I'd like to suggest running Roost on Hydreigon, which is a very interesting option because it's more self-sufficient against Aegislash.

Minor Changes

You mention wanting to be faster than opposing Clefable to KO them at low ranges, but I'd like to suggest the polar opposite; run 0 Speed IVs with a Sassy nature. With a Sassy nature and 0 Speed IVs, you can get the slowest possible Teleport, which is really useful against opposing Teleport Clefable and gives you an overall upperhand in those situations, assuming they're not running 0 Speed IVs with a Sassy nature as well, in which case it'd be a complete 50/50.

With Hippowdon, there's no need to run Stealth Rock on Excadrill. You also lack entry hazard removal without Corviknight, so I'd suggest running Rapid Spin instead. Focus Sash is also not that important on Excadrill and I reckon the added longevity from Leftovers would be much more useful to deal with Clefable a little easier. With Hippowdon, I also reckon Sand Rush is more useful for the natural Speed control that Excadrill can provide. Even on sand teams, though, you don't always need to run Sand Rush and Mold Breaker can still be useful because of the fact that it can threaten Rotom-H consistently. But, considering that the Speed control is pretty important and don't really struggle against Rotom-H otherwise, Sand Rush is definitely the more convenient fit here.

Even with Drain Punch, Life Orb Zeraora is really quickly worn down and Drain Punch is simply a little too weak. For example, it fails to 2HKO Ferrothorn reliably at +1. I'd like to suggest running Close Combat instead of Drain Punch, as it greatly improves damage rolls against Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Excadrill. As for the item, I reckon Leftovers is a little more useful, as it provides you with more longevity against Corviknight in particular, and you don't need Life Orb to hit any benchmarks with Close Combat.

Final Comments

I'm not going to include it in the final importable, but I'd still like to note that Nasty Plot Hydreigon is definitely a legitimate option on this team that you can run. Considering your matchup against Dragapult and All-out Attacker Zeraora's a little shaky, Choice Scarf Hydreigon's definitely a more consistent option, though. Something else that's worth taking into consideration is running Seismitoad instead of Hippowdon, which can be really useful to improve your Dracovish matchup, but this severely weakens your matchup against Terrakion and Bisharp, so I'm personally not a fan of this take.


Importable