My First Competitive Team

[MitchMan]

Some friends of mine play a lot of competitive Pokemon and convinced me to try it out, and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. I created this team initially so I could just play with them, and since I did pretty good with the team against them I decided to try it out against randoms, and to my surprise I continued to have a fair bit of success with it. I'm still new to this whole thing, and when I encounter trouble I've had some difficulty identifying what problems I'm having and how to fix them, so I thought I'd just take the team here and see if I could get some suggestions on ways to improve it. Anyways here it is, any suggestions are welcome, and please don't kill me if it sucks :)

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Attacks
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat

Terrakion is my lead for this team. With the focus sash he's guaranteed to get Stealth Rock up which is nice. I chose Swords Dance over taunt because I thought going for an early kill would be better than preventing the opponent from setting up entry hazards, but I'm not sure if I made the right call. Finally it's rounded it out with two stab moves.

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
Attacks
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake

Salamence is my main mixed sweeper. everything about it is standard for MixMence, and it works well at taking out both defensive and specially defensive pokemon. Draco Meteor and Outrage are my special and physical Stab moves, and Fire Blast and Earthquake are my special and physical coverage moves.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
Attacks
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

I guess the main reason I picked Scizor was because he's one of my favourite pokemon ever (scyther takes the No.1 spot, obviously), but he's also been really good for my team. U-turn and Bullet Punch are my stab moves, and superpower and pursuit are the coverage moves. The whole set is good for taking advantage of Scizor's great attack stat.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Attacks
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Grass
- Toxic

Heatran is the main special sweeper of the team. I chose hidden power grass because it's the only grass type move on the team, and I chose toxic because it's the only dedicated status afflicting move I have. Finally it has two special moves for stab and coverage.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Attacks
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

Starmie is the rapid spinner of the team, and it's been great so far. On top of spinning out entry hazards, Thunderbolt, Hydro Pump and Ice Beam have all been good moves for taking out a variety of enemies, and on top of that Starmie is surprisingly powerful, and has netted me a lot of 2HKOs.

Kyurem-B
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Mild Nature
Attacks
- Ice Beam
- Outrage
- Hidden Power Fire
- Earth Power

I couldn't really think of a good sixth Pokemon I really wanted, so I picked another dragon, because his mixed attacking stats looked too good to ignore. He is a great dragon counter with his stab Ice Beam and Outrage, and he has HP fire and Earth Power for coverage. since I kind of rushed this spot, is there anyone that looks like they could fit this sixth spot better than Kyurem-B?

So here's my team, thanks in advance for looking at it and givng feedback. Hopefully I can turn it into decent team.

 

[Aura Sensei™]

hey there MitchMan, pretty solid team you have here, although there are still quite a few problems that could be fixed.

your team lacks a scarfer, which is a problem, as nearly every team, with the exception of hyper offense teams, requires a scarfer. changing terrakion to a scarf set will fix this problem. scarf terrakion is able to revenge +1 volcarona who is a big probelm for your team if you lose heatran.

specs keldeo seems to be a problem, or any rain spammer for that matter, as your only resist, starmie, won't be able to take multiple onslaughts. salamence dosen't look like it's doing a whole lot tbh, as it will require a lot of correct predicting on your part to not give the opponent free momentum. cm latias is a great replacement for mence, as it's a great rain check overall, and your team dosen't seem to have too much trouble removing the majority of it's checks.

now, your team lacks a stealth rock user, if you choose to run scarf terrakion. i'd recommend running stealth rock on heatran > hp grass, as hp grass is pretty awful, and dosen't do much for your team. specs latios is also a big threat to this team, as it can 2hko everything on the team with specs draco bar heatran. i'd recommend switching to spdef heatran, who helps check specs latios.

your kyu-b set is a little weird. hp fire isn't really needed, since your team can remove ferrothorn and other steels without too much trouble. sub kyu-b is a nice replacement for your current set, as it comes in on bulky waters, which your team is able to lure in fairly easily, and get a free sub. from there, it can usually take out or damage something on the opposing team that threatens it, making it easier to sweep with it later on.

sets

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Substitute
- Roost

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Quick Attack
- X-Scissor

Kyurem-B @ Leftovers
Trait: Teravolt
EVs: 52 HP / 220 SAtk / 236 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Fusion Bolt
- Substitute
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Protect
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic

hope this helps you with your team!

 

[Scarlet Firefly]

Hey there MitchMan! This is a great team, especially for your first one! I mean it!

The team's offensive presence is great; I can't think of a Pokemon than can wall your whole team: you have an answer to most of the standard defensive threats in the tier!

However, I feel that there are some defensive holes in your team: it is weak to certain threats in the OU metagame. Specifically: Alakazam, Breloom, Conkeldurr, Dragonite, Gyarados and Thundurus-T.

Firstly, it seems that your team is a little too slow-footed. A Choice Scarf user on your team is necessary to outspeed and defeat certain threats.

For this reason, I suggest Choice Scarf Terrakion. It is a good idea as the faster Terrakion can take down Gyarados, Thundurus-T, and Dragonite with ease with its powerful Stone Edge; already checking 3/6 of your team's threats. Terrakion can also take down a weakened Alakazam(which wears Focus Sash), or simply remove it easily if it wears Life Orb. It is a shaky check, but it works.

The following moveset is optimal of Terrakion:
Stone Edge, Close Combat, X-Scissor, Earthquake / Stealth Rock.

Stealth Rock is usable on Terrakion. This is because it can set up Rocks as it forces a switch from an opponent. What do I mean?

Lets say you switch in Terrakion on the opponent's Heatran. He will switch out into a Terrakion Check, say Landorus-T. Fear not, as you had just set up Stealth Rocks and can switch out into your checks Starmie / Kyurem-B / Salamence to give him pain.

Furthermore, the surprise factor of having Stealth Rocks on Terrakion will give the opponent mind games: thinking that by killing Heatran you cannot set up Rocks anymore, but they are wrong.



Next, certain Fighting-types threaten your team: Breloom and Conkeldurr. You don't have anything that hurts them Super Effectively, especially Conkeldurr with its large bulk, and they may be hard to take down. Try to put in Psychic > Thunderbolt on Starmie, in order to check Fighting-types better. Starmie doesn't need Thunderbolt, as Water-types are resisted by Salamence and Kyurem-B, and Flying-types are hit hard by Ice Beam anyway.


In summary,
Psychic instead of Thunderbolt on Starmie
Choice Scarfed Terrakion instead of Sash


I hope these suggestions helped your team! Perhaps you will be a stronger trainer with these new team edits.