My First OU Team

[Ranigad]

My First RMT Team

So when I was first introduced to shoddy battle about a week or two ago, I really had no clue what I was doing (I still sorta don't). So my first team was comprised of my favorite pokemon and since most of them were in the NU tier, that's where I made my first team. I then slowly ventured up to UU, and then after a long period of thought, OU.


I actually began with a team that was exactly like this, except that the last slot was filled by a dual screen bronzong with gyro ball and explosion. My scizor had sword dance instead of pursuit.

My first change was my bronzong. I found that I was commonly using my bronzong to wall ghost types, and that after I set up my screens, I couldn't use explosion very well. Often times, the ghost types would will-o-wisp me, weakening my explosion even more. So I changed my bronzong and made it a dual-screen special attack bronzong. I took out the attack Evs and stuffed them into Spa, and added flash cannon and shadow ball instead of explosion and gyro ball. It proved very effective since most people don't expect it at all. They think I'm going to explode and they either switch into a ghost type or will-o-wisp me which gives me a free shadow ball hit on them.

My second change was to max out infernape's speed. I found myself getting ko'd by opposing infernapes and I decided enough was enough. Moved 60 points from Spa to speed.

My final and most recent change was the addition of pursuit to my scizor's moveset. It allowed me to take out annoying ghost types without the need for bronzong which freed up my bronzong to fully screen. It worked a lot better than swords dance scizor.

My Current Team

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Stealth Rock
- Endeavor
- Ice Shard
- EarthQuake


I was following a guy around (watching his battles) and I saw him use mamoswine, which sparked an interest since I was searching for a lead at the time. What really grabbed my attention was mamoswine's ability to set up stealth rock and the fact that he could learn the move endeavor and had a priority move to back it up. I love using mamoswine as my lead because it sets up stealth rock reliably, can scare off some leads with its EQ, and its endeavor + focus sash + ice shard combo has helped me get some easy KOs.

Recently, however, I've been finding myself wondering about mamoswine's effectiveness as a sweeper. If I moved him out of the lead spot and replaced stealth rock with another offensive move, maybe I could really do some damage. I talked to an acquaintance about mamoswine's sweeping ability and he came back with "Too slow, Too weak, and too prone to steel types (scizor/jirachi)". Still, I'm interested in the possiblity of mamoswine taking out some opponents as an offensive monster.

Shaymin @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 32 Hp/224 Spe/252 Spa
Nature: Timid
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Rest
- Leech Seed


I saw another one of my friends using a shaymin and I decided to look up shaymin. It really interested me as well, with the rest/natural cure combination, the ability to shoot off really powerful moves such as seed flare and earth power, and the cuteness factor, Shaymin was a shoo-in for my team.

The thing I don't like about this set, however, is the leech seed. Yeah leech seed helps against those Spa walls like Snorlax and Blissey, however outside of those pokemon, I really don't have a usage for it. Sometimes I really feel like shaymin would be much more effective if I had Hidden Power Fire in there, but then what if a Spa wall comes up? Wouldn't mind some advice here.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 Hp/252 Atk/252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Brick Break


I chose scizor because of its flexibility. It has a large coverage in terms of attack types and is able to do many jobs with its priority attack and pursuit. I actually started out with a swords dance scizor and didn't have pursuit in my set. I really found that after I added pursuit, scizor became a lot more useful, and those ghost types were a lot less scary =).

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 136 Hp/156 Def/216 Spe
Nature: Timid
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Surf
- Thunderbolt


Once again, another flexible pokemon, able to cover many roles in the OU metagame. It works as my rapid spinner, able to come into poison spikes, spin, and then switch out. It also works as my counter to many fire types and water types of the game. Its speed is great too xD.

The thing here is the rapid spin. I wouldn't mind being able to find another rapid spinner in order to free up a slot for Starmie's psychic since I really have no counter to machamp as of yet, however I can't find an effective one that would mesh with my team.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 Spa
Nature: Hasty
- Overheat
- U-Turn
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge


Yup, another great pokemon in the OU metagame. Infernape is flexible as well, able to take on a variety of threats and pummel them into submission. The only thing about this pokemon that I dislike is its lack of defense. It loses health extremely easily ._.

Rotom - W @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Hp/168 Def/88 Spe
Nature: Bold
- Discharge
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Will-O-Wisp


Actually I haven't decided on my last slot yet. I've tested over 7 pokemon and none of them seem to fit here. I'm still testing and this is just what pokemon I'm on right now. I do ten battles and record the results of the battles that are realistic (newbies that I sweep or when I get swept really badly because I'm not paying attention don't count). So far here are my results.

Pokemon - W/L
~Notes I took

Dual Screen Bronzong - 6/4
~ Magnezone/Machamp
~ No counter to jolteon (maybe shaymin) (edit, no counter to specs)
~ Great switch in on ghost types

Defensive Skarmory - 5/5
~ rotom must be countered by scizor
~ breaks baton pass!

Choice Band Trick Dusknoir - 6/4
~ counters fighting types

Trick Bronzong - 5/5

Scarf Trick Rotom-W - 2/8

Gengar w/ Flying HP - 0/4 (gave up)

Gengar with coverage - 5/5

Gliscor - 2/6

Rotom-W Defensive - 1/4


I know I can't find the perfect pokemon but I'm looking for something that can switch into a fighting type attack no problem (like machamp's dynamic punch), switch into an EQ attack, and possibly break a baton chain through ww or roar. They're listed by importance since I don't really have a counter for machamp.



So any advice would be amazing. Really quick summary.

- Looking for a new rapid spinner to allow starmie to have more coverage. (Can someone outline the importance of rapid spinning in the OU metagame? Is it worth not having another powerful attack? Do spikes and toxic spikes show up often enough to justify rapid spin?)

- Looking for a new lead to move mamoswine into a position where it can take out pokemon. (Is mamoswine a good sweeper? Is it really too slow? Could it take out 1/2 opposing pokemon before fainting?)

- Last slot needs to be filled (Counter Machamp, Earth type attacks, and baton chains). Still testing out, might look back at gengar again.




Threats

Machamp - I really have no counter for machamp except for when I introduce a ghost type for my last slot. Its auto-hitting dynamic punch and confusion decimates the health bar for most of my pokemon before I can take it out. I usually have to just cross my fingers and hope that my pokemon doesn't kill itself.

Zapdos - Yeah ouch. I only recently found this out but my team has an extreme weakness to the zapdos move spread. With heatwave, zapdos is able to take out scizor and shaymin. With thunderbolt, I lose my starmie. With aerial ace or another flying type attack, my infernape goes bye bye. That's why I'm looking to move my mamoswine out of the lead position and more into a sweeper, because its ground typing seems to be my only hope (still might lose to heat wave/hp grass). The last slot is open for ideas too.

SporePunch Breloom - Seriously, one of the most annoying pokemon I have ever faced. With its grass type attack it takes out my starmie, and with its extremely powerful focus punch I lose my scizor and mamoswine. Its spore is very annoying and incapacitates whichever pokemon I try to bring in. I usually try to U-turn the sub away with infernape and then try to KO it with something else. This is where HP fire on shaymin would come in handy...

Magnezone - This thing is annoying as well. Comes in, kills off my scizor, and then posses a huge threat to my team with its speed and HP fire. I usually try to counter it by bringing in shaymin and using earth power but it's risky.

Roserade - Eh, the fact that it keeps putting me to sleep annoys me to death. It then gets a few turns to set up toxic spikes and such which I have to spin away with my starmie who's weak to roserade.

Hax Jirachi - Continual flinching is annoying and basically wipes my team out without me being able to touch it.




Earthquake - It's not a pokemon but it's a very deadly move, and one that I need a counter to. I usually try to preserve my mamoswine if possible and eq does a number on him. So I need a pokemon that can switch into EQ and then retain health.

Baton Chains - Once again, not a single pokemon but this baton pass thing really kills my team. Can't touch anything past a sub and bulked up with status boosts. Without a ww or roar pokemon, my team is extremely prone to being taken advantage of by baton chains.

Flying Types also counter a majority of my pokemon, taking out scizor, shaymin, and infernape.




So any comments/suggestions are appreciated. I am open to any and all suggestions (although I may have many questions since I'm still relatively new to competitive battling). Thanks!
​

 

[Ranigad]

*uses bump*

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated o.o

 

[Nozizaki]

I'm not fond of Mamoswine as a lead, your friend is dead wrong, I've had Mamo's sweep me, that's why I have a LeadPert. As for your last pokemon, I'd say switch Mamo to last and use a Bronzong for your lead, it takes most hit's nicely and can set up SR. Dual-Screen is useful, but can be stalled off. Just my opinion, good luck to you.

 

[tab]

You've got a pretty good start to a team here, but there's still a handful of problems that could do with fixing. As you've speculated, Mamoswine isn't really the best of leads anymore IMO. I think you'd benefit much more from using a Swampert with Ice Beam/Earthquake/Roar/Stealth Rock, which will give you a much easier time switching into a number of pokemon, as well as freeing up Starmie to use a set better suited to the team, which I'll get to later.

Next up, I'd use HP Fire over Leech Seed like you've been considering, I've never really found Leech Seed useful on an offensive Shaymin, and HP Fire is pretty important in how the set plays - it means it can't be countered by Scizor, as well as allowing you to OHKO Specially Defensive Skarmory if it gets a SpD drop drom Seed Flare on the switch in, while also adding general coverage.

You should give your Scizor a Choice Band, and an EV spread of 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spe, as well as replacing Bug Bite with U-turn and Brick Break with Superpower. There's literally no reason to be using your current set over the CB set, which will hit hard enough to check what you need it to, particularly Salamence, as well as contribute a lot towards weakening teams with U-turn.

Assuming you go with a Swampert lead, I'd use a Life Orb Starmie instead of your current set, with the choice between Rapid Spin and Recover depending on what most appeals to you. LO Starmie is incredibly dangerous, and will give you the offensive punch that you'll need to break a lot of teams when combined with Infernape and Shaymin.

As for your final pokemon, there's a lot of options for you to consider, although you're kind of tied down by the fact that you need a Lucario counter, and ideally a better means of checking Gyarados than Shaymin if you decide to use LO Starmie like I suggested. Rotom's a pretty good fit here, although I'd suggest using a more offensive set such as Sub/Pain Split or Choice Scarf as opposed to the defensive set you've tried out. Alternatively, you could try out a Salamence of some variety, which would round off your teams offensive ability nicely, while giving you a good check for fighting attacks, and the ability to Intimidate Gyarados if absolutely necesarry. Either a classic MixMence or a DD set with Roost should work pretty well here, so I'd suggest trying out both of them as well as Rotom to see if any suit you.

Good luck!

 

[Ranigad]

Thanks for the comments nozizaki. Do you have any specific sets and spreads for bronzong leads? The only thing I don't like about bronzong being a lead is the fact that it can easily get taunted, forcing me to lose my SR and have him switch back in.

 

[Ranigad]

Thanks a ton tab, I'll try out some of the advice. I do have some questions however. Is a life orb starmie (which is what I thought about using with an additional psychic) worth the trade off of me not being able to take out spikes and sr off the field? Also, if I change my lead, would there be any spot for mamoswine on my team? I feel that he's very useable as a pokemon that can take out counters because of his decent speed and his endeavor move. I could keep focus sash on him and move him to the sixth slot as nozizaki suggested and then use a different lead (which still leaves me prone to ground/fighting types). I'll try out the hp fire shaymin as well as the choice band scizor. I did consider choice band scizor before but I strayed away because I like being able to be flexible in my attacks (for example coming in with a pursuit and the being able to bullet punch the pokemon that switches in). Choice band forces me to switch out on every disadvantageous switch-in losing me time and health.

I'll take a look at the offensive rotom suggestion. What's been keeping me struggling with rotom is its easy ko'd ness. It dies really fast for me.

I want to stay away from salamence because of its huge sr weakness (if I get rid of rapid spin on my starmie, it would be an issue) and because its suspect-ness.

Final comment, really didn't understand what you meant by "and ideally a better means of checking Gyarados than Shaymin if you decide to use LO Starmie like I suggested", could you clarify?

 

[tab]

LO Starmie can still use Rapid Spin by giving up recovery if you want, although you should be able to manage without a spinner. The majority of teams will only have Stealth Rock, and you can prevent the rest from getting up Spikes by playing well. I wouldn't recommend using Mamoswine, even outside of the lead position, especially if it's Sashed. Spinning is nowhere near reliable enough to guarentee Sash being a useful item out of the lead position, and there's a lot of pokemon that are more effective than Mamoswine anyway.

Defensive Rotom shouldn't be getting KOed too easily if you're using it properly, you just need to know what it can and can't switch in on.

With the Gyarados comment, I was pointing out that by going with a more offensive set on Starmie, you're losing a solid Gyarados counter - a +1 LO Earthquake does 99.2% - 116.8% to LO Starmie, so you're going to have to rely on Shaymin, which, while manageable, isn't ideal as you're going to be taking 64.8% - 76.5% from a Stone Edge, and 84.2% - 99.7% from the occasional Ice Fang.

 

[Ranigad]

Thanks for the clarifications.

Say I add substitute to mamoswine and replace the sash with leftovers? I feel that the endeavor + ice shard combo works very well, and the ice shard itself KO's most opposing dragon types. I'm also finding it difficult to counter a zapdos, any ideas for that?

I've been working with a swampert lead and it's been alright. Life orb starmie helps me counter ghost types freeing up scizor. I was wondering about the possibility of expert belting starmie intead?

The choice band scizor has been and on off for me though. It's lack of flexibility really puts a dent in my overall hp. I have to switch out and back in before I can use another attack.

I'll move mamoswine and test another pokemon, preferably one that can take out zapdos...

 

[tab]

Part of my suggestion of CB Scizor was that it does Mamoswine's job of dealing with dragon types. If you're finding being choice locked a problem, you just need to get the hang of using it properly - U-turn is going to do a lot of damage to whatever comes in, while allowing you to go to a counter. The other three attacks should only be used when necesarry.

I really, really wouldn't recommend the Mamoswine idea. Endeavor just isn't reliable enough, not to mention one of the most common switches for Mamoswine is Rotom, which is immune to it. As I said, there's so many other pokemon that can do damage similar to or better than what Substitute+Endeavor will allow you to much more reliably.

As for Zapdos, I can see how it's going to be annoying, but Rotom can check it pretty well, especially with Pain Split or Rest+Sleep Talk, and Infernape and LO Starmie are both capable of taking it out too, so it's just a case of playing around it well and getting the right pokemon in to beat it.