My First RMT - OU

[ParadoxFtw]

Team at a glance :

@ Occa Berry
Ability : Clear Body
Adamant
252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion

Pretty standard lead Gross. Solidus reccomended (spelling?) and it works very well, Lets me take LeadTrans Flamethrower and LeadApes Fire Blast after taking LoL% damage from Fake Out also it helps me Explode in the face of Ape, Mence etc. who think Fire Blast / Flamethrower will KO me. Stealth Rock is always great in a offensive metagame like this. Meteor Mash helps scout and coming off of 405 Attack anything that doen't resist is gonna be hurt pretty bad, unless it's a Hippowdon, and the 10% chance for an Attack bost is always nice. Bullet punch lets me 2HKO Ninjask who try to set up on me, and Aerodactyl leads who try to Taunt or Earthquake me which is only a 3HKO even without Leftovers. Explosion is almost guaranteed a kill againt anything but a Ghost, or Steels like Steelix, Skarmory and Bronzong. This pokemon also takes hits very well with it's high Defense and fairly good HP. The 4 Spe EVs lets me outspeed no speed Skarmory, and outspeed no speed Metagross' (both only if they use a neutral nture).

@ Life Orb
Ability : Intimidate
Adamant
252 Atk / 176 Spe / 80 Hp
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Ahh DDos. This pokemon is great for an early game sweep after Skarmory and Bronzong are gone. Also it's good late game with Life Orb because it lessens the need to Dragon Dance if everything left is slower than me or paralyzed. 244 Speed makes me out speed Timid ScarfZone, Non Scarf Flygon regardless of Nature or EVs and Non Scarf Azelf regardless of Nature and EVs which are just a few notable pokemon. Intimidate is also an invaluable ability which can cause switches and then lets me Dragon Dance up. Stone Edge kills flyers like Gyardos, Salamence, Dragonite etc. (Gyara and Mence are OHKO'd usually from +1 / -1 or +0 Stone Edge unless the use a very bulky set). Earthquake over Ice Fang becuase Celebi usually doesn't bother me and it will always OKHO Magenzone which Waterfall can't. Gyarados also supports the team by being able to resist all of Metgross' weaknesses and Magnezone's weaknesses.

@ Life Orb
Ability : Pressure
Timid
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power {Grass}
- Heat Wave
- Roost

LODos. After Blissey / Latias is gone this pokemon sweeps very well. Timid lets mt tie with other base 100's and out speed neutral nature ones most notably, Salamence. HP Grass means I can counter Swampert which suprisingly most people leave in on this. Heat Wave gives me a good Scizor check and it does 75%-89% to 252/0 Metagross. Roost takes care of Life Orb recoil and lets me lessen the damage from other Zapdos' trying to Thunderbolt and I out speed the standard Zapdos with 36 Spe EVs. Its Rock weakness is handled by Flygon and Swampert but the Ice weakness is the problem because I already have a pokemon 4X weak to it. Roost also lets me PP stall low PP moves like Stone Edge from slower pokemon like Machamp and Tyranitar or moves like Blizzard against slow pokemon like Walerin in Hail until they Toxic me. Having 2 pokemon weak to Stealth Rock is a liability but with Roost and a fast Spinner it usually int a problem but Zapdos and gyarados take 35% after a switch in and one attack not counting what move I switch into or if I'm coming in after a KO, also taking 16% in Sand or Hail adds up very quickly. Zapdos' natural bul lets it take a few hits and Roost it off. The main thing it provides that Magnzone didn't is it's a reliable Special Sweeper and I don't have to switch after oe attack like I did with Magnezone

@ Choice Scarf
Ability : Levitate
Naughty
252 Atk / 176 Spe / 80 SpA
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Outrage
- Draco Meteor

Who's Garchomp? STAB Earthquake is great. Flygon counters Heatran by being able to come in on Earth Power, Fire Blast, Flamethrower and threaten with Earthquake. U-Turn lets me scout and lessens the need to predict and hurts Celebi. Outrage is my main late game tool after I weaken them with Stealh Rock, U-Turn and other pokemon and after I kill their Steels and Scarfers. Flygon also helps with my LOJolt (who are becoming fairly popular) weakness. Meteor is to revenge kill Dragons like Mence or Kindra that are Outraging and can also be used for scouting because 140 Base Power + STAB hurts. Flygon resists Magnezone's, and Gyarados' weaknesses making it a good team player. I took Naughty > Lonely so that I'm not OHKO'd by +2 Adamant LO Lucarios Extremspeed 41.3% of the time even with Stealh Rock and only 71.79% of the time without it.

@ Leftovers
Ability : Torrent
Relaxed
240 Hp / 216 Def / 52 SpA
- Earthquake
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Roar

Swampert is a beast at taking hits. Although it is let down by its lack of a recovery move :( Swampert is also one of my few Heatran counters. Roar is an invaluable move by stopping Gyarados and other stat uppers that get greedy. Ice Beam kills MixMence that are at -2 SpA and Gliscor etc. Surf kills Rhyperior and other Ground - Rock types along with Steelix and letsme damage Bronzong and Skarmory. Earthquake rapes Heatran, Magnezone and SpecsJolt stuck on HP Ice or Thunderbolt. Swampert is immune to one of Gyara's weaknesses and resists the other. Not much to say on it because it's fairly self - explanatory.

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

Starmie is my spinner and my Gyarados and back up Heatran killer. Now, I only have 1 SR weak pokemon and 1 pokemon neutral to it, which is Starmie. But I need Gyarados to have as much HP as possible because I'm using Life Orb on it. Thunderbolt and Surf give great coverage. I'm considering taking Starmie off of my team because it usually does nothing but die. Also the fact that the most used spin blocker, Rotom - A, deals Super Effective damage with both of it's STAB moves while Surf does near to nothing. Starmie does help by resisting Flygon's 4X weakness and Magnezone's and Metagross' fire weakness. I really want to use LODos because I had good success with it on other teams after Bliss' is gone. Starmie also fills the role of Status Aborber which is helpful since burn really hurts my team and it means when I come in and get poisoned (possibly) by Toxic Spikes after I spin I can just switch out and get rid of the posion which can be a real pain to Swampert.
Retired :

@ Life Orb
Ability : Magnet Pull
Timid
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power {Fire}
- Flash Cannon
- Explosion

Was my Scizor, Skarmory and Forry killer. But Heatran coming in after a HP or Jolteon coming in after Thunderbolt was awful, and if Heatran threw up a Sub and had HP Grass that was usually the match. The only thing Zone does that Zapdos can't do is Explode and isnt weak to SR.


Scizor - Checked by Zapdos and Gyarados

Heatran - Never gets Flash Fire because my only fire move is on a trapper. Pert, Gyara, and Flygon all OHKO it with Earthquake

Salamence - MixMence can be a pain but if it's Outraging Flygon revenges it and at -2 Spa Pert kills with Ice Beam same with DDMence but I usually have to sacrifice something to kill it, which isn't fun

Gyarados - Starmie'sT-Bolt OHKOs but +1/+1 LO Earthquake hurts or I PHaze with Pert to rack up SR damage

Metagross - Lead Gross' can't touch Gyara excepth with Explosion also it is stopped by Pert and takes Super Effective against Flygon's STAB Earthquake

Infernape - NP MixApe is bad and can only be revenged by Flygon, Non NP don't (iirc) OHKO Starmie with Grass Knot and die to Surf

Tyranitar - Choice Banders stuck on Pursuit or Stone Egde are threatend by Gross' and DDTar after 1 DD is still out sped by Flygon and Sawmert can PHaze or Earthquake them.

Blissey - Metagross can Explode or Meteor Mash if it doesn't have T-Wave Gyara sets up and without Ice Beam Flygone does 54%-64% with Outrage

Swampert - I hate this thing Gyara wins a stall war by only being 4-5HKOd by standard MixPert Ice Beam while I set up Zapdos KO's with HP Grass always and people seem to leave it in alot

Lucario - Gyardos resists CC and Intimidates it, Flygon can live a +2 Life Orb CC and KO with Earthquake, as does Zapdos but with Heat Wave

Zapdos - Without HP Grass Pert PHazes or Ice Beams it / Earthquake on the Roost

Gengar - TrickScarf can really be trouble unless I bring Flygon into it forcing it to switch, the "standard" set dies to Flygon and doesn't do much to Pert

Celebi - It loves to take U-Turns from Flygon and can't do anything to Metagross while it takes Meteor Mashes until get I get an Attack boost

Jirachi - Lead Trick Scarf Jirachi lose to Magneone other wise Gyarados, Swampert and Flygon do good damage with Earthquake and can't really do much to Swampert. The only set that is a real problem is Sub CM

Azelf - Leads never OHKO Metagross with Fire Blast unless the use a + Spa nature or get a crit and then are 2HKOd by Meteor Mash then Bullet Puch, NP Azelf dies usually to Flygon as do most Life Or Azelf

Bronzong - Zapdos is immune to EQ and resists Gyro Ball and 2HKOs back with Heat Wave

Vaporeon - Zapdos takes fairly low damage from Surf and HP Electric and can Thunderbolt back Starmie doesn't mind Toxic and can hit it with Thunderbolt as well

Starmie - Life Orb or Expert belt versions with Grass Knot / Thunderbolt or Ice Beam / Surf / Recover are trouble but are usually handled by Flygon or Swampert, the Spinner set cant really do anything to Swampert, but Pert doesn't really do much back Zapdos also can take a couple Surfs and KO with Thunderbolt

Flygon - CB Flygon loses to Scarf Flygon and Swampert can threaten with Ice Beam while taking relatively low damage

Machamp - possibly the biggest threat to my team the Anti Lead set 2HKOs Gross and all i can do is switch in and out to Intimidate it but when the figure that up and throw up a Sub is reallly, REALLY bad luckily Dynamic Punch only gets 8 PP. Rest Talk hurts but I can usually Explode on it or use Swampert to wear down on it.

Breloom - After it sleeps something it doesn't do much to Gyara but Leech Seed it while Gross' can break it's Sub and Zapdos or Flygon can kill it but can get problematic fast

Kingdra - Without Rain up Gross' can wall it to an extent and if it Outrages, Gross' can Explode on it or Flygon can Draco Meteor it, depending on if Rain is up or how many (if any) Dragon Dances it has up

Skarmory - Starmie, Zapdos it's too easy

Suicune - CroCune can sweep my team if Gross' dies and thus I can't Explode effectively on it, if it is low on HP then Flygon can come in and Outrage it or Zapdos can Thunderbolt it if it doesn't have too many CMs up

Gliscor - Doesn't do anything to Swampert then takes a 4X effective Ice Beam, Gyaracan Waterfall it unless it packs Stone Edge, and Starmie can Surf it with STAB

Jolteon - Non HP Grass Jolteons can't do much to Swampert any Jolteon, Life Orb or Specs (but no Scarf O.o) are dealt with, with Flygon.

Latios - STAB Meteor Mash from Gross, and Outrage from Flygon usually gets it done

Now, I know I listed Metagross and Flygon alot, I don't use Gross as a suicide lead like Stealth Rock > Explosion but I save him fir when I really need to KO something also, U-turn really helps me scout and keep Flygon alive by letting it dodge hits also they both have plenty of resistences and 3 immunities between them.

That's the top 25 used Pokemon (excpet Jolteon and Latios) but I might add more later

I would the top 4 biggest threats to my team are, in no specific order :

Machamp
Breloom
Kingdra
Starmie

Top 4 because i can't decide which is more dangerous to me Starmie, or Kingdra

​

 

[Solidus]

Ok I really like the way you presented this team, you gave out a specific threat list and everything. As such, I'm going to try to match the high quality of the OP with a quality rate of which I tend to give anyways, but more so in this situation because you don't get people giving out wonderful presentations in the RMT often. Your team looks pretty good at a glance and I don't see any big problems, but I want to try and give some recommendations on a few sets and spreads that could use some touching up.

First off, since you aren't using a Scarf on Metagross, you're going to be a lot better off dropping Leftovers and using an Occa Berry instead; common leads like Heatran, Infernape, and Azelf completely shut him down with their powerful Fire attacks. This way, you'll have a chance to set up SR the first turn without being pummeled to the ground by the latter, and then you can proceed to switch out to one of your Waters to fend off said Fire attack. Okay on Gyarados I don't like his EV spread because you shouldn't be worried about outspeeding Maggy/Azelf/Flygon. A smart Scarf Magnezone user will NOT switch in on Gyarados from the fear of being OHKO'ed by EQ anyways and most of them will assume that he immediately Dragon Dances, so they know they won't be fast enough to hit with Thunderbolt. You normally wouldn't set his Speed to outrun Azelf or Flygon since the latter are only particularly dangerous if Azelf is running Thunderbolt which is rare and Gyarados really only fears Stone Edge and Outrage from Flygon, and those two are weakened by Intimidate. Flygon with 0 HP / 0 Def takes 73.42% - 86.38% from a max Attack LO Adamant Gyarados's Waterfall, and if you manage to DD once, it causes 109.63% - 128.90% damage which is a OHKO. That being said, I want you to run the standard spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe for the reasons already given.

Alright going along I want to get to the main issues that are giving your team problems. I thoroughly read your threat list, but the threats that you said gave your teams the most problems were Machamp/Breloom/Kingdra/Starmie. Before I get further into that, I want to get into your consideration of using Zapdos. The only way I see putting him in your team without upsetting the general synergy and not being too redundant is dropping Magnezone and using Zapdos in that spot instead. The notable differences that you get out of that transition would be the following; being able to effectively handle Swampert with Hidden Power Grass and you wouldn't have to resort to a stall war between Swampert and Gyarados as you said in your threat list; you get a recovery move in Roost for durability and lasting longer; lastly you'd be able to handle Scizor with Heat Wave without being locked into HP Fire like Scarf Magnezone is. Another benefactor out of that is getting a reliable Breloom counter. I'm not going to get into excessive detail on that as I think I've discussed that matter enough as it is, so I'll leave that decision up to you. Actually I was going to recommend you using a Rotom-H in that spot who is able to counter Machamp as well as Breloom to an extent, and gives Starmie users a second thought before switching in. To sum up my suggestion, I want you to drop Magnezone for Rotom-H so you can deal with the latter threats:

Rotom-H @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
~ Shadow Ball
~ Charge Beam / Thunderbolt
~ Overheat
~ Will-O-Wisp / Reflect

As previously stated, this is here to handle those troublesome Pokemon that ruin you team. The given spread is meant to make it defensive as well as having just enough Speed to do his job properly. Some of this is self-explanatory, but I'll explain it anyways. Shadow Ball hits Psychics like Azelf and Latios along with other Ghosts. The second slot depends; Charge Beam will higher your chances of sweeping due to the constant Special Attack boost you get from it, but Thunderbolt can be used if you prefer immediate power without having to wait for said boosts. I recommend Charge Beam, but it's up to you as to which one you want to use. Overheat is more of a last resort attack than anything else due to the -2 Sp. Atk decrease, but it works greatly with the boosts from Charge Beam. The sheer power from it puts a serious dent in anything that doesn't resist it, but is mainly there for Scizor and Jirachi. The last option depends; you can debilitate strong physical attackers with Will-O-Wisp, particularly Machamp/Breloom, or you can provide not only Rotom, but your whole team with protection with Reflect, although it wears off pretty soon. WOW is pretty much permanent unless the opponent has a cleric in their team like Blissey/Celebi or a Pokemon with Natural Cure. As for that set, I have no further comments.

So that's all the advice I could offer. I hope it helps you in any ways and good luck with your team. =)

 

[ParadoxFtw]

I really like the idea of using Rotom, the only thing is that the Will-O-Wisp is very easy to predict thus giving Heatran a free Flash Fire boost and almost forcing me to sacrifice something to KO it becuase Flygon, Gyarados, Swampert and Starmie would all be 2HKOd after the switch. You said you would prefer Charge Beam > Thunderbolt and without Magnzone if I already Eploded Metagross that it could come in after I KO something with Rotom or Could probably switch in and take damage it could Wish off and is then fre to Toxic something. Also with 86 base Speed and 252 Spe Rotom won't out speed anything notable especially with a neutral nature. Another problem I have with Rotom is that I used a much bulkier spread and it always was KOd fairly eaisly because of it's low ase HP. I'm going to test it and Zapdos out and see if either of them works better.

 

[Solidus]

The given Speed is meant to outrun Machamp (assuming he isn't Scarfed) and Breloom who can be burned quickly enough before they can do any real damage.

 

[ParadoxFtw]

Do you by any chance have damage calcs for Rotom's Thunderbolt or Shadow Ball vs. 252/0 Machamp? If not I will do them. I will also test Occa Berry on Metagross and the 252/252/4 spread on Gyarados. I just did some testing and Occa Berry is really working on Metagross becuase it lets sut up Rocks or Explode after taking a Fire attack if necessary. I also had great success with Zapdos so I am going to replace Magnezone with it. Also, as far as Machamp leads go, I forgot that Metagross out speeds and 2HKOs with Mash and KOs wih Explosion and I always get Rocks up before the first Dynamic Puch. Also, Switching in Gyrados then to Zapdos drains Dynamic Punch rather fast and lowers his attack so Zapdos can roost and Gyrados can set up on it. I still need to try out Rotom, but for now I'm going to replace Zone with Zapdos.