My first RMT: Scizor and FWS core!

[Iridiscent97]

Hi everyone! This is the first time I've entered competitive battling in OU. So far I've peaked at 1580-ish, but I'll try my best to make it work better with your help!

Team-building Process:

I started with Mega Scizor because it's still awesome.

Then I needed something to set up rocks, and something to remove 'em.

I needed something fast that could kill off things.

For something that had one job, Mandibuzz took a lot of damage from rocks. So I switched to Skarmory.

I had a pretty big fire weakness, so I got Heatran to fix it.

I wanted a healer, and settled for Vaporeon because it's the only water type healer in OU.
This completed my Fire-Water-Steel core.

Based on the suggestions given, I have switched Deoxys for Latios and Vaporeon for Sylveon. This is now a Fairy-Dragon-Steel Core!



Team Structure:

Latios (Offensive Defog)
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Sp. Atk / 4 HP
Item: Life Orb
Moves:
Draco Meteor
Psyshock
Thunder
Defog
Latios is now the defogger on this team, and unlike Skarmory he can potentially nuke something with a Life-Orb boosted STAB Draco Meteor while doing its job. Psyshock is essential STAb coverage against special walls, making Latios a very potent mixed attacker. I have chosen Thunder over Thunderbolt purely because it can KO Azumarill and actually threaten Mandibuzz.
Latios does not carry Roost, as he switches a lot due to Draco Meteor, and can always receive Wishes.

Skarmory (Physical Wall)
Ability: Sturdy
Nature: Impish
EVs: 252 Def / 224 HP / 32 Sp. Def
Item: Leftovers
Moves:
Whirlwind
Stealth Rock
Roost
Brave Bird
Skarmory can take all sorts of physical moves that threaten others in this team. Its main job is to sponge attacks, but it can also help out by setting up rocks and getting rid of boosters if needed. This is important for me because Heatran alone cannot get rid of boosters like Dragonite, Azumarill or Fighting types. Brave bird is a high-powered STAB which hits for decent damage even off an uninvested Attack stat, and more importantly ensures it isn't Taunt bait.
224 HP EVs ensure Sturdy reactivates after rocks damage and two turns Leftovers recovery. The rest is dumped into both defenses to give it as much beef as possible.

Sylveon (Healer)
Ability: Pixilate
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp.Def / 4 Sp. Atk
Item: Leftovers
Moves:
Wish
Protect
Heal Bell
Hyper Voice
Sylveon is the medic in this team (replacing Vaporeon), and its moves are for that purpose. Heal Bell and Wish are essential to support Scizor, Garchomp and Latios and protect them from debilitating burns. Protect allows Wish to be used reliably on Sylveon itself. The EVs give it maximum special bulk to form a ridiculously sturdy wall. Sylveon can also put an end to Rotom-W's shenanigans, something Vaporeon could not.

Heatran (Status Tank)
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Calm
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Sp. Def / 24 Speed
Item: Air Balloon
Moves:
Will-O-Wisp
Roar
Fire Blast
Earth Power
Heatran exists to sponge hits, burn switch-ins, phaze special boosters (which Skarmory alone cannot handle) like Gardevoir, Clefable or Latias and save Scizor from fire types. Air Balloon is still preferrred over Leftovers because that huge Earthquake weakness prevents Heatran from switching in to get an initial advantage to do its job and because it can use Wishes for later recovery anyway. Earth Power is here only for opposing Heatrans and other fire types. Since Will-O-Wisp exists specifically for burning, I have replaced Lava Plume with Fire Blast, which can help Heatran net some KOs even off an uninvested special attack stat. The EVs give maximum special bulk and enough speed to KO other Heatrans.

Garchomp (Revenge Killer)
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk. / 252 Speed / 4 HP
Item: Choice Scarf
Moves:
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Outrage
Garchomp's job is to switch in to electric moves and in general act as a revenge killer and sniper to take down specific threats, particularly Charizard X or Dragonite at +1 Speed. It has Dragon Claw and Earthquake as main STABs and Stone Edge for flying types, particularly Thundurus and Zapdos which do not invest in physical bulk. It can also clean up late-game with Outrage. It has very good bulk for an attacker so it can take a hit or two.

Scizor-M (Juggernaut)
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk. / 4 Speed
Item: Scizorite
Moves:
Swords Dance
Roost
Bullet Punch
Knock Off
Everything on this team works only to set up an ideal situation for Scizor to sweep. Mega Scizor is very bulky and can take a few hits, especially after megavolving. It can act as a bulky offensive pivot, switching in on fairy types with immediate threatening momentum. Roost helps it recover health while it sets up with Swords Dance. Then it can spam Bullet Punch. Knock Off exists because it provides consistent coverage and can put a full stop to things that depend on their items, like Gliscor or Chansey, as well as remove Leftovers.

This thing is usually a good counter to most frail sweepers, managing to surprise Aegislash with Knock Off as well, and is the main threat on this team. Scizor also pairs excellently with Sylveon and Latios, killing off things on the switch.


PROBLEMS SOLVED?

This thing is still somewhat a pain. Heatran and Skarmory still can't touch it while Scizor and Garchomp just get burned before they can kill it. However, Latios is now able to scare it away or outright nuke it on most occasions because it does not fear burns, while Sylveon shrugs off anything it can throw at it while healing the team of its burn-shenanigans. However, this team does not have a hard counter (i.e. grass-type) for Rotom-W. Thunder Wave Rotom-W is apparently also a thing now, so it can cause an annoyance to Latios, but again, Sylveon fixes this.

I now have something for these. While Garchomp can't one-shot them at full health and Scizor faces grave risk of being killed by Foul Play or Heat Wave or simply being phazed off, Sylveon on the other hand has nothing to fear. Sylveon can directly threaten Mandibuzz with Hyper Voice, and takes pitifully less from Foul Play or Toxic (which can be healed off) while Zapdos is beaten at its own game by being stalled to death. Thunderbolt can at best 6HKO Sylveon if Zapdos has invested fully in Special Attack.

Fighting types no longer worry me. Although Heatran cannot burn Conkeldurr or Infernape with impunity, it now has support in the form of Sylveon which can directly assault them with Hyper Voice. Conkeldurr usually does not carry Poison Jab specifically for fairies; it rather has an elemental punch or Knock Off, both of which do nothing much to Sylveon. Scizor-M can also set up on and close down Conkeldurr if it lacks Fire Punch. Infernape isn't an issue as it can be out-sped and OHKO'ed by Garchomp or Latios.

Anti-Rotom? Not Really.
Anti-Mandibuzz/Zapdos? Check.
Hazard Control? Check.
Anti-Fighting Types? Check.
Wall-breaker that doesn't fear burn? Check.
Toxic Stall? Not Present, and hopefully not needed now.​

 

[Genesis7]

This is might be a long stretch since your team was built around Mega-Scizor but I'm going to recommend changing him for Mega-Medicham. Medi will take care of your Fighting weakness completely, he OHKOs Rotom-W if it has no Defensive investment (it will OHKO regardless after Fake Out or hazards) and after he can take care of Zapdos and Mandibuzz pretty well.

Kundun (Medicham-Mega) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out
- Psycho Cut

Also I don't really see why Skarmory is on your team; you have a dedicated rocker in Deo-S and you have a great wall in Vaporeon and another decently bulky mon in Heatran. It seems to me that Skarm is only really there to phaze but you have Roar on Heatran and a decently good ability to revenge kill between Deo-S and Scarf-Chomp; if you want a toxic staller, I would recommend maybe switching Heal Bell on Vaporeon to Toxic and replacing Skarm with something like Banded Scizor with U-Turn to keep momentum on your side and to whittle down your opponents as much as you can.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Knock Off (this is mostly for Aegislash who will like to switch in predicting a U-Turn or BP, this will nerf it to a point where you won't have to worry about it screwing around with Deo-S and Medi too much later in the game.)

Cool team though, it just seemed kind of wanting to be more Offensive (Deo-Speed lead instead of Defense) but at the same time looking almost semi-stall.

 

[Aragorn the King]

Vaporeon is unfortunately an unviable Pokemon in OU. It doesn't do its job well enough, and usually is outclassed by something better. Using physically defensive Clefable instead of Vaporeon as your cleric remedies this. Additionally, Clefable removes your team's weakness to Fighting-types and Mandibuzz. You have Mega Pinsir, who covers all of Clefable's weaknesses, so I think this will be an easy fit. You can also use Sylveon instead; its mixed bulk is greater, but its physical bulk is worse. Clefable also wins 1 vs. 1 against Rotom-W, and can just Heal Bell off its burns. A sold fit imo. That only leaves Zapdos as a problem. Thankfully, Zapdos is decreasing in popularity, but it is still something you should cover. Well, actually, now that I think about it, what's your problem? Garchomp walls Zapdos, and can hit it hard with Stone Edge. The accuracy sucks, and Zapdos will most likely switch out. However, it isn't something your team can't handle. But, if you want to handle it even better, I'd recommend using Latias or Latios instead of Skarmory. You lose out on some Defense, but you gain much more offensive pressure, keep defog, and, if you choose Latias, gain the utility of Healing Wish, wish lets an otherwise crippled Pokemon come in for free. Using an Eon twin and a Fairy-type cleric, you form a Steel-Fairy-Dragon core with Scizor. Using Latias (or her brother) decreases your weakness you Zapdos; instead, you introduce a Pokemon that forces Zapdos out.

Imo, make these two changes, and see how it goes. Also, add more descriptions. This is a solid team, and it would be a shame if it gets locked due to the rules. You need three lines minimum per team member.

 

[V_Cliff]

Just some smaller suggestions:
Scizor:
Change MScizors Ev spread,shift attack Evs in both defensive stats.The incerased bulk helps you to find more set up opportunitys, anything weaker than Adamant Landorus-T's Earthquake and Aegislash's Shadow Ball will fail to 2HKO Bulky MScizor.(No boosting items) The following spread allows Scizor to setup on many common physical and special attackers like Conkeldurr,Tyranitar,Latios,Aegislash.The extra Bulk outweights the noticable loss in power,it makes accumulating Swords Dance Boosts far easier.
OU Analysis, Bulky SD Scizor Recommend Ev Spread: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 116 Def / 100 SpD.
(You are already using the Bulky SD Moveset.)

Heatran:
Maybe Leftovers over Air ballon to improve Heatrans longevity,Skarm and Scizor are able to deal with any EQ user (exept for CharX)and you dont really need Air ballon considering it is a very situational item.
(It allows you to Check CharX once tough).Toxic would be another way to harras opponents instead of WoW,Lava Plume packs already 30% burn chance so WoW might be a bit unnecessary.You also have Roar for Maga-Mawile.

Deoxys-S
For you main Problems,Rotom-W,Zapdos and Mandibuzz.(Conk is hard countered if youre using Bulky Scizor)
Personally, i dont think Lead Deo-S is very useful for this Team.First off,nobody of your Team Members is really afraid of SR,you have no Steahlt Rock weakness and a very reliable Defog user in your Team.So a Anti-Harzard lead is a bit over-cautious,especially with 2 other teammembers who could set up SR on their own.So you might use a Wallbreaker who can deal with problematic defensive mons instead of Deoxys-S.
My suggestion here would be Kyurem-B.
Kyurem-B resist both of Rotom-Ws stabs,doesnt really mind a burn if it is a specially based set ,and fells Mandi and Zapdos with Ice beam.Very good stats in general and solid Movepool make this a good choice for your last Teamslot.
Here is a Link to Kyurem-B OU Analysis from Jukain ,check out the first three sets and pick one if you think it fits well in your team.

Hope i helped you a bit.

 

[Iridiscent97]

First things first: I thank everyone for taking time out to help, and i have edited the descriptions to three lines each. Edits are in blue.

 

[pj]

Hi,
i would suggest giving any fighting move to scizor
Scizor-M
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk. / 4 Speed
Item: Scizorite
Moves:
Swords Dance
superpower
Bullet Punch
Knock Off
Superpower because since you dont have any fighting moves and I think roost wont work good

 

[Iridiscent97]

Second edits done; Special mentions to:

This is might be a long stretch since your team was built around Mega-Scizor but I'm going to recommend changing him for Mega-Medicham. Medi will take care of your Fighting weakness completely, he OHKOs Rotom-W if it has no Defensive investment (it will OHKO regardless after Fake Out or hazards) and after he can take care of Zapdos and Mandibuzz pretty well.
Kundun (Medicham-Mega) @ Medichamite
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Ice Punch
- Fake Out
- Psycho Cut

Also I don't really see why Skarmory is on your team; you have a dedicated rocker in Deo-S and you have a great wall in Vaporeon and another decently bulky mon in Heatran. It seems to me that Skarm is only really there to phaze but you have Roar on Heatran and a decently good ability to revenge kill between Deo-S and Scarf-Chomp; if you want a toxic staller, I would recommend maybe switching Heal Bell on Vaporeon to Toxic and replacing Skarm with something like Banded Scizor with U-Turn to keep momentum on your side and to whittle down your opponents as much as you can.

Scizor @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- U-turn
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Knock Off (this is mostly for Aegislash who will like to switch in predicting a U-Turn or BP, this will nerf it to a point where you won't have to worry about it screwing around with Deo-S and Medi too much later in the game.)

Cool team though, it just seemed kind of wanting to be more Offensive (Deo-Speed lead instead of Defense) but at the same time looking almost semi-stall.

Genesis7 Thank you very much (seriously, no sarcasm intended) for taking the time out to help me with my problems. I appreciate your help, but M-Medicham just does not suit my style of battling. I'm sure it's a potent mega, but I find it far too frail to replace bulky offense M-Scizor. While Medicham does have a wide range of coverage moves, including all three elemental punches and priority in Fake Out (situational and predictable) and Bullet Punch, it suffers from 4MSS in my opinion. I have tested it, but I find common threats like Aegislash, Gengar, Gyarados, Mawile, Pinsir and even Landorus and Talonflame can make quick work of it or set up on it. M-Scizor has only one silver bullet (fire) which if eliminated can ease up for it to sweep.

And, to justify my descision of keeping Skarmory as well as Heatran, the two actually serve different purposes. Despite being steel types, both of them have completely different weaknesses and resistances and cover for each other very well. Skarmory and Heatran are both phazers, true, but Heatran handles special boosters like M-Gardevoir and Clefable whereas Skarmory shuts down Dragonite, Terrakion, Garchomp and other physical boosters. Their roles do not overlap, and I can't get rid of them as yet.

Vaporeon is unfortunately an unviable Pokemon in OU. It doesn't do its job well enough, and usually is outclassed by something better. Using physically defensive Clefable instead of Vaporeon as your cleric remedies this. Additionally, Clefable removes your team's weakness to Fighting-types and Mandibuzz. You have Mega Pinsir, who covers all of Clefable's weaknesses, so I think this will be an easy fit. You can also use Sylveon instead; its mixed bulk is greater, but its physical bulk is worse. Clefable also wins 1 vs. 1 against Rotom-W, and can just Heal Bell off its burns. A sold fit imo. That only leaves Zapdos as a problem. Thankfully, Zapdos is decreasing in popularity, but it is still something you should cover. Well, actually, now that I think about it, what's your problem? Garchomp walls Zapdos, and can hit it hard with Stone Edge. The accuracy sucks, and Zapdos will most likely switch out. However, it isn't something your team can't handle. But, if you want to handle it even better, I'd recommend using Latias or Latios instead of Skarmory. You lose out on some Defense, but you gain much more offensive pressure, keep defog, and, if you choose Latias, gain the utility of Healing Wish, wish lets an otherwise crippled Pokemon come in for free. Using an Eon twin and a Fairy-type cleric, you form a Steel-Fairy-Dragon core with Scizor. Using Latias (or her brother) decreases your weakness you Zapdos; instead, you introduce a Pokemon that forces Zapdos out.
Imo, make these two changes, and see how it goes. Also, add more descriptions. This is a solid team, and it would be a shame if it gets locked due to the rules. You need three lines minimum per team member.

finncent1 I really owe you one (or is it two?) for your suggestion of using Latios and Sylveon. I first decided to try out Sylveon instead of Vaporeon because they both have virtually the same movesets and can be interchanged. You were right in that Sylveon has poorer physical bulk and a lower HP stat, but it does have a gargantuan Sp.Def and still makes a viable Wish passer, so I decided to change its EVs to make it a full special wall. It works well in tandem with Skarmory, and, more importantly, can 2HKO Mandibuzz and most fighting types. (I decided against Clefable because of its lesser stats and the general uselessness of Unaware or Magic Guard support here.)

Most importantly, I switched Deoxys-S to Latios. (Thanks also for the reminder about description length) Latios does the job of being a fast psychic type while also being an anti-hazard and walking (floating?) nuke all at once. It can solidly shut down AV Conkeldurr, Infernape and any other fighting type as well, while also destroying half the metagame with Draco Meteor. As explained earlier, however, Skarmory is invaluable while Deoxys is not (as said by V_Cliff, but I'm coming to him in a moment) so I'm keeping the metal turkey, but switched defog for SR on it.

Just some smaller suggestions:
Scizor:
Change MScizors Ev spread,shift attack Evs in both defensive stats.The incerased bulk helps you to find more set up opportunitys, anything weaker than Adamant Landorus-T's Earthquake and Aegislash's Shadow Ball will fail to 2HKO Bulky MScizor.(No boosting items) The following spread allows Scizor to setup on many common physical and special attackers like Conkeldurr,Tyranitar,Latios,Aegislash.The extra Bulk outweights the noticable loss in power,it makes accumulating Swords Dance Boosts far easier.
OU Analysis, Bulky SD Scizor Recommend Ev Spread: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 116 Def / 100 SpD.
(You are already using the Bulky SD Moveset.)

Heatran:
Maybe Leftovers over Air ballon to improve Heatrans longevity,Skarm and Scizor are able to deal with any EQ user (exept for CharX)and you dont really need Air ballon considering it is a very situational item.
(It allows you to Check CharX once tough).Toxic would be another way to harras opponents instead of WoW,Lava Plume packs already 30% burn chance so WoW might be a bit unnecessary.You also have Roar for Maga-Mawile.

Deoxys-S
For you main Problems,Rotom-W,Zapdos and Mandibuzz.(Conk is hard countered if youre using Bulky Scizor)
Personally, i dont think Lead Deo-S is very useful for this Team.First off,nobody of your Team Members is really afraid of SR,you have no Steahlt Rock weakness and a very reliable Defog user in your Team.So a Anti-Harzard lead is a bit over-cautious,especially with 2 other teammembers who could set up SR on their own.So you might use a Wallbreaker who can deal with problematic defensive mons instead of Deoxys-S.
My suggestion here would be Kyurem-B.
Kyurem-B resist both of Rotom-Ws stabs,doesnt really mind a burn if it is a specially based set ,and fells Mandi and Zapdos with Ice beam.Very good stats in general and solid Movepool make this a good choice for your last Teamslot.
Here is a Link to Kyurem-B OU Analysis from Jukain ,check out the first three sets and pick one if you think it fits well in your team.

Hope i helped you a bit.

V_Cliff Your suggestions were the most helpful. While I haven't implemented them as you intended, you certainly did point out several flaws, such as the redundancy of WoW and Lava Plume on Heatran (changed it the other way though; kept WoW and replace plume for Fire Blast) and the general uselessness of Deoxys-S. This, and other suggestions of yours, require a lengthy justification, but I hope you'll understand:

1. I deliberately ran max attack on M-Scizor because I had tried the exact set you had suggested in the past, and found that it does not OHKO Tyranitar with Bullet Punch even at +2 with 44 Atk EVs. If Tyranitar runs 176 Defence Evs, even 88 Attack Evs won't suffice to OHKO it. Max Attack, however, makes Scizor a much more relevant threat right from the start, OHKOing physically defensive Togekiss even without a boost. Besides, people don't expect bulky SD M-Scizor to run max attack, so there's a surprise factor as well.

2. Charizard is actually a huge problem for me (not so much now because of Latios and Scarfchomp, but still it terrifies me) and well worth using a balloon on Heatran. I did try leftovers as you said, but found that Heatran's fear of random EQs left it unable to stay in on lead Landorus-T, Garchomp or Dragonite, which would otherwise be forced to pop the balloon with useless moves while I calmy burned them. Besides, Wish helps keep Heatran healthy anyway.

3. About Deoxys-S. You were 100% right in saying that an anti-lead hazard-setter was being over-cautious. Deoxys also served no permanent purpose; it died easily and couldn't OHKO AV Conkeldurr at full health anyway. The sole reason I used Deoxys was because it had a fast taunt (because I hate Baton Pass + Ingrain) but it had more minuses than pluses. I have no Taunter now, but two phazers ought to do it. I put SR on Skarmory instead, as you rightly pointed out.

4. You were also right about a powerful Wall-breaker. I really liked your idea about Kyurem-B, but I had two serious problems with it: it wasn't fast enough for Charizard X, and it was weak to Rocks. But through that avenue, I found Latios, and it frankly does a much better job at Wall-breaking: it also resist Rotom-W's STABs, has higher Special Attack, doesn't fear burns at all, and has Psyshock for STAB mixed coverage. As an added bonus, it out-sped Charizard and Garchomp and could also use Defog to cover for Skarmory. It can also use Thunder/bolt for Mandibuzz and fire off nuclear powered Draco Meteors everywhere. So it's working out really well as part of an FDS core.

Hi,
i would suggest giving any fighting move to scizor
Scizor-M
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk. / 4 Speed
Item: Scizorite
Moves:
Swords Dance
superpower
Bullet Punch
Knock Off
Superpower because since you dont have any fighting moves and I think roost wont work good

praj.pran Thanks, but Superpower isn't good on my Scizor, especially not in favour of Roost. It has a terrible side effect on lowering Scizor's most vital stats, Attack and Defense, and forces a switch on something intended to stay. It also gives very situational coverage. Roost is vital for Scizor, as it must keep up its health while boosting. Superpower might see use on Banded Scizor with U-turn but not on mine.

Besides, I don't see why I need Fighting type coverage; it can be used only on Rock, Ice, Steel, Normal or Dark types realistically; the first two are all (more) weak to Bullet Punch as well, while the last two really couldn't be bothered about in OU, with the only significant dark-type (Tyranitar) also being a Rock type. Steel-types no longer resist Dark so Knock Off is good enough in my view.