My OU team, RMT and Comments please

Yoz


Intro:
Hey guys, this is my first ever competitive team. It is a mixed team based around a combo of Drapion/Rotom-C/Special Based Nape with a back up of Belly Drum Lax should anything go wrong which can also can take any fire or ice hits in. Hope you like it.
I'm also accepting any suggestions on the nicknames for a bit of fun.



What it looks like at a glance:

Heatran
Drapion
Snorlax
Infernape
Rotom-C
Jirachi


In detail:

Heatran @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: HP 4/Spd 252/SpA 252
Nature: Timid +Spd -Atk

Earth Power
Stealth Rock
Fire Blast
Taunt

Well I decided to change the Forretress for Heatran because I kept failing in putting any Entry Hazards or only managing one layer and then being forced out because of Trick or Taunt. However with Heatran, I can taunt them myself with Max Speed, set up my own Entry Hazard and then switch out to Rotom for the incoming Ground/Fighting attack which are the most common. Better still, I can use him later, to absorb any Fire attacks (improving further my teams list of immunities), and then dealing damage of his own.
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Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: HP 88/Atk 252/Spd 120/ SpA 48
Nature: Hasty +Spd -Def

Fire Punch
Thunderbolt
Iron Head
Ice Punch

Well this is the replacement for Magnezone. I have Fire Punch because it's deals with many threats such as other Steels, plus gives nice type coverage. Thunderbolt and the 48 SpA EVs are there to deal with Gyarados. Iron Head is of course of Haxx :P and good STAB bonus. However I wasn't sure whether to go with U-turn or Ice Punch, one has more tactical value (u-turn), but ice punch deals with Mence and Latias although Thunderbolt also deals with Mence to a cetain extent.
I have enough Speed plus more to deal with a max speed +1 DD Gyarados. Finally I put the rest of the EVs into HP for some bulk and to improve his sweeping capabilities. This allows him to switch into perhaps an Outrage/Dragon Pulse/Waterfall, then deal with the enemy. This set pretends to have max Speed EVs so by the time the opponent figure out that I have CS it's usually too late to take advantage.

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Drapion @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: Atk 252/ Def 4/ Spd 252
Nature: Jolly +Spd -SpA

Night Slash
Toxic Spikes
Earthquake
Whirlwind

I believe this to be the standard Smogon Drapion set with a few minuscule changes.
This has good type coverage with a high potential for crit hits and perhaps a lucky flinch or freeze for Ice fang. He has so far proven to be my best sweeper, nearly completely knocking out one team single handedly and very reliable. As his only weakness is Ground he is very adaptable and often outspeeds the majority of EQ users. He's also great for absorbing T-Spikes and any Psychic hits on Infernape. Overall, a perfect partner for Infernape although both suffer from ground damage. I changed Cross Poison for T-Spikes because the Poison does such little Type Coverage it wasn't worth it, plus T-Spikes normally guarentees poisoning, perhaps even toxic poisoning. The idea here is to switch into a Psychic hit, anticipate the swap and put down spikes as the opponent switches in. Then switch out to an appropriete counter, probably Rotom, forcing further switches and spreading poison/ST damage within the enemy team. I also added Whirlwind instead of Ice Fang as Ice Fang is too weak to actually deal with anything well, instead I can used Napes Hidden Power. With Whirlwind, I don't need to switch out and instead can Whirlwind my opponent away, scouting their team, spreading Damage.
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Infernape @ Life Orb
Nickname: Inferaper
Ability: Blaze
EVs: Atk 64/ Spd 192/ SpA 252
Nature: Naive +Spd -SpD

Flamethrower
Close Combat
Grass Knot
Hidden Power (Ice)

Perfect type coverage, hitting every type for at least neutral damage (as quoted from smogon lol). I personally can't see anything wrong with this set. The nature is -Def because if Nape gets hit anyway he'll probably get OHKO'ed and if he does survive it'll allow him to use blaze. What Drapion can't do, Infernape can.

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Snorlax @ Leftovers
Nickname: Laxatives
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: HP 168/ Def 120/ SpDf 220
Nature: Careful +SpDf -SpA

Belly Drum
Crunch
 Body Slam
Rest

I saw this set today which wiped my team out and decided to use it for myself. I changed Stockpile to Crunch to deal with any Ghosts more effectively being walled by Rotom. It has good synergy with Magnezone by saving them from any fire attacks with it's super high SpDef and it's ability Thick Fat if Heatran is gone. Plus it's a very good absorber of status afflictions.
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Rotom-H @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: HP 4/ SpA 252/ Spd 252
Nature: Timid +Spd -Atk

Overheat
Thunderbolt
Trick
Shadow Ball

This was never meant to be the key to my team, but the more I use it, the more it seems it is. It's immunity to fighting deals with Machamps irritating Dynamic Punch which gives me good defensive synergy with Snorlax who I need to protect to defend the rest of my Steels and the immunity to Ground works perfectly with Infernape and Drapion which gives me good offensive syerngy. Rotom also gives me another grass move other than Grass Knot and can hurt Gyrados for 4x damage with Thunderbolt.Trick is there to cripple anyone he can't kill. And finally he's obviously also my Spin Blocker, however this seems like the minority function after his variety of uses.
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Threat List: (Those I've identified so far)

Well so far I've had major difficulty with Machamp and Dynamic punch OHKOing a lot of my team. This is now dealt with by Rotom, however I need a way to dispatch of Machamp as well, not just suck up his attacks, Payback Machamps tend to counter my counter.

There is also Starmie with Rapid Spin and Hydro Pump. The Rapid Spin isn't a worry now but it seems I have to deal with it by taking the hit and then switching to Drapion or Rotom

Skarmory is a major problem from what I've seen so far. This is usually quite easy to deal with now. Drapion who often Outspeeds Skarmory, can just Whirlwind him.

Talking about Skarmory, Blissey is also a major pain once my Nape is gone and ususally just sucks up all my attacks spreading Toxic through my team. Still not sure what to do about Blissey if my Infernape is gone, which occurs often due to his low defense and Life Orb

DD Gyrados can wipe my team out as well after a couple of turns dancing. Same goes for Tar. I can usually deal with Gyrados with Rotom, however, if Gyrados gets just one DD off, I usually have lost howver now I can deal with him with Jirachi as well. Tar is normally easier, I switch in Nape and CC him. Normally even if he DDs once I can outspeed him.

Lucario is also a problem because it can ususally out-speed my team and often OHKOs my sweepers. Rotom can counter him and so can Snorlax sometimes.

Latias is a major pain, hurting much of my team very easily. Usually my best way to deal with Latias is switch to Jirach and Ice Punch/U-turn it.



Thanks for any comments, I appreciate it.
 
How about Rapid Spin on Forretress? Remove the opponents hazards set up your own and then end the show in a big bang, its a good theory, i call it, the big bang theory....yeeaah.

Thats an interesting Scizor, power up sweep the place while using sub and then when hes reaching his limit, baton pass. I suppose you put on careful nature to try and counter fire blast and the like which is special? Jolly would probably suit that particular set better.

Nice one on the shiny Drapion there. Cant say much about it since its not that much used.

Thats a great Infernape perfect Special Ape tough obviously Focus Blast would be stronger (plus it doesnt lower your defenses), Close Combat works awesome too...for a reason i cant quite remember hehe.

Cant say anything against that Lax. All i know is that i dont personally like it.

Seed Bomb...sure.
 
Thanks for that, I actually forgot about rapid spin on Forretress, I could possibly take off tox spikes or ST for it but not so keen on removing earthquake.

I think Starmie would probably be a better replacement for Breloom using the rapid spin set after some tests I did today, however I need to do a few more after being sure.

Yeah the drapion set is quite good I believe, especially since so few are familiar to it and don't realise all you need is a good earthquake to take it down. Plus it goes well with Infernape, sucking any Psychic attacks with it's immunity.

About Focus Blast, I'd rather not take the risk with it becuase one miss and my nape is potentially dead, whereas with close combat, the damage is the same and I lose def+sdef which I don't really need for 100 accuracy.
 
Just a nitpick, but you should probably go naive on infernape to take less from scizors bullet punch and lucarios exterme speed. Also going +spe lets you outrun base 100s like jirachi and salamence.

Edit: very cool snorlax set
 
Thanks for the comment, I did as you suggested however seeing how my infernape was knocked out by eevee with quick attack in one hit, it probably won't matter.
Yeah the Snorlax set is borrowed from someone I fought with my own EVs which seem to work better.
BTW any changes are in Bold Italics.

Also would appreciate if someone else could comment on my team because the more minds the better. :D
 
I don't like the snorlax set since it is walled by Rotom. I think Crunch over Stockpile would work better but I guess its up to you.

I don't see what you are doing with the Drapion set, sure you abuse its crit rate but other pokemon in OU hit harder than it. I suggest a Offensive Suicune over it to handle gyarados and T-tar.
 
I might try crunch but the Drapion set is actually my most successful mon at sweeping although Gyarados walls it well and can set up easilly.

@Ginganinja, I tried both of your suggestions yesterday, the Drapion to Cune change wasn't very succesful however the Snorlax change was brilliant, thank you.

I would also like more Feedback because although I win more than I lose, the line is too fine.
 
O.k drapion looks fine now I just did not like the offensive set it was running as other pokemon did it better.

Do not run sucker punch on scarf Rotom. Its a big no no. This is because you outspeed many threats with a scarf anyway but the main reason is when you kill something. Ie you are giving a free turn for a poke to stat up, more if you mispredict and stay in if you think he will attack. Also you are running no atack EVs on Rotom so sucker puch will not be doing much to anything. Go with shadowball instead. I would also prefer you running Rotom H over C as overheat will damage steels that resist your attacks. Moreover, grass has poor coverage in OU (relativly) and if your oponient switch;s to a resit its hard to regain momentum
.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, yes I definetely agree on Sucker Punch looking at it in retrospect. Very Rookie mistake :P. Overheat does certainly get a lot more usage however I have difficulty now dealing with Pokes such as Lanturn (although Earthquake is fine) and to a certain extent Quagsire, but seeing as those too aren't common, that isn't a problem. I also put Signal Beam on Magnezone to increase sweeping capabilities and deal with the ever annoying Latias.

I still feel like I need some more help with the team as Waters such as Gyarados still sweep me
 
Well I presume that it is Gyarados sweping you since Vaporeon and Suicune have issues with toxic spikes and Starmie does not like scarfed thunderbolts.

Mabe a scarfed Jirachi over magnetzone could help with the Gyarados issue as it can outspeed even after Gyardos has Dragon Danced.
magnetzone does not realy need to be on the team anymore as scizor is handled by Rotom and scizor does not threaten the team too much. Jirachi still checks many threats and lures out an opponients Heatran that Snorlax would love to switch in to.
 
Thanks again Ginganinja. As usual, your suggestions are very helpful. Yes it is Gyarados which is sweeping me, however, now the threat is much less.
I still have some queries regarding my team though to do with the Jirachi set so any input, as always, is much appreciated.
 
WEll U-turn is not a bad option but I prefer Ice Punch to check Dragons better, the chioce is between items is up to you but if gyarados is constantly getting DDs up against you a scarf is a better option. Also scarf lets you speed tie with scaf Flygon and Salamence with a DD boost. Its up to you though.
 
Okay I've made significant changes to Jirachi and I believe that my team is nearly finished. All I need to do is decide on the finishing touchs on Jirachi which is where I need the help of everyone. Thanks again to everyone who contributed, especially Ginganinja.
 
Lol you are too kind, I only gave advice lol.

Anyway while both moves have their advantages on Jirachi (and both hit Latias for roughly the same) I suggest Ice Punch over U-turn as it handles the other dragons (such as Salamence and Dragonite). You handle mix-mence versions with Infernape quite well however the main reason for Ice Punch on Jirachi is to hit DD Mence which can be a major threat to your team. However if you find that Mence is having difficult seting up DD on your team then it is perfectly fine to switch to U-turn to gain that nice scouting ability.

Have a Nice Day!
 
Thanks again, in my eyes it looks like my team is done. If anyone would like to comment on it or rate it please feel free to do so
 
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