Hi all, I'm not sure I'm in the right spot but here goes anyway:
So after a very very loooong time lurking and playing random battles exclusively I decided to finally get into OU and building in general.
After now 20 battles with my first team that I've kind of thrown together while explaining tiering, metas and all facets of competitive play to a friend, I was a bit surprised that I might not be too bad at this as my record is 18-2 right now (but considering this was low ladder I might as well be terrible, feel free to curb my pride).
I decided to build around a CelePex core considering I knew it was effective and went from there to build a balance team (I guess), also I love both these mons so might as well use them. I then added scarf Jirachi bc it's cute, I love serene grace and I knew I would end up needing speed control. For a mega + rocks I went with Diancie, Fight Z Tornadus-T for hazard control and I rounded out the team with Bulk Up Bulu.
As for the sets:
Toxapex (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 56 SpA / 80 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Flamethrower
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Healing Wish
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 100 Atk / 156 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
Tornadus-Therian @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Defog
- Superpower
Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Horn Leech
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge
Originally Torn was Rocky Helmet and Bulu ran superpower over Stone miss.
Like I said, so far this works well. But I already realized some glaring flaws. For one Diancie has been quite a disappointment so far as it's so frail that it can barely switch into weak neutral attacks without risking itself getting killed which often results in me not getting rocks up all game, I also have a hard time abusing Magic Bounce because it straight up loses to a lot of common rockers like Lando or Ferrothorn. What I also realized is how badly prepared I am for electric types. Koko, Rotom and especially Zapdos are giving me a really hard time as my only check is Bulu which puts me under a lot of pressure to keep Bulu alive during a game because it's also my only true water check and once he's burned it might be over. I also find myself rarely clicking bulk up and would like to know if it would be a good idea to change his set.
Torn-T in most instances puts in decent work but I rarely find opportunities to defog for some reason and I felt like the helmet might've been a better item on him to adequately chip on stuff like Lando. I also REALLY miss hurricane at times but I don't want to build a team without a Knock Off user.
Celesteela is probably the mon that puts in the most work in my battles. In part because its my best answer for opposing Celesteelas, while checking lots of other bothersome steel types like Ferro and Kartana. I really like Air Slash on it because nobody seems to expect it but I'm starting to think it might be redundant with flamethrower on it already. Like with Bulu I feel pressured to keep it alive in most battles and would like to lift some work off of it.
Jirachi works really really well in securing wins with flinchhax and catching Landos offguard with Ice Punch. I also ran into a lot of situation where I was really glad I put Zen on it. But I wished I could also run thunder Punch and Fire Punch on it, I also never clicked Healing Wish so far but I guess I'll be glad it's there when I need it.
Pex does Pex things and is my best and only Ninja answer.
I can also see fire types becoming problematic down the line but I didn't run into many as of now (except for that one surprisingly annoying AlolanWak).
Any thoughts on how to improve this? I obviously also need help with EV spreads as I absolutely do not know what I'm doing there, The Steela and Diancie spreads look like they serve a purpose but I was honestly pretty much randomizing those lol.
I think getting rid of Diancie sounds like a good start as I just won't get it to work properly, maybe Tornadus as well for coverage purposes. i don't wanna play without a Mega so I thought maybe Tyranitar or Latios sound good. I could keep Ground coverage and maybe slam Ice Beam on Latios and free up a slot on Jirachi with it, it could also serve as my defogger. Tyranitar on the other hand could be a decent Rocker on that team (that still loses to Lando) and I think Sand might fit quite well since the rest of the team isn't bothered by it. The last slot is harder. Z Lando seems like a good choice that would immensely improve my electric matchup but for some reason I just don't want to use it. D:
Well those are my thoughts, I hope I covered everything and would greatly appreciate any input on sets, mons, moves, items etc. :D
Love, Perry
(Off Topic: where do you guys get alle the sprites from? Finding those was quite a bother and I didn't even find the Shiny ones. Is there a database of some kind?)
So after a very very loooong time lurking and playing random battles exclusively I decided to finally get into OU and building in general.
After now 20 battles with my first team that I've kind of thrown together while explaining tiering, metas and all facets of competitive play to a friend, I was a bit surprised that I might not be too bad at this as my record is 18-2 right now (but considering this was low ladder I might as well be terrible, feel free to curb my pride).
I decided to build around a CelePex core considering I knew it was effective and went from there to build a balance team (I guess), also I love both these mons so might as well use them. I then added scarf Jirachi bc it's cute, I love serene grace and I knew I would end up needing speed control. For a mega + rocks I went with Diancie, Fight Z Tornadus-T for hazard control and I rounded out the team with Bulk Up Bulu.
As for the sets:
Toxapex (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover
Celesteela @ Leftovers
Ability: Beast Boost
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 56 SpA / 80 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Flamethrower
Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Healing Wish
- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Zen Headbutt
Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 100 Atk / 156 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
Tornadus-Therian @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Defog
- Superpower
Tapu Bulu @ Leftovers
Ability: Grassy Surge
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Horn Leech
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge
Originally Torn was Rocky Helmet and Bulu ran superpower over Stone miss.
Like I said, so far this works well. But I already realized some glaring flaws. For one Diancie has been quite a disappointment so far as it's so frail that it can barely switch into weak neutral attacks without risking itself getting killed which often results in me not getting rocks up all game, I also have a hard time abusing Magic Bounce because it straight up loses to a lot of common rockers like Lando or Ferrothorn. What I also realized is how badly prepared I am for electric types. Koko, Rotom and especially Zapdos are giving me a really hard time as my only check is Bulu which puts me under a lot of pressure to keep Bulu alive during a game because it's also my only true water check and once he's burned it might be over. I also find myself rarely clicking bulk up and would like to know if it would be a good idea to change his set.
Torn-T in most instances puts in decent work but I rarely find opportunities to defog for some reason and I felt like the helmet might've been a better item on him to adequately chip on stuff like Lando. I also REALLY miss hurricane at times but I don't want to build a team without a Knock Off user.
Celesteela is probably the mon that puts in the most work in my battles. In part because its my best answer for opposing Celesteelas, while checking lots of other bothersome steel types like Ferro and Kartana. I really like Air Slash on it because nobody seems to expect it but I'm starting to think it might be redundant with flamethrower on it already. Like with Bulu I feel pressured to keep it alive in most battles and would like to lift some work off of it.
Jirachi works really really well in securing wins with flinchhax and catching Landos offguard with Ice Punch. I also ran into a lot of situation where I was really glad I put Zen on it. But I wished I could also run thunder Punch and Fire Punch on it, I also never clicked Healing Wish so far but I guess I'll be glad it's there when I need it.
Pex does Pex things and is my best and only Ninja answer.
I can also see fire types becoming problematic down the line but I didn't run into many as of now (except for that one surprisingly annoying AlolanWak).
Any thoughts on how to improve this? I obviously also need help with EV spreads as I absolutely do not know what I'm doing there, The Steela and Diancie spreads look like they serve a purpose but I was honestly pretty much randomizing those lol.
I think getting rid of Diancie sounds like a good start as I just won't get it to work properly, maybe Tornadus as well for coverage purposes. i don't wanna play without a Mega so I thought maybe Tyranitar or Latios sound good. I could keep Ground coverage and maybe slam Ice Beam on Latios and free up a slot on Jirachi with it, it could also serve as my defogger. Tyranitar on the other hand could be a decent Rocker on that team (that still loses to Lando) and I think Sand might fit quite well since the rest of the team isn't bothered by it. The last slot is harder. Z Lando seems like a good choice that would immensely improve my electric matchup but for some reason I just don't want to use it. D:
Well those are my thoughts, I hope I covered everything and would greatly appreciate any input on sets, mons, moves, items etc. :D
Love, Perry
(Off Topic: where do you guys get alle the sprites from? Finding those was quite a bother and I didn't even find the Shiny ones. Is there a database of some kind?)