New Flame
Song I listen to while laddering.
Introduction:
Hello Smogon!
I decided to post this team is because I have had a lot of success using it, especially on the OU ladder. This team still has flaws in there, so I am hoping that together as a community we can come to a conclusion on what would be best for the team. All advice is taken into consideration so the more support, the better!The concept for this team is that I wanted to utilize Mega Sableye. Its overall typing and movepool allows it to shine on the top of the chart in the OU metagame. His ability to lead off in most situations and force swaps right off the start is enough to change of game.
The Team:
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Team Building Process:
I started off with the star of the team, Mega Sableye. His typing along with his physical bulk allowed him to be my defensive wall.
For my next mon i decided to take Chansey. This is because she can serve as a rock setter and provide the bulk to take special hits that Sableye cant, mostly fairy type attacks.
I add on Excadrill to the team to help provide the STAB steel type to deal with faires, but also he serves as a spinner if my opponent manages to get hazards on my side of the field.
Looking at my team i decided it would be great to include a volt-turn core to help gain momentum. Rotom-Wash helps with ground type moves and can hit hard with hydro.
To finish off my volt-core i decided to add Landorus-Therian. He provides the intimidate along with more momentum. The scarf set helps with outspeeding some of the fast mons in the metagame.
For my last mon i thought it would be great to add one of my favorite mons in the game, Sylveon. She provides the immunity to dragon and the STAB fairy typing to serve as a wall breaker.
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A Closer Look:
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Sableye
Item: Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
- Knock Off
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Foul Play / Toxic
Magic Bounce enables Mega Sableye to act as an excellent stallbreaker, entry hazard bouncer, status absorber, and universal stop to both Taunt users and defensive Pokemon. This makes it a true staple on stall teams. Furthermore, Sableye has an excellent typing, giving it immunities to Psychic, Fighting, and Normal as well as a resistance to Poison, while only leaving it weak to Fairy. It also has very solid bulk with access to reliable recovery, enabling it to act as a great wall and beat the majority of Stealth Rock setters with a physically defensive spread.
This spread has enough special bulk for Mega Sableye to switch into offensive Heatran variants while conserving enough physical bulk to handle most of the physical attackers Mega Sableye is used as an answer to, such as defensive Landorus-T, Tyranitar and Terrakion.
Knock Off - Knock Off is mainly used for utility purposes, removing items from Pokemon that like to switch into Mega Sableye such as Clefable, Talonflame, and Tentacruel.
Will-O-Wisp - Will-O-Wisp is also great utility and team support, making a lot of physical attackers a non-factor and also chipping away at switch-ins.
Recover - Recover acts as reliable recovery, which is needed for Mega Sableye to act as a defensive Pokemon.
Foul Play - Foul Play is the preferred move in the last slot because it stops Talonflame and Mega Charizard X from using Mega Sableye as setup fodder.
Chansey
Item: Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
- Toxic / Stealth Rock / Thunder Wave
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Heal Bell / Wish
Astronomical HP and Special Defense, combined with the ability to use Eviolite, makes Chansey the ultimate wall in OU. Unlike that of her sister Blissey, Chansey's augmented physical bulk with Eviolite allows her to take powerful physical hits, making her a staple on defensively oriented teams.
The given EVs maximize Chansey's physical and special bulk. Full investment in Special Defense maximizes Chansey's capabilities as a special wall, and a Bold nature is the best one to make Chansey as physically bulky as possible. Eviolite makes Chansey even bulkier, boosting her Defense and Special Defense by 1.5x.
Toxic - Allows Chansey to cripple opposing offensive Pokemon with a status effect, thus cutting their sweeps short.
Soft-Boiled - Soft-Boiled gives Chansey easy recovery, prolonging her presence on the field. It is crucial to keep Chansey healthy with Soft-Boiled, because she lacks Leftovers.
Seismic Toss - Seismic Toss gives Chansey some offensive presence and will break Substitutes if the foe has less than 404 HP.
Heal Bell - Heal Bell lets Chansey act as a cleric.
Excadrill
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Nature: (+SpD, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock / Toxic
Balanced teams typically have enormous trouble stomaching Swords Dance-boosted hits, which annihilate the likes of Slowbro and Gliscor. Additionally, Excadrill has access to Rapid Spin, which allows it to act as a great entry hazard remover. Excadrill also has a solid typing that makes up for its rather mediocre bulk, allowing it to go toe-to-toe with Pokemon such as Latios and Raikou.
While full HP and Special Defense investment might look odd on Excadrill, the EVs allow it to tank some special hits it otherwise couldn't, including some super effective ones such as Clefable's Flamethrower and support Heatran's Lava Plume. It is also able to switch into Draco Meteors from Latios quite consistently and can tank a Fire Blast from Mega Altaria if required.
Earthquake - Provides decent coverage against Electric-, and Steel-types.
Iron Head - Provides decent coverage against Fairy-types.
Rapid Spin - Used to remove entry hazards from Excadrill's side of the field to support its teammates.
Stealth Rock - Provides entry hazard support, wearing down opposing teams with residual damage.
Rotom-Wash
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Nature: (+Def, -Atk)
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split
Rotom-W is a premier pivot in the OU metagame that is able to switch into a number of common Pokemon, such as Azumarill, Talonflame, and Landorus-T. Due to its access to Will-O-Wisp and sufficient defenses enabling it to pivot into a number of offensive threats, it is very easy to fit into a balanced or a slower-paced offensive team.
248 HP EVs and 252 Defense EVs give Rotom-W close to maximum HP while allowing it to take less passive damage from Stealth Rock, status, etc. Leftovers is appreciated for its passive recovery, as Rotom-W gets worn down rather easily.
Volt Switch - Electric STAB move that allows it to regain momentum after pivoting into a threat.
Hydro Pump - Secondary STAB that allows it to beat some of the Pokemon it checks, most notably Ground-types such as Landorus-T and Mamoswine, which are immune to Volt Switch.
Will-O-Wisp - Will-O-Wisp allows Rotom-W to inflict burns on the foe and deter physical attackers.
Pain Split - Pain Split can be used when Rotom-W's HP is low to regain some HP, but it tends to be very inconsistent overall due to being dependent on the foe's HP.
Landorus-Therian
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Superpower / Knock Off / Explosion
- U-turn
Landorus-T's superb typing gives him immunities to Electric and Ground, two very potent offensive typings, and resistances to Bug, Fighting, and Poison. Landorus-T's defensive potential is also commendable, primarily his physically defensive capabilities that are further helped by his fantastic ability, Intimidate, which helps his abilities to perform physically defensive roles soar. This combination of Intimidate and Landorus-T's offensive and defensive presence has allowed him to establish himself as one of the best pivots, forcing switches with ease.
The Speed investment and Jolly nature allow Landorus-T to outspeed as many threats as possible in order to revenge kill or pivot and make the most use of his generally unspectacular base Speed. Full investment in Attack maximizes Landorus-T's offensive potential, allowing him to deal as much damage as possible and effectively revenge kill. Choice Scarf is used to boost Speed for optimal revenge killing potential.
Earthquake - Best STAB attack due to its great power and perfect accuracy, dealing good damage against most opposing threats that do not resist or are immune to it.
Stone Edge - Stone Edge hits Pokemon that are immune to Earthquake, most notably Flying-types such as Thundurus and Talonflame and Levitate users, for super effective damage.
Superpower - Superpower provides additional coverage and hurts possible switch-ins such as Ferrothorn, Mega Gyarados, Mega Lopunny, Air Balloon Excadrill, and Heatran.
U-turn - U-turn is good to use early-game to scout an opponent's lead Pokemon, and it allows Landorus-T to capture momentum and switch into a more favorable matchup.
Sylveon
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Hidden Power [Ground]
- Shadow Ball / Baton Pass
Sylveon is a very well-rounded Pokemon in the OU metagame, and its godly Fairy typing opens up many opportunities for it to shine. Its Pixilate-boosted STAB Hyper Voice plows through anything that doesn't resist it. Sylveon's good base 110 Special Attack along with its many coverage options allow it to take on the threats it needs to.
Full investment in HP and Special Attack maximizes Sylveon's bulk and power. 16 Speed EVs are necessary to outspeed uninvested Tyranitar. Choice Specs maximize Sylveon's offensive capabilities, and Pixilate changes Hyper Voice to a Fairy-type move and boosts its power.
Hyper Voice - Hyper Voice is boosted by Pixilate and allows Sylveon to hit Pokemon behind Substitutes; it hits resists fairly well, 2HKOing Mega Scizor and even Metagross before it Mega Evolves.
Psyshock - Psyshock hits the Poison-types that resist Hyper Voice, such as Amoonguss, Mega Venusaur, and Tentacruel.
HP Fire - Hidden Power Fire is for eliminating Ferrothorn and Scizor.
Shadow Ball - Gives Sylveon a fighting chance against Mega Metagross, Jirachi, and Bronzong.
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Counters & Weaknesses:
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(SD) (CM)
The reason as to why this team struggles with these two together are for the fact that if Sylveon goes down, Garchomp has the free will to come in and start setting up D-Dances. The same can be said for slowbro, but it can set up calm minds for free once Excadrill goes down since i wont have toxic so widdle it down.
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Conclusion:
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To wrap things up, this team may appear as a stall team but its true only walls are Chansey and Sableye. My tow bruisers if you may call them are my Excadrill and Rotom-Wash. They serve as pivots in and out for momentum or to remove a hazard or two. My two "carries" and Landorus-Therian and Sylveon. They both serve as true damage dealers and they can come in and take out some mons with OHKO and 2HKO. This team does lack the usage of any dragon moves but with the bulk of Chansey it can tank a lot of special moves that she can heal back up and force the dragons out with allows me to swap into another pokemon almost for free. With the Will-O-Wisp use on this team it helps deal with a lot of the threats in the OU metagame.
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Thanks & Shoutouts:
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To the pokemon community for being one of the best there is in gaming, and for supporting the competitive scene for awhile. Its much appreciated by myself and I'm sure most others on how much effort you put into running everything, and I know you guys and girls will keep it up for years to come. Thanks so much for everything!
Shout outs to all my friends to helped check out the team and support me through it all: Sammitude, TheTwinkyGod, Deathknight510, dustyb00bs, D3M3NAT3R21, PixeIate, king chess b, Mccolley23, Piru, seadogg, Breakin Brad, Kalebinthehouse, and most importantly my parents! Love you all and couldn't be where I am today without any of you.
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Importable Team:
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http://hastebin.com/cihatemeku.md
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Team in Photos:
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Sableye
Clefable
Excadrill
Rotom-Wash
Landorus-Therian
Sylveon
Greatest Pokemon Trainer
Have a Great Day Smogon!
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