New Offensive Team

[DestinyEnd]

(Edit: Fixed image Error) (Sorry about some of the cut-off images, I won't use Showdown Teambuilder for my images next time.)

I'm unsure if this team is really bad or not as I'm very new to the competitive scene. If I should just scrap the whole team or a good portion than I will, as I'm very unsure of what's good and what's not good. I would also really appreciate any recommendations for Pokemon that I can swap out, as I know that you'll probably spot some large flaw in my team other than fairy coverage. I've been playing it on Showdown and it's been doing OK. I usually lose due to my lack of knowledge of how to counter things rather than problems with my team.


Forretress

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EV Spread: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Sp. Def
Nature: Relaxed (+Def,-Spe)
Moves:
-Rapid Spin
-Stealth Rock
-Toxic Spikes
-Explosion

It's a pretty standard setup for Forretress. I like Forretress as a hazard setter over Ferrothorn just because I feel that he is better at getting up hazards and rapid spinning in the first few turns, and then just getting out. I like Toxic Spikes over spikes because the rocks do enough damage to the things that I need to, and the toxic spikes help with bulky pokemon that are difficult to take out. I choose explosion over U-Turn because I can often explode into a Mega Charizard setting up, and then take it out with my


Trevenant

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EV Spread: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def, 4 Attack
Nature: Careful (+SpD,-SpA)
Moves:
-Wood Hammer
-Shadow Claw
-Will-O-Wisp
-Rest

This setup for Trevenant makes him into an absolute tank. He can take a lot of super effective attacks, along with being a good switch-in for attacks that would otherwise KO one of my Pokemon. Wood Hammer, Shadow Claw, and Will-O-Wisp are fairly self explanatory, and he usually gets what I need him to do done. I can use rest and then switch out, and Natural Cure cures sleep allowing him to be continuously useful.

Mega Gardevoir

Item: Gardevoirite
Ability: Synchronize
EV Spread: 172 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 84 Speed
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Moves:
-Calm mind
-Dazzling Gleam
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt

Mega Gardevoir is an incredibly strong special attacker that I use as my main fairy type Pokemon and I also use it for a lot of type coverage. The moveset is pretty standard, Shadow Ball is for Psychic/Shadow type coverage (Not Aegislash because of Shadow Sneak), and thunderbolt is really good for getting water types that don't expect a lightning move on Gardevoir.

Salemance

Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Moxie
EV Spread: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Sp. Def
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
Moves:
-Dragon Dance
-Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Aerial Ace

Salemance is a fantastic sweeper for my team. I once swept somebody's whole team with him: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-108893640. He is an excellent counter for almost all dragon type pokemon, and has prevented my whole team from dying to things like Mega Garchomp and/or Charizard X. His main objective is to be sent in after a Pokemon faints, Dragon Dance, take whatever hits him thanks to Focus Band, and then take out almost any Pokemon with his moves' type coverage. He is also very fast, and outspeeds almost anything that he needs to outspeed, coupled with incredibly deadly attack. I enjoy this setup a lot, the downside being priority moves (For which I have to switch out) and the fact that he's frail and doesn't deal well with stealth rocks.

Talonflame

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body (Just kidding, Gale Wings)
EV Spread: 252 Attack, 248 Speed, 8 HP
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
Moves:
-Flare Blitz
-PRIORITY BRAVE BIRD
-U-Turn
-Steel Wing

You can more or less understand the objective of Talonflame, and he's proved invaluable to my team in terms of type coverage and taking out weakened Pokemon with a neutral PRIORITY BRAVE BIRD. The U-turn does a lot of damage against psychic type Pokemon, and and allows him to switch into his opposite, Rotom Wash. I swapped Steel Wing for Roost because I didn't often get a chance to use Roost seeing as how frail he is, and I use leftovers to lessen the recoil on his attacks already.

Rotom-Wash

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EV Spread: 232 HP, 56 Sp. Atk, 220 Spe
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
Moves:
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-Will-O-Wisp
-HP Ice

Another pretty standard way to run Rotom-Wash. His excellent typing allows me to counter other Rotom-Washes along with being a good switch in for most attacks. I must admit however that I don't use Will-O-Wisp very much, and HP Ice can often be super effective, but never does much damage at all. I think that it's my lack of experience, but otherwise Rotom-Wash has been an excellent part of my team no matter how I use him.

Again, I really appreciate negative feedback, as long as you recommend something that I can do to fix it, or something I can change. Even "This team sucks, start again", although I do want to incorporate some of these pokemon in whatever my new team will be because I like them.

 

[emilyyyy]

Hi friend, nice team! Here are a few small thoughts I have, take them as you will.

• I don't like Calm Mind on your Gardevoir. Gardevoir is too frail and doesn't have recovery, which makes it probably unable to use Calm Mind very well.
• If I'm not mistaken, Hyper Voice hits harder than Dazzling Gleam on Mega Gardevoir thanks to Pixilate. I'd switch them.
• I always like Lum Berry or Life Orb on Salamence. Like you said, Stealth Rock limits it so having a sash is pointless if Rocks are a problem.
• I'd change your Rotom-W to max physical defense as your Talonflame counter.
• On your Talonflame, I think Leftovers probably isn't doing much good and I would switch to an offensive item like Life Orb or Choice Band for that extra firepower.
• I'd personally swap your Trevenant with a Latias. Latias can tank special hits very well and has much more bulk than Trevenant (76 Def/86 SpDef vs. 90 Def/130 SpDef). They both share the same weakness to Knock Off, but Latias has the added bonus of contributing Defog support which can protect your Salamence if you decide you really like his Focus Sash. It also protects the U-Turn/Volt Switch synergy of Talonflame and Rotom and allow them to freely keep switching without taking huge amounts of damage every turn (Talonflame that is).
• One final nitpicky thing: Make your special attackers have 0 Atk IVs for Foul Play.

That's what I got for now! Good luck with the rest of your teambuilding and feel free to ask me any questions. ^_^

 

[Acedia]

Hello and welcome to the competitive scene!
This team isn't too terrible for a first timer, but could definitely benefit from a little improvement. I'll be listing smaller changes to optimize your current team first, and bigger changes that could definitely make your team better, but are entirely optional for you to try.

Small Changes

• Mega Gardevoir should run Hyper Voice over Dazzling Gleam. Pixilate Hyper Voice has a base power of 117 without taking into account STAB. The difference in base power between the 2 moves is enormous; Pixilate Hyper Voice outclasses Dazzling gleam badly in everything that you can think of and definitely hits much harder, while also being able to hit pokemon behind Substitutes. It definitely should be changed. You should run either Psychic or Psyshock (leaning more towards Psyshock) as another STAB move over either Shadow Ball or Thunderbolt (probably Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt can help dealing with Azumarill) so you can get past Mega Venusaur. As for the stat spread, you could opt for a 252 SpA/ 252 Spe Timid spread to maximize your offensive power while sitting at a comfortable 100 base speed tier.
• Salamence should run Fire Blast over Aerial Ace , or else you end up getting walled by Skarmory without being able to do nothing in return, while Skarmory either stacks up Hazards or just Whirlwinds you away. A Hasty nature will ensure that you 2HKO Skarmory with Fire Blast even with some Sp Def investment.
• You should change Steel Wing to either Roost, Tailwind or Will O Wisp on Talonflame. Steel Wing barely grants you any additional coverage that Brave Bird/Flare Blitz and U-turn don't offer, and it's pretty much a wasted moveslot. Instead you could run Roost to further boost Talonflame's longevity and heal off any damage taken from Stealth Rock in case Forretress isn't able to spin (which shouldn't be too uncommon either, as Forretress is just bait for Aegislash). Tailwind and Will O Wisp are options to let you support your team; Will O Wisp can cripple physical threats so Salamence has an easier time setting up, while Tailwind makes it easier for either Mega Gardevoir or Salamence to set up or kill any threat at +1 that Talonflame isn't able to beat. Additionally, you could run a Choice Band over Leftovers on Talonflame for more immediate revenge killing power if you feel that Brave Bird doesn't hit hard enough.
• Since you already have Mega Gardevoir and Salamence to deal with dragons, and Hydro Pump will hit just about any Ground type harder, you should change HP Ice to either Rest or Pain Split. HP Ice won't be that useful for you (reasons stated above), and you won't be getting past any grass type with it either (Mega Venusaur will easily shrug it off, while Breloom doesn't get KO'd, and KOs in return with Bullet Seed; you really are better off just burning them with Will O Wisp), so it's also quite a wasted moveslot. The choice between Pain Split and Rest (with Chesto Berry) depends on whether you feel that Rotom-W is able to hold leftovers and heal some HP at the same time, or cure any status ailment it suffered in the battle and replenish its HP with Chesto Rest. You could also opt for a Physically defensive 248 HP/ 252 Def Bold stat spread to be able to take flying attacks with ease, as Rotom-W is essentially your team's Talonflame counter and Mega Pinsir's check.
• Change your HP EVs to 248 on Forretress and Trevenant, so you have an odd number of HP, granting you 1 more switch in case Stealth Rock or Spikes are still around (assuming you had no prior damage at all), and decrease the % damage you take from hazards very little (you basically lose 1 HP to gain 1%).

This pretty much covers any small changes that can be made to your team without the addition of any new member.

Now I'll be mentioning common threats to your team and bigger changes that could be made without entirely denaturing your team so you're able to deal with them.

Bigger Changes

Identifying Threats
Forretress is heavily outclassed in the current meta. As a spinner, Excadrill does the job much better while not being hampered by Aegislash at all. As a hazard setter, Deo-D is much better because of its overall bulk and ability to stick around long enough if ever your hazards were to get spinned or defogged away. Forretress' only niche is to provide a slow Volt Switch to get in a frail physical sweeper safely. With that in mind, Aegislash literally has field day on your team; it's able to crumble most of your team without much effort by simply clicking shadow ball (the physical variant is easily crippled by Will O Wisp though). This can be really dangerous because you'll be losing 1, if not 2 members of your team in the process to get rid of it. The worst part is that Forretress won't be able to spin at all until Aegislash is taken out, so Talonflame and Salamence might end up losing 50% and 25% HP respectively because of Stealth Rock.

Trevenant is a mixed bag. The Harvest variant is heavily reliant on the RNG to heal off using Sitrus Berry or Chesto Rest (Sun from Charizard is very welcome) , but I find your set to be quite original, as using Natural Cure + Rest isn't something I've seen very often. The problem though, is that it basically makes Trevenant pursuit bait, and Bisharp, a common Pursuit user (along with Aegislash again), is a threat to your team as well. Forretress isn't able to do anything and ends up being just setup fodder, while explosion will only take out around 30% of Bisharp's health, Gardevoir is KO'd by Iron head, Trevenant is KO'd by STAB Knock Off, Salamence isn't able to KO with Earthquake/Fire Blast and gets KOd by Knock off + Sucker Punch, Talonflame is KO'd by Sucker Punch + Flare Blitz's Recoil (You end up killing it, but die in the process, and that is only assuming Bisharp has no HP EVs at all; with max HP investment, Bisharp survives your non banded Flare Blitz and KOs you) and finally, Rotom-W loses a huge chunk of health with Knock off while you either Burn it with Will O' Wisp or try to 2HKO it with Hydro Pump (at full health it's definitely going to KO you with Knock off and Sucker Punch).

Another threat to your team are the Mega Charizard formes (Both Y and X), as they can just plough through your team in the same manner as Aegislash and Bisharp do, with the exception that you could possibly take them out by having Forretress explode and have Talonflame on revenge killing duty. Here's a nice calc: 252 Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Mega Charizard Y: 262-310 (87.9 - 104%) -- 25% chance to OHKO ; with a little prior damage on Mega Charizard Y, you're definitely going to take it out with a banded Brave Bird, so I guess this is all the more reason to run a Choice Band instead uh :P.

With those threats in mind, I'll be making a few suggestions to try and make your team more optimal.

Suggestions

I'd suggest to replace Forretress and Trevenant with something else entirely. My suggestions would be to use Choice Scarf Mold BreakerExcadrill as your spinner and Heatran as your Hazard (mainly Stealth Rock) setter.
As you might have noticed, this further increases your team's weakness to Water, but I feel that you might be able to deal with those easily with the other half of the team: Talonflame, Mega Gardevoir and Rotom-W should be able to check Keldeo and Manaphy without a lot of problems, Azumarill however, could prove to be a little more troublesome.
Excadrill's job is to spin away hazards while being decent offensive check to Mega Charizard X (prior to dragon dance), Mega Charizard Y (definitely OHKOing it with Rock Slide), Aegislash (loses a huge chunk of its health due to Earthquake, but ends up KOing with Sacred Sword + Shadow Sneak) and Bisharp (gets hit quite hard by Sucker Punch, but definitely KOs with Earthquake). Iron Head lets you smack most fairies in the tier quite hard, helping out Salamence as well (as an added bonus, Mold breaker Earthquake lets you KO Rotom-W too). Finally, Excadrill also forms a nice offensive core with Talonflame as they're able to take care of each other's checks, boosting your overall team's synergy .
Heatran will be supporting your team by setting up Stealth Rock and spreading status with Toxic, along with being able to act as a failsafe Aegislash and Bisharp check in case Excadrill ever goes down. Running Earth Power on it lets you hurt another Heatran, as well being able to hit Aegislash and Bisharp and even hurt Mega Charizard X for some nice damage. The sets can be found below (also left a note explaining Heatran's EV Spread):

Excadrill

Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EV Spread: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Rapid Spin
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head

Heatran

Item: Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EV Spread: 248 HP/ 92 Def/ 168 SDef
Nature: Calm
0 Atk IVs
- Earth Power
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Protect / Lava Plume

The EVs let you comfortably take 2 (uninvested) Sacred Swords from Aegislash, Knock off + Sucker Punch from Bisharp and let you survive 1 unboosted Earthquake from Mega Charizard X (Edit: my bad, I made a mistake with the calculator). Protect is the preferred option for the last slot as it lets you scout stray Earthquakes, as well as racking up Toxic damage and Leftovers Recovery. If you feel that Bisharp and Ferrothorn are too troublesome, and would rather want to hit Aegislash a little harder with an additional chance to burn, feel free to change it to Lava Plume.

Edit no.2 (God I edit so much): another relevant hazard setter that can help you get past Bisharp, Mega Charizard X and Aegislash is Hippowdon. It fills the same role as Heatran, but with a better typing to deal with those specific threats, as well as overall better physical bulk. It easily survives a shadow ball from Aegislash and KOs with Earthquake, as well as letting you survive anything Charizard and Bisharp throw at you and deal with them with Earthquake. It also gets reliable recovery in Slack off so it can stick around a lot longer. The only problem though, is that sandstorm's chip damage might break Salamence's sash and doesn't really sit well with the rest of the team either, so you can either change Salamence's item to something else like a Lum or Yache Berry (as suggested by user emilyyyy) or run Sand Force on Hippowdon. The set can be found below here (the stat spread is explained too):

Hide

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream / Sand Force
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Speed IVs
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Slack Off
- Toxic / Whirlwind

This spread lets you take a Shadow Ball from Aegislash and always KO with Earthquake (since you'll be moving last), Knock off + Iron Head/Sucker Punch from Bisharp and check Mega Charizard X even at +1. The last slot depends on whether you'd rather want to support your team through Toxic damage or shuffle your opponent's setup sweepers with Whirlwind.

This ends my somewhat lengthy rate. (Sorry for making you read all this ;_;)
I hope I was of any help!
Good Luck with teambuilding and have a nice day!

 

[DestinyEnd]

Thank you both for the help, especially Acedia for the very detailed response. I'll be sure to edit my team accordingly, and take everything that you both have said into account. Again, I'm very grateful for your help!

 

[Timpsu]

Hey! Going to share a few thoughts of the team also. First of all, I completely sign every suggestion Acedia made. I will expand on some of them, and some of the suggestions will be my own.

First of all, the core of Forretress + Trevenant isn't really a good one for OU, so that should be switched. A core of Excadrill + Heatran is a potent one as mentioned above. Although they share a few weaknesses, they are quite solid in their roles, and will give you a good basic to start improving your team from. As for M-Gardevoir, I would get rid of Calm Mind altogether. A base Speed of 100 isn't enough to sweep, and at +1 you won't be doing all that much more damage to your usual checks or counters. I suggest a moveset of Hyper Voice / Psyshock / Shadow Ball, and HP Ground or Focus Blast in the last slot. HP Ground lets you get past Heatran, and Focus Blast lets you hit Ferrothorn and Scizor. Also change EVs to those mentioned above. Salamence has two good item options in Lum Berry and Life Orb. Lum Berry lets you boost against status users, Life Orb gives more damage. Use a spread of 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Speed and Naive nature, so that Fire Blast becomes an effective move. I also suggest switching Dragon Claw to Outrage as Salamence needs all the power it can get, but that is mostly personal preference. Switch Leftovers to Choice Band on Talonflame and switch Steel Wing to one of the options mentioned above. Also switch Rotom-W's moveset and EVs to the ones mentioned above. Good luck with the team!

 

[DestinyEnd]

Thank you for all the help that you've given me so far! I've edited my team and playtested it in Showdown, and it's doing way, way better.

I've made a lot of changes to the team based on what you guys have told me.

-[BIG CHANGE] Switched Trevenant and Forrestress with the Heatran and Excadrill sets that Acedia put.

-Gardevoir's new moveset is: Hyper Voice, Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, and Psyshock. I also changed his EVs to the ones given by Acedia.

-Salemance still has Dragon Dance and Earthquake, and I kept Dragon claw because Outrage limits the versatility about him that I like. However, I gave him Life orb, along with Fire Blast over aerial ace. I also switched his EV spread to Timpsu's.

-Talonflame now has a choice band, and I replaced his Steel Wing with roost.

-For Rotom Wash, I changed HP ice and leftovers into Chesto rest as mentioned by Acedia. I'm still not comfortable enough to change his EV spread yet, as I still need to get better with Rotom Wash and don't think that I can use his switch-in as well as I could, along with having him counter other Rotom Washes.

Again, thank you for all of the help!