SM OU New Player, How's my team?

Introduction: Hey. I have been an avid pokemon player for a while, but I finally wanted to start competitive play. I looked at a few
example teams to see what teams should look like, and with some inspiration, I made this team. I used it, then edited, then used it,
then edited it some more. After that, I made my team which is shown below. Thanks in advance!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoon (Alakazam-Mega) (M) @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Recover

The first pokemon on my team is Mega Alakazam. I love a special attack offense, so Mega Alakazam was the perfect choice for me, I think. It's moveset consists of special attacking moves, and well as recover in order for Alakazam to stay in the game longer. Dazzling Gleam is used to counter dark or dragon types and Shadow Ball is used to counter ghost or other psychic pokemon. I have max Speed EV in order for it to be able to attack first due to an overall low health, defense, and special defense. Of course, I mega evolve Alakazam, hence the Alakazite.


Snippy (Gliscor) (F) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 68 HP / 224 Atk / 68 Def / 68 SpD / 80 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Roost
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Next on my team is Gliscor. Originally, I didn't have this pokemon on my team because I didn't realize how good of a pokemon it can be. With poison heal and toxic orb, it is able to restore HP quite efficiently, which makes it useful in battle. Roost is also helpful, in case an effective attacking move hits Gliscor. Its other moves are well rounded I think, but I primarily use Earthquake to cover many different pokemon. It's EV's are quite spread out, because I wanted the pokemon to be well rounded overall.


Snake (Serperior) (F) @ Shell Bell
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Defog
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse

Third, we have Serperior. I found out the power of this pokemon when I was miserably beaten by an opponent running a Serperior on their team. My Serperior's main attack is Leaf Storm, of course, due to the fact that it can raise Special Attack after attacking. Giga drain can be used to restore HP efficiently, especially when the Special Attack is already high due to Leaf Storm. Dragon Pulse can be used as a counter to pokemon. I gave my Serprior Defog due to the fact that none of my other pokemon have it and that it is a valuable move. Shell Bell to restore HP, obviously.


Tongue (Greninja) (M) @ Expert Belt
Ability: Protean
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 40 Atk / 216 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Spikes
- U-turn

Next, Greninja with Protean. I like Grenigna, due to the fact that it has a very wide coverage, and that it is hard to hit due to Protean. Hydro Pump is the main attack I'd say because of the large damage it can do. Hidden Power is very good to counter pokemon, and it also catches the opponent off guard a lot of the times I think. Spikes can be useful if sent in early during the battle, and U-Turn is a good subsite to just switching this pokemon out. Not quite sure about the item, so that can definitely be modified.


Spike pt.2 (Toxapex) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 120 Def / 108 SpD / 32 Spe
Impish Nature
- Return
- Toxic
- Recover
- Haze

Next, one of my personal faves, Toxapex. I think Toxapex is a great tank for my team because of Toxic as well as a useful move such as Return. I send in Toxapex whenever there is a pokemon I can't easily counter, but can easily poison. I use toxic, then Return and Recover afterward. Haze is also useful when I come across a pokemon like Vicitni or Clefable, which is simply building up stat increased. Therefore, it is a good counter to that type of pokemon. Black SLudge is good of course for HP recover as well as the Regenerator ability.


Plump (Clefable) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Stealth Rock

Finally, we have Clefable. I use Clefable whenever I don't know what to do. It can withstand quite a few attacks, even without Calm Mind. Soft Boiled then brings the HP up again, with a new High Special Defense and Special Attack, which caused Moonblast to be very useful. Stealth Rock is good to use when Clefable is sent in early and to prevent easy switching of opponent's pokemon. Leftover is used for HP recovery, of course. I come into trouble whenever a steel type is pulled out, so I wonder if there is a cover for that.​

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion: So that's my team, thanks for checking it out! I am very open to suggestions to make my team better. Changing pokemon is definitely okay because I am not TOO attached to any pokemon. If there are any more questions about my team, just let me know. Thanks again!
g pokemon. But, i think this is the type of play style that I like. Thanks again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

TPP

is a Tournament Directoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Dedicated Tournament Hostis a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Past SPL Championis a Past WCoP Champion
Head TD
Welcome to Smogon! I'm locking your RMT for the time being as the forum rules require that you provide at least 3 lines of descriptions for each Pokemon to explain their roles. Please read the rules carefully and take a look at Team Showcase to see the level of detail we require. PM me with updated descriptions and I'll be happy to unlock this.

Edit: Unlocked!
 
Last edited:
This team structure seems okay, but you have a few odd sets and a glaring lack of speed control, making mons like Gyarados much more of a threat to you.

1. What's Stone Edge doing on Gliscor that Ice Fang isn't? If you want a powerful attack you could use Facade, or you could opt for Swords Dance for balance breaking, but usually you'd opt for Stealth Rock or Defog here for utility, or U-turn for momentum.
2. Your Serperior set is a bit odd. Leaf Storm is obvious and Defog is fine, but Dragon Pulse is very out of place. Most Serperior opt for Glare so they can still do work against teams they can't sweep, and Hidden Power Fire or Ground are more common coverage options due to their ability to hit Ferrothorn or Heatran respectively. Leech Seed and Substitute is a more valid set if you're looking for longevity over sweeping potential.
Also, the Shell Bell is a bad item, due to the very low rate of return you get from it. OHKOing an opposing mon will rarely give you more than 20% of your HP, and at that point your HP aren't your key concern. Leftovers is better for longevity on a Sub set, but a Z move or Scarf are more common on offensive sets.
3. Although non-choice Protean Gren can take a few surprise kills, your coverage options aren't great. There's very little reason to run Pump when all your moves have STAB. Ice Beam, Gunk Shot, Rock Slide, Low Kick and Shadow Sneak make guessing your coverage much harder, especially before revealing Protean. Protean Gren is also a good option for a scarfer for some speed control.
4. Return is pretty much pointless on Toxapex. Its attacking stats are too low to deal real damage. Most players use Scald, not because it hits particularly hard, but because it can be used to fish for burns on switches, limiting what can freely come in on Pex. As soon as you click Return, threats like Mawile, Medicham, Gyarados etc can feel free to come in and start clicking things.
 
That team seems pretty sensible for a new player. There are some glaring issues, however:

1. Gliscors are generally better at defensive sets than offensive sets. You'll find that Gliscor's typing forces the opponent to switch often, which gives you great opportunities for Stealth Rocks or Defogs. If you're going for an offensive set, you should 100% be running Swords Dance/Roost + 2 attacking moves, but if you really want an offensive variant ...... Landorus-T exists.

2. Mixed EV sets aren't bad, but there should be a point to each stat. For example, look at Smogon's reasoning for their mixed EV spread on Gliscor:
136 Speed EVs with a Jolly nature allow Gliscor to outspeed Hoopa-U and Heatran. 244 HP EVs allow Gliscor to hit a HP number divisible by 8, maximizing the amount of HP it regains every turn. 52 Defense EVs allow Gliscor to survive Play Rough into Sucker Punch from Mega Mawile if Toxic Orb has been activated, and the remaining EVs are placed into Special Defense to allow Gliscor to tank special attacks such as Heatran's Magma Storm and Tapu Koko's unboosted Hidden Power Ice. Alternatively, a more physically defensive spread of 244 HP / 100 Def / 28 SpD / 136 Spe can be run to take on physical attackers like Tyranitar, Excadrill, and Mega Charizard X. Toxic Orb in conjunction with Poison Heal allows Gliscor to heal 12.5% of its HP every turn, giving it access to very strong passive recovery as well as a pseudo-immunity to status.

There's a lot of room for different defensive spreads, but as for speed, if you decide not to go for 252 or 0 speed, you need to have an exact number you're trying to reach. Are you outrunning anything you need to outrun with 80 speed on Gliscor, or 32 on Toxapex? If not, then what's the point? Those are wasted EVs. For now, you probably don't need Smogon's level of accuracy with your spreads, but at least optimize speed.

2. Numbers-wise, Shell Bell is an awful item in competitive mons. It restores 1/8th the damage you deal vs. the 1/16th total from Leftovers, which means on an average-HP pokemon like Serperior, you'll need to do 50% damage consistently to get Shell Bell to pull its weight. Any pokemon that can pull that off consistently at a high speed doesn't need to worry about its HP in the first place.

3. There are 3 Dragon types in the entire OU tier and only one sees significant usage; there's no point running Dragon type coverage when you could be running Hidden Power Ground/Fire to break past the most common Leaf Storm counters (Ferrothorn/Heatran/Scizor). You should be thinking about what exactly each coverage move is trying to hit.

4. Toxapex can't deal damage. There is no point to return; in fact, you will always lose more than you gain when using it. As someone else mentioned, scald is the move on toxapex and is often a spammable move given how much toxapex can switch in on offensive mons. There aren't any reasons not to run scald on toxapex.

5. Three of your win conditions all share the same weakness - they all lose to Steel types. You need win conditions that complement each other, not stack up on each other's weaknesses.

6. Speed control: This is a pretty vague idea, but Serperior, Greninja, and Alakazam all "control" the same area of speed, and are all outsped by every Choice Scarfer in the tier. That doesn't turn any particular one of them into a liability, but the fact that none of them beat scarfers is definitely a liability.

As a final note, something you should start doing with each team you make is going over a "threatlist:" every type or pokemon you've encountered that tears a hole in your team. Just by looking at your team, I see no psychic or rock resist, which leaves you extremely weak to Medicham, opposing Alakazam, Psychium Z Lele, and Choice Band Tyranitar. All four of them can threaten a kill any time they get a free turn. You also don't have a reliable counter to Chansey besides PP stalling it, which will kill you in stall matchups. Mega Swampert outspeeds your whole team and 2HKOs every mon, which will kill you in rain matchups. I could go on, but I think you see the point here. You will expand your threatlist the more you play.

Changes:

- Serperior --> Magnezone
Two completely different Pokemon, but Serperior doesn't have much of a role on this team in the first place - it can force out Swampert after it picks up a kill, but offensively, it does nothing that Clef and Zam don't. Of course, you need to keep defog, but that can safely be moved onto Gliscor. Magnezone synergizes extremely well with your entire team. Offensively, it kills off bulky Steel types like Celesteela and Scizor, which opens up endgame opportunities for Clef and Zam. Defensively, it offers you a much-needed psychic and rock resist, and has amazing type synergy with Gliscor and Toxapex - Defog Gliscor counters Heatran and beats Earthquake, while Toxapex can eat High Jump Kicks from Medicham and Lopunny, who would normally love to revenge kill Magnezone.

- Gliscor: Offensive --> Defensive
If Serperior goes, you need another defogger on your team. I would recommend this custom set:
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 244 HP / 52 Def / 76 SpD / 136 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Defog
- Earthquake
- Roost

This can't keep up momentum with U-turn or Toxic, but your team structure lets you play pretty passively until you get an opportunity for Clefable or Alakazam. I'm running Swords Dance over both of those moves so you can actually beat Chansey - none of your mons currently do.

- Greninja: Expert Belt --> Choice Scarf, the standard Smogon scarf gren (scroll down a bit)
This team needs a scarfer. Greninja is the second-fastest scarfer in the tier (behind koko, who doesn't run scarf often), and ice beam hits common defoggers and lead stealth rockers (Garchomp, Landorus, Tornadus). You should run Rock Slide and Spikes to help you beat rain teams, which I'll explain below.

- And fix the Toxapex. Most people use max HP, max SpD because it doesn't need any more physical bulk for what it usually counters.

These changes do leave you weaker to rain teams than you were before - your best bets against Swampert are to guess which move it'll pick and indefinitely switch between Gliscor and Toxapex, or go to Clefable after a kill and stall out the rain while hoping you don't get flinched by waterfall. Before killing it with Alakazam, you would somehow have to get up an early spike with Greninja to wear down the Swampert the whole match and pressure the defoggers (either Tornadus or Pelipper) with Greninja and Magnezone. Regardless, this new team is still much stronger against every other archetype.

Importable team

Have fun teambuilding.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top