SV OU New to teambuilding, could use some help with fine tuning my team. Bulky Offense w/ Empoleon and Ogerpon-Hearthflame

[Pumpkinoc]

I've been playing randbats for a few years now so I have a lot of experience with competitive singles, but this is my first real attempt at teambuilding.

pokepaste
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My main goal with this team was basically just to have Empoleon on it because it's one of my favorite mons and I was really excited about the buffs it got with the DLC release, so I'm open to changing a lot of stuff around as long as I can keep Empoleon on the team. I was aiming for a hyper offense/bulky offense mix (I wanted wallbreakers and sweepers but also some bulky pivots), so I'd also like to kind of keep that idea if possible.

My Beloved (Empoleon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Roost
- Flip Turn
- Knock Off​

The main reason I made this team in the first place. Empoleon has pretty good bulk and a good defensive typing, so i figured it would be best fit for a specially bulky pivot role. Leftovers is for survivability and Grass tera helps it resists ground and electric moves if it needs to. I gave it Hydro Pump for STAB, Roost for improved recovery, Flip Turn to take advantage of its slow speed stat for slow pivots, and Knock Off for utility.

Britney Bitch (Gliscor) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 Spe
Impish Nature
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Protect
- Earthquake
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After adding Empoleon as my special tank, I figured I would also need a physical tank, and Gliscor seemed to slot in perfectly. Its type has perfect synergy with Empoleon's (Empoleon resists the Water and Ice moves that his Gliscor and Gliscor resists the Ground, Fighting, and Electric moves that hit Empoleon). The EVs were the recommended set so I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to be outspeeding, but generally increases its bulk, especially on the physical side. Fairy is a good defensive type that shares no weaknesses with Gliscor so I thought it'd be a good tera type. Toxic is to deal with walls, Stealth Rock is for hazards, Protect is for extra Poison Heal recovery and to help with Toxic-stalling, Earthquake is STAB.

OogaBooga (Ogerpon-Hearthflame) (F) @ Hearthflame Mask
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ivy Cudgel
- Trailblaze
- Play Rough
- Swords Dance
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Ogerpon is pretty great stats-wise, and Hearthflame is really great with its 1.2x boost to all attacks plus the +1 to attack if you decide to Terastallize. For this reason I decided to make it a late-game sweeper that will come in, boost up, and win the game. Ivy Cudgel is the main attacking move, Trailblaze is there instead of Horn Leech or Wood Hammer to get a speed advantage over faster mons like Dragapult, Sneasler, Greninja, Cinderace, etc. but also to avoid a speed tie with other Ogerpon. Play Rough is coverage for Dragon types, since Ogerpon's STABs can't hit them, and Swords Dance is for boosting.

Gun (Dragapult) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
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I figured I also needed a strong special attacker to deal with any physical walls, and Dragapult seemed like a great option. Choice specs enables it to nuke everything from orbit, and Timid nature makes sure it's fast. Draco Meteor and Shadow Ball are STAB, Flamethrower is coverage, and U-turn is for pivoting. Tera Ghost is for extra damage on Shadow Ball and maybe living super effective coverage moves.

Enby (Iron Valiant) @ Choice Band
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Spirit Break
- Knock Off
- Poison Jab
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Since Ogerpon is my late game sweeper, I wanted to have a physical wallbreaker who could come out and deal damage in the early- and mid-game. I choose Iron Valiant because it's strong, fast, and has a good movepool. I went for a Choice Band set for immediate power and since Ogerpon is already a setup mon. Close Combat and Spirit Break are STAB, Knock Off is for utility and damage on Psychics or Ghosts that switch in, and Poison Jab is coverage for other Fairies because I didn't have a move for them yet and I didn't really need anything else in the fourth slot.

Dog (Heatran) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Flash Cannon
- Earth Power
- Will-O-Wisp
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Heatran is here as another defensive piece to patch up any holes and also deal out some decent damage, which is why I invested in both in bulk and Special Attack. Magma Storm is good damage and has the benefit of trapping, Flash Cannon is also STAB, Earth Power is for coverage, and Will-O_Wisp is for physical attackers and also because I didn't really know what to put in the last slot. Tera Ground is for STAB on Earth Power and decent defensively since Ice and Grass attacks aren't going to be going into Heatran.

Overall, I'm not really married to anything about team except for Empoleon staying on it and it being generally offense-oriented, so I'm open to any changes you think would make the team better. I've played a bit with it and so far it hasn't really been performing up to my expectations. Thanks so much!

 

[Jorhey]

Hi, I don't have much to add but I am also new to teambuilding and I think it's very funny how we made such similar teams by coincidence both building off of empoleon. My team is here: https://pokepast.es/7e729584c5ff5be5

I originally used Gligor instead of Great Tusk and it basically filled the same role, being a utility defensive wall. I also went with a more offensive empoleon EV spread which I'm kinda conflicted about, I got it from a YouTuber but it feels pretty powerful. I went with the exact same offensive threats as you, I changed my dragapult's nature because honestly the +10% outspeeds almost nothing that normal dragapult could, but I noticed I keep barely missing guaranteed OHKO ranges with shadowball or draco meteor. Also one notable difference is our Iron Valiant's and their role, mine fills the role of an anti-sweeper who is also a cleaner with high speed control. With the booster energy giving speed and encore it can prevent boost sweepers from setting up by outspeeding them (it even outspeeds many pokemon that are +1 speed) and encore them into a move or knock them out. This has felt extremely powerful and has saved me from losing to many sweepers when I'm stuck and they click a setup move. Also my red card amoongus has stopped them and feels super good defensively after, walling a lot of pokemon my other defensive mons could not. I don't really have any crazy advice just kind of comparing teams since I thought it was funny we built such similar structures. What pokemon are you losing to/why do you think you are losing? I've been winning a ton with my team but that was after I patched it up and fixed some holes in its structure.

 

[Srn]

Yo got a few suggestions, I'll start with the Empoleon set because that is the star of the show.

The biggest thing you need to worry about with empoleon is the fact that Ogerpon-Wellspring (waterpon) has Water Absorb, which can block your flip turn, absorb your knock off, and use you as set up fodder. This mon is extremely dangerous to basically every team, and giving it free turns is very bad, so we gotta tweak your Empoleon set to ensure that doesn't happen.

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Competitive
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Knock Off / Flash Cannon
- Surf
- Roost
- Roar

I think Roar+Hazards is the best way to run Empoleon currently. It ensures waterpon does not come in for free and set up, and it helps handle other big threats like take heart+acid armor manaphy. I prefer tera flying to tera grass as it also turns your fighting weakness into a resist, along with handling your ground weakness. You don't have to pay too much attention to the evs, I think I was going for a 2hko on gliscor after 2 rounds of poison heal or something else obscure lol. If something like Tera Fairy Gholdengo starts becoming a common threat to you, I'd try Flash Cannon over Knock Off.

Your team currently doesn't have any hazard removal and tons of mons are weak to it, especially Ogerpon-Hearthflame. The best way to fix this is to use Great Tusk over Gliscor. This way, you keep a decent physical backbone but also keep your own team relatively safe from hazards. I'd love to go defensive, but I think offensive Ice Spinner is best to remove hazards vs opposing Gliscor.

Great Tusk @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Dragon
EVs: 232 Atk / 24 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Spinner
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

With this set, you cover rocks, hazard removal, a backup firepon check, and a decent kingambit check. I'm running HDB over leftovers here because your team doesn't have any Toxic Spike absorber, so it's best to make sure your hazard remover is protected from that.

Another weakness that I notice now is the lack of any ghost resist. Since we are using Roar Empoleon to shuffle and we also want a ghost resist, I think the perfect pokemon to fit here would be Ting-Lu. I would drop Heatran personally because I think it's not doing that much for your team, as Empoleon covers a lot of its defensive profile already and you have decent responses to fire types.

Ting-Lu @ Leftovers
Ability: Vessel of Ruin
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 248 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Rest
- Whirlwind / Ruination
- Spikes

This way you get a solid special tank, a Spike layer, a ghost resist, and a backup spinblocker if you decide that's the best use of Tera in that game.

Finally, I think Band Ival is a cool set, but I personally don't like Spirit Break that much. Most of the time you are better off making the right read between Close Combat and Knock Off, and I think your set is definitely gonna be annoyed by opposing gliscor. I'd recommend Ice Punch over Spirit Break.

Hopefully you find the changes improve your team. Good luck!