Hey guys,
I've been messing around with this team in OU. It's centered around Noivern as an anti-lead. So far I'm finding it has decent switches and counters to a lot of OU threats, and I'm having heaps of fun with it.
Just want to know what people who are much better at this game than I am (ie. pretty much everyone reading this) think would make it better, without losing too much uniqueness.
Anyway, Here's the breakdown:
The Team:
Noivern @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
- Boomburst
Noivern is my lead, and is what I started building the team around. Frisk lets me scout out what the opponent wants to do with their lead, and usually secures me an early advantage. I prefer it over infiltrator for that reason. It gives me a more accurate means of gauging my opponents first move, and is probably the main reason I'm enjoying the team so much. Moveset pretty standard. DM for the big damage it gets from Choice Specs. Boomburst is there if ever I need to break a Sub, and U-Turn lets me use Noivern as a ghetto pivot, and break sash leads with a switch into something more beneficial thanks to Noivern outspeeding damn near everything. Flamethrower is the common final move in the slot to give noivern more potential coverage.
Have been considering running switcheroo over Flamethrower/U-Turn, but both moves have pulled their weight multiple times. I'm reasonably happy with the set, but open to criticism.
Espeon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Grass Knot
Espeon is here for Magic Bounce. Coupled with Noivern's speed, anything Noivern doesn't threaten that isn't looking to immediately go on the hard offensive gets dealt to by U-turning into magic bounce. Sticky Web, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Taunt, toxic etc are all countered by magic bounce. It's slightly gimmicky, but between noivern and Espeon, most common OU leads are severely hampered. There are a few things that royally crap all over it though, which I'll talk about in the threat list.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
You've all seen this Ferrothorn before. I expect you all know why it's here. Physical wall. Stealth Rocker. Leech Seeds that make the opponent want to stab out their eyes. The plan with this is, when Noivern can't deal with something, and there's no point going for a magic bounce, Ferrothorn can come in and lay rocks and start to be annoying. I'm wondering if there's something better than Gyro ball though?
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Scarftar wins games. He doesn't take a hit so good, but he dishes out plenty of damage, and does it quicker than most people realise. QuakeEdge coverage. Crunch for an additional STAB. Pursuit there to kill obvious switches. Also my main check to your standard Flying threats. (Talonflame/Mega Pinsir/Staraptor)
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
Noivern is more than capable of revenge killing. But Mienshao does it too, and also lets me play some hit and run between the two of them. Regenerator is probably my favourite ability in this whole game. The set is pretty standard revenge killer/pivot Mienshao. Also the only member of my team currently using knock off.
Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Scald
- Toxic
- Roar
This is basically my special wall. I switch pretty often, using Noivern to scout/pivot, and to keep up sand streams/deal with other weather with Scarftar and wall things with Ferrothorn. Generally I'm playing hit & run when I can't sweep outright. Defog/Rapid Spin seems like a must, but if I'm being honest, it hasn't been THAT big of a problem. I DO like the utility this set gives me though, but this is probably the slot that I think would make the biggest difference on the team. Been considering a few pokemon here. (Jellicent, Heatran, Slowking, Goodra to name a few) Not really sure what I need to round the team off, but I think this is the slot I need to do it in. I could be wrong. That's why it's up as a RMT!
So that's the team. It's currently working pretty well as a whole. I'm mostly looking to make it a touch more formiddable. While it's a bit gimmicky, and I know it's not going to be a HUGE powerhouse, I find it's been working very well so far, and is a lot more fun than playing a standard HO or something along those lines. It DOES have a few big threats though. I'm probably missing some but here are the ones that are standouts so far.
Threat List:
Mega-Venusaur.
Walls everything. Laughs at me while I try to tickle it to death with my pathetic attacks. I honestly don't know what generally counters this thing (due to my own inexperience) but this thing is basically a loss for me unless I can kill off the rest of the enemy team first. But TBH if I saw I was fighting this team and I had a Mega Venusaur I would just lead with it and proceed to rip the balls off my opponent. (Which has happened a couple of times tbh.) Not sure if I'm just playing it wrong or if I just need something to counter it, but this is a biggie.
Mamoswine.
Oh, I see you have a Noivern as your lead. Hi, I'm Mamoswine. Your options are A) Run. and B) Eat an Ice shard and cry yourself to sleep. I usually go with A. Ferrothorn/Empoleon can take the ice shard. Espeon can come in and potentially reflect the SR if he goes for that first. Empoleon can threaten with a Scald, but if it gets outsped, Earthquake sends me packing. Espeon doesn't take earthquake well, and can't really threaten it. Ferrothorn is OK, and if I can get up a leech seed I can put up some sort of fight, but the EQ still hurts. I might just be playing this one wrong too? Not sure.
If you guys can think of any other major threats, please tell me. I've managed to fight my way through most of the OU threat list but I still don't think I've played enough to know 100% what I'm dealing with.
But yea. That's the gist of it. I'm really interested to hear what you guys think. In a nutshell, I like the way the Noivern/Espeon/Scarftar is working for me. But suggestions are welcome. Ferrothorn definitely pulls his weight, but I'm not super attached to him. Empoleon I think is awesome, but I could lose him for something better, if it exists. Mienshao is just there because he rounds things out reasonably well, but is also something I'm more than happy to replace.
Thanks in advance.
I've been messing around with this team in OU. It's centered around Noivern as an anti-lead. So far I'm finding it has decent switches and counters to a lot of OU threats, and I'm having heaps of fun with it.
Just want to know what people who are much better at this game than I am (ie. pretty much everyone reading this) think would make it better, without losing too much uniqueness.
Anyway, Here's the breakdown:
The Team:
Noivern @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- U-turn
- Boomburst
Noivern is my lead, and is what I started building the team around. Frisk lets me scout out what the opponent wants to do with their lead, and usually secures me an early advantage. I prefer it over infiltrator for that reason. It gives me a more accurate means of gauging my opponents first move, and is probably the main reason I'm enjoying the team so much. Moveset pretty standard. DM for the big damage it gets from Choice Specs. Boomburst is there if ever I need to break a Sub, and U-Turn lets me use Noivern as a ghetto pivot, and break sash leads with a switch into something more beneficial thanks to Noivern outspeeding damn near everything. Flamethrower is the common final move in the slot to give noivern more potential coverage.
Have been considering running switcheroo over Flamethrower/U-Turn, but both moves have pulled their weight multiple times. I'm reasonably happy with the set, but open to criticism.
Espeon @ Assault Vest
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Grass Knot
Espeon is here for Magic Bounce. Coupled with Noivern's speed, anything Noivern doesn't threaten that isn't looking to immediately go on the hard offensive gets dealt to by U-turning into magic bounce. Sticky Web, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Taunt, toxic etc are all countered by magic bounce. It's slightly gimmicky, but between noivern and Espeon, most common OU leads are severely hampered. There are a few things that royally crap all over it though, which I'll talk about in the threat list.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
You've all seen this Ferrothorn before. I expect you all know why it's here. Physical wall. Stealth Rocker. Leech Seeds that make the opponent want to stab out their eyes. The plan with this is, when Noivern can't deal with something, and there's no point going for a magic bounce, Ferrothorn can come in and lay rocks and start to be annoying. I'm wondering if there's something better than Gyro ball though?
Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Scarftar wins games. He doesn't take a hit so good, but he dishes out plenty of damage, and does it quicker than most people realise. QuakeEdge coverage. Crunch for an additional STAB. Pursuit there to kill obvious switches. Also my main check to your standard Flying threats. (Talonflame/Mega Pinsir/Staraptor)
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- Fake Out
Noivern is more than capable of revenge killing. But Mienshao does it too, and also lets me play some hit and run between the two of them. Regenerator is probably my favourite ability in this whole game. The set is pretty standard revenge killer/pivot Mienshao. Also the only member of my team currently using knock off.
Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Scald
- Toxic
- Roar
This is basically my special wall. I switch pretty often, using Noivern to scout/pivot, and to keep up sand streams/deal with other weather with Scarftar and wall things with Ferrothorn. Generally I'm playing hit & run when I can't sweep outright. Defog/Rapid Spin seems like a must, but if I'm being honest, it hasn't been THAT big of a problem. I DO like the utility this set gives me though, but this is probably the slot that I think would make the biggest difference on the team. Been considering a few pokemon here. (Jellicent, Heatran, Slowking, Goodra to name a few) Not really sure what I need to round the team off, but I think this is the slot I need to do it in. I could be wrong. That's why it's up as a RMT!
So that's the team. It's currently working pretty well as a whole. I'm mostly looking to make it a touch more formiddable. While it's a bit gimmicky, and I know it's not going to be a HUGE powerhouse, I find it's been working very well so far, and is a lot more fun than playing a standard HO or something along those lines. It DOES have a few big threats though. I'm probably missing some but here are the ones that are standouts so far.
Threat List:
Mega-Venusaur.
Walls everything. Laughs at me while I try to tickle it to death with my pathetic attacks. I honestly don't know what generally counters this thing (due to my own inexperience) but this thing is basically a loss for me unless I can kill off the rest of the enemy team first. But TBH if I saw I was fighting this team and I had a Mega Venusaur I would just lead with it and proceed to rip the balls off my opponent. (Which has happened a couple of times tbh.) Not sure if I'm just playing it wrong or if I just need something to counter it, but this is a biggie.
Mamoswine.
Oh, I see you have a Noivern as your lead. Hi, I'm Mamoswine. Your options are A) Run. and B) Eat an Ice shard and cry yourself to sleep. I usually go with A. Ferrothorn/Empoleon can take the ice shard. Espeon can come in and potentially reflect the SR if he goes for that first. Empoleon can threaten with a Scald, but if it gets outsped, Earthquake sends me packing. Espeon doesn't take earthquake well, and can't really threaten it. Ferrothorn is OK, and if I can get up a leech seed I can put up some sort of fight, but the EQ still hurts. I might just be playing this one wrong too? Not sure.
If you guys can think of any other major threats, please tell me. I've managed to fight my way through most of the OU threat list but I still don't think I've played enough to know 100% what I'm dealing with.
But yea. That's the gist of it. I'm really interested to hear what you guys think. In a nutshell, I like the way the Noivern/Espeon/Scarftar is working for me. But suggestions are welcome. Ferrothorn definitely pulls his weight, but I'm not super attached to him. Empoleon I think is awesome, but I could lose him for something better, if it exists. Mienshao is just there because he rounds things out reasonably well, but is also something I'm more than happy to replace.
Thanks in advance.
