Oddball Team (OU)

Desch

Alright, so this is my first shot at a Pokemon team. I went for pokemon that I personally don't see as much, mixed with some that are pretty common from my (limited) understanding. Criticism is appreciated, I have lots more to learn!

At a Glance:
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Metagross @ Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Explosion

My lead, the standard. Not much to be said here, other than I like this guy as a lead. I've had success during my tests with him, so he's a keeper. The only thing I wonder about is switching Explosion out for Thunderpunch, for greater typing, and switching him out instead of suiciding.


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Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 32HP / 252 Atk / 224 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Roost
- Swords Dance

Took the advice in this thread, and made this guy. He's pretty standard. Bullet Punch helps me take out the Dragon Dance Gyarados, so it stays. U-Turn is pretty nice, but I might switch it out for greater coverage. Roost and Swords Dance are pretty standard. He's been working really well, so I think I'll keep him. Alternatively, I could go for an Encore Gallade. So far I think I've liked this guy a bit more though. Any feedback as to which to choose is welcome. I chose Life Orb instead of Choice Band because it's more versatile, and unexpected. Life Orb helps more, and he's frail anyways -- I think it's a good trade off.

Been using this guy a bit more, and he's great. I definitely like the Life Orb more than a Choice Band. He's been doing great, a switch in Swords Dance on the opponent Switch Out, and bullet Punching for a few great hits before falling. Midgame player towards the end, after Togekiss has hit one or two of their pokemon for damage. After he's done, Gyarados can come out for the kill -- although, I've recently had more luck sending Gyarados out to damage the pokemon, and using Scizor's speed to kill.

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Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 152 SpA / 104 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Nasty Plot
- Roost
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere

Togekiss can survive against many of the heavy hitters, and outrun T-tar if need be. With Serene Grace and Air Slash, I have a high chance for a flinch. If I switch into another wall, Nasty Plot will be used to help my attack. Roost will help me keep on going. Aura Sphere is commonly used as well, and balances out the set nicely. I really just put him here to be a Special Sweeper, he doesn't really work well with any other of my pokemon. He's decent on the team, but doesn't work well besides being meat. I'd like to switch this guy out for something with more chemistry on my team maybe. I'm still thinking on it. It isn't bad enough to switch out immediately, but something I'm thinking on. I'm considering Gengar in his (her?) place.


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Gyarados @ Life Orb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Stone Edge

Late midgame, I'll hopefully switch this guy in and pull off a Dragon Dance to help boost stats. However, I've found that while it helps a lot, most of the time it isn't as necessary because of the Life Orb. Ice Fang and Stone Edge for coverage, but Waterfall will be the main attack. This set will also really help against Walls, because of the massive attack. I can switch in, and depending on Time Constraints, get off a Dragon Dance and proceed to hit hard, and stay in long enough to do a lot more damage. He also works really well with Scizor, going in for some heavy damage during a few switches before fainting. Then Scizor comes in and quickly dispatches of the already damaged foes. Oh, and he looks cool.

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Lucario @ Choice Specs
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spe / 252 SpA
Nature: Modest
Ability: Hyper Cutter
- Aura Sphere
- Hidden Power (Ice)
- Shadow Ball
- Vacuum Wave

I needed another Special Attack pokemon, so I chose Lucario. This means 3 of my pokemon are gonna be hurt by ground, but 2 of them are immune to it -- all in all, I think it's an ok balance. Hidden Power Ice is preferable over fighting because of typing. Aura Sphere, Shadow Ball, and Vacuum Wave are all pretty standard. Although Lucario is pretty standard and probably expected, he has proven more durable than a Porygon-Z, but less powerful. I think it's ok for now, but I might revert back later on. I'm also thinking about maybe taking Aura Sphere out for a Thunderpunch. Although it wouldn't be used as often, and would be severely weaker due to it being a Physical attack, it would help a lot with typing. Something I'm considering right now.

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Tyranitar @ Choice Band
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Aqua Tail

My "team leader" of sorts, he'll take the back, or be my ace in the hole against another powerful pokemon I'm having trouble countering. Tyranitar is pretty standard, so I don't think I have to go into much detail as to why I chose him. I'll close the game up with him, or send him out to counter other big-name pokemon. Especially after Vaporean, Toxic + Stealth Rock + Sand Stream will hopefully cause a large amount of residual damage, and then I can easily one hit them using one of his power attacks. As said before, he'll probably by my trump card, and only played in the very end or if things look desperate.

Again, first team, so comments are welcome -- please give a bit of reasoning as to why, so I can learn! Thanks guys

Update [11.15.09]
-- Removed Gliscor for Lucario
-- Switched Metagross and Gliscor type/set

Update [11.14.09]
-- Removed Porygon-Z for Scizor
-- Removed Heatran for Gliscor
-- Removed Vaporeon for Gyarados
 
Hello!

Nice team for your first post, but there are a few things wrong. Porygon-Z seems to be the weak link of your team for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the OU metagame is run rampant with priority, Scizor, Lucario, and Metagross can all threaten with their Bullet Punch/ExtremeSpeed which can ruin your attempt at sweeping. Secondly, Porygon-Z's biggest downfall is it's bellow average speed. This makes revenge killing him extremely easy. With this, I suggest you use a Rotom Aplliance, Here's the set:

Rotom-h/w @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 56 HP/202 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Hidden Power [Fighting]/Hydro Pump
- Charge Beam

This set has a tremendous sweeping power with phenomenal typing. With his several immunities and resistances you can come in with relative ease, Sub, and go onto sweeping. The idea is to Charge Beam when necessary, getting damage and Sp. Att raises, followed by hitting a large majority of OU with Super Effective hits. If you decide to go the Rotom-w route, you can decide on changing HP {Fighting} to Hydro Pump.

The second problem wrong with this team is the inability to break stall. Other than if you decide on using Rotom, you have no real way of beating stall. With this I suggest changing your current Togekiss to a Salamence:

Salamence @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Outrage
- Flamethrower/Fire Blast

This set is undoubtedly one of the best at tearing a game wide open. Stall is absolutely destroyed with this set as well as a huge majority of the OU metagame. Intimidate is also a welcome ability as it enables you to quiet down a physical prowess.

There is one more suggesting that I think you should do. Change Toxic to Hidden Power Electric on Vaporeon, with this you have a solid Gyarados counter, something your team needs.

Overall nice team for your first, if the changes I suggested don't fit your originality taste than just ignore them, Hope I helped :)
 
As from what I've seen, it seems that Scizor and Lucario owns this team, why? It's easy, after Scizor's weakened your team, Lucario can just set up a Swords Dance from a Heatran trapped in an attack called Dragon pulse. To solve that problem I suggest changing Togekiss > Gliscor.

Gliscor@Leftovers
252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly / Impish
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Stone Edge

Alright, with Gliscor, Scizor and Lucario can't threaten your team. Gliscor resists Scizor's Bullet punch, Lucario's Close Combat, and Gliscor can OHKO with Earthquake. What? scared of Ice punch? feh. Lucario nowadays carry Crunch, over Ice punch(from my experience), and even if it carries Ice punch, you can still outspeed it(Gliscor's faster)..

You can boost your impressive 95 Base Attack Stat and sweep. Earthquake is your STAB move, Stone edge hit's Gyarados, Salamence and other Flying type, however you can use Aerial Ace, If you want a STAB move. Although I strongly recommend using Stone Edge as hitting DDGyara is a good thing, though with Aerial Ace, you can hit Celebi. Roost is the only way that Gliscor can heal itself and continue to sweep. Not only that Roost benefits Gliscor too. By removing it's Flying type attribute you can reduce damage from an Ice-type attack.

It's your choice whether to use Jolly / Impish. If you plan to use Jolly then use the given set, but If you want to use Impish, shift 40 Atk EV's > Def. Although I strongly recommend Jolly. Also, you can use Yache Berry if you fear an Ice-Type..Overall Good Team!!..Hope to battle you sometime! Good Luck
 
Hmm, ok...

After playing this team, I'm considering Swapping Vaporeon out for a Gyarados, swapping Porygon-Z out for a Gliscor, and Heatran out for a Sceptile. I'll post more details later, I want to test it a bit first
 
You'll have a bit of a problem sweeping without Stealth Rock. I think that you should switch your lead back to Metagross.
252hp/236Atk/12Def/8Spe
~Bullet punch
~Earthquake/Meteor Mash
~SR
~Explosion/Meteor Mash
Not only does this get rid of your Aerodactyl problem, but it's a really reliable lead. As for Scizor, a Choice band set can help wear down the opponent's team to make Gyara's job easier. I really hope my rate helped. Good luck!
 
Hey there, cool team, but there are a few changes I would make. First off, an offensive team like this one absolutely needs Stealth Rocks. Thankfully it isn't going to be hard to place it in as many Pokemon on your team learn it, however I suggest giving it to Gliscor. In fact, I think that you should change Gliscor's set entirely; while Baton Passing +2 attack boosts to your sweepers sounds great, none of your physical powerhouses are really fast enough to abuse the attack boosts. Arguably Scizor could but it is very likely that he is going to be KOed or severely weakened by the time Gliscor comes out (due to him being your lead). I suggest using a set of 252 Hp / 40 Def / 216 Spe, a Jolly nature, and a set of Earthquake, Roost, Stealth Rock, and Stone Edge. This Gliscor is a very effective counter to Swords Dance Lucario and Swords Dance Scizor, as well as just physical sweepers in general. He is also a great counter to Agility Metagross, a Pokemon who currently gives this team quite a fair bit of problems.

Now, this team has a fair share of problems with entry hazards, due to two Pokemon on your team taking 25% damage from Stealth Rock on the switchin and having no effective way to prevent your opponent from setting it up. I suggest changing Tyranitar to a Life Orb Rapid Spin Starmie, as this team is also currently very inbalanced with only one special attacker and five physical attackers (meaning that getting past physical walls is going to be hellish for you). I suggest a set of Rapid Spin, Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam, a Timid nature, and a spread of 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe. Life Orb Starmie is a very powerful attacker and her Rapid Spin support is invaluable to a team like this; the main reason to be running Hydro Pump over Surf is that you can 2HKO Rotom-A with Hydro Pump, wheras with Surf you cannot. Maxing out speed is a must on Starmie as to outspeed threats.

I might consider swaping out ThunderWave for Nasty Plot on Togekiss, as Togekiss is by no means a speedy Pokemon and having a strategy that revolves around flinching the opponent won't get far with Togekiss's relatively low base speed. However this is just a suggestion, but still I encourage you to try it out. Other than that there's not much else, hope I helped out your team and good luck! ;)
 
Togekiss already has Nasty plot ;).

Alright, I can see where that might be problematic in the long run. I'll run some tests with that as well. Would your suggestions change at all if I did swap Metagross in to become lead and Scizor out of it?
 
Scizor isn't a brilliant lead, and Aerodactyl is pretty frail so I don't think it's worth doing what you're doing to handle it. There are three kinds of lead in this metagame; suicide leads, Fire-types, and Steel-types. The suicide leads (like Aero, Azelf) will just set up SR, letting you Bullet Punch their Sash, and have achieved their purpose. The only thing Scizor does here is reveal that he's a Life Orb version, which is his strongest aspect (given that most people expect Choice Band, and so they will make less mistakes when they know you can switch attacks). The Steel leads aren't scared of Scizor in the slightest due to their bulk, and the fire leads will OHKO without a blink.

I think you're running too many set-up sweepers, and not enough to deal with your opponents threats. Baton Pass on only one pokemon is also pretty useless, especially when you're passing to a Choice user (i.e. Stupidest Baton Pass ever). Gliscor would be much better with Taunt/Roost/Earthquake/U-Turn or Knock Off, with Stealth Rock back on Metagross in the lead position (using Occa Berry rather than Life Orb).

Finally, Scizor should use Muscle Band or Iron Plate/Insect Plate and U-Turn over Brick Break. You want to be able to make it look like a CB Scizor in the early game, using Bullet Punch and/or U-Turn. Then, when your opponent comes in, thinking you're locked onto something, you pull off a free Swords Dance, and then sweep.
 
Thanks for the advice :). Ok, so I learned Baton Pass isn't good unless used en masse. Good to know. I'm revamping the team, I'll post the updates soon.

EDIT: I'm having problems with a successful Gliscor, so I'm thinking about switching them out for an Encore Gallade. dunno about the other, still testing it out
 
Been doing really well with this team -- a bit more, and I think it'll be a competitor. If possible, do you guys have any suggestions regarding Togekiss? That's what I feel the weak link is right now. I may be completely off, seeing as I'm new to this -- but I was thinking of swapping for a Mismagius or Gengar. Any comments would be much appreciated!
 
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