SS OU Old Reliable (Clefable/Heatran Core) (Low Ladder)

[UHOHITSRYAN]

Overall, I do like this team and have quite a bit of experience with it; I'm new to teambuilding and OU battling in general, but I tried assembling a team that hits the checklist of roles you want on a team, but I think my team doesn't have any surprises and most teams have checks to all my Mons. I was wondering if there are any more unique, but solid options that I could try out with this team? Heatran and Corviknight are my main stalwarts of the team, but I'm open to any criticism.

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 244 HP / 128 SpA / 128 SpD / 8 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock

Heatran is a core member of my team; can deal heavy damage to many members of the meta that I encounter and is my main reliable tool that I use against walls to the rest of my team, such as Ferrothorn. With Taunt I also get a lot of Utility with Heatran as I can disrupt Protect, Teleport, and Wish and force my opponent to stay in with Magma Storm, rather than healing.

Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Moonblast
- Soft-Boiled
- Thunderbolt

Clefable serves as a tank on my team; I've given it extra speed to outspeed other Calm Mind Clefs, but the main aspect of Clef's usage on my team is to scare Dragons off the field, and set up favorable matchups. Oftentimes however I find myself over-predicting, and letting Clefable take too much damage early into the match and not having a reliable switch-in down the road.

Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- Grass Knot
- Roost

A classic pivot option, I love the threat Tapu Koko provides against virtually every non-grass or ground type, and I also love using Koko to switch Terrain with a Rillaboom/Hawlucha combination. I like having Grass Knot over U-turn for use against heavies like Hippowdon and Swampert, but I wonder if that pivot utility is inhibited and Koko's not giving me extra value.

Weavile @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Triple Axel
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
- Swords Dance

Weavile's role on my team is often purely to wallbreak; I've yet to get a sweep with Weavile but I can almost always get at least one wall down and generally do massive damage to another, which sets up my team nicely to take down these threats later on. I chose Swords Dance over Choice Band because I like having the option to SD if I can predict a switch, which almost guarantees that I can get a KO or do massive DMG to a juicy target.

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 168 HP / 88 Atk / 248 SpD / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flip Turn
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Swampert has generally served as my lead mon; I've found that opponents almost always sent out Ferrothorn or Lando if they have it as a lead however, but Swampert can reliably handle Lando and get Rocks up before switching out. I don't really get kills with Swampert but I get major utility out of Toxic and Flip Turn, which always helps me keep momentum in my favor.

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- U-turn
- Brave Bird

Corviknight might be the most important member of my team, I think it serves as my best check against a lot of my teams weaknesses (Urshifu-RS, ground types, Clefable) and it can outlast Toxapex with Pressure. I struggle to deal heavy damage to Mons however, and mainly rely on Corviknight as a method to force opponents to switch into another Mon and give me a more favorable matchup down the road.

 

[Crealed]

If you want your Weavile to serve as a wallbreaker, why not have a CB set instead?

 

[UHOHITSRYAN]

I think my thought process has been that Weavile has a strong enough Base stat to enjoy versatility in taking out threats without CB; I ran CB for a while and I was getting read hard, and I surprise people when I set up with a Swords Dance a lot and can guarantee a kill on virtually everything.

With that being said, I've also improved as a player since then, so it should be worthwhile trying to go back to CB, as I think that long term it would provide reliable wallbreaking. I like the sweeper potential Weavile can bring against a ground heavy team, but again I haven't gotten a sweep with Weavile so I should be focusing on results there.

 

[VTaxi]

Hello UHOHITSRYAN and welcome to Smogon! Here are some changes I would like to implement:
Firstly, why does Heatran have rocks when you have rocks already on Swampert ? I suggest replacing it with Toxic so that Heatran can deal with stall better.

Secondly, replace Low Kick on Weavile with Ice Shard to outspeed and KO Dragapult . This is optional, but replace Triple Axel with Icicle Crash so that you won’t take too much damage from Iron Barbs/Rocky Helmet and sometimes get a crucial flinch.

Really cool team otherwise

 

[UHOHITSRYAN]

I'll try those, thanks a lot!

 

[Tysonslayer]

Hey there UHOHITSRYAN and welcome to smogon this team is really solid as it right now and is a good example of a standard balanced build focusing around Heatran and Clefable as a main line of defensive backbone that can annoy the apposing side for Weavile to be able to clean against weakened. Some notable threats right of the bat is that this team struggles switching in against who is able to pressure Clefable since its not specialy defensive and needs to set up a Calm Mind in order to take a hit from it Kyurem, while also having the coverage in
threatening Heatran and Tapu Koko. Similary enough can be quite annoying despite having a way to play around against it since the real way you are going to be handling it is with Heatran who hates a drop from Shadow Ball and gets worn down rather easily from chip and Weavile having to revenge it every time it claims a life. While you do have Corviknight to help against it can still pressure this team especially since your not Rocky Helmet to wear it down whenever it uses Surging Strikes. While not a threat this team also lacks any wallbreaking capabilities having to rely on passive play and no Tapu Koko is more of a pivot, and Weavile needs a boost in order to strart breaking.

Major Changes

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Since this team struggled with wallbreaking and wanted to keep an electric Immunity I went with mixed attack Garchomp over Swampert. While Garchomp still has some attributes similarily to Swampert in being able to check Heatran while keeping the electric immunity for Zeraora and Tapu Koko at the cost of no Flip Turn. With Garchomp you are now able to break against the enemy a lot easier with its coverage move with Draco Meteor hitting hard against Landorus-T and Fire Blast in hitting against Corviknight, Skarmory, and Ferrothorn all which Weavile enjoys being weakened or remove making it easier as a wincon to clean weakened teams. I decided that Garchomp kept Stealth Rocks here as it is able to pressure against most Defoggers which opens up a moveslot for Heatran and Clefable.

Minor Changes

With Garchomp as the rock setter for the team the moveslot has been opened up for Toxic this allows for Heatran to cripple its switchins such as Slowking, Garchomp, Hydreigon, and lets you handle against non Safegaurd Volcarona. Toxic in conjuction with Taunt and Magma Storm lets Heatran to take pressure teams that are rely on Slowking as their main switchin while also being a lot annoying against stall teams. It would also be better to run a Special Defensive Spread of 252 HP / 136 SpD / 120 Spe with a Calm Nature, the speed investment lets it outspeed neautral natured max speed Aegislash and Magnezone and the bulk on Heatran lets it take on Volcarona, Tapu Koko, and Tornadus-T lacking Focus Blast.

Like I mentioned before that this team struggled with Dragapult and Kyurem and now that Heatran is able to handle stall a lot better we can run Clefable as a Special Defensive set instead of Life Orb Calm Mind which will gradually improve the teams matchup against those Dragon-types. I decided that Aromatherapy is a nice move for the last slot since it removes any statuses on its teammates in case they ever where to get statused while also being able to remove for itself that way Clefable has a better matchup against Hex Dragapult. Though if you feel that mons like Zeraora become a bit problematic an EV spread of 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD still gives it the bulk to take hits from Dragapult's Shadow Ball and Kyurem's Freeze Dry while better taking hits against Zeraora and max attack Landorus-T.

Now for some quick changes Rocky Helmet > Lefties on Corvikight lets you punish against U-Turn and Knock Off users while also being able to punish Urshifu-R from using Surging Strikes. Body Press > Brave Bird this lets Corviknight OHKO against opposing Weavile and Bisharp which would be annoying for the team to deal. U-Turn > Grass Knot on Tapu Koko gives you a fantastic pivot that is able to bring in Weavile and Garchomp in safely, especially since you Heatran who lures in Ground Types and can Toxic them for Tapu Koko, while also having Corviknight on the back for them. Lastly like VTaxi said that you want to run Ice Shard here since it lets you revenge Dragapult and Rillaboom while also being able to pick off weakened faster mons as well.

Importable
(click sprites for an importable)

Overall not that many big changes that had to be changed for the team with being able to keep something of what it was before now with two pivots that benefit both Weavile and Garchomp in being brought in safely and can cause more havoc in the opposing, and you also have a lot more wallbreaking capabilitie for the team to make progress, while greatly improving your teams matchup with threats in the OU metagame a lot better than it was before. Generally you don't always have to lead with Garchomp to get hazards tho you could also do that to pick off the occasional Ferrothorn or weakened Landorus-T. In most cases you can always lead with Tapu Koko that way you can start chipping down the opposing side with U-Turn and begin generating momentum with U-Turn.

Threats
: With Heatran/ Corviknight and Clefable you have to play around this mon carefull as Choice Specs Tapu Lele can hit hard and will easily overwhelm this team if you don't play around it with what move it has to click.

: A minor threat like I said but this thing outspeeds your entire team and can annoy them by removing items and constantly Volt Switching wearing down Garchomp, if you feel this is an issue consider the spread of Clefable I provided.

Well those are all the changes for the team I felt where neccesary let me know your experience with this team or any issues you come across with hoped this has helped you out and good day to you.

 

[UHOHITSRYAN]

Wow, this was so helpful for me Tysonslayer - I've ran a few battles with this team and it's already giving me a much different presence. I like how much I can maintain momentum with this team, and the Garchomp definitely gives me a lot more usage than Swampert did. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

edit: Already gotten two sweeps with Weavile!

 

[Tysonslayer]

Wow, this was so helpful for me Tysonslayer - I've ran a few battles with this team and it's already giving me a much different presence. I like how much I can maintain momentum with this team, and the Garchomp definitely gives me a lot more usage than Swampert did. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

edit: Already gotten two sweeps with Weavile!

Glad to help out