Gen 4 (OU) A Pretty Solid-Sinergy Balanced Team

[Gazpacho23]

A Pretty Solid-Sinergy Balanced Team​

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Hi, this is a pretty balanced team that I've built and been testing lately, getting some decent results with a peak around 1460, and I think it could go over 1500 without much trouble. The purpose of this team is to get as much coverage and solidity as possible, reducing the number of forced switiches and having as many responses as possible for a large number of threats. I've tried to build around Pokemon with pretty solid defensive synergies, like Swampert, Bronzong, or Latias, focusing on sets that provide great coverage. Other members like Infernape, Gengar and Magnezone provide great offensive coverage and remove may common threats from the tier, creating pretty solid cores with the bulkier members of my team. Besides, most of my losses don't happen because my team has big holes, instead, the opponent outplays me and removes my solid answers against his wincons before using them. I really appreciate any suggestion or possible change aimed at improving my team. Hope you like it and thanks for your time.

The Team In-Depth:

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Swampert works as a lead, provides tremendous defensive coverage, and thanks to this set it also offers plenty of offensive support with Ice Beam and Earthquake. This is my favorite version of Swampert: it resists hits pretty well, sets up Stealth Rock, offers very good coverage against many threats, and also phazes with Roar, avoiding dangerous setup sweepers like Gyarados, Scizor, or Suicune, which can setup in front other versions of Swampert. This Swampert creates a very strong synergy with other team members like Latias, Magnezone, or Bronzong.

Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 8 HP/ 220 Def/ 252 SpA / 28 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Trick

There isn't much to say about Specs Latias, she is a destructive force capable of severely damaging any team, and she also offers me a very good defensive coverage against a large number of threats such as Infernape, Breloom, Machamp, Swampert, or Gyarados. This is a slightly different set than the standard one, as it features Thunderbolt instead of Dragon Pulse in order to destroy Empoleon and Skarmory, and also runs a Modest nature instead of Timid. Modest nature allows me to deal as much damage as possible to the opponent, even when he switches into a defensive counter like Metagross, plus in this way, Latias can survive Pursuit trappers like Tyranitar or Scizor much better. She has the right Evs in Speed to always outspeed Breloom, but in some cases I miss the chance to match Gengar and other Latias in the speedtier.

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 80 HP / 176 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

Gengar was the latest addition to my team, because previously this place was occupied by Spiritomb. The reason for this change was just a single Pokémon: Breloom. Spiritomb gave me great defensive and offensive coverage against any Ghost or Psychic, which are very abundant in OU (Gengar, Rotom, Latias, Starmie, Azelf...), but in this way, 4 members of my team were completely vulnerable to Breloom's Spore (Swampert, Bronzong, Spiritomb and Magnezone). That is why after a lot of testing I decided to replace Spiritomb with Gengar, and the results were much better. Now half of my team destroys Breloom and makes it impossible for him to set up a Spore in front of Latias, Gengar and Infernape. Gengar completely nullifies Breloom and offers me a very similar coverage to Spiritomb, but in a much more offensive way, only with the handicap of not being a safe defensive switch in against Ghost or Psychic.

Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Hidden Power Ice
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake

One of the most solid tanks in all of OU, Bronzong provides fantastic coverage and synergies with several members of my team, making it hard for the opponent to break cores my cores. This particular set allows for a response to almost the entire tier, because it can hit super effective a large number of threats and also can poison the opponent, giving me a great advantage against walls. Bronzong works well against an infinite number of defensive and offensive threats: Hippowdon, Tyranitar, Gengar, Weavile, Jirachi, Flygon, Latias, Gliscor, Magnezone without Magnet Rise, Mamoswine, Metagross etc... This Bronzong only has nothing to do against certain Pokémon such as Scizor (especially the SD version), Skarmory, Kingdra with DD or Starmie. It can even hit strong counters like Heatran or Infernape very hard with Earthquake, which allowed me many times to remove both threats with prediction.

Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Grass
- Thunder Wave

Magnezone is one of the most effective ways to remove the abundant Steel-type, and therefore creates an excellent offensive core with Latias. This set with Magnet Rise is the best when it comes to destroying Steel, as it prevents Earthquake from Metagross and Bronzong, and it is also a good answer to Ground, its greatest vulnerability. I've decided to use HP Grass instead of Ice or Fire in order to not be forced to switch out against Quagsire, and above all, Swampert, since one of the purposes of this team is to have as much coverage as possible and not be forced to switch in and out constantly due to a lack of coverage. Despite this, it still works very well destroying Steels, and even other Ground-types like Flygon or Gliscor are not a threat to my team, thanks to Swampert and Bronzong, or even Infernape with HP Ice.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpA / 192 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Hidden Power Ice
- Thunder Punch
- Overheat

Few Pokémon offer as good coverage as Infernape, which is capable of breaking through a ton of defensive cores. My Infernape uses a rather original variation of the classic Physically based mixed attacker set, which grants me amazing coverage and reduces the number of times the opponent forces me to switch out. I'm not going to go into detail about all of Infernape's coverage because it's pretty well known, but I do want to clarify the differences of this particular set. After testing Infernape a lot, I would always run into two switches from my opponent, which could start a setup in front of Infernape and wipe out my team. These Pokemon are Gyarados and Dragonite. Well, with Thunderpunch and HP Ice I always take them out, which gives me a huge advantage against my opponent, and besides, hardly anyone expects Gyarados or Dragonite to fall against Infernape. This version also works very well against another of the most common switches into Infernape: Starmie, as it does a lot of damage to it with Thunderpunch. Finally, HP Ice deals good damage to offensive Latias, which is great for wearing her down, and Close Combat hits Swampert well, being able to defeat it if it has low HP.

Threats:

Starmie: Latias is the only safe switch in to take its hits but she can take some serious damage from Ice Beam, so Starmie is quite dangerous. Anyway, both Latias and Magnezone destroy it offensively.

Machamp: Gengar is the only safe switch in for Dynamic Punch, and I can't leave it in front of Machamp because Gengar is destroy by Payback. Latias anihilates Machamp with Draco Meteor, and Infernape and Gengar can revenge kill it if it has low HP.

Kingdra: It's a rare Pokémon on OU, but if it gets boosted, Kingdra can destroy my team with ease, but it can only set up safely a DD against Bronzong, because the other members can punish Kingdra pretty hard.

Suicune: If this dog sets up a Calm Mind, I’m in trouble, because it will be extremely difficult to remove. Magnezone and Latias are not solid answers against a boosted Suicune.

Entry hazards: My team doesn't have a spinner, although it's not very vulnerable to hazards, but it's always dangerous to have SR and Spikes on your field. Fortunately, Magnezone deals very well with the main Spikes users (Forretress and Skarmory) and also with Tentacruel. Gengar cam use Taunt against hazard setters and Infernape destroys Roserade.

Possible changes:

Zapdos (specs): I've used this version of Zapdos on other teams and it always gave me great results. In this case it would allow me to destroy Machamp and Suicune, as well as deal massive damage to Kingdra. I could try it instead of Latias or Magnezone, although my team would become much more vulnerable to hazards.

PokePaste link and other teams:
https://pokepast.es/43a546e33177383b
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ou-machamp-substitute-nightmare.3728246/#post-9790599
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/no-ou-a-serious-gimmick.3723822/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ou-a-very-original-hail-semi-stall.3680040/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/balanced-sunny-day-bdsp-ou-team.3696418/

 

[johnnyg2]

Hi!

Saw this team posted and I think its pretty solid! I think this style of team (kind of an HO w pert in there to give some meat to the team) is starting to increase in popularity over the last few months. I wanted to see if I could help meld some of the ideas of the team into something unique and strong.

My first question to you is what is the goal of this team? Is the goal to use modest specs lati + mag to weaken your opps check to dragons/gengar so gar can weaken the opp's team enough so that ape can clean up? If so, why don't you just lead lati? fat pert can work as a lead, but you can more immediate impact leading lati and forcing your opp to answer you. I also question the value of ape and especially bronzong on a style like this. Is your goal instead to be a more general mag offense? If so, I don't think you apply enough pressure to get past your defensive holes. Would you instead want to build around specs zap? You could do this, but you would need to restructure the whole team to get the most out of it and I don't think it'd be worth.

Let's explore the specs lati + mag + gar idea. Right off the bat, I'd lead lati instead of pert like i mentioned above. It immediately forces steels in so you can trap them w your current zone set. Your current set and spread is fine, but feel free to mess around w it if you feel fit. Your gar and pert sets look good as is, but another thing you could try is lum > black sludge on gar. This gives you a more immediate answer to loom coming in, as it will probably try to sleep the switch in and you can immediately taunt it to get a large advantage. Mag set also looks good -- threaten to trap bulkier steels. You could potentially use sub > twave to block trick + iron meta from ruining your ideas, but what you have works too. From here, you need to account for several other mons -- you allude to starmie/cune/kingdra, but this four also struggles to beat a lot of special threats like rotom, zap, heatran looks like a pain. I think we ultimately need to replace zong to get the most out of this squad.

This team looks like it is dying to add a dd tar. w mag support and plenty of ways to remove steels, you can really cover a lot of ways people beat dd tar and have an immediate threat. sand also is fantastic for helping you deal w kingdra/support against cune. A lum dd tar over zong seems to be the way imo.

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Ice Punch
- Dragon Dance

you could also use fire punch to help against shed skarm, but ice punch seems like a luxury you can afford, nailing gliscor.

Finally, I think you need to replace ape as well. Mag + dd tar is simply not enough to handle dragons. I think meta is the best approach, and I think a couple sets could work.

I have been messing around w endure custap meta on HO like this to help me get around not having a scarfer and a good general oh shit button:

Metagross @ Custap Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Endure

Both agility and trick + iron ball meta I could see working on this squad.

After these changes, we end up w this:

https://pokepast.es/432a8c740ef8c636

Now I think you definitely lose some pace w/o ape, but if you'd like to build around ape, lemme know and we can start there. It's just that ape + mag is rather an odd pairing, as you typically want to use steels as opportunities for ape to come in and wreak havoc instead of trapping them

 

[Gazpacho23]

Thank you very much for your analysis and your suggestions. The main goal of the team is to take advantage of its solid synergies and the great coverage of his members to face as many threats as possible, and reduce the number of switches (giving me more momentum), relying mainly on the offensive power of Latias and Infernape. I'm sure I'm going to try to use Latias as a lead, because I think it might be a good idea in order to put a lot of pressure on the opponent at the beginning of the battle (in other teams I used Zapdos specs as a lead and it worked very well). Regarding your suggestions on DD Tyranitar and Metagross, I am going to spend quite a bit of time testing them, using the new version of my team that you have attached in poke paste, so I can see the results (DD Ttar is a very interesting option that I never considered for my team). My only concern regarding the suggested changes is that by removing Bronzong and Infernape, I think my team could be very vulnerable against Dragonite, Latias, Flygon and Jirachi, since Bronzong is an excellent answer against those 3 dragons and Infernape destroys Jirachi (Magnezone is not a solid counter since Jirachi almost always uses U Turn or Fire Punch).

You are right when you say that Mag+Ape is an odd pairing, the reason why ape is on my team is based on convenience: I used ape many times in the past because it is a rapid answer to many common threats in the meta, so it results pretty easy for me to use and fit it on my team, but I think that using these type of pokémon as a "wildcard" in many of my teams is not a good habit regarding teamnbuilding.

Anyway, I'll try all your suggestions, thanks a lot!

 

[Rubiaa]

A Pretty Solid-Sinergy Balanced Team​

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View attachment 521733View attachment 521728View attachment 521730View attachment 521729View attachment 521731View attachment 521732​

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Hi, this is a pretty balanced team that I've built and been testing lately, getting some decent results with a peak around 1460, and I think it could go over 1500 without much trouble. The purpose of this team is to get as much coverage and solidity as possible, reducing the number of forced switiches and having as many responses as possible for a large number of threats. I've tried to build around Pokemon with pretty solid defensive synergies, like Swampert, Bronzong, or Latias, focusing on sets that provide great coverage. Other members like Infernape, Gengar and Magnezone provide great offensive coverage and remove may common threats from the tier, creating pretty solid cores with the bulkier members of my team. Besides, most of my losses don't happen because my team has big holes, instead, the opponent outplays me and removes my solid answers against his wincons before using them. I really appreciate any suggestion or possible change aimed at improving my team. Hope you like it and thanks for your time.

The Team In-Depth:
View attachment 521733
Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Roar

Swampert works as a lead, provides tremendous defensive coverage, and thanks to this set it also offers plenty of offensive support with Ice Beam and Earthquake. This is my favorite version of Swampert: it resists hits pretty well, sets up Stealth Rock, offers very good coverage against many threats, and also phazes with Roar, avoiding dangerous setup sweepers like Gyarados, Scizor, or Suicune, which can setup in front other versions of Swampert. This Swampert creates a very strong synergy with other team members like Latias, Magnezone, or Bronzong.

View attachment 521734
Latias @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 8 HP/ 220 Def/ 252 SpA / 28 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Trick

There isn't much to say about Specs Latias, she is a destructive force capable of severely damaging any team, and she also offers me a very good defensive coverage against a large number of threats such as Infernape, Breloom, Machamp, Swampert, or Gyarados. This is a slightly different set than the standard one, as it features Thunderbolt instead of Dragon Pulse in order to destroy Empoleon and Skarmory, and also runs a Modest nature instead of Timid. Modest nature allows me to deal as much damage as possible to the opponent, even when he switches into a defensive counter like Metagross, plus in this way, Latias can survive Pursuit trappers like Tyranitar or Scizor much better. She has the right Evs in Speed to always outspeed Breloom, but in some cases I miss the chance to match Gengar and other Latias in the speedtier.

View attachment 521735
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 80 HP / 176 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt

Gengar was the latest addition to my team, because previously this place was occupied by Spiritomb. The reason for this change was just a single Pokémon: Breloom. Spiritomb gave me great defensive and offensive coverage against any Ghost or Psychic, which are very abundant in OU (Gengar, Rotom, Latias, Starmie, Azelf...), but in this way, 4 members of my team were completely vulnerable to Breloom's Spore (Swampert, Bronzong, Spiritomb and Magnezone). That is why after a lot of testing I decided to replace Spiritomb with Gengar, and the results were much better. Now half of my team destroys Breloom and makes it impossible for him to set up a Spore in front of Latias, Gengar and Infernape. Gengar completely nullifies Breloom and offers me a very similar coverage to Spiritomb, but in a much more offensive way, only with the handicap of not being a safe defensive switch in against Ghost or Psychic.

View attachment 521736
Bronzong @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
Sassy Nature
- Hidden Power Ice
- Toxic
- Gyro Ball
- Earthquake

One of the most solid tanks in all of OU, Bronzong provides fantastic coverage and synergies with several members of my team, making it hard for the opponent to break cores my cores. This particular set allows for a response to almost the entire tier, because it can hit super effective a large number of threats and also can poison the opponent, giving me a great advantage against walls. Bronzong works well against an infinite number of defensive and offensive threats: Hippowdon, Tyranitar, Gengar, Weavile, Jirachi, Flygon, Latias, Gliscor, Magnezone without Magnet Rise, Mamoswine, Metagross etc... This Bronzong only has nothing to do against certain Pokémon such as Scizor (especially the SD version), Skarmory, Kingdra with DD or Starmie. It can even hit strong counters like Heatran or Infernape very hard with Earthquake, which allowed me many times to remove both threats with prediction.

View attachment 521737
Magnezone @ Leftovers
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 32 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Modest Nature
- Magnet Rise
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Grass
- Thunder Wave

Magnezone is one of the most effective ways to remove the abundant Steel-type, and therefore creates an excellent offensive core with Latias. This set with Magnet Rise is the best when it comes to destroying Steel, as it prevents Earthquake from Metagross and Bronzong, and it is also a good answer to Ground, its greatest vulnerability. I've decided to use HP Grass instead of Ice or Fire in order to not be forced to switch out against Quagsire, and above all, Swampert, since one of the purposes of this team is to have as much coverage as possible and not be forced to switch in and out constantly due to a lack of coverage. Despite this, it still works very well destroying Steels, and even other Ground-types like Flygon or Gliscor are not a threat to my team, thanks to Swampert and Bronzong, or even Infernape with HP Ice.

View attachment 521738
Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpA / 192 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Hidden Power Ice
- Thunder Punch
- Overheat

Few Pokémon offer as good coverage as Infernape, which is capable of breaking through a ton of defensive cores. My Infernape uses a rather original variation of the classic Physically based mixed attacker set, which grants me amazing coverage and reduces the number of times the opponent forces me to switch out. I'm not going to go into detail about all of Infernape's coverage because it's pretty well known, but I do want to clarify the differences of this particular set. After testing Infernape a lot, I would always run into two switches from my opponent, which could start a setup in front of Infernape and wipe out my team. These Pokemon are Gyarados and Dragonite. Well, with Thunderpunch and HP Ice I always take them out, which gives me a huge advantage against my opponent, and besides, hardly anyone expects Gyarados or Dragonite to fall against Infernape. This version also works very well against another of the most common switches into Infernape: Starmie, as it does a lot of damage to it with Thunderpunch. Finally, HP Ice deals good damage to offensive Latias, which is great for wearing her down, and Close Combat hits Swampert well, being able to defeat it if it has low HP.

Threats:

View attachment 521746Starmie: Latias is the only safe switch in to take its hits but she can take some serious damage from Ice Beam, so Starmie is quite dangerous. Anyway, both Latias and Magnezone destroy it offensively.

View attachment 521747Machamp: Gengar is the only safe switch in for Dynamic Punch, and I can't leave it in front of Machamp because Gengar is destroy by Payback. Latias anihilates Machamp with Draco Meteor, and Infernape and Gengar can revenge kill it if it has low HP.

View attachment 521748Kingdra: It's a rare Pokémon on OU, but if it gets boosted, Kingdra can destroy my team with ease, but it can only set up safely a DD against Bronzong, because the other members can punish Kingdra pretty hard.

View attachment 521749Suicune: If this dog sets up a Calm Mind, I’m in trouble, because it will be extremely difficult to remove. Magnezone and Latias are not solid answers against a boosted Suicune.

Entry hazards: My team doesn't have a spinner, although it's not very vulnerable to hazards, but it's always dangerous to have SR and Spikes on your field. Fortunately, Magnezone deals very well with the main Spikes users (Forretress and Skarmory) and also with Tentacruel. Gengar cam use Taunt against hazard setters and Infernape destroys Roserade.

Possible changes:

View attachment 521755Zapdos (specs): I've used this version of Zapdos on other teams and it always gave me great results. In this case it would allow me to destroy Machamp and Suicune, as well as deal massive damage to Kingdra. I could try it instead of Latias or Magnezone, although my team would become much more vulnerable to hazards.

PokePaste link and other teams:
https://pokepast.es/43a546e33177383b
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ou-a-very-original-hail-semi-stall.3680040/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/balanced-sunny-day-bdsp-ou-team.3696418/

i like this a lot actually. maybe consider scarf infernape

 

[Gazpacho23]

i like this a lot actually. maybe consider scarf infernape

Thanks for your comment, I considered scarf nape in the past but it didn't work as well as Life orb, because it lost his huge versatility (my version of Infernape beats 2 of his most dangerous counters, Gyarados and Dragonite, and it is never forced to switch out against them).