OU Lucario based sweep

Randomdog

The goal of the team
Sweep with lucario after revealing and clearing out counters using the other pokemon

The team at a glance
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In Depth Look
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Uxie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/106 Def/152 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Trick
- Stealth Rock
- Yawn
- U-turn

The lead for this team was a tough decision. Nothing on the team is weak to stealth rock, so stopping it wasn't a priority. Setting up my own stealth rock on the other hand is almost necessary as lucario misses several key OHKOs without it. Another thing I wanted to achieve with my lead is scouting, so uturn would also be great. Statusing an opposing pokemon would also be really handy.

All that considered I went for a scarf uxie. Not a common set but very effective in this team.
EV'd to outspeed Aero and scarfloom. Against both of these I just SR and take the sleep/wasted taunt

Against a lead which is going to use SR i'll trick, forcing them to switch and I can SR on the switch. If they switch in something that is going to set up i'll yawn, and uturn next turn to scout, just like that I either know half their team or they have a sleeping pokemon

Its EV'd for bulk and it has one hell of a lot of it, theres not much that can OHKO it (especially not moves run by the common leads) So, a lot of the time uxie survives these initial exchanges, but has limited use in the later stages of the game. Sometimes I use him to yawn some more and rack up switches, sometimes he just becomes death fodder and allows me a free switch. However, his main use later in the game is to play 'mess around with the items'


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Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Extremespeed
The main sweeper and general focus of the team. Chosen because of its power to OHKO things after SR even if they resist its attacks (e.g. skarmory) In order for the team to achieve its goal, Lucario's counters need to be removed.

Usage should be fairly obvious, swords dance and then CC/Crunch things which are slower than you, ES things which are faster than you and proceed to win the game

Common counters for this set are
- Gliscor
- Gyarados
- Celebi
- 'Mence
- Magnezone
- Heatran

All 5 of these counters are also drawn out by Scizor, which has U-Turn access for scouting, so along comes...

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Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 244 HP/252 Atk/14 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- U-turn
- Pursuit

Once again, another pokemon with fairly obvious and standard usage. The switch-ins against lucario and scizor do tend to be very similar so bringing in scizor and immediately using U-Turn tends to draw out a counter, most of which are either dealt with by the following 2 pokemon.

Scizor can also act as a backup sweeper in the late game. with bullet punch mopping up for things that Lucario didn't manage to take out

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Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
Gliscor, Gyara and 'Mence are all weak to one side of boltbeam, my personal favourite way of boltbeaming is choice scarfed starmie. Who also has the added advantage of trick to cripple a wall and hydro pump for an exceedingly powerful STAB.

Nothing enjoys a scarfed hydro pump, even with things that double resist it sometimes taking as much as 20%. While this isn't the best method of scouting it has proved effective, sometimes even scoring a 2HKO (easy to pull off because of the scarf)

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Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion

The second 'Luke counter killer' is this adorable little puppy.

Celebi not only commonly carries HP Fire but is also weak to fire itself, heatran makes so much sense for this team especially as Will-O-Wisp is also used commonly against lucario/scizor and heatran's synergy with scizor is amazing

I've opted for the substitute version of heatran, as its going to cause switches and can even act as a decent backup sweeper when behind a substitute

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Rotom-h @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/168 Def/88 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Overheat
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Having 3 steels makes magnezone a pretty big problem (even though scizor can U-Turn away) The double earthquake weakness from Heatran/Lucario is also something that needs to be dealt with. So for this slot I was looking for something that either resisted or was immune to ground attacks AND can take out magnezone

This came in the form of Rotom-H, it is immune to earthquake, resists all of magnezone's common attacks and can OHKO the magnet with overheat.

When Magnezone isn't on the other team Rotom is also useful for the handy resists, loads of bulk and coverage support
 
Surf >> Hydro pump on Starmie. I can really see you suffering on Offensive based Swampert! Because of this i'd say drop Trick on Starmie for Grass knot as Grass knot is by far the best Swampert-counter. I can see both good and bad things with adding a Life orb to Heatran. However the good things are more than the bad things so i think you should go for it.
 
One thing that might be helpful is to replace Explosion on Heatran with toxic. Toxic would help bring down the HP of Bulkier and defensive pokemon such as Swampert and Gliscor that Lucario has trouble. Explosion obviously does a lot of damage as is, but only once. This change might be a matter of preference, but I would try it to see if you have any success. I'll edit anything else in if i see it.

Edit: If you do keep Explosion, switch your nature to either Naive (+Spd, -Sp Def) or Hasty (+Spd, -Def). As it is Timid is taking away from Explosion's damage output. I would also switch items to Life Orb to increase your overall damage. If you switch to Toxic, keep Leftovers, because they would allow you to possibly stall for a turn or two.

Edit 2: I'm noticing that you are also weak to Lucario. If you replace, I'm thinking Heatran, with Magnezone, you cover a lot of bases. You also cover your admitted Magnezone weakness too. In that case I would use HP Fire, in order to take out those opposing Magnezones, as well as Lucario, and revenging other pokemon if you decide to use the Scarf variant. If you go that direction, using a LO Starmie wouldn't be as risky with the added speed.
 
From whats been said here I'm going to test a few new versions of the heatran before deciding on one.

Heatran (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -Sp Def)
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Toxic

And the original.

I've tried toxic before on heatran sets but then I didn't run substitute and would normally toxic on the switch, whereas now I just sub, so it might have limited use. Still, worth testing it

Thanks for the input :)
 
Hi, this is actually a pretty good team, but I think that you are relying on Starmie to check too many threats. Starmie is currently the only Pokemon on your team that can check the three biggest counters to Lucario; Gliscor, Scarf Heatran, and Gyarados. Considering that Starmie is Choiced, it will be switching quite a bit; between Stealth Rock damage and the damage it takes from the attack switching in, it probably won't be living for very long. Plus, ironically enough, your team is very weak to a Jolly natured Swords Dance Lucario. If just one out of the four above mentioned Pokemon outlives Starmie, Lucario won't be able to complete his sweep. Also, I don't think that Rotom is really fulfilling his purpose on the team. What Rotom does for you is: 1) check Magnezone. 2) provide a ground immunity. 3) provide bulk. However, I notice that your team is easily beaten by a well-played stall team (and to a lesser extent, Spikes Stacking teams). I think that instead of Rotom-H in that slot, you would better benifit from a stallbreaking Gliscor.

Gliscor is immune to Earthquake and Thunderbolt, two common moves that can give your team trouble. In addition, Gliscor (or at least the set that I'm suggesting) easily beats stall by itself, so you needn't make extra protection up against it. Gliscor is also extremely bulky on the physical side of things (as well as being decently bulky on the special side). Essentially, Gliscor does everything that Rotom-h does...however, Gliscor beats stall, checks Jolly Swords Dance Lucario, and is immune to Thunder Wave, a move that can easily ruin Lucario's sweep. Gliscor can also beat other Gliscor one-on-one, as he can outstall through a combination of Toxic and Roost. I suggest you use this moveset:

Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 Hp / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly nature (+Speed, -Special Attack)
~ Earthquake
~ Roost
~ Taunt
~ Toxic

This is really a handy Gliscor set, as it checks many Pokemon that your team struggles with, as well as beats stall. 252 HP EVs make Gliscor into one bulky bird(?), and really helps to increase his longevity. 40 Def EVs help him take physical hits with more ease, including SD Luke's Extremespeed. 216 Speed and a Jolly nature means that you will always outspeed Jolly Lucario, plus Naive or Timid Heatran. Earthquake is really the only attacking move that Gliscor needs in its arsenal, as it OHKOes all Lucario and Heatran, Pokemon that your team can stuggle to contain. Roost gives Gliscor a reliable way to recover its health, and allows it to stall out many threatening Pokemon. Taunt destroyes stall teams, forcing Pokemon like Blissey to attack you (haha Blissey is strongth); this essentially ruins the crux of a stall team, and any stall team without Vaporeon, Ice Fang Hippowdon, and Ice Beam Blissey will be unable to break past Gliscor. Toxic gives Gliscor a weapon against the Rotom formes and physically bulky Pokemon like Hippowdon, who Earthquake would do little damage to. Toxic combined with Roost will allow you to stall out most any threat with weak attacks, and cripples many a Pokemon.

The rest of the team looks good, please try out Gliscor and let me know what you think. Hope I helped, and good luck! =)
 
That Gliscor is EXACTLY what I was looking for when I chose Rotom, Don't believe I didn't think of it myself.

Also, Toxic on Gliscor allows me to keep explosion on heatran, so I'll probably go with
Heatran (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -Sp Def)
- Substitute
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Explosion

As its been testing really well.

Thank you so much for the Gliscor set :)
 
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