ORAS OU OU (no Mega) team, peaked at #6

[saidinmilamber]

So I've had some success with this team over the last few months, but recently it's been struggling a bit. I normally play by opening with Mamoswine, Rotom-W, or Talonflame. The latter two U-turn/Volt Switch out of there as scouts and Mamoswine sets up Rocks reliably. If scouting, and if a wall switches/stays in, I bring in Gothitelle to Trick it into uselessness or Hidden Power Fire it to death if it's Skarmory or Ferrothorn. Occasionally someone is sloppy and uses a status move after being Tricked and I get to Calm Mind up and take out more than a few of their team. Tentacruel is in for spinning and hazing, as well as being a pretty nice special wall. Liquid Ooze lets me "weaponise" Tentacruel if I predict a Leech Seed. Rotom-W is my physical wall and stops opposing Talonflames from ruining my team, and it's also handy for spreading burns.

Latios and Talonflame are there to clean up the late game after Gothitelle and Mamoswine remove a threat or two. Latios is a relatively new addition to the team in an attempt to manage opposing Rotom-W, and I'm not overly attached to it yet. I had DD Dragonite@Lum Berry, and Guts Conkeldurr before in that spot.

So yeah. Thoughts on any improvements are most welcome! It's a fun team to play, so by all means feel free to take it for a spin! :)

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn

Talonflame acts as a scout when tossed in as a lead, and usually baits in their physical wall so Gothitelle can trap and Trick them. Once said wall is removed, sweeping the team is its next task. Will-O-Wisp can catch people off guards but is a risky manoeuvre getting locked into it, especially if it misses.

--

Rotom-Wash @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Rest
- Hydro Pump

Rotom-W is my go-to physical wall and works nicely to spread burns and absorb status as it can rest it off. When predicting a grass move, Talonflame can come in offensively, or if Giga Drain is predicted, Tentacruel can punish with Liquid Ooze. Moldbreaker Excadrill threatens and a well predicted Rock Slide can hit Talonflame if going for a switch, which can be a problem.

--

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam

Late game sweeper and problem remover. Added because of trouble the team was having with Rotom-W, but can also wreck Gliscor's nice day too. The scarf can catch people off guard too, particularly Scarfed Garchomps.

--

Tentacruel (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off

My rapid spinner, hazer, and special wall. Spreads a few burns and Knock Off removes some essential items. Liquid Ooze has some excellent shenanigans with Giga Drain and Leech Seed, and Black Sludge can get Tricked on to opposing Rotom-W if nicely predicted. I sometime wish I had Toxic Spike there instead on Haze, but when it ruins someone's setup and they ragequit, it's worth it!

--

Gothitelle (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Psyshock
- Trick
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Fire]

People hate this thing, the amount of agro it generates is quite funny! Shuts down walls, clerics, setup sweepers, and Rocks setters by Tricking them and locking them into status moves. After that, Calm Mind to max and kill them, taking back the scarf along the way depending on the team. A fast HP Fire can kill Ferrothorn and Skarmory, and Psyshock can pack a punch on anything with weak defenses.

--

Mamoswine (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard

I mostly lead with Mamoswine as it gets Rocks up incredibly reliably with Oblivious. Surprisingly fast too, which catches people off guard. Icicle Crash always misses when it need to hit, which is irritating, but on the other hand it can occasionally land multiple flinches in a row. His Earthquake packs a mighty punch, and Ice Shard can get in a lot of revenge kills, particularly DD Salamence.

 

[Vengeance417]

Do you have picture proof that you made it to #6 on the ladder? That's quite a feat.

Also, you need to have at least three lines of explanations for each member of your team. Not having so is against the rules for RMTs here.

 

[saidinmilamber]

I certainly do, see below. Apologies, I'll add some extra details to my team above.

 

[Mango Smoothie]

Small nitpick, but you should run 44 speed EVs on Rotom-W to outspeed Jolly Azumarill and burn it.

Also, I feel like Gothitelle and Latios are redundant, and as much as I hate its existence, Gothitelle should be the one to stay. You don't really have much of a way to bother bulky teams, and I'd suggest either changing HP Fire to Rest on Gothitelle or dropping CM and running Thunderbolt. These changes either let Gothitelle reliably set up on walls like Chansey and Slowbro to act as a win condition, or allow it to support something like Talonflame by removing walls like Slowbro and Skarmory.

You could swap Latios for Scarf or CM Keldeo, who would work well alongside the respective Gothitelle sets (Setup or Scarf+3 Attacks) since the former can capitalize on dark-types looking to ruin Gothitelle's day (Bisharp, who you don't really have much of a safe switch-in for), and the latter appreciates Gothitelle's ability to trap and kill its counters.

These are all the changes that stand out immediately to me, good luck with the team. There are likely more efficient ones, so feel free to discard these options.

 

[saidinmilamber]

Thanks for the advice! I'm reluctant to swap in Keldeo instead of Latios though, as Latios is there to solve my problem with Rotom-W and Keldeo doesn't address that unfortunately. Good idea though for another team though!

 

[Mango Smoothie]

Thanks for the advice! I'm reluctant to swap in Keldeo instead of Latios though, as Latios is there to solve my problem with Rotom-W and Keldeo doesn't address that unfortunately. Good idea though for another team though!

My bad, I thought I had written up a separate paragraph on keeping Latios over Gothitelle, but I must've gotten rid of it. If you want to keep Latios, I'd switch Gothitelle with Keldeo and Tentacruel with Excadrill. If you want to keep the ability to cripple defensive pokemon, I'd switch Energy Ball for Trick (and probably go Timid since you'd lose the boost from scarf) since Draco Meteor hits all the things you'd use Energy Ball for harder (195 BP vs 180 BP), and also switch Ice Beam for another coverage move (maybe HP Fire to help with steel-types).

The logic with Keldeo is the same as with Gothitelle, so I won't bore you by retyping that

With regards to Excadrill over Tentacruel (which you could still do with the first rate), it looks like you have an offensive team and Tentacruel just feels out of place. Its a momentum sink, and you already have ways to deal with most setup sweepers (you have the firepower to force out most slower ones and speed/priority to beat the faster ones), not to mention you'd have a lot of water types. Either way, Excadrill still supplies you with spinning, but can also act as a better way to deal with Electric types and a decent check to Special Dragons if the need arises. Even if you opt for a bulkier Excadrill spread, you still maintain more offensive presence which helps in both keeping hazards off your side of the field and keeping them on the opponent's side.