OU RMT

[grateking]

Hey everyone.
I'm new to competitive battling and would appreciate some input on my team. After re-working my team a couple times and testing it out on battles i decided to get some advice before i get too confident of my team.
My team is a fairly balanced team focusing on using walls early on to weaken enemies before bringing in a sweeper to finish off.

Team at a Glance:

Swampert (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
---
Very bulky lead that is usually not killed early in the game. I usually scout with protect before laying down SR. Against faster leads i take the taunt and retaliate, usually giving a KO. The next poke that comes out usually has a grass move, so i can swith to blissey or scizor, depending on the pokemon. Mid-game he is a good tank and can switch in on weaker physical assaults.

Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Toxic/Thunder Wave
- Wish
- Softboiled
---
She is my main special wall that i bring in on a grass attack aimed at swampert. She scares away special attackers and uses toxic on the physical attackers that come by. i have been pondering thunder wave to better cripple phys. attackers on the switch instead of toxic so i would like to hear your thoughts on that. She also provides wish support in case off a misprediction and softboiled is a better self healing option.

Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Moonlight
- Thunder Wave/Toxic
- Ice Beam
---
My main phys. wall. I was debating celebi over her but have grown to like cresselia because of her better bulk. Moonlight is a rather bad healing move due to its low pp and reliability but i consider it the best option anyway. Ice beam is there for salamence, but with reflect up, it cant really do very much damage anyway. I used thunder wave but have thought about switching it for toxic on blissey. Despite my like for cresselia, if there is a better phys. wall im open for suggestions but i think she fits in my team well.

Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/252 Atk/8 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Superpower
- Pursuit
---
A good sweeper for mid game and keeps the momentum with u-turn. Its 4x resistance to grass makes it a great partner with swampert. I was debating brick break for more reliability but i have have tested it out and i dont like it. pursuit works well with other blissey trying to switch but i have never seen it do very much damage. other than that i have no other use for pursuit but i realize it is important for choiced pokes.

Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Ice Beam
---
My salamence/gyarados check. I used to have heatran as my revenge killer but realized my team was weak to ddance gyara so i put a scarf on starmie as well as thunderbolt to create a good counter. Grass knot is for an easier time with prediction, but i have been considering trick over it.

Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
---
My late game sweeper that i usually bring out on grass moves aimed at swampert. Have been considering dragon claw and fire blast over stone edge because alot of times the accuracy is a huge problem. the problem with those two options is that i lose a rock move on my team. i also considered a bulky set for more opportunities for a ddance but the lack of power makes sweeping without the boost a little bit tougher, so i use this set.

The biggest problem i have is sub dancing gyarados, but no other threats that are worth mentioning.
Thanks.

 

[symphonyx64]

Hey,

Even though Fire Blast has accuracy issues, it prevents Skarmory and Fortress from completely walling your attempted sweep, which is why I recommend it. Ironically, it has greater accuracy than Stone Edge. It also greatly helps against Scizor switch-ins, if you're lucky of course. If the accuracy turns you off, Flamethrower is a viable alternative. However, if you do decide to make the switch to Fire Blast, the following changes must be made.

Starting with your nature. With Fire Blast, you want either a Naughty or Naive nature. With Adamant, you are weakening your Salamence's Special Attack. With a Naughty or Navie nature, Salamence's Special Attack is untouched. A benefit of a Naive nature is the ability to outspeed Modest Latias, and Modest Scarfed Latias when you are +1 at the expense of attacking power.

Next, I reccommend changing your EV spread to 232 Atk / 24 SpA / 252 Spe. With that small investment in Special Attack EVs, you are ensured to OHKO a maximum HP, minimum Special Defense Impish Skarmory.

On the other hand, if you opt for with Stone Edge, your current spread and nature are fine.

 

[vashta]

hello, i'm vashta.

this is an excellent team, and shows some oldschoolness from D/P—I like it. I would like to make a couple of minor point-outs, though. the first one is the fact that your team has no proper check to Life Orb Taunt Heatran, and none of your team members can switch into it and threaten it. Your best hope at checking it, is through the use of Blissey, or strategic movements to play around Heatran—but any good user of Heatran could put you away easily if they knew what they were doing—and, unfortunately, Blissey is shut down by Taunt and can't hit it without giving Heatran boosts, which isn't beneficial either; therefore, I would like to suggest you change Blissey's Flamethrower for Seismic Toss. With Seismic Toss, you can deal consistent damage to Heatran and all non-Ghost-type Pokémon, which is an excellent bargain against Pokémon that resist Flamethrower such as Suicune, etcetera. Besides, Flamethrower is only a compromise to hit Rotom-A with Substitute, which a specially defensive Scizor with the EVs 160 HP / 176 Atk / 168 SpD / 4 Spe can handle anyway, as well as revenging Salamence. Toxic from Blissey hits all other Rotom-A, so you're not missing out on much by the change of move, and means that Cresselia can utilize Thunder Wave, so you maximize the range of targets you can effect with status.

Also, I don't really see the point of your current Starmie set; changing it to a Life Orb set means that you are able to threaten Pokémon that would otherwise threaten Salamence's sweep. Your current Choice Scarf set, when compared to the other Pokémon on your team, is somewhat flawed because Cresselia and Swampert, together, deal with Gyarados and Salamence, respectively, so Choice Scarf isn't necessarily an obligatory factor to "checking them", especially as Starmie can't actually switch into Salamence. I suggest sticking to your current set, but think about changing Grass Knot for Recover, and thus Surf for Hydro Pump—Swampert is taking hefty damage from the latter move anyway, and can't switch into it.

A minor EV change would be changing Salamence's HP EVs, by moving them into any other stat bar HP to give it an odd HP number, so Life Orb recoil occurs 11 times, not just 10.

Good luck.

 

[ghost]

Teh Swamp is here to rate your team. Just making a note that if I repeat any information from earlier posts, it is merely a coincidence and I'm sorry.

Let's start with Swampert.

I understand Protect has scouting purposes, but I almost always very obvious when something is carrying a Grass move. This is why I suggest you change Protect to Roar. Roar means that so you will not simply be Suicune or Latias fodder, and believe me, you would be. Admittedly you are a bit weak to CroCune as the only thing posing any threat to it after even a single Calm Mind is Salamence, and with Sand Stream and Stealth Rock and Life Orb all factoring in, you really shouldn't be pinning your hopes on such a fragile Pokemon. Other than that Swampert looks fine.

Cresselia is generally outclassed and has fallen to the lower ranks of the OU since it no longer counters Garchomp, which was its main purpose. Cresselia is a pain to kill, but I suggest replacing her with Gliscor. Give it leftovers, a Jolly nature, a spread of 252 HP/216 SPE/40 DEF (or customize to fit your needs) and run the stall-breaker set of Earthquake/Taunt/Toxic/Roost. This set hold the ability to single-handily give Stall a stoke out of ragequit. With Blissey frequently turning to Flamethrower over Ice Beam, you can Toxic the opponent's team while they struggle to heal off the damage thanks to Taunt. Earthquake and Roost are pretty obvious; Earthquake is necessary STAB that by change manages decent damage on Calm Blissey and Tentacruel. You now have a reliable Lucario counter that can help you beat stall, a strategy I can see you struggling to hold your own against.

Blissey needs to go with Toxic over Thunder Wave. You are relatively easy to set up on by bulky sweepers such as non-Cro Suicune, and Toxic might be your only way of stopping him. I also support vashta's suggestion of Seismic Toss over Flamethrower, as you can hit ghosts with Toxic and Scizor (Flamethrower's main purpose) is soundly handled by Gliscor and Swampert.

Scizor looks okay for the most part, but since you need something that can frequently switch into Latias, run a spread of 200 HP/136 ATK/172 SDEF. The EVs don't achieve anything in particular, but you aren't OHKO by Spec Starmie's Hydro Pump, Leftover Latias' HP Fire, or defensive Celebi's HP Fire anymore. Again, you can can customize these EVs as you see fit.

Starmie is a great revenge killer, but I don't feel that you're utilizing its maximum potential. Use a Timid nature and an EV spread of 40 HP/252 SATK/216 SPE. You can run max speed, but Pokemon that speed tie Starmie will generally beat it, and now you can switch into Infernape just a little bit better. Replace Grass Knot with Trick, since Hydro Pump already deals good damage to Swampert, and Thunderbolt hits most Waters harder. It's also generally very bad to be locked into a Grass move, too. With Trick, you can cripple CroCune and special walls like Blissey and Snorlax.

Salamence is okay, but Stone Edge needs to go. Use a Naughty nature and Fire Blast in order to beat Pokemon like Skarmory and Forretress, who otherwise wall you hopelessly. The choice between Flamethrower and Fire Blast is generally ust preference, but here are some calculations for you:

Flamethrower vs. 252/0 Impish Skarmory: 76.05% - 89.82% (15.4% to OHKO with SR)
Fire Blast vs. 252/0 Impish Skarmory: 95.81% - 113.17% (a OHKO with SR)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Flamethrower vs. 252/252 Impish Skarmory: 56.29% - 66.47%
Fire Blast vs. 252/252 Impish Skarmory: 71.26% - 83.83%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Flamethrower vs. 252/0 Bold Celebi: 47.52% - 55.94% (a 2HKO with SR)
Fire Blast vs. 252/0 Bold Celebi: 59.90% - 70.79%

As you can see, the difference is not huge, but Fire Blast is commendable for the OHKO on standard Skarmory. If the accuracy is really that big of an issue for you, run Flamethrower, but the change is generally unnoticed.

Good luck with your team.

 

[grateking]

@ symphonyx64- thanks 4 the salamence advice
i had never really considered skarmory wen making this team
@ vashta- i can see seismic toss being effective on blissey but for starmie i needed more off a revenge killer but thanks anyway
@ The Swamp- other than the shared ice weakness with salamence, i can see the use of gliscor and having a poke with taunt is prob the biggest thing i was missing to combat stall teams
im not sure about dropping power for bulk on scizor but i will see how it goes anyway thanks