Please rate my OU team?

[Flaming Piranha]

Hi. I'm very new to OU battling, so could you help me fine-tune my team with some constructive criticism? Thanks!

Team Overview: Crobat, Gorebyss, Scrafty, Empoleon, Reuniclus, Breloom

Okay, let's start.

Crobat (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Inner Focus
EVs: 56 HP / 200 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Hypnosis
- Super Fang

Crobat is my block for Stealth Rock, Spikes etc set ups. He easily outspeeds things like Ferrothorn and Forretress with Taunt. Then,he puts them (or even better, their switch in) to sleep with Hypnosis. I can then either decide to U-Turn or Super Fang then U-Turn. Leftovers is for some extra health. I find this set pretty effective for its speed.

Gorebyss (F) @ White Herb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 16 HP / 240 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shell Smash
- Iron Defense
- Surf
- Baton Pass

I know it might sound strange, but Gorebyss works extremely well on my team. It can outspeed most non-scarfed Pokemon, and use Shell Smash to raise its stats (the White Herb restores the defence decreases). If the coast is clear to set up again, it can use Iron Defence to give it some extra bulk. Surf is just a filler move. After Gorebyss has set up, it can Baton Pass into its recipient, who will benefit from the Speed, Attack, and Spec Attack and possible Defence raises.

Scrafty (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Drain Punch
- Crunch
- Fire Punch (considering Ice Punch)

Scrafty is amazing. It benefits from Gorebyss' raises greatly, or it can set up on its own with Dragon Dance. Because of its decent bulk, it is the first of my bulky sweepers. It has a recovery move in Drain Punch, and has great coverage in Crunch and Fire Punch. I am thinking about swapping Fire Punch for Ice Punch because of some bulky dragon types who would just use Scrafty as a setup fodder. Shed Skin is a good ability too, because it can recover from a Will-O-Wisp burn in a few turns, which would otherwise hinder its sweep.

Empoleon (F) @ Quick Claw
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 232 Def / 148 SAtk / 128 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Roar
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Scald

Empoleon is my Special Defence Pokemon, and a nice addition to my team, due to its amazing 11 resistances (around that number) and ability to switch into one of those resistances and set up Stealth Rocks. It can destroy Baton Pass set ups with Roar, and Scald is good for inducing burns on physical attackers. Ice Beam is for coverage, and because of its awful speed, I decided on placing Quick Claw on it for the chance of going first.

Reuniclus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 176 HP / 80 Def / 252 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Trick Room
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

I love Reuniclus. It is my second bulky sweeper along with Scrafty, because of its jaw-dropping Special Attack, and its ability cancels out the Life Orb recoil, making it even more powerful. Because of its pitiful Speed, I put Trick Room on there, becuase it can outspeed almost anything with Trick Room in use. Psychic, Focus Blast, and Shadow Ball are all great Special moves with great coverage.

Breloom (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Swords Dance

Breloom is a good Pokemon, but I am very willing to swap it for something different, since it hasn't been a good help to me, yet it has provided me a game changer move in STAB Technician priority Mach Punch, which has 1HKO'd a Tyranitar before (or 2HKO'd, can't remember). Bullet Seed is also good STAB Technician priority. Spore is to put Pokemon to sleep, so I can freely set up Swords Dance on the sleep turn or switch out. However, I have had problems with Dragon Pokemon, as they just switch in on poor Breloom and set up, because I have no spare moves to counter them.

Thankyou for reading. Please feel free to suggest changes, just reply!

 

[Flaming Piranha]

Come on, nearly 50 people have seen this and no one has commented? Please help!

 

[Episode36]

Hello. First thing I would recommend is that if you are using that Scrafty as the recipient of a Shell Smash, then maybe even consider getting rid of Dragon Dance in favor of another coverage move. That way you can have Drain Punch/Crunch/Ice Punch/Fire Punch, and not much resists all that, especially at +2/with STAB. Expert Belt would help you even more as an item, then. Definitely keep Shed Skin.

Second thing is the Breloom set is DW only, I believe, but I could be mistaken. As such, you can't use it yet in standard OU battling. If this is a Dream World post, you may want to tag it as such. :) If this team is just for Standard OU, using a Sub+Focus Punch or Bulk Up set for Breloom would benefit it very much.

 

[King of Blades]

Man, this team needs some major help... First of all, if scrafty is a shell smash recipient, his move set needs to be tweaked.

I would suggest a set such as this:

Scrafty
Adamant | 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 6 Sp. Def | Life Orb | Moxie
~Drain Punch
~Hi Jump Kick
~Crunch
~Ice Punch

Drain Punch is obligatory STAB, and is great for healing the damage taken when you baton pass him in as well as life orb damage. Hi jump kick will at least 2hko most everything that doesn't resist it at +2, and even then, it will ko some resists. Crunch and ice punch are for koing anything that resists hi jump kick. (such as reuniclus, gengar, gliscor, landorus, etc.) Moxie is used over shed skin here because he won't have much fear of status after a shell smash receive, because he will most likely outspeed and ko. Even after a burn, scrafty will be nigh unstoppable after one or two moxie boosts.

Empoleon and Crobat are outclassed at the roles you have them performing in, and Reuniclus is a bit unsuited for a sweeper role, as if you have to switch to him and gorebyss baton passes, its speed still isn't good enough to do squat, but it can't outspeed as much in trick room.

If you wish to stop opposing entry hazards the first turn, I suggest replacing crobat with azelf. He is a great asset to your team, as he has a wide variety of moves, such as ice punch, explosion, taunt, u-turn, and psychic STAB.

Here is the set that I would recommend:

Azelf
Jolly | Normal Gem | 252 Atk, 252 Speed
~Explosion
~U-turn
~Taunt
~Zen Headbutt / Ice Punch

This set is designed to shut down the opposing team's entry hazard setter, switch out, then be a general nuisance.

Taunt is for shutting down entry hazards and support pokemon. U-turn is so you can switch out and scout the opponent's switch in. Zen Headbutt is for obligatory STAB, (if you hate the coverage, you can go for ice punch to hit dragons) and explosion is to go out with a bang! It will damage or ko many threats to your team thanks to the normal gem bumping its power up to an astounding 375.

In order to support the scrafty sweep, I suggest replacing reuniclus with dual screen latias. Scrafty's defenses are surprisingly good for a sweeper's. Combine that with drain punch and dual screens, and scrafty will also because a minor defensive headache as well. When you factor in +2 attack from shell smash, you will end up with a very powerful offensive threat that is very fast and tough to revenge kill.

Here is the set:

Latias
Timid | 252 HP, 252 Speed | Light Clay
~Reflect
~Light Screen
~Recover
~Dragon Pulse

Dual Screens form the backbone of this set, as they help scrafty sweep, and can turn latias into a very formidable special wall.

Recover is so you can keep setting up those screens. This is very important if you attempt more than one smash pass due to the defense drops.

Dragon Pulse is for obligatory STAB, and it will hurt much more than you think if you are forced to receive a smash pass with latias.


At this point, you may be worried about powerful hits from dragons. Your solution would be to replace empoleon with heatran. Heatran can set up stealth rock as well as roar, and becomes a great tank with screens, or a great cleaner after a smash pass.
Here is the set:

Heatran
252 HP, 252 Sp. Atk | Modest | Air Balloon
~Lava Plume / Flamethrower / Fire Blast
~Earth Power
~Hidden Power Ice
~Stealth Rock

You have three options for you STAB: Lava Plume, (burns are fun when you're dealing them!) Fire Blast, (more power!! grunt grunt grunt!) and Flamethrower (for when fire blast keeps blasting nothing but air, but you still want decent power).

Earth power is there to provide coverage against tyranitar, as well as other heatrans once their air balloon has been popped.

Hidden power ice provides vital coverage against dragons, and is great in tandem with air balloon, as that means heatran is immune or resists most of what dragons carry (until the balloon pops)

Stealth Rock is there because hazards are important for scoring kos, and breaking sashes or sturdy.

Heatran is great in tandem with latias, and can turn into a decent cleaner with a shell smash, as it hits 380 speed and 788 special attack.

Finally, I would suggest turning breloom's moveset to a sub punch + spore set with toxic orb and poison heal.
Here is the set:

Breloom
Adamant | 252 Atk, 252 Speed | Poison Heal | Toxic Orb
~Substitute
~Focus Punch
~Spore
~Drain Punch / Stone Edge / Seed Bomb

Substitute + focus punch is very powerful on breloom, and spore is great for crippling nasty sweepers and walls.

The final move slot is contested, to say the least. Needless to say. Drain Punch + Dual Screens + Poison Heal = very good. (Yay, pokemon math!) Stone Edge is for hitting fliers that resist focus punch. Seed Bomb is for grass STAB if you are worried about gastrodon, quagsire, (by the time seed bombs are launched, you will be left UNAWARE of the impact quagsire made upon the match!) and rain teams.

At this point, gorebyss could use some work as well. I suggest changing around your moveset and evs. Gorebyss is meant to shell smash, then BP or sweep, not to sit there and become a pincushion. For this reason, I suggest changing gorebyss's moveset and evs to this:

Gorebyss
White Herb | 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed | Modest
~Shell Smash
~Baton Pass
~Surf
~Hidden Power Electric / Hidden Power Grass / Ice Beam

Smash Pass is there because that's what the team's ultimate goal is, as well as the only niche gorebyss has in OU. Surf is there for STAB. The 4th slot depends on your other pokemon. If you are worried about gyarados and tornadus, I suggest using Hidden Power electric. If you are worried about rain teams in general and didn't put seed bomb on breloom, Hidden Power Grass is recommended. If you are worried about annoying grass and dragon types stopping your sweep, I suggest ice beam. The fourth move all depends on what you want to punch holes in before gorebyss BP's out to another pokemon. It has great special attack, and the speed is enough to outrun almost all pokemon in
Standard OU that don't carry choice scarf or any boosts.

In conclusion, all pokemon on this team support the main goal by punching holes in the opponent's team and supporting scrafty in preparation for the smash pass sweep. Not only that, but each pokemon is also very threatening after a smash pass, meaning you will almost always make good use of your boosts no matter who you have to switch to. This team also has three important cores it can work with: fire/water/grass, psychic/fighting/dark, and Heatran/Latias.

At this point, the team should look like this: Gorebyss, Latias, Azelf, Heatran, Breloom, Scrafty.

Also, if you are having trouble finding sprites, I suggest you use this website:
http://www.pokemonelite2000.com/sprites.html

Sprites or pictures of your featured pocket monsters are vital to an RMT, as they will catch the eye of people scrolling around the forums and pique their curiosity.

Hope this helps, and good luck!!

 

[Flaming Piranha]

King of Blades; Wow! That was a lot of help. I will amend my team to the suggestions you gave me. I have added the pictures, and you put a lot of effort into that comment, so thank you!

Episode36; Oops, I didn't know Brelooms's set was DW. I will change the ability, and also Scrafty's moveset. Thanks!

 

[King of Blades]

King of Blades; Wow! That was a lot of help. I will amend my team to the suggestions you gave me. I have added the pictures, and you put a lot of effort into that comment, so thank you!

No problem. I see it as my duty to help people when help is needed. Also, welcome to Smogon, and welcome to the world of pokemon! (At least, competitive anyway. Also, had to rip off Professor Rowan's quote!)

 

[Flaming Piranha]

No problem. I see it as my duty to help people when help is needed. Also, welcome to Smogon, and welcome to the world of pokemon! (At least, competitive anyway. Also, had to rip off Professor Rowan's quote!)

I've actually been playing NU and UU for a while, but they just didn't suit me, so I'm playing OU now, it's pretty good!