hey y'all happy pride month! coming back atchu to take another shot at an ss ou team. one of my favorite pokemon has always been alakazam and i think that with the proper team support it can seriously wreck. i threw this team together and after a couple edits it's doing pretty well, got me back up to 1600. this is literally the first non-rain team that i've built entirely from scratch in like a year so plsss bear with me but without further ado here she is!
Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force/Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
the main attraction of the team and the primary endgame wallbreaker. expanding force is the stab of choice and i'd say terrain is up when alakazam is out most of the time (i'll explain later) so it usually is capable of doing insane amounts of damage. ohko and 2hkoing with even resisted hits sometimes. focus blast is literally so annoying and i can't tell you how many times it's missed and cost me momentum but it's unfortunately required because alakazam would be much easier to wall otherwise. it's best used on ferrothorn, heatran, bisharp (no sucker punch under terrain), etc. shadow ball is for coverage and nasty plot is always an option. focus sash is so it can get one guaranteed hit in (because it's so frail) OR a nasty plot for free, i'd say i need the free hit more than 50% of the time tho. the ev spread is to maximize special attack and speed, and a timid nature is best. magic guard is obviously the ability of choice because it guarantees focus sash won't get broken without direct damage.
Tapu Lele @ Choice Specs
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
synergizes well with alakazam because of psychic terrain boosting its stab and blocking priority. i chose specs lele because it has the most possible wallbreaking power in the early-mid game to support the alakazam cleanup crew. evs maximize special attack and speed as would be expected, and a timid nature to move first as often as possible (specs make it strong enough imo). i prefer psyshock because it softens up blissey. moonblast is spammable af. focus blast is required again for coverage iknowimsorry and thunderbolt is good coverage against important waters that would otherwise be problematic, especially slowking. i like to lead tapu lele often just to get to pounding asap (and always lead against a rain team to see if you can catch the pelipper - tapu leles usually just run both psychic and psyshock so its not always expected). i usually protect lele as much as possible until the end of the game to ensure that alakazam will get the psychic terrain for as long as possible. if you have to sack it for the terrain, it's good as long as alakazam can take it from there.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
i picked kartana for a revenge killer because it's capable of nailing things really hard even with just a scarf and is very difficult to revenge kill (although a jolly nature is still required). evs maximize attack and speed and the moves are standard. leaf blade dents anything that doesn't resist grass. smart strike is great for clefable, tapu lele, and tapu bulu who is coming back i guess. sacred sword hits steel types like ferrothorn, magnezone, heatran, pretty hard and knock off is great for revenge killing ghosts. predicting with kartana is usually really important, it's often the biggest opportunity to gain momentum by getting a hit off on an expected switchin.
Magnezone @ Chople Berry
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon/Substitute
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
thus far, this team has been very reliant on fighting-type coverage to handle steels, so magnezone was my solution to that. it can trap and remove steels with body press (or thunderbolt if it's corviknight or skarmory). iron defense lets you boost up your defense to make body press hit harder, and flash cannon is for coverage (especially tapu lele). you could use substitute i guess to protect against leech seed if you don't require the steel coverage but i dont think it super matters. evs maximize defense and speed, and i like chople berry here a lot. it protects against a random low kick from weavile and a smack from close combat that often gets sent in after you remove the steel type, so it allows magnezone to smack them back. it's also good for protecting against an opposing ferro's body press while you're defensing up to kill it.
Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
at this point i was realizing that i needed utility, so the master of utility is here! great typing, access to u-turn for pivoting, stealth rock, and toxic to cripple are all very helpful for this team. leftovers allows for longevity and earthquake is there for stab. nature and evs are adjustable and something that i'm not sure about (i'd love advice here). i've found that a slow special defense variant is helpful for this team because it allows for the slow u-turn into an offensive threat and it lets it take hits from tapu lele, blacephalon, dragapult, hydreigon better because these are all a headache. this specific ev spread allows for maximum special investment while still letting it take a grassy glide from boosted rillaboom (after intimidate). 30 ivs in speed are so it gets the slowest u-turn possible even against other landorus without speed investment. not sure if there's a better option here for ev/iv/nature, lmk.
Mandibuzz @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 152 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost
i needed a dark type, an answer to rillaboom, and a defogger, so mandibuzz does all that in one and acts as another nice damage soak for this team. this is the standard spread from smogon because again, i'm not sure if there's a better ev/nature option here, so pls lmk. foul play stops setup sweepers (dragonite, dd pult, rillaboom, etc.). u-turn is for pivoting, roost is for longevity. mandibuzz is really sensitive to knock off so be careful. it's often a good idea to keep mandibuzz healthy until the end of the game because it handles so many common threats.
threats:
urshifu-rapid - annoying as hell when it has a scarf, because surging strikes can pretty much wipe this team, including breaking alakazam's sash. you MUST preserve kartana if this thing is around or you will lose (magnezone's chople berry also helps). this is the one mon that gives me the most trouble haha help
barraskewda - i hate it! i love it until i'm not using it and then i hate it because slowbro is literally the only consistent answer and that's also only if it doesn't have crunch. this is why taking out pelipper asap is important, and you almost always need alakazam's focus sash if there's a barraskewda. proceed with caution. is there something that would help with urshifu and barraskewda? i think slowbro could be great but idk who i could get rid of for him (except maybe magnezone? could i do colbur berry slowbro? idk mag is really necessary for steels)
weavile - not a mess but annoying. magnezone is good for it, so preserve magnezone (or kartana) if a weavile is around.
fast ghost types - a problem without mandibuzz so be careful.
that's all! lmk what you think! its super fun so far. thanks :)
importable: https://pokepast.es/e33f7c095f010742
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force/Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
the main attraction of the team and the primary endgame wallbreaker. expanding force is the stab of choice and i'd say terrain is up when alakazam is out most of the time (i'll explain later) so it usually is capable of doing insane amounts of damage. ohko and 2hkoing with even resisted hits sometimes. focus blast is literally so annoying and i can't tell you how many times it's missed and cost me momentum but it's unfortunately required because alakazam would be much easier to wall otherwise. it's best used on ferrothorn, heatran, bisharp (no sucker punch under terrain), etc. shadow ball is for coverage and nasty plot is always an option. focus sash is so it can get one guaranteed hit in (because it's so frail) OR a nasty plot for free, i'd say i need the free hit more than 50% of the time tho. the ev spread is to maximize special attack and speed, and a timid nature is best. magic guard is obviously the ability of choice because it guarantees focus sash won't get broken without direct damage.
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psyshock
- Moonblast
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt
synergizes well with alakazam because of psychic terrain boosting its stab and blocking priority. i chose specs lele because it has the most possible wallbreaking power in the early-mid game to support the alakazam cleanup crew. evs maximize special attack and speed as would be expected, and a timid nature to move first as often as possible (specs make it strong enough imo). i prefer psyshock because it softens up blissey. moonblast is spammable af. focus blast is required again for coverage iknowimsorry and thunderbolt is good coverage against important waters that would otherwise be problematic, especially slowking. i like to lead tapu lele often just to get to pounding asap (and always lead against a rain team to see if you can catch the pelipper - tapu leles usually just run both psychic and psyshock so its not always expected). i usually protect lele as much as possible until the end of the game to ensure that alakazam will get the psychic terrain for as long as possible. if you have to sack it for the terrain, it's good as long as alakazam can take it from there.
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
i picked kartana for a revenge killer because it's capable of nailing things really hard even with just a scarf and is very difficult to revenge kill (although a jolly nature is still required). evs maximize attack and speed and the moves are standard. leaf blade dents anything that doesn't resist grass. smart strike is great for clefable, tapu lele, and tapu bulu who is coming back i guess. sacred sword hits steel types like ferrothorn, magnezone, heatran, pretty hard and knock off is great for revenge killing ghosts. predicting with kartana is usually really important, it's often the biggest opportunity to gain momentum by getting a hit off on an expected switchin.
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon/Substitute
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
thus far, this team has been very reliant on fighting-type coverage to handle steels, so magnezone was my solution to that. it can trap and remove steels with body press (or thunderbolt if it's corviknight or skarmory). iron defense lets you boost up your defense to make body press hit harder, and flash cannon is for coverage (especially tapu lele). you could use substitute i guess to protect against leech seed if you don't require the steel coverage but i dont think it super matters. evs maximize defense and speed, and i like chople berry here a lot. it protects against a random low kick from weavile and a smack from close combat that often gets sent in after you remove the steel type, so it allows magnezone to smack them back. it's also good for protecting against an opposing ferro's body press while you're defensing up to kill it.
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 104 Def / 156 SpD
Careful Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
at this point i was realizing that i needed utility, so the master of utility is here! great typing, access to u-turn for pivoting, stealth rock, and toxic to cripple are all very helpful for this team. leftovers allows for longevity and earthquake is there for stab. nature and evs are adjustable and something that i'm not sure about (i'd love advice here). i've found that a slow special defense variant is helpful for this team because it allows for the slow u-turn into an offensive threat and it lets it take hits from tapu lele, blacephalon, dragapult, hydreigon better because these are all a headache. this specific ev spread allows for maximum special investment while still letting it take a grassy glide from boosted rillaboom (after intimidate). 30 ivs in speed are so it gets the slowest u-turn possible even against other landorus without speed investment. not sure if there's a better option here for ev/iv/nature, lmk.
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 248 HP / 92 Def / 152 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Foul Play
- U-turn
- Defog
- Roost
i needed a dark type, an answer to rillaboom, and a defogger, so mandibuzz does all that in one and acts as another nice damage soak for this team. this is the standard spread from smogon because again, i'm not sure if there's a better ev/nature option here, so pls lmk. foul play stops setup sweepers (dragonite, dd pult, rillaboom, etc.). u-turn is for pivoting, roost is for longevity. mandibuzz is really sensitive to knock off so be careful. it's often a good idea to keep mandibuzz healthy until the end of the game because it handles so many common threats.
threats:
urshifu-rapid - annoying as hell when it has a scarf, because surging strikes can pretty much wipe this team, including breaking alakazam's sash. you MUST preserve kartana if this thing is around or you will lose (magnezone's chople berry also helps). this is the one mon that gives me the most trouble haha help
barraskewda - i hate it! i love it until i'm not using it and then i hate it because slowbro is literally the only consistent answer and that's also only if it doesn't have crunch. this is why taking out pelipper asap is important, and you almost always need alakazam's focus sash if there's a barraskewda. proceed with caution. is there something that would help with urshifu and barraskewda? i think slowbro could be great but idk who i could get rid of for him (except maybe magnezone? could i do colbur berry slowbro? idk mag is really necessary for steels)
weavile - not a mess but annoying. magnezone is good for it, so preserve magnezone (or kartana) if a weavile is around.
fast ghost types - a problem without mandibuzz so be careful.
that's all! lmk what you think! its super fun so far. thanks :)
importable: https://pokepast.es/e33f7c095f010742
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