Poison Ivy
Since poison type pokemon are among the most underrated and underused types in the game, I decided to build a monotype team that can stand its own in standard OU play. This team is always changing, so I'm always open to suggestions
Nidoqueen
Nidoqueen
Item: Black Sludge
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Tail
Nidoqueen serves as my main lead in order to accomplish her main job; getting Stealth Rocks out. Afterwards, I usually have her shuffle or have her try to earn a kill if possible. Earth Power hits three common Toxic Spikes absorbers, Nidoking, Toxicroak and Tentacruel, for super effective damage, preventing them from absorbing my Tentacruel's Toxic Spikes. Fire Blast is a fantastic coverage attack that does great damage to Steel-types such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress, as well as preventing Venusaur from absorbing Tentacruel's Toxic Spikes. Dragon Tail has excellent synergy with Fire Blast, as it hits the dragon pokemon Nidoqueen would stuggle against without Ice Beam.
Weezing
Items: Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
- Haze
- Thunderbolt
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
Thanks to its great defensive stat, Weezing serves as my utility counter, defensive wall, and defensive pivot. Combined with his typing, the ability levitate, access to useful moves such as Haze, Pain Split, and Will-O-Wisp (which hits levitate users that avoid Toxic Spikes), Weezing is the ideal pokemon to handle pesky pursuit carrying Fighting-type threats that Gengar cannot always handle such as Hitmontop and Croagunk; Gengar's worst nightmare. Thunderbolt is there as it has nice coverage in the OU metagame that is plagued with Water and Flying types. I'm thinking about giving it Flamethrower instead of Thunderbolt since I have the unfortunate luck of being walled by common ground types, with and without priority moves, such as Mamoswine, Garchomp, Landorus, etc.
Gengar
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
By equipping a Choice Scarf, Gengar functions as my team’s revenge killer, spinblocker, and special sweeper. Thanks to Choice Scarf, Gengar has a chance to successfully block Starmie's Rapid Spin thanks to its ability to outspeed and OHKO non-Choice Scarf versions with Shadow Ball. Choice Scarf Gengar can also revenge kill sweepers such as Dragonite, Salamence, Lucario, Cloyster, and Breloom. Hidden Power Ice allows Gengar to hit the likes of Dragonite, Salamence, Garchomp, Gliscor, and Landorus. Trick allows Gengar to cripple walls like Blissey, Chansey, and Ferrothorn. I was running Thunderbolt for a while in place of Trick, but Thunderbolt tends to get walled, and I've recently started to value Trick.
Roserade
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 24 HP / 252 SAtk / 232 Spd
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Sludge Bomb
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder
Roserade serves as my second sweeper. Roserade's powerful STAB Leaf Storm, augmented by its excellent Special Attack and Life Orb, packs an incredible punch, which, unfortunately, forces Roserade out after one hit. Sludge Bomb is there as a powerful secondary STAB attack with the added benefit of hitting Latios, Dragonite, and Salamence on the switch. Hidden Power Fire allows it to destroy Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Scizor, and other common Steel-types bar Heatran. Sleep Powder is an excellent utility move that can remove a problematic Pokemon from the match.
Drapion
Item: Black Sludge
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 244 SDef / 16 Spd
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Poison Jab
- Whirlwind
- Taunt
Drapion serves as my second phazer/shuffler, specially defensive pivot, and is a great staller that can also prevent Psychic-Types from completely destroying my Team. As such, I decided to run his Specially Defensive set since it takes advantage of Drapion's key resistances to Ghost-, Psychic-, and Grass-type attacks that allows him to be a specially defensive pivot while combatting some of the most threatening sweepers in the metagame. This set looks to take hits and hit back with one of Drapion's STAB moves that are typically super effective against the threats that Drapion is being used to check. Crunch is good against Ghost- and Psychic-types such as Chandelure and Celebi, while Poison Jab finds use against Grass-types such as Lilligant and Breloom. Whirlwind is a great asset for Drapion, as it can hit Pokemon behind Substitutes and Pokemon that require set-ups. It also allows Drapion to rack up entry hazard damage thanks to Nidoqueen's Stealth Rock and Tentacruel's Toxic Spikes. Taunt also allows Drapion to prevent slower threats from setting up, as well as protecting it from status from the likes of Roserade, DD Dragonite, Agility Metagross, etc.
Tentacruel
Item: Black Sludge
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Scald
- Protect
Tentacruel serves as my specially defensive, supporting rapid spinner/wall. Rapid Spin is self-explanatory, while Toxic Spikes is being utilized instead of Toxic because of Nidoqueen's and Drapion's niche as shufflers, and all of my Pokemon benefits from certain walls being crippled, particularly those with Natural Cure. Scald is the best STAB move that Tentacruel can run since it has the same power under rain as a Hydro Pump outside of rain with a 30% chance to burn the target, discouraging Pokemon such as Gyarados and Dragonite from switching in, even though they resist the move. Protect allows Tentacruel to stall for more Leftovers + potential Rain Dish recovery while allowing it to scout Choice users.
Honorable Mention
Amoonguss
He was my original wall and my secondary phazer. Unfortunately, it was out-sped by everything and destroyed by many. As such, he was replaced with Weezing, who does a much better job
Scolipede
He was my physical sweeper (or the closest thing to one) and supporter with Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Unfortunately, I needed to add Drapion to the team so that Psychic types wouldn't waltz in and devastate, and since he had the least coverage, I decided to replace him and give Tentacruel Toxic Spikes over Toxic