Hi all,
So yeah, I've been running this team for the last few weeks and it's been doing pretty well. It's consistently held onto scores of 1900+ (it's the first team I've made which has broken onto the top 500 ladder for a current gen OU, which was nice) and is currently sitting on 1910. I'm pretty sure I won't be playing Showdown again until after Christmas at which point Pokebank will be out soon after, so I figured I'd get some feedback and generally share it with you guys.
The team was initially built around the idea of facilitating a mono attacker Florges sweep after some success in the very early meta, but it's since become a generally solid team where at least half of them end up cleaning house regularly. The team's been through more iterations than I cared to pay attention to so I'll skip the team building bit and get on with it.
Cruella @ Focus Sash
Timid
252SpAtt/252Spe/6HP
Fire Blast
Psyshock
Magic Coat
Hypnosis/Will-O-Wisp
The newest addition to the team, Delphox acts as my lead more often than not whilst also meeting the "support Florges" criteria by packing STAB Fire Blast for Aegislash and Scizor. The sheer rarity of Magic Coat in pre-Bank OU makes it very easy to capitalise on and effectively block early hazard layers, and while this team functions perfectly well without its own hazards bouncing back the occasional layer is always nice. It normally matches up favourable with other common leads, coming across a Smeargle is like Christmas come early. Rotom-W, Tyranitar and Greninja all cause it some hassle, but if I see them on the opposing team odds are I'll lead with something else.
Agnes @ Leftovers
Bold
252HP/252Def/6SpAtt
Calm Mind
Moon Blast
Rest
Sleep Talk
Not as dangerous as it was earlier on in the meta, where it just seemed to steamroll everybody (maybe I was getting lucky, idk), Florges is still able to walk over unprepared teams without a decent Steel STAB and because gets treated as a setup opportunity hilariously often, getting to +2 is relatively easy at which point a lot of would-be counters start seriously fearing Moonblast.
Big Dave @ Kangaskhanite
Adamant
252Att/252Spe/6HP
Return
Power up Punch
Earthquake
Sucker Punch
Christ this thing is good. I completely overlooked it for the first month of playtesting because my teams were all inadvertently carrying the same 2-3 mons that did a decent job of countering it, but then I used it myself and realised what all the fuss was about. Initially brought in as a wall breaker to soften stuff up for Florges, Khan ends up doing the majority of the sweeping these days. I favour EQ over Crunch on this particular team as it allows me to consistently remove Aegislash. Jolly has been suggested but I rarely find myself missing it whereas the extra Kos Adamant yields are much more desirable.
Polly @ Choice Band
Adamant (Gale Wings)
252Att/252Spe/6Def
Brave Bird
Flare Blitz
U-Turn
Sleep Talk/Steel Wing
This guy was my first love of Gen VI, and this set has featured on every one of my teams since the first day. Choice Band and those dual STABs can rip holes in pretty much anything, and since the majority of people expect LO, Lefties or even itemless acrobatics the additional power output is enough to ruin a lot of switch ins that predicted a less painful experience. Priority BB is just insane and can quickly put an end to a lot of sweep attempts. The last moveslot goes entirely unused, I used to run Sleep Talk for Breloom as a secondary Spore switch in until Delphox and Goodra were added, now Steel Wing gets used for Fairy killing when I don't want recoil to KO or tip it into Stealth Rock range.
Claude @ Rocky Helmet
Jolly (Rough Skin)
252Att/252Spe/6SpAtt
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Fire Blast
Mostly here to operate as a Kangaskhan check, Chomp has the lovely talent of 2HKOing Khan with recoil alone with enough bulk to switch in on any move pre-PuP. It can also feign a Scarf in some cases thanks to the nice speed tier and lack of lefties/LO (taking a physical attack screws that idea, obviously), and makes a decent Togekiss lure who thinks it's safe because there's no STAB to worry about. Fire Blast is there for Ferrothorn and very little else, so I've considered slashing Swords Dance back in to provide the team with another capable late game sweeper.
Slimy Joe @ Life Orb
Modest (Sap Sipper)
252SpAtt/252HP/6Def
Dragon Pulse
Flamethrower
Thunderbolt
Muddy Water
Goodra was brought in to patch a few holes in an earlier build of the team and has hung around since as a Ferrothorn check and competent switch in to Rotom W. Generally acting as a bulky pivot, it gets pretty great coverage out of its four moves and while it doesn't hit as hard as a lot of other potential candidates, it doesn't roll over and die half as easily either. I used Gooey initially but it was proving useless and Sap Sipper has become really helpful in soaking up Leech Seeds from Ferro, Gourgeist and Trevanant and dealing with them via Flamethrower. Thunderbolt probably sees the least use but the rare times it comes in handy as a result of being overlooked justify its stay over other options.
---
So that's my team, which will remain untitled because adds to the sense of mystery and because I am an uncreative bastard. General strategy is typically assessing whether or not there are few enough threats to Florges (read: Excadrill, Aegislash, Scizor, Tyranitar, Ferrothorn) to warrant an attempt at setting up, if yes then start breaking down the counters and if not, lead with Delphox for early game disruption and try to engineer a clean-up for Kangaskhan or Talonflame. Feel free to give it a try and any input is welcome, I have a feeling the team is still not optimal and could do better with some changes I haven't been able to envision (I think I want to swap out Florges at this point, but haven't found a decent fit).
So yeah, I've been running this team for the last few weeks and it's been doing pretty well. It's consistently held onto scores of 1900+ (it's the first team I've made which has broken onto the top 500 ladder for a current gen OU, which was nice) and is currently sitting on 1910. I'm pretty sure I won't be playing Showdown again until after Christmas at which point Pokebank will be out soon after, so I figured I'd get some feedback and generally share it with you guys.
The team was initially built around the idea of facilitating a mono attacker Florges sweep after some success in the very early meta, but it's since become a generally solid team where at least half of them end up cleaning house regularly. The team's been through more iterations than I cared to pay attention to so I'll skip the team building bit and get on with it.
Cruella @ Focus Sash
Timid
252SpAtt/252Spe/6HP
Fire Blast
Psyshock
Magic Coat
Hypnosis/Will-O-Wisp
The newest addition to the team, Delphox acts as my lead more often than not whilst also meeting the "support Florges" criteria by packing STAB Fire Blast for Aegislash and Scizor. The sheer rarity of Magic Coat in pre-Bank OU makes it very easy to capitalise on and effectively block early hazard layers, and while this team functions perfectly well without its own hazards bouncing back the occasional layer is always nice. It normally matches up favourable with other common leads, coming across a Smeargle is like Christmas come early. Rotom-W, Tyranitar and Greninja all cause it some hassle, but if I see them on the opposing team odds are I'll lead with something else.
Agnes @ Leftovers
Bold
252HP/252Def/6SpAtt
Calm Mind
Moon Blast
Rest
Sleep Talk
Not as dangerous as it was earlier on in the meta, where it just seemed to steamroll everybody (maybe I was getting lucky, idk), Florges is still able to walk over unprepared teams without a decent Steel STAB and because gets treated as a setup opportunity hilariously often, getting to +2 is relatively easy at which point a lot of would-be counters start seriously fearing Moonblast.
Big Dave @ Kangaskhanite
Adamant
252Att/252Spe/6HP
Return
Power up Punch
Earthquake
Sucker Punch
Christ this thing is good. I completely overlooked it for the first month of playtesting because my teams were all inadvertently carrying the same 2-3 mons that did a decent job of countering it, but then I used it myself and realised what all the fuss was about. Initially brought in as a wall breaker to soften stuff up for Florges, Khan ends up doing the majority of the sweeping these days. I favour EQ over Crunch on this particular team as it allows me to consistently remove Aegislash. Jolly has been suggested but I rarely find myself missing it whereas the extra Kos Adamant yields are much more desirable.
Polly @ Choice Band
Adamant (Gale Wings)
252Att/252Spe/6Def
Brave Bird
Flare Blitz
U-Turn
Sleep Talk/Steel Wing
This guy was my first love of Gen VI, and this set has featured on every one of my teams since the first day. Choice Band and those dual STABs can rip holes in pretty much anything, and since the majority of people expect LO, Lefties or even itemless acrobatics the additional power output is enough to ruin a lot of switch ins that predicted a less painful experience. Priority BB is just insane and can quickly put an end to a lot of sweep attempts. The last moveslot goes entirely unused, I used to run Sleep Talk for Breloom as a secondary Spore switch in until Delphox and Goodra were added, now Steel Wing gets used for Fairy killing when I don't want recoil to KO or tip it into Stealth Rock range.
Claude @ Rocky Helmet
Jolly (Rough Skin)
252Att/252Spe/6SpAtt
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Fire Blast
Mostly here to operate as a Kangaskhan check, Chomp has the lovely talent of 2HKOing Khan with recoil alone with enough bulk to switch in on any move pre-PuP. It can also feign a Scarf in some cases thanks to the nice speed tier and lack of lefties/LO (taking a physical attack screws that idea, obviously), and makes a decent Togekiss lure who thinks it's safe because there's no STAB to worry about. Fire Blast is there for Ferrothorn and very little else, so I've considered slashing Swords Dance back in to provide the team with another capable late game sweeper.
Slimy Joe @ Life Orb
Modest (Sap Sipper)
252SpAtt/252HP/6Def
Dragon Pulse
Flamethrower
Thunderbolt
Muddy Water
Goodra was brought in to patch a few holes in an earlier build of the team and has hung around since as a Ferrothorn check and competent switch in to Rotom W. Generally acting as a bulky pivot, it gets pretty great coverage out of its four moves and while it doesn't hit as hard as a lot of other potential candidates, it doesn't roll over and die half as easily either. I used Gooey initially but it was proving useless and Sap Sipper has become really helpful in soaking up Leech Seeds from Ferro, Gourgeist and Trevanant and dealing with them via Flamethrower. Thunderbolt probably sees the least use but the rare times it comes in handy as a result of being overlooked justify its stay over other options.
---
So that's my team, which will remain untitled because adds to the sense of mystery and because I am an uncreative bastard. General strategy is typically assessing whether or not there are few enough threats to Florges (read: Excadrill, Aegislash, Scizor, Tyranitar, Ferrothorn) to warrant an attempt at setting up, if yes then start breaking down the counters and if not, lead with Delphox for early game disruption and try to engineer a clean-up for Kangaskhan or Talonflame. Feel free to give it a try and any input is welcome, I have a feeling the team is still not optimal and could do better with some changes I haven't been able to envision (I think I want to swap out Florges at this point, but haven't found a decent fit).
