XY OU Rate my Gen1 only Team

Captain Yoda

Hello there fellow Pokémaniacs.

Oldschooler here, I started playing Pokémon with Blue on the original Gameboy and kept playing over the years, however stopped playing on the Nintendo since Gen 4. I recently picked up netbattling out of sheer nostalgia and was overjoyed with the options and mechanics the new generations gave to my old friends :)

Since I didn't know most of the new pokés I somehow felt obliged to see how a team of first generation allstars using their new tools would fare against the plethora of new challenges. So far I have been doing quite well in the lower parts of the ladder, however, as there is always room for improvement, I wanted to see what people who actually know what they're doing have to improve about this.

Feel free to comment anything you like and feel is contributing :)

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Outrage
- Dragon Dance
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake

Multiscale and Lum Berry basically guarantee a free Dragondance when used as a lead unless taunted (against teams with common, fast taunters like Aerodactyl, i usually lead with Starmie, however that IS a weak point of the team). If for some reason i get a second dance (due to Will-o-Wisp miss etc.) its usually gg. Extreme Speed helps against Mamoswine and other "counters" relying on Ice Shard.

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute
- Focus Blast
- Will-o-Wisp

This set can mess up entire teams if unprepared. I was very surprised that i didn't run into Gengar on every second team, given how often it wrecks entire teams, once the standard counters are gone. Near perfect coverage and incredible switch- and survivability for such a frail ghost. Additionally, apparently the only thing that keeps this team from getting rekt by Bisharp ;P.

Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam

Ye olde Rapid Spin... not much to say except for BoltBeam required Ice Beam and Psyshock for specially bulky mons, Spin and a Hydro Pump that is required over Surf due to the measly SpA. I'd rather have a more sturdy spinner, but for some reason, this combination of Spinner and emergency cleanup Starmie just works out fine.

Magneton @ Eviolite
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Boy, how I love teams featuring Magnezone :> Gen1 will kick your overevolved face back to the future all day, everyday (well, on friendly sundays, at least ^^). Aside from Magnezone, the little Steelballs outspeed one very interesting threat that magnezone cannot beat - namely (non-mega :'( ) Scizor. Otherwise, its 120 SpA pack an unexpectedly hard punch with Thunderbolt and Ferrothorn has a hard time Power Whipping the Eviolite-boosted Substitutes.

Slowbro @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Scald
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Slack Off

Holy smack. I NEVER used Slowbro when i played back as a kid. But when i found myself looking for a reliable wall and looked past Eviolite Chansey and Curselax (I love Snorlax, but it simply did not work for me), I was not disappointed. Aside from matches where people simply decide to hand over the win by letting Dragonite set up, I would say Slowbro has won me the most games so far. After dedicated special sweepers have been dealt with, this pink bundle of joy has no problems walling entire teams while simultaneously evolving into a dangerous, well-covering sweeper that can deal with both physical and special walls after a few setups. And if he gets an unlucky switch in, Regenerator grants him a second try most of the time. Very surprising.

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
- Hone Claws

Switched this guy in for Dugtrio after feedback. Significant improvement, though it looks like i now sport a rather significant weakness to Electro. Still, 100% accuracy, 200 effective basepower boosted Stone Edge hits like a truck (and like a freight train compared to old Dugtrio), while Aqua Tail and Earthquake provide nice Coverage without sacrificing too much punching power. Considering Aerial Ace instead of Aqua Tail, but so far, I'm happy.

Hopefully that's not too much text and some people bother to help/comment. Any constructive thought is highly appreciated :)

edit: Included changes made after first feedbacks.
 
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Hello there! Welcome to smogon! Quite a nice team you have here. Gen 1 teams are always a nostalgic blast to play against.
Here's a few things I noticed that could potentially help you out… obviously these changes are 100% optional :P

Starmie - Use psyshock over thunderbolt. While the bolt/beam combo is nice and hits so many things for neutral damage, psyshock is a STAB move that's more important for starmie. Psyshock can let you revenge weakened pokemon like mega venusaur which is a massive threat in OU. Slowbro has psyshock but is too slow and gets demolished by giga drain. A timid max special attack starmie does around 66-77% to a typical special attacking mega venusaur. It's also just more useful in general than thunderbolt, helping you target special walls if needed with a moderately powerful STAB.

Magneton - Remove charge beam in favour of flash cannon. Magnet pull and charge beam may seem like a great strategy but the things you are supposed to be trapping can get around it or annoy you. Scizor can u-turn out, skarmory can phase you out and ferrothorn can get up all the hazards in the world if you try to boost special attack with charge while they're trapped. Don't waste time trying to charge beam things you trap, just dispose of them quickly with HP fire or thunderbolt in skarmorys case. Charge beams only real use is to finish off badly weakened pokemon in the hopes of getting a boost. If you really want to keep it, remove substitute. Flash cannon is a reliable STAB that is very useful for fairies.

Dugtrio - It seems you're open to changing this member of the team. My question is, what do you need this member for? You mentioned how dugtrio is a good revenger but then you went on to say aerodactyl or vaporeon are possible replacements. Aerodactyl makes sense as it can revenge well, but vaporeon fulfils a completely different role. Just out of those two, I would suggest aerodactyl. Aerodactyls mega evolution is extremely fast and quite powerful. It's actually quite underrated if you ask me. It makes for an absolutely excellent revenger with great coverage. EQ and stone edge are mandatory, but it's capable of running things such as the elemental fangs and even aqua tail. The beauty of this is that these moves are boosted by its amazing ability tough claws, which basically gives you a life orb boost to anything that makes contact. Aqua tail at 90BP turns into basically a 120BP move with tough claws, that's stronger than hydro pump to give you an example. Gen 1 has some great mega evolutions so you have a lot to choose from.

Some other minor things I would change would be disable on gengar to will o wisp instead. Gengar is extremely fast and makes for a great emergency stop to boosted physical attackers, especially bisharp who is one of the scariest pokemon in OU if you aren't prepared for it. Bisharps STAB dark moves demolish gengar, but 99% of the time they will try and sucker punch you which gives you a free turn to substitute or will-wisp. Otherwise after a swords dance boost bisharp can sucker punch and OHKO almost your entire team. I realise sub disable is a strategy to remove sucker punch, but if you miss focus blast bisharp destroys everything. It's not uncommon to miss 2 or even 3 focus blasts in a row.
I would also take roost from dragonite and replace it with a coverage move. Even with a DD boost you are walled hard by strong fairies and steel types.
Finally, if you decide not to go with mega aerodactyl you could use your mega slot on mega blastoise because he fits the bill of a good bulky rapid spinner with a ton of power too.

Overall I like your team a lot. These are just some of my suggestions that you could temporarily implement and see how they pan out.
 
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You're using a team consisting of only first generation Pokemon. Gen 1 has some of the best Mega Evolutions in the game. You're using zero of them.

You should probably fix that.
 
Arcticblast said:
You're using a team consisting of only first generation Pokemon. Gen 1 has some of the best Mega Evolutions in the game. You're using zero of them.

You should probably fix that.
Click to expand...
Point taken.

First of: Thanks a ton Wargreymon, that was more of an answer than I had hoped for :)

After some testing, I ended up switching Dugtrio out for Mega-Aerodactyl:

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aqua Tail
- Taunt

Got the feeling that Taunt is not exactly what this set should run, on the other hand I had it help me out of several uncomfortable situations... Otherwise pretty satisfied with this guy. Definitely a huge improvement over Dugtrio, however I feel the team sports a significant weakness to Electro now. Hasn't come up during actual play too much though.

Prospects I considered after reading your very opinion on Aerodactyl were Mega-Aerodactyl, -Gyarados and -Charizard X. I have not tested the other two too much, but will do so when i feel uncontent with my little fossil.

Will-o-Wisp on Gengar is great, and I also changed Charge beam to Flash Cannon on Magneton. Its SpA is big enough to punch through enough stuff without the boost already. Starmie got Psyshock as well.

Roost on Dragonite stays thus far, but I actually made a list for when i would rather have had a coverage move. Till now, Roost is winning ;P
 
Hello there and nice team :)
After seeing the team I immediately thought of a big threat to this team named Bisharp because nothing would like to take a hit from it in your team. But luckily you made room for WoW for Gengar so that's kinda okay. Also, consider running Hone claw on MegaAero because after 1 HC, Stone Edge and Aqua tail will always hit, and at +1 ATK this monster'll OHKO most common things in the metagame. Fire fang would also be nice to have for the annoying Ferrothons out there, but you had Magneton waiting in the back so it's not a big problem I guess.
I agree with Wargreymon about the D-nite lacking coverages. Put EQ in instead of Roost and Steel-types will not wall you anymore (Fire/Thunder Punch for Skarm's case).
You're using a team consisting of only first generation Pokemon. Gen 1 has some of the best Mega Evolutions in the game. You're using zero of them.
You should probably fix that.
Click to expand...
Mega mons are not always that good to be a must in a team man. For instance, Mega Alakazam < Life orb/sash Alakazam, Mega Garchomp < Regular Garchomp.
 
Roost is definitely still a good option on dragonite because it can restore multiscale and make you hilariously bulky, but when I ran with dragonite I found myself wanting a coverage move instead. All personal preference of course, if roost is working for you then keep it because it's certainly a great move to have. :)

Glad you're liking aerodactyl. Taunt is good because of how fast it is and it stops things from setting or healing, but I like hone claws better. You're free to spam stone edge after the accuracy boost. I think you should have a flying STAB though. Although aerial ace is weak as shit and aerodactyl would KILL for brave bird, it gets a STAB bonus and a tough claws bonus making it respectable. I would actually go as far as to say aerial ace is a must, because you can OHKO keldeo after rocks if jolly or just OHKO at full health if adamant.

Expanding on deepwalkers post about megas, yeah megas are not manditory and a ton of teams function just as well or even better without them, but I do agree that gen 1 has some of the best megas. With the exception of alakazam and gyarados, all gen 1 megas vastly improve on the base forms. You have tons of options to try out so go nuts lol.
 
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