I'm relatively new to the competitive scene, but I've always wanted to make a monotype steel team (their typing containing some of my favorite designs) and I figured the meta-game would make for a more interesting experience than my usual Ubers laddering on Showdown. After an hour or two of research I messed around with my team, ironing out obvious flaws and fixing re-recurring problems. I've won about 40 matches with this team and lost about 20, but I keep running into teams that sweep me without resistance, I only have 1 check for certain set-ups and when an opponent has just the right move-set I get destroyed. I don't know much about the OU meta (since I mostly play Ubers) and throwing myself into the monotype ladder hasn't been easy. I've been enjoying my team greatly, but I can't help feel that I've been making some mistakes in how it's build. Since I'm no expert and haven't been able to iron out anything else in awhile, I figured I'd as some experts on the subject.
As a quick side-note, my gender choices were based off the statistical probability of a player's choice between a male or a female Pokemon carrying Attract. Since the player-base of most games are male, I assumed that most players would want male Pokemon and, therefore, a higher percentage of female Pokemon was a more factually correct composition.
Iron Sky (Skarmory) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Iron Head
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird
I chose Skarmory for one major reason, the fighting resistance. I was getting swept a lot with my original build and a Flying-Steel felt like a good check to the primarily physical fighting types, especially Pokemon running Close Combat or Drain Punch. After deciding that Skarmory would be a Fighting wall, making him a physical wall seemed like the natural choice, since many players tend to only run special Fighting moves on Pokemon that aren't primarily fighting (or at least from what I had seen). I brought Spikes to stack with Empoleon's Stealth Rocks, Brave Bird to deal with any fighting Pokemon giving me trouble, Roost to keep up the tanking and recover the Brave Bird recoil, and Iron Head replaced Whirlwind because I kept getting ruined by Aura Sphere Mega-Diancie and wanted a way to retaliate. Another reason I swapped out Whirlwind for Iron Head was because I rarely used the move and when I did it was pretty ineffectual. The Rocky Helmet is to gain chip-damage while regaining health with Roost and the ability (Sturdy) is to get off spikes or a finishing move if an opponent surprises me with an unexpected set.
These Hands (Scizor) (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower
As for Scizor, I'd say the purpose is pretty clear. Scizor is an all-around useful Pokemon, with good ability to finish off enemies, bring chip damage with U-turn, damage enemies I've forced out with it's typing using Pursuit, and Superpower to deal heavy damage to other Steel types if I lose Heatran and take out Normal types. Scizor is also an extremely useful Fairy type sweeper with it's Technician Bullet Punches, dealing heavy damage to make up for my lack of Steel moves on other team members. As for the Choice Band, I wanted to maximize my Bullet Punch and U-turn damage to make Fairy sweeps viable and get some free damage on immediate switch outs.
Drillcaex (Excadrill) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Excadrill is meant to be my major sweeper, carrying vital, powerful utility to deal with most dangers to my team. This Pokemon surprises opponents with it's speed and counters a huge amount of Flying, Poison, and Electric types that I don't have many other counters for. On top of that, Excadrill protects my team from hazards using it's rapid spin. Mold Breaker was a natural choice from this Pokemon because it allows her to slam most of the usual Levitate walls my team faces.
Luv Hurts (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Protect
Ferrothorn is my main wall for just about every special attacker (and even plenty of physical ones) with it's Leech Seed, Toxic, and Leftovers combo. Easily tanking max SpAtk Fire Blasts, this Pokemon creates a formidable wall that has served me well against almost every team in both Ubers and OU. This Pokemon is able to wall entire teams with the correct mind games, stalling them to death with Toxic and it's constant health regeneration. On top of all this, the Iron Barbs make enemies weary to attack with anything physical that can't KO Ferrothorn quickly and efficiently. However, this Pokemon is not as useful as I want it to be, other bulky Pokemon tend to outclass it in a stall game. Many Poison and Grass types (especially Venusuar) wall this guy unbelievably well, being immune to half or all of my utility. Because of this, Power Whip just isn't cutting it. Besides that, I've been loving this Pokemon's results, winning back games from the edge of a loss.
Check (Heatran) (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp (or HP Grass, depending on what people say)
Heatran, being one of the most powerful Steel types in Showdown Monotype, was a clear choice. With Fire Blast this Pokemon rules supreme over other Steel teams and crushed grass types, Earth power crushes other variants of Heatran and the Air Balloon guarantees wins against other Heatrans with the same spread, and Dragon Pulse gives the Fire Blast and Flamethrower resistant Heatran a powerful check for the nastier Dragon types. As for Will-O-Wisp, this move replaced the unused Hidden Power Grass. Through all my games, I clicked HP Grass once and to no avail, where as many Poison teams walled my Ferrothorn's status moves. With this in mind, I replaced HP Grass with Will-O-Wisp so I could provide back-up status to teams immune to my Toxic in some way. Finally, Flash Fire provides a powerful switch in against moves meant to take out important members of my team and, therefore, nullifies a dangerous threat to my team.
Pride (Empoleon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
- Knock Off
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
Finally, Empoleon provides a much needed wall against most dragon and fire types that would usually devastate my team if Heatran were out of commission. Knock Off gives off decent damage to Ghost types and makes switching in on Empoleon dangerous, Scald provides my main SpA Water move to deal with Fire types and Ice Beam is for the dragons. Last, but not least, Stealth Rocks allows me to set up a powerful hazard while forcing out opponents, which will stack with my Spikes from Skarmory. The Leftovers allow Empoleon to more effectively wall Special Attackers and Torrent gives some last minute damage to Scald, catching opponents who are 2-3 shotting Empoleon off guard. Sadly, I've found Empoleon's ability to tank Fire types lack luster, but have found no suitable replacement. I originally had Bronzong with Heat Proof in this position, but Skarmory replaced the Fighting check and Empoleon does the job slightly better.
While this team has been preforming well, I can see huge room for improvement and wanted to see what some more knowledgeable players had to say about my sets and strategies. Thanks to anyone who reads this or provides feedback!
As a quick side-note, my gender choices were based off the statistical probability of a player's choice between a male or a female Pokemon carrying Attract. Since the player-base of most games are male, I assumed that most players would want male Pokemon and, therefore, a higher percentage of female Pokemon was a more factually correct composition.
Iron Sky (Skarmory) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Iron Head
- Spikes
- Roost
- Brave Bird
I chose Skarmory for one major reason, the fighting resistance. I was getting swept a lot with my original build and a Flying-Steel felt like a good check to the primarily physical fighting types, especially Pokemon running Close Combat or Drain Punch. After deciding that Skarmory would be a Fighting wall, making him a physical wall seemed like the natural choice, since many players tend to only run special Fighting moves on Pokemon that aren't primarily fighting (or at least from what I had seen). I brought Spikes to stack with Empoleon's Stealth Rocks, Brave Bird to deal with any fighting Pokemon giving me trouble, Roost to keep up the tanking and recover the Brave Bird recoil, and Iron Head replaced Whirlwind because I kept getting ruined by Aura Sphere Mega-Diancie and wanted a way to retaliate. Another reason I swapped out Whirlwind for Iron Head was because I rarely used the move and when I did it was pretty ineffectual. The Rocky Helmet is to gain chip-damage while regaining health with Roost and the ability (Sturdy) is to get off spikes or a finishing move if an opponent surprises me with an unexpected set.
These Hands (Scizor) (F) @ Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower
As for Scizor, I'd say the purpose is pretty clear. Scizor is an all-around useful Pokemon, with good ability to finish off enemies, bring chip damage with U-turn, damage enemies I've forced out with it's typing using Pursuit, and Superpower to deal heavy damage to other Steel types if I lose Heatran and take out Normal types. Scizor is also an extremely useful Fairy type sweeper with it's Technician Bullet Punches, dealing heavy damage to make up for my lack of Steel moves on other team members. As for the Choice Band, I wanted to maximize my Bullet Punch and U-turn damage to make Fairy sweeps viable and get some free damage on immediate switch outs.
Drillcaex (Excadrill) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
Excadrill is meant to be my major sweeper, carrying vital, powerful utility to deal with most dangers to my team. This Pokemon surprises opponents with it's speed and counters a huge amount of Flying, Poison, and Electric types that I don't have many other counters for. On top of that, Excadrill protects my team from hazards using it's rapid spin. Mold Breaker was a natural choice from this Pokemon because it allows her to slam most of the usual Levitate walls my team faces.
Luv Hurts (Ferrothorn) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed
- Toxic
- Protect
Ferrothorn is my main wall for just about every special attacker (and even plenty of physical ones) with it's Leech Seed, Toxic, and Leftovers combo. Easily tanking max SpAtk Fire Blasts, this Pokemon creates a formidable wall that has served me well against almost every team in both Ubers and OU. This Pokemon is able to wall entire teams with the correct mind games, stalling them to death with Toxic and it's constant health regeneration. On top of all this, the Iron Barbs make enemies weary to attack with anything physical that can't KO Ferrothorn quickly and efficiently. However, this Pokemon is not as useful as I want it to be, other bulky Pokemon tend to outclass it in a stall game. Many Poison and Grass types (especially Venusuar) wall this guy unbelievably well, being immune to half or all of my utility. Because of this, Power Whip just isn't cutting it. Besides that, I've been loving this Pokemon's results, winning back games from the edge of a loss.
Check (Heatran) (F) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SpA
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
- Will-O-Wisp (or HP Grass, depending on what people say)
Heatran, being one of the most powerful Steel types in Showdown Monotype, was a clear choice. With Fire Blast this Pokemon rules supreme over other Steel teams and crushed grass types, Earth power crushes other variants of Heatran and the Air Balloon guarantees wins against other Heatrans with the same spread, and Dragon Pulse gives the Fire Blast and Flamethrower resistant Heatran a powerful check for the nastier Dragon types. As for Will-O-Wisp, this move replaced the unused Hidden Power Grass. Through all my games, I clicked HP Grass once and to no avail, where as many Poison teams walled my Ferrothorn's status moves. With this in mind, I replaced HP Grass with Will-O-Wisp so I could provide back-up status to teams immune to my Toxic in some way. Finally, Flash Fire provides a powerful switch in against moves meant to take out important members of my team and, therefore, nullifies a dangerous threat to my team.
Pride (Empoleon) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Modest Nature
- Knock Off
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
Finally, Empoleon provides a much needed wall against most dragon and fire types that would usually devastate my team if Heatran were out of commission. Knock Off gives off decent damage to Ghost types and makes switching in on Empoleon dangerous, Scald provides my main SpA Water move to deal with Fire types and Ice Beam is for the dragons. Last, but not least, Stealth Rocks allows me to set up a powerful hazard while forcing out opponents, which will stack with my Spikes from Skarmory. The Leftovers allow Empoleon to more effectively wall Special Attackers and Torrent gives some last minute damage to Scald, catching opponents who are 2-3 shotting Empoleon off guard. Sadly, I've found Empoleon's ability to tank Fire types lack luster, but have found no suitable replacement. I originally had Bronzong with Heat Proof in this position, but Skarmory replaced the Fighting check and Empoleon does the job slightly better.
While this team has been preforming well, I can see huge room for improvement and wanted to see what some more knowledgeable players had to say about my sets and strategies. Thanks to anyone who reads this or provides feedback!
