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After a few nights of fighting, I went back to my old guys. I've been trying things differently and have come up with this so far: changes in blue

Heracross, Guts @ Lum Berry
Jolly, 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Close Combat
Megahorn
Night Slash
Stone Edge

What do you do when you see this guy as a lead, Splash your pants? If anyone tries to put him to sleep, he still goes straight for a kill with Night Slash or Megahorn. Tricking a Choice Scarf will make matters worse because now he'll strike first if you keep your guy in. I stopped playing around with all these annoying leads that put someone to sleep and then die because they're so weak, Heracross gets the kills so I might as well kill first. Status-causing leads don't usually survive after the second round, and the variety of moves help keep Heracross from being pulled out. I save Close Combat for the big guys, or when Heracross is weak anyway. This is my temporary Gyarados and Salamence killer, since a quick Stone Edge does plenty of damage. They don't have many turns until one of us dies.

Tyranitar @ Blackglasses
Jolly, 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Dragon Dance
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Crunch

Second in command, I like to get Sandstream out quickly to cause damage down the line. Focus Sash strategies are ruined, and it helps a few of my guys with their defense. I don't usually use Earthquake with Tyranitar since the stab moves do enough damage after Dragon Dance, especially boosted Crunch. Tyranitar handles Psychics better than Heracross due to his immunity, and resists Fire which is what I switch him into often. This guy has enough defense to Dragon Dance before attacking and while Water and Ground are very common types of attacks, they're easy to predict based on what Pokémon I'm against.

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Timid, 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Shadowball
Hypnosis
Energy Ball
Thunderbolt

Hypnosis lets me worry about an opponent later, and Thunderbolt has gotten a few Gyaradoses if I can switch in properly. Right now Gengar is the least useful and I'm thinking about putting a Flying or Dragon (or both) type here. Gengar used to lead but he became boring and useless, I'd switch in fear of Psychic killing right away.

Blastoise @ Leftovers
Bold, 252 Hp / 146 Def / 116 SpD
Surf
Protect
Rapid Spin
Toxic

Blastoise's defenses were calculated using the Max Harm program, so those should keep him alive the longest. Toxic is usually my first move, followed by Protect. Leftovers cancels out Sandstream, so while Blastoise may remain at full health for a bit, the opponent will take poison damage. Blastoise can survive a lot so I keep stalling and Toxic anything that switches in. Rapid Spin is somewhat useless, but so is Surf. RS had allowed weak Pokémon to come back in for a last kill, so it's worth it once in a while.

Scizor, Technician @ Fire Berry (Occa?)
Adamant, 252 Atk / 126 HP / 104 Def / 24 SpD
U-Turn
Iron Head / Brick Break / Aerial Ace
Roost
Quick Attack / Bullet Punch

All I have to do is learn how to use Scizor, and I think that I have finally. Max attack with calculated defenses per IVs, Scizor had been using Choce Scarf but I think I'll change that. The defenses are needed even more now since he's more likely to get hurt switching in often. My strategy was to U-Turn nearly everyone who gets a kill off me and then put in Blastoise or Metagross, but Iron Head would hurt a lot also. Once I can get Bullet Punch I'll change Iron to something else, Aerial Ace would be to make up for Metagross in Platinum and get Heracross and Machamp. Technician would help boost it to a base powerof 90, which sounds pretty good.

Metagross @ Shuca Berry
Adamant, 152 Hp / 252 Atk / 104 Spe
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Pursuit
Zen Headbutt / Ice Punch

Zen headbutt is back, and usefor for what this team is missing for now. Until I can Ice Punch, I'll be using Metagross for Heracross and Machamp. So far I've been licky and none of them have had Fire Punch or Earthquake. Pursuit is my favorite but it doesn't get much use. Heracross and Tyranitar get the Psychic Ghost and Dark types, while Metagross is usually my last Pokémon to be sent out. Ice Punch will take over for Dragon and maybe Celebi, Earthquake and Meteor Mash will definitely be kept.
I fele like Tyranitar and Metagross compete for kills, it really depends on how the battle goes but usually one will get one or two kills and the other gets none. Sandstream gives me more of a reason to keep Tyranitar, and a Fire resistance since Heracross and Scizor need help with that. Infernape can get either Tyranitar or Metagross though Zen Headbutt and Earthquake might help.


Main problem (I think) is Infernape, which Blastoise can Surf or Toxic + Protect or switch to Gengar to avoid Fighting moves.

 

[Accipender]

Well, first of all, I think Night Slash > Shadow Claw on Heracross.
Also, on Gengar, instead of Sludge Bomb, which hits practically nothing, try HP ICE or Focus Blast.
For Zapdos, the Life Orb isnt helping you too much, I'd run Lefites instead.
For Blastoise, Surf is allright, but maybe try Mirror Coat if you can predict well, or Toxic to have another wall.

 

[yuffie]

Besides agreeing with everything that Accipender has said:

I'd suggest using an attacking move over Toxic on Zapdos, as your team is quite offensively oriented, meaning that you'd probably kill opponents or get killed by opponents faster than Toxic can effectively aid your team. Your team has no Ice move at all, which is crucial for Salamence and Skymin, among many other things, so I'd suggest using Hidden Power Ice on Zapdos. Also, I think you mean Roar rather than Whirlwind?

Another thing is that your team doesn't benefit from Rapid Spin too much, since you only have 1 SR weak, but have 2 pokemon immune to Spikes, 3 immune to Toxic Spikes and Heracross even benefits from it! I'd suggest using Swampert over Blastoise as it is a better Tank, and all 5 of your other pokemon resist Swampert's only weakness (i.e. Grass) which means it's a very solid choice for your team.

But this is the first time I'm rating, and so I'm not very good at that, don't take my ratings too seriously... >.< (P.S. Nice drawings)

 

[Very]

Acc- The only difference I can think of between Night Slash and Shadow Claw is that some Fighters may resist Dark as well as Bug (and Rock, Hera's other attack) so I'd be left with Fighting back and forth, or Ghost. I can't think of whatver Pokémon is Normal/Physhic to avoid Ghost.
You're right about Gengar, though I don't understand why Sludge Bomb isn't a big hit since it's a bit stronger than Shadow Ball, a strong HP would work well with his SpA. I never pay attention to the HPs my guys have. Gengar's is probably Ghost or Poison. Actually I may have switched to Psychic, which would really bother Fighters who miss anyway.
You're right about Leftovers, especially if I will be using Toxic the most.
As far as Blastoise, I really don't want to train and desense stat again. The spots I use are so boring. Mirror Coat might only be used after Grass Knot and Thunderbolt, which might do more damage than I can recover with Protect in one or two turns. Aqua Ring with Mirror Coat, maybe an OU Wobbufet. I might do that, and add some SpD.

Z- I'm not nealy as concerned now about Fire than when I had Scizor and Ninjask for him or Meta. Actually, Lucario has never been a problem for me. Well one time Gengar was hit by Shadow Ball but I have Infernape with two strong moves against Lu, plus if Heracross is out already I could possibly get a jump on him with Close Combat as well. Maybe I've just been lucky so far.

yuffie- The overall goal of all of my teams have been to attack and keep doing it, yet I usually pick a few favorites and fail to properly fill in the rest (especially with 4 or 5 favorites) to make up for weakness. I have Fighting and Steel to cover Rock and Ice, Zapdos's main problems, while Toxic will take care of what my offense can't handle. I hope to Toxic one or two guys, Roost to avoid Ice Beam death, and get out. This way Blastoise can be annoying and Zapdos will be healthy to come back in even through rocks. While Zapdos seems to have the most strategic moveset along with Blastoise, I like best when Metagross get's the kills. Pursuit to scare them away/in, Agility and maybe take a hit, then Earthquake. I don't knoiw whether I have enough type coverage to be able to stay in long enough, therefor switching into rocks or spikes often (is they're used, of course).
Rapid Spin is mainly because of a few stall teams I've lost against. Swampet wasn't able to outlast their guys, and Spikes/SR caused too much damage for Heracross and Gengar.
I hadn't realized that everyone does well against Grass Knot, Swampert's only fear. Stab Earthquake and Surf on one guys is pretty cool.


Thanks for looking at my guys everyone, and for liking the pictures!

 

[Very]

If I were to skip Rapid Spin and use Swampert over Blastoise (maybe take Zapdos out too) would an all Physical Swampert be a better choice? I could do Adamant with all defensive EVs, the lower speed would help Avalanche.

 

[Colonel M]

The pictures made me feel all wierd inside...

Alright so this team... hm...

So the team looks decent and I like some of the use of Shuca Metagross and really am confused at some of the movesets.

Infernape: looks decent. I'm not a fan of suicide leads in general and would rather see this thing as a mixed sweeper with Grass Knot / HP Ice / Flamethrower (or Fire Blast / Close Combat with a Life Orb (or Expert Belt). Infernape is a great sweeper when given the chance and is still a huge menace to teams so I'd definately take the advantage of him. As for who else to lead with I'll get to that in a minute.

Heracross: Okay so first off I recommend Night Slash > Shadow Claw. Despite what you may think Shadow Claw is still an invitation for a Normal-type to intercept and at least have you suffer 12% more damage each turn. I know the whole "but I have Close Combat still!" isn't the point. I'd also think about using Swords Dance / Close Combat / Stone Edge / Megahorn with a Salac Berry and Jolly nature if you're still interested in a Swords Dance Hera sweep.

Gengar: Get rid of Sludge Bomb as it just invites Steel-types and gives one more reason for Tyranitar to step in. Use Focus Blast over it for your coverage. This works fine as a lead actually so don't feel afraid to use him over the Infernape lead if you want Infernape to sweep instead.

Blastoise: I'd ditch this personally. There are much better spinners for OU and I can ramble off which to chose from: Starmie, Tentacruel, Forretress, or if you're risky Donphan. Starmie has excellent Speed, access to Recover and Natural Cure, and also access to Thunderbolt or Ice Beam to help him out. Tentacruel has decent defenses, makes a great Mixape counter, has the access to not only absorb Toxic Spikes but set-up his own, Liquid Ooze for Leech Seed users, and STAB Sludge Bomb to combine with STAB Surf for a near unresisted coverage. Forretress has access to all forms of Spikes as well as STAB Gyro Ball and now even STAB Bug Bite. He is also one of the few spinners that learns Explosion. Finally Donphan is a decent choice as STAB Earthquake is nothing to laugh at and having Ice Shard to help accomodate that low Speed helps him. Access to Stealth Rock also helps. In other words: replace Blastoise. If you're not keen into a Spinner then I'd drift for a bulky Water like Swampert I guess.

Zapdos: First off IIRC he does not learn Whirlwind but he learns Roar so fix that. I also see little point of Life Orb on this set as your main goal is to wall Pokemon. Using Leftovers is the better choice. Otherwise set is fine.

Metagross: I'd like to address more into this. I don't like the ability of Pursuit and I would rather see Ice Punch being used for coverage against the likes of Gliscor and Zapdos. Second, I wish this team was more based around getting a cleaner sweep with him but it appears that it might not be able to. I feel that you should find Pokemon that take out things that stop him. Think of Pokemon like Rotom-H and such that wouldn't mind the Agility boost and would just laugh it off and burn you instead.

Overall you do have many problems so I'll explain them in-depth. Rotom-W and Rotom-H cause major pains if you aren't careful. Luckily Gengar can revenge-kill them but these two stand a huge chance of harming many of your Pokemon. Thankfully you have Heracross to handle this partially but a fair warning: Watch out for Overheat off Rotom-H. Also you seem to have some major irritation with more quick-sweep Pokemon such as Scizor and DD + Outrage Salamence. I think Shaymin-S might also cause a problem seeing as you don't have much to stop him especially ones with Hidden Power Ice. As to how to fix these I see ScarfTran will help keep Scizor and Shaymin-S away for a while so he definately should find a slot in this team. It also prevents Swords Dance Lucario from approaching far into this team as Ice Punch is scary for Zapdos to switch-in on. Otherwise address to how you want to handle things accordingly and find the results from there. If you still have trouble with DDMence and Shaymin-S there always is Mamoswine with Ice Shard.

 

[HavocInfinity]

Dragonite and Salamence do pretty well on your team if it lacks Hidden Power Ice. Both resist Infernape's offensive attacks, where Salamence intimidates Infernape so that Fake Out does half as much as if usually does and Dragonite has Inner Focus to prevent from flinching. Both have Earthquake for Metagross, and after a Dragon Dance, if they can get it in (which isn't hard to set up on something like Infernape, who can't 2HKO) usually outpace Gengar and the rest of your team. Heracross is an amazing Pokémon, but if you're going to use him as a wall breaker/pure Physical smasher (that's what I like to call it), you could include some paralysis support on the team to aid his sweeping abilities. With adverse weather effects, Entry Hazards and Flame Orb, Heracross takes a lot of damage switching out on faster opponents, which is not completely beneficial for him if he wants to meet his potential.

Zapdos himself does pretty well against this team as well. Although Stealth Rock and Infernape puts out can be detrimental to Zapdos' walling ability, a Zapdos Lead with Agility will most likely give it enough Speed to sweep through the team (given the correct amount of EVs). Air Cutter, Heat Wave, and Thunderbolt take care of them all, but if you're not running on Platinum (which I actually don't think you are, so that was kind of stupid), Zapdos could still use Aerial Ace, which is kind of rare, against Heracross and Thunderbolt for the rest of them. Enemy Zapdos might be difficult to take down, but you should get the point (you have no walls for Zapdos and Zapdos has the ability to at least 2HKO every single one of your Pokémon, so you'll have a hard time switching).

 

[Very]

Wow you two did a lot of work. I will definitely think about Metagross, trying to clear the way for him to take over. I'll need to work on defending against Pokémon who usually carry EQ, anyone with Levitate who can take a Fire attack may be useful.
Heracross may need to do some more work, I switched out Shadow Claw and will think about Flame Orb being replaced. I don't like having heracross against Flying-types at all so I'm not sure that Stone Edge will be of much help otherwise.
Swampert will be able to handle Zapdos more than Blastoise- or probably anyone else. If I can switch into a Thunderbolt I can use Ice Beam or Avalanche to fight back. Physical Avalanche will probably hit harder unless Zapdos switches out.
Infernape will get some work, I'll figure out between Stealth Rock and Fake Out losing a spot to Grass Knot, and I'll move over the attack EVs.
If Zapdos comes out for Heatran I should be ok against Dugtrio still since Heracross or Gengar can with with an Earthquake. I'll do what I can to get Heatran to carry a good Hidden Power, Ice would help against the Dragons if Swampert couldn't handle it. I'll try to focus on paralysis instead of Toxic to help Metagross outspeed, and can replace Agility if this works well enough.
Gengar's attacks have been moved around and I may use him again to lead. If he's against a Psychic in the beginning, either Heracross or Meta could come in to scare them out unless they have Fire.
I've still got to think about another spinner.
Thanks for the help!

 

[Very]

I was beaten up by U-Turners and Jolteon.

 

[Very]

Updated team, if anyone can help. I'm thinking about Dragonite for Gengar, because of his defenses and movepool but Salamence has better stats overall. I hate how Salamence looks.

 

[«KϮĻ]

lol nice pics dude. that made me like ur team