Hi all. My first OU team was cool, but I got bored of it and it had a few weaknesses. After drafting a new team, I realised I had two of these mons on my other team, and consequentially, have got those mons already on my copy of ORAS, making this post more of a re-design. I'm hoping to be able to settle on my one OU team, at least for a while.
Anyway; the team. I got super annoyed at the really common stalls of ferrothorn, skarmory and sableye. With this in mind, I drafted a few mons to deal with those, and built the rest of the team around keeping these alive. It contains a few status moves, something I've never really tried before, and checks some of the most common stalls out there, OHKOing them before they can set up.
Alright. Here we go!
Houndoom @ Houndoominite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Taunt
Alright, Houndoom. Not only does his mega look badass, his speed stat with timid is enough to outspeed jolly metagross and timid Lati@s, unfortunately 2HKOing both, while they can both OHKO me. Draco Meteor is 90% accurate though, and I do get that first move off on both of them, making it easy for me to revenge kill them later on. It can OHKO ferrothorn and Skarmory before they can set up, and I can fake the taunt to get that first OHKO; if I taunt they'll switch. I'll reserve taunt for a blissey/skarmory, where I can use nasty plot to set up. If I get one nasty plot, I can OHKO Mega-Gross and Lati@s, and faceroll them. I'm considering swapping taunt out, but I think it can be really useful, especially when it allows to me to set-up on a nonthreatening opponent. It also handles mons like Venusaur, any steel type, namely Scizor/Excadrill who it can outspeed, and most bulky psychic types (though slowbro will give it hell), and of course getting the OHKO on frail psychics like Akalazam (if anyone still uses this guy). Really, it's just a mon that wallbreaks for me, as I'm sick of stalls. I'm also hoping it's rare enough for people to underestimate it's damage/speed.
Togekiss @ Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunder Wave
I'm going out on a limb here; I know what you're all thinking: 'choice specs?' Well, yeah. The boost to my sp.atk as well as 286 base speed with timid allows me to outspeed and again, reliably kill ferrothorn/skarmoy and sableye, while wreaking havoc with the 60% flinch chance on air slash, allowing it to almost chain neutral kills. I know T-wave is odd on a specs, but it's there to catch them out: if I switch Toge in, T-wave and back out, they might misjudge the specs, but it's really just there for the utility. If they switch and I predict it, I can double T-wave before switching, though that gives the game away. For a flying type, it has really nice bulk as well as that 125 base sp.atk, but the speed is more valuable than bulk on this, as for the flinch chance to work I have to outspeed them. Fortunately, most of the mons I'll be using it on (namely fight types) are slow enough for this to pull through; still, timid is the preferred nature here to make that flinch effect as potent as possible. Not only is this mon useful for breaking the stalls above, it also serves as a great fariy/flying in it's own right, with that really nice sp.atk, it can reliably fight the mons weak to flying/fairy, namely enemy dark/fighting types, breeloom, conkeldurr, infernape if it can tank the flare blitz, and generally hitting neutrally where it can.
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Enter E-drill, to complete my little core: it keeps the rocks and ices away from setting up on my toge, and toge can hit the fighting types that E-drill's weak to. Not only serving as my rapid spinner, it's got reliable bulk, superior typing against status effects, and a decent kick with a grand total of 405 attack with adamant nature, as well as 423 HP. Since it's defences are pretty lackluster, I felt the HP investment was best here. Rock slide to give me a win-con vs T-flame/Char, as well as those flying types trying to swoop into my Conk/Venu, and Iron head to give me a nice fairy check. Against a Mega Gardevoir, it can OHKO with iron head provided the focus blast misses; I might consider a focus sash for this, as it also deals around 95% of a mega-gross' health while taking the same in return; I can tank the crit or tank a G-vour focus blast and return fire. EQ keeps the fire types off my Venu, though it's risky switching into those unless I have a sash - my EQ will OHKO, turning my into a suicider. Along with Toge and Houndoom, it covers quite a lot, and they go a fair way to cover each other. This is one of the mons I have on my copy of ORAS already, EV trained and all.
Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Toxic
- Leech Seed
From here on out, these mons are there to cover the core and keep them healthy. Venu's job is to keep the ground types off my Houndoom, while also setting up and neutering water types that also threaten it. It's a primary Belly Drum Azu counter too, ticking that one off the list, and is really flexible with the toxic. The combo of STAB Giga/leftovers/leech seed is stupid, and can heal me back to max quite quickly. Primary checks are Keldeo, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Hippowdon and E-drill, though I have others to deal with those: unless the enemy E-drill is sashed, my hound will make mince meat of that, but in the case it's in sand with sand rush, this serves a reliable switch in. This mon keeps the heat and pressure of my hound, and also gives me a second win-con to enemy fairies, with a heavily invested sludge bomb.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SpA / 120 SpD
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
What team isn't complete with a Rotom-W? However, this seemingly tanky mon (while it sure as hell is tanky) packs a nasty ass punch with 132 spa investing, easily OHKOing Gyarados, a primary check to my Venu, and able to tear through my Hound by extension. This eases the pressure of Gy, switching in safely and surely, and can use WoW to otherwise neuter enemy physicals. Leftovers keeps it healthy, and can be reliably switched into more than once. The Hydro pump can actually just about OHKO enemy gliscor/landorus with the spa investment, and take sub-par damage from the both, giving me a great bonus over the stall Gliscor and the ever present Landorus. It also goes so far as to threaten Heatran out of a switch, bringing it dangerously low, and can tank and juke an inexperienced players EQ with levitate (watching out for Mold/Terravolt, of course!) This mon really just rounds off the team, keeping pressure of my E-drill by threatening fire types and eases the small slice of mons that Venu can't handle, and giving me a second win-con against T-flame/char, tanking everything they have (except solarbeam/D claw on the latter) but my T-bolt will hit harder, and before S-beam if I'm on the ball. This is one of the mons I have on my copy of ORAS already, EV trained and all.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Finally, this guy deserves a special mention, switching into the rock types that threaten my Toge, reliably switching in to anything weak to fight, including enemy Kyurem-B's and healing up, revenge killing with mach punch, and giving me bonus coverage to enemy dragons with Ice punch, though I have to be wary of enemy multiscale D-nites who can outrage me down and tank the first hit of IP. Knock off is just there by ways of utility really, not for damage. I needed a real counter to dragons, and loathe to add an actual ice type like Weaville/Mamoswine (though I'm open to changes on this mon) I decided to try Conk - it rounds everything off quite nicely.
So, the team. Thanks for reading. This is my 3rd OU RMT - I just can't quite get my team perfected, the last two have been struggling atm. This seems to be a bit more of a stable team than the other two, with more switch-ins, more utility and a little more damage, while allowing me to use some favourites of past gens.
Open to all rates and criticism. As a heads up: I'm fairly attached to this team: if I have to, I'm willing to switch out Conkeldurr, but only if there's a better dragon counter out there (preferably physical, this is the only other physical on the team) as I think the team works well with each other.
Threats:
Anything that can get past my Hound/Toge combo. A Lati@s/Mega-gross can give me trouble if it gets past my checks for them. Stalls are no problems, as I counter the 3 most common with 2 different mons. Off the top of my head, I really can't see much getting past my mons.
Notable Counters: (mons in bold are my bug bites)
T-tar, T-flame, Char, Azu, Clef, Sylveon, Gliscor, Landorus, Garchomp, D-nite, Altaria, Venusaur, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Breloom, Conkeldurr, Alakazam, Bisharp, E-drill, Lati@s, Metagross, Gardevoir, Gengar, Gyarados, Heatran, Hippowdon, Rotom-W, Scizor, Serperior, Slowbro, sableye.
TL, DR; hopefully I've settled on a new OU team, just need some thoughts on it, I'll try and fit some testing in soon. Apologies for spelling mistakes, I'm tired and there are red sgwigelly lines errywhere.
Anyway; the team. I got super annoyed at the really common stalls of ferrothorn, skarmory and sableye. With this in mind, I drafted a few mons to deal with those, and built the rest of the team around keeping these alive. It contains a few status moves, something I've never really tried before, and checks some of the most common stalls out there, OHKOing them before they can set up.
Alright. Here we go!
Houndoom @ Houndoominite
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Taunt
Alright, Houndoom. Not only does his mega look badass, his speed stat with timid is enough to outspeed jolly metagross and timid Lati@s, unfortunately 2HKOing both, while they can both OHKO me. Draco Meteor is 90% accurate though, and I do get that first move off on both of them, making it easy for me to revenge kill them later on. It can OHKO ferrothorn and Skarmory before they can set up, and I can fake the taunt to get that first OHKO; if I taunt they'll switch. I'll reserve taunt for a blissey/skarmory, where I can use nasty plot to set up. If I get one nasty plot, I can OHKO Mega-Gross and Lati@s, and faceroll them. I'm considering swapping taunt out, but I think it can be really useful, especially when it allows to me to set-up on a nonthreatening opponent. It also handles mons like Venusaur, any steel type, namely Scizor/Excadrill who it can outspeed, and most bulky psychic types (though slowbro will give it hell), and of course getting the OHKO on frail psychics like Akalazam (if anyone still uses this guy). Really, it's just a mon that wallbreaks for me, as I'm sick of stalls. I'm also hoping it's rare enough for people to underestimate it's damage/speed.
Togekiss @ Choice Specs
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Flamethrower
- Air Slash
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunder Wave
I'm going out on a limb here; I know what you're all thinking: 'choice specs?' Well, yeah. The boost to my sp.atk as well as 286 base speed with timid allows me to outspeed and again, reliably kill ferrothorn/skarmoy and sableye, while wreaking havoc with the 60% flinch chance on air slash, allowing it to almost chain neutral kills. I know T-wave is odd on a specs, but it's there to catch them out: if I switch Toge in, T-wave and back out, they might misjudge the specs, but it's really just there for the utility. If they switch and I predict it, I can double T-wave before switching, though that gives the game away. For a flying type, it has really nice bulk as well as that 125 base sp.atk, but the speed is more valuable than bulk on this, as for the flinch chance to work I have to outspeed them. Fortunately, most of the mons I'll be using it on (namely fight types) are slow enough for this to pull through; still, timid is the preferred nature here to make that flinch effect as potent as possible. Not only is this mon useful for breaking the stalls above, it also serves as a great fariy/flying in it's own right, with that really nice sp.atk, it can reliably fight the mons weak to flying/fairy, namely enemy dark/fighting types, breeloom, conkeldurr, infernape if it can tank the flare blitz, and generally hitting neutrally where it can.
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
Enter E-drill, to complete my little core: it keeps the rocks and ices away from setting up on my toge, and toge can hit the fighting types that E-drill's weak to. Not only serving as my rapid spinner, it's got reliable bulk, superior typing against status effects, and a decent kick with a grand total of 405 attack with adamant nature, as well as 423 HP. Since it's defences are pretty lackluster, I felt the HP investment was best here. Rock slide to give me a win-con vs T-flame/Char, as well as those flying types trying to swoop into my Conk/Venu, and Iron head to give me a nice fairy check. Against a Mega Gardevoir, it can OHKO with iron head provided the focus blast misses; I might consider a focus sash for this, as it also deals around 95% of a mega-gross' health while taking the same in return; I can tank the crit or tank a G-vour focus blast and return fire. EQ keeps the fire types off my Venu, though it's risky switching into those unless I have a sash - my EQ will OHKO, turning my into a suicider. Along with Toge and Houndoom, it covers quite a lot, and they go a fair way to cover each other. This is one of the mons I have on my copy of ORAS already, EV trained and all.
Venusaur @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
- Sludge Bomb
- Giga Drain
- Toxic
- Leech Seed
From here on out, these mons are there to cover the core and keep them healthy. Venu's job is to keep the ground types off my Houndoom, while also setting up and neutering water types that also threaten it. It's a primary Belly Drum Azu counter too, ticking that one off the list, and is really flexible with the toxic. The combo of STAB Giga/leftovers/leech seed is stupid, and can heal me back to max quite quickly. Primary checks are Keldeo, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Hippowdon and E-drill, though I have others to deal with those: unless the enemy E-drill is sashed, my hound will make mince meat of that, but in the case it's in sand with sand rush, this serves a reliable switch in. This mon keeps the heat and pressure of my hound, and also gives me a second win-con to enemy fairies, with a heavily invested sludge bomb.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 132 SpA / 120 SpD
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hydro Pump
What team isn't complete with a Rotom-W? However, this seemingly tanky mon (while it sure as hell is tanky) packs a nasty ass punch with 132 spa investing, easily OHKOing Gyarados, a primary check to my Venu, and able to tear through my Hound by extension. This eases the pressure of Gy, switching in safely and surely, and can use WoW to otherwise neuter enemy physicals. Leftovers keeps it healthy, and can be reliably switched into more than once. The Hydro pump can actually just about OHKO enemy gliscor/landorus with the spa investment, and take sub-par damage from the both, giving me a great bonus over the stall Gliscor and the ever present Landorus. It also goes so far as to threaten Heatran out of a switch, bringing it dangerously low, and can tank and juke an inexperienced players EQ with levitate (watching out for Mold/Terravolt, of course!) This mon really just rounds off the team, keeping pressure of my E-drill by threatening fire types and eases the small slice of mons that Venu can't handle, and giving me a second win-con against T-flame/char, tanking everything they have (except solarbeam/D claw on the latter) but my T-bolt will hit harder, and before S-beam if I'm on the ball. This is one of the mons I have on my copy of ORAS already, EV trained and all.
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
Finally, this guy deserves a special mention, switching into the rock types that threaten my Toge, reliably switching in to anything weak to fight, including enemy Kyurem-B's and healing up, revenge killing with mach punch, and giving me bonus coverage to enemy dragons with Ice punch, though I have to be wary of enemy multiscale D-nites who can outrage me down and tank the first hit of IP. Knock off is just there by ways of utility really, not for damage. I needed a real counter to dragons, and loathe to add an actual ice type like Weaville/Mamoswine (though I'm open to changes on this mon) I decided to try Conk - it rounds everything off quite nicely.
So, the team. Thanks for reading. This is my 3rd OU RMT - I just can't quite get my team perfected, the last two have been struggling atm. This seems to be a bit more of a stable team than the other two, with more switch-ins, more utility and a little more damage, while allowing me to use some favourites of past gens.
Open to all rates and criticism. As a heads up: I'm fairly attached to this team: if I have to, I'm willing to switch out Conkeldurr, but only if there's a better dragon counter out there (preferably physical, this is the only other physical on the team) as I think the team works well with each other.
Threats:
Anything that can get past my Hound/Toge combo. A Lati@s/Mega-gross can give me trouble if it gets past my checks for them. Stalls are no problems, as I counter the 3 most common with 2 different mons. Off the top of my head, I really can't see much getting past my mons.
Notable Counters: (mons in bold are my bug bites)
T-tar, T-flame, Char, Azu, Clef, Sylveon, Gliscor, Landorus, Garchomp, D-nite, Altaria, Venusaur, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Breloom, Conkeldurr, Alakazam, Bisharp, E-drill, Lati@s, Metagross, Gardevoir, Gengar, Gyarados, Heatran, Hippowdon, Rotom-W, Scizor, Serperior, Slowbro, sableye.
TL, DR; hopefully I've settled on a new OU team, just need some thoughts on it, I'll try and fit some testing in soon. Apologies for spelling mistakes, I'm tired and there are red sgwigelly lines errywhere.
