Relatively new to Competitive 5th generation OU please rate

[ll wrath ll]

Hi I've been playing since the old days since red and blue; back when I was a kid I spent many an hour in blue just going over and over in the elite four (I had something like 100+ wins IIRC) And I'm just in competitive battling completely new to 4th & 5th generations. I would like a team rating along with suggestions, all criticism is gladly welcomed.


[insert mons sprite here] [Not really sure how to do sprites]

Scizor @ life orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 attack, 252 speed, 4 hp
Nature: Adamant
~ Sword Dance
~ Super Power
~ Bullet Punch
~ Bug Bite


This Scizor is just your all around physical Sweeper; I keep finding myself sending out Scizor in round one w/ Swords Dance, from what I'm finding out he's completely useless or nearly so without it. That being said setting up SD seems like a pain in mid or late game (It's obvious I will try and get my opponent to bring out a fire type to feed flash fire).


[insert mons sprite here]

Heatran @ Life Orb
Trait:Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 hp, 4 Special Defense
Nature:Modest
~ Earth Power
~ Fire Blast
~ Dragon Pulse
~ Stealth Rock

- Detailed description of the Pokemon's purpose to the team -


Heatran I took on because of advice I was given in chat. He seems like a decent tank except to Super Effective moves, which again should be obvious. If my opponent isn't intelligent enough to not perceive a swap when scizor is drawing a fire type straight into flash fire, but most people don't fall for that. (E.G. my opponent switches to an Infernape, using close combat call that tactic, OHKOing Heatran.) I could use more advice on using him properly


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Infernape @ Life Orb (See a pattern here? thoughts?)
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 speed, 4 Special Defense
Nature: Jolly
~ Stone Edge
~ Close Combat
~ Flare Blitz
~ Mach Punch


- Detailed description of the Pokemon's purpose to the team - Infernape is also a suggestion from chat. He is very fragile, and I haven't gotten a ton of usage of him as a sweeper, but he has been useful for revenge kills, the typing and his speed. Could use more strategic advice on him as well, or just different ideas for a better Pokemon for this slot.

[insert mons sprite here]

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Trait:Serene Grace
EVs:252 hp, 224 Special Defense, 32 speed
Nature:Gentle
~ Thunder Wave
~ Iron Head
~ Wish
~ Psychic


- Detailed description of the Pokemon's purpose to the team - Jirachi is a reallly lame Pokemon, especially with that setup. But it works, I added Psychic for more power, Thunder wave so I don't get bent over with non paralysis from body slam, Steel head is self explanatory, same with Wish. Jirachi also suffices as a tank and the rare situations where Steel Head or Psychic can do some real damage. Jirachi seems to balance well with my team.


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Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248, HP 8 Special Attack, 252 Special Defense
Nature: Calm
~ Scald
~ Toxic
~ Substitute
~ Wish

- Detailed description of the Pokemon's purpose to the team - Vaporeon is a favorite of mine I brought over from experiences in emeralds Battle Frontier (In which I pain stakingly enough got all 8 gold symbols) It's a tank, and it is very good at it's job, I'll open with toxic and go to substitute, and I'll predict my timing with wish and whittle my opponent down. It's only issue is a team wide status cure, in which I'll just keep repeating the process and using scold.


I'll also use Water Absorb to draw in attacks, swapping out from Infernape. Last night I had what someone admitted as a "What happens when stall team meets stall team" it was a 208 round match. My opponent had Team Wide status cures but it didn't work out. Vaporeon. is. fun.

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Espeon @ Choice specs
Trait: Synchronize (though reading Magic Bounce I'm considering swapping)
EVs: 252 Special Attack, 252 Speed
Nature: Timid
~ Psychic
~ Shadow Ball
~ HP Fire
~ Honestly I have Yawn here, but I don't use it, Choice band and all

- Detailed description of the Pokemon's purpose to the team - Espeon is my Psychic Special Sweeper, and like Vaporeon, it is good at it's job. It's fast, It's hard hitting, revenge killing is a talent of my Espeon. That being said I was freaking astounded when I got outsped by a Gengar, jaw dropping moment, I figured it must have had choice scarf. I've have good results with Espeon.


All that being said, I get decent results with this team, especially with being new to Gen 5 Competitive battling. I'll win two, lose two. The times I lose It's not usually due to typing, one mistake however, throws me the hell off. When I do lose, it's due to tactical reasons. I've had mixed results with Toxic, Thunder wave vs Partywide Cure Pokemon, which seem common.


Scizor is a personal favorite, not changing it.


Additions to how I should use my Pokemon is welcomed, I might have missed this or that, that I use in my tactics but it's helpful anyway. I'm fairly happy with this setup but by no means am I attached to anything but Scizor. Feel free to say whatever you want. Thanks in advance for the rating.

 

[Turtle Soup]

Ok I'm not a great team builder but I'll quickly point out some obvious flaws for you.
1. 3 life orbs on a team is probably to much.
2. You don't have a physical wall nor do you have a choice scarf user which are both quite important.
3. Your Espeon. Choice band is for physical attacks, choice specs is for special. But Espeon really isn't an offensive pokemon, he's used in OU for Magic Bounce and for setting screens or baton passing.
Well that's all I got hopefully someone else will come along to help build a team. Good luck.

 

[ll wrath ll]

CB is a typo lol, I'm still stuck in emerald mind frame, hold up. I figured 3 life orbs was too much any ideas?

 

[Dragonfruit]

hi i think that ur weak to ground attacks from stuff like landorus since u dont have a grass type. maybe u could try mamoswine cus it learns ice shard which goes first and kills landorus and yeah. also espeon should allaways have magic bounce because it bounces back hazards and its cool against deoxys defense that tries to use stealth rock. it also bounces back thunder wave or spore or stun spore or toxic which is cool vs brelom or amongus ummm yeah also use baton pass on espeon in case u see a ttar so it cant pursuit you

 

[Alfalfa]

Good thing Scizor is a personal favorite - it is one of the most common in OU. It looks pretty good - try to set up later in the game so you telegraph less. I suggest building your team around Scizor.

So you chose Heatran to cover Scizor's Fire weakness? Smart, not to mention that they have good synergy with eachother - but I want to make a few tweaks. First, move the 252 EVs from HP to Speed. This allows Heatran to outrun more pokemon. Also, go HP Ice > Dragon Pulse, as HP Ice has better coverage.

I now see that Arena Trap and Shadow Tag users are a pain in the neck, especially Reversal Dugtrio.

You seem to like Vaporeon as well. It attracts Grass types for Scizor and Heatran to dispatch, and Heatran attracts Water types. However, I would move those EVs in Special Attack to Speed, as that allows Vaporeon to outrun standard Jellicent. I would switch Toxic and Substitute for Roar and Protect. Protect allows Vaporeon to get its Wish safely, and Roar phazes out those idiots that try to set up on it.

Having too many Steel types is not the smartest idea - Magnezone will be annoying to this team, especially if a Scarf Magnezone packs a specific Hideen Power to take down Heatran. I like Jirachi, but unfortunately, it has to go. Hitmontop does a good job at forcing Magnezone out because it is afraid of Close Combat or Mach Punch. It also likes Vaporeon's wishes, as it lacks recovery outside of Rest. I would recommend a Rapid Spin set so you can spin away Spikes that would be annoying to handle.

Now you have Scizor, Heatran, Vaporeon, and Hitmontop. As for Infernape, something else would be good, as you already have a Fire type in Heatran. Choice Scarf Moxie Salamence makes a good revenge killer, but please do not use Outrage it if an opponent's Mamoswine is still alive. Salamence likes the support and resists of Hitmontop quite well. Moxie can be used for a late-game sweep, but revenge killing is its best tactic.

Salamence and Hitmontop

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Brick Break
- Earthquake

Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Rapid Spin
- Foresight
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat

I really want to take a breath here. I will get to Espeon later (why band and not Specs?) Good luck.

 

[ll wrath ll]

Good thing Scizor is a personal favorite - it is one of the most common in OU. It looks pretty good - try to set up later in the game so you telegraph less. I suggest building your team around Scizor.

So you chose Heatran to cover Scizor's Fire weakness? Smart, not to mention that they have good synergy with eachother - but I want to make a few tweaks. First, move the 252 EVs from HP to Speed. This allows Heatran to outrun more pokemon. Also, go HP Ice > Dragon Pulse, as HP Ice has better coverage.

I now see that Arena Trap and Shadow Tag users are a pain in the neck, especially Reversal Dugtrio.

You seem to like Vaporeon as well. It attracts Grass types for Scizor and Heatran to dispatch, and Heatran attracts Water types. However, I would move those EVs in Special Attack to Speed, as that allows Vaporeon to outrun standard Jellicent. I would switch Toxic and Substitute for Roar and Protect. Protect allows Vaporeon to get its Wish safely, and Roar phazes out those idiots that try to set up on it.

Having too many Steel types is not the smartest idea - Magnezone will be annoying to this team, especially if a Scarf Magnezone packs a specific Hideen Power to take down Heatran. I like Jirachi, but unfortunately, it has to go. Hitmontop does a good job at forcing Magnezone out because it is afraid of Close Combat or Mach Punch. It also likes Vaporeon's wishes, as it lacks recovery outside of Rest. I would recommend a Rapid Spin set so you can spin away Spikes that would be annoying to handle.

Now you have Scizor, Heatran, Vaporeon, and Hitmontop. As for Infernape, something else would be good, as you already have a Fire type in Heatran. Choice Scarf Moxie Salamence makes a good revenge killer, but please do not use Outrage it if an opponent's Mamoswine is still alive. Salamence likes the support and resists of Hitmontop quite well. Moxie can be used for a late-game sweep, but revenge killing is its best tactic.

Salamence and Hitmontop

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Outrage
- Dragon Claw
- Brick Break
- Earthquake

Hitmontop (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 SAtk
- Rapid Spin
- Foresight
- Sucker Punch
- Close Combat

I really want to take a breath here. I will get to Espeon later (why band and not Specs?) Good luck.

CB was a typo (I'm mainly here from the days of emerald, he does have specs) If there's a better psychic type , do show. I just really haven't seen another actually challenge my Espeon.

Steel types haven't been a huge problem as of yet, I'm willing to change out jirachi, I just have had any issue with it at around 1200 rating (I know it's terrible) Most of my issues have been around dragons. Salamance may help with this.

 

[Tobihime]

Ok, I'm not going to bother reading everyone else's posts, simply because I'm too lazy.
Heatran AND Infernape? No. Try running Conkeldurr over infernape, he has excellent bulk, which when run with the Bulk Up set, can be a real pain for someone to deal with.
Heatran needs to run Air Balloon if you're not running a Choice Scarf, the moves you chose were pretty standard, but I do think it's a nice idea to use HP Ice over Dragon Pulse.
Scizor has but two flaws, it should run Leftovers, since it doesn't have any way to recover from Life Orb recoil (Personally I rarely run Life Orb without some recovery), and I prefer U-Turn over Bug Bite, simply because it provides a great way to escape.
I see too many -Steel types, and that means a hell of a lot of -Ground weakness, which in today's metagame is grounds for you to get swept. So, I would advise you get rid of Jirachi simply because it will just make more problems for you, instead switch it for something that's immune to -Ground, some great options would be Gliscor, Gyarados or Gengar, personally that choice would be Gliscor.
Since we got rid of Infernape, your use of Vaporeon has suddenly diminished, instead use Jellicent, it creates a nice obstacle your opponent will struggle to get around, and still serves a similar purpose as Vaporeon.
Espeon isn't the greatest choice on any team to be frank, the only reason anyone would run it is for magic bounce, but with espeon's stats and typing, I would just say no. You desperately need a Choice Scarfer and Espeon is just hording a spot in your team. So chuck him out and bring in superboss ScarfChomp, he'll clear up whatever Scizor can't.
Overview:
Scizor - Give Leftovers and swap Bug Buzz for U-Turn.
Heatran - Give Air Balloon and swap Dragon Pulse for HP Ice.
Infernape - Switch for Conkeldurr.
Jirachi - Swap for -Ground immune poke (recommended Gliscor).
Vaporeon - Swap for Jellicent.
Espeon - Swap for ScarfChomp.