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RMT: First Team

Spiniflex

Alright so this is my first attempt to make a competitive OU team and I'd like to get some feedback on it. I've been testing it out pretty extensively on Showdown! and have gotten decent results (ELO of ~1400).

The goal of this team is to have a well-balanced team, and focuses on the synergy between latios as a special sweeper and lucario as a physical one.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

Ferrothorn is typically used to lead and set up entry hazards. I can also switch him in on physical hitters, particularly outrage users (Few things are funnier than watching a salamence kill itself via his rocky helmet). I use protect to scout and gain a bit of extra healing off leech seed.

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic

Special sweeper. I use Latios to switch in, hit hard, and switch out. I've chosen scarf to make sure he can hit first no matter what, but specs could also work since he is already quite fast. Let me know what you think.


Lucario @ Life Orb ?
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Dual Chop

Lucario is used as a setup physical sweeper. This is a pretty standard set with the exception of dual chop, which I use to take out substitutes and sashed/sturdy. I should point out that this team was built with Lucario in mind. I particularly like the synergy between Lucario and Latios: Everything one is weak against, the other resists.

I tried Lucario with focus sash but found that it didn't add a whole lot to him. I avoid expert belt since the moves I'm using on him aren't super-effective on a lot of pokemon. I've actually considered using an item that just boosts normal type moves for the extremespeed. Anyways, could use some help on picking his item, I'm not a real fan of the damage from life orb.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Earthquake

Sometimes I hit a wall that my sweepers just can't get past, or someone who resists their hits. In that case I send out Gliscor to toxic then stall.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 SDef / 52 Def
- Scald
- Wish
- Substitute ?
- Roar

In my opinion, Vaporeon is the weak link here. In theory it is supposed to pass wish, but this is much more difficult to do in practice than I anticipated. It has, however, been really useful as a phaser.

Sableye @ Iron Ball
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
- Confuse Ray

Sableye is used for two purposes: To ensure that pokemon keep getting softened up with entry hazard damage by spinblocking, and to be a general nuisance. I generally lead with a will-o-wisp if the enemy is physical, confuse ray otherwise, then do the other one followed by trick. Priority recover keeps him going pretty well against most enemies.

Anyways, let me know what you think, and what you think I should change.
I feel the main things I need help with are: Lucario's item, Latios: scarf or specs? Maybe even expert belt?, everything about Vaporeon (Is he even worth having on the team?), Sableye's item (Iron Ball works fine, but would some other item work better?).
 
Your team looks pretty strong and also try to add some sprites. It will make your RMT look a lot better. I think you should stick with Choice Scarf Latios. Otherwise, a Nasty Plot Thudurus-Therian set in the rain can outspeed and sweep your entire team easily if you lose Sableye or if it already used trick with Iron Ball on another pokemon.

I Hope This Helps :D
 
My comments in bold:

Spiniflex said:
The goal of this team is to have a well-balanced team, and focuses on the synergy between latios as a special sweeper and lucario as a physical one.

Ferrothorn @ Rocky Helmet
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Protect

The lack of either gyro ball or power whip is troubling, since he's powerless against grass walls like Celebi and Magic Bouncers, especially Xatu who will destroy it with heat wave, and anyone with Substitute since it'll block leech seed. Also, even outside of that, he could become set-up bait.

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic

This if fine. Psychic doesn't provide a whole lot of generally useful coverage except to get SE hits against things like Conkeldurr who is better dealt with by Gliscor (toxic as he probably bulks up, sub, protect, sub, protect, sub, protect, and so on, just beware of being hit by ice punch). So, you might consider changing it for Trick so you have another option to cripple walls or setup sweepers.

Lucario @ Life Orb ?
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- ExtremeSpeed
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Dual Chop

Lucario wants life orb because it's really his niche to do as much damage as possible in the least amount of time. Generally it doesn't do him any favors to be bulky, because, well, he's a bit of a glass cannon so even moderate hits will really hurt. He loves to sweep or revenge with extremespeed, and the goal would be to keep him from being hit at all by anything not resisted (and even then...). So the life orb recoil isn't really that big of a deal for him, unless you're worried someone will try to stall out the recoil by constantly switching. Even then, a nice swords dance will punish that strategy.

I would advise against dual chop. It's not 100% accurate, and it only has 40 BP per hit and isn't even STAB so you won't be breaking that many subs with it, at least before you swords dance. Even then, you'd do much better in the sub-breaking department to replace dual chop with a move that gives more coverage, use that to break the opponent's sub, and then use extremespeed, which will actually be stronger since the move that actually hits after the sub is broken will damage for 80 vs 40 BP. That won't help against Gengar, but you shouldn't really have Lucario trying to deal with him anyway. Also, you have Vappy's roar to force set-up sweepers to switch.

If you're worried about dragon types, maybe give him ice punch, which is much more useful since it hits dragons for 2x and dragon/flyings like Dnite or Mence for 4x damage.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- Protect
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Earthquake

I hate going against this set. It's so frustrating, lol. But yeah, it works.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 200 SDef / 52 Def
- Scald
- Wish
- Substitute ?
- Roar

Keep him, he's great for an ice resist (supporting Gliscor) and water immunity. I'd replace sub with toxic, so he has something to do when he's just serving as a special wall.

Sableye @ Iron Ball
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
- Confuse Ray

I generally prefer using the swagger/foul play combo, but this is fine. Keep in mind if he's taunted he's screwed, so you might consider adding taunt over confuse ray.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse...

Alright, now some threats. You don't really have an answer to swords dance Scizor, except to maul him with Latios, but that won't work too well if he's specially bulky and especially if he switches in on something else and gets up a swords dance before Latios comes out.

252SpAtk Latios (Neutral) Surf vs 252HP/216SpDef Leftovers Scizor (+SpDef): 26% - 30% (90 - 106 HP). Guaranteed 4HKO.

252SpAtk Latios (Neutral) Draco Meteor vs 252HP/216SpDef Leftovers Scizor (+SpDef): 28% - 33% (98 - 116 HP). Guaranteed 4HKO.

Even with specs:

252SpAtk Choice Specs Latios (+SAtk) Surf vs 252HP/216SpDef Leftovers Scizor (+SpDef): 42% - 50% (147 - 173 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO.

252SpAtk Choice Specs Latios (+SAtk) Draco Meteor vs 252HP/216SpDef Leftovers Scizor (+SpDef): 46% - 55% (161 - 190 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO. 7% chance to 2HKO with Leftovers.

Add that to the fact that most bulky Scizor carry roost and...you're gonna have a bad time. You could consider giving Latios HP Fire instead of thunderbolt, but it's only a 2HKO (slight chance for OHKO with stealth rocks up) and a 3HKO in the rain (chance for 2HKO with rocks), and then you could run into a problem with bulky waters since Ferro doesn't have power whip.

Another issue I see here is that you don't have any fire types, or fire moves, or...anything to hit grass types, for that matter. Bulky Celebi pretty much walls the entire team, and if it has HP Fire as a lot of Celebi's do, it could even give you trouble. Giving Latios HP fire won't help with this unless you give it specs:

252SpAtk Latios (Neutral) Hidden Power (Fire) vs 252HP/252SpDef Leftovers Celebi (+SpDef): 27% - 32% (112 - 132 HP). Guaranteed 4HKO.

252SpAtk Choice Specs Latios (+SAtk) Hidden Power (Fire) vs 252HP/252SpDef Leftovers Celebi (+SpDef): 44% - 52% (180 - 214 HP). Guaranteed 3HKO.

But even then, if it has recover and leftovers, it could stall you out and perhaps thunder wave you.

I know your team is centered in part around lucario, but a lot of your problems might be alleviated if you replace him with Infernape. Still a strong physical and fighting presence, but it has the powerful fire moves to hit both Scizor and Celebi. You might try a swords dance set of Swords Dance, Flare Blitz, Close Combat, and either Mach Punch (priority) or Stone Edge (hits flying and bugs, particularly Volcarona).

I think I've given you enough to think about for now. Sorry for the long post, lol. Anyway, good luck!
 
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