SS OU RMT - Team Ban Teleport Clefable

[Big JAzz]

Hey guys. Returning player from 4th gen here. I haven't played since! 5th gen really didn't appeal to me. I'm dipping my toe in the waters of 8th gen and wanted to see what you guys thought of the first team I've put together. Thanks in advance for the advice! I'm a bit worried about Cloyster and other weird threats coming my way. I'm just trying to create a balanced team that can handle most threats.

Dragapult @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Darts
- Steel Wing
- Fire Blast

Part 1 of my offensive core. I'm trying to have Hydreigon cover everything Dragapult doesn't. He's also a great sweeper when I get Clefable, Ferrothorn, and Corviknight out of the way. It's really just kind of the standard set. Fire blast is there in case Salazzle can't get through Ferrothorn or Corviknight.

Hydreigon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- U-turn
- Thunder Wave

Part 2 of my offensive core. He helps me get those pokemon that Dragapult has trouble with out of the way. Thunderwave because it's so good at crippling pokemon. Choice scarf to outrun and revenge kill quite a bit. I'm not running Flamethrower/Fire blast on him because I already have it on my Dragapult. He can also revenge kill enemy Dragapults if they are running a speed nature and take out mine.

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Teleport
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Protect

I abuse the heck out of this Pokemon for wish and teleport. This stuff is ridiculous. It basically lets me switch whoever in. Wow. Kind of struggling to put three lines of text about this guy. He's a ridiculous pivot that checks some big dragon threats to my offensive core. I really can't believe this guy is still allowed.

Salazzle @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Corrosion
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic
- Sludge Wave
- Flamethrower
- Nasty Plot

I love this pokemon. She basically cripples toxapex, ferrothorn with a cheeky toxic. She's a good bit of fairy hate and nasty plot sets her up for some good sweeping. Her 366 speed lets her outspeed many pokemon. I am a bit worried about Snorlax and Reuniclus because I don't think I have the greatest of answers for them. I'm hoping I don't see them often.

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Rest
- Stealth Rock

This is my lead most of the time. I like to get up stealth rocks with him and he's pretty bulky. Good compliment to Clefable. I'm running rest for some healing, but I might change that to knock off. I'm not quite sure yet. I have already got my toxic bases covered with Salazzle so I like the healing that comes from rest. However, that might be unnecessary with Clefable on my team.

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 180 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Body Press
- U-turn
- Roost
- Defog

I basically use him as a compliment to Clefable and Seismitoad. Defog because I hate sticky web and stealth rock. This checks Excadrill for Clefable so I can keep her healign my team. It also really helps to negate the common entry hazards since I do not have a rapid spinner. Body press is essentially for Excadrill since Seismitoad has a bit of trouble with him.

 

[Jordy]

Hey man this is a cool take on a Dragon Dance Dragapult team and it's definitely pretty cool in tandem with Hydreigon as it can overwhelm shared checks such as Clefable pretty quickly. Regardless, I do think there's a couple things you could improve here.

Major Changes

Salazzle → Rotom-H

→

Salazzle's definitely very potent in the current metagame, but it's pretty limited to teams where it can support winconditions such as Clefable and Snorlax, which massively appreciate its ability to cripple Toxapex, one of the most consistent checks to these Pokemon. That isn't really the case here, though, you're running a Dragon Dance Dragapult and your Clefable isn't Calm Mind, which it can't really afford to be here anyways, so really all it accomplishes here is leaving some defensive insufficiencies; you are incredible weak to Zeraora and Togekiss as a direct result of using Salazzle here.

With that in mind, I believe Rotom-H is the best option for this slot instead. It patches up the issues with Zeraora and Togekiss that you have as of right now pretty well, and doesn't leave you on a very passive backfoot in matchups against Ferrothorn either.

Minor Changes

I'd like to suggest running slightly less Speed IVs on Clefable, particularly 7 Speed IVs so that you'll have a slower Teleport against most other Clefable, while still outspeeding Hippowdon.

With Dragapult and Hydreigon, as well as a Wish Clefable to sustain Seismitoad, I don't really see the appeal to Rest here; self sustainability isn't really an issue in matchups against Pokemon such as Rotom-H here. With that in mind, it's important to acknowledge that Knock Off support is really useful alongside Dragapult; getting that extra little bit of chip damage to get it into range for Steel Wing becomes rather easy to attain without its Leftovers.

Lastly, you should definitely run a little more Defense EVs on Corviknight. More specifically, I'd like to suggest 132 Defense EVs with a Relaxed nature and 5 Speed IVs. The Defense investment allows Corviknight to always avoid being OHKOed by a +2 Bisharp, and the Relaxed nature with 5 Speed IVs allow you to get a slower Roost and U-turn against Hippowdon, preventing it from pressuring you with Earthquake, and also giving you a free way to grab momentum against it. Alternatively, you could definitely consider running Brave Bird with 80 Speed EVs instead, as the Conkeldurr matchup is a little awkward, though.


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