SS OU Scolipide Spikes and Specs Latios

SilkScarfGroudon

SilkScarfGroudon

Hello there! I am SilkScarfGroudon, but you can call me Silk, and I am back with another team for you to rate and improve!
So let's cut the formalities and jump right into the team!

TEAM

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EVs, IVs and Movesets
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Scolipede @ Focus Sash
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Megahorn
- Earthquake

I have recently started to get more and more fond of Scolipede, not only do I like it's design, but the pokemon itself is a great choice! The Sash leads to at least one spikes layer, but the speed boost can lead it to have at least two layers on the opponent's side, and not only that, but if the opponent decides not to kill Scolipide after all the spikes, Toxic Spikes enter in action. And don't forget: the 100 base ATK with full investment and adamant is nothing to sneeze at, it's great to hurt several threats with big damage (doing 82 - 97% to standard sp defensive Tyranitar for example) and some pokemon can (with some luck) simply drop upon receiving an Earthquake or Megahorn (Guaranteed OHKO on regular Slowbro for example), making Scolipide the most likely lead, but there is another pokemon which can be a lead too, we'll look at it right now.

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Cobalion @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Taunt

Learning from a previous team, this Cobalion comes straight from 2019 and Gen 7 UU, but I discovered that it still works pretty well in Gen 8 OU, an unusual pick for sure but let me explain how it works. First, Cobalion is bulky, not the bulkiest, but more than bulky enough for this team, coupled with Cobalion's great speed and the Shuca Berry to survive ground moves, it means that it can lay Stealth Rocks pretty reliably, and while Cobalion is not nearly the strongest, the great base power of Close Combat + Stab can easily make up for it, not to say that the flinch chance of Iron Head can be infuriating. Now, on Scolipede's section I said that Cobalion can also be a lead, and it can, but in some specific situation, the biggest reason to use it as a lead though is when a Dragonite is on the opposing team, as a the Taunt can shut down any set up attempt of any Dragonite, other set up pokemon are mostly shut down by Cobalion, with a few exceptions (such as Volcarona).

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Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Dual Wingbeat
- Earthquake

Dragonite is a great set up pokemon, usually the Dragonite sets run Roost instead of Outrage, but the team Dragonite was not meant to be extremely durable, it enters the battle, does one Dragon Dance, two if it has the chance, and then it will attack, the power of Outrage fits my intentions perfectly, earthquake is here to hit steel types of course and Toxapex wouldn't want to enter on an earthquake either, last but not least Dual Wingbeat is a great flying stab which will break Sashes, destory everything weak to it and do damage in general, nothing too complex.

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Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Smart Strike
- Leaf Blade
- Knock Off
- Sacred Sword

Oh what can I say about Scarf Kartana? Who doesn't know about it? This beast (pun intended) is an extremely strong pokemon and fast pokemon, the scarf makes it possibe for Kartana to outspeed many pokemon and the great base ATK with stabs in Smart Strike and Leaf Blade will drop many things upon contact, the Beast Boost raising the attack will make each successive opponent take more and more damage, but not only that, Knock Off will cripple many other pokemon and no Ghost type will want to enter on a Kartana attack, and no Magnezone or Ferrothorn will want to take a Sacred Sword not to mention that Blissey is not fond of the idea either.

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Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Mystical Fire
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock/Psychic

Another Pokemon which is somewhat similar to my fixed team from 2019, the different is that in 2019 and in Gen7 UU's Latias was used, but Latios works better for me in this team, let me explain. Latios is a great offensive Pokemon with great speed and has a great coverage, the Specs makes Latios an even greater threat and even more powerful. Thunderbolt is there to have a guaranteed 2HKO on Toxapex and on Corviknight, and Mystical Fire has more than 80% chance to OHKO standard Ferrothorn, Draco Meteor and Psyshock are obvious choices for stab too, Psyshock being an option to hit Blissey harder (with Max Defense Blissey with no leftovers having a guaranteed 2HKO), but Psychich can be used over it to have a guaranteed OHKO on Toxapex.

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Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Bug Bite
- Superpower
- Swords Dance

Last but not least, Scizor, which is another pokemon very similar to the Scizor used in the already mentioned 2019 team, but this has some difference, in 2019 Scizor has Quick Attack rather than Bug Bite, but now I shall explain the set. Of course, Scizor has Technician which is coupled with Bullet Punch, giving it a much higher base power than it originally had, the same logic applies to Bug Bite, but instead of priority, Bug Bite offers the chance to eat a berry that the opponent is holding, not only that but it hits Dark Types harder than Superpower, which I shall talk about now. Superpower is a great tool to destroy Steel Types easily, while not all of them will immediately fall upon receiving the attack, but they will be hurt a lot, and after a swords dance most of them will drop, most notably Ferrothorn, which is a guaranteed OHKO after one swords dance and superpower and bulk up corviknight which has a 31% to be OHKOed with a superpower after one swords dance.

And well,
That's about it for this team, but I know I am not the best team builder, that's why I am here to ask you all who saw the post to help me get a better team, but anyway, thanks for reading.​
 
I really like your team, nice to see rare pokemon like scolipede and cobalion in OU.

I just give my little advice on scolipede should have swords dance to replace toxic spikes to deal with bulkier enemies, t-spikes is redundant with spikes.

And dragonite should have ice punch than outrage because there is too many fairies in OU that can easily stop you when you're locking in outrage, ice punch also useful to punish landorus & zapdos. And you should also change adamant to jolly to outspeed tapu koko, dragapult, and zeraora at +1 Spe

I hope this is useful, thank you...
 
Just a couple of quick notes:

What is the kind of game you want to play? It seems to me that you want Scolipede to be a Suicide Lead. These kinds of leads usually work when the rest of your team puts enough pressure to prevent a defog. However, 5/6 of your members invite Corviknight (the most common defogger) to defog.

Choice Specs Latios usually invites in the Slowkings if it's not locked into Psyshock. Regular Slowking just gets a free port. Glowkings are running Flame/Ice beam and your team is full of mons x4 weak to those attacks, so everytime Glowking comes in you have to play a 50/50 to not lose a mon. None of your mons have any recovery, so even if you get the 50/50 right against Glowking, that damage is there to stay (for example Dnite switching into Flame breaks it's multiscale for good).

I already mentioned Corvi and the Kings, but the team is super weak to Lele. Here are some common scenarios you may find yourself with this team:
  • Lele gets in against Latios.
  • Lele gets in against Scizor at around 50-60 (which is possible given that your scizor is probably going to take rocks+helmet+life orb chip)
  • Lele gets in against Kartana locked in Sacred Sword.
  • Lele gets in against Dnite with it multiscale broken (this is less likely but still possible)
In all those scenarios Lele is getting a kill by just pressing Moonblast/Psychic. I am assuming that Scolipede is gone since you seem to want to play it as a suicide lead. Besides those, here is a summary of problems I see with the team:
  • Team dies to Corvi + Glowking (which I thought about because I've been using that core the last couple of weeks)
  • No defogger and not recovery, which means that Latios and Scizor won't be able to come in too many times (specially scizor).
  • The team doesn't put up too much pressure, so is easy to lose your hazards.
I don't see a way to change the team without making too many drastic changes. It feels like if we put roost on scizor/latios then they lose what you are trying to accomplish. Try at least to put Roost over Outrage and see how it goes. Maybe instead of Cobalion you can try to put something that handles Corvi Defog (like Bisharp and then you cant get rid of Scizor and put a different mon, Idk if you are up to that).

As I told you, I've been playing with Corvi + Glowking so feel free to hit me up if you want clarification/test ideas against those 2.
 
SetsuSetsuna said:
Just a couple of quick notes:

What is the kind of game you want to play? It seems to me that you want Scolipede to be a Suicide Lead. These kinds of leads usually work when the rest of your team puts enough pressure to prevent a defog. However, 5/6 of your members invite Corviknight (the most common defogger) to defog.

Choice Specs Latios usually invites in the Slowkings if it's not locked into Psyshock. Regular Slowking just gets a free port. Glowkings are running Flame/Ice beam and your team is full of mons x4 weak to those attacks, so everytime Glowking comes in you have to play a 50/50 to not lose a mon. None of your mons have any recovery, so even if you get the 50/50 right against Glowking, that damage is there to stay (for example Dnite switching into Flame breaks it's multiscale for good).

I already mentioned Corvi and the Kings, but the team is super weak to Lele. Here are some common scenarios you may find yourself with this team:
  • Lele gets in against Latios.
  • Lele gets in against Scizor at around 50-60 (which is possible given that your scizor is probably going to take rocks+helmet+life orb chip)
  • Lele gets in against Kartana locked in Sacred Sword.
  • Lele gets in against Dnite with it multiscale broken (this is less likely but still possible)
In all those scenarios Lele is getting a kill by just pressing Moonblast/Psychic. I am assuming that Scolipede is gone since you seem to want to play it as a suicide lead. Besides those, here is a summary of problems I see with the team:
  • Team dies to Corvi + Glowking (which I thought about because I've been using that core the last couple of weeks)
  • No defogger and not recovery, which means that Latios and Scizor won't be able to come in too many times (specially scizor).
  • The team doesn't put up too much pressure, so is easy to lose your hazards.
I don't see a way to change the team without making too many drastic changes. It feels like if we put roost on scizor/latios then they lose what you are trying to accomplish. Try at least to put Roost over Outrage and see how it goes. Maybe instead of Cobalion you can try to put something that handles Corvi Defog (like Bisharp and then you cant get rid of Scizor and put a different mon, Idk if you are up to that).

As I told you, I've been playing with Corvi + Glowking so feel free to hit me up if you want clarification/test ideas against those 2.
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I see the problem you're talking about, and well yes, Bisharp would be a great addition to the team to kill corvi, which is indeed a problem (although Zapdos is a bigger problem), but in exchange for that I'd need to find something quick, bulky and decently strong like cobalion for stealth rocks, and looking back, excadrill would've been a fine choice, although it still doesn't exactly threaten corvi either. And Lele actually isnt too much of a problem tbh, sometimes even Scolipede can deal with it (if it doesn't miss the Megahorn). But what do you suggest?
 
So I wanted to build a team around some of your mons/ideas. I wanted to keep Latios and Scolipede at all costs:
  • Cobalion: I don't like it. He invites in Lando/Garchomp/Hippo/Corvi and even Shifu if it doesn't have Volt switch. I really wanted to give him a try because it seemed like a good check to Bisharp, Weavile and Rillaboom, but I didn't feel it was worth. This helped me focus to make the team only spikes (no rocks) and free one space.
  • Team Style: So for a while I tried to put Magnezone in place of Cobalion just to have an answer to Corvi... But I felt that Scarf Kartana + those sets on Dnite and Scizor where just not doing work against Zapdos, Mandibuzz and Toxapex. So I dished the idea and tried for Screens HO instead.
  • Scizor, Kartana or Dnite: I still wanted to use one of those mons, so I kept SD Scizor but made it Roost+Knock off instead of Bug Bite+Superpower. This mon is a beast because it can set up against unassuming Corvi and me and many others have had success with it on the Mid(High Ladder (1700+). I actually have an example with the team I used, but keep in mind that is only at 1400 ELO.
  • Rest of the team: I put Ninetales for obvious reasons. Zeraora is a electric immunity that chases out Weavile and Shifu. Since Zeraora invites in Chomp and Lando, I said fuck it and put Cloyster lol.
The idea of the build is for Scolipede to be a suicide lead (just put one spike, I don't care if it doesn't do anything else), for Latios to be a (really bad) breaker and for the rest of the team to set up and win. This is the team: https://pokepast.es/0b73ea673498b7a1

I know it may differ a lot from what you were trying to do, so feel free to tell me if you got any ideas that might suit you better. And here is the replay I was talking about: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1387622920

Also the team is really weak to volc. I misplayed and shouldn't have draco twice, since that gave volc room to set up. Thank god he misplayed too lol.
 
SetsuSetsuna said:
So I wanted to build a team around some of your mons/ideas. I wanted to keep Latios and Scolipede at all costs:
  • Cobalion: I don't like it. He invites in Lando/Garchomp/Hippo/Corvi and even Shifu if it doesn't have Volt switch. I really wanted to give him a try because it seemed like a good check to Bisharp, Weavile and Rillaboom, but I didn't feel it was worth. This helped me focus to make the team only spikes (no rocks) and free one space.
  • Team Style: So for a while I tried to put Magnezone in place of Cobalion just to have an answer to Corvi... But I felt that Scarf Kartana + those sets on Dnite and Scizor where just not doing work against Zapdos, Mandibuzz and Toxapex. So I dished the idea and tried for Screens HO instead.
  • Scizor, Kartana or Dnite: I still wanted to use one of those mons, so I kept SD Scizor but made it Roost+Knock off instead of Bug Bite+Superpower. This mon is a beast because it can set up against unassuming Corvi and me and many others have had success with it on the Mid(High Ladder (1700+). I actually have an example with the team I used, but keep in mind that is only at 1400 ELO.
  • Rest of the team: I put Ninetales for obvious reasons. Zeraora is a electric immunity that chases out Weavile and Shifu. Since Zeraora invites in Chomp and Lando, I said fuck it and put Cloyster lol.
The idea of the build is for Scolipede to be a suicide lead (just put one spike, I don't care if it doesn't do anything else), for Latios to be a (really bad) breaker and for the rest of the team to set up and win. This is the team: https://pokepast.es/0b73ea673498b7a1

I know it may differ a lot from what you were trying to do, so feel free to tell me if you got any ideas that might suit you better. And here is the replay I was talking about: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1387622920

Also the team is really weak to volc. I misplayed and shouldn't have draco twice, since that gave volc room to set up. Thank god he misplayed too lol.
Click to expand...
Since this is a Veil team, wouldn't Agility + Calm Mind + Weakness Policy Latios be a better fit? It can be a liability to be choice-locked on a hyper offensive team, as you detailed above.

Edit with new team: https://pokepast.es/3a30c59bc0d55ee1

LO Superpower on Sciz helps out against the otherwise troublesome Melmetal, although Metal Coat is a good item too. I also swapped Swords Dance for Endeavor on Scoli, since without Sash+Endeavor you might as well just be using Mew.
 
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BoomFantastic said:
Since this is a Veil team, wouldn't Agility + Calm Mind + Weakness Policy Latios be a better fit? It can be a liability to be choice-locked on a hyper offensive team, as you detailed above.

Edit with new team: https://pokepast.es/3a30c59bc0d55ee1

LO Superpower on Sciz helps out against the otherwise troublesome Melmetal, although Metal Coat is a good item too. I also swapped Swords Dance for Endeavor on Scoli, since without Sash+Endeavor you might as well just be using Mew.
Click to expand...

Your Scizor has the same problem as the one in the original team. It can't set up in front of anything and it dies extremely quickly.

I agree with Scolipede to an extent. In my experience no one would put Scolipede to 1%, and SD actually helped a ton. But yeah, low ladder doesn't really tell you anything.

Finally I also wanted to make Latios Weakness Policy (I already said that) but I wanted to keep the specs original idea. But doesn't really matter, I don't like Latios in the Weavile meta.
 
SetsuSetsuna said:
So I wanted to build a team around some of your mons/ideas. I wanted to keep Latios and Scolipede at all costs:
  • Cobalion: I don't like it. He invites in Lando/Garchomp/Hippo/Corvi and even Shifu if it doesn't have Volt switch. I really wanted to give him a try because it seemed like a good check to Bisharp, Weavile and Rillaboom, but I didn't feel it was worth. This helped me focus to make the team only spikes (no rocks) and free one space.
  • Team Style: So for a while I tried to put Magnezone in place of Cobalion just to have an answer to Corvi... But I felt that Scarf Kartana + those sets on Dnite and Scizor where just not doing work against Zapdos, Mandibuzz and Toxapex. So I dished the idea and tried for Screens HO instead.
  • Scizor, Kartana or Dnite: I still wanted to use one of those mons, so I kept SD Scizor but made it Roost+Knock off instead of Bug Bite+Superpower. This mon is a beast because it can set up against unassuming Corvi and me and many others have had success with it on the Mid(High Ladder (1700+). I actually have an example with the team I used, but keep in mind that is only at 1400 ELO.
  • Rest of the team: I put Ninetales for obvious reasons. Zeraora is a electric immunity that chases out Weavile and Shifu. Since Zeraora invites in Chomp and Lando, I said fuck it and put Cloyster lol.
The idea of the build is for Scolipede to be a suicide lead (just put one spike, I don't care if it doesn't do anything else), for Latios to be a (really bad) breaker and for the rest of the team to set up and win. This is the team: https://pokepast.es/0b73ea673498b7a1

I know it may differ a lot from what you were trying to do, so feel free to tell me if you got any ideas that might suit you better. And here is the replay I was talking about: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1387622920

Also the team is really weak to volc. I misplayed and shouldn't have draco twice, since that gave volc room to set up. Thank god he misplayed too lol.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the help, although I shall say that the only pokemon which i am hell-bent to keeping is Scolipede, I just put Latios in the title because I know how unusual it is, if there is a better pokemon to be in Latios' place I wouldn't mind switching.
 
SilkScarfGroudon said:
I appreciate the help, although I shall say that the only pokemon which i am hell-bent to keeping is Scolipede, I just put Latios in the title because I know how unusual it is, if there is a better pokemon to be in Latios' place I wouldn't mind switching.
Click to expand...
I think your team overall is pretty weak to volcarona, it can sweep your entire team after just 1 QD (Latios die when it carried bug buzz)

Both setsuna and boomfantastic have really good job updating your team, if your have no problem changing your latios, you could try offenstive heatran as your volc check and also stealth rocker replacing cobalion, since your updated team didn't have rocker :

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest/Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
 
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