SS OU Second Attempt at a Competitive Team

RWBYRose

So this is my second attempt at a competitive team. I have played a number of matches and swapped up a number of things to get to this point and am interested in what people think. I began with a team of my favorite pokemon ever (Gardevoir, Lapras, and Flygon) but as I was well aware and as people informed me, neither Flygon or Lapras are very competitive. But I learned some things and did get some constructive ideas from that team as well as some playtime in the meta. That led me to this team which has been tweaked a few times.

:corviknight:
Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Mirror Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 200 SpD / 56 Spe
Careful Nature
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Body Press
- Bulk Up

Overall Corviknight has proven to be an extremely viable mon with many sets. As I am going for a more offensive team I wanted a Bulk Up set of some sort. However, I am lacking in bulkiness so I went for Lefties and Roost. I know substitute has been a common set but I haven't felt like I've needed it and Body Press has come in clutch taking out Ferro/Snorlax/Excadrill all of which are very irritating. I think Mirror Armor has been outperforming Pressure as I am not stalling long enough for Pressure to matter.

:cinderace:
Cinderace @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pyro Ball
- Sucker Punch
- Court Change
- U-turn

Cinderace has been absolutely clutch. Heavy-Duty Boots and Court Change is so much fun and wrecks teams that open with suicide hazards. Pyro Ball is insane especially with the number of Steel-types present. U-turn has been nice to get out of some situations, especially since Cinderace has respectable speed. Sucker Punch has not been very helpful as the priority hasn't seemed helpful since so many mons have to switch out in fear of Pyro Ball. Thinking it should be changed to Zen Headbutt though Gunk Shot/Hi Jump Kick are also options.

:gardevoir:
Gardevoir @ Choice Specs
Ability: Trace
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Mystical Fire

Gardevoir is my leftovers from my favorite pokemon as she is the only one who can be competitive. She is the definition of Glass Cannon. Using Choice Specs because Scarf doesn't make her fast enough to beat things that matter. Gardevoir's abilities are pretty medium with Trace edging out Syncronize for copying Swift Swim and the like. Overall 4 very powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground. Gardevoir is the first of our main Dynamaxers as she can come in and wipe a mon then Dmax out of the choice lock to try and sweep the counters.

:dragapult:
Dragapult @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt

I think Scarf Dragapult pretty much speaks for itself. Shadow Ball STAB is the usually the best choice lock unless against a rain team or something. Coverage of Thunderbolt and Flamethrower is great and Draco Meteor STAB on a base 142 speed Scarf mon is scary for other Dragons not named Dracovish. Again, Dynamax after a knockout to get out of choice lock and sweep.

:toxapex:
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Haze
- Recover
- Scald
- Toxic

Pex is the sustain of the team as well as the death by 1,000 needles. Black Sludge/Regenerator/Recover for massive amounts of sustain. Haze has been clutch for dealing with Bulk Up/Dragon Dance etc. users. Toxic and not TSpikes because we want to keep up Court Change and not give up value. Scald so we can deal some damage as well as for the burn. Scald also helps for insta-switch into poison immune like ferro/pex.

:kommo-o:
Kommo-o @ Throat Spray
Ability: Bulletproof
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Clanging Scales
- Clangorous Soul
- Drain Punch
- Flash Cannon

Kommo-o is the newest addition as well as the one I am least sure on the build. I had tried a couple different sets and they had been sub-par and then I found this one and it has been great. If you can safely Clangorous Soul you can sweep like crazy. Throat Spray + Clanging Scales after Soul just gets out of control. Drain Punch feels underpowered, especially if you cannot Soul first, but can get back HP after Soul and is clutch for things like Ferro/Excadrill. Flash Cannon catches Fairy-type counters and wipes them, especially because you are +1 Spe after Soul. Another great Dmax sweeper. Bulletproof is also clutch as it can freely switch into Pyro Ball/Electro Ball/Shadow Ball etc.


Overall I have had a lot of fun with this team. Many of my losses come from my own mistakes, misplays, miscalculations, and incorrect predictions. The weaknesses that I have found are:
-Rain Teams: I hate them so much. Turn 1 Gardevoir and hope they don't realize you have TBolt to OHKO Pelipper. If they switch out immediately . . . good luck
-Sand Teams: Overall just a tough matchup.
-Dracovish: Fishious Rend is ridiculous.
-GMax Charizard: Absolutely OP and if you cannot kill it immediately you are just done. (Turn 1 Gmax Charizard Max Airstream = GG)
-Ditto: These give me headaches.
 

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Maybe switch gardevoir for LO Clefable. LO Clefable performs similarly to gardevoir, but can switch moves to predict switches to kill pelipper, gyarados, ferrothorn, corviknight and many others. It also has recovery and is unnafected from SR.
 
A very nice HyperOffensive-looking team you have here :)

What i'd like to point out is; because of the team bein gmostly HyperOffensively based, toxapex will go against its own purpose, being mainly a wall with no offensive pressure or any very useful support for your team.

Your team, as you yourself point out, struggles with ditto, dracovish, rain and sand to some extent. Generally, HOs problem lies with pokemon that outspeed your own, therefore dracovish, dracozolt and darmanitan-galar, all with scarf, as well as rain, sand and other scarf users are problematic.
I therefore suggest 3 changes;

1) Switch toxapex for seismitoad;

Seismitoad @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Scald
- Earthquake
- Toxic

This pokemon deals with dracovish and dracozolt, and is annoying to both sand and rain teams. It also provides your team with reliable rocks, which are necessary against bulkier teams and stall, as well as toxic for pokemon other than ferrothorn on rain teams.

2) Switch Kommo-o for Grimmsnarl;

Grimmsnarl (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Atk / 172 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
- Spirit Break
- Sucker Punch

You may also play around with its set as you please. This pokemon has a lot of options that can work equally well or better. This set helps you against annoyances to your team. Faster pokemon and bulkier pokemon which will use status. This paired with prankster works great for HO teams, imo. You can twave faster pokemon, particularily pokemon on rain teams other than Swift Swim seismitoad, and you can taunt ferrothorn, toxapex and others so you dont have to worry about them being too annoying.
The EV-spread on this set does the following:

Offensively:
88+ Atk Grimmsnarl Spirit Break vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 284-336 (89.5 - 105.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
88+ Atk Grimmsnarl Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragapult: 266-314 (83.9 - 99%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
88+ Atk Grimmsnarl Spirit Break vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 492-580 (151.3 - 178.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Defensively:
252 SpA Choice Specs Dragapult Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 172 SpD Grimmsnarl: 154-182 (39.1 - 46.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Aqua Jet vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Grimmsnarl in Rain: 220-261 (55.9 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

As you can see this set doesnt loose to dragapult or band barraskewda in rain.

3) Change the dragapult set to modest with fire blast over flamethrower, and consider u-turn over tbolt. Whislt timid lets you outspeed jolly excadrill in sand, you have corviknight with checks and counters that very well. If you have problems with it i recommend changing the EV-spread on corviknight a bit. Modest fierblast ohkos darmanitan-galar 100% of the time as long as its not running some weird defensive investment. This is more important to your team than having another check for excadrill. U-turn over tbolt gains momentum and lets you get the switch advantage over pokemon that will switch in on dragapult, allowing you to have the best matchup which is crucial for HO teams. I also dont believe tbolt does much that Draco Meteor, Shadow Ball and Fire Blast doesnt already accomplish nicely.

Hope this helps! :)
 
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granddmmasteraryan the reason I use Gardevoir over Clefable is simply I love Gardevoir and that slot is not really looking for sustain. If anything it would probably become something like Togekiss.

Dole Duck Thank you so much for the insight. I've mostly kept Toxapex because it was a reliable switch in to a lot of things and toxic is usable against bulky teams without being affected by Court Change on Cinderace. I never though of Seismitoad to perform the same role. Definitely going to be using that one.
I like the idea of Grimmsnarl instead of Kommo-o as it has been really hit and miss on performing or not. Access to Taunt and TWave will definitely be nice as well.
Dragapult was honestly a set I had pulled from somewhere. It functioned well so I didn't mess with it, so i will have to try the swap to modest. Originally I had U-Turn but added Tbolt because I was struggling with Rain teams but hopefully your other suggestions remedy that.

I look forward to testing these changes. I've included the swaps below.
 

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After using both teams on showdown i can say that both are good but my only thing is the first one i dont see the use of kommo -o but enjoyed using the set
 
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