To any mods: This is a NU team, but it is made specifically for fighting in the OU tier. I looked through the rules to see if anything stated whether or not to put this in the other teams or OU teams and couldn't find anything, so I'm putting this here given its purpose is to fight in OU (threat list speaks of OU threats). If mods think this is the wrong spot, I'm sorry!
----------- Description -----------
After seeing another player do reasonably well with a NU vs OU team, I decided to give it a go myself. I picked out some key pokemon which I thought to have a lot of potential in NU and wanted to see what I could make out of them. As a result, I've found some NU pokemon which are very likely to make my more serious OU teams.
The key advantage to a NU vs OU team is how predictable OU is while most players do not know what to expect from NU pokemon.
----------- Team Building -----------
From the beginning I needed to be able to counter as much of the OU tier as I can, which is not easy for many of these pokemon. However, there is one that stands out strong, which was the first I picked for the team.
Porygon 2 can be a beast defensively due to its type, stats, and most importantly, Trace. I'll get more into specificly countering, but this does a lot of the work for me. I wanted a physically bulky version. This leaves porygon weak, especially to fighting and strong special attackers. So my next choice was...
Gardevoir had nice special defense and psychic typing to deal with fighting types and scare them off with STAB psychic. A psychic type left me with weaknesses to bug, ghost, and dark. What should counter those?
Pinsir can have pretty strong type coverage, the ever-amazing mold breaker, and pretty good natural bulk to boot. I scarfed him to make him into a good revenge killer as his speed is a bit too low to counter some OU threats, but his natural bulk makes him able to straight out counter many pokemon. Now I was starting to wonder what direction I would go with my lead. I ended up wanting to try out...
I realized that most of the strongest utility leads had already made it to UU and OU, so I chose the route of anti-lead. Manectric had pretty good speed and special attack, STAB TBolt, Flamethrower, and HP Ice gave great coverage while switcheroo'ing a scarf had nice utility later game.
I had some strong utility, but I needed some entry hazards to stop opponents from switching around without worry. Also, since my team was likely to have more specific and less general counters, I needed to be able to remove entry hazards. Rapid Spin support was very necessary. There was only one really good option to find in NU.
Sandslash was exactly what I was looking for. Rapid Spin and SR in one nice, very bulky package. It proved to be a great addition of bulk in case of pory2 going down.
To round out the team I wanted an end game sweeper. I had a few options here as there were a couple decently bulky DD or Cursers. For its strong typing, I decided to go with...
So then it was time for testing! I soon found too many leads that Manectric just could not handle well. Swampert, Aerodactyl, Hippowdon, and Metagross all threatened with EQ's that would OHKO Manectric while Manectric was unable to OHKO them first. I also had a problem of not having anything which could switch in on an EQ with impunity, so Manectric got replaced by:
Charizard has proven able to counter a greater portion of the leads, but at the cost of not having trick/switcheroo. More about him later. Losing Manectric and adding in Charizard made me increasingly aware of my lack of anything to take a water type attack, and with only one trick scarf and no taunt, teams with blissey + crocune or similar could be a big problem. The easiest solution was to switch out Whiscash. Something with Water Absorb would help a lot, and sweep capability helps. Poliwrath with bulk up was a definite possibility, but instead I've chosen...
Lapras is similar to Whiscash in that it also has DD. Lapras also has pretty good bulk for any attacks that aren't super effective, quite often its substitutes can take a hit without breaking (having 101 hp for seismic, too).
I'm still searching for something which might be able to replace Lapras, as I feel that this is one of the weaker links on my team and compounds some already existing weaknesses to fighting and rock.
----------- The Team -----------
Charizard
The Lead
EVs: 252 Speed | 252 Special Attack | 4 HP (100 Base Speed, 109 Base Special Attack)
Nature: Modest
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
Skills:
Fire Blast
Air Slash
Dragon Pulse
Hidden Power [Grass]
Given how few leads are scarfed, Charizard will almost always hit first. Many can't OHKO, those that can I can often OHKO or reduce them down to virtually nothing.
How I handle Common Leads:
Azelf - I'll often use Air Slash and hope for the flinch. Most of these will SR first turn, occassionally I get one that wastes its turn taunting (assuming I'm Belly Drum). Quite a few carry Fire Blast which means they can't do much. Psychic won't OHKO so no real worries.
Metagross - Non-Occa berry versions will typically run. Either way, Fire Blast.
Swampert - HP Grass won't typically OHKO as most are fairly bulky, but they'll leave them dead in one hit. Given that this guy can be a problem otherwise, I'll let Charizard die (although, quite a few run EQ/Ice Beam or start with SR assuming I'll switch, which works out nicely for me)
Jirachi - Fire Blast will 2hko, but most run. Even if it para-flinches me from the get-go, I will still get a fire blast on it and revenge it easily.
Aerodactyl - Swap to Sandslash. Aero can't even dent it. Rapid Spin to break sash and remove stones. It'll put SR up again while I put up SR. I then kill with stone edge or it runs.
Infernape - Air Slash. They can't OHKO while Air Slash will OHKO non-sash varients and 2hko those with sash.
Roserade - Air Slash. If it flinches, I get a kill for free.
Heatran - Switch to Gardevoir. They will almost always SR first expecting the swap. Gardevoir OHKO's with Focus Blast.
Tyranitar - Switch to Sandslash. They rarely can do more than ~35% even after one DD, while Sandslash will 2hko most (plus Sand Veil means there coule be a miss)
Gliscor - Fire Blast for the 2hko. Most will either run, foolishly taunt, or set up SR. They can't do much to charizard.
In general with other leads: Air Slash for flinch or Fire Blast if the damage is more necessary.
Lapras
The Sweeper
EVs: 252 Speed | 244 Attack | 12 HP (this gets to 404 hp for the 101 hp subs)
Nature: Jolly
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Skills:
Substitute
Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Zen Headbutt
Lapras typically only comes in late game, or if I need to scare out a potential water-based threat that I don't want to bring Porygon 2 against (like Crocune). Speed is heavily invested to bring it up to 240 before boost, meaning after one DD it will be at 360 to outspeed most everything not scarfed. Substitute to help with DD's and to block status. Zen Headbutt is chosen over Return because if a water type forces Lapras in early, common switch-ins are fighting or sometimes grass/poisons who it can hit super effective. Water/Psychic provides pretty good coverage, too.
Gardevoir
The Utility
EVs: 252 Speed | 252 Special Attack | 4 HP
Nature: Timid
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
Skills:
Psychic
Focus Blast
Trick
Destiny Bond
Gardevoir packs a lot of utility for this team. Both Porygon 2 and Gardevoir having trace help check many, many potential threats in OU. Trick I use to deal with walls like Blissey. Psychic and Fighting have great type coverage save a couple ghosts (who I deal with in other ways). Destiny Bond is in there as a way of dealing with anything I mistakenly let set up and need to take out (as long as they don't get in too many speed boosts). Best of all is that destiny bond goes through subs, so people who think their stat-boosted subs blocking them are safe can be very, very wrong.
Pursuit users are the biggest threat, so I try not to bring out Gardevoir out early.
Porygon 2
The Counter
EVs: 252 HP | 216 Defense | 40 Special Attack
Nature: Bold
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Skills:
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Recover
Porygon 2 can counter the majority of the biggest threats in OU buy itself. On a regular basis it will take out multiple opposing pokemon. Bolt/Beam provide the normal excellent coverage. Since Trace often will force switches, it can be very easy to spread Thunder Wave to quite a bit of the enemy team. Recover for the instant 50% heal, especially with a paralyzed enemy, allows Porygon 2 to wall many threats in the common metagame.
Since I've listed both Porygon 2 and Gardevoir with Trace, I want to explain why it works out so well. Pokemon that normally absorb their own type attack can't do anything. So Porygon 2 and Gardevoir can switch into: Heatran, Vaporeon, Jolteon and Electivire without any real threat. Gyarados and Salamence lose their attack advantage from DD when being switched into, and being physical attackers can't dent Porygon 2 (MixMence's can prove to be problematic if they use Draco Meteor on Pory's switch). Natural Cure pokemon (Blissey, Celebi, Starmie, Roserade) give me status removal for the status they often throw around. Ninjask speed boost can allow Pory2 and Gardevoir to keep up even if +4/5 speed boost gets passed. Swift Swimers can get surprised when Gardevoir suddenly outspeeds them. Throwing pressure right back at the likes of pressure stallers can prove problematic for them too.
Pinsir
The Revenge Killer
EVs: 252 Speed | 252 Attack | 4 HP
Nature: Jolly
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Skills:
X Scissor
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Close Combat
Pinsir is comparable to Heracross with the primary difference being Heracross having the STAB close combat and megahorn vs Pinsir having Mold Breaker EQ. Foes who don't know about Pinsir's Mold Breaker will get pokemon like Gengar and Rotom ohko'd while they wonder why levitation is broken. X Scissor gives me a strong STAB which can hit Dark, Psychic, and Grass types super effective while Stone Edge hits the Flying types that like to come in. The last slot I've messed around with a lot. I've tried Feint Attack to hit Dusknoir but found that it still doesn't hit nearly hard enough to bother. I've tried Break Brick to deal with screens but found that to be a bit too situational to use much. Toxic and SR I have considered since I know Pinsir can cause switches, but close combat's ability to scare Blissey and Snorlax off have made it onto this bar.
Sandslash
The Bulky Spinner
EVs: 252 HP | 252 Defense | 4 Attack
Nature: Impish
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
Skills:
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Sandslash has a great 100 base attack and 110 base defense. Ground is a strong defensive typing too. There aren't many physical threats that can do much to sandslash while he can scare quite a few away with STAB earthquake and stone edge for nice coverage. He adds the ever-important SR and Rapid Spin that Charizard, Pinsir, and Lapras need.
Threat List:
Azelf - Pinsir outspeeds non-scarf varients and ohko's. Leads get killed by Charizard.
Breloom - Absorb sleep on either pinsir or charizard and then bring in the other. These can be somewhat problematic. If needed be, they can be Destiny Bonded through their sub by Gardevoir. Good prediction by the opponent can have them sweep my team.
Celebi - Pinsir, Charizard, Porygon 2.
Dragonite - Porygon 2, to a lesser extent Sandslash, Pinsir, and Charizard can all hit super effective.
Dugtrio - Porygon 2, although being that Dugtrio is a revenge killer who doesn't allow switching, you can't typically 'counter' him. Throwing his Arena Trap back at him with Porygon 2 can be hilarious though.
Electivire - Sandslash, Porygon 2, Gardevoir.
Empoleon - Lapras, Gardevoir, Pinsir are best bets, Porygon 2 can cause problems for them.
Flygon - Porygon 2.
Gengar - Pinsir. Porygon 2 can come in on Shadow Ball but fears Focus Blast. Gardevoir ohko non-scarfed varients and can come in on any non-shadow ball attack.
Gliscor - Porygon 2 is the best counter, but nothing on the team fears him.
Gyarados - Porygon 2, to a lesser extent Gardevoir and Pinsir.
Heatran - Gardevoir, Porygon 2. Pinsir can come in on any non-fire attack and ohko with EQ. Sandslash ohko's too, although doesn't take the hits too well.
Heracross - Charizard, to a lesser extent Pinsir and Sandslash. Gardevoir can also come in on close combat.
Infernape - Charizard, Gardevoir. Pinsir can take out non-scarfed varients.
Jirachi - Charizard, Sandslash, Porygon 2. The wide variety of sets can pose a problem if I miss predict here.
Jolteon - Gardevoir, Porygon 2 can scare it off, Pinsir and Sandslash can OHKO (but sandslash loses to HP Ice/Grass).
Kingdra - Charizard can nearly kill this with dragon pulse, but gets ohko'd. Gardevoir can Destiny Bond most as long as they don't get more than 1 DD. I will almost always have to sacrifice something to kill this.
Latias - Pinsir, and to lesser extents Charizard and Porygon 2. Too many CM's and I might have to destiny bond or I can try tricking it if I think it will CM when Gardevoir goes out.
Lucario - Pinsir, Sandslash, Charizard.
Machamp - Gardevoir, Charizard.
Magnezone - Gardevoir, Sandslash, Pinsir, Charizard. It typically can't kill Porygon 2 either.
Mamoswine - Pinsir, Gardevoir, Charizard, but if he predicts well switching in could cause a loss.
Metagross - Sandslash, Pinsir, and to lesser extents Porygon 2 and Charizard.
Ninjask - Depending on their skill set, these can pose real problems. Gardevoir tricking a scarf is probably my best bet. Porygon 2 might be able to cause problems by paralyzing whoever gets baton-passed and outspeeding with the speed boost itself. Another option is to try to DD up on lapras in the mean time, but often times BP teams have acid armor or iron defense.
Porygon-Z - Gardevoir, Pinsir.
Rhyperior - Everything outspeeds it but the only thing to take its hits well is sandslash. It might get a kill but will virtually never get 2.
Roserade - Charizard, Porygon 2, Gardevoir
Rotom-A - Pinsir, Porygon 2. Need to watch out for tricking Porygon 2 and Overheat against Pinsir.
Salamence - Porygon 2, and to lesser extents Gardevoir, Pinsir, and Sandslash. MixMence's who use Draco Meteor on my switch into Porygon 2 are the only ones who cause much problem.
Scizor - Charizard is my best bet, Sandslash can deal with any Scizor that doesn't get a SD off before Sandslash can hit with EQ (EQ is a 3hko while +2 Bullet Punch 2hko's).
Snorlax - Gardevoir, Pinsir.
Starmie - Pinsir is my main counter, able to take a LO Surf and OHKO in return with XScissor. Porygon 2 can also work but doesn't want to take a hit first.
Suicune - Lapras sets up, Gardevoir can trick or destiny bond also.
Togekiss - Porygon 2. Sandslash can take a hit and threaten with Stone Edge but can't take much more. Pinsir will outspeed and Stone Edge but Air Slash is OHKO.
Tyranitar - Sandslash. Pinsir if it can come in on a dark attack or DD. Gardevoir can focus blast but doesn't want to come in on a attack.
Weavile - Charizard, Pinsir.
Yanmega - Charizard and to a lesser extent Sandslash and potentially Porygon 2. Tinted Lens varients can be dealt with by Pinsir as long as he doesn't come in on Air Slash.
Zapdos - Sandslash, Porygon 2, Pinsir. Zapdos's ability to be offensive or defensive makes it hard to deal with.
Defensive Threats
Blissey - Gardevoir can Trick and/or Focus Blast, or if low on health already, Destiny Bond. Both Porygon 2 and Gardevoir can ignore its TWave/Toxic because of natural cure. Pinsir can OHKO with CC.
Bronzong - Charizard, Pinsir. Porygon 2 can stall it but it normally too important to risk it exploding on.
Cresselia - Pinsir is my best bet, but most of the time Cress just sets up something like Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Trick Room, and/or Screens. If I see this early on I start planning for what is going to come. It can always be tricked.
Dusknoir - Nothing can hit it hard, but Porygon 2 will win it in a stall war.
Forretress - Charizard. If charizard goes down I can use Sandslash to EQ & Rapid Spin entry hazards away.
Hippowdon - Porygon 2 is my best bet, but this guy's bulk can still be troublesome sometimes. Charizard and Pinsir can work to lesser extents.
Ludicolo - Pinsir, Charizard but he can't take a surf first. Porygon 2 and Gardevoir can throw its swift swim right back at it.
Milotic - These are rare but can sometimes cause problems. Porygon 2 can generally handle it, but Toxic can make it hard.
Skarmory - Charizard, Porygon 2.
Swampert - Charizard can come in on non-water attacks and HP Grass. Otherwise I just have to try to power through it with something like Pinsir, Gardevoir, or Porygon 2.
Tentacruel - Gardevoir, Pinsir.
Vaporeon - Lapras, Porygon 2. Gardevoir can trick.
----------- Description -----------
After seeing another player do reasonably well with a NU vs OU team, I decided to give it a go myself. I picked out some key pokemon which I thought to have a lot of potential in NU and wanted to see what I could make out of them. As a result, I've found some NU pokemon which are very likely to make my more serious OU teams.
The key advantage to a NU vs OU team is how predictable OU is while most players do not know what to expect from NU pokemon.
----------- Team Building -----------
From the beginning I needed to be able to counter as much of the OU tier as I can, which is not easy for many of these pokemon. However, there is one that stands out strong, which was the first I picked for the team.
Porygon 2 can be a beast defensively due to its type, stats, and most importantly, Trace. I'll get more into specificly countering, but this does a lot of the work for me. I wanted a physically bulky version. This leaves porygon weak, especially to fighting and strong special attackers. So my next choice was...
Gardevoir had nice special defense and psychic typing to deal with fighting types and scare them off with STAB psychic. A psychic type left me with weaknesses to bug, ghost, and dark. What should counter those?
Pinsir can have pretty strong type coverage, the ever-amazing mold breaker, and pretty good natural bulk to boot. I scarfed him to make him into a good revenge killer as his speed is a bit too low to counter some OU threats, but his natural bulk makes him able to straight out counter many pokemon. Now I was starting to wonder what direction I would go with my lead. I ended up wanting to try out...
I realized that most of the strongest utility leads had already made it to UU and OU, so I chose the route of anti-lead. Manectric had pretty good speed and special attack, STAB TBolt, Flamethrower, and HP Ice gave great coverage while switcheroo'ing a scarf had nice utility later game.
I had some strong utility, but I needed some entry hazards to stop opponents from switching around without worry. Also, since my team was likely to have more specific and less general counters, I needed to be able to remove entry hazards. Rapid Spin support was very necessary. There was only one really good option to find in NU.
Sandslash was exactly what I was looking for. Rapid Spin and SR in one nice, very bulky package. It proved to be a great addition of bulk in case of pory2 going down.
To round out the team I wanted an end game sweeper. I had a few options here as there were a couple decently bulky DD or Cursers. For its strong typing, I decided to go with...
So then it was time for testing! I soon found too many leads that Manectric just could not handle well. Swampert, Aerodactyl, Hippowdon, and Metagross all threatened with EQ's that would OHKO Manectric while Manectric was unable to OHKO them first. I also had a problem of not having anything which could switch in on an EQ with impunity, so Manectric got replaced by:
Charizard has proven able to counter a greater portion of the leads, but at the cost of not having trick/switcheroo. More about him later. Losing Manectric and adding in Charizard made me increasingly aware of my lack of anything to take a water type attack, and with only one trick scarf and no taunt, teams with blissey + crocune or similar could be a big problem. The easiest solution was to switch out Whiscash. Something with Water Absorb would help a lot, and sweep capability helps. Poliwrath with bulk up was a definite possibility, but instead I've chosen...
Lapras is similar to Whiscash in that it also has DD. Lapras also has pretty good bulk for any attacks that aren't super effective, quite often its substitutes can take a hit without breaking (having 101 hp for seismic, too).
I'm still searching for something which might be able to replace Lapras, as I feel that this is one of the weaker links on my team and compounds some already existing weaknesses to fighting and rock.
----------- The Team -----------
Charizard
The Lead
EVs: 252 Speed | 252 Special Attack | 4 HP (100 Base Speed, 109 Base Special Attack)
Nature: Modest
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Blaze
Skills:
Fire Blast
Air Slash
Dragon Pulse
Hidden Power [Grass]
Given how few leads are scarfed, Charizard will almost always hit first. Many can't OHKO, those that can I can often OHKO or reduce them down to virtually nothing.
How I handle Common Leads:
Azelf - I'll often use Air Slash and hope for the flinch. Most of these will SR first turn, occassionally I get one that wastes its turn taunting (assuming I'm Belly Drum). Quite a few carry Fire Blast which means they can't do much. Psychic won't OHKO so no real worries.
Metagross - Non-Occa berry versions will typically run. Either way, Fire Blast.
Swampert - HP Grass won't typically OHKO as most are fairly bulky, but they'll leave them dead in one hit. Given that this guy can be a problem otherwise, I'll let Charizard die (although, quite a few run EQ/Ice Beam or start with SR assuming I'll switch, which works out nicely for me)
Jirachi - Fire Blast will 2hko, but most run. Even if it para-flinches me from the get-go, I will still get a fire blast on it and revenge it easily.
Aerodactyl - Swap to Sandslash. Aero can't even dent it. Rapid Spin to break sash and remove stones. It'll put SR up again while I put up SR. I then kill with stone edge or it runs.
Infernape - Air Slash. They can't OHKO while Air Slash will OHKO non-sash varients and 2hko those with sash.
Roserade - Air Slash. If it flinches, I get a kill for free.
Heatran - Switch to Gardevoir. They will almost always SR first expecting the swap. Gardevoir OHKO's with Focus Blast.
Tyranitar - Switch to Sandslash. They rarely can do more than ~35% even after one DD, while Sandslash will 2hko most (plus Sand Veil means there coule be a miss)
Gliscor - Fire Blast for the 2hko. Most will either run, foolishly taunt, or set up SR. They can't do much to charizard.
In general with other leads: Air Slash for flinch or Fire Blast if the damage is more necessary.
Lapras
The Sweeper
EVs: 252 Speed | 244 Attack | 12 HP (this gets to 404 hp for the 101 hp subs)
Nature: Jolly
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Skills:
Substitute
Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Zen Headbutt
Lapras typically only comes in late game, or if I need to scare out a potential water-based threat that I don't want to bring Porygon 2 against (like Crocune). Speed is heavily invested to bring it up to 240 before boost, meaning after one DD it will be at 360 to outspeed most everything not scarfed. Substitute to help with DD's and to block status. Zen Headbutt is chosen over Return because if a water type forces Lapras in early, common switch-ins are fighting or sometimes grass/poisons who it can hit super effective. Water/Psychic provides pretty good coverage, too.
Gardevoir
The Utility
EVs: 252 Speed | 252 Special Attack | 4 HP
Nature: Timid
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Trace
Skills:
Psychic
Focus Blast
Trick
Destiny Bond
Gardevoir packs a lot of utility for this team. Both Porygon 2 and Gardevoir having trace help check many, many potential threats in OU. Trick I use to deal with walls like Blissey. Psychic and Fighting have great type coverage save a couple ghosts (who I deal with in other ways). Destiny Bond is in there as a way of dealing with anything I mistakenly let set up and need to take out (as long as they don't get in too many speed boosts). Best of all is that destiny bond goes through subs, so people who think their stat-boosted subs blocking them are safe can be very, very wrong.
Pursuit users are the biggest threat, so I try not to bring out Gardevoir out early.
Porygon 2
The Counter
EVs: 252 HP | 216 Defense | 40 Special Attack
Nature: Bold
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Skills:
Ice Beam
Thunderbolt
Thunder Wave
Recover
Porygon 2 can counter the majority of the biggest threats in OU buy itself. On a regular basis it will take out multiple opposing pokemon. Bolt/Beam provide the normal excellent coverage. Since Trace often will force switches, it can be very easy to spread Thunder Wave to quite a bit of the enemy team. Recover for the instant 50% heal, especially with a paralyzed enemy, allows Porygon 2 to wall many threats in the common metagame.
Since I've listed both Porygon 2 and Gardevoir with Trace, I want to explain why it works out so well. Pokemon that normally absorb their own type attack can't do anything. So Porygon 2 and Gardevoir can switch into: Heatran, Vaporeon, Jolteon and Electivire without any real threat. Gyarados and Salamence lose their attack advantage from DD when being switched into, and being physical attackers can't dent Porygon 2 (MixMence's can prove to be problematic if they use Draco Meteor on Pory's switch). Natural Cure pokemon (Blissey, Celebi, Starmie, Roserade) give me status removal for the status they often throw around. Ninjask speed boost can allow Pory2 and Gardevoir to keep up even if +4/5 speed boost gets passed. Swift Swimers can get surprised when Gardevoir suddenly outspeeds them. Throwing pressure right back at the likes of pressure stallers can prove problematic for them too.
Pinsir
The Revenge Killer
EVs: 252 Speed | 252 Attack | 4 HP
Nature: Jolly
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
Skills:
X Scissor
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Close Combat
Pinsir is comparable to Heracross with the primary difference being Heracross having the STAB close combat and megahorn vs Pinsir having Mold Breaker EQ. Foes who don't know about Pinsir's Mold Breaker will get pokemon like Gengar and Rotom ohko'd while they wonder why levitation is broken. X Scissor gives me a strong STAB which can hit Dark, Psychic, and Grass types super effective while Stone Edge hits the Flying types that like to come in. The last slot I've messed around with a lot. I've tried Feint Attack to hit Dusknoir but found that it still doesn't hit nearly hard enough to bother. I've tried Break Brick to deal with screens but found that to be a bit too situational to use much. Toxic and SR I have considered since I know Pinsir can cause switches, but close combat's ability to scare Blissey and Snorlax off have made it onto this bar.
Sandslash
The Bulky Spinner
EVs: 252 HP | 252 Defense | 4 Attack
Nature: Impish
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
Skills:
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Sandslash has a great 100 base attack and 110 base defense. Ground is a strong defensive typing too. There aren't many physical threats that can do much to sandslash while he can scare quite a few away with STAB earthquake and stone edge for nice coverage. He adds the ever-important SR and Rapid Spin that Charizard, Pinsir, and Lapras need.
Threat List:
Azelf - Pinsir outspeeds non-scarf varients and ohko's. Leads get killed by Charizard.
Breloom - Absorb sleep on either pinsir or charizard and then bring in the other. These can be somewhat problematic. If needed be, they can be Destiny Bonded through their sub by Gardevoir. Good prediction by the opponent can have them sweep my team.
Celebi - Pinsir, Charizard, Porygon 2.
Dragonite - Porygon 2, to a lesser extent Sandslash, Pinsir, and Charizard can all hit super effective.
Dugtrio - Porygon 2, although being that Dugtrio is a revenge killer who doesn't allow switching, you can't typically 'counter' him. Throwing his Arena Trap back at him with Porygon 2 can be hilarious though.
Electivire - Sandslash, Porygon 2, Gardevoir.
Empoleon - Lapras, Gardevoir, Pinsir are best bets, Porygon 2 can cause problems for them.
Flygon - Porygon 2.
Gengar - Pinsir. Porygon 2 can come in on Shadow Ball but fears Focus Blast. Gardevoir ohko non-scarfed varients and can come in on any non-shadow ball attack.
Gliscor - Porygon 2 is the best counter, but nothing on the team fears him.
Gyarados - Porygon 2, to a lesser extent Gardevoir and Pinsir.
Heatran - Gardevoir, Porygon 2. Pinsir can come in on any non-fire attack and ohko with EQ. Sandslash ohko's too, although doesn't take the hits too well.
Heracross - Charizard, to a lesser extent Pinsir and Sandslash. Gardevoir can also come in on close combat.
Infernape - Charizard, Gardevoir. Pinsir can take out non-scarfed varients.
Jirachi - Charizard, Sandslash, Porygon 2. The wide variety of sets can pose a problem if I miss predict here.
Jolteon - Gardevoir, Porygon 2 can scare it off, Pinsir and Sandslash can OHKO (but sandslash loses to HP Ice/Grass).
Kingdra - Charizard can nearly kill this with dragon pulse, but gets ohko'd. Gardevoir can Destiny Bond most as long as they don't get more than 1 DD. I will almost always have to sacrifice something to kill this.
Latias - Pinsir, and to lesser extents Charizard and Porygon 2. Too many CM's and I might have to destiny bond or I can try tricking it if I think it will CM when Gardevoir goes out.
Lucario - Pinsir, Sandslash, Charizard.
Machamp - Gardevoir, Charizard.
Magnezone - Gardevoir, Sandslash, Pinsir, Charizard. It typically can't kill Porygon 2 either.
Mamoswine - Pinsir, Gardevoir, Charizard, but if he predicts well switching in could cause a loss.
Metagross - Sandslash, Pinsir, and to lesser extents Porygon 2 and Charizard.
Ninjask - Depending on their skill set, these can pose real problems. Gardevoir tricking a scarf is probably my best bet. Porygon 2 might be able to cause problems by paralyzing whoever gets baton-passed and outspeeding with the speed boost itself. Another option is to try to DD up on lapras in the mean time, but often times BP teams have acid armor or iron defense.
Porygon-Z - Gardevoir, Pinsir.
Rhyperior - Everything outspeeds it but the only thing to take its hits well is sandslash. It might get a kill but will virtually never get 2.
Roserade - Charizard, Porygon 2, Gardevoir
Rotom-A - Pinsir, Porygon 2. Need to watch out for tricking Porygon 2 and Overheat against Pinsir.
Salamence - Porygon 2, and to lesser extents Gardevoir, Pinsir, and Sandslash. MixMence's who use Draco Meteor on my switch into Porygon 2 are the only ones who cause much problem.
Scizor - Charizard is my best bet, Sandslash can deal with any Scizor that doesn't get a SD off before Sandslash can hit with EQ (EQ is a 3hko while +2 Bullet Punch 2hko's).
Snorlax - Gardevoir, Pinsir.
Starmie - Pinsir is my main counter, able to take a LO Surf and OHKO in return with XScissor. Porygon 2 can also work but doesn't want to take a hit first.
Suicune - Lapras sets up, Gardevoir can trick or destiny bond also.
Togekiss - Porygon 2. Sandslash can take a hit and threaten with Stone Edge but can't take much more. Pinsir will outspeed and Stone Edge but Air Slash is OHKO.
Tyranitar - Sandslash. Pinsir if it can come in on a dark attack or DD. Gardevoir can focus blast but doesn't want to come in on a attack.
Weavile - Charizard, Pinsir.
Yanmega - Charizard and to a lesser extent Sandslash and potentially Porygon 2. Tinted Lens varients can be dealt with by Pinsir as long as he doesn't come in on Air Slash.
Zapdos - Sandslash, Porygon 2, Pinsir. Zapdos's ability to be offensive or defensive makes it hard to deal with.
Defensive Threats
Blissey - Gardevoir can Trick and/or Focus Blast, or if low on health already, Destiny Bond. Both Porygon 2 and Gardevoir can ignore its TWave/Toxic because of natural cure. Pinsir can OHKO with CC.
Bronzong - Charizard, Pinsir. Porygon 2 can stall it but it normally too important to risk it exploding on.
Cresselia - Pinsir is my best bet, but most of the time Cress just sets up something like Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Trick Room, and/or Screens. If I see this early on I start planning for what is going to come. It can always be tricked.
Dusknoir - Nothing can hit it hard, but Porygon 2 will win it in a stall war.
Forretress - Charizard. If charizard goes down I can use Sandslash to EQ & Rapid Spin entry hazards away.
Hippowdon - Porygon 2 is my best bet, but this guy's bulk can still be troublesome sometimes. Charizard and Pinsir can work to lesser extents.
Ludicolo - Pinsir, Charizard but he can't take a surf first. Porygon 2 and Gardevoir can throw its swift swim right back at it.
Milotic - These are rare but can sometimes cause problems. Porygon 2 can generally handle it, but Toxic can make it hard.
Skarmory - Charizard, Porygon 2.
Swampert - Charizard can come in on non-water attacks and HP Grass. Otherwise I just have to try to power through it with something like Pinsir, Gardevoir, or Porygon 2.
Tentacruel - Gardevoir, Pinsir.
Vaporeon - Lapras, Porygon 2. Gardevoir can trick.
