Sly's OU Team

[Slyguy46]

‘ello everybody. This team has worked very well for me, and I was hoping to get some input, so …

At a Glance

This team actually works a lot better than you’d assume at just a glance, however. The combination of powerful Special Sweepers (Togekiss and Starmie), Physical Destruction (Lucario and Tyranitar) and Special Situations (Metagross and Clefable) works out to create a deadly team.

The Lead

Colossus (Metagross)
Item: Occa Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant
EV’s: 252 HP / 238 Att / 10 Def / 8 Spe
Moves
- Earthquake
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Bullet Punch

Analysis
I chose Metagross as a lead as it would eliminate many other leads, its primary purpose. The thing that makes Colossus such a great threat to other leads is that most other walls can’t OHKO it without a crit. The Occa Berry protects it from Fire Types, and EQ doesn’t do much damage against it. This allows for SR to be put up, and then can either explode or switch out for use later. It demolishes teams relying on Focus Sash/Band and Ninjask leads, because Bullet Punch gets in the first attack. This, combined, makes Metagross the perfect lead for this team.

The Ghostbusters

Mad Jack (Tyranitar)
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Nature: Quiet
EV’s: 252 HP / 50 Att / 30 Spe / 176 Spe Att
Moves:
- Flamethrower
- Focus Punch
- Substitute
- Dark Pulse

My original team called for a Breloom, but to counter ghost-types, I brought in Ttar do do some damage. DP is used to allow for flinching and to counter physical walls, Flamethrower will take out Skarmory, Scyzor or Foretress easily, and 252 HP EV’s give Ttar 404 HP, a 101 HP substitute, to destroy Blissey. Since its introduction, Tyranitar has become a cornerstone of this team, implementing Weather effects and anti-Ghost attacks, a must have for a team whose key component is Clefable.

The Secret Weapon

Cassiopa (Clefable)
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Calm
EV’s: 252 HP / 152 Def / 4 Spe / 100 Sp Def
Moves:
- Encore
- Seismic Toss
- Softboiled
- Thunder Wave

Highly underrated as a wall, Clefable is extremely useful in the right hands, and is probably my favorite wall in the game. Thunder Wave and Encore destroys Stat Boosters, and Magic Guard protects it from all indirect damage, including Toxic. The only way to put it down for good is to bring in a fighting type or Freeze/Sleep/Paralyze it. Because of this, Clefable can be used to destroy entire teams. It's one weakness is Ghost types, but Tyranitar takes care of that.

The Special Sweeper

Hoshikage (Starmie)
Item: Expert Belt
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Timid
EV’s: 252 Spe / 252 Sp Att / 4 HP
Moves:
- Ice Beam
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic

Starmie is probably my favorite pokemon in the game. Its extreme speed and high special attack allow it to become one of the most threatening special sweepers for mid-late game. Starmie is such a great sweeper because it has such a great selection of Super-Effective moves, amplified by the Expert Belt. This versatality allows for a deadly combination. It's only major weakness is to Sucker Punch, which will most likely OHKO it.

The Muscle

Vegeta (Lucario) (BTW, no jokes about Power Levels, please)
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Jolly
EV’s: 252 Att / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moves:
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Swords Dance
- Extremespeed

Lucario allows for physical damage, and suprises unsuspecting dragon types with Ice Punch and Jolly nature. Walls also fall to SD’d, Life Orbed Close Combat. Lucario is meant to be mid-late game, as the Life Orb won't keep it alive that long. However, usage in early game can counter Jirachi and other hard to kill leads. Because of this, Lucario fits well in this team. It's major weakness are other Lucario's and Heracross.

The Hax

Valefor (Togekiss)
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Nature: Modest
EV’s: 252 HP / 104 Spe / 152 Sp Att
Moves:
- Air Slash
- Aura Sphere
- Roost
- Nasty Plot

Much like Lucario, Togekiss allows for Special Attack sweeps, and Air Slash-Aura Sphere doesn’t even give the opposition a chance to defend themselves. Serene Grace helps Air Slash's effectiveness, and Roost keeps Togekiss alive for longer. Togekiss is particuarly effective because it works off Clefable's Thunder Wave to Air Slash pokemon to oblivion. Electric types such as Jolteon and Raikou are its major weakness, but the rest of the team can deal with this threat.

In Review:

Many things work with this team. With the combination of Steel, Rock and Magic Guard, Sandstorm can counter Rain Dance or Sunny Day teams. Likewise, the combination of Steel, Magic Guard, and Natural Cure eliminates toxic damage from 4/6 of my team. The only major problem is a weakness to Fighting, Ghost, or Electric types in a fair amount of my team. However, this team is extremely effective, as seen as when I had an unranked match with several Uber Teams, and won (^_^)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Luxormaniac]

Vegeta (Lucario) (BTW, no jokes about Power Levels, please)

You won my respect right there.

Anyway, on to the team. Metagross is Metagross, and it seems to be working fine as your lead. I'd leave it.

I like how Tyranitar and Lucario fit together. Tyranitar will lure out some of Lucario's major counters, like Swampert, and destroy them after a Substitute (taking out Scizor while it's at it). That frees up Luke for a clean sweep later. Speaking of Luke, I agree with your decision to use Jolly- a lot of Luke checks only actually check Adamant Luke. However, I do fail to see the value of Ice Punch outside of hitting Gliscor (all of which are specifically EV'ed to beat you anyway). Latias will still crush you, while you can't outrun Mence to hit it. No Flygon will ever let you catch it either. If you run Crunch over Ice Punch, you will outspeed all non-Scarf Rotom-A and KO- eliminating a major check. I'd also save Luke for late-game, or at least until its checks have been eliminated by TyraniBoah.

Starmie is useful as "glue" for your team, checking Infernape, Salamence, Gyarados, and several other things sufficiently for your purposes. All I'd say is to consider Rapid Spin over Psychic- although Tyraniboah already does a number on stall teams, so its less important. You can also try Life Orb over Expert Belt, but you're better off as you are.

Now to what I see as the two problem members of the team- Togekiss and Clefable. Neither one of them seems to serve a definite purpose on your team. What I see is that you have a bit of a problem with bulkier physical sweepers. DDTar and AgiliGross are both going to cause you a lot of problems, and SD Luke won't be friendly either. Substituting a standard Swampert or Gliscor for Clefable will largely remedy your issues against those three. Your team also has a few problems with faster Special sweepers such as Gengar and variants of Latias, as neither Clefable nor Tyranitar can deal with them, and it all comes down to Speed ties versus Starmie. To fix that, might I suggest a ScarfRachi in Togekiss' slot? Serene Grace Iron Heads mimic Air Slash and take down almost everything. After that just add several filler moves for coverage. From my experience you could also simply throw a scarf on Togekiss for decent results, but SR weakness, worse typing, and less bulk make Jirachi the better option.

I like your team overall, the TyraniBoah lure for Lucario's checks in particular. Good luck, and hope my rate helped.

 

[Slyguy46]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of replacing Togekiss with Jirachi, and I might implement it ... when this team starts having a lot of problems. Also, as for the Ice Punch advice, that might actually work better.

While I thank you for your advice, I have to disagree on the subject of Clefable. Clefable is a way of countering all of the stat boosters, simply by using TWave to slow it down, then Encoring their boost, so that they can't do anything. I have proved this time and time agains against DDance Salamences and Gyradoses, and Calm Minding Walls such as Cresselia. Because of this, I'm gonna keep Clefable active, at least for now.

Once again, thanks for the advice.

 

[Smith]

I would change Togekiss' speed Ev to 176. This gives you the ability to outspeed Adamant Breloom, which you might find surprisingly useful.

I see a Dragon Dance Salamence weakness, if Metagross is dead. A +1 Salamence with a neutral nature and 252 Attack Evs does 82.23% - 96.95% damage to your wall with Outrage, Clefable- so with stealth rock damage, it's a good chance of a 1HKO. This 1HKO is assured if it's adamant or naughty. There are several ways to remedy this, but my suggestion would be to scarf your starmie, so as to have a fail-safe against salamence as well as Pokemon like Gyrados.

That's about it... Great Team. :D

 

[FAHKMAN]

One of the problems with Clefable is that in spite of the fact that it can disable stat-uppers, it is not a very reliable switch-in to them, because one they are already upped Clefable should fall quite easily, especially when you consider how many sweepers carry fighting-type moves. Like the poster above, I'd have to agree that Gliscor simply outshines Clefable in the walling category. plus, a lot of teams carry more than one ghost-type nowadays.

For example, a Gengar that comes in on this thing's Encore or Stoss is going to give you problems, because your switch-in, T-Boah, is going to likely be taking a focus blast in the face, and that's also super-effective against Clefable, who doesn't have as strong a sp.def as, say, Blissey. Just my two cents.

 

[Slyguy46]

Thanks for the input ... so should I up my Toge's speed, or replace it with a Jirachi?

And your thinking that Gliscor might be more effective than Clefable ... that might work out. I'll test with those changes, and see how they work out.

Again, thanks.

 

[Slyguy46]

24 Hour Bump ... hopefully get some input before I start working on a brand new team.

 

[Smith]

Thanks for the input ... so should I up my Toge's speed, or replace it with a Jirachi?

And your thinking that Gliscor might be more effective than Clefable ... that might work out. I'll test with those changes, and see how they work out.

Again, thanks.

Well, Togekiss can 1HK0 Breloom with Air Slash, and that's useful, so whether you want to replace him with Jirachi is a matter of preference. And yes, I'm quite certain that Gliscor would be better than Clefable, although I love the pink little psycho.