SM OU SM OU - Offense (1300+)

[Legendary Latios]

Introduction​

I've been playing PS for about a year or so, but only really getting into it rather late. I have built a lot of teams, probably too many, but never had any that were actually based off a core, I know, what a noob. Anyways, after a bit of research, I decided on a Fighting/ Dark/ Psychic core, as I wanted a more offensive core, and it counters quite a few of the common pokemon in the current meta, and I don't see too many cores based on that, so it does have the element of surprise a bit. This team has flown me up the ladders, from around 1100 to mid-1300s in about a week on 3-4 games a day, because of school.

Teambuilding Process​

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Probably the hardest part was choosing a good dark type for the team. I was initially thinking of Greninja, possible Ash-Greninja, but I didn't think it had enough ability to take hits. I choose D-Dance Mega-Gyarados as it forces a lot of switches, making it easy to get up, and is a good sweeper after that. Also worth noting that this was actually the last mon on the finalized team, and it has fit in perfectly.

Keldeo was really the only viable fighting type for the team, as I wanted a balance of physical and special attackers, and I already had a very powerful physical mon in the first. I also just really like Keldeo, and I preferred the life orb/ CM set to have a little bit more versatility and punish switches more than scarf Keldeo./FONT]

The final part of the core is probably the best psychic type in the tier, Tapu Lele. It has excellent wall breaking capabilities and very few like switching in on a psychic terrain boosted psychic. I went with scarf as I wanted a strong late game cleaner that could outspeed and take out whatever was left, a job that it has done quite admirably.

I wanted landorus to be my wall breaker. Flyium Z takes care of pesky Tapu Bulus, Stone Edge is a nice way to hit flying foes, U-Turn to get some momentum, and most importantly, Earthquake, which takes care of magnezone, who tend to completely counter my core, outright. Also, it is the most used pokemon in OU for good reason.

Latios takes the role of all important hazard control, as this team does not enjoy hazards, between Zapdos and Gyarados. I also ran 3 attacks to counter other dragons, fighting types/ toxapex, and Ice Beam to deal with the ever-present Lando T. I ran Soul Dew to give it that extra power without the recoil of life orb.

My team doesn't like grass or electric types, and hates magnezone. Fortunately, Zapdos hard counters all of them. It also provides some status support with Discharge, and forces a lot of switches that I can either defog on, double switch, or double attack.

The Team​

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake
​

As I mentioned a little earlier, Gyarados was a later pick over Greninja, as it provides some nice phasing and can set up D-Dance. What really makes him helpful is Earthquake, which stops a lot of common switches to Gyarados, such as Rotom-W, Magnezone, and kartana isn't the biggest fan of this guy on the switch. However, without Ice Fang, Tapu Bulu hard counters it. However, as a mid to late game sweeper, this guy is absolutely fantastic.

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind
​

Keldeo is usually my lead mon, as it stops a lot of common leads in their paths, expect toxapex, it can't do crap to toxapex. Calm Mind/ Life Orb punishes switches, though I'm debating on switching to an HP, as of right now, Keldeo shuts down early leads and can function as a nice switching in for ice moves, and then attack back with whatever will do the most damage. It works as a versatile anti-lead and counters to the ever-present Lando.

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast
​

Late game cleaner, usually comes in after Gyrarados, as it takes out just about all of its counters, and Lele can finish just about anything off with either a terrain boosted psychic, or a STAB Moonblast. HP Fire and Focus Blast are for coverage, though they really only come out when I need to revenge kill with it, which isn't nearly as often.

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fly
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
​

Lando T is a great wallbreaker that also functions nicely as an intimidator. Flyium Z takes care of Tapu Bulu, who is a strong counter to the team, and destroys Mega Venusaur, who don't often switch out against Lando, or at least that is what I have noticed. It also counters the ever prevalent problem in magnezone, which I mentioned earlier, is a massive problem for this team, with a powerful earthquake. I went with max HP for longevity, though max Spe might be better for taking down some pokes who outspeed no Spe Lando.

Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor
​

I am a big fan of Latios (what a surprise), and he fits on this team quite naturally. Since I am not running hazards, I have a 3 attack defog, which is able to counter any other Dragon in OU with its great speed and Draco Meteor. Ice Beam to deal with Lando T and switching from risky Tapu Bulu. Psychic is a nice counter to the ever-present toxapex and is a great STAB move if Psychic Terrain is up. Since Latios is a solid check to fairly common mons, it is often able to defog on the switch, fullfiling two important roles on the team.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Roost
​

Zapdos was one of the last pokemon added to the team, replacing my initial thoughts of Magnezone for steel trapping, but Zapdos fit overall a bit better. I prefer running speed over SpD, as the team is designed to be as fast as possible, and I found that I would not outspeed some key matchups, like Attack/ Speed lando, Tapu Bulu, max speed Venusaur (I lost a game because of that), and sweeping Excadrill. Discharge provides speed support with the 30% paralyzes chance, which is very nice to get on Mega Loppuny, kartana, etc. Heat Wave to check magnezone, kartana, and HP Ice for the common Zapdos switch in of Lando. Roost to heal, give a bit of longevity to a necessary counter. I've found that Zapdos is the most important on the team due to its ability to check almost all of my counters.

Conclusion​

I've had a lot of success with this team in the lower tiers, and have been doing well in the mid-1300s, however, it does have difficulty with a few pokemon. Tapu Bulu is a huge threat once Zapdos is eliminated, as it can do a lot of damage to my core, lando, and Latios if it is running choice scarf.
Choice scarf Blacephalon is also a problem, as my only counter for it is Mega Gyarados, and even then it isn't a safe switch until it mega evolves.
Priority users like Belly Drum Azumarill and Ash-Greninja don't like switching in, but I don't have any priority users on my team, and this is not a very defensive team.
However, as I've said, I've had a lot of fun and victories with this team, but I am very interested in any feedback to improve the team.

Importable

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fly
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Latios @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Psychic
- Ice Beam
- Draco Meteor

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Roost

 

[Altervisi]

Hi cool team you have there!

Minor Changes:

First off I would swap your U-Turn on Landorus-T to Stealth Rock as this is necessary on pretty much every team and Landorus has many opportunities to set them up. This team provides a lot of offensive pressure, you force a lot of switches, however for the opponent there is no drawback to just switching between checks as you have no hazards. I would also recommend Swords Dance over Stone Edge or Fly (and switch to Rockium, this still hits the same targets), to allow you to break through traditional checks and still dish out huge damage after popping the Z Crystal. With this set I would then go with 252 Speed EV's, as you are applying offensive pressure with Landorus to get Rocks up, as well as looking to outspeed and put huge holes in/KO threats like Heatran, unboosted Gyarados, max speed Magearna, most Mega-Scizors, non-Scarf Magnezone, Rotom-Wash, Celesteela and Bisharp.

I would give Keldeo Taunt over Icy Wind. This allows you to set up on passive mons like Chansey and Toxapex, which could cripple you with status or could Haze your boosts in the case of the latter. Hydro Pump still hits Landorus and typical Ice targets extremely hard after a boost anyway.

Change Gyarados to Jolly, as this allows you to outspeed a number of notable threats like max speed Heatran, Mega Tyranitar, Hoopa-U and Adamant Landorus, as well as Ash-Greninja, Lopunny and Tapu Koko at +1, which is extremely significant.

Major Changes:

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You don't have a Fairy resist, which is a big problem as it is a very common type and currently half your team is weak to it. Unfortunately, as much as I too love Latios, the best option here would be to swap him for Magearna. Latios actually doesn't benefit from Psychic Terrain due to its ability Levitate and Toxapex is already beaten by Keldeo, Landorus and Tapu Lele. I would add Assault Vest Magearna, as it allows you to tank hits very well, gain momentum with Volt Switch and still deal significant damage.

We can then change Zapdos to physically defensive set with Defog, as this synergises well with Magearna and gives us back the Defog we lost with Latios.

Overall, your team has been made a little more bulky and has been given a decent defensive backbone, we've added rocks and a good, but not perfect, blanket Fairy type check. I hope this helped!

Importable Team with Changes

Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Earthquake

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Taunt

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Focus Blast

Landorus-Therian @ Rockium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance

Magearna @ Assault Vest
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Iron Head
- Hidden Power Fire
- Volt Switch

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Discharge
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Defog

There is a thread in the OU forum called 'OU Cores' which gives examples of good cores and explains them pretty well, cores are usually built off the synergy between two Pokémon, rather than just trying to cover a number of types.

 

[Legendary Latios]

Thank you for your suggestions, most of them make a lot of sense and I will put them in. The main problem is that Defog also removes the rocks on the opponent's side, forcing me to have to reset them repeatably, though it probably won't be too much of a problem as Landorus has a lot of switch-ins and can just reset them. I had seriously been thinking of having a rock setter in Lando, but you do have a good point in punishing all the switches, and as hard as it is to say goodbye to Latios, Magearnea does provide a check to a lot of my difficulty mons, and I still have 2 good anti magnezone's, which is a popular niche pick with all the Celepex floating around. One final note, it wasn't so much trying to fit types into a predetermined role, it was a basic premise of what I wanted, Keldeo and Lele, and that happens to fit nicely into Psychic/ Dark/ Fighting. Once again, thank you for your input, I think that it will make it a more well-rounded team that forces and punishes switches.