Song of the Damp Surfers - 6v6 OU

[AuhsojSivart]

Introduction

Team at a glance:

Having played 1v1 for such a long time, I was looking for a change of pace. Lo and behold, my prayers were answered with the release of PokeLab and the amazingly fun new feature, 6v6 battles (also 2v2-5v5, but I haven't messed with them)! The first couple days I tried it, I was just messing around with Explosion-based teams. However, after a lot of refining and blending my own ideas with those of opponents I have faced, I finally decided to create a team that has handled most 6v6 battles pretty well. As always, there is room for improvement, so I hope that some others who have been messing around with 6v6 can give me some advice.

The Team

Poliwrath @ Focus Sash
Ability: Damp
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 6 SpDef
Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk)
- Brick Break
- Bulk Up
- Protect
- Rain Dance

Poliwrath will always Protect on Turn 1. His job is to prevent Explosion with his Damp ability and needs to survive to be able to do so. If he gets KO'd, then his ability can no longer help my team. Looking at the rest of the team, an opponent might expect him to have Water Absorb and might try to explode anyway, which is always a nice waste of a turn for them. Brick Break is unfortunately his most reliable physical Fighting move. Bulk Up is there in case the match looks like it might last a few turns. Rain Dance can power up the rest of the team and will come out later than most Sunny Day, Sandstorm or Hail users, thus overriding them.

Vaporeon @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SpAtk
Modest (+SpAtk, -Atk)
- Hidden Power (Electric)
- Protect
- Substitute
- Surf

Vaporeon is the quintessential Water Absorber and the inspiration for the team. His job is to use a powerful Surf on Turn 1 to damage all of the opponent's Pokemon and heal four of mine. After that, he has a few choices. Protect on Turn 2 is a safe way to keep him alive, but Substitute works if I'm not afraid of him getting hit twice, since his Subs can survive quite a few different attacks, including many users' Earthquakes.

Parasect @ Focus Sash
Ability: Dry Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 6 Spd
Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk)
- Protect
- Seed Bomb
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor

I had a hard time choosing Parasect over Toxicroak for a Dry Skin user. They both have their merits, but I think I made the right choice, primarily for taking out my opponent's Water Absorb and and Swift Swim Pokemon. X-Scissor is for dealing with Ludiculo, and Seed Bomb takes care of the other water types. Depending on my opponent's team, I can Swords Dance or Protect on Turn 1, then start attacking on Turn 2.

Lapras @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpAtk / 6 Spd
Modest (+SpAtk, -Atk)
- Protect
- Perish Song
- Surf
- Thunder

Yet another Water Absorber with Surf, eh? Yeah, that's right. However, you'll notice that Lapras has other options as well. He can use Thunder in the rain for serious damage to my opponent's Water and Flying types. However, the ace in the hole is Perish Song. I know it's a really, really cheap tactic, but if I know I can survive three turns but not finish off my opponent, I will sing the song of death and force a draw game, that is, unless my Electrode is still alive for some reason. Probably the main Pokemon my opponent can use to cause me to Perish Song is Blissey. Only Poliwrath has a way of really dealing with the big Bliss, so a song might be my only choice if Poliwrath is KO'd.

Mantine @ Focus Sash
Ability: Water Absorb / Swift Swim (I really can't decide...)
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpAtk / 6 HP
Mild(+SpAtk, -Def)
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power (Grass)
- Surf
- Substitute

A third Surfer with Water Absorb? Mantine is the only Pokemon on my team immune to Earthquake. This seems crazy, I know, in a 6v6 team, but I haven't lost to an EQ team yet, mostly because common EQ users are KO'd by 2-3 Surfs before they get a chance to do too much damage, and these Surfs are healing my team at the same time. Mantine's EV spread is set up to make his EQ a little more powerful, even though it's not nearly as powerful as most other users of the move. For some reason, Substitute has served me better than Protect on Mantine, as he seems to survive pretty well considering his above average Special Defense stat. Swift Swim will allow him to have over 350 speed, but I have generally run him with Water Absorb to keep him alive longer with all the Surfs going around.

Electrode @ Focus Sash
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SpAtk / 6 HP
Mild(+SpAtk, -Def)
- Rain Dance
- Protect
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt / Thunder

Electrode has been on most 6v6 teams I have faced. I think this is because he's the fastest Explosion user. However, I need him to be the fastest Rain Dancer. Electrode's Rain Dance is usually the first move to come out, besides everyone else's Protect. If I see Kabotops, Ludiculo, Kingdra, etc on my opponent's team, I can forgo Rain Dance and rely on my opponent to set it up for me. In that case, I'll just protect my first turn or use Thunder(bolt) to get some early damage in. Substitute is there in case I survive the first turn and it looks like I'll need to Perish Song with Lapras. Protect - Substitute - Protect can help me to survive three turns occasionally and have Electrode alive at the end of the song, giving me a cheap win.

Conclusion

Yes, that's a Focus Sash on every single Pokemon on the team. In 6v6, I can't think of a better item than that, especially with the amount of healing I can do to my own team. I've actually had an instance of getting a Pokemon back up to full health after getting knocked down to 1 HP, thus reactivating the Sash. 6v6 is still relatively new, so there are a lot of cool strategies that are still developing. Water Absorb and Surf is nothing new in 2v2, but having 4 Pokemon out at the same time who can absorb water attacks is something I thought would be a neat strategy to work with. Adding a Damp Poliwrath was necessary after facing so many Explosions, and Rain Dancing with Electrode powers up my Surfs so much that I can wipe a team in two turns.

 

[Dark Ray]

Hi I just wanted to say you have a huge discharge weakness, (which i'm sure you know) and a couple suggestions. 1 get a Quagsire for your discharge weakness.(you could use either water absorb or damp [if you use damp you can get rid of poliwrath]) 2 just run hp grass on a couple pokes to get rid of water/grounds.(perhaps on electrode instead of sub) 3 focus sash doesn't work the way you think it does.(it dissapears after the first use)
Thats all i wanted to say. (if you have time you could always check out my rmt)

 

[McToodles]

You cannot have all of your Pokemon holding a Focus Sash: If the opponent gets Stealth Rock up (looking at your lead, your foe will probably get them up), they are all made useless. Half of your team being Stealth Rock weak doesn't do anything for you, either.

Full Rate coming when I have an adequate amount of time. Dx

 

[Dark Ray]

To the above poster this is for 6v6 not standard OU.(if you don't know what 6v6 is it's all 6 pokemon out at once so no switching and no entry hazards just spam attacks that hit everyone like surf/eq/explosion/discharge)

 

[Arcticblast]

Hey, I love you. You're using a Mantine.

However, you have no Swift Swim Pokemon on your team. I suggest running a Swift Swim Ludicolo or Kingrda over Lapras. They can both go physical (SD and DD, respectively), both 4x resist Water, and can nail a lot of common Pokemon hard. Give them Leftovers or Life Orbs.

About Mantine... 40 base Attack isn't going anywhere. I suggest you run a bulkier set (see my signature) on it, and drop any and ALL physical moves.

 

[Athenodoros]

Great team idea, and kudos for using Lapras competitively.

I just would have thought that Quagsire would do better than Poliwrath: it still has damp, but would help with discharge. It would also have Earthquake, which might come in handy even if it destroys Electrode. I'm sure there is a better option than Mantine. Maybe Kingdra?

 

[SandslashPWNS]

This team is bad, in the nicest way possible. The point in having Focus Sash it to live at 1 HP and cause damage, and it only works when you have full HP. That being said, Substitute completely destroys your Focus Sash, while Protect is completely ridiculous, as it is a redundant Focus Sash.

My only thing to suggest for you is to make a new team, as not only is this team lacking the fundamentals of any competitive team, but also has a weakness to many common Pokemon in OU, such as Jolteon, Shaymin, and basically anything else under the sun.

Sorry for the harsh rate, but you should probably check out other teams, specifically in the Archives.

P.S. There is no such thing as 6 v 6 battles, where all 6 Pokemon are on the field at the same time.

 

[cosmicexplorer]

@SandslashPWNS: The grass and electric weakness is pretty evident (especially electric), but 6v6 was introduced in Pokelab, if you would read the OP. So Focus Sash works pretty well.

I'd suggest a reasonably fast ground move user, like Flygon, to KO the opponent's electric pokemon before they can spam Thunder.

 

[/B/utterfree]

Replace Lapras or Mantine with Quagsire to have an Electric immunity.

Poliwrath should run Expert Belt over Focus Sash. Focus Sash and Protect are rather redundant.

Vaporeon should run Leftovers over Focus Sash, for the same reason.

For Parasect, replace Protect with Spore. While Parasect is Uber strong, it needs to be able to make use of that Focus Sash. Speaking of which, if you don't want to replace Protect, give Parasect Leftovers / Brightpowder over Focus Sash, as the rain will make sure it heals.

Lapras' set doesn't really synergize well with the others. Have you looked at Dragon Dance Lapras (LapDance)? I'd give it Leftovers, too.

Mantine and Electrode are fine, I guess. I'd give Electrode Damp Rock over Focus Sash as it is, as you said, faster than all others. The rain also lasts longer!

 

[aVocado]

@ above Protect is necessary so Pokemon wouldn't take damage from using Surf and/or Earthquake/Explosion

 

[AuhsojSivart]

P.S. There is no such thing as 6 v 6 battles, where all 6 Pokemon are on the field at the same time.

Er... Yes there is on Pokelab.

Replace Lapras or Mantine with Quagsire to have an Electric immunity. ...I'd give Electrode Damp Rock over Focus Sash as it is, as you said, faster than all others. The rain also lasts longer!

I think Quagsire is definitely going to replace Lapras. However, I won't have anyone who can Perish Song, then.

As for rain lasting longer, that's really not an issue in 6v6 since battles are usually over in a matter of a few turns.

@ above Protect is necessary so Pokemon wouldn't take damage from using Surf and/or Earthquake/Explosion

Right.

I haven't lost to an EQ team yet.

This is no longer true. Someone on Pokelab destroyed me with a simple team of EQ users who were all immune to EQ. I think it was Dragonite, Gliscor, Gyarados, Bronzong, Aerodactyl, and Flygon.

 

[MacG]

well, its better than my perish song team...

 

[sithsniper17]

@AuhsohjSivart that team thenhas a huge Sash Starmie/Sash Lapras weakness unless they have them covered...and yeah @SandslashPWNS Lab has 6v6 now keep up with the times