Starmie Sweep Setup Team [OU RMT]

[rsniteblaze]

Introduction

All right, this is both my first post on Smogon and my first RMT ever. Anyways, here's my team:

Custom Rules:
-Species Clause
-Sleep Clause
-OHKO Clause
-Evasion Clause

Also, up until now I've been trying to follow the Items Clause, but I now have two equipped Leftovers since I no longer have a Focus Sash lead (Omastar).



The Team

Swampert @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Nature: Relaxed
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Ice Beam
-Roar

This is the standard MixPert Lead. Its main purpose is to set up Stealth Rock. It also serves as a good physical wall and Phazer. Earthquake is there for STAB and Ice Beam is there to take care of any Grass or Dragon types. Roar is there for phazing and to abuse Stealth Rock damage. Also, Swampert covers for Starmie’s Electric weakness.

Heatran @ Wise Glasses
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Substitute
-Fire Blast
-Earth Power
-Toxic

This is the standard Substitute Heatran. Heatran can set up Substitute while the opponent switches out and then proceed to either attack the entering Pokemon or poison it. Fire Blast is there for STAB and Earth Power is there to get rid of Toxic-immune opponents. Also, Heatran covers many of my team’s weaknesses, most notably Bug and Dark.

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Explosion

This is the Explosion version of Life Orb Gengar. It is my primary Special Sweeper. Shadow Ball is there for STAB and Focus Blast is there to deal with Normal and Dark types. Thunderbolt is there for Gyarados and other Water and Flying types. Finally, Explosion is there when Gengar’s HP runs low or if there is no better option. Also, Gengar covers Heatran’s weaknesses to Fighting and Ground attacks, while Heatran covers Gengar’s weaknesses to Psychic and Dark attacks.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Nature: Relaxed
-Yawn
-Mean Look
-Baton Pass
-Wish

This Umbreon acts as a Mixed Wall. Because Umbreon is already slow, I chose not to give it Speed EVs. It also doubles as a MeanTrapper and WishPasser. After a Mean Look, Yawn allows a safe Baton Pass to an appropriate Sweeper. Wish heals Umbreon and can be Baton Passed along with Mean Look. Umbreon can switch in to cover Gengar’s weakness to Psychic and Dark attacks and proceed to set up MeanTrap and maybe a WishPass.

Weavile @ Muscle Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Night Slash
-Ice Shard
-Brick Break
-Pursuit

This is the standard Revenge Killer Weavile with a Muscle Band. It serves as my Physical Attacker. Weavile is able to eliminate Tyranitar, which is a threat to both Gengar and Starmie. It also eliminates other team’s Gengars and Starmies. Also, Ice Shard is there for both a priority move and another Ice attack to kill dragons. Like Umbreon, Weavile can switch in on any Psychic or Dark attacks and counterattack with Night Slash or Brick Break. Pursuit can finish off opponents trying to switch out.

Starmie @ Expert Belt
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
-Surf
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam

This Starmie acts as my late-game Special Sweeper. It has two good STAB moves and the BoltBeam combination. Expert Belt gives Starmie a boost without having to sacrifice HP or being locked into a move. It also covers for Heatran’s weakness to Water type moves and can take on Gyarados and dragons if Gengar and Swampert failed to finish them off.



Strategy

The goal of this team is to clear the way for a late-game Starmie sweep. I chose three Pokemon I wanted to use in the beginning: Starmie, Weavile, and Gengar. Then, paying close attention to type synergy, I chose three Pokemon that would work well with those three Pokemon: Swampert, Heatran, and Umbreon.

First of all, Swampert sets up Stealth Rock. If it is up against a Grass type lead, then I switch-in Heatran. If it is up against a Dragon type lead, then I attack with Ice Beam after setting up Stealth Rock.

From there, Heatran and Gengar can start taking out some of the opponent's Pokemon. If the opportunity arises, Umbreon can switch-in on a Psychic attack and MeanTrap. Weavile can do the same thing and counterattack with Night Slash.

If Gyarados switches in or if I predict a Fighting type attack, then that's when I send in Starmie to absorb the hits. Thunderbolt and Psychic will deal with both Gyarados and any Fighting type Pokemon. Then Starmie just sweeps.


Conclusion

Well, like I said before, this is my very first RMT ever. After reading through other RMTs I'm convinced I'll get great feedback from this community. Thanks in advance!

 

[tab]

Hi. There's no reason to be using Wise Glasses on Heatran here - the power increase isn't really significant, and you really want Leftovers on a SubToxic set. However, seeing as pretty much your entire team struggles against Swampert, I'd suggest giving it Fire Blast/Earth Power/HP Grass and either Explosion or Taunt with a Shuca Berry or Leftovers, which gives you a good Swampert lure, and, especially with Explosion, just as good a lure for bulky waters in general.

Seeing as your team can't do a great deal against stall, I think a Sub/Pain Split/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast Gengar would be preferable to your current set. It's still just as dangerous a sweeper against most teams, if not moreso a lot of the time, but Sub/Split lets you make things extremely difficult for stall teams, as well as giving you an easier way to avoid getting Pursuited by Tyranitar/Scizor.

Speaking of Scizor, a CB Scizor would be much better than Weavile here. Weavile simply isn't very good in OU, and Scizor does its two main jobs - revenge killing with priority and using Pursuit - much better, due to its good defensive typing and stats, as well as its lack of a Stealth Rock weakness. U-turn is also an incredibly useful move on any team, especially when it hits as hard as Scizor's, and will go a long way towards helping you wear down teams for a sweep.

On Starmie you definately want a Life Orb instead of an Expert Belt, as many of the KOs that Starmie needs a power boost to get are on neutral hits. Psychic is pointless on your set, as it doesn't add anything to Starmie's coverage, and is a poor attacking type in general, so you can easily replace it with Recover to help Starmie stick around longer and get several chances to sweep.

Finally, there's no reason to use Umbreon here, to be pretty blunt it's dead weight on your team, simply coming in and giving your opponent free turns, which is something a team as frail as yours can't afford to do. Whatever your choose to replace Umbreon with, it's going to have to be able to deal with Gyarados for you, and there's a few pretty good options to do that here. A Specs Jolteon with Thunderbolt/HP Grass/Shadow Ball/Baton Pass will cover everything except Jolly Gyarados, while fitting in with the currently style of team that you have, as would a Shaymin with Seed Flare/HP Fire/Earth Power/Rest, which is also a notable option as it rounds out your resistences nicely, as well as functioning as a Scizor lure, which is useful when Scizor can check as many of your pokemon as it does now.
If neither of those appeal to you, a Choice Scarf Flygon with Dragon Claw/Earthquake/ThunderPunch/U-turn can check Gyarados as well as a ton of other pokemon for you, although it's going to contribute a lot less offensively than my other two suggestions.

Good luck!

 

[Maugoross]

Yah I'm using Expert Belt on my Heatran with HP Grass and Explosion tricking Specs and Scarf as they switch in Vappy and swampert, than i Explode on the former and HP Grass on the latter.

Maybe use a SubGar to scout for counters without having the risk of losing Gengar to Pursuit.

 

[rsniteblaze]

tab:
Unfortunately, my Heatran's Hidden Power is Steel and I don't think it's likely I'll obtain a HP Grass Heatran. Is there an alternative for HP Grass? If not, should I just replace Heatran all together?

I like the Sub/Split Gengar suggestion. With the absence of an item suggestion I assume its current item Life Orb is ok. You also suggested for Starmie to be equipped with a Life Orb, so would Black Sludge be a good item? I'm trying to stick to Items Clause.

Scizor... I've been wanting to try him out. I just didn't know for sure who to replace, but now I know I guess.

I'll try your suggestion for Starmie. You're right about Psychic being pointless. I've only used it a couple of times when Surf would be equally as good.

I have a Jolteon whose Hidden Power is Ghost... darn. Looks like I get to breed more Eevees heh.

Thanks for the feedback, tab.



Maugoross:
I don't understand the first part of your post... Your Heatran equipped with Expert Belt can Trick its Choice Specs/Scarf?

SubGar? tab suggested SubSplit Gengar in order to prevent being stalled, so I'll be trying that. It has Substitute too, so it can work like SubGar to scout for counters.