Stellar Steel

[Wedge]

Well, after using a mono-steel team for a tournament on another forum, I found that I rather liked to use steel types. They are amazingly easy to switch in , and can pose a serious offensive threat as well. As it goes, I've assembled some of the more prominent steel types in the game and given them a few supporting Pokemon that are there to clean up the leftovers. This team is very new and not thoroughly tested, but it has been used enough for me to get a feel for it and show you the nuances and oddities that occur throughout this congregation of metallic monsters.

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/120 Def/136 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
Technique Analysis:

• Protect: This is one of my Jirachi's most important moves. It allows me to do several things at the same time. First of all, it allows me to gain 6 free percentage points in HP which can sometimes make all the difference with the plethora of un-STAB'd fire attacks out there. Second, it allows me to escape damage for a turn which is always good. Finally, it allows me to scout out an opponent's attack. Since in the beggining of the match, my opponent has no idea what my team is, I can easily switch in a counter to whatever attack they have chosen. In addition to all of this, it grants me free healing via use of my next move.
• Wish: Wish is my favorite restoration technique. It not only allows the user to be healed, but can cure teammates as well. This is invaluable on a team that relies on resistances rather than walls to stop threats. Wish allows another Pokemon on my team a virtually free switch in against something it takes under 50% damage from.
• Stealth Rock: There are virtually no teams that forgoe the use of this wonderous technique. Stealth Rock allows me to rack up enormous amounts of passive damage, especially with all the switches that my team members force.
• Icy Wind: No Pokemon should be without a move that can directly damage another Pokemon. When choosing what attack should go in this slot, I considered many things. First, would this attack be neutralized by many common Pokemon? That alone ruled out Thunderbolt and Psychic. Second, would this attack be able to allow Jirachi to survive against something else? Finally, would this attack benefit the rest of my team and help me achieve my overall goal? Icy Wind does all of these things. The only Pokemon that takes absolutely no damage from it is the elusive Shedinja, which is easily dealt with by many other Pokemon on my team (along with Stealth Rock). Icy Wind slows down any Pokemon that it hits by 1 level, which is a godsend in many situations. If someone tries to set up on me, all I must do is use Icy Wind to nerf its speed (or keep it at bay) so that another Pokemon on my team will be able to defeat it. It also allows me to break sashes on suicide leads (who then die when their Explosion meets my Protect). The last thing a sweeper wants is its speed lowered, and that's exactly what Icy Wind does. It causes many Pokemon that switch into my apparently 'supporting' Jirachi thinking they can set up to immediately switch back out to something that doesn't mind the speed reduction. This allows me to abuse Stealth Rock and helps me look for potential threats to my team.

Team Support: Jirachi supports the team in many different ways. First, it heals other teammates with Wish. It also sets up Stealth Rock which limits the switching ability of the opponent. Finally, it slows down faster threats so that the rest of my team can deal with them.

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP/4 Spd/12 SAtk/240 SDef
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
Technique Analysis:

• Fire Blast: Fire Blast is Heatran's 'best' fire attack as it allows for high and consistent damage. A boosted STAB fire attack is nothing to laugh at, especially coming off of something as frightening as Heatran.
• Earth Power: Earth power rounds out the package nicely by allowing me to hit most Pokemon that resist fire, most notably other Heatran. fire and ground gives very good coverage, being resisted only by a few Pokemon (Gyarados and Moltres perhaps being the most significant).
• Substitute: With all of the Scarf Heatrans running around, and with the abundance of fire weakenesses on my team, Heatran has plenty of opportunities to switch in and set up a Substitute. It eases my prediction, blocks status, and allows me to attack once more than I usually would.
• Will-o-wisp: Physical sweepers can do a good deal of damage to many members of this team. A slow Pokemon 4x weak to ground is too good for Pokemon such as Salamence and Tyranitar to pass up. When they come in and attack my Substitute, they get crippled by a well placed Will-o-wisp. Reduced physical damage benefits many members of this team quite a bit.

Team Support: Heatran is my primary fire resist and is usually the one that I switch into special attacks, thanks to his EV investment. He can come in on any fire, ice, grass, bug, dark, ghost, psychic or steel attack, set up a Substitute, and burn a heavy hitter on the opposing team. While his numerous resistances is what places him solidly on my team, the other perks are icing on the cake, and boy do they make it so much sweeter.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/226 Def/32 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
Technique Analysis:

• Grass Knot: This is a move that no defensive Celebi should be without. It allows the little shrub alien thing to take out most bulky waters, grounds and rocks, therefore removing some sturdier problems for my team. It is arguable Celebi's best choice of STAB in the OU metagame and is my first attack choice whenever necessary.
• Earth Power: This is an interesting and very useful addition to Celebi's arsenal. It allows him to defeat sturdier steels such as Heatran and Metagross while damaging pesky fire and electric types. Ground has very nice coverage and the many key Pokemon it hits are too good to pass up.
• Leech Seed: Leech Seed helps Celebi's overall survivability while also potentially healing other teammates. It also can force switches which allows Stealth Rock damage to rack up and can cause some sweepers to leave, or have their HP drained, especially when combined with the common Life Orb.
• Recover: Defensive Celebi should never be without Recover. Self-healing is one of a defensive Pokemon's most important aspects, and allows Celebi to fight on for far longer than it would otherwise.

Team Support: Celebi is my primary fighting resist. He can come in on virtually anything that Heatran cannot take, including ground, fighting and water attacks. He also gives me a useful resistance to electric. Leech Seed can heal other Pokemon while Celebi removes troublesome Pokemon such as Swampert, Rhyperior, Infernape, and Metagross.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/226 Def/32 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
Technique Analysis:

• Discharge: Discharge is chosen over Thunderbolt for the sole reason that it has a much higher chance of causing Paralysis. With the general sluggishness of my team, I need all the speed bonuses I can get. Discharge works off a nice 80 base power (120 in conjunction with STAB), and is my primary move when utilizing Zapdos.
• Heat Wave: Scizor can be a problem for my team, but is easily destroyed when hit by a scorching Heat Wave. Metagross is also hit quite hard by this attack, along with Mamoswine. The coverage it gives is very useful for Zapdos.
• Hidden Power [Grass]: The attacking combination of electric/fire/grass is not resisted by any Pokemon in OU. Hidden Power Grass earns its slot by being able to take out Swampert, who otherwise walls this Zapdos set.
• Roost: Roost is Zapdos's best option for healing. It allows him to take rock and ice attacks if he moves first, so he can easily pressure stall out a troublesome Pokemon to the point where another of my Pokemon can go in and defeat it.

Team Support: Zapdos is my second fighting resist and primary ground resist. I can easily switch him into a predicted Earthquake, and hit back hard with any of his three attacks. The Paralysis that Discharge offers never hurts either, and can do a lot toward my slower sweepers defeating the faster, frail ones.

Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk/176 Spd/80 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
Technique Analysis:

• Outrage: Outrage is my primary attack for taking out a multitude of faster enemies in a few hits. It gets STAB, boosting it up to a respectable 180 power, and can easily bring down weaker Pokemon.
• Earthquake: Earthquake allows me to revenge kill Scarf Heatran, Salamence without any boosts to speed, Infernape, Metagross, and many other Pokemon. It also gets STAB which boosts it up to 150 base power, a frightening prospect for any opponent.
• Draco Meteor: Draco Meteor allows me to hammer Salamence without resorting to Outrage, and hit any switch in with a good deal of power. This is the one move I'm not entirely sure on, and if I could have suggestions for changing it, that would be greatly appreciated.
• U-Turn: This is a great move for any Choice Scarfer. It allows me to bring in a counter relatively unscathed when the opponent switches so that I can destroy them efficiently and painlessly.

Team Support: Flygon is my other ground resist and resists fire as a nice bonus. He is my main revenge killer, being able to take out Heatran, some Salamence, Infernape, and basically any other weakened Pokemon. He partially solves the speed problem that my team has, and can nab some quick kills when necessary.

Scizor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 236 HP/252 Atk/22 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Technique Analysis:

• Bullet Punch: Bullet Punch is Scizor's best STAB move when paired with Technician. With the base 90 power and nothing immune to it, it is the most deadly priority move in the entire metagame. No Scizor should be without its most important and destructive move.
• Brick Break: Brick Break pairs with Bullet Punch to have the most coverage possible in two moveslots. It also has the added effect of taking down annoying Reflects that might otherwise severely hinder Scizor's sweep.
• Swords Dance: This is my team's one set-up move, and it is being used by the most qualified Pokemon in the line-up. By alternating between this and Roost, Scizor can easily get to +6 attack and sweep an entire team.
• Roost: This is the key to Scizor's success. Many Pokemon who can do anywhere between 30-40% damage to Scizor would normally beat it if it ran a third move and Life Orb, but Roost + Leftovers allows Scizor to set up easily on Blissey lacking Flamethrower or Thunder Wave, Gliscor, and Hippowdon without roar, among other Pokemon like Swampert. It also comes in handy for keeping Scizor safe from other priority moves when his HP drops.

Team Support: Scizor is my endgame sweeper, and almost never comes out until very late in the game. He can easily set up on a weaker wall, and sweep a dented team with his superior typing, attacks, and stats.

Major Threats:

Salamence - Salamence is possibly the biggest threat to my team. If I can get Flygon or Jirachi in safely, he can be OHKO'd or 2HKO'd respectively and that's that. Scizor also doesn't really fear him too much once he has a Swords Dance, but if Salamence, especially the DD version, gets in, I am in very big trouble.

Crocune - I don't have the immediate power necessary to successfully defeat a Crocune before it sets up and destroys me. Flygon can dent it with Draco Meteor + Outrage, but it can't do enough to it. Fortunately, these are very rare, having been replaced by the more offensive, but much easier to kill, LO Suicune.

CM Jirachi - Well, this can give me a little bit of trouble, but Flygon can usually Earthquake it to death, or something like that.

 

[Legacy Raider]

Hey Wedge, really nice team you've got here.

First of, on Jirachi, have you considered the scarf lead?

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Adamant
80 HP, 252 Atk, 176 Spe

- Iron Head
- Ice Punch
- Stealth Rock
- Trick

It is damn annoying for opposing suicide leads such as Azelf and Aerodactyl since they have a 60% chance of not getting their rocks up because of Iron Head. It can effectively deal with Tyranitar with Iron Head, and against slow leads such as Swampert and Bronzong it can gift them with a choice scarf. I think this is one of the most effective leads in todays metagame as it easily deals with most of the top 10 leads. Makes an excellent revenge killer too if you manage to keep the scarf, and without it you still outrun Adamant Lucario.

If you're having really big problems with Salamence, you can always change Flygon's nature to Naive. With 148 Spe EVs you outspeed +1 Adamant Salamence by a point and it allows you to invest a bit more in your HP. Also, the power of your Draco Meteor is unaffected by the change in nature.

A really neat spread for that Scizor that I've used with success is 252HP, 76 Atk, 176 SpD, 4 Spe. With the special defense investment, many things you couldn't take on before become mere set up fodder (Starmie, Vaporeon, Swampert, Gliscor, etc). You always survive Specs Magnezone's Thunderbolt, and at full health you have a 75% chance to survive Scarf Magnezone's HP Fire. You get a lot more SDs out of this bulky spread than you do out of your rather more standard spread (which was designed for Life Orb btw - 236 HP EVs put your HP at a LO number, and 22 Spe isn't to outspeed anything in particular).

Hope this helps.

LR.

 

[Imran]

I worry about the Power of Scizor without Leftovers / Choice Band. I find that Scizor really needs that extra Life Orb damage to really finish things off, especially if you can't pull off that Swords Dance, which is definately a possibility as many teams come prepared these days, you do a lot less to thing like Azelf and Gengar, possibly not netting KOs. If this truly is your "Late Game Sweeper" Play the standard spread that is in the analysis, you have a powerful STAB move in X-Scizzor that will help you get through semi dedicated walls (Swampert, Suicune etc...), Superpower will hit Heatran switchins a lot harder than Brick Break (which is a poor answer to Screens anyway) and BP will do a lot more damage. "Pure Lategame Sweeper" implies you will have got rid of his counters beforehand. If you're not looking for a pure lategame sweeper then go with CB Scizor which still hits hard and has the power to net kills, but can run a Bulkier spread and help scout switches etc... (although I think the first set is preferred as you already have Flygon who does a similar job anyway, either that OR run Bulky Roost Flygon which might work out quite well, allow Flygon to absuse its handy resists even better, just an idea, give it some thought =D)

I also agree with legacy Raiders suggestion, although you may be able to get a free turn out of the exchange with a suicide lead as they will expect the scarf as well, I'm not sure which will work out better for you, so try them both and see what happens. Onto SubTran, I really think that Toxic is preferred simply because it allows you to hit any bulky waters who come in and TTar doesn't like it anyway (seeing as its him you will really be hitting with WOW anyway. You can sub stall stuff like that and it makes for a much more effective pokemon overall. Removing Bulky waters this way will allow flygon to run through teams more easily, especially if you plan on using bulky Flygon that i suggested trying. I do really know about changing Flygons Nature to Naive, you are already beating mence with one DD, and you dont have3 a hope in heel of beating it with 2DDs anyway.

As for the team itself, I can see you also having problems with opposing Zapdos, I guess Flygon can switch in on them and batter them with outrage, but they do wall you pretty well, seeing as Flygons move is pretty unboosted, i'll just calc it now Yeah a bulky Zapdos can Roost Stall Flygon easily and then either whittle you down with HP Grass or simply go for the KO with HP Ice, Stealth Rock helps of course. Try Curse Lax over Celebi, it will make non Roar Zapdos set up fodder and deal with the fact that 3 of your Pokemon fail to Blissey. Again try it out, see what you like and whether you want to change it. I hope some of this helped =D (hopefully more than LR :P)