Hey guys I actually made a half-decent team this time so I decided that I would share it and possibly find some possible improvements. Would love feedback, and thank you in advance for your time!
So to start off my friend and I decided that we wanted to take a low-tier Pokemon and try to make an OU team with it, a team-building challenge of sorts. Sceptile doesn't get enough love in OU, so I decided to start with physical Unburden Sceptile as it's a set that I don't see that often and it's really fun. I went with Electric Terrain as the terrain of choice for the Seed because Koko is extremely fast and gets both Dual Screens and Taunt, which is incredibly helpful. With these two Pokemon cemented as my main foundation, I decided that a hyper offense team would be best to suit this core.
Sceptile often has trouble sweeping past Pokemon like Toxapex and Celesteela, so I decided to go with Substitute M-Gyarados and Calm Mind Blacephalon as my other two sweepers. Gyarados with Substitute can absolutely destroy Stall teams, especially with Mold Breaker, which is my answer to Unaware mons that really annoy offensive teams. Blacephalon is another mon that isn't seen too often and has a really cool design. A lot of people expect me to be running Choice Blacephalon so when I bust out a Substitute and start setting up, it takes them by surprise. Landorus-T was put next because I needed Stealth Rocks and also because it's OU and so you are basically required by law to use him. Healing Wish Latias was the final pick, because it really helps extend my resources and it's definitely helped me win a lot of those really close games. Latias also has great typing that resists electric, water, and fire, which most of my team is weak to, along with being another one of those all-important ground immunities. This team can absolutely wreck, and can often win games very early on. It plays really aggressively and depends on a lot of aggressive double switches to set up a situation where the opponent is forced to give me a free Substitute, and then I click Substitute/Dragon Dance/Swords Dance/Calm Mind and go from there.
Sceptile @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 140 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Drain Punch
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
The star of the show, often winning games for me when I definitely should have lost. 116 Speed EVs is to outspeed Hawluchas that run one more speed point than the standard Smogon set, so after Unburden gets activated from terrain I can outspeed them. The rest of the EVs are dumped into HP which allow me to always live Hawlucha's Acrobatics with Reflect up and my defense boost, sometimes even letting me live after +2. As you can see the EV spread is really focused on Hawlucha, but that's because that's the only real offensive check fast enough to beat Sceptile. If I somehow get rid of my opponent's defensive answer(s) or even slightly weaken them, Sceptile can clean house because it actually hits surprisingly hard after a Swords Dance. Drain Punch and Acrobatics give me the coverage to hit the Steel and Grass mons that try to wall me. Even though Sceptile is often thought of as more of a special attacker than physical, this set is very deadly and Sceptile surprisingly has very little counterplay if Dual Screens are up and it's mid-late game.
Tapu Koko @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
- U-turn
Dual Screens provide the extra time I need to set up and sweep. Even though my team is not the best defensively, I can still manage to switch-in to take a hit a couple times under them, when the need arises. Taunt absolutely screws over opposing support mons that thought they could check an offensive Koko, and then I'm free to set up screens and U-turn out of there to start pressuring my opponent. Max Speed EVs and lots of bulk are the obvious spread for this set.
Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Defog
Latias is a really reliable defogger that provides essential Healing Wish support that can steal games that weren't in my favor. Draco Meteor and Psychic are STAB moves and they're reliable enough. However, I never really click them so I may consider other options. Magearna is like in every other team and it's such an easy switch-in to Latias and then it can pressure me with Fleur Cannon and Volt Switch, which is incredibly annoying.
Landorus-Therian @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
I felt that suicude lead Landorus was the best option for this team, as all I really need him to do is to set up rocks and take something with him. Explosion + Focus Sash can also let me get rid of offensive threats like Greninja or Kyurem-B sometimes, which is really useful. I didn't know what to put for the last slot so I put Swords Dance. Maybe something like Rock Tomb or Knock would be better, let me know your thoughts.
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
This guy is so freaking broken and there are certain teams that just simply can't handle him. Mold Breaker is probably one of the best abilities every made, and allows me to break past Rotom-W and certain sets of Clefable, which are super annoying for Blacephalon and Sceptile, respectively. Substitute allows me to auto-win against Stall teams which is always satisfying. Gyarados just hits incredibly hard and is an excellent sweeper in the current meta.
Blacephalon @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 232 HP / 4 Def / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
Super fun to use. Absolutely dismantles Trick Room and can really spiral out of control very easily. Apart from having a wicked design he also has great stats to be a special sweeper, and with Beast Boost and his EV spread he can impossible to revenge kill if I have Substitute up, as only scarf Koko and scarf Greninja outspeed him after +1 Speed, and he resists Bullet Punch from Mega Scizor. A lot of people forfeit after he gets a kill or two, because this mon is incredibly difficult to revenge kill if played correctly. Usually I'll send him out against a Pokemon that he threatens (such as Magearna, Tangrowth, Celesteela, etc) and they'll send out a sack only for me to predict, set up Substitute, kill him, and sweep or at least get some fat damage on the opponent cause Blacephalon hits pretty hard even unboosted and with this EV spread.
Threats:
Zapdos: completely stops both Sceptile and Gyarados. When I see this on team preview I know that I NEED to keep Stealth Rocks up, so I can't sack Landorus just yet because if my opponent Defogs then it's gg. This leads to me having to take more damage on switch-ins, weakening my chances of sweeping. Usually I have to sack at least one mon in the process of getting rid of him, and sometimes the opponents play too smartly with Zapdos for me do anything, so he can be frustrating.
Ash-Greninja: Water Shurinken checks Blacephalon even with Substitute up unless I'm at high health and have like 3 Calm Minds up, which is unlikely. Usually have to Explosion with Landorus or slowly wear it down with rocks by pivoting into Latias every time he comes out, forcing him to switch. However, he can always predict and go for Dark Pulse which is risky. I definitely feel pressured to play more aggressively when I see Greninja on Team Preview.
Physically Defensive Clefable: While the special variants are torn apart by Mega Gyarados, the physical variants with Unaware are a huge pain. It just walls Sceptile into oblivion and I have to make smart plays with Blacephalon to damage it. If my opponent predicts well however, and Blacephalon gets hit with Toxic or Twave, I have to use Healing Wish on him which costs me resources. Definitely an annoying mon that's hard to kill.
Rain Hyper Offense: Blacephalon is pretty much useless in this matchup, and if the opponent plays more aggressively than I do, which is easy for rain teams, I usually lose hard. Azumarill can be a nightmare because I usually have to sack Koko to get up Terrain to check it with Sceptile, which hurts because Sceptile can only set up once and if I send him out prematurely, it's a waste of two Pokemon. An early-mid Azumarill Belly Drum set up costs me at least two Pokemon, which means my opponent has one more Pokemon than me to sack when needed, a huge disadvantage when offense teams play each other.
Conclusion:
Overall, this team is REALLY fun to play and it's so satisfying when you win. Sceptile is an absolute monster that wrecks unprepared teams, if Gyarados and Blacephalon don't already win before that. Aggression is the name of the game here, and a correctly called double switch is often all you need to win. Stall stands absolutely no chance against a team with two Substitute set up sweepers, and balance has a hard time keeping up with the pressure. However, certain defensive Pokemon are a really big headache, and this team can really suck on days when I'm playing poorly. Hyper Offense is a high risk/high reward playstyle that rewards skill, but on the flip side punishes bad play with crushing defeats. However, the synergy between the sweepers in taking out each other's counters make this an excellent team if you know what you're doing (and if you don't get tilted 24/7 like me). Please let me know your thoughts and if you have any constructive criticism, thank you for reading!
So to start off my friend and I decided that we wanted to take a low-tier Pokemon and try to make an OU team with it, a team-building challenge of sorts. Sceptile doesn't get enough love in OU, so I decided to start with physical Unburden Sceptile as it's a set that I don't see that often and it's really fun. I went with Electric Terrain as the terrain of choice for the Seed because Koko is extremely fast and gets both Dual Screens and Taunt, which is incredibly helpful. With these two Pokemon cemented as my main foundation, I decided that a hyper offense team would be best to suit this core.
Sceptile often has trouble sweeping past Pokemon like Toxapex and Celesteela, so I decided to go with Substitute M-Gyarados and Calm Mind Blacephalon as my other two sweepers. Gyarados with Substitute can absolutely destroy Stall teams, especially with Mold Breaker, which is my answer to Unaware mons that really annoy offensive teams. Blacephalon is another mon that isn't seen too often and has a really cool design. A lot of people expect me to be running Choice Blacephalon so when I bust out a Substitute and start setting up, it takes them by surprise. Landorus-T was put next because I needed Stealth Rocks and also because it's OU and so you are basically required by law to use him. Healing Wish Latias was the final pick, because it really helps extend my resources and it's definitely helped me win a lot of those really close games. Latias also has great typing that resists electric, water, and fire, which most of my team is weak to, along with being another one of those all-important ground immunities. This team can absolutely wreck, and can often win games very early on. It plays really aggressively and depends on a lot of aggressive double switches to set up a situation where the opponent is forced to give me a free Substitute, and then I click Substitute/Dragon Dance/Swords Dance/Calm Mind and go from there.
Sceptile @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 140 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Drain Punch
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
The star of the show, often winning games for me when I definitely should have lost. 116 Speed EVs is to outspeed Hawluchas that run one more speed point than the standard Smogon set, so after Unburden gets activated from terrain I can outspeed them. The rest of the EVs are dumped into HP which allow me to always live Hawlucha's Acrobatics with Reflect up and my defense boost, sometimes even letting me live after +2. As you can see the EV spread is really focused on Hawlucha, but that's because that's the only real offensive check fast enough to beat Sceptile. If I somehow get rid of my opponent's defensive answer(s) or even slightly weaken them, Sceptile can clean house because it actually hits surprisingly hard after a Swords Dance. Drain Punch and Acrobatics give me the coverage to hit the Steel and Grass mons that try to wall me. Even though Sceptile is often thought of as more of a special attacker than physical, this set is very deadly and Sceptile surprisingly has very little counterplay if Dual Screens are up and it's mid-late game.
Tapu Koko @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
- U-turn
Dual Screens provide the extra time I need to set up and sweep. Even though my team is not the best defensively, I can still manage to switch-in to take a hit a couple times under them, when the need arises. Taunt absolutely screws over opposing support mons that thought they could check an offensive Koko, and then I'm free to set up screens and U-turn out of there to start pressuring my opponent. Max Speed EVs and lots of bulk are the obvious spread for this set.
Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Defog
Latias is a really reliable defogger that provides essential Healing Wish support that can steal games that weren't in my favor. Draco Meteor and Psychic are STAB moves and they're reliable enough. However, I never really click them so I may consider other options. Magearna is like in every other team and it's such an easy switch-in to Latias and then it can pressure me with Fleur Cannon and Volt Switch, which is incredibly annoying.
Landorus-Therian @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
I felt that suicude lead Landorus was the best option for this team, as all I really need him to do is to set up rocks and take something with him. Explosion + Focus Sash can also let me get rid of offensive threats like Greninja or Kyurem-B sometimes, which is really useful. I didn't know what to put for the last slot so I put Swords Dance. Maybe something like Rock Tomb or Knock would be better, let me know your thoughts.
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
This guy is so freaking broken and there are certain teams that just simply can't handle him. Mold Breaker is probably one of the best abilities every made, and allows me to break past Rotom-W and certain sets of Clefable, which are super annoying for Blacephalon and Sceptile, respectively. Substitute allows me to auto-win against Stall teams which is always satisfying. Gyarados just hits incredibly hard and is an excellent sweeper in the current meta.
Blacephalon @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 232 HP / 4 Def / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
Super fun to use. Absolutely dismantles Trick Room and can really spiral out of control very easily. Apart from having a wicked design he also has great stats to be a special sweeper, and with Beast Boost and his EV spread he can impossible to revenge kill if I have Substitute up, as only scarf Koko and scarf Greninja outspeed him after +1 Speed, and he resists Bullet Punch from Mega Scizor. A lot of people forfeit after he gets a kill or two, because this mon is incredibly difficult to revenge kill if played correctly. Usually I'll send him out against a Pokemon that he threatens (such as Magearna, Tangrowth, Celesteela, etc) and they'll send out a sack only for me to predict, set up Substitute, kill him, and sweep or at least get some fat damage on the opponent cause Blacephalon hits pretty hard even unboosted and with this EV spread.
Threats:
Zapdos: completely stops both Sceptile and Gyarados. When I see this on team preview I know that I NEED to keep Stealth Rocks up, so I can't sack Landorus just yet because if my opponent Defogs then it's gg. This leads to me having to take more damage on switch-ins, weakening my chances of sweeping. Usually I have to sack at least one mon in the process of getting rid of him, and sometimes the opponents play too smartly with Zapdos for me do anything, so he can be frustrating.
Ash-Greninja: Water Shurinken checks Blacephalon even with Substitute up unless I'm at high health and have like 3 Calm Minds up, which is unlikely. Usually have to Explosion with Landorus or slowly wear it down with rocks by pivoting into Latias every time he comes out, forcing him to switch. However, he can always predict and go for Dark Pulse which is risky. I definitely feel pressured to play more aggressively when I see Greninja on Team Preview.
Physically Defensive Clefable: While the special variants are torn apart by Mega Gyarados, the physical variants with Unaware are a huge pain. It just walls Sceptile into oblivion and I have to make smart plays with Blacephalon to damage it. If my opponent predicts well however, and Blacephalon gets hit with Toxic or Twave, I have to use Healing Wish on him which costs me resources. Definitely an annoying mon that's hard to kill.
Rain Hyper Offense: Blacephalon is pretty much useless in this matchup, and if the opponent plays more aggressively than I do, which is easy for rain teams, I usually lose hard. Azumarill can be a nightmare because I usually have to sack Koko to get up Terrain to check it with Sceptile, which hurts because Sceptile can only set up once and if I send him out prematurely, it's a waste of two Pokemon. An early-mid Azumarill Belly Drum set up costs me at least two Pokemon, which means my opponent has one more Pokemon than me to sack when needed, a huge disadvantage when offense teams play each other.
Conclusion:
Overall, this team is REALLY fun to play and it's so satisfying when you win. Sceptile is an absolute monster that wrecks unprepared teams, if Gyarados and Blacephalon don't already win before that. Aggression is the name of the game here, and a correctly called double switch is often all you need to win. Stall stands absolutely no chance against a team with two Substitute set up sweepers, and balance has a hard time keeping up with the pressure. However, certain defensive Pokemon are a really big headache, and this team can really suck on days when I'm playing poorly. Hyper Offense is a high risk/high reward playstyle that rewards skill, but on the flip side punishes bad play with crushing defeats. However, the synergy between the sweepers in taking out each other's counters make this an excellent team if you know what you're doing (and if you don't get tilted 24/7 like me). Please let me know your thoughts and if you have any constructive criticism, thank you for reading!
Sceptile @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 140 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Drain Punch
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
Tapu Koko @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
- U-turn
Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Defog
Landorus-Therian @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Blacephalon @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 232 HP / 4 Def / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 140 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Drain Punch
- Acrobatics
- Swords Dance
Tapu Koko @ Light Clay
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Taunt
- U-turn
Latias @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Healing Wish
- Defog
Landorus-Therian @ Focus Sash
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
Gyarados-Mega @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
Blacephalon @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 232 HP / 4 Def / 20 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind
- Substitute