Team Don't Have A Good Name

[lucario77]

Hello, and welcome to my second RMT. So far, this team has gotten me alot of wins. But as I battled more and more I started to see some flaws. So smogon has a good idea of solving people's problem, so I'm going to ask them

Team At A Glance

The lead

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

Aside from Azelf, Swampert is one of my favorite leads. He's one of the only bulky pokes that makes sure you get entry hazards up. Stealth Rock is a must for potential sweeping. Earthquake is for STAB. Ice beam gets everything earthquake don't, which gets all flying pokes. I'm using Protect over the options because it lets me scout for choiced attacks and explosions.

The Physical Tank

Celebi @ leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Nature: Bold
-Thunder Wave
-Grass Knot
-Heal Bell
-Recover

Man, what would I do without Celebi! She has save me so many important battles, I love this poke! But anyways, Thunder Wave is to cripple physical attker since no on wants to be paralayzed. Grass Knot is for STAB, and does more damage to gyara, mence, suicune,etc, but not vaporeon. Heal Bell is to get rid of all that status that had spread around. Recover is to make sure Celebi stays alive during my battles.


The Wallbreaker

Salamence @ life orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 16 Atk / 240 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
-Draco Meter
-Fire Blast
-Earthquake
-Dragon Claw

I gotta say, everyone is right about Salamence's wall breaking capabilities. He is one of the most dangerous wall breakers in the OU battling. Draco Meter and Dragon Claw is for STAB which lets me hit both physical and special tanks. Fire Blast lets me hit steel types who otherwise wall this set. Earthquake just completes the coverage package and also lets me hit heatran. I've noticed that the life orb+stealth rock wears him down pretty quickly. I've been meaining to add a spinner but who to replace.


The Revenge Killer/Special Sweeper

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power Fire
-Flash Cannon
-Explosion

All steel types fear this guy, since he has a way of trapping and killing him. This guy provides great synergy with Salamence and swampert. Thunderbolt is for STAB. Hp Fire allows me to kill every steel pokemon in the game, including Scizor who everyone hates to fight. Flash Cannon is for secondary STAB and lets me hit Ice pokes and Tyranitar. Explosion lets me go out with a BOOM, and takes out Blissey and Latias. Magnezone, in my opinion, is a great asset to any team. He takes out that #1 poke every team usually carries, Scizor and makes my day.




The Physical Sweeper

Infernape @ wide lens
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-Stone Edge
-Blaze Kick

If used correctly, Infernape can be one dangerous poke to take out. With Swords Dance in his moveset, Infernape becomes one major problem to any team there is. Close Combat is for STAB, and dents anything that doesn't resist it. Stone Edge lets me hit Salamence, Gyarados, and any other flying poke that may resist his other moves. Blaze Kick is for STAB, and with wide lens, its accuracy goes up to 99%, almost never missing.



The Special Defensive wall, and Wish Support

Vaporeon @ leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 188 HP / 252 Def / 68 Spe
Nature: Bold
-Wish
-Surf
-Protect
-Toxic/Ice Beam

Without Vaporeon, I think this team would fall apart. Vaporeon, provides amazing synergy with this team. Taking ground and fire moves aimed at magnezone, ice attacks at salamence, water attks aimed at infernape. With Celebi, they both provide perfect synergy with each other. Wish is a must for this team, which gets passed on to mence,swampert, magnezone, and infernape since they all lack ways of recovering, and makes sure they keep doing what they are doing. Surf is for STAB, and lets me put all those fire and ground pokes in check. Protect allows Vap to stay healthy and pass wishes successfully. For the last slot, I'm still thinking. Ice beam lets me hit the dragons, but Toxic,Wish, and Protect allows me to Stall special walls such as blissey and suicune.


Well, guess thats all for my team really. I'm open up to any suggestions and problems that you guys may offer. Thanks for rating my Team and have a great day!

 

[Friar]

Hey there,

You have a pretty cool team going so far! I have a few suggestions to make that I think will make your team even better. Let's get into the rate.

First off I think the choice of Infernape is a great one, Infernape not only excels as a late game sweeper, but as a good Pokemon to have around midgame as well! I think a set change would really help you out though. Infernape is hard pressed to find set up time due to its frailty, and you might run into a counter on the very next turn, such as Latias or Starmie. Having Infernape be able to wreak havoc in the midgame as well as late game can help you break down defensive teams together with Salamence as well as sweep when the time is right. This is why I think the Physically based Infernape is a great choice for your team. This guy can actually kill its own counters, such as Starmie and Latias, with U Turn on a switch, or simply fire away with brutal STAB attacks. You retain Stone Edge so you can smack Gyarados, Salamence, and Zapdos around, helping you to start spamming more STAB attacks. Here is the set:

Infernape @ Life Orb
Naive / Blaze
252 Attack / 64 Special Attack / 192 Speed
-Close Combat
-Overheat
-Stone Edge
-U Turn

With max attack, Close Combat hits crazy hard, 2HKO'ing Infernape "counters" such as Vaporeon. Overheat comes in handy against stuff like Rotom (non scarfed) and Gliscor who want to wall your Close Combats. All in all, this set does almost exactly what your set did, but does better in the midgame and does not rely on setting up. Speed Evs put you ahead of +nature base 100s such as Salamence.

With your main sweeper taken care of, we need to think about how to support it! Your way ahead of the game by using perhaps the best Wall breaker in OU: Salamence. However, to truly capitalize on Mence's power, you will need Outrage over Dragon Claw. This extra boost in power gives you just enough oomph to KO some of OU's peskiest walls after a Draco Meteor, and it isnt a move you will be using often (Draco Meteor will be the most often used, then your other two attacks to hit the steels that will switch in), so you can pick your spot to unleash your Outrage (either to KO a wall or perhaps go on a sweep with Salamence) and not have to worry about locking yourself in.

The next thing I see holding your team back is the inability to absorb Dragon type attacks. This hurts you in a few ways. First, Dragon Type attacks define the metagame. This means that most every team you will be will have a Dragon type on it (to give you an idea, there are 5 OU dragons, and many offensive teams run 2 dragons or more!). With Magnezone as your sole Dragon resistance, these Double Dragon (or even just 1 dragon) teams can overwhelm Magnezone and threaten to kill the rest of your team. Secondly, I would like to talk about Latias in particular. Your team will literally be 6-0'd by a CM Refresh Latias, and many other variants as well. Magnezone exploding is your only hope, but that opens you up to even more threats. In addition, Latias is a great counter to Infernape is you dont manage to catch it with a U Turn on the switch in! That is why in the last two slots I recommend adding Steel types. These will give you a level of protection against dragon types that you need so badly.

Over Swampert I recommend a Metagross. This does a few things for you. One, it gives you a steel type, which helps in ways explained above. Secondly, a Lum Berry Metagross allows you do deal with leads such as Roserade and Smeargle. Extra entry hazards such as Spikes and Toxic Spikes limit Infernape's potential and decrease Vaporeon's walling potential. Lum Metagross allows you to deal with these leads and not give away extra entry hazards. Metagross also deals with suicide leads, such as Aerodactyl and Azelf, off the bat. Azelf protection is especially needed, because it could Taunt Swampert's SR, weaken it with Psychic, or just Explode on it, crippling your defensive core. Metagross shuts down Azelf and friends quickly, so you dont lose momentum too early in the match to get it back. Here is the set:

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Adamant / Clear Body
244 HP / 236 Attack / 28 Speed
-Meteor Mash
-Bullet Punch
-Earthquake
-Stealth Rock

The extra Speed Evs help you get ahead of most other lead gross, who could turn into a problem if they have an Occa Berry. A first turn EQ, and then a second turn Stealth Rock will usually get you SR and a weakened opposing Metagross, and you get to see what they switched in, giving you a nice opening game scenario. If you ran a normal amount of speed, an aggressive Occa Metagross could beat you down and then take a Fire attack from Salamence or Infernape and KO them as well.

Finally Celebi - I think a CB Scizor would work nicely here. It gives you a nice revenge killer who can deal with threats such as Salamence and Gengar. It also gives you another steel type. The best thing it can do is Pursuit stuff like Latias and ScarfRotom locked into Shadow Ball to open up for Infernape. It is also a great partner for Infernape in other ways. Scizor has many of the same counters as Infernape, such as Gyarados and Zapdos. By wearing down these Pokemon with SR and U Turn, you can weaken them to the point that Infernape can break through. Also, many of the U Turn takers can be promptly dealt with by a Salamence Draco Meteor. In fact, U Turn is one of the best ways to get Salamence into play! Scizor will act as a bit of a "glue" for your team, checking threats and using U Turn to allow your team to function as it should. Due to you having a bit of trouble switching directly into Special attackers, that can threaten Vaporeon, a Specially Defensive spread would help you out a lot. You will still hit hard, but also have nice bulk to deal with stuff like Latias and Gengar that lack HP Fire, as well as other Special threats. You have Vaporeon to deal with many of the same threats Celebi did (such as Gyarados), so losing Celebi isnt a huge blow. Here is the set:

Scizor @ Choice Band
Adamant / Technician
160 HP / 176 Attack / 168 Sp. Defense / 4 Speed
-U Turn
-Bullet Punch
-Pursuit
-SuperPower

Last thing - with the addition of Scizor over Celebi, you are a little exposed to Crocune, and to an extent other Suicunes, as well as stuff like DD Kingdra if they manage to get in on a Scizor Bullet Punch, though that is the only place on this team Kingdra is coming in. To deal with these issues, I think you should use your same Vaporeon but with a moveset of Wish / Protect / Surf / Roar. Roar allows you to deal with these threats by PHazing away their boosts, and from that point you can be careful to do not give these Pokemon set up time again. Luckily, even if these Pokemon attack Vaporeon on the Roar turn, you can Wish heal yourself later in the match. In addition, most teams do not run Gyarados + Kingdra or anything, so Vaporeon being at low health should not be a huge problem as long as Vappy dealt with what she had to deal with.

Thats all I have, good luck with your team!