Team Synergy - Balanced OU

[CaptainKnots]

Team Synergy - A Balanced, Non-Weather OU Team​

Hello all, welcome to my second RMT here on Smogon. My first attempt at a Gyaravire team went drastically wrong (damn you team preview!), so now I'm back with a team I've come to love and has done decently well for me on PO. So, here's the process I went through with this team:

Scizor was my first choice, mainly because not many people predict a very bulky Scizor anymore, so he usually can get free swords dances, then proceed to break through the physical wall they sent out. So, I started with Scizor:

After that, I needed an offensive partner to go along with Scizor. Bulky waters were a very common check to Scizor, and I wanted a pokemon I could switch into fire attacks and setup with on a switch. So, Gyarados was added to the team:

Now that I had my physical core down, I needed a pokemon that could switch into the electric-type attacks that will always be aimed at Gyarados. Since Electivire never worked for me and I already had 2 physical sweepers, I wanted a powerful special sweeper to complement him. So, Jolteon was added into the team as a speedy, hard hitting sweeper:

Now that I had a solid sweeping core, I needed a pokemon that could take electric attacks if Jolteon was out of commision, while taking the ground type attacks aimed at Jolteon if Gyarados was out of commision. So, Gliscor was added as a perfect fit:

After I put Gliscor in, my team was looking relatively solid. I needed a Specially Defensive pokemon to complete my core with Gliscor, so I looked around until I found Virizion. Virizion covers Gliscor's water weakness nicely, and with Scizor covering the Ice weakness, I figured Virizion was a good fit:

Finally, my team was rather weak to Drizzle + Swift Swim (not banned on PO's server...), so I wanted a pokemon that could mainly counter Kingdra while still providing a strong benefit to the rest of the team. Empoleon draws in Electric and Ground attacks, which I have resistances to with most of my pokemon, so he rounded out the team nicely:

Onto my pokemon's movesets:

Gliscor, the Physical Wall:

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP, 184 Def, 72 Spe
Nature: Impish
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Fang

My standard Gliscor set for a while, and my usual lead against a favorable matchup, Gliscor is the perfect defensive wall. Taunt is to stop slower pokemon such as Skarmory from setting up, and SR makes sweeping easier for the rest of the team. Earthquake is an obvious STAB move and lets me counter Excadrill extremely easily, and Ice Fang is there to stop dragons from being able to set up against him.

Possible Changes: Take out Ice Fang for Stealth Rock for entry hazards, something the team currently lacks.

Virizion, the Special Wall:

Virizion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP, 152 SpD, 100 SpA
Nature: Calm
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Toxic
- Calm Mind

Virizion is usual considered a Sweeper pokemon, so a defensive set surprises a lot of opponents. However, many people often forget that Virizion has a rediculous 130 base SpD, one of the highest scores in pokemon. A boosted Giga Drain is all Virizion needs in terms of healing, and also does a hefty amount of damage. Focus Blast is for STAB and actually provides decent coverage with Giga Drain, and Toxic is there to attempt to stall out opposing walls.

Possible Changes: Replace Toxic with another coverage move

Empoleon, the Rain Counter:

Empoleon @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP, 252 SpA, 4 Spe
Nature: Modest
- Substitute
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Grass Knot

Empoleon is the ultimate Dragon counter, specifically against dragons who lack Earthquake. Bring Empoleon in on a resisted attack, and Sub on the switch. Sub + Leftovers makes Empoleon extremely hard to get rid of. Hydro Pump does massive damage already, and punishes rain teams with tremendous power. Ice Beam is for Mence, Dnite, etc., and Grass Knot is for those bulky waters that think they can stall me out.
Possible Changes: Maybe item, but otherwise I think he does his job exceptionally well.

Gyarados, the Physical Sweeper:

Gyarados @ Life Orb
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Nature: Jolly
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang
- Earthquake

Moxie Gyarados is a thing of pure beauty. One of the most capable pokemon out right now of 6-0 sweeps, I'm very surprised this thing doesn't see much more play. I tailored mine to be as offensive as possible to take advantage of free switches on fire and ground attacks as much as possible. Dragon Dance is obvious, giving Gyarados the best chance at a sweep. Waterfall is for STAB and is great in rain. Ice Fang and Earthquake fill out the rest of the slots, giving Gyarados excellent coverage.

Possible Changes: Taunt over Earthquake would allow me to set up on pokemon such as Gliscor, Hippowdon, and other Physical Walls.

Jolteon, the Electric Absorber/Revenge Killer

Jolteon @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA, 252 Spe, 4 HP
Nature: Timid
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Shadow Ball
- Volt Switch

Don't let the adorable picture fool you: this beast is capable of packing a wallop. With Choice Specs and the given EVs, Jolteon reaches 394 Speed and 479 SpA, capable of leaving large dents in anything that doesn't resist it, while outspeed basically the entire metagame without the need for a scarf. Thunderbolt is for a strong STAB move, HP Ice gives us the famous BoltBeam coverage, Shadow Ball is basically Jolteon's only other decent attack option, and Volt Switch is for scouting.

Possible Changes: Signal Beam could fit in there somewhere, but I don't know what to change for it. That's it, really.

Scizor, the Late-Game, Bulky Sweeper:

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP, 40 Atk, 216 SpD
Nature: Adamant
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bug Bite
- Bullet Punch

The star of the team, this Scizor set is capable of 6-0 sweeps easily if the opponent expects a Choice Band. Beating every physical wall out there lacking a fire move, this Scizor sets up on the likes of Ferrothorn, Gastrodon, Forretress, and many others. Swords Dance is an obvious choice to take advantage of our bulk, and Roost lets us beat out pokemon that would normally wall us. Bug Bite with a technician boost and STAB is a fearsome attack, and Bullet Punch is very effective as a priority STAB, OHKOing a large list of pokemon after a few Swords Dances.

Possible Changes: A coverage move over Roost would be interesting, but it adds a large list of pokemon who are now able to wall me completely.

So, there's the team. I hope you enjoyed reading this RMT, and please leave any criticism you think makes the team better. Thank You.

Changes will be in bold

 

[Porii Sames]

CM Virizion is dead weight imo. Swords Dance is much better, and between Scizor, Virizion, and Gyarados you have plenty of set up to plow through most stuff.

 

[CaptainKnots]

But with a physical set, Virizion doesn't have any way to recover hp besides leftovers, which I would be kinda worried about.

 

[-Tsunami-]

Hey there.

On Jolteon, run Timid over Modest, as otherwise you'll get outsped by pokemon such as Starmie. Speed is Jolteon's main asset, so it's highly important that it be Timid and maxed out at all times.

Petaya berry isn't released yet, so your Empoleon set isn't really usable. Your team seems like it would benefit from rain, so replace Empoleon with a Choice Specs Politoed. Scizor already fills the dragon resist Empoleon had regardless.

Politoed @ Choice Specs
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Speed
Nature: Modest
- Hidden Power Grass
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast

Specs Toed in rain is just a monster. It does so much damage it's insane. Hydro Pump is the move you'll be using the most, 120 base power STAB in the rain is nothing to laugh at, especially with Choice Specs. Hidden Power Grass destroys Gastrodon, while Ice Beam hits dragons. Focus Blast is very useful as it lets you ohko standard Tyranitar, and also lets you do a lot of damage to Ferrothorn.

On Gyarados, replace Stone Edge with Ice Fang. Ice Fang hits mostly everything harder, and most of the time, when it doesn't, Waterfall in rain is stronger anyway. Ice Fang lets you do mass damage to Celebi and Latias, and does more damage to the likes of Dragonite and Salamence.

Replace Protect on Gliscor with Swords Dance, as it can let you destroy stall, while also being able to sweep other teams late game.

On Virizion, just run the standard Calm Mind set. Your team is already hyper offensive, so running a standard sweeping Virizion would work out for the best.

Virizion @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Speed
Nature: Timid
- Giga Drain
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Ice
- Calm Mind

This thing can sweep very easily if the conditions are right, and it still makes an exceptional switch-in to pokemon such as Rotom-W. Getting STAB on both Giga Drain and Focus Blast is nice, and Hidden Power Ice absolutely murders dragons.

 

[CaptainKnots]

I'm kind of looking to avoid weather in general, although using Politoed to cancel out sun/sand seems like a solid option for him. I'll test that out, thanks.

As for Ice Fang > Stone Edge, I like that change. I agree that Ice Fang covers more than Stone Edge does while covering a lot of the same threats as well.

SD on Gliscor seems viable enough, and Protect was a move I was looking to get rid of. Do you think Stealth Rock would benefit this team more though?

I've tried sweeping Virizion before, and it just never seemed to perform well enough. Maybe switch out Virizion all together?

 

[Jmaculas]

I think you should switch out Virizion. When it comes to defending Gliscors weakness there is none better than tentacruel. It also resists ice while gliscor resists tentacruels ground weakness. Tentacruel is also a nice special wall like you asked for.

But now you have 3 ground weaknesses so replacing empolean is probably need for good synergy.

I am pretty sure swift swim Kingdra is banned on PO servers.

To replace Empolean maybe try HP ice Bronzong or scarf latios which is a good counter other dragons since it outspeeds (if swift swim Kindgra isn't banned) and can trick walls.

 

[CaptainKnots]

If it is banned on PO's server, a lot of people don't pay attention to it (you also get the occasional speed boost Blaziken). Empoleon is a perfect counter because of his resistance to all of Kingdra's attacks, while Bronzong still takes neutral damage from Hydro Pump. I do like the idea of Scarf Latios though, I'll give that a try.

 

[Iconic]

Unfortunately Stealth Rock is illegal on Poison Heal Gliscor since Stealth Rock was a Gen 4 TM. Rotom-W is a pain in the ass for your team, so I'd run Toxic and Protect over Swords Dance and Taunt. If your opponent is packing Rotom-W, then they'll almost always be eager to switch it into Gliscor, which will give you the chance to cripple it with Toxic.

You could go with Politoed as suggested above, but replacing Empoleon means you're wide open to a whole slew of threats, namely Latios and Starmie. I think a better option would be to replace Empoleon with Ferrothorn, since it counters opposing rain extremely well, and gives you similar resistances to Empoleon. Also it can run Stealth Rock, which your team apparently lacks since the move is illegal on Gliscor. If you do that, Virizion becomes very expendable, so only then would I use Politoed in its place. Your team benefits quite a lot from Drizzle because it powers up Gyarados immensely and makes Scizor harder to kill. I really think you should use Scarf Politoed because your team is relatively slow for an offensive Drizzle team, and having another decent check for Thundurus couldn't hurt.

If you use Politoed, you can just replace Thunderbolt with Thunder on Jolteon, since if you need a reliable attack and rain isn't up, you can just Volt Switch. You also might want to consider giving Scizor a Choice Band to abuse U-turn. Since, as mentioned, your team is kinda slow, any chance you have to preserve momentum will help you immensely, especially against stall. For example, SD Scizor just invites Skarmory to come in, whereas if you use CB Scizor, you can U-turn to something like Gyarados (Skarmory can't keep up with boosted Waterfalls) and keep the pressure on your opponent.

 

[SuperKnuckles]

Nice Team, I would like to use a Choice Band Scizor and Rotom-w instead of Empoleon. I don't get why empoleon but I think Rotom-w will work there. A good set of Rotom-w is...

Rotom-W @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 156 HP / 184 SAtk / 168 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split

Hope It helps you