Team "umbarsc's Suspect Test Team"

[umbarsc]

I don't play OU that often, mainly because I never really got that good at OU team-building, but I've decided that I'm going to try to ladder to vote on the Suspect Test vote for Latias, so I updated a slightly older team. This team I've been using has worked alright (I think it's won about five or six out of about eight matches, I didn't count), but I've noticed some problems, so I've decided to post an RMT to ask for your advice.

At a glance:

Dugtrio @ Focus Sash
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge / Protect
- Night Slash

Dugtrio is a fun lead that will usually get Stealth Rocks up right off the bat, and also trap and quickly remove Infernape/Tyranitar. Sort of like a Suicide Lead without Taunt, but I do miss Taunt against Bronzong/Hippowdon leads and such. Against most leads I trap, usually I'll just Stealth Rock right away because if Dugtrio ends up at 1 HP and Stealth Rocks aren't up, out comes Scizor and they never will come up. Night Slash is useful for Azelf, as Stone Edge does a max of 47%, allowing Azelf to comfortably Taunt, SR, then Explode, whereas Night Slash does a minimum of 55%, meaning I can possibly "beat" Azelf if I predict right (if it Taunts me, I can Night Slash it twice with my Sash intact, if it goes for Rocks right away, I can also set up Rocks and break Azelf's Sash for a revenge-kill).

Flygon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Outrage
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Standard revenge-killer. Flygon keeps many threats in check like DD Gyarados, Latias, and Scarf Heatran, and still packs a fair amount of power. My one complaint about Flygon over other revenge-killers is that it has U-turn, which is a move I really like (hence it being on half of my team), but is often more of a curse than a blessing, because I can't U-turn to it from Jirachi or Scizor. Despite that, however, it's performed very well as a revenge-killer and a check to most of the top metagame threats (barring priority users, but I've got another Pokemno to handle those).

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang

Mamoswine certainly has a few checks to it (uh let's think, Scizor Heatran), but it also can cause a lot of damage. Earthquake/Ice Fang/Stone Edge gets great coverage and wrecks most walls besides a select few with really high defense, such as Suicune and Skarmory. Eh, I guess this really is just leftover from when Shaymin-S was allowed, and it's a little redundant with Flygon, but it helps against Latias (not that I need much more help with Scizor, Jirachi, and Scarf Flygon). I'm looking for a replacement.

Jirachi @ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 76 HP / 180 Atk / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- U-turn
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch
- Wish / Ice Punch / ThunderPunch

This is my revenge-killer to most priority users, who gives Flygon problems, and my Scizor counter (and Lucario counter to an extent, though Close Combat + ExtremeSpeed could hurt Jirachi if it's weakened a little). I originally had TrickBand Jirachi, but there were a couple of problems with that. Mainly, Jirachi had the same U-turn problem Flygon had, and I rarely used Trick and decided to go for better coverage or Wish support. The EVs allow Jirachi to always KO 252 HP Scizor if it's taken Life Orb damage, and outspeed Jolly Gliscor, with the rest thrown in HP. The last slot is a bit of a toss-up. Wish could be nice for some longevity, but nothing else on the team really needs Wish support, and Jirachi would appreciate another slot for type coverage. Ice Punch could be useful for Salamence/Flygon stuck into Outrage, but those can be dealt with my Scizor and Mamoswine, and Iron Head hurts them a bit in an emergency, so it's not too big of a problem, although Ice Punch also helps against Gliscor and Latias in an emergency, so it's still something to consider. ThunderPunch is the one I'm more leaning to, because I'm pretty Gyara weak and I don't want Jirachi to be set-up bait. Suggestions would be appreciated.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz
- Stone Edge

This is obviously the weakest link with all the Latias floating around. This was something that was on my old team and sort of got carried over, and I haven't found a suitable replacement yet. However, +2 Stone Edge does a minimum of 87% to 4 HP / 0 Def Latias, so Infernape fares well against more offensive Latias (especially if it carries Life Orb rather than Leftovers), but it's the defensive ones that give Infernape trouble (luckily Scizor handles those).

There's still the fact that Scarf Heatran/Rotom-h revenge-kill it, and Scizor's Bullet Punch does a fair amount of damage as well (with Stealth Rocks + Sandstorm + Life Orb + Flare Blitz recoil, and Infernape may be at -1 Def, Bullet Punch is a pain despite the resistance, even worse if it has Quick Attack).

Any suggestions for a possible replacement? I'm thinking that Swords Dance Lucario might be a good replacement.

Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Atk / 180 SpD
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Bullet Punch
- Roost
- U-turn
- Superpower

My main check to Latias, and in general my "go-to" guy. Though often used offensively, Scizor has really cool defensive potential, and is the "glue" that holds my team together. If I'm unsure of what to do, Scizor is what I'll generally bring in. Scizor is great at sponging weaker Surfs from the likes of Vaporeon (who is otherwise a bitch to this team), or coming into Tyranitar if I don't know what it's running, etc. This is basically the trapper set, but I see no need for Pursuit. If I know they'll be switching, I'll generally be U-turning (or usin gsuperpower if I predict Heatran/Magnezone), because I'd rather gain momentum and send in my heavy hitters than kill off one of their Pokemon that Scizor probably walls already and invite in threats. Bullet Punch's priority is also very important to my team's success, because it stops higher speed Pokemon if something happens to Flygon, and it beats most other priority users (Scizor resists many priority attacks so even if they hit Scizor first it's not too much of a problem).

Noticable Problems:

- No Water resist

This means that bulky waters give me a lot of problems, and I'm royally screwed if I see Agility Empoleon or a Rain Dance team. DD Gyarados/Kingdra also give me problems but if I only allow them 1 DD, Flygon can revenge-kill them so they're not as big of a problem.

- Bronzong

Bronzong walls my entire team except Infernape, and I suppose Scizor's U-turn and Jirachi's Fire Punch hurt it a little.

So looking for advice, small suggestions, big changes, anything is appreciated.

 

[Shiny Crobat]

Hmmm, I guess you could switch Flygon into a Waterfall from Gyarados. I guess your own Gyarados could replace it. Maybe a Salamence would work, I like these because they have Intimidate. Your lead is great, it also counters Heatran leads (you'll probably see these a lot, it's a dragon resist).

I will look through everything later again.

 

[sora13]

4 of your pokes are weak to fire, and that's means that scarftran will run all over you. Granted, Scarfgon can take him on, but Heatran can just switch out. The next time he comes in, he can predict the switch to Flygon and HP Ice you to death.

 

[umbarsc]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the large Heatran weakness.

An idea I've had is Latias, which helps against Water-types and Heatran. I'm thinking of a defensive set with the moveset

- Reflect
- Roost
- Dragon Pulse
- HP Fighting / HP Ground

Thoughts?

 

[Venom]

Your Heatran weak can be solved with Choice Scarf Dugtrio, which will defeat Choice Scarfed Heatran, or you can run it standard. The problem lies with Dugtrio being your lead, you can't afford for it to die, even with 1 HP from Focus Sash, you know its doing shit after that, Stealth Rock will kill it on the switch-in. I would suggest changing your lead from Dugtrio to something else, and save Dugtrio for some Heatran destroying. I know how much doing this change will destroy your whole setting up Stealth Rock stradegy, but its the only thing that you can do so you don't have to change the team, plus, U-turn Scizor + Dugtrio = Fun. Jirachi can work ok as a lead, Trick Scarf or not, its able to use Stealth Rocks, and is just a good lead in general. I see Swampert being a problem, your team is pretty much walled by it, dunno how you handle it, even with Infernape, your opponent will realize you aren't a MixApe, therefore making it easier to handle your team. You can always run MixApe, this won't totally '100% counter' Swampert, but it keeps it away for a while.

 

[umbarsc]

So lead Jirachi with Fire Punch/U-turn/Stealth Rocks/Iron Head?

For Jirachi's EVs, I'm thinking of dropping the speed to 180 EVs because Gliscor rarely runs more than 280 Speed and this would allow me to bring the HP up to 148.

A replacement to Mamoswine that I'm thinking of is Celebi. With Scarf Dugtrio, I don't have too many problems with Heatran, so running Celebi to deal with bulky Waters could be a good idea. I'm thinking of the moveset HP Fire/Grass Knot/Recover/Thunder Wave with bulky EVs.

I'm going to replace Infernape with Mixape, I'm thinking with the moveset Overheat/U-turn/Close Combat/Grass Knot.

Thoughts on these changes?

 

[sora13]

You can keep Infernape, but I suggest making Scizor CB. That way both U-turn and Pursuit(on the switch) KO Latias.

 

[Venom]

If you're using that set, then I would probably go Ice Punch > Fire Punch, which will give you a handy way to revenge kill Salamence in case you drop Celebi, if not then Fire Punch seems fine. Celebi seems like a fine replacement, though you will get more Heatran weak, but you rely on Dugtrio, which will ensure Heatran is gone, other than that looks solid now.