Team X

[XTar]

I've taught myself basic competitive battling for about a year now and this is another one of my attempts at a normal pokemon team, no theme or anything.

The team is doing decently, I used to be trapped at mid 1500s on PS, but with this team I can get around 1700. I always choke when I'm about to get there however, lol.

Anyway team building process; I needed a strong defensive lead that could set up stealth rocks, I chose Metagross for his high defense stat and steel typing.

For my second poke, I wanted another defensive poke that could cover threats metagross couldn't, mainly bulky grounds and heatran; I picked jellicent.

Now to start picking some offensive pokemon. I picked CB Tar for pursuit and raw power.

So I had the physical, and now I wanted the special. I went with CS Latios as he compliments and works with Tyranitar very well.

Now, for the last pure offensive pokemon, I needed something that would cover Scizor, Ferrothorn, and other bulky waters. I went with Zapdos, he ended up working really well with the team. Has moderate surprise factor too.

I really love having rapid spin support, so I debated whether to choose Donphan or Starmie. I picked Donphan for more bulk and less redundant coverage than Starmie (teamwise).

After a while, I felt like Metagross wasn't really pulling his weight. Stealth rock was redundant, and ground types destroyed him. I still needed the steel typing, high defense, and entry hazard support, so I replaced him with Skarmory.

I later felt as though Jellicent was a little too passive and fragile. I realized I ended up using him as death fodder for most of my matches so I decided to replace him with someone who can still spread status, take hits, and counter rain team. The last change I made was replacing Jellicent with Rotom-W.

So there's the first copy of the team. Onto the sets!

Skarmory@Leftovers

Sturdy
Impish 224Hp/248Def/32SpD/4Spe
Brave Bird
Spikes
Whirlwind
Roost
Skarmory's pretty cool. He sets up spikes, can switch in and phaze to relive pressure from opponent. Brave Bird does surprising amounts of damage. Not much else to say, he's a great wall and supporter.

Rotom-W@Leftovers

Levitate
Modest 232Hp/54SpA/224Spe
Will-O-Wisp
Hydro Pump
Volt Switch
Hidden Power Ice
Rotom-W's good at annoying. He can switch in heatran and other bulky attackers and either cripple or KO them. Volt Switch is good for keeping momentum. His coverage may be a bit redundant with the rest of the team, but electric and ice moves tend to be helpful in bulk.

Tyranitar@Choice Band

Sandstream
Adamant 154Hp/240Atk/104Spe
Crunch
Pursuit
Stone Edge
Superpower
Tyranitar's good at wall-breaking. Pursuit's awesome for trapping psychics and ghosts. Not much to say. Usually nets at least 1 kill per game, and next to nothing can switch into it. Speed evs are to outspeed skarmory and other CB/Stealth rock Tyranitars.

Latios@Choice Scarf

Levitate
Timid 4Hp/252SpA/252Spe
Draco Meteor
Thunderbolt
Psyshock
Surf
Latios is great for dealing with pokemon Tyranitar has trouble with. Psyshock KOs the multiple fighting types that would give this team trouble otherwise. Draco Meteor's the go to move, being stronger than super effective surf or thunderbolt. With CS, Latios can OHKO and check every dragon dance user in OU even with +1.

Zapdos@Expert Belt

Pressure
Modest 4Hp/252SpA/252Spe
Thunderbolt
Heat Wave
Roost
Hidden power Ice
Zapdos is a big help to the team providing a lot of coverage and checking threats such as ferrothorn, breloom, politoed, dragon/flyings, ground/flyings, Abomasnow, and tons of bulky waters. Rotom-W shares some attacking types, but I find myself often losing one or the other, and I really can't afford to lose access to electric/ice moves. I chose Modest nature because timid rarely outspeeds anything of importance, while the extra power is significantly appreciated. Zapdos also can make some amazing comebacks often KOing 3 pokemon in a row. I chose him over thundurus-T for heat wave and roost.

Donphan@Leftovers

Sturdy
Impish 252Hp/252Def/4Spe
Earthquake
Ice Shard
Stealth Rock
Rapid Spin
Donphans good at walling heavy hitters, setting up rocks, and proving rapid spin support. Also checks lots of fire and steel types. Sturdy's cool and Ice shard can be a great finishing move.

So there it is, I don't remember everything about making it, but I do remember that I put in significant time thinking about it. Any and all improvements will be welcome. The team is good, but I want to make it great. If the team is solid, please let me know so I can focus on honing my battle skills rather than spending hours in teambuilder.

 

[High Impulse]

Hey man. That's a pretty solid team you have there but I do notice 1 thing that is annoying to this team. So on to the rate:

So, I noticed that Hazards + Gengar is very annoying to your team. Gengar in general is an annoying Pokemon with it's Substitute and all and they only thing you really have to deal with Gengar somewhat reliably is Zapdos and in conjunction with Hazards, Zapdos will be worn down very quickly. I suggest that you use a Scarf Tyranitar > Band Tyranitar so you are able to outpace and kill Gengar with a Crunch/Pursuit. I also suggest that you use an LO Latios > Scarf Latios so that you are able to take on Keldeo for longer with recover and all; it also enables you to 2hko opposing Banded Tyranitars with Surf and Draco.

Latios (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor
- Recover

 

[Plus]

Hi there,

I'm seeing that your team has some redundancies in the types of pokemon you're trying to use, mainly with Zapdos and Rotom-W. For a more balanced sand team such as this one, I'm thinking that there are better options to use for your team that would fill similar roles, while providing more pressure to the opponent. I'm also seeing a bit of Gastrodon weakness here, as the lack of Trick or grass type moves make it an easy switch in on something like Rotom-W or Zapdos, where it can come in on Hydro Pump and start annoying your team if you're not careful. You do have CBTar that does dent Gastrodon for good health, but it will have some trouble switching in between Scald or Earth Power. Ice Beam variants are hard for Latios to deal with as well, and you don't have Trick to threaten them out, only Draco Meteor, which won't always kill.

One combination in particular that is really nice to use is Skarmory + Starmie, which provides you entry hazard superiority and a good backbone for your team. Starmie is much better than Donphan in the current metagame thanks to its speed and coverage, which helps pick off fast threats like Gengar in a pinch and can also function well under Rain, which your team might struggle against without the backbone of Rotom-w. By replacing Starmie over Donphan, you have a spinner who has coverage similar to that of Rotom and Zapdos, meaning there is enough room to get rid of something like Zapdos who seems like simply backup to Rotom-W. You stated that you would like an abundance of electric and ice moves, so by using Starmie I guess we are compensating for a loss of Zapdos and Donphan for something else that works rather well on balanced sand teams.

Something else being Heatran, which helps you deal with Scizor and Ferrothorn and other pesky steel types, all while being one of the best Stealth Rock users in the OU metagame. Since you already have Rotom to deal with Bulky waters, it's not extremely important to double up on these threats, as you still have pokemon such as Starmie and Latios who can deal a decent amount of damage to them anyway. You can also try running HP Grass on Heatran to nail bulky waters on the switch in, and this provides the coverage you need to deal with Gastrodon in clutch situations. Heatran can also potentially spread burn to incoming switch ins as well, which is always a plus for Sand teams because of the underlying residual damage build up that they get. Additionally, Heatran helps you against Sun teams. This team doesn't look very sun weak, but it's always nice to have insurance against them as pokemon like Venusaur can nail you hard on switch ins, especially to things like Tyranitar who is slower than Venusaur regardless of weather.

And lastly, I'd recommend changing Thunderbolt to Trick on Latios to help you deal with Stall teams a little bit better. Thunderbolt does less damage than Draco Meteor to water types barring Gyarados, who still should be killed off by a Scarf Draco Meteor given rocks are up, let alone sand. For a Scarf user, you're not looking to be sweeping straight up, rather getting revenge kills and stopping other pokemon from sweeping with speed. Thunderbolt seems like unnecessary coverage when Draco Meteor is usually a reasonable alternative to use as well, since you'll most likely be switching out after the kill anyway. Thus, using Trick gives you a solution that helps threaten Stall teams and other defensively minded pokemon from switching into Latios to wall you, such as Jirachi and Ferrothorn.

Starmie@Leftovers
Natural Cure, Timid 252 spe/252 spa/4 hp
Hydro Pump/Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Rapid Spin

Heatran @ Air Balloon
Timid 252 spe/252 spa/4 hp
Lava Plume/Earth Power/HP Grass/Stealth Rock

Trick->T-bolt on Latios

Good luck with your team, I wish you the best of luck in your laddering!

 

[XTar]

Wow thanks for the replies. Both of you were right in seeing some of my weaknesses; I was often struggling with gengar and gastrodon. I'll try
both changes a try and let you know how they work out.

 

[XTar]

So I've tested both teams out and I ended up going with Plus's suggestions and they really seem to help. I've replaced rotom-W for gastrodon as the final touch and the team's doing great. Thanks, I've finally reached 1700.