Hello everyone, and welcome to my 2,500 post RMT. I wanted to showcase a team that has been successful for me and others the past few months, as I believe it is a very good snapshot of the early SPL Meta. I was able to help the Bigs out with teambuilding and made this team for Tace when he faced talah in Week 2, securing a win. Since then, I've used it myself in OST and other tours with success, only losing once with it. I passed it along to others for the early rounds of OST/SSNL and was told it was successful there too. The name of this team comes from it featuring three Steel-types, yet the irony in the name stems from all of them being offensive in nature, rather than defensive (and not Magnezone weak!). I wanted to utilize some meta trends that were popular at the time, mainly offensive Zapdos, Lefties Melmetal, and Balloon Heatran. With a couple of pivots and Scarf Kartana to clean up, these mons are able to handle a vast majority of the metagame.
Teambuilding Process
I started with these two mons, as they complement each other defensively and offensively
Heatran was added to give the team rocks and a fire resist that was needed, especially given Heatran's popularity. The Air Balloon set was chosen specifically for this reason.
Lando was added as the mandatory electric immunity and a secondary ground resist (Heatran doesn't count lol), as well as acting as a general pivot
Slowbro gives the team a water resist so I don't get 6-0ed by shifu, a strong weavile check with ColburPress, and Futureport. It also handles strong physical attackers that would otherwise give the team issues such as Melmetal
Lastly, Kart was added for speed control and to be a late game cleaner with early game Knock Off capabilities. It ensures I don't lose to boosted Weavile, CM Clef, or really any other setup sweeper that isn't BU Zeraora
The Team In-depth
Zap (Zapdos) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 40 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Hurricane
- Toxic / Thunderbolt
- Roost
For the longest time, I used to think Zapdos was a shit mon outside of rain teams and an inferior Corviknight/Tornadus-T. This mainly stemmed from the fact that it was seen as a defensive defogger, which is a role it really is shit at. However, people started experimenting with offensive sets and that's where Zap truly shines. Despite not having full SpAtk EVs, a Modest nature with some investment still hits hard, notably 2HKOing offensive Garchomp with Hurricane and dealing a big chunk to Ferrothorn and Lando. Zap forces a lot of 50/50s with Volt Switch and Hurricane, but if you get the turn right you're gonna deal big damage to anything not named AV Gking. I switch up the third move often; Toxic is good for taking away the guessing game vs grounds while Tbolt gives me reliable damage against Hurricane resists without having to switch out. The EVs avoid the 2HKO from G-Zap and outspeed Timid Heatran, with the remaining dumped in SpAtk for more damage.
Mel (Melmetal) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 140 SpD / 44 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double Iron Bash
- Superpower
- Thunder Punch / Toxic
- Protect
One of the most broken mons in OU imo, Melmetal has seen a resurgence with its Leftovers + Protect set. It's super strong, has coverage for days, and is pretty much unkillable without multiple super effective hits. It's role on this team is to dish out damage and pivot on the multitude of strong attackers that it's Steel-typing and bulk take advantage of. The version Tace used had Thunder Punch for Pex and Slowbro, but I've used Toxic here over it (usually with Zap running a different third move), as it puts Slowbro on a timer and let's Mel beat it down if it can get the flinches. The EV spread avoids the OHKO from +2 Weavile Low Kick, 2HKO from Pult's Shadow Ball, and the OHKO from pretty much any non CB Shifu CC or Air Balloon Heatran full power Eruption.
Tran (Heatran) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Eruption
The second Steel-type on the team, Balloon Heatran walls most opposing Heatrans, sets rocks, and dishes out massive damage to any non Fire resists. Most importantly, it wittles down Lando for Zap and Kart. Despite having no defensive investment, Heatran can still be a soft check to pretty much anything that doesn't hit it super effectively. And when it's balloon is intact, it attacks Lando for free, and can deal decent damage to Garchomp if needed. Torn also gets heavily chipped and Zapdos loses a big chunk of health too. Full offensive investment with a Timid Nature is chosen to outspeed modest Heatran, always outspeed Volcanion, and be faster than anything in the 250 range of speed. This helped Tace tremendously when his Heatran was tricked a scarf and outspeed talah's entire team.
Lando (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 244 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Defog
- Earthquake
- Knock Off / Toxic
- U-turn
The King of OU, Lando fills the mandatory ground slot here. Defog is chosen to free up a slot on Zap and Heatran is a better rocker at the moment anyways imo. Lando does Lando things, acting as a softcheck to Heatran, wall electrics, and U-turn on everything. I switch between Knock Off and Toxic, but I think Knock is stronger to remove Boots, Helmets, and take away Leftovers from opposing Landos. I often opt to run a few speed EVs on Lando to ensure that I can knock/toxic opposing Landos before they U-turn out. I feel it's more valuable than the slower U-turn, as once Lando is gone, Zap volts for free against almost any team.
Bro (Slowbro) @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Body Press
- Future Sight
- Slack Off
- Teleport
Slowbro gives the team futureport, walls most physical attackers, and keeps Weavile at bay with Colbur + BP. It's often my pivot into weaker attackers or defensive mons so I can get in an offensive mon for free with TP, and it's what allows this team to break Pex with FS. Slowbro forms a potent defensive core with Lando, Heatran, and Zapdos, and while it's not the most sturdy out there, it's capable of holding off the meta with smart piloting to allow the offensive core to shine through.
Kart (Kartana) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
- Smart Strike
The late game cleaner. Kart can spiral out of control quickly, and few mons are capable of revenge killing it if they can't take a hit. I think this mon is lowkey broken, because it has several different sets that all have different answers, and no matter what, once Kart claims a kill it gets harder to revenge without the right priority or resist. While Kart is usually reserved for cleaning late game, its still capable of setting up itself by knocking off boots and removing items early game, or simply claiming early kills on weakened opponents. While Kart isn't known for its defensive prowess, scarf in particular acts as an answer to mons like +1 Garchomp, boosted weavile, and Zeraora if it's able to get in for free or after a kill. This team has a lot of momentum moves, and it can come in after a U-turn from Lando, TP from Slowbro, or Volt from Zap. The set is very straight forward. Smart Strike is chosen over any other coverage as it is often Karts way of sweeping through a team that has Torn alive.
Threat List
if it gets in for free, you're losing a mon. It wasn't popular when I made the team, and because of this, it farms pretty easily with Slowbro as my Water resist
It can be handled decently well, but if it gets a boost it can be troublesome if Heatran and Lando are weakened
it can't outright sweep, but a smartly played SD Chomp is capable of claiming more than one kill that opens up a teammate I'm referring to SD sets here. Slowbro can't hit it super effectively, and the only mon that's faster than Jolly sets is Kart, which doesn't OHKO. Can claim a kill or two if it gets a boost.Conclusion
While this team is starting to show its age, I do believe it is still very viable and a solid team overall. It was one of the first teams I made when I started building during the SPL Meta and I'm glad it was showcased on the highest stage and secured a win. While I haven't been the most active recently given some irl stuff going on, I'm looking g forward to World Cup starting and seeing what it has in store for me
Shoutouts
by association
I will never not enjoy bullying Abhi with curiosity, Stoward TPP and So Noisy
KC
Yall are cool. S.o bb skarm for the invite
bigs
Thanks for letting me join your server and help out. S.o to Tace and ez For being crackheads during test games and humbling me when we play.
asiancy
Too many for me to list here but thanks for letting an american chill with peeps across the world
everyone else
To everyone else I'm cool with on this site, stay frosty.
Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-621176 ADPL
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-615134 OU Seasonal
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-609893 OST
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-607864 OST
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8ou-602544 Tace v talah SPL Week 2
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