Introduction
Hello, hello, and welcome one and all. I am JanieCox, and this is my first ever RMT! This here is a gen 3 OU team I’ve been tinkering with for a few days. It’s a bit orthodox for my likings, but nothing beats normal and there’s a reason the meta is the meta.
But… I mean… We don’t have to be THAT orthodox. So let’s break away from orthodoxy and embrace our anti-religious side as we explore the seven cardinal sins through gen 3 OU! And, for those wondering, I’m pride. Why else would I be showing off my team?
The Team
Gluttony (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Gluttony (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Metagross exemplifies gluttony as he eats through leads with his powerful offensive options. Its speed investment along with stab meteor mash tears through tyranitars hoping to get an early sandstream up. Earthquake threatens other metagross, though it’s not likely to OHKO if they have any health investment, so it’s often more trouble than it’s worth. While it seems threatening, eq also destroys magneton, after handily surviving a tbolt. Rock slide has a solid chance to OHKO most offensive sets of Zapdos and Salamence. Even when these options aren’t enough, a banded explosion is enough to swallow most leads whole.
Now, this doesn’t make Metagross an unstoppable force. It can deal with a gengar switch in with meteor mash, but it does require a blind prediction. Rock slide still has a chance to OHKO and is safer in case they go for a fire mon, hoping to force you out. And even if you do get a kill, you’re banded in, so you may be forced into a switch. Mons like Moltres who outspeed with a strong fire move absolutely decimate it. A crit fire punch from Alakazam will OHKO, so, while not as serious of a threat as some others, it’s worth keeping in mind. Metagross is severely lacking in defenses, so switching is a valid option in many situations.
Sloth (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Surf
Suicune is the epitome of sloth, sleeping soundly while its opponents attempt to wail away on it. Suicune makes a great offensive and special wall due to its natural physical bulk and access to calm mind. It also can alleviate toxic or paralysis with rest, making it a safe switch into status. It’s biggest issue is the random factor, with ⅓ chance to waste the turn.
For specific matchups, banded metagross eq does a maximum of 35.5%, which, combined with lefties, is a 4HKO. This gives enough time to get up a few calm minds and say goodnight, regaining all health back. In the process. Even unboosted, deals 30.6-36.3%. It also has the advantage over tyranitar, being able to 2HKO even with leftovers. The Curselax matchup is tough, but, with access to calm mind, you get significantly more done per rest than them. A +1 Surf deals 38-44.9% to skarm, so even if you get forced out by a whirlwind you’ve got some good damage off on it. Sleep talk is a good answer for venusaur or breloom (surf breaking its sub), but the uncertainty of turns means you might waste your first turn awake with a move that doesn't do anything. You can survive a few focus punches, so spamming rest is a potential option. Your big weaknesses are electric and grass types, though our next mon provides greatly where suicune lacks.
Lust (Regice) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunder Wave
Lust is an uncontrollable desire for something which you already have an adequate amount of. Suicune might be a great wall, sure. But what if we had MORE wall? The answer: Regice. Regice’s amazing special defense stat lets it wall out the electric and grass type threats that plague suicune. Magnezone and zapdos require 5 thunderbolts in order to kill full health Regice, and grass mons like celebi are torn apart by stab ice beam. Tbolt allows it to deal with any opposing suicines with a 3HKO, though rest talk calm mind sets can prove an issue. Thunder wave is a great utility move using regions bulk to help the rest of the team pick up kills.
Despite being weak to fire, it takes hits gracefully, almost requiring a 3HKO from moltres flamethrower and charizard fire blast. Its biggest, glaring weakness, if fighting type, which absolutely obliterates it. Even then, it survives a sky uppercut from blaziken, giving it a chance to cripple its speed, and (outside of spore) breloom shouldn't get a chance to focus punch through the ice beam spam.
I found that explosion wasn’t doing nearly as much as I wanted, so, rather than the typical mixed set, I specced completely into Special Attack and Health. This also gave me access to an empty move slot, and I chose hidden power fire to hit back against magneton with a solid 2HKO, threatening it on switch in.
Greed (Salamence) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Salamence facilitates a greedy playstyle. Maybe not for everybody, but for me it does. If I can just get one more dragon dance off I can sweep their entire team, I think to myself, inevitably losing salamence in the process. With one dragon dance boost, though, it becomes a serious threat. Intimidate also allows it to switch in against offensive threats, and it's dragon typing gives it resistances to many threatening moves. You want to find a switch in that you hopefully threaten, getting a free dragon dance. Lum berry not only lets you freely switch into status, but also can give you a free dragon dance if they try to status you after you’ve switched in.
1 dragon dance allows you to outspeed and OHKO aerodactyl with rock slide and dugtrio with hp flying. Boosted rock slide also has a chance to OHKO gyara. After one boost, you also get a clean 3HKO on snorlax, not giving it a chance to curse, and a 2HKO on Blissey. Those speed EVs allow you to outspeed most celebi sets unboosted, grabbing a clean 2HKO with hp flying save for a sub.
Despite these offensive options, even with dragon dance salamence doesn’t always have the power to pick up the kills it needs. Boosted rock slide only has a 37.5% chance to OHKO zapdos, and boosted eq doesn’t even OHKO metagross. Anything with an ice move immediately decimates you. I tried messing with the EVs to give it better survivability, but without taking away from its already somewhat lacking attack it’s impossible to live with those hits or the speed needed to consistently deal with celebi, a wall that can really hinder the team overall.
Wrath (Gengar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Ice Punch
Gengar provides a nasty offensive threat that can only be described as wrathful. With its superior speed stat and access to great special attacks with the move pool to back it up, this mon provides everything a team could need to wipe the floor with the opponent. Its levitate ability removes one of its massive weaknesses in ground and prevents it from being hit by spikes as well. Plus, being immune to explosion makes it a great switch in metagross ditto leads.
Thunderbolt provides a nasty 2HKO on Skarmory, being the best option the team has for taking it out while also being immune to both the spikes it sets up and a potential toxic. It also annihilates gyarados with an OHKO. Giga drain provides coverage for swampert, though a thoughtless tbolt gives them a free switch in. Ice punch gives coverage for flying and ground types that don’t resist. Its full speed EVs not only let it outspeed most mons, but potentially other gengar, who will be obliterated by psychic.
Opposing regice makes for an unbeatable wall, and while you can switch into an unsuspecting metagross, meteor mash crushes gengar’s nonexistent skull (get it? Because it's a ghost). Snorlax is another wall, but this one comes with a serious threat in the form of shadow ball. Blissey walls too, and maybe you can see an issue with the set now. While its offenses are great, it gets walled easily and isn’t too bulky. Lefties and giga drain help a bit but the damage recovered isn’t nearly as much as what you’re going to be taking. Pursuit trappers can turn this into a living nightmare.
Envy (Poliwrath) @ Choice Band
Ability: Damp
EVs: 92 HP / 60 Atk / 252 SpD / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Body Slam
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
Poliwrath is the only non-OU mon on this team, ironically making it the best fit for envy. Despite this, it does what it does well. The biggest asset banded poliwrath gives is being able to OHKO Tyranitar with 60 attack EVs and outspeed it. The rest of the spread is thrown into Special Defense and HP, giving it some surprising bulk. With no spikes it can survive a tbolt from magnezone, going to a 50% chance to OHKO with 1 layer of spikes down, 75% with 2, and guaranteed with 3. With a safe switch, eq can turn it into scrap metal, helping suicune out big time. Earthquake also 2HKO’s metagross, preventing it from exploding with damp and living an earthquake. Body slam gives an opportunity to paralyze and can deal some good damage.
A big issue with the move pool so far is that none of its moves hit gengar. Hidden power ghost gives you the opportunity to predict the switch and get some damage off. Staying in is a bad play, though, so switching into regice should be your plan at that point. If you’re afraid of burn from either switching into a fire type move or gengar’s will-o-wisp, feel free to switch out body slam for facade. That was the last move added to the set and is pretty flexible.
Conclusion
So, as you can see, the team covers a lot of options. The big downside to this is it requires a lot of switching and prediction. Pair that with no rapid spinner and spikes stall can potentially be a real pain. Having 2 mons immune to spikes and 2 walls does help alleviate this, but it’s in your best interest to kill their hazard setters before it’s too late. This is, again, my first rmt, so if you there's anything I can do better, be it with the team or for formatting, please feel free to let me know!Gluttony (Metagross) @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Sloth (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Surf
Lust (Regice) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunder Wave
Greed (Salamence) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Wrath (Gengar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Ice Punch
Envy (Poliwrath) @ Choice Band
Ability: Damp
Happiness: 0
EVs: 92 HP / 60 Atk / 252 SpD / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Body Slam
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Sloth (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
- Surf
Lust (Regice) @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunder Wave
Greed (Salamence) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 76 HP / 252 Atk / 180 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Flying]
Wrath (Gengar) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Giga Drain
- Psychic
- Ice Punch
Envy (Poliwrath) @ Choice Band
Ability: Damp
Happiness: 0
EVs: 92 HP / 60 Atk / 252 SpD / 104 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brick Break
- Earthquake
- Body Slam
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
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