THIS TEAM HAS > 1 PORYGON?!?!? (OU)

[Giratina3]

Ok, I've been around the Pokemon community for a while, recently quit for a couple of months, but now I came back and I've been working on a new Team. I've been testing on Shoddy for a while now and have made some changes I think are necessary, but now I'm bringing the team here to see what improvements can be made on it (before I start EV training the Pokes on my Platinum.)

Team at a Glance:

The Lead
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spd
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt
-Stone Edge
-Crunch

Aerodactyl, a Pokemon I never really thought about using. When I was looking for a good lead Pokemon, I used to use Crobat, but it really didn't do much other than Taunt the other's lead, so I thought to myself, "What Pokemon is very fast and can also learn Stealth Rock and Taunt?" And after searching the moves Stealth Rock and Taunt, Aerodactyl was one of the first on the list. Aerodactyl pretty much outspeeds everything (minus the occasional Rain Dance Electrode.) I do have crunch over EQ because of lead Azelf and that 2 of my other Pokemon know EQ.

The Revenge Killer
Dugtrio @ Choice Band
Ability: Arena Trap
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 40 HP, 252 Atk, 218 Spd
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Sucker Punch
-Pursuit

Standard Revenge Killer set. This one has already been EV trained on my Platinum so there's no taking him off, but he can change his item and can change his 3rd and 4th move. I have Sucker Punch on this one in case there's a sweeper that'd have a speed boost, and it's also a nice move to use against other unsuspecting ghosts. Pursuit is there because it's nice to revenge kill other Pokemon that are trapped in a Choice item and are able to get out of Arena Trap, and it's also fun to bluff sometimes and send him in to revenge kill an Azelf or Gengar, when the opponent thinks he can freely switch, he suddenly gets a Pursuit. Either of those 2 dark moves can be switched for Night Slash, but the rest stays.

The Counter/Wall
Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP, 216 Def, 40 Sp.Atk
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Thunder Wave
-Recover

Trace is a fun ability to use, and this Porygon2 makes full use of it. It can freely switch into Heatran's Fire moves that would try to take Scizor down, and it is also the perfect DD Salamence counter, by switching in on the Dragon Dance and copying Intimidate, then surviving the hit and killing with Ice Beam. Thunder Wave is to slow anything down to support the rest of the team.

The Baton Passer
Scizor @ Leftovers
Nature: Sassy (+Sp.Def, -Spd)
EVs: 252 HP, 120 Def, 136 Sp.Def
IVs: 0 Speed
-Baton Pass
-Swords Dance
-Agility
-Roost

Definitely a fun Scizor to use, most people would expect it to be a Physical Attacker and run away from it's Bullet Punches (and whatever else Physical Scizor use.) On the switch, I Swords Dance or Agility, according to what Pokemon I want to switch to. The low speed is so after an Agility, Scizor can still be slower to take the hit before it switches to one of the 2 following Pokemon. I chose Roost over an attacking move because Scizor needs to Baton Pass to TWO Pokemon, so he needs to be able to survive long enough. I figured that two +2 Speed, +2 Atk/Sp.Atk Sweepers is better than Scizor having 1 attacking move and only having 1 +2 Speed, +2 Atk/Sp.Atk Sweeper.

The Physical Attacker
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 112 HP, 252 Atk, 12 Def, 132 Spd
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Agility
-Explosion

After Scizor does a Swords Dance for this guy and takes the hits, Metagross can use Agility with full health, and then sweep from there. Also, if Scizor has enough health and can Roost whatever it needs, sometimes he'll also be able to pass his Agility to Metagross too, so he can sweep straight away. This guy has actually got me a good amount of wins too. Lum Berry is to stop the annoying Will-O-Wisps and Paralyzation so it can keep it's sweep going. The only thing I'm wondering about changing on this one is Explosion, and if I should keep it or switch for more type coverage.

The Special Attacker
Porygon-Z @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Download
Nature: Modest (+Sp.Atk, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Def, 252 Spd, 252 Sp.Atk
-Tri Attack
-Thunderbolt
-Dark Pulse
-Nasty Plot

This guy is meant to take an Agility from Scizor (who being slow enough will also take the hit THEN Baton Pass to PZ) and then Porygon-Z can use Nasty Plot and sweep from there. Dark Pulse is to hit whatever Tri Attack can't, and Silk Scarf over Life Orb so it can still own mostly everything with Tri Attack but not be forced to lose HP, especially if it takes a hit while using Nasty Plot. I'm also wondering what Ability I should run, but right now I'm running Download.

=======================================

So that's my team! And yes, I do run both Porygon2 and Porygon-Z, because Porygon2 is very versatile from it's ability, and Porygon-Z has always been a good sweeper for me to use.

Make any suggestions you want, anything can be changed except for Dugtrio (only his item and 3rd/4th move slots can be changed.)

Thanks again and make sure to post after you took the time to read this!​

 

[crobatchop]

I am not sure whether porygon 2 and Z is count as two.

Anyways, I believe your team is on the offensive side, since there is only pokemon specialised for walling. For Dugtrio, you can use the EV reducing berries, to remove HP EVs and train speed.

Now I would like to know why you are using Crunch on Aero in detail. A normal STAB Stone Edge has a power of 100*1.5=150, and a unSTAB SE Crunch would have 80*2=160, just 10 more than Stonge Edge. If accuracy is really concerned, try Rock Slide instead, and 30% flinching rate is always nice for a speedy pokemon.
Scizor without Bullet Punch is inferior IMO, unless you can give evidence that your Scizor works. Plus, a priority is good for revenge killing as well.
For Porygon2, I usually run discharge over TBolt. Now I would use thunder wave, but back in DP (not DPP) Hypnosis things are everywhere, and Magic Coat was very cool.
Since you are passing speed from Scizor to Porygon-Z, download would be a better ability IMO as Szicor attracts Physical Walls. There are of course, exceptions, such as Specially Defensive Zapdos and Tentacruel, but overall would be a better option.

As for threats, Zapdos may be quite a problem, as once Aero has suicided, the only way to dealt with is a well predicted Stong Edge from Duggy, perhaps a fast attack from Porygon-Z, and Metagross' explosion, where all the methods are very vague and unreliable, while Zapdos putstalls Porygon2 with Pressure. A SDed Lucario can rip through the whole team once Aero is gone, and even Aero might be KOed by the rare Bullet Punch. Celebi would stall this team and while Aero it being walled a bit, SubSeed versions would be very annoying. I am not pro and cannot name what other pokemon you should try out, but I hope this helps tidying up.

 

[august]

First things first, you have a gaping Swords Dance Lucario weakness. It can Swords Dance on anything Dugtrio is locked into barring Earthquake and sweep you 6-0. The most simple solution to this would be to use Scarf Magnezone over PorygonZ. PorygonZ may be a solid sweeper for you, but Magnezone can trap Skarmory, Scizor, Lucario, Scarf Jirachi and others and KO them. This is important because Skarmory and Scarf Jirachi can easily stop your Scizor from Baton Passing boosts to Metagross since it has no Taunt.

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Explosion
- Thunderbolt

Next off, I suggest changing Dugtrio to a Choice Scarf set to revenge kill Heatran, who with Magnezone can OHKO half of your team due to the fire weakness. Scizor will also do much better with a Choice Band set, as spamming U turns is a great way to get your trappers KOs, most notably the Magnezone / Heatran that love switching into Scizors U turns, or even Skarmory and Forretress that come in to absorb U turns, and all of the above are trapped by Dugtrio or Magnezone. Having a "trap team" is also a very nice advantage against stall, with Scizor spamming constant U turns and keeping up tempo you are bound to get a few nice KOs.

Another pokemon that can keep a lot of up tempo is Gliscor, who can Taunt slow bulky pokemon and proceed to U turn as they switch to something that can actually hurt Gliscor, only to be met with something that has an advantage in the match up. Gliscor is also a great check to fighting types like Lucario, who can give you trouble if Magnezone is down or weakened and can also soak up CB U turns / Superpowers without much trouble. This also removes one of your fire weakness'.

Gliscor (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 244 HP/48 Def/216 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- U-turn
- Roost
- Taunt
- Earthquake

The effectiveness of this Gliscor set can be shown in this warstory. http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55798

The last thing i can really think of would be possibly a new lead, but that is not absolutely needed as Aero is rather solid. Just use Earthquake > Crunch. Good luck!

 

[Giratina3]

Ok well I'll switch Crunch for EQ on Aero, especially for those Taunting Electrode's that I've ended up facing a couple of time. Those things get annoying.

As for Gliscor, I would definitely want one, but I don't know what to switch it with. Scizor works pretty well imo even without an attacking move, and BPing to PZ/Meta has worked good too.

I'm not quite sure if I should put Magnezone on, I might test it later today or something, but I honestly don't have too much trouble dealing with Jirachi and I never see Skarmory anymore.

As for dealing with SD Lucario, should I take the Choice Band off of my Dugtrio and put on a Life Orb so I no longer have to switch when one comes in on it? Other than that I'm no all sure what else to put on.

I'll switch T-bolt for Discharge on P2.

 

[xWOLFYx]

Gliscor can pass Rock Polishes and Sword Dances instead of using Scizor. He also has better synergy with your baton pass receivers since he attracts Ice moves which Metagross resists and you don't have to worry about PoryZ catching a Fighting move to the face, since nobody will be attacking Gliscor with a Fighting move. You can also give him EQ to handle Luke or Taunt to stop phazers.

 

[ghost]

On Porygon-Z, HP Fighting will do much more good than T-bolt, unless this is ingame and you can't control the HP type.

 

[Oddish On Fire]

I would use a baton passing Gliscor with something like Swords Dance, Rock Polish, Roost, Baton Pass in place of your Scizor. Then, I would give Metagross four attacks instead of 2 attacks, explosion, and agility. I would advise trading explosion and agility for thunderpunch and ice punch.

Also, HP Fighting > T-bolt on Porygon Z because it adds AMAZING coverage. Regarding your Dugtrio, what are the HP EVs for? I would run max speed, personally.

 

[Random Pizzaman]

I agree with everyone else in saying that a BP Gliscor would work along better with your team, since Metagross and Gliscor have such good synergy and Gliscor also can take fighting attacks for PZ. Use this Gliscor:

Gliscor@leftovers
Impish
252 HP/ 40 Atk/ 216 Spe
~ Rock Polish
~Taunt
~Baton Pass
~Earthquake/ Swords Dance

This Gliscor will serve well as your Baton Passer, and can help patch up your Lucario weakness. With EQ and the speed EVs, you'll take care of most Lucario and non-scarf Heatran, both of which threaten your team. Taunt will help alot to successfully pass your boosts. I kept Rock Polish as the main boosting move since both of your receivers benefit from it, but if you REALLY want you can stick Swords Dance over EQ and make it pure Baton Pass, but then Lucario rapes you. You can also stick SD over Taunt if you really must have both AND counter Lucario, but again it's not a smart thing.

Now since you don't have SD, change your Metagross too:

Metagross @ LO
Adamant
Same EVs
~Meteor Mash
~EQ
~Thunderpunch
~Ice Punch/Explosion/ Agility

Adding in Thunderpunch and Ice Punch gives your 'Gross much better coverage. Ice Punch isn't ultra- necessary, so you can use Explosion to go out with a bang since he isn't your only sweeper, and you can leave agility on to make it less dependent on Gliscor.

Lastly, you PorygonZ doesn't want to be walled by steels, so stick HP Ground over Thunderbolt or Dark Pulse. AND use Adaptability since you're using Nasty Plot

 

[ghost]

Lastly, you PorygonZ doesn't want to be walled by steels, so stick HP Ground over Thunderbolt or Dark Pulse. AND use Adaptability since you're using Nasty Plot

You need to use it over T-bolt, as Dark Pulse is the most effective way to hit ghosts. I run a Nasty Plot PorygonZ, so you absolutely want to run Adaptability.

 

[Giratina3]

Ok, I've read all of your posts, and thanks for all the help so far in building the team. Unfortunately, for some reason I cannot edit the main post, so I have to repost and put up the improvements to the team. I haven't tested this out on Shoddy yet but I'll get to it right after I'm done with this post, but you can post anything else you want to help even while I'm still testing it.

As for Gliscor, I put him in over Scizor. I'm unhappy that he doesn't have Roost to heal up, but I'll test it on Shoddy and see how it works out. I put EQ > SD on him just for Lucario (who has owned my team before and I don't want to deal with him.) I'm also guessing that Gliscor should have Hyper Cutter over Sand Veil so no attack drops will be passed to Metagross, but I'm unsure. 2/3 of my team is immune to Sandstorm, and with Sand Veil up against a sandstorm team, it would make it 20% easier to get the pass off to Metagross, while still not taking any Sandstorm damage, and honestly, attack dropping moves seem very uncommon, so what do you guys think? I have Hyper Cutter on for right now.

Porygon-Z, I cannot use Hidden Power because this team will go to in-game, and I don't like trying to breed for the right Hidden Power because when you eventually get the right one, it'll end up being at a lower base power, and it's also extremely tough just to breed for that (something I don't have time for.) So his moveset is the same as it was, nothing changed, but I'm wondering if there's any other attacks I should put on him instead of T-Bolt that would also get good coverage for Steels? I did change P-Z's ability to Adaptability though.

Metagross's set is now the Life Orb one that Pizzaman had suggested before. I chose Ice Punch over Explosion just to take care of Dragonite, Salamence, and Flygon, which none of my other moves would hit hard (except possibly TPunch on Drag&Sala.)

I changed Dugtrio's EVs to 4 HP and 252 Speed, even though I already EV trained him in-game. I'm not sure which berry will reduce the HP EVs, but I'll do that when I can get those berries in game. Also I had switched the Choice Band for a Life Orb.

Porygon2 and Aerodactyl are exactly how they were.

Changes are Bold AND Underlined.

================================

The Lead
Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spd
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt
-Stone Edge
-Crunch

The Revenge Killer
Dugtrio @ Life Orb
Ability: Arena Trap
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spd
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Sucker Punch
-Pursuit

The Counter/Wall
Porygon2 @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
EVs: 252 HP, 216 Def, 40 Sp.Atk
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Thunder Wave
-Recover

The Baton Passer
Gliscor @ Leftovers
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Nature: Impish (+Def, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 252 HP, 40 Atk, 216 Spd
-Baton Pass
-Taunt
-Rock Polish
-Earthquake

The Physical Attacker
Metagross @ Life Orb
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)
EVs: 112 HP, 252 Atk, 12 Def, 132 Spd
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Thunderpunch
-Ice Punch

The Special Attacker
Porygon-Z @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
Nature: Modest (+Sp.Atk, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Def, 252 Spd, 252 Sp.Atk
-Tri Attack
-Thunderbolt
-Dark Pulse
-Nasty Plot

 

[Giratina3]

Ok, after a little more testing, the following suck....

1. Kingdra
-In rain with Swift Swim, my team has a super tough time taking it down. The only thing I can really do is sacrifice one Poke, then switch in Porygon2 to Trace Swift Swim, then use Thunder Wave. But the next problem is that I usually cannot stop it even though it's slower than me, not one attack that I have will hit it Super Effective.

2. Swampert
-These things are a pain for me, Metagross can average 2 hits on it, but it won't even take it down 40% total. None of the Pokemon on my team can hit it for Super Effective, and Porygon2 can't even use half of it's moves on it. It has a lot of easy switch-ins too with 3/6 of my Pokemon having Electric-Type Moves, and the other 3/6 being weak to water types.

3. Jirachi Leads
-I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I just absolutely hate these things, they Iron Head my Aerodactyl and I don't know what to switch to. I don't know if it's that my team isn't set up good to take these things down, or if I just don't know how to deal with them.

4. Priority Moves
-A good half of my Pokemon would not like taking a Bullet Punch, and 4/6 of them woudln't like taking an Ice Shard to much either. Fake Outs also suck for the frailer ones (minus Dugtrio who can get a Sucker Punch in on the same turn.)

5. Lack of Recovery on Gliscor
-He gets hit by a lot of Ice Moves, and even though he's usually fast enough to get hit only on the turn he's using Rock Polish, the lack of Recovery has not helped. Using Scizor seemed like it worked better for me, and Taunt on Gliscor has only helped me in about one or two total situations.

6. Aerodactyl
-He gets killed a lot, usually doesn't do much to other leads, and hasn't really been a help for my team. I'm thinking I should switch him for a more defensive lead because my team is lacking on the defensive side (with Porygon2 only able to get through SO much.)

7. No SD for Metagross
-Passing off the Swords Dance to Metagross used to make him a very good sweeper. Now without the SD and just a Life Orb for extra damage, he hasn't been as useful, and usually only damages just a little unlike how he used to be able to sweep a whole team. I'm not sure if this means I should change a move on Gliscor to Swords Dance and change one of the punches to Explosion, or if I should go back to using Scizor and keep the moves the same.



Here are some things that have totally helped me kill the other team...

1. Porygon-Z
-He is a beast of a sweeper, and the moveset he has is working very well on him. Dark Pulse is also becoming really good because for some reason a lot of Ghosts are trying to come in on him, maybe because they think he's Spec'ed and is trying to use Tri Attack on whatever other Pokemon. Nasty Plots have been easy to pull off, and he seems like he's the one to do the most damage for the rest of the team, with a little help from Gliscor.

2. Porygon2
-He definitely has managed to hold his own on offensive threats, and has actually done good on the offensive side too, much more than I expected from him.

3. Dugtrio
-Very good at getting those revenge kills, as long as whatever he switches in on can be hit Super Effective. Pursuit and Sucker Punch haven't done too much for me though, I'm somewhat dissappointed with that. I'm thinking maybe I want to go back to Choice Band on him instead of Life Orb.

________________________________________

It looks to me like I need a new Pokemon, something Defensive that can also use Dragon, Grass, Fire moves, or something like that. I think Aerodactyl needs to go, but I'm not sure what Pokemon to add in, something that can take down Swampert & Kingdra for sure..... but other than that I still need help with this.

I guess other than that, just try to help me keep work with my team! Thanks

 

[Blackhawk11]

I hate doing this, but if you want a more defensive lead, go with Mamoswine with the following set.

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Snow Cloak
4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Adamant Nature
-Earthquake
-Ice Shard
-Endeavor
-Stealth Rock

Why do I hate telling you this you ask? Simply because I have found that Mamoswine is the best Anti-Lead in the current metagame, despite being rarely used. Hopefully one more person using it won't let the little known secret out. ;)

Anyway, Mamoswine can take hits better than Aero, and hit destroys almost all of the current common leads barring Swampert (forces a stall war really) and Fire Blast Azelf (if it desides to attack right away). The Sash will keep you alive at least to get SR up, but it can also work amazingly combined with Endeavor and Ice Shard, and I'll give you an example that happened to me.
*My actions will be listed in bold*
I send out Mamo, my opponent leads with Gyarados.
Dragon Dance, Stealth Rock
Dragon Dance, Endeavor (7 pp remain)
Dragon Dance, Endeavor (6 pp)
Dragon Dance, Endeavor (5 pp)
Dragon Dance, Endeavor (4 pp)
Dragon Dance, Endeavor (3 pp)
Dragon Dance, Endeavor (2 pp)
Dragon Dance (at +6 +6 this thing will be tough to take down, no?), Endeavor (1 pp remains)
Dragon Dance, Ice Shard (hehe, my little bluff that I'm out of pp)
Waterfall, Endeavor
Ice Shard finishes the +6 +6 Gyarados!

Obviously, this set will cause some serious damage, and if it doesn't die at the start of the game then he can come back in on a Salamence/Flygon and beat them with Ice Shard. Try him out and you won't ever use any other Anti-Lead again.

 

[xWOLFYx]

You should use Yache Berry on your Baton Passing Gliscor. It all but guarantees that you get the pass off, especially if you're only passing one boost.