Introduction
This is an offensive team I made about a month ago, before the October tier shifts came in. Several of the mons I decided to use ended up falling to UU or UUBL, but I've still been using it; not really because it's a great team, although it is probably the best team I've made so far, but because I just think it's really fun to use. Anyway, let's get into it.
The Team
Blacephalon @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Flamethrower
- Fire Blast
- Explosion
I started off with scarf Blacephalon because the last team I made used scarf Lando-T, which was too slow for my liking, so I wanted a faster scarfer. Blacheph is a good late game sweeper/cleaner, often becoming my win con in many games. Shadow ball hits psychic types, flamethrower hits steel types, and and fire blast is for when you need a bit more power, often for chip damage on neutral/resisted targets. Explosion is important because it's pretty much the only way I have of dealing with a boosted Volcarona; even with timid nature it does ~90%, and Volc will almost never be at full health. It also does ~60% to a Chansey whose eviolite is knocked off, which can come in handy if your opponent wants to be clever and switch Chansey into a presumed special attack.
Latios-Mega @ Latiosite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Psychic
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Roost
I'm not exactly sure why I picked Mega Latios next, but it ended up being a good choice; it's a great all-around sort of Pokemon, covering a lot of threats, being able to take some big hits and hit hard back, all while being pretty fast too. Psychic is the big bad STAB move, and earthquake takes care of Heatran while doing big chip to a few other important steel types like Magearna. For the next move I went ice beam over draco meteor, which I think was a good choice. A lot of people don't expect ice beam on M-Lati these days; you'd be surprised how many people leave their Gliscors and Landoruses and stuff like that in on an ice beam. It also OHKOs Zapdos with rocks, which is nice. And of course, roost is there to keep Latios healthy if possible.
Keldeo @ Waterium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Taunt
Originally I had Z-Bounce Gyarados in this slot, but I switched it for Keldeo because I wanted more of a breaker than a sweeper, and while Gyara can fill this role I felt like it wasn't doing a good enough job. Calm mind Keldeo is great for punching holes in opposing teams, and the fact that it does physical as well as special damage makes hard to deal with. Calm Mind is there for obvious reasons; Hydro Pump becomes a really powerful Hydro Vortex which can break through a lot of things that resist it, especially with a few boosts. Secret Sword does physical damage and prevents Chansey from standing in its way. And finally, taunt allows it to set up on things like Toxapex and Slowbro, which the opponent often switches into Keldeo not knowing the set. It also makes it useful as a lead, especially against trick room teams.
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Toxic
I chose Excadrill next because I really liked the idea of having a hazard setter and remover in one pokemon; plus the ability to set rocks through magic bounce and hit levitate mons is nice too. Stealth rock and rapid spin are there for obvious reasons, earthquake hits things that don't resist/aren't immune pretty hard, and toxic lets you wear stuff down when earthquake doesn't do much. I've got a focus sash on it cause that's how it was on smogon, but I'm not really sure that's the right item for its role on this team; usually it doesn't work out too well to get knocked down to one HP by a move that would kill just to set up rocks, especially because then if it needs to come back in again to remove rocks it can't. I've been thinking about using an air balloon instead, but I'm not sure how I should change the EV spread to do that. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake
I chose Tangrowth next because I needed a Zygarde check, as well as a just a general defensive pivot, and Tangrowth fills that role wonderfully. Giga drain allows it to regain some health on things that are weak/not resistant to it, as well as threatening Gastrodon and Swampert. Knock off deprives switch ins of their items, and in conjunction with Zeraoara's knock off it means that a good few of the opponents' mons are going to lose their items. HP ice hits Zygarde, and earthquake allows it to beat Heatran one-on-one most of the time. With the assault vest, Tangrowth can switch into just about any special attack it needs to, and with its great defense it can take physical hits really well too. Regenerator, of course, allows Tang keep its health up so it can come in and take hits over and over again, and all of these attributes combined make Tangrowth just a great switch in to pretty much anything.
Zeraora @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch
I know Zeraora isn't exactly the biggest threat in OU, but I really like its combination of power (when banded) and blistering speed. I think it makes a good cleaner, often winning the game once ground and grass types have been eliminated, plus being good for doing big chip early in the game. Plasma fists kills or does huge damage to anything that doesn't resist it, and OHKOs most things that are weak to it, like Toxapex. Knock off is used when I think the opponent will switch into something that can take a hit, and in conjunction with Tang's knock off it gets rid of a lot of the opponent's items. Close combat hits hard, notably doing ~70% to base form Swampert, which will almost always be the switch in on the first turn when the opponent is running rain (I always lead with Zeraora on rain because of this.) Finally, fire punch kills Ferro and Scizor, as well as hitting other things that are weak to it like Serperior surprisingly hard. Volt Absorb is nice because it gives me another switch in to electric moves; I also like how it lets me beat Koko one-on-one and then often use its terrain to destroy the rest of its team. I do like Zeraoara but I'm by no means married to it being on this team, so if you think another mon would be better let me know about it.
Weaknesses
This team definitely has a few glaring weaknesses, so let's talk about them.
Priority - I have no priority users on this team, so opposing priority is a problem for me. If my pokemon get worn down enough, hard-hitting priority users like Ash-Gren and Zygarde can spam their priority and win the game.
Setup sweepers that increase their speed - Because I have no priority, if a sweeper boosts itself until it's faster than all my mons there's not much I can do. In particular, Hawlucha is a huge problem for me; unless I predict it coming in and switch to someone who can OHKO it, like Latios, it gets up a swords dance and the game is over.
Screens - This is a team that is good against balance and stall but often has problems against other offensive teams (except webs and rain). In particular, aurora veil, and to a lesser extent dual screens, are hard for me to deal with. I'm not exactly sure why that is.
Tapu Bulu - My only way to take out Bulu without a lot of chip is with Blacephalon, which can be hard to get in. Because of this, I often end up having to use Latios's ice beam to wear it down. In addition, grassy terrain weakening ground moves kind of sucks because three of my team members use earthquake for coverage.
Mega Alakazam - My only real switch in to shadow ball is Tangrowth, which allows Zam to trace regenerator. Not impossible to deal with, but kind of annoying.
Clefable - Sometimes Clefable can cause problems because I don't have any steel or poison moves to hit it with, but usually it gets worn down enough that it's not an issue.
Anyway, that's the team. It got to the high 1400s, which isn't much but it's the highest I've ever gotten. Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions! Also, here's the Pokepaste.
