Under Pressure (Stall) in OU! (Peak #3)

[SansNickel]

Admittedly, 2000 means nothing on the super inflated ladder. The things people use can be pretty funny... I'm not the best player, but mostly UU and under pokemon got me to 2000? Tells you something. So please, give me your thoughts. (:

Funny thing is, they actually cover a lot of relevant threats in the metagame.

This didn't start off as a serious team (and... still isn't really, it just does well). It was like -- let's see what happens when I put 6 pressure pokemon on one team. Then I realize I couldn't find a 6th I wanted so I put in ditto to prevent set up sweeping.

The goal of this team was to just experiment with some of the pokemon that could really shine in OU. I want some diversity, not Rotom-W, Talonflame, and Genesect + Offensive mega on every team. There are plenty of viable pokemon out there.

Team at a glance:

TheOne (Deoxys-Defense) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 200 SDef / 252 HP / 56 Def
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- Spikes
- Recover

My lead. Magic Coat is the best freaking move on deoxys-d. Everyone expects an uninvested base 90 taunt or just simply stealth rocks or spikes. Magic Coat pretty much beats all other leads, as even landorus-t or tyranitar set up rocks before going for the u-turn or crunch/pursuit respectively. It usually gets way more than SR + 1 layer, a lot of times it has gotten all 3 layers of spikes up. I honestly couldn't care less for defog, as my goal is to pressure stall -- not rack up residual damage. Most defog users can't do any damage to deoxys-d anyway, as I can recover off the damage. Even when scizor comes in to defog + u-turn, I just recover after the u-turn and keep setting up, while sucking up all the pp. I like to keep deoxys-d alive just to use as a pivot, while of course draining pp. It doesn't matter that it doesn't have an attacking move, that's not the point. I've never been in a situation where I've needed to attack.

Aureolin (Zapdos) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 240 SDef / 252 HP / 16 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Discharge

Zapdos is honestly amazing. It's my special wall, easily either pressure or toxic stalling out everything that it outspeeds. A lot of moves like hydro pump and stone edge only have 8 pp, meaning I only need to sub 3 times and roost once and it's gone. Even stuff that has 24 pp doesn't scare me at all. I don't need any speed investment as most Rotom-W don't run any speed, but will-o-wisp honestly wouldn't matter that much anyway. It easily checks special lucario, resisting both its stabs. This set is walled by excadrill, but suicune laughs at it. Zapdos takes all the special hits (grass & water aimed at suicune), and Suicune in return takes the ice and rock moves (we all know rock moves are physical).

Cerulean (Suicune) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

CroCune is back, I don't care what everyone else says. With no 100% accurate thunders and nearly no grass moves lying around (except giga drain mega venusaur, solar beam mega charizard-y and energy ball genesect), Suicune easily sets up late game and most of the time sweeps. It has huge physical bulk, and if you want a benchmark, +2 Cloyster rock blast does like 40%. Easily the star of my team, a status absorber and great physical wall. Rotom-W doesn't actually scare it since it has to switch out, and after a calm mind boost it doesn't matter anyway.

FieryLight (Entei) @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head
- Bulldoze


So Entei got sacred fire this gen, so I had to try it out. The banded set works great, and I lead with it if I know they're leading with genesect, simple as that. Burning things only adds to the bulk of all my pokemon, extreme speed is extremely nice for late game cleaning (usually I don't need to). I really only switch this in against steels (save heatran) and nothing else since I don't want it taking too much damage. The most important role entei serves is breaking dragonite's multiscale or breaking a sub last minute so ditto can transform. I've never had a game where ditto can't transform, so it's all about smart thinking.

Dianthus (Venusaur) @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 4 SDef / 252 HP / 252 Def
Bold Nature
- Earthquake
- Giga Drain
- Synthesis
- Sludge Bomb

Mega Venusaur, THE stall pokemon. This guy replaced dusclops, who had a very important niche, but whatever. I now have one of the best conkeldurr counters in the game, as well as a physical wall to switch into bisharp (annoying af). Earthquake owns heatran and bisharp, sludge bomb for nice stab with chansey to poison and giga drain and synthesis are staples IMO.

DreamFlight (Ditto) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Def / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Transform

I don't have a mega, but most games I end up having a scarfed one at +2. Not bad, huh. IVs give hidden power ice. The mere presence of this thing prevents setting up beyond +1. Slow CM / bulk up users are pressure stalled by zapdos, and volcarona is handled by zapdos (toxic, then stall as long as possible), then either sending in ditto or extreme speed entei. Ditto does its job by preventing setting up and revenge killing. Without setting up, very few things are getting past the 4 bulky pokemon, and the ones that can get through one are frail enough to be revenge killed by extremespeed after some damage.

Relevant threats:
Rotom-W is stalled out by Zapdos, and Suicune after a CM boost.
Talonflame is beaten by Suicune.
Genesect -> Entei & Dusclops (Scarfed genesect can't really sweep, it just u-turns lol)
Mega Lucario (Special) -> Zapdos, Mega Lucario (Physical) -> Dusclops easily takes 2 crunches and burns
Mega Charizard-Y is hard for me to handle if I don't have stealth rocks up. Sometimes I'll just pain split with dusclops until dusclops dies, then revenge kill with extreme speed. If rocks are up Char-y isn't a problem.
Mega Charizard-X -> Suicune, if it sets up ditto eats everything alive on the other team.
Mega Venusaur -> stalled out by zapdos, deoxys-d can actually just recovery every two turns, can't hurt dusclops which can burn it
Aegislash (physical) -> burned by scald or will-o-wisp from Suicune or dusclops respectively.
Aegislash (special) -> stalled and just killed by zapdos.
Deoxys-S -> isn't that powerful at all (anything can take a hit from that), and never expects magic guard on deo-d when it tries to taunt it. Not really a threat at all, suicune has scald, dusclops has shadow sneak, etc.
Heatran -> Heatran is the worst. If it has roar I can't hit it with suicune much, but since everything has a decent way of healing it doesn't matter too much.
Garchomp -> Suicune, ditto if it sets up.
Manaphy -> Ditto if it sets up, Zapdos can take a hit and use thunderbolt as either ditto or entei revenge kills.
Thundurus-I -> Zapdos, hp ice is weak.
Lati@s -> anything, really.
Mega Pinsir -> Suicune, Zapdos, and Dusclops can all switch in an retaliate, Entei and Ditto can both revenge kill.

Entei @ Choice Band
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Sacred Fire
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head
- Bulldoze

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 240 SDef / 16 Spd
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Roost
- Heat Wave
- Discharge

Deoxys-Defense @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Magic Coat
- Spikes
- Recover

Venusaur @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Earthquake
- Synthesis

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Transform
-

 

[SansNickel]

I'm going to use my bump. Share some thoughts please?

 

[Zed Blizzard]

Heh, I just used my bump, so I know how you feel.

Personally, I would feel very ahem, pressured by this team. I normally never use legendaries, but I can definitely say that you can tear apart a great deal many enemies with this team. You might have problems with something that has Guts or else has status immunity like Toxic Orb Breloom, but as for actual suggestions for how to improve your team...

Apart from Entei (holy crap it has Sacred Fire now) and Ditto, you lack many coverage moves, so enemy tanks may be hard to deal with if they can get up substitute on any of your non-substitute tanks with one attack move that the enemy resists. I'm trying to think of an example now, but none come to my head. But with all the ability to burn enemies lying around, does Zapdos really need Toxic? Maybe an ice move or heat wave could be better on Zapdos, or protect for more stalling. You also have a weakness to stealth rocks that may hurt your Entei who I see as doing some decent amount of switching in and out of, with only your Deoxys able to do anything to prevent it. I might recommend a way to remove stealth rocks perhaps. Otherwise, it looks pretty good to me.

 

[SansNickel]

Heh, I just used my bump, so I know how you feel.

Personally, I would feel very ahem, pressured by this team. I normally never use legendaries, but I can definitely say that you can tear apart a great deal many enemies with this team. You might have problems with something that has Guts or else has status immunity like Toxic Orb Breloom, but as for actual suggestions for how to improve your team...

Apart from Entei (holy crap it has Sacred Fire now) and Ditto, you lack many coverage moves, so enemy tanks may be hard to deal with if they can get up substitute on any of your non-substitute tanks with one attack move that the enemy resists. I'm trying to think of an example now, but none come to my head. But with all the ability to burn enemies lying around, does Zapdos really need Toxic? Maybe an ice move or heat wave could be better on Zapdos, or protect for more stalling. You also have a weakness to stealth rocks that may hurt your Entei who I see as doing some decent amount of switching in and out of, with only your Deoxys able to do anything to prevent it. I might recommend a way to remove stealth rocks perhaps. Otherwise, it looks pretty good to me.

Thanks for replying! The only non-substitute tanks would be deoxys-d and suicune, and I don't really see the need for moves on those pokemon. A lot of times I just use deoxys-d to constantly recover and stall out pp/health, such as on burn orb conkeldurr. Knock off is doing ~50% to me every time, but in the end they realize they're not killing me before the pp runs out. With suicune, the set kind of has to be run that way, and I actually don't even care if they have gastrodon or jellicent or vaporeon. The reason being is that they can't do anything to me, and so I can actually just rest and NOT use sleep talk, as they're forced to use their pp while I don't have to do anything. My vaporeon has actually beaten a venusaur before, I got 1 calm mind on the switch and it couldn't 3hko me, and I was lucky enough to not have it crit.

Hmm... Zapdos.. I've actually thought about other possibilities, it's just that sometimes I rather not pp stall, but toxic stall. Sometimes I wish I had heat wave (mostly against excadrill), as other things nailed by heat wave can't really do anything to zapdos in return (think aegislash shadow ball, which does like 30%, or heatran, scizor, I'm not too worried about genesect, though it could be a surprise I guess). Maybe I will play around with it. Protect would also be cool.

Yep I have an SR weakness, but I actually don't switch it in that much. It's mostly as a lead, then as a late game cleaner. Since everyone runs defog (and I have like the bulkiest spinblocker), usually they have SR + a few layers of spikes, whereas I would only have SR, and to me that's definitely a fair trade. I guess I could easily replace one of my members (or does zapdos get defog?), but I'm limited to only pressure pokemon just for fun.. I guess. Though I do see myself using zapdos and suicune on other non-pressure-dedicated teams, and they're just so good in this meta, as nobody prepares for them.

Could u please make add the import file!!!

Added. I'm not sure how to do spoilers though.

 

[Zed Blizzard]

No problem, could use a review myself. Zapdos does get defog, but play around and see what slots onto Zapdos best. Another thing that I've tried and not too sure if you may want to try or not is to have no HP EVs on Dusclops to get the most out of its pain split. Definitely risk vs reward there, but I did that on my Cofagrigus for the longest time, and your Dusclops has eviolite, which means you get much better returns for putting your EVs into defense than the ordinary pokemon.

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

Mega Blastoise would give you a spinner and something to heat Heatran with.

 

[Alejandro36]

Congrats on doing well with such a creative team! Laddering in OU is more of a challenge but if you want you can try this team in UU actually. I think all of your pokemon are UU legal at the moment. And if this team does well in OU then it will probably kick ass in UU with all the powerfull offensive megas gone.

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

I'd run max speed max HP Timid nature on Deoxys-D.

 

[SansNickel]

No problem, could use a review myself. Zapdos does get defog, but play around and see what slots onto Zapdos best. Another thing that I've tried and not too sure if you may want to try or not is to have no HP EVs on Dusclops to get the most out of its pain split. Definitely risk vs reward there, but I did that on my Cofagrigus for the longest time, and your Dusclops has eviolite, which means you get much better returns for putting your EVs into defense than the ordinary pokemon.

Hmm... Probably a good idea, I guess I'll see if there are instances I really want more physical bulk.

Mega Blastoise would give you a spinner and something to heat Heatran with.

I've considered it, but I already have a bulky water, and suicune stays. I cant really double up on that typing.

Congrats on doing well with such a creative team! Laddering in OU is more of a challenge but if you want you can try this team in UU actually. I think all of your pokemon are UU legal at the moment. And if this team does well in OU then it will probably kick ass in UU with all the powerfull offensive megas gone.

Thanks (:
I've never really played UU so I don't really know what the relevant threats there are like.

I'd run max speed max HP Timid nature on Deoxys-D.

Why?

 

[MewTheDestroyer]

Why?

It let's you said up hazards more efficiently, you can outspeed Smeargle and Taunt them (assuming they lack Magic Coat) and you can get off Recovers before possibly getting KO'd.

 

[SansNickel]

It let's you said up hazards more efficiently, you can outspeed Smeargle and Taunt them (assuming they lack Magic Coat) and you can get off Recovers before possibly getting KO'd.

I really like the bulk though. It lets me stall out so many of those 8/16/24 pp special moves, like thunderbolt, surf, etc. Magic coat beats every single smeargle except baton passing ones, which I'm not afraid of due to ditto.

 

[Zed Blizzard]

Hey. Tested out your team, even though I'm not the stall kind of player. At some points of the game, wasn't even sure if the pressure was working, the enemy had so many moves to stall out. Basically, I tried using Deoxys to stall out enemy threats by removing the moves that might hurt me the most, taking apart enemy teams with Deoxys and Dusclops and using Entei to break enemy subseeders before trying to set up with Zapdos or Suicune. I've noted that trick users are a pain to go against for this team because of the nature of many of the movesets. A Deoxys-D with a choice scarf can still do his job of stalling, but just not very well. Subseeders and enemy tanks in general can be hard for me to deal with as I have to threaten them out with Entei, who becomes critical to the team's ability to outstall the enemy team by removing all of their stalls, though at one point one enemy switched a Blissey into the Entei's sacred fire and was immolated. All in all, I would say that it's a fun thing to try, slow to take its toll on the enemy, and elements of it are definitely worth keeping, while other aspects are just amusing, but not something I'd continue to use in the long run.

 

[SansNickel]

Hey. Tested out your team, even though I'm not the stall kind of player. At some points of the game, wasn't even sure if the pressure was working, the enemy had so many moves to stall out. Basically, I tried using Deoxys to stall out enemy threats by removing the moves that might hurt me the most, taking apart enemy teams with Deoxys and Dusclops and using Entei to break enemy subseeders before trying to set up with Zapdos or Suicune. I've noted that trick users are a pain to go against for this team because of the nature of many of the movesets. A Deoxys-D with a choice scarf can still do his job of stalling, but just not very well. Subseeders and enemy tanks in general can be hard for me to deal with as I have to threaten them out with Entei, who becomes critical to the team's ability to outstall the enemy team by removing all of their stalls, though at one point one enemy switched a Blissey into the Entei's sacred fire and was immolated. All in all, I would say that it's a fun thing to try, slow to take its toll on the enemy, and elements of it are definitely worth keeping, while other aspects are just amusing, but not something I'd continue to use in the long run.

Haha thanks, maybe it gets some getting used to. I'm actually 2160+ now, which seems pretty good by my standard considering the pokes I'm using.
Honestly if a trick is obvious (they switch in rotom-w to deoxys-d or dusclops or something), I just send in ditto. But like you said, deoxys-d isn't that bad, as a lot of times I'm spamming recover or spikes.

Pressure only works when the move targets you, remember that. Something like roost doesn't have an extra pp drained.
Make use of zapdos. It's pretty versatile, and can easily heal off any damage. Zapdos also outspeeds most sub seeders and can stall them out first. Entei is really used 1. as a last resort to break a sub so ditto can transform, or 2. late game cleaner (it's actually so good at that after hazards have been up for a while).

Suicune has won so many games for me it's not funny, but yeah I realize this playstyle is really difficult (I think that's also why it works).

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

Sorry, I forgot you had Suicune... Mega Blastoise was a bad suggestion on my part and you are correct to facilely dismiss it.

====

On another note, I would suggest to add some Speed to Suicune, simply to outspeed Jolly Azumarill (as you have a 30% chance to burn it after it Belly Drums which is better than nothing although you do have Entei and Ditto as an additional fail-safe) or Rotom-W trying to outspeed opposing Azumarill or uninvested Lando-T. You can Calm Mind before it uses Volt Switch or punish opposing Lando-T with Scald. (In the Rotom-W scenario, you can use Scald if you want burn it, or to punish the switch in with Scald instead of Calm Minding. The latter will require you to be slower than Rotom-W, and that is an argument against adding speed EVs.) It can be considered an investment in its "bulk" in this context, although you stated you are not considered with Volt Switch.

Asides from those, this would also prevent you from being swept by Adamant Crawdant or Jolly Mega Mawile. You would also benefit against Bulky Excadrill since it can use Rock Slide against a predicted Zapdos switch as you can potentially burn it before it attacks.

If you choose not to, I would be interested in your counterarguments. Admittedly it does not seem necessary and/or you just simply prefer more physical bulk.

---

Iron Head is only justifiable against Fairies because of its flinch rate, which is advantageous in stall breaking against Fairies, and it hits Tyranitar the hardest. A neutral Sacred Fire has a 150 BP with STAB while a supereffective Iron Head has a BP of 160. Perhaps I missed something about its utility, but did you forget Bulldoze to predict Heatran?

===

How do you deal with Breloom and Excadrill anyway?


===
I think it is debatable that Entei is an "RU" Pokemon now. It gained a lot of "bulk" this gen since it doesn't have to use Flare Blitz and due to the Burn chance.

Arcanine is the closest UU competitor since it has a very useful defensive ability (Intimidate) and ExtremeSpeed, but it has to use Flare Blitz for its power STAB. Scared Fire can also act as a pseudo-Intimidate if you outspeed the target with a rather permanent effect, which costs a turn to remove with a cleric.

It is conceivable (perhaps that word is an understatement) that it can be low mid OU, since it can occupy a niche as a trumping, although weaker, revenge killer with ExtremeSpeed (as it is only beaten by other ES users and Feint Mega-Pinsir) with more "bulk" than Talonflame since it does not suffer recoil damage or have half its HP stripped by Stealth Rock, in addition to having better statistical bulk, and the . However, arguablely Talonflame is more "bulky" as it has priority Roost, it can use leftovers, and a rather valuable defensive typing in Flying (leaving aside that it leaves it weak to Stealth Rock), but the additional "bulk" from Roost comes at the price of using a turn.

Since OU is defined by usage stats, Suicune may creep up to OU too, even though it would ironically do worse in UU as it can be effectively checked in an UU environment with more Grass types that would not make OU due to being a U-turn, Talonflame, or Heatran liability. Many Dragon players are reluctant to use Outrage due to the presence of Fairies and this means Crocune is less likely to be overpowered with a Calm Mind boost. Physical electric moves have a low distribution, and I can only recall Arcanine, Victini, and Kyurem-B possessing them (and obviously the Uber Zekrom) and they are not STAB. Lastly, without permanent rain, there are fewer Storm Drain or Water Absorb Pokemon running around to check rain-boosted Keldeo, Specs Politoed and Starmie.

Also, it no longer has to compete with Politoed, but has to compete with Rotom-W and Mega Blastoise.

===

You may consider yourself tactically weak (as you modestly said you are "not the best player") but congratulations for effectively exploiting metagame trends and changes in game mechanics with some Gen 5 UU Pokemon. I love the fact you are using Zapdos, Suicune, and Entei, and the Synergy of Spikes and Stealth Rock with ES Entei.

I don't want to use Suicune because it does not fit my battling style, but I want to see some replays to appreciate it. Pressure Suicune is also a nice asset in Stall vs. Stall wars.

 

[SansNickel]

Replies in bold. (:

Sorry, I forgot you had Suicune... Mega Blastoise was a bad suggestion on my part and you are correct to facilely dismiss it.

====

On another note, I would suggest to add some Speed to Suicune, simply to outspeed Jolly Azumarill (as you have a 30% chance to burn it after it Belly Drums which is better than nothing although you do have Entei and Ditto as an additional fail-safe) or Rotom-W trying to outspeed opposing Azumarill or uninvested Lando-T. You can Calm Mind before it uses Volt Switch or punish opposing Lando-T with Scald. (In the Rotom-W scenario, you can use Scald if you want burn it, or to punish the switch in with Scald instead of Calm Minding. The latter will require you to be slower than Rotom-W, and that is an argument against adding speed EVs.) It can be considered an investment in its "bulk" in this context, although you stated you are not considered with Volt Switch.

Asides from those, this would also prevent you from being swept by Adamant Crawdant or Jolly Mega Mawile. You would also benefit against Bulky Excadrill since it can use Rock Slide against a predicted Zapdos switch as you can potentially burn it before it attacks.

If you choose not to, I would be interested in your counterarguments. Admittedly it does not seem necessary and/or you just simply prefer more physical bulk.

Hmm... While I do think outspeeding things are nice, the 30% burn chance isn't all too reliable. Investing a bit in speed will turn A LOT of 3hkos into 2hkos, and 4hkos into 3hkos, which I really don't want. Often times, my suicune drops down to <10% as I rest, but I'm not sure if that's luck or just the fact that they can never get the 3hko. Either way, I believe it is necessary to keep all the bulk I can, as preferably I set up a CM on a free switch-in (after a kill) or to force something out. That way, I make sure I have adequate special bulk to start the rest + calm minds. I'll see if I can find a few replays of it, because I can remember being at really low HPs sometimes. With this spread I think I also avoid the 2hko from Kyurem-B's outrage.


---

Iron Head is only justifiable against Fairies because of its flinch rate, which is advantageous in stall breaking against Fairies, and it hits Tyranitar the hardest. A neutral Sacred Fire has a 150 BP with STAB while a supereffective Iron Head has a BP of 160. Perhaps I missed something about its utility, but did you forget Bulldoze to predict Heatran?

Sometimes I find iron head necessary, for example what if they had a tyranitar and a gengar left and I needed to try to clean up? I would opt for iron head, and the 30% flinch isn't bad at all. But recently I've actually swapped out stone edge for bulldoze, I'll see how that works out.

===

How do you deal with Breloom and Excadrill anyway?

Suicune forces excadrill out easy (the last thing it wants is a SE scald) with a 252 hp / 252 def bold spread, as for breloom it's pretty annoying, usually dusclops can take a hit at +2 and burn it, sub punch is stalled out by deoxys-d no problem, and if I can get hazards up to break sash versions it's not hard to kill with entei extreme speed. Worst case scenario, I can ditto mach punch it back, and I think suicune takes a 5-hit bullet seed if breloom hasn't boosted.

===
I think it is debatable that Entei is an "RU" Pokemon now. It gained a lot of "bulk" this gen since it doesn't have to use Flare Blitz and due to the Burn chance.

Arcanine is the closest UU competitor since it has a very useful defensive ability (Intimidate) and ExtremeSpeed, but it has to use Flare Blitz for its power STAB. Scared Fire can also act as a pseudo-Intimidate if you outspeed the target with a rather permanent effect, which costs a turn to remove with a cleric.

It is conceivable (perhaps that word is an understatement) that it can be low mid OU, since it can occupy a niche as a trumping, although weaker, revenge killer with ExtremeSpeed (as it is only beaten by other ES users and Feint Mega-Pinsir) with more "bulk" than Talonflame since it does not suffer recoil damage or have half its HP stripped by Stealth Rock, in addition to having better statistical bulk, and the . However, arguablely Talonflame is more "bulky" as it has priority Roost, it can use leftovers, and a rather valuable defensive typing in Flying (leaving aside that it leaves it weak to Stealth Rock), but the additional "bulk" from Roost comes at the price of using a turn.

Since OU is defined by usage stats, Suicune may creep up to OU too, even though it would ironically do worse in UU as it can be effectively checked in an UU environment with more Grass types that would not make OU due to being a U-turn, Talonflame, or Heatran liability. Many Dragon players are reluctant to use Outrage due to the presence of Fairies and this means Crocune is less likely to be overpowered with a Calm Mind boost. Physical electric moves have a low distribution, and I can only recall Arcanine, Victini, and Kyurem-B possessing them (and obviously the Uber Zekrom) and they are not STAB. Lastly, without permanent rain, there are fewer Storm Drain or Water Absorb Pokemon running around to check rain-boosted Keldeo, Specs Politoed and Starmie.

Also, it no longer has to compete with Politoed, but has to compete with Rotom-W and Mega Blastoise.

Yep, I've actually started seeing CroCune creeping up the lower ladders, not sure if I have anything to do with it (I haven't seen any other RMTs with suicune yet). Either way they're still both OU so I'm fine (:

===

You may consider yourself tactically weak (as you modestly said you are "not the best player") but congratulations for effectively exploiting metagame trends and changes in game mechanics with some Gen 5 UU Pokemon. I love the fact you are using Zapdos, Suicune, and Entei, and the Synergy of Spikes and Stealth Rock with ES Entei.

I don't want to use Suicune because it does not fit my battling style, but I want to see some replays to appreciate it. Pressure Suicune is also a nice asset in Stall vs. Stall wars.

Thanks, below are some replays, but I don't actually know what happened in them because I'm at school and its blocked lol

Here are the replays, again I have no idea what happens because I'm at school. Some of them might be stupid games.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-75317938
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-75261022
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-75246188
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-75221140
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-75206927
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-75030648
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-74807843

 

[Arcanine is Regal]

why is deoxys specially invested, from my experience the Number one move that deoxys faces is u-turn which is physical...

Edit: I am also disappointed you didnt name this team"Under Pressure"

 

[SansNickel]

why is deoxys specially invested, from my experience the Number one move that deoxys faces is u-turn which is physical...

Edit: I am also disappointed you didnt name this team"Under Pressure"

It's specially invested so it can take special hits lol. I might change it. Either way, deoxys-d doesn't want to take a u-turn, physically invested or not.

 

[Zed Blizzard]

Deoxys wants to go in on enemy status inducers and/or hazard layers. From my knowledge, most hazard layers tend to be physical, with the exception of froslass, tentacruel, greninja, and maybe one or two others. Status inducers however tend to be more special, like togekiss and toxic stalls. While the hazard layers will just switch out against Deoxys if they can't do their job of laying hazards, the stalls want to stay in and try to outstall deoxys. Deoxys does a great job of standing there and pressuring the stalls into oblivion with some good prediction, especially against anti-physical stalls that use burn, as Deoxys doesn't really give a fig about being burned. Makes him great against scald users. So yeah, special invested Deoxys helps him do that more.

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

After using this team, I find that these are threats:

Curse Trevenant: You have no form of direct Hazard control and your team does not switch out much while it forces switch outs, Sub does not Block Curse.

Clefable: Unaware breaks though the Special Defense boosts of Suicune. Magic Guard prevents status and PP stalling of the recovery moves and the defensive boosts allow it to PP stall Ditto

Bisharp: You have two Dark type weaknesses that Bisharp outspeeds, and Knock Off adversely affects the team somewhat. It resists ES Speed and will Sucker Punch Entei. It can't be stalled out by Zapdos. If it switches in to Dusclops, your best bet is to sac it and try to burn it. Fortunately, it is a Dark Type, and Ditto may withstand a Sucker Punch.

Greninja: It is faster than Zapdos, and Zapdos cannot statistically exploit the inaccuracy of Stone Edge, the low PP of Stone Edge, and the lower speed of uninvested Lando-T. It has STAB Dark Pulse for your two Dark Types. It can pack Taunt, which would destroy your momentum if you lead with Deoxys-D. You may waste a turn using if you Magic Coat it . Protean can be used defensively against anything Ditto may do. Leading with Zapdos may resolve this as it can damage or Toxic it. It can defeat you if used early in the game since hazards will not affect it and would not be in KO range for Entei's ExtremeSpeed.

LO and/or Nasty Plot Thundurus I/T: (once Ditto is gone) It is outspeeds and can overpower every Pokemon you have before you can status it our set up with Calm Mind. Variants without LO are mostly likely a joke against this team.

Sub Gengar: Outspeeds everything, its presence deters ExtremeSpeed use. It has to take a hit from Entei. It has a Powerful Ghost STAB against Dusclops and Deoxys-D. Sub to protect it from Burns from Dusclops. Zapdos can spam T-bolt to beat it, but it probably needs a free switch. Variants with T-bolt "pressure" Suicune to sleep as it can spam T-bolt.

Heatran: For the reasons you stated. Prevents Sacred Fire spam. Immune to status. Forces Suicune out with Roar. Ditto would at best force it would if it has Earth Power. Correctly predicted switch-ins with Stone Edges may not be rewarded by the RNG.

Lesser Threats:

Air Balloon SD Excadrill setting up on Zapdos and Deoxys-D: Ditto can force it out once the Balloon is broken but it resists its own Iron Head and Rock Slide. You cannot get a free switch with it and would outright kill Suicune (2HKOing it at +2) because it outspeeds it (and IIRC, Scald does not KO it). If it is Jolly, it will KO Entei. Dusclops is too slow to Spinblock

Sub Toxic Heal Breloom: Sleep does suck and cannot be stalled out with Status.

Mega Blastoise: Can be stalled out Zapdos. Dusclops cannot spinblock it.

Ghosts in general or anything with Sub, especially those that can outspeed Suicune and Entei.

Some Ironies:

Mega-Venusaur usually loses to Suicune, barring a crit, due to the Special Defense boost
Ferrothorn using Power Whip to break Zapdos' Subs helps you against Suicune
Gastrodon loses to Suicune if it is Toxiced.
Mamoswine's Freeze Dry is an unpleasant surprise for Suicune if it has not Calm Minded.

Never ran into a Pinsir though. I bet the team would lose to a nicely timed Sub Kyurem-B if it has some other Pokemon that can pressure (ironic huh?) the team.
---

Yes, also the critical hit nerf also helps Suicune and needs the most Defense in order to prevent some KOs with crits from physical moves. This is a consideration that less stallish teams can afford not be concerned with.

 

[SansNickel]

Thank you so much for the detailed response! My answers in red.

After using this team, I find that these are threats:

Curse Trevenant: You have no form of direct Hazard control and your team does not switch out much while it forces switch outs, Sub does not Block Curse

I used to run curse Trevenant with WoW, phantom force, and sub, and I absolutely loved it. But anyway, firstly not many people run CurseTrev. While I realize it is an annoyance to my team, I'm not too worried about it. This is because curse has only 10pp, meaning the opponent can only use it 5 times. Trevenant can't really hurt any pokemon, while I have many pokemon with reliable recovery, meaning I can switch in, recover, switch out. Zapdos is usually my go-to switch in, as nothing trevenant has can really hurt it, and I can usually toxic it. Weirdly enough, in my experience with CurseTrev, only really offensive teams can prevent it from setting a sub, otherwise curse actually causes huge offensive pressure.

Clefable: Unaware breaks though the Special Defense boosts of Suicune. Magic Guard prevents status and PP stalling of the recovery moves and the defensive boosts allow it to PP stall Ditto

Dusclops deals pretty well with the unaware variants, since it can set up a sub and honestly just pain split lol:
4 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Dusclops: 40-48 (14.1 - 16.9%) -- possible 6HKO
252+ SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Dusclops: 55-66 (19.4 - 23.3%) -- possible 5HKO

Magic guard variants without charge beam are stalled by deoxys-d (stored power has 16 pp)
4 SpA Clefable Stored Power (260 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Deoxys-D: 46-54 (15.1 - 17.7%) -- possible 6HKO
It takes Clefable up to +6 just to OHKO:
+6 4 SpA Clefable Stored Power (380 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Deoxys-D: 268-316 (88.1 - 103.9%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

Zapdos also outspeeds and gets to set up 5 subs, essentially stalling out 10 stored power pp. Dusclops doesn't do too bad either if it sets up a sub before it gets too powerful, then just spam sub / pain split as it breaks the sub. It can do this because even +6 charge beam doesn't break the sub:
+6 4 SpA Clefable Charge Beam vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Dusclops: 56-66 (19.7 - 23.3%) -- possible 5HKO

A rare sight, but still can pose a threat if I don't play correctly.

Bisharp: You have two Dark type weaknesses that Bisharp outspeeds, and Knock Off adversely affects the team somewhat. It resists ES Speed and will Sucker Punch Entei. It can't be stalled out by Zapdos. If it switches in to Dusclops, your best bet is to sac it and try to burn it. Fortunately, it is a Dark Type, and Ditto may withstand a Sucker Punch.

Yeah, I hate knock off. Suicune is probably my best answer, having 252/252+ defenses and a scald with 30% chance to burn.
252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 121-142 (29.9 - 35.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
So if it gets to +2 and suicune isn't already in, I might be in for some trouble (ditto can try I guess). However, if it's not life orb, it's not really a threat.

However, if it is life orb...
252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Knock Off vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Zapdos: 169-200 (44 - 52%) -- 11.7% chance to 2HKO
After Zapdos has lost its item, it can't be 2HKO'd. If it doesn't have SD, this actually means I can spam sub and roost. However, if it does have SD, my hope is I'd get a sub up as it either SDs or sucker punches. If I can get a sub up, then thunderbolt brings it into revenge kill range:
0 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Bisharp: 157-186 (56.2 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

If it keeps attacking with knock off, what I'd have to do is convince them I'm going to sub again (what else would I do, right?), then thunderbolt praying he doesn't sucker punch (my opponent has no reason to). Again, it brings it into revenge kill range (actually, if I had one layer of spikes down, after 3 subs tbolt will kill it due to life orb recoil).

I agree, quite a threat, luckily it's not common at all. I need to play extremely carefully when I see one, spikes would probably be super helpful.

Greninja: It is faster than Zapdos, and Zapdos cannot statistically exploit the inaccuracy of Stone Edge, the low PP of Stone Edge, and the lower speed of uninvested Lando-T. It has STAB Dark Pulse for your two Dark Types. It can pack Taunt, which would destroy your momentum if you lead with Deoxys-D. You may waste a turn using if you Magic Coat it . Protean can be used defensively against anything Ditto may do. Leading with Zapdos may resolve this as it can damage or Toxic it. It can defeat you if used early in the game since hazards will not affect it and would not be in KO range for Entei's ExtremeSpeed.

I've never actually had much trouble with greninja. I just set up 1 CM as it dark pulses, and then everything is a joke. How I get suicune in safely is switch to zapdos to take the obvious dark pulse (if u-turn, nbd), then switch to suicune on the obvious ice beam. 20% health gone, too.
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Dark Pulse vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Suicune: 87-103 (21.5 - 25.4%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
In fact, I've used it as setup fodder. It will kill itself with life orb, and if I get a scald (even better if I burn it), it's gone even faster. Rest means I don't have to worry at all, since it's a possible 5hko.

Also, protean can't really be used defensively since I'm faster with scarf. Its best bet is to have a pure water typing, otherwise u-turn does a lot, but otherwise dark pulse does enough damage to easily revenge kill anyway after its LO damage.

Not worried about this one.

LO and/or Nasty Plot Thundurus I/T: (once Ditto is gone) It is outspeeds and can overpower every Pokemon you have before you can status it our set up with Calm Mind. Variants without LO are mostly likely a joke against this team.

Yep, these guys can be scary. I usually use dusclops to get off a burn first, then pain split as much as possible, then shadow sneak before it dies. Does surprisingly well. If it's NP, I set up a sub of course to stall.
252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus-T Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 161-191 (41.9 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
The other thing I can do is spam rest on zapdos. Not the best way to deal with it, I know, but it works.

NP variants are probably scarier. Against Thundurus-I, of course I can thunderbolt back, but against Thundurus-T I have to hope it has HP, or that it's at at least +4 so I can kill it with its own focus blast (70% accuracy of course). At the same time, however, my opponent also has to use focus blast since I'll also have volt absorb (:

Sub Gengar: Outspeeds everything, its presence deters ExtremeSpeed use. It has to take a hit from Entei. It has a Powerful Ghost STAB against Dusclops and Deoxys-D. Sub to protect it from Burns from Dusclops. Zapdos can spam T-bolt to beat it, but it probably needs a free switch. Variants with T-bolt "pressure" Suicune to sleep as it can spam T-bolt.

Zapdos doesn't need a free switch at all, not even with SR up (though it's risky):
252 SpA Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 102-120 (26.5 - 31.2%) -- 10.1% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
Gengar usually switches out, cuz it knows its super frail. Sub-roost beats it anyhow. Also, most variants don't carry thunderbolt, though I'd never switch suicune in anyway.

Heatran: For the reasons you stated. Prevents Sacred Fire spam. Immune to status. Forces Suicune out with Roar. Ditto would at best force it would if it has Earth Power. Correctly predicted switch-ins with Stone Edges may not be rewarded by the RNG.

Yep. Zapdos is my best answer. I believe in one of the replays I managed to stall it out with my three remaining pokemon. Super annoying if hazards are up and it has roar and entei is gone (I switched to bulldoze btw), otherwise not a threat at all.

Lesser Threats:

Air Balloon SD Excadrill setting up on Zapdos and Deoxys-D: Ditto can force it out once the Balloon is broken but it resists its own Iron Head and Rock Slide. You cannot get a free switch with it and would outright kill Suicune (2HKOing it at +2) because it outspeeds it (and IIRC, Scald does not KO it). If it is Jolly, it will KO Entei. Dusclops is too slow to Spinblock

Yep. I need to make sure suicune gets at least one scald in (pray for burn, if not whatever I sack something and send in ditto), then I'm safe. Dusclops takes a few hits and can burn or break the balloon with shadow sneak.

Sub Toxic Heal Breloom: Sleep does suck and cannot be stalled out with Status.

Yeah, jolly outspeeds my team, so something is going to sleep. Zapdos stalls it out, entei easily revenge kills I guess.

Mega Blastoise: Can be stalled out Zapdos. Dusclops cannot spinblock it.

Nothing to say, really. Against defensive teams I'm not worried about hazards being cleared, as against defensive teams deoxys-d lives forever. Offensive teams probably don't use mega blastoise at all, nevermind with rapid spin.

Ghosts in general or anything with Sub, especially those that can outspeed Suicune and Entei.

Some Ironies:

Mega-Venusaur usually loses to Suicune, barring a crit, due to the Special Defense boost
Ferrothorn using Power Whip to break Zapdos' Subs helps you against Suicune
Gastrodon loses to Suicune if it is Toxiced. Gastrodon actually loses hands down; I set up CMs on it. It doesn't matter if I give it a million boosts, it still can't hurt me. Rest then not using sleep talk allows me to not use any pp. (:
Mamoswine's Freeze Dry is an unpleasant surprise for Suicune if it has not Calm Minded. Mamoswine uses freeze dry? Isn't that special?

Never ran into a Pinsir though. I bet the team would lose to a nicely timed Sub Kyurem-B if it has some other Pokemon that can pressure (ironic huh?) the team.

Yeah, Sub Kyurem-B, the ultimate stall breaker. To be fair, it beats almost all stall (beats SkarmBliss, Amoongbrotran, Celebi, Gliscor, Jellicent all by itself. Ferro takes a surprising amount from ice beam). :(
My best answer (not really an answer lol) is to bring in entei safely, break the sub with extremespeed as entei dies, send in ditto.

---

Yes, also the critical hit nerf also helps Suicune and needs the most Defense in order to prevent some KOs with crits from physical moves. This is a consideration that less stallish teams can afford not be concerned with.

Can you think of any pokemon to help deal with these threats?
I'm not too sure what I want to do, because this was actually literally just a "slap 5 pressure pokemon + ditto onto a team and see what happens" team, not a thought out one.

Zapdos and Suicune are easily the stars, so maybe I could base a team around those two (but then would pressure really be that good?)

Other notable pressure users are bisharp (though it likes defiant), kyurem, deoxys-s, weavile, raikou. I guess articuno, moltres and vespiqueen exist but even I think they're really bad, despite me liking to use pokemon nobody cares about.

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

Well, thank you for your reply. I did not make the team and I could not competently deal with those threats as I was not familiar the damage calcs. You certainly would use it better than I would, and I played no role in its success. I probably made some suboptimal sacrifices and horrible decisions that you the creator would not make.

It is your team though and you should be quite proud of it for its success, originality, AND unorthodox premise and style.

---

Still, it would seem the biggest problem with your team is that it can be mostly Substitute bait and/or relatively fast boosting sweepers if they get an opening.

I find Dusclops to the be weakest link because it is slow or perhaps I simply did not use it well. I do not know if you use it spinblock though, although it does counter Tentacruel without Toxic (although Knock Off sucks), Starmie, and Forretress. Perhaps a Heatran with Earth Power than can speed creep other Heatran may work. The set is simple: Lava Plume, Earth Power, and Toxic. Roar can be used against Clefable since it resists Stored Power and Moonblast.

Sorry, but you may not like Heatran though. It is something I could immediately come up with.

 

[Zebstrika]

The only change I can think of is to replace Dusclops with Chandelure. Scarfed gives it the best ability to take out some of those threats, but that would kill the idea of pressure stalling. If you do stall with Chandelure, it only has Pain Split like Dusclops but nowhere near Dusclops' defenses, its base defenses resemble that of a Starmie.

It hits a lot of your problems super effectively with fire STAB. It also has infiltrator to hit through those sub sweepers that like to set up on you, so it can deal with Breloom, Gengar (if scarfed), 56 HP Kyurem-B (after rocks and sub damage, though), and Trevenant.

Something to try out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't stick.

 

[Zed Blizzard]

Just a handy-dandy reference for all pokemon who have pressure and can be used in OU:

Aerodactyl
Articuno
Moltres
Zapdos*
Raikou
Suicune*
Entei*
Wailord
Dusclops*
Absol
Deoxys* (all forms)
Vespiqueen
Spiritomb
Weavile
Bisharp
Kyurem
Ditto* (If transformed into something with pressure)
...
...
...
Pokemon with Trace? lol

Really, only Dusclops and Spiritomb can be used as spinblockers, and upon reflection, Dusclops is the better of those two choices with eviolite and painsplit. But man, being hardcore about sticking to one ability (besides ditto, because ditto) has its drawbacks (or challenges). It's like playing monotypes, heh.

 

[The Great Gastly]

The big problem I see is that your team lacks any resistances to Dragon and Ghost! Stall teams should have at least one of each, because it's easy to break down teams with their neutral coverage alone.

I'd recommend you try a Mandibuzz somewhere. She handily deals with every relevant Ghost type because she resists their STAB, is neutral to their Fighting coverage, and brings added utility with Defog. Try her out over Zapdos (since I doubt you need two flying types); she'll also cover the lack of hazard removal. :)

Second, you need a steel-type. Heatran is legit this gen, and whether you make the Mandibuzz change or not, I'd still recommend it over Entei. Heatran checks so many top threats with its typing + ability alone and it even has viable stally options like Roar, Protect, Toxic, etc.

tl;dr, you need Ghost + Dragon resistance(s). Try out these two; change the EV spreads as you see fit, they're just what I use. Good luck! :D

(how do you do the hide tag...?)

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Calm Nature
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spe
- Lava Plume
- Protect / Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Toxic

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Impish Nature
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
- Foul Play / Knock Off
- Defog / Toxic
- Taunt
- Roost

 

[SansNickel]

Well, thank you for your reply. I did not make the team and I could not competently deal with those threats as I was not familiar the damage calcs. You certainly would use it better than I would, and I played no role in its success. I probably made some suboptimal sacrifices and horrible decisions that you the creator would not make.

It is your team though and you should be quite proud of it for its success, originality, AND unorthodox premise and style.

---

Still, it would seem the biggest problem with your team is that it can be mostly Substitute bait and/or relatively fast boosting sweepers if they get an opening.

I find Dusclops to the be weakest link because it is slow or perhaps I simply did not use it well. I do not know if you use it spinblock though, although it does counter Tentacruel without Toxic (although Knock Off sucks), Starmie, and Forretress. Perhaps a Heatran with Earth Power than can speed creep other Heatran may work. The set is simple: Lava Plume, Earth Power, and Toxic. Roar can be used against Clefable since it resists Stored Power and Moonblast.

Sorry, but you may not like Heatran though. It is something I could immediately come up with.

Yeah, dusclops sucks (but it has pressure haha). It's actually amazing how I can just spam sub on it and pain split when I'm at the lowest HP possible. It's a possible idea, but it does make me extremely weak to edgequake. I would replace Entei (as pressure on entei isn't that useful when its not taking that many hits), but I would definitely miss extremespeed.

The only change I can think of is to replace Dusclops with Chandelure. Scarfed gives it the best ability to take out some of those threats, but that would kill the idea of pressure stalling. If you do stall with Chandelure, it only has Pain Split like Dusclops but nowhere near Dusclops' defenses, its base defenses resemble that of a Starmie.

It hits a lot of your problems super effectively with fire STAB. It also has infiltrator to hit through those sub sweepers that like to set up on you, so it can deal with Breloom, Gengar (if scarfed), 56 HP Kyurem-B (after rocks and sub damage, though), and Trevenant.

Something to try out, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't stick.

Chandelure is interesting, but again it probably has a higher chance of replacing entei as they fulfill similar roles. I will try it out.

Just a handy-dandy reference for all pokemon who have pressure and can be used in OU:

Aerodactyl
Articuno
Moltres
Zapdos*
Raikou
Suicune*
Entei*
Wailord
Dusclops*
Absol
Deoxys* (all forms)
Vespiqueen
Spiritomb
Weavile
Bisharp
Kyurem
Ditto* (If transformed into something with pressure)
...
...
...
Pokemon with Trace? lol

Really, only Dusclops and Spiritomb can be used as spinblockers, and upon reflection, Dusclops is the better of those two choices with eviolite and painsplit. But man, being hardcore about sticking to one ability (besides ditto, because ditto) has its drawbacks (or challenges). It's like playing monotypes, heh.

Welp, but honestly offensive is so easy to play. Spam u-turn with genesect and volt switch with rotom-w, nuke things with mega zard-y and mega lucario, etc. I was actually feeling pissed one day and put all the OP pokemon on one team, and I hit 2000 way more easily than I did with any other team (this was pokebank, so the ladder was not as inflated).

My last team (gen V) was actually a trick room team, so it really tells you about my style :3

The big problem I see is that your team lacks any resistances to Dragon and Ghost! Stall teams should have at least one of each, because it's easy to break down teams with their neutral coverage alone.

I'd recommend you try a Mandibuzz somewhere. She handily deals with every relevant Ghost type because she resists their STAB, is neutral to their Fighting coverage, and brings added utility with Defog. Try her out over Zapdos (since I doubt you need two flying types); she'll also cover the lack of hazard removal. :)

Second, you need a steel-type. Heatran is legit this gen, and whether you make the Mandibuzz change or not, I'd still recommend it over Entei. Heatran checks so many top threats with its typing + ability alone and it even has viable stally options like Roar, Protect, Toxic, etc.

tl;dr, you need Ghost + Dragon resistance(s). Try out these two; change the EV spreads as you see fit, they're just what I use. Good luck! :D

(how do you do the hide tag...?)

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Calm Nature
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spe
- Lava Plume
- Protect / Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Toxic

Mandibuzz @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
Impish Nature
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
- Foul Play / Knock Off
- Defog / Toxic
- Taunt
- Roost

Thanks. I know mandibuzz is amazing from last gen. Argh, although I 100% agree with your suggestions, this is a pressure team. However, I may consider building a new team with my new favourite pokemon zapdos and suicune, and build a team around letting them wall / sweep. I've used mandibuzz on most of my other teams, as it is one of THE aegislash counters (HP ice does nothing). That being said, zapdos sub/roost/toxic seems to be able to stall out many more things, whereas Mandibuzz just wastes time (it's the theme of the team, sorry). Zapdos handles the most common "special pivot" aegislash anyway. It can also handle gengar, but if sludge bomb poisons it's a bit harder). The reason stall is really hard to play is because it's not doing anything. Defog is everywhere, pokemon can sub and set up, residual damage just isn't enough, especially when it's hard to have forms of residual damage in the first place. In contrast, pressure does something. Many moves have 8/16 pp, which are on extremely short time limits. For example, once rotom-W's hydro pump is used up, something like Landorus-I would safely switch in (not a good example, I know, but my brain is dead I can't think of a relevant one right now). Having pressure on most of my pokemon allows me to safely switch into something that resists, and STILL take up 2 PP (pressure on only one pokemon is extremely useless unless you're suicune or zapdos).

Anyway, thank you very much for your suggestions, when I have time to make a new (but similar) team with a different goal, I will consider those pokemon (:

dat team name...:)

I couldn't disappoint..

Finally, someone who knows the pleasure of an opponent's Hazard Taunting S-Deoxys lead taunting itself to magic coat. Gotta love it.

Best feeling. So many forfeits.