I originally designed this team to show off how OU still has many teams that haven't been used, and how I can scout, sweep, defend and revenge kill with ease. Like many teams though, it still needs some work.
Team Building:
From the start, I want an original (or so I think) combo that could sweep, revenge kill, and is plain out awesome. The MetaVire combo can be a menace to many teams. With two heavy attackers on my team, I needed a Wall or Two. I decided to go with a pair that hadn't been used in a while.
The good old “SkarmBliss” combo. With Skarmory being able to switch into Physical Attackers and force them to switch out (and use spikes in the process), and with Blissey being able to do the same with Special Attackers, people would be switching a lot. I now need a Stealth Rocker, as well as a lead, who could also act as someone who could help my team. During the process, I used and tried out many leads. For a while my lead was Azelf, but I’ve never been a fan of Suicide leads. In the end I went with Swampert.
With Swampert acting as a SRer, Metagross as a Physical Attacker, Electivire as a Physical Attacker, Skarmory as A Physical Defender, and Blissey as a Special Wall, I needed a Special Attacker. I had nailed it down to three Pokémon. Latias, Starmie and Porygon – Z. I originally had Gyarados in the team, but with no Special attackers, my only ‘real’ plan was to Switch into a Special attacker with Blissey, use Thunder Wave, and Switch out. (This plan till works, but with a special attacker, I have more coverage) This meant that the opposition had a crippled Pokémon. I often had teams change Pokémon through the whole battle, meaning that SR was working great, and with Blissey Thunder Waving the whole team, I could just switch into Electivire and Sweep the whole team. I did, however have trouble with any Physical walls, but I felt that after being Paralyzed, they were a lot easier. In the end, I went with Starmie. Even though I still miss Gyarados, as he could revenge kill / sweep well.
I came to the decision of Starmie quite quickly. First, I wondered who could I use on a DS battle, without having to chase Pokemon all over different regions and then not having the right nature. That ruled out Latias. I then wondered who could be used as a Rapid Spinner, removing the SR threat. This bought me to Starmie. After I Paralyze Salamence, Starmie is a wonderful counter with Ice Beam, and also removes the threats of Roserade, and can help with Infernape. This bought me to my team.
The Team:
Swampert @ Leftovers
Relaxed
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Roar
Here, I have the perfect lead for this team. Being able to set up SR means that if I switch into Blissey or Skarmory, odds are the opposition is going to change. This deals a decent amount of "secondary" damage, making it easy for my team to switch in to pretty much OHKO anything after some Stealth Rock damage. If I feel like scouting a team, Roar acts well, especially after SR, because I’m forcing a switch, so not only can I see the Pokémon, SR does its job. If I see a threat straight to Swampert, I can usually use EQ or Ice Beam to help. If not, a switch can occur.
The EV's allow for me to take an EQ from Salamence, and still live to tell the tale and the small amount of attack gives me a tiny boost to help with my EQ, which can help with Infernape.
With Swampert as a lead, I can scout, sweep and SR. Making one of the best OU Leads in the game.
Synergy:
Grass goes to Skarmory / Electrive
Metagross @ Life Orb
Adamant
112 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 132 Sped
Agility
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Ah, good old Agiligross.
After an Agility, I can out speed almost anything (Excluding Choice Scarf) and with my moves, I can do some damage. Metagross works great as a late-game sweeper. With Life Orb, I can KO pretty much anything with a slight weakning.
The EV's here are designed to give me enough HP to only take 32 HP from Life Orb, but gives me enough HP to work effectively as a sweeper. The Speed + Agility makes me a menace in a late game sweeper.
The Nature + Max Attack EV’s make Metagross a real threat to nearly every team. And after I use Blissey to Thunder Wave heaps of Pokémon (Even whole teams) Metagross can pretty much sweep through the game.
The move choice isn’t quite set in stone, however, I am quite certain that they are pretty powerful. Ice Punch is the only changeable move, but that is based on preference. Ice Punch can be changed to Thunder Punch, but then I lose coverage on 2 types that I couldn’t normally hit, Ground and Grass. Ground can be a slight threat to my team. Also, with Blissey being able to paralyze teams, Metagross is able to KO many of the big threats to the OU after them being paralyzed. But I’ll cover all of them in the threat list.
Synergy
Fire goes to Swampert / Starmie
Ground goes to Skarmory / Swampert
Electivire @ Expert Belt
Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
ThunderPunch
Ice Punch
Earthquake
Cross Chop
An amazing set for sweeping. With almost every move here being super effective on almost any pokemon, it provides great coverage. I then threw on an Expert Belt to add extra power to super effective moves, this set is devastating.
The EV's are really standard, but I can't see anything working better. As well as an awesome move-set, after Salamence has been hit with Blissey's Thunder Wave, it becomes almost useless. With this in mind, I can out speed Salamence, and use Ice Punch. This becomes 75 x 4 + 60 = 360 Damage. Which, if i'm correct should be enough to OHKO Salamence after SR damage. That's a lot of power.
Although this Pokémon doesn’t seem to be a big necessity, After Blissey Thunder Waves Pokémon, Electivire acts as yet another sweeper. With Expert Belt, the Sweeping possibilities are endless.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Impish
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Brave Bird
Roost
Spikes
Whirlwind
Ok, slightly different EV spread, but it is perfect for Skarmory’s position. Not only does it help me from me biggest switch in threat (Fire Blasting Salamence), it allows me to live long enough to set up at least 2 layers of spikes. (3 After Pazalyzing Salamence)
The move-set is standard though. However, the debate between Drill Peck and Brave Bird hasn’t been settled. Although I’m leaning towards Drill Peck, Brave Bird does almost twice as much damage. However, Drill Peck doesn’t hit with recoil damage. The main problem between the two, is my movepool + item can be used to help quickly heal up the recoil damage. (I chose Brave Bird) Item has been changed to Shed Shell to avoid Magnezone
Roost can play a huge part in my team. As long as I don’t roost on an incoming EQ, I’m fine. It helps a lot when I roost on an incoming Stone Edge or Thunderbolt / Ice Beam combo. It reduces the damage by half (even more), and means that I generally gain heath in the process.
As for the Item choice, I went with Leftovers instead of Shed Skin (or shell?) because with a Blissey on my team that knows aromatherapy, having a status healing item becomes useless.
Skarmory’s main job is to switch in on a Physical Sweeper, (Generally scaring him off) set up spikes, possibly whirlwind to scout / be annoying, and then leave. I have also found that using Skamory against Brelooms can work great as well. With Drill Peck, I can generally 2HKO this thing, however, after SR + Spikes it can work wonders. Skarmory is used as part of a “SkarmBliss” pokemon in my team, therefore, the next pokemon is Blissey. That’s right, i’ve incorporated a mini stall team on my heavy offence team.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Calm
Natural Cure
252 Def / 40 SpA / 216 SpD
Aromatherapy
Ice Beam
Thunder Wave
Softboiled
The second part of the “SkarmBliss” combo. Blissey. Blissey provides me with high Spd, HP, and Def (EV), making her one of the most used Walls in the OU metagame. Because of her high SpD, I can switch into a Special Attacker, and scare them off. This helps me with causing SR damage, and I can use Thunder Wave as they switch to Paralyze the oncoming Pokémon, rendering them practically useless. After they’ve been paralyzed, I can use Metagross, Electivire, or Starmie to KO the paralyzed Pokémon. However, I commonly find that after I’ve used Thunder Wave, the opposition switches Pokémon, so then I use Thunder Wave over and over and over until the whole team has been Paralyzed, then I switch Pokémon to one of my Sweepers and finish of their team.
Aromatherapy is used to help clear my team of Status problems, making Toxic Spikes useless. This also helps if the other team has a “Will-O-Whisper” which makes them useless.
Softboiled is there for obvious reasons, to heal up if I’ve been attacked.
And Ice Beam is used to attack if I’m forced down just to Blissey, or, if I’ve Thunder Waved a whole team, and I suspect a switch to Salamence, Ice Beam can do a heap of damage.
The EV’s keep me from no being OHKOed by any special attacks. And several Physical Attacks. The only big threat is Machamp, but after he’s been Paralyzed, I can switch Pokemon to Skarmory (Who also acts as a Physical Wall) and I can Drill Peck.
With Blissey having Thunder Wave and Aromatherapy, I can cripple teams and fix status problems of my own. This makes Blissey the “glue” of my team.
Starmie @ Wise Glasses
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hydro Pump
Thunder Punch
Ice Beam
Rapid Spin
The final part of my team, the Rapid Spinner.
Starmie has a great selection of moves. The three that stand out in OU are Thunder Bolt, Ice Beam and Rapid Spin. The “BoltBeam” combo is useful to help KO many of the major threats in OU (Gyarados, Salamence, Latias, Tyranitar) and then Hydro Pump can help with the Fire / Ground / Rock threats. Such as Heatran and Infernape.
Rapid Spin is on here to remove the Stealth Rock / Spikes / Toxic Spikes threat.
The EV’s here take full advantage of Starmie’s Speed and Special Attack so that I can finish off teams. The extra HP is here because that way I have both a bit of Def and SpD here.
Thanks for looking and rating my team. After the final details have been put on, I’ll start breeding.
I'm thinking about changing this guy to a Tentacruel, to the Grass Knot threat and to wall Infernape. The only problem is I lose my "Boltbeam", but I could design a set for that.
Team Building:
From the start, I want an original (or so I think) combo that could sweep, revenge kill, and is plain out awesome. The MetaVire combo can be a menace to many teams. With two heavy attackers on my team, I needed a Wall or Two. I decided to go with a pair that hadn't been used in a while.
The good old “SkarmBliss” combo. With Skarmory being able to switch into Physical Attackers and force them to switch out (and use spikes in the process), and with Blissey being able to do the same with Special Attackers, people would be switching a lot. I now need a Stealth Rocker, as well as a lead, who could also act as someone who could help my team. During the process, I used and tried out many leads. For a while my lead was Azelf, but I’ve never been a fan of Suicide leads. In the end I went with Swampert.
With Swampert acting as a SRer, Metagross as a Physical Attacker, Electivire as a Physical Attacker, Skarmory as A Physical Defender, and Blissey as a Special Wall, I needed a Special Attacker. I had nailed it down to three Pokémon. Latias, Starmie and Porygon – Z. I originally had Gyarados in the team, but with no Special attackers, my only ‘real’ plan was to Switch into a Special attacker with Blissey, use Thunder Wave, and Switch out. (This plan till works, but with a special attacker, I have more coverage) This meant that the opposition had a crippled Pokémon. I often had teams change Pokémon through the whole battle, meaning that SR was working great, and with Blissey Thunder Waving the whole team, I could just switch into Electivire and Sweep the whole team. I did, however have trouble with any Physical walls, but I felt that after being Paralyzed, they were a lot easier. In the end, I went with Starmie. Even though I still miss Gyarados, as he could revenge kill / sweep well.
I came to the decision of Starmie quite quickly. First, I wondered who could I use on a DS battle, without having to chase Pokemon all over different regions and then not having the right nature. That ruled out Latias. I then wondered who could be used as a Rapid Spinner, removing the SR threat. This bought me to Starmie. After I Paralyze Salamence, Starmie is a wonderful counter with Ice Beam, and also removes the threats of Roserade, and can help with Infernape. This bought me to my team.
The Team:
Swampert @ Leftovers
Relaxed
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Stealth Rock
Earthquake
Ice Beam
Roar
Here, I have the perfect lead for this team. Being able to set up SR means that if I switch into Blissey or Skarmory, odds are the opposition is going to change. This deals a decent amount of "secondary" damage, making it easy for my team to switch in to pretty much OHKO anything after some Stealth Rock damage. If I feel like scouting a team, Roar acts well, especially after SR, because I’m forcing a switch, so not only can I see the Pokémon, SR does its job. If I see a threat straight to Swampert, I can usually use EQ or Ice Beam to help. If not, a switch can occur.
The EV's allow for me to take an EQ from Salamence, and still live to tell the tale and the small amount of attack gives me a tiny boost to help with my EQ, which can help with Infernape.
With Swampert as a lead, I can scout, sweep and SR. Making one of the best OU Leads in the game.
Synergy:
Grass goes to Skarmory / Electrive
Metagross @ Life Orb
Adamant
112 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 132 Sped
Agility
Meteor Mash
Earthquake
Ice Punch
Ah, good old Agiligross.
After an Agility, I can out speed almost anything (Excluding Choice Scarf) and with my moves, I can do some damage. Metagross works great as a late-game sweeper. With Life Orb, I can KO pretty much anything with a slight weakning.
The EV's here are designed to give me enough HP to only take 32 HP from Life Orb, but gives me enough HP to work effectively as a sweeper. The Speed + Agility makes me a menace in a late game sweeper.
The Nature + Max Attack EV’s make Metagross a real threat to nearly every team. And after I use Blissey to Thunder Wave heaps of Pokémon (Even whole teams) Metagross can pretty much sweep through the game.
The move choice isn’t quite set in stone, however, I am quite certain that they are pretty powerful. Ice Punch is the only changeable move, but that is based on preference. Ice Punch can be changed to Thunder Punch, but then I lose coverage on 2 types that I couldn’t normally hit, Ground and Grass. Ground can be a slight threat to my team. Also, with Blissey being able to paralyze teams, Metagross is able to KO many of the big threats to the OU after them being paralyzed. But I’ll cover all of them in the threat list.
Synergy
Fire goes to Swampert / Starmie
Ground goes to Skarmory / Swampert
Electivire @ Expert Belt
Adamant
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
ThunderPunch
Ice Punch
Earthquake
Cross Chop
An amazing set for sweeping. With almost every move here being super effective on almost any pokemon, it provides great coverage. I then threw on an Expert Belt to add extra power to super effective moves, this set is devastating.
The EV's are really standard, but I can't see anything working better. As well as an awesome move-set, after Salamence has been hit with Blissey's Thunder Wave, it becomes almost useless. With this in mind, I can out speed Salamence, and use Ice Punch. This becomes 75 x 4 + 60 = 360 Damage. Which, if i'm correct should be enough to OHKO Salamence after SR damage. That's a lot of power.
Although this Pokémon doesn’t seem to be a big necessity, After Blissey Thunder Waves Pokémon, Electivire acts as yet another sweeper. With Expert Belt, the Sweeping possibilities are endless.
Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Impish
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Brave Bird
Roost
Spikes
Whirlwind
Ok, slightly different EV spread, but it is perfect for Skarmory’s position. Not only does it help me from me biggest switch in threat (Fire Blasting Salamence), it allows me to live long enough to set up at least 2 layers of spikes. (3 After Pazalyzing Salamence)
The move-set is standard though. However, the debate between Drill Peck and Brave Bird hasn’t been settled. Although I’m leaning towards Drill Peck, Brave Bird does almost twice as much damage. However, Drill Peck doesn’t hit with recoil damage. The main problem between the two, is my movepool + item can be used to help quickly heal up the recoil damage. (I chose Brave Bird) Item has been changed to Shed Shell to avoid Magnezone
Roost can play a huge part in my team. As long as I don’t roost on an incoming EQ, I’m fine. It helps a lot when I roost on an incoming Stone Edge or Thunderbolt / Ice Beam combo. It reduces the damage by half (even more), and means that I generally gain heath in the process.
As for the Item choice, I went with Leftovers instead of Shed Skin (or shell?) because with a Blissey on my team that knows aromatherapy, having a status healing item becomes useless.
Skarmory’s main job is to switch in on a Physical Sweeper, (Generally scaring him off) set up spikes, possibly whirlwind to scout / be annoying, and then leave. I have also found that using Skamory against Brelooms can work great as well. With Drill Peck, I can generally 2HKO this thing, however, after SR + Spikes it can work wonders. Skarmory is used as part of a “SkarmBliss” pokemon in my team, therefore, the next pokemon is Blissey. That’s right, i’ve incorporated a mini stall team on my heavy offence team.
Blissey @ Leftovers
Calm
Natural Cure
252 Def / 40 SpA / 216 SpD
Aromatherapy
Ice Beam
Thunder Wave
Softboiled
The second part of the “SkarmBliss” combo. Blissey. Blissey provides me with high Spd, HP, and Def (EV), making her one of the most used Walls in the OU metagame. Because of her high SpD, I can switch into a Special Attacker, and scare them off. This helps me with causing SR damage, and I can use Thunder Wave as they switch to Paralyze the oncoming Pokémon, rendering them practically useless. After they’ve been paralyzed, I can use Metagross, Electivire, or Starmie to KO the paralyzed Pokémon. However, I commonly find that after I’ve used Thunder Wave, the opposition switches Pokémon, so then I use Thunder Wave over and over and over until the whole team has been Paralyzed, then I switch Pokémon to one of my Sweepers and finish of their team.
Aromatherapy is used to help clear my team of Status problems, making Toxic Spikes useless. This also helps if the other team has a “Will-O-Whisper” which makes them useless.
Softboiled is there for obvious reasons, to heal up if I’ve been attacked.
And Ice Beam is used to attack if I’m forced down just to Blissey, or, if I’ve Thunder Waved a whole team, and I suspect a switch to Salamence, Ice Beam can do a heap of damage.
The EV’s keep me from no being OHKOed by any special attacks. And several Physical Attacks. The only big threat is Machamp, but after he’s been Paralyzed, I can switch Pokemon to Skarmory (Who also acts as a Physical Wall) and I can Drill Peck.
With Blissey having Thunder Wave and Aromatherapy, I can cripple teams and fix status problems of my own. This makes Blissey the “glue” of my team.
Starmie @ Wise Glasses
Timid
4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hydro Pump
Thunder Punch
Ice Beam
Rapid Spin
The final part of my team, the Rapid Spinner.
Starmie has a great selection of moves. The three that stand out in OU are Thunder Bolt, Ice Beam and Rapid Spin. The “BoltBeam” combo is useful to help KO many of the major threats in OU (Gyarados, Salamence, Latias, Tyranitar) and then Hydro Pump can help with the Fire / Ground / Rock threats. Such as Heatran and Infernape.
Rapid Spin is on here to remove the Stealth Rock / Spikes / Toxic Spikes threat.
The EV’s here take full advantage of Starmie’s Speed and Special Attack so that I can finish off teams. The extra HP is here because that way I have both a bit of Def and SpD here.
Thanks for looking and rating my team. After the final details have been put on, I’ll start breeding.
I'm thinking about changing this guy to a Tentacruel, to the Grass Knot threat and to wall Infernape. The only problem is I lose my "Boltbeam", but I could design a set for that.
