Well Rounded for Victory!

[HeartlessAngel1993]

So I created a new OU Team (Surprise surprise) and I think it had some promise. It has tested pretty well so far, but I want the advice of the Smogon Community to help me fix any problems with the team. So, without further adieu, I give you this beauty I though up of!

Special Sweeper:

Vivillon (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Compound Eyes
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Hurricane
- Bug Buzz

Ah, the dreaded 666 Pokemon. Vivillon has quickly become one of the most made fun of Pokemon (Because of the fact that a Butterfly is the devil) and hated as well. I decided to use this little butterfly of doom as my special sweeper because of....well I've never used it before, and I wanted to try Pokemon I've never used in this team. Now, on to the set. This is Vivillon's bread and butter set, coming in with Compound Eyes boosted Sleep Powder and Hurricane, and just generally making life unpleasant for opponents. A huge threat on 3 V 3 Battle Spot? You betcha. 6 V 6? Not without the right support backing it up. You see, Vivillon's two Stab moves, Hurricane and Bug Buzz, while quite powerful after a Quiver Dance or two, can still get walled so easily by either Special Walls, as well as being resisted by quite a few types in the meta-game. So while Vivillon can be dangerous, it isn't the one-answer to everything sweeper other Pokemon seem to be. So the Pokemon filling up the rest of the team have to be able to help take out everything that would stop Vivillon from having its sweep. And that's where our next Pokemon comes in.

Physical Sweeper:

Gyarados (M) @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 88 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 168 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Substitute

Mega Gyarados is scary. There is no arguing with that fact. While the Dark typing may not make too much sense, especially since it can't even learn Crunch, Mold Breaker was right on the money when it comes to abilities for this monster. The set I run is a bulkier set usually found with Gyarados with Moxie and Leftover, but I thought the big blue sea-serpent could use it even in its Mega form. This set allows Gyarados to set up Dragon Dances safely behind a Substitute and then come in for a massive sweep afterwords. Not only that, but being such a psychical threat,Gyarados is an obvious Will-O-Wisp target, so having a Substitute set up allows Gyarados to set-up worry free. Now, Waterfall is the only STAB move Gyarados-M gets that is worth running, so Earthquake was the most obvious other choice. Combined with Mold Breaker, Gyarados can hit threats like Rotom-W and other Levitaters in the face hard, and take them down before they can even blink. The EV spread helps make this Gyarados bulkier then most, sacrificing some Speed and Attack for the extra bulk in HP (But after a couple of Dragon Dances, that won't even really matter). This coverage also helps Gyarados hits other threats that would wall Vivillon, making it the perfect sweeping partner to the little bug of death.

Physical Wall:

Ferrothorn (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Iron Barbs
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 68 SDef / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip

Don't you just hate it when a Talonflame hits you with the priority Brave Bird? Well your answer to that pesky fire bird is right here! Now, it may be odd to say that Ferrothorn is a great counter to Talonflame, seeing that it is 4x weakness to Flare Blitz, but here me out. One of Vivillon's biggest threats is Talonflame. That Brave Bird is gonna hit you first, no matter what you do. So, how do you deal with it? Switch into your Ferrothorn and laugh as the Recoil Damage is stacked with Iron Barbs and Rocky Helmet. Pretty trolly, yes, but it works, and it works nicely. And the best part is? When you know Flare Blitz is coming, you can sack your Ferrothorn to insure Talonflame goes down, or just switch into Gyarados and take minimal damage! In all seriousness though, Ferrothorn acts as a very good physical wall, as well as a check to some threats to Vivillon, like Talonflame. Stealth Rock and Leech Seed support also help in this regard, but so it isn't completely walled by taunters, you have the STAB Gyro Ball (With 0 Speed IVs, that is gonna hurt bad) and Power Whip. Ferrothorn as always been an interesting Pokemon, and very bulky with a great typing. The EV spread complements this, also giving Ferrothorn some investment in Special Defense, just in case.

Revenge Killer/Scout:

Jolteon (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]

A huge weakness that both Gyarados and Vivillon share is Electric attacks. Very common, and very dangerous. So Jolteon here is my answer to that weakness. Thanks to Volt Absorb, I can safely switch into any Electric-type attack aimed at one of my sweepers, and hit back hard, thanks to Life Orb. Thanks to its speed, Jolteon also acts as a great Scout and Revenge Killer, usually leading the team and Volt-switching out of any unsavory situations, and coming in to clean up a mess. The reason I chose Life Orb over Choice Specs is I like the freedom Life Orb gives. I can easily switch into HP Ice if I think a Ground-Type is coming in, and then back to a powerful Thunderbolt or Volt Switch if need be. It gives me options. Shadow Ball is just coverage, hitting Ghost and Psychic types that try and get in Jolteon's way. Jolteon, Very versatile, and very useful.

Wall Breaker:

Staraptor (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
- U-turn
- Double-Edge

Walls. Walls aren't very nice, are they? They get in your way, and stop you from sweeping. You know what eats up walls? Choice-Banded, Reckless boosted, STAB Brave Bird and Double-Edge. Staraptor is a great Wall Breaker for this very reason. It helps get rid of any walls that may be standing between me and victory (I'm looking at you Blissey -_-) and also creates a pseudo VoltSwitch core with Jolteon, thanks to U-Turn. Close Combat also helps when facing dangerous Dark and Ice Types, and the sheer power of this set is just generally unpleasant for anyone facing it. With Adamant Nature and max investments in attack, you are not going to walk away from this bird without loosing an eye. Just saying.

Special Wall/Cleric:

Florges (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flower Veil
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 SAtk
Calm Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Aromatherapy
- Moonblast

I love Florges. She is on my Mono-Fairy Team, and on one of my UU teams. But Florges also has what it takes to be an effective Special Wall in OU as well. With maxed out Special Defense, it can not only take a lot of punishment, but it can also heal right back up thanks to Wish. And this is where we come to Florges' second job. The Cleric. Neither Gayaraos nor Staraptor appreciate Will-O-Wisp, and Vivillon doesn't appreciate being paralyzed. So when these unthinkable things happen, Florges can come in and just use Aromatherapy to cleanse their illness away. And with Wish, She can also heal them up to keep on fighting. I've seen a lot of people run Psychic over Moonblast on Florges, but honestly, I need to run Moonblast. That Fairy STAB is so good, and it is oddly fitting for this mysterious beauty.


And there you have it, my team. Now, while testing, I did discover one major flaw to the team: The Stealth Rock weakness. This team does no appreciate Stealth Rock at all, so I may need to find something to fix that. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!!!

 

[Uberlox]

Hey there HeartlessAngel1993,

Very interesting and unique team you've got there. Cool style of a team, you've got some pretty standard and conventional sets there like Ferrothorn, but youve also got lower tier threats there like Jolteon. Now, i say this to everyone who approaches me with teams like this, so don't think I'm singling you out or anything like that. Novelty pokemon that run sets that are different just for the sake of being different will hold you back. Yes, "surprise factor" is a very often used rebuttal to this, but it only goes to a certain extent. Like the thought of running a special attacking Mawille because nobody will expect it is absolutely ridiculous. Now after I get that out of the way, let me explain why this is so relevant to your team; Vivillion and Jolteon can not function in OU. Vivillion's typing, base stats and its ability (to an extent) is a joke in OU. The only thing that makes it good is its moveset. If you want to get a reliable sleep inducer, Breloom is a good one. If you want a good quiver dancer and special sweeper, then Volcarona is a decent choice. Additionally, what you're trying to do with Jolteon is easily done by Thundurus-T. It has volt abs orb like Jolteon so that works.

You're team lacks a lot of necessary support. You don't have a spinner or defogger, you dont have hazards or sticky web to help out your slower pokemon, nor do you have any real balance. You have 4 wallbreakers/sweepers and 2 walls which mean every pokemon is either offensive or defensive which is... unbalanced to say the least. This team is not great, but if you are willing to we can make this team a really solid threat to a lot of others teams.

Alternatively, if you want to become a much better player and make a new, much better team or even just really step this one up, you have two options. The Smogon Mentorship Program really helps a lot of players, new or old, improve their skills by having a mentor who you work with one on one fairly often. Or, you can try the Smogon Apprenice Program which is similar in principal, but is a bit more in depth; If I recall correctly. I highly recommend them both. I have not been a part of either of them personally, but I do know a few mentors and tutors and they are brilliant to say the least. They are incredibly helpful and very VERY good at what they do. Also, ive spoken to a few people who were on the other side of the program and were being mentored and are now very prominent players who definitely learned a lot to say the least. If you have any questions regarding the programs, I suggest speaking to an administrator or mod, because they definitely know a lot more about the program than I do. Haunter for one is an official team rater, former tutor, AND administrator, so if you'd want to speak to anyone about this, he is definitely the guy.

Feel free to respond to this with any clarifications or questions on this and I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.

 

[HeartlessAngel1993]

Hey there HeartlessAngel1993,

Very interesting and unique team you've got there. Cool style of a team, you've got some pretty standard and conventional sets there like Ferrothorn, but youve also got lower tier threats there like Jolteon. Now, i say this to everyone who approaches me with teams like this, so don't think I'm singling you out or anything like that. Novelty pokemon that run sets that are different just for the sake of being different will hold you back. Yes, "surprise factor" is a very often used rebuttal to this, but it only goes to a certain extent. Like the thought of running a special attacking Mawille because nobody will expect it is absolutely ridiculous. Now after I get that out of the way, let me explain why this is so relevant to your team; Vivillion and Jolteon can not function in OU. Vivillion's typing, base stats and its ability (to an extent) is a joke in OU. The only thing that makes it good is its moveset. If you want to get a reliable sleep inducer, Breloom is a good one. If you want a good quiver dancer and special sweeper, then Volcarona is a decent choice. Additionally, what you're trying to do with Jolteon is easily done by Thundurus-T. It has volt abs orb like Jolteon so that works.

You're team lacks a lot of necessary support. You don't have a spinner or defogger, you dont have hazards or sticky web to help out your slower pokemon, nor do you have any real balance. You have 4 wallbreakers/sweepers and 2 walls which mean every pokemon is either offensive or defensive which is... unbalanced to say the least. This team is not great, but if you are willing to we can make this team a really solid threat to a lot of others teams.

Alternatively, if you want to become a much better player and make a new, much better team or even just really step this one up, you have two options. The Smogon Mentorship Program really helps a lot of players, new or old, improve their skills by having a mentor who you work with one on one fairly often. Or, you can try the Smogon Apprenice Program which is similar in principal, but is a bit more in depth; If I recall correctly. I highly recommend them both. I have not been a part of either of them personally, but I do know a few mentors and tutors and they are brilliant to say the least. They are incredibly helpful and very VERY good at what they do. Also, ive spoken to a few people who were on the other side of the program and were being mentored and are now very prominent players who definitely learned a lot to say the least. If you have any questions regarding the programs, I suggest speaking to an administrator or mod, because they definitely know a lot more about the program than I do. Haunter for one is an official team rater, former tutor, AND administrator, so if you'd want to speak to anyone about this, he is definitely the guy.

Feel free to respond to this with any clarifications or questions on this and I'll be sure to get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you.

First off, thank you for taking the time to write this in-depth reply (it's the most in depth I've ever received. I appreciate it). While Jolteon and Vivillon do seem underwhelming in the OU tier, they do have their uses. However, I do fully agree with you on the structure, as most of my teams follow this formula (two sweepers, two walls, and two misc). I would love help in no longer always following this structure, so I'll probably give these programs a try. Thank you!!!