What it comes down to (OU)

[duke3528]

I made this team based on what I would do if I had two pokemon left and which two I would want them to be. SO I made a team based off of two pokemon who cover each other. Knowing I wanted to make a team around drapion I started with him and saw that he and gengar work great togeather covering eachothers weaknesses.

Next I wanted to use roserade and instanlty thought of heatran which made my second pair.

I wanted to use latias and could not think of a team mate for her so I threw in gliscor who has worked really well so far.

I am done with the boring stuff on to the team.

The Team Before your very eyes​

Lilith (Roserade) (F) @ Focus Sash

Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature
- Sleep Powder
- Leaf Storm
- Toxic Spikes
- Hidden Power [Ice]

This roserade was built to be the fastest lesd so I could put my opponets lead to sleep so they could not set up stealth rocks for them selfs. The most common switch ins for roserade heatran can take care of so I made him my second to swith in right away. Leaf storm is meant for all the bulky waters that want to come in and try to have fun. Sludge bomb for the annoying celebi who isnt so bad any more because of natural cure and hp ice for the other grass and aswell as the dragon pokemon running around.

Brick (Heatran) (M) @ Shuca Berry

Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 6 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature
- Explosion
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock

Heatran always comes in second to set up stealth rocks. By know i most likely see atleast three of my opponents pokemon because they swtich out. I use earth power for possible other heatrans that might try to come in. Firblast helps cure me of the steels running around namly scizor. Almost everyone has him on their team. As with explosion I use that as a last result incase there is a pokemon being a pain in my side and need to do some serious damage or take him out.

Roland (Gliscor) (F) @ Left Overs
Ability: Sand Veil
EVs: 252 HP/42 Def/216 Spd
Jolly nature
- Earth Quake
- Taunt
- Roost
- U-Turn

Gliscore helps me with stall teams aswell as latias. Through gliscore I can taunt to stop the likes of a late steath rock or spikes and so fourth. Earth quake being my main way to attack he has come in handy against lucario and others. U-turn helps me scout and see more of my opponents team so I can move accordingly to what they have in store for me. Roost in the end gives me a longer time to play around with this flying scorpion.

Marly (Latias) (F) @ Left Overs

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 180 HP/60 Def/252 Spd/18 SDef
Timid nature
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Roar
- Recover

This latias is made to take out other calm minders aswell as help with pokemon to stat up. Her bulk helps out alot. While my opponent cakm minds I do so aswell to just roar them away and to attack myself. Dragon pulse is one of those moses who hits most pokemon for aleast neutral damage. Recover for when I can use it to help stay in the game,

Moe (Gengar) (F) @ Life Orb

Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunder Bolt
- Shadow Ball

This gengar is totally new for me as I normally have him scarfed and trick. I love this varient though as he can move twice without having to call him back or trick wrong to get another scarf. Focus blast helps of course for tyranitars while hp fire helps out with forrtress and other steels. Thunder bolt for starmie and tentacruel so now I have the rapid spinners out of the way. Shadow ball as my last move is for the ghosts like rotom who can be very annoying.

Mordecai (Drapion) (M) @ Scope Lens

Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 Atk/6 DDef/252 Spd
Jolly nature
- Earth Quake
- Night Slash
- Ice Fang
- Swords Dance

Lastly the main guyy on my team who I found a new love for drapion. He normally get atleast three to four kills before he goes down unless my opponent know drapion well, then he gets two to three kills. I normally save him for the end though if possible as a supprise of being an uu in ou battles. Because of sniper and scope lens as well with all of his moves he is a very dangerous pokemon. Earthquake hits everything that night slash does not. Night slash is his main move to use. Ice fang for the dragons who are a pain and swords dance to make him really dangerous.

This is the best team I have used up to this point. I brought it to you guys to polish it up alittle. I appreciate all comments. Hope it was an easy read thanks.

 

[duke3528]

Defensive Threats:

Blissey - Drapion normally takes her out in one hit but if not i use gliscor aslong as she doesnt have ice beam.

Bronzong - Heatran and gengar take care of this bell shaped piece of steel.

Celebi - Roserade can put a dent into it where gliscor normally will finish the fairy off gengar can do pretty well against it.

Cresselia - latias will take care of the calminding version were i use drapion for the rest to take this thing out.

Forretress - Heatran comes to mind aswell as gengar who out speed it.

Gliscor - Gliscor i normally try to get in roserade first and if she cant do the job i bring in drapion.

Gyarados - Pretty easy to handle I use roserade and gengar aswell as latias who takes hit from gyara well

Hippowdon - Rose will do a pretty good job here along with gliscor

Jirachi - Depending on the set I would have to use gliscor latias heatran, this guy can be annoying.

Rotom-A - Drapion and gengar normally just wipe them away

Skarmory - gengar and heatran can do work as well as latias to roar away

Snorlax - I have to shuffle around a bit with this guy as he has been hard to beat in the past. Gengar drapion and gliscor

Suicune - Defensive suicune hmmmm. Can be annoying. Roserade can fuck it up if it's still alive. Otherwise I have to roar it around with Latias and hope that gengar is alive late game to dispose of it.

Swampert - Latias. roserade

Tyranitar - gliscor unless he has aqua tail then i resort to heatran gengar and drapion

Vaporeon - Latias, Roserade.

Zapdos - Latias and gliscor take care of him pretty well


Offensive Threats:

Azelf - roserade will put him to sleep first turn so when he comes back in I will use gengar or drapion

Breloom - Annoying. I have to sac something to sleep and bring in probably Latias. But as you can see my team doesn't like taking sleep at all so this is one of the few Pokemon that can annoy me.

Gengar - Drapion all the way

Heatran - My own heatran as well as gliscor

Infernape - Latias is my ape counter along with entry hazards. I always hope Infernape doesn't start throwing U-turns around since that could be bad. But then I remember heatran and take the monky home.

Jolteon - Gliscor and Latias tagteam this guy.

Latias - Roserade and drapion can do the trick though can be tough

Kingdra - I have really not had problems with the king. he normally goes down to me gengar

Lucario - Gliscor all the way

Machamp - One of the most annoying Pokemon to my team. I don't like switching into Dynamicpunch, it's such a lame move. So I usually go to gengar then switch to drapion to take Payback HOWEVER this can get tricky against sub versions :/ Definitely one of my few problem pokemon.

Magnezone - Heatran can do the job with help fron gengar aswell as gliscor and drapion

Mamoswine - drapion Grounded nonsteel life orb sweepers really don't pose that big of a problem to my team if you haven't noticed

Metagross - havent really seen one yet so not to shure I guess i would use gliscor than heatran

Salamence - He I have to work around but drapion normally takes him out in one hit so not really to bad

Scizor - I hate this thing I see him very where but heatran and gengar can normally fair for themselfs with this guy

Starmie - gengar all the way

Tyranitar - Gliscor does a nice job as well as drapion with gengar

 

[Sheshi]

Interesting team.

To begin with, Roserade does not need a Choice Scarf in my opinion. Why? Because if your Roserade uses Sleep Powder, then you're stuck in a particular move. IE A sleep move. This is problematic especially since there is a sleep clause.
Also, if you take Choice Scarf off, then run Focus Sash. Then use Toxic Spikes or Spikes over Sludge Bomb, since Poison moves gain very little in OU especially considering the high number of Steel type Pokemon.

The Gliscor could use a little work. I suggest changing the DEF EV's to ATK. This way, you can get a small boost in Earthquake's power. I wouldn't suggest Hyper Cutter though. I would much prefer Sand Veil. This is because many teams have a Hippowdon or Tyranitar. Then Gliscor has a chance of being able to avoid potential killing moves.

Your team lacks an effective Revenge killer. So to remedy this, I suggest you change Latias' item to a scarf variety.
Latias @ Choice Scarf
252 SPA, 252 SPE, 6 DEF
Timid Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Trick
This set allows you to revenge kill a wide variety of Pokemon.

Just a quick note, on Gengar, have you tried an Expert Belt? You can gain a little in the way of survivability with it since it doesn't cut your HP like LO does.

 

[Huntofthelion]

I got your PM, so I'll take a look. I think that this can be a lot with a few slight changes. Firstly I see an issue against water types in conjunction with a pursuit user. Things like DD Gyarados + TTar are going to rip straight through you, as you really have no answer to it. To fix this, I'd suggest changing Latias to a Defensive Suicune, which gives you a better check to water types other than Starmie.

Next you really need an answer to things like Curselax, Bulky CM Latias, Cro Cune and the like. to fix this, I'd change Heatran to a Scarfed Jirachi. You can now trick Bulky set up Pokemon, as well as scout and revenge kill. You lose Explosion as well as the Fire Immune, and something else now needs SR.

Onto your Lead, Roserade doesn't really do much other than a fast sleep. It can't revenge kill much because it won't outrun +1 Base 100s. So it seems as though it's kinda useless towards the later parts of the match. It also forces a blind double switch turn two, which could swing momentum towards your opponenet and force you into a corner. If you really want to slow down faster leads, I'd suggest Azelf. You beat almost all slower leads, gain Stealth Rock back, and can get a quick Explosion.

The last changes are minor, so I'll just go through them quick. Gengar would prefer Protect over Thunderbolt. The coverage gained is minimal, as you can already hit most things you'd hit with it using Shadow Ball, which won't be much weaker. Protect lets you scout incoming attacks, so you can see if trappers are going to pursuit you or if it's safe to switch out. I would also consider Life Orb over scope lens on Drapion, as it's a safer bet.

Just some stuff for you to think about, I know I changed a lot but you don't have to use all of them. Just test them all out and see which you prefer!

Suicune @Leftovers
Bold; 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Surf / Calm Mind / Rest / Sleep Talk

Jirachi @Choice Scarf
Jolly; 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Iron Head / U turn / Ice Punch / Trick

Azelf @Focus Sash
Naive; 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 Atk
Psychic / Taunt / Stealth Rock/ Explosion

 

[duke3528]

i deffinatly appriciate you guys responding. I will get testing on a few of those ideas i deffinatly like some of those ideas. I will make changes accordingly. thank you

 

[yond]

cool team.

I would suggest you use a focus sash and toxic spikes over sludge bomb though. From expirience the know the extra poison support will help alot. especially with pokes like blissey, hippowdon, and snorlax. Sludge bomb isnt completely necessary since you have hp ice. focus sash because roserade is fragile and sleep powder isnt completely reliable. Plus timid roserade outspeeds alot of things still.

Also i dont think calm mind phazer latias fits well =/.
I would take the suggestion from Sheshi and go with specs latias trick is more useful than roar nowadays with all the stall and what not anyways imo.

 

[duke3528]

I changed hyper cutter for sand veil it made sense. Aswell with focus sash it worked out just fine not really better but not really worse so Ill keep it. With gengar he lost more power than I wanted with expert belt and life orb on drapion wasnt working because he wasnt lastimg as long and doing his normal dent in a team. So far thanks for the rates hopefully I can get some more ill keep testing

 

[Falconator]

I got your PM and to be honest, the team is looking excellent.

Gliscor looks good for your team but have you considered using Spiritomb in its place? Spiritomb is probably the best counter to your number 1 threat Machamp and can help against two other problems Huntofthelion mentioned: DD-dos and T-Tar. Will-O-Wisp helps a lot with those two.


But really, the teams is looking great. Not much to be said.

 

[cim]

I got your PM and to be honest, the team is looking excellent.

Really? Excellent?

Off the top of my head, I see a decent Choice Band Tyranitar weak. Two of your primary sweepers hate Pursuit. That's not so bad alone and you do have Gliscor, but it just seems like you're making it more of a liability than you should. But more of a problem is SD Scizor. CB Scizor U-Turns, you have Heatran and Gliscor to repeatedly take that, but Pursuit fucks up Latias and Gengar. With a Swords Dance, Scizor can Bullet Punch / Superpower / whatever Scizor runs for a third move nowadays and just let it rip. Team weaknesses were never really my thing so I'm sure there are more...

The idea of forming a team through what 2 pokemon you want to leave alive is a pretty flawed concept. It gets you on the right track (you have counters for counters so you preserve momentum etc yadda yadda), but "Wow, I like these three Pokemon, let's pick 3 that work with them with no respect for each other" is a really dumb approach to a balance team. Latias and Gengar on the same team is completely redundant especially when your Latias set is basically done better by Sub / CM Jirachi...

A lot of your responses in the counter thread are also based on what you would do if your opponent stayed in with their pokemon, i.e. Heatran running Fire Blast to beat Scizor. But what's more important than that is anticipating that any Scizor in their right mind would switch and making that switch productive through the play of your counter that forces them out, otherwise it's just them constantly making you switch with little apparent benefit for yourself. I'd rethink the whole list with "well, when they switch out after I send in X, what did I gain?" in mind. For many Pokemon, you should have gained something. For some you can just go "well i have to revenge it oh well"..

I'm sorry I don't have any fixes for your team (I have to leave soon), but this is just general approach to team building advice.

 

[duke3528]

This team has actually worked really well for me. with changes hunt of the lion I tested all your ideas and it came out that when changing all three pokemon the team wrks really well but you cant just change one pokemon for those ideas to work. so to where I appreciate all the ideas i will keep the team how it is for right now. Gyarados and tyranitar really havent been a broblem for this team as well as scizor is not to tough in the long run. I see him everywhere choicebanders sword dancers and I take them out with not to much trouble. Yeah if i switch heatran in I know i am not going to expect scizor to stay in plus i would not want to have scizor use earth power on my heatran. I work around the guy.

Sub cm rachi cant do what latias does better because where rachi is subing latias is roaring it away with less health and latias still has the cm. So where is rachi better i dont know because it makes no sense to me plus my drapion takes him out no problem. everyone on my team can hit multiple pokemon so when my opponent does switch I normally do not because I dont have to. I win most of my matches, when I loose its because I made a mistake or I was out played by someone better who had as well better perdiction.

Like you said chris is me why would i let gengar and latias go up against tyranitar even though gengar beats him latias has beaten him drapion beats him you see what im saying. I dont think you know what your talking about but I appreciate your thoughts.