Why U-switch so much

[Shadow Phoenix]

A team built around Mienshao. Let's go through things one at a time now, to see the purpose they all serve.

Mienshao @ Life Orb
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Hi Jump Kick
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
- Fake Out


The entire purpose was to build a team around Mienshao, so the first question was whether to run Stone Edge, or HP Ice. While taking a look through OU's threat list, seeing things like Garchomp, Salamence, and Landorus, I figured that running HP Ice would prove the more reliable option. Fake Out and U-turn are there for priority and for momentum, and HJK exists to have a powerful STAB choice.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 200 HP / 64 Atk / 244 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

Sets up rocks, puts a stop to most physical walls, is a counter to Sp. Def Rachi (who my team had severe difficulties with prior), has U-turn for momentum purposes, and is scary strong as well. Really, no reason not to love Lando-T.

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 28 SAtk / 232 SDef
Calm Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split

Due to the commonality of both Rain and Sun, having a bulky water is incredibly important in the current metagame, and Rotom-W is one of the best out there. Also, helps solve the issues my team was having with Gyarados.

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Fire Punch
- Roost

Initially, I had Jellicent in this spot. However, I found a couple problems with this. One, it and Rotom-W clashed quite a bit. Secondly, it meant that my team was incredibly weak to Venusaur. So I decided to instead run Dragonite. Quite possibly the best counter to Venusaur in the game, it is also quite possibly the scariest set-up sweeper in the game.

Latios (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Trick

Used for a few reasons. One, it beats Keldeo, which my team would have a fair bit of trouble with. Also, I believe Scarf Pokemon are critical on balanced and offensive teams, as a way to deal with setup 'mons.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Superpower
- Roost

The bulky SD set is surprisingly very effective. Scizor forces a lot of switches, which means you are capable of getting off at least one SD, oftentimes more, just due to how bulky it actually is. To give you an idea how bulky Scizor actually is, Modest Landorus Earth Power caps at 80.81%, which isn't a OHKO even after Stealth Rock.

 

[Kendrick Lamar]

Hey Shadow Phoenix, Great team you have here

There are a few changes i would like you to try out. First is Scarf Mienshao > LO
Scarf Mienshao is really good in OU out speeding many other scarfers and I believe all dragons. So of course HP Ice really Handy.

If you decide to try out Scarfshao I would definitely recommend you change Your Latios to Choice Specs. This thing hits like a truck. Specs Draco literally 2HKO's almost the entire tier.

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Trick
- Psyshock
- Surf

Mienshao (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Hope they work for you or at least you try them out :]

 

[Shadow Phoenix]

Hey Shadow Phoenix, Great team you have here

There are a few changes i would like you to try out. First is Scarf Mienshao > LO
Scarf Mienshao is really good in OU out speeding many other scarfers and I believe all dragons. So of course HP Ice really Handy.

If you decide to try out Scarfshao I would definitely recommend you change Your Latios to Choice Specs. This thing hits like a truck. Specs Draco literally 2HKO's almost the entire tier.

Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Draco Meteor
- Trick
- Psyshock
- Surf

Mienshao (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Hi Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Hope they work for you or at least you try them out :]

All right, I'll definitely try them out. Thanks a lot!

Oh, it outspeeds all dragons except for Scarf Lati@s, by the way. Including any that set up a DD.

 

[Smilodon]

Hum, I love Mienshao in this sort of team (I run a similar team with Jirachi and Foretress instead of Scizor and Latios), and I don't think scarf is better. Fake out is an absolutely underrated move in this fast paced metagame, can turn many 2HKO from HJK into OHKO, or end the life of weakened frail sweepers (Fake out 2HKO Alakazam for example).

And without a choice item, there are very few safe switch-in to Mienshao when ghosts and Tentacruel are gone.

 

[DarkGiratina]

Hey there, nice team.
With the suggestions the other bring, I have one other:

Change Rotom-W item to Chesto Berry. With the berry, you can play Rest over Painsplit and have a good one-time instant recovery (is important to counter Sub-DD Gyara better).

Good luck!

 

[Neliel]

Just a quick rate, i think you can put grass know over fake out on your mienshao for two (three) simple reason, it 2kos both hippowdown and jellicent (and gastrodon) who are problematic for you. With hippowdown dead you will have an easy time sweeping with dragonite, with jellicent dead your scizor wont fear jellicent anymore, and its cool to have gastrodon dead for your rotom. Its just a minor nitpick but i think its really helpfull for you, fake out also never did something worth a slot imo. You could also drop the speed of you mienshao to 334 (just to outspeed garchomp) and move the rest into sp. atk.

As for your scizor, i do think you should put u-turn somewhere. This is important to continue mantaining momentum so that you can send rotom-w into scizor's check until the opponent dies. I dont think superpower is that needed here so you could try u-turn intead of it.

now, i see a pretty bad weakness to ferrothorn under rain. it can basically wall everything in your team, and with protect it can even beat mienshao and latios. For this reason i think you should change your dragon dance dragonite into Dragon dance / Superpower / Outrage / Extremespeed. A lot of rain teams relies a lot on ferrothorn to beat dragon dance dragonite, but with superpower you can easily smash it at +1 and do heavy damage to everything else. If you feel the need of roost to have more longevity, you are free to do it, however i've always found extremespeed the superior move, revenge kill something in a pinch or beat weakened scarfed pokemon its better than recover a pokemon which is meant to sweep. Gl with your team!

 

[Dakar]

Hey Shadow Phoenix, congratulations once again on winning my tourney the other day!

On to the team: I personally can't find any major issues with it, but there is an easy way to beat Keldeo with Latios AND be able to (hopefully) score an extra KO.

Latios@Expert Belt
-Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor
-HP Fire
-Thunderbolt
-Surf

With Expert Belt, you can easily bluff Choice Specs, kill Keldeo, and KO unsuspecting Scizor and Ferrothorn with HP Fire. You could still run DMeteor, but Dragon Pulse allows you to score those surprise KOs without worrying about wether your Sp. Atk. is high enough.