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Hey everyone I recently started playing showdown again after a few month hiatus and began focusing on OU. I don't have much experience in teambuilding in OU but this is a team that I have created and tested for about two weeks and I have made a few adjustments to it but I want to get another set of eyes on the team and see how else I can improve it.
Scizor is my main sweeper due to its bullet punch STAB and will mainly use him to take care of any psychic types the opponent may have using knock off. One disadvantage is that his speed is okay and often times is outsped by other pokemon. I try to set up SD whenever I can but will switch out if i'm being threatned.
Hippowdon @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 56 HP / 200 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Fang
Hippowdon is my main hazard setter and I use him to take out any flying and or dragon types. His ice fang can hit Lando-T pretty hard and his earthquake can hit anything that isn't flying and cause damage. His speed is pretty low but makes up for it by his bulk. Because he can take multiple hits he's a safe switch-in.
Venasaurs main purpose is to toxic foes and leech seed, as well as taking out any water or fairy types. Again his speed is pretty low other pokemon can hit him first.
Slowbro is the pokemon that can pretty much hit anything. He is really good in taking out threats such as Mega-Lopunny with his psychic, and if he is hit hard his regenerator can heal him a fair amount when he is switched out. I he's hit by a super effective move then he can dish out even more damage. The only issue is that his speed is really bad so once he gets weakness policy boost he only has one more turn to take advantage of it or I simply switch him out to preserve him.
Latios is my main defogger and i use him to set up light screen so my team can handle special attacks better and the light clay makes the duration a lot longer. I gave him thunderbolt because some water types can have Ice Beam, which can hit a lot of members of my team so getting rid of them can really help. i try not to keep him in too long because he is very useful.
I normally start with Gliscor because most of the time the opponent will have a hazard setter (shuckle, skarmory, ferrothorn, etc.) so if I use taunt I get a free turn to swords dance and attack. Often times he may not last long since the opponent will usually switch into a mon with an ice or water type such as Slowbro so hes basically used to set as much damage as possible in the beginning. He is good in taking out any flying type or fire type pokemon such as dragonite, talonflame etc.
During my time testing the team out there are a few pokemon that pose a serious threat to my team and they are"
Slowbro
Gengar
Heatran
Charizard-Y
Electivire
Weavile
As of now my ranking in OU is 1229 so I have won a few games with this team but I feel like some of the pokemon on the team don't synergize well with the others and don't fulfill their main purpose well and there could be other pokemon that can but I'm not completely sure which ones can. Any advice can be really helpful and thanks for taking the time to read my team layout.
The first change I'd make is bug bite<----knock off on scissor...since ur running an offensive sweeper set and not a utility one.bug bite is needed for the power ,since bp is only 60 and u turn forces u to switch
Another change would be gliscor--->utility tran...it deals with ur glaring weakness to ice types and other tran...plus it carries taunt to shut down leads(except gaarch and scarf lando)
That latios set is not very good...just use the standard Lo defogger set
Since ur having problems with charizard x ... convert the slowbro into a fully defensive one with leftovers to check it
That venusaur set is pretty questionable up if ur having success with it...use it
Otherwise a nice change would be Venu--->weavile...since it helps with ur slowbro and gengar weakness and having ice type stab is always helpful
Hey PXNDV cool team. Welcome back from your hiatus :) To start off with, lets take a look at the team in general. First, your team has a some structural errors, very large ones. What I mean by this is that you have certain Pokemon on your team that are "fulfilling" a job they were not made for. One of these examples is you Light Screen Latios, and another being ToxicSeed Venusaur. Venusaur isn't really the most viable Pokemon in OU, only really working on the rare Sun-team. Besides these team building errors that I will later patch up, your team is very weak to Weavile. Weavile is able to decimate most of your team, with the exception of Mega Scizor. Weavile gets to come in and get a kill or huge damage off on any one of your Pokemon, whether it be with Knock Off or Icicle Crash. Weavile also has access to priority, allowing it to easily revenge kill any of your Pokemon, if any of them were to outspeed it. Another large threat to your team is Manaphy. Manaphy, with Tail Glow, is able to easily 6-0 your team with it's coverage moves in Scald/Surf, Ice Beam, and Energy Ball. Your team has no really good counterplay against Manaphy, except to maybe hope that Draco Meteor from Latios will crit and Scizor's BP + Hippo's Sand will be able to take it out. Even with a Light Screen from Latios, Manaphy still poses a huge threat to your team. These are just a few of the team's larger threats, but for the sake of time let's just jump in to the more useful part of the rate.
To start off with, I would recommend replacing the current EV spread your Scizor has to one of 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD with an Impish Nature. This new EV spread gives Scizor a lot more bulk and versatility, being able to pivot into some top-tier threats like Latios and Weavile. With this EV spread, it is never OHKOed by Clefable's Fire Blast and Timid Mega Diancie's HP Fire, and is never 2HKOed by Mega Gardevoir's Focus Blast and Latios' LO Draco Meteor followed by a -2 HP Fire. While this set is taken straight from the SmogDex (which I highly recommend you use when team building), it is very effective at what it does and can be manipulated to fit your team depending on what you think it needs. It still is able to run Swords Dance, but finds a lot more opportunities to set up. With Bullet Punch, Scizor can accurately check Pokemon like Mega Diancie, Clefable, and Weavile, and U-Turn allows it to generate momentum while also dishing out loads of damage. Bug Bite is also a neat option that allows Scizor to function more as a sweeper, allowing it to hit hard with it's Bug-Type STAB and retain it's stat boosts. Roost finally gives it reliable recovery and allows it function as a defensive pivot as well as a set-up sweeper that can stay in the game long enough to see the end.
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Second, onto Hippowdon. Replacing Hippowdon with Bulky Landorus-Therian gives your team a solid check to all forms of Excadrill and opposing Landorus-Therian, as well as Pokemon like Jirachi, Mega Lopunny, Mega Pinsir, and Tyranitar. LandoT retains Hippowdon's ability to set up hazards with Stealth Rock, but provides a lot more utility. With access to U-Turn, LandoT is able to form a nice VoltTurn core with Scizor to easily generate momentum against the opposing team. LandoT also hits harder than Hippowdon with Earthquake, at least Standard Hippo that is (not the offensive one you run). With access to Hidden Power Ice, LandoT is able to come in and hit opposing LandoT, Garchomp, and Hippowdon for loads of damage that your opp wouldn't expect. While it is a little unorthodox, your team struggles to break through these walls, and having a surprise set like this would extremely benefit your team. If you find HP Ice to be too situational, you always have the option of running good old Stone Edge, to hit Pokemon like Zapdos and Talonflame, but I very heavily suggest the use of HP Ice. However, the one leg Hippowdon has up against LandoT is it's access to reliable recovery, but the overall offensive and defensive utility that LandoT provides heavily outweighs this factor.
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Next, I would make the suggestion of changing your pioneersh, albeit strange (what is that EV spread), Venusaur to SubSeed Serperior. SubSeed Serperior functions the same way as your Venusaur, using Leech Seed to wear down the opponent's Pokemon, but is a lot more effective at the job. Hiding behind a Substitute and with Leech Seed, Serperior is able to beat threats like Chansey, Heatran, but most importantly, Manaphy. With access to one of the coolest abilities in the game, Contrary, Serperior is able to use and abuse Leaf Storm to effortlessly set up on opposing Pokemon, and hit harder with each passing turn. The last moveslot on SubSeed Serperior is a little up for grabs, but Hidden Power Fire usually works to hit the Steel Types that resist the Grass-Type STAB. With the given EV spread of 56 HP / 200 SpA / 252 Spe with a Timid Nature, Serperior's Substitute is not able to be broken by Rotom-Wash's Hydro Pump, while still maintaining maximum attacking prowess and it's While SubSeed Serp loses the ability to hit Fairies super hard, in contrast with Venusaur who can carry Sludge Bomb, Serperior is a lot more viable and easy to use than Venusaur, and can beat far more threats.
Moving on to your Slowbro, I would recommend running a bulker EV spread of 248 HP / 228 Def / 24 SpD / 8 Spe with a Bold Nature in comparison with the offensive set you are choosing to run now. Slowbro is not a super offensive Pokemon to begin with, and is usually (and should be) run as a defensive Pokemon used to pivot in and out of powerful attacks like Mega Medicham's HJK or LO Excadrill's Earthquake. While the offensive notion is neat, Slowbro is highly effective at it's usual job of a defensive pivot. With access to Slack Off, Slowbro has reliable recovery, and it can become a deadly set up Pokemon with Calm Mind. You always have the option to run one of the best moves in the game as well, Thunder Wave. The new EV spread maximizes it's physical bulk while avoiding the 2HKO from Specs-Boosted Hydro Pump from Keldeo after a SR switch, while outspeeding other Slowbro and Amoonguss. Slowbro's Regenerator is also supported by the VoltTurn core between LandoT and Scizor.
Lets take a look at your Latios. Your Light Screen set is certain neat, and something I've never seen before, but it doesnt make use of Latios' potential. One of the biggest things that Latios has is it's great Speed tier of 350 Max Speed. Changing your semi-specially bulky EV spread to one of 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe with a Timid nature allows Latios to capitalize on it's high speed and special attack. Changing out Light Screen for Psyshock/Psychic gives your team a way to hit bulky Pokemon like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss, some Pokemon that your team will struggle to break through, and it gives Latios access to it's secondary STAB. While you lose the ability take some special hits better, Latios still has good natural special bulk, allowing it to switch into Pokemon like Keldeo a few times.
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Finally, we have Gliscor. Gliscor is a great Pokemon to use, on the right team and in the right way. Your team is not really the place for SD Gliscor, as it shares weaknesses with most of the members. Changing Gliscor to Specs Keldeo gives your team a solid way to deal with Weavile, as well as increasing the over offensive presence. With Scald and Hydro Pump, Keldeo is able to hit most of the Pokemon in the tier extremely hard. Access to Secret Sword allows Keldeo to beat Chansey and other special walls that might try and stop it's destruction, while also hitting other bulky Pokemon like Ferrothorn extremely hard. The last moveslot is up for grabs, but I would recommend running Focus Blast. While this limits Keldeo's coverage to Water and Fighting, Focus Blast has a large chance to OHKO Manaphy after a SR switch in, and gives you another solid way to deal with it outside of Serperior. The dual Water and Fighting attacks may seem redundant, but each move has a certain situation in which it should be clicked. Of course, when running Keldeo over Gliscor, you are going to lose some defensiveness, but Keldeo has good natural bulk and it's offensive capabilities outweighs this lost defensiveness.
All right, I think that's it. I'm pretty sure I hit everything I wanted to touch base on, but if I find out I missed something I'll notify you and edit this lol. The changes I made to the team make it a lot more standard as opposed to the original team, but things are standard because they work well in today's ending metagame. The team is still sort of weak to Weavile, as the only two things capable of handling it are Keldeo and Scizor. There were a few flaws in your team building to begin with, so I'll leave some links here to help you with team building in the ORAS metagame, as SUMO links are not yet made and/or ready. Here we have the Smogdex, which provides sample sets, the ORAS OU Viability Rankings, which allow you to make an educated decision on what Pokemon to put on a team, and the OU Role Compendium, which tells you viable Pokemon that fulfill a certain role. While the ORAS metagame is coming to a close, gather certain metagame knowledge will help you prepare for and teambuild successfully in SUMO.
