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Baby's first semi-competitive OU team

S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
Now that I've done some more research and have learned to let go of my sentimentality for certain pokemon, I have finally built a somewhat decent team. Or not, I have no idea, that's why I'm asking you guys for advice. Anyway, here's my new and improved first OU team. Read the spoiler at the bottom for the original intro and team if you're that interested. Some of my team members are going to be copy/pasted from the original team with some minor tweaks to their descriptions. Again, all of these sets are ripped straight from POTW or smogon, I take no credit for them.


First, my defensive core:

;227;
Skarmory*Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 SpD
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Roost
-Brave Bird

Physical wall, phaser, and entry hazard setup. Part 1 of 2 for the SkarmBliss shell that I want to fit on my team. Not much to say here, as most of this is set in stone as Skarm's go to EV spread and movelist. I chose brave bird over taunt so that my team had at least one flying STAB, which seems like it would be a life saver against the likes of Conkeldurr and Breloom.

;242;
Blissey*Leftovers
Ability:Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Calm (+SpD, -Atk)
-Wish/Stealth Rock (not sure which my team needs more)
-Softboiled
-Seismic Toss
-Toxic

Special wall, and part 2 of 2 for good ol' SkarmBliss. I'm really not sure whether to run Wish for healing my teammates or Stealth rock to hurt my opponent. Maybe I could drop Toxic and run both Wish and Stealth rock since Tentacruel will be packing poison? I honestly don't know. I also don't know if Eviolite Chansey would be better in this role, as I've heard they're neck and neck in terms of effectiveness.

;073;
Tentacruel*Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic
-Scald
-Substitute

Kind of a mixed wall, mostly here for the sake of being a rapid spinner with bulk. Liquid ooze is to mess with any Ferrothorn or Breloom trying to leech seed. SubToxic is to do gradual damage, and scald is to burn with a STAB. Nothing new here, so moving on.

And now for the offensive core:

;094;
Gengar*Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Substitute
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
-Pain Split

Spin blocker and potent special threat. Pain split lets Gengar heal and have a chance against the pink puffball (that I now have on my team) Blissey. I was tempted to run a third raw attack like thunderbolt or hidden power fire instead of pain split, but the chance at healing that much vs really bulky walls was just too tempting.

;149;
Dragonite*Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Fire Punch
-Roost

My old team consisted of a lot of glass canons, so when I went back to the drawing board I immediately started to research bulky offensive threats. DD Dragonite was recommended as an addition to my first team and found him to be a perfect fit for what I have now. With multiscale, Dragonite can get a virtually guaranteed Dragon Dance up, meaning everything dies. Outrage does a buttload of damage on anything it hits neutrally, and fire punch covers the steel walls that would otherwise stop Dragonite in his tracks. Roost is to get back to Multiscale range when I need it.

;212;
Scizor*Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
-U-Turn
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit

Yet another bulky physically offensive threat. This guy, as far as I can tell, is one of the most hated Pokemon in OU for what seems like good reason. Choice band Scizor has everything; solid bulk, great damage output, and a near perfect moveset. I really can't say much more about him as I'm sure you guys have fought this terror first hand.
​

And that's it. Baby's first OU team ver 2.0.

As a bit of a closing note, if I've said anything ignorant from my lack of firsthand knowledge or if I misinterpreted something etc, please tell me I'm wrong. I love being wrong because that means I can be corrected and learn something new.

Let me start out by saying that I have, for the most part, been completely out of the loop for Pokemon in general since I was playing gen III games as a wee lad. I only recently learned that Pokemon has a competitive scene which piqued my interest enough to buy a used DS and Pokemon Black 1 and 2. I'm loving it so far, so I want to build a semi competitive OU team. I want it to be balanced, giving me a feel for the Pokemon metagame as a whole. While I have a team in mind, I have zero experience in battling other human beings so I doubt it's well balanced or even feasible vs most common strategies. I tried to fit one of everything on this team but I don't know if that's a bad idea. Here's what I've haphazardly thrown together so far.

NOTE: All of these sets are ripped straight from Serebii's POTW or Smogon. I take zero credit for how they are EV trained, their nature, moves, etc.

Also, I know I'm breaking a couple format rules with the lack of full size pictures and not using the 'at' symbol for items attached, both of which are blocked by the URL filter on new posters.

;448;
Lucario*Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
-Swords Dance
-Close Combat
-Extremespeed
-Ice Punch

The first one I chose when I decided I wanted to make a competent team, and the one I'd like to get rid of the least if any changes need to be made. He's my physical sweeper, using Lucario's usual swords dance set. There's nothing I can really say, as it seems this set is his tried and true build since DPP. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

:637:
Volcarona*Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Quiver Dance
-Bug Buzz
-Fiery Dance
-Giga Drain

My team's special sweeper. On paper it seems to have it all, great SpA, solid speed, and ok enough bulk to survive a switch in as long as no stealth rock is up. I chose a timid nature over modest because I'd rather be guaranteed the hit and lose out on a bit of damage than never have a chance to hit at all. Giga drain is there as the rest of my team has no grass moves, meaning no good counters to Swampert, Gastrodon, and anyone else that would otherwise wash him away. The rest is, as far as I've read, standard Volcarona. Hit hard, hit fast, and avoid stealth rock like it's the plague.

;227;
Skarmory*Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 224 HP / 252 Def / 32 SpD
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SpA)
-Spikes
-Whirlwind
-Roost
-Brave Bird

Physical wall and entry hazard setup. In all likelihood this would be my lead to get spikes out ASAP. Not much to say here, as most of this is set in stone as Skarm's go to set. I chose brave bird over taunt so that my team had at least one flying STAB, which seems like it would be a life saver against the likes of Conkeldurr and Breloom.

;073;
Tentacruel*Black Sludge
Ability: Clear Body or Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic
-Scald
-Substitute

Tentacruel I only picked after remembering how scary Milotic was in gen III as a bulky water type. A quick Google search lead me to a ton of people raving about how great Tentacruel was as a bulky water, special wall, AND a rapid spinner. Neato, I need all of that so why not? My biggest issue is in what ability to use. This isn't a weather team, so I don't see the point in rain dish, especially since the Dream World as we know it is being shut down leaving me no time to get enough points for a chance at a Tentacool. My only option seems to be to trade for one, and since the value of rain dish breeders is skyrocketing by the day I have no choice but to try and haggle for one measly Tentacool in general. Lo and behold, a Pokemon game where I actually want to find that little blue jelly, but is nowhere to be found.

;094;
Gengar*Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
-Substitute
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast
-Pain Split

Spin blocker and potent special threat. Pain split lets Gengar heal and have a chance against the pink puffball Blissey. Most of this is seems pretty well established, so I doubt I'm adding much saying anything.

:612:
Haxorus*Choice Band
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
-Outrage
-Superpower
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail

Last, and probably least liked on my team is Haxorus. I picked him simply because I noticed a few holes in my team. No solid dragon counters outside of Lucario's somewhat wimpy non STAB ice punch, no ground type moves to hit the likes of Tentacruel and Heatran, and a fragile risky physical sweeper in Lucario. On paper, Haxorus has it all; dragon STAB, access to earthquake, and consistently absurd damage output with choice band. With looks not even it's mother could love, I tacked on Haxorus to fill any holes my newbie eyes could see.
​

And there you have it. My attempt at my first semi-competitive OU team. Let me know what you think, what I should change, etc.

Also, any advice for starting to learn the competitive metagame in general would be appreciated, though if that kind of discussion needs to be moved to a different section of the forum then I'll gladly go there and leave this thread exclusively for team construction.
 
Last edited:
M

Matoro

Toa of Ice
I don't really know that much about competitive, but...
I hear Tentacruel in useless outside of rain.
I run a Haxorus on every OU team I have. Let me tell you, it is the bomb dot com. Nothing even touches Haxorus. However, I like to run it as a Dragon Dance setup with Outrage and Earthquake. As a matter of fact, that moveset gives me literally perfect coverage. I don't even need the last slot. I guess Aqua Tail might be useful. I also put 36 EVs in HP taken out of attack. Did you know he can survive an Ice Beam from a Starmie with that and OHKO back with Outrage? Haxorus is ridiculous. I've also run a Lucario and Haxorus is infinitely more valuable. That's really all I've got though.
 
S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
When I say "semi-competitive" I mean that the team is only going to be used on WiFi against friends or on a simulator, not tournament level competitive.
Regarding Tentacruel, he seems to be the only really bulky water with access to rapid spin. Yeah I could use Cloyster or Starmie, but both of them are well established as much more effective on offense. I don't think it's a great idea to have ANOTHER sweeper on my team. It's already leaning a little too heavily in the offensive realm now.
I could do dd Haxorus, but I'd rather have immediate access to that damage instead of wasting turns boosting with what will probably be one of my last resorts.
 
C

Caluminousdugtrio

class on my back
Matoro said:
I don't really know that much about competitive, but...
I hear Tentacruel in useless outside of rain.
I run a Haxorus on every OU team I have. Let me tell you, it is the bomb dot com. Nothing even touches Haxorus. However, I like to run it as a Dragon Dance setup with Outrage and Earthquake. As a matter of fact, that moveset gives me literally perfect coverage. I don't even need the last slot. I guess Aqua Tail might be useful. I also put 36 EVs in HP taken out of attack. Did you know he can survive an Ice Beam from a Starmie with that and OHKO back with Outrage? Haxorus is ridiculous. I've also run a Lucario and Haxorus is infinitely more valuable. That's really all I've got though.
Click to expand...

Eh...Tentacruel is fine outside of Rain XD. It can be run on Sun to counter rain teams, and can even be used on sand for its ability to tank fire AND water attacks and Toxic Spikes.

@the team

Lucario shouldnt be running Adamant. Its wayyy to slow and it NEEDS the Timid nature to maximize its speed. Personally I would go for SR > Spikes on Skarm (cuz you have no rocker) because it damages everything that comes in bar Magic Guard pokes. Other than that, nice team. :D
 
Yellow De Viridian Grove

Yellow De Viridian Grove

Well-Known Member
justinjiaxinghu said:
Eh...Tentacruel is fine outside of Rain XD. It can be run on Sun to counter rain teams, and can even be used on sand for its ability to tank fire AND water attacks and Toxic Spikes.

@the team

Lucario shouldnt be running Adamant. Its wayyy to slow and it NEEDS the Jolly nature to maximize its speed. Personally I would go for SR > Spikes on Skarm (cuz you have no rocker) because it damages everything that comes in bar Magic Guard pokes. Other than that, nice team. :D
Click to expand...

Jolly is +Spe - SAtk while Timid is +Spe - SAtk

Tentacruel can always use Liquid Ooze to help counter Ferrothorn as pretty much all of them run leech seed. Speed could be an issue. I suggest running ScarfTerrakion>Lucario. This gives solid speed to the team while still retaining Physical presence. Terrakion can still revenge kill Volc if Tentacruel is down.

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly (+Spe - SAtk)
Justfied
-Stone Edge
-Close Combat
-X-Scissor
-Return
 
S

SoundofMadness

Speed Kills
Yes, this team needs Rocks, though honestly I'm not sure where because I like spikes on the skarm...

Perhaps running both SR and Spikes on the Skarm replacing Brave Bird or Roost (Though doing one will seriously hurt it's staying power, while the other will make it taunt bait)?

My other thought would be to switch your spinner to Donphan, who can lay SR, but he's a Def wall and not an SDef wall...so that would leave you lacking against a lot of special attacks and would make you more vulnerable to rain...

You could switch Skarm to Ferrothorn and/or Forretress and get your entry hazards from it.

Just some ideas...=/
 
McDanger

McDanger

Well-Known Member
ok honestly the only rate you should POSSIBLY listen to from above is hakas and i would say sound but he kinda just said you need rocks, nothing against everyone elses, but they`re bad, i mean jolly on swords dance lucario smh

Your team does a very poor job at supporting lucario and volcarona as you fail to check their walls. I would drop either one of them for something that supports the other, if you keep lucario dd dragonite is a nice partner as he gets revenged by scarfed ice, rock, and dragon moves at +1 speed and baits in physical walls like skarmory and cripples them, another is swords dance garchomp as hes checked by the same stuff but he can set up rocks and boost with swords dance.Before you quote and say why use other dragons i have hazorus, the difference is garchomp and dragonite learn fire moves making it easier to get around skarmory, superpower does rather low damage plus they have more bulk and staying power.

As for volcarona, offensive celebi works great with him as he baits in heatran and checks it with earth power. He also forces out bulky waters and checks keldeo who are a pain for volcarona. Another good partner, but a gimmicky set, is dd latios as he checks ttar and heatran, 2 of volcaronas biggest checks, as well as put pressure on blissey/chansey. DD latios is nice too as he baits in scizor who volc can set up on.

I cant really rate more till you make the changes i suggested so once you do i`ll rate again
 
S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
So if I'm understanding all of this correctly, I need to do the following:
-Drop either Lucario or Volcarona in favor of someone who can support the other better, meaning I need to somehow get my grimy mits on a DWF Gible or Dratini to keep Lucario, or a Celebi or Latios for Volcarona.
-Somehow get stealth rock on my team, be it eliminating brave bird from Skarmory's moveset (which I'd rather not do) or use the aforementioned dream world ability Garchomp.

I had some other ideas I had for fitting stealth rock on my team. Would squeezing in suicide lead Aerodactyl or "Anti- Lead" Infernape work? Would either of them help with supporting either Lucario or Volcarona?

Those sets are as follows:

Aerodactyl*Focus Sash
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 100 Atk / 156 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Hasty (+Spe, -Def)
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Fire Blast

Infernape*Focus Sash
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive (+Spe ,-SpD)
-Fake Out
-Stealth Rock
-Overheat
-Close Combat
​
 
S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
I'm really trying to make a more balanced team. Does the OU metagame force me to go HO or full stall, or is there any kind of middle ground I can reach?
 
S

Sparkbeat

FLASH! AAAHHHAAA!
If you're trying to go balanced, you need a better defensive core than Skarmory and Tentacruel. Balance also tends to use bulkier attackers. You can try to make this team balance, but ATM it would be much better as an HO team, as your current defensive core is lackluster.
 
S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
The only two on this team I'm really attached to are Lucario and Volcarona. Is there any way to build a balanced team around them, or are they both meant to be on HO only?
 
S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
Since I should probably scrap most of this team, then I guess I'm better off going to the team building thread for now. Thanks for your help everyone, I'll let this thread die for now and bring it back when I have a better team constructed.
 
P

Puma Italia

Well-Known Member
Stealth Rock is a great choice on Blissey because it comes in on so many things and has plenty of chances to set them up. As mentioned previously, Tentacruel can work on a non-rain team because you will be able to take advantage of other people's rain (rain is so common that it will happen). I would go with Toxic Spikes over Toxic so you can spread extra residual damage and help your sweepers run through opposing teams a little easier.
 
S

SnowMonkey24

Shenanihax
I did a lot of testing on this team today, and have made a few changes to fix some issues I had.
-First of all, Dragonite was a really weak link, so I swapped him out for Swords Dance Garchomp to absorb electricity targeted at Skarmory and Tentacruel. He's already working a LOT better than Dragonite did.
-Tentacruel now has toxic spikes instead of Toxic to prevent redundancy with Blissey.
-Blissey has a bit of a strange set that works, containing Stealth Rock, Softboiled, Flamethrower, and Toxic.

Beyond that, I have no idea what do do vs rain teams. I lost to every last one I fought today. The biggest thorn in my side seems to be dry skin Toxicroak.
 
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