Donphan in OU

[Rocxidi]

(Posted on Smogon, might as well leave this here.)

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"haha SIKE **** donphan. garbage af mon"

After a brief break, I'm trying to get back into comp again. I made this team a few minutes ago thinking it was hot af but was unable to test it priperly because the lower ladder exists.

Talonflame (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Acrobatics

Real af ***** here. This guy is basically god. When properly set up, you can tank all sorts of rock slides and stone edges and the occasional stray smack down. Bulk up and willowisp allow talonflame to survive literally any physical move, Roost for general recovery whilst allowing bird to stall with willowisp. Acrobatics doesnt have recoil like brave bird, allowing it to get a straight 6-0 after setting up. sitrus berry activates acrobatic's special effect. The evs allow it to take special hits and reduce the damage from Stealth Rock thanks to sitrus berry

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
- Lava Plume

needed a hazzard setter that could deal with annoying af fairies like clefable. Specially Defensive heatran has worked so far. Stealth rocks improve the teams sweeping capabilities while toxic wears down stall mons like cm cresselia who apparently is a lower ladder staple. Flash cannon and lava plume are for stab

Serperior (M)
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Hidden Power Fire
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm

powerful af sweeper. Outspeeds so many things and beats everything once i manage to take down its checks and counters. Moveset is standard except for taunt to reduce recoil from sub and catch leads trying to lay hazzards

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 124 Atk / 132 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage
- Ice Beam

the first lando t check that came to my mind. Kyube is really strong already so i went for mixed scarf. i literally just slid the ev bars to half on the ps app so the evs are dumb af. i have no idea how train this thing because i never use it. erf power goes great with terravolt, fusion bolt is for skarmory, ice beam for stab and landos and gliscors, outrage to swep late game or just punch holes early

Lopunny (M) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Power-Up Punch
- Return
- High Jump Kick

had a mega slot so i went for something really op. pup bunny is hot af, as it can take down a weak foe and sweep the rest of the team or just spam hjk and melt hp bars. Max spd and atk is obv

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor

figured i could use defog and healing wish so i picked latias. Shes a really good mon with lots of damage while being able to take hits and deal with some common pkmn

didnt feel like making a huge pretty post because no

Importable :

Spoiler: team

Talonflame (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Acrobatics

Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
- Lava Plume

Serperior (M)
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Hidden Power Fire
- Giga Drain
- Leaf Storm

Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 124 Atk / 132 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Outrage
- Ice Beam

Lopunny (M) @ Lopunnite
Ability: Limber
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Power-Up Punch
- Return
- High Jump Kick

Latias (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
- Draco Meteor

"the title to this thread is dedicated to the countless people on serebii forums who use donphan in their ou rmts"

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http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/donphan-in-ou.3543260/

 

[Eaglehawk]

After a cursory glance at your team, I have some small logistic issues and larger metagame issues.

First, you're better off either running no item on Talonflame or Leftovers + Brave Bird. The former works as a Knock Off switch-in and the latter is just standard. Sitrus Berry is almost never worth it in my honest opinion because Talon's access to priority recovery already mitigates any fears of recovery in the first place. Furthermore, the presence of a semi-useful item leaves it to vulnerable to higher-damage Knock Offs, so I'd stay away from berries altogether unless you're using some Natural Gift gimmick.

Second, I have no idea why you have no item on Serperior. I'm assuming this is just a copy-paste error, so I'll just let it slide.

I prefer Roar over Toxic or Flash Cannon on Heatran simply because you're flat-out set-up bait for DD Charizard, SubCM Keldeo, and DD Altarias running EQ.

I'm sorry, but Scarf Kyube is just flat-out ***. It's a poor utilization of its potential. Furthermore, the mixed spread you're running without any option to switch attacks leaves it set-up bait due to Choice Locking.

If you were really going for something "OP", you should've used anything but Lopunny. Seriously, go to Smogon and take a gander at their viability rankings to get a good idea of what's good atm.

Okay, so onto the actually important stuff.

Just judging by your team's composition, you have almost no way of beating Balance, semi-stall, Bulky Offense, or just any playstyle that is bulky. Your team has extreme problems breaking Hippowdon balance or any kind of bulky team simply because all of your offensive Pokemon need either a turn of set-up to start hurting things, which at that point loses you momentum from switches. You also die to all forms of sand offense.

 

[Karxrida]

Don't listen to Eaglehawk about Scarf Kyurem-B, it's totally legit. Strong af for a Scarfer and has decent surprise potential.

EVs defintiely need some work though. No idea what they are for the as Scarf set off the top of my head, just check out the Smogon analysis for it.

 

[ger9119]

For Serp I would consider Sub or another coverage move (Dragon Pulse) over taunt, leftovers or meadow plate for the item.

I agree with Eagle on the Heatran suggestion

I would highly consider a more bulkier hazard remover, since Latias doesn't really last long in matches plus half your team is ripped apart by Unaware Clefable. You have two things that get mauled by rocks (Talon, Kyu) so without a constant way to remove hazards you're going to lose to balance and stall teams most of the time. I'd suggest Mega Scizor, if you go that i'd change Latias for Scarf Lando-T or something to check Char-X and stuff like that. the Scizor+Lando one gives you more momentum with U-Turn as well as stopping Char-X and M- Altaria more effectively, you would still have to be careful with Sub+CM Keldeo but Scarf/Specs are much more common, Scarf Keldeo will be another solid option if you want something to be more effective against stuff as a Scarf Keldeo or Specs Keldeo can put a lot of pressure on teams.

Take off Bunny, Latias and Kube and try these. You get a F/W/G that hits hard with two set up sweepers as well as Keldeo's sheer power with Specs, you also get a U-Turn core that covers common set up threats but also provides Utility for your team in a way where it's not just defogging once and dying, and it works well with what you got so far on your team.

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 60 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Keldeo @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind

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Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Bulk Up
- Will-O-Wisp

This is the proper BU Talonflame, Swords Dance Variants are an option here too

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Or

Talonflame
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- Roost
- Swords Dance
- Will-O-Wisp

 

[Rocxidi]

I made this team in the PS app. It was doing pretty good so i never noticed all the dumb typos it had.

i like all the changes and will try them, my only problem with taking off kyube is that lando t will be a slight problem. Can i run scarf on Keldeo? Or can Scizor beat it?

 

[ger9119]

I made this team in the PS app. It was doing pretty good so i never noticed all the dumb typos it had.

i like all the changes and will try them, my only problem with taking off kyube is that lando t will be a slight problem. Can i run scarf on Keldeo? Or can Scizor beat it?

You can run Scarf on keld you outspeed all lando variants except for scarf anyways with specs

 

[Moonclawz]

This is pretty cool offensive team

For Clefable, putting Taunt > Flash Cannon on Heatran is generally good enough. This way, even if Clefable sets up like 2-3 boosts, you can still shut it down. Taunt is also great for limiting other set-up sweepers.

I actually think Latias is fine as Defogger for an offensive team like this - your team is kind of weak to Lando-T and Excadrill (especially with Sand Stream though). I would try Rotom-W over Talonflame since Rotom-W can check ground-types and helps with your Talonflame weakness. Although you lose a set-up sweeper, you already have 3 win conditions in Serperior, PUP Mega-Lopunny, and Scarf Kyurem. Rotom-W also gives a nice pivot to send in your frailer offensive mons.

Hope this helps!

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 SpD
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp

 

[Karxrida]

This is pretty cool offensive team

For Clefable, putting Taunt > Flash Cannon on Heatran is generally good enough. This way, even if Clefable sets up like 2-3 boosts, you can still shut it down. Taunt is also great for limiting other set-up sweepers.

I actually think Latias is fine as Defogger for an offensive team like this - your team is kind of weak to Lando-T and Excadrill (especially with Sand Stream though). I would try Rotom-W over Talonflame since Rotom-W can check ground-types and helps with your Talonflame weakness. Although you lose a set-up sweeper, you already have 3 win conditions in Serperior, PUP Mega-Lopunny, and Scarf Kyurem. Rotom-W also gives a nice pivot to send in your frailer offensive mons.

Hope this helps!

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 SpD
Bold Nature
- Volt Switch
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp

The Rotom-W spread is outdated. You only need 8 Speed for Adamant Crawdaunt, while 44 is for max Speed Jolly Azumarill (which is non-existent).

 

[Rocxidi]

The Rotom-W spread is outdated. You only need 8 Speed for Adamant Crawdaunt, while 44 is for max Speed Jolly Azumarill (which is non-existent).

So is Crawdaunt...

Its better to invest some minimal speed to prevent a dumb af mon from beating you than just investing it all in defense.

Will be taking Taunt on heatran though, it sounds better and Flash Cannon is just there most of the time :/

 

[Karxrida]

So is Crawdaunt...

Its better to invest some minimal speed to prevent a dumb af mon from beating you than just investing it all in defense.

Will be taking Taunt on heatran though, it sounds better and Flash Cannon is just there most of the time :/

Said mon doesn't even run the Speed investment you're trying to beat. The Smogon suggested spread is just better (8 to beat an uncommon mon vs. 44 to beat an unused stat spread) because you're maximizing bulk.

You can run the 44 Speed if you want, but I doubt you'll need it much (if ever).