This might work (OU)

[yee]

Ive really been looking to use swampert on my teams but the problem is he just keeps on letting me down. Ive also been looking to use scizor and salamence some more and use skarmory for the first time. After looking at the ou tier for a while i have managed to make a team that covers it pretty well. Here it is (all of their names just happen to start with s -

At a Glance

In Depth​

;227; @ Lum Berry
Careful
Sturdy
252 HP, 116 spD, 140 spe
-Taunt
-Spikes
-Brave Bird
-Roost

Ive been seeing skarmory leads around lately, so i thought i would give it a try, i always love copying the catridge games. Skarmory can make slower leads like swampert and metagross useless with taunt while setting up spikes, and also does well against the incredibly annoying sleeper leads like smeargle and roserade. Brave bird is there to give skarmory an offensive presence when called for against those pokemon and also takes out those machamp in two hits. Roost is there to keep skarmory alive for as long as possible. It does look quite scared of magnezone but then again so those are those jirachi leads that can be so annoying.

;260; @ Leftovers
Torrent
Relaxed
252 HP, 252 def, 4 spe
-Stealth Rock
-Earthquake
-Ice Beam
-Roar

Ive got a theory that the reason swampert keeps letting me down is because i keep trying to use him as a lead. Swamperts strong is sponging powerful hits mid game so why waste its talents as a lead? Swampert is my phazer and switch in to scary things like tyranitar, metagross, and salamence. Stealth Rock is useful for obvious reasons, earthquake is a decent stab move, ice beam can do a good amount to things 4x weak to it and roar takes advantages of all my entry hazards.

;212; @ Choice Band
Technician
Adamant
200 HP, 252 atk, 56 spD
-Bullet Punch
-U-turn
-Superpower
-Pursuit

Ever since i got this ev spread i have had the urge to use scizor even more often. His defenses equal out and he can now take two draco meteors from specs latias, while taking on special attackers in general like gengar/starmie a bit easier. Bullet Punch is the universal revenge killing move, u-turn is great for scouting, and pursuit can take away potential revenge killers for salamence immediately.

;442; @ Leftovers
Pressure
Calm
252 HP, 40 def, 216 spD
-Shadow Ball
-Will-o-wisp
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

Spiritomb is another one of those pokemon ive been looking to use for a while. I might shift a few more evs into special defense because he makes a wonderful counter to special attackers like starmie/gengar who may expect a pursuit trapper and try to attack. While i haven't tested it yet, the idea of a ghost/dark typing sounds amazing in ou. What better possible way to stand up to lucario/machamp? Its main appeal though is its ability to take on rotom, nothing on this team will want to be switching into it. Zapper's rate inspired me to actually shift the evs into special defense to avoid 2hkos from pokemon it would counter while the rest went into defense so it has a better chance of beating stuff like machamp/ttar.

;373; @ Life Orb
Intimidate
Naive
4 atk, 252 spA, 252 spe
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-Brick Break
-Roost

I had the dragon dancing mence in this spot but nothing on this team can defeat skarmbliss so i really do need mixmence. I chose classic mixmence for some extra survivability, without a rapid spinner mence would be losing health very quickly. Anyway, draco meteor is a hugely powerful move that will leave a huge dent in pretty much anything while fire blast and brick break help take care of the few pokemon that can handle it.

;121; @ Choice Scarf
Natural Cure
Timid
4 HP, 252 spA, 252 spe
-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam
-Trick

Starmie is a good fit here as a revenge killer for stuff like gyarados and salamence and also as a trick scarfer for suicune, who i tend to have huge trouble with. Heatran can also be quite troublesome to this team and a single water may not be enough. I was lucky enough to get a shiny timid starmie with perfect ivs so im not going for power boost with modest, also if i give up the scarf that means i cant outrun the huge amount of things timid starmie is useful for (latias, gengar, infernape etc.).


Im pretty satisfied with this team, ive only spent a few hours on it and i havent gotten a chance to test it but it does use pokemon i want to use while being able to handle the big threats of ou fairly well. There are probably different pokemon and different sets that would work better so im leaving it to you now thanks for reading!

 

[yee]

could someone please rate this team?

 

[calze6]

Fotr your team, I feel that spiritomb can't spin block too well, especially against forretress. Try rotom. Swampert as a lead is fine and I don't see what's wrong. But skarm should work.

 

[yee]

Spiritombs main appeal is that he can take on the extremely common rotom and azelf very well while not being weak to payback or pursuit. Azelf can ohko everything on this team (except maybe starmie/mence) and nothing else will switch in on discharge and will-o-wsip so its very important to have spiritomb there.

 

[calze6]

But as a spin blocker, it acts poorly and you may need a blocker as you have spikes and SR.

 

[yee]

In terms of spin blocking its fine. Offensive starmie will 2hko both spiritomb and rotom-h anyway, forretress could be a problem because its free to set up its own hazards though. Tentacruel will just set up toxic spikes and eventually get knocked out both ways. Its worth it to have an excellent switch in to azelf though and provide insurance against gengar, machamp, opposing rotom, lucario and the like.

Ill think about using choice scarf rotom-h because its just incredibly useful but i will need something to absorb status while taking on infernape and heatran. Resttalk gyarados should be good for that and takes advantage of spikes+sr ill try that if shoddy starts working again.

 

[Simse]

I'll give this team a rate.

Skamory: Fine.

Swampert: What is the 40 Special Defense EV's actually doing? I'm guessing nothing, just put them into Defense.

Scizor: EV spread is meh. Personally I like this spread, 200 HP | 252 Attack | 56 Special Defense. This is never 2HKO'd by Specs Latias Draco Meteor, you also still have max Attack so you can deal more damage. I've also used this spread before and I love it.

Spirtomb: Meh at the whole Pokemonon. Having no weaknesses may set like a good idea, but apart from that Spiritomb isn't that good. Nasty Plot Azelf isn't really used so it isn't really a threat. Scizor can OHKO Azelf after Stealth Rock and Life Orb recoil with Bullet Punch. Starmie can also revenge it after Azelf has taken so damage. Scarf Starmie Surf vs Azelf -60%-70%. Hydro Pump is also a option. Salamance can also OHKO Rotom after Stealth Rock Damage with Draco Meteor. Swampert can also Roar non Leaf Storm Rotoms. Dusknoir is a lot bulkier than this and would make a better Spin Blocker. But as Calze suggested Rotom is a very good spin blocker. Infernape is loled at by Starmie. Salamance can also take on non HP Ice Infernape.

Salamance: Fine.

Starmie: Fine.

Synergy is good in this team. I could see Jolteon being a threat to this team after a Charge Beam boost. If it has HP Grass Swamper is dead. After a boost Salamance is OHKO'd, Scizor is OHKO'd after Stealth Rock Damage, Spiritomb can do much to Jolteon, and Spiritomb is 2HKO'd. MixApe could also laugh at this team after Starmie is gone. MixMence could also be a problem. It seems like some of the common threats could destroy this team.

 

[yee]

Thanks for the rates simse and calze!

Ill make the ev changes on swampert and scizor. I saw swampert's ev spread from players much better than me (like rhys29 and ipl i think) and really it was to make countering heatran that slight bit easier. Its gonna be doing more work against physical attackers though so ill just use the standard spread. The current ev spread gurantees scizor survives specs latias draco meteors and 200 hp/56 spD leaves it a slight risk according to smogons calculator but max attack is good so ill use it.

In theory, i cant do without spiritomb. Swampert and salamence cant switch in on a will-o-wisp lest they be useless against anyone with a blissey/tyranitar who are common teammates. Discharge scares off the rest of the team and i dont think i could afford being so weak to easily the most commonly chosen spin blocker. I cant decide between dusknoir/spiritomb/rotom for spin blocker this is the first time i havent just chosen rotom immediately i think ill just stay with spiritomb for now because i havent gotten to play this team and it seems like the safest option as a status absorber who can actually switch into rotom.

 

[zapper22001]

Hmm...it's been a while since I've rated a team here and seeing how this is one of the better RMTs, I might as well rate it.

Although Lum Berry is helpful to Skarmory as it allows to effectively accomplish its job, Shed Shell would be a better choice for this team because if Magnezone accomplishes its job then you will have no pokemon that take strong Dragon hits like Outrage and Draco Meteor. Sure, Scizor can take a few, but due to constantly U-Turning throughout a match, Stealth Rock and other entry hazards wear it down quite quickly. Having Skarmory around mid to late game is crucial in absorbing hits like Draco Meteor.

Also run a bit more speed on Skarmory. Due to many other people using Skarm leads it is crucial to be the first to Taunt as it lets you get those Spikes down for the entire match. 140 Speed EVs should outrun the majority of Skamory leads; I've seen people go up to 184 Speed EVs but I often find that such a large investment compromises Skarmory's defenses too much. The leftover EVs can go in Special Defense and change the nature to Careful so you can take Draco Meteors from Latias and Salamence better.

On MixMence go with a spread of Naive 4 Atk/ 252 S.Atk/ 252 Spd because the speed game is just so important that being able to tie with other MixMence is game changing.

Please use Rotom-h over Spiritomb. It does everything Tomb tries to do, but better. Use the ResTalk set for better spinblocking. I'm not sure why you are using outclassed pokemon in the first place...unless you want to which is rather stupid imo.

Good luck with your team! Hope this helps.

 

[yee]

Thanks for the rate zapper!

MixMence is getting his new spread with max speed.

Im still pretty unsure on what to do with skarmory. Its untested still unfortunately but i usually find taking out smeargle/roserade/machamp right away is worth it, especially because this team hates facing off against too many entry hazards ill leave it with a lum berry. I have no idea what other people are doing with their skarmory's evs so ill just go with your spread.

Again spiritomb DOES do something no other spin blocker can. Counter Rotom. Every single team that needs a spin blocker nowadays goes right with rotom and nothing on this team can switch into it safely. Spiritomb is probably the single best counter to it (except possibly a specstar) and also fills the role of spin blocker/status absorber. Salamence is the only one who can actually do anything to it and if it gets burned there goes my stallbreaker. He also makes an excellent backup for gengar/azelf should scizor go down. I promise everyone it IS useful in ou. Life orb gengar will never 2hko with life orb shadow ball after sr with 216 special defense evs, azelf only has a tiny chance to ko with a life orb nasty plotted fire blast (which it wont run anyway) and only azelf has a tiny chance to survive shadow ball after lo and sr damage. Spiritomb may not be rotom but it is glue for this team that i really need.

Thanks for the rates they have all been helpful i know Salamences speed will be extremely useful with all these base 100s running around.

 

[zapper22001]

Tbh, rotom-h would act as a pivot against other rotoms as you come in on either the Thunderbolt or the WoW which rotom-h doesn't care about with ResTalk and then you switch to Scizor as the opposing Rotom will probably use Shadow Ball if it has in which Scizor handily resists, plus Scizor has enough SDef to take a T-bolt should the opposing Rotom-h decide to enter a T-bolt war against you. I concede that Rotom is tricky to play against(especially SubCharge versions which still will beat Spritomb with enough boosts), but I think that being weak to Rotom is not a good trade off for using a bad spinblocker that will probably result in you getting all of your entry hazards spun away and seeing how Salamence is pretty much your only reliable form of offense, EH's are pretty important in doing damage.

Also if you are really that worried about Gengar and Azelf, then I would test out Choice Scarf Scizor(sounds kinda crazy, but it is effective when used properly). The benefits of that set can be explained more in-depth on Smogon the what I can say. http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71017

Hope you can test your team soon! Good luck.

 

[yee]

Ill consider the standard rotom-h with T-bolt/Shadow Ball/Overheat/WoW.

It is tempting getting a much better stab move but really this team looks like itll be ripped apart by too many common things (Azelf leads, substitute gengars, standard rotom-h, substitute machamp etc.) that i dont think i can afford to be weak to. It would also be removed quite easily if i depended on it to switch into other rotom-h (which can easily kill scizor or cripple it badly). Rotom is extremely useful for tentacruel and forretress though, forretress in particular will set up spikes that this team really hates. I dont know how i can rearrange the team to slot rotom in there and deal with the other glaring problems it would cause if i can think of some way ill change it.