SM OU I need help building my Sticky Web team

[Redsong]

Hi guys



I'm somewhat new to competitive battling, although I know an ok amount. I build a sticky web team that does need improvement but I'm not sure where to start. I made it to mid 1300 but started decaying after several weaknesses were exposed with this team. This team might need some overhaul but I still appreciate all the feedback.

Ribombee @ Focus Sash

Ability: Shield Dust

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Sticky Web

- Moonblast

- Hidden Power [Fire]

- Stun Spore



I had three good options for a stick web setter: Araquanid, Ribombee, and Shuckle. Ribombee was the most appealing to me because of its high speed allowing it to set up sticky webs multiple times throughout the match as long as I get a free switch in. I chose stun spore over quiver dance because I wanted to cripple set up sweepers who try to use ribombee as a set up fooder. Shield dust was also great as it allows me to avoid Mega Medicham’s fake out.

Bisharp @ Black Glasses

Ability: Defiant

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Knock Off

- Sucker Punch

- Iron Head

- Swords Dance



Bisharp is a no-brainer on sticky web teams. It’s defiant allows it to punish defog users and it appreciates sticky web to make up for its low speed. Thunderus was also an appealing option although I liked the priority Bisharp provides. Bisharp is also immune to toxic and can knock off Chansey’s eviolite making him slightly good against stall teams. Not much else to say about Bisharp.

Mimikyu @ Ghostium Z

Ability: Disguise

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Adamant Nature

- Swords Dance

- Shadow Claw

- Play Rough

- Shadow Sneak



The unfortunate thing for sticky web teams is that the two best spinblockers, Mimikyu and Blacephalon, have a hard time switching into Excadrill, the best spinner. Mega-Sableye was also an option but it really didn’t fit well with a hyper offense team and it also used up my mega slot. Mimikyu was my choice because lead Excadrill more often run earthquake over iron head. Ghostium Z was an important choice as it allows Mimikyu to do big damage to Excadrill before it went down. Mimikyu was also an important member because when I was in a really bad situation against setup sweepers and Mimikyu came in and used its z-move and priority shadow sneak. I’m considering Blacephalon for reasons, i’ll get to later but Mimikyu has been working out.

Pinsir-Mega @ Pinsirite

Ability: Hyper Cutter

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Swords Dance

- Return

- Quick Attack

- Close Combat



This is the team’s ace. Sticky Web fits well with Pinsir because most faster checks become much less effective. A big dilemma I had was earthquake or close combat. Earthquake is good vs Tapu Koko, Mega Manetric, Mawile, and Magearna but it causes me to be even weaker to Celestella and Skarmony than I already am.

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Mold Breaker

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Earthquake

- Iron Head

- Rapid Spin

- Rock Slide



Tbh, this is the set I’m most unsure about. I needed a spinner since Mega Pinsir is 4x weak to rocks. I chose choice scarf because I realized I was having a bit of a weakness to fire types so I wanted Excadrill to get the jump on Mega Charizard Y, and choice scarf Heatran. The problem here is that with Choice Scarf, Excadrill is a bit of an unreliable spinner. I’m most likely gonna change this but, as I’ve said, I’m not sure what to do.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers

Ability: Intimidate

EVs: 252 HP / 108 Def / 148 SpD

Impish Nature

- Earthquake

- Smack Down

- Stealth Rock

- U-turn



I really wanted a sr setter that can beat Celestella and Skarmony. With Smack Down, I can force them to switch take more sr damage. It can also beat Mega Charizard X. Rocks are very important to alleviate the weakness to fire types such as Volcarona and Mega Charizard forms. The Special Defense evs allow me to survive choice specs tapu koko’s hp ice 100 percent of the time, allowing me to set up in its face. U-turn is a great momentum gaining move.



Problems:

-Only a couple ways to deal with fire types

-No answers for Curse Mega Scizor

-A little too reliant on Mimikyu to check certain stuff



Some things I’ve been considering

-Magnezone to replace Landorus-T as it’s great against Celestella and Skarmony but it amplifies my already bad fire type weakness.

-Blacephalon to replace Mimkyu as it’s great against Celestella and Skarmony and alleviates my fire type weakness by being ok against Volcarona but it can’t spinblock well due to its weakness to ground type moves from Excadrill.

-Replace Choice Scarf on Excadrill with focus sash to spin better although it doesn’t help my fire type weakness and Excadrill isn’t really a suicide lead here.

-Replace Excadrill with a defog user as many defog users can beat fire types although defog is pretty counterintuitive to a sticky web team.



Conclusion

I think this team has some potential but it needs answers vs fire types and ground immune steel types. Any ideas for change? Thank you!

 

[Ramjan2]

Hey man, cool team. I think one thing you can do is potentially making Lando your defogger, and making it Scarf. A lot of Landos run a bulky scarf defogger, and I think it'll help a lot. Maybe a set like:

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 Atk / 68 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Defog
- Hidden Power Ice

HP ice will help a ton with opposing Lando, help weaking it for Pinsir.

With that, I'd replace Exca with specs magnezone, as that'll help with curse scizor a lot. Either that, or I'd even recommend Infernape, as that'll give you a u-turner and rocker. You could also use a nasty plot set with vacuum wave, fire blast and u-turn/focus blast. I think these changes will help a good amount, but take it with a grain of salt! Remember to be patient on the ladder, we've all been there. We peak at a spot and get tilted, and it's easy to blame the team. Not saying you are, but staying patient and continue using the team is always an option!

 

[Redsong]

Hey man, cool team. I think one thing you can do is potentially making Lando your defogger, and making it Scarf. A lot of Landos run a bulky scarf defogger, and I think it'll help a lot. Maybe a set like:

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 Atk / 68 Def / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Defog
- Hidden Power Ice

HP ice will help a ton with opposing Lando, help weaking it for Pinsir.

With that, I'd replace Exca with specs magnezone, as that'll help with curse scizor a lot. Either that, or I'd even recommend Infernape, as that'll give you a u-turner and rocker. You could also use a nasty plot set with vacuum wave, fire blast and u-turn/focus blast. I think these changes will help a good amount, but take it with a grain of salt! Remember to be patient on the ladder, we've all been there. We peak at a spot and get tilted, and it's easy to blame the team. Not saying you are, but staying patient and continue using the team is always an option!

I fell like a defogger is counterintutive to a sticky web team as it removes my webs. Atlhough I think I can play around that. Thanks!

 

[anthony64]

Hey Redsong. I was looking over your team and its problems. You said that the team is weak to Fire-types and lacks an answer for Curse Mega Scizor so I thought I would make some changes to help you with that. Here’s what I came up with.

——>

First, I decided to replace Bisharp with Magearna. You mentioned how Bisharp is a “no brainer” on webs because of how it punishes Defog with Defiant. However, your opponent can still be punished by going for Defog because it the essentially gives you a free turn of setup if you play smart and this Magearna set is no exception. Shift Gear + Calm Mind Magearna can threaten any team that doesn’t feature a Toxapex. Furthermore, Magearna also has the bulk to comfortably set up against certain Pokemon which Bisharp lacked. The Speed investment is so you outpace Scarf Landorus-T after a Shift Gear.

——>

The next change I made was replacing Mimikyu with Manaphy. Mimikyu isn’t too great in the current meta imo. Spinblocking is nice however, even without Iron Head, Mimikyu is by no means an answer to Excadrill because it is able to hit it through its Disguise and 2HKO it with Earthquake or even OHKO it if Stealth Rock is up. Moreover, just like Defog, Rapid Spin can also be punished as it potentially gives one of your Pokemon a free setup turn. This Manaphy should help with against Mega Scizor since it resists Bullet Punch and can hit it hard with HP Fire. HP Fire also helps luring in Ferrothorn too. It also helps dealing with Fire-types.

——>

I also chose to replace Landorus-T for Double Dance Zygarde. Webs is a form of hyper offense so there shouldn’t be any defensive Pokemon on your team. Zygarde is capable of beating Celesteela because it set up a Substitute on its Leech Seed allowing Zygarde to use it as setup fodder. This is also the case with Ferrothorn and a bunch of other defensive Pokemon. It also helps with your matchup against Fire-types. The HP allows you to have 101 Substitutes preventing Chansey from breaking it with Seismic Toss. The Speed allows Zygarde to outpace Mega Lopunny under webs and the rest is thrown into attack to make Zygarde hit as hard as possible.

I decided to make Excadrill a Sash variant because with webs a scarfer is not necessary due the Sticky Web lowering a Pokemon’s speed when they come in. Stealth Rock on Excadrill allows you to set them up against Mega Sableye because of Mold Breaker. It also gives you a Rapid Spinner with the freedom to switch up moves preventing the opponent from taking advantage of it being locked into a move.

I hope that my suggestions help.

Importable

https://pokepast.es/41a4885be060ea00