SM OU Just my Current OU Team

[Mr. Minder]

Hello, Smogon people. This is the latest team I've been using in SM OU and the first team I've made by actually putting thought into it and not just using Pokemon I like. Without further ado, the team.

Ms. Slimy (Goodra) (F) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Fire Blast
- Ice Beam
- Sludge Wave

So I knew that I wanted to use a Goodra because Goodra's good defensive typing, special bulk, good movepool, and special attack make it a very good switch in on a lot of special attacks and Pokemon. Dragon Pulse is for STAB that allows Goodra to stay in for a while, Fire Blast is for Steel types, Ice Beam is for Lando, and Sludge Wave is for Fairies. Since I invested in HP and Special Attack, I gave Goodra an Assault Vest to give it more Special Bulk.

Selkie (Primarina) (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball

Primarina acts as a switch in for Dragon types, Ice types, and Fire types, which my team really needs. My team could also use some speed, so I made Primarina Timid with a Choice Scarf. It isn't the fastest thing in the world, but it still outspeeds some things. Surf is for STAB. I could use Hydro Pump, but I want accuracy. I also considered Scald for burns, but Surf is more powerful. Moonblast is also STAB, Ice Beam for coverage against Grass types, and Energy ball is for opposing water types. Its just a switch in/revenge killer.

Heat MAN (Heatran) (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Flamethrower
- Earth Power
- Flash Cannon

Heatran acts as a switch in on Fire types, Fairy types, Poison types, and Flying types and acts as more bulky Special offense. Magma Storm is just a great STAB move with poor accuracy, so I have Flamethrower in case I can't afford to miss Magma Storm. Earth Power is coverage against opposing Fire types, and Flash Cannon is there as STAB and because I couldn't really think of anything better to put there.

Fun Gal (Amoonguss) (F) @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spore
- Toxic
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb

Amoongus is just here to Poison annoying, bulky things and put scary things to sleep. Regenerator makes it very easy to switch in and out. That's really about it for Amoonguss.

Spaghetti Monster (Tangrowth) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 200 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Knock Off
- Giga Drain
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Another bulky grass type. Tangrowth's pure grass typing fits in very nicely with the rest of my team. Knock Off is a good move that can cripple annoyances, Giga Drain is just STAB and everything else is coverage. Regenerator makes it easy to bring in and out. It's also a good switch in to Zygarde.

Sky Armory (Skarmory) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 52 Def / 200 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Defog

Skarmory is my rocks setter and hazard remover. It just acts as more of a physical wall with its good defensive typing. Brave Bird keeps it from being too passive and Roost keeps it alive.

That's about it. This team has actually done pretty well for me, at least better than any of my other OU teams. What do you lot think of it?

 

[IronedSandwich]

importable at the bottom if you don't want to read the wall of text. I am not hugely qualified to say this but I thought I'd try to give you a first step in the right direction before a mod comes in and locks this.

Goodra doesn't have the power to pull off a special attacking set effectively especially without a boosting item. Primarina is also too slow to be an effective scarfer in many situations. Also there isn't really such thing as an ice or dragon type attacker in OU: attackers with Ice moves are generally using it as a coverage type (Koko, Manaphy etc) with the only real exceptions being Protean Greninja (which Primarina doesn't check) and occasionally Weavile. Similarly, Dragon is only really used as a second STAB type for pokemon such as Zygarde which mostly spam Ground coverage. Running Amoonguss and Tangrowth is kinda redundant, they're both grass-type defensive pivots and Amoonguss can't really check much Tangrowth can't. Heatran: Flamethrower is a complete waste of a slot on Heatran, Flash Cannon doesn't do an awful lot and its spread and item are suboptimal.

Mantine is the closest viable thing to Goodra I could think of: it's a special wall that can check fire types such as Volcarona, non-Z-Move Landorus-T and Greninja nicely. (However, you lose out on beating Electric-types, which Tangrowth can luckily cover to an extent).

Although Keldeo is definitely the pokemon closest pokemon to Primarina which can work as a revenge killer, I didn't want to go for it because of the electric weakness stack, so I chose a scarf user I find effective as a general scarfer: Tapu Lele. This slot is definitely customizable, if you don't find that Tapu Lele fits there are plenty of other scarfers to try: see the role compendium.

Heatran is a good pokemon in OU but I've changed it to the standard set using Taunt/Toxic to help beat bulky teams which would otherwise invalidate a lot of this team. (NOTE: Heatran doesn't beat many of the common flying types - only really Zapdos. Landorus-T, Hawlucha and Mega Pinsir can all deal with it)

Assault Vest Tangrowth was also kept because it's useful as a check to Tapu Koko (which threatens Mantine) as well as Ash Greninja and Zygarde (which threaten Heatran) but the EV spread was changed to the default. (All of these use spreads listed by the default websites - it's a useful source for them). It was also given Earthquake to help with Tapu Koko and hit Heatran on switch.

Skarmory is not an all-around bad pokemon but with Defog covered by Mantine it's not as useful, especially since many of the pokemon this team is weakest to either annoy or break through Skarmory. The next slot is very customizable but I've gone with the most common set in the tier, defensive Landorus-T. It isn't the most common mons in the tier for no reason: compressing Intimidate support, pivoting, stealth rock and some offensive presence with EQ / HP Ice is nothing to be sniffed at. More speed was run than normal to help this set against Tapu Lele, Zygarde, Magearna and most vitally Heatran. U-turn is the normal last move to gain momentum but you might find Protect to be more useful, with the extra 8% recovery helping against Heatran (if not trapped by Magma Storm) and other Landos and stomaching Z-moves. As I said, this slot is definitely customizable. Stealth Rock can be run over Toxic on Heatran if you don't want to run something with it.

Once again, the last slot (over Amoonguss) is very adaptable. My recommendation, at least to start with, is Shift Gear Magearna. Currently this team is weak to being walled by passive mons such as Zapdos and Celesteela as well as hyperoffensive teams. Magearna helps with both of these: Shift Gear allows Magearna to outspeed the faster and frailer pokemon in HO and pick them off while Fleur Cannon/Twinkle Tackle and Thunderbolt allow you to pick off passive mons for Soul Heart boosts.

Importable: http://pokepast.es/12a51aebb98fe87e

 

[Mr. Minder]

importable at the bottom if you don't want to read the wall of text. I am not hugely qualified to say this but I thought I'd try to give you a first step in the right direction before a mod comes in and locks this.

Goodra doesn't have the power to pull off a special attacking set effectively especially without a boosting item. Primarina is also too slow to be an effective scarfer in many situations. Also there isn't really such thing as an ice or dragon type attacker in OU: attackers with Ice moves are generally using it as a coverage type (Koko, Manaphy etc) with the only real exceptions being Protean Greninja (which Primarina doesn't check) and occasionally Weavile. Similarly, Dragon is only really used as a second STAB type for pokemon such as Zygarde which mostly spam Ground coverage. Running Amoonguss and Tangrowth is kinda redundant, they're both grass-type defensive pivots and Amoonguss can't really check much Tangrowth can't. Heatran: Flamethrower is a complete waste of a slot on Heatran, Flash Cannon doesn't do an awful lot and its spread and item are suboptimal.

Mantine is the closest viable thing to Goodra I could think of: it's a special wall that can check fire types such as Volcarona, non-Z-Move Landorus-T and Greninja nicely. (However, you lose out on beating Electric-types, which Tangrowth can luckily cover to an extent).

Although Keldeo is definitely the pokemon closest pokemon to Primarina which can work as a revenge killer, I didn't want to go for it because of the electric weakness stack, so I chose a scarf user I find effective as a general scarfer: Tapu Lele. This slot is definitely customizable, if you don't find that Tapu Lele fits there are plenty of other scarfers to try: see the role compendium.

Heatran is a good pokemon in OU but I've changed it to the standard set using Taunt/Toxic to help beat bulky teams which would otherwise invalidate a lot of this team. (NOTE: Heatran doesn't beat many of the common flying types - only really Zapdos. Landorus-T, Hawlucha and Mega Pinsir can all deal with it)

Assault Vest Tangrowth was also kept because it's useful as a check to Tapu Koko (which threatens Mantine) as well as Ash Greninja and Zygarde (which threaten Heatran) but the EV spread was changed to the default. (All of these use spreads listed by the default websites - it's a useful source for them). It was also given Earthquake to help with Tapu Koko and hit Heatran on switch.

Skarmory is not an all-around bad pokemon but with Defog covered by Mantine it's not as useful, especially since many of the pokemon this team is weakest to either annoy or break through Skarmory. The next slot is very customizable but I've gone with the most common set in the tier, defensive Landorus-T. It isn't the most common mons in the tier for no reason: compressing Intimidate support, pivoting, stealth rock and some offensive presence with EQ / HP Ice is nothing to be sniffed at. More speed was run than normal to help this set against Tapu Lele, Zygarde, Magearna and most vitally Heatran. U-turn is the normal last move to gain momentum but you might find Protect to be more useful, with the extra 8% recovery helping against Heatran (if not trapped by Magma Storm) and other Landos and stomaching Z-moves. As I said, this slot is definitely customizable. Stealth Rock can be run over Toxic on Heatran if you don't want to run something with it.

Once again, the last slot (over Amoonguss) is very adaptable. My recommendation, at least to start with, is Shift Gear Magearna. Currently this team is weak to being walled by passive mons such as Zapdos and Celesteela as well as hyperoffensive teams. Magearna helps with both of these: Shift Gear allows Magearna to outspeed the faster and frailer pokemon in HO and pick them off while Fleur Cannon/Twinkle Tackle and Thunderbolt allow you to pick off passive mons for Soul Heart boosts.

Importable: http://pokepast.es/12a51aebb98fe87e

Thanks for the reply! I've actually found myself dealing with things like Celesteela relatively easily. Goodra's been good at taking down SubSeed variants and Heatran anything else. You're right about Zapdos, though. And also about a lot of other stuff, now that i think about it. I'll have to try out your suggestions. Thanks again!