The A Team
PREFACE
Greetings everyone, first I should introduce myself. I'm Batagini from Brazil, I started playing competitive-ish in Gen V, stopped within the release of Gen VI (a little mega evolution prejudgement I must say) and returned a few months ago. More free time brought me back to PS and I decided to try to climb the ladder once again but I'm struggling to get past 1500 ELO, so here I am
THE_TEAM
DETAILED_ANALYSIS
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
I always liked the idea of a dedicated (suicide) lead and I've been using Azelf in UU with relative sucess. Moving to OU my first thought was replacing it with Greninja and I did this, however Greninja wasn't that good on the team. Despite being faster, it only seemed better agains Landorus-T (which isn't much of a threat) and against Azelf itself (really not that common). SR is generally better than Spikes or T-Spikes and Explosion hits very hard if there's no resistance. More often than not I can Taunt other leads, SR and explode with Azelf fullfilling its purpose.
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Tapu Koko @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Defog
Tapu is here mostly because of Hawlucha but not only for it. Electric Surge prevents sleep (Spore Breloom, anyone?) and compensates the average SpA delivering a solid STAB Thunderbold dealing with (or weakening) bulky water and flying types, VSwitch is used to create a setup window. HP-Ice is the key element on the Shuca Berry set, the combination of them deals with Land-T, Gliscor and Zygarde and is one of the reasons why I stayed with Azelf over Greninja. Entry hazards aren't much of a problem but it's always nice to have a defogger. Maximum speed is to ensure 2 HP-Ice and the rest goes on SpA to hit hard as possible; playing I didn't feel the need of a more bulkier spread.
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Hawlucha (M) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- High Jump Kick
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Hawlucha is one of the key parts of the team. HJ-Kick deals very well with problematic steel types and also hits dark (hi Greninja) for 2x, STAB Acrobatics without an item is very powerful and cripples anything that doesn't resist it. Electric Seed boosts Hawlucha defense under Electric Terrain which along with Roost helps it to setup on more defensive mons. Unburden allows Hawlucha to run an Adamant nature (Jolly could be useful to deal with an enemy Hawlucha but I didn't enjoy the power loss).
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Magearna @ Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shift Gear
Magearna was my last addition to the team and the one I'm less sure about. It's supposed to wallbreak and make holes on the enemy team during the midgame, giving Sharpedo an easier time to finish the job later on. Since the team is fast the trick room set isn't very useful and without the bulk, Magearna has to be fast as possible. Even with maximum speed investment, Magearna is still slow so that's why SGear is needed (despite being fragile it has good resistances so it's not that hard to find a window to setup). Thunderbolt is a nice coverage move against water and flying if Tapu Koko is down and HP-Fire is here to deal with Ferrothorn and Scizor mostly. Fleur Cannon hits hard and the SpA drop is diminished by Soul-Heart; Fairium Z allows a 190 BP attack without the SpA drop and it's a nice way to start the Soul-Heart snowball but one must be careful to not waste it.
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Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
I was having trouble with bulkier ground types who weren't 4x weak to ice (the rising Gastrodon and the forgotten Swampert) and with fairy types (i.e. other guardians) since Magearna lacks a steel move. Special walls were also problematic (mostly Assault Vest users because Azelf's Knock Off isn't reliable). Well, Kartana does all of it, so I'm surprised I didn't think on it before. Leaf Blade is the strongest STAB, has a higher critical ratio and solves my problem with ground, Smart Strike deals with fairies and nothing much asides from it, Sacred Sword is nice because ignores stat changes and hits what the former two moves can't and at last but not least, KOff removes useful items while doing great damage so it's usually better to lock on it.
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Sharpedo (M) @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Ice Fang
- Protect
My boy Mega Sharpedo: good offensive type, two amazing abilities, great attack and excelent movepool. But it isn't perfect, far from that, Sharpedo will get OHKOed by almost anything that hits it and relies on Speed Boost to outspeed the meta. Protect ensures a +1 on speed before mega evolving (you can get +2 if facing a slower and weakened opponent, but be careful). Crunch is the STAB move of choice, hits with 120 BP after Strong Jaw and can lower the foe's defense, Psychic Fangs with Strong Jaw has 127 BP, sinergies well with Crunch and hits Toxapex and Venusaur super effectively. The choice for the last slot here is Ice Fang that gets the Strong Jaw boost (97 BP) and because sometimes Tapu Koko's HP-Ice just isn't enough. Max EVs on speed to take advantage of his vanilla abiliy and Adamant nature to hit as hard as possible.
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POSTFACE
Well, first of all I'd like to say that my original idea was to build a team arround the newest pokémon, Zeraora. However, after playing with it a little I realized Zeraora itself was the team's weakest link so I went for a revamp. From the original 6 Azelf, Tapu Koko, Hawlucha and Sharpedo pleased me and stayed. I think that the team is beyond my 1500 ELO, since I got outplayed in most of my losses but I also think that the team has room for improvement.
Currently I'm not satisfied with Magearna, I think maybe Heatran would do better but I'm not sure on what set I should run.
Tapu Koko is another big question mark for me. I mean, it gets the job done but perhaps I should try another guardian. Tapu Lele seems very good on paper, boosting Sharpedo's Psychic Fangs even more and protecting against priority moves that ignore my faster mons. Trading Hawlucha's defense boost for a SpD boost doesn't please me that much tho, what do you guys think of it and what changes should I make to settle it?
I'm not 100% about Kartana's nature either, should I stick with Adamant or try Jolly?
I'd like to read and try out any other suggestions you might have. Thanks in advance, feel free to use the team and please forgive any English mistakes.
Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
Tapu Koko @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Hawlucha (M) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- High Jump Kick
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Magearna @ Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shift Gear
Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
Sharpedo (M) @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Ice Fang
- Protect
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Explosion
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
Tapu Koko @ Shuca Berry
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Dazzling Gleam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
Hawlucha (M) @ Electric Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Acrobatics
- High Jump Kick
- Swords Dance
- Roost
Magearna @ Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fleur Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Shift Gear
Kartana @ Choice Band
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Knock Off
Sharpedo (M) @ Sharpedonite
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs
- Ice Fang
- Protect
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