Hey all so I am back with another RMT for you smogon pokefans. This is your typical balanced OU team with a F/W/G core with Milotic, one of my all-time favourite pokemon. I haven't laddered a lot with this team but I usually manage an excellent win:loss ratio of 4:1 or better with the help of some prediction and luck. I won't indulge in any long talks at the start, on to the team!
Team Building Process:
All this began with my desire to try out Milotic in OU. The most notable advantage she has over the common OU bulky waters is that of having instant recovery and her ability to wall the ever-so-annoying SubGengar with her massive special defense which are usually a big trouble to Balanced OU teams. I completely detest using Blissey because of the fact that she completely ruins the momentum of the team and invites a ton of pokemon to come and set up in her fat pink face. So, shes in.
Next up I began thinking of a good lead, which could "defeat" the ever-so-common Machamp, Azelf and Aerodactyl leads popular today. I have used Colbur Azelf in the past, and I have found it excellent in countering the above mentioned three, so he was in.
Now in order to defeat Aero with the help of Colbur Azelf, I needed a faster revenge killer. So Scarf Flygon was roped in, providing valuable immunites and awesome revenging capabilities.
Next up, I noticed that I needed another bulky teammate to support Milotic in walling. I was debating between Shaymin and Celebi to fill this spot. I decided on Shaymin as it didn't have the crippling 4x weakness to bug attacks and had access to Seed Flare.
At this moment I realised that I already had the F/W/G core partly set-up, so I decided why not go the full distance and include a Fire-type. Bulky RestTalk Heatran came in serving as a secondary special sponge and status absorber.
So the core is made, I have a revenger, all I need now is a set-up sweeper. In all my time, I have known no one more dangerous and threatening than SD Lucario since I have been swept by him more than once.
This team, however, I noticed had a gaping weakness to SD Lucario and Infernape who sweep the floor with me once Flygon is a little weakened. The simplest solution was to change my Heatran to a Scarfer. I did this, but still I was not satisfied and so I brought in Mixed Dragonite over Lucario who allowed me to check both in an emergency and also provided an answer to stall.
Now the team was becoming more bulky and less offensive, and I found that Azelf could not stay alive long enough to really aid the team as he ended up exploding early game. So I came up with LeadGross who I have used successfully in the past, and he, I was pleased to see, easily lured out fire attacks which my now Scarfed Tran happily absorbed.
One final weakness I noted was SubPunch Breloom who sets up quite easily and cause quite a bit of damage before being forced to switch out. Dragonite did cover her pretty well, but if he was forced to switch into Stealth Rock multiple times, it could prove disastrous. So I changed Shaymin to Defensive Celebi who is an excellent Breloom counter. And so, this is the Final Team:
Type Chart:
- 1 pokemon weak to Stealth Rock
- 4 pokmeon vulnerable to Spikes
- 2 pokemon vulnerable to Toxic Spikes
As you can see, I tried to adhere to the rule of "Two resistances to every type" as closely as possible. The only two types against whom I do not have two resistances are Dark & Ghost and seeing as I have the most common users of them quite well covered (Tyranitar, Gengar, Rotom), I don't think it is much of a problem.
Under the microscope - each pokemon in detail:
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP/236 Atk/24 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
This guy was brought in as the replacement of Colbur Azelf, due to the fact that he completely pwns Machamp, Azelf and Aero. Lum helps me get rid of the confusion from Champ's DP and shrug off sleep from Roserade and Smeargle, allowing me to 2HKO them with MM followed by BP. Usually, I save explosion for lategame bulky pokemon who are causing me problems and I also sometimes use it to severely weaken Skarmory so that my other pkmn can take it out.
---
Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SpDef
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- ThunderPunch
- U-turn
Every team needs a Ground/Electric immunity and revenger, and of course there is no better candidate for this spot other than Flygon. Graced with what I believe is one of the best typings in OU, it revenges many pokemon who could be a threat to this team like Dragonite, Gyarados, Kingdra, Heatran, Starmie, Jolteon, Electivire - the list is long. He supports the team mainly by switching onto Starmie's Tbolts from Milotic and U-Turning out, normally weaknening it enough so that it is finished off by Heatran or Celebi.
---
Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP/200 Def/56 SpDef
Calm nature (+SpDef,-Atk)
- Surf
- Haze
- Toxic
- Recover
The glue of the team, I may say. This moveset, I made myself in order to take on the majority of common bulky waters and stat-upers in OU. The main job of Milotic is to switch in on Heatran's counters (most of which are bulky waters) and weaken them. Milotic is my main switch in to Gengar, the standard Substitute version of which only manages 33% with Shadow Ball. She counters all Heatran whose Hidden Powers normally don't manage more than 35%. She can sponge hits from Offensive Gyarados and Haze them. She switches in and walls Offensive Cune whos HP Electric only does 28-30% without a CM. She can check DD Dragonite and Kingdra in an emergency and walls all Kingdra lacking Outrage. She also walls all Vaporeon and Swampert with the help of Toxic + Haze. Haze also stops every single baton-passing team in its tracks.
---
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/220 Def/36 Spd
Bold nature (+Def,-Atk)
- Grass Knot
- HP Fire
- Leech Seed
- Recover
Celebi helps Milotic in defeating Heatran counters and is also my status absorber and main counter to Breloom. She is also my first switch in to Blissey, in order to scout which status move Blissey is carrying. Leech Seed is for Blissey who provides massive amounts of HP to heal my team. Grass Knot is standard fare to take out weakened Tyranitar and Gyarados. HP Fire kills Forretress and weakened Scizor who dare to set up.
---
Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SpAtk
Naive nature (+Spd,-SpDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
- Explosion
My second revenger, Lucario counter and a kind of main sweeper too you can say. Standard ScarfTran with explosion to take out Blissey. It excellently absorbs Fire attacks from Metagross and Celebi and hits back with powerful Fire Blasts. Earth Power is for Electivire, Infernape and opposing Heatran. It also acts as my secondary Kingdra check with Dragon Pulse.
---
Dragonite (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 136 Atk/ 204 Spd/ 168 SpAtk
Mild nature (+SpAtk,-Def)
- Draco Meteor
- Superpower
- Flamethrower
- Roost
This Mixed Dragonite set replaced the old Bulky DD set. He is my main stall breaker and can check Infernape and Lucario in an emergency. He completely destroys the standard stall core of Skarm/Bliss/Dos with Flamethrower, Superpower and Draco Meteor respectively. With his addition, stall teams have mostly been neutred, as he has the power to break through walls on both sides. Apart from that, he can still do quite a bit of damage to slow, bulky teams as Draco Meteor does large amounts of damage to most things neutral to it and also kills things like Flygon attempting to switch in.
---
Working of the team:
The core of this team is formed by Heatran, Milotic and Celebi. Basically the plan is to slowly chip away at the health of the opponent's bulky waters and Blissey, who are the main counters of Heatran, so that he can finish them off. More often than not, it is Heatran which cleans up the opponent team weakened by Stealth Rock, Flygon's U-Turn, repeated Fire Blasts from Heatran, Leech Seed from Celebi and Toxic from Milotic. The bulk of the hits are absorbed by Milotic and Celebi both of whom have Recover while they slowly chip away at the opponent's health. Heatran occasionally comes in to take a Flash Fire boost and cause damage before switching out again. Flygon also switches in on Electric and Ground attacks and U-Turns out causing damage. Lead Gross easily demolishes all Azelf, Aerodactyl and Machamp in the lead position (who are the 3 most common leads seen today) and allows me to get an early advantage. Dragonite is the stall breaker for this team who rips apart Skarm/Bliss/Dos stall cores completely if my opponent does not play well enough. Apart from that he can kill some pokemon like Swampert and Gliscor who commonly switch into it expecting a DD set with a powerful Draco Meteor.
Threat List
These are the specific threats to this team I have found, not in any particular order.
Entry-Hazards - Yeah, the bane of almost every balanced OU team. With my main core taking neutral damage from both SR and Spikes, switching in and out becomes very difficult if my opponent somehow manages to get multiple layers up. Do you think I can put in a Rapid Spinner somewhere? The only thing I can think of is Starmie over Milotic. Any advice on Starmie?
Agility Lucario - Although not very common, after a single boost he can hit 4/6 pokemon of my team for super-effective damage with Close Combat, Crunch & Ice Punch. Best best I have is to explode on his face with Gross. Celebi can take an Ice Punch/Crunch and kill it with HP Fire if I somehow manage to weaken it. As Cherub Agent has mentioned above, I tried Infernape over Heatran in order to check this, but more often than not, the more problematic thing is the lack of Flash Fire. Any other ideas you guys may have?
Agility + 3 Attacks Empoleon - Similiarly to Lucario, he hits 5/6 pokemon on my team for SE damage with Surf, Grass Knot, Ice Beam. Again, best I can do is Explode from Gross. Flygon can revenge it as long as it has only one boost.
LO Starmie - Also like the two mentioned above, hits my pokemon for SE damage. But still, not that much of a threat because Flygon and Heatran can revenge it, and Milotic can tank a couple of Tbolts in an emergency. Metagross can explode again.
Forretress - A well played Forretress can cause serious problems to this team as it can set up layers on Milotic and Metagross. Usually with a bit of scouting and prediction, I can hit their switch in to Heatran or Dragonite with the correct move and cause heavy damage.
Trick Room - Not so great a threat, but well played sweepers like Marowak and Rhyperior can cause heavy damage while TR is active. Normally I try to stall out the turns of TR and revenge them as soon as it ends.
Roserade - Leads are taken out by Gross, but midgame Rose can be troublesome. They mostly switch in on Milotic and get at least one layer of TS up.
Mamoswine - Can potentially pull off a sweep if Milotic is weakened and Heatran is dead. Though I have never seen one, it can cause trouble I think.
Conclusion
Well, that was my rather humble RMT. I did not post an extensive threat list as I have almost all common OU threats (apart from the few mentioned above) covered one way or another (or so I hope). If you find any particular threats/weaknesses in my team, please do tell me. I would be extremely happy if someone could provide answers to the problems listed above. I appreciate any and all advice and constructive criticism and any views at all you may have about this team. Also, I hope this team popularizes Milotic in OU (a bit) and show some good advantages it has over its fellow bulky waters. This is Ramhere signing off, hope to see you again soon!
Team Building Process:
All this began with my desire to try out Milotic in OU. The most notable advantage she has over the common OU bulky waters is that of having instant recovery and her ability to wall the ever-so-annoying SubGengar with her massive special defense which are usually a big trouble to Balanced OU teams. I completely detest using Blissey because of the fact that she completely ruins the momentum of the team and invites a ton of pokemon to come and set up in her fat pink face. So, shes in.
Next up I began thinking of a good lead, which could "defeat" the ever-so-common Machamp, Azelf and Aerodactyl leads popular today. I have used Colbur Azelf in the past, and I have found it excellent in countering the above mentioned three, so he was in.
Now in order to defeat Aero with the help of Colbur Azelf, I needed a faster revenge killer. So Scarf Flygon was roped in, providing valuable immunites and awesome revenging capabilities.
Next up, I noticed that I needed another bulky teammate to support Milotic in walling. I was debating between Shaymin and Celebi to fill this spot. I decided on Shaymin as it didn't have the crippling 4x weakness to bug attacks and had access to Seed Flare.
At this moment I realised that I already had the F/W/G core partly set-up, so I decided why not go the full distance and include a Fire-type. Bulky RestTalk Heatran came in serving as a secondary special sponge and status absorber.
So the core is made, I have a revenger, all I need now is a set-up sweeper. In all my time, I have known no one more dangerous and threatening than SD Lucario since I have been swept by him more than once.
This team, however, I noticed had a gaping weakness to SD Lucario and Infernape who sweep the floor with me once Flygon is a little weakened. The simplest solution was to change my Heatran to a Scarfer. I did this, but still I was not satisfied and so I brought in Mixed Dragonite over Lucario who allowed me to check both in an emergency and also provided an answer to stall.
Now the team was becoming more bulky and less offensive, and I found that Azelf could not stay alive long enough to really aid the team as he ended up exploding early game. So I came up with LeadGross who I have used successfully in the past, and he, I was pleased to see, easily lured out fire attacks which my now Scarfed Tran happily absorbed.
One final weakness I noted was SubPunch Breloom who sets up quite easily and cause quite a bit of damage before being forced to switch out. Dragonite did cover her pretty well, but if he was forced to switch into Stealth Rock multiple times, it could prove disastrous. So I changed Shaymin to Defensive Celebi who is an excellent Breloom counter. And so, this is the Final Team:
Type Chart:
- 1 pokemon weak to Stealth Rock
- 4 pokmeon vulnerable to Spikes
- 2 pokemon vulnerable to Toxic Spikes
As you can see, I tried to adhere to the rule of "Two resistances to every type" as closely as possible. The only two types against whom I do not have two resistances are Dark & Ghost and seeing as I have the most common users of them quite well covered (Tyranitar, Gengar, Rotom), I don't think it is much of a problem.
Under the microscope - each pokemon in detail:
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP/236 Atk/24 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Meteor Mash
- Bullet Punch
- Explosion
This guy was brought in as the replacement of Colbur Azelf, due to the fact that he completely pwns Machamp, Azelf and Aero. Lum helps me get rid of the confusion from Champ's DP and shrug off sleep from Roserade and Smeargle, allowing me to 2HKO them with MM followed by BP. Usually, I save explosion for lategame bulky pokemon who are causing me problems and I also sometimes use it to severely weaken Skarmory so that my other pkmn can take it out.
Common Lead Matchups:
Azelf - Destroyed by MM + BP. He'll either taunt or get rocks.
Aerodactyl - Same as above ^^
Machamp - MM 2HKO's, Lum helps avoid confusion from Dynamicpunch.
Metagross - SR as they too SR. Then MM to see who they switch to and act accordingly.
Swampert - SR and switch to Celebi.
Infernape - Take the Fake Out and switch to Milotic.
Heatran - Straight to Milotic
Jirachi - Lately I have been saying more and more Jirachi who are *not* TrickScarf, so I stay in and SR. Even if they do trick me a scarf, I don't mind that much seeing that I have almost a guaranteed revenge kill with explosion late game.
Ninjask - SR, switch to Milotic and Haze.
Roserade - MM + BP. Lum avoids sleep.
Smeargle - As above ^^
Azelf - Destroyed by MM + BP. He'll either taunt or get rocks.
Aerodactyl - Same as above ^^
Machamp - MM 2HKO's, Lum helps avoid confusion from Dynamicpunch.
Metagross - SR as they too SR. Then MM to see who they switch to and act accordingly.
Swampert - SR and switch to Celebi.
Infernape - Take the Fake Out and switch to Milotic.
Heatran - Straight to Milotic
Jirachi - Lately I have been saying more and more Jirachi who are *not* TrickScarf, so I stay in and SR. Even if they do trick me a scarf, I don't mind that much seeing that I have almost a guaranteed revenge kill with explosion late game.
Ninjask - SR, switch to Milotic and Haze.
Roserade - MM + BP. Lum avoids sleep.
Smeargle - As above ^^
---
Flygon (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/4 SpDef
Adamant nature (+Atk,-SpAtk)
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- ThunderPunch
- U-turn
Every team needs a Ground/Electric immunity and revenger, and of course there is no better candidate for this spot other than Flygon. Graced with what I believe is one of the best typings in OU, it revenges many pokemon who could be a threat to this team like Dragonite, Gyarados, Kingdra, Heatran, Starmie, Jolteon, Electivire - the list is long. He supports the team mainly by switching onto Starmie's Tbolts from Milotic and U-Turning out, normally weaknening it enough so that it is finished off by Heatran or Celebi.
---
Milotic (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 252 HP/200 Def/56 SpDef
Calm nature (+SpDef,-Atk)
- Surf
- Haze
- Toxic
- Recover
The glue of the team, I may say. This moveset, I made myself in order to take on the majority of common bulky waters and stat-upers in OU. The main job of Milotic is to switch in on Heatran's counters (most of which are bulky waters) and weaken them. Milotic is my main switch in to Gengar, the standard Substitute version of which only manages 33% with Shadow Ball. She counters all Heatran whose Hidden Powers normally don't manage more than 35%. She can sponge hits from Offensive Gyarados and Haze them. She switches in and walls Offensive Cune whos HP Electric only does 28-30% without a CM. She can check DD Dragonite and Kingdra in an emergency and walls all Kingdra lacking Outrage. She also walls all Vaporeon and Swampert with the help of Toxic + Haze. Haze also stops every single baton-passing team in its tracks.
---
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/220 Def/36 Spd
Bold nature (+Def,-Atk)
- Grass Knot
- HP Fire
- Leech Seed
- Recover
Celebi helps Milotic in defeating Heatran counters and is also my status absorber and main counter to Breloom. She is also my first switch in to Blissey, in order to scout which status move Blissey is carrying. Leech Seed is for Blissey who provides massive amounts of HP to heal my team. Grass Knot is standard fare to take out weakened Tyranitar and Gyarados. HP Fire kills Forretress and weakened Scizor who dare to set up.
---
Heatran (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SpAtk
Naive nature (+Spd,-SpDef)
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Dragon Pulse
- Explosion
My second revenger, Lucario counter and a kind of main sweeper too you can say. Standard ScarfTran with explosion to take out Blissey. It excellently absorbs Fire attacks from Metagross and Celebi and hits back with powerful Fire Blasts. Earth Power is for Electivire, Infernape and opposing Heatran. It also acts as my secondary Kingdra check with Dragon Pulse.
---
Dragonite (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 136 Atk/ 204 Spd/ 168 SpAtk
Mild nature (+SpAtk,-Def)
- Draco Meteor
- Superpower
- Flamethrower
- Roost
This Mixed Dragonite set replaced the old Bulky DD set. He is my main stall breaker and can check Infernape and Lucario in an emergency. He completely destroys the standard stall core of Skarm/Bliss/Dos with Flamethrower, Superpower and Draco Meteor respectively. With his addition, stall teams have mostly been neutred, as he has the power to break through walls on both sides. Apart from that, he can still do quite a bit of damage to slow, bulky teams as Draco Meteor does large amounts of damage to most things neutral to it and also kills things like Flygon attempting to switch in.
---
Working of the team:
The core of this team is formed by Heatran, Milotic and Celebi. Basically the plan is to slowly chip away at the health of the opponent's bulky waters and Blissey, who are the main counters of Heatran, so that he can finish them off. More often than not, it is Heatran which cleans up the opponent team weakened by Stealth Rock, Flygon's U-Turn, repeated Fire Blasts from Heatran, Leech Seed from Celebi and Toxic from Milotic. The bulk of the hits are absorbed by Milotic and Celebi both of whom have Recover while they slowly chip away at the opponent's health. Heatran occasionally comes in to take a Flash Fire boost and cause damage before switching out again. Flygon also switches in on Electric and Ground attacks and U-Turns out causing damage. Lead Gross easily demolishes all Azelf, Aerodactyl and Machamp in the lead position (who are the 3 most common leads seen today) and allows me to get an early advantage. Dragonite is the stall breaker for this team who rips apart Skarm/Bliss/Dos stall cores completely if my opponent does not play well enough. Apart from that he can kill some pokemon like Swampert and Gliscor who commonly switch into it expecting a DD set with a powerful Draco Meteor.
Threat List
These are the specific threats to this team I have found, not in any particular order.
Entry-Hazards - Yeah, the bane of almost every balanced OU team. With my main core taking neutral damage from both SR and Spikes, switching in and out becomes very difficult if my opponent somehow manages to get multiple layers up. Do you think I can put in a Rapid Spinner somewhere? The only thing I can think of is Starmie over Milotic. Any advice on Starmie?
Agility Lucario - Although not very common, after a single boost he can hit 4/6 pokemon of my team for super-effective damage with Close Combat, Crunch & Ice Punch. Best best I have is to explode on his face with Gross. Celebi can take an Ice Punch/Crunch and kill it with HP Fire if I somehow manage to weaken it. As Cherub Agent has mentioned above, I tried Infernape over Heatran in order to check this, but more often than not, the more problematic thing is the lack of Flash Fire. Any other ideas you guys may have?
Agility + 3 Attacks Empoleon - Similiarly to Lucario, he hits 5/6 pokemon on my team for SE damage with Surf, Grass Knot, Ice Beam. Again, best I can do is Explode from Gross. Flygon can revenge it as long as it has only one boost.
LO Starmie - Also like the two mentioned above, hits my pokemon for SE damage. But still, not that much of a threat because Flygon and Heatran can revenge it, and Milotic can tank a couple of Tbolts in an emergency. Metagross can explode again.
Forretress - A well played Forretress can cause serious problems to this team as it can set up layers on Milotic and Metagross. Usually with a bit of scouting and prediction, I can hit their switch in to Heatran or Dragonite with the correct move and cause heavy damage.
Trick Room - Not so great a threat, but well played sweepers like Marowak and Rhyperior can cause heavy damage while TR is active. Normally I try to stall out the turns of TR and revenge them as soon as it ends.
Roserade - Leads are taken out by Gross, but midgame Rose can be troublesome. They mostly switch in on Milotic and get at least one layer of TS up.
Mamoswine - Can potentially pull off a sweep if Milotic is weakened and Heatran is dead. Though I have never seen one, it can cause trouble I think.
Conclusion
Well, that was my rather humble RMT. I did not post an extensive threat list as I have almost all common OU threats (apart from the few mentioned above) covered one way or another (or so I hope). If you find any particular threats/weaknesses in my team, please do tell me. I would be extremely happy if someone could provide answers to the problems listed above. I appreciate any and all advice and constructive criticism and any views at all you may have about this team. Also, I hope this team popularizes Milotic in OU (a bit) and show some good advantages it has over its fellow bulky waters. This is Ramhere signing off, hope to see you again soon!
