I am relatively new to gen 3 but have reached 1500 before with some sample teams I found in here. decided to start dipping my toes into team building and this is the first one that felt pretty good (Though I only got to as high as 1300 with it):
Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Metagross functions as an offensive lead that also often brings in Skarm from the opponent. if you feel you have a good read on them or you just hate your lead matchup you can explode turn one that will OHKO any non defense invested Skarms and is a roll to kill on any that are. also lead Dugtrio is on the rise recently and standard Jolly dug cannot OHKO this metagross without a crit so you can get rid of dug pretty easy.
Over all its a standard CB Metagross it isn't reinventing the 4 legged psychic robot.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
- Earthquake
This Fore is also pretty standard, I prefer Explosion and Earthquake over other options like HP bug or zap cannon because I feel they come up most often, most common HP fires are from Magnaton that is a roll to kill and Earthquake KO's back, and HP Fire Celeby is hard countered by Houndoom later on the team who can deal with this stuff nicely. it functions as a good physical wall for the team. Again, nothing groundbreaking.
Houndoom @ Black Glasses
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp
Houndoom is chosen here because I do not want the sand that pursuit Tar puts on the field so if I get into a sandless matchup I don't mess up Snorlax and Heracross.
The one thing that is odd is that I choose overheat over fire blast or flamethrower.
This is because in my experience I would rather the accuracy and the extra damage on both the target and any switch in. Flamethrower can often be teched to live even super effective hits and nothing sucks more than having a KO lost to fire blast accuracy.
The real contested move here is actually will-o-wisp personally I can see this replaced by HP grass/Ice, Sunny day or Flamethrower. played around with these and I just feel like Will-o-wisp is best for midgrounding incoming physical threats and special walls.
Finally I like black glasses because it gives crunch a roll to kill Defensive Gengar and lets pursuit 2 Hit without it switching out occasionally, but I can see it reasonably being replaced by Leftovers or Lum berry.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 144 HP / 96 Atk / 132 Def / 136 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Rest
- Return
- Earthquake
This is a very standard curse Lax and one of the main win cons on the team.
I like earthquake better than shadow ball on Lax because I have other means of getting rid of ghosts and I found the matchup against Tar really hard without eq. Rest is on here so that stuff like t wave and will-o-wisp don't make your lax effectively useless as well as some added longevity.
It's a standard curse lax that can win some weird matchups like Bold Suicune by using rest. It also benefits a lot from having no sand thanks to Mag's weather clear.
Magneton @ Magnet
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic
- Rain Dance
Mag here has one clear goal: Eliminate Skarm and Forre.
Getting rid of the 2 biggest physical walls in gen 3 is very important for any gen 3 Phys offence.
This Mag also doubles as a weather clearer once Tar is gone to help Heracross and Lax.
Heracross @ Salac Berry
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Megahorn
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
Reversal Heracross is one of my favorite sets to run in gen 3 OU. it needs a bit of help in getting to a position for it to set up, but once its going it is nigh unstoppable.
This is a very simple win con for the team, nothing more and nothing less.
Pokepaste for the team
Issues I have faced with this team:
1. Salamence- both Physical and mixed Mence have been infuriatingly hard to deal with using this team and I would argue this mon is it's number one weakness and a glaring one at that. It's speed tier is just better than the entire team, a proper mixed set can hit practicaly all of it and your best switch in is usualy Lax which gets eaten alive by physical Mence. I wouldn't be lying by saying that one of the reasons I am posting this, searching for potential solutions to this problem.
2. Bulky Tar- Especially the DD set is really annoying to deal with because you have to get rid of it in order to weather clear. and Lax has a hard time setting up in front of Tar let alone getting rid of it without being shredded by rockslides and focus punches.
3. Bulky Gengar- really annoying to deal with because it can survive pursuit (even when switching) and can even live x2 swarm boosted megahorn from Heracross pretty well. Houndoom crunch is a roll to kill but if it lives it sucks.
I hope you enjoy this team as I have been having decent success with it despite its glaring flaws.
Of course any at all criticism and improvement suggestions are welcome.
Metagross @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Meteor Mash
- Explosion
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
Metagross functions as an offensive lead that also often brings in Skarm from the opponent. if you feel you have a good read on them or you just hate your lead matchup you can explode turn one that will OHKO any non defense invested Skarms and is a roll to kill on any that are. also lead Dugtrio is on the rise recently and standard Jolly dug cannot OHKO this metagross without a crit so you can get rid of dug pretty easy.
Over all its a standard CB Metagross it isn't reinventing the 4 legged psychic robot.
Forretress @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
- Earthquake
This Fore is also pretty standard, I prefer Explosion and Earthquake over other options like HP bug or zap cannon because I feel they come up most often, most common HP fires are from Magnaton that is a roll to kill and Earthquake KO's back, and HP Fire Celeby is hard countered by Houndoom later on the team who can deal with this stuff nicely. it functions as a good physical wall for the team. Again, nothing groundbreaking.
Houndoom @ Black Glasses
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp
Houndoom is chosen here because I do not want the sand that pursuit Tar puts on the field so if I get into a sandless matchup I don't mess up Snorlax and Heracross.
The one thing that is odd is that I choose overheat over fire blast or flamethrower.
This is because in my experience I would rather the accuracy and the extra damage on both the target and any switch in. Flamethrower can often be teched to live even super effective hits and nothing sucks more than having a KO lost to fire blast accuracy.
The real contested move here is actually will-o-wisp personally I can see this replaced by HP grass/Ice, Sunny day or Flamethrower. played around with these and I just feel like Will-o-wisp is best for midgrounding incoming physical threats and special walls.
Finally I like black glasses because it gives crunch a roll to kill Defensive Gengar and lets pursuit 2 Hit without it switching out occasionally, but I can see it reasonably being replaced by Leftovers or Lum berry.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 144 HP / 96 Atk / 132 Def / 136 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Rest
- Return
- Earthquake
This is a very standard curse Lax and one of the main win cons on the team.
I like earthquake better than shadow ball on Lax because I have other means of getting rid of ghosts and I found the matchup against Tar really hard without eq. Rest is on here so that stuff like t wave and will-o-wisp don't make your lax effectively useless as well as some added longevity.
It's a standard curse lax that can win some weird matchups like Bold Suicune by using rest. It also benefits a lot from having no sand thanks to Mag's weather clear.
Magneton @ Magnet
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Toxic
- Rain Dance
Mag here has one clear goal: Eliminate Skarm and Forre.
Getting rid of the 2 biggest physical walls in gen 3 is very important for any gen 3 Phys offence.
This Mag also doubles as a weather clearer once Tar is gone to help Heracross and Lax.
Heracross @ Salac Berry
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Reversal
- Megahorn
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
Reversal Heracross is one of my favorite sets to run in gen 3 OU. it needs a bit of help in getting to a position for it to set up, but once its going it is nigh unstoppable.
This is a very simple win con for the team, nothing more and nothing less.
Pokepaste for the team
Issues I have faced with this team:
1. Salamence- both Physical and mixed Mence have been infuriatingly hard to deal with using this team and I would argue this mon is it's number one weakness and a glaring one at that. It's speed tier is just better than the entire team, a proper mixed set can hit practicaly all of it and your best switch in is usualy Lax which gets eaten alive by physical Mence. I wouldn't be lying by saying that one of the reasons I am posting this, searching for potential solutions to this problem.
2. Bulky Tar- Especially the DD set is really annoying to deal with because you have to get rid of it in order to weather clear. and Lax has a hard time setting up in front of Tar let alone getting rid of it without being shredded by rockslides and focus punches.
3. Bulky Gengar- really annoying to deal with because it can survive pursuit (even when switching) and can even live x2 swarm boosted megahorn from Heracross pretty well. Houndoom crunch is a roll to kill but if it lives it sucks.
I hope you enjoy this team as I have been having decent success with it despite its glaring flaws.
Of course any at all criticism and improvement suggestions are welcome.
