SS OU Kyurem centered team, would love some thoughts.

[momalaharris]

Hi, relatively new to the game. My rating floats around 1100 and I'm trying to become more competitive. I designed this team mostly by looking at the most used 'mons in the meta rn and choosing counters. Would love some thoughts!

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Freeze-Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

This is where most of the damage on the team comes from. Kyurem is often my lead just bc of how many pokemon I can counter with it. I mostly added it to deal with Landorus but also because it has some amazing countering ability that some don't expect. I mostly use Freeze-Dry and almost never use Draco Meteor so I could probably swap that one out. I also don't love how much damage entry hazards do. Is also often outsped.

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Iron Head
- Poison Jab

The other main offensive power house. Using it to cover a lot of the main threats to Kyurem, like Heatran, Magnezone, Tyranitar and Volcarona. It's banded stab is way too strong for its own good.

Clefable @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Wish
- Teleport
- Flamethrower

Partially included to wish transfer, partially because moonblast is too good, and teams often don't predict flamethrower. Can often take out a mon or two and then teleport out.

Zapdos @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Discharge
- Roost
- Volt Switch

I feel pretty limited with Zapdos and have been considering swapping out with Zeraora. Its special attack is nice. I originally had Thunder instead of Discharge, but was getting tired with having two attacks with not great accuracy, plus Discharge occasionally paralyzing is nice.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD
Careful Nature
- Crunch
- Ice Punch
- Rock Blast
- Earthquake

This was originally The Pex, but having a dedicated ground/rock felt like a necessary counter to have. Plus I didn't have too much success with the Pex. Usually my other lead besides Kyurem because of its countering ability.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Defog
- Knock Off
- Toxic

I originally had Corviknight in this spot for the longest time but felt pretty limited in what it can do, so I've been trying out Landorus as my utility pick. I like having U-turn and defog, but Landorus doesn't really have that much use on the team, and maybe that's the point. However, I think he could be improved.

Thanks :)

 

[SuperiorTroodon]

I think this team is solid, especially since kyruem and urshifu cover eachother pretty well. Kyurem is hard to work with at times due to mediocre speed which compounds the issue of having a hard time switching in along with weakness to hazards, but these can slightly be mitigated with either choice scarf or boots. this does cut into power, which is why specs are important, since specs freeze dry is just so hard to switch into, and thanks to volt-turn and teleport support as well as defog means switching in isnt too bad, but the combo of kyurem and urshifu is somewhat weak to the power of kartana, who's only real threat on the team is zapdos. I would suggest replacing tyranitar, as while it's powerful, it doesnt offer much to the team if you dont have stealth rocks, and the sandstorm may only hurt your team. other options could be volcarona for nice fire and bug special sweeping, ferrothorn for defensive pivot and hazard setting, or better yet rillaboom, whose got powerful priority and can support the team with passive healing with grassy terrain. finally i would replace either poison jab or iron head on urshifu, and put on aqua jet, as having powerful priority is very important.

 

[ironwater]

Hi there, I’m here to give you my thoughts on the team as well as some advices.

I commented another Kyurem centered team recently and yes Kyurem is a very cool mon to use and a threatening wallbreaker when equipped with a Choice Specs. Most of the teams in OU lack a reliable switch in to Kyurem especially when the most used Special walls are things like Slowking , Swampert or Heatran . Urshifu-R is also a huge threats and can force in the opposing Toxapex or Slowbro /Slowking . With it access to U-Turn it can thus bring Kyurem safely against Pokemon it threatens so that you can abuse Kyurem wallbreaking power more easily. With the support of a solid defensive core able to check faster mons that may pressure Kyurem and Urshifu-R, this duo can put a lot of work. You seemed to have understand this as you’ve tried to pair them with solid defensive walls. However, I think your defensive core can be improved as some choice of mons or moves are not optimal.

Overall, I would say that the team has a great basis even if it’s improvable. You’ve understood the basis of building even if some of the sets you’re using are not optimal, but I’ll go over each of them just below. As you’re new to competitive Pokemon, I’ll try to explain and detail the suggestion I will make so that it remains understandable and clear. (As Zamazenta-C is still banned for now and you didn’t mention it, I’ll assume it’s a pre Zamazenta team and won’t take him into account here).


So, here we go with the suggestions:


Major Changes:

--> : Tyranitar acts here as you’re special wall, being able to wall a lot special attackers. However, the huge issue with Tyranitar is that most special wallbreakers carry a move that allows them to hit Tyranitar like Earth power on Kyurem or Nidoking or Focus Blast or even Moonblast on Tapu Lele. Another issue with Tyranitar is that it cannot reliably recover the health it loses because its only ways to recover are using Rest or relying on Leftovers. You didn’t choose to use Rest here and Rest is a very impractical way to recover health as you’ll remain asleep and vulnerable for two long turns. With all that saying, I think you should use Blissey as a special wall instead. Blissey is way harder to break on the special side mainly because of its access to Soft Boiled. Moreover, Blissey can use Teleport to bring your two breakers safely while Tyranitar is unable to pivot. I suggest you play him with Thunder Wave as slowing down fast mons helps Urshifu-R and Kyurem a lot. The rest of the set is pretty standard: Heavy-Duty-Boots are here to pivot without taking entry hazards damage and Seismic Toss make you less passive. Here is the set I would suggest:

Blissey (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Teleport
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss


--> : Most balance teams use a bulky Flying type to deal with Rillaboom and Kartana as well as having a solid answer to the threatening Ground types like Landorus-T and Garchomp . Zapdos is good choice here as Static can paralyze foes for your offensive duo. However, Zapdos struggles to check Garchomp and some Stone Edge Lando, and you need to have something able to prevent Tapu Lele from freely clicking Psyshock as it 2HKO Blissey. Thus Corviknight could be a better pick here. Most of the time the bulky Flying type act as a Defogger so I suggest you play a Defog variant of Corviknight. For the remaining moveslot, U-Turn + Brave Bird could be an option, but I find the Iron Defense + Body Press variant more efficient to reliably check mons like Garchomp especially as you cannot U-Turn into something faster. Here is the set I would suggest:

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Iron Defense
- Body Press


Minor Changes:

Lando is a great defensive pivot thanks to it access to U-Turn and intimidate. It can also act as an Electric immunity and prevent the opponent from mindlessly click Volt Switch. As it has access to Stealth Rock, you can use him as a Rocks Setter because Rocks helps a lot Kyurem and Urshifu-R, weakening some of their checks efficiently. You also want to have Earthquake on this mon as it is your main STAB and main way to deal damage. I suggest you play the classic Smogon set for defensive Lando with both of these moves as well as some speed to outspeed threats like Heatran for instance. Here is the set:

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off /Toxic


Clefable is a good Physical wall thanks to its great typing and has access to a lot of great utility moves. Here, as you already have Blissey, you rather play a more physical defensive Clefable. Flamethrower is not mandatory unlike Protect on the Wish Teleport set as you won’t be able to reliably heal yourself with Wish otherwise. You could also consider playing Clef without Teleport with Soft Boiled + Wish but as Clef main role is to heal Kyurem, Urshifu-R but also Landorus-T with Wish, Teleport may be the best choice. Life Orb doesn’t help much here especially as you cannot set up without Calm Mind so you should just use Leftovers instead. Here is the set:

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Teleport


As I said it in the intro, Choice Specs Kyurem is a huge threats and thus a good basis for the offensive part of the team. The set you’re using is fine. I would only change Shadow Ball for Ice Beam as Shadow Ball doesn’t help against anything in particular and Ice Beam remains your strongest and most spamable STAB. So, the set would look like this:

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power


Choice Band Urshifu-R works really well with Kyurem. I don’t think that Iron Head and Poison Jab bring useful coverage as most of the mons they hit super effectively doesn’t resist both Close Combat and Surging Strikes and thus these moves will do more damage anyway thanks to the STAB boost. Instead of Iron Head and Poison Jab, you want to have U-Turn in order to safely pivot into Kyurem against bulky Water types and Aqua Jet to revenge kill weakened faster threats like Volcarona . Thus, here is the new version of the set:

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet
- U-turn


And here is the past of the team with all these changes:

The past

Kyurem @ Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Freeze-Dry
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power

Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Choice Band
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet
- U-turn

Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Protect
- Moonblast
- Teleport

Corviknight @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 88 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Roost
- Iron Defense
- Body Press

Blissey (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Soft-Boiled
- Teleport
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Last advice, you need to be wary of Heatran that can be a huge threat for the team. Against Heatran, you don’t want to let him in freely and you want to use Kyurem, Urshifu-R and Lando to pressure him. Urshifu can switch into Magma Storm if you need to but you’ll have to Wish pass him with Clefable if you want to take another Magma Storm.


Hope this was helpful. Have fun testing the new version of the team.