OU Team Building

[Nova]

What To Use

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Crash / Icicle Spear
- Earthquake
- Superpower

Role: Physical Sweeper


What It Does:
Mamoswine is a very powerful physical attacker that can rip through offensive and defensive teams alike. His STAB priority Ice Shard coming off of his mammoth (pun intended) base 130 Attack is extremely threatening especially to the many Pokemon in OU that have an Ice type weakness such as Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T, Dragonite, Garchomp, etc. Icicle Crash is a powerful STAB attack that has a nice flinch chance while a player can opt for Icicle Spear which has an average damage output less than that of Icicle Spear but has the advantage of being 100% accurate and a multihit attack so it can work through Substitutes and Sturdy/Focus Sashes. Superpower is used to hit things that Ice and Ground moves cannot touch, namely Rotom-W. Many players may wonder why they should use Mamoswine when they can just use Weavile, a much faster physical Ice type. One of the main advantages Mamoswine has over Weavile is his secondary Ground typing. This lets Mamoswine spam Earthquake, one of the most powerful attacks in the game and beat Steel types such as Heatran, Magnezone, and Ferrothorn, Pokemon that Weavile can not really touch. Another advantage Mamoswine has over Weavile is bulk. With Black and White 2, Mamoswine can now use the Thick Fat ability with every set, essentially giving him a resistance to Ice type attacks and a neutrality to Fire. Mamoswine is a great choice to fit on any team as he is one of the few Pokemon that does well against all 4 types of weather. Against Sun, Mamoswine can destroy the likes of Ninetales and Heatran with Earthquake while hitting Venusaur with a Super Effective Ice Shard that bypasses Venusaur's speed from Chloyophyll. Against Rain, Mamoswine checks Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T, and Tentacruel. He can easily carve up rain stall teams that include Pokemon such as Chansey, Tentacruel, and Ferrothorn. With his Ice/Ground typing, he takes no residual damage from both Sand and Hail and can beat Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow barring Scarf sets. It's important to use a Jolly nature and not Adamant so Mamoswine's Ice Shard outspeeds Jolly Breloom's priority Mach Punch.


Good Teammates:
Thundurus-T makes a good partner for Mamoswine as his powerful Electric STAB attacks can easily dispose of Skarmory as well as the bulky Water types that Mamoswine can not easily take out. Another offensive partner that works well with Mamoswine is Technician Breloom. Breloom creates a powerful priority attacking core alongside Mamoswine that can easily cover each other's weaknesses. Mamoswine struggles against the likes of Terrakion and bulky Water types which Breloom easily handles with Mach Punch and Bullet Seed respectively. On the other hand, Breloom struggles with Pokemon such as Landorus, Latios, and Tornadus-T, all of which Mamoswine can pick off with Ice Shard. Another good offensive partner for Mamoswine is Latios who outspeeds Mamoswine checks such as Terrakion and Keldeo and disposes of them with Psyshock and also beats physical walls such as Skarmory and Slowbro. Starmie also makes a good teammate as he can outspeed Terrakion and Keldeo and threaten them with moves like Hydro Pump or Psyshock and can also Rapid Spin away entry hazards which is helpful due to Mamoswine being susceptible to all forms of entry hazards. A defensive teammate that works well with Mamoswine is Jellicent who can easily switch into the Fighting, Steel, Water, and Fire type attacks then threaten Mamoswine. Jellicent can then proceed to the likes of Terrakion and Scizor, Mamoswine checks that are severely crippled by burns.


What Counters It:
Two of the best offensive counters to Mamoswine are Terrakion and Keldeo who do not fear Ice Shard and can easily knock out the mammoth with their Fighting STABs. Another offensive check to Mamoswine is Scizor who threatens with a STAB Technician Bullet Punch. Scarf users who can take Ice Shards and beat Mamoswine with powerful STABs such as Jirachi, Heatran, and Rotom-W all make solid checks to Mamoswine. Mamoswine also has a hard time breaking through bulky Water types such as Politoed, Jellicent, and Vapoereon who can take an Earthquake and hit hard and possibly burn Mamoswine with Super Effective Scalds. Lastly, the bane of physical attackers, Skarmory can take Icicle Crashes and set up entry hazards in Mamoswine's face while healing off damage with Roost and dealing damage with Brave Bird.

 

[lu1z]

WHAT NOT TO USE

Aggron@ChoiceBand
EVs: 252Atk/4SpDf/252HP
Adamant Nature
-Head Smash
-Superpower/BrickBreak
-Earthquake
-AquaTail/ShadowClaw/Payback

ROLE: Physical Sweeper

What It does:
An easy win for your opponent. No seriously, if he is your physical sweeper you are going to have a bad time. But if anyone insists on using it, I'll start explaining. The first thing you'll notice is his humonguos base Defense which is 180, followed by his base Atck of 110. This means that if you slapped a Choice Band it would hit the other team like a truck right? In theory yes, but in practice is not the same story. The first problem with Aggron is the general low base Speed Rock and Steel type Pokemon have, in his case 50 base Speed. Next up is his SpDef stat and trust me, with 60 base SpDef you aren't going to survive for long especially in a metagame where Rain is almost on every team. Now let's move to the moveset, Aggron has the EdgeQuake combo but he has a stronger Stone Edge in the form of HeadSmash but it has the same accuracy so you will still be missing some hits. Superpower lets you hit Ferrothorn super-effectively but you can also choose BrickBreak if you don't like the stats drop. If you haven't got nausea from all this then prepare yourself, in the last slot you can use either of those moves depending on what you wish to hit but it's gonna be useless because Aggron won't survive that much. And that's the best moveset you can have. You can use StealthRock in the last slot too, at least that's a useful move.

Good teammates:
Really? You are going to use Aggron? Okay... Anything that can resist a Ground, Fighting and Water types is a good teammate for him. Celebi is a good partner because he resists all those types and can eliminate the Water types plaguing Aggron, Celebi also attracts Dark, Ghost and Bug attacks which Aggron shrughs off easily giving Aggron a slight opportunity to attack, that is if he isn't outspeed and OHKO'd. Tyranitar and Hippowdon give you sandstorm so you can increase your pathetic SpDef but they share common weaknesses so it could end backfiring. Chansey and Blissey can take special hits aimed at Aggron and heal him back with Wish. Aggron also needs to have someone setting up hazards so that Aggron can attempt to sweep. Paralysis support is also important so that Aggron can outspeed something. Magnezone is also a good partner because he can take out the Steel types that wall Aggron, like Skarmory and Bronzong just to name a few. Pokemon that can set Trick Room, especially Slowbro, can be of tremendous help to Aggron by eliminating his bad Speed stat for a few turns.

What counters It:
Skarmory walls Aggron all day, every day. A Band'd HeadSmash with max investement in Atck and positive nature won't kill Skarm even after rocks and Skarm can just Roost off the damage like nothing happened. Bronzong is the same history but less effective even when Bronzong lacks of a reliable recovery. Defensive Gliscor also walls him, Landorus-T can set rocks in his face or even get a RP and SD in. Forretres also sets on his face, as well as Ferrothorn, just be careful if he uses Superpower on the last one. Jirachi can also come in a HeadSmash and be all cool. Almost everything can revenge kill him. Fighting types, Ground types, Water types and most special attackers can threaten him or start boosting up if Aggron is locked in a not very effective move. Aggron in Trick Room is easily killed by priority in the form of MachPunch and AquaJet though he might survive thanks to his Defense. Aggron doesn't likes burns either so a good Will-o-Wisp can shut him down for the entire match.

Any additional info:
Aggron can also learn the elemental punches if you want to have some coverage, and you can change the last slot for one of this.If you plan on using Aggron as a setup sweeper then you'll have to use either HoneClaws or Autotomize. I don't know why the newer players put Aggron in their team, just because it looks tough doesn't mean it will be good.

 

[Arcticblast]

Aggron gets Ice Punch. Adamant LO Head Smash 2HKOes Skarmory too, so Skarmory can't quite counter it.

Not saying it's OU worthy (I used Autotomize to less than stellar results) but just correcting you on the bossest Steel-type~

 

[Neliel]

Aggron needs a ton of evs in speed to outspeed skarmory however, something like 188 evs. skarm cant counter aggron because it cant really touch it but you can ppstall it with roost.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

What not to use (seriously, I've seen people using these shits):

Clefable (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Cosmic Power
- Softboiled
- Stored Power
- Lucky Chant / Seismic Toss / Toxic / Calm Mind

Role: Special Sweeper

What it does:
Nothing useful.

Ok, but I am forced to write a description about this thing, so let's say why it should not be used. Many n00bs look for this thing when looking for a special sweeper, due to the combination of Cosmic Power and Magic Guard, an combination shared only with Sigilyph. This, in theory, should let Clefable slowy boost to the point that she will be unkillable, due to Magic Guard protecting her from Toxic/Burn damage, so the only thing that can deter her, is either phazing, or critical hits.

However, the reality is that Clefable is either going to be shut down by Taunt, or be killed by Fighting-type attacks, which are very common considering the abundance of Fighting-type Pokémon on OU. Also, Clefable simply has to boost too many times to be really threatening, and even after 6 boosts, there are many things that can take her down, or resist/be immune to her attacks. If you still want to use this thing, then lets go...

Cosmic Power, as said above, transforms Clefable into an "unkillable" wall. With a few boosts, the only thing that can defeat her are STAB Fighting-type attacks, and with even more boosts, not even this. Softboiled is Clefable's only means of recovery. Stored Power is the main attacking option because with some boosts, it gains an massive boost on its base power, although be warned that Clefable does not receive STAB on it (unlike Sigilyph), and even after 6 Cosmic Power boosts, Clefable may still be too weak to sweep. The last slot is up to you, although again, you are doing this wrong. Lucky Chant protect Clefable from the only two things that could defeat her after 6 Cosmic Power boosts: critical hits. However, it does nothing to protect her from phazing, unless she is the last Pokémon on the team (although at this point Clefable may have been killed anyway). Seismic Toss is Clefable's best option against Dark- and Steel-types. Alternatively, Toxic can be used to slowy kill the opponent as it try to defeat Clefable and she laughs at its weak attacks, and grab more boosts, although if this really happen, then your opponent should be a worse noob than you. Calm Mind may seem like a joke option, but it boosts Clefable's Special Attack stat, which makes Stored Power stronger. Let's be honest, however, using Clefable is already a joke on itself.

Alternatively, you can use an Adamant nature, 252 EVs on Attack, Toxic Orb as the item, and Facade as the attacking option. Facade receives STAB and is initially stronger, and does good damage to... Okay, I'll stop, my fingers are begging that I stop using them to write bullshit.

Good teammates:

Then, even after all things that I said, you still want to use Clefable? Then, do not say that I didn't warned you. Hippowdon is peharps a good partner because it summons the sandstorm that doesn't affect Clefable. Also, Hippowdon checks most Fighting-types that give Clefable problems. Also, as Clefable slowy boosts, the sandstorm slowy kills the opponent. Another "good" partner is Jellicent, which is immune to Clefable's only weakness (Fighting), and counters Keldeo, which is capable of countering the combination of Hippowdon and Clefable. Anything that can defeat Fighting-types is appreciated, thus, Flying-types like Tornadus and Gliscor are "good" partners. However, let me warn you of one thing. If you use any of these Pokémon as partners for Clefable, their hapiness rating will quickly drop to zero.

What counters It:

Almost the entire metagame can deal with her, but if you want to know about specific Pokémon, then let's do that. Tyranitar is immune to Stored Power, and can use Stone Edge, hoping for a critical hit, or use Crunch, which has a defense-dropping effect and still has a chance to critical hit, letting Tyranitar defeat Clefable 1x1 as long as she doesn't carry Toxic. In fact, most Dark-types can shut Clefable down, although Tyranitar is the best of them, because it's the only one that have reliable attacks to use against Clefable.

Anything with Taunt will quickly shut Clefable down and leave her with a face like that of the Okay internet meme. Peharps the best for that is Heatran, as Heatran resists Stored Power, and can kill Clefable with repeated Fire Blasts, and after using Taunt, Heatran can prevent Clefable from recovering.

Even after one Cosmic Power boost, most Fighting-type attacks can OHKO her. Terrakion, Keldeo, Lucario, Breloom, and even Infernape can defeat her no matter how many boosts she have. Even Stored Power does little damage to them, unless Clefable has many Cosmic Power boosts. Rain-boosted Water-type attacks, and Sun-boosted Fire-type attacks, also pose problems, as Clefable simply doesn't have the bulk to tank them without many Cosmic Power boosts.

Another thing that annoy Clefable is phazing. So, you screwed up yourself and allowed Clefable to boost a lot of times? This is not a problem if you have phazing. Clefable is very vulnerable to moves like Whirlwind and Roar, as well as Dragon Tail/Circle Throw if Clefable doesn't have Substitute. Be warned, however, that this is only a temporary solution, and that Clefable cannot be worn down by entry hazard damage due to her immunity to passive damage, thanks to Magic Guard.

Lastly, Clefable should be very wary of Perish Song, especially if she is the last Pokémon on the team.

Any additional info:
Use Jirachi. It's simply better. Jirachi has a better typing, better initial bulk, and while Jirachi doesn't have Stored Power, it has better STAB and actually has coverage options. Jirachi can even support the team with Wish, if necessary. If you still want to abuse the combination of Magic Guard and Cosmic Power, Sigilyph does that much, much better. Although Sigilyph has more weakness, it is faster, receives STAB on Stored Power, and can spread burns, which are arguably much more benefical than Toxic, due to being able to affect Steel- and Poison-types. For this reason, Sigilyph can actually potentially win against Tyranitar 1x1 due to burn damage halving the latter's attack, and slowy killing him.

Electivire (M) @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Trait: Motor Drive
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SAtk / 216 Spe
Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def)
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Cross Chop
- Hidden Power Ice
- Flamethrower / Earthquake

Role: Mixed Sweeper

What it does:

Makes your opponent laugh so hard that he will lose by timeout if he doesn't stop laughing.

Ok, but I am forced to write a description about this thing, so let's say why it should not be used. Electivire's only value lies on its fantastic coverage. Even then, it is simply not enough to make Electivire a good sweeper. It is slow, and is actually weak to the point that there are times when even its good super-effective coverage is not enough to OHKO the opponent. Not to mention that it is frail. With a reliance on a speed boost from Motor Drive, Electivire is hardly going to sweep, especially with Team Preview warning your opponent to not use Electric-type attacks until Electivire is eliminated. In short, there are many better mixed attackers than Electivire, and some of them don't even have the same amazing coverage that Electivire has, but they make up for that with bulk, speed or sheer power.

Thunderbolt is there because of STAB. However, it can be replaced by Thunder if you are using a rain team. However, Electivire rarely uses Thunder because on rain teams, you can as well use Thundurus-T, or even Jolteon, both of which do a better job than Electivire.

Cross Chop is obligatory coverage, hitting many things for super-effective damage, such as Tyranitar, Terrakion, Chansey, and Blissey, all of which are generally capable of taking Thunderbolt.

Hidden Power Ice is Electivire's best option against Dragon-types, and thus is also obligatory. It also hits Ground-types, such as Hippowdon, which don't fear Thunderbolt or Cross Chop. The only other really viable alternative is Hidden Power Grass, which still hits Ground-types, but is also hits Gastrodon, Quagsire and Swampert, three things that take little damage from Hidden Power Ice. However, it's not recommended because Electivire will lose coverage on Dragon-types.

Finally, Flamethrower hits Steel-types, especially those that don't fear Electivire's other coverage moves. It also hits Grass-types. It also hits Ferrothorn much more reliably and harder than Cross Chop. However, Flamethrower is rendered useless on rain teams, where it can be replaced by Earthquake, giving Electivire coverage on Fire- and Poison-types, as well as still hitting Jirachi super-effectively. Despite having redundant coverage with Cross Chop, Earthquake can also hit some Pokémon more accurately, when you don't want to risk a Cross Chop miss, such as against Heatran.


Good teammates:

There are some good partners for Electivire, although be warned that there is always a superior option if you use that partner. For example, Politoed attracts Electric-type attacks that Electivire can abuse, but at this point you are using an inferior Thundurus-T. Gyarados was considered the best partner for Electivire, as Gyarados' 4x weakness to Electric-type attacks virtually begs that your opponent use Electric attacks to deter him, but Electivire at same time discourages this. But again, why not use Thundurus-T instead? If you still want to use Electivire, then here's an advice: Electivire actually is amazing when Baton Passed an Shell Smash boost. However, there may be better recipients for your Shell Smash, and Shell Smash Baton Passes are hard to pull off.

What counters It:

Actually, there aren't much counters for Electivire, due to its amazing coverage and decent power. However, most things on OU can either outspeed him and defeat him with their STAB attacks, or can survive one attack and retaliate back. Even after one boost from Motor Drive, Electivire is outpaced by many Choice Scarf users, such as Terrakion, Salamence, and Landorus (there are more examples, however), all of which are capable of taking Electivire down with either Ground-type, or STAB moves. Electivire will also fall to rain-boosted Water attacks, or sun-boosted Fire attacks. Dugtrio is peharps the best way to get rid of Electivire. As long as the latter doesn't have an Motor Drive boost, Dugtrio can outspeed, and OHKO with Earthquake. Rotom-H actually resists everything that Electivire commonly uses, altough with a weakness to Stealth Rock, Rotom-H is a shaky counter at best. Lati@s take little damage from most of Electivire's moves, even Hidden Power Ice, and can defeat Electivire with their Dragon-type moves.


Any additional info:
If you want to use a mixed attacker on OU, here's a list of alternatives that are actually good: Jirachi, Keldeo (it is techincally a mixed attacker due to Secret Sword's effect), Kyurem-B, Hydreigon, Salamence, and Dragonite. Each of them have advantages that far outshine the fact that Electivire has fantastic coverage. You must learn something: It's not because it can hit almost every Pokémon super-effectively, that it is good. Terrakion and Keldeo are there to prove this. The former doesn't have a good super-effective coverage that can be said "oh my gosh, see how this Pokémon can hit half of OU super-effectively", however, Terrakion makes up for that by having fantastic neutral coverage with only its STAB moves. On OU, only Toxicroak resists both of its STAB moves, and there are very few Pokémon that do the same, all of them are on low tiers and generally aren't good on OU. Terrakion also has excellent power and speed, which makes him a superior sweeper to Electivire in every way. Keldeo also has the same characteristics, and although its STABs offer less neutral coverage, Keldeo more than makes up for that with sheer power, especially under rain, where it can defeat even Pokémon that resist its Water STAB, using its Water STAB!

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect / Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Role: Hazard Setter


What It Does:
Ferrothorn is one of the major additions to the OU metagame that was brought along in the fifth generation. Having base defense stats of 74/131/116, and a a unique Grass/Steel that offers it numerous resistances to popular attacking types such as Dragon, Water, and Electric, Ferrothorn is one of the best mixed walls in the game. These great defensive attributes allows Ferrothorn to shine as an entry hazard setter who benefits from having access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes. Spikes is the preferred option on the set as its distribution is more limited and Ferrothorn often has the ability to set up multiple layers of Spikes with his great bulk. Iron Barbs is a good ability to punish anyone who Rapid Spins away Ferrothorn's hazards. An interesting scenario to note is that if a Pokemon Rapid Spins and faints from the ensuing Iron Barbs damage, entry hazards will not be cleared away. Ferrothorn also has Leech Seed which drains 1/8 of the opponent's HP and gives it to Ferrothorn on top of the Leftovers recovery Ferrothorn already will be recovering each turn, slowly wearing down the opponent's HP and greatly increasing Ferrothorn's longevity. To add to this, Protect is used in the third moveslot to provide an extra turn of healing from Leech Seed+Protect which can frustrate opponents and make Ferrothorn a very difficult Pokemon to take out. Protect is also a great move as many Ferrothorn checks are often Choiced such as Terrakion and Scizor and so the Ferrothorn user can scout the opponent to see what to switch out to or stay in if the opponent overpredicts. Many players will also try to cripple Ferrothorn by Tricking it a Choice item from the likes of Rotom-W, Jirachi, or Latios and so Protect also helps to scout for that. Power Whip is an option over Protect so Ferrothorn can better deal with bulky Water types. Gyro Ball is used as the primary attacking move on Ferrothorn. This attack has tremendous because its damage output is determined by the difference between the user's speed and the defending Pokemon's speed. With Ferrothorn's Speed stat being one of the slowest in the game, Gyro Ball will often be hitting at max or near max power. Relaxed nature benefits in slowing down Ferrothorn even more so that Gyro Ball is more powerful. Ferrothorn can fit on almost any type of team other than Sun. It's a natural fit on Stall teams with its great bulk and ability to chip away at the opponent. Offensive teams can also benefit from using Ferrothorn to set up some layers of Spikes so sweepers can OHKO Pokemon they normally would not be able to.


Good Teammates:
One of the best teammates for Ferrothorn is Jellicent. Ferrothorn and Jellicent form a potent defensive core named Ferrocent that was very popular at the beginning of Black and White. These two Pokemon cover each others weaknesses and together, can wall a large portion of the OU metagame. Jellicent resists Fire type attacks and is immune to Fighting type attacks, both of which threaten Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn returns the favor by resisting Jellicent's weaknesses which include Electric, Dark, Ghost , and Grass. Politoed makes a good partner for Ferrothorn as the the frog's Drizzle ability weakens the Fire type attacks otherwise destroy Ferrothorn. On a Rain team, Tentacruel is another good partner who functions similarly to Jellicent in terms of resistances but can provide Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin support. Tentacruel can handle Fire types such as Infernape and Heatran. An offensive partner who works well with Ferrothorn is Tornadus-T who's powerful STAB Hurricane easily disposes of the likes of Conkeldurr, Terrakion, and Keldeo, Fighting types that threaten Ferrothorn.


What Counters It:
The most notorious counter to Ferrothorn is Magnezone. Magnezone traps Ferrothorn with its Magnet Pull ability, can set up a Substitute to block Leech Seed, use Charge Beam to boost its Special Attack, and then knock out Ferrothorn with HP Fire. Most offensive Pokemon that pack a powerful Fighting or Fire type attack can typically deal with Ferrothorn. Terrakion can easily eliminate it with Close Combat, Keldeo doesn't mind Leech Seed or Gyro Ball and can beat Ferrothorn with Secret Sword, and Breloom can put Ferrothorn to sleep with Spore and proceed to set up Sword Dances and then Mach Punch. Ferrothorn can not touch Heatran and Heatran can easily take out Ferrothorn with its Fire STAB. Conkeldurr can easily come in and start Bulking Up in front of Ferrothorn while healing up with Drain Punch and not having to fear Gyro Ball due to his slow speed. Sub Dragon Dance Gyarados can come in, Intimidate Ferrothorn, set up a sub to block Leech Seed, and then proceed to set up Dragon Dances. Reuniclus is another counter to Ferrothorn as he is very slow and so takes little damage from Gyro Ball and his Magic Guard ability provides immunity from Leech Seed. Defensive counters to Ferrothorn include Sableye who can Taunt Ferrothorn and then use Will-o-Wisp to weaken Gyro Ball. Whimsicott can Taunt it as well and does not fear Gyro Ball. SubToxic Tentacruel can burn Ferrothorn with Scald and spin away any Spikes he tries to set up.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

What To Use

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Gyro Ball

Role: Hazard Setter


What It Does:
Ferrothorn is one of the major additions to the OU metagame that was brought along in the fifth generation. Having base defense stats of 74/131/116, and a a unique Grass/Steel that offers it numerous resistances to popular attacking types such as Dragon, Water, and Electric, Ferrothorn is one of the best mixed walls in the game. These great defensive attributes allows Ferrothorn to shine as an entry hazard setter who benefits from having access to both Stealth Rock and Spikes. Spikes is the preferred option on the set as its distribution is more limited and Ferrothorn often has the ability to set up multiple layers of Spikes with his great bulk. Iron Barbs is a good ability to punish anyone who Rapid Spins away Ferrothorn's hazards. An interesting scenario to note is that if a Pokemon Rapid Spins and faints from the ensuing Iron Barbs damage, entry hazards will not be cleared away. Ferrothorn also has Leech Seed which drains 1/8 of the opponent's HP and gives it to Ferrothorn on top of the Leftovers recovery Ferrothorn already will be recovering each turn, slowly wearing down the opponent's HP and greatly increasing Ferrothorn's longevity. To add to this, Protect is used in the third moveslot to provide an extra turn of healing from Leech Seed+Protect which can frustrate opponents and make Ferrothorn a very difficult Pokemon to take out. Protect is also a great move as many Ferrothorn checks are often Choiced such as Terrakion and Scizor and so the Ferrothorn user can scout the opponent to see what to switch out to or stay in if the opponent overpredicts. Many players will also try to cripple Ferrothorn by Tricking it a Choice item from the likes of Rotom-W, Jirachi, or Latios and so Protect also helps to scout for that. Gyro Ball is used as the only attacking move on Ferrothorn. This attack has tremendous because its damage output is determined by the difference between the user's speed and the defending Pokemon's speed. With Ferrothorn's Speed stat being one of the slowest in the game, Gyro Ball will often be hitting at max or near max power. Relaxed nature benefits in slowing down Ferrothorn even more so that Gyro Ball is more powerful. Ferrothorn can fit on almost any type of team other than Sun. It's a natural fit on Stall teams with its great bulk and ability to chip away at the opponent. Offensive teams can also benefit from using Ferrothorn to set up some layers of Spikes so sweepers can OHKO Pokemon they normally would not be able to.


Good Teammates:
One of the best teammates for Ferrothorn is Jellicent. Ferrothorn and Jellicent form a potent defensive core named Ferrocent that was very popular at the beginning of Black and White. These two Pokemon cover each others weaknesses and together, can wall a large portion of the OU metagame. Jellicent resists Fire type attacks and is immune to Fighting type attacks, both of which threaten Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn returns the favor by resisting Jellicent's weaknesses which include Electric, Dark, Ghost , and Grass. Politoed makes a good partner for Ferrothorn as the the frog's Drizzle ability weakens the Fire type attacks otherwise destroy Ferrothorn. On a Rain team, Tentacruel is another good partner who functions similarly to Jellicent in terms of resistances but can provide Toxic Spikes and Rapid Spin support. Tentacruel can handle Fire types such as Infernape and Heatran. An offensive partner who works well with Ferrothorn is Tornadus-T who's powerful STAB Hurricane easily disposes of the likes of Conkeldurr, Terrakion, and Keldeo, Fighting types that threaten Ferrothorn.


What Counters It:
The most notorious counter to Ferrothorn is Magnezone. Magnezone traps Ferrothorn with its Magnet Pull ability, can set up a Substitute to block Leech Seed, use Charge Beam to boost its Special Attack, and then knock out Ferrothorn with HP Fire. Most offensive Pokemon that pack a powerful Fighting or Fire type attack can typically deal with Ferrothorn. Terrakion can easily eliminate it with Close Combat, Keldeo doesn't mind Leech Seed or Gyro Ball and can beat Ferrothorn with Secret Sword, and Breloom can put Ferrothorn to sleep with Spore and proceed to set up Sword Dances and then Mach Punch. Ferrothorn can not touch Heatran and Heatran can easily take out Ferrothorn with its Fire STAB. Conkeldurr can easily come in and start Bulking Up in front of Ferrothorn while healing up with Drain Punch and not having to fear Gyro Ball due to his slow speed. Sub Dragon Dance Gyarados can come in, Intimidate Ferrothorn, set up a sub to block Leech Seed, and then proceed to set up Dragon Dances. Reuniclus is another counter to Ferrothorn as he is very slow and so takes little damage from Gyro Ball and his Magic Guard ability provides immunity from Leech Seed. Defensive counters to Ferrothorn include Sableye who can Taunt Ferrothorn and then use Will-o-Wisp to weaken Gyro Ball. Whimsicott can Taunt it as well and does not fear Gyro Ball. SubToxic Tentacruel can burn Ferrothorn with Scald and spin away any Spikes he tries to set up.

You might want to slash Power Whip as one of the main options, because without it, Ferrothorn will not counter bulky Water-types as effectively. It is a good option over Protect, or even Gyro Ball. Also, Stealth Rock may be a good option over Spikes if there are no other Pokémon that can setup it effectively on teams.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Alakazam @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice

Role: Special Sweeper , Revenge Killer


What It Does:
Alakazam is one of the best Special Sweepers in the OU metagame with his high Special Attack stat, blazing speed, great coverage, and a great -ability in Magic Guard. Alakazam's base 135 Special Attack stat is higher than that of Latios' and his base 120 Speed allows him to outrun speedy threats such as Starmie, Latias, Latios, and Gengar. Magic Guard is a great ability as it makes Alakazam immune to residual damage which includes that from entry hazards, weather effects, status effects, and Life Orb recoil. This means Alakazam can use a Life Orb to greatly bolster its attacking prowess without worrying about recoil. Psyshock is a godsend to Special Attackers like Alakazam as it calculates damage using the defending Pokemon's Defense stat instead of its Special Defense stat, allowing Alakazam to defeat the bane of all Special Attackers, Blissey. Shadow Ball hits Ghost types hard as well as the Psychic types that resist Psyshock. Focus Blast is a crucial attack on this set in order to hit Steel types such as Heatran and Ferrothorn as well as Tyranitar. Alakazam is great in that he outspeeds even Scarf Tyranitar and can OHKO with Focus Blast even in Sand, granted that the attack hits. In the last moveslot, Hidden Power Fire is useful for things such as Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Skarmory while Hidden Power Ice is an option for Dragon types and other Pokemon that are 4x weak to Ice including Gliscor and Landorus. Focus Sash is slashed with Life Orb as the item for Alakazam because Alakazam can work as a great revenge killer if the user opts for the former item. Because Alakazam's Magic Guard prevents all residual damage including entry hazards, Alakazam will usually enter the battle at full health. This means that his Sash will be intact so he can be brought in against a set up sweeper or a Choice Scarf user, live a hit with Focus Sash and revenge kill with the appropriate coverage move. Alakazam serves as a great Special Sweeper and/or Revenge Killer that can fit on a large number of teams and can easily tear apart opposing teams.


Good Teammates:
Alakazam, like many sweepers, really appreciates Stealth Rock and Spikes support in order to turn 2HKO's into OHKO's and 3HKO's into 2HKO's. Deoxys-D makes a great teammate as Deoxys-D hads great bulk and speed so can quickly get up Stealth Rocks and a few layers of Spikes. This extra damage really helps Alakazam carry out his job of sweeping. Other Pokemon that can set up entry hazards such as Forretress and Skarmory can also work well in this role. Magnezone is another good partner for Alakazam as he can trap the likes of Jirachi and Scizor, common Alakazam check, with his Magnet Pull ability and proceed to set up Charge Beams on them or take them out directly with HP Fire. Choice Scarf users such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Thundurus-T can all outspeed and take out Alakazam easily due to his low defensive stats so a good teammate is a faster Scarf user such as Scarf Latios.


What Counters It:
Due to Alakazam's pitiful defenses, anything that can outspeed it will almost certainly be able to 2HKO it at worse. Tornadus-T outspeeds Alakazam naturally and can dispose of it easily with a Hurricane. Weavile outspeeds it as well and traps it with Pursuit. Dugtrio can trap Alakazam with Arena Trap and take it out with Sucker Punch or Earthquake. Choice Scarf users such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Latios can all take out Alakazam with their STAB attacks. Another way to easily handle Alakazam is with priority attacks that bypass its Speed. Scizor's Bullet Punch, Toxicroak's Sucker Punch, and Dragonite's Extremespeed are all good options in this regard. A defensive counter to Alakazam is Specially Defensive Jirachi who can easily take any attack, paralyze it with Body Slam, and proceed to Iron Head it to death. Chansey is another solid defensive counter to Alakazam as she does not take much damage from it due to having massive defense from Eviolite. She can heal off all damage using Softboiled, cripple Alakazam with Thunder Wave, and deal damage using Seismic Toss.

 

[lu1z]

Aggron gets Ice Punch. Adamant LO Head Smash 2HKOes Skarmory too, so Skarmory can't quite counter it.

Not saying it's OU worthy (I used Autotomize to less than stellar results) but just correcting you on the bossest Steel-type~

Oops sorry, I double checked the sources and Aggron can learn the elemental punches. My bad ._.

I should have also specified that Skarm can set Spikes and phaze it out or go straight to the phazing, and like Neliel said, Aggron needs to invest on Speed to outspeed Skarm.

And I also like Aggron since R/S/E but the amount of Aggrons I have seen in OU is quite alarming.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Latias @ Leftovers
Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover

Role: Special Sweeper


What It Does:
Substitute Calm Mind Latias is a dangerous set up sweeper that can easily sweep unprepared teams. This set takes advantage of all the main attributes of Latias: her great bulk, speed, numerous resistances, and decent special attack. Latias has lots of opportunities to come in and set up against offensive and defensive Pokemon alike. She can set up in front of common defensive Pokemon such as Politoed, Tentacruel, and Celebi by setting up a Substitute to block status moves and Leech and then start boosting with Calm Mind to send her Special Attack and Special Defense stats soaring. Substitute is extremely important on this set as it protects her against status moves that would severely cripple her, especially Toxic and Spore. Latias can also set up in front of offensive Pokemon such as Latios and Keldeo that are Choice-locked into a resisted move. Having great base defensive stats of 80/90/130 and a dual typing that allows her to resist common attacking types such as Fire and Water, opponent's will have a very difficult time taking out Latias or even breaking her Substitutes. While setting up, Latias can heal off damage using Recover to achieve even more Calm Mind boosts under her belt. Dragon Pulse is used as the only attacking move on this moveset as it provides great neutral coverage, being resisted by only Steel types. With all the Rain and Sun teams running around in the current OU metagame, Latias will find plenty of opportunities to set up and pull off a sweep. A main advantage Latias holds over other special sweepers is that she can easily shift from the role of an offensive Pokemon to a defensive Pokemon that is capable of stalling with Sub+Recover if her sweeping capabilities are not needed.


Good Teammates:
Magnezone is quite possibly the best teammate for Latias. With its Magnet Pull it can trap the Steel types that Latias cannot touch including Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Jirachi. Magnezone can take advantage of the Steel types that switch in to take Latias' Dragon Pulses by setting up a Substitute, boosting its Special Attack stat with Charge Beam, and then eliminating the Steel type with Hidden Power [Fire]. Dugtrio also makes a good partner because it can trap one of Latias' main counters, Tyranitar, and take it out with Earthquake or Reversal. Dugtrio also traps Heatran and easily gets rid it of with Earthquake. Breloom is a good partner as he can dent the majority of Steel types in OU with Mach Punch and cripple Skarmory and Bronzong with Spore. Terrakion also makes a fine offensive partner for Latias as he can fire off powerful STAB Close Combat that can easily eliminate most Steel types. Terrakion can also switch into the Dark type attacks that threaten Latias in order to grab an Attack boost through Justified, making him even more powerful. Ferrothorn is a solid defensive partner for Latias as it can take the Dragon, Ice, and Dark type attacks aimed at Latias, handle Tyranitar that lack Fire Blast, and set up entry hazards that let Latias sweep more easily. Latias in turn benefits Ferrothorn in that she resists the Fire and Fighting type attacks that threaten the metal plant.


What Counters It:
Due to Latias carrying only one attack in Dragon Pulse, its main counters are Steel types. Skarmory can set up Spikes, Roost off damage, and phaze it out with Whirlwind. Bronzong can get up Stealth Rock against Latias and fire powerful Gyro Balls against her. Heatran can also set up Stealth Rock and simply Roar Latias out. Another primary counter to Latias is Tyranitar. Tyranitar has great Special Defense bulk with the boost from Sandstorm so he can tank Dragon Pulses and trap her with Pursuit to prevent her from switching out. If Latias is not behind a Substitute, than Choice Scarf Dragons such as Salamence, Garchomp, and Haxorus can all outspeed her and easily OHKO with Outrage. Likewise, priority attacks such as Scizor's Bullet Punch and Mamoswine's Ice Shard take out Latias if she is not behind a sub. Weavile can outspeed Latias and trap it with a STAB pursuit. Lasty, Blissey takes pitiful damage even from boosted Dragon Pulses and can wear down Latias with Seismic Tosses or severely cripple it with Toxic.

 

[LilOu]

What to use

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serence Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Sdef / 32 Spe
-Iron head
-Body Slam / Thunder wave
-Wish
-U turn / Protect / Stealth rock / Fire punch

Role: Support / Special Wall


What it does: Everybuddy knows the power of parahax Jirachi. His good 100 /100 / 100 defensive stats and his awesome typing makes Jirachi one of the best specially defensive pokemons of the game. He only takes 53% from Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump in rain and can take Specs Latios' hits all the day proceeding to just use body slam and start the pain. Once Jirachi paralyzed the victim you have 3 options to do. Wish to recover your own health or a teammate's health, use rocks, or start flinching. You know...this is very annoying and can make you win the battle sometimes. Apart from paraflinching he is really nice at taking any special hit. Just thing about it. Tornadus-T's hurricanes, Latios' Draco Meteors and Psyshocks, Keldeo's Surfs, and so on. His role as support pokemon allows other pokemons of the time sweep easier or set-up freely while recovering health. Iron head is the main move here. Because of serene grace it gets 60% of flinching every turn. The second moveslot is for the paralyzing move. There are three options: Thunder, thunder wave or body slam. Thunder is fine, but if you are not in rain it is not going to be helpful, body slam has 60% of paralyzing and still makes some good damage but you can't hit ghost types, and last is thunder wave; you can use it if you want to get the paralysis asap but ground types laugh at your face. Wish is there to recover health easy and the last move is optional. U turn is there to make a good synergy with wish as well as to gain momentum, protect to get free wish recovery and stealth rocks if you need a pokemon to set up them.


Good teammates: Jirachi's parahaxing abilities make him a good supporter for slow but powerful pokemons such as Dragonite. Defensively speaking, Dragon type pokemons that are not affected by ground attacks are best partners. Dragonite is one of them because Jirachi resists all Dnite's weaknesses and Dnite resists all Jirachi's weaknesses. Latios, Latias and Hydreigon are good partners too. Breloom also appreciates his support due its capability to switch against Lati@s attacks and Tornadus' hurricanes.


What counters it: Nothing really...this pokemon is not there to sweep. He is only to make a partner's sweep easily so talking about a counter is not appropriate. But thinking a little, powerful defensive pokemons that are not affected by his paralysis like Poison Heal Gliscor. Hippowdon, Landorus-T and other ground types are also nice options but they have to be careful about the body slam. Hydration pokemons such as Vaporeon are also there resisting iron heads and absorbing thunder waves while resting the damage.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Hydreigon @ Life Orb
Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Superpower
- Roost

Role: Stall Breaker


What It Does:
Hydreigon is one of the best stall breakers in the game. It has great attacking stats that allow it to hit hard from both sides of the spectrum, sporting a base 105 Attack stat and a base 125 Special Attack. With these stats, it has the coverage moves to freely abuse them. Hydreigon also has solid bulk for such an offensive Pokemon with base defense stats of 92/90/90 and with the arrival of Black and White 2, it gained access to a recovery move in Roost that greatly augments its bulk. Draco Meteor is the main weapon in Hydreigon's arsenal, being able to smash anything that is not a Steel type or a pink blob. Fire Blast provides great coverage alongside Draco Meteor, being able to destroy Steel types such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Scizor attempting to sponge a Dragon type move. In Black and White 1, these 2 moves alone made Hydreigon a terrifying threat, however it struggled with the likes of Blissey, Tyranitar, and Heatran. Granted it did have Focus Blast, but no one wants to use a move that always seems to miss. With the advent of Black and White 2, the move tutors gave Hydreigon a gift in the form of Superpower so he could now take out what had previously walled him by using his physical strength. It also allows him to stay in and attack even after suffering a Special Attack drop from Draco Meteor. With these three attacks, Hydreigon can break apart even the sturdiest of defensive cores. In the last moveslot, Roost is the primary option to heal off residual damage from Life Orb and provide Hydreigon with greater longevity so he can wreak even more havoc. Earthquake is an option to hit Tentacruel and Jirachi in rain harder while Dark Pulse can be used as a secondary STAB if one does not want to always use the nuke button that is Draco Meteor.


Good Teammates:
Deoxys-D is a good teammate for Hydreigon to set up Stealth Rock and Spikes. Because of Hydreigon's attacking prowess, he will often be forcing many switches so the residual damage from entry hazards will really rack up. Entry hazards also help turn 2HKO's into OHKO's. Latios is a great offensive partner for Hydreigon as he can outspeed the likes of Keldeo, Terrakion, and Salamence which all threaten Hydreigon, and take them out with a Draco Meteor of its own. Hydreigon works well with Latios as they have similar defensive checks and the former can wear down a team's walls, leaving the latter free to come in and finish off the opponent. Latios can also resists the Mach Punches that are deadly to Hydreigon and so he can help deal with Breloom. Defensive partners that work well with Hydreigon include Specially Defensive Jirachi and Celebi. Both of these can check Terrakion and Keldeo to some degree and spread paralysis which really helps Hydreigon as his base speed of 98 is slightly too slow to sweep. Skarmory is also a solid defensive partner as her immense physical bulk easily handles the likes of priority users such as Breloom and Scizor who threaten Hydreigon as well as Dragon types such as Salamence and Garchomp. Skarmory can also lay down the entry hazards Hydreigon appreciates in order to deal more damage.


What Counters It:
Due to Hydreigon having a middling base Speed stat of 98, faster Pokemon that can outrun him and hit him with a Super Effective attack are typically the best checks. These include things such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Salamence, Garchomp, and Latios who all have a STAB attack that can OHKO Hydreigon. Powerful priority users such as Scizor, Breloom, and Mamoswine can also give Hydreigon trouble. Rain teams are tough for Hydreigon to deal with as they often pack Tornadus-T and Keldeo and also because his Fire Blast is weakened so Steel types will be able to live some hits. When it comes to defensive counters however, there really aren't any due to the sheer strength of Hydreigon's wall breaking ability and his great coverage.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

What to use

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Serence Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 224 Sdef / 32 Spe
-Iron head
-Body Slam / Thunder wave
-Wish
-U turn / Protect / Stealth rock

Role: Support / Special Wall


What it does: Everybuddy knows the power of parahax Jirachi. His good 100 /100 / 100 defensive stats and his awesome typing makes Jirachi one of the best specially defensive pokemons of the game. He only takes 53% from Scarf Keldeo's Hydro Pump in rain and can take Specs Latios' hits all the day proceeding to just use body slam and start the pain. Once Jirachi paralyzed the victim you have 3 options to do. Wish to recover your own health or a teammate's health, use rocks, or start flinching. You know...this is very annoying and can make you win the battle sometimes. Apart from paraflinching he is really nice at taking any special hit. Just thing about it. Tornadus-T's hurricanes, Latios' Draco Meteors and Psyshocks, Keldeo's Surfs, and so on. His role as support pokemon allows other pokemons of the time sweep easier or set-up freely while recovering health. Iron head is the main move here. Because of serene grace it gets 60% of flinching every turn. The second moveslot is for the paralyzing move. There are three options: Thunder, thunder wave or body slam. Thunder is fine, but if you are not in rain it is not going to be helpful, body slam has 60% of paralyzing and still makes some good damage but you can't hit ghost types, and last is thunder wave; you can use it if you want to get the paralysis asap but ground types laugh at your face. Wish is there to recover health easy and the last move is optional. U turn is there to make a good synergy with wish as well as to gain momentum, protect to get free wish recovery and stealth rocks if you need a pokemon to set up them.


Good teammates: Jirachi's parahaxing abilities make him a good supporter for slow but powerful pokemons such as Dragonite. Defensively speaking, Dragon type pokemons that are not affected by ground attacks are best partners. Dragonite is one of them because Jirachi resists all Dnite's weaknesses and Dnite resists all Jirachi's weaknesses. Latios, Latias and Hydreigon are good partners too. Breloom also appreciates his support due its capability to switch against Lati@s attacks and Tornadus' hurricanes.


What counters it: Nothing really...this pokemon is not there to sweep. He is only to make a partner's sweep easily so talking about a counter is not appropriate. But thinking a little, powerful defensive pokemons that are not affected by his paralysis like Poison Heal Gliscor. Hippowdon, Landorus-T and other ground types are also nice options but they have to be careful about the body slam. Hydration pokemons such as Vaporeon are also there resisting iron heads and absorbing thunder waves while resting the damage.

You could mention Fire Punch on the last slot. It is extremely helpful to deal with some Steel-types, especially if you don't have better ways to deal with them. Also, Specs Keldeo could be mentioned as a partner, as it appreciates paralysis to make him faster than some Pokémon that could revenge kill it, and Keldeo can OHKO/2HKO most Steel-types with Hydro Pump or Secret Sword, which is helpful if you don't plan to use Fire Punch, and Keldeo appreciates the fact that Jirachi is helping him against Tornadus-T. Keldeo also deal with Fire- and Ground-types, other types of Pokémon which wall Jirachi.

 

[Sagey]

What to use:

Tangrowth @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SAtk
Bold Nature
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]/Hidden Power [Ice]

Role: Physical Wall

What It Does:
Although Tangrowth is seen less than it should be in OU, with an amazing ability in regenerator, an okay defensive typing and access to moves such as Leech seed and Sleep power, Tangrowth can make a very effective wall and defensive pivot as a niche Pokémon. Sporting a great base 125 defence and base 100 HP, Tangrowth can wall or check a number of treats seen commonly in OU including Terrakion, Landorus-T, Dragonite (physical), Garchomp, Jirachi (physical), Breloom, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Sharpedo, Hippowdon, Lucario and more. A sleep inducing move like Sleep Powder is great for almost any team and with Regenerator as an ability, Tangrowth can make maximum use of it due to the many switches it creates, the same applying to Leech Seed. Tangrowth’s base 110 Special Attack is not too shabby either, allowing it to perform somewhat as a tank. With leftovers recovery, Leech Seed recovery, access to Giga Drain and Regenerator as an ability, Tangrowth can often just refuse to go down.

Good Teammates:
Although it’s defence it godly, Tangrowth’s special defence is well, somewhat lacking. With base 50 Spd you’re not going to be taking special hits from anyone and in a metagame dominated by rain boosted hydro pumps, hurricanes and sun boosted fire moves without support Tangrowth won’t last long. Therefore Tangrowth appreciates special walls that can switch into the special attackers that threaten it, with Tentacruel and Heatran being notable partners. They can both further benefit Tangrowth by proving (and removing in Tentacruel’s place), hazards. This is incredibility useful when using Tangrowth as it’s a Pokémon that will not only be causing a lot of switches, but switching a lot itself. Another specially defensive Pokemon I have found as a great partner to Tangrowth is Jellicent, and I have had good success with a trio core of Tangrowth/Jellicent/Heatran which walls the majority of things. Finally, I can’t forget old Slowking, who with Tangrowth provides a ‘Tanking’ Regenerator core to rival that of Amoongbro. Slowking is an amazing counter to rain, and can take many of the special hits meant for Tangrowth, whilst also supporting the team with moves such as Dragon Tail. Being a wall Tangrowth hates status, so one of the pink blobs, Blissey or Chansey and do a great job in supporting Tangrowth with Heal Bell and taking special attacks aimed towards it. Whilst Tangrowth takes the physical ones they attract.

What counters It:
As I mentioned previously, any half decent special attacker will tear Tangrowth to shreds, with a poor base 50 Spd with speed being the same, anything that outruns Tangrowth and hits it’s special defence will ruin it. Tangrowth cannot even take resisted moves such as Hydro Pump/Surf/Scald efficiently (never mind in the rain). Furthermore, bulky grass types like Celebi being immune to leech seed can wall or set up on Tangrowth rather easily, whilst dishing out a lot of damage with the particular Hidden Power they may be carrying, the same applies to bulky fire type Pokémon, especially those who carry a balloon like Heatran (who can avoid Earthquake if you choose to run it). Finally there are a few psyical attackers who can cause problems Tangrowth, such as those carrying STAB ice type moves such as Weavile and Mamoswine.

Any Additional Info:
A solid niche Pokémon who can excel when played to it’s strengths! Oh and a spread with Hidden Power Fire and 136 speed EVs can be used to outspeed Scizor and function as a kind of lure.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Terrakion @ Focus Sash
Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt / Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

Role: Support / Physical Sweeper


What It Does:
Lead Terrakion is a very unique support option for any team. With the arrival of Black and White 2, Terrakion gained access to Stealth Rock, being one of the fastest Pokemon to be able to set them up. This makes it a great option to be able to get rocks up quickly during a match, to immediately start wearing down your opponent's team every time they switch in. With Focus Sash, Terrakion is almost guaranteed to get up rocks and usually get them off and fire off at least one attack. Terrakion can also easily set up rocks as he tends to force many switches due to opponent's expecting the common Choiced sets and switch in order to scout what he would otherwise lock himself into. He can also easily take out the Magic Bounce users, Espeon and Xatu, with Stone Edge so the opponent is stuck without a way prevent rocks from going up. This Terrakion set makes a great lead against the common Deoxys-D Hyper Offense teams and can often shut them down. Taunt can shut down Deoxys-D and prevent it from getting any hazards up and opponent's will often have to leave Deoxys-D in to faint as to not risk letting their frail sweepers such as Lucario and Alakazam get him by one of Terrakion's STABs. Deoxys-D cannot Taunt Terrakion back so he can get up the Stealth Rocks that cripple Pokemon they often carry such as Dragonite and Salamence. Terrakion is unique in that not only can he use Taunt and set up Stealth Rocks, trait akin to many defensive Pokemon, he also presents a massive offensive threat with base 129 Attack and 108 Speed. If one opts to use Swords Dance instead of Taunt, they can easily nab a boost at the beginning of the game by forcing a switch and putting immediate pressure on the opponent. Swords Dance also allows Terrakion to be a deadly setup sweeper late game after he sets up rocks as even the bulkiest of physical walls are 2HKO'ed by Terrakion's STABs at +2.


Good Teammates:
Rapid Spin users are solid partners for Terrakion especially if you are using Swords Dance over Taunt. Having the field cleared of entry hazards means that Terrakion can switch out and come back in at full health with its Focus Sash intact or come back in at 1 HP. The most notable Rapid Spin user who partners well with Terrakion is Starmie. Starmie has great Special Attack and coverage moves and can easily beat physical walls that check Terrakion such as Skarmory, Gliscor, and Landorus-T. Terrakion returns the favor by easily disposing of Blissey who walls Starmie and also of Tyranitar who could Pursuit trap Starmie. Spinblockers also make good partners for Terrakion in order to prevent Stealth Rock from being spun away. Gengar is a good choice to be able to spinblock and also beat some of the Pokemon that can trouble Terrakion such as Jellicent and Breloom. When using Taunt, Terrakion can keep entry hazards off its side of the field so setup sweepers such as Quiver Dance Volcarona and Dragon Dance Dragonite are good partners that can come in and setup without the fear of hazards. Latios is another good partner for Terrakion as he can easily handle the physical walls that Terrakion might not be able to break and the two have solid defensive synergy with each other. Latios resists Grass, Water, Fighting, and is immune to Ground, all of which are Super Effective against Terrakion.


What Counters It:
There aren't many things that can straight up counter Lead Terrakion. Prankster users such as Whimsicott and Sableye can be troublesome as they can use a priorityTaunt to prevent Terrakion from getting up rocks and then cripple it with status, Stun Spore and Will-o-Wisp respectively. If Terrakion is not carrying Swords Dance, then physical walls such as Gliscor, Landorus-T, and Skarmory can all stop Terrakion to some degree. Gliscor and Landorus-T can both take out Terrakion with Earthquake while Skarmory is not as effective as Terrakion can Taunt it to prevent it from Roosting but the metal bird can still do some solid damage with Brave Bird. Priority users, especially Scizor are able to limit Terrakion to just one move as their first attack knocks it to its Sash and the second KO's. Lastly, Choice Scarf users such as Keldeo and Latios can all outspeed and take out Terrakion and are all able to live one unboosted attack.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

What to use:

Conkeldurr (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Fist
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 20 SDef / 24 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Mach Punch
- Ice Punch / Payback

Role: Physical sweeper, wallbreaker


What It Does:
Conkeldurr, with this set, punishes everyone that does not take care not to use a good Fighting-type resist that can beat Conkeldurr back. It has some difficulty trying to get an intact Substitute due to Hurricanes, rain-boosted Water-attacks, and Psychic-type attacks, but once Conkeldurr gets that Substitute, I am sure that you will not like taking a hit from this monster. I've used this set and managed to defeat even Alakazam with this.

Focus Punch is the main attack, and Conkeldurr has the strongest Focus Punch from the game, even stronger than that of Breloom. Even Pokémon that resist it will take massive damage if they don't have good Defense. Mach Punch has priority and usually finishes the job if Focus Punch was not sufficient. It's also useful against Lucario.

The last slot provides important coverage: choose wisely. It hits things that resist Focus Punch. Ice Punch is the main option because it hits Dragon-types, Landorus, and Gliscor, as well as Venusaur, Amoongus, Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T, all of which are capable of taking Focus Punch. However, Payback hits Psychic-types, as well as Ghost-types, which would wall Conkeldurr otherwise. Ice Punch is usually preferred because the former mentioned threats are more omnipresent than the latter, but Payback is very viable, especially if your team has problems against Ghosts.

Focus Punch is so powerful that it can 2HKO even Skarmory, which is considered the best of physical walls. As for Hippowdon, the bulkiest physical wall, takes at least 52% of its health. That means that Hippowdon must constantly use Slack Off to not be 2HKOed. If it tries to phaze Conkeldurr, it will be instead KOed by the next Focus Punch. If it tries to Slack Off, Conkeldurr can annoy him with Focus Punch, until Slack Off's PP finishes (Focus Punch has the double PP of Slack Off). When Slack Off's PP reaches 0, there's nothing that prevents Hippowdon from being smashed by Focus Punch. Specially defensive variants don't stand much of a chance either, as they take about 75% damage from Focus Punch, and can be finished off by Ice Punch. The Speed EVs are exactly there for this reason, as Conkeldurr can outspeed Hippowdon and finish it off if it's sufficiently weakened. 212 HP EVs lets Conkeldurr create 101 HP Substitutes (which will not be breaked by Seismic Toss), and 252 Atk lets Conkeldurr hit as hard as possible. The other EVs go to Special Defense to give him at least some special bulk.

Good Teammates:
Conkeldurr loves Wish support, as it lacks reliable means of recovering HP lost from Substitute; he must rely on Leftovers, which are often not sufficient. Specially defensive Jirachi works well because it can check Lati@s, which can be problematic. Jirachi also tanks most special hits that would give Conkeldurr problems, and can even use Stealth Rock, which helps Conkeldurr even further. Dual screen support is suggested because it facilitates Conkeldurr in regard of preserving its substitutes. There aren't much good Pokémon to do this job, but there are 2 that stand out: Bronzong and Espeon. The former can setup Stealth Rock and check Tornadus-T. The latter can escape from Pursuit using Baton Pass, and Conkeldurr has no problem tanking a Pursuit due to its resistance and excellent physical bulk. Depending of the coverage move chosen, Conkeldurr may have problems with Ghost-types, or Flying-types. If Payback is chosen, a Water-type or Grass-type like Rotom-W or Celebi are appreciated as partners, to take out the Ground-type physical walls that Conkeldurr will not like. Both can also dispose of Slowbro. Something that can check Dragon-types that resist Focus Punch is also appreciated. Mamoswine, Thundurus-T, or a Dragon-type of your own are helpful then. If Ice Punch is chosen, something that can take out Ghost-types is appreciated. Tyranitar can Pursuit them, but sandstorm may negate the Leftovers recovery, which is a problem. Scizor also has Pursuit, but some Ghost-types like staying on Scizor instead of switching out of him. Nevertheless, both can also take out Psychic-types not weak to Ice, which give Conkeldurr many problems. Starmie can OHKO most Ghost-types with Psychic, rain-boosted Hydro Pump, or Thunder(bolt).


What Counters It:
Reuniclus and Conkeldurr are your best bets at countering this Conkeldurr. They take Focus Punch with ease, take little damage from Ice Punch, and thanks to their slow speed, they also take little damage from Payback. They can then use their powerful Psychic-type attacks to defeat Conkeldurr. Ghost-types are immune to Focus Punch, and can break its Substitutes, and heavily damage him or worn him down. Just be wary that most of them take massive damage from Payback due to their high speed. Gengar is OHKOed by Payback. However, it can come in on a predicted Focus Punch, use Substitute, take a Payback, and Disable that Payback, forcing Conkeldurr out since it will lack any means of damaging Gengar.

If Conkeldurr lacks Payback, Jellicent counters it very well, by Taunting and preventing another Substitute, and worning it down with Scalds, or Shadow Balls. Without Ice Punch, Conkeldurr will have problems with Landorus-T and Gliscor, both of which are capable of easily tanking Focus Punch and Payback, and worning it down with repeated Earthquakes. The latter can even outright OHKO with Acrobatics.

Make sure that Conkeldurr is not behind a Substitute if trying to check him. Remember that even many resists take massive damage from Focus Punch. Psychic-type and Flying-type attacks often OHKO Conkeldurr. Rain-boosted Water-type attacks, as well as sun-boosted Water-attacks, will also usually OHKO Conkeldurr. Its bulk is not that perfect, and Conkeldurr will take massive damage from some high-powered attacks, like Terrakion's Close Combat. Generally, you want to avoid Conkeldurr grabbing a Substitute, since it will certainly take out something on your team.

 

[TheWaddleDeeKing]

It's been quite awhile since I've visited this thread. This is a take on New MixMence, going for a more Special Attacking variant.

What to use:

Salamence @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EV's: 64 Atk / 192 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd -SDef)
-Draco Meteor
-Fire Blast
-Hydro Pump
-Earthquake

Role: Special Sweeper/Mixed Sweeper*

*I'd list it as mainly a special sweeper, as it only has one physical attack move.

Why you should use it:
Salamence is probably one of the greatest mixed attackers in history of the OU metagame (so good in DPPt it was banned to Uber). Sporting monstrous attack and rather good special attack, this set may confuse you, as it takes a much more special approach to the classic MixMence, which instead of Outrage features Hydro Pump. Well, despite what the current OU analysis says for Salamence (no offense to the writer!), he has certain qualities that make him as good a special attacker as Latios and Hydreigon. First off, let me note right now that this guy fills a certain special niche, so if you're not having trouble with hard hitting physical attackers or certain special attackers like Volcarona, you really should use one of the two for mentioned Pokemon. Now, anyways, Salamence has a few advantages over the other two. First off, he has access to both Hydro Pump and Fire Blast, while the other two must use coverage moves to achieve this typing. Secondly, he has Intimidate in order to help force a switch on physical attackers and proceed to wreck the next Pokemon that comes in. Thirdly, he still has that massive 135 base attack, so he can easily punch holes with minimum investment to certain Pokemon, like Specially Defensive Jirachi or Heatran. Lastly, he is not prone to common threats and checks that the other two do. He does not have to worry about U-turn or priority, as his Intimidate helps alleviate physical hits, and anything that would OHKO him would most likely OHKO the other two, with the only exception being HP Ice, which the other two could survive through.

Good teammates:
MixMence isn't as reliant on teammates as the others are, though their are a few things he definitely appreciates. Notably, with a secondary Flying-type, he prefers to not have Rocks on the field. Secondly, with no way to boost his power, hazards are always nice to have. Therefor, any Pokemon that can help him survive through switches and more easily KO the opponent are welcome to aid him in his side (honorable mentions go to: Forretress, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Jirachi, Heatran, Deoxys-D, Infernape, Tentacruel, Starmie.)

What counters it:
As the actual OU analysis says, there are no hard counters to Salamence. However, certain Pokemon you must definitely be weary of. By far the most obvious one is Mamoswine, who easily OHKO's you with STAB, priority Ice Shard. Rotom-W can normally tank some of the hits that Salamence can dish out, and retaliate with an HP Ice. Starmie is much faster than Salamence and can easily KO with Ice Beam. Scarfed Dragons (the Lati twin in particular) can easily come in and KO with STAB Draco Meteors. Porygon2 has the bulk to sponge some hits and KO with Ice Beam. Many Scarfers can come in and KO if they carry a super-effective STAB move, such as Terrakion, Landorus and Garchomp (though they must all be weary of hard-switching, for they will take massive damage).

Additional info:
Anything close to additional info I could add is his ability and other items. Salamence does get the awesome Moxie ability, though as we're only using one physical move in this case, it's best left to an untouched MixMence with Outrage. As for items, Choice Specs in particular seems interesting, and could work with Salamences decent coverage. Expert Belt can actually find some uses, as Salamence can normally find something to hit for super-effective damage. Yache Berry protects you from one super-effective Ice attack, though after that it's worthless, and you'll still be heavily weakened to the point where normal STAB's could probably KO you. Leftovers could be of value if you prefer to stay alive longer, though it's easily revenged killed and might not make much of a difference. In short, if it doesn't boost your attack consistently, you probably shouldn't use it.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Donphan @ Leftovers
Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

Role: Rapid Spinner / Support / Hazard Setter


What It Does:
Donphan is a great utility Pokemon that can serve a number of roles. He can lay down Stealth Rock, a move critical in this metagame to cripple the many threats that are weak to Stealth Rock including Dragonite, Salamence, Volcarona, and Thundurus-T. He can serve as a team's Dragon check with his great bulk that allows him to tank Outrages and fire off priority Super Effective Ice Shards. However, the key role that Donphan serves is his ability to Rapid Spin. With Donphan's massive base 120 physical Defense and Sturdy ability, he is a very reliable Rapid Spinner that benefits teams that have Stealth Rock weak Pokemon or several Pokemon that are susceptible to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Donphan is a great choice to use on a Sun team due to common Sun team Pokemon being weak to entry hazards (Ninetales, Volcarona, Victini) and the fact that other OU spinners are not as effective in the Sun. Forretress already has a 4x weakness to Fire type attacks, and in the sun is murdered by the lightest tickle of fire. Starmie and Tentacruel both have their STABs weakened and are better fits on Rain teams. This leaves Donphan as the premiere spinner and Stealth Rock setter for Drought teams. Donphan also is a good choice to spin as his nifty Stealth Rock weakness means he can switch in, have Leftovers to heal him back to Sturdy, and basically guarantee that he will be able to at least Rapid Spin because any attack barring Multihit attacks or attacks from Pokemon with the Mold Breaker ability will leave him with at least 1 HP. He also functions great in non-Sun teams as his bulk allows him to serve as a solid physical wall. He can easily take attacks from the likes of Tyranitar and Terrakion and finish them off with a STAB Earthquake that is quite powerful even without any Attack investment.


Good Teammates:
Good teammates are Pokemon that are more special defensively oriented that can switch in and take the Special attacks that threaten Donphan. Blissey is one of the premiere Special walls in OU and she can easily take special attacks all day. She can cripple Special attackers and wear them down with Toxic and also provide Donphan with Wish support for extra survivability. Another good partner for Donphan is Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn can easily sponge the Water, Grass, and Ice type attacks that would destroy Donphan and lay down Spikes alongside Donphan's Stealth Rock to provide even more residual damage from entry hazards. Ninetales and Drought teams also work well with Donphan. Donphan is the most easily fitter Rapid Spinner on these Sun teams that desperately need entry hazards cleared away and Donphan also provides a solid check to opposing Sand teams. Ninetales returns the favor as sunlight negates Donphan's Water type weakness and she can easily switch into the Grass and Fire type attacks that threaten the elephant.


What Counters It:
The main offensive counters to Donphan are powerful special attacks that can take priority Ice Shards. Despite a weakness to Ice, Latios and Latias can easily take an Ice Shard and eliminate the elephant with Draco Meteor or Surf. Rain teams give Donphan lots of trouble as almost any Rain boosted Hydro Pump will surely take the elephant out and Scalds will deal massive damage with the chance to burn. Starmie, Keldeo, and Rotom-W all outspeed and easily take it out with Hydro Pump. Setup sweepers such as Bulk Up Conkeldurr, Swords Dance Breloom, and Sub Dragon Dance Gyarados can all take advantage of Donphan and set up over it. Defensive counters to Donphan are namely bulky Water types such as Jellicent and Vaporeon that can easily take Earthquakes from Donphan, heal off damage with Recover and Wish respectively, and hit Donphan hard with Scad and possibly burning him. Gengar also gives Donphan some trouble as a spinblocked as Donphan cannot touch him with Earthquake and Ice Shard does pitiful damage, allowing Gengar to set up a Substitute and deal damage with Shadow Ball

 

[TheWaddleDeeKing]

Decided to add another what not to use. Why the hell not.

What not to use:

Arcanine @ anything
Trait: Flash Fire/Intimidate
EV's: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe -SAtk)
-Flare Blitz
-Wild Charge
-Extreme Speed
-Close Combat

Supposed Role: Physical Sweeper

What is supposedly does:
Oh boy. The amount of times I see this thing attempting to ladder its way to the top in PS is astounding. Used just slightly more than Charizard, it's usage in OU is way too high and I wish to settle this out for newer plays: do not use Arcanine in OU. This thing currently manages to find its way in 2% of all OU teams (according to the December 2012 OU stats), which is much too high for this dog. Although Arcanine sports a beastly movepool and a decent base stat total, two important shortcomings limit its effectiveness: its speed and its typing. First off, 95 base speed is alright, but the golden standard of OU is to at least have 100 base speed if you wish to start sweeping teams. Secondly, it's typing leaves it weak to Stealth Rock (as well as all other hazards), as well as in the infamous EdgeQuake combo and the plethora of sand and rain teams, which crawl around OU like maggots on a dead corpse. Sure, some Fire-types manage to make it work, though they normally contain good boosting moves (Volcarona), great defenses (Heatran), or impeccably good physical attack stats or moves (Victini, Darmanitan). Arcanine does not posses any of these traits, and while sporting good coverage, 110 base attack isn't enough to make it a premier revenge killer or sweeper, even with a Choice Band equipped. Arcanine was best summed up by its current UU analysis writer: "Arcanine is one of those Pokemon that has the BST and movepool to be OU, but its typing and Speed come up just short.".

Good teammates:
If you've read this far you must either be intrigued by my words or just believe I'm full of sh*t and wish to find some help using this guy. Well, if you're of the latter, here's all I can say for good teammates: Drought Ninetales is practically required while running this guy. Honestly without it, you're gonna find yourself swept to Hungary and back by sand and rain teams. After that, you'll need a spinner in order to prevent losing your health upon switch if the opponent uses Stealth Rocks (which 90%+ of all teams do), such as Starmie, Forretress or Donphan. At that point, you might as well try to find teammates that benefit from the sun or lack of rocks or something. Dragonite prefers not to have his Multi-Scale broken, and Venusaur loves the Sun thanks to Chlorophyll. Volcarona also appreciates the lack of hazards and a Sun boost, as well as Victini.

What counters it:
If it hasn't been painfully obvious by now, a lot. A lot a lot a lot. As mentioned already, EdgeQuake is a fairly popular combo running around nowadays, and will utterly crush Arcanine in one fell swoop. Strong or bulky Water-types will easily laugh at Arcanine and proceed to blow it away with strong Hydro Pumps or Surfs. Terrakion and Landorus all out-speed him and will proceed to nail him with super-effective STAB's. The biggest downfall to Arcanine is his weakness to all types of hazards. Stealth Rocks and Spikes will take a huge toll on him if he switches into them, meaning a spinner must always be run if you want to squeeze any success out of him, leading to potential setups on the opposing field.

Additional info:
Almost nothing. You could run a Scarf or Choice Band, though Darmanitan completely destroys it in this field. Morning Sun can recover some of its loss health, though the presence of other weathers and only moderate defenses will not get you far. You could always run a defensive set or something, though Heatran outclasses this in almost every aspect. Mixed or specially based sets are always "possible", though if his 110 base attack was not enough, what makes you think his base 100 special attack will be?

Better candidates for this position: Darmanitan and Victini are almost 100% better, while many different powerful attackers, such as Dragonite or Terrakion, can do his role more efficiently despite worse coverage. To say there are better candidates that are similar to Arcanine is surprisingly hard, though this is only due to his Stealth Rock weakness and bad typing, which makes him much worse than current physical attackers.

 

[TGMD]

What To Use

Tornadus @ Choice Specs
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast
- Tailwind
- U-Turn

Role: Special Sweeper

What It Does: Tornadus destroys even the bulkiest of Pokemon, and proceeds to outspeed and OHKO everything in its path. sporting a sky-high Special Attack stat, high Speed, and a base 120 STAB power move with a great offensive typing and 100 accuracy under the rain, it even has access to priority Tailwind, which can really help save your team from tight spots, Tornadus is truly a force to be reckoned with. Tornadus' combination of speed and power allow it to destroy both offensive and defensive teams alike, and there are very, very few Pokemon that can switch in on Tornadus and live to tell the tale. Overall, Tornadus is simply one of the best Pokemon a rain team could ever ask for.

Good Teammates: Politoed is pretty much an essential partner, as it provides permanent rain to give Tornadus' Hurricane 100 accuracy. Dugtrio is a great partner because it traps Tornadus' best counter: Jirachi, Dugtrio also traps many of the the Electric, Steel, and Rock types that resist Tornadus' Hurricane, not only that. but Dugtrio can set up Stealth Rock, making the already horrendous task of trying to switch in to Tornadus even more difficult. Anything that can remove Tornadus' counters, remove Stealth Rock with Rapid Spin, set up Stealth Rock, etc will be a great partner.

What Counters It: There's almost nothing that can counter Tornadus, but Specially Defensive variants of Rotom-W, Blissey, Jirachi, and Bronzong do a decent job. They all have their flaws though (Bronzong has no recovery, both Jirachi and Rotom-W have somewhat unreliable recovery, Blissey really has no place on any team other than Stall, which is an incredibly uncommon playstyle atm.)

Any Additional Info: Tornadus can really shine now that Tornadus-T is gone, especially considering people won't be preparing for Flying type moves as much now.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

What to use (this set is different from the above set):

Tornadus @ Flying Gem
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Acrobatics
- Superpower / Brick Break
- Taunt / Substitute / Tailwind

Role: Physical sweeper

What It Does: Who was the liar who said that Tornadus can only act as a special sweeper using Hurricane? Tornadus is actually an excellent physical sweeper, as it sports a good 115 base Attack, as well as a good speed, and Prankster!

The good of this Tornadus, is that it is not dependent from rain. Thus, it can function even on sandstorm, even on sun teams! However, the main reason to use this set over the special set on a rain team, is that Tornadus is able to lure the opponent's special walls, and destroy them with the appropriate move! For example, standard Blissey is never OHKOed by standard Tornadus' Superpower. However, after a Bulk Up, Blissey is always OHKOed by Physical Tornadus' Superpower! (according to the calculations: I am thinking that this calculator is somewhat messed up)

Bulk Up is Tornadus' only means of powering up its Attack, unfortunately. Although Tornadus wish that it had Swords Dance, Bulk Up is still very effective, and boosts Tornadus' Defense as well, letting it survive some physical attacks. For example, after a Bulk Up, Tornadus has a tiny chance to survive Scarf Terrakion's Stone Edge!

Acrobatics is Tornadus' best physical STAB. It has as much power as Hurricane, and is incredibly powerful after a Bulk Up and a Flying Gem boost. Superpower is the recommended coverage option. Like Focus Blast, Superpower is able to defeat most things that resist Acrobatics, such as Steel- and Rock-types. Although Superpower negates Tornadus' Bulk Up boosts, Superpower is much more powerful than Brick Break. Brick Break can still be used for this reason; however, it is less powerful than Superpower. To give you a idea, +1 Brick Break is weaker than a +0 Superpower!

The last slot gives Tornadus some utility. Taunt means that Tornadus is able to use Pokémon like Skarmory as setup fodder, and prevents them from phazing. Thanks to Bulk Up's defense boosts, Tornadus is also able to take little damage from Skarmory's Brave Bird. However, Tornadus can only really 2HKO Skarmory after 4 Bulk Ups. Substitute is handy against status, and to prevent revenge kills from the likes of Scarf Landorus, Scarf Thundurus-T, Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Terrakion, and Starmie. Finally, Tailwind gives Tornadus a chance to sweep, especially against teams where it does not need the Bulk Up boost to wreck avoc. However, it may be extremely difficult to get both a Bulk Up, and a Tailwind boost.

As a last note, you can use Fighting Gem instead of Flying Gem if you want to power up Superpower, and grab less Bulk Up boosts to OHKO things like Skarmory or Jirachi, but it is not recommended as the main move of this set, Acrobatics, will be very weak until you use Superpower.

Good Teammates: Politoed is not an essential partner to this set, as physical Tornadus does not need rain to use Acrobatics. Acrobatics is always 100% accurate no matter on which weather you use it, unlike Hurricane; thus, it can be used on sun, sandstorm, hail, or even weatherless teams. That said, Politoed is still suggested as a partner because Tornadus can fool your opponent, making him thinking that you are using a special Tornadus. This set still has the same problems against Steel-types that are not weak to Fighting; thus, Heatran or Keldeo are recommended as partners. Heatran is able to destroy every one of them with its super-effective Fire-type moves; Keldeo can do the same with Hydro Pump, which is not super-effective but is able to 2HKO or OHKO most Steel-types, especially when boosted by rain. Something that can defeat Electric-type Pokémon is appreciated, since Tornadus has problems with any Electric-type not weak to Fighting. Thus, Ground-types like Mamoswine, Garchomp, and Landorus, are good partners. Ferrothorn is also able to check most Electric-types, but it cannot defeat those that are resistant to its attacks, especially Magnezone, which is able to defeat Ferrothorn with Hidden Power Fire, unless it is raining (Specs variants can defeat Ferrothorn even on rain). Celebi is also able to check some Electric-types, and as a bonus, can wall Choice Scarf Keldeo, a problematic Pokémon for Tornadus since it can outspeed and OHKO with Hydro Pump.

What Counters It: Jirachi can still counter Tornadus, even with no investiment in defenses. It takes little damage from Superpower, and can paralyze Tornadus, and take it down with repeated Iron Heads. CM Variants can setup and OHKO with Thunderbolt. Bronzong share the same typing as Jirachi, and can also defeat Tornadus with Gyro Ball, and as a bonus, it does not fear Dugtrio thanks to Levitate. However, it lacks reliable recovery. This Tornadus is six of one, half of a dozen, compared to special variants, because while it defeats special walls, it is stopped cold by physical walls. Thus, Hippowdon and Skarmory are able to wall this Tornadus, although they must watch out for Taunt, especially Hippowdon, which cannot, when taunted, do anything to Tornadus, other than using Ice Fang. If it lacks this move, Tornadus can simply boost to the point that Hippowdon is 2HKOed by Acrobatics (although sandstorm damage will annoy Tornadus). Also, it is always wise to rememer that Tornadus is still vulnerable to revenge killing, thus, Mamoswine, Weavile, Azumarill, Jolteon, and most Choice Scarf users are able to revenge kill Tornadus before it can continue its sweep. Take not that thanks to Bulk Up's defense boosts, revenge killing Tornadus with physical moves may be somewhat difficult, although Tornadus is not that bulky even after a boost.

 

[TheWaddleDeeKing]

Oh boy. Spent basically an entire night making these sets. They're all pretty much sets that you should never use, since everyone in this thread likes to give sets that they love to use. Hopefully no one posted these while I was making them...

The One Set You Should Use That Is In This Post:

Sableye

What You Should Use:

Sableye @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EV's: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Nature: Calm (+SDef -Atk)/ Bold (+Def -Atk)
IV's: *0 Atk
-Will-o-Wisp
-Recover
-Taunt
-Night Shade

//*note: this is minor, but on walls or special attackers that don't rely on a Hidden Power move for coverage, 0 attack IV's mean that an opponents Foul Play and hitting yourself in confusion will do less damage.

Role: Supporter

What it does:
By in far the most under appreciated Pokemon in my opinion, Sableye is one of the best supporters in the game. Although at a passive glance all you see is really crummy stats, he makes up for it in Prankster and a good movepool to take advantage of it. With access to Will-o-Wisp, he can easily burn many attackers that would otherwise destroy your team with +1 priority, and with Taunt he prevents Pokemon from setting up hazards or setting up in general. He also sports Ghost-typing, a boon this generation as it allows you to switch into Fighting-type moves for free and spinblock. While still not up to par defensively, he is a great asset to any team that hates physical attackers, and should always be considered as a support Pokemon.

Good teammates:
If you're revolving teammates around Sableye, you're doing it wrong. Sableye is one of the last Pokemon you would put on a team, as it can easily cover up for defensive weaknesses. If you honestly must, go take a good long look at the OU page and look at the long line of Pokemon weak physically defensively.

What counters it:
As a supporter, Sableye does not have specific counters per say, but some Pokemon will muscle there way through Sableye due to his poor defenses, like Haxorus, Salamence or Dragonite at +1 or holding Choice Bands. Pokemon that carry the Lum Berry can take a Will-o-Wisp and counter back with whatever move they want, though they can't hard switch into a Will-o-Wisp and expect to win. Special attackers as a whole don't care much if they're burned and can power their way through Sableye eventually. Pokemon that outspeed with priority, such as Scizor, can OHKO after a little residual damage. Failure to burn the opponent, due to missing most of the time, will often serve as Sableye's downfall. I still cannot stress enough how pathetic his defenses are. The biggest problem is that he cannot tank enough hits that he really needs to without burning the opponent first, leaving him weak to just about damn near every special attacker in the tier. Although he does have priority healing, its easy to abuse the turns he will heal and setup on his face or just continue the onslaught, and he will eventually be worn down.

Additional info:
Not much, really. Toxic could be used to help break down walls, which can come in handy. Foul Play is an interesting move that uses the opponents attack stat instead of yours, though it can be very inconsistent. If you're hellbent on pissing someone off, you can always use Confuse Ray and hope the opponent hits himself in confusion.

Sets you should never use. Ever.

Archeops

What you should not use:

Archeops @ *Flying Gem
Trait: Defeatist
EV's: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spe
Nature: Naive (+Spe -SDef)
-Acrobatics
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Hidden Power [Ice/Fire] / Roost

*//note: although I list Flying Gem, this is really for Archeops in general.

Role: Physical Sweeper

What it supposedly does:
Archeops is one of those Pokemon that you just hate to... hate. It has fantastic base attack, special attack and speed. In fact, un-experienced players my find this guy to be a hidden gem from OU, with such great sweeping roles. However, then they see Defeatist. Defeatist cuts your attacking stats in half when you yourself reach half health. Combined with the fact that he his weak to Stealth Rocks and is extremely vulnerable to all types of priority (Scizor is the number one used Pokemon in OU right now, by the way), you'll never find yourself sweeping teams with this guy. Even if you get past these flaws, without any boosting moves, even that gargantuan attack will fail to get past the most dedicated of walls. Why he can dish out some incredible power, most of the time he will become dead weight due to his ability. He his yet another Pokemon with great potential that fell to the hands of Game Freak.

Good teammates:
Spinners. A spinner is absolutely necessary in order for Archeops to switch in and do damage to something, although even with one you'll find Archeops falling to prey of priority moves and Scarfers. Magnezone is a decent teammate in order to get passed walls like Skarmory, Forretress and Ferrothorn. Faster Fire-types also fill this roll rather nicely. Hazards are always nice to have, though Archeops is one of the sweepers that doesn't need them all the time. Something to WishPass is very helpful indeed, as it potentially allows Archeops to come back in and attempt another chance at a sweep. Teammates that take some of its super effective hits, like Scizor for Ice-type attacks or Rotom-W for Water-type attacks, will help elongate Archeop's life.

What counters it:
A lot. Anything that holds a Choice Scarf has a very, very good chance of ruining Archeops's day. Priority moves, such as Scizor's Bullet Punch, will easily take out Archeops due to non-existent defense, as well Mamoswine's Ice Shard and Azumarill's Aqua Jet. Breloom may not take it out with its Mach Punch, but it will certainly cause it to go into Defeatist range. Revenge killers will easily put him in a checkmate position. As long as it has higher than base 60 speed, a positive nature max speed Pokemon can normally put Archeops into Defeatist range at the very least. Some Pokemon are naturally faster, such as Starmie or Jolteon, who can easily KO with an Ice Beam or Hidden Power Ice. Most importantly, Stealth Rocks ruin Archeop's day by removing 1/4th of his health upon switch in, so keeping those on the field will aid in his removal.

Additional info:
Archeops can run a set using Head Smash and a Rock Gem to essentially get a free OHKO on anything, though he might find himself within Defeatist range afterwards. A more mixed set can be used, though it doesn't really help him out much. Choice Scarf can be used, but he still falls prey to priority, and certain Pokemon can come in on resisted hits. I could list any amount of items but no matter what I list, he's going to lose.

Better candidates for this position: In terms of mixed or physical sweepers, there's a lot of them, and luckily most of them can function as well as they do at 100% health as they can at 1% health. Haxorus, Dragonite, Salamence, Garchomp, Terrakion... I could list Pokemon all day, though for your sake and mine, just look at the OU tier page and organize the Pokemon by physical attack base stats.

//note: This one's kinda funny cause I recently posted in the Underused and Underrated set how good this guy is. I immediately afterwards realized how mediocre he is.

Claydol

What not to use:

Claydol @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EV's: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Nature: Bold (+Def -SAtk) / Impish (+Def -Atk)
-Stealth Rocks
-Rapid Spin
-Earthquake/Ice Beam
-Toxic

Supposed role: Spinner, Supporter

What is supposedly does:
Claydol is one of those Pokemon that sees much more use than it really should. At a passive glance, you'll notice that it laughs in the face of the EdgeQuake combo, resists Fighting-types and is immune to Electric-type moves. So, one might assume that this guy would be a great physical wall if you pump a lot of EV's into defense. Well, that is not the case. In reality, it can wall the most threatening physical sweeper, Terrakion, and in theory, it can wall Landorus and Conkeldurr, but in reality the ladder two can U-turn out or retaliate with Payback or Ice Punch. That's how must of it goes, unfortunately. Almost wall a physical sweeper just for them to U-turn out or get hit with a super-effective move. It doesn't help that he has garbage attack stats, so no matter what you do it's not like you can do anything other than Toxic them or spin rocks away (which physically defensive Forretress does 100x better, by the way). Sure, it walls Terrakion, but that's it, and that's hardly enough for a metagame filled with rain teams that can OHKO with Hydro Pump and the list of special attackers that will hit for super-effective damage. This isn't including the part where he has no recovery outside of Leftovers and Rest.

Good teammates:
Well, if you're looking for teammates, you might as well go for some weak to Terrakion and Stealth Rocks. Volcarona, Staraptor, Gyarados, etc. I don't know what else you want me to put here, honestly. You could always run Farfetch'd in tangent, but...

What counters it:
Just about everything besides Terrakion. Landorus can use U-turn or Hidden Power Ice to do massive damage and possibly switch into the appropriate counter. Kyurem-B and Haxorus take a dump on it with their STAB Outrage, which easily will take out Claydol in one or two hits, meanwhile Claydol can't do anything in return. Conkeldurr and Metagross can hit him for super-effective damage with Ice Punch, and Salamence can use Aqua Tail or Hydro Pump to hit Claydol. Mamoswine totally bones it with priority Ice Shard. Breloom can use Bullet Seed or Seed Bomb to hit it hard, after it gets put to sleep, that is. Banded Scizor can either hit it enough times with Bullet Punch or with a super-effective STAB U-turn.

Listen, I could list as many counters as there are OU Pokemon. Just take my word for it, okay?

Additional info:
You could always get rid of Toxic for both coverage moves (in which case use a Relaxed or Sassy nature). Hidden Power Fire could always be used to nail Scizor or Forretress, you might as well, you're not getting anywhere with those two coverage moves anyways. Explosion in tangent with Normal Gem could get you a surprise KO sometimes. If you're worried about your opponent healing for some reason, Heal Block is always there to comfort you. Rest could be used to heal, though that just lets your opponents Scizor set up on you.

Better candidates for this position: The only other two Pokemon that have Stealth Rocks and Rapid Spin are Forretress and Donphan. Luckily for you, they completely outclass Claydol due to Sturdy and should always be used over him.

F.E.A.R. Pokemon

What you shouldn't use:

Any Pokemon that runs the F.E.A.R. strategy (Rattata, Tailow, Aron, etc.)

Supposed role: Supporter(?)

What they supposedly do:
F.E.A.R. is by far the gimmicky of gimmicky strategies. If you're unfamiliar, it revolves taking a Pokemon that has both Endeavor and a priority move in its movepool, slapping a Focus Sash on it, bringing it down to level one, sponging a hit due to Focus Sash, using Endeavor to bring the opposing Pokemon down to 1 HP and then using a priority move for a KO. This seems good in theory, but in practice it is far, far from a good strategy. First off, the presence of hazards will ruin the Focus Sash, meaning you can no longer sponge a hit. Secondly, Sandstorm is one of the most used weather conditions and will easily ruin your strategy. Thirdly, it's so incredibly obvious its embarrassing. As soon as the opponent sees a Pokemon that could potentially run this set (and they're obvious, trust me), they will immediately figure their way around it. Fourthly, Leftovers completely ruins this strategy as it allows the opposing Pokemon to heal off enough damage to take a priority hit. Fifthly, priority Pokemon live in OU like seeds reside in an apple, and can easily out speed due to being 99 levels higher. Lastly, it's not even a even trade, as though it's possible you're losing one Pokemon to take out one Pokemon, in reality, you're losing one Pokemon from the start of the match, while the opponent always (and normally will) have the possibility of ruining this strategy. This strategy does not work. Ever.

Good teammates:
None. Nada. If you base your team around a F.E.A.R Pokemon, you're doing it completely wrong. Hell, if you use a F.E.A.R. Pokemon, you're doing it completely wrong.

What counters it:
Common sense.

Additional info:
Stop doing this to yourself, please.

Better candidates for this position: Level 1 Sturdy Aron, which in conjunction with a Shell Bell, can continually use this strategy, using Sandstorm damage to knock out opposing Pokemon. However, OU is crawling with Rock, Steel and Ground-types, as well as other weather, so this works only slightly better in practice that F.E.A.R. does.

Light Ball Pikachu

What not to use:

Pikachu @ Light Ball
Trait: Lightning Rod
EV's: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe -Atk)
-Substitute
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Ice/Fire]
-Encore/Grass Knot

Supposed role: Special Sweeper

What it supposedly does:
I really shouldn't even have to tell you why Pikachu shouldn't be used in OU. At a passive glance, he looks like a frail sweeper with good attack stats (with Light Ball equipped) and a decent movepool to make use of it. However, in OU, he attack stats are only slightly above average, and most Pokemon can sponge one of his hits and attack back, almost certainly KO'ing it. The idea behind this set is simple: set up a Substitute to allow Pikachu to sweep, or at least sponge a hit. But who the hell are you gonna set up on? The best of walls couldn't care less what this guy is running and will just straight up attack or setup on his face. He is extremely prone to priority hits, not being able to sponge any of them. Even with maximum defenses he is going down. His speed is too mediocre to get anything done and is much to frail for a sweeper. I sometimes see him on joke teams, which could work on timed battles, most people would laugh at you for running him until they run out of time. Please don't use Pikachu, not even for fun.

Good teammates:
YOU'RE STILL TRYING TO USE THIS THING??? Holy sh*t. Well, the only way I can see the potential of him working is if you Baton Pass a bunch of speed boosts or something. Shell Smash Gorebyss fits the description nicely, as does anyone else who can Baton Pass Agility, though the problem with this is that they'll probably Baton Pass first, meaning your Pikachu will get hit by the opponent. Defensive walls can make up for his lack of defense (except not really), so running Skarmory or Jellicent or something can help you elongate Pikachu's life another turn or two.

What counters it:
Does it contain a move, is faster or bulky enough to take a hit, and has enough attack power to KO? It counters it (that's every Pokemon in OU, by the way).

Additional info:
You could always run a mixed set, as Light Ball doubles his attack too. You might as well, he's not gonna last anyways.

Better candidates for this position: Everything that's not Luvdisc or Farfetch'd. So, if you're having trouble with those two, Pikachu might finally have a chance to shine!

Porygon-Z

What not to use:

Porygon-Z @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EV's: 96 HP / 252 SAtk / 160 Spe
Nature: Modest (+SAtk -Atk)
IV's: *0 Atk
-Agility
-Tri Attack
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt

//*note: this is minor, but on walls or special attackers that don't rely on a Hidden Power move for coverage, 0 attack IV's mean that an opponents Foul Play and hitting yourself in confusion will do less damage.

Supposed role: Special sweeper

What it supposedly does:
Porygon-Z at a first glance looks like the Pokemon that could sweep teams if it got a Download boost, but sadly, this is not the case. Even with Agility to boost its middling speed, it still lacks the defenses to sponge hits. Priority moves are common in OU, as are Fighting-types, either of which will ruin Porygon-Z's day. Although sporting the BoltBeam combo, it's not enough, and even at +1 it lacks the power to get through the best of walls in OU. Although it seems good due to monstrous special attack, it's bulk is ultimately its downfall, and its typing leaves it wide open for all types of attacks to come in and hurt him bad.

Good teammates:
Due to a weakness to Fighting-types, Jellicent is perhaps one of the best teammates it could use, Will-o-Wisping physical attackers. Hazards are almost always necessary, so any Pokemon that can lay them down (Ferrothorn, Forretress, Skarmory, etc.) is a highly appreciated teammate. The Lati twins are also nice teammates, scaring out most physical attackers due to their coverage and STAB moves. Pokemon that attract more physically oriented walls are nice to have, allowing you to switch in and grab a special attack boost with Download. Magnezone/Magneton are always nice to have to get rid of meddling Steel-types.

What counters it:
Due to low defenses, anything that can sponge a hit and hit hard back will probably lead to his demise. Terrakion can normally take one, especially if in Sandstorm, and hit back with a STAB super-effective Close Combat, easily OHKO'ing. Technician Breloom can also come in and hit hard with its Technician boosted, STAB super-effective Mach Punch. Mamoswine can sponge one hit and hit hard back with Ice Shard. Steel-types, such Scizor, have the bulk to sponge a hit and hit back hard. Magnezone takes pitiful damage from all of Porygon-Z's attack, and can setup a Substitute in its face. Ultimately, the best way to take care of Porygon-Z is to let it not setup its Agility, be it by sheer force or threatening it with powerful sweepers.

Additional information:
You could always run a Chople Berry to help with its Fighting weakness, though in the long run this won't help much. A Choice Scarf is somewhat helpful, as Porygon-Z has the coverage to hit everything, but ultimately fails to outclass Starmie in this degree. Recover could always be used, though it won't matter much in the long run, not to mention you really want three coverage moves on Porygon-Z. A Nasty Plot set is viable, until one realizes that Porygon-Z is rather average in the speed aspect. You could try a bulky attacker set, though his little brother Porygon2 outclasses him due to the defense boost from Eviolite. Hidden Power Fire could always be used to hit Steel-types, though if you die, make sure to change the attack IV's back to its appropriate number.

Better candidates for this position: Porygon2 by far outclasses him, sporting the bulk to take hits and still having good coverage. Starmie also does his job but with actual good speed. Rotom-W also has a pseudo BoltBeam combo, and has Will-o-Wisp and Thunder Wave along with good defensive typing. The Lati twins also sport better bulk and better coverage, as well as better attacks to utilize. Alakazam is faster, has Magic Guard, and sports much better coverage.

Sawsbuck

What not to use:

Sawsbuck @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EV's: 112 HP / 248 Atk / 148 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+Atk -SAtk)
-Swords Dance
-Horn Leech
-Return
-Jump Kick/*Nature Power

*//Note: Nature Power is Earthquake in wi-fi battles, but is affected by Taunt.

Supposed role: Physical Sweeper

What is supposedly does:
Sawsbuck is by and far my favorite Pokemon this generation, with its Winter Form so elegant and beautiful... so it pains me to say, that you should not use this guy on your team, even as a Chlorophyll Sweeper. Let me just dive straight into it: it's mediocre. Although Swords Dance allows it to get pretty decent attack, the presence of rain teams totally ruins its speed (which is only mediocre outside of Sun), and its defenses are garbage and leave it wide open to priority. Even after a Swords Dance boost, it can't really OHKO anything unless it's weak to its moves or has absolutely no defenses. Sure, Horn Leech gives you some HP back on a hit, which is nice, but other Pokemon can do this too. There is just no real reason to use Sawsbuck when other Sun sweepers such as Venusaur exist. It pains me to say it, but you're better off not using it in OU, he just requires too much support to work.

Good teammates:
Drought Ninetales, obviously. Without it you can't really get anything done. You're gonna want to cover those priority hits, so a physically defensive wall (like Forretress) is always nice. You could alternatively get a Will-o-Wisp user and burn them, such as Jellicent or Sableye. You'll probably want other teammates to aid in the very likely case your sweep fails, so Pokemon like Venusaur or Lilligant are great back ups. Since physically defensive walls are the bane of your existence, Magnezone or Magneton can help you by taking out common physical walls like Skarmory or Forretress.

What counters it:
Unlike certain Sun sweepers, Sawsbuck is basically entirely useless outside of Sun, so Drizzle, Sand Stream and Hail (all of which are common) will ruin its day. Luckily, none of the aforementioned Pokemon really want to hard switch into Sawsbuck, but they can easily come in after a kill. Better yet, get priority abusers like Mamoswine to KO with Ice Shard, or Scizor who can spam Bullet Punch all day. Technician Breloom falls into this category too. Skarmory absolutely takes no damage from this guy whatsoever, and can Whirlwind him out or hit him with super-effective Brave Birds. Ditto can come in and steal your boosts and Chlorophyll speed boost and hit you with Jump Kick or Return or something. Priority Taunt users such as Tornadus and Sableye can ruin this guys day, especially if running Nature Power, which is affected by Taunt. Gengar absolutely does not care what the hell this guy is running and will proceed to Focus Blast it to oblivion, although it can't hard switch into Horn Leech without getting KO'd the next turn. Finally, Will-o-Wisp users that can sponge a hit will ultimately lead to his downfall.

Additional info:
Not much. The only other options are items that you could use. Lum Berry is probably the next best thing, allowing you to sponge one burn or paralyze. The problem with this is that without Life Orb, you'll lose out on valuable KO's. Choice Band could always be run but you're still way to weak and pales in comparison to Swords Dance. There's a set that revolves around Baton Passing boosts like Agility and Work Up, but it's completely outclasses by Shell Smash Gorebyss.

Better candidates for this position: To be completely fair, no one can do what Sawsbuck can do 100% better, Horn Leech makes it stand out at least a little bit. However, on the whole, Mixed Venusaur almost outclasses in every aspect. It has the stats to run a mixed set (meaning it can get around walls), good typing and decent defenses, Growth to simultaneously boost both attack and special attack by two stages under the Sun, and can still heal itself off with Giga Drain. It also helps that he isn't completely useless outside of Sun as long as he gets a boost up first.

//Note: I'm not saying Togekiss is a bad Pokemon in OU, but the standard ParaFlinch set is outclassed by Jirachi

Togekiss

What not to use:

Togekiss @ Leftovers
Trait: Serene Grace
EV's: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Nature: Calm (+SDef -Atk)
-Body Slam/Thunder Wave
-Air Slash
-Flamethrower
-Roost

Supposed role: Supporter

What is supposedly does:
Togekiss is one of the infamous ParaFlinchers, and this is all due to Serene Grace. With it, you can paralyze the opposing Pokemon with Body Slam (or Thunderwave), and start fishing for flinches with Air Slash or paralysis. Now, that sounds all good in all, but then why the hate? Well, it's pretty much completely outclasses by ParaFlinch Jirachi, who sports better resistances and isn't weak to Stealth Rock. Now, to be fair, there are some advantages to Togekiss, such as instant recovery with Roost and not minding burns at all, but this just isn't enough. It's extremely weak to priority, and the Stealth Rock weakness limits its effectiveness, not to mention it can't get passed some walls at all, whereas Jirachi could at least U-turn out. Togekiss is a good Nasty Plot user, but the standard ParaFlinch is best left to Jirachi.

Good teammates:
Spinners to remove the Stealth Rock weakness. You'll want something to get rid of priority users like Scizor and Mamoswine, so teammates like Magnezone and Rotom-W work wonders. Magnezone has the added bonus of getting past most walls due to Magnet Pull, so that's always nice. Azumarill is also a nice teammate, easily revenge killing attackers that would ruin Togekiss's day, like Terrakion and Landorus.

What counters it:
Priority users couldn't care less about paralysis, and due to Togekiss's lesser defense, it makes it much easier for them to go for the KO. Mamoswine is probably the best threat, not taking much damage from Flamethrower due to Thick Fat and having STAB priority Ice Shard to hit Togekiss with. Banded Scizor can normally get the job done, though it will not enjoy taking Flamethrowers. Azumarill can also work with some prior damage. Scarfed users that can hit for super-effective damage will ruin Togekiss's day, such as Terrakion or Rotom-W, among many others.

Additional info:
You could always run a Nasty Plot set with Togekiss, and I highly recommend that you do, as it's the only thing that Togekiss can do better than Jirachi. Aura Sphere could always be run to get past Tyranitar, though you'll want Flamethrower for Steel-types more. There's not a whole lot else you could run, as anything else will hamper its effectiveness.

Better candidates for this position: Jirachi. Use Jirachi over this, please.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP /244 Def / 12 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Slack Off
- Whirlwind / Ice Fang

Role: Support / Physical Wall


What It Does:
Hippowdon is a great Pokemon to use that provides Sand Stream support, has access to Stealth Rock, and can serve as a premiere physical wall. Sandstorm is a great form of support as it cancels out opposing weathers which is great in this metagame filled with Rain and Sun teams. Sand residual damage is useful at providing residual damage, chipping away at walls, and negating Leftovers recovery. It also provides Rock types such as Terrakion with a Special Defense boost and activates the Sand Rush ability of Stoutland and Sandslash. Hippowdon also has access to Stealth Rock which he can easily lay down to rack up damage every time the opponent switches in. With a massive base 108 HP stat, 118 Defense stat, and access to a reliable form of recovery in Slack Off, the only weather starter to have reliable recovery, Hippowdon is also one of the best physical walls in OU. He can easily take hits from some of the top physical attackers such as Terrakion and Scizor, heal off damage with Slack Off and fire off Earthquakes. Ice Fang provides some coverage alongisde Earthquake, hitting things such as Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Dragon types while Whirlwind is also a nice option to phaze out opponents and rack up hazard damage and remove setup boosts.


Good Teammates:
Ferrothorn is a decent teammate for Hippowdon, especially Specially Defensive variants. He can set up Spikes alongside Hippowdon's Stealth Rock and take the Ice, Water, and Grass types that threaten Hippowdon. Hippowdon returns the favor by being a rebliable switch in into Terrakion, Dragonite, and Salamence, some things that gives Derrothorn trouble. Specially Defensive walls such as Jellicent and Heatran can also prove valuable partners with Hippowdon to cover both sides of the attacking spectrum. Forretress is another good partner because he can set up entry hazards as well as clearing the field of entry hazards that cripple Hippowdon himself, namely Toxic Spikes. Hippowdon cannot touch Skarmory and also Landorus-T and Gliscor if he is not carrying Ice Fang so powerful special attackers like Latios and Keldeo are useful to healp deal with them.


What Counters It:
A number of physical walls easily counter Hippowdon. Gliscor can take even Ice Fangs and cripple the hippo with Toxic and eventually stall it out. Skarmory can set up layers of Spikes in front of Hippodon and not worry about anything from him. Special Attackers such as Latios and Keldeo can easily take out Hippowdon with a powerful STAB attack due to his lackluster Special Defense stat. If Hippowdon lacks Whirlwind, then set up sweepers such as Dragon Dance Gyarados can proceed to setup as much as they want in from of him.

 

[TheWaddleDeeKing]

Looked at the thread again and realized Magneton wasn't featured. lol wtf

What you should use:

Magneton @ Eviolite/Choice Scarf
Trait: Magnet Pull
EV's: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe -Atk)
-Substitute/Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt
-Hidden Power [Fire/Ice]
-Flash Cannon

Role: Supporter

What it does:
New players getting into the game probably brush Magneton by in favor of Magnezone, who is actually shown in the OU tier page and is the most commonly used of the two. However, in order to say Magneton is outclasses is far from the truth, as it has two very nice things going for it that Magnezone doesn't: Eviolite and 10 higher base speed. While the latter seems of little importance, it matters a lot, as it allows Magneton to outspeed neutral-natured base 80's, such as Gyarados and Dragonite, which can be a huge threat to teams. Eviolite is always a nice item, boosting Magneton's subpar defenses to a frightening good level (so good, it survives a Banded Fire Punch from Dragonite!). It also retains a very nice base 120 special attack stat, only ten lower than Magnezone's. So why is he used less, you may ask? Well, besides the fact that he resides in RU, no Leftovers, Air Balloon or Life Orb hurt him a bit, and therefor most people would rather use Magnezone. Don't let that discourage you though, for he is a very good supporter when needed.

Good teammates:
Magneton doesn't rely on its teammates that much, as you should be using Magneton based on your teammates. It resists Stealth Rocks and is immune to Toxic Spikes (though for some reason it does take damage from Spikes :#). If it appreciates anything though, it's definitely hazards, as without the boost of Life Orb it may find itself losing out on KO's.

What counters it:
As a supporter, its "counters" are fairly hard to nail down. However, it's extremely weak to Fighting-types and Earthquake, both of which are popular throughout the tier. Fire-types will also ruin its day, as Magneton can't really do anything against them and they can in return OHKO or 2HKO. Threats that manage to get to +2 speed laugh at Magneton if its carrying a Choice Scarf, though the Eviolite build might just have enough bulk to sponge a hit. If you're not running Hidden Power Ice, most Dragon-types will laugh in its face at any attempts to hurt them, meanwhile if not running Hidden Power Fire, Steel-types can continue pounding on him until he's dead.

Additional info:
Signal Beam could potentially be used to hit certain Pokemon for more damage, though in the long run its not worth it. Hidden Power Grass can nail Gastrodon, but is relatively worthless outside of this. In the same vein, Hidden Power Ground can nail Heatran if its a problem, but it doesn't due much else. Charge Beam can increase your special attack with some luck, and is slightly more viable with an Eviolite on Magneton than Magnezone, though in the long run you'll get revenge killed anyways. You could always run Dual Screens, though without Eviolite, Magnezone does it better, and even then there's a lot of competitors for that role. In short, you should probably stick to the items and moves listed above.

 

[Nova]

What To Use

Cloyster @ Life Orb
Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Hydro Pump

Role: Mixed Sweeper


What It Does:
Most OU players are familiar with the deadly sweeper that is Shell Smash Cloyster. With arguably the best setup move in the game in Shell Smash that increases Cloyster's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed by 2 stages at the cost of lowering his Defense and Special Defense by 1 stage, Cloyster can easily plow through teams after a single turn of setup. With his Skill Link ability, Cloyster's multihit attacks, Icicle Spear and Rock Blast will always hit 5 times, essentially making them 125 base power attacks. However, they have the added benefit of being able to break through Focus Sashes, Sturdy, and Substitutes and each hit is considered an individual attack so you have 5 chances of landing a critical hit. Icicle Spear is Cloyster's primary STAB attack, and its power is shown in the fact that a +2 Icicle Spear with LO guarantees an OHKO on the standard 252 HP / 88 Def positive natured Ferrothorn. Rock Blast provides coverage alongside Icicle Spear, being able to hit Fire types and Water types that resist Icicle Spear. Hydro Pump in the last slot helps against Steel types such as Scizor, Forretress, and Skarmory, hitting them harder due to their weaker Special Defense.


Good Teammates:
Forretress is a good partner for Cloyster as he has access to both entry hazards and Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin is important as Cloyster is weak to Stealth Rock, susceptible to Spikes, and will have very limited survivability if it is poisoned by Toxic Spikes. Forretress can lay Stealth Rock and Spikes which helps Cloyster sweep, turning 2HKO's into OHKO's. Mamoswine is also a solid partner for Cloyster because he can take out Scarf Latios and Modest Chlorophyll Venusaur with Ice Shard, both of which outspeed Cloyster even after a Shell Smash. Mamoswine also cant handle Breloom who is another threat to Cloyster as Ice Shard outspeeds Breloom's priority Mach Punch. Espeon is a great supporter for Cloyster as she can set up Reflect and Light Screen, giving him an easier time to set up as well as preventing entry hazards from going up with Magic Bounce. Lastly, Magnezone can trap and take out the Steel types that can give Cloyster some trouble.


What Counters It:
Cloyster is not too difficult to counter if it has not set up. With his pitiful base 45 Special Attack, most special attacks can take him out, even resisted attacks such as Hydro Pump in rain will easily OHKO. Entry hazards are a solid way to cripple it, especially Toxic Spikes. However once he has set up, the number of counters diminishes significantly. Scarf Latios and Chlorophyll can still outspeed Cloyster after a Shell Smash and take it out with a Draco Meteor and Giga Drain respectively. Mach Punch users namely, Breloom and Conkeldurr can pick off Cloyster even after he has set up. Other priority users such as Extremespeed Dragonite and Bullet Punch Scizor can take out Cloyster after it was suffered some residual damage from Life Orb, sand, and entry hazards.