Please Rate my Team <3 OU Demolition Squad

[Shatty555]

Hey everyone. Just wondering about this team I have made. I have been testing and testing different Pokemon together and this team has appeared to work best for me. It's won me a lot of matches and when used correctly, can pierce enemy teams.

Let's take a look at each Pokemon. (Sorry for those 'in the know', but I'm going to assume the reader has no idea how each Pokemon works in-case people are newbs or whatever.)

Hotpoint (Rotom-Wash) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 68 SAtk / 188 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I love Rotom-W, he is simply used as a scout to begin with, either Wisping any early sweepers or shooting holes into enemies with Hydro Pump, or switching out with Volt Switch. Hidden Power Ice gives him some versitility and picks off those Dragons.

Prince Mush (Breloom) (M) @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 6 HP
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Focus Punch
- Substitute
- Seed Bomb

This is my favourite abuser. Spore puts enemies to sleep, the enemy will either switch out, or stay in. If they stay in, they will likely stay asleep for the next turn and so I put up my Substitute. If this succeeds, I get a free Focus Punch on the enemy because during the next turn, even if they break the sub, I still get to punch (since I took no damage). Seed Bomb is for bulky waters, namely Swampert, and several other threats that can take a punch. Biggest weakness is of course his speed. Even with Max Speed, Breloom can be countered by any fast attacker, and with frail defenses, they will likely OHKO. Even with the misgiving of Speed, he is still a great team member, and given the right moment, he can punch holes into teams.

Ex-Clefairy (Gengar) (M) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 224 HP / 34 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Disable
- Trick

I'm still not so sure about Gengar, a ghost type is a compliment to any team, and Gengar is a good all-rounder. With his Specs, he can really deal a lot of damage to opponents, and Shadow Ball is his best move to hit almost anything, when Normal and Steel-types are on show Focus Blast can do what Shadow Ball cannot. When defensive Pokemon are out, he can Trick his Specs over to them and pick up a likely leftovers, that pretty much shuts down Ferrothorn, Jellicent, and many others (works great against Physical Sweepers because it ruins their ability to switch between moves and lock them out of boosting moves). Disable is a great little toy aswell, after Specs have gone, Disable can sometimes make enemies Struggle if kept in. Speed has tried to compliment Disable. Of course Gengar isn't without his flaws, being Choice'd means that Disable can only be used once and then a switch is needed unless his Specs are gone. But this can also bluff the opponent into thinking Gengar isn't Scarfed or Specs'd. He also gets outsped a lot of the time.

Mr Sax (Altaria) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage/Dragon Claw
- Roost
- Cotton Guard

For those of you who are surprised to see Altaria in an OU environment, take a walk with me. Altaria has something really unique, Cotton Guard (Raises Def 3 stages). Alone, this may not seem like a big deal, but Altaria is pretty bulky, and with max HP and Special Defense, Cotton Guard gives it the final piece of Defense that it needs. Once bulked, you can Dragon Dance to your heart's content, even when foes wear you down, you can still pull off a Roost (which patches that nasty Ice 4x Weakness for a turn) and start to damage the enemy. Of course, because of all these boosting moves, Altaria can only deal out Dragon damage, but with the boosts, it can still make bulky resistors cry. Roar really gets to Altaria, but when Forretress and other Roarers are gone, Altaria can come out to play. Both abilities are useful, in OU weather teams can be put to silence with Cloud 9, but Natural Cure is preferred, because Toxic etc.

Manny (Mamoswine) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock

Recently I fell in love with Mamoswine. He's amazing. People really underrate that Ice Shard, it his so damn hard (and fast). Earthquake is standard STAB, and Stone Edge hits those that resit his stabs. Stealth Rock is used when he's put into battle when the opponent is likely to switch, because honesly, Mamoswine doesn't need a 4th move with what he has. I've gone for the extra HP instead of Speed because I feel he needs to survive a little more often. His ability, Thick fat, really is the icing on this delicious cake (Excuse the pun, being Ice-type and all, heh) Letting him take fire damage more effectively, and bagging a worthy Ice resistance. Ice Shard, Ice Shard, Ice Shard. Kill, Kill, Kill.

PixieDust (Volcarona) (M) @ Grass Gem
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 230 SAtk / 252 HP / 28 Def
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain
- Roost

Stealth Rock, oh no. Yeah, rocks really do pester this bug, leaving him with just 50% HP. A Rapid Spinner is kind of needed if Volcarona is to appear. But still, if put against the right Pokemon, PixieDust can pull off a Quiver Dance and hit hard with Giga Drain (Boosted by Grass Gem) and get most of his HP back. And because Giga Drain is raraly seen, the opponent is going to expect a Fire Blast, so I can do some decent damage with Giga Drain and restore all that health I lost from Stealth Rock (If applicable). But yeah, under the circumstances Volcarona will run circles around the enemy team. A lot of people quit when Volcarona has Quiver Danced more than twice.

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Well there you go, feel free to add a few speculations or whatever. If you steal my team, I will find you (literally :P ). Thanks for reading!

 

[Electrolyte]

Hey there,

This is a pretty cool team. However, I'm not too sure Altaria is very viable in OU right now. It's very slow without investment, needs to set up a lot before it can sweep / take a powerful hit, and makes your team even weaker to hazards. It seems as if Sand teams would be a problem for you; Tyranitar can easily trap and kill your Gengar, which then leaves you completely walled by Lati@s. Fast, hard hitters like Terrakion can also do a fair bit; Rock type attacks go un resisted in your team bar Loom who can't take a banded Terrak's SE more than once. Hazards are really a nuisance for your team; you don't have a spinner so pokemon like Deoxys-Defense can set up SR and three layers of Spikes and then let your team get run over. To help you with the above things, there are a fee changes I think you should make. First off, I think replacing StAltaria with Max Defense Forretress would be a great idea.

Forretress @ Leftovers
Relaxed / 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
0 Spe ivs
Rapid Spin / Stealth Rock / Gyro Ball / Spikes

Forretress helps this team by giving it a good physical wall as well as a way to control hazards. A spinner is really mandatory for the success of your team- as Volc can't sweep if it gets 50% of its HP cleaved off each time it comes in. Rotom also can't switch around as frequently, nor can Mamo to revenge kill. Forretress also lays its own hazards- which is will help you chip away at all opponents, from stall to offense. Stealth Rock gives you a way to beat Sun teams with more ease and Spikes help speed up the attacking process even more. Forretress also has great synergy with the rest of your team. Its massive bulk and resistances let it work with Gengar to lay and keep hazards down. It can work with Rotom-W to wall opponents. Or its Gyro Ball can be used to kill faster pokemon like Terrakion or Lati@s.

Speaking of Rotom-W, I think it's be a good idea to try a spread of 252 HP / 28 SpA / 228 SpD Calm. Max SpDef lets Rotom-W wall many prominent Rain sweepers in the tier, as well as form a sponging core with Forretress. It lets you wall Keldeo and Tornadus-I, as well as Thundurus-T. Specially Defensive Rotom can be used to sponge special attacks from fast attackers like Alakazam, Jolteon, or Starmie as well.

Now that Forretress carries SR, Mamoswine can run a different move. I would use Icicle Crash. This gives you a very powerful Ice type STAB that can be used to hit Celebi or Skarmory quite hard. It can also be used when Ice Shard won't do enough. A spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Adamant would also be better; giving your Mamoswine enough speed to beat Adamant Loom and Heatran.

I'd also fix up your Gengar set a bit. SpecsGar isn't the necessary because Gengar needs has great coverage moves that make up for its 'lack of power'. I'd use this set instead:

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Timid / 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Substitute / Shadow Ball / Focus Blast / Disable

This is the classic SubDisable Gengar. It's quite fast, speed tieing with Lati@s, and can hit hard too with perfect coverage. It can check most fighting types, as well as spinblock. SubDisable Gengar also is a lot tougher to trap than your current one, as a TTar coming in on Substitute or even Shadow Ball will be promptly 2HKO'd. Substitute and Disable let you beat choiced pokemon as well as pokemon that can only hit you with one move- i.e., Tank Lando-T. Shadow Ball is your STAB; it can KO most Psychics and Ghosts, and FBlast takes care of Steels and Darks.

Finally, I'd use Bug Buzz and Fiery Dance over Fire Blast and Roost on Volcarona. Bug Buzz is a needed STAB; it lets you defeat Dragon types who resist your Fire / Grass coverage. Fiery Dance is better than Fire Blast because it doesn't miss and can be used to nab a SpA boost in tight situations. Using Leftovers over Grass Gem would probably also benefit you; it makes up for loss of Roost and can be used to heal without taking time.

Good luck!

 

[DarkGiratina]

You should use a Lum Berry over Grass Gem on Volcarona too, it might be good to deal with T-Waves. But also Life-Orb is probably good, the recoil you can recover with Roost/Giga Drain.

~Darkgira

 

[Honus]

Hi there Shatty

Alakazam is a huge problem for this team, as it's both powerful [thanks to Life Orb] and capable of outspeeding your entire team and 2hkoing each of them at the least, hazards can push these 2hkos into ohkos, too, considering Volcarona. It seems like Altaria is just giving you another sitting duck and Stealth Rock weakness as it isn't powerful enough to take advantage of Mamoswine weakening its counters [ie Ferrothorn], so I'd probably replace it with CB Scizor, who forms a nice combo with Rotom-W. Terrakion also appears to be pretty threatening for this team, as everything fears a 2HKO or OHKO from either Stone Edge or Close Combat. Scizor provides you with a check to Terrakion, though I'd also change Rotom-W to a scarf variant to remedy this. This team just really has a hard time against fast or boosting Pokemon in general and really doesn't have any defense mechanisms against them. Rotom-W is a fantastic scarfer and can abuse it easily with Volt Switch and its powerful attacks, stopping Pokemon such as Terrakion, Landorus, Garchomp and Salamence thanks to its coverage, as well as giving you yet another check to Terrakion/Alakazam. Finally, I'd get rid of the Choice Specs on Gengar; you're really just restricting it and making it trap bait for stuff like Tyranitar or Scizor, thus losing you a powerful ghost immunity. Gengar functions a lost better with just lefties of a life orb.

Change Summary:

Gengar:
Choice Specs->Leftovers
Substitute/HP Fire->Trick

Hide

Scizor (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Trick
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch

 

[Shatty555]

Thanks for everyone's feedback :)

Ima probably go with a Forretress with Rocks/Spikes/Spin/Gyro instead of Altaria for the bulk and hazard laying. I'va also altered Gengar to Black Sludge and swapped trick to substitute. Rotom-W is scarfed now with Trick instead of HP Ice. I like Will-o-wisp though but it feels uncomfortable having it on a choice set. Testing the new team out.

Thanks again :D