Hello, thanks in advance to everyone who'll help me with this and thank you for all of you willing to take time out of your busy schedules to read this. I know you're all very busy people and I'm happy that some of that time is being devoted to helping other players :]
Teambuilding Process:
I've been really struggling to build a team recently, however I finally realized that it would be fun to build around Specs Latios, a classic. The general point of this team is to blow up walls with Latios and then clean up with Scizor.
After choosing Latios, I needed a Pokemon that synergized well with it, so I chose Mega Scizor because of its natural bulk and sweeping capabilities. Mega Scizor is a key check to Bisharp and Weavile and other pursuit trappers which Latios despises. After Mega Scizor, I decided to build a nice Volt-turn core, so I added Rotom-W and Landorus-T, two Pokemon that have amazing synergy together due to covering each other's weaknesses. Rotom-W provides a ton of utility and resistances to many offensive Pokemon while Landorus-T checks Mega Lopunny and provides Stealth Rocks. Rotom-W and Landorus-T also help check Talonflame which is a major bane to Latios and Scizor due to it's blazing fast speed and sweeping capabilities. Next, I added Starmie since I needed a bulky rapid spinner. Starmie also has the ability to absorb statuses with Natural Cure. Finally, I wanted to find a pokemon that rounded out the team's defensive synergy or offensive pressure. This slot is the most troubling slot since there are SO many offensive threats in the current OU metagame. I chose Kyurem-B for the mean time since it can effectively run Choice Scarf and can serve as a check to Pokemon that are bulky enough to tank Scizor's Bullet Punch and fast enough to outspeed Specstios.
Now, here's what all the Pokemon do more specifically:
Latios @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This is the center of the team, I built the team around this beast. First off, Latios is my favorite Pokemon ever. It has been ever since RSE came out, so as a homage, I wanted to build around him. LO is extremely strong, but I kinda wanted to enhance his wall destroying capabilities so I changed it to Specs. Draco kills everything and 2HKOs Bisharp so I only fear scarf Bisharp and mindgames with Sucker punch as I outspeed pursuit. Psyshock hits hard on the physical side of bulkier mons like Chansey or Zard-Y. Surf does a ton to Heatran which nets a KO at most reasonably worn down Heatrans and OHKOs Landorus-T. HP fire is for Ferrothorn and Scizor and actually has a chance to OHKO.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
Standard bulky SD Mega Scizor. It has decent synergy with Latios since Latios wallbreaks and Scizor cleans up with SD boosted BPs. Checks dumb fairies like Clefable which otherwise set-up on this team and dragons without fire-type coverage. He’s my defensive steel and sweeper/cleaner. Not much to explain about this set. It’s ripped from the Smogdex. SD makes it stronger, Roost lets it live longer, BP is priority and strong STAB, U-turn is for pivoting and can do some decent damage against bulky psychics and Pokemon that resist BP.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
One part of my volt-turn core and my SR setter. Standard rocky helmet Landorus-T. Checks Mega Lopunny and physical attackers for the most part not named Azumarill. EQ is OK STAB and does decent damage, Stone Edge hits Talonflames without wisp, and u-turn is for the volt-turning with Scizor and Rotom-W. Scizor, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T serve as the defensive backbone of this team since they pivot around and help Latios get on the field so he can wallbreak and apply a ton of pressure. Finally, Stealth rock is pretty much a staple in this generation, so stealth rock applies heavy pressure to flying types namely Mega Pinsir, Talonflame, and Tornadus-T. Stealth rock also applies pressure to any opposing team that relies on repeated pivoting since in-coming Pokemon have to take SR damage.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
Last piece of the volt-turn core. Pump kills most grounds in OU such as Rush Excadrill and helps against Landorus-T if it’s scarf (since Latios dies to knock off, u-turn, and explosion), volt switch is for pivoting and for applying a little pressure on water types and flying types. WoW is to burn physical sweepers and breakers that tend to give this team trouble (like M-Lopunny and M-Metagross). Pain split is Rotom’s decent recovery option. I'm questioning switching WoW for T-wave as T-wave stops fast stuff like Serperior which I'll talk about later, but doesn’t really remedy the problem of hard hitting physical attacks. WoW misses though which is really annoying and the main reason I like T-wave.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Reflect Type
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
This thing sometimes comes in really clutch. I needed a rapid spinner/defogger so I thought about the options of Excadrill, Latias, or Skarmory. I decided to choose starmie over the rest of them since scald burns things that WoW from Rotom-W can’t, reflect type lets this thing beat Bisharp without Low Kick 1 on 1 which threatens Latios. Rapid spin is my hazard removal since Latios doesn’t do it on this team. Recover lets it stay alive. I need to have a rapid spinner on this team because of all the volt-turning and pivoting that takes place.
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This is the most debated slot on this team I have no idea what to put here, so for now it’s scarf Kyurem-B since I didn’t have a fast scarfed revenge killer. Ice beam and fusion bolt provide a mixed bolt-beam coverage and earth power destroys steels that can deal with bolt beam. HP fire also helps round out the coverage. The main issues this team has is with pursuit trappers (especially Weavile since it outspeeds Latios and if it has pursuit, I can’t play mindgames with it), bolt-beamers like Manectric since ice/electric is insanely good coverage, and setup sweepers give this team a ton of trouble too. Zard-x can’t be burned by Rotom-W and blows right through my walls (especially if Landorus-T is weakened). Pinsir and Talonflame together apply a ton of pressure and they both kinda set-up and kill my team. Gyarados can absolutely run through my team after one or two DDs. Pinsir with SD destroys this team completely. Finally, Serperior gives me so much trouble since I didn’t really have anything that outsped it. This is why I settled on Kyurem-B since it “resists” bolt-beam coverage and checks Serperior by outspeeding it. However it still leaves setup sweepers as a huge threat to my team (especially dragon dancers since I don’t have any particularly powerful priority. This issue with Dragon dance is the main reason I’m considering replacing WoW with thunder wave since it remedies a lot of these speed issues. Rotom-W just usually doesn’t appreciate switching in on these sweepers. The only reason I’ve kept WoW so far is because Starmie’s scald is really failing to do its job). Scizor is extremely slow to get going so it needs an SD or two to do any noticeable damage with BP. Also if my opponent has a Magnezone, it is a ton of trouble for my team if it is played correctly since my best switch in is going Latios on a not-flash-cannon.
Other candidates for this sixth slot include Keldeo as it has valuable synergy with Latios in the sense that it checks most pursuit trappers.
Threatlist Summed Up:
: This monster clicks Leaf Storm once and then kills the rest of my team if Kyurem-B is gone or Knocked off. HP Fire obliterates Scizor and Dragon Pulse erases Latios from existence. This thing is actually the bane of this team. It was actually mostly because of Serperior that led me to choose scarf Kyurem-B as the final slot of my team. I originally had LO Kyu-B, but this thing just kept coming in and ruining everything, so I switched to a less powerful version of Kyu-B that could outspeed things that it couldn't before.
: Since Lopunny usually runs Ice Punch, Landorus-T can easily be pressured by Lopunny and Scizor really can't take many hits from it resulting it in being a huge problem for the rest of the team to deal with since it's so fast.
: I just have to mention this since I have a Mega Scizor which doesn't appreciate Magnezone existing. Magnet Pull is a huge problem for Mega Scizor even though I can still u-turn out of a Magnet trap. Mag isn't that big of a deal, I just mention it since my switchins to it aren't super great.
: Weavile outspeeds my entire team and kills Latios if it has pursuit. Unlike Bisharp, Latios doesn't outspeed Weavile so I can't mindgame Weavile into not Pursuiting, if my opponent's weavile carries pursuit, my Latios is dead. With Bisharp, I can Draco it, and then play 50/50s with Sucker punch or pursuit to at least give Latios a chance to survive. Draco-ing again on pursuit nets Latios a KO, and switching out on a sucker lets Latios live another day. This mindgame just isn't possible against pursuiting weaviles.
: Outspeeds my entire team after a DD and kills absolutely everything. Kyurem can't deal with it once it has a dragon dance up due to Kyurem's naturally subpar speed, and Everything else gets blown away by either a flare blitz or dragon claw. Rotom also can't really burn it which sucks. I have a soft check to it in Landorus-T, but Lando can usually be broken through by Zard.
: if it has flamethrower I lose, period. Scizor's +0 BP does negligible damage to Physically defensive Clefable allowing clef to easily t-wave Scizor and then softboiled stall me. I actually hate this thing. It also forces me to play Latios really carefully, I can't really drop draco meteors as liberally as I'd want to on teams with Clefable. Although Specs Latios' Psyshock has a decent chance to 2HKO, Clefable still gives this team a lot of trouble nonetheless.
: Latios just misses out on the 2HKO so usually if there's a chansey, it means Scizor is probably getting Para'd. Chansey's not really that HUGE of a problem, it's just the fact that it's Chansey and it's annoying to kill without setting up.
: This combo pressures Rotom-W and Landorus-T just too hard. Talonflames with Will-O-Wisp make beating this combo just that much more difficult because of how hard they hit together and the fact that Lando-T and Rotom-W both don't have reliable recovery.
: Speaking of dragon dancers - Gyarados. Gyarados is extremely scary and has insane wallbreaking ability. Lando gets swept away by waterfall, Rotom-W gets shattered by Earthquake, Starmie get's crunched by Crunch, and my Scizor isn't physically defensive and can't take a ton of hits from Gyara. Latios and Kyurem just aren't fast enough to deal with increasingly fast set-up sweepers. For some reason, I just have absolutely no idea how to incorporate a sweeper check into a team.
I understand that I have A TON of Pokemon listed here as threats, but I actually do have checks for most of them, they're just not that effective because of how much breaking power a lot of these sweepers have. For instance, I check Lopunny and Mega Zard X with Landorus-T, but Ice punch on Lopunny and an excessive amount of dragon dances on Zard let them both break through this mon. It's kinda the same for weavile too. Scizor counters Weavile and takes negligible damage from any of its moves. But, Weavile is still a threat because it can literally come in and kill my Latios and Starmie which makes this team an easy meal for fat cores and hazard spam. In addition, I might just be really paranoid and be playing this team incorrectly, which you should also inform me if I'm doing that.
Thanks for reading! I appreciate any and all suggestions you guys have for this team, I'd really like for it to be successful since there are a lot of Pokemon on this team that are really close to my heart.
Teambuilding Process:
I've been really struggling to build a team recently, however I finally realized that it would be fun to build around Specs Latios, a classic. The general point of this team is to blow up walls with Latios and then clean up with Scizor.
After choosing Latios, I needed a Pokemon that synergized well with it, so I chose Mega Scizor because of its natural bulk and sweeping capabilities. Mega Scizor is a key check to Bisharp and Weavile and other pursuit trappers which Latios despises. After Mega Scizor, I decided to build a nice Volt-turn core, so I added Rotom-W and Landorus-T, two Pokemon that have amazing synergy together due to covering each other's weaknesses. Rotom-W provides a ton of utility and resistances to many offensive Pokemon while Landorus-T checks Mega Lopunny and provides Stealth Rocks. Rotom-W and Landorus-T also help check Talonflame which is a major bane to Latios and Scizor due to it's blazing fast speed and sweeping capabilities. Next, I added Starmie since I needed a bulky rapid spinner. Starmie also has the ability to absorb statuses with Natural Cure. Finally, I wanted to find a pokemon that rounded out the team's defensive synergy or offensive pressure. This slot is the most troubling slot since there are SO many offensive threats in the current OU metagame. I chose Kyurem-B for the mean time since it can effectively run Choice Scarf and can serve as a check to Pokemon that are bulky enough to tank Scizor's Bullet Punch and fast enough to outspeed Specstios.
Now, here's what all the Pokemon do more specifically:
Latios @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Surf
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This is the center of the team, I built the team around this beast. First off, Latios is my favorite Pokemon ever. It has been ever since RSE came out, so as a homage, I wanted to build around him. LO is extremely strong, but I kinda wanted to enhance his wall destroying capabilities so I changed it to Specs. Draco kills everything and 2HKOs Bisharp so I only fear scarf Bisharp and mindgames with Sucker punch as I outspeed pursuit. Psyshock hits hard on the physical side of bulkier mons like Chansey or Zard-Y. Surf does a ton to Heatran which nets a KO at most reasonably worn down Heatrans and OHKOs Landorus-T. HP fire is for Ferrothorn and Scizor and actually has a chance to OHKO.
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 44 Atk / 16 Def / 200 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
Standard bulky SD Mega Scizor. It has decent synergy with Latios since Latios wallbreaks and Scizor cleans up with SD boosted BPs. Checks dumb fairies like Clefable which otherwise set-up on this team and dragons without fire-type coverage. He’s my defensive steel and sweeper/cleaner. Not much to explain about this set. It’s ripped from the Smogdex. SD makes it stronger, Roost lets it live longer, BP is priority and strong STAB, U-turn is for pivoting and can do some decent damage against bulky psychics and Pokemon that resist BP.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
One part of my volt-turn core and my SR setter. Standard rocky helmet Landorus-T. Checks Mega Lopunny and physical attackers for the most part not named Azumarill. EQ is OK STAB and does decent damage, Stone Edge hits Talonflames without wisp, and u-turn is for the volt-turning with Scizor and Rotom-W. Scizor, Rotom-W, and Landorus-T serve as the defensive backbone of this team since they pivot around and help Latios get on the field so he can wallbreak and apply a ton of pressure. Finally, Stealth rock is pretty much a staple in this generation, so stealth rock applies heavy pressure to flying types namely Mega Pinsir, Talonflame, and Tornadus-T. Stealth rock also applies pressure to any opposing team that relies on repeated pivoting since in-coming Pokemon have to take SR damage.
Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- Pain Split
Last piece of the volt-turn core. Pump kills most grounds in OU such as Rush Excadrill and helps against Landorus-T if it’s scarf (since Latios dies to knock off, u-turn, and explosion), volt switch is for pivoting and for applying a little pressure on water types and flying types. WoW is to burn physical sweepers and breakers that tend to give this team trouble (like M-Lopunny and M-Metagross). Pain split is Rotom’s decent recovery option. I'm questioning switching WoW for T-wave as T-wave stops fast stuff like Serperior which I'll talk about later, but doesn’t really remedy the problem of hard hitting physical attacks. WoW misses though which is really annoying and the main reason I like T-wave.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Reflect Type
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
This thing sometimes comes in really clutch. I needed a rapid spinner/defogger so I thought about the options of Excadrill, Latias, or Skarmory. I decided to choose starmie over the rest of them since scald burns things that WoW from Rotom-W can’t, reflect type lets this thing beat Bisharp without Low Kick 1 on 1 which threatens Latios. Rapid spin is my hazard removal since Latios doesn’t do it on this team. Recover lets it stay alive. I need to have a rapid spinner on this team because of all the volt-turning and pivoting that takes place.
Kyurem-Black @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Teravolt
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power
- Fusion Bolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
This is the most debated slot on this team I have no idea what to put here, so for now it’s scarf Kyurem-B since I didn’t have a fast scarfed revenge killer. Ice beam and fusion bolt provide a mixed bolt-beam coverage and earth power destroys steels that can deal with bolt beam. HP fire also helps round out the coverage. The main issues this team has is with pursuit trappers (especially Weavile since it outspeeds Latios and if it has pursuit, I can’t play mindgames with it), bolt-beamers like Manectric since ice/electric is insanely good coverage, and setup sweepers give this team a ton of trouble too. Zard-x can’t be burned by Rotom-W and blows right through my walls (especially if Landorus-T is weakened). Pinsir and Talonflame together apply a ton of pressure and they both kinda set-up and kill my team. Gyarados can absolutely run through my team after one or two DDs. Pinsir with SD destroys this team completely. Finally, Serperior gives me so much trouble since I didn’t really have anything that outsped it. This is why I settled on Kyurem-B since it “resists” bolt-beam coverage and checks Serperior by outspeeding it. However it still leaves setup sweepers as a huge threat to my team (especially dragon dancers since I don’t have any particularly powerful priority. This issue with Dragon dance is the main reason I’m considering replacing WoW with thunder wave since it remedies a lot of these speed issues. Rotom-W just usually doesn’t appreciate switching in on these sweepers. The only reason I’ve kept WoW so far is because Starmie’s scald is really failing to do its job). Scizor is extremely slow to get going so it needs an SD or two to do any noticeable damage with BP. Also if my opponent has a Magnezone, it is a ton of trouble for my team if it is played correctly since my best switch in is going Latios on a not-flash-cannon.
Other candidates for this sixth slot include Keldeo as it has valuable synergy with Latios in the sense that it checks most pursuit trappers.
Threatlist Summed Up:
I understand that I have A TON of Pokemon listed here as threats, but I actually do have checks for most of them, they're just not that effective because of how much breaking power a lot of these sweepers have. For instance, I check Lopunny and Mega Zard X with Landorus-T, but Ice punch on Lopunny and an excessive amount of dragon dances on Zard let them both break through this mon. It's kinda the same for weavile too. Scizor counters Weavile and takes negligible damage from any of its moves. But, Weavile is still a threat because it can literally come in and kill my Latios and Starmie which makes this team an easy meal for fat cores and hazard spam. In addition, I might just be really paranoid and be playing this team incorrectly, which you should also inform me if I'm doing that.
Thanks for reading! I appreciate any and all suggestions you guys have for this team, I'd really like for it to be successful since there are a lot of Pokemon on this team that are really close to my heart.
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