Team Infernape Sweep

[lucario77]

Hello its me Lucario77, and I thought I start a team with one of the best starters ever, Infernape! So here it is:

Team At A Glance:

Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Atk / 12 Def / 8 Spe
Nature: Adamant (+atk,-sp atk)
-Stealth Rock
-Meteor Mash
-Earthquake
-Bullet Punch

I need someone to set up rocks as early as possible and be able to deal with today's biggest leads, so I saw Metagross and he actually works for this kind of team. Stealth Rock allows me to get the OHKO's Infernape wants. Meteor Mash gives Meta a strong STAB attack. Earthquake gives me more coverage to hit heatran and Infernape. Bullet Punch lets me get rid of focus sashers like Azelf and Aero.

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
Nature: Bold (+def, -atk)
-Thunder Wave
-Grass Knot
-Recover
-Hidden Power Fire

Celebi is a vital member of this team, who gets rid of those physical sweepers like Gyarados. Thunder Wave lets me cripple are those physical sweepers such as Gyarados and Salamence. Grass Knot is for STAB, and does good damage against Suicune. Recover makes sure Celebi last longer. Hidden Power fire lets me get rid of all those Steels, and grass pokes who otherwise wall this set. Celebi is a vital member of this team and the team might just fall apart without her.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 224 SpD / 36 Spe
Nature: Calm (+sp def,-atk)
-Thunderbolt
-Heat Wave
-Roost
-Toxic

I'm sort of using the Special Defensive set, but I'm using different attacks. Zapdos works well with Celebi in their defensive stands. But I have to say, Zapdos makes a great Scizor killer, along with Magnezone of course, who resist all his moves, Thunderbolt is for STAB of course, and takes out waters. Heat Wave hits all steels,bugs, and grass pokes. Roost is Zapdos's only way of recovery. Toxic lets me hender all bulky pokes who come near Zapdos.

Hitmontop @ Leftovers
Ability: Technican
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Nature: Adamant (+atk,- sp atk)
-Rapid Spin
-Fake Out
-Bullet Punch
-Mach Punch
Hitmontop's place in this team is revenge killer and rapid spinner. So when entry hazards are up, then its time for Hitmontop to shine! Fake Out lets me abuses his ability, and gets me a free hit. Rapid Spin, is to get rid of hazards. Bullet Punch lets me hit ghost types who arent hit my Mach Punch. Mach Punch powered up by STAB and Technican hurts any poke who doesnt resist it. I was thinking of replacing Fake Out with Close Combat but I don't really know. I was thinking of using him for wall breaking though.

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Nature: Bold (+def, -atk)
-Surf
-Roar
-Calm Mind
-Ice Beam

Before I send out Infernape, I use Suicune to see what the team is like, and Roar allows me to do that. Surf is for STAB, lets me hit fire and ground pokes. Roar allows me to do some shuffling, to get a taste of what I'm up against. Calm Mind gives me a boost to make Suicune a great sp atker. Ice Beam of course lets me take out the dragons,Zapdos, and Gliscor. I've been seeing Vaporeon alot lately and was thinking of replacing Ice Beam with Hidden Power Electric to hit Vap and Gyara.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 64 Atk / 252 SpA / 192 Spe
Nature: Naive (+spd,- sp def)
-Flamethrower
-Grass Knot
-Close Combat
-Hidden Power Ice

Well, here's the Star of the Team, Infernape! The reason why we are here today. This is almost a perfect coverage Infernape gets. Flamethrower is for STAB and because I don't want Infernape to miss with Fire Blast or its game over for him. Grass Knot lets me hit Swampert, and Suicune for good amounts of damage, but not Vap( man I hate her!). Close Combat lets me hit any Specially Defensive walls like blissey and Snorlax, and I also hit Tyranitar, Heatran(If he switches in on it, or isnt scarfed). Hidden Power Ice lets me hit all dragons.

So here's the team, I'm open to any suggestions you guys have, thanks for helping me with my team and have a great day!

 

[Lord Blood]

Have you ever considered Starmie as a Rapid Spinner. Not only does it help with your slight Latias weakness but it can Recover off damage slightly easier and is a good Pokemon to take statuses which. Which I think you would have a problem with since you don't have Rest on Suicune.

Starmie @ Leftovers | Natural Cure
Timid | 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Surf | Rapid Spin | Ice Beam | Recover

With Surf being your STAB, Ice Beam will allow you to deal with Latias realtively easily. Recover to heal off damage and Natural Cure will take care of your status problems. This is pretty much Hitmontop but with Recovery and Status absorbing.

Good Luck

~ LB ~​

 

[Quaily]

I have two things to comment one. Firstly on hitmontop you will not be able to spin against rotom who is everywhere in ou. The solution to this is simple: replace fake out with foresight. Foresight allows you to hit ghosts with rapid spin.

If you are trying to do a sweep with infernape it would make sense to be able to set up. Hidden power ice really only lets you hit dragonite and salamence(latias and scarf flygon will beat you no matter what), and grass knot only lets you hit swampert. Both of these are covered by other memebers of your team(suicune and celebi). I would replace one with U-turn to let you scout out their infernape counter, and hit latias for SE damage if it is her. Secondly you can put sword dance for grass knot. A +2 close combat does 83.42% - 98.27% to max hp/def relaxed swampert, letting you OHKO it after minor residual damage. With sword dance you can put flare blitz instead of flamethrower, and put all your spa ivs into straight attack. The recoil on flare blitz can be risky though if you want to keep flamethrower.

 

[Snorlaxe]

Hello!

Your team is currently lacking a resistance to Ghost type moves. This is a problem, as it will make switching in on Life Orb Gengar's STAB Shadow Ball near-impossible, and it will also make dealing with Rotom-A extremely difficult. In addition to this, I can't see Hitmontop helping your team much. His fragility means that he basically cannot switch in on anything, and mediocre speed means that even if he successfully gets in he will have a really tough time using Rapid Spin. I really don't even think your team needs Rapid Spin as the only Pokemon on your team that struggles with entry hazards is Zapdos, who has Roost. Something you may want to try is Heatran in Hitmontop's spot as it has great synergy with Celebi, a resistance to Ghost, and a very high Special Attack stat. Go for a set of Fire Blast | Hidden Power Ice | Substitute | Explosion, an EV spread of 4 Atk | 252 SpA | 252 Spe, and a Naive nature with the item Life Orb. Just Substitute on something like a Scizor or Skarmory that will switch out, and then batter the opposing team with your powerful special attacks.

Alright on Metagross you may want to look for Explosion in place of Earthquake. Earthquake is sorta redundant alongside Meteor Mash and really only allows you to beat Infernape (Heatran will still destroy you because you aren't using Occa Berry). Explosion on the other hand is pretty useful as it not only allows you to smack around any physical walls (OHKOing most of the time even if they resist it), as well as OHKO any and all Latias switchins. Latias is a pretty big problem for your team (most notably Infernape) so having a way to deal with her, albeit a not so reliable one, is pretty important.

So on Suicune you said that you may change Ice Beam to Hidden Power Electric. I would say "don't" on this; Ice Beam allows you to hit Latias who as I already mentioned could be bad news for your team, while Hidden Power Electric is only notable for hitting Water-types like Gyarados or Empoleon, both of whom are already taken on very well by Zapdos. You also may want to look for Fire Blast over Flamethrower on Infernape. I know you said that you dislike Fire Blast's accuracy, but really the power difference is quite noticeable, and even more so when you're using Infernape as a "stand-alone" lategame sweeper like you are.

Hope I helped, and just PM me if you have any questions! ;)

 

[Nosferalto]

I'm not too sure on replacing Hitmontop, Snorlaxe and Lord Blood. Hitmontop as I see it plays a huge role on this team. First of all, it is his only Tyranitar counter, thanks to Intimidate and resistance to rock it can easily beat TTar. Second of all, it helps against Salamence. His only answer to Mence is actually Suicune with Ice Beam but it cannot take hits if it isn't at full health. With clever Intimidate switch-ins, Hitmontop will help check Mence. Finally, it provides Rapid Spin support to Zapdos that is the glue of the team imo (it beats Latias with Toxic, MixApe's #1 counter), so that it functions to it's fullest and switch-in without taking 25% of it's HP. Even though the team doesn't have a Ghost resist, this isn't a problem at all, because the only users of that type in OU are Gengar and Rotom-A are completely walled by Zapdos since he's using a specially defensive EV Spread.

I also disagree on using Explosion on Metagross. In a metagame so centralised around Dragon types, having a Steel type to absorb those Dragon moves is crucial in order to win most of the time. Explosion will make Metagross die too early leaving him with no Dragon resist. So please OP, keep Earthquake. Use Occca Berry so that you benefit from EQ to hit Heatran and taking a Fire Blast.

I do second Snorlaxe however on keeping Ice Beam on Latias for the reasons he state but also because it's your only chance of beating a Salamence if it shows up.

I have nothing to add to this team except Occa Berry on Metagross, the presentation and description are very poor. It is an excelent team imo, good luck with your team.