Hi, welcome to my first OU RMT. This is a team I built with no real expectations of performing well, and all the laddering I've done with it has been very casual, but it's risen up pretty well, and has performed better than nearly every other team I have built. It's also important to mention, I'm not an amazing player, so I feel that this team's success is largely due to the team itself as opposed to my skill.
Anyhow, this team was made because I wanted to use Mega Slowbro, and while it is a good mon, I find it needs a reasonable amount of support to flourish. In the majority of games, it comes down to Clef and Slowbro calm minding then sweeping through as much of the opposing team as possible, with the remainder of the team being used to weaken the opponent early game or clean up after the Clef/Bro setup.
I started with Mega Slowbro, because it is a pokemon I love using, and wanted to build a team around it. The standard CM set is what I'm most accustomed to, and so that's how this team got started. Mega Slowbro, whilst bulky and very powerful once set up, is slow and has a few critical weaknesses, in the form of strong special attackers, status and grass, dark, bug and electric attacks.
To cover the weaknesses to electric and bug, and weaken physical attackers, Landorus was chosen. Lando adds the ability to get rocks up, a couple of nice immunities and some switch initiative.
For Slowbro's dark weakness and status weakness, Clefable seemed perfect. Running 2 bulky calm mind pokemon might seem a bit extreme, as it leaves one with two slow special attackers, but the pair match up well against each other's weaknesses, and once set up can break through nearly anything.
The team at this point was rather weak to Scizor and Ferrothorn, so Magnezone was added. It also handily provides a poison immunity and a resistance to grass.
The team needed a fast pokemon capable of beating Dark types, Serperior, Gengar and the Lati twins, all of which were somewhat problematic for the team, and Weavile fits this niche well. Ice type attacks and the utility of knock off are also great in the current metagame, and for this team, Weavile has little drawback.
Breloom is the last member, offering a great antilead, a solid response to unaware pokemon, a way to stop set up sweeping and a way to beat Talon and ZardY, if its sash is intact.
This team has some overall type weaknesses, with more fire and fairy weaknesses than resists, but the solidity of Slowbro as a fire check, and Landorus as an answer to physical fire attacks somewhat negates this for me. Fairy types are more of an issue, but if Clef or Slowbro can set up then most fairy types can be beaten
To cover the weaknesses to electric and bug, and weaken physical attackers, Landorus was chosen. Lando adds the ability to get rocks up, a couple of nice immunities and some switch initiative.
For Slowbro's dark weakness and status weakness, Clefable seemed perfect. Running 2 bulky calm mind pokemon might seem a bit extreme, as it leaves one with two slow special attackers, but the pair match up well against each other's weaknesses, and once set up can break through nearly anything.
The team at this point was rather weak to Scizor and Ferrothorn, so Magnezone was added. It also handily provides a poison immunity and a resistance to grass.
The team needed a fast pokemon capable of beating Dark types, Serperior, Gengar and the Lati twins, all of which were somewhat problematic for the team, and Weavile fits this niche well. Ice type attacks and the utility of knock off are also great in the current metagame, and for this team, Weavile has little drawback.
Breloom is the last member, offering a great antilead, a solid response to unaware pokemon, a way to stop set up sweeping and a way to beat Talon and ZardY, if its sash is intact.
This team has some overall type weaknesses, with more fire and fairy weaknesses than resists, but the solidity of Slowbro as a fire check, and Landorus as an answer to physical fire attacks somewhat negates this for me. Fairy types are more of an issue, but if Clef or Slowbro can set up then most fairy types can be beaten
Team Analysis
LUFTPANTHER (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
A pretty boring standard Landorus T bulky set, being used to set up rocks if I can, and as my primary check to strong physical attackers and electric types. Lando's solid base attack, even uninvested is nice for applying some pressure, and with U-Turn, I get some nice switch initiative and scouting. The lowered speed IV lets me underspeed other Landorus-Ts with the U-Turn, so I can switch after they U-Turn, and react appropriately to what they have in. Chosen over garchomp as a better Excadrill check, and a ground immunity, to help stop other Landoruses.
PureRage (Clefable) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
The best pokemon in OU by many people's reckoning, and I'm not going to disagree. Bold and Life orb is not that common a set, and probably seems kind of odd, given the standard set has EVs tailored for specific threats, but I find that most of the time, if the opponent's threats to Clef are special attackers I often have the chance to CM up, or T-Wave, and the physical threats I like having more defence to handle. Life orb gives this thing a pretty remarkable increase in power when it sets up, allowing it to better handle its walls, like SpDef Talonflame and Chansey. Yellow magic needs no explanation I'm sure. Magic Guard is helpful in giving the team a status absorber, which is super helpful to Slowbro. Overall, I feel like this thing puts in insane amounts of work in most matches, often taking down 3 or 4 of the opponents pokemon late game.
BeyBlade (Slowbro-Mega) (M) @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Psyshock
The main focus of the team; Mega Bro acts as a pretty solid wall to a large amount of the metagame, and CM lets it increase bulk to the point where it ends up near unkillable. Regenerator is for mid game switches to keep slowbro healthy, and use it as an early game scout and pivot. The spread is standard and tries to max out the bulk in both stats as best as possible. Not much else to say about that really. I did run Iron Defence over Psyshock earlier in the team's run, but after encountering a few Volcanion and Chansey on ladder, I decided Psyshock might be better.
Rex & Weevil (Weavile) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
Some much needed speed on this team. Able to beat Torn-T, the Lati Twins, Tyranitar and Bisharp, all of which were pretty nasty threats to the team, at least when the above pokemon have yet to set up. Beating other pokemon which are less threatening, like Garchomp and Breloom is still nice, and if it makes it to late game, it cleans up pretty nicely. I prefer Low Kick to Pursuit 95% of the time, and given the threats to this team it definitely seems like the right choice.
Breluke (Breloom) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
I love this little mushroom dinosaur. A pretty common lead for the team, being able to sleep a lot of the metagames common leads, and against the fairly common Rotom-W lead, often picking up a KO. The sash rock tomb set is the one I use most often and play best with, and I love the guaranteed survival and KO against ZardY and Talon, and the ability to lower speed on pokemon like Latios is handy too. Also acts as a deterrent for TTar and Bisharp, two major threats to the team.
Fridge Magnet (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Magnezone is here to trap pokemon like Scizor and Bisharp which are offensive threats to the Slowbro/Clef Duo, and adds some speed for revenging some mid speed tier pokemon. Ferrothorn, a defensive threat to the team is pretty solidly 2HKOed by the HP fire, and is the last part of Magnezone's job. Once this thing and Breloom have done their jobs, the game should hopefully be quite clear for Slowbro and Clefable to set up and win the game.
The Gameplan:
I know having aa specific gameplan that you use every game isn't the best plan, so this isnt a hard, fixed plan, but for most games, they play out as follows; Lead with Breloom, and sleep the opponent's lead or whatever they switch to. If Breloom looks necessary for the late game, switch into whatever has the best match up against what they'll switch into, and carry on switching and attacking until the opposing team is weakened. I set up rocks when it's possible, but I often don't prioritise it. When the opponent is in a weakened pokemon, like -2 Latios, bring in slowbro or Clefable, and set up,and knock out as many pokemon as possible. When the two set up mons are gone, clean up with weavile or magnezone.
Threats to the Team:
-Strong Dark Types with any coverage to beat Clefable, late game: Banded Tyranitar and Bisharp threaten this team's general playstyle quite badly, being able to 2HKO both of them fairly reliably (Bisharp only 2HKOs Slowbro after its set up, or if Bro is weakened, but Slowbro only 2HKOs Bisharp, so if Bisharp gets set up before slowbro can hit it, or slowbro is damaged, it's a difficult win), and this is a problem in the later stages of the game when Breloom is gone and weavile is weakened.
-Volcarona: I've only encountered one, but if it can set up, the game is probably lost. Fire Bug special attacks hits most of the team super effectively, and all of the team neutrally or better. This is a situation where rocks must be up
Hazard Stack teams: As you may or may not have noticed, this team has no hazard control. For the most part, it hasn't been a problem, with only 1 rock weak pokemon, and a hazard immune pokemon. However Hazard Stackers, especially the combination of spikes and T-Spikes has been very annoying, weakening everything except Landorus and Clefable. I really don't know how to handle this to be honest; I like the synergy of the team as it is, and I can't think of any hazard removers which will have the same typings and roles on the team. Any suggestions would be appreciated, though at this point i feel as though the team will just have to remain without Hazard removal.
-ZardY: one of the best wallbreakers in OU, this thing is able to decimate the team, OHKOing a lot of the team, and not being ohkoed in return by my team. It usually has to be played around until sun is gone and Slowbro is free to set up, or use weavile and Magnezone to KO it, sacrificing one in the process.
-Unaware Pokemon: Because the team relies quite heavily on late game set up to win, unaware pokemon like Quagsire and Clefable can be problematic, walling and stalling my pokemon quite hard, given the lack of volatile status on my team. The team ends up relying on Breloom, but it's such a predictable mon, and is so frail that it often doesn't live long enough to stop them.
I can't think what other threats there were from memory, though I'm sure there are others.
Anyhow, feel free to analyse and play with the team, and any feedback will be appreciated
Also, sorry for the cliche title
LUFTPANTHER (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
PureRage (Clefable) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
BeyBlade (Slowbro-Mega) (M) @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Psyshock
Rex & Weevil (Weavile) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
Breluke (Breloom) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
Fridge Magnet (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Spe
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
PureRage (Clefable) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Soft-Boiled
- Moonblast
- Thunder Wave
BeyBlade (Slowbro-Mega) (M) @ Slowbronite
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Scald
- Psyshock
Rex & Weevil (Weavile) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pickpocket
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Knock Off
- Low Kick
Breluke (Breloom) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rock Tomb
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
Fridge Magnet (Magnezone) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
