Introduction
Hello and welcome to my first ever rmt. I have been playing OU for almost 3 years now, and it was about time to share one of my teams. I chose for this one because it's very fun to use, but it needs some improvements. In early sun and moon I used to steal teams or make standard ones myself, but I kinda got bored doing that. That's why I want to implement some heat on the OU ladder (cause I am getting tired of all those standard rain/stall/balance teams). So I started making this team (after my banded Celesteela team that is not posted yet, but probably will be in a few weeks). I think I have never had so much fun playing pokemon as with that team, that is why I wanted to continue the heat. I took another uncommon UB and tried to make something of it. Because Buzzwoles opportunities are pretty limited (sub focus punch is easily the best set), I chose for Xurkitree. I build this team around this monster with a stunning 173 base special attack, murdering every mon that comes on its way.
The Team
Xurkitree @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Volt Switch
So here he is, the leader of the squad. I already said why I chose him in my introduction, so I'm gonna move on to the set. Because I wanted some heat, I didn't want to use the z-hypnosis set, although it is very solid, it always depends on a 60% move too. The second option was z-electric terrain, but it doesn't allow Xurkitree to set up with a tail glow, and is still slower than most scarfers. The third set that came up in me, was a specs one, after banded celesteela worked I wanted to try this, The moves are pretty straight forward, t-bolt is just its strongest electric type attack that is accurate too, energy ball is mainly for gastrodon and tyranitar, but it hits ground types like hippo harder than hp ice too. HP ice is for lando, zygarde and the lati twins (as well as other uncommon dragon types), and volt switch is for momentum (good for when you are playing against Magnezone). There are no other moves that make sense to run, I only debated using hp fire for ferrothorn and magnezone, and becasue energy ball is still very strong it definitely is a good alternative, but I liked HP ice more cause you cant hit lati otherwise (though you can solve that if you use ttar in combination with the volt switch). The main counters are ferrothorn, Venusaur, Chansey, Kyurem-B and Magnezone. Half-counters are Zard-X, Excadrill and amoonguss, they all have a good typing against you, but you still hit them very hard with the specs. The other problem is that you have to lock yourself into one move, so you pretty much always have 50/50's. Though it might seem like there are a lot of counters, excadrill is the only mon you cant volt-switch on (and drill is not popular atm), and the 50/50's get easier the longer you play with the team (opponents dont expect the specs so it is less likely they switch in lando/zygarde, because they can be hp-iced. On the other hand, opponents often choose to switch in gastrodon, not knowing this thing learns energy ball). The speed is to outrun specs modest lele, pretty much all zygarde-sets, lando-t, gyarados and heatran.
Tornadus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Knock Off
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Defog
The second mon I put on the team was actually scarfed greninja, but because he got replaced, we move on to tornadus-therian. Because you need a backup for when you lose a 50/50 with xurkitree, you need to have a switch-in for the ground-types switching in on your electric type attack. Tornadus does this very well, it can remove rocks, knock off opponents and gives momentum with u-turn. I made it max hp with rocky holmet so it punishes u-turn from lando-t and it was meant to be an answer to kartana, though it struggles with that cause scarf knock off with rocks up 2hko. This is the mon I dislike the most at the moment, but I haven't removed it yet (zapdos is an option but tornadus is way better against stall and has speed control, thats why I am kinda struggeling with this problem).
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Def / 212 SpD
Careful Nature
- Leech Seed
- Spikes
- Power Whip
- Protect
I needed an electric answer (as i already said, I had a greninja first, so was extra weak to it). Since xurkitree can eat some hits, but isn't a switch-in to most attacks, I needed a defensive check. Then you pretty much have 4 options: Ferro, AV Bulu, Gastro and AV Tangrowth. Only one of those can setup hazards, thats why I chose Ferrothorn. I won't go in too deep on this mon, since it is very common, I will only explain the protect. Protect gives me two advantages, firstly it gives me an unexpected two turns of leftovers recovery (and possibly leech seed recovery too), so it cant be worn down easily. Secondly, it helps me check the mighty fighting-trio: Medicham, Lopunny and hawlucha. Don't reveal protect if you play against them and surprise them with it. Together with rocky helmet form torn, it pretty much nullifies them. Although you cant hit grass-types this way, you have one of the best grass type counters in tornadus.
Heatran @ Groundium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
My fourth mon is Heatran. Ferrothorn is one of the best switch-ins to xurkitree, and you punish those with Heatran. I chose for this moveset cause I still needed rocks, and I needed an answer to stall (though magma storm has such a limited PP). I chose for groundium-z cause it helps with Quagsire on stall, and it can do some damage to gastrodon too (with all the hazard support), but you can change it to firium-Z or leftovers, just what you prefer. Besides that, Heatran is also needed for the bolt-beamers and stored power mega-lati.
Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Roar
- Substitute
- Scald
Originally my sixth mon, but now my fifth mon is suicune. I love this mon, and although its heat, it still is such a strong defensive mon. I chose to run this pretty interesting sub-roar set, but it works so freaking well with the hazard support. I chose Suicune cause I felt like a defensive Bulky water-type was good for this team, cause water types don't have many weaknesses (it's like celesteela, you can hit it super effectively, but it's hard to ohko). Suicune is the counter to Zygarde, Greninja (kinda), Hawlucha, landorus, zard-X and many other physical attackers. To 1v1 all these, ice beam doesn't work, calm mind is outclassed by pex and doesnt work with lucha, so I chose roar. This pairs well with all my hazards, and it counters sub-Zygarde. It also can live a hit of Lucha and roar it out so it loses its Unburden and can be outsped by tornadus. Suicune has been an absolute god, and with pressure it can pressure teams (u get it). Although you are allowed to suggest anything for improvements, I have an emotional connection with Suicune so I would like to keep it on the team.
Nihilego @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Power Gem
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic Spikes
- Thunderbolt
So this is the mon that replaced scarf greninja. It is meant to counter zard Y and Volcarona with its great typing and spdef stat. It almost works like an Assault vest user with its great stats. Besides that, it adds some extra heat (not needed, but I like it), and it gives the team toxic spikes to combine with roar Suicune. It also gives the team speed control and can put in work versus hyper offense. The first three moves are obvious, for the third move I had to chose between hp ice, hp fire and t-bolt. I chose for t-bolt for the ash greninja, but I am kinda regretting that. I think hp fire is the best on this team, cause it surprises ferrothorn and revenges kartana. Hp ice could be good for lando and zygarde, but you have suicune for them. Besides that, I click t-spikes most of the time so I wont predict too much with Nihilego.
Conclusion
The conlusion is that this team is heat, looks cool and works very good on paper, but it has some struggles. I am not putting counters down like most people do it, but I will explain what the struggles are for this team. Firstly, Tornadus-t is an unreliable defogger and can be worn down very easily, which opens the door for mons like kartana and bulu, who can easily switch in on ferrothorn. The team functions as long as tornadus is alive, but after that you are pretty much done for. If you change it to zapdos, you have a problem with stall as I mentioned, and you have even less offensive presence. And exactly that is the second problem, cause Nihilego, ferrothorn and suicune don't hit hard, and because everyone has a heatran counter on their team, you pretty much solely rely on xurkitree to do the work, together with a non-invested tornadus-t (you have the hazards too, and you win if your opponent does not have defog, but most people have at least one way to remove rocks and therefore it is hard to get up spikes and toxic spikes at the same time). although xurkitree destroys a lot, it still gets worn down pretty easily and can't sweep most of the times (cause it always has to switch out). To make this team work, you gotta profit prom the fact that tornadus cant do anything to xurkitree, and let it switch in with help of tornadus therian. The point I am trying to make is that Tornadus doesn't function on this team, but the team doesn't function without the momentum and defog from Tornadus. Any suggestions are welcome, and it still is a very solid team that brought me to 1850 (although the real good teams brought me to high 1900's), so feel free to use it on the ladder. Thanks for reading this long thread and USE MORE HEAT please!
EDIT: I forgot to put the pastebin link down yesterday, sorry for that, but here it is: https://pastebin.com/quDcCq0C
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