Falcon Punch Solves Everything
(Actually Falcon Punches have nothing to do with my team. I just hoped it would catch people’s attention)
What’s up Smogon?? So theres a local tournament being held where I live near the end of this month. The rules are the same rules Smogon has for OU play. This is actually my second 5th gen team ever (I’m a busy guy so I don’t get to battle that much) and after a lot of research and reading articles I have been able to come up with this team. I am posting this RMT to get outside advice so I can be more prepared for the tournament. So any help would be very much appreciated! Here we go…
TEAM BUILDING PROCESS
At first I wanted to make a stall team but then I realized it was difficult to make stall teams in this gen. So many offensive threats to cover… So being the lazy person I am I decided to take a more offensive approach. A Deoxys-S lead interested me (reminded me a lot about my favorite 4th gen lead, Aerodactyl) and I was worried it might be Uber someday so I wanted to use it at one of these local tournaments when I get the chance. I decided to use a Duel Screens Deoxys-S.
I always liked Dragonite. There seems to be a lot of good things about him so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to put him in my team. Not to mention that he could use the sceens from Deoxys-S and get some extra Dragon Dances in.
I need a rapid spinner… So I decided to use probably the best rapid spinner in the metagame, Starmie! Also one of my personal favorite pokemon.
It took me a while to decide who else should be on my team. I thought about finding some weather to use but I finally decided to go for a mix between a HO team and a U-turn/Volt Switch team. So I decided to add the popular Rotom-W and Scizor combo in my group.
I wanted extra power in my group. Terrakion immediately came to my mind. I first had him Choice banded but I already had Rotom-W and Scizor banded and having 3 banded people in my group made it easy for my opponent to switch into a resisted move that I was locked in and set up on me. So then I changed Terrakion to Double Dance.
Then sad to say the next morning I posted this RMT Deoxys-S was banned to ubers. I wanted to keep Stealth Rock in the move pool so I chose Azelf over Espeon.
So here is the team at a glance. Terrakion, Rotom-W, Starmie, and Scizor help me the most against Sandstorm teams. Rotom-W and Starmie help me against Rain teams. Terrakion and Dragonite help me against Sun teams. And I never versed a Hail team yet but I guess Scizor and Terrakion would help the most against them.
A CLOSER LOOK
Changes in Bold
Azelf @ Light Clay
Trait: Levatate
EVs: 252 HP/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
-Reflect
-Light Screen
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt
My replacement for Deoxys-S. Not as good as Deoxys-S but still good. It gets my screens up which helps Terrakion and Dragonite set up for a sweep. I think every team needs a Stealth Rock user in it so Azelf is the Stealth Rock user in this team. Taunt is so Pokemon don't set up on me.
Dragonite (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk/ 4 SpD/ 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed
Just gotta say, Dragonite is a beast. And screens just makes it easier to get more Dragon Dances in (especially against Sandstorm teams since his Multilscale is negated). I decided to pick Outrage over Dragon Claw because I do not like it when Dragon Claw doesn’t have enough power to take a Pokemon out. Fire Punch helps for coverage. Then for the final slot I decided to pick ExtremeSpeed for two reasons: 1. I love priority 2. I don’t really think I need Earthquake because I already have Rotom-W, Starmie, and Terrakion (and Scizor too if I predict a switch) to handle Heatran. Dragonite also matches up well against Sun teams.
Starmie @ Life Orb
Traits: Natural Cure
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
-Rapid Spin
-HydroPump
-Icebeam
-HP Grass/ Psychic
My Rapid Spinner for Dragonite. Starmie has always been one of my favorite Pokemon and this time I decided to choose a slightly different moveset. Life Orb makes Starmie more of a threat to my opponent and keeps more pressure. I'm not too concerned about Starmie's longevity because this is a more offensive team and somethings I prevent my opponent setting up Stealth Rock with Azelf's taunt at the beginning. When I added Rotom-W to the team I realized it had the same coverage Starmie had. So I decided to change it up. Ice beam is for dragons, Gliscor, grass types, etc. I gave up Thunderbolt for HP grass to hit Water/Ground guys and other Rotom-W’s. Grass Knot does like nothing to Rotom-W so thats why I have HP grass. I’m not too concerned about Jellicent against this set. Rotom-W can use Volt Switch and Scizor can Pursuit trap it. However, I am considering using Pyschic over HP Grass since my team as a weakness against Toxicroak. Hydro Pump is just a powerful for Starmie to abuse. Starmie also helps me against Rain teams.
Rotom-W @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
-Volt Switch
-Hydro Pump
-HP Ice
-Trick
This guys main purpose is weaken my opponent. As you know it has really good coverage with Scizor. Volt Switch is the main move here. Hydro Pump is a powerful Stab Water move it can use. HP Ice is for coverage against dragons, etc. Trick is mainly to ruin Blisseys and other annoying walls. Rotom-W matches up well against many Rain teams.
Scizor (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/ 252 Atk/ 8 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
-U-turn
-Bullet Punch
-Superpower
-Pursuit
Scizor is death. I love 130 base Atk, Technician, Choice Banded, STAB, priority, Bullet Punch. Scizor’s job is to weaken my opponent, pick off weakened Pokes, trap ghosts/psychics, etc. U-turn is used to weaken off my opponent and then switch to a better match up. Bullet Punch is to pick off weakened Pokes. Superpower is for coverage and Pursuit is there to trap Pokes. Scizor does well against opposing Sandstorm teams and Hail.
Terrakion @ Rock Gem
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP/ 252 Atk/ 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
-Stone Edge
-CloseCombat
-Rock Polish
-Swords Dance
Did I tell you Terrakion’s middle name is Sweeper? Terrakion has the capability of ripping through teams if I can set him up. He really likes the Screen support from Deoxys-S. I gave him Adamant Nature over Jolly because I wanted more power. I decided to try something a little different and give him a Rock Gem over Life Orb and Air Balloon. I wanted more power right away and Rock Gem gives me a nice Stone Edge that hits really hard. Unlike Life Orb, Rock Gem also doesn’t give me recoil damage. I am still considering to Life Orb instead because it is more standard but Rock Gem is still powerful and a little unexpected to some opponents.
MAIN THREATS
So… my team isn’t perfect and I know I need to change things, I just don’t know what. Here are my major threats that I have found…
Toxicroak
This guy is annoying for this team to fight. He can absorb Rotom-W’s and Starmie’s water moves and can set up a sub. If he knows Ice Punch it is even more a problem. If I see him in the team preview I usually save my Deoxys-S till he comes out. Azelf resists fighting moves and it can taunt him and set Screens in his face. Sucker Punch isn’t an issue because I have no attacking moves on Azelf (it’s really funny when people use Sucker Punch). If Toxicroak has Dark Pulse however, that’s another story…
Rotom-W
Other Rotom-Ws are ironically annoying to fight. This is one of the reasons I want HP Grass on Starmie. Otherwise I can try using my own Rotom-W and Scizor’s U-turn to weaken it. If Rotom-W lacks HP Ice my Dragonite can take it. But either way I think I need to find a better way to handle this guy.
So this is my team so far… I still think there are some problems I need to fix so any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thank you!
