SM OU Finish & Rate my team!

[Caspeur]

(Tl;dr: I'd like to run Toxapex, Ferrothorn, Volcarona and Garchomp. Would this work? Which two other pokemon should I add to synergize the party? I was thinking of adding Mega Swampert and Magnezone. Do I need to build them in a certain way to work with the rest? If this isn't a good mix of pokemon, what about Tyranitar and a fairy type? What would they look like?)

Hi, I'm a newb looking for competitive advice. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I'm building towards a 6 player team to use in the OU tier. Here's some detail about what I like and don't like:

- I love dual types. Makes me feel special
- I don't like to include legendaries. Makes me feel less special.
- I love an amazing resistances spread. The "not very effective..." message makes me tingle in a silly place.
- I love to overspecialize and min/max. Putting 50% HP, 25% DEF, 25% SP DEF in someone just doesn't feel good to me.

Physical wall:
Ferrothorn (EVs DEF & HP)
Ability: Iron Barbs
Item: Leftovers

Moveset:
- Spikes
- Leech seed
- Gyro Ball
- Protect

Description:
I picked Ferrothorn over Toxapex to be my physical wall, because I feel like his weakness to fire (which is mostly special) could be anticipated by switching. It has a lot of resistances against deadly special types anyways, except for Ice. Main strategy would be to switch him in right before I'm expecting some heavy physical damage. His ability and high defence makes that effective. Also, if possible, I'd use any room I get to spikes and leech seed in. All I need to do is avoid fire and fighting. I picked spikes over stealth rocks, because I got lots of other stealth rock options. Leech seed to pick off the enemy, gyro ball for picking off, and protect to find out more about the enemy's moveset.

Special wall:
Toxapex (EVs Sp. DEF & HP)
Ability: Limber (Too lazy to get Regenerate)
Item: Black sludge

Moveset:
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Scald
- Recover

Description:
I feel like Toxapex would be a better Sp. Def wall than Ferrothorn due to its key resistances to Ice, Fire and Fairy, which mainly seem to be Special attacks. Those three could be devastating threats to some of my other pokemons, so it's nice to have an answer laying around. If room I'd use spikes, Haze is for belly drum and such. Scald is for picking off bits of damage, and Recover to survive longer. I'm not sure if I'm willing to grind to get the hidden ability though... am I stupid for not doing that?


Physical Sweeper:
Garchomp (EVs ATK & SPE)
Ability: Rough Skin
Item: ???

Moveset:
- Swords dance
- Earthquake
- Stone edge
- Stealth Rock

Description:
I love dragons and I love earthquakes. Both of these have brought me nightmares during my childhood. I feel like Salamence is stronger, but I really like the earthquake STAB on Gar. And since both are equally amazing in appearance, I really don't mind. Swords dance is an amazing boost to already extreme power. Earthquake is my favorite physical attack. Stone edge... well I got it from the Smogon Garchomp page and I'm sure it's the right choice. Stealth rock is used when an opportunity occurs, just to be annoying. Not sure about the item choice though.

Special sweeper:
Volcarona (EVs SP. ATT & SPE)
Ability: Flame Body
Item: ???

Moveset:
- Quiver dance
- Flamethrower
- Bug Buzz
- Roost

Description:
Comeon, this has got to be one of the coolest pokemon ever. I just have to use it. Its typing is brilliant and so are its stats, so I'm thrilled to have it. Quiver dance is the saddistic brother of dragon dance. Flamethrower because it's a very nasty counter to a lot of dangerous enemies (Steel mostly) and Bug Buzz to cover the rest. I'm not sure if this glass cannon will ever get to use Roost, but well, it's there.

This concludes my list of pokemon which I really, really want to use. Now let's look into some pokemon that I also really like.

Special sweeper:
Magnezone (EVs Sp Att & SPE)
Item: Steelium Z (?)

Moveset:
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Fire Hidden Power

Description:
During my childhood, I considered magnemite to be an annoying trashy pokemon, you know, like zubat. I preferred voltorb because it looked like a pokeball. But in gen 3 I suddenly fell in love with it. Maybe it was early nostalgia. Now, after returning to the game, I found out it has a new evolution?! Sold. I just love its typing as it has barely any weaknesses. I had a hilarious encounter in a 6v6 double where I used Magnet rise and Discharge, while Swampert used earthquake, and no team damage was taken. Wow. Substitute, not sure how to use it efficiently yet, but Smogon says I should. Thunderbolt, Thunder is the strongest type for special damage out there in my opinion, as it counters a ton of scary mons. Flash cannon is an amazing anti-fairy gun. Fire hidden power because Smogon told me.
The reason why I didn't include it in my top 4 is because I already have a steel type and feel like Fire is too dangerous to have two. Do you think I should still do it?

Balanced Physical Sweeper:
Mega Swampert (EVs ATK & SPE)
Item: Swampertite

Moveset:
- Earthquake
- Waterfall
- Ice punch
- Superpower

Description:
I used to HATE Swampert as I kept dying to May's under the cycling bridge. But in hindsight, that wasn't hate. It was jealousy. With only grass as its weakness, it would be a perfect fit for my team defensively, as it would be the only mon with that weakness. What's that? More earthquakes? Yes! Waterfall would be a very strong water STAB move which I don't really have yet. And same goes for Ice punch - I feel like I really need at least one Ice attack. On one hand, I feel like I can include Swampert in my party. On the other, I already have a Ground AND a Water pokemon. Despite no overlapping weaknesses, would it be wise to include this one?


I would say I'd go with these six, however I mainly picked them all because they're cool. Which concerns me because I haven't put too much thought in synergies. Besides, I feel like I need a fairy pokemon badly to finish the Ste/Dra/Fai core. And what about Psychic, Dark and Ghost? Tyranitar instead of Swampert might be something. Too many choices!

Thank you very much for taking your time to read. Could anyone help me further? Feel free to come with any suggestion!

Kind regards,

Caspeur

 

[Erag0n]

Well your team doesn’t look that bad for a new player (you should give us the ability you use) but there are some things I would change, to bigin with I think you need to take away roost from your volcarona and replace it by something else ex: psychic z move for toxapex or give it a bulkyer spread( yes I know you don’t like it but it’s still an option) and since you have a volcarona you ABSOLUTLY need a defog or rapid spin (even 2 is possible) and since mega swampert isn’t useful out of rain and magnezone is there to take on annoying steel types( which you can dispose of with garchomp (rock z isn’t a super good idea since you use volcarona ) and volcarona) you have two spots free. I am not going to say what you have to play but I can give you some maybe replace toxa by fini or add tapu koko, tornadus, ... another good idea could be mega diancie with magic bounce. You could also add (if you play psychic z) tyranitar for the latis and something to take out tyranitar (garchomp and ferro are enough just be aware of fire + ice punch mega tyranitar) I hope this is useful and good luck
And I’m sorry for mistakes English isn’t my native language

 

[Caspeur]

...

Thank you so much for taking your time to read and reply! This is exactly the kind of input I need. I need some time to process information, but this is definately helpful! Thanks again.

 

[Caspeur]

Well your team doesn’t look that bad for a new player (you should give us the ability you use) but there are some things I would change, to bigin with I think you need to take away roost from your volcarona and replace it by something else ex: psychic z move for toxapex or give it a bulkyer spread( yes I know you don’t like it but it’s still an option) and since you have a volcarona you ABSOLUTLY need a defog or rapid spin (even 2 is possible) and since mega swampert isn’t useful out of rain and magnezone is there to take on annoying steel types( which you can dispose of with garchomp (rock z isn’t a super good idea since you use volcarona ) and volcarona) you have two spots free. I am not going to say what you have to play but I can give you some maybe replace toxa by fini or add tapu koko, tornadus, ... another good idea could be mega diancie with magic bounce. You could also add (if you play psychic z) tyranitar for the latis and something to take out tyranitar (garchomp and ferro are enough just be aware of fire + ice punch mega tyranitar) I hope this is useful and good luck
And I’m sorry for mistakes English isn’t my native language

I've thought about what you've said and I definately agree. Volcarona needs some help before setting it up! However, because I have so many entry hazards myself, 1x Spikes, 1x Toxic Spikes and 1x Stealth Rock, I'm wondering, wouldn't it be a bad choice to get defog? The only good Pokemon I can find with Rapid spin that fits my team is Excadrill... though it appears this one is only strong when sandstorm is up, and I don't run the team to support that...

I like mega Diancie and I like the role it would get as a hyper aggressive pokemon which also bounces back entry hazards, however it doesn't remove hazards that are already set, right? I'm not sure how that works yet.

How do you think my Toxapex should look then? I really like to have a Sp Def wall and a Def wall, so I like the combi of Ferrothorn and Toxapex. How do I make its spread even bulkier?

I'm not sure what the 6 slots would look like now, because if I run Toxapex, Ferrothorn, Volcarona, Garchomp, Mega Diancie, and Excadrill, My party would have 3 pokemon with weakness to Water and Ground, which doesn't work. So what do you suggest? Leave Excadrill and Rapid Spin and go with a Tapu?

Thank you again for helping me out.

 

[DrPumpkinz]

- I love dual types. Makes me feel special
- I don't like to include legendaries. Makes me feel less special.
- I love an amazing resistances spread. The "not very effective..." message makes me tingle in a silly place.
- I love to overspecialize and min/max. Putting 50% HP, 25% DEF, 25% SP DEF in someone just doesn't feel good to me.

If you want to get better, I recommend tweaking or outright ditching many of these philosophies.

In competitive, being a legendary means very little. There are awful legendary Pokemon like Articuno and Regigigas, and there are busted normal Pokemon like Blaziken and Aegislash. The only thing that's really impacted by being legendary (or at least special) is that Game Freak, in an attempt to make resetting for good stats easier (and forgetting that bottle caps exist) recently made it so that special Pokemon must have a certain number of perfect IVs, which ends up making it impossible for newer special Pokemon to use Hidden Power Fighting. F in the chat for Blacephalon.

Since you enjoy resisting the opponent's attacks, it seems like you'd enjoy using Stall or Balance teams. While resistance spreads are important, raw stats are also important. What I'm trying to say is that pretty much every special attack is not very effective against Chansey, regardless of what the type chart says.

Speaking of Chansey, being a single type doesn't mean a Pokemon isn't good. Tornadus and Clefable are two other examples.

The dislike of jank EV spreads is mostly fair, though I personally think fine-tuned EV spreads are beautiful, as long as they're done with purpose. The recommended spread for Tapu Fini is a great example.

 

[Erag0n]

If it was my team I think i would get rid of toxa and go for tapu fini with defog because you really need a hazard remover like charizard y, volcarona takes 50 percent of it’s health on stealth rocks and it doen’t fly so it’s vulnerable to all other forms of hazard and as sixth pokemon you could take scarf to have more speed

And f for blacephalon

 

[Caspeur]

If you want to get better, I recommend tweaking or outright ditching many of these philosophies.

In competitive, being a legendary means very little. There are awful legendary Pokemon like Articuno and Regigigas, and there are busted normal Pokemon like Blaziken and Aegislash. The only thing that's really impacted by being legendary (or at least special) is that Game Freak, in an attempt to make resetting for good stats easier (and forgetting that bottle caps exist) recently made it so that special Pokemon must have a certain number of perfect IVs, which ends up making it impossible for newer special Pokemon to use Hidden Power Fighting. F in the chat for Blacephalon.

Since you enjoy resisting the opponent's attacks, it seems like you'd enjoy using Stall or Balance teams. While resistance spreads are important, raw stats are also important. What I'm trying to say is that pretty much every special attack is not very effective against Chansey, regardless of what the type chart says.

Speaking of Chansey, being a single type doesn't mean a Pokemon isn't good. Tornadus and Clefable are two other examples.

The dislike of jank EV spreads is mostly fair, though I personally think fine-tuned EV spreads are beautiful, as long as they're done with purpose. The recommended spread for Tapu Fini is a great example.

Thank you for taking the time to doubt my philosophies. You make a lot of sense. You're totally right about legendaries. I should take them into account. I guess what I dislike about some of them, like Tapu Fini, is that they appear in Every single competitive youtube video I've seen. It's kinda controversial that I'm wanting to build a Over Used team and want to avoid the very-much-overused legendaries, but oh well... maybe I should give them a try.

You're right, I used to play a lot of trading card games like Magic, and I often prefer a controlled play over an aggressive play. I feel like my skill level will be too low for a while to do pure stalling, which is why I think the balanced route is best fitting atm.

You're right about single types aswell. I guess I'm underestimating them because they generally do not have the best stats. I'll be looking into the names you've given and see if they can add to my team.

Although very vagely, I kind of understand the more complex EV spreads, although for now such specific spreads are too complex for me.

Thanks again for taking your time to provide me with feedback

 

[Caspeur]

If it was my team I think i would get rid of toxa and go for tapu fini with defog because you really need a hazard remover like charizard y, volcarona takes 50 percent of it’s health on stealth rocks and it doen’t fly so it’s vulnerable to all other forms of hazard and as sixth pokemon you could take scarf to have more speed

And f for blacephalon

You know what, you guys might be right. Maybe I should get Tapu Fini it kind of really answers all my problems...