the Hydra

[PokeTrainerRed]

So I'm back with my second Rmt and i was a little boring last time with a sand team so i went to the teambuilder on PS and looked through the OU pokemon and waited for one that i really wanted to use and Hydreigon looked interesting so I slapped him on my team. He has his flaws that i need to cover like his glaring fighting type weakness and his lackluster speed, but if used correctly then he is a force to be reckoned with that has little to no check. I feel like I am missing something though so I'm open to changes except for hydreigon of course.

Hydreigon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 Atk
Hasty Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Earthquake
- Superpower
Here is the beast the Pokemon with close to 0 checks or counters on a switch in if the right move is used. Hydreigon comes on a predicted ghost move or some other resistance and just pick the right move and boom you have a dead poke or a big dent on the switch in. With him however any terakion is a big threat that is omnipresent in today's metagame, as is the popular HP ice that is run on most Landorus-I and almost all jolteon sets so generally a switch to either Landorus-T for fighting or Jellicent for the Ice. Basically hes a wallbreaker.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 200 HP / 64 Atk / 244 De
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Landorus is a great momentum changer that hits hard and can sponge all physical hits especially with the great ability intimidate. He can stop things like DD dragonite by easing up the attacks with intimidate and having good defensive stats. A great choice for the SR on my team, i dont think enough people use him and I like how he is a gliscor with a better barrier with intimidate and a better attack stat and access to U-turn

Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 Def / 252 HP / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
What do you think im gonna say? It's a ferrothorn, the standard set that walls every dragon without a fire move and can set up spikes and can phase out pokemon with leech seed. the minus speed nature is to help out gyro ball and no one will be out sped by ferrothorn lets be honest



Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Disable
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

Gengar is the fast subbing disabling hard hitting special attacker he wrecks anything not resisting. he is very venerable to predictions especially with disables easy to see coming. timid to outspeed other gengars and the extra power doesnt really matter to me he still hits pretty hard. no life orb because thats a little suicidal especially with a frail pokemon like gengar and everything else seems pretty standard. the sub can protect from any pursuiters and keep him alive for awhile



Jellicent (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 46 Spd / 214 Def
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Toxic
- Taunt
- Scald
Hes about that status spreading and getting just damage on the opposing team with scald always hoping for the burn and has toxic for many walls that might come in and toxic residual damages always helps unless marvel scale (but Milotic is never used in OU lets be honest) recover for obvious reasons, and taunt is a very useful move by stopping skarmory cold and stopping jellicent from being set up fodder and stops baton pass cold if i catch it early. the extra speed ev is for outspeeding other jellicent for the taunt



Starmie @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Trick
- Thunderbolt
I love starmie but in this case i could have him be the replaceable one. In general he bluffs a spin set because the choice set isnt as popular as it once was. starmie has great coverage and is a good phazer with revenge killing speed. trick can be crippling if used correctly and by ability starmie sucks up status and does it all game maybe tricking a wall in the process.

Overall i feel like i have many frail hard hitting threats offensively that cover each other along with my walls and such but if starmie goes down i lose too much coverage and hydreigon can only stay in for so long. I need some help here maybe a strong bulky pokemon that can fit nicely on my team

 

[yoshinator879]

Hey!

Instead of doing a proper rate, I'm just gonna kind of critique the ideology behind the team, and point out a few nitpicky things:

First of all, Hydreigon is slow. If you ever want it to sweep, you need to spread paralysis. The idea of eliminating it's threats and things that are faster than it, is kind of silly because of how much of the metagame is faster than it. Also, remember that this thing is kind of outclassed by mixed (which is the set you're running) by Dragonite and Salamence, both in different regards. Dragonite is a much better tank, Salamence is an excellent offensive wall-breaker, whereas Hydreigon is kind of in the middle, slower than Mence, and this not able to sweep to the same extent, but not as bulky as Dragonite, and so it can't really tank and stall as well. Keep that in mind of you are wanting to use Hydreigon.

Now for a couple of nitpicky things: Toxic and Scald on Jellicent can be dangerous, because burning a mon you want to toxic or vice versa sucks. I recommend running toxic+surf of scald+WoW.

Also, remember than choice scarf Starmie is really weak. Base 100 special attac is fine if the opponent is REALLY weakened, but otherwise, it's not going to be doing much.

Another thing to note is that we want to know how you play all of these Pokemon, what's your play style? How do you make game plans? How do each of your Pokemon fit into this?

 

[undisputed]

Hey!

Nice foundation for your team. It reminds me of one Tournament match I played quite some time ago where I found myself thinking "that's a cool idea!" The other team was basically five Stall Pokemon and Specs Latios to come in and hit things hard. With Spikes and SR on the field, it was very solid and hard to switch into. I think that's kind of what you've got going here. Lando + Ferro + Jelli + Starmie make up your defensive core, and Hydreigon comes in to force plays. Gengar strikes me as a little bit out of place. Jellicent already blocks Rapid Spin, and your team is not necessarily fast paced or offensive.

First, I know you mentioned that you could use a Bulky Pokemon on your team. I think replacing Gengar would be your best option. I don't like Scarf Starmie a lot, so in the Gengar slot, I think you should try Scarf Rotom-w. It's almost a forgotten set, but it's still pretty good, and definitely on the right team. Tornadus-t looks a little worrying as your team is, so Rotom-w should give you at least a switch in or two. If it is banned, you'll have a lot more room to experiment with defensive Pokemon like Tyranitar or Heatran. Rotom-w, as I will discuss later, can replace Scarf Starmie as your revenge killer. For moves, I'd use Hydro Pump / Volt Switch / Hidden Power Ice / Trick. For EVs, you can opt for some HP, but I'd aim for out-speeding Adamant 252 Speed Dragonite. The rest of the EVs are up to you to try and see what you like. Offensive Scarf and Defensive Scarf each offer some positive aspects to your team.

I alluded to it earlier, but I think Scarf Starmie is a bad idea. Starmie has great coverage, and I'd love it as a Scarfer if not for it's Psychic typing. Pursuit trapping is such a big part of the metagame, and Starmie will die to teams that have Pursuit trappers. Even skilled players have trouble keeping Defensive Starmie alive. I think your team could really benefit from having Defensive Rapid Spin Starmie though. Other than Hydreigon, your four other Pokemon form a very solid Defensive core, and they will certainly maintain strong presence in most matches. Starmie really shines when it is used sparingly. Pursuit trappers can be worn down, and one timely spin is capable of winning a game vs. Deoxys-D teams or the rare full Stall team. Keeping Stealth Rock and Spikes off the field will be huge, especially considering that Landorus-t, Ferrothorn, and Hydreigon don't have reliable Recovery.

Good luck!

 

[King of Blades]

Hello there, and welcome to smogon!

Well, you seem to have a problem with your last 3 images. I think you put the link tags (the globe) around the picture's url instead of the image tags. (the mountain postcard thingy)

On to the actual team, I do believe you have a weakness to tornadus-t and thundurus-t. I don't see anything on your team that resists a hurricane, and nothing on this team can survive more than 2 hits and hit back for decent damage. I would suggest using specially defensive jirachi over jellicent. Jirachi fills jellicent's position as specially defensive tank as well as status spreader, and you already have a spinblocker in gengar. (Not that I think a spinblocker is central to your strategy.) It also provides you with a nice steel type that resists powerful outrages. It can also support and heal your team with wish.

Jirachi @Leftovers
Careful | 252 HP, 252 Sp. Def, 4 HP | Serene Grace
~Iron Head
~Body Slam / Thunder Wave
~Wish
~Protect / Ice Punch / Fire Punch

This is the basic specially defensive jirachi. Iron Head is used for STAB and flinch lulz. Body Slam is good for getting an attack with good neutral coverage as well as a good chance for paralysis. If losing paralysis on ground types for no damage and guaranteed paralysis is worth it, in your opinion, use thunder wave instead. Wish is used for recovery. Protect is used to secure the wish recovery and protect you from the next attack. If you think that you can easily get a wish recover and that smart ladderers will just predict around the blatantly obvious protect, use ice punch instead in order to gain coverage on dragons, or fire punch to gain coverage on steels. You asked for more bulk, you get more bulk. This is the final word in specially defensive steel types.

As for the choice scarf starmie set, I think its purpose could be better served by replacing it with a choice scarf keldeo. Choice scarf keldeo gains most of the speed that you will need in order to take on the threats of the metagame. If you look at both keldeo's and starmie's analyses, you will notice that keldeo gains much higher defenses as well as 29 higher special attack only in exchange for a base speed 7 points lower. This doesn't make much of a difference, as the only common thing that starmie can outspeed that keldeo can't is scarf lati@s, which isn't actually as common as one might think. Essentially, better defenses and better special attack in exchange for a speed that is so little lower that it probably won't make a difference.

Keldeo (My Little Pwny) @Choice Scarf
Timid | 252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP | Justified
~Hydro Pump
~Secret Sword
~Surf
~Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Ghost

Ok, so this is keldeo. Hydro Pump hits hard, and it is great for revenge killing any of the genies, especially under rain, something starmie cannot do. Secret Sword is your main fighting STAB. Surf is for a less powerful, but more reliable STAB. Hidden Power Ice can be used if hitting dragons is your thing, but hidden power ghost can be used if you want perfect neutral coverage and the ability to hit jellicent. Well, that's essentially it.

Nitpicks

Remove earthquake on hydreigon and put roost in its place. Superpower can hit most steel types hard, and roost is much more beneficial than the limited coverage gained from earthquake.




Hope this helps, and good luck with the team!

~KoB (I'm back for good baby!)

 

[CedOmega]

Hey, you have a pretty cool team here.

• Everything seems to have been covered already in the above rate, however, my only suggestions would be Bold>Impish nature on Landorus-T to not cripple its Attk power.

• I also second King of Blades' suggestion of EQ>Roost on Hydreigon to help it remain healthy as it builds up LO recoil damage.

• Last, I'd suggest PowerWhip/GyroBall>T-wave on Ferrothorn to help your team outpace faster threats like the before mentioned Tornadus-T.

I hope this helps and good luck with your team! :)

 

[victinivcreate1]

Pursuit sweepers (Scizor, Weavile, Tyranitar) eliminate at least half of ur team, as ur team is weak to dark and ice. One prediction and Hydreigon is KOed as well. Ferro and Hydreigon also take a ton of damage from fighting and ice wrecks landorus and hydreigon. There are much better mixed sweepers (yes i know hes not that good, but Infernape), Salamence, Landorus (troll speed) etc.

I say switching Hydreigon to Infernape. yes i know hes not great, but a set of Close Combat, Fire Blast, Thunder punch and HP ice has been effective for me. Landorus can cover the rock weakness, ferro the psychic and water weakness, and Jellicent the flying.

 

[CedOmega]

Pursuit sweepers (Scizor, Weavile, Tyranitar) eliminate at least half of ur team, as ur team is weak to dark and ice. One prediction and Hydreigon is KOed as well. Ferro and Hydreigon also take a ton of damage from fighting and ice wrecks landorus and hydreigon. There are much better mixed sweepers (yes i know hes not that good, but Infernape), Salamence, Landorus (troll speed) etc.

I say switching Hydreigon to Infernape. yes i know hes not great, but a set of Close Combat, Fire Blast, Thunder punch and HP ice has been effective for me. Landorus can cover the rock weakness, ferro the psychic and water weakness, and Jellicent the flying.

Jellicent is neutral to Flying attacks. Just to point that out.

 

[PokeTrainerRed]

Keldeo works really well thank you so much