When team building for standard 5th gen OU, what do you personally take into account?

[Groudon ex]

My general strategy when building teams is to try to mess it up somehow. I always want to have something which I'm not used to. Of course, I usually struggle to get into the top spots on the ladder, but the point is that I feel satisfied, right?

 

[superbadd]

First off, I build my team around a pokemon/play style I want to try. In my experience a good team needs to have a simple goal in mind when being constructed, other wise it will not be successful;, a general purpose is mandatory. (Imprudently adding 6 rain abusing Pokemon isn't going to make you very successful) For example, Hyper offense-take down the opposing team with extremely powerful attackers. Bulky offense- destroy the team with a power while simultaneously begin able to take attacks and wear them down. Stall- slowly break down the team with durable walls and almost perfect cores.Weather-use the qualities whatever weather you decide to use to defeat the opposing team. There is plenty more but these are the most common.

I then construct a team on what type of team/pokemon I want to use or try out. Weather is the first thing I take into account. It's the most common play style after all. Entry hazards are a second. Does my team need them, does my team suffer if my opponent has them, ect... Then I take into account the different threats when team building. In my opinion you have to first create a team, sort of as a rough draft, then fix it according to whatever flaw(s) it may have.

 

[Kiyo]

When I build a team I just try to make sure the team covers its own weaknesses. Beldum Labs synergy calculator is great for defensive synergy. and from an offensive standpoint i basically test things out and see if i have trouble with a certain poke, and if i do i find a viable replacement. If I'm serious about it I might even make a checklist of the top 30 pokes on the usage statistics. But in general if your team supports itself its gonna fair pretty well.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

When I build a team I just try to make sure the team covers its own weaknesses. Beldum Labs synergy calculator is great for defensive synergy. and from an offensive standpoint i basically test things out and see if i have trouble with a certain poke, and if i do i find a viable replacement. If I'm serious about it I might even make a checklist of the top 30 pokes on the usage statistics. But in general if your team supports itself its gonna fair pretty well.

Wich calculator is this?

When I build a team, I now make sure that I have coverage against every type, and the most common threats possible. For example, despite having Electric-type attacks to use against most Water-types, I never forget to have at least one Grass-type attack, as there are still common threats such as Gastrodon that wouldn't be smashed by Electric-type attacks. I never forget to use a Psychic or Flying-type attack against Fighting-types, despite the fact that it's rare to actually see a Psychic or Flying-type Pokémon using Psychic and Flying-type attacks, respectively.

Unlike most people, Rapid Spin is not my priority, as entry hazards are not common to begin with, even if I am using a pokémon weak to Stealth Rock.

I also use pokémons that have immunities against the most common attacks, either by their tipying or habilities. For example, I always use a Ghost-type, a Flying-type or Levitator, and a Pokémon with Water Absorb or Storm Drain. That's why Jellicent is a staple on my teams, as she has immunities to Water and Fighting.

Despite the fact that I use offensive teams, I always also use a pokémon that appears to be more suited to stall. The aforementioned Jellicent is a example. She is the only pokémon on my team that is not offensive; her main role is to stall the opponent, with a combination of Will-O-Wisp and Recover. Taunt is also used to prevent recovering and surf. I may use an offensive team but I always use a pokémon that is more of a staller than offensive.

I also always use a wallbreaker. That way, my team will not be weak to common stall teams. The aforementioned Jellicent is my wallbreaker of choice as she can Taunt the opponent and stall him with Will-O-Wisp and Recover. But I also use some pokémon that can hit as hard as possible, such as Breloom and Gliscor, to break walls.

I use at least one pokémon capable of setting up Stealth Rock. Other entry hazards are not priority as with such fast metagame and the common use of Flying, Poison and Steel-types, as well as the fact that most teams are offensive, Spikes and Toxic Spikes are not as good as Stealth Rock. Most of time Stealth Rock is the only entry hazard that I consider since it's the only that can affect all pokémon bar those with Magic Guard and (virtually) Regenerator. I even use Stealth Rock in place of Spikes, even on those few viable Pokémon that can setup Spikes, for the above reason.

I use a Choice Scarf Pokémon with a speed of at least base 100, since it's with that speed that my Choice Scarfer can outspeed most of metagame, and slower Choice Scarfers wouldn't be as effective.

Finally, I always make sure to have at least one Pokémon that carry a priority move, for two reasons. It's my best way to revenge kill many 15% HP threats (even those that resists my priority), and it's my final hope against setup sweepers that go out of control.

Too long, didn't read: This is the list of things that I always consider when building a team:

• Absolute coverage against all types.
• Coverage against the most common Pokémon, as a dual-typed pokémon with type X may be weak to Y but not to Z even if type X is normally weak to both Y and Z.
• Pokémon with immunities to common types.
• A pokémon with stalling ability
• Wallbreakers
• Stealth Rock
• A pokémon with Choice Scarf that is naturally fast (100 speed or above) and powerful
• A priority move

 

[Avatar Korra]

What I do is build a team around one person. I try to have my other 5 guys try and support the main one, either by taking out counters, setting up hazards, etc. Then late game my main guy can just clean up the rest of the opponent's team.

 

[CooltrainerAlan]

When teambuilding, I start with the thing I want to use (what fun would it be to use the same old Pokemon over and over again?) and build from there. For example, lets say I wanted to use the Pokemon Heatran. It's super weak to ground so I would probably want to add someone who is immune or resists ground and can hit them back. I might chose to add Latios to use Ice Beam on Pokémon like Gliscor. But now I notice that a powerful Stone Edge can do a lot of damage, so I add something that resists and so on and so forth. It is also important to have an effective method to take down top-tier Pokémon such as Politoed and Scizor.

 

[Camisado]

In 4th gen, I made my teams by creating a typing chart and making sure each I had two resistances to at least 16/17 types of attacks, and that teams had no more than two weaknesses to a type of attack. I then made sure I had the following roles resolved: A Priority user/revenge killer, A 'status absorber' A Stealth Rock user, A lead, and a 'win condition'. Most of my teams that filled all of these niches were successful.

However, in 5th gen, I've found this approach does not work at all. I have yet to make a successful team.