OU RMT

[Smiles]

Introduction

I'm quite experienced competitively, and this is my first RMT. My old team was quite successful, but that got boring so I made a kind of similar team to do an RMT on. I've tested it, but it's quite decent. I'm not at the really pro levels, my CRE in Shoddy Battle was about 1200 - 1300, which makes me quite experienced if you ask me.

Team Building

Lucario seemed like on who could set up a Swords Dance easily, and packs a lot of power, plus priority moves. I figured I would build my team around Lucario.

My favorite lead was always Azelf, but not the standard version. I tend to pair Azelf with Suicune (not CroCune!) Suicune sets up easily once Azelf is gone, which will be explained later.

I really don't like the idea of Crunch on Lucario, the way I don't like Stone Edge on Infernape. In my opinion, it just isn't good enough. However, I still needed to get rid of those ghost and psychic types, so I figured Tyranitar would do that for me while chipping away at my opponents' health with sandstorm.

A core of Scizor and Flygon would work well, so that 4/6 Pokemon on my team would be immune to the sandstorm. When paired with Azelf, their U-Turns can scout a large portion of the opponent's team, as they all have different counters and checks. Scizor could also help lure in Rotom-A for a nice kill for Tyranitar. Scizor's Pursuit would also help to get rid of ghost types for Lucario. Flygon with a Choice Scarf would be my revenge killer, as Choice Scarf Tyranitar is too slow and has too many weaknesses to exploit.

I sensed a small weakness to Skarmory, so I thought about using Magnezone, but three steel types seemed like a bit much, and besides killing a few steel-types, Magnezone couldn't do much else as it was slow. Besides, +2 Lucario had a good chance to OHKO Skarmory after Stealth Rock, and a guaranteed 2HKO so Skarmory's Roost would be useless. A specially defensive Skarmory would be OHKOed for sure after a Swords Dance.

As for entry hazards, none of my Pokemon are weak to Stealth Rock, and two are immune to the spikes. In fact, Flygon has a 2x resistance to SR and Lucario resists it 4x. Only two of my Pokemon are affected by Toxic Spikes, so that's not much of a problem.


The Team

The concept of the team is to punch holes / sweep with Suicune early on, and sweep with Lucario late in the game.

Azelf

Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Naive
EVs: 160 Atk / 96 SpA / 252 Spe
Ability: Levitate
- Stealth Rock
- Flamethrower
- U-Turn
- Trick

This is a custom set that I prefer over the standard lead. Firstly, Flamethrower is preferred over Fire Blast for its accuracy. It gets a 2HKO on physically defensive Skarmory, and a good chance to 2HKO specially defensive Skarmory with Shed Shell (with Leftovers, the 2HKO chance is lower). The 96 SpA EVs are to guarantee the OHKO on specially defensive Forretress, although it doesn't matter that much as I'll probably be using Trick to cripple them. Trick is very unexpected on Azelf and can cripple many common leads such as Machamp, Skarmory, Swampert, Heatran, or even Blissey. U-Turn heavily damages Celebi, Starmie, and Azelf and is great for scouting. It can be hard to get Stealth Rock up, but I usually have a good chance to win without it anyway.

Seeing a Machamp spells doom for Azelf. The most effective strategy is to use Trick against Machamp, and switch to Suicune to force it out while locked into Payback. The only thing that Machamp will be outspeeding with a Choice Scarf is Scizor, and would be pointless if locked into Payback.

This Azelf lead looks a lot like Uxie, but more frail. The difference is that Azelf is a lot stronger, and can still outspeed most OU Pokemon even after its item is gone. Uxie leads are also expected to use Trick, unlike Azelf, who can take its opponent by surprise. Uxie would work just fine in the lead slot, but I generally prefer Azelf.


Lucario

Item: Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Ability: Steadfast?
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Bullet Punch

Lucario is a deadly sweeper late game, as Close Combat can OHKO so many Pokemon, while his priority moves can usually deal with the threats that are faster. Bullet Punch deals with threats such as Scarftar, Gengar, and Aerodactyl, while Extremespeed deals with threats such as Dragonite, Gyarados, or Jolteon. Lucario cannot deal with Rotom-A by itself, so it counts on the rest of the team to help get rid of it.

Swords Dance can often be easy to set up, like when Tyranitar is locked into Pursuit, Crunch, or Stone Edge.

Lucario may be frail in terms of defenses, but has tons of resistances to exploit. This makes switching in and setting up a whole lot easier.

Choice Scarf Heatran can be tough to deal with. Extremely weakened ones can be taken out with Extremespeed, but otherwise I would have to switch or hope for a Fire Blast miss.

Lucario's ability doesn't matter that much, as Lucario resists Jirachi's Iron Head, and has a 4x resistance to Rock Slide from Aerodactyl. Waterfall from Gyarados is not a problem as Lucario would be using Extremespeed anyway. However, I thought; if I chose that it is okay to get flinched, an increase in speed could be beneficial. However, Inner Focus could work too, as Choice Scarf Jirachi's Iron Head would have to hit me twice for Steadfast help Lucario outspeed Jirachi.


Suicune

Item: Life Orb
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Ability: Pressure
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Offensive Suicune is a true beast. It is still very bulky with minimal EV investment in its defenses, and is almost impossible to OHKO after one Calm Mind. In my opinion, Suicune is the best early game sweeper / hole puncher in OU. If Azelf uses Trick against Machamp, then Suicune can switch in while Machamp either helplessly spams Payback or switches. Suicune can use Calm Mind, and just once is enough to sweep. Slower threats such as Gyarados, Heatran, and Breloom are often surprised by Suicune's speed. Suicune can even outspeed defensive Jirachi, Zapdos, and Celebi. 2HKOs are easy to pull off on neutral attacks, as it is very hard for the opponent to take out Suicune. Sometimes even whole teams are swept with Suicune.

Suicune also serves as my Gyarados counter / revenger. If it uses Dragon Dance on Suicune's switch in, it still cannot OHKO with any of its moves (bar critical hits or repeated flinch with Waterfall) while Suicune can OHKO with Hidden Power, or set up a Calm Mind if Gyarados had not set up yet and Suicune is at decent health.


Tyranitar

Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Ability: Sand Stream
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

Tyranitar's base speed was made perfectly for a Choice Scarf. 61 base speed means that Tyranitar actually reaches a speed equal to that of base 116, outspeeding everything 115 base speed or lower without a Choice Scarf. This means that threats such as Starmie, Azelf, Celebi, and Gengar will all be helpless against Tyranitar's Pursuit. Tyranitar can even trap Pokemon neutral to Pursuit, and severely weakened Pokemon who resist Pursuit.

Tyranitar's job is to help eliminate ghost and psychic types (especially Rotom-A) for Lucario to sweep successfully. Crunch and Stone Edge are very powerful STAB moves, while either Earthquake or Superpower rounds out the coverage. I chose Earthquake, as Lucario and Scizor already possess fighting-type attacks and neither have a ground-type attack.

Tyranitar also helps to summon a sandstorm to weaken the opponent's Pokemon so that Lucario can score more OHKOs.


Scizor

Item: Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Spe
Ability: Technician
- Bullet Punch
- U-Turn
- Pursuit
- Superpower

The standard Scizor, everyone knows it and how it works. However, it has a specific role on this team, as Scizor and Lucario have similar checks and counters. U-Turn can scout a counter and proceed to counter that. U-Turning out from a Rotom-A switch in is perfect for Tyranitar to enter and use Pursuit, trapping and killing Rotom-A. Scizor can also use Pursuit itself to catch a switching Gengar.

Scizor and Lucario both possess strong priority moves. If one cannot take out the opponent, the other should be able to.

Superpower can easily catch Magnezone and Heatran on the switch, but must be wary of Rotom-A switching in.


Flygon

Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Ability: Levitate
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- U-Turn
- Dragon Claw / ThunderPunch

Flygon and Scizor have great type synergy, as they resist each other's weaknesses. They also work together to scout the opponent's team. Jolly was used to speed tie with other base 100 speed Choice Scarfed Pokemon. Adamant is not a great choice, as Flygon is not that strong to begin with, and giving it a few extra points in Attack is not as important and being able to outspeed the opponent. Outrage, Earthquake, and U-Turn provide great coverage while the last slot is just a filler and will be used rarely.

Dragon Claw is good for getting rid of weakened Pokemon, but is not that great. However, it has its advantages over the other moves. Dragon Claw is a lot stronger than U-Turn, making it easier to kill the opponent at low health. It also comes with the advantage over Outrage that it won't trap Flygon. As for Earthquake, the opponent could switch to a Pokemon immune to ground.

ThunderPunch heavily damages Gyarados after Intimidate, and can be used to revenge Gyarados, and can be used to hit Empoleon. However, it has little purpose outside of that as Outrage is stronger than a 2x ThunderPunch, and Earthquake's power ties with 2x ThunderPunch.


Threat List

Well I might add this later on, but for now I won't, it just takes too much time.

​

 

[Pallas Athena]

This team looks fairly solid too me as far as resistances, coverage, and scouting are concerned. However, a few Pokemon appear to give this team trouble. The key factor in all of the Pokemon who trouble your team so that they all abuse fighting moves. Gengar is the first too come to mind. Either Scizor or Suicune must be sacrificed to determine whether Gengar is using HP Fire Thunderbolt, or a SubSplit set: predict wrong, and you have some serious difficulty recovering the match. Focus Blast plagues your team, and Flygon can only break the Subsitute of a SubSplit set, and watch as Gengar deals massive amounts of damage in return. Machamp gives this team issues in a similar way. I suggest an additional Fighting resist in the form of Gliscor over Scizor, as Scizor's scouting, revenge killing, and trapping a abilities are covered by Flygon and Tyranitar. See the Strategy Dex for sets. In addition, Sand Viel can makes Gliscor fairly annoying.

GL

 

[Aerrow]

Hi there Smiles, this looks like an excellent team you've built. However, I see of a couple of Pokemon which may be concerns to your team strategy; but I'll start with some smaller changes I think would be better for your Pokemon: i recommend using Inner focus as the ability on Lucario, as in many cases this is the superior option; also, I think that Flygon should have thunderpunch in its arsenal, which allows it to revenge-kill Gyarados which may present problems to your team. I love the trick-scarf Azelf lead your using, but I don't think its suited for this specific team as nothing is going to want to switch into Machamp late-game (since Azelf can usually stop it and lock it into payback in the start a battle) and take a Dyniamicpunch. I think it would be best if you were to have Machamp removed early in the battle so it can't come back later and threaten the rest of your team. For this reason, I recommend replacing your current Trick-scarf Azelf with the Colbur berry one. The set is shown below.

[box]

Azelf @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 8 HP/140 Atk/216 Spd/144 SpDef
Jolly nature (+Spd,-SpAtk)
- Explosion
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- U-turn[/box]
This change will guarantee you you are able to get Stealth rocks up from turn one when facing Machamp, while also quickly eliminating it from the battle with Explosion once Stealth Rock has been played, making sure that it won't be able to come back and present a threat to your team later in the battle. Aside from Machamp, Colbur Berry Azelf also fares well against other common leads including Swampert, Aerodactyle and Infernape. The only lead Azelf has problems with would be Jirachi which is handled nicely by your Suicune and to an extent, Scizor. In a similar vein Colbur Berry Azelf pairs nicely with both Choice Scarf Tyranitar and Choice Band Scizor, both of which you have on your team. Moving on, I think its not very efficient to have three revenge-killers on one team but if it's working for you do keep it. However, if you also feel one of them needs to be replaced, I suggest using a Lo Heatran in Flygon's place as it shared great synergy with Suicune, and coupled with Tyranitar, it can easily make huge dents into the foe's team making it quite easy for Lucario to sweep late game. Also, it seems as you have slight Nasty Plot Infernape, Gengar and Agility Lucario problems although both of these Pokemon should be easily handled by Suicune, Scizor and Tyranitar. I hope this helped, and good luck!

 

[afterburn]

Interesting team, I think I have a few suggestions which can help you out.

Threats
Stall
Life Orb Shaymin w/ HP Fire
Machamp leads
Opposing Offensive Water- types

Solid Lucario team overall, but these problems really stood out, and shouldn't go unaddressed. Anyway, Stall is going to be a serious issue with 4 choiced Pokemon, and each member is walled by a wall/tank found on Stall teams (Gyarados walls Scizor, Lucario, Blissey takes on Suicune, etc.). Stall teams just need hazards, which are easy to grab on the choiced users, and just stall out the team with consistent passive damage. Shaymin is another serious threat, coming in in Flygon's Earthquake or even Tyranitar's Earthquake/Pursuit. From there it doesn't have any "safe switch-ins"; you bring in Lucario/Scizor on Seed Flare, they get nailed by HP Fire. Your primary revenge killers, Tyranitar and Flygon, fail to do heavy amounts of damage to the hedgehog, while taking a considerable amount of damage themselves by STAB LO Seed Flare. Machamp leads are also a serious issue, even if they do get tricked, and switch out for later, your team is in serious trouble then, as Machamp can just abuse unresisted Dynamic punches. Speaking of fighting types, it seems this team doesn't have a safe switch-in to Close Combat/Super Power/Dynamic Punch. Azelf is your best bet, who after battling a lead will be left with little to no health after a fighting type attack. Opposing offensive Water- types like Offensive Suicune can easily set up on Tyranitar's Pursuit/Azelf's Flamethrower/or even Scizor's Bullet Punch. It then becomes a serious issue with +1 Hydro Pump/HP Electric/Ice Beam.

To solve these issues, I think a Tinkerbell Celebi can solve most of your issues like a better Fighting- type resist and the ability to check Offensive Water types, Shaymin also becomes less of a threat, as you come in on a resisted Earth Power/Seed Flare, absorb a hit, and paralyze it, meaning Scizor or Suicune will be able to have a much easier time against HP Fire variants, provided they stay in (natural cure, that's why).

Give this a try over Flygon, who IMO is the weakest link of the team; everything it's meant to check is already handled by another member

Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 220 SpA / 36 Spe
Modest nature (+SpA, -Atk)
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power Fire
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Also, Azelf would love a Life Orb with 252 SAtk/4 Def/252 Spe with Stealth Rock/Psychic/U-turn/Fire Blast or Explosion (Timid if using Fire Blast) with a Naive nature. This can easily destroy Machamp leads, and can be a force to be reckoned with late game as well, thanks to the amazing 125 Satk equipped with a Life Orb. Also, with Explosion you can remove Blissey trying to absorb Psychic, this will open a path for Suicune. For Stall, I think the best option would be to try Stone Edge over Bullet Punch on Lucario. This makes it an anti-stall weapon, ready to dismantle things like Rest-talk Gyarados, a common counter to Lucario on stall based teams. I would also like you to try out Leftovers on Suicune, since Life Orb is waste of bulk that comes in handy for +1 Gyarados, besides, all of Suicune's moves contain sheer power after a Calm Mind boost.

Other than that, great team, and best of luck!

 

[Faladran]

Hello and congrats on your first RMT! I think TLK has done a wonderful job of addressing some of the biggest threats to your team already, so I'm going to mostly build off of his rate. I definitely second the idea of adding a Grass-type somewhere on your team; this change would greatly fix your issues with bulky Waters (especially opposing Offensive Suicune, who can cause major damage to most of your team members). I personally like that Celebi set quite a bit for its bulk, access to recovery, and ability to provide paralysis support, but a Shaymin of your own is also a good option if you prefer a more offensively-minded approach. I think that Celebi / Shaymin would fit better over Scizor however, as they share similar typings in the sense that both lure out Fire-types such as Heatran for Suicune to set up on. Flygon also possesses a very useful and unique typing that allows it to switch in often regardless of entry hazards and cause damage. With these suggestions in mind, it must be noted that you still suffer from a notable stall weakness. To help alleviate this problem, I'd like to recommend changing Flygon's set to a mixed LO variant:

[box]

Flygon (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 80 Atk / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast
- Roost[/box]
Although unusual, this set is very effective if played correctly. Flygon's typing grants it either an immunity or a resistance to every type of entry hazard, making it difficult for stall teams to take it down. In addition, Flygon possesses a movepool varied enough to cause damage to a variety of opposing Pokemon. The loss of Choice Scarf may initially seem unappealing, but consider the following: Flygon typically serves, among other roles, as a check to fast special sweepers such as Jolteon or LO Starmie. ScarfTar can already reliably check these same threats, so the use of two Scarfers is somewhat redundant. With some prediction, the LO set can be used to hit both offense and stall hard, and has the advantage of Roost to recover off any accumulated damage. This does, however, leave you with a bigger weakness to DD Dragonite. As a result, simply remove Flamethrower on Azelf and replace it with Explosion, which tends to be the superior option. Scarf Explosion allows you to check a large number of opposing threats, giving you a sort of "catch-all" for avoiding enemy sweeps. With LO Flygon on your team, you'll also gain a powerful Fire move, which will help make up for the loss of Flamethrower.

Good luck with your team!