Topic: Rate my OU team? (Updated)

[Meowstic Royalty]

Hey everyone. It's Shiny again, making another one of these threads. After my last one, I've taken the comments into consideration and changed my team around a bit. It still isn't perfect, but I think it is much better than the last.

Much like my last team, it is pretty much based around pure sweeping to end a battle quickly. Every other tactic I have used has been shot down in a flash.

Anyway, here we go.



Outlaw (Scrafty) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Moxie
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Ice Punch

Outlaw the Scrafty is pretty much my signature Pokemon on Pokemon Showdown, fitting with my name on it, Outlaw Scrafty. It is pretty much unchanged since my last "Rate my team" thread, however I have swapped Dragon Dance for Bulk Up (Seeming as the boosted Speed is still outsped by a lot of other Pokemon in OU), and Crunch has been replaced with Knock Off. I use Knock Off because it does extra damage to Pokemon holding an item (That is, everything in OU), and it knocks it off. Mega Evolved Pokemon take even more damage, because even if they survive the first attack, they will still take the extra damage from holding an item because a Mega Stone can't be knocked off if I attack again. It also has a Lum Berry due to the fact that it always seems to get stopped by any status condition.

Despite Fairies, Gale Wings and Flying Press, Outlaw is still my favorite member on the team. It may not be the most powerful anymore, but it's one of my favorites, and I will keep using it.



Pain (Azumarill) (M) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Belly Drum
- Brick Break
- Play Rough

Pain the Azumarill does exactly what he says on the tin: Causes pain. And a lot of it. After just one Belly Drum, it is prepared to Aqua Jet anything in sight. The Sitrus Berry means it has a higher chance of being over 50% health so that it can use Belly Drum in the first place. The advantage of this set is that it only takes one turn to reach maximum power. It may not survive that first turn, but if it does, not much can stop it in it's tracks. It's pretty much the only Fairy type I like because of that.



Infinity (Aegislash) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- King's Shield
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak

Now Aegislash is a Pokemon I'm surprised I don't see more often. This physical set is by far my favorite to use. After just two turns, it can reach 4 times the usual attack, which in blade form, is already pretty insane. Much like Pain, it has a priority move to end a Pokemon before it has a chance to do anything. Iron Head is also there to put a stop to Fairy types, because Fairies always seem to be the type that is the most trouble to the rest of the team. The Weakness Policy is really the only item for this haunted sword, because in Shield form, there is almost no chance of it fainting from one attack, even if it is super effective. This means it gets that free attack boost to prepare it to sweep an entire team in just a few mere turns.



Houdini (Alakazam) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Energy Ball
- Focus Blast
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball

Unlike some of the other members of the team, Alakazam needs no stat increases to be powerful. Magic Guard combined with Life Orb means it gets a free 1.3X power boost without taking damage. Magic Guard also means Arena Traps, Toxic Poison and Burns don't lay a scratch on it. Energy Ball is something many don't see coming, because Grass isn't seen as a good offensive type, but I use it to take care of Water/Ground types. Focus Blast is unreliable, but has 5 strengths under it's belt. Psychic is there for obvious reasons, and Shadow Ball is there to take care of other Psychic types.



Del (Gengar) (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Thunderbolt

Gengar is another Pokemon that needs no set up to be deadly. While it's frail defenses make it a glass cannon, most likely unable to sweep an entire team, it can leave a massive dent in the opponent's party before fainting. Dazzling Gleam takes care of Dark types and common Dragons, Shadow Ball is a decent STAB move with a few good strengths, including Psychic which has an advantage over it. Sludge Bomb is another STAB move which is now more usable thanks to Fairies on the battlefield, and Thunderbolt is necessary against Water types like Greninja that are extremely common in OU.



Scar (Charizard-Mega-Y) (M) @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Drought
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Air Slash
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse

Finally, we have Scar the Mega Charizard-Y. Even though the X form looks better, along with being part Dragon, Mega Charizard-Y is a lot better in competitive play. Despite the massive Stealth Rock weakness, bringing it out first can negate that. Air Slash has STAB, along with a flinching chance and reliable accuracy. It can also take care of Mega Venusaur. Fire Blast has doubled power under the sun, making up an incredible 275 base power when you include STAB. Solar Beam is a powerful Grass move with 100% accuracy. It also requires no turn to charge up due to sunlight caused by Drought. Dragon Pulse is also there once again to defeat Dragons, including the other Mega Charizard form.

Wow, that took a while to type. Constructive criticism about the team is always read and appreciated.

[Delicious_Scout]

If your opinion is that Charizard Y is the best, I will not discuss it. All of them have their perks.

First off, I see there is an important lack of Hazards. Add them, seriously. Not with Ferrothorn, because Charizard is ruining its day. Even Froslass would be better, and she would add a nice special Ice Beam and, maybe, a Shadow Ball.

Another curious thing that I see is that your physical sweepers are all bulky, whereas your special sweepers... well... are as fragile as wet paper. Especially Alakazam.

In my opinion, Gengar needs to be unbanned with Gengarite substitute shenanigans due to the large amount of switches it causes (although I never do it ._.). Even the classis SubDisable works up to some extent. You could even equip it with a CHoice Scarf if you dislike removing two attacks; you would have an excellent Revenge Killer.

Do you know why Aegislash prefers Quiet over Adamant? For, mainly, two reasons: move last so that it is hurt in Sheild Form and because it can also rely on its Special, so it does not mind BURNS that much. If you want to go all Physical, go Brave. This is my recommendation.

Outlaw is going to suffer against fairies. Always, no matter what one does. But, if you are running Bulk Up, I would run 252 HP and 252 in any Defence (I recommend Special, and perhaps a Careful nature) just because you will accumulate Attack over time. The other 6 EV can really go anywhere but in SpA. Ice Punch is going to be bad if you are alone with either Aegi or Azu. You can change this last move for any other of your convenience, although Scrafty does suffer from 4MMSSS (however it is spelt). I would even run any Rock attack, one of the most important types offensively.

Azumarill is as it is. If you want to go creative, do it. The plain set (used by everybody) is good enough, and excellent as well. Anyway, I am wondering why it runs Brick Break over, let us say, either Waterfall, Superpower or Ice Punch. If you want, Play Rough can be as well slashed in favour of other options; Fairy is not as good as an attacking type as defensively, but it still does well.

Alakazam... and yet another one who does not use its Mega-Evo. Well, it is quite hard to use, so you are good with the current one. Yes, I tend to run Grass Attacks as well; they tend to be unexpected, and that pesky Rotom-SATANWater is everywhere.

And Charizard... well...there is nothing bad, unless that bad boy/girl known as Heatran appears. Seriously, I don't like legendaries in OU, but that is not the... bad thing. What is bad is its typing: Steel/Fire walls your Charizard, athough it can not do anything in return in case it is offensive (unless it has HP Rock), but, if it is defensive, prepare to get half of your HP ripped off; Rocks and Roar will be assured. If you want, you can get Focus Blast to cover it. Earthquake is even more situational, and does not hit hard enough other stuff in the switch.

;3 Regards.

[Awkward Squirtle]

I wouldn't personally run Air Slash on Zard. I just checked a damage calculator, and generally Fire Blast will hit it Mega Venusaur harder. I'd be tempted to replace it with Roost, since you don't have any spin support. I know you're sending it out first, but sometimes you just need to switch, so if you're going to risk taking heavy damage from rocks, some recovery would be nice. If you're totally against recovery and would rather just hit things hard, go with Focus blast or Earthquake to hit Heatran as Scout said.

[Delicious_Scout]

I wouldn't personally run Air Slash on Zard. I just checked a damage calculator, and generally Fire Blast will hit it harder. I'd be tempted to replace it with Roost, since you don't have any spin support. I know you're sending it out first, but sometimes you just need to switch, so if you're going to risk taking heavy damage from rocks, some recovery would be nice. If you're totally against recovery and would rather just hit things hard, go with Focus blast or Earthquake to hit Heatran as Scout said.

I only see three reasons to run that Flying move over another one.

The first one is obvious: flinch. This might be not a strong reason, since Charizard practically OHKOs vastly everything.

Second, things that are hit for super effective damage: Plant, Fighting, Bug. But... wait! Two of them are already covered by Fire! And Fighting takes more damage from the Double-Stabbed Fire Blast!

Third: Accuracy. 95% vs. 85%.

To sum it up; do whatever you need to do.

[Hahex and Oshawott]

You also need something to get rid of hazards. If someone puts up some stealth rocks, then your Mega evolution is effecitvely useless. Considering you have a very hyper offensive team, I'm thinking something along the lines of Starmie or Excadrill for some rapid spin support.
If you're planning on running bulk up on scrafty, then it could be worth investing your EVs in HP or Def instead of Speed, since you don't seem to be keen on trying to outrun anything.
Lastly, you don't have much of a pivot to take possible counters on. If someone switches, for example, a Talonflame into your Alazakam, you don't really have a lot of pokemon who want to take a brave bird to the face. Sure, you could try Aegislash, but even then a CB Brave Bird will sting a lot, and with no form of recovery, not really something you want. Something like a tanky defog/roost/u-turn could be useful, or even rotom himself.

[Richard and Blaziken]

Your team is incredibly weak to Ghost, particularly Aegislash. Shadow Sneak will OHKO Zam and Gengar, and nothing can switch in safely, since Sacred Sword deals with Scrafty. BD Azumarill isn't my cup of tea; after the use of the move, Aqua Jet is the only thing you can reliably use, and it's too weak to break through many common threats. If the opponent has Rotom-W, it can just WoW you or Volt Switch, and if they have Venusaur, you're forced out and lose your boosts and your Sitrus. I prefer Choice Band so that you can chip away at counters as they come in.

Your Charizard is currently hard-walled by Heatran, who can freely setup Stealth Rocks on you and punish you hard for every time you come back in. Earthquake on even a Timid Charizard-Y deals hefty damage to Heatran, comfortably 2HKOing it at full health. Air Slash is really pointless on Charizard, as Fire Blast is always hitting the opponent harder unless the Fighting type is Keldeo, in which case you have Solarbeam. The one thing it covers is Infernape, which is also weak to Earthquake, and you probably shouldn't stay in on Infernape anyway.

I prefer Sash Zam to ensure it can do something, especially with all the priority moves running around OU now. Shadow Sneak, Bullet Punch, ExtremeSpeed and Aqua Jet will all end you pretty quickly. LO isn't bad, but I'd prefer knowing that Zam can revenge something if necessary, rather than hoping it gets a move off.

On an offensive team like this, I'd say DD Scrafty is probably better, as it opens up the opportunity to break through both offensive and defensive opponents, opening the way to your other sweepers to clean up, or allowing Scrafty to clean up late-game. Sticky Web support could really help your cause here. Scrafty isn't very good because of Talonflame's prevalence, and you're not even punishing Talonflame with Stealth Rock, which is one of few things keeping it in check. Nothing on your entire team can switch into Talonflame safely, and that's a big problem. I'd recommend Rotom-Wash or Heatran, as those are two of the best counters to Talonflame. Rotom-Wash provides some nice Volt Switching antics that can help your offensive team come out ahead by easing prediction, while Heatran can provide Stealth Rock to deal with Talonflame and chip at opponents, and it can also take advantage of Charizard's Sunlight sometimes.

You really should look into getting a Defogger or Rapid Spinner for Charizard to be effective.

(I'd write more, but I'm really tired and I've had this page open for 9 hours and forgot about it... oops.)