Attempting a Competitive OU Team

[~NF]

I played around with this team a little on Shoddy, and it seems pretty decent, although I'm sure there's plenty of room for improvement which is why I'm posting it. The initial idea I had was to work around No Guard Machamp, and after that it kind of evolved into... this.

Ambipom @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Fake Out
- U-turn
- Return
- Brick Break

I love this guy as my lead. He puts pretty respectable dents in things with Fake Out, and the Silk Scarf helps that, being the most powerful boost available to it short of Life Orb and Choice Band. My main strategy with him is to get him in and out to rack up residual damage with Fake Out and U-Turn.

Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 24 HP/252 Atk/232 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dynamicpunch
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up

100% accurate Dynamicpunches and Stone Edges tear huge holes in anything that doesn't outrun this guy. He's essentially a lategame sweeper; the rest of the team paves the way for him.

Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave

The idea here was to get someone with respectable defense to spread Paralysis around the enemy team so that Machamp could sweep, and he can usually T-Wave at least 2 pokes. Also there for special walling and whatnot.

Gengar @ Wide Lens
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Substitute
- Hypnosis

This guy tears gaping holes in plenty of the opposition during the earlygame, and it's easy to switch in.

Infernape @ Life Orb
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 24 Atk/232 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Flamethrower
- Close Combat
- Grass Knot
- Nasty Plot

Infernape is here as a counter to a lot of different threats, and he's quick and can deal damage on either side of the spectrum, with Close Combat, or Nasty Plotted special attacks.

Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 216 HP/252 Def/40 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roost
- Toxic
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower


Salamence is here to counter some various threats and soak up hits. Rather defensive.

 

[fortunecookie]

I don't think ur team has enough tanks. U have forretress for taking physical hits, but no-one else can really take powerful special attacks well. A scarfed heatran or some other fast special sweeper with nasty plot cud really hurt ur team. I guess raikou can take some special hits...but it's nowhere near bulky enough to be a tank.

 

[Tangerine]

I'm not sure I like your reasoning at all - especially since you're paralyzing shit for a Jolly Choice Scarf Machamp... you're not going to sweep much with that limitation Choice Scarf gives you - and attempting to "paralyze" sort of defeats the purpose on the Scarf

I would try Bulk Up Machamp instead. Get rid of EQ - STAB Dynamic Punch is base 150 with confusion, and SE EQ is base 200 - it really doesnt help you out that much more. So take EQ and run Bulk Up, with Leftovers.

What threat is Infernape "countering"? Infernape will be trying to sweep, breaking down walls. So let's support Infernape a bit more - let's run something that can take down Cress, something that laughs at both Infernape *and* Machamp. Get rid of that scarf on Gengar and run Sub/Hypnosis/Shadow Ball/focus blast - a standard set on gengar nowadays that does a pretty good job taking down a few choice threats, and with a little luck it can even beat Restalking Cresselia with ease.

Considering your team doesnt really need spin that much - I would consider replacing that Forry with something like Bulky Salamence who can switch into Lucario and Heracross, especially considering Lucario after getting an SD sweeps your team. You wont be able to stall TOO long with Ambipom since it'll die relatively quickly =/

Finally you really dont need Calm Mind on Raikou if the only attack is... Thunderbolt. I would just replace Raikou with like Blissey, who takes hits generally better, it has recovery, and can still Twave shit to death. it can even wish pass, something you might want considering nothing you have right now has recovery at all so you have a little insurance when you set up late game sweeps.

 

[~NF]

So how would something like this work?

Ambipom - Unchanged
---
Machamp @ Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 24 HP/252 Atk/232 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Dynamicpunch
- Stone Edge
- Ice Punch
- Bulk Up
---
Blissey @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
---
Gengar @ Wide Lens
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Substitute
- Hypnosis
---
Infernape - Unchanged
---
Salamence @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 216 HP/252 Def/40 Spd
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Roost
- Toxic
- Draco Meteor
- Flamethrower

 

[CHENN]

Just edit, don't repost everything.
You have a hippowdon weakness. Correct me if i'm wrong, but I doubt that Infernape can OHKO Hippowdon with Grass Knot.
Hippowdon will rip through Ambipom, Machamp, Salamence, Infernape, Gengar, and Blissey. it will either OHKO or 2HKO everything with Ice Fang/EQ

 

[~NF]

No, Infernape does not OHKO without a Nasty Plot boost. He can with a +SAtk nature though, so would it be worth it to make that change and sacrifice some speed?

 

[Rugaji]

Hippowdon cannot rip through Machamp once it's been inflicted by DynamicPunch. Two, Gengar can set up Hypnosis on Hippowdon if necessary. No, Infernape most likely will not KO Hippowdon with Grass Knot. :\

Machamp can't sweep if it is holding Choice Scarf. You will need to be predictable when attacking your opponent. I once ran Machamp Jolly but with way different EV spread.

Uhh..I think Ambipom might need Payback attack for non-scarf Gengar leads. I don't know clearly what move you should replace Payback for because I actually never used Ambipom, but it needs it if you want to get Gengar out of the way.

 

[Tangerine]

How is Hippowdon beating salamence, who can roost of Ice Fangs? (Maybe if it's CB then you can... switch) Or machamp who has ice punch and bulkup? The only way hippo is 2hkoing anything is if it's CB, and that means it's going to lose to a simple switch. Can you really stop assuming that Hippo will get clean hits on these Pokemon and not take any hits itself - cause Hippo isn't beating all those Pokemon anytime soon. Hippo is really just too slow to actually rip through his team like you are hyping.

 

[CHENN]

I'm sure that Salamence can't roost off all the damage from Ice fangs. Here are some Damage Calculations I ran, so that NF can be sure of how much he can, and can't do with certain pokemon.

An Ice Punch from his Machamp to a Max HP Hippowdon-
31.43%-36.90%
A Draco meteor from Salamence to Max HP Hippowdon-
51.43%-60.48%
A Draco Meteor from Salamence to Max Hp Hippowdon after the stat drop-
25.95%-30.48%

An Earthquake from a Max Attack Hippowdon to his Machamp
60.24%-70.64%
An Ice Fang from a Max Attack Hippowdon to Salamence
62.08%-72.99%


Keep in mind, the Hippowdon in the Example has 252 EV's Atk, 252 EV's HP.It also has an Attack Boosted Nature.

So for those calculations, if Hippowdon has sustained 60% damage from the other members of the team (after slacking off, so on) and is against Machamp, he can slack off, now having 60%. Then if machamp uses Ice Punch once again, and Hippowdon slacks off that same turn, he'll have 80%. The same thing happens and he'll have 100%%. He can then proceed to EQ, then Slack off, then EQ for the KO. If Machamp switches anywhere in the process, then Hippowdon will either have 96% or 100% Health.If machamp doesn't switch, then hippowdon has 70% Then, if Salamence uses Draco Meteor, then Hippowdon can use slack off. Salamence now has 100% health, while hippowdon has 90% health. If Salamence uses draco meteor again, and Hippowdon uses Ice Fang, Salamence has 28% health, while hippowdon has 70% health. From here, no matter what salamence does, it's dead in 2 turns tops if it stays in.

In the possible outcome above, everyone is dealing max damage, with no crits. If you must know, Infernape will only do about 3% with Grass Knot, and blissey would do max 44%. Gengar would do 48% max (considering it's not putting Hippowdon to sleep) and Ambipom would do about 17% with Fake out, and return.

Overall, hippowdon does pose a threat of sweeping this team.

 

[Tangerine]

Or Hippowdon gets Toxic'd. Roost means that Hippo only does 30~% with Ice Fang. Also, "Intimidate", and "bulk up".

Also Infernape Grass Knot does

LO + Speed 252 SpA Infernape grass Knot versus 252 HP 0 spdef Hippo - Damage: 380-448 - meaning it has a chance of an OHKO.

you're using heavy theorymon to make a contrived case of a Hippowdown sweep which is pretty ludicrous lol. Hippowdon is way too slow to be a serious threat

 

[CHENN]

I'm not saying hippowdon will sweep (anymore) just that it's a threat.
Also, the damage calculator I used must be non-functional.

Anyways, I was wrong, and now see that hippowdon is stopped by salamence easily, because of intimidate, roost, and other things. Bulk Up on a Machamp will help it tremendously, so that's a great move to keep.

Some advice on ambipom. You may have small problems with Gyarados, and Thunder Punch could help kill DD LO Gyarados' after they're flinched. You could also use Ice Punch for Salamence, and various flying types.