ORAS OU My 1st OU Team

[Frail Tub]

I recently got back into playing Pokemon and have been working on building a good team that I can build in-game for competitive battling. I am in search of any tips or advice from any parties that can help me to produce better results with my current team and anything new I make in the future. I am very inexperienced in team building so I can use any help I can get.

Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Foul Play
- Knock Off

I went with Sableye as my mega to act as a beefy SpD annoyence. I open Sableye 90% of the time to prevent any entry hazard set ups and it is also a good check to Espeon openers. I think the move set is pretty self explanitory and standard for Mega Sabeleye, however, I haven't found very much use of Foul Play.

Klefki @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Magnet Rise
- Toxic
- Play Rough

Klefki was put on the team to eat hits and set up spikes. I can usually switch in and get both pair down easily because of Prankster. I choose to go with Magnet Rise over Thunder Wave as people love to switch into Klefki and OHKO with Earthquake. I have found more use being able to get up spikes and then save Klefki, should anyone get off a spin or defog. Play Rough for coverage. I am very happy with Klefki's preformance thus far.

Hippowdon @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 116 Def / 140 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Slack Off

Hippowdon is my super bulky physical attacker. Stealth rocks for extra entry hazard. Earthquake and Stone Edge for damage coverage, and Slack Off to keep him going. I choose to go with Stone Edge over Whirlwind as I found most people have a few options to damage Hippowdon. I prefer to keep him going as long as possible and I didn't like the "RNG"ness of Whirlwind.

Serperior @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Contrary
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 SpD
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Giga Drain
- Glare

Serperior is my quick special sweeper. Contrary + Leaf Storm is amazing. I went with Hidden Power Fire to cover any bulky Grass-Types that try to wall when Serperior is +2 SpA. Giga Drain is great when +2 SpA to add some "survivability" to Serperior. I went with Glare for checks that switch in to Serperior.

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Brave Bird
- Roost
- Swords Dance

I choose Talonflame as a good counter to Serperior to handle anything Serperior can't. I went with a standard Swords Dance set, however, I haven't been very happy with Talonflame's preformance. I am not sure if it is user error or if Talonflame isn't a good fit.

Magnezone @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt

Magnezone I choose as a SpA revenge killer and also gives me good coverage for bulky Fairies. I think the set pretty much explains itself and I am very please with Magnezone. I have found that I can not keep it alive very long, but I attribute that to my plays.

I have been doing well in my opinion with this team since I started back with 11-7. I have reached a point where my inexperience has left me unable to get over the hump and turn this team into something special. I would appreciate any advice or tips on either replacements for weak links or restructure. Thanks in advance!

 

[Alfalfa]

Your team features Magnezone, a Pokemon whose niche is to trap a number of Steel-types that your team is not threatened by to begin with. You speak of Fairy-types, and while your team is threatened by Mega Gardevoir and Mega Diancie, Magnezone is not OHKOing Mega Gardevoir, and Serperior still soft checks Mega Diancie to begin with. If you are looking for something to check Fairy-types, Jirachi would probably be a more consistent option, but I have not played OU for a while, especially with balance teams, so I cannot give you an optimum rating of your team. All I can tell you is that a balance team is not going to idealistically wall everything, and that you will need to rely on revenge killers to KO threats your team cannot wall. The issue here is that Magnezone is not ideal to revenge kill those threats, for the list of Pokemon it is supposed to check is mostly already covered by your team.

 

[lightninging]

I agree with alfalfa; Magenzone can be straight swapped with a scarf jirachi. Moves should be iron head, u-turn, fire punch, and healing wish. However, this still leaves you with double steel types. While steel is obvi a great defensive type, you're stacking a really hefty fire weakness between serp, rachi, and klef.

I'm gonna recommend you switch out klef for cloyster. This might seem like a drastic switch, but cloyster can also stack spikes and it also has respectable bulk to "eat up hits". Run lefties over sitrus berry btw. Cloyster can tank physical fire attacks and scare out heatran, which is a big threat to your team. Plus, it doesn't stack an ice weakness with serp and hippo. Running a more defensive set will also catch a lot of people off gaurd, as they will expect a shell smash set.

Running talonflame without hazard removal is not a smart idea, even with mega sab. Furthermore, you said that talon itself was not performing as well as you hoped. So Im gonna recommend you replace it with an assault vest tornados-Therian. Regenerator means that you can switch in and out of rocks indefinitely in the event that your opponent gets em up. Torn is also a great answer to opposing serperior. Options for moves include knock off, super power, heat wave, and u turn. Your team doesn't seen that weak to TTar so I'm gonna recommend hurricane/heat wave/knock off/u-turn. While you could invest in attack, it's not really necessary since knock off and u turn are more utility than damaging.

One last, small change is to replace giga drain with dragon pulse and miracle seed with lefties. Lefties will help serp stay around and switch in and out better. Dragon pulse will let you nail any lati@s you come across.
Hope these help!

PS. You could make cloyster a shellsmash set with spikes to act as a back up wincon. I haven't played with the team but it might be a good choice.

 

[Lixis]

If running giga drain on serperior it's my opinion you should go with life orb and just regen from +4 giga drain, after you get up to x3 special attack the power difference dosent matter that much... Otherwise just drop giga drain for glare

 

[lightninging]

If running giga drain on serperior it's my opinion you should go with life orb and just regen from +4 giga drain, after you get up to x3 special attack the power difference dosent matter that much... Otherwise just drop giga drain for glare

he already has glare on his current set...