My OU Team Needs Help

[LukeOzade456]

Hello, i am having some trouble with my team, please can you help and suggest any changes, thank you.

Azelf @ Focus Sash
Nature: Naive
Ability: Levitate
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Hp
Stealth Rock
Taunt
Psychic
Explosion

This is my lead, i have chose this pokemon because i wanted a pokemon that could set up stealth rock while making the opponent unable to using taunt and it has also been chosen to get rid of any threats in the game that threaten my team by using explosion or STAB pyschic, i think this lead is fine for my team.


Jolteon @ Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Ability: Volt Absorb
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Substitute
Baton Pass
Thunderbolt
Hidden Power [Grass]

This is the basic SubPass set which allows my sweepers to set up without taking damage from opponents. Substitute and Baton Pass are vital for this set and team. I have thunderbolt for main STAB and hidden power grass to challenge any swamperts that threaten my team. However, this set does not seem to be working so any suggestions will be great if any.


Gyarados @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Intimidate
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def
Dragon Dance
Waterfall
Earthquake
Stone Edge

This is my teams physical sweeper. It is a basic Dragon Dance set which allows me to sweep with no problems. Jolteon works well with Gyarados by passing on substitute and being immune to earthquake. Waterfall is on the team for STAB and power to, Earthquake is for coverage and challenges Electric type pokemon while behind a sub. Stone Edge is there for power and to take care of flying pokemon that earthquake cant hit. That is my gyarados and any suggestions would be great.

Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Shadow Ball
Thunderbolt
Focus Blast
Hidden Power [Ice]

This is my teams revenge killer. It has high special attack so there is no trouble OHKO'ing many pokemon. Shadow ball is there for STAB and to cover Psychic types who threaten Gengar. Thunderbolt is there to take on water pokemon or flying pokemon. Focus Blast is to cover for Dark Types and finally Hidden Power Ice for any dragons threatening my team. Gengar can also act as a special sweeper and is why it has a wide moveset coverage to tackle most pokemon.


Scizor @ Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Pursuit
U Turn
Bullet Punch
Superpower

This is my teams second sweeper. I have decided to get banded Scizor because it requires no set uo but can still pack quite a punch. Pursuit is there to harm any pokemon trying to escape scizor, u turn is for scouting purposes and is also STAB. Bullet Punch is a powerful priority move and superpower is for all out fire power but with a risk which is when i switch out


Flygon @ Life Orb
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Levitate
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Dragon Claw
Earthquake
Stone Edge
U Turn

This pokemon is not only the most useful on my team but my favourite too. It covers for my teams fire weakness and can also clean up at the end of a match. Dragon Claw and Earthquake are there for powerful STAB, Stone Edge is to take care of ice pokemon and u turn is for scouting and escaping threats such as ice and dragon types.



Well that is my team and as you can see it needs some work and has quite a few weaknesses so please can you help me and my team and make any suggestions for my team, thank you

 

[Lazyboy]

Hi LukeOzade, very nice team here which I can attest to after playing against it a few times (under the name PeaceKeeper).

However there are several slight changes that could be implemented to improve the team. For starters, ever since the rise of machamp leads, I feel that focus sash azelf has become overshadowed by colbur berry azelf lead. This set lets you still maintain the ability to set up rocks against all of the previous leads (bar LO heatran leads) whilst being able to beat machamp leads 1v1

Azelf @ Colbur Berry
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Levitate
8 HP/ 140 Atk/ 144 Sp.Def/ 216 Spe
-Explosion
-Stealth Rock
-Taunt
-U-turn

The drop in speed isn't too much of an issue, you only lose to other azelf leads and starmie leads, but by u-turning to scizor you can bullet punch the former and bug bite the latter, both scoring early game KO's.

The other change I would highly suggest would be to change your Flygon set slightly. This team seems to be based around sweeping with Gyarados, and by using a mixed version of Flygon, you can use it to lure in certain physical walls (Vaporeon, Skarmory, Rotom-A) and either KO or severely weaken them with the appropriate move, letting Gyarados sweep easier. It also helps remove a lot of problematic pokes for Scizor too.


Flygon @ Life Orb
Nature: Mild/Hasty (Could go with Rash/Naive but if it's for a fire resist, lowering Def may be better)
Ability: Levitate
80 Atk/ 252 Sp.atk/ 176 Spe
-Draco Meteor
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast
-Roost/U-turn (choice between scouting or a more reliable switch to Heatran etc.)

Finally, I think that generally choice scarf Gengar is an inferior choice to scarf Rotom-A. Between rotoms higher defenses and larger number of resistances, you can check a multitude of pokes that choice scarf gengar cannot, agiligross being one of these pokes. The only clear advantage I can see to using gengar over Rotom-A is the ability to outspeed adamant Kingdra in rain, however between Scizor's priority and Gyarados' intimidate, only mixed variants will really cause you problems, as it does to most offensive teams.

Rotom-A @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid
Ability: Levitate
252 HP/ 40 Sp.Atk/ 216 Spe
-Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt
-Trick
-Will-o-wisp/ Hydropump/ Overheat

The EV's allow you to outspeed up to and including SubPetaya Empoleon at +2 whilst retaining a good amount of bulk after tricking away its choice scarf. Will-o-wisp may seem like an odd choice for the scarf set, but even after tricking away it's scarf, it can still outspeed adamant SD luke and burn it, saving itself from the OHKO from crunch. It can also be used against slow setup sweepers like curselax if you've already tricked the scarf away.

Finally, you mentioned in passing about the consideration of Breloom as a member of your team. I have used the GyaraLoomJolt core before and found that it works very well. Breloom complements Gyarados and Jolteon well by resisting Rock and ground attacks directed at each of them respectively. Also, common switches to jolteon include Tyranitar and Blissey, which are both setup fodder for Breloom (Bar the rare Flamethrower from tyranitar), especially if passed a substitute from jolteon. Also, Breloom can either incapacitate a threat to gyarados with spore, or weakne it to within KO range with repeated neutral attacks or leech seed.

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Nature: Impish
Ability: Poison Heal
236 HP/ 252 Def/ 20 Spe
-Focus Punch
-Leech Seed
-Spore
-Substitute

The EVs make Loom's Subs very difficult to break with resisted physical attacks and leech seed will provide a small amount of healing for other members of your team. However, if you do choose to use Breloom in your team in place of scizor, as you mentioned, you may have to rethink your choice of a scarfed pokemon, as the loss in a steel type may make you vulnerable to Dragon types. This however could somewhat be alleviated with the use of choice scarf Jirachi. This would fix a lot of the wholes in your team if you chose to replace Scizor with Breloom, providing a Dragon resist, a way to revenge a large number of threats as well as providing a trick scarf user to cripple setup sweepers such as Crocune and Curselax.

Jirachi @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Serene Grace
252 Atk/ 4 Sp.Def/ 252 Spe
-Fire Punch
-Ice Punch
-Iron Head
-Thunder Punch/ Trick

These are just some of my suggestions on how the team could be improved, it's really up to you whether or not you want to make these changes, though I feel they would make the team more successful. Anyway, good luck with the team and I hope this rate helps

See you around PL sometime

 

[LukeOzade456]

Thank you ever so much, my team now sounds perfect and has little weaknesses, just one question, was it Jirachi for Rotom -A ?

 

[Lazyboy]

Yes, if you were choosing to use breloom over scizor, I would use jirachi over rotom-A as the teams scarfer, lets it do pretty much the same job as rotom-A would

 

[LukeOzade456]

Thank you, i have tried the team out and it is working much better than it did, just need to improve my strategy skills now to make the team more effective. Thank you ever so much for helping me i do appreciate it, see you in battle sometime

 

[ZeroHym]

Not that im any expert but I do like that team set up myself although my change would be the flygon's item, I'd use the berry that weakens Ice-type attacks since Flygon with most likely be OTK if hit by one.

Correct me if im wrong :3
I am kinnda new at this x3

 

[2sly4u]

Not that im any expert but I do like that team set up myself although my change would be the flygon's item, I'd use the berry that weakens Ice-type attacks since Flygon with most likely be OTK if hit by one.

Correct me if im wrong :3
I am kinnda new at this x3

It's a good thought, but Flygon is better served with a Choice Scarf, or maybe a Life Orb. He has trouble KOing most pokemon that use Ice attacks anyways, so there's little reason to even try to tank one.

 

[Lazyboy]

It's a really nice idea, as it would allow flygon to bluff a choice scarf, only problem is the resistance berries don't actually help flygon in any way. Yache berry only actually helps against very weak ice attacks like swamperts ice beam (47.8% - 56.5%) whereas pokes with any investement in attack will still be able to ohko flygon through the resist berry e.g scarfrachi's ice punch does 91% - 107.6%. Plus the drop in power means that flygon will be unable to 2hko pokes like swampert with draco meteors. The other possibly option would be expert belt to let flygon bluff a choice item, whilst still maintaining the higher damage output against certain foes who think they're safe, such as Skarm or Heatran, but would leave flygon unable to deal with walls such as hippowdon, swampert and other pokes that cannot be hit super-effectively, although these pokes become much less problematic with the inclusion of breloom.

 

[B-Zard]

For Jolteon I would go for a life orb set, because jolteon doesn't have a huge amount of hp meaning its substitutes are not strong when baton passing. This is the set and it still allows you to baton pass:

Jolteon @ Life Orb
Timid Nature (+speed/-att) 6 hp, 252 spatt, 252 speed
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hp Grass/ Ice
- Baton Pass

For Gyarados I would go for a bulky set, because otherwise your team would be to offensive:

Gyarados @ leftovers
Adamant Nature (+att/-spatt) 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake/ Bounce

Earthquake or Bounce is your decision.

Maybe you can fit a Wish Jirachi in your team so it has some more defense and healing.

Jirachi @ leftovers
Bold nature (+def/-att), 252 hp, 220 def, 36 speed
- Calm Mind
- Wish
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic

Hope I helped you ;)

 

[2sly4u]

For Jolteon I would go for a life orb set, because jolteon doesn't have a huge amount of hp meaning its substitutes are not strong when baton passing. This is the set and it still allows you to baton pass:

Jolteon @ Life Orb
Timid Nature (+speed/-att) 6 hp, 252 spatt, 252 speed
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Hp Grass/ Ice
- Baton Pass

For Gyarados I would go for a bulky set, because otherwise your team would be to offensive:

Gyarados @ leftovers
Adamant Nature (+att/-spatt) 156 HP / 72 Atk / 96 Def / 184 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake/ Bounce

Earthquake or Bounce is your decision.

Jolteon isn't supposed to make bulky subs; its job is to make sure his other sweepers can get in safely. For example, imagine you're facing a ScarfRotom locked into Thunderbolt. Jolteon can come in for free and set up a sub as the opponent sends in their Jolteon check Let's say in this case it's Snorlax. Jolteon can Baton Pass the substitute to Snorlax's check (in this case Breloom), as the opponent attacks. Breloom gets in for free against an opponent it couldn't normally switch in on, and momentum is regained for the user.

This team is offensively built, so I'd recommend against BulkyDos. I like the Gyarados you're running now.

The big thing for me is that I would run Seed Bomb over Leech Seed on Breloom. Leech Seed functions better on a more defensive team with lots of entry hazards allowing for capitalization on all the switches from Leech Seed. Seed Bomb lets you keep offensive pressure on Bulky Waters, and Rotom-A, (even if you aren't behind a Sub) which makes much more sense for this team.

It would help if you updated your team with the Edit option so we can see what changes you did (or didn't) make. I may be able to help more once I can see your team as a whole.

Good luck!

 

[B-Zard]

Jolteon isn't supposed to make bulky subs; its job is to make sure his other sweepers can get in safely. For example, imagine you're facing a ScarfRotom locked into Thunderbolt. Jolteon can come in for free and set up a sub as the opponent sends in their Jolteon check Let's say in this case it's Snorlax. Jolteon can Baton Pass the substitute to Snorlax's check (in this case Breloom), as the opponent attacks. Breloom gets in for free against an opponent it couldn't normally switch in on, and momentum is regained for the user.

The big thing for me is that I would run Seed Bomb over Leech Seed on Breloom. Leech Seed functions better on a more defensive team with lots of entry hazards allowing for capitalization on all the switches from Leech Seed. Seed Bomb lets you keep offensive pressure on Bulky Waters, and Rotom-A, (even if you aren't behind a Sub) which makes much more sense for this team.

For the Jolteon set you're basically saying it is only effective if the opponent is using a electric type attack which is 1 type out of 17 so in my opinion pointless. It could work but the sub + baton pass might be predictable so where you're saying you switch into Breloom as a Snorlax check they could predict it and switch into their Breloom check.

I agree with using Seed Bomb over Leech Seed because otherwise ghost types could ruin your set. Seed Bomb gives you another attack option and since it is an offensive team it is better than Leech Seed. And since it is an offensive team I wouldn't recommend a defensive set since most people just use this one on their team:

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Adamant Nature (+att/-spatt), 12 Hp, 252 att, 244 speed
Ability: Poison Heal
- Focus Punch
- Seed Bomb
- Spore
- Substitute

Good luck with your team!

 

[2sly4u]

For the Jolteon set you're basically saying it is only effective if the opponent is using a electric type attack which is 1 type out of 17 so in my opinion pointless. It could work but the sub + baton pass might be predictable so where you're saying you switch into Breloom as a Snorlax check they could predict it and switch into their Breloom check.

Not true. You can switch him in on physical walls, Gyarados, or anything that you can force to switch out. And the opponent can't switch in their Breloom counter becuase you Baton Pass after the opponent switches. So if they send in their Breloom counter (Weezing? I don't know), you can just respond by switching in your counter to that. There is almost no way to not maintain the momentum if you can get Jolteon in safely.

 

[B-Zard]

Not true. You can switch him in on physical walls, Gyarados, or anything that you can force to switch out. And the opponent can't switch in their Breloom counter becuase you Baton Pass after the opponent switches. So if they send in their Breloom counter (Weezing? I don't know), you can just respond by switching in your counter to that. There is almost no way to not maintain the momentum if you can get Jolteon in safely.

Yea I forgot that they switch out first, so you mean that you've switch advantage which is not bad at all. Normally I always had the life orb or choice specs set, but (now) I think this set can work and with the 2 damaging moves also can do some serious attacks combined with max speed + max spatt. Forgot what I said about the prediction things, because this set is different than most standard Jolteon sets and can surprise most people.

Btw, I just started yesterday with rating so I am not very experienced with it so I am trying to get better and learn from other (more experienced) people. Hope you understand it.

 

[2sly4u]

Btw, I just started yesterday with rating so I am not very experienced with it so I am trying to get better and learn from other (more experienced) people. Hope you understand it.

I totally get it, don't worry. Everyone starts somewhere. I was just trying to explain the set to you since it's pretty uncommon :)

 

[B-Zard]

I totally get it, don't worry. Everyone starts somewhere. I was just trying to explain the set to you since it's pretty uncommon :)

Yea I hadn't seen it before, but if I have to be sure it seems quite effective. I like it when people use new sets (or uncommon ones) since it surprises your opponent. And thanks for explaining the set to me.